Promises made, promises kept? Trump’s agenda remains a work in progress after 100 days

WASHINGTON (AP) — The weeks since President Donald Trump returned to office have been a whirlwind of activity to show Americans that his administration is relentlessly pursuing his promises. 

With a supportive Republican-controlled Congress, Trump has had a free hand to begin overhauling the federal government and upending foreign policy.  

As Trump hits his 100th day in office Tuesday, his imprint is everywhere. But the long-term impact is often unclear.  

Some of the Republican president’s executive orders are statements of intent or groundwork to achieve what has yet to be done. On Day 1, for example, he declared an energy emergency to spur production. But he’s not promising a payoff until next year, when he told voters to count on a big drop in their utility bills. 

Trump’s goals occasionally conflict with each other. He promised both to lower the cost of living and to impose tariffs on foreign goods, which some say will increase prices.  

Judges have ruled against the administration dozens of times, blocking parts of his agenda for now. The administration and numerous independent legal experts have argued that individual judges should not be able to issue nationwide injunctions.  

Here’s a look at where progress on his promises stands: 

Inflation has been falling since a peak of 9.1% in 2022. It was at 3% in January, the month Trump was inaugurated, and 2.4% in March. “We already solved inflation,” Trump boasted. But the Federal Reserve warned that the president’s tariff plans will most likely lead to higher prices by taxing foreign imports, something the White House disputes. 

In addition, it’s unlikely Trump will manage to “pay off all our debt.”  

Trump has clearly made progress on a signature promise to control the border.  

The number of people trying to cross illegally into the U.S. from Mexico dropped steeply in President Joe Biden’s last year, from a high of 249,740 in December 2023 to 47,324 in December 2024. Under Trump, the numbers sank to only 8,346 in February and 7,181 in March. 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting large numbers of people across the country. Many who assert their innocence have been deported without due process. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is one of those hanging in the balance.  

In the campaign, Trump gave voters a pledge they’ll be able to judge for themselves, simply by looking at their utility bills. He promised to reduce their energy costs by half to three-quarters in 12 to 18 months.  

At times, he hedged: “If it doesn’t work out, you’ll say, ‘Oh, well, I voted for him, and he still got it down a lot.’”  

Other times, he didn’t hedge. “Under my plan, we will cut energy and electricity prices in half,” he told a Mint Hill, North Carolina, rally in September.  

Trump made no secret of his fondness for tariffs or his conviction that other countries were ripping off the United States in international trade. “I will impose across-the-board tariffs on most foreign-made goods,” he said in the campaign. 

He’s followed through, big time.  

Trump began by escalating tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, ostensibly as punishment for allowing fentanyl into the U.S. Then he announced even more widespread taxes on foreign imports on April 2, part of what he described as “Liberation Day.” Trump retreated from parts of that plan, choosing to pursue negotiations instead, but he left in place tariffs on China as high as 145%.  

The stock market has whipsawed from the hefty import taxes. Trump has shown more tolerance for market chaos than in his first term. 

At rally after rally last summer, Trump promised peace between Russia and Ukraine merely by winning the election. “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he told a National Guard Association conference in Detroit in August. By then, he’d been making the same vow at least since May. It did not happen. 

At times, he framed the promise differently, saying he would end the war in one day. That day has not come.  

Trump has tested the limits of what he can do by decree, but he’ll need Congress to achieve his promised tax cuts. 

He pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security payments and said he will make permanent the expiring tax cuts he enacted during his first term.  

But the president is working with Republicans in Congress to push through legislation. With thin GOP majorities in the House and the Senate, it could prove difficult to get near-unanimous support within the party for what Trump calls a “big, beautiful bill.” 

Trump’s threats to choke off billions in tax dollars to institutions of higher learning flow from multiple promises in the campaign — to combat antisemitism on campuses, to take on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to rid campuses of foreign students he considers hostile to American values. 

After several other prominent schools signaled their willingness to comply with Trump’s demands, Harvard stood firm against the pressure.  

In response, Trump has called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status, has threatened to block it from enrolling foreign students — more than a quarter of its enrollments — and has frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts. 

But such efforts extend far beyond Harvard. The Trump administration is going after other universities as well and at least temporarily ended the legal status of many foreign students at schools across the country. 

The president’s promised agenda against “woke” policy swept quickly through the government as DEI programs from the Biden years were halted and references to diversity in federal communications were purged.  

This effort extended deep into cultural institutions and well beyond federal DEI hiring and workplace practices. 

At the Pentagon, in particular, a messy transition as thousands of images on webpages and other online content were flagged for removal. Most of the targeted material ultimately survived. 

An executive order from Trump on “restoring truth and sanity to American history” forbade federal money to Smithsonian programs that promote “improper ideology.”  

Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports and against broader moves in society, especially in Democratic-led jurisdictions, to accommodate views that gender is not inherently binary. He vowed to take on “transgender craziness.” 

As president, he has signed executive orders to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s teams. He’s also asked the Supreme Court to rule against lower courts that have blocked his attempt to remove transgender troops from the military.  

Last year, Elon Musk pitched Trump on his idea for a Department of Government Efficiency, which would be charged with downsizing the federal bureaucracy. “I’d love it,” Trump replied. 

The result was more hands-on than many imagined. Musk started working directly for the administration, bringing along some of his allies. Loyalists spread throughout federal agencies to access sensitive data, question career officials and push for cuts. 

The outcome has been mixed. Musk has lowered his targeted savings in the cost of government to $150 billion after originally promising at least $1 trillion.  

As part of his promised effort to favor production of oil, natural gas and coal, Trump signed executive orders toward that goal.  

One order revoked what Trump called a Biden-era “electric vehicle mandate,” but he has merely turned away from a nonbinding goal by Biden to have EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030. 

The order also seeks to end a federal exemption that allows California to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. But Trump is leaving it to Congress to pass a law stripping the waiver, and that hasn’t been done.