5 Must-Know Facts About Trump's New Executive Order on Deregulation
* **It targets federal rules that burden small businesses.** The order mandates agencies to eliminate two existing regulations for every new one they propose, aiming to reduce compliance costs and red tape for startups and local firms.
* **It freezes pending regulations until 2025.** All rules not yet published in the Federal Register are paused, giving the administration time to review and potentially kill many climate and labor-related mandates from the Biden era.
* **A cost reset caps regulatory expenses.** The order requires new regulations to have zero net cost to the economy, meaning any expensive rule must be offset by cuts to other regulations, effectively creating a deregulation-driven budget.
* **It creates a regulatory 'gatekeeper' role.** A senior official in the White House now holds veto power over any proposed rule, centralizing control and quickly halting policies on immigration, healthcare, and tech that face industry pushback.
* **Legal challenges are already spiraling.** Consumer and environmental groups are suing to block the order, arguing it violates the Administrative Procedure Act and could gut protections on clean air, worker safety, and food labeling overnight.