President Donald Trump is using executive orders at a faster pace in his second term than he ever did in his first.
Less than a year after returning to the White House, Trump has already signed 221 executive orders. That’s more than the 220 orders he issued during his entire first four-year term, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
The most recent order, signed Dec. 15, classifies fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
A historic pace
Pew’s analysis shows Trump surpassed the typical presidential pace early in his second term. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, modern presidents have issued a median of about 200 executive orders per term.
Trump crossed that mark in just eight months.
He also stands out compared with other presidents in their first year in office. The 221 orders Trump has signed so far are more than triple the 58 he issued during the first year of his first term. He signed 26 executive orders on his first day back in office alone.
Before Trump, no president had issued more than 100 executive orders in the first year of a term since Harry Truman in 1945, when World War II was still underway.
What the orders focus on
Pew Research Center found that Trump’s second-term orders often target government operations, foreign relations and defense, energy policy, and immigration.
Many of the orders have faced legal challenges. Courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, are weighing questions about how far presidential power can go, including Trump’s use of executive orders to impose broad global tariffs.
Executive orders carry the force of law when they fall within presidential authority or powers granted by Congress. They can also be reversed by future presidents or overridden by Congress.
Public reaction is mixed
A September Pew survey found that about half of Americans think Trump is doing too much through executive orders. Roughly 27% say he’s doing about the right amount, while 6% say he’s doing too little.
Views sharply divide along party lines. Eighty percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say Trump relies too heavily on executive orders, compared with 23% of Republicans and Republican leaners. More than half of Republicans say his use of executive orders is about right.
Beyond executive orders
Executive orders are only one tool presidents use to act unilaterally. Trump has also relied on memoranda and proclamations.
So far this term, he has issued 77 memoranda and 29 substantive proclamations. During his first term, he signed fewer executive orders overall but far more memoranda and proclamations.
If Trump continues at his current pace, Pew researchers say his second term could rank among the most executive-order-heavy presidencies in modern history—though still far behind Franklin D. Roosevelt’s record-setting years.
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