In her recent Law360 article, Goodwin counsel Elizabeth Tucci explains that in 2025, President Donald Trump used executive orders (EOs) to initiate a reversal of policies on fair lending, urge agencies to use enforcement and supervisory tools to police debanking, and reduce consumer financial regulation. These EOs spurred a flurry of deregulatory activity that is likely to continue in 2026. Most dramatically, Trump has used the power of the presidential pen to direct a sea change in fair lending practices. On April 23, 2025, Trump declared a federal policy to “eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible,” and directed the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Trade Commission to “take appropriate action” with respect to any proceedings based on disparate impact. This policy took direct aim at the prior administration’s Combatting Redlining Initiative, in which the DOJ and other federal agencies targeted lenders based in part on data showing disproportionately low levels of lending in minority neighborhoods. Federal agencies initially responded to the president’s directive by asking courts to set aside redlining orders against lenders, with mixed success.
Read the full analysis: “How 2025 Executive Orders Are Reshaping Consumer Finance” (Law360)