25 January 2017•Update: 25 January 2017
By Ovunc Kutlu
NEW YORK
Since taking office last Friday, President Donald Trump has wasted little time in making good on economic and energy policy campaign promises.
Trump has signed five executive orders and announced two plans on those issues.
A plan to create 25 million new jobs and grow the economy at 4 percent annually for the next decade was unveiled in a White House statement moments after he took office.
As promised during his campaign, those plans will be achieved by lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, simplifying the U.S. tax code and reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to three.
Also in keeping with campaign promises, renegotiating multinational trade deals that "engage in illegal or unfair trade practices that hurt American workers", is also part of the plan, the statement read.
With the stroke of his pen on an executive order, Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that included 12 Pacific Rim nations and 40 percent of global trade that took President Barack Obama seven years to negotiate.
Closer to home, Trump announced he would be in touch with Canadian and Mexican leaders to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) he has often called a “bad deal”.
While campaigning for the nation’s highest office, Trump promised to "unleash an energy revolution" by increasing domestic oil, gas and coal production.
He swiftly moved to fulfill those promises with a separate White House statement with plans that include increasing hydrocarbon production on federal lands in hopes of generating revenue for a $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan.
"We must take advantage of the estimated $50 trillion in untapped shale, oil, and natural gas reserves,” he said in a statement.
Just as he became president at noon Jan. 20, the White House removed all of its website pages that referenced climate change under the Obama administration, upsetting many environmentalists and activists who fear the new administration will roll back protections that were gained under the last president.
Those fears were realized this week when Trump moved to meet his goal to achieve "energy independence from the OPEC cartel," when he signed executive orders to allow the construction of the controversial North Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines.
Both projects have been highly criticized by environmentalists, and the latter was vetoed by Obama three times despite congressional approval.
Trump also signed another executive order to expedite the regulatory process to overcome environmental hurdles for the two pipeline projects.
During his campaign, Trump called for American companies to return home to manufacture, invest and create jobs in the U.S.
In addition, he warned that such companies would pay higher border taxes to export their goods to the U.S., and vowed to impose a 35 percent tax on Mexican-made goods and 45 percent tariffs on imports from China.
In the weeks before his inauguration, some companies backtracked on plans for foreign investment, including automakers.
General Motors said last week it would pour $1 billion into its U.S. manufacturing operations to create 450 jobs in Michigan and, prior to that Fiat Chrysler announced a $1 billion investment to create 2,000 jobs in the U.S.
And Ford reversed plans for a $1.6 billion investment in a Mexican plant and instead will spend $700 million in Michigan to create 700 jobs.
Trump began his first full week on the job by holding meetings at the White House with heads of private companies, union leaders and the CEOs of the big three U.S. automakers
He promised to eliminate at least 75 percent of business regulations and vowed to "substantially" reduce taxes and "unnecessary" regulations on American companies he said would bring back manufacturing to the U.S.
