By , the World Brief writer at Foreign Policy.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the priorities of the new Trump administration, a prisoner swap between the United States and the Taliban, and the impeachment trial of South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

Day 1

U.S. President Donald Trump hit the ground running for his first day in office on Monday, signing 26 executive orders and issuing a slew of other promises intended to prioritize Washington’s interests on the global stage. “The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump vowed at the start of his inaugural address.

Among his first acts, Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, fulfilling a key campaign pledge to curb migration. To address border security, he ordered the deployment of troops; resumed construction of the border wall; reinstated the “Remain in Mexico” program, which forces asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico during immigration proceedings; and shut down the CBP One app, a Biden-era program that allowed some migrants to enter the United States legally through an appointment lottery system. Trump also designated cartels and foreign gangs as “global terrorists” in an effort to expand government efforts to combat human trafficking and drug smuggling.

In addition, Trump directed federal agencies to stop recognizing birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented migrants, a right guaranteed under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Attorneys general for 18 states, the city of San Francisco, and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the order.

To drive home his America First approach, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” implemented a 90-day pause on U.S. foreign development assistance, and signaled his intention to leave the World Health Organization within 12 months.

“World Health ripped us off. Everybody rips off the United States. It’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said on Monday.

Trump also ordered the United States to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement in a major blow to global efforts to limit climate change. Trump pulled out of the landmark deal in 2020, during his first term, only for his successor, Joe Biden, to reverse course. He has since vowed to eliminate Biden’s so-called electric vehicle mandate and has promised to “drill, baby, drill” instead of investing in renewable energy. The United States is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.

In another controversial executive order, Trump instructed the U.S. attorney general not to take action to enforce the ban on TikTok for 75 days, despite the U.S. Supreme Court having upheld the law barring access to the popular social media app. That law went into effect on Sunday. Trump has suggested that he will convince Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, to sell the app to a U.S. company. That executive order could also face challenges in court, including over whether the president has the authority to delay the enforcement of a federal law.

Among his other key actions, Trump ended diversity, equity, and inclusion-related programs in the federal government; rolled back protections for transgender Americans; declared a national energy emergency; and pardoned around 1,500 people convicted in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

He did not accomplish everything on his Day 1 to-do list, though. The Russia-Ukraine war still rages on, despite Trump promising to end the conflict by his inauguration. He did not issue sanctions on Iran, nor did he expand his controversial U.S. travel ban. And he has yet to impose sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, though he said those will begin on Feb. 1.

“It’s kind of an executive order shock-and-awe campaign,” political historian Matthew Dallek told the Washington Post, adding that the sheer number of presidential actions demonstrates how Trump is seeking an aggressive start to his second term.

What We’re Following

Prisoner exchange. Two U.S. citizens being held in Afghanistan were freed on Tuesday in exchange for a Taliban official imprisoned in California for drug trafficking and terrorism charges. The prisoner swap was brokered before Biden left office on Monday, but an unexpected delay (partly due to bad weather) pushed back the exchange. Qatar helped mediate the talks.

The Taliban heralded the deal on Tuesday as a step toward the “normalization” of bilateral ties. But the likelihood of improved relations remains slim, especially as two other U.S. citizens are believed to still be held captive in Afghanistan. “The Trump Administration will continue to demand the release of all Americans held by the Taliban,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said.

Another senior Trump administration official who spoke to CNN took a more critical approach. “While we would not do the deal that the Biden administration did at the end, we are always happy to have two Americans home,” the official said.

Under questioning. During his impeachment trial on Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol denied ordering his military commanders to remove lawmakers from parliament during his six-hour martial law order last December. He reiterated his “firm commitment to free democracy” and once again placed the blame on the country’s opposition, which Yoon claims paralyzed the government to the point that it reached the brink of collapse.

Yoon was impeached on Dec. 14 for allegedly attempting an insurrection. Video footage from that day shows what appears to be military officers barricading or dragging parliamentarians out of the National Assembly. Yoon was arrested last Wednesday after a weekslong standoff, in which he refused to submit to questioning. Seoul’s Constitutional Court must now determine whether to permanently remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

Jenin raid. Israeli forces launched a major military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin on Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring dozens more. Netanyahu said the latest offensive was aimed at “eradicating terrorism” and would be “extensive and significant,” but he did not provide further details. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the territory, accused Israeli troops of firing on civilians.

The assault follows the signing of a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which allowed the return of three Israeli hostages in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners on Monday. And it comes less than 24 hours after Trump rescinded U.S. sanctions on dozens of far-right Israeli settlers accused of attacking Palestinians and destroying their property in the West Bank.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi resigned for failing to protect Israeli civilians from Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which killed around 1,200 people, took another 250 hostage, and sparked a devastating multifront war.

“My responsibility for the terrible failure accompanies me every day, every hour, and will for the rest of my life,” Halevi wrote. Defense Ministry Director-General Eyal Zamir is favored to replace Halevi.