It has been a dramatic year for the US and the world since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, 2025, with sweeping promises to tighten
border security, establish an "America First" diplomacy, and US dominance in the energy sector, among other things.
To pursue domestic policy, such as immigration crackdown, Trump has issued a flurry of 225 executive orders in 2025. This is unprecedented, surpassing not only his entire first-term total but also marking the highest first-year count since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.
Trump has undoubtedly moved aggressively across immigration, energy, government operations and foreign policy despite mounting cases against him and his administration in federal courts.
One year into his second term, CNBC-TV18 takes stock of how his promises have played out.
BORDER SECURITY
The end of catch-and-release
On January 20, 2025, Trump issued an executive order ending "catch-and-release".
The "catch-and-release" policy previously allowed some migrants to be released into the US while awaiting court dates. According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from late 2025, the US Border Patrol recorded zero releases for six consecutive months, maintaining that all apprehended individuals are now either detained or immediately returned.
This shift was bolstered by the reinstatement of the "Remain in Mexico" programme, which requires asylum seekers to wait outside US territory during their legal proceedings.
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Wall construction and military deployment
Building a wall was Trump's marquee promise throughout his first term in office and the campaign to return to the presidential office a second time. The administration secured $46.5 billion from the One Big Beautiful Act to invest in a "Smart Wall" with advanced detection features.
According to Customs and Border Protection's live tracker, the US has constructed 1,954 miles, which includes roughly 644 miles of primary walls built during Trump's first term.
Mass deportation and cartel designations
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has scaled up interior enforcement, reporting over 622,000 deportations in 2025. The administration has significantly expanded its detention capacity to support these operations, with the number of people in immigration jails rising by nearly 75% over the previous year.
At the same time, the State Department designated several major Mexican and South American cartels, including the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels, as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTOs). Officials state these designations provide the Treasury Department with broader authorities to freeze assets and conduct cross-border operations against narco-trafficking networks.
The administration also designated Cartel de los Soles as an FTO, effective November 24, 2025. The US government campaigned for months, stating that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was heading the group, but eventually scaled back on the claim after he was captured on January 3, 2026.
ENERGY AND ECONOMY
Energy dominance and climate deregulation
President Trump, on his first day in office, signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Agreement for the second time. By early 2026, the administration went further, initiating a full withdrawal from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the IPCC, signalling a total retreat from global climate diplomacy.
Domestically, federal agencies have also been directed to stop using the "social cost of carbon" in their decision-making, effectively freezing dozens of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and vehicles.
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Permitting and national energy emergency
Invoking the National Emergencies Act, Trump declared a "National Energy Emergency" on his first day to bypass environmental bottlenecks. This declaration authorises the use of the Defense Production Act to fast-track the extraction and refining of fossil fuels and critical minerals, specifically targeting regions like the Northeast and the West Coast to expand pipeline and refinery capacity.
The administration immediately ended the pause on LNG export terminals and reopened massive tracts of federal land, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), for oil and gas leasing. By January 2026, the Department of Energy reported having kept over 15 gigawatts of coal-fired power from retirement by issuing emergency orders to keep ageing plants operational for grid reliability.
America-first trade policy
The Trump administration implemented a 10% baseline global tariff on most imports, with rates hitting a whopping 50% for Indian goods and 100% for certain Mexican imports, among a slew of others on the rest of the countries. While the Supreme Court is currently weighing legal challenges to these duties, Trump claims a surge in tariff revenue is making the country rich and calls himself the “tariff king”.
Changing US tariff has upended global trade in 2025. However, analysts also warn that it will end up hurting the US economy. JP Morgan Asset Management said tariffs raise prices, slow economic growth, cut profits, increase unemployment, and worsen inequality in the domestic market.
Additionally, the administration enacted the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which slashes the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that manufacture exclusively in the US. New incentives to manufacture in the US also include tax deductibility for interest on loans for American-built vehicles, aimed at forcing global supply chains to relocate to the US.
Improving the cost of living
The Department of Energy has officially withdrawn or "paused" efficiency standards for a wide range of household products, including gas stoves, dishwashers, and showerheads. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright stated that these rollbacks "return freedom of choice" to consumers, ending what the administration describes as government-mandated scarcity and weak water pressure in appliances.
To address transportation costs, the administration significantly weakened Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, lowering the fuel-efficiency requirements for new cars and trucks. While environmental groups warn this will increase long-term fuel costs, the White House maintains that the move has already lowered the average price of a new internal combustion engine vehicle by over $2,000 in immediate relief to car buyers.
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Federal hiring freeze and ending DEI programmes
On his first day, President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze for all non-essential positions with exemptions for national security, public safety, and border enforcement. By early 2026, the administration reported a reduction of over 300,000 federal employees.
Simultaneously, the administration issued an executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programmes", which eliminated Chief Diversity Officer positions and prohibited federal funding for DEI training. To further encourage "voluntary" departures, a mandatory return-to-office (RTO) order was implemented, stripping most telework and remote-work privileges and requiring all employees to work in-person five days a week.
Rescinding Biden-era rules
Under a mandate to "drain the swamp," Trump’s record-breaking executive orders rescinded hundreds of Biden-era regulations. Ranging from environmental protections to AI safety guidelines, the administration claims these actions have already saved over $100 billion in compliance costs.
Weaponisation, censorship, and more
The administration has launched multi-agency efforts to "end government weaponisation" by purging high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ who were involved in Trump’s past investigations. A new "Litigation Task Force" was also established to investigate federal employees and agencies that the administration accused of having targeted conservative voices during the previous four years.
To combat what it calls "government censorship," the administration shuttered several offices within the State Department and DHS that focused on monitoring disinformation. New federal guidelines now prohibit government employees from communicating with social media companies regarding content moderation, while a centralised "Merit Hiring Plan" has been introduced to ensure that all future civil service recruits are vetted for their commitment to implement the President’s "America First" priorities with no questions asked.
FOREIGN POLICY AND VALUES
NATO spending
Donald Trump managed to get NATO countries to commit and raise their defence spending. In June 2025, NATO allies, after much deliberation, agreed to a new defence spending target of 5% of GDP by 2035, up from 2%. Trump threatened trade sanctions against "delinquent" nations, targeting Spain, which refused to meet the new threshold.
On biological sex and historical landmarks
Trump had signed an executive order redefining sex across the federal government as an immutable biological binary. This triggered the removal of "X" gender markers from US passports and visas, a ban on transgender individuals in the military, and the mandatory transfer of transgender inmates in federal prisons to facilities matching their sex assigned at birth.
Cultural "restoration" also became a priority with the administration launching a federal commission to review and rename landmarks and military installations that were changed under the previous administration. The "National Monument Protection Act" of 2025 has been used to halt the removal of historical statues and instead directs federal funds toward the creation of the "National Garden of American Heroes," a project revived from the President's first term to honour traditional historical figures.
On refugee resettlement
The US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) was effectively suspended in early 2025, with the administration setting a historic low ceiling of just 7,500 admissions for FY2026.
To replace these programs, the administration implemented "Extreme Vetting 2.0," a protocol requiring social media audits and "ideological screenings" for all visa applicants from 19 high-risk countries.
