Joe Biden plans immediate executive actions as Donald Trump era ends
- Biden to start undoing Trump policies from day one
- Trump leaves the White House with legacy of chaos
These actions will be followed by dozens more in the next 10 days, aides said.
Complicating matters, Biden administration officials were met with varying levels of cooperation from Trump appointees across departments.
“Transition is not a priority” for the US Trade Representative’s office, USTR Robert Lighthizer’s chief of staff told a Biden official, Politico reported, citing a person familiar with the conversation, a situation that will likely leave the incoming team to manage disorganisation instead of the tasks at hand.
Trump started a trade war with China in July 2018 with punitive tariffs on US$34 billion worth of Chinese imports, a move that sparked an immediate response by Beiijng with duties on an equivalent amount of US goods. The two sides eventually reached a “phase-one” trade deal a year ago, whereby China agreed to boost purchases of US goods, but further progress stalled as the coronavirus pandemic continued to strain bilateral relations through to the final days of Trump’s term.
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Underscoring the disconnect between the two administrations, Trump skipped the inauguration, a first for an outgoing US president, instead boarding Air Force One for Palm Beach, Florida two hours before ceremonies were to begin at the US Capitol.
“Have a good life, we’ll see you soon,” Trump said at the end of remarks delivered to a crowd of supporters at Joint Base Andrews. The former president discarded prepared remarks in which, according to the New York Times, he was supposed to have thanked Biden by name.
Zeff Zients, the new president’s point-man for fighting the pandemic, said Biden would start by establishing an office of Covid-19 response inside the White House.
A 100-day “masking challenge” will be led with a presidential order for wearing masks in all federal properties and activities, setting the standard for private companies, individual states and communities to follow suit, Zients said.
The orders reach well beyond the pandemic. Biden intends to order a review of all Trump regulations and executive actions that are deemed damaging to the environment or public health.
Biden “will take action – not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration – but also to start moving our country forward,” the aides said in a statement.
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“These actions are bold, begin the work of following through on President-elect Biden’s promises to the American people, and, importantly, fall within the constitutional role for the president.”
Many of the actions will take government policies back to where they were on January 19, 2017 – the final day of the Barack Obama-Joe Biden administration, before Trump entered office and took a wrecking ball to many of their initiatives.
In another effort to signal a return to pre-Trump times, Jen Psaki, the incoming White House press secretary, said she would hold a news briefing late Wednesday in a symbol of the administration’s commitment to transparency. Trump’s White House had all but abandoned the practice of briefing reporters daily.
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On the diplomacy front, countries around the world expressed cautious hope for a reset in relations while prioritising their own interests.
Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani hailed the White House departure of “tyrant” Trump, saying “the ball is in America’s court” to return to a landmark nuclear deal and lift sanctions on Tehran.
In Russia, the Kremlin said that any improvement in Moscow’s tense relationship with Washington would depend on Biden.
Meanwhile, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the inauguration would “be a demonstration of the resilience of American democracy”, as well as “the resounding proof that, once again, after four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House”.
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Biden, 78, will be he oldest US president in history. Ceremonies in Washington were stripped of their usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus as well as security concerns following the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.
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The violence prompted the Democratic-controlled US House of Representatives to impeach Trump last week for an unprecedented second time.
In a break with more than a century and a half of political tradition, Trump declined to meet with his successor and affirm the peaceful transfer of power.
Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, DPA, Bloomberg