MW As Trump is inaugurated, here are his Day 1 plans

By Victor Reklaitis

Get ready for executive orders or other actions on immigration, tariffs, energy and crypto

America is making Donald Trump president again, and the billionaire Republican is scheduled to be sworn into office around noon Eastern time.

Trump - who will be only the second U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland in the 1890s - is expected to go big on executive orders and other actions on his first day back in the White House, including ones that aim to roll back some of his predecessor's policies. It will be similar to how Joe Biden targeted a number of Trump initiatives by rolling out a raft of orders on the day of his own presidential inauguration four years ago.

Much of Trump's focus on his first day in office likely will be on immigration, and his executive orders on that front could include declaring illegal immigration a national emergency, in part as a way to involve the military in his plan for mass deportations.

Certain industries rely heavily on undocumented workers, and players in those sectors could face some headwinds from a major crackdown. The industries most exposed are construction ITB, with 13.7% of its workforce being undocumented, agriculture MOO at 12.7% and hospitality PEJ at 7.1%, according to estimates from the American Immigration Council, which opposes mass deportations.

Tariffs are also expected to feature prominently in Trump's Day 1 actions, even as economists warn that his proposed levies would boost inflation at a time when Americans are already frustrated with elevated prices. The president-elect said in late November that one of his "many first executive orders" on Jan. 20 would lead to 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada unless those countries help him crack down on illegal immigration into the U.S. as well as on the inflow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl.

During his first term in office, Trump's moves on trade often hit markets SPX, but he has continued to embrace protectionism and recently described "tariff" as his favorite word. Supporters of tariffs, among them the Coalition for a Prosperous America, maintain that they're an "essential tool for rebuilding the U.S. industrial base, fostering long-term economic growth and reducing dependence on foreign imports."

Multiple published reports have suggested that the Trump administration's tariffs could end up smaller than promised - whether by implementing levies gradually in an effort to avoid a surge in inflation or by only targeting critical sectors such as medical gear, energy production and defense-industry suppliers.

Other Trump actions on Monday - which is both Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday - are likely to touch on boosting the energy sector XLE and the cryptocurrency industry (BTCUSD).

At a rally in Phoenix last month, Trump promised several Day 1 measures aimed at the energy industry, including ones targeting Biden's pause on new exports of liquefied natural gas, moves to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and tailpipe-emissions regulation, which Republicans have derided as a "mandate."

"To rescue our economy, I will sign Day 1 orders to end all Biden restrictions on energy production, terminate his insane electric-vehicle mandate, cancel his natural-gas export ban, reopen ANWR in Alaska [to oil drilling] - the biggest site, potentially, anywhere in the world - and declare a national energy emergency," the president-elect said.

Analysts have said Trump could deliver lower prices for fossil fuels (RB00) but mixed performance for shares of oil and gas companies.

The crypto industry IBIT has been lobbying for executive orders during Trump's first 100 days that would establish a U.S. bitcoin reserve, ensure the industry can access banking services and create a crypto advisory council, and the sector has been expecting that at least one of those orders could come Monday, according to a Reuters report. A Bloomberg News report said there could be a crypto-focused order on Monday that establishes the advisory council and designates crypto as a national imperative or priority.

One analyst recently told MarketWatch that bitcoin may either rise to a record high above $125,000 or fall toward $77,000 in this year's first quarter, with the key being whether Trump follows through soon after his inauguration on his promises to the crypto industry.

-Victor Reklaitis

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January 20, 2025 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)

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