Biden’s First-Day Orders Will Include Mask Mandate, Blocking Keystone Pipeline

President-elect Joe Biden on his first day in office will take a range of executive actions, including implementing a national mask mandate on federal property, revoking a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline and reversing a travel ban from several largely Muslim and African countries, officials said.

Coming after Mr. Biden is inaugurated as the 46th president in a midday ceremony, the actions are intended to signal a more aggressive approach to the coronavirus pandemic and end some of President Trump’s key policies while setting the agenda for the next four years.

Mr. Biden will sign executive orders from the Oval Office in the afternoon. “There are many more to come,“ incoming press secretary Jen Psaki said in a preview call with reporters. While the new president will take specific aim at some of Mr. Trump’s actions, “his focus is on moving the country forward.”

The orders cover domestic and international matters, including ceasing Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization and rejoining the Paris climate accord. “These are two early steps to advance the president’s ambition to re-engage in the world,” said incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Rejoining the Paris pact would be only Mr. Biden’s first step in a broad effort to elevate climate change to a crisis among his administration’s top priorities. He is ordering executive agencies to review 103 Trump-era actions on the environment and public health, a potential wholesale reversal of Mr. Trump’s effort to deregulate in ways that helped fossil-fuel companies and other sectors of heavy industry.