Making sense of Trump's 1st 100 days, with the help of 9 simple charts
That announcement sent the stock market into a nose dive. The universal tariffs were later put on pause, helping the market recover some of what it had lost. But Trump has continued to ratchet up tariff rates on China, all the way to 145% as of Monday. Though the administration says it is currently negotiating new trade deals that could eventually allow tariffs to be lifted, the lack of any real certainty about what happens next and the prospects of a lengthy trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has left investors wary.
The full effect of Trump’s tariffs has not been seen in prices in the U.S. as of yet, but experts’ warnings about a “supply shock” that could be around the corner have soured the general public’s view of where the economy is heading — and how Trump is handling it.
Trump and his allies have conceded that the country may have to endure some “short term pain” because of the tariffs, but the president is steadfast in his belief that America will ultimately be better off in the long run. Most Americans aren’t convinced. A majority now expect the U.S. to enter a recession and concerns about unpredictability after weeks of economic whiplash have increased.
Immigration crackdown
Trump’s signature issue since he launched his first successful presidential campaign nearly 10 years ago has been immigration. During his first term, he implemented a series of deeply controversial policies, including a de facto Muslim ban and family separation, as part of his aggressive strategy to combat illegal immigration.
He has gone even further in the early stages of his second term. Using a centuries-old law designed to protect the U.S. from foreign threats during wartime, Trump’s administration has defied the longstanding due process requirements for deportations to send hundreds of alleged gang members to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador. It has also failed to bring one man back despite being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court.
There have also been numerous cases of legal immigrants having their visas revoked without warning, including some who have lost their immigration status and been detained by immigration enforcement reportedly because of their political views. Foreign travelers, and even some U.S. citizens, report enduring harsh treatment at the hands of immigration authorities.
These incidents, particularly the case of Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, have understandably consumed the public conversation around immigration. At the same time, very little attention is being paid to what’s happening at the border itself. Over the past few months, the number of reported illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have plummeted to unprecedented levels. In the month before Trump took office, Customs and Border Protection reported 96,000 migrant encounters at the southern border. By February, that figure had dropped to under 12,000 and remained there through March. Last month, New York Times reporters who had traveled to a once-bustling border town put it simply: “The migrants are gone.”
Public support dropping
Trump has repeatedly asserted that he has a broad mandate from the public to carry out his policies and overhaul how the government works. But public polling has never backed that claim. He did secure the Electoral College by a comfortable margin while winning the popular vote in 2024, but Americans were basically split down the middle in whether they viewed him favorably or unfavorably when he was sworn in earlier this year.
Those numbers have only gotten worse for him over time. Recent polls show that strong majorities of Americans oppose many of his signature policies, particularly when it comes to the economy and how he has dismantled parts of the federal government. He now holds the lowest approval rating of any modern president after their first 100 days, and 55% of Americans view him unfavorably, compared to 45% who view him favorably.
The global Trump effect
Trump’s first 100 days haven’t just changed dynamics here in the U.S. The world’s relationship with America is also wildly different than it was just a few months ago. Between the economic upheaval caused by his tariffs, his adversarial approach to longstanding allies and his stated desire to seize places like Greenland and Canada, Trump has caused international opinions of the U.S. to dip considerably. Foreign travel into America has also dropped substantially over the past few months, to levels that pose a real risk to the U.S. tourism industry.
Anti-Trump sentiment abroad is also causing political upheaval within other countries. Frustration with Trump’s tariffs in Australia has turned what looked to be a rout by the country’s center-right party in their impending election into essentially a tossup.
The most dramatic shift has happened in Canada, the nation that Trump has persistently insisted should become part of the United States. Just a few months ago, Canada’s Liberal Party under then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to be headed for an absolute thumping at the hands of their conservative opposition. But the dissatisfaction with Trump and the view that the Conservative Party wouldn’t stand up to him caused Canadian sentiment to flip entirely in just a few short weeks, helping the Liberals cruise to a comfortable win in Monday’s election.
