Kartik Agarwal elucidates the shortcomings in Donald Trump’s policies in America and how the Americans might be affected due to discriminatory measures etc.
This year’s presidential campaign is filled with claims, controversial leaks, and mockery in the name of debating. The Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump is the host of a better part of the controversies, with his remarks and the allegations against him. If he does become the President of the United States of America, what kind of America will there be? What will be the foreign policies, the economic policies, the relations with various states and sovereigns?
A president as fickle minded as Donald Trump could create maelstroms regarding the country’s policies. Take his position on Sino-American relations. He hopes, and plans to reduce the trade with China by putting a tariff of 45% on all Chinese products. Considering the warning given by China to India over the latter’s resolve to ban Chinese products, if the same kind of warning is given to America by China, then the already bad trade deficit of USA with China will harm them. Putting it simply, if the 45% tariff rule is applied, the imports from China will see a huge decline. But at the same time, since America cannot afford to provide wages to domestic companies to assemble the products, the domestic production will also suffer. Adding to this, Trump proposes to increase the minimum wage of the US working populace from 7.25 USD/hour to 10 USD/hour. If this policy decision does take shape, the corporations will be forced to pay the people at least 10 USD/hour. This will further discourage the corporations to employ Americans.
Trump’s take on Mexico is one which is a tad bit more controversial than his position with China. He intends to create a wall on the southern border, the expenses of which, he wants Mexico to pay. The direct consequence of this will be a need to completely overhaul the immigration policy and face a steep decline in the trade with Mexico. The current immigration policy allows a rough figure of 675,000 immigrants to settle in the country per year. This includes all kinds of immigrants, be it family-based, employment-based, refugees and asylum seekers and other forms of humanitarian relief offered. Mexican refugees formed the largest immigrant group in the United States, as of 2014. A complete overhaul of the immigration policy would require the bill to be passed by the House of Representatives, the Senate and then the President. All of this would require a lot of time. If Trump’s policy to deport millions does come to fruition, then America will lose a big part of its workforce and also lose the GDP that comes attached. Moreover, stricter border regulations would result in an increase in undocumented immigrants, who are actually the cause for trouble. A wall will also discourage trade between the countries, hampering also the tourism department of both countries.
RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION : THE SITUATION OF MUSLIMS
Donald Trump’s stance on Muslims is one which can be clearly called as that of religious discrimination. He has not been kind about the people and the religion and to expect him to somehow be sensitive to the Muslim community is a fool’s hope. He started with a total and complete ban on the Muslim community, going to the length of saying that no Muslim will be allowed inside the United States of America, neither as an immigrant, nor as a visitor. His current position on a topic he himself so controversially started is very dubious. He says that he will implement a method called ‘Extreme Vetting’, which will be implemented in addition to America’s already stringent and extensive system for screening potential immigrants.
Vetting of the Muslim community will also mean vetting of people from ally states like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Pakistan etc., which could result in hampering of diplomatic relations between the United States and other countries. Even more harmful will be the loss in the GDP and loss of Arab investment.
GENDER DISCRIMINATION : SEXISM AGAINST WOMEN
This all was just from an economic perspective. Donald Trump’s views on women could be very well represented by his leaked tape of 2005, where he used extremely vulgar expletives and condoned sexual assault, the various allegations of sexual assault against him, or his general misogynistic and racist attitude. Putting these things on a platform and imagining Trump’s America should not be a difficult task for anybody, and that if these values were imbibed in the American way of life legally, they would give rise to a nation full of misogynists and racists, something which the American forefathers probably did not want. Maybe Donald Trump does not realize the repercussions his words will have, maybe he does not care about them. The bottom line remains the same: Do Americans really want the America he is aiming to create?
REFERENCES
[1] Sara Hsu, ‘The Ugly Truth About Donald Trump’s China Policies’ (Forbes, 1 September 2016) Access at : http://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahsu/2016/09/01/the-ugly-truth-about-donald-trumps-china-policies/#12f3f9703c9d> accessed 3 November 2016
[2] Sutirtho Patranobis, ‘Boycotting our goods will damage ties, China’s state media warns India’ (Hindustan Times, 14 October 2016) http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/boycotting-chinese-goods-will-damage-sino-india-ties-warns-beijing-media/story-R1AE5o3T0S73dSYWl8nHQJ.html 3 November 2016
[3] Michelle Ye Hee Lee, ‘A guide to all of Donald Trump’s flip-flops on the minimum wage’ (The Washington Post, 3 August 2016) <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/08/03/a-guide-to-all-of-donald-trumps-flip-flops-on-the-minimum-wage/> accessed 3 November 2016
[4] Donald J Trump on Immigration <https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/immigration/?/positions/immigration-reform> accessed 3 November 2016
American Immigration Council, ‘How the United States Immigration System Works’ <https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigration-system-works> accessed 3 November 2016
[5] Jie Zong and Jeanne Batalova, ‘Mexican Immigrants in the United States’ (Migration Policy, 17 March 2016) <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/mexican-immigrants-united-states> accessed 4 November 2016
[6] Jane C. Timm, ‘A Full List of Donald Trump’s Rapidly Changing Policy Positions’ (NBC News, 25 October 2016) <http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/full-list-donald-trump-s-rapidly-changing-policy-positions-n547801> accessed 4 November 2016
[7] Ben Gitis, ‘The Personnel and Infrastructure Needed to Remove All Undocumented Immigrants in Two Years’ (American Action Forum, 28 February 2016) <https://www.americanactionforum.org/research/the-personnel-and-infrastructure-needed-to-remove-all-undocumented-immigrants-in-two-years/> accessed 5 November 2016
[8] Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Ryan Browne, ‘Donald Trump wants ‘extreme vetting’ of immigrants. What is the US doing now?’ (CNN, 16 August 2016) <http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/16/politics/how-us-vets-immigrants-donald-trump-extreme-vetting/> accessed 4 November 2016
[9] David A. Fahrenthold, ‘Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005’ (The Washington Post, 8 October 2016) <https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html> accessed 4 November 2016
[10] Susan Milligan, ‘The New Year of the Woman’ (USA News, 21 October 2016) <http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2016-10-21/donald-trump-is-in-trouble-with-women-after-sexual-assault-charges> accessed 4 November 2016
