Donald Trump’s Executive Orders Kick In, Renaming Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America"
Donald Trump has been in office for just three days, but his executive orders are already having a significant impact. One of his first moves was to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America", with the US Coast Guard and a Florida weather alert already using the new name.
The move comes as part of Trump’s effort to dismantle diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives, which he has described as "dangerous, demeaning, and immoral". Offices set up to promote these initiatives will be closed down, with employees placed on paid leave.
The president has also signed executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ community initiatives, healthcare equality, and gender diversity. He has claimed that there are only two genders and has pledged to prevent transgender women from competing in men’s sports.
Other executive orders signed by Trump include pardoning over 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the deadly riot at the US Capitol in 2021, declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, and trying to end birthright citizenship. He has also designated Mexican drug cartels and certain gangs as foreign terrorist organisations and withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO.
The new president has also taken action against social media, signing an executive order to block a ban on the popular app TikTok. The app had been banned in the US, but Trump has given ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, a 90-day reprieve to divest from the app and salvage it for American users.
