Two hours after being sworn in, President Donald Trump sat down in the President’s Room at the U.S. Capitol to sign the first of nearly 100 promised executive orders, his opponents, scholars and other groups said he had exceeded the limits of his presidential power.
They included some critics who filed lawsuits before his signatures were dry, all but guaranteeing that his approval would not be the last word on Monday’s executive actions.
Already, the Executive Order on the birthright citizenship is being challenged by 18 states in the U.S.
The executive orders
All modern American presidents have used a flurry of executive orders to show proof of forward progress in the earliest moments of their tenure — and those efforts have not always been met with unmitigated success.
Trump’s wielding of the presidential pen spanned a wide gamut of American life and U.S. policy, each order aimed at showing that he had begun to make good on his campaign promises.
He declared an immigration emergency and will soon surge troops to the southern border, he said. He began to dismantle government diversity and inclusion programmes, threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada for failing to meet U.S. immigration standards, and limited the number of genders the government can recognise to two – male and female only.
Trump also signed an executive order initiating the process for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
U.S. citizens’ reaction
While Trump’s supporter have hailed the move , the executive orders include some things that scholars and legal experts say may be out of the reach of the president’s pen and could be tied up in courts or legislatures for years, including ending birthright citizenship, a right embedded in the Constitution and bolstered by a Supreme Court ruling that grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States. Trump also wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
But, the administration laid out little of its legal framework for what are certain to be battles sparked by Trump’s actions.
“It’s kind of an executive-order shock-and-awe campaign,” said Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University. “The shock and awe is to send a message to his critics and most importantly to his voters, his supporters, that he’s back, and that he is going to try to deliver on his campaign promises, and he’s going to do it aggressively.”
“He wants to move boldly and immediately. The acceleration of the use of executive orders allows presidents to declare policy victories on day one instead of the first 100 days,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego.
Three lawsuits raise legal questions
Some of Trump’s actions faced immediate legal challenge. Already, the Executive Order on the birthright citizenship is being challenged by 18 states in the U.S.
Before he had left the U.S. Capitol where he was inaugurated, three lawsuits raised legal questions about his appointment of Tesla founder Elon Musk to run the nongovernmental “Department of Government Efficiency.” The public interest groups behind the lawsuits say the “DOGE” panel violates laws on transparency for government advisory groups.
In a complaint obtained by The Washington Post ahead of its filing, the public interest law firm National Security Counselors says that the DOGE panel is breaking a 50-year-old law, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, that requires advisory committees to the executive branch to follow specific rules on disclosure, hiring and other practices.
Canadian PM promises ‘robust’ response
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday vowed a strong response if Donald Trump slaps 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, which the US president signalled could come as early as February.
“Canada will respond and everything is on the table,” Trudeau told a news conference, adding that Ottawa’s reaction would be “robust and rapid and measured,” but also match dollar for dollar the U.S. tariffs.
Scholz vows to ‘defend free trade’ after Trump tariff threat
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed to “defend free trade as the basis of our prosperity”, a day after Trump threatened to impose tariffs and taxes on trade partners.
“Isolation comes at the expense of prosperity,” Scholz told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We will defend free trade as the basis of our prosperity, together with other partners.”
“Europe is committed to free, fair world trade.”
WHO ready to cooperate with U.S. as experts express concerns
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced the agency’s readiness to cooperate with the U.S. to strengthen global health security.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević in an email with USA Today stressed the importance of the U.S.-WHO partnership, noting that it has “protected and saved millions of lives in America and around the world.”
However, experts are sounding alarm bells over the consequences of the U.S. withdrawal, particularly given that the U.S. has been the largest financial contributor to the WHO since its inception in 1948.
The U.S. historically accounts for about 18% of the WHO’s total funding, with its most recent two-year budget for 2024-2025 standing at $6.8 billion.
China backs UN health body
China has reaffirmed its support for the WHO following the Trump decision.
In response, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said WHO’s role in global public health should be strengthened, not weakened.
“As the authoritative and professional international organisation in global public health, WHO plays a central role in coordinating global public health governance,” he said.
“China will, as always, support WHO in fulfilling its duty, deepen international cooperation in public health, advance global public health governance, and promote the building of a global community of health for all.”
