What we know about Trump’s executive orders, from leaving climate accord to exiting WHO
President Donald Trump has signed executive orders to pull the US from the WHO and delay a ban on TikTok by 75 days.
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump on Monday (Jan 20) issued a flurry of executive orders and directives as he sought to put his stamp on his new administration on matters ranging from energy to criminal pardons and immigration.
Here are the executive orders signed so far on Monday:
PARDONS
Trump pardoned about 1,500 people who stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in a sweeping gesture of support to the people who assaulted police as they tried to prevent lawmakers from certifying his 2020 election defeat.
"We hope they come out tonight, frankly," Trump said. "We're expecting it."
He said that six defendants would have their sentences shortened.
HEALTH
Trump said on Monday that the US would exit the World Health Organization (WHO), saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
According to the US president, the WHO had failed to act independently from the "inappropriate political influence of WHO member states" and required "unfairly onerous payments" from the US that are disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such as China.
"World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the US. It's not going to happen anymore," Trump said at the signing.
The move means the US will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months’ time and stop all financial contributions to its work.
The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18 per cent of its overall funding. WHO's most recent two-year budget, for 2024 to 2025, was US$6.8 billion.
Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO is not unexpected. He took steps to quit the body in 2020, during his first term as president, accusing the WHO of aiding China's efforts to "mislead the world" about the origins of COVID-19.
WHO vigorously denies the allegation and says it continues to press Beijing to share data to determine whether COVID emerged from human contact with infected animals or due to research into similar viruses in a domestic laboratory.
What is an executive order?
Executive orders are signed statements about how the president wants the federal government to be managed. They can be instructions to federal agencies or requests for reports.
Many orders can be unobjectionable, such as giving federal employees the day after Christmas off. They can also lay out major policies.
Executive orders are also used by presidents to pursue agendas they cannot get through Congress.
New presidents can - and often do - issue orders to cancel the orders of their predecessors. On his first day, Trump rescinded 78 orders and actions signed by Biden.
As the American Bar Association notes, the orders do not require congressional approval and can’t be directly overturned by lawmakers. Still, Congress could block an order from being fulfilled by removing funding or creating other hurdles.
During his first term, Trump signed 220 executive orders.
IMMIGRATION
Trump signed orders declaring illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency, designating criminal cartels as terrorist organisations, and targeting automatic citizenship for US-born children of immigrants in the country illegally.
Trump also signed an order expected to suspend the US refugee resettlement program for four months, although the text of the order was not immediately available.
UNDOING BIDEN ACTIONS
At a rally at a sports arena, Trump revoked 78 executive actions of the previous administration.
"I'll revoke nearly 80 destructive and radical executive actions of the previous administration," Trump said.
Trump also said he would sign an order directing every agency to preserve all records pertaining to "political persecutions" under the Biden administration.
The rescission applied to executive orders spanning from former president Joe Biden's first day in office in 2021 to as recently as last week and covered topics from COVID-19 relief to equal opportunity for Hispanics and Black Americans and the promotion of clean energy industries.
TIKTOK BAN DELAY
Trump also signed an order seeking to delay the enforcement of a ban on popular short-video app TikTok by 75 days. TikTok was initially slated to be shuttered in the US on Jan 19.
The order directs the attorney general to not enforce the law "to permit my administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok".
It also directs the Justice Department to issue letters to companies like Apple, Alphabet's Google and Oracle that work with TikTok "stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred during the above-specified period".
When asked what TikTok order does, Trump said "just gave me the right to sell it or close it", adding that he needed to make a decision.
REGULATORY, HIRING FREEZES
Trump signed orders freezing government hiring and new federal regulations, as well as an order requiring federal workers to immediately return to full-time in-person work.
"I will implement an immediate regulation freeze, which will stop Biden bureaucrats from continuing to regulate," Trump said, adding he will also "issue a temporary hiring freeze to ensure that we're only hiring competent people who are faithful to the American public".
The move would force large numbers of white-collar government employees to forfeit remote working arrangements, reversing a trend that took off in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of Trump's allies have said the return-to-work mandate is intended to help gut the civil service, making it easier for Trump to replace long-serving government workers with loyalists.
INFLATION
Trump ordered the heads of all executive departments and agencies to deliver emergency price relief to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker. Measures include cutting regulations and climate policies that raise costs and prescribe actions to lower the cost of housing and expand housing supply.
"Over the past 4 years, the Biden Administration’s destructive policies inflicted a historic inflation crisis on the American people," the order said.
CLIMATE
Trump also signed a withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty, including a letter to the United Nations explaining the withdrawal.
The announcement, which has been widely expected ever since Trump won the Nov 5 presidential election, further threatens the central goal of the agreement to avoid a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target that appears even more tenuous as last year was the planet's hottest on record.
"It is the policy of my Administration to put the interests of the US and the American people first," the order said.
He repealed a 2023 memo from Biden that barred oil drilling in some 16 million acres in the Arctic.
FREE SPEECH
The president signed a document "ending weaponisation" of government against political opponents. The order directs the attorney general to investigate the activities of the federal government over the last four years, including at the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission during the prior administration.
It said the government will "identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to the weaponisation of law enforcement and the weaponisation of the Intelligence Community".
ENERGY
Trump declared a national energy emergency, promising to fill up strategic oil reserves and export US energy all over the world.
"We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it," he said.
Trump, who vowed during his campaign to "drill, baby, drill", will also sign an executive order focused on Alaska, an official with the incoming administration said, adding that the state was critical to US national security and could allow exports of liquefied natural gas to other parts of the US and allies.
The US will also end leasing to wind farms, according to the White House's website. In addition, Trump said he would revoke what he has called an electric vehicle (EV) mandate.
Members of his team are recommending sweeping changes to cut off support for EVs and charging stations and to strengthen measures blocking the import of cars, components and battery materials from China, according to a document seen by Reuters.
TARIFFS
While Trump mentioned no specific tariff plans in his inaugural address, he and members of his Cabinet said they were coming, to be collected by a new agency called the External Revenue Service.
His first day reprieve signals a possibly more deliberative approach to imposing tariffs, an issue that has shaken global policymakers and investors, and prompted a relief rally in global stocks and key foreign currencies against the dollar.
In a broad presidential trade memo draft seen by Reuters, Trump also directed federal agencies to assess China's performance under the "Phase 1" trade deal he signed with Beijing in 2020 to end a nearly two-year tariff war.
The deal required China to increase purchases of US exports by US$200 billion over two years, but Beijing failed to meet the targets as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
DIVERSITY AND TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
Trump will issue executive orders that slash diversity, equity and inclusion programs and proclaim the US government will only recognise two sexes - male and female - that cannot be changed, an incoming White House official said on Monday.
The official added that more actions on DEI programs were expected "very soon".
Trump also has vowed to sign an executive order ending transgender rights in the US military and US schools.
