Trump’s 2nd term completes 1 year: see in 10 points the measures that shook the USA and the world

Trump completes one year of return to the White House Donald Trump completes one year this Tuesday (20) since his return to the White House, with a second term marked by decisions and clashes that shook the United States and the entire planet. Without brakes and unpredictable, the Republican acts as ‘president of the world’ in the face of opponents and allies. In 12 months, the North American president resorted to global tariffs, ordered military attacks and even threatened partner countries. Internally, he embarked on an unprecedented offensive against immigrants, pardoned the Capitol invaders and persecuted institutions, universities and the press. Check out, in 10 points, the main measures that marked the period: Hunt for immigrants Pardoning the Capitol invaders The global tariff that shook the world Persecution of universities, press and lawyers Partnership with Israel and maximum tension with Iran Between love and hate with Putin and Zelensky ‘Executions’ in the Caribbean Capture of Maduro and threats to Greenland ‘War on vaccines’ and ‘death’ of USAID The secret files of the Epstein case Even before taking office power, Trump promised to expel from the United States all immigrants living illegally in the country. The promise was not fulfilled, but Trump put more than 20,000 agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the streets. Previously dedicated to guarding borders, they began hunting and arresting immigrants, some even in the process of regularization. The result: 605 thousand deported by December, in addition to 1.9 million voluntary “self-deportations”. But ICE’s actions also sparked outrage: the death of an American citizen shot by an immigration agent in Minnesota triggered a wave of protests in the state and a legal battle. On his first day back at the White House, exactly one year ago, Trump granted presidential pardons to around 1,500 people accused of the attack on the Capitol, in one of the Republican’s most notorious demonstrations of contempt for the US judicial system, according to an analysis by columnist Sandra Cohen. ➡️Remember: On January 6, 2021, his supporters invaded the Congress building to prevent the ratification of the results of the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Four people died. In early April, Trump suddenly announced an increase in import tariffs on products from 185 countries, some reaching up to 50%, claiming to defend the American productive sector. Economists questioned the calculation and even whether the “tariff” would have the desired effect. Brazil initially fared relatively well, with tariffs set at 10%. Months later, however, an additional 40% was imposed on national products, under the argument that Bolsonaro was allegedly being persecuted by Brazilian authorities. The issue was only resolved after a rapprochement between the Brazilian and US governments, which culminated in a meeting at the end of October between Trump and Lula. The following month, the White House announced the progressive removal of tariffs on most Brazilian exports, on products such as meat, coffee and steel. Throughout 2025, Trump cut funding and opened investigations against some of the country’s largest universities, such as Harvard and Columbia, under a series of pretexts – from the protests against Israel that took place the year before to the admission of foreign students. Another target of the president was the press, this time with lawsuits asking for up to R$79 billion in compensation for critical or negative reports, such as those showing the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He also took aim at the legal system: at the end of March, Trump released a statement threatening to punish lawyers and firms that get involved in cases he considers “frivolous, irrational and vexatious” against his administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the world leader with whom Trump met the most: there were 5 meetings in 2025, a portrait of the strengthening of US support for Israel. In the first of them, Trump caused astonishment when he suggested the creation of a “Middle East Riviera” in Gaza. Eight months later, the republican became the mediator of the ceasefire and is now proposing a peace council for the territory. Support for Israel also translated into an attack on Iran’s nuclear plants in July, which ended a 12-day conflict in which Tehran and Tel Aviv exchanged missile launches with almost 1,000 deaths. Tensions between Trump and Iran escalated again at the beginning of this year, amid the brutal repression of protests that took over the country. The Republican even threatened the Iranian regime with military action. Trump had a relationship marked by ups and downs with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time as he praised the Russian leader, the American also called him “crazy” because of the war in Ukraine. The two met in Alaska in August for a peace-focused meeting. Recently, Trump claimed that Putin wanted to end the war and accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of creating obstacles to a ceasefire agreement. Zelensky, in fact, was the target of constant attacks from Trump throughout 2025. In February, the two clashed in front of journalists at the White House, and the Ukrainian president left the meeting visibly humiliated. From September until December 31, 2025, the US military bombed several vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, alleging suspected drug trafficking. The number of deaths in the operations exceeded 100, generating a strong reaction from the UN, which called the actions “extrajudicial executions”. In August, Trump ordered an offensive to encircle Venezuela under the pretext of combating international drug trafficking. About four months later, the initiative led to an operation inside Venezuelan territory, which ended with the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro. In recent months, the North American president has also shown interest in taking Greenland, a Danish territory. Trump claims that the island is strategic for US national security and, as in the case of Venezuela, does not rule out the use of military force. The biggest pressure, however, is for Denmark to sell the island, otherwise it could face a price tag. The two episodes shook the world’s confidence in the United States, with reactions from both Latin American countries and European leaders who now find themselves under attack from their biggest transatlantic ally. The appointment of Robert Kennedy Jr. as US Secretary of Health was the first in a series of controversial decisions by the Trump administration in the area since the beginning of his term. The most recent was to remove six vaccines from the recommended childhood calendar, which generated a warning from doctors about the risk of diseases returning. Another measure by the American government that was widely criticized internationally was the closure of USAID, the agency that managed all US humanitarian aid around the world. The decision was one of the first initiatives by DOGE, a department that was commanded by Elon Musk, to promote spending cuts in the public sector. After spending the 2024 campaign denouncing an alleged conspiracy by the US government to cover up the Jeffrey Epstein case, Trump saw the sex scandal spill over into his own term. The American president was unable to prevent e-mail exchanges showing his ties to the billionaire from being revealed — in one of them, Epstein said that “Trump knew about the girls.” Public pressure led Congress to pass a law, which Trump later signed into law, requiring the release of all documents by December 19. Even so, his government has so far released less than 1% of the millions of files it has on the case. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, on January 14, 2026 REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

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