On Day One, Biden reverses a raft of Trump decisions

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President Joe Biden has begun his first day in Oval Office by signing a flurry of executive orders to overturn his predecessor Donald Trump’s controversial decisions that had raised political storms at home and abroad. Moving in swiftly, he signed 15 executive orders, annulling several of the past orders on climate change, travel ban, immigration, and the border wall, among others.

In a pared-down ceremony on Wednesday, Biden took the oath of office as the 46th President of the United States, alongside Kamala Harris, who was sworn-in as the 49th US Vice President. After their inauguration, he immediately moved to act on his promised policy-reversals.

Biden has signed an executive order to re-join the Paris Climate Accord, which he and others in the Democratic Party believe is the only way to tackle global warming. Trump had walked out of the agreement, signed during the Obama regime, calling it a biased deal that favors its competitors.

He has also signed orders to stop the construction of the US-Mexico border wall and the Keystone US-Canada oil pipeline project initiated by his predecessor. The stringent immigration policies of the previous government were strongly criticized by the Latino-American communities, as well as by some Asian and Arab nations. Biden had promised to remove them immediately after joining office.

President Biden has also overturned some of the orders regarding the handling of the pandemic. He is expected to sign several other orders related to virus prevention and control in the coming weeks. Furthermore, Biden has revoked a travel ban on some Muslim majority countries that Trump had ordered as the pandemic cases surged in the US. The country has witnessed the highest number of Covid deaths compared to other countries, despite huge funds made available to address the crisis. Biden has vowed to work closely with the scientific and medical community to reverse this trend.

Reaffirming his agenda for a 100 percent green economy and net-zero-emission by 2050, Biden has also halted the construction of the multi-billion-dollar oil pipeline project with Canada, which is likely to have a cascading effect in the markets, but he hopes it will be temporary disruption and the companies would be able to make the changes to shift to greener fuels.

Demonstrating a sense of urgency, Biden has also issued a directive to cancel the orders passed by his predecessor concerning the World Health Organization (WHO). He had been vocal against the Trump administration’s move to withhold the funds for WHO, which he believes could have a debilitating effect on people’s health, especially in poor countries, in the middle of the pandemic.

Evidently, virus protection and control would be the top agenda for his administration. In a marked departure from his predecessor, Biden wore a mask as he began his work at the Oval office. Underscoring his intent to fight the virus head-on, the new president has signed another executive order requiring all government employees to wear a face mask on federal properties.

He has also ordered a freeze on all eviction drives for loan defaulters hit by the pandemic. The new administration has also set up a national response center for smooth coordination of the Covid-related work. In another order, Biden has instructed all federal agencies to handle cases of racism on priority, as review related policies to reinforce the ideals enshrined in the US Constitution.

Biden had vowed to undo at least a 100 of Trump legislations to “restore the soul of America” during the campaign, and Wednesday’s actions are only the beginning of that process. More such actions can be expected in the coming weeks, even as he lays out the Democratic agenda.