On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were sworn into office, followed by a wave of policies implemented by the new administration.
Effective immediately, President Trump ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Treaty. In Sept. 2016, President Obama formally entered the treaty, an international agreement established to combat climate change and reduce global carbon emissions. The treaty aims to prevent the global temperature from increasing over 1.5 degrees Celsius during this century.
President Trump also encouraged further fossil fuel extraction by “efficiently and effectively maximiz[ing] the development and production of the natural resources located on both Federal and State lands within Alaska,” corresponding with his “drill, baby, drill” philosophy. This policy reversed the Biden-Harris administration’s actions to protect 28 million acres of Alaska’s public land, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior.
On Jan. 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling an end to birthright citizenship in the United States. Previous to this executive order, the Fourteenth Amendment affirmed that all persons born in the United States would be offered citizenship, regardless of the citizenship status of their parents. President Trump’s order states that United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States if 1. the mother was “unlawfully present” in the United States at the time of the birth and the father was unlawfully present or not a US citizen or 2. if the mother was a temporary resident and the father was unlawfully present or not a US citizen.
Also on Jan. 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an international organization that functions as a part of the United Nations. Its main goal is to promote global health. The United States previously withdrew from the WHO in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic under President Trump, but President Biden re-entered the organization in 2021.
Another action President Trump took was to sign an executive order ending programs within the federal government promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The executive order called for the termination of “all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
This is only a handful of the 89 executive orders President Trump has implemented since his inauguration. It’s important for students to stay politically informed and aware of the changes occurring in the United States. You can access the exact wording of these orders at www.whitehouse.gov.