U.S. president-elect Donald Trump delivered his first public address since election night via social media, of course. Instead of holding a formal news conference, Trump chose YouTube to communicate his message.
In a two-and-a-half minute video uploaded on Monday night, the future president outlined his policy plans for his first 100 days in office. Trump said he asked his transition team to develop a list of executive actions for when he takes office. He touched on issues such as trade and national security, but steered clear of remarking on his more controversial pledges, such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, or repealing the Affordable Care Act.
“Whether it’s producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America — creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” Trump declared.
At the end of the video, the president-elect promised to provide more updates on the White House transition and his policies in the coming days. He also sought to reassure his audience that he is working to “make America great again for everyone and I mean everyone.”
Just in case you missed Trump’s video message, here’s a rundown of the six policy plans he pledged to implement in his first 100 days as president.
Trade:
Trump vowed to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which he called “a potential disaster for our country.” The 12-country trade deal would remove trade barriers and tariffs among the participating nations. The TPP deal has been signed by the U.S., but it has yet to be ratified by the U.S. Senate.
He claimed that his alternative solution for trade will be to negotiate bilateral trade deals that will bring jobs and industry back to America.
Energy:
The future president promised to cancel restrictions on the production of American energy. He called the restrictions “job-killing” and said the cancellations would create millions of high-paying jobs in sectors such as shale energy and clean coal. Trump didn’t elaborate on what restrictions would be targeted or how eliminating them would result in “millions” of jobs.
“That’s what we want,” Trump said. “That’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
Regulation:
Trump didn’t offer too many details about his plan to decrease regulation, except that, for every new regulation enacted, two old regulations will be “eliminated.”
National security:
In terms of national security, the president-elect was also light on specifics. He announced that he will ask the U.S. Department of Defence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a “comprehensive plan” to protect the U.S. against cyberattacks and other forms of attacks. Trump didn’t provide any more particulars as to what that plan might entail.
Immigration:
Trump shied away from discussing his controversial campaign pledge to build a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border, or his inflammatory proposal to deport illegal immigrants. Instead, the future president just said that he would direct the Department of Labour to investigate abuses of Visa programs.
Ethics reform:
The president-elect referred to his recurring promise to “drain the swamp” of lobbyists and special interest groups in Washington. In the video message, Trump declared that he would impose a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists after they leave office. He went one step further by announcing that he would also implement a lifetime ban on executive officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
