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Analysis and Society

What Trump's first week means for climate, science, health and tech

In a barrage of executive orders, President Donald Trump has set the US on course to derail climate goals, biomedical research and pandemic readiness

By Chelsea Whyte

27 January 2025

Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 23 January 2025.

The incoming president signed a suite of executive orders last week

YURI GRIPAS/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

In the first week of his second term, US president Donald Trump has thrown the country’s scientific apparatus into chaos, while at the same time anointing a new tech oligarchy. With a blitz of executive orders, he’s set the US on a path that will derail climate goals, biomedical research and pandemic readiness.

On 20 January, the first day of his presidency, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” and proposed expanding fossil fuel production on federal land, including a controversial move to open Alaska’s Arctic National…

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