'Trump 2.0' one year on: Disruption at home, turmoil abroad

Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of U.S. President Donald Trump's return to the White House. His second presidency, often labeled as "Trump 2.0," has left a deep imprint on the United States and the world.

Marked by an expansion of executive power and a governing style centered on coercion, deterrence and unilateral action, Trump's new term has reshaped domestic governance while sending shockwaves across the international system.

From sweeping layoffs in the federal workforce and aggressive immigration enforcement, to tariff hikes and withdrawals from international institutions, Trump, who will turn 80 this June, has almost never left the global spotlight.

Federal layoffs

In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order to further advance a large-scale reduction of the federal workforce, offering eight months of salary compensation to encourage voluntary departures. By September 30, approximately 154,000 federal employees had accepted the offer and officially left government service.

The move was framed by the White House as an effort to drain inefficiency and streamline governance, consistent with Trump's long-standing hostility toward what he calls the deep state.

The ripple effects soon extended beyond Washington. By October 2025, U.S. companies had announced more than 150,000 layoffs, fueling concerns that aggressive fiscal retrenchment and policy uncertainty were weighing on business confidence. Critics argue that the mass exodus of experienced civil servants has weakened institutional capacity, undermined policy continuity and politicized the federal bureaucracy.

Immigration

Immigration has once again become a defining pillar of Trump's agenda. In 2025, his administration launched a sweeping overhaul that elevated immigration enforcement to the core of national security policy under the "America First" framework.

The administration's policies go far beyond deporting illegal immigrants. They have expanded travel bans, rolled out stricter rules on the H-1B visa program, removed Temporary Protected Status for migrants from numerous countries, moved to restrict the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which offers temporary protection from deportation for certain undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, and attempted to restrict birthright citizenship.

Through a flurry of executive orders and regulatory changes, the government tightened border controls, narrowed asylum eligibility and imposed stricter visa screening for both undocumented and legal migrants.

On the one hand, they cater to MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters' hostility toward immigration – particularly illegal immigration – and fulfill Trump's campaign promises. On the other hand, they have triggered a number of legal challenges and a public backlash, with some Americans arguing that the government's actions lack due process and, in certain cases, have gone too far.

Tariffs

Trade policy has been another arena where Trump 2.0 has made its mark. During his second term, Trump has rolled out a series of tariff hikes, culminating in the April 2, 2025 announcement of so-called "reciprocal tariffs," imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" and higher rates on certain trading partners.

The move sent tremors through global financial markets and escalated global trade conflicts, leading to the imposition of tariffs on major economies such as China, the EU and Japan, affecting multiple sectors including automobiles, steel and agricultural products, and triggering large-scale trade retaliation.

Claiming that tariffs increase the amount of tax raised by the government, encourage consumers to buy more American-made goods and boost investment in the U.S., Trump was accused of throwing the global economy into turmoil, with economists cautioning that the renewed protectionist push has driven up costs for American consumers, disrupted global supply chains and added to inflationary pressures.

Withdrawals

Over the past year, Trump has overseen U.S. withdrawals from a growing list of international bodies, ranging from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the UN Conference on Trade and Development to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Most strikingly, Trump recently signed an executive order announcing U.S. withdrawal from 66 international organizations – 31 UN entities and 35 non-UN organizations.

The White House said many of these bodies promote "radical climate policies" and programs that "conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength." In a separate statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the entities "wasteful, ineffective, or harmful."

Since returning to the White House, Trump has announced plans to quit the World Health Organization, the Paris climate agreement and the UN cultural agency UNESCO. He also cut U.S. funding for the UN, stopped U.S. engagement with the UN Human Rights Council and extended a suspension of funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

Critics say such actions leave weaker countries' security and interests inadequately protected, fall short of the responsibilities expected of a major country and risk further isolating the United States while eroding its international image.

'Donroe Doctrine'

Trump's reliance on coercion has also been evident in his foreign policy. In January 2026, the U.S. forces carried out a sudden strike in Venezuela, drawing global attention and condemnation. The operation, which resulted in the forced control of President Nicolas Maduro, was widely interpreted as a hardline intervention in Latin American affairs and a signal of Washington's readiness to use force to reshape regional politics.

Analysts said the U.S. attack on Venezuela and its so-called "management plan" is in essence a testament to its scheme to expand the "Donroe Doctrine," a Trump-modified version of the Monroe Doctrine aimed at controlling the Western Hemisphere and plundering its resources.

Meanwhile, Trump turned his attention to Greenland, a territory he has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring since his first term. Greenland, the world's largest island, is a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, with Copenhagen retaining control over defense and foreign policy. The United States maintains a military base on the island.

Trump has accelerated his push to acquire the island. Recently, he announced that the United States would impose a 10 percent tariff from February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland, and raise the levy to 25 percent from the beginning of June unless a deal is reached for the United States to purchase the territory.

The tariff threat has unleashed widespread EU pushback and decry as well as mass protests.