[Photo:  by Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons]

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch swiftly his administration’s deregulatory agenda, affecting rules governing everything from investment advice to mortgage insurance and power-plant emissions.

First up may be an order to federal agencies to temporarily cease ongoing rule-making initiatives - mirroring steps taken by previous presidents entering the White House as one from the opposing political party leaves.

Next, the new president might issue directives for federal agencies to delay the start of some key Obama administration priorities that don’t go into effect until later this year – e.g., DOL’s new fiduciary rules set to take effect in April. The Trump administration is considering a 6-month delay for this rule, which could give Congress time to revoke the regulation with legislation.

Mr. Trump is likely to make an official statement announcing his intent to repeal climate-change rules that were a top second-term priority for President Barack Obama - though it would take time to roll them back.

Other Attempted Reversals.  

• Delay planned cuts to the Federal Housing Administration’s annual mortgage insurance premiums.
• A broad regulatory moratorium to block late actions by regulators during the Obama administration that haven’t yet been published in the Federal Register.
• Target a handful of energy and environmental regulations, though the new president won’t be able to freeze most of them on his first day in office.
• Scrap Mr. Obama’s signature climate rule, an EPA cutting power-plant carbon emissions, and another EPA rule putting more bodies of water under federal jurisdiction.
• Repeal 2 Interior Department rules that the agency has completed since mid-November, including one setting new standards limiting the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that oil and natural-gas wells on federal lands can emit, and another one requiring tougher standards for coal mining near streams.

That said, his promise to eliminate regulations on U.S. businesses will likely take years to fulfill, given the complex steps involved in reversing them and political and legal challenges from Democratic lawmakers and state attorneys general.