Executive Order 13924, signed on May 19, 2020, directed federal agencies to identify and suspend enforcement of regulations that administration officials deemed burdensome to economic recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic. The order required agencies to waive, modify, or delay compliance deadlines for existing regulations through December 31, 2020. This was accomplished through a sweeping directive rather than targeted legislative action, giving agencies broad discretion to determine which rules impeded recovery without requiring congressional approval or detailed cost-benefit analysis for individual suspensions.

The order's effects were distributed across multiple constituencies with competing interests. Small and large businesses gained extended compliance timelines and reduced enforcement scrutiny across financial, labor, and environmental regulations. However, workers, environmental advocates, and consumers faced diminished protections during this period. Delayed environmental reviews affected projects subject to National Environmental Policy Act requirements, while extended timelines for business regulation compliance reduced oversight in areas including workplace safety standards and lending practices. The practical outcome was a moratorium on regulatory enforcement rather than formal deregulation, creating a temporary vacuum in federal agency monitoring.

This action represented an early iteration of the broader deregulatory approach that has defined subsequent Trump administration economic policy. The temporary suspensions established a precedent for questioning regulatory burdens that has evolved into more permanent trade and tariff actions visible in the continuation of national emergency declarations on trade deficits and the suspension of duty-free de minimis treatment for imports. Rather than reversing toward protective regulation, the administration has built upon this foundation, using emergency authorities and executive orders to reshape economic policy without legislative guardrails.

The order's expiration on December 31, 2020, technically restored regulatory enforcement authority, though many suspended rules remained subject to broader deregulatory initiatives pursued through alternative mechanisms. No significant legal challenges emerged during the order's operational period, partly because the temporary nature and pandemic context provided political cover. The action demonstrated how emergency declarations and executive discretion could effectively achieve deregulation while maintaining deniability about permanent policy shifts.