Published January 20, 2025

09:42 PM EST

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to journalists as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.

Jim Watson / Pool /AFP / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

  • President Donald Trump began his presidency by ordering a freeze on federal hiring and regulation, and ordering his agencies to reduce inflation.
  • He also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Treaty, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while directing agencies to take steps to boost domestic energy production.
  • His first set of orders did not include tariffs he previously threatened to impose on “Day One” of his presidency.

Donald Trump began his presidency with a series of executive orders, including several advancing his economic agenda, but not the tariffs he had threatened to impose on his first day in office.

Hours after his inauguration on Monday, Trump signed orders curtailing hiring of federal employees, freezing regulations, withdrawing the U.S. from a climate treaty to fight global warming, promoting development of domestic energy production, and taking action to reduce consumer costs, among other decrees.

Notably absent from his initial set of orders were tariffs he had threatened to levy against Canada, Mexico, and China on “Day One” of his presidency. Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office late Monday, Trump said his administration is considering 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with a target date of Feb. 1.

Among the flurry of executive orders announced on Monday:

  • Federal agencies directed to “deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable law, to the American people and increase the prosperity of the American worker.”
  • Heads of departments and agencies directed to take steps to boost energy resources, as part of the declaration of a National Energy Emergency.
  • Federal regulations frozen until Trump’s appointees have full control over the government.
  • Federal hiring frozen, other than in the military and some other exemptions.
  • The U.S. will withdraw from the Paris Climate Treaty, a global agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions.
  • Immigration laws to be enforced on “all inadmissible and removable aliens, particularly those aliens who threaten the safety or security of the American people.”

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