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With a stroke of his favorite black pen, Donald Trump has signed what should become his 221st executive order since January — a figure that exceeds the number in his entire first term, as he forges ahead with one of the biggest displays of US presidential power in modern history.To promote artificial intelligence, fight “woke” culture and even increase the water flow of showers, Trump has churned out executive orders at a rate unprecedented since World War II, according to an AFP analysis.The latest, signed Monday, classifies fentanyl as “a weapon of mass destruction”.Previously, 220 texts — which are legally binding and do not need Congressional approval — have been published in the Federal Register, according to its update on Tuesday. The total is more than he had signed during his first stint at the White House between 2017 and 2021 — and far more than his predecessors Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who only signed an average of 30 to 40 per year.Only Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt — who over four terms signed nearly 4,000 executive orders between 1933 and 1945 — produced at Trump’s rate, although that occurred in the context of the Great Depression and World War II.Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, has relied on executive orders despite having a congressional majority.”These orders are a part of a communications strategy,” John Woolley, professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told AFP.”It’s a way of signalling to important constituent groups that he is advancing ‘the cause’,” said Woolley who is also co-director of the American Presidency Project website, the main independent source of archives and analysis on the US presidency.- Domestic, social agenda -An AFP analysis of official government data shows that the majority — nearly 60 percent — deal with domestic issues, while fewer than 10 percent concern pure foreign policy. The rest cover miscellaneous matters.Social issues dominate, ranging from culture and civil rights to education and health. These account for roughly 30 percent of all orders, surpassing trade, economy and investment (around 20 percent) and government reform (around 18 percent).Immigration and security — his main campaign theme in 2024 — rank fourth at around 10 percent.The orders classified within the social issues category include some that explicitly reference an “ideology” or value judgments.For example, a July 23 order calls for AI systems to ban models that give attention to diversity and inclusion concerns, reflecting the Trump administration’s anti-“woke” agenda.Another order from August 28 decrees that “classical and traditional architecture” is the preferred style for federal buildings.- But are they efficient? -Questions have been raised over whether governing by executive orders is efficient, given the number of texts disputed in court.According to the independent legal website Just Security, which is linked to New York University School of Law, just over one fifth of Trump’s orders have been challenged in court.More than 20 of them have already been blocked at least provisionally or partially by the courts.In late August a federal appeals court ruled a large part of the texts on the new customs duties illegal.The Supreme Court, whose conservative majority was bolstered by Trump during his first term and has been called to rule on the matter, appeared sceptical of the legality behind a swath of Trump’s tariffs in a November 5 hearing.But Trump is not “afraid of being attacked about the substance of the orders,” Woolley said.”He is deliberately testing the limits of the law”. “His bet is that on most of the big issues, the Supreme Court will agree with a lot of his view of executive power.”- Settling of scores -An AFP analysis of the language and vocabulary used in Trump’s executive orders shows a characteristically direct style.He uses, for example, the verb “impose” five times more than his three predecessors.His language also appears more patriotic: he speaks of the “nation” two to three times more often than Biden, Obama and Bush and the “American people” two times more.In another difference, he attacks the previous administration frequently, accusing it, for example, of having let in millions of illegal immigrants. More than 15 percent of the orders can be listed as “settling of scores”.”No prior president issued orders explicitly attacking his critics and prior opponents,” said Woolley.In November Trump said that all executive orders and documents signed by autopen, which replicates signatures, under Biden were “terminated” on the basis of allegations that Biden has rejected.

The US jobless rate picked up again in November, hovering at its highest level in four years, official data showed Tuesday in a report underscoring a labor market cooldown in the world’s biggest economy.The report, delayed by a lengthy government shutdown, also indicated that the US economy lost 105,000 jobs in October.Hiring picked up again in November with a gain of 64,000 jobs, but this was still a slower pace than before, according to the Labor Department figures.”Employment rose in health care and construction in November, while (the) federal government continued to lose jobs,” the department said.There was a sharp decline of 162,000 government jobs in October, “as some federal employees who accepted a deferred resignation offer came off federal payrolls,” the report added.In November, unemployment climbed to 4.6 percent from 4.4 percent in September. It is the highest rate since September 2021.There was no October jobless rate as officials were unable to retroactively collect data after the shutdown, which lasted until November 12.The figures will be closely scrutinized for their potential bearing on US interest rates.The Federal Reserve has cut rates three times in a row this year as employment weakened, but hinted that the bar is likely higher for further cuts.A rapidly deteriorating jobs market could nudge the central bank to lower rates more to boost the economy, despite some policymakers’ worries that higher inflation could become persistent.While President Donald Trump’s tariffs have not sparked a broad inflation surge, firms say they have caused business costs to grow and fueled uncertainty.Trump’s chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters Tuesday that government workers who took buyouts “are staying in the labor force and looking for work.”He said he expects “that they’ll be very successful with it.”- Americans ‘squeezed’ -Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, slammed Trump’s “chaotic tariffs” and economic policies, saying they were “hammering the labor market.””With wages struggling to keep up with higher costs, it’s no wonder Americans are more anxious about the economy than ever,” she said.In November, average hourly earnings climbed 0.1 percent to $36.86, while wages rose 3.5 percent on an annual basis. But both numbers represent a slowdown from the prior month.In another sign that the economy appears to be cooling, a separate report released Tuesday by the Commerce Department said that retail sales were flat in October at $732.6 billion.This came on the back of sales declines at motor vehicle and parts dealers, and gasoline stations. Consumers also pulled back at restaurants and bars.”Americans are feeling squeezed,” said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union, adding that consumers were shifting to spending more on necessities.- Long-term unemployment -On employment, Long said: “The US economy is in a jobs recession. The nation has added a mere 100,000 in the past six months.”She said businesses were adjusting to tariffs, uncertain conditions and AI, and that most of the new jobs were in health care which is regularly hiring as the American population ages.Economist Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics said much of the overall drag came from a slump in federal payrolls. The government shutdown likely also exacerbated unemployment figures.But a growing proportion of people are jobless for longer periods.The number of individuals unemployed for 27 weeks or more has risen by 15.5 percent over the past year, said Nicole Bachaud, labor economist at ZipRecruiter.For now, economists say the jobs market is likely not weakening enough to trigger a January rate cut.”While net hiring remains soft and narrowly based, it is not softening further and in fact is moderately firmer than the weak readings in the summer,” said Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic.She expected the Fed can continue holding rates steady for a few months.

The son of famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner is expected to appear in court on Tuesday after being arrested for allegedly murdering his parents in their home.Nick Reiner, 32, who has a history of substance abuse stretching back to his teenage years, is to be formally charged with murder at an arraignment at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse.The younger Reiner was arrested after the bodies of his 78-year-old father and mother, Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were discovered at their house in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday.They were reportedly stabbed to death in a brutal double killing that has shocked movie fans around the world.According to US media reports, Nick Reiner had argued with his parents at a glitzy Hollywood party on Saturday evening.Entertainment outlet TMZ said the bodies were found on Sunday afternoon by the couple’s daughter, who told police another family member had killed them.Reiner, the son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, started his showbiz career in acting.He won fame as the oafish son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic on groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” before transitioning to directing. Even while leading behind the camera, he often appeared in cameo roles in his own films.But it was as a director that he struck Hollywood gold.His output included classic films like 1984’s rock music mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” fantasy gem “The Princess Bride” from 1987, and the 1992 courtroom drama “A Few Good Men,” as well as seminal coming-of-age movie “Stand By Me.””A Few Good Men,” starring Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.Reiner also directed “When Harry Met Sally,” which included the legendary restaurant scene in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in front of Billy Crystal.- ‘Heartbroken’ -Entertainers and politicians paid tribute to the beloved filmmaker following his death.Actor-director Ben Stiller described Rob Reiner as “a kind caring person who was really really funny,” and someone who “made some of the most formative movies for my generation.”Former Democratic president Barack Obama said he and his wife, Michelle, were “heartbroken.””Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people,” Obama said on X.California Governor Gavin Newsom said Reiner had “made California a better place.”Donald Trump, meanwhile, unleashed an extraordinary broadside, suggesting that Reiner brought on his own murder by criticizing the US president.Trump claimed the Reiners had died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.””He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession,” the Republican leader wrote.The comments were blasted by two prominent right-wing Republicans, including Representative Thomas Massie, who called them “inappropriate and disrespectful.”Reiner was politically active, an outspoken supporter of progressive causes, and had warned that Trump was mounting an authoritarian takeover.

The BBC said Tuesday it would fight a $10-billion lawsuit brought by US President Donald Trump against the British broadcaster over a documentary that edited his 2021 speech ahead of the US Capitol riot.”As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” a BBC spokesperson said in a statement sent to AFP, adding the company would not be making “further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the British broadcaster, for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.The video that triggered the lawsuit spliced together two separate sections of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021 in a way that made it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.The lawsuit comes as the UK government on Tuesday launched the politically sensitive review of the BBC’s Royal Charter, which outlines the corporation’s funding and governance and needs to be renewed in 2027.As part of the review, it launched a public consultation on issues including the role of “accuracy” in the BBC’s mission and contentious reforms to the corporation’s funding model, which currently relies on a mandatory fee for anyone in the country who watches television.Minister Stephen Kinnock stressed after the lawsuit was filed that the UK government “is a massive supporter of the BBC”.The BBC has “been very clear that there is no case to answer in terms of Mr Trump’s accusation on the broader point of libel or defamation. I think it’s right the BBC stands firm on that point,” Kinnock told Sky News on Tuesday.Trump, 79, had said the lawsuit was imminent, claiming the BBC had “put words in my mouth”, even positing that “they used AI or something.”The documentary at issue aired last year before the 2024 election, on the BBC’s “Panorama” flagship current affairs program.- Apology letter -“The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement to AFP.”The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda,” the statement added.The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose audience extends well beyond the United Kingdom, faced a period of turmoil last month after a media report brought renewed attention to the edited clip.The scandal led the BBC director general, Tim Davie, and the organisation’s top news executive, Deborah Turness, to resign.Trump’s lawsuit says the edited speech in the documentary was “fabricated and aired by the Defendants one week before the 2024 Presidential Election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”The BBC has denied Trump’s claims of legal defamation, though BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology.Shah also told a UK parliamentary committee last month the broadcaster should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo, which was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.The BBC lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions Trump has taken against media companies in recent years, several of which have led to multi-million-dollar settlements.

US President Donald Trump on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking at least $10 billion from the BBC over a documentary that edited his 2021 speech to supporters ahead of the US Capitol riot.The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks “damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000” for each of two counts against the British broadcaster, for alleged defamation and violation of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.Trump, 79, had said earlier on Monday that the lawsuit was imminent, claiming the BBC had “put words in my mouth,” even positing that “they used AI or something.”The documentary at issue aired last year before the 2024 election, on the BBC’s “Panorama” flagship current affairs program.The video spliced together two separate sections of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021 in a way that made it appear he explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.”The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election,” a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said in a statement to AFP.”The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda,” the statement added. The British Broadcasting Corporation, whose audience extends well beyond the United Kingdom, faced a period of turmoil last month after a media report brought renewed attention to the edited clip.The scandal led the BBC director-general and the organization’s top news executive to resign.Trump’s lawsuit accuses the edited speech in the documentary of being “fabricated and aired by the Defendants one week before the 2024 Presidential Election in a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence the Election’s outcome to President Trump’s detriment.”The BBC has denied Trump’s claims of legal defamation, though BBC chairman Samir Shah has sent Trump a letter of apology.Shah also told a UK parliamentary committee last month that the broadcaster should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo, which was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.The BBC lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal action Trump has taken against media companies in recent years, several of which have led to multi-million-dollar settlements.

Three years after ChatGPT made OpenAI the leader in artificial intelligence and a household name, rivals have closed the gap and some investors are wondering if the sensation has the wherewithal to stay dominant.Investor Michael Burry, made famous in the film “The Big Short,” recently likened OpenAI to Netscape, which ruled the web browser market in the mid-1990s only to lose to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.”OpenAI is the next Netscape, doomed and hemorrhaging cash,” Burry said recently in a post on X, formerly Twitter.Researcher Gary Marcus, known for being skeptical of AI hype, sees OpenAI as having lost the lead it captured with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.The startup is “burning billions of dollars a month,” Marcus said of OpenAI.”Given how long the writing has been on the wall, I can only shake my head” as it falls.Yet ChatGPT was a tech launch like no other, breaking all consumer product growth records and now boasting more than 800 million — paid subscription and unpaid — weekly users.OpenAI’s valuation has soared to $500 billion in funding rounds, higher than any other private company.But the ChatGPT maker will end this year with a loss of several billion dollars and does not expect to be profitable before 2029, an eternity in the fast-moving and uncertain world of AI.Nonetheless, the startup has committed to paying more than $1.4 trillion to computer chip makers and data center builders to build infrastructure it needs for AI.The fierce cash burn is raising questions, especially since Google claims some 650 million people use its Gemini AI monthly and the tech giant has massive online ad revenue to back its spending on technology.Rivals Amazon, Meta and OpenAI-investor Microsoft have deep pockets the ChatGPT-maker cannot match.- Turbulence ahead? -A charismatic salesman, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman flashed rare annoyance when asked about the startup’s multi-trillion-dollar contracts in early November.A few days later, he warned internally that the startup is likely to face a “turbulent environment” and an “unfavorable economic climate,” particularly given competitive pressure from Google.And when Google released its latest model to positive reactions, Altman issued a “red alert,” urging OpenAI teams to give ChatGPT their best efforts.OpenAI unveiled its latest ChatGPT model last week, that same day announcing Disney would invest in the startup and license characters for use in the bot and Sora video-generating tool.OpenAI’s challenge is inspiring the confidence that the large sums of money it is investing will pay off, according to Foundation Capital partner Ashu Garg.For now OpenAI is raising money at lofty valuations while returns on those investments are questionable, Garg added.Yet OpenAI still has the faith of the world’s deepest-pocketed investors.”I’m always expecting OpenAI’s valuation to come down because competition is coming and its capital structure is so obviously inappropriate,” said Pluris Valuation Advisors president Espen Robak.”But it only seems to be going up.”Opinions are mixed on whether the situation will result in OpenAI postponing becoming a publicly traded company or instead make its way faster to Wall Street to cash in on the AI euphoria.Few AI industry analysts expect OpenAI to implode completely, since there is room in the market for several models to thrive.”At the end of the day, it’s not winner take all,” said CFRA analyst Angelo Zino.”All of these companies will take a piece of the pie, and the pie continues to get bigger,” he said of AI industry frontrunners.Also factored in is that while OpenAI has made dizzying financial commitments, terms of deals tend to be flexible and Microsoft is a major backer of the startup.

Los Angeles police charged the son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner with murder on Monday after the suspect’s parents were found stabbed in a brutal double killing that shocked movie fans around the world.Nick Reiner, 32, was detained hours after the bodies of the 78-year-old actor-director and his wife, 70-year-old Michele Singer Reiner, were discovered in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, with multiple reports that they had been stabbed to death or had their throats slit.Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell told reporters the younger Reiner was arrested a few hours after the alarm was raised.”He was subsequently booked for murder and is being held,” McDonnell said.Nick Reiner, who has a history of substance abuse stretching back to his teenage years, had argued with his parents at a glitzy Hollywood party on Saturday evening, media reported.Entertainment outlet TMZ said the bodies had been found on Sunday afternoon by the couple’s daughter, who told police another family member had killed them.As tributes poured in from entertainers and politicians, Donald Trump unleashed an extraordinary broadside, suggesting that Reiner brought on his own murder by criticizing the US president.Trump claimed the Reiners had died “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.””He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession,” the Republican leader wrote.Later, he doubled down, telling reporters that Reiner was “very bad for our country.”The comments were blasted by two prominent right-wing Republicans, including Representative Thomas Massie, who called them “inappropriate and disrespectful.”In a twist of fate, Michele Reiner took the portrait photograph that appeared on “The Art of the Deal,” Trump’s ghostwritten memoir that helped forge his reputation as a successful businessman.- A beloved director -Reiner was politically active, an outspoken supporter of progressive causes, and had warned that Trump was mounting an authoritarian takeover.Reiner backed efforts to secure equal gay marriage rights and create California’s First 5 program, which provides child development programs funded by taxes on tobacco products. The son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner — who won 11 Emmy Awards for his television performances and worked with movie greats Mel Brooks and Neil Simon — Reiner started his showbiz career in acting.He won fame as the oafish son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic on groundbreaking 1970s sitcom “All in the Family,” before transitioning to directing. Even while leading behind the camera, he often appeared in cameo roles in his own films.But it was as a director that he struck Hollywood gold.His output included classic films like 1984’s rock music mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap,” fantasy gem “The Princess Bride” from 1987, and the 1992 courtroom drama “A Few Good Men,” as well as seminal coming-of-age movie “Stand By Me.””A Few Good Men,” starring Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.Reiner also directed “When Harry Met Sally,” which included the legendary restaurant scene in which Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in front of Billy Crystal.Reiner cast his own mother as the fellow diner who wryly quips: “I’ll have what she’s having.”Movie heavyweight John Cusack said he was “at a loss for any words that make sense” about the deaths.Horror and thriller writer Stephen King, whose novella “The Body” was the basis for “Stand By Me,” lauded a “wonderful friend.”Kathy Bates, who won an Oscar for her part in Reiner’s “Misery,” said he was “brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist.”Actor-director Ben Stiller paid tribute to “a kind caring person who was really really funny,” and someone who “made some of the most formative movies for my generation.”Democratic politicians also expressed shock.Former president Barack Obama said he and his wife Michelle were “heartbroken.””Beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people,” Obama said on X.California Governor Gavin Newsom said Reiner had “made California a better place.”

A gunman remained at large Monday after a weekend mass shooting at elite Brown University left two dead and nine wounded, with US authorities releasing new footage of a masked “person of interest” captured on surveillance cameras.The shooting took place Saturday in a building where exams were underway on the Ivy League campus in Providence, Rhode Island when a man with a rifle burst in and opened fire before fleeing.Authorities initially detained a man in connection with the shooting, but they later released him, saying he was unconnected.Police revealed at a Monday briefing newly acquired security camera footage of another person wanted in connection with the shooting, wearing a dark beanie hat and a mask along with a heavy black coat.The two students killed were Ella Cook, vice president of Brown’s Republican association, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, originally from Uzbekistan, who had hoped to become a neurosurgeon.- ‘Complex investigation’ -“We want to see the individual that pulled the trigger on these young kids identified, apprehended and brought the justice,” Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee told the briefing Monday as the perpetrator remained at large.Local police earlier said that officers had “an enhanced presence in Providence neighborhoods” and that they were going door to door requesting surveillance camera footage.”This is a very active investigation, very complex investigation,” Providence chief of police Oscar Perez said at the update.The FBI as well as agents from the US Department of Homeland Security were involved in tracking down the shooter, he added.”We want to make sure…that we identify this individual and bring them to justice,” Perez said.News that a person was being held indicated a breakthrough, with FBI Director Kash Patel announcing that local police had given federal investigations a lead.But authorities had to walk this back, saying late Sunday that there was not enough evidence to connect the person to the shooting.A lockdown and shelter-in-place order went into effect immediately after the shooting, as heavily armed officers flooded the area.Of the nine wounded, one was in critical condition, seven were in stable condition and one had been discharged, Smiley said.”The gun was so big and long that I genuinely thought…Okay, this is the end of the road for me,” Brown University teaching assistant Joseph Oduro told ABC News.Police initially released 10 seconds of footage of the suspect, seen from behind, walking briskly down a deserted street after apparently opening fire inside a first-floor classroom.”This is starting to get very real and very personal,” Smiley said Monday as the manhunt dragged on. “That’s the scary side. The upside is that this is a tight knit community that looks out for one another.”- Latest mass shooting -The attack is the latest incident of mass shooting in the United States, where attempts to restrict access to firearms face political deadlock.There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.During a Christmas event Sunday at the White House, President Donald Trump spoke briefly about the shooting, saying “things can happen” and wishing the injured to “get well fast.”Brown, which has around 11,000 students, issued an emergency alert at 4:22 pm (2122 GMT) on Saturday reporting “an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering,” which is home to the engineering and physics departments. Two exams had been scheduled at the time.”Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice,” the university said.Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news station WPRI reporting “clothing and blood on the sidewalk.”The deadliest school shooting in US history took place at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, when South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said his administration could push to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana, reclassifying it as a less dangerous drug.”We are considering that,” Trump told reporters after he was queried whether an executive order on the issue was being discussed.”A lot of people want to see it, the reclassification, because it leads to tremendous amounts of research that can’t be done unless you reclassify, so we are looking at that very strongly.”At the federal level, marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance, in the same league as drugs like heroin and LSD. The government considers these drugs to have high abuse potential without accepted use for medical treatment.But dozens of US states already have legal medical marijuana programs, and many also have approved its recreational use.According to a recent Washington Post report, Trump is aiming to push for a reclassification to Schedule III — substances that are considered to have medical value and less potential for abuse.That class includes ketamine and anabolic steroids.Rescheduling is not legalization or decriminalization — but easing federal restrictions could have ripple effects, including lowering barriers to pursue research, as authorizing clinical studies on Schedule I substances can require many layers of approval.It could also have major tax implications for companies that legally grow and sell cannabis.The US president cannot unilaterally reclassify a drug. The Post reported that Trump is expected to sign an executive order directing federal agencies to pursue reclassification.Joe Biden’s administration had previously pursued reclassification, but efforts stalled and were not completed before Trump took office in early 2025.The US has a patchwork of state-level regulations regarding the commercial distribution, recreational possession and personal cultivation of cannabis. In small amounts it is already legal for recreational use in 24 US states as well as Washington DC.