Donald Trump’s era of ‘unfettered power’ is underway warns former Australian ambassador to US Arthur Sinodinos

Arthur Sinodinos (right) believes Donald Trump's power to do as he pleases has increased with his second term. (Supplied/X)

In short:

Arthur Sinodinos says Donald Trump's trade tariffs will likely cause a shock for American consumers.

Both he and fellow former ambassador to the US Joe Hockey believe Trump is prepared to use sweeping powers to enact his agenda unchallenged.

What's next?

Trump has announced tariffs on Mexico and Canada will be implemented from February 1.

The handbrake is off and Donald Trump is going to do exactly as he pleases with the "unfettered power" at his disposal.

That is what two former Australian ambassadors to the United States who served during the first Trump presidency said.

Arthur Sinodinos, who spoke to 7.30, was ambassador during the final year of President Trump's first term and Joe Hockey was ambassador between 2016 and 2020.

Trump previously held office between 2017 and 2021 and while that presidency saw him take strong action in areas like trade, foreign affairs and national security, both previous ambassadors warned that during his second term Trump is more prepared to do as he likes.

US President Donald Trump signed pardons for January 6 defendants in the Oval Office at the White House on Inauguration Day in Washington. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)

They say he is more emboldened now, especially after he swept to power on a tidal wave of popular support to defeat Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the US election.

Trump has already signed a large number of executive orders on the first day of his second term as president.

Mr Sinodinos said that Trump  — the only convicted felon to gain the keys to the White House — is ready to do exactly as he pleases with a staff and cabinet full of MAGA loyalists.

"They know more what they're doing, and I think partly informed by the process of having been president already, the president knows the pitfalls," Mr Sinodinos told 7.30.

"One of the pitfalls last time in his mind was he had a lot of people around him who didn't necessarily share his agenda. 

"So this time, loyalty to him, fealty even, is an overriding consideration, and we've seen from the flurry of executive orders today that there's been a lot of preparation, including from outside bodies like [Conservative think tank] the Heritage Foundation and others contributing to the policy development."

Behind all of that planning is something else that Trump never had the first time around: a feeling anything he does may be uncontested. 

Trump during his 2017 inauguration ceremony. (Reuters: Carlos Barria)

And that, according to Mr Sinodinos, will be a key to him pushing boundaries and acting without seeking permission.

"He has a lot more confidence because he won the popular vote," Mr Sinodinos told 7.30.

"He's got the Congress, he's got the Supreme Court [and] he's got immunity from criminal prosecution from the Supreme Court as well. 

"So in many ways, he has the equivalent in democratic terms of unfettered power, at least for the next two years, and he seems to be determined to use it."

It was a sentiment echoed by Mr Hockey during an interview on ABC Radio National on Tuesday morning.

"The handbrake is off," Mr Hockey said.

"He is not constrained by the need to be re-elected or a Democratic House or Senate … or a legal system that he sees as having been utilised as to try and destroy him.

"And he's not constrained by what people think of him. He's got a mandate and he is going to roll that out no matter what."

Can anyone stop Trump?

Mr Hockey also believes that Trump will not be challenged by the Democrats, who seem to be in disarray following their humbling election loss.

"The reality is there is no Democratic party resistance movement [and] that has been the most surprising element that has been obvious over the past few days," Mr Hockey said.

"There is a recognition the American people have made a very decisive decision … and Trump has the right to implement the agenda that he only got halfway through during his first term."

Mr Sinodinos agreed and believes that the only ones who seem to be capable of challenging Trump will be the nine justices of the US Supreme Court.

US Supreme Court justices could have an even more crucial role in Trump's America. (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein, file)

That court is currently made up of a combined six justices appointed by Republican presidents George W Bush and Trump, while three were appointed by Democrat presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

There is some concern that Trump will try and leverage that influence to bend the Supreme Court to his will and enact constitutional change.

"The Supreme Court … he may have a six to three majority in theory, but in practice, they are also respected legal practitioners," Mr Sinodinos said.

"They're going to have to think long and hard about the extent to which they assist Donald Trump in some way amending the constitution without the approval of the people, by reinterpreting some of the long standing statutes that he is seeking to invoke internationally."

Hockey questions if Trump understands how tariffs work

One issue that will impact internationally is Trump's planned trade tariffs, which business analysts agree will raise prices in the US. 

Australia's former ambassador to the US Joe Hockey doesn't believe Trump accepts trade tariffs will lead to higher prices for US consumers. (Supplied)

The president floated the notion of universal tariffs shortly after taking office but said the US was not ready for that yet.

"You put a universal tariff on anybody doing business in the United States because they're coming in and they're stealing our wealth, they're stealing our jobs, they're stealing our companies, they're hurting our companies," Trump said.

"So you put a you put a tariff on to keep them from doing that."

Trump has proposed at least a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese-made products, threatened bordering countries Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs as retribution for what he says are porous borders and proposed 10 per cent tariffs on imported goods from almost every other nation.

In his first presidency Trump placed import tariffs on washing machines and the costs of those items for the consumer rose after that.

Both Mr Sinodinos and Mr Hockey said Trump's planned tariffs had the potential to cause Americans more problems because Trump has a basic misunderstanding of how tariffs work.

Arthur Sinodinos thinks Americans might be in for an inflationary shock if tariffs are enforced. (AAP: Mick Tsikas )

"The challenge with tariffs is that they are a tax on your own consumers," Mr Sinodinos told 7.30.

"It's like a sales tax, and it will have regressive effects for American consumers and potentially inflationary effects depending on how big they are. 

"We could have, first of all, global trade implications from tariffs in terms of retaliation by other countries, and we may also have American consumers hit in a way that they did not expect."

It is the latter that Mr Hockey says he has warned Trump about several times, but that the president does not accept.

"He thinks tariffs are paid by other countries, they're not, they are paid by American consumers," Mr Hockey said.

"I have had direct and indirect conversations with President Trump and tried to get it across that a tariff on imported goods ends up being a tax that American consumers have to pay, in the form of higher prices.

"He just doesn't accept that."

Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV

Contact 7.30

Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here.