- Donald Trump has been sworn in as president once again.
- He signed a slew of executive orders on Monday.
- That includes establishing DOGE, declaring a “national energy emergency,” and more.
A political comeback is complete: President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were sworn into office in a ceremony beneath the Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said in his inaugural speech.
A host of dignitaries — including lawmakers, foreign leaders, and members of Trump’s incoming cabinet — were on hand. Tech leaders and CEOs in attendance included Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
In a series of speeches throughout the day — his inauguration speech at the Rotunda, a more free-wheeling speech in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol, and a third at Capitol One Era — Trump previewed a flurry of forthcoming actions, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border, establishing an “External Revenue Service,” and more.
At Capitol One Arena, he signed several executive orders, including one that rescinded 78 Biden-era executive orders and actions. Later on Monday, in the Oval Office, he signed several more, including pardons for January 6 rioters.
Here’s what Trump has pledged to do on Day One — and what he’s actually done.
Energy and environment
Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accords, which he also did when he took office in 2017.
Increase fracking and oil drilling: Trump signed an executive order declaring a “national energy emergency” and another designed to ease permitting processes.
Trump’s Interior Department will have the power to offer new leases for drilling and natural gas extraction on federal lands. A last-minute Biden administration ban on deep offshore drilling will complicate those actions. While the White House can speed up approval and auction off more leases, it’s ultimately up to the energy industry to expand production. Trump also wants to revive canceled projects like the Keystone XL pipeline that companies have since dropped.
Government restructuring
Remove civil service protections for federal workers: Trump has said he will return to his sweeping first-term policy that would have made it easier to fire tens of thousands of federal workers.
On Monday, he signed an executive order instituting a temporary hiring freeze “to ensure that we’re only hiring competent people who are faithful to the American public.” The hiring freeze does not apply to the military or “to positions related to immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety.”
Trump also signed a separate order requiring federal employees to return to in-person work immediately.
Create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE): Trump signed an executive order establishing DOGE in the Oval Office on Monday, saying that Elon Musk would be “getting an office for about 20 people” in the executive branch.
The order said that DOGE would implement the president’s push for government efficiency “by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
As part of the order, the US Digital Service will be renamed to the US DOGE Service. The US Digital Service was created by then-President Barack Obama in 2014 and provided IT consulting services to federal agencies.
Trump’s order also included the formation of DOGE teams at each federal agency. According to the order, each team will have at least four members, which could consist of a team lead, an engineer, a human resources specialist as well as an attorney.
Shortly after noon on Monday, several organizations filed lawsuits in a bid to get DOGE to comply with that law. In the meantime, congressional Republicans eagerly welcomed Musk’s efforts and have set up ways to coordinate with DOGE.
Trade
Trump did not impose any tariffs on Monday, saying his planned tariffs on Canada and Mexico would be imposed in February. He did not specify a date for his planned tariffs on China, saying he’s “going to have meetings and calls” with the country’s leader, Xi Jinping.
Trump said on Monday that he was considering imposing a universal tariff on all goods entering the US. He added that while the US is “not ready” for a universal tariff, it could be implemented rapidly.
“You put a universal tariff on anybody doing business in the United States, because they’re coming in and they’re stealing our wealth,” Trump said.
25% tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian goods: Just before Thanksgiving, Trump said he would levy significant tariffs on the US neighbors due to illegal immigration.
Thanks to Congress, presidents can impose tariffs without legislative action. In his first term, Trump used a law that allows the president to impose due to national security emergencies. President Joe Biden even expanded some of those duties.
A 60% tariff on all Chinese goods: On the campaign trail, Trump discussed raising tariffs as high as 60% on all Chinese goods. He’s also mused about other wide-ranging tariffs.
Trump has long complained that the US trade deficit with China is too large. The influx of deadly fentanyl, of which the Drug Enforcement Agency has said China is a major source, has only exacerbated those tensions.
The creation of an external revenue service: In his inaugural speech, Trump said that he would establish a new agency to collect tariffs and other foreign fees. “It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources,” Trump said.
It’s unclear exactly how this service will be set up. Customs and Border Protection is already responsible for collecting customs, and only Congress could set up a new agency.
Crackdown on illegal immigration
Trump signed several executive orders related to immigration on Monday, including declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border.
He also signed an executive order that aims to revoke birthright citizenship, setting up a legal challenge over the meaning of the 14th Amendment.
Trump and his allies have argued that the amendment should not be interpreted to apply to the children of people living in the country illegally. Multiple groups have said they would challenge any such executive action in court.
He also signed an executive order designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Trump said numerous times during the campaign that starting on his first day, he would take action to begin “the largest deportation operation” in the nation’s history.
In his inaugural speech, he said he would “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
Later, in the Oval Office, Trump said ICE raids would start soon, though he did not specify a time.
Crime and justice
Pardons for January 6 rioters: Trump signed an executive order pardoning roughly 1,500 people who were involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
The order Trump signed also commuted the sentences of 14 other individuals, which included members of the far-right extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
Culture war
Trump said in his inaugural address that it would “henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The president signed an executive order in the Oval Office that an aide described as “protecting women from radical gender ideologies,” which included preventing federal funds from being used to “promote gender ideology” and changes in federal policy to rigidly define terms such as “sex,” “man,” and “woman” as binary phrases.
Trump also took broad aim at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, and pro-LGTBQ+ policies put in place by the Biden administration. In another order, he ended all federal DEI initiatives and terminated all DEI-related and “environmental justice” offices and positions, such as “Chief Diversity Officer” positions, and all “equity” actions, initiatives, or programs, “equity-related” grants or contracts.
Another executive order renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, a change that Senate Democrats earlier this month indicated they’d be willing to support if the president worked with them on an economic plan to reduce the cost of living for average Americans.
TikTok ban
Trump signed an executive order halting the ban on TikTok for 75 days. While signing the order, Trump told reporters that TikTok could be worth $1 trillion and that the US should own half of it.
According to the divest-or-ban law passed by the Senate in April, TikTok had to cease its US operations on January 19 unless its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance, divested itself from its US holdings.
Correction: January 20, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated Jeff Bezos’ current position at Amazon. He is the founder and executive chairman, not the CEO.
