He failed, because of resistance from the public and politicians, and was impeached, triggering this snap election to choose his successor.
Chile is the world's second-largest exporter of farmed salmon, and the biggest supplier to the US. In the south of the country a dispute continues over the large number of salmon farms that are located in supposedly protected areas.The port city of Puerto Montt, more than 1,000km (600 miles) south of Chile's capital Santiago, is at the heart of the country's farmed Atlantic salmon industry.
At a processing facility on the outskirts of town workers kitted out in white suits, hairnets, facemasks, and blue plastic gloves and boots prepare fresh and smoked salmon for export to the US and Japan.In a spacious meeting room, Fracisco Lobos, the chief corporate officer for the plant's owner – salmon-exporter Multi X – explains how farming the fish has transformed the south of Chile."Salmon's been part of this region's industrial revolution," he says. "There used to be a lot of poverty in the region, and now many people earn more than in other parts of Chile.
"Because of the industry a lot of support services have sprung up, which benefit the families living here, and people have moved here from other parts of the country for work."Atlantic salmon are not native to Chile. Instead, eggs were brought over to Chile from the UK at the end of the 19th Century and released into rivers, lakes and the sea to grow into fish for recreational fishing.
Farming the fish in netted, offshore pens then started in the 1970s, before growing substantially ever since. There were 1,343 active salmon farms across southern Chile at the end of last year.
In 2024 as a whole, Chile exported 782,076 tonnes of salmon and trout, according to the latest annual figures from the Chile's National Customs Service. The vast majority of this is salmon, but the two fish are counted together in the official data.Ex-presidents typically have a library housing their archive of documents, and a museum - typically funded by private donations - full of memorabilia and open to the public.
Experts who BBC Verify spoke to said the fact that the plane could be given to the administration - and not to the president directly - before being transferred to his museum, may not get around the potential violation of the constitution.Jordan Libowitz - from the organisation Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington - said any use of the plane by Trump after leaving office would cross a line: "Reagan's Air Force One ended up in his presidential library, but there's a difference there. The plane was decommissioned, Reagan never flew on it again, and it sits inside as a museum piece."
The US Justice Department has reportedly drafted a memo explaining why it thinks accepting the jet would be permissible, although this has not been made public.When the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt was asked about the legality of the deal, she said: "The legal details of that are still being worked out, but of course, any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law."