Donald Trump has been fast to act on promises he made ahead of his inauguration, signing numerous executive orders as he took office as the 47th president of the United States on Monday.
They clearly indicate his priorities and include:
Rescinding 78 regulations established by his predecessor, Joe Biden
An order to all federal departments to tackle the cost-of-living crisis
An order to stop government censorship
The withdrawal of the US from the Paris Climate Agreement
The withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organization
The declaration of a national emergency at the Mexican border
Making it US policy to have only two genders, male and female
Trump also signed pardons for almost all 1,600 defendants who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the transfer of power on January 6, 2021, after elections that Trump has falsely claimed were rigged.
But as DW correspondent Carla Bleiker notes in an article about Trump's first acts during his second term, not all of the orders will mean immediate change for the country, with many subject to mandatory study and review.
Trump signs order to withdraw United States from WHO
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The US will leave the United Nations health agency in 12 months and will stop all financial support for its work.
Trump criticized the WHO for failing to act independently from the "inappropriate political influence of WHO member states" and for requiring "unfairly onerous payments" from the US compared to countries like China.
"World Health ripped us off, everybody rips off the United States. It's not going to happen anymore," Trump said as he signed the order during his first day back in the White House.
The US is the WHO's biggest financial backer, contributing around 18% of its funding.
Trump started the process of quitting the WHO in his first presidential term, but President Joe Biden was able to stop the process when he took office in January 2021.
Trump delays TikTok ban
President Donald Trump signed an order to delay implementing the law banning TikTok in the United States for 75 days.
When asked what the TikTok order meant, Trump said, it "just gave me the right to sell it or close it."
TikTok's China-based owner ByteDance missed a deadline on Saturday to sell its US subsidiary to non-Chinese buyers or be banned in the country.
The video-sharing platform took itself offline for US users for several hours over the weekend before returning when Trump vowed executive action.
The US president signaled his frustration with the reasoning behind the possible TikTok ban, saying China made a lot of other things that are sold in the US, including phones.
But he said it was in China's interest to approve a deal to sell the company.
Earlier, TikTok CEO Shou Chew attended Trump's inauguration, sitting behind the president as one of his guests.
Trump says Putin is 'not doing well' in Ukraine and should make a deal
US President Donald Trump said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is "destroying Russia" by continuing the war in Ukraine.
Trump answered impromptu questions from reporters while signing executive orders at the White House, saying he would speak to Putin soon.
"He can't be thrilled," Trump said about the way the war is going, adding "he is not doing well."
"I think he would be very well off to end that war," Trump said.
He also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "wants to make a deal" to end the war.
Previously, Zelenskyy has said that Kyiv will end the war on its "own terms" with no room for compromise.
About one-fifth of Ukraine's territory is currently under Russian control.
Marco Rubio confirmed as Secretary of State
The Senate has swiftly confirmed Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, voting unanimously on Monday to give President Donald Trump the first member of his new Cabinet on Inauguration Day.
Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, was confirmed with a 99-0 vote, with Democrats describing him as a friend.
Rubio will immediately face the challenge of executing President Trump's foreign policy.
In his inauguration speech on Monday, Trump renewed threats to seize the Panama Canal and afterwards raised the possibility of imposing tariffs on neighboring countries while saying "we need" Greenland "for international security."
Tense times as Europe braces itself for Trump's second term
"There is much to analyze," DW's Washington bureau chief Ines Pohl said of Donald Trump's first few hours in office, from his addresses to executive orders.
But "whatever the new "Golden Era" means exactly, it won't be easy for Europe to find a good way to work with the Trump administration."
However, for the prosperity of both Europe and the United States, "shared interests" must be found.
Meanwhile, DW's US correspondent Janelle Dumalaon highlighted that events on the day of Trump's inauguration were "running more than two hours behind schedule" amid the furor of the occasion.
Trump signs a number of executive orders
Among the numerous executive orders and actions Donald Trump signed during his inauguration was one that aimed to end the "weaponization of government."
He has often charged that the US justice system has been used against him.
He also reversed all the executive orders of the Biden administration.
Trump also signed executive orders freezing federal hiring and ordering all workers back to the office after many have been working from home in recent years.
Executive orders enable presidents to create policy outside the typical lawmaking process. However, they are often the result of extensive negotiations among various agencies.
If a president issues an executive order without legal authority, the courts can overturn it.
Trump sign executive orders to withdraw from Paris Climate Accord
Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders during his presidential parade at Capitol One Arena.
It included a withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change.
This decision marks a defiant rejection of global efforts to combat climate change as catastrophic weather events intensify worldwide.
According to the agreement's rules, exiting would take about a year after submitting formal notice to the United Nations.
Trump also signed the notice to the UN, informing the world body of the US withdrawal.
In his earlier remarks, Trump said the US, the world's top oil and gas producer, will expand drilling.
"Now we are going to drill baby drill," he said.
Trump says he will sign pardons for January 6 defendants
President Donald Trump vowed to sign pardons for "a lot of people" charged and convicted for the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
He also referred to the rioters as January 6 hostages.
During the election campaign, Trump voiced sympathy for some of the rioters and decried long sentences.
On January 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
More than 1,580 people have been criminally charged with participating in the riot.
Habeck says EU 'prepared for trade war' with US but says both sides would suffer
Speaking with DW, outgoing Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, the Green Party's top candidate for upcoming federal elections, said Germany and the EU must do more to help themselves when it comes to innovation, infrastructure and new technologies.
Habeck, speaking of the prospect of trade conflicts with the US as Donald Trump takes the reins of power in Washington, said: "Europe is prepared, should the US impose tariffs," adding that he hoped that would not be the case.
Europe, he emphasized, could impose "countermeasures that would affect the American economy, including the consumer sector," but said in his eyes that would be "the wrong way" to deal with Trump.
Habeck said the EU could join forces and "arm wrestle" with the US but suggested that it wouldn't help either side and that he would like to avoid such a situation.
Instead, he argued that more tax incentives and investments were needed to ensure that outdated infrastructure can be revitalized in order to grow the economy and produce the technologies of the future in Europe.
Ex-General Mike Milley's portrait removed from Pentagon after Trump sworn in
Retired General Mike Milley's portrait was removed from the Pentagon on Monday just hours after Donald Trump's inauguration.
Milley, who served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Presidents Trump and Biden, became a fierce opponent of the businessman politician, especially as Trump stepped up efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, with Milley calling him "fascist to the core" and a "wannabe dictator."
Trump in turn, threatened to go after Milley, even musing that in earlier times he would have been put to death for treason.
More recently, Milley received a preemptive pardon from outgoing US President Joe Biden, protecting him against politically motivated retribution from Trump, who has promised to go after his "political enemies."
Traditionally, portraits of retired chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff hang at the building's entrance as a sign of respect. Milley's portrait was unveiled earlier this month.
Panama rejects Trump's words on 'taking back' canal
Panama has rejected Trump's pledge to restore the Panama Canal to US control.
"I must comprehensively reject the words of President Donald Trump," President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement published on social media.
"The canal is and will remain Panama's," he added.
Trump, who vowed in his inauguration speech that the US would be "taking back" the canal, had claimed that China was operating in it. Mulino denied this claim.
"There is no presence of any nation in the world that interferes," Mulino said.
