Since the day of his inauguration on January 20th, President Donald Trump has wasted no time in making new policy changes. There have already been countless executive orders concerning immigration, Tiktok, women’s sports, foreign affairs, and more. Trump has signed more executive orders in his first 100 days than any president since the Reagan administration. As of Friday, he has signed 89. For comparison, at this point in the term, former President Joe Biden had signed 37. More recently, there have been three major events that will have a lasting impact on not only the Trump administration, but American history as a whole.
“Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” is the title of the executive order signed by President Trump in early February. In attendance at the White House on the day of the signing were many young female athletes and women’s sports activists. This executive order stemmed from the recent issues regarding transgender women competing in women’s sports. One side argues that those who have transitioned should have the same liberties and receive the same treatment as those who were born biologically female. The opposing argument is that transgender females have a significant physical advantage due to lasting male biological factors, and therefore have an unfair advantage in athletic competition. Due to this ongoing debate, we are also seeing a resurfacing of Title IX, instituted by President Nixon in 1972. Title IX was created to ensure that education programs, activities, and anything that received federal funding, were not discriminating based on sex. This created more opportunities for young girls in education and sports. Today, some are arguing that allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports is infringing on the goals of Title IX. The newly signed executive order states that any educational institution that allows transgender athletes to compete on girls athletic teams will lose funding and assistance from the federal government. The goal of this is to not only prevent transgender athletes from competing, but also to reinforce the sentiment and purpose of Title IX.
On Friday February 28th, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a meeting with President Trump and Vice President Vance to discuss the role of the United States in regards to aid towards Ukraine and the war against Russia. The now infamous debacle, what some new sources have called the “Oval Office Blowup” did not yield the results Zelenskyy intended. This was after the White House had announced a pause in military aid for Ukraine. Zelenskyy had said that Ukraine had not been directly told this, but they learned it via the White House on X. In regards to the meeting, Zelenskyy said “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than the Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.” At various points, Trump and Vance suggested allowing Russia to obtain some of Ukraine’s territory in order to expedite the end of the war. However, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal made it clear that Ukraine would not recognize any occupation of Ukrainian lands by Russia. The meeting became a stalemate, as neither side was showing a strong desire to compromise. It was getting more and more heated by the minute– it was obvious that a compromise was unlikely. The meeting ended abruptly– tensions had risen, hostilities were high, no agreement was made. What made this meeting so incredibly unique was that it was televised. It is not common for the whole world to be able to watch two president’s meet face to face and discuss an ongoing war. Due to the viewing abilities, this was all over the media. Obviously, living in 2025, there are going to be those who agree with Trump and those that agree with Zelenskyy. Some argued that Zelenskyy did not respect the President and the White House by not attending the meeting in a suit where others argue that his clothing choice is irrelevant in a time of war. Some agree with Trump and the argument that the United States should be putting our money into our own country, whereas those who disagree argue that we as a country carry the duty to help Ukraine. While this meeting did end abruptly, on March 11th, representatives from the United States and Ukraine met in Saudi Arabia to make progress. As of March 18th, when Putin and Trump spoke on the phone, Russia has not conceded many demands. Both Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to halt infrastructure strikes and will continue with a prisoner exchange program with Ukraine.
In regards to the economy, the world of trade is rapidly changing. Recently, President Trump has announced a 25% additional tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico as well as an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, and a possible 200% tariff on European wine. Since then, there has been a trade war with these tariffs going on and off repeatedly. In simple terms, a tariff is a tax on imported or exported goods going from one country to another. So, this tariff will make it more expensive to import products from Canada and Mexico into the US. This will make these items more expensive to purchase, so it will affect both the manufacturing industry and the consumers. Specifically regarding the items imported, the US imports a lot of oil, petroleum, cars, and lumber from Canada. Additionally, Mexico is where we get lots of vehicles, machinery, oil, gas, and produce. As a result of our reliance on Mexico and Canada for these products, it is likely that we will see a price increase in these products. In terms of responses to this tariff, Mexico argues that this tariff is a violation of the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA). So, what was the purpose of this tariff increase? While there are various contributing factors, the main two are to pressure an improvement in border control, and balance trade imbalances. In terms of border control, the US wants to see a change in illegal immigration and drug trafficking primarily from the southern border. While the tariff doesn’t directly impact the border control, it acts more of a way of giving the US leverage in the situation and putting pressure on the other nations to improve the border crisis. In regards to trade imbalance, President Trump is trying to encourage domestic manufacturing to strengthen our economy. In a state of relying on countries like Canada, Mexico, and China for our everyday goods, he is attempting to make the United States a more self-sufficient nation.
With all that has happened already, it will be interesting to see the changes in the American economy, foreign relations, and culture in the next four years of President Trump’s term.
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