Tracking every rollback, reversal, and overreach — and the path back to the America we know.
On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed Proclamation 9735 to modify trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The proclamation adjusted certain trade preferences and eligibility criteria under AGOA. The confirmed direct impact included changes to tariff treatment and trade access for eligible African nations and affected imports into the United States.
President Trump signed Executive Order 13819 on December 22, 2017, adjusting federal employee pay rates effective January 2018. The order implemented a 1.4% across-the-board pay increase for most federal employees and adjusted locality pay percentages for different geographic areas. The order directly affected approximately 2.1 million federal civilian employees and retirees receiving cost-of-living adjustments.
President Trump signed Executive Order 13817 on December 20, 2017, directing the federal government to develop a strategy to ensure secure and reliable domestic supplies of critical minerals essential to national security and economic competitiveness. The order required the Department of the Interior and other agencies to identify critical minerals, assess supply vulnerabilities, and reduce reliance on foreign sources through expedited permitting and domestic production initiatives. The confirmed direct impact includes streamlined environmental review processes for mining projects and increased federal focus on domestic mineral extraction.
President Trump signed Executive Order 13818 on December 20, 2017, authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to block the property and assets of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption. The order established a sanctions regime allowing the U.S. government to designate foreign individuals and entities for asset freezes and transaction prohibitions. Americans are prohibited from conducting financial transactions with designated individuals and entities, and financial institutions must comply with blocking orders.
President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1 on December 11, 2017, directing NASA to prioritize human lunar exploration as a stepping stone to Mars, and to refocus the International Space Station as a government and commercial facility. The directive reoriented federal space policy toward lunar missions and established a timeline for human return to the Moon, with confirmed effects including NASA budget allocation shifts toward lunar programs and changes to ISS operational planning.
On December 8, 2017, President Trump signed Memorandum 2017-27037 delaying the Small Business Administration's submission of a report required under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. The memorandum postponed the deadline for delivering this congressionally-mandated report on trade enforcement activities and small business impacts. The delay extended the timeline for Congress and the public to receive official documentation on SBA trade enforcement efforts.
On December 8, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13816, which revised the official seal of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The order modified the design and specifications of the seal used by the federal agency that regulates and supervises credit unions. The direct impact on Americans using credit unions is administrative; the seal change affected official documents, correspondence, and agency branding but did not alter NCUA's regulatory functions or member protections.
On December 6, 2017, President Trump signed Presidential Determination 2017-28027, which suspended the limitations imposed by the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. The determination invoked the president's authority to waive the requirement that the U.S. Embassy in Israel be relocated to Jerusalem, allowing the administration to delay the relocation. The administration later moved the embassy to Jerusalem in May 2018.
On December 6, 2017, President Trump signed Proclamation 2017-26832 recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and directing the State Department to relocate the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The proclamation reversed decades of U.S. policy that had withheld recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital pending final status negotiations. The relocation process began immediately, with the embassy formally opening in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, affecting U.S. diplomatic operations in the region and U.S. policy positions in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
President Trump issued executive orders drastically reducing protections on Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in Utah, cutting nearly 3 million acres—over 90% of each monument's protected area. Grand Staircase-Escalante lost 1.7 of its 1.87 million acres while Bears Ears was reduced from 1.36 million to 121,000 acres. The reductions open vast tracts of public land to mining, drilling, and development while eliminating environmental and cultural protections.