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President Donald Trump has signed more than 50 executive orders since his inauguration on January 2025, implementing changes that will have far-reaching consequences for hunger globally, immigration, and the health of people and planet.
Within his first few days in office, Trump called for a freeze on foreign aid, putting food security at risk in communities around the world. Nearly all staff at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are set to be placed on administrative leave and have been recalled to the U.S. They are also bracing for massive layoffs. USAID’s food relief programs reach over 60 million people globally and uprooting staff jeopardizes the state of global peace efforts, CNN reports.
The agricultural labor force—almost half of which is undocumented, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture—is also at risk. More than half a dozen executive orders signed by Trump aim to ramp up deportations and restrict legal immigration.
“These men and women…on our farms are doing back-breaking work every single damn day, and they’ve been doing it for years,” Senator Dick Durbin said at the confirmation hearing for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture nominee Brooke Rollins. “And if they are going to be deported, we’ll see a lot fewer fruits and vegetables that we take for granted every time we go into the store. I think that’s part of the reality.”
Data also shows that immigration helps to keep economies strong. Nearly one in six tax dollars paid to all levels of U.S. government comes from immigrant households, and immigration helps not only immigrants themselves but non-immigrant livelihoods, too, according to the George W. Bush Institute.
Trump’s nominees for U.S. Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, will also continue to shape the country’s approach to the monitoring and prevention of infectious disease, including avian flu; the provision of nutrition assistance; and food production. Both are on track for confirmation, and you can read more about Kennedy’s hearing before the Senate Finance Committee here and Rollins’ hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee here.
Read more about how the new Trump-Vance administration is already impacting global food systems on Forbes by clicking HERE.
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