BY KERRY LEAR

America sent a message when they elected Donald Trump as their next president. Evidently, the American public wants change and isn’t happy with the state of the government.

Trump is expected to be the ultimate change agent, so let’s go over the policies he plans to eliminate or modify in his first few months in the oval office.

Goodbye Trans-Pacific Partnership.

“Within the first 100 days, his administration will drop out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and 100 days after that it could withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless certain demands are met, according to the described policy road map,” writes Politico.

“Other first-day business includes labeling China a currency manipulator — something the Obama administration avoided in its eight years — and teaming up the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to examine all major proposed foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies to ensure equal opportunities for American investors abroad.”

Through his campaign, Trump criticized current trade deals and promised to negotiate much more profitable ones.

“Every trade deal we have is horrible and we should be ashamed of … the people that let those deals happen,” said Trump in an October speech. “They’re defective, and they knew they were defective, and they were done for a reason. Believe me, they will be unwound so fast.”

Specifically, Trump plans to renegotiate NAFTA. “Of all the controversial proposals, renegotiating NAFTA could have the biggest impact on the U.S. economy. On Day One, Trump’s administration will request that Canada and Mexico start to renegotiate the deal, which the New York billionaire has maligned as the “worst trade deal in history,” writes Politico.

Apparently, Canada is open to this idea.

“I think it’s important that we be open to talking about trade deals,” said Justin Trudeau, Canadian prime minister to reporters. “If the Americans want to talk about NAFTA, I’m more than happy to talk about it.”

As for NATO, will the U.S. pull out of the world’s largest peacetime alliance? Potentially.

“Maybe NATO will dissolve and that’s OK, not the worst thing in the world,” said Trump formerly at a town-hall meeting.

The U.S. currently contributes 22 percent of the NATO’s budget. But, Trump has said he thinks this agreement isn’t in our country’s best interest.

“If we are not going to be reasonably reimbursed for the tremendous cost of protecting these massive nations with tremendous wealth … then yes, I would be absolutely prepared to tell those countries, ‘Congratulations, you will be defending yourself,” said Trump to the New York Times.

These statements have cause the NATO leaders to be anxious about the organization’s future.

“I feel sure that the campaigner Trump will be different from the President Trump, so I fully support a quick meeting with Trump,” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO secretary general to the British TV network Sky News. “Some of Mr. Trump’s statements from his campaign have raised a lot of concerns in Europe, including he raised doubts about the American commitment to the defense of NATO allies. We need a very firm hand — in terms of Russia and ISIS. I think it is possible to address these issues with a President Trump.”

Another agreement Trump has criticized is the Iran deal.

“During his campaign, Mr. Trump said the Obama administration negotiated badly. He alternately said he would scrap the deal and that he would renegotiate its terms. “My number one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with Iran,” he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in March,’ writes The Wall Street Journal.

And what about other policies that the Obama administration put in place?

“Mr. Kobach (secretary of state in Kansas) a Trump administration could also put an end to sue-and-settle practices. That is when agencies essentially collude with interest groups, inviting them to sue to force action. The agency then agrees to a settlement that ends up writing rules that the interest groups want,” writes The Washington Times. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says dozens of EPA regulations, including the power plant greenhouse gas emissions rules, were written this way, outside of the usual public process.”

Originally published by Punching Bag Media