Donand Trump pushes for major overhaul on Day 1

(From left) Vice President J D Vance, Usha Vance, Tiffany Trump, Michael Boulos, Melania Trump, President Donald Trump, Lara Trump, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner dance at the Liberty Ball. Pics/AFP President Donald Trump addresses his inauguration ceremony

President Donald Trump begun his promised flurry of executive action on Day 1. With his opening rounds of memoranda and executive orders, Trump repealed dozens of former President Joe Biden's actions, began his immigration crackdown, withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords and sought to keep TikTok open in the US, among other actions. He also pardoned hundreds of people for their roles in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

US Capitol attack pardons

The President issued pardons late on Monday (US time) for about 1,500 people convicted or criminally charged in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol as Congress convened to certify Biden's 2020 victory over Trump.

President Donald Trump addresses his inauguration ceremony

Separately, Trump ordered an end to federal cases against "political opponents" of the Biden administration, meaning Trump supporters. His actions seemed targeted only to help his backers.

The economy and TikTok

By repealing Biden actions and adding his own orders, Trump is easing regulatory burdens on oil and natural gas production, something he promises will bring down costs of all consumer goods. Trump is specifically targeting Alaska for expanded fossil fuel production. On trade, he said he expects to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting February 1, but declined to flesh out his plans for taxing China. Trump also intended to pause Congress' TikTok ban for 75 days, a period in which the President says he will seek a US buyer to protect national security interests while leaving the popular social media platform open to Americans.

America First

Trump is pulling the US out of the World Health Organization. He also ordered a comprehensive review of US foreign aid spending. Both moves fit into his more isolationist ‘America First' approach to international affairs. Trump planned to sign an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico, making it the Gulf of America. The highest mountain in North America, now known as Denali, will revert back to Mount McKinley, its name until President Barack Obama changed it. Another order states that flags must be at full height at every Inauguration Day, and one calls for promoting "beautiful federal civic architecture".

Immigration, security

Trump reversed several immigration orders from Biden's presidency. It returns the government to Trump's first-term policy that everyone in the country illegally is a priority for deportation. The President declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, and he plans to send US troops to help restrict refugees and asylum.

He suspended the US Refugee Admission Programme, pending a review and is ending the CBP One app, a Biden-era border app that gave legal entry to nearly 1 million migrants. On national security, Trump revoked any active security clearances from a long list of his perceived enemies, including former director of national intelligence James Clapper, Leon Panetta, a former director of the CIA and defense secretary, and his own former national security adviser, John Bolton.

Climate and energy

Trump signed documents to formally withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreements. He made the same move during his first term but Biden reversed it. Trump also declared an energy emergency and said he will eliminate what he calls Biden's electric vehicle mandate.

Federal bureaucracy

Trump halted federal government hiring, with some exceptions. He added a freeze on new federal regulations while he builds out his second administration. He also formally empowered the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is being led by Elon Musk.

Transgender rights

Trump is rolling back protections for transgender people and terminating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes within the federal government. An order declares that the federal government would recognise only two immutable sexes: male and female. A separate order halts DEI programmes.

100% tariffs against BRICS

Trump has again warned that he will impose 100 per cent tariffs against countries of the BRICS bloc, of which India is a part, if they take any steps to replace the US dollar. BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation of ten countries - Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

New US Secy of State meets Quad members

On his first full day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio is meeting with his counterparts from a group of countries known as the Quad, which is made up of the US plus India, Japan and Australia, representing nearly 2 billion people and more than a third of global GDP. The grouping has been around for more than 15 years.

Taliban to release two Americans

A prisoner swap between the US and Afghanistan's Taliban freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure imprisoned for life in California on drug trafficking charges, officials said Tuesday. The Taliban praised the swap as a step toward the "normalization" of ties between the US and Afghanistan. The Taliban's Foreign Ministry in Kabul confirmed the swap, saying two unidentified US citizens had been exchanged for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in 2008.

Key orders issued

>> 1,500 people convicted in US Capitol riot pardoned
>> 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico starting February 1
>> Order for pulling the US out of the WHO
>> Everyone in the country illegally is now a priority for deportation
>> US Refugee Admission Programme temporarily suspended
>> Active security clearances of ‘perceived enemies' revoked
>> Protections for transgender people rolled back
>> Order to formally withdraw from the Paris climate agreements
>> Federal government hiring halted, with some exceptions