Rarely is it that changes in government have such immediate and far-reaching consequences as we are currently experiencing; the energy, determination and ruthlessness of the new Trump administration to implement its policy agenda has been breath-taking, leaving the rest of the world’s political leaders scrambling to formulate a response. Making extensive use of his Presidential Executive Orders, in little more than a month Trump has imposed substantial tariffs, or threats thereof, on all of the major trading partners of the US, allies or not; the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’) is dramatically shaking up the Federal government with immediate rolling back of regulations and huge job cuts; the Israel-Gaza conflict has been brought to at least a temporary end; the Russia-Ukraine war is heading towards a resolution, and, as far as the US is concerned, Russia is being brought back in from the cold.
