Intl desk, Jan 21: Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions Monday, which included revoking 78 of Joe Biden’s policies, hours after officially becoming the 47th president of the United States. Other actions signed today are aimed at prompting an immigration crackdown as well as the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization.
Pardons for January 6 rioters: Trump on Monday pardoned US Capitol rioters, saying the pardon would cover more than 1,500 people, which would appear to cover nearly everyone charged since the attack on January 6, 2021. He also commuted the sentences of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
TikTok gets 75-day extension: Trump signed an executive action that delays enforcement of the TikTok ban for 75 days. The law gives the president broad discretion on how to enforce the ban, but TikTok’s ultimate fate in America remains in doubt.
President Donald Trump signed a memo Monday evening in the Oval Office that immediately grants interim security clearances to a list of staffers provided by the White House Counsel.
Part of that order reads, “The White House Counsel to provide the White House Security Office and Acting Chief Security Officer with a list of personnel that are hereby immediately granted interim Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) security clearances for a period not to exceed six months.”
The order also says that, “these individuals shall be immediately granted access to the facilities and technology necessary to perform the duties of the office to which they have been hired.”
President Donald Trump said in an Oval Office signing ceremony Monday evening that his administration will impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada on February 1, an extraordinary change in North American trade policy that could raise prices for American consumers.
Trump still outlined his broader trade policy for his second term in an executive action Monday. But that action — described by sources as a “placeholder” — doesn’t institute new global tariffs that Trump promised on Day One.
As a candidate, Trump proposed sweeping and across-the-board tariffs: up to 20% on imports from all countries, with a 25% tax on goods from Mexico and Canada, plus a punishing 60% levy on goods from China. He also pledged to use tariffs as a negotiating tool on other countries, including, for example, Denmark — putting pressure on the European nation to give control of Greenland to the United States.
Asked Monday at an Oval Office signing ceremony about tariffs on China, Trump noted extensive tariffs he imposed during his first administration were still in effect after former President Joe Biden largely left them in place. And on universal tariffs, Trump punted, saying, “We may, but we’re not ready for that just yet.”
Source: CNN