Trump’s orders include withdrawing from the WHO, halting US foreign aid

US President Donald Trump issued a series of executive actions after taking office on Monday, including withdrawing from international health and climate bodies and ordering a suspension of US foreign aid.

A set of orders focused on immigration, such as declaring an emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, ending asylum and halting birthright citizenship for some children born in the United States.

Trump also ordered vetting and screening “to the fullest extent possible” of all those seeking to enter the United States, and for the government to identify countries that may have screening procedures deficient enough to warrant blocking their nationals from entering into the United States.

In his first term, Trump pursued an “America First” style of foreign policy, and an order he signed Monday directs new Secretary of State Marco Rubio to focus the State Department’s efforts on that mission.

“From this day forward, United States foreign policy must defend core American interests and always put America and American citizens first,” the order said.

Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord, a repeat of a move he also made in his first term. Trump said the United States has a successful record of “advancing both economic and environmental goals” that should be a model for other countries.

Nearly 200 countries signed the agreement aimed at limiting global warming, with each country presenting its own plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

In another repeat of his first term in office, Trump ordered the US to withdraw from the World Health Organization amid complaints that the agency was mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic and getting too much funding from the US

Calling U.S. foreign aid “not aligned with American interests,” Trump issued an order to freeze foreign development aid for 90 days and to review the programs.

Funding for many programs has already been appropriated by Congress, so it was not clear how much aid would initially be affected by the order.

Trump also reversed an order signed by former President Joe Biden last week that had removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel responded to Trump’s move on Monday by calling it “an act of arrogance and disregard for the truth.”

On trade, Trump issued an order calling for a review of a number of trade deals, including one with China and the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

He also specifically called for an assessment of “illegal migration and fentanyl flows” from Canada, Mexico and China. Before taking office, Trump said those countries would have to trade in those areas to avoid tariffs on goods sent to the United States.

In response to a law passed during Biden’s tenure that would have blocked TikTok in the US over national security concerns, Trump signed an order telling the Justice Department not to enforce that ban until his administration can “determine the appropriate course forward.”

The law directed a TikTok ban unless its China-based parent company sold it to an approved buyer. US officials who promoted the ban expressed concern that the Chinese government could get hold of Americans’ digital data.

Trump himself tried to implement a similar ban in his first term, but in recent weeks has fought to keep TikTok available to US users, including the possibility of the US government acquiring a stake in the company.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters