Tracking Trump’s actions so far in his second term and thinking about what comes next.
President Trump has been in office for less than four months and already has signed more executive orders in his first 100 days than any president in recent history. Despite the flurry of executive action, little has been delivered for working Americans or U.S. interests. While everyday Americans are losing access to essential programs, facing job loss and skyrocketing prices on goods, billionaires are making great progress under the Trump-Musk administration.
Oxfam’s experts examined the administration’s second term agenda, and here’s what you need to know about these inequality-increasing policies and their potential impact on all of our lives.
Humanitarian Aid
In February, the Trump administration started a process to dismantle USAID and freeze foreign assistance. The decision to eliminate USAID and most of its work has resulted in chaos around the world. Drastic reductions in foreign assistance have harmed the lives of millions of people who need U.S. support for food, medicine, clean water, and protection of their most basic rights. People who depend on humanitarian aid from the U.S. are dying right now because of these actions.
It also compromises the futures of millions more people. Support for economic growth, good governance, and peace-building have been taken away. Recent indications that what is left of USAID will be absorbed by the State Department raise concerns that the future of foreign aid will cause more suffering for people who are already experiencing dire consequences of humanitarian crises.
Since taking office, President Trump has made a number of announcements regarding health and well-being that could result in massive global health disparities. He has laid out a plan to withdraw from the World Health Organization, a move that Oxfam believes would undermine the health and safety of Americans and people around the world. He reinstated the Global Gag Rule (also known as the Mexico City Policy), which bars foreign assistance to organizations providing, counseling, or advocating for legal abortion services. This rule effectively cuts off critical services to millions of people, particularly women and girls in low-income countries. In March, the administration announced plans to terminate financial support for purchasing critical vaccines for children in developing countries. Children in the world's poorest countries would not receive routine vaccinations, which could put millions of lives at stake.
Immigration
The Trump administration has suspended the refugee resettlement program; ended humanitarian parole programs, such as CHNV and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), for a number of countries; ended the CBP One app, the only remaining pathway for individuals to request asylum interviews by land; reinstated the Remain in Mexico policy; rescinded the task force on the reunification of families; increased family detention, and is attempting to end birthright citizenship. It has also started a campaign of enforced disappearances, with masked agents grabbing civilians off the street and deporting them to notorious prisons in the U.S. and abroad.
Executive orders mandating deportation of immigrants have taken away rights to legal counsel and the opportunity to present a defense. We have also seen the passage of the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the deportation of any immigrant accused of a crime, and other laws that will further criminalize migrants.
These actions will have staggering costs on society as a whole. We know from experience how these policies will tear families apart, send asylum seekers back into harm’s way, and destabilize the economy.
Environmental Costs
On his first day in office President Trump made undermining climate action a top priority, declaring an “energy emergency.” He signed an executive order pulling the United States out of the Paris Agreement. With this move, the United States is shirking its responsibility to people everywhere, but especially those most vulnerable to climate disasters.
Under the guise of maintaining “energy dominance,” President Trump halted spending passed under the Inflation Reduction Act that helps the United States to transition to a clean energy economy. This includes lifting the Biden Administration’s bans on offshore drilling, revoking the mandate for auto manufacturers to invest in electric vehicles, and shutting down offshore wind projects. The move will line the pockets of billionaires and fossil fuel companies while further exposing frontline communities to air and water pollution, extreme weather, and climate-induced disasters.
On April 8, he signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to go after states that have laws addressing climate justice, including New York and Vermont, which have set up climate superfunds. This could interfere with the work to hold Big Oil accountable for climate damage by requiring companies to pay into funds for climate resilience.
The EPA has set up an email address where companies can request to have their dirty facilities excepted from Clean Air Act, leaving communities with increased health risks to asthma and other disease.
What is Trump doing for the economy?
Trump has promised to "make America affordable again," but thus far he's pursued a pro-billionaire agenda ultimately designed to redistribute power and wealth upwards. By pursuing handouts for the ultra-wealthy and large corporations, tariffs that could increase the cost of basic necessities, and gutting agencies that deliver programs that help ordinary people, President Trump’s actions demonstrate an intent on raising costs for workers and families to pay for more tax breaks for himself and his fellow billionaires.
He endorsed a budget resolution that calls for cutting over $1 trillion to Medicaid and food assistance to pay for renewal of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Renewing the TCJA is estimated to cost $5.5 trillion over the next decade, largely due to tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. While the ultra-rich get richer, the rest of us lose essential services and programs that we rely on.
In April, the Trump administration imposed reckless, sweeping tariffs, creating global economic chaos. His weaponization of tariffs is effectively an attack on the global working class that could turbocharge inequality. His decisions risk pushing up costs for families at home and abroad who already struggle to get by and spurring economic downturns around the world.
The administration and world’s richest man Elon Musk at the head of DOGE have led an assault on workers' rights, attempting to slash workforces at key agencies like the Internal Revenue Service. These mass layoffs place critical benefits and worker protections at risk, while making it easier for the ultra-rich and corporations to avoid paying what they legally owe in taxes.
Taking action
Now that you know what’s happening, how can we stop this agenda and keep inequality from growing further? The good news is that there are three branches of government and many of these issues are being fought in the courts. Among the wins: temporary orders to block the ending of birthright citizenship, re-instatement of the refugee admissions program, and orders in multiple states to unfreeze federal funding.
Oxfam supporters are already playing a role in fighting back against the Trump administration’s plans to dismantle humanitarian aid. Thousands of Oxfam supporters have called their representatives to urge them to support USAID’s lifesaving work. We co-organized over 130 organizations to send a joint letter to Congress to protect foreign assistance. Oxfam has also joined together with other organizations and government employee unions to take the administration to court in order to protect USAID’s lifesaving work. In late April, our suit to block the Trump administration’s unlawful actions to defund lifesaving aid was moving through the courts.
Oxfam is also supporting efforts to ensure the tax system works better for everyone, including strengthening the child tax credit and funding a care economy.
In March, our Sisters on the Planet ambassadors and members of the Oxfam Action Network held 132 meetings on Capitol Hill—62 in the Senate and 70 in the House—calling on lawmakers to adopt a fairer tax system that prioritizes investments in care, climate, and communities over tax cuts to billionaires and corporations.
At this time of upheaval, we at Oxfam are inspired to see that this work is not contained to international development or non-profit sector. Movements are building organically on the ground, around the country.
Large protests, such as ones against Trump’s regressive agenda for women on International Women’s Day, Stand up for Science rallies, and President’s Day demonstrations are making the headlines. These are a fraction of the efforts sweeping the country; demonstrations are being organized daily to protest the administration’s unjust actions.
People everywhere are harnessing the power of collective action to show up for issues driving inequality and this gives us a reason to be hopeful that a better world is still within our grasp.