Trump signs executive order on regulatory reform

Feb. 24 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to establish regulatory officers and task forces to implement his policies.

The order, which is titled "Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda," calls for the examination of existing regulations.

He signed the order in the White House with business executives who advise him on policy and meet with him regularly.

Trump said "excessive regulation is killing jobs" and "driving companies out of our country like never before. He said his order is "one of the many ways that we're going to get real results."

Each agency and department will be required to create a task force and regulatory reform officer. They will have 90 days to evaluate existing regulations, and decide which ones to repeal or modify.

The reform officers also will enforce Trump's regulatory decisions. Earlier, he signed an executive order requiring agencies to repeal two rules for every new rule they issue.

Earlier Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, he pledged to eliminate 75 percent of regulations.

"We're going to put the regulation industry out of work and out of business. And by the way, I want regulation. I want to protect our environment. I want regulations for safety," Trump said. "I want all of the regulations that we need and I want them to be so strong and so tough. But we don't need 75 percent of the repetitive, horrible regulations that hurt companies, hurt jobs."

On Thursday, Trump met with chief executives of two dozen major U.S. companies at the White House, including Dell, Ford, GE, Emerson Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

Trump asked the CEOs to present a list of 10 regulations that they'd like to see cut, according to a CNBC report.