Donald Trump signs order to speed up environmental review of infrastructure projects

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Donald Trump has signed five new executive orders - including one to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects.

The order directed that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he called “the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible” process.

“Sometimes it takes many, many years and we don’t want that to happen,” he said, speaking in the Oval Office. “If it’s a ‘no’, we’ll get a quick ‘no’. If it’s a ‘yes’, it’s like, let’s start building.”

The actions signed by Mr Trump also included ones to accelerate the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects and to decree that any pipelines intended for the United States should be built in the country.

“We will build our own pipeline. We will build our own pipes, as we used to in the old days,” he said, according to Reuters.

“We will see if we can get that pipeline built - a lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs, great construction jobs.”

Mr Trump said his order on pipelines “will put a lot of steelworkers back to work”

“We are very insistent that if we are going to build pipelines in the United States. We will build our own pipes, as we used to in the old days.”

Earlier, Mr Trump told car makers that “environmentalism is out of control”.