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.

New Delhi:

Donald Trump took oath as the 47th President of the United States Monday, capping a remarkable turnaround in fortunes that nosedived after the riots in Washington, D.C. in January 2021 and hit rock bottom in May 2024, when he was convicted of felonies by a New York court.

Trump now becomes the first ex-President to be convicted of felony crimes – the jury found him guilty on all 34 charges, including those in a scheme to illegally influence the 2020 presidential election, the loss of which led to the riots – and the first convicted felon to be President.

Minutes after being administered the oath by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Trump – who survived assassination attempts – declared, “The ‘Golden Age of America’ begins now”.

Trump had vowed to sign a flurry of executive orders, including announcing stringent curbs on immigrant and mass deportation of illegal migrants, as well as banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, and undoing his predecessor’s directives on diversity and oil drilling.

The president will also declare a national emergency at the Mexico border, send armed troops there, and resume a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait there for court dates, officials said.

He will also seek to end so-called birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children whose parents lack legal status, a move some legal scholars have said would be unconstitutional.

Trump’s deputy, JD Vance, was sworn in as Vice President just before him.

President Joe Biden, center left, and first lady Jill Biden, left, speak with President-elect Donald Trump, center right, and Melania Trump, right, upon arriving at the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

Donald Trump, who overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and a pair of assassination attempts to win another term in the White House, will be sworn in as the 47th president Monday, taking charge as Republicans assume unified control of Washington and set out to reshape the country’s institutions.

Mr. Trump will act swiftly after the ceremony, with executive orders already prepared for his signature to clamp down on border crossings, increase fossil fuel development and end diversity and inclusion programs across the federal government.

He plans to declare the beginning of “a thrilling new era of national success” as “a tide of change is sweeping the country,” according to excerpts of his inaugural address.

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The executive orders are the first step in what Mr. Trump will call “the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.”

Frigid weather is rewriting the pageantry of the day. Mr. Trump’s swearing-in was moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda — the first time that has happened in 40 years — and the inaugural parade was replaced by an event at a downtown arena. Throngs of Trump supporters who descended on the city to watch the inaugural ceremony on the West Front of the Capitol from the National Mall will be left to find somewhere else to view the festivities.

“We needed a change. The country was going in the wrong direction in so many ways, economically, geopolitically, so many social issues at home,” said Joe Morse, 56, of New Jersey, who got in line with his sons at 11 p.m. Sunday and secured a spot on the main floor at Capitol One Arena to watch a livestream of the inauguration.

Mr. Trump began the day alongside much of his incoming Cabinet with a prayer service at St. John’s Episcopal Church. He and his wife, Melania, were later greeted at the North Portico of the executive mansion by outgoing President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for the customary tea and coffee reception. It was a stark departure from four years ago, when Mr. Trump refused to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory or attend his inauguration.

“Welcome home,” Mr. Biden said to Mr. Trump after the President-elect stepped out of the car.

The two men and their spouses will head to the Capitol in a joint motorcade ahead of the swearing-in.

When Mr. Trump takes the oath of office at noon, he will realize a political comeback without precedent in American history. Four years ago, he was voted out of the White House during an economic collapse caused by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Trump denied his defeat and tried to cling to power. He directed his supporters to march on the Capitol while lawmakers were certifying the election results, sparking a riot that interrupted the country’s tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.

But Mr. Trump never lost his grip on the Republican Party and was undeterred by criminal cases and two assassination attempts as he steamrolled rivals and harnessed voters’ exasperation with inflation and illegal immigration.

“I am ready for a new United States,” said Cynde Bost, 63, from Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Now Mr. Trump will be the first person convicted of a felony — for falsifying business records related to hush money payments — to serve as President. He will pledge to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution from the same spot that was overrun by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. He’s said that one of his first acts in office will be to pardon many of those who participated in the riot.

Eight years after he first entered the White House as a political newcomer, Mr. Trump is far more familiar with the operations of federal government and emboldened to bend it to his vision. Mr. Trump wants to bring quick change by curtailing immigration, enacting tariffs on imports and rolling back Democrats’ climate and social initiatives.

He has also promised retribution against his political opponents and critics, and placed personal loyalty as a prime qualification for appointments to his administration.

Hours before the inauguration, Mr. Biden issued preemptive pardons to current and former government officials who have been the target of Mr. Trump’s anger, shielding them from the possibility of prosecution. Mr. Biden said in a statement that “these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”

Mr. Trump has pledged to go further and move faster in enacting his agenda than during his first term, and already the country’s political, business and technology leaders have realigned themselves to accommodate Mr. Trump. Democrats who once formed a “resistance” are now divided over whether to work with Mr. Trump or defy him. Billionaires have lined up to meet with Mr. Trump as they acknowledge his unrivaled power in Washington and ability to wield the levers of government to help or hurt their interests.

Long skeptical of American alliances, Mr. Trump’s “America First” foreign policy is being watched warily at home and abroad as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will soon enter its third year and a fragile ceasefire appears to be holding in Gaza after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.

At the Capitol, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance will be sworn in first, taking the oath read by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on a bible given to him by his great-grandmother. Mr. Trump will follow, using both a family bible and the one used by President Abraham Lincoln at his 1861 inauguration as Chief Justice John Roberts administers his oath.

The inaugural festivities began Saturday, when Mr. Trump arrived in Washington on a government jet and viewed fireworks at his private golf club in suburban Virginia. On Sunday, he laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery and rallied his supporters at Washington’s downtown Capital One Arena.

A cadre of billionaires and tech titans who have sought to curry favour with Mr. Trump and have donated handsomely to his inaugural festivities, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, will be in attendance.

Also present will be the head of TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social media app deemed a national security risk by the U.S. Mr. Trump has promised to lift an effective ban on TikTok through one of many executive orders expected to be issued on Monday as the new president attempts to show quick progress.

Mr. Trump is planning to swiftly reinstitute his 2020 playbook to crackdown on the southern border — again declaring a national emergency, limiting the number of refugees entering the U.S. and deploying the military. He’s expected to take additional actions — including constitutionally questionable ones — such as attempting to end birthright citizenship automatically bestowed on people born in the U.S.

Mr. Trump will also sign an executive order aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government. The order will direct federal agencies to coordinate with the White House on identifying and terminating DEI programs. Conservatives have long criticized programs that give preference based on race, gender and sexual orientation, arguing they violate the Constitution.

Others orders are expected to allow more oil and gas drilling by rolling back Biden-era policies on domestic energy production and rescind Biden’s recent directive on artificial intelligence.

More changes are planned for the federal workforce. Mr. Trump wants to unwind diversity, equity and inclusion programs known as DEI, require employees to come back to the office and lay the groundwork to reduce staff.

“Expect shock and awe,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“What I’ve been urging the president, and my colleagues, to do is stay laser-focused on delivering on our promises,” Mr. Cruz said. “And that’s what I expect that we’re going to do.”

With control of Congress, Republicans are also working alongside the incoming Trump administration on legislation that will further roll back Biden administration policies and institute their own priorities.

“The President is going to come in with a flurry of executive orders,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. “And we are going to be working alongside the administration and in tandem.”