DONALD Trump signed a range of executive orders on his first day back in the White House.
The US President promised in his inaugural speech that these would amount to a “complete restoration of America”.
An executive order is a written order issued by the President to the federal government which does not requite the approval of Congress.
Here’s a look at the orders he made.
Leaving the World Health Organisation
Trump signed an order which means the US will exit the World Health Organisation (WHO), which he said “ripped us off”.
The US will leave the WHO in 12 months’ time and will stop all financial contributions to its work despite being its biggest backer.
Renaming the gulf of Mexico
Another order which Trump had already promised came as he ordered two name changes – the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Mount Denali.
The former has been renamed the Gulf of America while he has renamed Mount Denali as Mount McKinley.
This will however have little bearing on how the names are used internationally.
An end to birthright citizenship
Immigration is a key priority for Trump and he has targeted automatic citizenship for US-born children of immigrants who have entered the country illegally.
The order will begin 30 days from the inauguration although it is protected by the 14th amendment and so could bring legal challenges, The Guardian reports.
It attempts to deny documents recognising citizenship for individuals whose “mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a “United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth”.
It could also apply “when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary”.
January 6 pardons
Trump issued pardons for offenders and commutations linked to the January 6 attack on the Capitol following his election loss in 2020.
He said that around 1500 people were pardoned.
With Trump now back in the White House, any investigations into crimes committed on January 6 are expected to cease.
Withdrawing from key climate agreement
The United States will withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which Trump described as a “rip off”.
Trump had exited this in 2017 before Biden rejoined after taking office in 2021.
Rowing back electric vehicle targets
Trump revoked a non-binding order signed by his predecessor Joe Biden aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric.
Declaring a national energy emergency
The US President also declared a national energy emergency
“You can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem and we do have that kind of emergency,” Trump said.
Recognising two genders
Another order was signed to remove “gender ideology guidance” from federal government communication, policies and forms.
It means that there are “only two genders – male and female”.
Pausing ban on TikTok
The enforcement of a federal ban on TikTok has been banned for at least 75 days.
Trump said that “I guess I have a warm spot for TikTok that I didn’t have originally,” as he signed the order.
Rescinding Biden’s 78 executive actions
Trump ordered that 78 of Biden’s executive actions be rescinded, including at least a dozen measures supporting racial equality and those tackling discrimination against LGBT+ people.
He described the orders as “destructive” and said he would end policy “trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” and push for a “colour blind and merit-based society”.
Reclassifying federal employees
Finally, Trump issued an order which reclassified thousands of federal employees as political hires.
This makes it easier for people to be fired with aides to the president having called for mass government firings in the past.
