At a December 2017 press conference in the White House's Roosevelt Room, President Trump boldly announced that his administration had begun “the most far-reaching regulatory reform in American history.” With typical flair, the president wielded a large pair of gold scissors, slicing red tape connecting piles of paper that symbolized the growth of the regulatory state. The smaller set of four stacks of paper was labeled “1960s”; the larger set, of five stacks, which towered over the president's 6'3'' frame, was labeled “TODAY.” The federal regulatory code had expanded from 20,000 to 185,000 pages over that period, Trump explained. “The never-ending growth of red tape in America has come to a sudden, screeching and beautiful halt,” he said.
Hyperbole aside, the administration's early record on deregulation is impressive. In one of his first actions, Trump issued Executive Order 13771, directing the government to eliminate two regulations for each new one created. Since then, the executive branch has scaled back the rate of rule creation significantly, in comparison with the Obama years, in addition to slowing down or blocking many Obama-era rules. Some of the administration's regulatory changes—such as the approval of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines—will have significant economic impact.
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