Another round of Executive Orders was signed in May 2025, opening the door to fewer regulations in key fields of innovation, religion, nuclear reactors, tariffs, prescription drugs, restoring the self-sufficiency of homeless veterans, defunding biased media, and improving scientific research. May was a light month for new executive orders with less impact on the American people so far, but the implications, good and bad, will likely be felt months, possibly years, from the date of the order.
Other executive orders had more immediate impact, including the modification of tariffs that lower the financial burden for business owners in the US. The following are the executive orders signed throughout May, and are published on the Executive Orders section of whitehouse.gov. The descriptions were taken from the actual orders and have been summarized based on the most relevant information in the order.
For the most accurate information, click on the image, the link under the image, or this link to the Executive Orders signed so far. These are excerpts from the bills that I believe explain their purpose; however, as always, I recommend reading the full orders to gain a comprehensive understanding.
May 1
Read the full order here.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION
The Commission shall be composed of up to 14 members appointed by the President. Members of the Commission shall include individuals chosen to serve as educated representatives of various sectors of society, including the private sector, employers, educational institutions, religious communities, and States, to offer diverse perspectives on how the Federal Government can defend religious liberty for all Americans.
(iii) The Commission shall produce a comprehensive report on specific topics to be considered by the Commission under these categories shall include the following areas: the First Amendment rights of pastors, religious leaders, houses of worship, faith-based institutions, and religious speakers; attacks across America on houses of worship of many religions; debanking of religious entities; the First Amendment rights of teachers, students, military chaplains, service members, employers, and employees; conscience protections in the health care field and concerning vaccine mandates; parents’ authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children, including the right to choose a religious education; permitting time for voluntary prayer and religious instruction at public schools; Government displays with religious imagery; and the right of all Americans to freely exercise their faith without fear or Government censorship or retaliation.
Read the full order here.
ENDING TAXPAYER SUBSIDIZATION OF BIASED MEDIA
Sec. 2. Instructions to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
(b) The CPB Board shall cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.
May 5
Read the full order here.
IMPROVING THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens. If left unrestricted, its effects can include widespread mortality, an impaired public health system, disrupted American livelihoods, and diminished economic and national security.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that United States federally funded research benefits American citizens without jeopardizing our Nation’s security, strength, or prosperity. My Administration will balance the prevention of catastrophic consequences with maintaining readiness against biological threats and driving global leadership in biotechnology, biological countermeasures, biosecurity, and health research.
Read the full order here.
REGULATORY RELIEF TO PROMOTE DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF CRITICAL MEDICINES
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that the regulation of manufacturing pharmaceutical products and inputs be streamlined to facilitate the restoration of a robust domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing base.
Sec. 3. Streamlining Review of Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing by the Food and Drug Administration
Sec. 4. Enhancing Inspection of Foreign Manufacturing Facilities
Sec. 5. Streamlining Review of Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Sec. 6. Centralized Coordination of Environmental Permits to Expand Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity.
Sec. 7. Streamlining Review of Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
May 9
Read the full order here.
FIGHTING OVERCRIMINALIZATION IN FEDERAL REGULATIONS
The United States is drastically overregulated. The Code of Federal Regulations contains over 48,000 sections, stretching over 175,000 pages — far more than any citizen can possibly read, let alone fully understand. Worse, many carry potential criminal penalties for violations….Many of these regulatory crimes are “strict liability” offenses, meaning that citizens need not have a guilty mental state to be convicted of a crime.
The purpose of this order is to ease the regulatory burden on everyday Americans and ensure no American is transformed into a criminal for violating a regulation they have no reason to know exists.
(b) Prosecution of criminal regulatory offenses is most appropriate for persons who know or can be presumed to know what is prohibited or required by the regulation and willingly choose not to comply, thereby causing or risking substantial public harm. Prosecutions of criminal regulatory offenses should focus on matters where a putative defendant is alleged to have known his conduct was unlawful.
Read the full order here.
KEEPING PROMISES TO VETERANS AND ESTABLISHING A NATIONAL CENTER FOR WARRIOR INDEPENDENCE
Veterans around the Nation will have more choices in care, benefits, and services. The VA campus in West Los Angeles will become the National Center for Warrior Independence with facilities and resources to help our veterans earn back their self-sufficiency.
Sec. 2. Establishing the National Center for Warrior Independence. Designate a National Center for Warrior Independence on the West Los Angeles VA Campus in which homeless veterans in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and around the Nation can seek and receive the care, benefits, and services to which they are entitled;
(d) work to restore self-sufficiency and the warrior ethos among homeless veterans through any guidance, requirements, or services needed to ensure that homeless veterans can access housing, receive substance abuse or addiction treatment, and return to productive work and community engagement
Sec. 5. Providing Choices and Excellence to Veterans. A plan to reduce wait times for Veterans Health Administration appointments that explores options like expanding office hours, offering weekend appointments, and increasing the use of virtual healthcare options
May 12
Read the full order here.
DELIVERING MOST-FAVORED-NATION PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICING TO AMERICAN PATIENTS
Sec. 2. Policy. Americans should not be forced to subsidize low-cost prescription drugs and biologics in other developed countries, and face overcharges for the same products in the United States. Americans must therefore have access to the most-favored-nation price for these products.
My Administration will take immediate steps to end global freeloading and, should drug manufacturers fail to offer American consumers the most-favored-nation lowest price, my Administration will take additional aggressive action.
Sec. 5. Establishing Most-Favored-Nation Pricing. (a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall, in coordination with the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other relevant executive department and agency (agency) officials, communicate most-favored-nation price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to bring prices for American patients in line with comparably developed nations.
Read the full order here.
MODIFYING RECIPROCAL TARIFF RATES TO REFLECT DISCUSSIONS WITH THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Pursuant to section 4(c) of Executive Order 14257, I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to address the national emergency declared in that order by modifying the HTSUS to suspend for a period of 90 days application … and to instead impose on articles of the PRC an additional ad valorem rate of duty as set forth herein, pursuant to the terms of, and except as otherwise provided in, Executive Order 14257, as modified by this order.
Sec. 2. Suspension of Country-Specific Ad Valorem Rate of Duty. Effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on May 14, 2025, all articles imported into the customs territory of the United States from the PRC, including Hong Kong and Macau, shall be, consistent with law, subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 10 percent.
May 23
Read the full order here.
Restoring Gold Standard Science
My Administration is committed to restoring a gold standard for science to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous, and impactful, and that Federal decisions are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available. We must restore the American people’s faith in the scientific enterprise and institutions that create and apply scientific knowledge in service of the public good. Reproducibility, rigor, and unbiased peer review must be maintained. This order restores the scientific integrity policies of my first Administration and ensures that agencies practice data transparency, acknowledge relevant scientific uncertainties, are transparent about the assumptions and likelihood of scenarios used, approach scientific findings objectively, and communicate scientific data accurately. Agency use of Gold Standard Science, as set forth in this order, will spur innovation, translate discovery to success, and ensure continued American strength and global leadership in technology.
Read the full order here.
REINVIGORATING THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRIAL BASE
Section 1. Purpose. The United States originally pioneered nuclear energy technology during a time of great peril. We now face a new set of challenges, including a global race to dominate in artificial intelligence, a growing need for energy independence, and access to uninterruptible power supplies for national security.
It took nearly 40 years for the United States to add the same amount of nuclear capacity as another developed nation added in 10 years. Further, as American deployment of advanced reactor designs has waned, 87 percent of nuclear reactors installed worldwide since 2017 are based on designs from two foreign countries. At the same time, the Nation’s nuclear fuel cycle infrastructure has severely atrophied, leaving the United States heavily dependent on foreign sources of uranium as well as uranium enrichment and conversion services. These trends cannot continue.
Swift and decisive action is required to jumpstart America’s nuclear energy industrial base and ensure our national and economic security by increasing fuel availability and production, securing civil nuclear supply chains, improving the efficiency with which advanced nuclear reactors are licensed, and preparing our workforce to establish America’s energy dominance and accelerate our path towards a more secure and independent energy future.
Read the full order here.
REFORMING NUCLEAR REACTOR TESTING AT THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Decades of research and engineering have produced prototypes of advanced nuclear technologies that incorporate passive safety mechanisms, improve the physical architecture of reactor designs, increase reactor operational flexibility and performance, and reduce risk in fuel disposal. Advanced reactors — including microreactors, small modular reactors, and Generation IV and Generation III+ reactors — have revolutionary potential. They will open a range of new applications to support data centers, microchip manufacturing, petrochemical production, healthcare, desalination, hydrogen production, and other industries.
The United States cultivated the effort to design and build the first Generation IV reactor for commercial use, but the Federal Government has effectively throttled the domestic deployment of advanced reactors, ceding the initiative to foreign nations in building this critical technology. That changes today. It is the policy of my Administration to foster nuclear innovation and bring advanced nuclear technologies into domestic production as soon as possible.
Read the full order here.
DEPLOYING ADVANCED NUCLEAR REACTOR TECHNOLOGIES FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
The Federal Government must utilize its full authority to accelerate the secure and responsible development, demonstration, deployment, and export of United States-designed advanced nuclear technologies to bolster readiness and enhance American technological superiority. Additionally, the United States must further enhance our ability to export our nuclear technology to our allies and commercial partners, strengthening our shared ability to combat reliance on foreign adversaries through the use of safe, secure, and safeguarded nuclear technologies. Therefore, we must unleash the domestic nuclear industrial base and position American nuclear companies as the partners of choice for future energy growth throughout the world.
Until the legislation is passed, the executive order creates a temporary window for implementing what the president is looking to accomplish. For the full list of executive orders and presidential actions signed by President Trump, click here.