PIEN HUANG, HOST:
The first week of Trump's second presidency is over, and what a week it has been. So far, his cabinet is taking shape the way he planned. Kristi Noem is the new head of Homeland Security, and Pete Hegseth now runs the Department of Defense. And Trump has followed through on some campaign promises, issuing big sweeping orders on everything from immigration to the economy to foreign policy and lots of pardons, too. Here to round up what's happened in the past six days and talk through its potential impacts is NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Hey, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, great to be with you.
HUANG: Hey, thanks for coming. So it's been a dizzying week. Dozens of executive orders signed. What do you make of how it was all done?
MONTANARO: It definitely was dizzying. It's a lot of what Trump was promising to do during the campaign, though, I mean, coming out of the gate with really a fire hose of action, you know? Some things are going to have an effect really quickly, like rooting out people in the federal workforce, for example, who had been working on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or the halting of meetings and travel at the National Institutes of Health. Plus, there were executive orders on immigration, rolling back regulations to promote oil and gas drilling and, of course, those January 6 pardons.
More than 1,500 people who were convicted of committing crimes that day were granted clemency, including those who were violent. Doing that was something that more than 6 in 10 people in our latest NPR/PBS 瓜神app/Marist poll said that they would be against. But Trump did it anyway because loyalty really matters to Trump, and January 6 happened in his name by his supporters.
HUANG: Yeah. Now, that is a lot, so let's dig in a little bit on some of the more specific things, like immigration. So with immigration, he declared a national emergency at the southern border. What does that entail?
MONTANARO: Yeah. I mean, the order sends military personnel to the border. How many or what exactly they're going to be doing there is unclear. It also directs agencies to finish the border wall. But at this point, there isn't additional funding for that. In coming months, we're going to see what Congress winds up funding or not.
Trump is also aiming to increase detentions and deportations at the border. He signed an order trying to eliminate birthright citizenship for those born to parents without permanent legal status. But birthright citizenship has been something that is written into the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. That's already facing court challenges.
HUANG: Yeah. And while immigration was definitely one of the big issues of the campaign, the biggest for a lot of people was definitely the economy. So what did Trump do in his first week to try and address those high prices and interest rates that he promised to bring down?
MONTANARO: Yeah, I mean, he released an executive order telling agencies to deliver, quote, "emergency price relief." I mean, that's pretty vague, but we got some idea of what he wants to focus on in that, including reducing regulations on things like housing, cars and home appliances - everything from stoves to light bulbs to showerheads - not clear what impact, if any, that's going to have on prices.
But a throughline we've seen in so many of these orders that we're potentially looking at a far less regulated society. For many businesses and many on the right, that's music to their ears. But those regulations, of course, were put in place for things like safety, air and water quality and trying to address climate change. Of course, that was also a major Trump target here. He pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, as he did in his first term. He also said that there would be no electric vehicle mandates and wants to get rid of anything that limits the sales of gas-powered vehicles.
Also, even though the U.S. is producing plenty of oil and gas - the top oil and gas producer in the world - Trump declared a national energy emergency. And again, he's seeking to roll back regulations and make it easier to lease lands for drilling, to refine and transport oil and gas, including in places like Alaska. For Trump, this is all about how to make the most money as possible. Environmental costs are very much off the stove, never mind the back burner, and it's definitely still a gas stove.
HUANG: OK. But what about tariffs? So that was something we heard a lot about in the run-up to the election. I mean, didn't Trump promise to enact tariffs on Day 1?
MONTANARO: Yes, but he essentially punted on what he said would be 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico for goods coming into the U.S., and that was intended, he said, to stop the flow of migrants and drugs. But he said this week, I think we'll do them February 1, he said. That doesn't mean it will definitely happen February 1, even. It sounds like Trump is doing what Trump does, giving himself some space to negotiate.
HUANG: The rest of the world is watching the U.S. with a lot of interest right now. What indications is President Trump giving about foreign policy?
MONTANARO: Yeah, I always say foreign policy and judges are the two major things that presidents have more direct control over than almost anything else. And Trump has used tariff threats against allies, you know, seeking leverage, whether that's wanting them to take more American goods or trying to strong-arm Denmark and Panama to give up things like Greenland or the Panama Canal. It was notable, though that Trump's first call as president was with MBS, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Trump really wants Saudi Arabia and Israel to make a deal because he believes Saudi Arabia is a key to peace in the Middle East.
HUANG: OK. One of the many executive orders that Trump signed was one suspending all foreign aid for three months as it's getting reviewed. So how could that affect the war in Ukraine?
MONTANARO: It could affect a host of allies, including Ukraine, which, of course, has been fighting off Russia's invasion for nearly three years now. The U.S. and NATO allies have helped them significantly, but there are lots of people on the right who do not want to continue funding foreign countries.
HUANG: That's NPR senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thanks so much for joining us.
MONTANARO: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR鈥檚 programming is the audio record.
