January 20, 2025– President Donald Trump kicked off his inaugural speech with a declaration that the “golden age of America begins right now.” Trump vowed that under his watch, the nation would “flourish and be respected again” and suggested that he would oversee a drastic turnaround from the past four years under the Biden administration. The unusual and intimate inauguration took place inside the United States Capitol rotunda due to sub-freezing temperatures and high winds. It marked the commencement of Donald Trump’s second non-consecutive term as president.
Within a few weeks in office, President Trump has signed a record number of executive orders intended to make good on campaign promises, particularly related to immigration, economic reform, and environmental deregulation. Some of Trump’s key executive orders include:
- Ending Birthright Citizenship: Issued on his first day in office, the order targets automatic citizenship for US-born children of undocumented people as well as some legal immigrants. Birthright citizenship, which guarantees citizenship to those born on US soil, is protected by the 14th amendment. The order was therefore temporarily blocked on January 23, cited as “blatantly unconstitutional” by the ruling judge.
- Renaming Gulf of Mexico: Ordered for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the “Gulf of America.” The order also renamed Alaska’s Mount Denali as Mount McKinley.
- Leaving World Health Organization: Ordered to have the US exit the World Health Organization and stop all financial contributions to the organization, despite being the biggest financial backer to the United Nations health agency.
- Withdrawing from Paris Climate Agreement: Issued the withdrawal from the 2015 Paris agreement, representing Trump’s broader efforts to roll back on climate protections and policy.
- Reclassifying Federal Employees: Reclassified thousands of federal employees as “political hires,” thus making it very easy for them to be fired. The mass government firings, in alignment with the Project 2025 agenda, fires civil servants deemed unreliable and replaces them with conservatives.
- Pausing the TikTok ban: Signed an executive order to temporarily delay the enforcement of a federal TikTok ban for at least 75 days. Despite pushing for a TikTok ban in his first term, Trump has since changed his position on the app, saying: “I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally.”
- Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico, and China: Signed three executive orders on Canada, Mexico, and China. The Canada order states that Mexican cartels operating within Canada, bringing a substantial amount of fentanyl that could kill “9.5 million Americans.” The Mexico order says that the Mexican government has an “intolerable” alliance with drug traffickers, endangering US security. The China order states that the Chinese government permits criminal organizations to “launder the revenues from the production, shipment, and sale of illicit synthetic opioids.” All three nations announced retaliatory actions against Trump’s tariffs, and the president agreed to postpone the tariffs for Canada and Mexico for one month.
Trump’s blitz of executive actions designed to reorient the US government reflect his determination to fulfill campaign promises and test the powers of the Executive Branch. The president’s first few weeks in office undoubtedly offer signals about how his next four years in the White House will unravel.