Donald Trump makes major mistake within hours of being president

It seems Donald Trump has made the first mistake of his second term of presidency, with him becoming the 47th president of the United States earlier this week.

Trump certainly didn't mess about with getting started, as the 78-year-old Republican leader signed a number of executive orders on his first day in the role on Monday following his inauguration.

These included withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as changes to birthright citizenship and delaying the controversial TikTok ban.

In short, an executive order is a legally-binding written order to the federal government, which does not require approval from the congress.

However, Trump made one major error on his first day in office.

While taking questions from reporters, he made a blatant mistake while referring to one European country.

A journalist asked Trump about NATO countries - including Spain - that don't meet the minimum economic output on defense of 2%.

President Trump signed a number of executive orders on the first day of his second term (Anna Moneymaker / Staff / Getty)

The president responded: "Spain is very low. They’re a BRICS nation, Spain. Do you know what a BRICS nation is? You’ll figure it out."

But the mistake he made? Spain is objectively not a BRICS nation.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation for developing countries, and stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

But Trump didn't stop there, as he added that America planned to put hefty tariffs on these developing countries.

"We are going to put at least a 100% tariff on the business they do with the United States," he added.

These plans would end decades of free trade between the countries.

The president made a huge error (Chip Somodevilla / Staff / Getty)

Spokeswoman for the Spanish government, Minister Pilar Alegría, wasn't exactly sure why Trump categorised Spain as a BRICS country.

In a statement, she said: "I don’t know if the affirmation made by President Trump was the result of a mix-up or not, but I can confirm that Spain is not in BRICS."

After being a member of NATO for the past four decades, she noted that the Spanish government viewed the US as 'a natural ally'.

Defence spending has been an issue for a number of NATO countries in the last few years.

Spain is just one of eight countries that failed to meet the 2% spending target last year. But Trump is only looking to increase this - as he demanded that NATO countries reach a minimum of 5% spending on defence.

Everything Trump has pledged to do as 47th US President

Trump has a lot of plans for his second term of presidency (Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

Reproductive rights

Trump has been vague on the subject of abortion rights, and has broadly supported individual states making their own policies.

Experts, however, remain concerned that Trump's second presidency will see a crackdown on reproductive rights.

Mary Ziegler, an abortion law expert and professor at the University of California Davis, told The Hill: "You could have versions of the story where the Trump administration doesn’t really take aggressive action on abortion and does things that look more like reversing Biden-era policies and restoring Trump-era policies.

"And there’s a scenario where a second Trump administration goes much, much further on abortion, in court and outside of it."

'Only two genders'

Trump vowed in his inauguration speech on Monday (21 January): "As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female."

He has signed an executive order claiming that gender cannot be changed, as well as repealing one of Biden's executive orders which aimed to prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Immigration

During his inaugural address, Trump said 'all illegal entry will be halted' and that he would deport 'criminal aliens'.

One of his first acts was declaring illegal immigration on the US' southern border a national emergency.

Getting rid of birthright citizenship

The 14th amendment of the US constitution reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Trump wants to reverse this and make it so that children who do not have at least one parent who is a lawful permanent resident of the US have no right to automatic citizenship.

He will face significant legal challenges.

'Make Greenland Great Again Act'

Trump wants to negotiate with the King of Denmark to buy Greenland, claiming that US ownership of Greenland is an 'absolute necessity' for national security.

Denmark has said it's up to Greenland to decide its future, and Greenland's PM Mute Egede has said Greenland is not for sale.

January 6 pardons

People involved in the January 6 insurrection back in 2021 faced a heavy legal crackdown, but now Trump has pardoned 1,500 of them.

In an interview with TIME before being sworn in, Trump said: "I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can't say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control."

Delaying the TikTok ban

The dreaded TikTok blackout only ended up lasting a few hours, with the social media app returning with the message: "Welcome back! Thank you for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump's efforts, TikTok is back in the US!"

Trump has indicated he will give TikTok a 90-day extension to find an American buyer.

Making hidden government files public

In a move that has angered security officials, Trump has vowed to make certain classified documents public.

Trump promised at his recent rally in Washington D.C: “We are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

He said it will help restore 'transparency and accountability to government'.

Electric vehicles

In 2021, Joe Biden signed an executive order with the goal of making 50 percent of all vehicles on US roads electric. It wasn't legally binding.

Trump has said revoking this is 'common sense' and Americans should be able to 'buy the car of your choice'.

Arrange green cards for college graduates

Trump wants non-US citizens to be able to stay in the US after graduating college.

During an episode of the 'All In' podcast recorded this year, Trump said: "Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can't even make a deal with the company because they don't think they're going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1."