The phrase "affirmative action" and much of the executive order Trump is repealing, itself built on one signed by Johnson's predecessor John F. Kennedy in March 1961, which asked government contractors to "take affirmative action" to insure employees and applicants were treated "without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin."

President Donald Trump began his second administration with a blitz of policy actions to reorient U.S. government priorities.

President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders after his inauguration, including withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and cracking down on immigration.

An executive order is an instruction from the president which has the weight of the law behind it. But Trump's order does not overturn the ban. Instead it tells the US attorney general not to enforce the law for now - something experts had expected would be his first move.

Within hours of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued an executive order suspending the enforcement of a TikTok ban that had taken effect the previous day. The move tossed a lifeline to TikTok -- and its 170 million users in the United States.