Washington: President-elect Donald Trump, in his first extensive public comments since winning the election, made five promises for his first day in office. In the nearly three-minute video, he did not talk about building a wall, repealing Obamacare and rescinding President Obama’s deportation protections for some immigrants in the US illegally. Nor did he talk about withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement, banning Muslims from entering the country or ending the Syrian refugee programme, some of his other stock campaign pledges.
In the video, Trump promised to withdraw from the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, “a potential disaster for our country,” and instead pursue bilateral agreements with some of the countries involved. The 12-nation TPP is Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature trade initiative and was signed by the United States earlier this year but has not been ratified by the US Senate.
He also pledged to lift restrictions on energy production, including shale and coal, to implement a rule that any new government regulation must be accompanied by removing two on the books and to instruct his Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a new cybersecurity plan.
His only discussion of immigration involved the legal kind — a crackdown on visa fraud.
“My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first,” he said. “Whether it’s producing steel-building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here on our great homeland — America.”
Trump also said his previously announced ethics rules — barring those who work in his administration from lobbying for five years after they leave the government and from lobbying for foreign governments for life — would take effect as soon as he is inaugurated.
Trump vowed in the video to release more plans in the days ahead.
“These are some of our day-one executive actions,” spokesman Jason Miller said in an email. “By no means is it everything he’ll work on day one or after that — many additional good things to come.”
Trump’s first instalment seemed especially tailored to the voters in the former industrial belt who helped Trump win his surprise victory.
His focus on legal immigration was particularly striking and in line with the views of Alabama Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, his pick for attorney general and one of Trump’s earliest supporters in Washington. Sessions has been a critic of the visa system, arguing that work visas, in particular, allow foreign workers to displace Americans. He has also sponsored a bill that would end the visa lottery that grants tens of thousands of green cards a year.
Trump met with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, Democratic US Representative Tulsi Gabbard and former Texas Governor Rick Perry. But he announced no further appointments, keeping candidates and the public guessing about the shape of the administration that will take office on January 20.
Fallin, Gabbard and Perry were the latest of dozens of officials who have made their way across the opulent lobby of Trump Tower for talks with the Republican president-elect in a relatively open — and unconventional — transition process since his election victory on Nov. 8.
Trump also returned to Twitter on Monday night, saying ”many people” would like to see Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage as British ambassador to the United States. “He would do a great job!” Farage, who helped lead the successful referendum fight for Britain to leave the European Union, spoke at a Trump rally during the US campaign and visited the president-elect after his victory.
Trump’s first meeting on Monday was with Iraq war veteran Gabbard, a representative from Hawaii who backed US Senator Bernie Sanders in his unsuccessful 2016 Democratic presidential nominating contest against Hillary Clinton.
The “frank and positive” discussion focused on the war in Syria, counterterrorism and other foreign policy issues, Gabbard said in a statement. She did not say whether a Cabinet role was part of the discussion.
Gabbard has veered from Democratic Party positions at times, backing policies cracking down on immigration to the United States by Muslims.
Fallin told reporters she was not offered a position but discussed “a wide range of topics” with Trump. The Republican governor’s spokesman said that included a focus on the Interior Department, an agency whose responsibilities include oversight of oil and gas leases on public lands.
Former Republican US Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts told reporters he had a “great” meeting about veterans’ issues with Trump.
Trump also met with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich and Elaine Chao, the US labour secretary under former President George W. Bush, advisers said.
Trump’s transition team said Perry, the former Texas governor, was being considered for Cabinet posts including defence, energy and veterans affairs.
