What has Donald Trump U-turned on since winning the US election?

Donald Trump has softened his approach to many policy ideas he campaigned on. Picture: John Devlin

But in the days and weeks since his election, the future president appears to have backtracked on several of his commitments.

Here, we look at some of Mr Trump’s most significant U-turns.

• Climate change

Mr Trump has questioned global warming and suggested it may be a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to force US manufacturers to comply with environmental regulations.

But on Tuesday, he said he would “keep an open mind” about withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement and said he thought there was “some connectivity” between human activity and climate change.

• Mexico wall

Mr Trump repeatedly pledged to build an “impenetrable, physical, tall” wall spanning 1,000 miles between the US and Mexico if he was elected as president.

But in an interview with CBS after winning the election, he conceded that the wall would include “some fencing”.

• Prosecution of Hillary Clinton

The president-elect had vowed to jail “crooked Hillary” and supporters were often heard to chant “lock her up” at his campaign rallies.

In an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, he did not rule out prosecuting Hillary, but said: “It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about.” He added: “I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t. She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”

• Obamacare

Mr Trump branded the healthcare reform programme a “total disaster” during his presidential campaign and said he would “repeal and replace” the 2010 law.

But the president-elect has now said he may keep some parts of the bill in place. He told the Wall Street Journal that he approved of the ban on insurers denying coverage because of a patient’s existing conditions and rules allowing young adults to be insured on their parents’ policies.

• Barack Obama

Mr Trump launched scathing attacks on the president in the lead-up to the election. He notably questioned whether Mr Obama was born in the US and said he was “one of the worst presidents” in US history.

After meeting Mr Obama following his election victory, Mr Trump told The New York Times he “liked him a lot”. He added: “He said very nice things after the meeting and I said very nice things about him.”

• Electoral College

Mr Trump branded the US Electoral College a “disaster for a democracy” in a tweet in November 2012, but his opinion appears to have shifted following his successful presidential campaign.

On November 15, just a week after his victory, he tweeted: “The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!”

• Torture

The president-elect vowed to bring back waterboarding and “tougher” techniques in the fight against terrorism.

Mr Trump suggested he had changed his mind after talking to James N Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, who headed the United States Central Command. The president-elect told The New York Times torture is “not going to make the kind of a difference that a lot of people are thinking”.

• Ban on Muslims in the US

The Trump campaign issued a press release in December 2015 that called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.

But in May, he told Fox News the ban was “only a suggestion” and stressed the measure would be temporary.