WP: Trump surpasses first term with record executive orders under one year

President Donald Trump has signed more executive orders in less than a year of his presidency than he did in his entire first term.

On December 15, Trump signed an order instructing fentanyl to be designated as a “weapon of mass destruction,” marking the 221st executive order of his second term, Caliber.Az reports, citing the Washington Post (WP).

The total now surpasses the 220 executive orders he signed between 2017 and 2021.

Both figures surpass those of presidents who served full decades in office. Former President Biden, for instance, signed 162 executive orders over a four-year term.

Since his inauguration, Trump has used the orders to impose sweeping tariffs, seek retribution against his perceived enemies and weigh in on cultural issues big and small, from challenging immigration laws to regulating water pressure from showerheads.

The rapid tempo of Trump’s actions has at times stretched the administration’s ability to carry out those directives, according to Mike Howell, who served as a Homeland Security official during Trump’s first term.

“Implementation is the issue,” said Howell, who now heads the Oversight Project, originally established as a research arm of the Heritage Foundation. “The volume [of executive orders] makes it difficult to caretake every one of them.”

Trump’s growing reliance on executive orders marks a striking shift from his earlier stance. As a candidate, he frequently criticized former president Barack Obama for turning to executive authority.

“We have a president that can’t get anything done,” Trump told an interviewer in January 2016, “so he just keeps signing executive orders all over the place.”

Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election on November 5, 2024, defeating Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, and became the first president in US history to serve two nonconsecutive terms.

He was inaugurated for his second term on January 20, 2025, officially becoming the 47th president of the United States.

International and policy analysts note his second term has been marked by shifts in trade, immigration, and foreign-policy approaches, with low public approval ratings and broad debate over US global engagement.

By Jeyhun Aghazada