What Trump could do on his first day in the White House

Donald Trump has promised to “turn heads” on his first day in office on Monday.

Reports suggest he could announce up to 200 executive orders within hours of being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

He has offered a preview of some of these yet-to-be-signed directives, saying they will focus on issues such as illegal immigration, climate rules, diversity policies, classified documents and more.

It is common for presidents to sign a series of executive orders when they take office. Those orders carry the force of law, but can be overturned by subsequent presidents or the courts.

But the scale of what Trump has planned could be unprecedented and legal challenges are expected.

This is what you should know.

Deportations

Trump has promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history” from day one.

He is expected to declare a national border emergency and order the military to help secure the southern border, according to Fox News.

Trump has also said he will end a long-standing policy that has prevented federal immigration authorities from raiding churches and schools.

Any mass deportation program is expected to face logistical difficulties, billions in costs and an avalanche of legal challenges.

stay in mexico

Trump could quickly reimplement his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which during his first term returned some 70,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers across the border into Mexico to await hearings.

End birthright citizenship

Trump has called the 150-year-old constitutional right that anyone born on U.S. soil a U.S. citizen “ridiculous” and vowed to eliminate it on day one.

But doing that is much more difficult than simply issuing an executive order, because birthright citizenship is explicitly guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Close the border for health reasons

A 1944 measure called Title 42 allows the US government to curb migration to protect public health. It was last used during the pandemic, but US media reports that the incoming administration is searching for a disease that would help justify its plans to close the US southern border with Mexico.

drug cartels

Trump is expected to classify drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” placing them on a list alongside groups such as Al Qaeda, the so-called Islamic State and Hamas.

build the wall

When Trump was first elected president in 2016, he signed an executive order to build a border wall. Although parts of the wall have been built, there is still much left to finish and he may try to finish what he started.

Rates

Trump has promised sweeping tariffs on imported goods as part of his promise to prioritize American manufacturing.

Trump introduced tariffs in his first term, including some on China that Joe Biden left in place.

But this time it promises tariffs of 10% on all imports, 25% on Canadian and Mexican products and 60% on products from China. He has said he will begin signing executive orders that will enforce them from day one.

The tariffs are likely to make consumer goods more expensive and could fuel inflation, experts say. Some countries are considering imposing retaliatory tariffs.

Cryptocurrency stack

Trump has defended cryptocurrencies and upon his election the value of Bitcoin increased by 30%.

Some believe Trump will move quickly to create a federal “Bitcoin reserve” – ​​a strategic reserve similar to the US gold and oil reserve – which he says would serve as a “permanent national asset to benefit all Americans.” .

Scrapping Joe Biden’s climate policies

The outgoing president considers the series of directives, laws and financing programs he championed to boost green jobs, regulate pollution and finance infrastructure as one of his greatest achievements.

Trump has made clear that he wants to undo much of that. He is expected to use executive orders to remove restrictions on drilling offshore and on federal lands, fulfilling his promise to “drill, drill small” and increase energy production and American independence.

He has also pledged to ban new wind projects and lift electric vehicle mandates.

Withdraw from the Paris Agreement (again)

Within six months of taking office in 2017, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accord, a landmark international agreement designed to limit the rise in global temperatures.

Biden moved to rejoin the agreement on his first day in office in 2021, but Trump is expected to withdraw again.

Free on January 6 ‘hostages’

Hundreds of people convicted following the 2021 US Capitol riots await possible pardons on Monday, when Trump returns to office.

“I’m inclined to forgive a lot of them,” he told CNN over the summer. “I can’t say for every one of them, because a couple of them probably got out of hand.”

More than 1,500 people were arrested in connection with the event. At least 600 were charged with assaulting or impeding federal agents.

At his pre-inauguration victory rally on Sunday, Trump said he would release classified documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the subject of countless conspiracy theories.

He said he would do the same with files related to the 1968 assassinations of Sen. Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

ukrainian war

Trump claimed during the campaign that he would end the conflict on the first day of his presidency. He has since said he might need six months. It’s unclear what he might do in his early days.

Cuba and Venezuela

Trump could use executive orders to undo Biden’s recent decision to remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. It could also reinstate sanctions against Venezuela. Both countries were frequent targets of his ire during his first administration.

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In recent years, schools and businesses across the United States have adopted policies designed to support women and racial minorities.

These practices, often classified as “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI), have angered many conservatives and faced legal challenges. Trump has promised to dissolve them and large corporations such as Meta, Walmart and Amazon have already begun to back away from related initiatives.

Trump could use an executive order to prohibit federal funds from going to schools or other institutions that have DEI programs. It could also prohibit funding for schools that teach “critical race theory” (CRT).

Abortion

Like most Republican presidents before him, Trump is expected to reinstate the “Mexico City policy,” which prohibits federal aid to international groups that provide abortion counseling.

He is also expected to restore an abortion rule that prohibits federal health care providers in Title X, a family planning program for low-income people, from mentioning abortion to patients. The change effectively took tens of millions of dollars away from organizations that offer abortions or provide referrals.

Transgender women in sport

Trump has repeatedly criticized what he calls “transgender madness” in schools and health care, and has specifically promised to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

On Sunday morning, Trump promised to issue an executive order that would postpone the implementation of a law banning the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.

His order, he said, would give them time to find an American partner to buy a 50% stake in the company.

Trump previously backed banning TikTok but recently reversed his stance, pointing to the billions of views he says his videos on the platform attracted during last year’s presidential campaign.