The changes that Donald Trump is bringing, from his very first day in office as president of the United States, are unprecedented. True to his campaign pledges, he proceeds to implement his campaign agenda, issuing executive orders changing DEI policies on gender and diversity, recognizing the existence of two genders, and firing all DEI employees.

Among its other decisions, from investing 500 billion dollars to build Artificial Intelligence infrastructure, declaring a state of emergency on the U.S. northern border over illegal immigration and giving out pardons to Capitol protesters, the spotlight falls on another important issue: Will he enforce new tariffs on China and other countries, launching a new phase of trade war;

Tariffs from February 1

He says he is considering imposing 10% tariffs on imports of products made in China from February 1. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the US president justified this measure, once again accusing China of shipping fentanyl to the US via Mexico and Canada. This is an opioid drug that has “taken over” the drug addict’s streets in the United States, in a crisis called the “fentanyl crisis.”

As Trump threatens to impose taxes and tariffs of up to 25% on Mexico and Canada (also starting next week), which he accuses of allowing both drugs and illegal immigrants into the US, the backlash is coming. Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister, Justine Trudeau, said that Canada will respond if necessary, but appeared confident that he will avoid sanctions, as he did in Trump’s previous term, using the argument that Canada is an energy/oil superpower that the US needs (60% of the crude that the US imports is imported from Canada). Not so with Ontario Governor Doug Ford, however, who told the Associated Press that “Trump has declared trade war on Canada and we will use every tool we have available,” warning that as soon as tariffs are announced, he will order all U.S. spirits off the shelves. “We are the largest importer of alcohol on the planet,” he said, stressing that there will be a backlash that will cost the US a dollar for every dollar of tariffs. “We will target the areas that Republicans hold. They will feel the pain. Canadians will feel pain, but Americans will feel the pain as well,” Ford said.

From China, the response is more conciliatory as an official from Beijing said yesterday that his country is looking for a “win-win” solution to trade tensions and is seeking to expand its imports.

Next on Trump’s list of tariffs is the EU. “The European Union is very, very bad to us,” the US president said yesterday, noting that “so, well, they’re going to be in the tariffs. It’s the only way to be fair.” The European Commission’s economic commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in response to Trump’s threats of tariffs that “if there is a need to defend Europe’s economic interests, we are ready to do so.”

Gender changes on passports

One of Trump’s first moves in office was signing an executive order to end government programs for diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI),  for being radical and wasteful. In a social media post, the Trump administration confirmed that staff holding any of these roles will be placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately” as the government takes steps to terminate all DEI initiatives, offices and programs. It also directs agencies to remove relevant websites and social media accounts and cancel all DEI-related trainings.

Already, the page that helped people applying for or updating US passports to answer questions about their gender appears to have been removed from the US State Department’s website. The page, previously stated that applicants could select “male (M), female (F) or unspecified or other gender identity (X)” as the gender designation on their passport, and now the URL redirects to a page of general information about the passport application process.

President Trump during his inaugural address declared that “there are only two genders, male and female” and signed an executive order making that government policy shortly afterward. The decree also states that gender cannot be changed. “From this day forward, it will be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” Trump said during his inaugural address on Monday. Trump has made broader promises about the woke culture, gender and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

The investment and grace awards

Donald Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle are to partner on a new $500 billion AI infrastructure “company” called Stargate – a massive private sector investment in AI infrastructure in the United States.

This emerged after the three mogul-headed companies, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Softbank CEO Massayoshi Shawn and Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, met with President Trump at the White House yesterday. The companies, for what the US president has called the “largest AI infrastructure project in history”, will invest $100 billion to launch the project, with the plan calling for as much as half a trillion dollars for Stargate in the coming years.

Yesterday President Trump pardoned six people convicted of the Capitol invasion incidents at the end of his term, as he said “their animals were destroyed”. But he also pardoned Silk Road founder Ross William Ulbright. Ulbright, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for being the creator of the dark web trade site, which was shut down in 2013 by the FBI and the US Department of Justice had described as “the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the Internet today”. He had been found guilty in February 2015 of various charges including money laundering, drug trafficking and computer hacking.

Trump called Ulbright’s sentence “ridiculous,” claiming it was disproportionate to the crime. He then expressed his disappointment in the legal entities involved in Ulbright’s sentencing.