President Trump signed two executive orders at the White House. The first launches a series of bold new steps on customs reform that the administration believes will result in the tightest, most controlled border in American history for goods entering the country.
Peter Navarro, presenting the customs reform order, said he guarantees the first year will save at least fifteen billion dollars, with twenty-five billion the next year, and eighty to one hundred billion dollars in savings further out as tariff evaders are stopped.
Navarro said the order will also stop more fentanyl coming in and crack down on counterfeits. He noted that fentanyl entering the country has already been cut by fifty-nine percent. The customs reform addresses a system where people have been able to hide behind shell companies, moving from one to the next to avoid duties and tariffs.
The second executive order reforms the federal workforce. James Shirk from the Domestic Policy Council explained that it has been a long-standing problem that it is almost impossible to fire a federal employee even in cases of serious misconduct.
The order treats employees in senior policy-influencing roles like private sector workers. They can be hired on the basis of merit and competence, but if they are not performing, they can be removed quickly rather than taking a year or longer through the current process.
Shirk said the problem is particularly acute for employees in policy-making roles who may be trying to undermine the wishes of the administration or who are simply incompetent. Agencies have had long-standing difficulty removing such employees under current rules.
During the same press conference, Trump spoke about Washington DC, saying the city has been transformed in fourteen months. He said restaurants that had gone out of business have reopened, parks have been restored with new grass, and the reflecting pool was being filled with water for the first time since nineteen twenty-two.