Donald Trump's 12 most divisive executive orders and election pledges

Donald Trump has wasted no time getting to work on implementing his controversial policies since being inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, signing a number of executive orders and retracting a number Joe Biden had signed off.

The Republican politician was inaugurated on January 20 in Washington DC after winning the US election in November.

Trump got straight to work and signed a number of executive orders, seemingly for the optics that he's keen to get things moving.

Executive orders are written acts the President can take that are enforceable by law but do not need to be approved by Congress. It's understood he's executed more than 100 orders on his first day alone.

And their effects are already starting to tell.

These are Trump's 12 most divisive executive orders and election pledges.

Donald Trump signed more than 100 executive orders on his first day as the 47th President of the United States AP Photo

Temporarily reinstating TikTok - the social media platform Trump himself campaigned for to be banned

Trump signed an order to keep TikTok available in the US for 75 days even though questions around national security remain.

This order gives more time for Chinese-based parent company ByteDance to find a new buyer for it.

However Trump was previously very vocal about banning the social media platform before getting an account on it himself...

Illegal immigration

The US government estimates there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the country with Trump saying he would "declare a national emergency and will use military assets".

Trump has said he would target "criminals" - some of his supporters argue that's any immigrant without legal papers and others say it's those who have committed crimes. This is not yet clear.

One of the executive orders he signed was to help support immigration agents and restrict refugees and asylum from the Mexico border.

He also reversed a number of orders Biden had signed in terms of who the priority targets are.

Ending birthright citizenship

As part of his illegal immigration policies, Trump is aiming to retract automatic citizenship for US-born children of illegal immigrants.

However this is protected by the 14th amendment with any attempt to change this likely to be met with huge legal challenges.

Genders federal government will recognise

Trump signed an order for the federal government to recognise only two sexes - male and female.

He described government programmes promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion as "wasteful".

Ending the Ukraine-Russia war - somehow...

The President has said a number of times this conflict would never have happened under his leadership.

He pledged to bring it to a swift end and in 2023, saying during a CNN town hall the war would be "absolutely over" within "24 hours" of him taking office.

Trump recently announced he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "very quickly" after taking office and Putin congratulated Trump just before his inauguration.

It's expected Trump's team will pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to agree to a deal...

Pardoning January 6 rioters

The 47th President of the United States pardoned around 1,500 of his supporters who were charged following the riot at the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

He also cut short the sentences of some members of far-right organisations who were criminally convicted of seditious conspiracy, which is the crime of plotting to overthrow the government or use force to prevent it from carrying out its duties.

Renaming the Gulf of Mexico - to Gulf of America

Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America and Alaska's Mount Denali as Mount McKinley.

The latter was changed by Barack Obama in 2015 to reflect Alaskan native traditions and the preferences of residents living there.

Getting states more lethal injections for the death penalty

Trump seems keen for the death penalty to be used more widely across the US, directing the attorney general to ensure states have enough lethal injection drugs to carry out executions.

Only three defendants are currently on federal death row after Biden converted 37 sentences to life in prison.

Intending to withdraw from the World Health Organisation

The US now intends to withdraw from the World Health Organisation, an agency responsible for global public health, because of alleged "unfair" payments.

Trump said China has 300 per cent of the population of the US but contributes nearly 90 per cent less financially.

Withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement - yet again

Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement - again.

He did this during his first term in office, something which Biden revoked, and now Trump has reinstated it once more.

The US pulling out of this really threatens the world's efforts to avoid a global 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in Planet Earth temperatures.

Trump also revoked an order that would have seen half of all new vehicles sold in the US by 2030 be electric.

Drilling in Arctic for 'liquid gold'

Keeping with the theme of the world's climate, Trump dismissed the barring of oil drilling in 16 million acres of the Arctic, declaring a national energy emergency.

He promised to fill up strategic oil reserves and export energy all over the world to make the US "a rich nation again" by harvesting "liquid gold" from the dwindling polar region.

It doesn't seem that's necessarily an 'emergency'...

Foreign affairs assistance programmes suspended

All US foreign assistance programmes have been suspended for 90 days pending review.

It's not immediately known how much assistance will be affected as the funding for many of these has already been approved by Congress and is obligated to be spent, if it hasn't been already.

Elsewhere, Melania Trump arguably stole the show at the presidential inauguration - read why here.

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