President Donald Trump signed a barrage of executive actions hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20.
He signed orders to rescind dozens of executive actions from former President Joe Biden, improve border security and clamp down on illegal immigration, ramp up energy production, federally define gender, and give the social media platform TikTok 75 days to find a U.S.-based buyer before yielding to a federal ban.
While many of the president’s orders will likely be challenged in court, including one that ends birthright citizenship, others are more symbolic. Overall, the policies throughout demonstrate a clear break from the Biden-era, and in many, callbacks to the first Trump administration.
Here are some of the orders Trump signed on his first day as the 47th president.
Immigration and Border
- A proclamation declaring that “an invasion is ongoing at the southern border,” guaranteeing states’ protection against such invasion, and invoking executive powers related to the surge of illegal immigration.
- An executive order entitled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” in response to “the unprecedented admission of illegal aliens” at the southern border.
- Ordering the securing of the southern border by various methods, including building a border wall and ending the CBP One app.
- A declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border.
- A realignment of the U.S. Refugee Admission Program “to better align with American principles and American interests.”
- An executive order ending birthright citizenship.
- Restoration of the death penalty for the killing of federal agents or law enforcement.
- Declaring cartels as terrorist organizations.
- Protections from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats related to the southern border.
Federal Workers
- An order to reform hiring in the federal government based on merit.
- A change in policy to make it easier to fire poor performers among the federal workforce.
- An order to hold former government officials accountable for election interference and unlawful disclosure of sensitive information, referring to the national security officials who co-signed a letter suggesting Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.
- A memorandum to ensure career senior executive service officials in the federal government implement the president’s agenda or they are removed.
- A regulatory freeze to prevent bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until the administration has full control of the government.
- A federal hiring freeze, except for the military and other exempted categories, until the new administration takes control and the government’s objectives are understood.
- A requirement for all federal employees to return to full-time in-person work immediately.
Gender and DEI
- A federal policy that defines male and female as the only two genders.
- An executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and policies in the federal government.
Energy and the Environment
- An executive order to maximize development and production of natural resources in Alaska to make the state a resource reservoir for the nation to ramp up fossil fuel extraction.
- The declaration of a national energy emergency.
- An order unleashing energy production, easing the permitting processes and other regulatory systems to ensure efficient energy production.
- A memorandum to improve Southern California’s water access by routing “more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to other parts of the state” for use in wildfire mitigation.
- A temporary withdrawal of all offshore wind leasing and an order to review government leasing and permitting practices for wind-power projects.
- An official withdrawal of the Paris Climate Accord, which Trump’s team said would save the United States $1 trillion.
- A formal notice to be sent to the United Nations saying that the United States will put “America First” in international environmental agreements, including the Paris Climate Accord, while also directing the federal government to do the same.
Military and National Security
- An order to reevaluate and realign U.S. foreign aid.
- An order asking the Department of Defense to come up with plans to protect the United States’ territorial integrity and sovereignty by targeting drug trafficking, human trafficking, illegal immigration, and other criminal activities.
- A memorandum to immediately grant 6-month interim security clearance to certain personnel hired by the Trump administration so that they can access the White House regardless of a clearance backlog Trump said was left from the Biden administration.
- An “America-First Policy Directive to the Secretary of State” to champion American-focused interests in foreign policy.
- An order defining “Organization of the National Security Council and Subcommittees.”
Taxes and Tariffs
- Creating an “America First Trade Policy” that prioritizes American workers and companies while also establishing an “External Revenue Service (ERS) to collect tariffs, duties, and other foreign trade-related revenues.”
- A memorandum declaring the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Global Tax Deal has no force or effect in the United States.
Federal Government Changes
- Creation of a presidential advisory commission called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
- The undoing of 78 of former President Joe Biden’s executive actions, executive orders, and presidential memoranda.
- A directive for every federal government department and agency to address the cost of living crisis.
- A government-wide directive to prevent government censorship against free speech.
- A directive for the federal government to end the “weaponization of government” against “the political adversaries of the previous administration.”
Other Executive Actions
- Giving social media platform TikTok 75 days to find a U.S.-based buyer before facing a federal ban.
- A full pardon for roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and 14 commutations for prisoners.
- The withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), after Trump did so previously in 2020.
- A Martin Luther King, Jr. Day proclamation.
- A memorandum “Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.”
- An executive order restoring the name Mt. McKinley after President Barack Obama renamed it Mt. Denali in 2015, and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
