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On his first day as President, Donald Trump issued sweeping executive orders, including pardoning Capitol rioters, reshaping immigration, and more. Here’s the complete list.
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025 (Photo: AFP)
From immigration crackdown to withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accords, President Donald Trump, on the first day of his new term on January 20, signed a flurry of executive orders, thus repealing dozens of former President Joe Biden’s actions.
Some of his orders were delivered on promises he made during the 2024 campaign. Others, like the withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO), came as a surprise.
In one of the most important executive orders, Donald Trump pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
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 the 47th President of the United States.
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TRUMP PARDONS US CAPITOL RIOTERS
Donald Trump has pardoned nearly everyone criminally charged with participating in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, in a show of solidarity with supporters who stormed the seat of American power in his name. The act effectively wipes away legal consequences for all but 14 of the nearly 1,590 people charged over the riot, while others will be released from federal prison, as Trump again referred to those who were convicted or pleaded guilty over the riots as “hostages.”
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TRUMP RESHAPES IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP
Trump has signed various orders aimed at reshaping how the United States manages immigration and citizenship. Reversing several immigration orders from Joe Biden’s presidency, Trump declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and said he plans to send US troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum. Trump has also temporarily suspended the US Refugee Admission Program, and pledged to restart a policy that forced asylum seekers to wait over the border in Mexico. He has also promised a mass deportation operation involving the military, which he says will target those he called “criminal aliens.”
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US WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD
Donald Trump has signed an order immediately withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accord, removing the world’s biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade. The move places the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the 2015 pact, in which governments agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
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TRUMP ORDERS US EXIT FROM WHO
Trump has signed an order for the United States to exit the World Health Organisation, insisting Washington was unfairly paying more than China into the UN body. Trump also said the global health agency had mishandled the Covid-19 pandemic and other international health crises. The move means the US will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months and stop all financial contributions to its work.
Donald Trump has ordered a 75-day pause on enforcing a law that would effectively ban TikTok. The earlier order, banning TikTok, was supposed to come into effect this week, prohibiting the distribution and updating of TikTok in the United States. Signing the new order, the US President said the app’s Chinese parent company must agree to sell a fifty per cent share to the United States. He also said he would seek a US buyer in a deal that can protect national security interests while leaving the popular social media platform open to Americans.
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TRUMP ROLLS BACK ORDERS PROMOTING DIVERSITY PROGRAMS
Donald Trump has repealed various executive orders promoting diversity programs and LGBTQ equality. Both are major shifts in federal policy and are in line with Trump’s campaign trail promises. One order declares that the federal government would recognise only two immutable genders – male and female. Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order. Additionally, federal taxpayer money could not be used to fund “transition services”.
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TRUMP TO RENAME GULF OF MEXICO
In more symbolic moves, Donald Trump has signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, making it the Gulf of America. The highest mountain in North America, now known as Denali, will revert to Mount McKinley, its name until President Barack Obama changed it. Trump also signed an order that flags must be at full height at every future Inauguration Day. The order came because former President Jimmy Carter’s death had prompted flags to be at half-staff. Trump demanded they be moved up now. Another Trump order called for promoting ‘Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture’.
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TRUMP SIGNS ORDER ON CONSUMER INFLATION
In a made-for-TV display at Capital One Arena, Trump signed a largely symbolic memorandum that he described as directing every federal agency to combat consumer inflation. By repealing Biden’s actions and adding his own orders, Trump is easing regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production, something he promises will bring down the costs of all consumer goods. Trump is specifically targeting Alaska for expanded fossil fuel production. On trade, the President said he expects to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting February 1, but declined to flesh out his plans for taxing Chinese imports.
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TRUMP ENDS WORK FROM HOME FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
Donald Trump has halted federal government hiring, excepting the military and other parts of government that went unnamed. He also added a freeze on new federal regulations and empowered the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk. 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.
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TRUMP SIGNS ‘NATIONAL ENERGY EMERGENCY’ ORDER
Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at promoting oil and gas development in Alaska. Trump said he expects the orders to help reduce consumer energy prices and improve US national security, by expanding domestic supplies and also bolstering allies. The US President has also signed an order declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ aimed at significantly expanding drilling in the world’s top oil and gas producer.
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TRUMP CANCELS SANCTIONS ON ISRAELI SETTLERS IN WEST BANK
Trump has revoked sanctions imposed by the former Biden administration on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of being involved in violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The President has rescinded Executive Order 14115 issued on February 1, 2024, which authorised the imposition of certain sanctions ‘on Persons Undermining Peace, Security, and Stability in the West Bank.’
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TRUMP REINSTATES CUBA ON STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR LIST
Donald Trump has promptly reversed Joe Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from a blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, announced days earlier as part of a deal to free prisoners. In a statement issued hours after the inauguration, the White House said Trump had rescinded a long series of executive orders, including the decision on Cuba. The Biden administration in its final days last week said it would remove Cuba from the list, which severely impedes foreign investment, in return for a promise to release 553 people — including Cubans jailed in a crackdown on rare mass protests in 2021. Cuba had gone ahead with releasing prisoners, including opposition leader Daniel Ferrer.
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TRUMP RESTORES FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA
Trump has signed an executive order that he said aims to restore freedom of speech and end censorship, drawing fire from critics who point to his past actions threatening and suing journalists, critics and political opponents. This comes as Trump and his Republican allies have accused the Biden administration of encouraging suppression of free speech on online platforms. Trump has himself faced social media restrictions after the US Capitol attack and his loss in the 2020 elections.
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TRUMP FREEZES UNSPENT CHARGING FUNDS
Trump has revoked a 2021 executive order signed by Joe Biden that sought to ensure half of all new vehicles sold in the US by 2030 were electric. Trump said in an executive order he was halting the distribution of unspent government funds for vehicle charging stations from a $5 billion fund, called for ending a waiver for states to adopt zero-emission vehicle rules by 2035 and said his administration would consider ending EV tax credits. Trump also said he was seeking the repeal of a waiver granted to California in December by the EPA allowing the state to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035.
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TRUMP REVOKES BIDEN’S ORDER ON AI RISKS
Donald Trump has revoked a 2023 executive order signed by Joe Biden that sought to reduce the risks that artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security. Biden’s order required developers of AI systems that pose risks to US national security, the economy, public health or safety to share the results of safety tests with the US government, in line with the Defense Production Act, before they were released to the public. The order also directed agencies to set standards for that testing and address related chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and cybersecurity risks. Biden’s order came as US lawmakers have failed to pass legislation setting guardrails for AI development.
