Donald Trump promised to take a “sledgehammer” to what he considered job-killing regulations as he signed an executive order to crack down on fraud and abuse in foreign worker programmes.

Hitting a familiar note on economic populism, the US president visited a tool manufacturing company in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and signed a “Buy American, Hire American” directive that targets the H-1B visa scheme.

H-1B visas admit 65,000 workers and another 20,000 graduate student workers each year, mainly in the tech sector. The White House argues that some companies undercut American workers by bringing in cheaper foreign labour on a temporary basis.

“We believe that jobs must be offered to American workers first – does that make sense?” Trump asked a supportive crowd at the headquarters of Snap-on. “Right now, widespread abuse in our immigration system is allowing American workers of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers brought in from other countries to fill the same job for sometimes less pay.

“This will stop. American workers have long called for reforms to end these visa abuses and today their calls are being answered for the first time.”

Trump said reform of the H-1B visa scheme was long overdue. Visas should no longer be awarded by a random lottery, he continued, but rather go to the most skilled or highest-paid applicants.

“No one can compete with American workers when they’re given a fair and level playing field, which has not happened for decades. We’re using every tool at our disposal to restore the American dream. In fact, when it comes to wasteful, destructive, job-killing regulations, we are going to use a tool you all know very well. It’s called the sledgehammer.”

Trump said the executive order sends a “powerful signal to the world” that the US will defend its workers, protect their jobs and revive the words “made in the USA”. He railed against the North American Free Trade Agreement as “a complete and total disaster” and complained that the US had lost 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization.

“With this order, I am directing every single agency in our government to strictly uphold our ‘buy American’ laws, to minimise the use of waivers and to maximise ‘made in America’ content in all federal projects. It’s time.”

But Trump has been accused of hypocrisy because his properties have hired temporary foreign workers while many of his own branded products are made overseas.

On Tuesday, Senate Democrats claimed the president had still done nothing to support American workers, for example approving the construction of the Keystone pipeline with the use of foreign steel. The minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said: “Despite campaign promises that President Trump would fight for the American worker, reality hasn’t matched his rhetoric. President Trump’s empty executive orders and policies put profits over people, and wealthy CEOs over workers.”

Meanwhile, Trump is facing criticism from his own party over his regular weekend trips from Washington to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Republican senator Joni Ernst of Iowa reportedly told a town hall meeting: “I do wish he would spend more time in Washington DC. That’s what we have the White House for. I think that has been bothering not just me but some other members of our caucus.”