The News
US President Donald Trump signed a bevy of executive orders, declaring two national emergencies, and insisting his term would reverse a nationwide decline.
Trump rescinded dozens of his predecessor’s policies on issues ranging from electric vehicles to gender identification, signed orders withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement, which was widely expected, and the World Health Organization (WHO), which was not, and pardoned almost all of those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
His flurry of actions was notable, however, for what was not included: Trump said little about tax cuts, and though he created an “External Revenue Service” and spoke of raising tariffs on Canada and Mexico, did not actually levy any immediately.
SIGNALS
Executive orders give ‘a sense of progress’
The pace of change in the hours following Trump’s inauguration, which included signing dozens of executive orders, was “staggering,” The Wall Street Journal wrote. Analysts agreed that many of the orders were symbolic: “A show of force aimed at flexing his power,” the Journal wrote, aimed at both his critics and his supporters. “It’s kind of an executive-order shock-and-awe campaign,” one political historian told The Washington Post, avoiding the bureaucratic congestion of government as well as generating a “sense of progress” among his supporters. Meanwhile the legal challenges to Trump’s orders are underway too, “all but guaranteeing” that Trump’s “would not be the last word on Monday’s executive actions,” the Post wrote.
WHO and Paris Agreement withdrawals could take years to complete
One of the most controversial of Trump’s Day 1 decisions was the US withdrawal from the WHO: “That’s a big one,” Trump said as he signed, accusing the organization of “mishandling” the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects will be “cataclysmic” for global health, one expert told CNN, while a former Biden administrator said that it leaves a vacuum for China to increase its influence. However, Trump’s isolationist agenda is unlikely to be enacted quickly: It takes a year for a country to withdraw, and in the meantime, the US will still need to provide funding, CNN pointed out. Trump has also pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement for the second time: A move that took nearly four years to complete during his first term, NPR reported.