Minutes after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump sent shock waves throughout the world, particularly in the economic field.

Making his position clear about protecting the American economy, Trump issued game-changing executive orders at his rally at the Capital One Arena, including withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty and his preference for fossil fuels that will cause a gridlock in renewable energy efforts.

Since the United States remains the dominant economy in the world, Trump’s policies will dictate the global business arc at least for the next four years.

Trump’s first actions as Chief Executive are a preview of his pragmatic second administration where he is expected to refine the controversial policies of his first term.

Among the series of directives he issued was one mandating that federal workers return to their offices five days a week to end the work-from-home regime since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump said he planned to dismiss federal employees who didn’t return to their offices.

Under Trump, the US has withdrawn a second time from the Paris climate agreement, an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Trump also vowed to “drill, baby, drill” for oil, and scrap the rules aimed at persuading motorists to buy electric vehicles.

He served notice that he would defy global efforts to combat planetary warming despite catastrophic weather events intensifying worldwide.

The Paris agreement seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which is being pinpointed by experts as the cause of the ever unpredictable weather.

Trump has declared a “national energy emergency” to expand drilling in the US, the world’s top oil and gas producer, and said he would scrap vehicle emission standards that amounted to an “electric vehicle mandate.”

Sweeping energy-related federal orders aimed at restoring the primacy of conventional energy sources are expected to follow. Revoking the electric vehicle mandate aims to “save our auto industry,” according to Trump.

His domestic actions were hailed by energy industry leaders, who view his administration’s policies as a return to the era of “American energy dominance.”

The President had earlier expressed his view about warnings on climate change being mostly a hoax.

In an interview on Fox, he had said, “In my opinion, you have a thing called weather, and you go up and you go down,” he said. “If you look at the 1920s, they were talking about a global freezing, okay? In other words, the globe was going to freeze.”

The withdrawal of the US from its commitments in the Paris agreement would likely reignite a global preference for more fossil fuels that environmentalists believe would set back the gains in the battle against global warming.

Financiers of energy projects, for instance, are expected to review their policies which are mostly geared towards bankrolling renewable energy deals.

The Philippines has a policy of not allowing new coal projects but those in operation have been granted authority to expand.

With the US turnaround, a reassessment may likely happen since coal and oil as fuel are similarly situated.

The depletion of the coal supply, for instance, was believed affected by the global tendency away from the cheapest source of energy. Technology is being developed, however, to reduce gas emissions from coal plants.

The bias against coal is detrimental to developing nations such as the Philippines since it needs the cheap source of energy to feed the rising demand of a swiftly expanding economy.

Going back to the basics as Trump would have it will have a profound effect on the choices for development. The Philippines, for instance, has made substantial strides in generating energy from nature.

The country is among the most affected in the world by the changing weather patterns, yet development requirements necessitate a review of the energy horizon as Trump sees it.