Donald Trump and his top advisers are finalizing about 100 executive actions that he will sign on Monday, his first day in office, as the incoming president rushes to implement his populist and nationalist agenda .
Trump has vowed to become a dictator on “day one” of his second term, with his first measures to include restricting immigration, raising tariffs and deregulating industries from energy to cryptocurrencies.
Trump and his team aim to immediately recalibrate U.S. policy and begin delivering on some of the dramatic changes he promised American voters during the campaign, when he vowed to reverse many of Joe Biden’s actions.
“Their goal is to create shock and awe, to make their adversaries dizzy,” said Stephen Myrow, managing partner of Beacon Policy Advisors, a consulting firm and a former official in the George W. Bush administration.
“They’ve spent the last four years preparing for Monday day in and day out, and their teams of lawyers are thinking about how they can achieve what they want to achieve.”
Given Trump’s belief that the president should have broader powers than other branches of government, Trump’s first steps will test the extent to which he can take unilateral action without Congress.
Details of the first round of raids remained under wraps over the weekend, but Trump and his top officials have made clear their priorities. The incoming president wants to issue a national emergency declaration on the southern border, freeing up federal resources to detain immigrants crossing from Mexico, limit the ability to seek asylum and launch what he calls the largest mass deportation campaign in U.S. history.
Tom Homan, who will serve as Trump’s border “czar” in the White House, told Fox News on Saturday that “targeted enforcement operations” to deport undocumented immigrants in U.S. cities could begin as early as next week.
Trump is expected to take trade action early next week, which could impact financial markets. Trump hopes to force U.S. trading partners to reach deals on issues including immigration, drug trafficking and even the sale of Greenland. He also vowed to impose broad tariffs on imported products to encourage companies to produce more products in the United States and increase revenue for the U.S. government.
Trump’s advisers have been considering options in recent weeks, including gradually imposing tariffs by hitting specific key sectors and industries related to energy and defense, people familiar with the matter said. But others, including his predecessor and incoming White House trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro, have advocated imposing high tariffs on all U.S. imports from day one.
According to people familiar with the matter, Trump can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to quickly impose tariffs, and his staff is also exploring using existing Section 232 provisions to quickly increase import tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Republicans on Capitol Hill have also historically opposed tariffs, but they have preemptively defended Trump’s opening moves.
“I think you’re going to see more countries participating in the negotiations,” one Republican congressman said. “And I think it’s going to be more effective than you think without actually raising the price,”
On the foreign policy front, Trump’s main concern on the first day of his second term is likely to be enforcing the ceasefire agreed last week between Israel and Hamas to halt the war in Gaza.
But analysts said there could be executive orders and efforts to impose new sanctions on Iran and tighten enforcement of existing sanctions as part of his goal to apply “maximum pressure” on the Tehran regime.
Trump’s team is also studying how to deal with Syria’s transitional government, which is led by former al-Qaeda member Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Some U.S. allies want to see Washington drop its terror designation for Syria and the group, but Trump’s team is concerned about doing so too quickly.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised to end the fighting between Russia and Ukraine on his first day in office. But he recently said he hopes to resolve the issue within the first six months. In the short term, Trump will continue to provide arms to Ukraine with funding from last year’s Congress, but he is unlikely to pass another plan once those funds run out.
Trump has also said he plans to speak to Vladimir Putin soon, and the Russian president has expressed interest in meeting him. Other world leaders are expected to start flocking to Washington to try to forge new relationships on the right track.
Trump is expected to take early action to help the U.S. oil and gas industry as part of his pledge to usher in a new era of U.S. “energy dominance.” In his first day of executive orders, he vowed to direct the federal government to cut red tape and “end all Biden restrictions on energy production.”
He will also order the immediate reopening of licenses for billions of dollars worth of liquefied natural gas export terminals. Biden’s moratorium on new licenses a year ago has been a particular point of contention for executives keen on increasing LNG shipments.
The Biden administration’s rules cracking down on vehicle emissions — dismissed by Trump as a “crazy electric vehicle mandate” — are expected to be on the incoming president’s hit list on his first day in office. A directive is also expected to reopen protected lands in Alaska to drilling.
“He strives for maximum impact,” Milo said.
