Trump's Deregulatory Push So Far Amounts to 'Inaction': SEC Counsel

Since the order, Trump agencies have issued "very few new rules that imposed regulatory costs," with most such rules being "required by statute or otherwise routine."

From Trump taking office to July 15, agencies subject to the executive order issued only 39 "major rules."

On the flip side, Trump agencies also did "relatively little deregulation outside of delaying and repealing rules issued late in the Obama administration," Raso found. Case in point: The Labor Department's fiduciary rule.

On balance, then, Raso argues: "The picture is one of inaction." While the administration has "halted the growth of regulation that imposes costs," so far it has "left the existing regulatory framework largely in place."

One can look to the administration's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs to see how Trump agencies have "done relatively little" deregulation, Raso notes, pointing to OIRA's December 2017 list of all 66 total deregulatory offsets for fiscal 2017.

But hold on. OIRA's list above only covers the first nine months of Trump's reign, and the pace of deregulation seems to have picked up in subsequent months, he points out.

Efforts through mid-July concerning major rules "remain small relative to the total amount of federal regulation," Raso states, but while major rules "do cover the most important subset of rules, they are not the entire picture."

Agencies, he asserts, "undoubtedly completed non-major deregulatory rules," so look for the next OIRA report to tabulate such efforts, "providing a more complete picture."