President Donald Trump

Trump Gives Pen to Dow Chemical CEO After Signing Executive Order to Eliminate Regulations

President Donald Trump has signed another executive order aimed at eliminating regulations that he claims are damaging to the U.S. economy, but some worry that the measure will roll back critical environmental protections.

February 24, 2017 | Source: EcoWatch | by Lorraine Chow

President Donald Trump has signed another executive order aimed at eliminating regulations that he claims are damaging to the U.S. economy, but some worry that the measure will roll back critical environmental protections.

The order, called “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” directs each government agency to create a task force to evaluate existing federal regulations and recommend whether they should be kept, repealed or modified.

A White House official told POLITICO that the task forces will “focus on eliminating costly and unnecessary regulations.”

The new order also directs agency heads to appoint “regulatory reform officers” to ensure that agencies are carrying out the president’s other executive orders, such as his recent 2-for-1 rule that requires federal agencies to repeal two old regulations for every new one.

“Excessive regulation is killing jobs,” Trump said during the signing ceremony. “Every regulation should have to pass a simple test: Does it make life better or safer for American workers or consumers? If the answer is no, we will be getting rid of it.”

“We will stop punishing companies for doing business in the United States,” Trump added. “It’s going to be absolutely just the opposite. They will be incentivized to doing business.”