U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order directing 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. If it’s a ‘no,’ we’ll get a quick ‘no.’ If it’s a ‘yes,’ it’s like, let’s start building,” he said.

Among a total of five actions signed by Trump in an Oval Office ceremony, he also signed orders to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects, 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.

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