The first presidential transition of Donald Trump began when he won the presidential election on November 8, 2016, and became the president-elect. Trump was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 19, 2016. The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2017, and the transition concluded when Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017.

In accordance with the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010, candidate transition teams are provided office space by the General Services Administration (GSA). Transition teams are also eligible for government funding for staff; spending on Mitt Romney's transition team in 2012 was $8.9 million (~$12 million in 2024), all funds appropriated by the U.S. government.

Under existing federal law and custom, a nominee becomes eligible to receive classified national security briefings once their nomination is formalized at their party's national convention.

Key responsibilities of a presidential transition include the identification and vetting of candidates for approximately 4,000 non-civil service positions in the U.S. government whose service is at the pleasure of the president; arranging the occupancy of executive residences including the White House, One Observatory Circle, and Camp David; liaising with the United States Strategic Command for receipt of the Gold Codes; and briefing senior civil service personnel about a new administration's policy priorities.

A law enacted by the United States Congress in 2016 amending the Presidential Transition Act requires the incumbent president to establish "transition councils" by June of an election year to facilitate the eventual handover of power.

The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), meanwhile, launched a new program called "Transition 2016" in 2016. Led by Ed DeSeve and David S. C. Chu, the program was described by NAPA as one which provides management and procedural advice to the leading candidates in establishing transition teams.

In April 2016, representatives from the Trump campaign, as well as the campaigns of four other then-running Republican candidates, met in New York with representatives of the Partnership for Public Service to receive a two-day briefing and overview of the transition process. According to Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, the campaign shortly thereafter began implementing the recommendations provided at the meeting. In early May 2016, after Trump became the presumptive nominee, campaign officials announced they would name the members of a presidential transition team within the "upcoming weeks". On May 6, The New York Times reported that Trump had asked Jared Kushner to begin work on putting a transition team together. Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort worked with Kushner in the selection of a transition chief. Three days later, Trump announced that New Jersey Governor (and former rival presidential candidate) Chris Christie had agreed to head the effort.

On Friday, June 3, 2016, the Agency Transition Directors Council first assembled at the White House to review transition plans of each of the major executive departments; neither the Trump nor Clinton campaigns sent representatives to this initial meeting. At about the same time, the White House began transferring its preceding eight years of accumulated electronic files to the National Archives and Records Administration's Electronic Record Archive for preservation.