Seven Donald Trump policies that could change the US - CNBC News

Donald Trump's stunning victory in Tuesday's US presidential election sets the stage for a series of radical policy reversals both at home and abroad.

A Trump presidency could scupper some of Barack Obama's signature achievements, including Obamacare, climate change policy and the nuclear deal with Iran. Democratic hopes of shaping the Supreme Court for a generation would be dashed; a markedly more conservative court is now likely. Foreign policy could also undergo a dramatic shift.

Many analysts caution that there is a big difference between campaign promises and official policy — trade renegotiations sometimes turn out to be less substantive than advertised. Commitments on foreign policy issues, such as moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, are sometimes set aside.

But here are seven ways in which life could change under a President Donald Trump.

1. Trade

Mr Trump has opposed the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership deal and called for fundamental changes to the Nafta pact with Mexico and Canada. Such policies appear to have boosted his appeal throughout the rust belt of the Midwest, with huge consequences for the election's ultimate outcome. He has also threatened to impose punitive 45 per cent tariffs on goods from China, stoking fears of a trade war.

2. Foreign policy

Mr Trump has said that Mr Obama's deal with Iran, which seeks to prevent the Islamic Republic from attaining nuclear weapons, would be dismantled or at least restructured. While Mr Obama began his term by setting out a vision of a world without nuclear weapons, Mr Trump has said he would be open to both Japan and South Korea developing nuclear arsenals. He has also questioned the US's treaty commitments to Nato allies that do not pay their own way while suggesting a much closer relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

3. Healthcare

Mr Trump has signed up to the Republican pledge that Mr Obama's signature Obamacare reforms must be "released and replaced". He has not set out a comprehensive alternative but says he will encourage competition between markets in different states.

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4. Tax policy

Mr Trump has promised the biggest tax revolution since Ronald Reagan, pledging to cut taxes across the board. He says no American business would pay more than 15 per cent of their profits in tax, compared with a current maximum of 35 per cent. The top rate of tax would fall from 39.6 per cent as the Republican reduces the number of tax brackets.

5. Supreme Court

For many political activists in the US this could be the biggest consequence of the election. With the highest court in the land currently split 4-4 between conservative and more liberal judges, Hillary Clinton's supporters had hoped that a ninth justice chosen by a Democratic president would shift the balance, possibly for a generation. Instead, Mr Trump faces relatively easy confirmation of his pick by a Republican Senate and he may also have the opportunity to replace some of the relatively elderly complement of liberal judges.

6. Climate change

Mr Trump has called global warming a hoax invented by China to make US manufacturers uncompetitive and vowed to "cancel" the Paris climate agreement, which built on a deal Mr Obama struck with China. He also says he would stop all US payments for UN global warming programmes.

7. Immigration

This is the issue that excited most passions in the campaign, both among Mr Trump's supporters and among Hispanic voters eager to prevent him from taking the White House. Mrs Clinton and departing Mr Obama had backed comprehensive reforms that would give illegal immigrants a chance at full citizenship. Mr Trump has campaigned on his pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border, called for a ban on Muslim immigration and the deportation of 11m unauthorised immigrants. However, he has subsequently made more ambiguous statements, promising instead "extreme vetting" and declining to clarify his precise plans for undocumented immigrants.

Nine times Donald Trump has already betrayed the US voters who put their faith in him - Independent

Donald Trump made some of the most divisive and outlandish pledges ever heard during a US election campaign.

Supporters hailed him as an outspoken radical, but are they about to discover what happens when a politician says anything to win an election?

Scrapping Obamacare

Trump railed against Barack Obama’s flagship policy to allow millions of poor Americans to access healthcare.

Pledging to ditch the policy during the campaign, he said: "We will do it very quickly. It is a catastrophe."

Now he says he might simply reform it, keeping the ban on insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to be insured on parents’ policies.

Trump said he was persuaded to keep the elements by Mr Obama, who he previously accused of founding the Islamic State.

Jailing Hillary Clinton

Trump told supporters he would appoint a prosecutor to pursue criminal charges against his Democratic rival over her use of a private email server as Secretary of State, a scandal he said was "bigger than Watergate".

Donald Trump claims Hillary Clinton is 'protected by a rigged system'

At his rallies they chanted: "Lock her up, lock her up". He said to her face that if he were in power: "You’d be in jail."

But asked about the plan after his win, he said: "It’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought."

After a single phone call with Clinton, Trump was apparently convinced she is actually not a politician whose "corruption is on a scale we’ve never seen before", but instead that she "couldn't have been nicer".

The Mexico wall

Possibly the greatest symbol of Trump’s uncompromising approach. After claiming that Mexicans coming across the border are "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists", he later declared "we're going to do a wall."

Furthermore he said Mexico would pay to build it, leading to supporters chanting "build the wall".

Donald Trump labels Mexican criminals ‘bad hombres’ to much derision

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump adviser, has now cast doubt on whether the new president would pursue its neighbour after all.

He said: "He’ll spend a lot of time controlling the border. He may not spend very much time trying to get Mexico to pay for it, but it was a great campaign device."

Banning Muslims

There were cheers from Trump supporters, and global outrage, when Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" in 2015.

This year the idea was recast as a ban on people from nations that were "compromised by terrorism". After meeting Republican leaders this week a reporter asked Trump, "will you ask Congress to ban all Muslims from entering the country?"

He appeared to hear the question before thanking everybody and leaving.

Donald Trump is reminded mid-interview that India is a nation of Muslims Christians and Hiindus

Taxing China

While blaming foreign powers for the demise of US industry, Trump pointed a finger at Beijing. He suggested a tax on Chinese goods which "should be 45 per cent". Senior policy adviser Wilbur Ross has now retreated.

"He’s been misquoted about the 45 per cent on China. Everybody says, ‘Oh, he’s going to slap 45 per cent tariff on everything out of China.’ That’s not what he said, and it’s not what he intends," Ross told Yahoo Finance.

"What he actually said was if it turns out that the Chinese yuan is 45 per cent overvalued, or as much as 45, and if they won’t negotiate with us, then it may become necessary as a negotiating measure to threaten them with as much as a 45 per cent tariff."

Not such a catchy chant for a campaign rally.

Iran nuclear deal

Iran is another foreign country that provided Mr Trump with a handy target during his election campaign.

In October Vice President-elect Mike Pence said a Trump administration would "rip up the Iran deal."

But Trump adviser Walid Phares told the BBC after the election win: "‘Ripping up’ is maybe a too strong word. He’s going to take that agreement, it’s been done before in international context, and then review it."

Other countries will pay for their own defence

Nato allies were left shaken after Trump appeared to say he could withdraw US backing for the alliance, if the he did not feel they were paying enough for defence.

He also said he would be willing to withdraw US military stationed in South Korea unless Seoul paid more.

After a phone call with Park Geun-hye, the South Korean President’s office reported that Trump pledged his commitment to defending South Korea under an existing security alliance.

Bringing back waterboarding

Trump left critics gobsmacked after saying during the campaign he would reinstate the use of waterboarding. The practice was made illegal after its use during the Bush era.

CNN reported that former Republican House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers said this week that Trump’s remarks were just "campaign talk".

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Law and Order

He told supporters that any politician who failed to grasp the need for law and order is "not fit to lead our country".

But despite repeating the phrase "law and order" four whole times at one rally, the rest of his divisive rhetoric has still had adverse consequences.

Rowdy protests have already led to dozens of arrests. Demonstrators across the US are preparing for a weekend of action. More than 10,000 people signed up to attend a noon march today in New York. Other activists have begun work to disrupt his inauguration, according to reports.

US military and security officers are considering quitting after Trump win - Independent

Officials in the US military and intelligence services are debating resigning following Donald Trump's election, it has been reported.

Mr Trump has previously spoken of his plans to introduce an authoritarian approach to national security. His most controversial suggestions include reviving the use of torture, banning Muslims from entering the US, targeting the families of terrorism suspects and detaining terror suspects indefinitely.

Sources in the military, intelligence services, diplomatic corps and federal law enforcement have reportedly told The Guardian they now face a moral dilemma over whether to continue in their jobs under a Trump presidency.

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They are said to be "fearful" of carrying out orders over concerns they may breach legal boundaries or moral limits.

In August, 50 Republican foreign policy and national security officials signed an open letter stating that Mr Trump "would be the most reckless president in American history." They accused him of having an "alarming ignorance" over basic international issues and said he "lacks the character, values and experience" to be in charge of security related issues.

However, Mr Trump dismissed the claims, retorting: The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves blame for making the world such a dangerous place". He added that they were a "failed Washington elite".

During the bid for the Republican nomination, Mr Trump outlined a hard-line stance on torture, mocking rival Ted Cruz for apparently shying away from the use of waterboarding. At one event, Mr Trump said of Mr Cruz: "He didn't want to get involved because he thought waterboarding was bad, so- of course it's bad, but it's not chopping off heads, folks. Okay? That I can tell you.

"They're chopping off our heads in the Middle East. They want to kill us, they want to kills us. They want to kill our country. They want to knock out our cities. And don't tell me it doesn't work- torture works. Okay, folks?"

During another debate in March, Mr Trump also insisted it would be legal and fair to intentionally kill families of terrorists. When asked what he would do if military personnel refused to enact the apparently illegal orders, he said: "They won't refuse, they're not going to refuse me- believe me."

The President-elect has also been criticised for not having military experience as during the Vietnam War, he evaded military service through student deferments while at university.He told a biographer that he "always felt like I had been in the military" due to spending time at the New York Military Academy where he was sent by his parents due to behavioural problems.

The biggest winner of all could end up being hedge fund billionaire John Paulson from Trump win - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON ― To the victor belong the spoils.

President-elect Donald Trump may have won election with the support of white working class and rural voters in northern states raging against the elites, but the biggest winner of all could end up being hedge fund billionaire John Paulson.

Paulson, head of Paulson & Co., was one of the very few big names on Wall Street to immediately back Trump after he secured the GOP nomination. The billionaire investor hosted Trump in June for a fundraiser at Le Cirque, a jackets-required midtown Manhattan haunt for the wealthy styled after a traveling French circus, where top donors (like Paulson) coughed up $250,000 to attend.

Now, Paulson is a top policy advisor to the incoming Trump administration and he is poised to cash out from the administration big league. Back when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the federal government, their shares were declared value-less. But speculators bought up their stock at pennies on the dollar, with the hope of pressuring the government to recapitalize the housing lenders’ losses and release them back to the private market. If the shares could rise from just pennies to $30 or 40, the gains would be astronomical.

Paulson is one of the biggest investors in Fannie and Freddie stock and signs point to Trump going forward with their preferred policy. It will provide a windfall of hundreds of millions if not billions for billionaires like Paulson and Fairholme Capital Management’s Bruce Berkowitz, among others. Berkowitz backed Trump and donated $125,000 to his campaign.

Fannie and Freddie stock skyrocketed as soon as Trump was declared the election winner. They have since come down a bit.

Hedge fund billionaire investor Bill Ackman said on Friday that Fannie and Freddie will be resolved in the Trump administration’s first 12 months. “I was extremely bullish on Trump, believe it or not,” he said, speaking at the Dealbook conference.

Trump may yet find opposition from members of his own party in Congress if he does decide to side with Paulson and his other advisors on Fannie and Freddie. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) promoted a bipartisan policy that would do away with the two government-sponsored housing lenders and replace them with a system relying on private loans. In the House, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) is advocate of eliminating Fannie and Freddie entirely within five years.

Paulson’s approach to what might be called political speculation has, in the past, pushed the bounds of traditional lobbying. He and allies retained an array of dark money groups, as well as some traditional lobbying firms, in an effort to move public perception around an issue, whether it was the sovereign debt of Argentina, Puerto Rican bonds or, in this case, U.S. housing finance policy.

The technique was the subject of a previous Huffington Post investigation, but despite Paulson’s efforts, neither the bets on Puerto Rico or Fannie Mae were paying off.

But his latest bet, placed on Donald Trump, might finally hit. Rather than funding groups who work to shift public opinion and pressure policymakers to make a decision that benefits him, he could instead cut out the middleman, and simply put in place staff that will do what Paulson needs.

“John Paulson made a big bet on Donald Trump’s campaign and it’s going to pay off in a big, big way,” said Michael Kink, president of the Strong Economy for All Coalition that sponsors the group Hedge Clippers, which investigates hedge fund influence in American politics.

Paulson & Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paulson is perhaps best known for having bet against the U.S. subprime mortgage market in 2007, making about $4 billion. The ensuing global recession tanked economies around the world, sent unemployment skyrocketing and destabilized governments in Europe and North America.

Over the past few years, Paulson and other hedge fund investors have deployed an intense lobbying and public relations campaign in Washington over a variety of issues that would benefit their bottom line. This included heavy lobbying to make sure debts Puerto Rico owed to their hedge funds were first in line for full repayment and getting the federal government to release Fannie and Freddie.

Much of this lobbying has come through the DCI Group, a massive corporate lobbying group that cut its chops running so-called astroturf campaigns for the tobacco industry. Astroturf is when grassroots support or opposition to a policy is manufactured from the top down. This has involved the creation of front groups supposedly made up of citizens, but entirely funded by billionaire investors and controlled by lobby shops like DCI Group.

Through the DCI Group, Paulson and other big investors in Fannie and Freddie have hired economic experts, including former Clinton administration honcho Robert Shapiro, to pen papers favorable to their cause. They’ve paid money to civil rights groups to sign their name on to policies that would benefit the hedge funds.

This type of shadowy blending of private profit and the public interest was a centerpiece of Trump’s campaign, as he vowed to “drain the swamp” and put an end to corruption in Washington.

But the Trump campaign has been filled with DCI Group alumni throughout the election. Former DCI Group lobbyist Doug Davenport was traveling with the Trump campaign as an advisor. Jim Murphy, former president of DCI Group, was hired as Trump’s political director in June, but departed with 18 days to go on the campaign.

Joining Paulson on the Trump transition team is another supporter of his favored Fannie and Freddie policy: former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. The far-right politician was tapped to lead Trump’s domestic policy transition team. In 2014, while working for a nonprofit founded by investors in Fannie and Freddie stock, he penned many op-eds calling for the hedge fund-backed policy of recapitalization and release.

Trump has routinely sided with the hedge fund campaigns throughout the campaign. The Republican Party platform enacted at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland included support for the recapitalization and release of Fannie and Freddie. He also endorsed the hedge fund campaign to pressure Puerto Rico to pay back debts to them first.

His election victory is already paying off for Paulson. The billionaire’s hedge fund saw a massive gain of $463 million on Wednesday on the strength of its investments in pharmaceutical companies. That is only the beginning of the windfall Trump’s election provides to his billionaire donors.