What are Donald Trump’s plans as presidency begins?

20 January 2025, 21:34

President Donald Trump gestures during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington
Trump Inauguration. Picture: PA

The Republican has promised dozens of actions, though it is unclear whether he will make good on his pledge to do them all on his first day.

Incoming US President Donald Trump has been promising a flurry of executive action on day one, and there are executive orders already prepared for his signature.

Those orders will end diversity, equity and inclusion funding, crack down on border crossings and ease regulations on oil and natural gas production. The Republican has promised dozens of actions, though it is unclear whether he will make good on his pledge to do them all on his first day.

Here is a look at some of Mr Trump’s plans:

– America First

Mr Trump will sign an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, making it the Gulf of America. And the highest mountain in North America, now known as Denali, will revert back to Mount McKinley, its name until President Barack Obama changed it.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive in Emancipation Hall after the 60th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive in Emancipation Hall after the 60th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington (Ron Sachs/Pool Photo via AP)

The renaming is to honour “American greatness”, according to a preview of the orders posted online by Mr Trump’s incoming press secretary.

Mr Trump 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-mast. Mr Trump demanded they be moved up on Monday.

– Immigration

Much of the executive action on the border is ripped from Mr Trump’s first-term playbook. He will declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, send US troops to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum. He has also pledged to restart a policy that forced asylum seekers to wait over the border in Mexico, but officials did not say whether Mexico would accept migrants again. During the previous effort, squalid and fetid camps grew on the border and were marred by gang violence. Mr Trump is also promising to end birthright citizenship, but it is unclear how he would do it – it is enshrined in the US constitution.

He ended the CBP One app, a Joe Biden-era border app that gave legal entry to nearly one million migrants.

– The economy

Mr Trump is set to sign orders to ease regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production, including an order tied to Alaska. And he will sign a memorandum seeking a broad-based government approach to bring down inflation. But he appears to be holding off at the moment on his threat to issue tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and other countries. He also appears to be holding off on higher taxes on imports, with an incoming official pointing reporters to a Wall Street Journal story saying he will only sign a memorandum telling federal agencies to study trade issues.

President Donald Trump gestures during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington
President Donald Trump gestures during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP)

– Diversity, equity and inclusion and transgender rights

Mr Trump is rolling back protections for transgender people and terminating diversity, equity and inclusion programmes within the federal government. Both are major shifts for the federal policy and are in line with Mr Trump’s campaign trail promises. One order would declare that the federal government would recognise only two immutable sexes: male and female. And they are to be defined based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes. Under the order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex as defined by the order. And federal taxpayer money could not be used to fund “transition services”.

A separate order halts DEI programmes, directing the White House to identify and end them within the government.

– Pardons over the January 6 US Capitol attack

Mr Trump is also promising to pardon those convicted over the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol, but he did not mention that in his inaugural speech.

The US flag at the US Capitol is at full height on the day of the 60th Presidential Inauguration in Washington
The US flag at the US Capitol is at full height on the day of the 60th Presidential Inauguration in Washington (Mike Stewart/AP)

In remarks to an overflow crowd after his inaugural address, he did not include the pardons in his speech. “It’s action not words that count, and you’re going to see a lot of action,” Mr Trump said.

– Energy

Mr Trump will declare an energy emergency as he promises to “drill, baby, drill”, and says he will eliminate what he calls Mr Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.

By Press Association

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