Trump's Day 1 sees declaration of border emergency, pardoned rioters and WHO exit

US president Donald Trump has signed a large number of executive order within hours of taking office on Monday.

Executive orders refer to legally-binding orders which give the US president the power to change policy without seeking the approval of lawmakers. They can be overturned by future presidents or the courts.

On immigration, Trump declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and moved to deny US citizenship to children of immigrants who enter the country illegally or through temporary visas.

He also ordered the southern border to be sealed and designated drug cartels as terrorist organisations.

On government matters, Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which will aim to cut government spending and will be headed by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk.

The US president ordered a review of instances where law enforcement and intelligence agencies were “weaponised” against political opponents during the Biden presidency.

For the second time, Trump ordered the United States to pull out of the World Health Organisation, as well as the Paris climate agreement which had aimed to limit the rise of global temperatures.

With the stroke of a pen, Trump ordered that the US only recognises two sexes: male and female, stating that, “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” He also stopped diversity, equity and inclusion programmes run by the federal government.

On Monday, the Gulf of Mexico was renamed “The Gulf of America.”

Addressing another emergency, Trump declared an energy emergency, a move that aims to increase US fossil fuel production.

Appeasing his most fervent supporters, Trump pardoned some 1,600 rioters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, despite 600 of them being charged with assault on federal officers.

Meanwhile, the 47th US president gave TikTok a 75-day period to sell shares of the company in order to comply with a newly passed law. TikTok's parent company, ByteDance is Chinese-owned, and Trump has hinted that if TikTok's ownership was split in half by Chinese and US owners, the app would comply with the Biden-era law.