It really speaks to how American citizens think a man’s second presidential term will go when Google searches for “how to move to Canada” spike following your victory in the electoral college.  With Donald Trump returning to the White House in January of 2025 with a Republican majority in both houses of Congress and a conservative leaning Supreme Court, here’s what to expect from Trump’s new administration. 

Economy

Trump’s economic ideology remains mostly unchanged from his first term in office, albeit with a radical shift in tariff policy. Tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy will still take place, forcing the majority of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck to have to pick up the slack and increase how much they are taxed. Trump’s tariffs are predicted by economists to put even more strain on Americans. His administration plans to put a tariff on every imported good, hoping that it will reduce reliance on foreign products. In reality, a tariff of 10%-20% is expected to be met with companies raising prices to compensate, causing inflation to rise from 6%-9.3%, and the average annual household cost to go up from $2,600-$7,600. 

Foreign Relations

Historically foreign nations have retaliated when the U.S. has imposed tariffs on goods. Trump’s tariffs alone are going to hurt the United States’s relations with the other countries of the world, especially allies. Openly considering reducing how much the U.S. contributes to NATO in the future has certainly put our European allies in a tough spot. They need U.S. support to be able to stand up to Russia, and Trump knows this, but repeatedly has claimed that NATO member nations are taking financial advantage of the United States by not spending the required 2% of their GDP on defense. Because of this, Trump has even threatened to leave NATO. It's for this same reason that Trump doesn’t support sending additional military aid to Ukraine in its war against Russia, instead claiming with no evidence that he would end the war quickly. However, Trump will support more military aid to Israel, which has killed 43,391 Palestinians (mostly civilians) since October 7th, 2023. 

Immigration 

What can be seen as Trump’s boldest statement of the 2024 campaign, he has stated that his administration will carry out a mass deportation of anyone suspected to have entered the US illegally. Using the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, authorities can bypass due process and deport all people they believe to be in the U.S. illegally, or anyone part of  drug cartels and gangs. Trump also wants to reimpose limits on people seeking asylum in the U.S., using Title 42 to reject migrants from entering the U.S. on public health grounds. The Trump Administration will also end birthright citizenship to children born to people who came to the US illegally and deport them, and also expand his travel ban on Muslim-majority nations on people who hold viewpoints Trump doesn’t like.

Abortion

Donald Trump appointed three of the six judges who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which led to 21 states tightening restrictions to abortion access, with many having total bans, and he has repeatedly claimed full credit for all of that. Even though Trump has said that he would not sign a national abortion ban, he is well known for changing his stance on abortion. Trump’s being connected to Project 2025, which advocates for a national ban, means that there’s really no telling if he’ll keep his promise. But there is one thing for certain: abortion bans have led to people not being able to receive medical care in life-threatening situations, and maternal fatalities have increased in states with abortion bans. 

Climate Change

In a year with two major hurricanes hitting the United States in the span of two weeks, Donald Trump still refuses to trust scientists who have expressed concern over the worsening climate situation. Trump will again pull out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, in which nations agreed to lower greenhouse gas emissions. His administration will also attempt to undo the Inflation Reduction Act, a law that provides subsidies for electric vehicles and clean energy sources, and instead increase drilling for oil and natural gas. To do this, he will open almost all U.S. waters and protected land to drilling. All of these policies combined are expected by scientists to only increase greenhouse gas emissions, raise the world temperature and sea levels, and make climate change worse.

Trump’s first term was characterized as a chaotic mess, seeing as no one, including Republicans, thought that he would win. This time around, Trump and his loyalists have a plan ready, people in place, and the federal government in the palm of their hand. For the next two years, depending on how the 2026 midterm elections will shake out, Donald Trump will have dictator-like reign over the United States, and it is already expected by many to be a disaster.