In the past week, Donald Trump has made a tremendous impact on the world. I am going to be focusing on two decisions that he has made this past week. I will start by giving the facts about each news story and then I will follow up with my opinion about each story.
New head of EPA: Scott Pruitt
Donald Trump selected Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Why is this a big deal?
Scott Pruitt has been a denier of global warming and is also currently suing the EPA.
With scientists, again and again, trying to remind politicians that humans have a major impact on global warming, having the head of EPA viewing global warming as a hoax, we are likely to see major changes in our energy production.
President Obama had a plan to switch to clean power, as evident in his Clean Power Plan. Pruitt believes that this piece of legislation was a, "war on coal".
I am totally against Trump's decision. Trump made it very clear that he has never been a believer in global warming, however, this decision will only make matters worse. I think that with the way our planet is going and if we are going to go back to becoming fossil fuel dependent, that our environment will only decline at a faster rate than ever.
For someone who sees global warming as a increasing issue in the global perspective, this is a major concern.
Donald Trump has started talking to Taiwan.
After 37 years of not communicating with Taiwan, Donald Trump starts relations with the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen.
Why is this a major news story?
This has big implications with our relationship with China. This could lead to a foundation of mistrust and potentially competition between the U.S. and China.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory, similarly to how U.S. views Puerto Rico, even though Taiwan has their own government and
Let's be honest, no one voted for Trump because they thought he was going to have a strong foreign policy. He has been very vague about his relations with other countries. I believe that Hillary Clinton had the edge over Trump when it came to foreign policy.
I think that that Donald Trump is playing with fire with his actions. This could potentially start a Cold War type relationship with China that we once had with the Soviet Union.
To Taiwan, this is a major victory for them. For Donald Trump and the U.S. this is a potentially dangerous move that can upset the Chinese government.
