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Trump Signs Executive Orders in the Oval Office, Feb. 3, 2025

February 3, 2025 · The White House · 0:34:47

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What happened

President Donald Trump signed executive actions in the Oval Office on Feb. 3, 2025, carried on the White House channel. The session opened with five special-envoy designations presented at the desk: Steve Witkoff as Middle East envoy, Mauricio Claver-Carone as special envoy to Latin America, retired General Keith Kellogg as special envoy on Russia-Ukraine issues, Richard Grenell as envoy for special missions, and Mark Burnett as special envoy to the United Kingdom, as the designations were presented. The President said a lot of progress had been made on Russia-Ukraine and that the war would be stopped, as he stated it, and credited Grenell’s California water mission, saying the water had been turned on three days earlier.

The session also transmitted 28 subcabinet-level appointments to departments and agencies, as presented at the desk, and signed the executive order charging Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick with beginning the process to create an American sovereign wealth fund. Bessent said it would be stood up within the next 12 months and would monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people, as he stated the plan. Taking questions, the President said Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s delegation would lead a 30-day negotiation with Mexico on the tariffs, that he would speak with China probably within 24 hours, and that on the Panama Canal the United States would either get it back or get something very strong, as he stated his position.

Why it matters

The Feb. 3 session staffs the administration’s diplomacy and launches its most novel economic instrument in one sitting: five envoys named to the files they would carry all year, and a sovereign wealth fund ordered into existence with a 12-month clock stated by the Treasury Secretary himself.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard candidate: the Feb. 3, 2025 executive order directing the creation of an American sovereign wealth fund, with Secretary Bessent’s stated 12-month stand-up timeline - flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Signs Executive Orders in the Oval Office, Feb. 3, 2025” (YouTube, 2025-02-03) - official description and broadcast transcript as aired.