WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden used his first day in office to issue a raft of executive orders undoing some of former president Donald Trump’s marquee policies on climate change and immigration.
Among the 17 executive orders and presidential actions Biden signed were moves to rejoin the Paris climate accord, end a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries and halt Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
“There’s no time to waste,” Biden said before signing executive orders in the White House. “These are just all starting points.”
Biden made rejoining the climate agreement a key point of his presidential campaign, vowing to undo former president Donald Trump’s policy.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the US president’s move.
“Following last year’s Climate Ambition Summit, countries producing half of global carbon pollution had committed to carbon neutrality,” Guterres said. “Today’s commitment by President Biden brings that figure to two-thirds.”
Biden also ended the entry ban on citizens from over a dozen countries, including Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria and Sudan.
— dpa
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