President Trump is expected to sign an executive order that lists English as the country’s official language for the first time in America’s history at the federal level.

According to a summary of the order that the Wall Street Journal reviewed, Mr. Trump will rescind a mandate issued by President Clinton that requires federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funds to provide language assistance to non-English speakers. The order will still allow agencies to provide language assistance if they choose to.

According to the summary, the order’s purpose is to promote unity and government efficiency. 

A White House official told Fox News that roughly 180 out of the 195 countries in the world have official languages. 

Mr. Trump has previously suggested that English should be the official language, going as far back as his first presidential bid. During a presidential debate in 2015, he criticized Governor Jeb Bush’s decision to speak Spanish on the campaign trail. 

“This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish,” Mr. Trump said. 

In a press conference after the debate, he said, “I think that when you get right down to it, we’re a nation that speaks English. I think that, while we’re in this nation, we should be speaking English.” He also argued that it is “more appropriate” to speak English and will help immigrants “become successful and do great.”

During a speech at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference, Mr. Trump said, “We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language.”

“These are languages — it’s the craziest thing — they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing,” he added. 

Shortly after Mr. Trump took office, the White House’s Spanish website and social media accounts were taken down. 

A 2023 report from the Census Bureau found that more than 78 percent of Americans speak English at home. Among those who speak another language, 61.1 percent said they speak Spanish. The next two most spoken languages were Chinese and Tagalog. 

Meanwhile, a 2022 report from the bureau found that the number of people in the country who spoke a language other than English roughly tripled to 67.8 million in 2019 from 23.1 million in 1980. The number of people who speak only English rose to 241 million in 2019 from 187 million in 1980. 

More than 30 states list English as their official language. Additionally, five American territories list English as at least one of their official languages. Puerto Rico, for example, says Spanish is its principal language, but Spanish and English are designated as official languages. 

Vice President Vance introduced a bill during his time in the Senate that would designate English as America’s official language.

While America has not had an official language before, it does require people applying to become naturalized citizens to pass a test showing they can read, write, and speak English.