President Donald Trump’s second term is characterized by rapid action and harsh opposition.
Political opponents also did not waste time resisting many of the president’s initiatives, challenging some actions in court and protesting others on the streets.
Executive Action: 10 yen per week
During the campaign, Trump promised a swift action on his agenda, which he offered. The returning president signed 141 executive orders in his first 100 days.
Many orders implemented core items in his second term agenda, including halting illegal immigration, building American manufacturing capacity and increasing domestic energy production.
Other orders fulfilled campaign promises related to transgender ideology, cutting government regulations, reducing prescription drug costs and withdrawing from the World Health Organization.
Court Challenge: 2 per day
Less than 48 hours after Trump called in the 2024 presidential election, the American Civil Liberties Union released a full-page ad in a national newspaper pledging legal action against various civil rights violations it claims to commit.
That’s where one of the most controversial starts for the administration in modern history began.
Economic indicators: up, down
Economic indicators have largely improved by March, last month when full data is available. The unemployment rate rose 0.2%, but since Trump took office, non-farm job creation has almost doubled.
Inflation fell 0.5%, reaching 2.8%, the lowest level since February 2021.
Trump’s tariff strategy, launched on April 2, is known as the “liberation day,” and could cause uncertainty among investors and affect the economic indicators of April.
The president said his tariff strategy is to reverse the trade imbalance between the United States and other countries by imposing mutual tariffs on goods that come to this country. The tariff also encourages manufacturers to create products in the United States, according to Trump.
Manufacturing buildback: $1.75 trillion
Since Trump took office, more than a dozen domestic and foreign manufacturers have announced significant investments in US operations.
In at least one case, Trump’s customs policy was involved in the decision to invest here. Honda plans to manufacture the next generation of citizen hybrids in Indiana, not Mexico.
According to the White House, some manufacturing facilities in Nissan and Hyundai are also expected to move to the US.
These investments include over $1 trillion from high-tech Giants nvidia, Apple, Oracle and more. German pharmaceutical company Merck opened a $1 billion manufacturing facility in North Carolina this year.
Multinational automaker Stellantis has announced a $5 billion investment in US manufacturing sites.
Illegal Boundary Crossing: 90% reduction in 40 days
Trump’s early actions on border security included instructing the military to strengthen security at the border to combat the national state of emergency declaration and the speeding of the Alien Enemy Act of 1798.
Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) began an increase in deportation operations targeting illegal criminal immigrants on January 21st. Immigration officials reported 32,800 arrests in the first three weeks of the Trump administration.
ICE made 113,400 immigrant arrests last fiscal year for the Biden administration, according to agency records.
Customs and Border Patrol reported that uncertainty about illegal immigrants has fallen by nearly 90% at the tropical border until December 2024, the last month before Trump took office.
Taxpayer savings: $1.6 billion per day
Trump created Government Efficiency (Doge) on January 20th. Leaded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, Doge took swift action to reduce government spending with the goal of reaching $1 trillion in cost savings.
Immediate goals included taxpayer funding programs related to gender ideology and diversity, equity and inclusion. Doge targeted waste, including leasing vacant buildings.
Trump offered a postponed resignation program. This allowed federal employees to voluntarily resign until September 30th, at the end of the fiscal year, to retain their salaries and benefits. Approximately 77,000 of the more than 3 million federal employees participated in the program.
According to Doge, the cuts from other staff eliminated roughly 66,000 positions, almost all of which were retirement or voluntary transitions.
Three other recent presidents have made significant staffing cuts in the first 100 days, as Trump did during his first term.
Sam Dorman contributed to this article.
