Biden to roll back some Trump policies on first day

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to roll back some of President Donald Trump's policies via executive orders on his first day in the White House, according to his incoming chief of staff Ron Klain.

Some of the key moves Biden will take right on his inauguration day will be canceling the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline extension project, and rejoining the historical Paris climate change agreement, according to Klain's memo sent to senior staff on Saturday.

Although former President Barack Obama rejected the project in November 2015 due to environmental concerns, after reviewing it for seven years, Trump approved it in March 2017 -- in less than two months after he took the office.

The project, which aims to carry crude oil from Canada to the refineries in the US' Gulf Coast, saw its environmental permit canceled in April by a federal judge in Montana.

Trump had also announced the US' withdrawal from Paris climate deal in June 2017, which became official in November last year. Biden vowed during his campaign in September to have the US rejoin the deal if he was elected.

Biden is also expected to end Trump's restriction on immigration from some Muslim-majority countries on his first day in the White House.

Immediately after taking office, Trump had signed an executive order in January 2017 that banned foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from visiting the US, which later included North Koreans and certain Venezuelan government officials.

Biden's other executive actions will include extension of the existing pause on student loan payments, preventing evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic, and making it mandatory to wear masks on federal property and during interstate travels.

"I know masks have become a partisan issue — but it’s a patriotic act. Experts say wearing a mask from now until April will save more than 50,000 lives," Biden wrote Sunday on Twitter.