What is an executive order and which ones has Trump signed?
President Donald Trump issued a large number of executive orders on the first day of his second term covering immigration, gender, the Capitol riots and many more.
Donald Trump has signed a wave of executive orders during his first day back as US president on issues such as immigration and climate change.
Within hours of being back in the Oval Office, Trump introduced a raft of measures he had promised, signing executive orders in the White House and in an arena full of his supporters.
They include declaring illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a national emergency, reviewing birthright citizenship and pardoning almost 1,600 people who stormed the US Capitol building during the 6 January riots.
Questions remain over what Trump's second stint in the White House will mean for the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
Yahoo News UK examines what Trump has announced and how executive orders work.
What is an executive order?
An executive order is a signed, written and published directive issued by the US president that manages the operations of the federal government.
Because executive orders are not legislation, they do not require approval from Congress, which cannot simply overturn them.
Congress can pass legislation in an attempt to slow down or block an executive order, but only a sitting US president can overturn one, by issuing another executive order to do so, although it is thought many of Trump's orders could face legal or constitutional challenges.
An executive order is first issued by the White House and then published in the Federal Register, the official journal of the federal government.
What executive orders has Trump signed?
Trump signed almost 80 executive orders in front of a crowd of 20,000 people in the Capital One Arena in Washington, before moving to the more typical surroundings of the Oval Office in the White House to sign dozens more.
His executive orders focused on a number of key areas:
Immigration
Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office to declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border. (Read more)
He also signed an order aiming to redefine birthright citizenship - the automatic American citizenship granted to anyone born in the US. (Read more)
However, birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which means changing it could present several legal challenges.
Trump also ordered the US military to "seal the borders" and signed a directive that designates drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. (Read more)
He has also reintroduced his "Remain in Mexico" policy from his first term as president, which returned about 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers back across the border.
Having promised "the largest deportation programme in American history", Trump signed an executive order to end "catch and release", a policy that allows migrants to live in the US while they await their immigration hearings.
Climate
As promised, Trump signed an order to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement, the global accord aimed at limiting the rise in the planet's temperatures.
This was something he also did in his first term in office, only for his successor Joe Biden to bring the US back into the agreement in 2021.
To back up his "Drill, baby, drill" pre-election pledge, Trump declared a national energy emergency and vowed to fill up strategic oil reserves and drill for more fossil fuels. (Read more)
He also signed an executive order to "unleash Alaska's extraordinary resource potential". (Read more)
Capitol riot
Trump has pardoned almost 1,600 of his supporters who were arrested after storming the US Capitol in Washington on 6 January 2021.
At least 600 were charged with assaulting or obstructing federal officers, but Trump has referred to those arrested as "hostages".
Trump has also commuted the sentences of members of the far-right groups the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy over the Capitol riot. (Read more)
Gender and diversity
Trump signed an executive order which declares the US will only recognise "two sexes, male and female".
This order will have ramifications for transgender policy within civil rights protections and prisons, and will affect official documents such as visas and passports. (Read more)
Trump used the same executive order to halt all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes within the federal government.
TikTok
Trump signed an order that postpones the implementation of a law banning the social media platform TikTok for 75 days.
The Chinese-owned app had gone dark in the US for a period over the weekend before Trump's inauguration but their services have been restored.
Trump says his order will give TikTok's parent company more time to find a US partner to purchase a majority stake. (Read more)
World Health Organization
Trump has signed an executive order to start the process of withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).
This is the second time he has ordered the US to pull out of the WHO - he previously criticised it for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (Read more)
What are past examples of executive orders?
In his first term as president, Trump signed 220 executive orders, the most in a single term since Jimmy Carter between 1977 and 1981, almost three-quarters of which were revoked.
Among Trump's executive orders were his attempt to weaken Obamacare, increasing US-Mexico border security measures, pursuing undocumented immigrants and restricting entry into the US by foreign nationals from predominantly Muslim populations.
Biden spent much of the early part of his presidency using executive orders to revoke Trump's policies, such as rejoining the Paris climate agreement, but he also pledged relief and support to Americans during the coronavirus pandemic and vowed to reunify families separated at the US-Mexico border.
Only one US president in history did not issue an executive order, and that was William Henry Harrison, who died three weeks after his inauguration in 1841.
Some presidents only issued a single executive order, while Franklin D Roosevelt signed 3,721 in his four terms in office.
