WASHINGTON — President Trump signed a series of orders on energy policy Monday that he said would tackle inflation after consumer costs soared 22% during former President Biden’s four years in office.
“The biggest thing and factor for inflation is energy. They screwed up my energy policy,” Trump, 78, told reporters during a 47-minute Oval Office news conference hours after being sworn in at the Capitol.
“We’re going to make a lot of money from energy. We have more than anybody else.”
Trump declared a national emergency on energy, aimed at unlocking “different authorities that will enable our nation to quickly build again, to produce more natural resources,” according to an official.
Another one of Trump’s orders lifts Biden’s restrictions on drilling for oil in Alaska, including the now-former president’s 2023 restriction on Arctic Ocean drilling and his ban announced this month on drilling off the US coastline, including in the Bering Sea.
That order will facilitate the “unleashing Alaska’s potential as an energy reservoir for the entire nation,” an aide told Trump as he presented the document for his signature.
Trump vowed in his inaugural address around noon to usher in a “golden age of America” by taking a sledgehammer to the regulatory state and ramping up energy production.
While energy policy was a dominant pillar of Trump’s economic agenda, he also sought to tackle inflation by directing agencies to pursue a whole-of-government approach aimed at tackling the cost of living crisis.
Under that order, he called on the assistant to the president for economic policy to keep him updated on that effort every 30 days.
The executive order expressed interest in cutting prices for housing, food and more.
Other Trump orders include reversing a policy of pushing carmakers to make 50% of their output be electric vehicles by 2030, which the Republican frequently says would jack up costs and limit consumer choice.
He also withdrew from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which he said unfairly required the US to reduce emissions more than China.
Trump additionally directed government “bureaucrats” to halt implementation of any additional regulation until his team has completed its takeover of the federal government.
Many key cabinet and other administration roles are either vacant or filled by acting officials while the Senate works to approve the 47th president’s nominations.
Once his team gets confirmed, Trump is expected to take additional steps to curb regulations.
In addition to attacking government regulation, Trump is hoping to boost government efficiency through the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which he made official through executive action Monday.
DOGE, which is not technically a government department despite its name, will be helmed by tech mogul Elon Musk, who has argued that the organization will help boost the economy by clawing back government excesses.
But his advisers said that scrapping Biden’s old energy policy is paramount to giving the economy a boost.
“The president is taking these actions as soon as possible here on day one, so that we can lower prices as soon as possible for the American people,” a White House official told reporters.
