A Rundown of Trump’s Executive Actions, From Tariffs to Immigration
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has wasted no time trying to implement many of his campaign pledges, signing a flurry of executive orders since his Jan. 20 inauguration, including on immigration, energy, and diversity, casting many as reversing the policies of his predecessor Joe Biden.
Most Read from Bloomberg
NYC Subway’s Most Dangerous Stations Are on Lexington Ave. Line
Texas HOA Charged With Discrimination for Banning Section 8 Renters
Newsom Enlists Magic Johnson, Guggenheim CEO for LA Rebuilding
Among his first orders were pardons for nearly all Jan. 6 defendants, a reprieve for shutting down TikTok, eliminating government DEI programs, and withdrawing the US again from the Paris Agreement.
Follow The Big Take daily podcast wherever you listen.
Notably absent was any explicit order imposing tariffs. While he’s said he plans duties on China, Mexico, Canada and others, so far Trump has laid the groundwork for future actions.
“We will immediately restore the integrity, competency and loyalty of America’s government,” Trump said in his inaugural address. “With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America, and the revolution of common sense.”
It’s expected that many of the orders will be challenged in court, and others may take time to implement. But already US troops were surging to the border with Mexico, refugee flights had been canceled and some federal workers were told to stay home from the office while their jobs were evaluated.
Here’s a brief rundown of some of the executive orders he’s signed so far:
PARDONS
The first executive order Trump signed in the Oval Office on Monday was the full pardon of more than 1,500 people for their role in the siege of the US Capitol. It also commuted the sentences of 14 people.
The clemency action “ends a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years and begins a process of national reconciliation,” the proclamation stated.
More Than 1,500 US Capitol Riot Defendants Pardoned by Trump
How US Presidents Wield Their Mighty Power to Pardon: QuickTake
TRADE & ECONOMY
Tariffs
While Trump has threatened tariffs on several trading partners, as soon as Feb. 1, he hasn’t yet signed any orders that throw up trade barriers immediately. He did, however, order agencies including the Treasury and Commerce departments to study current trade policies and relationships, and report back with suggested actions by April 1. That includes the feasibility of creating a “External Revenue Service” to collect tariffs.
“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said. “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families.”
As Trump Lobs Tariff Threats, White House Maps Trade Overhaul
Trump Renews Universal Tariff Threat to ‘Protect Our Country’
Inflation Emergency
Trump directed departments and agencies “to deliver emergency price relief,” including for housing and health care, as well as eliminating climate policies that drive up energy prices.
Global Tax
The Biden administration’s effort to align the US with a global tax deal among 140 other countries is essentially dead. Trump declared the 2021 agreement, which included a minimum global corporate tax and a more complicated mechanism on cross-border service taxes, has no force in the US. While it was never ratified by Congress, other countries have agreed and Trump rejecting the deal could spark retaliatory tax measures between Washington and close trading partners.
OECD Global Tax Deal Has No Force In US, Trump Says
IMMIGRATION
Trump signed a series of orders that signal a dramatic change to immigration policy, ushering in new limits to both legal and illegal immigration. The ultimate impacts, however, are still unclear.
Border Emergency, ‘Invasion’
Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border, giving the White House the power to deploy armed forces, including the National Guard. The president also declared that “that the current situation at the southern border qualifies as an invasion.”
Trump Deploys Military Force to Launch Migrant Crackdown
Among the remedies he ordered is the completion of a wall on the US-Mexico border, an effort begun in his first term.
Deportations
Several of Trump’s orders are aimed at targeting millions of foreigners for expulsion and keeping out migrants who don’t have permission to come in.
He’s given new authorities to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers to carry out those deportations.
Millions Targeted for Rapid Expulsion as Trump Fulfills Vow
What Trump Mass Deportation Plan Means for Immigrants
Birthright Citizenship
The new president signed an order seeking to end automatic birthright citizenship for children of people not in the country legally, as well as those in legally but only temporarily, such as tourists, students, and those on work visas.
Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Birthright Citizenship Order
“We’re the only country in the world that does this with birth right, as you know, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “We think we have very good grounds” for the change, he said.
Asylum, Refugees
Trump ordered a halt to refugee resettlements and end the asylum process, and will stop “catch and release,” the policy by which migrants are released while awaiting hearings on their asylum status.
The administration has also reinstated the “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires those seeking asylum to stay in Mexico before their US immigration court date. It’s unclear if those migrants will be allowed to ask for asylum or have a court date set under the new version of the program.
Death Penalty
The Attorney General has been ordered to seek the death penalty for “a capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country.”
Cartels
Trump moved to designate the gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations, as well as Mexican cartels responsible for smuggling drugs across the border. He’ll use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport members.
Trump’s Terrorist Label for Cartels Is Putting Banks on Edge
TECHNOLOGY
Crypto
Trump didn’t immediately order a national cryptocurrency stockpile, but he did start laying the groundwork, asking for a six-month study on the possibility of its creation.
The order creates a working group on digital asset policies that will include the Treasury and Justice departments, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Also, as expected, he banned agencies from developing central bank digital currencies in the US or abroad.
The White House said the policies are aimed at “halting aggressive enforcement actions and regulatory overreach that have stifled crypto innovation under previous administrations.”
Artificial Intelligence
Like crypto, Trump framed his order as reversing Biden policies, which the White House said “hinders AI innovation and imposes onerous and unnecessary government control.”
Otherwise, the order was slim on specifics, asking for an action plan in 180 days that support his headline AI policy: “sustain and enhance America’s global AI dominance in order to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.”
TikTok
Trump temporarily halted a ban on TikTok in the US, granting the company and its Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. more time to reach a deal for the popular app that would resolve long-standing US national security concerns. The move gives the video-sharing platform a 75-day reprieve.
Trump Halts TikTok Ban, Giving App More Time to Find a Buyer
ENERGY & CLIMATE
Similar to his actions on immigration, Trump invoked emergency powers in a bid to boost domestic energy production and undo Biden-era policies designed to fight climate change.
A White House summary of plans said that Trump “will unleash American energy by ending Biden’s policies of climate extremism, streamlining permitting” and reviewing for possible reversal “all regulations that impose undue burdens on energy production and use, including mining and processing of non-fuel minerals.”
Trump to Declare Energy Emergency, Unlocking New Powers
Trump Orders Agencies to Halt Spending From Biden’s Climate Law
Trump Starts Reshaping US Energy With Focus on Oil and Gas
Offshore Drilling, Alaska
Trump plans to open up more areas to oil and gas exploration, including offshore and in Alaska. “We will drill, baby, drill,” he said in his inaugural speech.
While he revoked offshore leasing bans that effectively blocked drilling in most US coastal waters, new offshore lease sales face a potentially years-long process requiring environmental review and public comment.
Trump Orders US Waters Open to Oil Drilling, Reversing Biden
Trump also ordered restoring drilling rights previously sold in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and rescinded Biden’s restrictions on development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Alaska Energy, Mineral Development Gets Boost Under Trump Order
Efficiency Efforts
Trump plans to unwind several rules intended to boost efficiency, including those governing shower heads, toilets, washing machines, light bulbs and dishwashers.
Wind Farms
The administration issued several restrictions on offshore wind power developments, which the White House said “degrade our natural landscapes and fail to serve American energy consumers.”
Trump’s Broadside on Wind Power Includes Permitting Freeze
Electric Vehicles
Trump signed an order to eliminate what he’s called the “electric vehicle mandate” — his term for pollution regulations and fuel economy standards that incentivized the sales of EVs and hybrids. The order also calls for regulators to consider “the elimination of unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase.”
Trump Orders Removal of EV-Favoring Policies and Subsidies
Paris Agreement
As he did in his first term, Trump began the year-long process of pulling the US out of the 2015 Paris Agreement. He also revoked a Biden-era blueprint for providing billions in climate finance for developing countries.
US Ordered to Exit Paris Climate Pact in Trump Day-One Moves
California Water
Trump’s administration will seek to restart work from his first term to route more water from northern California south to the Central Valley and southern California. Trump has said policies to protect fish like the endangered Delta smelt deprive farmers of water.
GENDER & CULTURE
Only Two Sexes
Trump said it will become “the official policy” of the US that there are only two sexes, male and female, requiring agencies to give force to the definitions when applying statutes and regulations. The White House called the move “biological reality” and will “protect women from radical gender ideology.”
The order mandates that agencies will use the term sex, not gender, and would have the secretaries of State, Homeland Security and other agencies ensure that official documents, including passports and visas, reflect sex accurately.
Abortion
As his Republican predecessors have done, Trump reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy, which requires nonprofits to certify they don’t provide or promote abortion services or counseling to receive US federal aid. He also signed a related action reaffirming the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal money for abortion care.
Trump Revives ‘Mexico City Policy’ Restricting Aid Over Abortion
DEI
Trump ordered the end of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government and military, including terminating DEI programs and potentially eliminating all related offices and positions.
Trump Ramps Up Fight to Dismantle DEI From Corporate America
He’s also taken steps to push the private sector to dismantle DEI, with rules targeting federal contractors and by compelling government agencies to produce lists of large companies, foundations, universities and professional associations to investigate.
Trump’s Attack on ‘Illegal’ DEI Disorients Corporate America
Trump said in his inaugural that he aims to “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN POLICY
Transgender Troop Ban
Trump effectively banned transgender people from serving in the military, saying in the order “expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service” and that the military’s goals are “inconsistent with the medical, surgical, and mental health constraints on individuals with gender dysphoria.”
Trump Sued by Transgender Troops Over New Military Service Ban
Missile Defense
The military was ordered to develop a plan for a next-generation defense shield against ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missiles and other long-range attacks, aiming to create a system to protect all of the US from the most advanced weaponry.
Trump Calls for ‘Iron Dome’ for US Homeland Missile Defense
Reinstating Vaccine Objectors
Trump will reinstate, with full back pay, service members who were expelled from the military for refusing to take the Covid-19 vaccination. The White House said more than 8,000 troops were discharged because of their vaccine status from 2021 to 2023.
WHO
Trump signed an order withdrawing from the World Health Organization, a decision that would cut off one of the largest funding sources for the international aid and disease response group.
JFK, RFK, MLK Declassifications
Trump ordered national security officials to present a plan to fully declassify documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Federal Funding Freeze
The Office of Management and Budget issued a memo calling for a temporary pause in all federal loans and grants, payments that affect a wide swath of the economy, including low-income housing subsidies, school lunches and highway projects. That directive sparked wide-spread confusion across programs that rely on federal funding, prompting the White House to clarify that the directive is not an “across-the-board” freeze, and only limited to programs involved in DEI efforts, clean energy and foreign aid. The White House said that individual assistance, including Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and welfare, were not within the scope of the funding freeze.
White House Says No Across-the-Board Funding Pause Amid Furor
Schedule F
Trump reinstated an order claiming broad authority to hire and fire high-level civil service workers. Trump had signed an order just before the 2020 presidential election, which created a new classification of federal workers known as “Schedule F,” now referred to as “Schedule Policy/Career.” Biden had revoked the previous order before it could go into effect.
Trump Sued Over Order Making It Easier to Fire Federal Staff
Return to Office
Trump ordered all department and agency chiefs in executive departments to eliminate work-from-home options and return employees to in-person work, giving them until Feb. 7 to come up with an implementation plan. Federal agencies have long-standing remote and tele-work agreements that pre-date the Covid pandemic.
White House Demands Agency Plans for Return-to-Office by Feb. 7
DOGE
Trump declared a formal structure to the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, signing an order renaming the US Digital Service — which currently exists as an in-house technology think tank within the presidency — as the US DOGE Service.
Hiring Freeze
The administration will freeze hiring for federal employees, except for the military or those related to immigration enforcement and national security. The White House said it intended to “end the onslaught of useless and overpaid DEI activists buried into the federal workforce.”
Regulatory Freeze
Trump also ordered all agencies to pause issuing or publishing any new regulations until after they’re reviewed by the incoming administration.
--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Derek Wallbank, Alicia A. Caldwell, Simone Foxman, Ari Natter and Josh Wingrove.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
What America's Tech Billionaires Really Bought When They Backed Donald Trump
Indy Pass, the Anti-Vail Seasonal Ski Ticket, Is Gaining Fans
The CDC Won’t Give the Public a Full Picture of Fertility Treatment Risks
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.