Throughout his 2024 election campaign, President Donald Trump made promises for day one of his second presidency. From deportation programs to imposing tariffs, Trump set himself up for a rapid-fire stream of executive orders, proclamations and pardons in the beginning of his time in office.
Trump immediately began his plans to secure the U.S.-Mexico border, tighten immigration control and issue a mass deportation program. In his speeches, Trump considers illegal immigration an invasion of the United States. According to NBC News, “Trump [rescinded] the executive orders that President Joe Biden enacted on immigration, including those that built legal pathways for record numbers of migrants arriving at the border in recent years.”
Furthermore, Trump signed an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, even though that is a right given by the 14th Amendment. According to BBC, his goal is to “prevent undocumented pregnant women [from crossing] the border in order to give birth, an act that has been pejoratively called ‘birth tourism’ or having an ‘anchor baby.’” However, this policy has already faced many legal challenges. The New York Times reported that “22 states, along with activist groups and expectant mothers, filed six lawsuits to halt the executive order.” U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour sided with them, halting Trump’s policy from taking place for two weeks. Coughenour ruled the case to be “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Trump’s aggressive stance on climate change has also taken shape in his first week in office. According to the New York Times, “Trump issued a half-dozen executive orders related to energy aimed at expanding the use of fossil fuels, curbing renewable energy and abandoning the federal government’s efforts to address climate change.” One of the most notable was his withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, an international treaty that aims to combat climate change which has been endorsed by all United Nations member states. Trump plans to increase U.S. reliance on fossil fuels.
Trump also began implementing plans to impose higher tariffs, especially on China. According to Fox Business, “Trump reiterated his plan to slap a 25% tariff on both Mexico and Canada.” During his campaign, Trump threatened to impose tariffs as high as 60% on China, according to Fox News. Experts debate the economic impact of these actions and how realistically they could be enforced.
According to AP News, Trump promptly “[commuted] the sentences and [granted] full pardons to hundreds of individuals convicted or still being prosecuted for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.” This has caused major conflict. Also according to AP News, Trump then went on to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs, define gender as either male or female and establish the Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk. In response to the federal law’s ban on TikTok just hours prior to his inauguration, pause the TikTok ban for 75 days.
