Thursday 9 February 2017

                   US Elections And Trump Policy
                                       
                                    
                                                                                                                                                              
The 2016 US elections were a widely anticipated event this time, not the least because of the stark contrast between the views of the two nominees. This was also the first presidential election wherein a woman candidate was the representative of a major political party, which, needless to say should have tilted the scales in her favor. The world waited with bated breath for the results, as it is common knowledge that the outcome would not only affect the future of the United States of America but in a sense of the whole world, what with the country being a superpower. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of 2% which was in keeping with the world view of America being a liberal and non- conservative country. Donald Trump had made his intentions and views crystal clear during the campaigns itself. He associates terrorism with the Muslim religion, and has a known history of misogyny, which certainly did not make him well-liked among the masses.

Shock and uncertainty reigned across the world when the elections finally culminated into him being elected as the president. The elections polls showed that he had won by a margin of 77 seats. Such was the backlash, that protests broke out in various places in USA, as well as in other countries like UK, Israel, France, etc. to name a few. There were a variety of reactions from the world leaders. Mr. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, expressed his desire to restore ties with the USA following Mr. Trump’s victory. Both the countries have been involved in a cold war for a very long time. President Hassan Rouhani said that this would not impact any of Iran’s policies. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia told the media that she was extremely saddened by the news. The antipathy between the former president Mr. Barack Obama and Mr. Trump was ill concealed as the transition took place. The inauguration of Donald Trump as the president took place on January 20,2017.He wasted no time in bringing into effect his narrow minded views by signing an executive order that suspended admission of refugees for 120 days and denied entry to citizens of Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen for 90 days, citing terrorism as the motivation.Most of his policies are focused on making the US self reliant and favoring the US native citizens over all others. His energy policy advocates domestic industrial support to rein in the reliance on the Middle East. He is also in favor of capital punishment including water boarding .The major issue that has sparked uncertainty amongst the Indian diaspora is his stance on H1B visa-the main work visa Indian companies use, to send hundreds of IT workers for high skilled technology work to the US. Drastic changes in these policies would cause a huge dent of as much as 10% in the revenues of Indian companies.Another decision which has caused a great furor, is his plan to build a wall on the US-Mexican border in order to curb immigration from Mexico. Considering, his economic policies, he favors increased spending on US military and backs decreased spending on NATO and in the Pacific region. Reflecting on all this, it is apparent that the new leadership is very unlike the previous ones, but India is certainly in a position to reach out and proactively shape the new administration’s policies.

Written By : Ritika Agarwal             
                        IPG-2016-085


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