WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The newly elected President of the United States of America Donald Trump began his second term with full intensity, making a series of important decisions immediately after taking the oath of office.
At the Capital One Arena, in front of a large number of his supporters, Trump signed executive orders, among which the announcement of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the postponement of the ban on TikTok, as well as plans to introduce new tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
In addition, he made key decisions regarding immigration and trade policy, while speaking critically about the actions of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Trump again declared Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism
Trump revoked the Biden administration's decision to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, which was made on January 11.
Trump's decision effectively puts Cuba back on the list that the Republican president himself put on the list at the end of his first term in 2021.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico
Among Trump's first executive orders was one that ordered the Secretary of the Interior to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The same order also instructs the secretary to rename Alaska's Denali Mountain to Mount McKinley - in honor of the 25th US president whose tariff policies Trump admires. President Barack Obama changed the name from McKinley to Denali to reflect what Native tribes call it. It is the highest mountain peak in North America.
Censorship and Political Persecution - Unclear What Was Signed
Trump signed a directive that "orders the restoration of free speech and prevents government censorship." Details on what the directive specifically does are not currently available.
The order directs the attorney general to investigate the activities of officials at agencies such as the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission during the previous administration.
The new US president also signed a document that seeks to end the "weaponization of the government against political opponents." No details were immediately available.
Diversity and gender
Trump issued an executive order declaring that the US will recognize only two genders, male and female. "These genders are not changeable and are based on fundamental and irrefutable realities," Trump said.
The order will affect transgender policies regarding government communications, civil rights protections and federal funding, as well as prisons. It will affect official documents such as passports and visas.
Trump announces US withdrawal from World Health Organization
Trump announced that he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, a significant step in severing ties with the United Nations public health agency on his first day in office.
He has long been critical of the WHO, and his administration formally withdrew the United States from the organization in July 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread.
The executive order cited the organization’s “mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to enact urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from undue political influence by WHO member states” as reasons for the U.S. withdrawal.
“This is a big step,” Trump told an aide as he began signing the executive order, referring to his 2020 decision and his belief that the United States was providing too much money to the organization compared to other countries.
TikTok ban delayed for 75 days
As he promised on Sunday, Trump signed an executive order delaying the implementation of the TikTok ban for 75 days.
The order directs the U.S. Department of Justice not to enforce the Foreign Enemy Controlled Apps Act, which passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress and was signed into law in April by former President Joe Biden. The law required that TikTok be banned in the U.S. starting Jan. 19 unless it was purchased by an American or one of its allies.
The law gives the president broad authority to enforce the ban. Trump’s promise in a post on the Truth Social platform that he would sign an executive order suspending the law on Monday was enough of a promise to bring TikTok, which was offline for more than 12 hours from Saturday night to Sunday, back online Sunday afternoon.
But TikTok’s ultimate fate in the U.S. remains uncertain. It’s unclear whether TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, would want to sell the app, even if a deal were brokered by Trump.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had changed his mind about TikTok because “I started using it.”
"And remember, TikTok is mostly for kids, young kids. If China is taking information from it about young kids... I honestly think we have bigger problems than that," Trump said.
Plans to meet with Putin, wants Ukraine war to end "as soon as possible"
Trump said he plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin once the conditions for negotiations are set, a process he said is already underway.
After saying as a candidate that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, Trump noted that he still has half a day to achieve that goal.
"We're going to try to end it as quickly as possible. You know, the war between Ukraine and Russia should never have started," he told reporters in the Oval Office.
Mexico, Canada tariffs set for Feb. 1
Trump said he expects to impose new tariffs on Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1. He told reporters in the Oval Office that he is considering a 25% tariff on imports from North American neighbors.
That represents about a week of delay in the tariffs he promised to impose on his first day in office.
When asked about the tariffs on China, Trump stressed that the tariffs he imposed as president during his first term were still in effect.
He signed a series of executive orders on immigration, calling them “big”
Trump signed a series of executive orders on immigration that will lead to tougher immigration policies, a culmination of several of his campaign promises.
Some of Trump’s orders represent unfinished business from his first term in the White House. They include designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which could precede the use of military force on Mexican soil.
“Mexico probably doesn’t want to do that, but we have to do what’s right,” Trump said.
Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations could also lead to tougher financial sanctions and legal consequences in the United States for those involved.
Trump also signed an executive order that would end birthright citizenship, a constitutional issue that would have to be resolved through a constitutional amendment or through the courts.
“Civil rights. That’s big,” he said.
Trump also signed an order declaring a national emergency on the U.S. southern border, which could trigger the use of additional Pentagon resources and the deployment of military forces to complete a border wall, among other efforts. He focuses solely on securing the southern border.
But he insists he’s “okay with legal immigration.”
Trump finds letter Biden left for him in Oval Office
Trump found a letter former President Joe Biden left for him on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office while he was signing executive orders and answering questions from reporters.
When a reporter asked Trump if Biden had left him a letter, Trump said he didn’t know, then looked down at the desk, where he found it.
He didn’t open it or read it at the time.
