Insights

On June 6, 2025 President Trump signed an Executive Order, Sustaining Select Efforts to Strengthen the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Amending Executive Order 13694 and Executive Order 14144 (the “Trump Cyber EO”). The Trump Cyber EO rescinds and modifies select Biden administration guidance from EO 14144 covering several cybersecurity regimes, including digital identity verification, artificial intelligence, and secure software development practices, and it amends Obama administration guidance from EO 13694 authorizing sanctions on persons involved in malicious cyber activities. We have provided a summary of significant changes made by the Trump Cyber EO below.

On May 12, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled "Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients," which aims to reduce the costs of prescription drugs and biologics for American consumers and other payers. This Order revives a plan from President Trump’s first term and follows his April Executive Order, “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” which also sought to reduce drug prices. With drug prices in the United States nearly three times higher than many other countries, this second Order asks drug manufacturers to adopt Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing for drugs sold in the United States or face potential regulation. MFN pricing would tether drug prices offered in the United States to the lower-cost prices offered in other comparably developed nations, such as Canada, Germany, or the United Kingdom.

On May 20, 2025, former Missouri congressman, Billy Long, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing as President Donald Trump’s nominee for IRS Commissioner.  Senators questioned Long about his role in promoting questionable tax credits, including Employee Retention Tax Credits (“ERTC”) after leaving the House of Representatives in 2023.  Long also disclosed receiving financial compensation from these entities for his work promoting ERTC.  Given Long’s support for ERTC, there is speculation that the IRS could ease enforcement activity directed towards these credits.

On 8 May 2025, the European Commission published new lists of products potentially subject to EU rebalancing measures in retaliation to U.S. tariffs. The proposed measures would apply if EU-U.S. trade negotiations fail. They are designed to stand alongside previously adopted EU countermeasures, which are currently suspended until 14 July 2025.

On May 8, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took steps to begin the process for reauthorizing the Prescription Drug User Fee Amendments (PDUFA) by announcing a public meeting to be held on July 14, 2025. The agency invited public stakeholders, including patient and consumer advocate groups, health care professionals, and scientific and academic experts to participate in the meeting and subsequent public meetings to consult on the PDUFA reauthorization.

In the wake of the Trump Administration’s recent scrutiny of various nonprofit organizations, including Harvard University, and threats to revoke organizations’ tax-exempt status, nonprofit organizations should take proactive steps in the event of an IRS audit that may target their federal tax-exempt status. Proactive planning and preparation measures are essential to being well-equipped to deal with potential IRS inquiries or an audit. The faster and more efficiently an IRS inquiry can be concluded, the better likelihood of avoiding a full audit or worse, revocation of status. An organization may be particularly vulnerable where there has been any level of political involvement that could be viewed as controversial, but also involvement with activities and efforts focused on renewable energy and diversity, equity & inclusion (“DEI”) may now cause additional scrutiny of an organization’s tax-exempt status. Common potential foot-faults that can bring an organization into the crosshairs (and which are oftentimes not fully considered in light of potential risk of revocation of tax-exempt status) include negotiating typical agreements, including commercial contracting and similar arrangements, where contractual provisions may call for representations and commitments from a non-profit around its DEI efforts or similar efforts. Extra care should be taken to review such instances and other potential activities that may increase the organization’s risk of IRS audit.

On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order, Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy, declaring it the policy of the United States “to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.” The order reasons that “disparate impact liability all but requires individuals and businesses to consider race and engage in racial balancing to avoid potentially crippling legal liability.”

On April 24, the Department of Transportation announced the Trump Administration’s new framework for the regulation of Automated Vehicles (“AVs"). According to the release, “NHTSA’s AV Framework” has three principles:

On April 16, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”), “Ensuring Commercial, Cost-Effective Solutions in Federal Contracts,” requiring agencies to meet their needs with commercially available products and services to the maximum extent practicable. The EO reiterates and builds upon the requirements set forth in the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (“FASA”), which similarly encourages the use of commercial acquisition procedures. Specifically, the EO institutes a required review procedure for certain open acquisition actions and establishes an oversight procedure to be implemented for all acquisitions hereafter.

On April 15, 2025, the White House issued an Executive Order (“EO”), “Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement” calling for the reform of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) consistent with the aims of EO 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” which sought to eliminate perceived unnecessary regulatory burdens. Specifically, the April EO notes that the FAR should only contain statutorily required provisions or those “essential to sound procurement,” and it recommends the removal of any FAR provisions that do not advance these objectives.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement has been fairly predictable for many years as the Fraud Section of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has maintained exclusive authority over investigating claims and bringing enforcement actions in federal courts across the country. President Trump’s recent pause on FCPA enforcement, the first of its kind since the statute was passed in 1977, has created significant uncertainty for individuals and businesses operating internationally regarding the future of FCPA enforcement. While DOJ is in the process of assessing what the future of FCPA enforcement, state attorneys general are stepping in. On April 2, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a Legal Advisory (the “Advisory”) to California businesses explaining that violations of the FCPA are actionable under California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The announcement signals a shift in FCPA enforcement where states may take the lead and pursue FCPA enforcement through their state unfair competition laws.

In its first healthcare proposed regulation, the Trump Administration, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), displayed on March 10, 2025, a proposed rule titled, “2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Proposed Rule” (the Proposed Rule), which proposes policy changes for the Health Insurance Marketplaces that impact health plans and insurers offering Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage to consumers. Specifically, the Proposed Rule shortens the Annual Open Enrollment Period (OEP) for all individual market coverage; proposes standards related to income verification for Health Insurance Marketplaces (Marketplaces); modifies eligibility redetermination procedures; and eliminates eligibility for “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” (DACA) recipients, among other provisions.  

On March 27, 2025, HHS announced a “dramatic restructuring” of its various agencies and offices in accordance with President Trump's Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.” HHS also published a Fact Sheet.

On March 20, 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced an investigation into whether two leading proxy advisors’ advice involving the consideration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) constitutes deceptive or unfair trade practices under Florida law or a violation of Florida antitrust law.

Despite other sweeping changes to the federal government under the Trump administration, the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022 (MoCRA), passed under former President Biden, remains good law. Below, we report on recent trends in FDA’s implementation and enforcement of MoCRA in the early months of Trump’s presidency.

On March 24, 2025, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) unveiled “FedRAMP 20x,” a proposal to make FedRAMP more efficient by automating FedRAMP security assessments and continuous monitoring, simplifying required technical controls, and leaning on industry to provide tooling and solutions to support automation. 

On March 20, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities”.

On March 18, President Trump fired the Federal Trade Commission’s two Democratic Commissioners, Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. The move represents the latest effort by the Trump administration to exert greater control over executive-branch agencies, including bi-partisan independent agencies like the FTC.

On March 20, 2025, the White House issued Executive Order (“EO”), “Eliminating Waste and Saving Taxpayer Dollars by Consolidating Procurement,” to consolidate domestic civilian contracting for “common goods and services” within one agency—the General Services Administration (“GSA”). The EO defines “common goods and services” as those described in the Category Management system first developed as part of a previous effort, dating back to 2014, to coordinate spending across the government.

On February 20, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission launched an “inquiry” into “tech censorship” by calling for public comments from those who “may have been harmed by technology platforms that limited their ability to share ideas or affiliations freely and openly.” The deadline for comments is May 21, 2025.