President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that centralises control of federal grantmaking in the hands of political appointees, directing agencies to ensure discretionary awards "demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities." Until each agency creates a new review system led by a senior presidential appointee, no new funding opportunity announcements may be issued. Under the order, every grant and funding announcement must be cleared by the designated appointee and, where relevant, subject-matter experts. Agencies are also instructed to revise existing terms so that awards can be terminated "for convenience" if they cease to align with administration priorities, giving the White House broad authority to claw back money already committed. The White House said the move targets what it calls wasteful spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, climate initiatives and other projects it labels "anti-American values." Civil-rights and academic groups counter that politicising peer-reviewed funding threatens free speech and could disrupt billions of dollars in research and social-service grants. In a separate action the same day, Trump directed federal banking regulators to strip references to "reputational risk" from their guidance and to bar policies that allow banks to deny services on the basis of customers’ political or religious beliefs or other lawful activities, further extending the administration’s campaign against what it describes as ideological discrimination in the financial system.