US election: Where Trump stands on key issues
18 October 2016
TAXES
According
to an analysis from the conservative
Tax Foundation, Donald Trump's latest plan would cost the US government
about $5.9 trillion in revenue over 10 years, about half as much as the
proposal he set out last September. Mr Trump's current plan includes reducing
the number of tax brackets from seven to three, cutting corporate taxes,
eliminating the estate tax and increasing the standard deduction for individual
filers. According to the Tax Foundation analysis, the top 1% of earners would
see their income increase by double-digits, while the bottom quarter gets a
boost of up to 1.9%.
JOB CREATION
Donald Trump says
he will create 25 million jobs over 10 years, saying too many jobs, especially
in manufacturing, are being lost to other countries. He plans to reduce the US
corporate tax rate to 15% from the current rate of 35%, and suggests that
investing in infrastructure, cutting the trade deficit, lowering taxes and
removing regulations will boost job creation.
IMMIGRATION
This is his
signature issue. Despite critics who call it unaffordable and unrealistic, he has
stood by his call to build an impenetrable wall along the 2,000-plus-mile
US-Mexico border. He has also called for reductions in legal immigration,
ending President Barack Obama's executive actions deferring deportation
proceedings for undocumented migrants, and more stringent efforts to reduce the
number of these migrants living in the US. The candidate has backed away from
earlier calls for the forced deportation of the more than 11 million
undocumented migrants living on US soil and temporarily closing the US border
to all Muslims - but not dropped them.
FOREIGN POLICY
How to respond to
the war in Syria is the subject of dispute between the two candidates.
Donald Trump has criticised the Iraq War (although his claims that he opposed it
from the start are unfounded) and other US military action in the Middle East.
He has called for closer relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia and says the US
must make allies in Europe and Asia shoulder a greater share of the expense for
their national defence and emphasises that US foreign policy must always
prioritise American interests. On the other hand, Mr Trump has also taken a
hard-line stance toward combating IS and has even at times asserted the US
should commit tens of thousands of ground troops to the fight. He says Nato
should do more to combat terrorism in the Middle East, maintaining that the US
foots too much of the bill for the Alliance and that other allies should spend
more on their own protection.
TRADE DEALS
Once upon a time, Republicans were the party of unregulated free
trade. Donald Trump has changed all that. While he says
he is not opposed to trade in principle, any trade deals have to protect US
industry. He is firmly against the Trans-Pacific Partnership and has said that
he will re-open negotiations on already signed pacts, such as the North America
Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), and withdraw if US demands are not met. He has
accused US trading partners like Mexico and China of unfair trade practices,
currency manipulation and intellectual property theft, threatening to
unilaterally impose tariffs and other punitive measures if they do not
implement reforms.
REFUGEES
Trump has been warning that the US policy of admitting refugees from certain
regions - the Middle East or, more generally, Muslim nations - presents a
serious threat to US national security. He has cited often debunked internet
rumours, such as that Syrian refugees are largely young, single men. He has
called for the US to suspend resettling refugees until "extreme
vetting" procedures can be implemented, including ideological tests to
screen out extremists. He asserts that nations in the Middle East - which have
already received millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees - must do more to create
safe zones for those fleeing the violence.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Donald Trump has issued no position statements on environmental issues on his
website. In speeches and debates, however, he has said he opposes what he views
as economically damaging environmental regulations backed by "political
activists with extreme agendas". He says he supports clean water and air,
but wants to slash funding to the Environmental Protection Agency. He has also
called man-made climate change "a hoax" and said he would
"cancel" the Paris Agreement and other international efforts to
address the issue.
ABORTION
He said in March that abortions should be illegal and he
supported "some form of punishment" for women who had them. His
campaign quickly backed down from that statement, however, and asserted that he
believed the legality of the procedure should be left up to individual states,
with any criminal penalties being reserved for abortion providers. He said he
supports an abortion ban exception for "rape, incest and the life of the
mother". He has called for defunding Planned Parenthood. As recently as
2000, Mr Trump supported abortion rights but has said that, like Ronald Reagan,
he changed his views on the matter.
LAW AND ORDER
Violence and
lawlessness is out of control in the US, according to Donald Trump. He says law enforcement agencies are
unable to fight crime because of runaway "political correctness" and
says they should be allowed to get tough on offenders. He says police profiling
is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks on US soil. He supports "stop
and frisk", claiming the policy was highly successful in New York, even
though many experts disagree. The practice was ruled unconstitutional and a
form of "indirect racial profiling" by a federal judge in the city.
CHILDCARE
Rejecting
Republican orthodoxy, Trump has called for 6 weeks
of paid maternity leave, which would amount to what the mother would receive in
unemployment benefit. But this would not apply to fathers. There are no details
on how this policy would be paid for.
GUN LAWS
Donald Trump has blamed some shootings on lax gun laws, saying armed people could
have intervened and saved lives. He accuses his opponent of wanting to
eliminate gun rights and promises his supporters that the Second Amendment
would be safe.
LOBBYISTS
Trump wants to create restrictions on lobbyists, by first defining who is a
"lobbyist". Currently, anyone spending less than 20% of their time
engaged in lobbying can call themselves an "adviser" or
"consultant". Mr Trump says this is a loophole that must be closed.
He also proposes there be a five-year ban preventing government officials who have recently departed the government
from immediately joining lobbying firms. He also wants a lifetime lobbying ban
on any former administration officials who have previously worked on behalf of
foreign governments. He wants Congress to change campaign finance laws to stop
anyone who lobbies for foreign governments from raising funds for US elections.
He has claimed to be "self-funding" his campaign, but has also
employed a former hedge fund manager to solicit campaign funds from deep-pocket
donors.
Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37468751
