WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — President Donald Trump has gotten off to a far slower start to his a term of office than the whirlwind of legislation and executive actions he had hoped to implement, Paolo von Schirach said.
"Well, except for some significant executive orders… not much has happened, so far," Schirach, president of the Global Policy Institute and Professor of International Economics at BAU International University in Washington, said.
On Wednesday, the administration announced that it will propose a major tax overhaul package, including the drastic reduction from 35 percent to 15 percent of corporate tax rates, but it was by no means clear that Congress would approve the plan, Schirach noted.
"This is not the final legislative proposal. And, in any event, whatever Trump proposes will have to be approved by a bitterly divided Congress; by no means a sure thing," he said.
Trump’s legislative record was still non-existent, Schirach pointed out.
"Bottom line, so far no new major laws have been passed. Likewise, there are no outlines of new trade agreements with America’s major trading partners," he said.
Trump needed to improve this record to satisfy his domestic political base, Schirach observed.
"It is clear that President Trump needs some big victories to please his voters, first and foremost a new health care law, and tax reform," he stated.
Trump had already abandoned the foreign and defense policy radicalism he had repeatedly promoted during his election campaign, Schirach said.
"The record so far shows a much more traditional approach. No, NATO is not obsolete, we are now told by Trump administration key national security policy-makers," he added.
"Regarding the Middle East, the U.S. led coalition is still fighting the Islamic State [Daesh] terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Iraq and Syria. But we do not detect any brand new strategy aimed at bringing this conflict to a quick resolution," he said.
On other major security issues, Trump simply was continuing old Obama era policies, Schirach remarked.
"America continues to train Iraqi forces; the US military is still helping the Afghan military; Secretary of Defense [James] Mattis just toured the Middle East in order to reassure Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries that America is not pulling out of the region. Nothing new on Iran," he noted.
While the Trump team was expressing tough language on North Korea and its nuclear program, so far, no new policy action had been announced regarding North Korea.
