US President Donald Trump waits to greet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the entrance of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC, on February 27, 2025.
Carl Court | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order making English the official language of the United States, three White House officials told CNBC on Friday.
The order would establish a national language for the first time in U.S. history.
Trump’s order would also rescind former President Bill Clinton’s August 2000 directive requiring agencies and other recipients of federal funds to provide services for those with limited English proficiency, according to a fact sheet shared with CNBC.
Trump’s designation will allow federal agencies to maintain their current policies and continue to provide documents and services in other languages. But it “encourages new Americans to adopt a national language that opens doors to greater opportunities,” according to the fact sheet.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the order earlier Friday morning.
Trump’s schedule for Friday does not currently include any time for signing executive orders. A White House source did not immediately tell CNBC when Trump was expected to sign the order.
More than half of U.S. states have formally established English as their official language. But the federal government has never done the same.
About 1 in 5 Americans — nearly 68 million — spoke a language other than English at home in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure was nearly triple where it stood in 1980.
The White House fact sheet contends that having a national language “strengthens the fabric of our society” by promoting unity and civic engagement, as well as establishing “efficiency in government operations.”
Trump has stoked baseless fears among voters about undocumented immigrants for much of his political career. But during his 2024 presidential campaign, he zeroed in on languages as a sign of what he claimed was immigration run amok.
“We have languages coming into our country … that nobody in this country has ever heard of,” he said during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
