Trump presidency: What 100 executive orders are expected on Day 1?

When Donald Trump walks into the White House Monday afternoon, 20 January, soon after his swearing-in, 100-plus executive orders will reportedly be waiting for him on his Oval Office desk, which his team has prepared for him to kick off his second term without wasting a minute.

These executive orders are mainly aimed at fulfilling his poll promises. In an interview to NBC News, Trump said he was planning to sign a “record-setting” number of executive actions on Day 1. “Well, at least in that category,” Trump said when asked if these executive orders would be more than 100.

“We have a record-setting number of documents that I’ll be signing right after this (inauguration) speech,” Trump said. He is to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on 20 January.

One of his close associates, Stephen Miller, told a news channel that these would mainly be around five topics: sealing the Southern border, mass deportation, preventing transgender people from participating in women’s sports, removing restrictions on energy exploration and improving government efficiency.

In an earlier interview to NBC News in December 2024, Trump had said he would fulfil a campaign promise to levy tariffs on imports from America’s biggest trading partners. He is likely to sign executive orders previously announced tariffs on countries such as China, Mexico and Canada.

The anticipation has not been wholly positive...

Thousands of people from across the country gathered in Washington DC two days before the inauguration, ahead of Trump’s own arrival in the American capital today, 19 January.

A thousands-strong coalition of nonprofit bodies, including Sakhi for South Asian Survivors, under the banner of the People’s March, held a demonstration in DC to protest against Trump’s promised policies.

Displaying anti-Trump posters and banner, the protestors raised slogans against the next POTUS — and also against some of his close supporters including Tesla, Space-X and X owner Elon Musk. The same group had also held a similar protest in January 2017, when Trump was inaugurated for the first time.

There was a set of three protests, which started from three different parks and culminated near the Lincoln Memorial. ‘Mass protest is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate to our communities that we are not obeying in advance or bowing to fascism, and invites them to do the same,’ People’s March said in a statement.

Amongst the coalition are also Abortion Action Now, Time to Act, SisterSong, Women’s March, Popular Democracy In Action, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, The Feminist Front, NOW, Planned Parenthood, the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, the Sierra Club and the Frontline.

Women’s March has been anchoring the logistics of the mobilisation. Similar marches, though on a smaller scale, were also held in various other cities, including New York, Seattle and Chicago.

“We really wanted to come to support women, equality, immigration, everything that really feels like we don't have much of a say in right now," Brittany Martinez, one of the protesters, told USA Today.

Law enforcement officials said protests and major events are being planned throughout the weekend ahead of the inauguration on Monday.

The protestors in Washington condemned Trump’s policies and values. Many of them chanted “F**k Trump!”, “Trans Lives Matter!”, “Stand up, fight back!”, “Trust Black women!” and “We cannot be silent.”

So what are these policies so many Americans are so worried about? And how worried should the rest of the world be?

The ‘record’ 100 executive orders

Foremost among the executive orders much-anticipated by the MAGA crowd is expected to be a pardon for his supporters who were arrested by law enforcement agencies for their role in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

In the US, an executive order is an order issued unilaterally by the president, which carries the force of a law. Unlike legislation, executive orders do not require congressional approval. Nor can Congress overturn them — but they can be challenged in a court of law.

Trump, 78, is also expected to roll back some of the executive orders and actions of the outgoing president, Joe Biden. Prominent among these include the Paris Climate agreement and restrictions on fossil fuel production and expanding domestic oil drilling. Many call it an ambitious agenda.

“This flex of power will quickly implement much of his agenda, as Congress takes up his legislative priorities,” Fox News’ Sara Carter said.

“I’ve been told it’s going to be shock and awe as far as executive orders and all the lists of things that are going to happen on January 20th. And that they’re going to throw a lot into the first day,” Carter's colleague, Fox News anchor Bret Baier, added.

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole. Is it ambitious? Yes. But it’s absolutely doable,” said EJ Antoni, public finance economist at The Heritage Foundation, who has analysed past executive orders, told the Washington Times. “When you think about the amount of time his team has had to prepare those executive orders, it’s perfectly reasonable to think those orders will be on the Resolute Desk on the day of the inauguration,” he said.

Republican senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Jodey Arrington have introduced legislation to repeal an executive order issued by President Biden on 6 January that bans American energy exploration across over 625 million acres of offshore territory along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Trump is expected to reverse this through his own executive order.

Trump, 78, succeeds Joe Biden, 82, as the new occupant of the White House.

Biden on his first day had issued nine executive order. Six of these were overturning the decisions of his predecessor, Trump, from the latter's first term. In the first week, he had signed 22 executive orders.

During his campaign trail, Trump had given an indication of his first day of executive orders. “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation programme of criminals in the history of America,” Trump repeatedly said on the campaign trail. “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill,” he said at one rally.

Politico said Trump’s emphasis as he enters the Oval Office on Monday is sending a loud signal that the border is closed to illegal crossings and that anyone who is living in the US unauthorised, especially anyone who has committed crimes, is not safe from deportation.

‘He’ll do so through a slew of executive orders and actions, launching the process of resurrecting policies from his first term, shredding Biden administration immigration policy and taking what Trump officials have labeled the “handcuffs” off of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials,’ the media outlet reported.

Axios also reported that Trump is setting the stage for an explosive first day in office with pardons for the 6 January rioters, a ‘vacuum sealing’ of the southern border and a massive regulatory rollback affecting vast swathes of the American economy.

‘The tone of the next four years will be set on Day One. Trump and his transition — armed with a cannon of executive orders — are preparing an early shock-and-awe campaign to lay the foundation for his ambitious second term,’ it said.

Travel plans of the new POTUS

Once settled in, Trump has borders he wants to cross, though.

The new president wants to travel to China as part of his effort to deepen relations with Beijing and also has talked to advisors about a visit to India, a media report said on Saturday, 18 January.

Trump, who arrived at the Dulles International Airport, Washington, aboard a special plane along with (soon-to-be)First Lady Melania and son Barron, had during his election campaign threatened to impose additional tariffs on China.

‘President-elect Donald Trump has told advisors he wants to travel to China after he takes office, according to people familiar with the discussions, seeking to deepen a relationship with Xi Jinping strained by the president-elect’s threat to impose steeper tariffs on Chinese imports,’ the Wall Street Journal reported.

‘Trump has also talked to advisers about a possible trip to India, according to people close to him,’ the financial daily said.

According to sources familiar with the matter, a preliminary level of talks were initiated when external affairs minister S. Jaishankar visited Washington DC around Christmas 2024.

India is all set to host the QUAD Summit, with leaders from Australia, Japan and the United States to attend. Trump’s visit, then, could happen as early as April — or else in autumn, later this year.

There has also been talk of the possibility that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might be invited by Trump for a White House meeting this spring.

A day earlier, Trump had spoken with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Xi has deputed vice-president Han Zheng to attend Trump's swearing-in ceremony, the first time a senior Chinese official will be present at a US presidential inauguration.

External affairs minister S. Jaishankar will represent India.

While Trump invited Xi to his inauguration, the Chinese leader never attends the swearing-in of foreign leaders.

But while Xi won't visit the US, what if he were to host Trump or meet him on neutral ground?

According to the Wall Street Journal, a Beijing meeting — if it happens — would come at a fraught moment in the relationship between the world’s leading superpowers.

After the telephonic chat, Trump said he held a ‘very good’ phone call with Xi.

‘I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China,’ Trump wrote on his own social platform, Truth Social. ‘It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately.’

Trump said the pair had discussed trade, fentanyl, TikTok and other subjects and asserted that the call was ‘very good’ for both countries.

‘President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the world more peaceful and safe!’ Trump said.

Along with potential new tariffs on Chinese imports, Trump has also pushed Beijing to crack down on Chinese chemical producers that supply the ingredients for fentanyl to Mexican cartels, the WSJ reported.

Edited agency inputs