What Trump’s executive orders would mean for the FDA and life sciences industry
Life Sciences
| By Alexander Gaffney, MS, RAC
Since he was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025, President DONALD TRUMP has signed more than 50 executive orders directing federal agencies to use their legal, regulatory and operational authorities to take a wide range of actions. According to AgencyIQ’s review, 15 of those orders are likely to have major, moderate or minor impacts on the FDA and the life sciences industry.
What is an executive order?
- One tool commonly used by the President of the United States is a document called an executive order (EO), which directs a federal agency to take an action (or more frequently, many actions) intended to advance a policy goal. While executive orders do not carry the force of law on their own, they do take advantage of existing legal and regulatory authorities granted to the executive branch by Congress and the courts.
- The start of a new administration frequently coincides with a flurry of new executive orders. Because the orders do not carry the force of law, each president may issue or withdraw an executive order at any time. Some executive orders remain in effect across multiple presidential administrations. Others will be withdrawn quickly at the start of a new administration, just as the new president is passing dozens of new orders. For example, one of Trump’s first executive orders of withdrew dozens of orders that had been passed during the administration of JOE BIDEN – including revoking some orders that had previously revoked orders Trump passed during his first administration.
- Because executive orders primarily direct federal agencies to take specific actions (or to not take those actions), each order must be closely read to understand its impacts on specific agencies. For example, an order might direct all federal agencies to immediately cease specific activities or redesignate specific staff types.
AgencyIQ’s analysis of Trump’s executive orders
- AgencyIQ has been keeping a close eye on the dozens of executive orders that have been issued thus far by Trump. We have already written about the major impacts that several have had, including his orders related to restricting new regulations, his order to remove specific language from government use, and his order to rescind many of Biden’s prior executive orders.
- According to our analysis, at least 15 of Trump’s 55 executive orders have a measurable impact on the FDA, while another three are set to potentially have an impact. We have assembled our analysis in the chart below to make it simple to assess which orders will likely have an impact on the FDA and life sciences industry and which will likely not. We have also sorted the orders so that those with the highest likely impact on the FDA and industry are listed first, followed by those with moderate, minor or speculative impacts.
- We’ll do our best to keep this list updated during the first few months of the Trump administration to ensure that our readers are kept up to date regarding the impact of new Executive Orders.
| Executive Order | Impact Summary |
| EO 14192: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation | Major impact on FDA: This EO is referred to as the one-in, 10-out order because for every one new regulation, 10 must be identified to eliminate. The definition of “regulation” is also expansive because it also includes memoranda, guidance documents, policy statements and interagency agreements not otherwise covered under the Administrative Procedure Act. AgencyIQ has published two analyses of this order. |
| EO 14158: Establishing and Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” | Major impact on FDA: DOGE’s regulatory reform efforts are likely to lead to major impacts on the FDA’s staff, its contracts and its operations. The FDA is required to establish a “DOGE Team of at least four employees” to help implement these changes. DOGE is also leading efforts to transform the government’s information technology systems. |
| EO 14151: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing | Major impact on FDA: The EO calls on federal agencies to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs; revise all policies and documents containing DEI-related topics; terminate DEI offices and staff; modify contracts; and take other related actions. The order has led FDA to take down some guidance documents, eliminate some pilot programs, revise other policies and more. |
| EO 14147: Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions | Major impact on FDA: This order rescinded several orders relevant to, or otherwise used by, the FDA. These actions include: – Reinstating several executive orders related to controlling regulatory costs, which are now supposed to be budget-neutral, and revoking an order that had changed the threshold for determining whether a rule is “significant”; – Revoking an order on “ Safe, secure, and trustworthy development and use of artificial intelligence” that was extensively referred to by FDA; – Revoking an EO related to drug pricing negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act; – Revoking an EO asking the NIH to develop a plan for large-scale randomized trials to support testing the most promising treatments for Covid-19 and future high-consequence public health threats. – Revoked an ethics pledge that required every appointee to an executive office to refrain from participating in an matter substantially related to their former employment (or lobbying on such matters) for at least two years. |
| EO 14155: Withdrawing the United States From the World Health Organization | Major impact on the FDA. The FDA has long been engaged with regulatory activities involving the World Health Organization (WHO) and has bilateral agreements with the agency. Some of the most critical activities involve influenza monitoring, drug naming, and regulatory harmonization and reliance efforts. AgencyIQ has an explainer on what to expect. |
| EO 14149: Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship | Moderate impact on FDA: This order doesn’t mention the FDA by name but does describe activities in which FDA participated during the Covid-19 pandemic and other efforts to combat “ misinformation” and “disinformation” – two signature policy initiatives from former FDA Commissioner ROBERT CALIFF. The order states that no federal employee may use federal resources to infringe against free speech (including the ability to spread misinformation) and states that it is the policy of the United States to “identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to censorship of protected speech.” FDA had been sued over some of these efforts. |
| EO 14179: Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence | Moderate impact on FDA: This EO effectively replaces another now-withdrawn EO from the Biden administration on AI. The new order calls for developing an “artificial intelligence action plan” and revising or rescinding AI actions taken under the Biden administration. |
| EO 14168: Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government | Moderate impact on FDA: As with the government’s DEI orders, this EO impacts the FDA by requiring that it update all forms, guidance and webpages to remove mention of “gender” or other concepts related to “gender ideology.” |
| EO 14171: Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce |
Moderate impact on FDA: The order reclassifies employees who are engaged in policymaking roles to a new employment schedule, Schedule Policy/Career. This policy was known as Schedule F during the first Trump administration. It would allow these employees to be fired if they do not “faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability.” Currently, such employees enjoy more rigorous job protections. |
| EO 14170: Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service | Minor impact on FDA: The order states that a plan will be developed to ensure that only “highly skilled Americans dedicated to the furtherance of American ideals, values, and interests” are hired into federal service. It also aims to reduce the time it takes to hire for a new position to less than 80 days. While the FDA would be affected, the agency already has a special hiring authority known as the 21st Century Cures Act authority, which helps it accelerate hiring for highly qualified scientific roles. |
| EO 14169: Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid | Minor impact on FDA: The order institutes a 90-day pause in U.S. foreign development assistance. The FDA does participate in some programs intended to build regulatory capacity among some foreign regulatory agencies, meaning these efforts and funding will likely be affected by this pause. |
| EO 14164: Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety | Minor impact on FDA: The FDA regulates drugs, and drugs are often used off-label in the course of administering the death penalty. Many lawsuits seeking to delay the death penalty for a specific person target the drugs’ regulatory and legal status. This EO reinstating the death penalty for federal cases could drag the FDA into more of those cases. |
| EO 14177: President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology | Minor impact on FDA: An earlier EO had disbanded the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). This order reestablishes it with fewer members (24 instead of 32) and more of a focus on technology like crypto. |
| EO 14173: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity |
Minor impact on FDA: This order directs the FDA to modify all contracting and grants language to “excise references to DEI and DEIA [diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility] principles, under whatever name they may appear” and to terminate other DEI requirements in contracting. |
| EO 14187: Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation |
Minor impact on FDA: This order calls for HHS to “take all appropriate actions to end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children” related to medical procedures to change the sex of a person younger than 18. While FDA is not mentioned in the order, it could be tasked with participating in research and mandatory drug use reviews. |
| EO 14195: Imposing Duties To Address the Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China | Speculative impact on FDA: By establishing tariffs and duties on some Chinese goods, this EO risks prompting trade partners to take actions that could result in a shortage of some medical products or restrict the access of FDA inspectors to a country that already has a history of making such inspections challenging. |
| EO 14194: Imposing Duties To Address the Situation at Our Southern Border | Speculative impact on FDA: By establishing tariffs and duties on some Mexican goods, this EO risks prompting trade partners to take actions that could result in a shortage of some medical products. |
| EO 14193: Imposing Duties To Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our Northern Border | Speculative impact on FDA: By establishing tariffs and duties on some Canadian goods, this EO risks prompting trade partners to take actions that could result in a shortage of some medical products. Canadian cooperation is also essential for allowing FDA’s prescription drug importation programs to function. |
| EO 14199: Withdrawing the United States From and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to All International Organizations | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14200: Amendment to Duties To Address Synthetic Opioid Supply Chain in the People’s Republic of China | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14201: Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14198: Progress on the Situation at Our Southern Border | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14197: Progress on the Situation at Our Northern Border | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14196: A Plan for Establishing a United States Sovereign Wealth Fund | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14191: Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14190: Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14189: Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14188: Additional Measures To Combat Anti-Semitism |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14186: The Iron Dome for America | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14185: Restoring America’s Fighting Force | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14184: Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the Military’s COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14183: Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14182: Enforcing the Hyde Amendment |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14181: Emergency Measures To Provide Water Resources in California and Improve Disaster Response in Certain Areas | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14180: Council To Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14178: Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14176: Declassification of Records Concerning the Assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14175: Designation of Ansar Allah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14174: Revocation of Certain Executive Orders | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14172: Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14167: Clarifying the Military’s Role in Protecting the Territorial Integrity of the United States | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14166: Application of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok |
No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14165: Securing Our Borders | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14163: Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14162: Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14161: Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14160: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14159: Protecting the American People Against Invasion | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14157: Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14156: Declaring a National Energy Emergency | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14154: Unleashing American Energy | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14153: Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14152: Holding Former Government Officials Accountable for Election Interference and Improper Disclosure of Sensitive Governmental Information | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14150: America First Policy Directive to the Secretary of State | No apparent impact on FDA. |
| EO 14147: Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government | No apparent impact on FDA. |
To contact the author of this analysis, please contact Alexander Gaffney ( agaffney@agencyiq.com).
To contact the editor of this analysis, please contact Jason Wermers ( jwermers@agencyiq.com).