Biden sets to work on reversing Trump policies with executive orders

WASHINGTON, US

United States of America's new President, Joe Biden, has begun to undo some of Donald Trump's key policies, hours after being sworn in.

"There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face," he tweeted as he headed to the White House following his inauguration.

President Biden signed 15 executive orders, firstly to boost the federal response to the coronavirus crisis.

Other orders reverse the Trump administration's stance on climate change and immigration.

Mr. Biden set to work at the Oval Office having been sworn in earlier on Wednesday as the 46th president of the United States.

Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice-president ahead of Mr Biden. She is the first woman - and the first black and Asian-American person - to serve in the role.

President Biden "will take action - not just to reverse the gravest damages of the Trump administration - but also to start moving our country forward," a statement detailing the executive orders said.

A series of measures will be enacted to tackle the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the US.

There will be a mandate to wear masks and practise social distancing on all federal government property.

A new office will be set up to co-ordinate the response to the pandemic and the US will halt the process - begun by the Trump administration - of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The move to re-engage with the WHO was welcomed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who said it was "absolutely critical" for a more co-ordinated global response, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

Mr. Biden has also pledged to make the fight against climate change a top priority of his administration.

He signed an executive order beginning the process of rejoining the 2015 Paris climate agreement, from which Mr Trump formally withdrew the US last year.

Biden has also revoked the presidential permit granted to the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, which environmentalists and Native American groups have fought for more than a decade.

The move will be discussed when Mr Biden makes his first phone call to a foreign leader - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

The privately financed pipeline - estimated to cost about $8bn (£5.8bn) - would carry about 830,000 barrels of heavy crude a day from the oil sands of Alberta, in Canada, to Nebraska.

Barack Obama vetoed a bill approving construction of the pipeline in 2015 but the decision was overturned by President Trump.

On immigration Mr Biden has revoked the Trump administration's emergency declaration that helped fund the building of a wall along the Mexican border and also ended a travel ban on some majority-Muslim countries.

Other orders cover race and gender equality.