Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 2025 has unleashed a torrent of political and economic change, reshaping not only the United States but reverberating across the globe. From the moment President Trump was sworn in for his second term, he moved with extraordinary speed, signing 26 executive orders within hours—more than any modern president, and almost triple the number signed by his predecessor. By the end of his first 100 days, Trump had issued over 140 executive orders, ranging from halting a wind farm project in Idaho to greenlighting a cryptocurrency issuer in New York, as reported by Bloomberg.
The White House made its intentions clear: "President Trump pledged to restore America as the most dynamic economy in the world, and the Administration is committed to cutting the red tape that the Biden administration strangled American economic ingenuity with to deliver on this pledge," said Kush Desai, a White House spokesman. These early moves signaled a rare inflection point—an administration not just influencing capital, but actively steering where it goes.
One of the most consequential changes came in the banking sector. In November 2025, federal regulators relaxed the Enhanced Supplementary Leverage Ratio (eSLR), a rule that determines how much capital major banks must hold relative to their assets. The new rule lowers the ratio from 5% to between 3.5% and 4.25% for big lenders, freeing up potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in capital, with subsidiaries benefiting from up to $219 billion in reduced requirements. Critics warn this could make the financial system more fragile. "This type of upside-down policymaking surely will result in even more concentration and fragility within the banking system and less focus on Main Street borrowers," said Phillip Basil of Better Markets, according to Bloomberg. The relaxed rule takes effect in early 2026, and is just one of several efforts to ease restrictions on banks, including a dramatic scaling back of Biden-era proposals.
These regulatory shifts have already had a marked effect. Four of the largest U.S. banks nearly doubled their stock buybacks to $21 billion in the first quarter after passing the Federal Reserve’s June 2025 stress test, a $10 billion jump from the previous year. Dividends paid out also rose by about 10%, reflecting a new era of bank profitability and risk-taking.
In the housing market, Trump’s administration is considering releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control, a move with massive implications. The government has held a combined $360 billion stake in these mortgage giants since a $190 billion bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. Optimism about the administration’s intentions has already sent Fannie Mae’s share price soaring—from less than $2 before the 2024 election to more than $15 by September 2025. If the government moves forward, it could trigger one of the largest public offerings in history. However, Stanford researchers warn that plausible reform scenarios could raise mortgage rates by 0.2 to 0.8 percentage points. For a 30-year, $1 million loan, that could mean an extra $200,000 in interest over the life of the mortgage.
Trump’s about-face on cryptocurrency is another headline-grabbing development. Despite declaring in 2019 that cryptocurrencies were “not money” and “based on thin air,” Trump’s second administration has fully embraced digital assets. The centerpiece is the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, which regulates stablecoins pegged to the U.S. dollar. The law requires issuers to maintain 1:1 reserves, with U.S. government debt (maturing in 93 days or less) allowed as collateral. Major banks like JPMorgan and Citigroup have jumped in, and the stablecoin market is projected to explode from $310 billion in 2025 to as much as $4 trillion by 2030, according to the Citi Institute. Tether Holdings, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, is seeking a $500 billion valuation, potentially making its chairman wealthier than Warren Buffett.
Not everyone is cheering. The American Bankers Association warns that up to 10% of bank deposits could flow into stablecoins, raising banks’ funding costs and reducing lending. Yet a Federal Reserve note suggests that stablecoins could actually increase bank deposits if foreign demand is strong and reserves are held domestically. Meanwhile, the GENIUS Act is expected to boost demand for short-term government debt, further intertwining traditional finance with the new digital economy.
Perhaps nowhere is the Trump administration’s impact more visible than in energy and climate policy. The new administration has aggressively rolled back climate initiatives, favoring fossil fuels over renewables. Trump’s Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright—a former fracking executive—publicly dismissed net zero targets as “a sinister goal.” According to DeSmog, Wright convened a panel of climate change skeptics to produce an official Department of Energy report questioning the link between human activity and global temperature rise. Over 85 climate experts denounced the report as “junk science,” but the Environmental Protection Agency nevertheless began the process of rescinding its own “endangerment finding” on CO2 emissions, the legal bedrock for many climate regulations.
The administration’s legislative efforts, including the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” eliminated tax credits for electric vehicles and renewable energy projects years ahead of schedule. The result: nearly $29.3 billion in clean energy projects canceled or delayed since January 2025, and thousands of jobs lost. Companies like Pine Gate Renewables and Hanwha Q Cells have shuttered plants or laid off workers, while Fortescue Ltd. abandoned a $210 million battery factory project that would have created 600 jobs. According to DeSmog, these moves were outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump term, with over 50 high-level officials linked to its anti-climate agenda.
Tech giants, once vocal champions of climate action, have shifted gears. At a Washington AI conference, Google’s Ruth Porat praised Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s speech attacking “climate extremist” policies, despite Google’s previous pledge to run on carbon-free energy by 2030. OpenAI and Nvidia are among companies now aligning with fossil fuel interests, while massive data center projects—backed by firms like Blackstone—are fueling demand for new natural gas and coal plants, especially in Texas and Virginia. Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, even praised Energy Secretary Wright’s “passion” for science, despite his climate skepticism, as DeSmog reported.
Trump’s influence has spilled overseas as well. The administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy openly called for resisting Europe’s “disastrous ‘climate change’ and ‘Net Zero’ ideologies,” and U.S.-aligned groups have worked to undermine EU climate legislation. The Heritage Foundation and Heartland Institute have supported far-right European parties and campaigns to block environmental laws, while U.S. gas exporters have lobbied to expand their market share in Europe.
Canada and the UK have also felt the ripple effects. In Alberta, separatist leaders claim to have secured a $500 million transition loan offer from Trump’s team, while UK politicians like Nigel Farage have deepened ties with MAGA-aligned groups and U.S. tech investors. Trump’s ambassador to the UK, Warren Stephens, and U.S. private equity giant Blackstone are backing major tech and AI infrastructure projects in Britain, many powered by fossil fuels.
Even retirement savings have become a new battleground. In September 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to reevaluate rules around alternative assets in retirement plans, potentially unlocking hundreds of billions of dollars from the $13 trillion in 401(k)s for private equity. While executives at Blackstone and other firms hailed this as a "real inflection point," critics like Senator Elizabeth Warren warned it could expose Americans to risky, high-cost investments.
As the world heads into 2026, the Trump administration’s rapid-fire policies have set the stage for continued upheaval in finance, energy, and geopolitics. The consequences—intended or not—are likely to shape the U.S. and global landscape for years to come.
