On June 26, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13931, establishing the National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. The executive order created a formal institutional structure designed to coordinate federal workforce development policy across multiple agencies and to bring together business leaders, workers, and government officials in advisory capacity. The order tasked these new bodies with developing policy recommendations aimed at American worker training, education, and employment pathways, though the executive action itself did not directly implement new workforce programs but rather created the administrative apparatus through which such policies could be developed and recommended.
The direct beneficiaries or targets of this order were primarily the advisory board members and coordinating federal agencies, rather than American workers themselves. The structure created was intended to influence policy development across workforce training initiatives, apprenticeship programs, and employment services managed by departments including Labor, Commerce, and Education. However, the actual impact on American workers depended entirely on whether recommendations from these advisory bodies translated into subsequent executive actions or legislative proposals with concrete funding and implementation mechanisms.
This executive order appears somewhat disconnected from the trade and protectionist economic actions that would later dominate the Trump administration's policy agenda. While the 2020 workforce coordination initiative emphasized public-private partnership and skills development, subsequent actions—including the tariff implementations and trade emergency declarations continued through 2026—directly affected worker earning potential and employment through increased import costs and supply chain disruption. The gap between the aspirational workforce development framing of Executive Order 13931 and the protectionist trade measures that followed reveals a potential contradiction in economic strategy, where worker preparation initiatives proceeded parallel to policies that could increase business costs and inflation.
The order faced no significant legal challenges and remained active, though measurable outcomes regarding American worker advancement or employment gains attributable specifically to this council's recommendations remain undocumented in public records.
Executive Order 13931: National Council for the American Worker
💰 Economy · First Term (2017–2021) · 🤖 AI-categorized
On June 26, 2020, President Trump signed Executive Order 13931, which established the National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board. The order created structures to coordinate federal workforce development policy across agencies and convene business leaders, workers, and government officials. The confirmed direct impact was the creation of these advisory bodies tasked with developing workforce policy recommendations, though specific measurable outcomes on American workers remain documented through subsequent policy announcements.