Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump wasted no time in signing off on a stack of executive orders since commencing his second presidency on January 20, setting about his task in the Oval Office almost immediately after his inauguration ceremony was concluded.
The 47th president’s trusty Sharpie has since crossed orders relating to everything from the declassification of files pertaining to the 1960s assassinations of John F Kennedy, Robert F Kennedy and Dr Martin Luther King to ending the federal procurement of paper straws in favor of plastic ones.
He has extended a lifeline to the social video app TikTok, rolled back restrictions on artificial intelligence, revoked the security clearances of former intelligence officials and reinstated military personnel who refused to receive a Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
Accused of violating the principles of the U.S. Constitution, ignoring state laws and attracting widespread criticism, Trump has continued undaunted and signed almost 90 orders to date.
Here’s a look at some of the most consequential issued so far.
Ending the ‘weaponization of the federal government’
No. 14147, signed on January 20 2025
The very first order signed by Trump at the commencement of his second term prompted U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other federal agency heads to review all legal cases and intelligence activities brought about by the Joe Biden administration’s Justice Department to assess whether actions could be seen to have been authorized for the sole purpose of punishing political opponents (i.e. Trump himself) and to propose “appropriate remedial actions” where appropriate.
Ending government DEI programs
No. 14151, signed on January 20 2025
This order calls for the eradication of all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policies and programs from the U.S. government and directs department heads to terminate all positions that can be traced back to DEI principles.
Withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization
No. 14155, signed on January 20 2025
Orders the American withdrawal from the United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO), which led the global response to the Covid pandemic in 2020, also pausing all funding and reassigning all American personnel currently working with that organization with immediate effect. The WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged Trump to reconsider.
Designating Mexico’s drug cartels as foreign terrorist groups
No. 14157, signed on January 20 2025
Calls on cabinet secretaries to draw up a list of cartels and other violent gangs, including Tren de Aragua (TdA) and MS-13, that could be considered for designation as terrorist organizations. Doing so would, theoretically, provide the U.S. with a basis for pursuing military action against them in the interests of safeguarding its national security.
Establishing the Department of Government Efficiency
No. 14158, signed on January 20 2025
Formally establishes the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been used by Trump’s billionaire “special adviser” Elon Musk to identify and cut what he and his staff deems to be wasteful government spending, eradicating thousands of jobs and programs in the interest of creating a more streamlined federal bureaucracy.
Ending birthright citizenship
No. 14160, signed on January 20 2025
One of Trump’s most far-reaching, controversial and perhaps unrealistic orders, this instructs government agencies not to issue documents confirming citizenship unless the parents of the person concerned both have a lawful permanent residence in the United States or are both American citizens themselves. The order has been temporarily blocked in court amid a legal challenge centred on the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which has long been interpreted to guarantee citizenship to anyone born on American soil.
Withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement
No. 14162, signed on January 20 2025
Not content with withdrawing from the WHO, Trump also ordered the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (ultimately expected to be New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik) to submit written notification of the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change and reining in greenhouse gas emissions.
Restoring the death penalty
No. 14164, signed on January 20 2025
Backs the use of capital punishment “where possible” as the ultimate criminal deterrent and directs the attorney general to seek the death penalty in the event that a law enforcement officer is murdered or if someone commits a capital crime.
Securing America’s borders
No. 14165, signed on January 20 2025
Makes a sweeping series of changes to the policing of America’s southern border with Mexico, calling for the erection of a physical barrier akin to that started but never completed during Trump’s first term, declares that illegal immigrants must be “returned to the territory from which they came”, ends the practice of “catch and release” and closes down Custom and Border Patrol’s CBP One app.
Rolling back federal recognition of gender identity
No. 14168, signed on January 20 2025
Widely seen as an attack on trans rights, this order declares that the official position of the U.S. government is that there are only two sexes: male and female. It directs federal agencies not to use the term “gender” and to ensure that personnel records and government-issued documents like passports “accurately reflect the holder’s sex” and that those agencies do not themselves engage in the promotion of “gender ideology.” It further bars federal funds from being spent on gender transition healthcare in prisons and mandates “privacy in intimate spaces”.
Renaming American landmarks
No. 14172, signed on January 20 2025
This order reverts the name of Alaska’s Denali mountain to Mount McKinley after it was changed by Barack Obama in 2015 and renames the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The administration has already fallen out with the Associated Press news agency over its refusal to use the latter name in its reporting.
Blocking trans people from competing in women’s sports
No. 14201, signed on February 5 2025
Another move against transgender citizens, this order stops federal funds from reaching educational programs that allow trans women and girls to participate in women’s sports. It also permits the U.S. to pull out of international competitions that permit the inclusion of trans athletes in women’s events.
Establishing the Make America Healthy Again Commission
No. 14212, signed on February 13 2025
Empowers Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, along with the leaders of the Food and Drug Administration, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health to study and seek to address “the childhood chronic disease crisis.”
Ending Covid vaccine mandates in schools
No. 14214, signed on February 15 2025
Directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to issue guidelines on coronavirus vaccines and Kennedy to compile a report on educational institutions that have vaccine mandates in place and also receive federal funding, presumably with a view to threatening the withdrawal of the latter if they do not rescind the former.
Expanding access to IVF
No. 14216, signed on February 18 2025
Calls for a new report on expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and cutting costs associated with it.
Designating English as the official language of the U.S.
No. 14224, signed on March 1 2025
Recognizes English as the official language of the United States, a culture war issue given that the country now has an enormous Spanish-speaking population that could soon outnumber its total of Anglophone citizens.
Establishment of a strategic bitcoin reserve
No. 14233, signed on March 6 2025
Part of the president’s push to support cryptocurrency, a sector of which he was once deeply suspicious, this order directs his White House crypto and AI adviser David Sacks to create a national strategic reserve comprised of bitcoins confiscated from criminals, currently estimated to be worth around $18bn.
