Former President Trump has repeatedly stated during his campaign events that he will sign a series of executive orders upon re-assuming power on January 20, 2025.
He is the second U.S. former president to regain the White House after failing to win re-election. Democrat President Grover Cleveland served as the 22nd and 24th president at the end of the 19th century.
Having served as the 45th president, Republican Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris on November 5 in the election to become the 47th president. Harris became the Democratic presidential candidate after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race on July 21.
Trump’s campaign started at the end of 2022, with plans to tackle various issues from border security to the economy on the “first day” in office.
He has promised that his first day in office in 2025 will be very busy.
In late 2023, in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Trump joked with supporters that he couldn’t wait to sign documents on his inauguration day.
“I might even put a very small desk on the 20th floor staircase of the Capitol,” Trump said, so he could sign documents immediately after taking the oath of office.
No one can predict how many executive orders Trump will sign on his first day in office, a day that is quite short, as his second presidential term will start halfway through the day.
According to the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, executive power is transferred to the newly elected president at noon on January 20 every four years.
The new president may also sign other documents. For example, in 2017, Trump declared January 20, 2017, his inauguration day, as “National Day of Patriotic Devotion,” aiming to “strengthen the bonds between citizens and their government, and to reaffirm the government’s responsibility to the people.”
Executive orders are among the most important documents a new president can sign.
Almost every U.S. president signs these orders, which carry the force of federal law and remain effective unless overturned by Congress, the courts, or a future president. These orders also indicate the new president’s priorities.
When Biden took office in 2021, he signed nine executive orders on his first day, one of which revoked Trump’s immigration and border security executive order signed on January 25, 2017, his fifth day in office.
In contrast, Trump signed only one executive order on his inauguration day in 2017, aiming to ease the financial burden of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Below are several executive orders and measures that Trump has promised during his upcoming term in office.
In the spring of 2024, Trump indicated that border security and immigration issues would be top priorities in his second term.
He stated, “The first thing I will do on the first day is close the border.” Since then, Trump has made several commitments related to immigration.
During a campaign event in October, Trump said the new government would issue an order to close the border “within the first hour of the first day.”
On the eve of the November 4th election, at his final campaign event in Pittsburgh, Trump said, “On the first day in office, I will launch the largest deportation operation in our country’s history. I will save every town invaded…putting vicious, bloodthirsty criminals behind bars.”
Trump’s border security executive order signed on January 25, 2017, directed the Department of Homeland Security to close the border and implement other urgent measures, including building more barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border and increasing the number of border patrol agents by 5,000.
This initial executive order also aimed to reform how the government handles asylum applications from illegal immigrants, detention, and deportations.
Regarding the economy, Trump stated that reducing energy costs is key to lowering expenses on essentials like oil, food, and more.
He pledged to implement policies that promote fossil fuel production. On October 29, Trump stated in a speech in Allentown, Pennsylvania, “We will continue fracking, fracking, drilling, drilling.” He said he would encourage these policies starting from the “first day,” though it remains unclear if he will sign an executive order for this.
Trump explicitly stated that he would sign an executive order “directing every federal agency to immediately eliminate all burdensome regulations that increase the cost of goods.” He made this commitment on October 31 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, promising “emergency price relief” for all Americans.
Trump also mentioned setting up a new cabinet position responsible for “making every effort to reduce the cost of living within the power of the federal government.”
In Mint Hill, North Carolina, Trump told supporters, “From day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.”
Continuing in a speech on September 25, he said, “We will not tax tips, not tax overtime pay, and not tax social security…as the working class catches up, we will set a temporary cap of 10% on credit card interest rates.”
For some time, some Congress members have considered proposals not to tax tips, and Trump may need to collaborate with Congress to advance these proposals.
At the “Prayer Vote Stand Summit” held in Washington on September 15, 2023, Trump stated, “On the first day, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding from schools that promote critical race theory, transgenderism, and other inappropriate racial, gender, or political content to our children.” He reiterated this position multiple times thereafter.
In a video posted on social media on January 31, 2023, Trump outlined a comprehensive plan to prevent “the mutilation of our youth – chemically, physically, emotionally.”
He said, “On the first day, I will repeal Biden’s cruel policy on so-called ‘gender confirmation therapy’ – absurd – this includes giving children puberty blockers, altering their appearance, ultimately performing surgery on minors. I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to stop all projects promoting gender and transgender concepts at any age.”
Trump also indicated he would ask Congress to “permanently stop using taxpayer funds to promote or pay for these projects and pass a law banning underage genital mutilation in all 50 states.”
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the constitutionality of Tennessee’s ban on “gender confirmation therapy” for minors, and many other states have passed similar laws facing legal challenges.
Trump also stated: “I will support establishing a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who perform unforgivable surgeries on minors.”
He said, “The Department of Justice will investigate major pharmaceutical companies and large hospital networks to determine if they deliberately conceal the horrific long-term effects of transgender procedures designed to profit from vulnerable patients.” He will also investigate if pharmaceutical companies or other organizations are “illegally marketing hormones and puberty blockers not approved for this purpose.”
Furthermore, his Department of Education will warn school districts across states: “If any teacher or school official suggests to children that they might be trapped in the wrong body, there will be serious consequences, including infringements on civil rights due to gender discrimination and a cutoff of federal funds.” He said parents will no longer be “forced to allow underage children to identify” with different genders.
Trump indicated plans to “promote positive education about core families, parental roles, and praise rather than erase the differences between males and females.”
He called on Congress to declare that the “solely recognized genders by the U.S. government are male and female, determined at birth.” He said, “No normal country should tell its children that their natural gender is wrong…under my leadership, this madness will end.”
Before Trump made the above statements, the UK decided to close its only child gender identity clinic. This decision was made in mid-2022 after an independent review expressed concerns about the safety of treating children with “gender dysphoria,” a condition where individuals feel discomfort or distress due to a mismatch between their gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. The clinic closed earlier this year.
Policies implemented by the Biden administration aim to reduce Americans’ dependence on gasoline and other fossil fuels. On August 5, 2021, Biden signed an executive order setting a bold new goal that by 2030, half of all new vehicles sold would be zero-emission vehicles, including electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, or fuel cell electric vehicles.
The order aims to “save consumers money, cut pollution, improve public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.”
Critics like Montana Senator Steve Hinebauch argue that this policy is detrimental to farmers, ranchers, and citizens, writing in a commentary article, “Especially these cars are unreliable and expensive.”
Trump has promised multiple times to immediately end Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.
On September 27, in the city hall of Warren, Michigan, Trump stated, “Not everyone should have an electric vehicle.” He added that consumers should have the right to choose whether to buy an electric vehicle, a hybrid, or a fuel-powered vehicle.
Shortly after announcing his candidacy in 2022, Trump unveiled a plan to protect freedom of speech.
He stated, “Within a few hours of my inauguration, I will sign an executive order prohibiting any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, corporation, or individual to review, restrict, categorize, or impede the lawful speech of American citizens.”
“Following this, I will prohibit federal funds from being used to label domestic speech as erroneous or false information.” Trump also said he would identify and dismiss “every federal official involved in domestic censorship.”
In March 2023, Trump released a 10-point manifesto aimed at “dismantling the ‘deep state’ and reclaiming our democracy from Washington’s corruption.”
He said in a video that the first point of this manifesto calls for the reinstatement of his 2020 executive order to restore the president’s power to “dismiss officials who are rogue in the bureaucracy.”
The 2020 executive order would have established an “F-Class” category to make it easier to dismiss certain government employees, including those in “sensitive, decision-making, policy formation, or policy advocacy positions, which typically do not change with the presidential transition.”
However, Trump left office before the order took effect. Jeffrey A. Tucker, founder of a non-profit organization studying public policy, wrote in a 2022 column, “This will be a revolutionary change, reshaping all political norms in Washington.”
In a video released in 2023, Trump pledged to revive the 2020 executive order, “clear out all the corrupt elements in our national security and intelligence agencies.”
Trump stated, “Weaponized government departments and agencies will undergo thorough reform to ensure anonymous bureaucrats cannot target and persecute conservative, Christian, or leftist political enemies to the incredible extent they do now.”
It remains unclear if this manifesto can be executed or passed through an executive order.
The manifesto also includes establishing a “Commission on Truth and Reconciliation,” declassifying and disclosing documents related to “surveillance, review, and corruption” in the deep government.
Recently, Trump also stated that he would support the proposal by high-tech entrepreneur and free speech advocate Elon Musk to establish a Department of Efficiency in government, aiming to streamline government operations and save taxpayers’ money. Musk, who supported Trump’s campaign, will head this department.