President Trump promised to immediately make changes if elected, which he most certainly has.
As of the time of writing this, Trump has been in office for nearly two weeks. In these short few days the 47th president has managed to sign off on quite a few executive orders, most of which he signed on his first day.
The orders are a mixed bag. Some ask for big changes, while others are more minor.
One of the biggest proposals was to put an end to birthright citizenship, a legal right to citizenship for all children born in a country’s territory, regardless of parentage.
This is already being challenged due to birthright citizenship being protected by the 14th amendment. Any attempt to revoke it will bring immediate legal challenges. The law has actually been temporarily blocked by a judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
On a somewhat related note, he also signed to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s Mount Denali to the “Gulf of America” and “Mount McKinley” respectively. The name change will have no bearing on what names are used internationally.
He also declared a national border emergency. There are limited details about how the administration plans to execute its sprawling set of immigration actions. However, Trump did sign an order suspending the country’s refugee resettlement program.
As part of a broader effort to fulfill Trump’s promise of removing millions of people from the country, he is set to prepare a huge detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. He said it could be used to hold up to 30,000 immigrants deported from the United States.
One of the most surprising executive orders was the decision to leave the World Health Organization (WHO) within a 12-month period. The U.S. is WHO’s biggest benefactor.
The WHO is not the only organization the U.S. left. We recently withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement. In 2017, Trump exited the Paris agreement. Upon taking office in 2021, Biden rejoined. Exiting the Paris agreement is part of Trump’s broader efforts to roll back climate protections and policy.
The declaration would allow his administration to fast-track permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Trump is seemingly calling for a reversal of many Biden-era policies. He ordered a total 78 Biden-era executive actions to come to an end. Included are at least a dozen measures supporting racial equity and combating discrimination against gay and transgender people.
A pause was issued on gender affirming care for everyone under 19 years old. The order calls for federally run insurance programs, including Tricare for military families and Medicaid, to exclude coverage for such care.
The order reverses a Biden-era executive action on the acceptance of gender identity. It is now official policy that government-issued identification documents reflect sex rather than gender. The order only recognizes two sexes, male and females, and acts under the assumption that “women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”
A huge effort to reshape the military is also set to take action. Trump signed three executive orders, removing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, eliminating “gender radicalism” from the military, and reinstating soldiers who were expelled for refusing COVID-19 vaccines.
Development has started on the “Iron Dome,” a“next-generation” missile defense shield. The order calls for a plan from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth within 60 days. It should be somewhat similar to Israel’s “Iron Dome.”
He also called for the thousands of classified documents on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr to be released to the public. Trump made a similar pledge during his first term.
One of Trump’s most controversial decisions so far has been to pardon the 1,500 rioters who received charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Rioters pardoned include those convicted of violence against police officers and leaders of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right extremist group.
As part of the effort to remove all of Biden’s policies, he is to remove policies that “act as barriers to American AI innovation.” A second order called for a working group to start work on crypto regulations. Former PayPal executive David Sacks has been tasked with leading the program.
More so, Trump revoked a non-binding executive order signed by Joe Biden aimed at making half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric, another bill that could potentially cause harm to the environment.
Thousands of federal employees have been reclassified as political hires. This, in turn, makes it much easier to fire. His reason for doing so is currently unknown. However, it’s believed that he quickly wants to get rid of those who disagree with him.
Lastly, Trump ordered his attorney general to not enforce the law requiring TikTok’s sale, leaving the app up for an additional 75 days. Trump originally ordered the ban during his first term.
The orders signed paint a pretty clear picture of what we can expect from Trump’s term.
Sources
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/
https://www.federalregister.gov/presidential-documents/executive-orders/donald-trump/2025
https://www.hklaw.com/en/general-pages/trumps-2025-executive-orders-chart