Illustration copyright Reuters

At the end of his first year as US President, Donald Trump's anti-rating is breaking records. Just 37% of Americans trust Trump - this is the worst result in the last 70 years, according to a study by the Washington Post and ABC.

Trump became the first head of state since Harry Truman whose ratings fell so low after his election. According to the study, 59% of Americans do not trust Trump, only 37% trust him. The support level is therefore negative - minus 22 points.

All presidents in post-war period the level of support was positive.

The Bushes' father-son ratings were the highest in decades - 56 and 80 points, representing 76% and 89% confidence, respectively.

Trump, when he was a candidate, promised voters to send Hillary Clinton to jail and build a wall with Mexico at the expense of Mexico City, withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and open mines closed during the Obama era, get rid of the government health care program Obamacare and revise taxes, ban Muslims from entering the United States and hold military parades in Washington in honor of Independence Day.

The BBC Russian service summed up the results of Trump's first year as president, finding out which of more than a hundred promises he managed to implement.

Wall on the border with Mexico at the expense of Mexico City

The wall on the border with Mexico was one of the key campaign promises of Trump, who promised to build an “artistically beautiful”, tall and secure wall along the entire Mexico-US border. The goal is to reduce the flow of illegal migrants.

But, according to Trump’s plan, Mexican taxpayers had to pay for the wall.

Trump's plan looked like this: the cost of the wall would be 12-15 billion US dollars, which should be allocated by the US Congress. And Mexico City will return this money, for example, by increasing the customs tariff by 20% on Mexican imports.

The decree on the start of new construction of the Great American Wall was one of the first signed by Donald Trump - according to his plan, it should be about a meter deep and about four in height, the length of the wall itself is 1,600 kilometers.

To be fair, previous American presidents also worried about the Mexican border barrier, but their architectural ideas were limited to high fences.

The 45th US leader during his first week in the White House immediately got involved in a diplomatic row with Mexico - its president, Enrique Peña Nieto, canceled a pre-planned visit by simply “tagging” Trump on his Twitter.

First on social networks and then in a video message, Nieto said: neither he nor his people will pay for a wall or a fence, because they do not believe in walls. there, on Twitter: if Mexico does not believe “in such a necessary wall,” it is really better for the presidents not to meet.

Experts from the Atlantic Council and other Washington think tanks advised the Mexican government to simply raise prices for American consumers and not be afraid of raising customs rates.

On the first anniversary of Trump's election, the first huge piles appeared in the ground near the Californian city of San Diego and the Mexican border.

Whether they will subsequently become the “Great Wall of America” is unclear.

Mexico refused to pay for construction, and Congress was less than enthusiastic about the large-scale plans.

Promise status: not fulfilled

Tax reduction

The promise of lower taxes for the middle class is a favorite part of the Republican Party's campaign platform. Every winning president tried to reduce some tax.

In presenting his tax plan, Trump promised that the rich would not benefit. But analysts, having seen the Tax Cuts And Jobs Act plan presented by the Republicans, on the contrary, believed that it would be rich Americans and large corporations who would receive the main benefits from the adoption of the new tax legislation.

The submission form will be simplified tax returns; The tax on profits earned in offshore zones will be a one-time tax; the tax rate for companies will consist of three rather than seven steps - 12, 25 and 33 percent. Republicans also want to eliminate the estate tax, which is currently paid by relatives of deceased people who left them large inheritances.

Representatives of the middle class and the poor will receive virtually no benefit from the reform. The zero tax rate will apply only to those married couples whose total annual income is $24,000.

If the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is passed, Americans earning about 59 thousand a year will pay $1 thousand less in taxes in the first year, but in subsequent years their taxes, on the contrary, will gradually increase and in seven years will skyrocket.

Promise status: in progress

Repeal of Obamacare, the government-run health insurance program for low-income people

Repealing Obamacare is one of Donald Trump's favorite campaign promises. During the first 10 months of 2016, not a day went by without the Republican candidate mentioning his predecessor's program. health insurance.

American medicine is insurance and paid; the average American spends about $3,000 a year on it, if he is not sick.

Before the introduction of Obamacare, about 20% of Americans had no insurance at all; thanks to Obama, the number of citizens without a health insurance policy dropped to 8%.

Obama's reform prohibited insurance companies from denying pregnant and chronically ill people access to insurance; children under 26 were allowed to use their parents' insurance.

The poorest (with an annual income of just over $16,000 a year) received insurance for free, essentially subsidized by the state and people with middle and high incomes.

Most working Americans received insurance at work - if the company had more than 50 employees.

In 2017, the three largest American insurance companies announced their withdrawal from the program due to high losses, insurance policies have risen in price by 24% since the beginning of the year, and the amounts that Americans pay out of pocket in addition to the cost of insurance have also increased significantly.

Republicans, in turn, propose reducing direct government subsidies for seriously ill and elderly people, and Trump suggested that Americans choose their own policies.

Members of his own party spoke out against such a reform several times. They themselves calculated: if the reform called “The Best Health Plan” is adopted, then 24 million Americans will remain without insurance, and by 2026 there will already be 50 million.

During Trump's reign, Congress managed to support his initiative, but the Senate did not like the project - not only the Democrats, but also opposed it.

Clinton goes to jail

At the end of 2015, Trump adopted the thesis about the need to put the “cheater” Hillary Clinton behind bars.

The reason is her use of a home server instead of work email (which she did not even activate) while working as US Secretary of State.

According to Trump himself, he was inspired by one of the supporters of the Republican candidate who came to the rally wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Hillary - to prison in 2016!”

The future 45th President of the United States used this idea during each of his public speeches to supporters and as an undeniable argument during television broadcasts and debates with Clinton herself.

“If I win (the election), I will give the appropriate orders to my attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to look into the situation. I have never seen so many lies and scams,” Trump said.

In November, after his election, Trump softened his tone, saying he meant no harm to the Clintons.

A few months later, the US President publicly scolded the Attorney General and the head of the Department of Justice for insufficient zeal in investigating the activities of Hillary Clinton.

A year after the American elections, in early November 2017, Trump said he hoped for full investigation Clinton's role in the uranium deal with the Uranium One company, which was bought by the Russian state corporation Rosatom shortly after the signing of the papers.

Promise status: not fulfilled , V work

Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement

Donald Trump has fulfilled one of his most famous promises: June 1, 2017 America. The treaty controlled greenhouse gas emissions and curbed the rise in average temperatures, and was actively supported by Donald Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

Trump was of the opinion that climate change does not exist, and the concept was invented in China to “weaken the United States.” It is noteworthy that both countries are “world champions” in greenhouse gas emissions - China and the USA ranked first in CO2 emissions.

Under the agreement, dozens of mines in the United States that produced low-quality "thermal" coal and ore for the steel industry were automated and closed.

Trump promised to breathe new life into the coal industry and, just over 4 months after moving to the White House, announced his refusal to participate in the Paris climate agreement. As Trump said, the agreement is too costly for the United States, which is losing $3 trillion and 6.5 million jobs.

Experts note that the US coal industry does show some signs of life, but as a rule, only in those coal-mining regions (like Wyoming) where ore mining does not involve underground work and the coal is located almost on the surface.

In June 2017, the Trump administration announced the opening of 50 thousand jobs in American mines.

Politfact publications, NBC television channel, NBC radio station, Atlantic and Forbes magazines provide other figures - according to them, 800 jobs have been opened in the mining industry since the arrival of Trump.

Promise status: is partially filled

Entry ban for Muslims

Throughout the election campaign, the Republican candidate promised to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

This promise was contrary to the American Constitution, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.

Trump signed his first decree banning entry into America a week after moving to the White House.

Left behind were citizens of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Somalia with valid American visas.

The presidential decree caused panic and pandemonium at airports, but the next night judges from the states of New York and Virginia.

In March, Trump - he was challenged in the courts for a long time and at the end of June the US Supreme Court enacted a three-month moratorium on the admission of refugees from countries previously “banned” by Trump.

Its validity expired in June, after which Trump issued another decree - this time for an indefinite period, adding North Korea and Venezuelan officials to the list.

In mid-October, a Hawaiian judge, the day before the decree was to take effect, suspended this order of the American president, leaving in place the travel ban on North Koreans and Venezuelan officials.

At the same time, the states of Washington, Massachusetts, California, Oregon, New York and Maryland went to federal district court in Seattle to challenge Trump's latest immigration order.

The presidential administration announced its intention to appeal to the court.

Promise status: not fulfilled

Drive the bad hombres out of the country

"They (the Mexican government) are sending us people with a huge amount problems. And they bring us these problems. They bring drugs, they bring crime. They are rapists. Well, we must assume that there are decent people among them." Trump's keynote speech, June 16, 2015.

During the election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to expel millions of illegal migrants from the country, at one point he even called most of them criminals. Later, he promised to deport criminals first.

The desire to deport illegal migrants has visited many American presidents - Barack Obama deported about three million migrants during his 8 years in office - more than any of his predecessors.

Trump ended Obama's prioritization system, which prioritized deporting criminals. He signed his own decree, which applies the same deportation procedures to all illegal immigrants, criminal or not.

In Trump's first 100 days in office, from the United States, most of who were criminals.

President Trump also recently rescinded the Obama administration's protections for undocumented parents as long as they did not violate U.S. laws.

In early September, US President Donald Trump (“Deferred Action for Childhood Immigrants”), which made it possible to defer deportation for more than 750 thousand children of illegal immigrants who came to the country.

The program was adopted five years ago by then-President Barack Obama. The scheme provided a reprieve from possible deportation for the children of illegal immigrants, mostly from Latin American countries, who arrived in the United States before they turned 16.

Participants in the program, called “Dreamers,” received the appropriate document and a work and study permit for a period of two years with the possibility of extension.

From the moment the program is repealed, Congress has six months to pass legislation. Until this time, nothing will change for program participants.

Promise status: is full

Trump and Russia

Trump only once promised voters to build a good relationship with Russia, but spoke more about relations with Moscow and Putin in the subjunctive mood.

At the same time, the future president carefully avoided any direct promises.

At the same time, representatives of the American intelligence community have repeatedly promised to figure out whether Russia interfered in the election process and whether there was a conspiracy between Trump’s representatives and the Kremlin.

In just over 10 months of the Trump administration, the question of Russian traces has become almost rhetorical for representatives of the Washington establishment.

Promise status: in progress

The story of the case of the alleged fraudulent activities of “Trump University” received a different development after the end of the US elections than that promised by presidential candidate Donald Trump. This was reported by TASS from Washington with reference to the Politico newspaper.

On November 28, the three-time postponed hearing in the scandalous “University” case is scheduled to begin in New York. The lawsuit was brought by former students who expected to study real estate transactions for 35 thousand dollars, but according to them they did not receive necessary knowledge Moreover, the educational institution operated without a license.

While Trump said in an interview during the March primaries that he wouldn't settle "because it's an easy case that can be won in court," Politico sources now say president-elect The United States is ready to pay from 20 to 25 million in compensation to former Trump University students and for legal services.

Trump himself, who promised to build a fence on the border with Mexico, previously said that the trial in California would not be fair because the judge has Mexican roots. Trump does not admit the existence of violations, but agrees to pay the required amount. In May, it was reported that after the presidential election, the billionaire would testify at the trial in this case. Now, according to his lawyers, the settlement will allow the politician to focus on his affairs in the White House.

According to media reports, the bulk of the amount will be paid to former students of the university. The remaining money will go to pay the lawyers involved in the trial. In particular, it is specified that cash about seven thousand people who studied at the Trump University organization will receive

“Today’s $25 million settlement agreement is a stunning concession by Donald Trump and a significant victory for the more than 6,000 victims of his charlatan university,” he said. attorney general New York Eric Schneiderman.

“I am pleased that this settlement will provide restitution to every victim and that Donald Trump will pay up to $1 million in fines to New York State for violating education laws,” he added.

Schneiderman previously called Trump University a "fraud from start to finish," adding that the school was making empty promises to make money off desperate people.

Prosecutors argued that the school, which promised to provide high-quality educational services, was in fact only collecting funds from its clients. Students were allegedly recruited only to participate in expensive and often useless seminars. On top of that, the five thousand students who paid $35,000 for their training were promised a personal meeting with Trump, but instead they were only expected to have a photograph against the background of a life-size photograph, RIA Novosti reports.

Let us note that the scandal surrounding “Trump University” was not ignored by his political opponent Hillary Clinton, who called educational institution"fraudulent structure".

What is happening in the USA now? Part 1

After Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, more and more messages began to arrive from overseas. However, after filtering these reports through Russian-language news agencies, it becomes unclear why one part of the electorate is so dissatisfied and why the other is rejoicing. Although, it would seem, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama recognized the voting results as legitimate. Realnoe Vremya columnist Alexander Galkin, who lives in Silicon Valley, saw how the mood of Americans was changing. In his column, written specifically for our online newspaper, he understands the current situation overseas.

Recently, the United States of America has been a source of breaking news almost every day. Behind the vast majority of them is Donald Trump, now the elected and officially inaugurated President of the United States. His statements, campaign promises and first actions as president - almost every action - immediately became sensations, actively covered by the press and discussed throughout the world. Never before has the country been so divided, and never before has the United States had such a president. What is happening now and how does it feel from the inside?

I want to say right away that I am not a political scientist and in general have very little to do with politics. Therefore, I do not pretend to have any kind of systematic analysis of the situation, or to correctly understand it. I will simply try to express my view on current events and my thoughts on this matter.

“The most painful fact for Trump’s political opponents is that despite all their efforts, Trump is a legitimate president who won the US election in accordance with all laws and rules.” Photo tvk6.ru

Election results and their rejection

Perhaps the most “painful” fact for Trump’s political opponents is that despite all their efforts, Trump is a legitimate president who won the US election in accordance with all laws and rules.

I already wrote in one of the previous issues that the United States has a rather unusual presidential election system, where it is decided not by an absolute majority, but by a system of electors. It was thanks to this feature (aimed at leveling the size of the states and invented for the equality of all states) that Trump was able to win the election despite the fact that a total of several million fewer people voted for him than for Hillary Clinton.

Between state elections and electoral votes political life literally exploded in the USA: if before this they laughed at Trump when he accidentally (was it by chance?) confused the date of the September 11 terrorist attacks (in English nine-eleven, 9/11) and the name of the chain of convenience stores (7-11, seven-eleven ), then during this period they began to directly voice accusations about discrediting the elections due to the intervention of Russian hackers and about a special dossier on him. Both on television and in films, he maintained this role of “a somewhat strange multimillionaire with presidential ambitions.”

There have been jokes about Trump's dream of becoming US President for many years: on Oprah's talk show (one of the most popular talk shows in the US) and Barack Obama in his annual speeches. Even the popular animated series "The Simpsons" played on this in one of the episodes where Marge finds herself in the future and becomes the next US President after Donald Trump! Thus, we can say that the image of Trump as the eternal candidate for US President has been known to every American for at least the last 20 years.

“The show, especially in the early years, was very successful, Trump even received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and added to his image as a brilliant businessman.” Photo nbcnews.com

The Candidate in "The Candidate" and "House of Cards"

However, Americans got to know him much better thanks to the reality game show “Apprentice,” which Trump hosted on NBC every Thursday for 14 years. In this show, candidates were given various non-trivial business tasks (increase start-up capital by selling lemonade, develop advertising campaign, sell paintings by abstract artists, etc.). Trump has been the engine of the show all along, as host with his constant monologue about one of the many facets of being a successful businessman, and as the sponsor of prizes for individual tour winners, who could dine in his penthouse or ride on his private jet with lunch on board. The show, especially in the early years, was very successful, Trump was even awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and added to his image the image of a brilliant businessman who knows how to do business despite any difficulties and in any situation (which, for the most part, reflected the real state of affairs of Trump, who in the 90s, due to the crisis, teetered on the brink of bankruptcy for a long time, but was able to get out of the debt hole and not lose his business). The show is still airing, and in 2017, Arnold Schwarzenegger is hosting it instead of Trump.

Both as the host of the show and during his presidential campaign, Trump was remembered for his rather scandalous, often even sexist, statements, which, however, had an extremely positive effect on his ratings. It is worth noting that almost simultaneously with the election campaign in the United States, a series about politics “ House of cards", where the emphasis is on the cunning and intrigue of modern political cuisine, on its hypocrisy and cruelty for the sake of preserving prestige. The characters in this series are surprisingly similar to typical American politicians, in particular the Clinton family (although this is never said). Against this background, Trump, as this is not the first time in a confrontation between two leading political parties The USA “plays the role” of an ordinary American (George Double-U Bush was very good at playing this role), who may be far from ideal, but is alien to hypocrisy and does not try to pretend to be someone he is not.

Victory over “non-traditional”

In the political arena of the United States, it was “House of Cards” that ruled for a long time: marginalized and vulnerable segments of society (LGBT community, low-income families, immigrants) were given more attention than “ordinary” (traditional, earning enough to support themselves or having their own business) to the Americans. All actions of the presidential administration and himself were aimed at adopting laws to protect these groups of the population, and the same Obamacare, which is constantly criticized by many (far from poor!) politicians, is aimed specifically at the social protection of the poor.

“Ordinary Americans began to fear that the government no longer represented their interests, and they were no longer the political majority. And electing Hillary Clinton as president would show the equality of women and men and would further reinforce these fears.” Photo washingtonpost.com

The constant shift in focus on these groups could not go unnoticed. Many Americans, with enough income to pay for health insurance and working tirelessly for it, were unhappy about this. In addition to the lack of attention to their interests, many of these segments of the population were also dissatisfied with the established norms of behavior and freedom of speech in the United States, when it was considered “good manners” to talk about supporting the rights of the disadvantaged and non-traditional social movements, even if you are indifferent to the former and disgusted by the latter. It was this group that was one of the main groups of Donald Trump’s electorate in the last elections. Trump, with all his controversial but sincere statements, reflected exactly what they, too, would like to express, but could not due to the prevailing norms of behavior in society.

And the fact that a huge miscalculation was made in predicting the election results, when even the day before the vote, Hillary Clinton was predicted to win with almost 90% probability, once again well reflects the tradition existing in modern American society, known as the “spiral of silence”, that is if you don’t like blacks, Jews and gays, then you are forced to remain silent and not talk about it, so as not to seem intolerant or discriminatory against someone. But this, in turn, led to the popularization of these social groups, and, as Belkovsky aptly noted, ordinary Americans began to fear that the government no longer represented their interests, and they were no longer the political majority. And electing Hillary Clinton as president would show the equality of women and men and would further reinforce these fears. That is why the forecast was so wrong: voters honestly lied when asked who they would vote for, so as not to reveal their real motives and requests ahead of time. It was this electorate that led Donald Trump to such an unexpected victory!

In the next episode we will talk about the inauguration and his first steps as President of the United States, discuss the protests and the consequences of this.

Alexander Galkin

Reference

Alexander Vladimirovich Galkin- development engineer at Microsoft; Wikipedia administrator and bureaucrat in Esperanto; polyglot.

• Born on February 26, 1979 in Kazan.
• In 1996 he graduated from Kazan gymnasium No. 102 with a gold medal.
• In 2002, he graduated with honors from the Pediatric Faculty of Kazan State Medical University.
• From 2002 to 2005 he worked at the Institute of Neurobiology in Berlin.
• In 2012 he graduated from the Technical University of Hamburg.
• Since 2013, he has been working at Microsoft as a Software Development Engineer in the Bing search engine division. The office is located in Sunnyvale, California (Silicon Valley).
• Fluent in Russian, Tatar, English, German, French and Esperanto. Also speaks Italian and Spanish.
• Author of articles on various topics on habrahabr.ru, geektimes.ru, pikabu.ru. Columnist of Realnoe Vremya.

Even before taking office as US President, Donald Trump said that he would begin to give his first orders not on Friday (immediately after the inauguration), but on Monday - the first working day of the week. According to media estimates, during the presidential race the Republican billionaire made 663 campaign promises, some of which he has already fulfilled over the past 24 hours. TASS studied which promises Trump kept and which he has yet to fulfill.

✔️ Exit from TPP

One of Trump's first decrees was the withdrawal of the United States from the number of countries that have agreements to create a new regional economic association - the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP provides for the complete abolition of customs duties on goods and services in the Asia-Pacific region, which, according to Trump, is extremely disadvantageous for America. The future prospects for the TPP are very vague: the Australian government has stated that it will seek to implement the agreement without the participation of the United States, while Japan does not support this option and intends to convince Donald Trump.

✖️ “Hard” policy with China

During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly said that he would take a tough stance on China from day one. In particular, the billionaire accused Beijing of manipulating the currency (yuan) and promised to introduce 45 percent duties on Chinese goods. Experts and politicians have rightly pointed out that such measures would lead to a “trade war” between China and the United States, but so far this has not happened. So far, only one resonant statement has been made from China from the White House: that the United States will interfere with the actions of the Chinese military in the South China Sea if they contradict American interests.

✔️ Moratorium on hiring new civil servants

On Monday, the American leader signed a decree that freezes the number of federal government employees at current levels and imposes a ban on its further expansion. Action of this document applies to all federal government employees, “except military,” Trump emphasized. These measures new president promised to accept as part of the fight against bureaucracy. He also proposed reducing the number of regulations: with each new law adopted, two outdated ones should be repealed.

✖️ Limiting migration

Trump's central campaign promise was to build a wall on the border with Mexico and take other measures to limit migration into the United States. Trump also intended “from day one” to begin deporting illegal immigrants, but the new president did not give any such orders. Journalists suggest that decrees may still follow this week, but the very fact that none of the anti-migration promises have yet been fulfilled suggests that the new administration will approach the problem of migrants more carefully than it seemed from Trump's words. Let us recall that he promised to evict 2-3 million people, while for Last year During the presidency of Barack Obama, 250 thousand people were expelled from the country.

✔️ Renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement

Trump has repeatedly spoken out in favor of renegotiating the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which, in his opinion, puts the United States at a disadvantage compared to its other two partners. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to begin negotiations with Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the agreement. "If Canada and Mexico refuse to renegotiate NAFTA to ensure a 'fair deal' for American workers, the United States will withdraw from the agreement," the White House says on its website.

✖️ Removal of restrictions on hydrocarbon production

During his first days in office, Trump promised to lift restrictions on hydrocarbon production, including offshore: "I will end job-killing restrictions on American energy production, including offshore energy and coal, creating millions of good-paying jobs. This what we want is what we are waiting for." After the inauguration, the America First Energy Plan was presented to the public, where these measures were reflected, but none of them have yet been put into effect.

✔️ Ban on financing abortion-related NGOs

During the presidential race, Trump has shown himself to be anti-abortion, and one of his first executive orders confirms this image. The day before, he signed an executive order that reinstates the ban on US federal authorities providing funds to foreign non-governmental organizations whose medical personnel perform abortions or provide information about them. This ban was introduced by President Ronald Reagan, who was a member of the US Republican Party, in 1985. The ban was then repealed by Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton (in 1993) and Barack Obama (in 2009). Republican George W. Bush restored the ban.

✖️Persecution of Hillary Clinton

If elected, Trump promised to immediately appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the case related to the correspondence of the former American Secretary of State and his main rival in the election, Hillary Clinton. Speaking to supporters, the Republican also announced his intentions to send his rival to prison (due to which the chant “Lock her up!” - “Lock her up!”) became popular at Trump’s speeches. Apparently, the new president decided not to take these measures and instead went for peace: during the inaugural lunch, he publicly thanked Hillary for her presence, shook her hand and even gave her a standing ovation.

Arthur Gromov

Republican Donald Trump, who won the US presidential election, made numerous non-trivial and sometimes sensational foreign policy statements during the election campaign. Together with experts, RT figured out how the new head of the White House will behave in the international arena and whether we should expect drastic changes in the US position on such pressing issues as relations with Russia and China, NATO policy in the world and the fight against terrorism.

Russia: new alliance or continuation of confrontation?

“I expect that we will have very, very good relations with Putin, with Russia... I think I can get along with him,”- the Republican promised during the election debate. He put forward the idea of ​​​​resetting relations with Moscow and did not even rule out that, having become president, he would recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation.

“Donald Trump has expressed a desire to meet with Vladimir Putin, but in the Republican Party itself, extremely negative sentiments towards Russia now prevail - much harsher than those of the administration of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton,” Sergei, scientific director of the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, emphasized in an interview with RT Rogov. “Yes, perhaps at first the intensity of the anti-Russian campaign will decrease and an attempt will be made to establish a normal dialogue, but to what extent Trump’s desire will be supported by his own administration is a very big question.”

“We don’t yet know the composition of the Trump administration: who will be his secretary of state, secretary of defense, national security adviser. In America, the president’s retinue plays an important role, and under Trump, his entourage may play an even greater role than usual, given his inexperience in the field of foreign policy,” notes Pavel, head of the Center for Russian-American Relations at the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a conversation with RT. Podlesny. “The problems that undermined our relations will not go away - disagreements on missile defense, on Ukraine, on the issue of NATO expansion. It should also be taken into account that in America, Congress plays no less a role in foreign policy than the president, and it has very large levers of influence on the administration. The president in the United States is an important figure, but not omnipotent. At the same time, in personal terms, Trump will certainly be a more comfortable dialogue partner for the Russian president than Hillary Clinton," suggests Podlesny.

In Europe and in Germany in particular, they hope that Trump will follow through on his promise to build good relations with Russia, Beatrice von Storch, member of the European Parliament from the Alternative for Germany party, told RT.

"Our party was afraid negative consequences for international stability after Hillary Clinton came to the White House, because she declared her readiness to give the toughest response to “Russian expansionism,” and this is not in our interests. So far, Trump has sent very positive signals to Russia, and this gives us great hope.”.

NATO and relations with Europe

During the election campaign, Trump stated that “America cannot afford a leading role in NATO and it is time to reduce spending on supporting allies, including Ukraine.”

“Our allies have a responsibility to bear their fair share of the financial, political and social costs that our gigantic security system demands... In NATO, only 4 of its 28 members, besides America, spend the minimum 2% of their GDP on defense, as required by the North Atlantic Treaty.” ,- the Republican emphasized.

In addition, he has repeatedly spoken out against the planned conclusion of a free trade agreement between the US and the EU - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

“Trump calls for a sober look at US interests and to act accordingly. These interests do not always mean that you need to spend money on supporting NATO allies, noted Pavel Podlesny. “He is not advocating a return to isolationism, but rather a reduction in American interference in areas where it should not interfere, and wants to pay more attention to what he considers the main thing.” Trump is going to shake up allies, and not only NATO, but also Japan and South Korea, so that they allocate 2% of their GDP to military spending. What will come of this is unknown: Washington has been raising this issue for the last 15 years, but the situation has not changed. Trump is not enthusiastic about the Transatlantic Partnership project, but what his real actions will be in this matter is unknown.”

The choice of the American people can be a powerful signal to the whole world - similar trends can already be observed in the most different countries, noted German MEP Beatrice von Stroch.

“People in Germany, members of our party, support free trade, but they are very skeptical about the prospect of concluding a Transatlantic Partnership agreement. Politicians enter into unpopular agreements and then try to force them through parliaments, without asking the people's opinion, without taking into account that people want something different. If the issue of (TTIP) was put to a popular vote in Europe, the vast majority of the population would vote against it.”

Relations with China

From the very beginning of his election campaign, Trump criticized China, characterizing this country as one of the main rivals of the United States, especially in the economic sphere. The billionaire declared his intention to “expand the American military presence in the South China Sea as a deterrent to China's territorial claims." In addition, he promised to tighten measures to protect American intellectual property and resist Beijing's attempts to expand exports through subsidies.

“The draft presidential decree declaring China a currency manipulator is already ready, it has already gone through all the stages, including hearings in Congress, all that remains is to sign it, and this means, in principle, the transition of the global confrontation between China and the United States into a direct clash, because all currency and devaluation wars have always led to “hot” wars,” noted political scientist Leonid Krutakov in an interview with RT. - At the same time, we must understand that the statements of Trump the candidate are one thing, but the actions of Trump the President are a little different, because I am sure he does not know all the obligations that the United States has, and their volumes, as well as all the undercurrents. But what under Trump foreign policy Washington will not become softer, obviously, because he came to power as a patriot and will act harshly, based on his ideas about the interests of the United States, and not the interests of China or Russia.”

“It is clear that Trump will one way or another fight with Chinese products, because he will not be able to boost American industry without attacking the interests of Chinese manufacturers,” an associate professor of the department shared his opinion with RT political theory MGIMO Kirill Koktysh. “I think he’s making good on his campaign promise to move Apple factories out of China.” For the simple reason that, given the choice between the American worker and the Chinese worker, Trump will defend the interests of the American worker.”

The Middle East and the fight against terrorism

The US President-elect sharply criticized the mistakes of the Barack Obama administration during the Arab Spring. Trump promised to “bomb into dust” oil facilities used by extremists in Syria, Iraq and Libya. According to him, in order to defeat the Islamic State*, it will be necessary to send a 30,000-strong American contingent to the Middle East. In addition, Trump intends to “restructure” the agreement on the Iranian nuclear program signed last year, which allowed to reduce tensions in the Persian Gulf and lift sanctions on Tehran. The Republican also promised to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and unconditionally support Israel.

In the Middle East, Trump is given complete freedom of action, since the billionaire does not have the same obligations in the region as Hillary Clinton, believes Kirill Koktysh.

“So he may well act approximately as he promised: if the Islamic State is a problem, then it must be fought, and if Russia is fighting the Islamic State, then we can only thank it for that. Trump is interested in solving problems, not creating chaos. You need to understand that it represents the interests primarily of the real economy, and not of financial capital. And these are completely different interests and quite high antagonism. That is, financial capital, of course, primarily focused on the Middle East, including on destabilizing the region. The Middle East will not cease to be an area of ​​US interests, but these interests will be rethought, and a constructive conversation about this reconfiguration may well take place,” says the political scientist.

“If Trump manages to achieve some kind of rapprochement with Russia, then there is a possibility that some kind of agreement will be reached regarding Libya,” he said in an interview with RT Arabic former prime minister Libyan National Transitional Council Mahmoud Jabril. - There are three points of tension regarding Donald Trump’s interaction with the countries of the Middle East, or the Arab world, and, in particular, the Islamic world. The first source of tension is the issue of Jerusalem. The second is the Iranian issue. I think Trump will take a new approach in relations with Iran. This will give countries Persian Gulf an incentive to develop cooperation with the United States.”

Latin America

During the election campaign, Donald Trump called for the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico with a length of about 1.6 thousand km to ensure the security of the United States, and, in his opinion, this construction should be financed by its southern neighbor. The Republican also announced his intention to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he claimed gives Mexico "a huge trade surplus," and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.

“Trump needs Latin American markets. As a matter of fact, he will not be able to revive American industry if he does not ensure its access to Latin American markets, says Kirill Koktysh. - Therefore, I think the wall and many other things can become basic negotiating concepts. Trump needs, on the one hand, to demonstrate the promised toughness, and on the other, to obtain the necessary concessions from Latin American countries. Therefore, there will be political bargaining here.”

The editor-in-chief of Latin America magazine, Vladimir Travkin, suggests that some of the measures promised by Trump to limit the influx of illegal immigration through Mexico will be implemented.

“Some restrictions will be introduced, but I don’t think he will do exactly what he outlined in his election speeches. It must be remembered that the United States includes a huge territory - almost half of the Mexico that existed in the 19th century, and these territories were obtained along with the population. The Americans captured these territories without expelling the population, so there is a significant number of indigenous “Latinos” in the United States. Then labor immigration began, and it was not always legal, so this is a very complex issue. These people play a large role in the US economy, and a certain part of business uses their labor because it is cheaper than the labor of white Americans of European descent." The editor-in-chief explained his position.

* “Islamic State” (IS) is a terrorist organization banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.