U.S. President Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders and actions into force in the early days of his second term in office, which began when he was sworn in on January 20. Following multiple promises made on the campaign trail leading up to the 2024 presidential election, Mr. Trump controversially issued a spree of executive orders in the first week itself.

What are some of the orders issued?

Mr. Trump issued over 1,500 pardons to individuals prosecuted for their role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, alongside orders mandating the U.S.’s exit from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO). He also signed an order ending birthright citizenship, protected under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, for children of undocumented migrants and those on temporary visas. He proposed a 100% conditional tariff on BRICS nations and a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, from February 1, while declaring a national emergency on the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico.

He also reversed 78 executive orders and memoranda of his predecessor, Joe Biden. While each of these decrees will likely impact the governance paradigm of the U.S., some, if not most, of these executive orders will face legal challenges and may ultimately be reversed. The broader Trump political agenda is nevertheless expected to significantly change the status quo in the U.S. over the coming four years, in the realms of domestic and foreign policy.

Why did Trump pardon the rioters?

Speaking at a news conference regarding his “blanket pardon that effectively freed all the rioters and erased the work of the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history”, Mr. Trump said, “These people have already served years in prison, and they have served them viciously. It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”

The grant of clemency came despite the January 6 Congressional investigation running for two years, between 2021-23, and its committee interviewing over 1,000 people and reviewing more than a million documents. At the end of the enquiry, the courts charged more than 1,500 people associated with the attack on the U.S. Capitol, including former leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, convicted of seditious conspiracy and violent acts.

Lawyers for these defendants were themselves said to be “pleasantly surprised” by Mr. Trump’s pardons given that Vice President J.D. Vance had recently said that only non-violent offenders would get relief, and Mr. Trump’s Attorney General pick Pam Bondi noted in Congress earlier that she did not believe that violent rioters ought to be pardoned.

What are the implications of the immigration crackdown?

On the one hand, the attempted reading down of the 14th Amendment has already been challenged in court by 22 States, and is likely to fail, according to legal experts. A federal judge in Seattle, Washington, has already described Mr. Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship as “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a temporary restraining order to block it for at least two weeks while awaiting further briefings on the overall legal challenge.

However, the immigration raids that Mr. Trump promised vociferously during his campaign have begun in earnest. With over 21 actions issued towards overhauling the immigration system, and “mass deportations” and arrests promised, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already deported 1,000 individuals and detained 5,000 in the State of Texas, in some cases flying them out on military aircraft with the cooperation of the Department of Defense.

Mr. Trump has said on several occasions that he is in favour of legal migration even if he intends to close the U.S. border to undocumented migrants. While the President and his billionaire supporter Elon Musk have often spoken out in favour of temporary work visas for skilled migrants, including the H-1B visa, which applicants from India are most frequently granted, some members of the more conservative wing of the Republican Party have opposed any expansion in the H-1B quotas and have argued for bringing back jobs for American workers.

What could the impact of the U.S. exit from global pacts be?

Under the first Trump term, from 2016-20, the U.S. exited the Paris Climate Agreement — a move that was reversed by Mr. Biden on his first day in office with the implication that the U.S. had once again committed itself to cutting carbon emissions and pursuing clean energy sources, including by setting limits on pollution by motor vehicle emissions, methane from industrial processes, and coal-fired power plants. On his first day in office, Mr. Trump again exited the Paris pact, describing it as an “unfair, one-sided… rip-off”, and pointing out that “the U.S. will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity.”

With the war cry of “Drill, baby, drill!”, Mr. Trump has gone further to declare a “national energy emergency”, which is not only a signal of Mr. Trump’s promise of energy expansion but specifically opens the door to the “federal use of eminent domain and the Defense Production Act,” which would allow the government to take charge of private lands and other resources to produce goods that might be deemed to be a national necessity.

However, not only does this mean that the U.S. will officially halt all contributions towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but it also does so at the peril of ever more climatic events with a profound impact on the country. This has already been happening with increasing frequency, including 2024 being the U.S.’s hottest year on record, major wildfires burning in Los Angeles, and hurricanes devastating communities from North Carolina to Florida.

Why do Trump’s early orders matter for bipartisan prospects in the U.S.?

The tenor of the second Trump administration in terms of its early policy agenda appears to be fundamentally hostile to the progressive agenda of the Democrats. To an extent, that is expected, as the two major parties have always diverged considerably on policy subjects such as the economy, immigration and reproductive rights. However, previous Republican governments would regularly seek to build bridges with Democratic lawmakers in Congress and in States to build bipartisan consensus across critical political issues rather than risk stalemates and fruitless conflicts over policy priorities and funding.

What is significant about Mr. Trump’s second victory, however, is the fact that he now enjoys a federal government trifecta and a sympathetic Supreme Court stacked 6-3 in favour of conservatives. This implies that Mr. Trump and his administration need to rely even less on support from across the aisle than they did during their first term. Further, he has clearly been emboldened by the fact that he won such a wide election victory encompassing most demographic cohorts of voters, to the point where even unconventional policy priorities have started to enter the proposed policy agenda. He has announced plans to take over the Panama Canal, de-recognise transgender rights, and Washington has threatened Denmark with its intention to take over Greenland, and the possibility of a ban on travellers from certain countries entering the U.S.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown during a press availability after a federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship in a case brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, on January 23, 2025, in Seattle.
| Photo Credit: AP

A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday (January 23, 2025) temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive orderending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour repeatedly interrupted a Justice Department lawyer during arguments to ask how he could consider the order constitutional. When the attorney, Brett Shumate, said he’d like a chance to explain it in a full briefing, Judge Coughenour told him the hearing was his chance.

The temporary restraining order sought by Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington was the first to get a hearing before a judge and applies nationally.

The case is one of five lawsuits being brought by 22 states and a number of immigrants rights groups across the country. The suits include personal testimonies from attorneys general who are U.S. citizens by birthright, and names pregnant women who are afraid their children won’t become U.S. citizens.

Judge Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, began the hearing by grilling the administration’s attorneys, saying the order “boggles the mind.”

“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Judge Coughenour told Mr. Shumate. Judge Coughenour said he’s been on the bench for more than four decades, and he couldn’t remember seeing another case where the action challenged was so clearly unconstitutional.

Also read | U.S. birthright citizenship: Indian-American lawmakers oppose President Trump’s executive order

Mr. Shumate said he respectfully disagreed and asked the judge for an opportunity to have a full briefing on the merits of the case, rather than have a 14-day restraining order issued blocking its implementation.

President Trump’s executive order, which he signed on Inauguration Day, is slated to take effect on February 19. It could impact hundreds of thousands of people born in the country, according to one of the lawsuits. In 2022, there were about 255,000 births of citizen children to mothers living in the country illegally and about 153,000 births to two such parents, according to the four-state suit filed in Seattle.

The Trump administration argued in papers filed Wednesday that the states don’t have grounds to bring a suit against the order and that no damage has yet been done, so temporary relief isn’t called for. The administration’s attorneys also clarified that the executive order only applies to people born after February 19, when it’s set to take effect.

The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.

The lawsuits argue that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship for people born and naturalized in the U.S., and states have been interpreting the amendment that way for a century.

Ratified in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War, the amendment says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

President Trump’s order asserts that the children of noncitizens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and orders federal agencies to not recognize citizenship for children who don’t have at least one parent who is a citizen.

A key case involving birthright citizenship unfolded in 1898. The Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country. After a trip abroad, he faced being denied reentry by the federal government on the grounds that he wasn’t a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act.

But some advocates of immigration restrictions have argued that case clearly applied to children born to parents who were both legal immigrants. They say it’s less clear whether it applies to children born to parents living in the country illegally.

President Trump’s order prompted attorneys general to share their personal connections to birthright citizenship. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, for instance, a U.S. citizen by birthright and the nation’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal for him.

“There is no legitimate legal debate on this question. But the fact that Trump is dead wrong will not prevent him from inflicting serious harm right now on American families like my own,” said the Attorney General this week.

One of the lawsuits aimed at blocking the executive order includes the case of a pregnant woman, identified as “Carmen,” who is not a citizen but has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has a pending visa application that could lead to permanent residency status.

“Stripping children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a grave injury,” the suit says. “It denies them the full membership in U.S. society to which they are entitled.”

President Donald Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office of the White House on January 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Shortly after being sworn in on Monday (January 20, 2025), U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order cancelling the provision of “citizenship by birth”, which, if unchallenged, could directly affect thousands of Indian professionals working in the U.S. under H-1B and other temporary visas, who hoped to raise their families there.

Mr. Trump also said he planned to levy “100% taxes” on BRICS countries for attempting to move to “non-dollar” transactions, referring to the 10-nation grouping of emerging economies that includes India.

“As a BRICS nation, they’ll have a 100% tariff if they so much as even think about doing what they thought, and therefore they will give it up immediately,” he said, erroneously referring to Spain as a BRICS member.

The grouping at present comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.

In addition, Mr. Trump’s plans to crackdown on undocumented and illegal immigrants could hit about 7.25 lakh Indians, of which nearly 18,000 are already on a “final list for removal” or deportations.

Jaishankar-Rubio meet

As concerns grew in India over Mr. Trump’s announcements, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was set to meet incoming U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss priorities for the India-U.S. bilateral relationship and the Quad.

The one-on-one meeting, which would be Mr. Rubio’s first with any foreign dignitary, was due to take place on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, following a meeting of the Quad Foreign Ministers, including Australia’s Penny Wong and Japan’s Iwaya Takeshi.

The Quad Foreign Ministers are expected to discuss dates for the Quad Summit to be held in India later this year, while during the bilateral meeting Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Rubio would discuss Mr. Trump’s visit to India and taking forward the strategic partnership, as well as the concerns over immigration and tariffs.

According to the public schedule released by the U.S. State Department for the U.S. Secretary of State’s first day, after he was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, Mr. Rubio will meet State Department employees and then hold talks with all Quad Foreign Ministers. The meeting of the Indo-Pacific grouping, that China has criticised, is significant as it is Mr. Rubio’s first foreign policy engagement.

On Monday, Mr. Jaishankar was accorded a front-row aisle seat right in front of the podium where Mr. Trump took oath.

Mr. Jaishankar’s seat was several rows ahead of the Foreign Ministers of Australia and Japan, both countries that are treaty allies of the U.S.

“[I] attended the Inaugural festivities in Washington this evening, [an] occasion to meet key members of President Trump’s Administration,” Mr. Jaishankar wrote on social media, posting his photographs with members of Mr. Trump’s Cabinet and leaders of the Senate and the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Rubio’s decision to meet the Quad Foreign Ministers first is also important as it comes amid Mr. Trump’s own outreach to China, including an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping for the inaugural ceremony on Monday, which Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng attended.

Mr. Rubio, known for his tough views on China, has been banned from travelling there and was sanctioned twice by Beijing over his comments criticising Chinese human rights violations in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

At his confirmation hearing last week, Mr. Rubio said he believed that China was the “most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary [the U.S.] has ever confronted”.

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into the global order, and they took advantage of all of its benefits and they ignored all of its obligations and responsibilities. Instead, they have repressed and lied and cheated and hacked and stolen their way into global superpower status, and they have done so at our expense and at the expense of the people of their own country,” Mr. Rubio said.

The prominence of the Quad Foreign Ministers at the Trump inauguration and in Mr. Rubio’s schedule are believed to be both signal a priority for the Indo-Pacific partnership as well as a pointed message to Beijing.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, on January 19, 2025, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

Soon after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump is likely to sign a barrage of executive orders, including those related to immigration, border security, energy and governance, his close aide revealed on Sunday (January 19, 2025).

An executive order is an order issued unilaterally by the president which carries the force of law. Unlike legislation, executive orders do not require Congressional approval. Though the Congress cannot overturn them, they can be challenged in the court of law.

“The breadth of the orders, which would make major changes to immigration, energy and government hiring policies, illustrates the urgency with which Trump and his team plan to launch an ambitious agenda,” The Wall Street Journal said.

In a briefing with senior Republican leaders, Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming White House deputy chief of staff for policy, revealed that the executive orders will include declaring emergency on the southern border, preparing military deployment on the borders, classifying cartels as “foreign terrorist organisations”, reinstating the “Remain in Mexico” policy, ending the “Catch and Release” policy, and declaring emergency related to energy.

Also on the list are opening up offshore and Arctic drilling, speeding up pipeline licensing/construction, reforms to remove government employees and rescinding DEI and gender-related orders.

Giving a preview of the executive orders at Trump’s ‘victory rally’ in downtown Washington, Miller said, “He (Trump) has always been fighting for all of us. And what is that going to look like come Monday afternoon? It’s going to mean an executive order ending border invasion, sending illegal immigrants home, and taking America back.” “It’s going to mean the eradication of criminal cartels and foreign gangs which are preying on our people. It’s going to mean justice for every American citizen who has lost a loved one to an illegal alien,” Miller added.

Trump, 78, is also expected to roll back some of the executive orders and actions of outgoing President Joe Biden.

Prominent among them include the Paris Agreement on climate change, lifting restrictions on fossil fuel production, and expanding domestic oil drilling.

Washington:

The use of executive orders has been a staple of presidential power in the United States, allowing presidents to unilaterally implement policies and decisions. Since 1937, only three U.S. presidents have issued executive orders on their first day in office. This exclusive group includes Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Bill Clinton.

President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to implement several policy promises on his first day back in the White House has sparked interest in the history of executive orders. If Trump signs an executive order on his first day, it will be the fourth time since 1937 that a U.S. president has done so. This is based on an analysis of executive order data from the Office of the Federal Register by the Hearst Television Data Team.

The Federal Register tracks all executive orders signed by presidents beginning in 1937, excluding former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first-term executive orders. An executive order is a powerful tool that carries the force of law, allowing presidents to implement their campaign promises or pursue policy goals that may face opposition or roadblocks in Congress.

A notable example of the use of executive orders is former President Barack Obama’s decision to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour in 2014. When lawmakers failed to act, Obama signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage. This highlights the ability of presidents to use executive orders to bypass Congressional opposition.

President Joe Biden holds the record for the most executive orders signed on the first day and first week in office. On his first day, Biden issued nine executive orders, six of which reversed orders from the Trump administration. These reversals included rescinding policies targeting communities that shielded undocumented immigrants from deportation and requiring the use of face masks in federal buildings and lands.

Biden’s use of executive orders during his first week in office was prolific, with a total of 22 orders signed. This sets a high bar for Trump, who would need to sign more than 22 executive orders on his first day to surpass Biden’s record.

Biden ended 100 days of his term with 42 executive orders and a total of 160 during his presidency.

In terms of the number of executive orders signed during their presidencies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the record, with a staggering 2,023 executive orders signed during his second and third terms. Roosevelt’s unprecedented 12 years in office allowed him to use executive orders to tackle the Great Depression, carry out New Deal programs, and handle World War II.

Other notable presidents in terms of executive orders include Truman, who signed 906 executive orders, and Clinton, who signed 364 executive orders. On the other end of the spectrum, President George H.W. Bush issued the second-fewest executive orders, with a total of 46 executive orders signed in 1991.

In conclusion, the use of executive orders is a powerful tool available to U.S. presidents, allowing them to implement policies and decisions unilaterally. With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to implement several policy promises on his first day back in the White House, it will be interesting to see how he uses executive orders during his presidency.
 

Washington:

On the first day of his first term, President-elect Donald Trump had signed just one executive order, which targeted Obamacare. But this time around, he has promised quite a few orders. Here are a few of them.

Mass deportation program

Trump’s immigration plans are a key aspect of his day-one agenda. He has vowed to begin a mass deportation program, targeting undocumented migrants. “On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” Trump said during a rally in New York City. This promise has raised concerns among immigration advocates, who argue that such a program would be logistically challenging and potentially harmful.

End birthright citizenship

Trump has also promised to end birthright citizenship, a right granted to anyone born in the United States under the 14th Amendment. This move would likely face significant legal and logistical challenges. When asked if he plans to end birthright citizenship on day one, Trump replied, “Absolutely.” Additionally, Trump has vowed to terminate every open-borders policy of the Biden administration, he has even said that he will “use Title 42”, a public health law that allows for faster deportation of migrants.

Pardon Capitol Hill rioters

On the issue of pardons, Trump has promised to pardon defendants convicted for their role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. “I’m looking first day,” Trump said when asked about his timeline for pardons. He has also stated that he would consider pardoning defendants charged with violent crimes, saying, “We’re looking at it.” This move has sparked controversy, with many arguing that pardoning those involved in the January 6 attack would undermine the rule of law. Furthermore, he told Time magazine, “I’ll be looking at J6 early on, maybe the first nine minutes.”

Ending the Russia-Ukraine War

In terms of foreign policy, Trump has made the bold claim that he can end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office, or even before. “That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president,” Trump said during a debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. “I know [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy very well, and I know [Russian President Vladimir] Putin very well. I have a good relationship and they respect your president, OK, they respect me. They don’t respect Biden,” Trump added.

Tariff implementation

Trump has also promised to implement tariffs on products imported from Mexico and Canada, two of America’s biggest trading partners. This move has raised concerns among economists, who argue that such tariffs could have drastic and harmful effects on the US economy.

“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 25. He even referred to the word tariff as “the most beautiful word in the entire dictionary of words.”

End Biden’s ‘electric vehicle mandate’

On economic issues, Trump has vowed to cancel the electric vehicle “mandate” implemented by the Biden administration. “The day I take office, I will cancel Crooked Joe’s electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said during a campaign event in Houston.

The mandate Trump has been speaking about is an order Biden signed setting a national goal aiming for 50% of new cars and trucks sold by 2030 to be zero-emission. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency finalised the tailpipe emission limits and electric vehicles were expected to help reach the goals. Trump has referred to this as “electric vehicle mandates”, although no one is required to buy a certain type of car.

Drill, drill, drill

He has also promised to increase oil drilling in the United States, saying, “Drill, drill, drill” during a town hall interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. According to Trump, increasing oil production in the US would drastically reduce energy costs.

This move has sparked concerns among environmental groups, who argue that increased oil drilling would exacerbate climate change.

Ban transgender athletes from women’s sports

Trump’s stance on transgender rights has been a topic of controversy. He has repeatedly referred to transgender women as men and has promised to limit participation in women’s sports by transgender women, saying, “I will keep men out of women’s sports, 100%, immediately, first day.”

End gender-affirming care practices

Trump has also vowed to end gender-affirming care practices, which can include hormone therapy. “On day one, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called ‘gender affirming care,'” Trump said in a video posted to his campaign website. This move has sparked outrage among LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue that such policies would be discriminatory and harmful.

Made-in-America auto industry

Furthermore, Trump has promised to revitalise the American auto industry, saying that “a vote for President Trump means the future of the automobile will be made in America.” He has also vowed to promote American energy, sourced by American suppliers, and built by American labourers. This move has sparked enthusiasm among some in the auto industry, who see Trump’s promises as a potential boon for American manufacturing.

As Trump prepares to take office, its not yet certain which of these promises he will prioritise and how he will implement them. One thing is certain, however: Trump’s day-one agenda is ambitious and far-reaching, with the potential to shape the course of his presidency and the future of the United States.