Policies & Analysis

This order largely repeats American policy on Iran, including sanctions and stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities.

This order largely restates longstanding U.S. policy towards Iran. It highlights sanctions, although Iran is already heavily sanctioned. It directs the UN Ambassador to highlight the Iranian threat, which ambassadors of both parties have routinely highlighted. And it states that U.S. policy is to deny Iran a nuclear weapon, although President Trump withdrew America from the successful Iran nuclear deal during his first term which likely accelerated Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon.

This order withdraws the U.S. from UNHRC, stops all U.S. funding to UNRWA and UNHRC, and orders a review of all international treaties and intergovernmental organizations.

This executive order directs the Secretary of State to reevaluate the United States’ commitment to three United Nations (UN) organizations: the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC); the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The United States will no longer participate in the UNHRC, and U.S. government agencies are directed to not use any funds for a contribution, grant, or other payment to UNRWA and to withhold UN funding that would go to UNHRC. Within 180 days of the issuance of the order, the Secretary of State and the U.S. Representative to the UN are directed to conduct a review of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party to determine which are contrary to the interest of the United States and whether they can be reformed.

"Department of Government Efficiency" officials have swept through federal agencies, compromising data systems and undermining the privacy of millions of Americans.

Since Donald Trump assumed the presidency on January 20th, staff with Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) have swept through federal agencies across the government, compromising data systems, and undermining the privacy of millions of Americans. As examples, DOGE has accessed some of the most protected information systems housed at the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services (including the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services), Social Security Administration, and numerous others. There is a risk that Musk will use this data to give an advantage to his own business ventures. There is also a risk that his team has fed the data into an AI system with unknown privacy protections.

The Trump administration has taken a series of actions to illegally dismantle USAID.

Since January 20th, President Trump and his administration have taken a series of actions to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in violation of federal law. Shortly after taking office, the administration issued stop-work orders on USAID foreign assistance awards. Secretary of State Rubio was subsequently named Acting Director of USAID. Elon Musk's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) has played a key role in this effort. DOGE staff reportedly demanded access to classified USAID systems without requisite security clearances; USAID security officials who attempted to block them were placed on administrative leave. Elon Musk posted on February 3 that he spent the previous weekend “feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” and that same day, USAID headquarters shut down. The consequences of the above actions have been catastrophic. USAID provides life-saving food, medicine, and support to hundreds of thousands of people across the world. It also supports U.S. farmers by buying U.S. agriculture to distribute internationally.

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan to establish a sovereign wealth fund.

This order calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce to develop a plan within three months to create a government-owned investment fund. The order directs the secretaries to investigate possible funding mechanisms, investment strategies, and governance models. We do not know how the fund will obtain money, as sovereign wealth funds are typically created by countries with little to no debt and which make an income from their country's natural resources. We also do not know what the plan is for the sovereign wealth fund, though President Trump suggested that it might be used to purchase TikTok. Without safeguards, sovereign wealth funds can be tools of corruption and conflicts of interest. This order is likely to continue to grow the role of the federal government in the economy, allowing Trump and his personal allies to use government money to support corporations they like at the expense of other Americans.

This order imposed tariffs on Canadian imports but was later paused.

This executive order further expanded President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Southern border (EO 10886) to include the Northern border with Canada. It then imposed 25% tariffs on most Canadian imports in response, creating conditions for an escalating trade war. The EO was paused two days later after Canada made gestures toward addressing the flow of fentanyl to the U.S and threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs.

This order imposes additional tariffs on imports from China based on President Trump's expanded declaration of a national emergency.

This executive order further expands President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the Southern border (EO 10886) to include the flow of fentanyl from China. It uses this emergency declaration to impose additional tariffs on all goods imported from the country. This EO has already caused confusion, with USPS stopping and then restarting the acceptance of packages from China and Hong Kong. Along with expected increases in the prices of imports that would increase costs for U.S. consumers, China has already announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports and an antitrust investigation into Google.

Several federal agencies deleted government websites containing information for health practitioners on contraception, HIV prevention, and more.

On January 31, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration – two agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – abruptly deleted a broad range of health-related data and other information from their public-facing websites, including resources identifying risks to youth health, HIV prevention, and contraception access. This was in response to guidance from the Office of Personnel Management directing agencies to delete all public-facing resources that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and so-called gender ideology. The deleted information includes crucial resources for doctors and researchers seeking to provide patients with the best possible care and develop clinical studies that produce accurate results. A group of health professionals and medical trainees has sued to challenge the deletion; a temporary restraining order has been granted stopping the removal of this data; and a motion for summary judgement is pending.

This order attempts to undo lawfully negotiated collective bargaining agreements between the government and unions representing public servants.

This order takes issue with collective bargaining agreements that were lawfully negotiated near the end of the Biden Administration between that administration and federal employees. President Trump asserted without any legal basis that he has the power to undo such agreements ratified in the last 30 days of the prior administration, but he does not.

A USDA official gave agency staff just one day to identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change from USDA-operated websites.

On January 30, USDA Director of Digital Communications Peter Rhee directed his staff to identify and archive or unpublish any landing pages focused on climate change by the end of the following day. The USDA subsequently removed numerous webpages containing vital public resources and information about climate-smart agriculture, forest conservation, climate change adaptation, investment in clean energy projects in rural America, and more. Organizations focused on farming and the environment sued to challenge the removal of these websites. On May 12, 2025, the government agreed to restore the data to government websites and to provide updates to the court on their progress and next steps.

This order baselessly attributes a January 29, 2025 plane crash in Washington, D.C. to the hiring of FAA employees with disabilities.

On January 29, 2025, American Airlines Flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter tragically collided over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., killing all 67 individuals on board both aircraft. The next day, President Trump issued this memorandum baselessly blaming the crash on federal diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives and particularly singling out employees with disabilities in the Federal Aviation Administration. The memorandum orders the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administrator to review all FAA hiring decisions and safety protocol changes made during the last four years and replace anyone who does not meet unspecified qualification standards. FAA employment data from 2023 reflects that 64% of the FAA's air traffic controllers were white men and that less than 1% of the FAA's entire workforce had disabilities considered severe.

This order encourages investigations of campuses where post-October 7th protests occurred.

This order denounces anti-Semitism in the wake of the October 7, 2024 attack. However, rather than suggest forward-looking measures to combat antisemitic discrimination, the order concerns only backward looking investigations of events on university campuses. In particular, it directs the Attorney General to review past complaints around campus protest and "encourages" the AG to bring or intervene in cases as a result.