**Washington (AFP)** – On the first day of his new term, President Donald Trump signed orders ranging from climate to immigration, along with sweeping pardons for nearly all of those charged with storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Some of his orders delivered on promises he made during the 2024 campaign. Others, like a withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), had not been expected. Here is a summary of the orders Trump signed at a Washington arena packed with supporters, and later at the White House, after he was sworn in as president.
**Immigration**
Trump signed various orders aimed at reshaping how the United States manages immigration and citizenship. One declared a national emergency at the southern border. Trump also promised a mass deportation operation involving the military, which he says will target those he called “criminal aliens.” In the Oval Office, Trump signed an order revoking birthright citizenship. However, automatic US citizenship for people born in the country is enshrined in the Constitution, and Trump’s action is certain to face a legal challenge.
**January 6 Rioters**
Trump signed pardons for more than 1,500 people charged in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol by his supporters trying to overturn the 2020 election. He again referred to those who were convicted or pleaded guilty over the riots as “hostages.”
**Diversity, Equity, Inclusion**
Trump repealed various executive orders promoting diversity programs and LGBTQ equality, in line with his promised attack on “woke” culture. He overturned decrees promoting diversity and equality in the government, businesses, and healthcare, as well as the rights of LGBTQ Americans. Trump stated that moving forward, the US government will only recognize “two genders, male and female.”
**Paris Climate Accord**
The president immediately withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, repeating an action he took during his first term. The order extends Trump’s defiant rejection of global efforts to combat planetary warming as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide. It would take a year to leave the agreement after submitting a formal notice to the United Nations framework that underpins global climate negotiations.
**Oil Drilling**
Trump signed an order declaring a “national energy emergency” aimed at significantly expanding drilling in the world’s top oil and gas producer. “We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in his inaugural address.
**Work from Home**
Another order requires federal workers to return to the office full-time, with Trump seeking to undo most of the work-from-home allowances that flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic.
**Leaving WHO**
Trump signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organization, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body.
**TikTok**
The president ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok. His action delayed the implementation of an act that came into effect this week, prohibiting the distribution and updating of TikTok in the United States. Trump has stated that the app’s Chinese parent company must agree to sell a 50 percent share to the United States.
**West Bank Settlers**
Trump revoked sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank accused of abuses against Palestinians, undoing an unprecedented action taken by Joe Biden’s administration.
**Cuba**
Undoing another one of Biden’s more recent moves, Trump reversed the removal of Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. Biden had removed Cuba from the list only days earlier as part of a deal to free prisoners.
© 2024 AFP
