President Donald Trump has declared that his administration is “just getting started” in his first joint address to Congress of his second term, as he touted his domestic and international achievements and criticised Democrats.
The speech, delivered to a palpably divided chamber in which several Democrats held signs of protest, caps a dramatic few months in which Trump has unleashed an aggressive agenda to reshape US trade and foreign policy.
It comes on the day Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the US’s biggest trading partners, as well as additional 10 per cent levies on China.
All three countries signalled they planned to retaliate, sending US stocks plummeting on Tuesday.
During his address, Trump defended his tariffs and government spending cuts, and claimed he inherited an “economic catastrophe” from the Democrats.
He added that he has ended “weaponised government”, pointing to the criminal cases that were filed against him during the Biden administration.
Trump’s remarks on Ukraine and Russia will be among the most closely watched of the night, coming on the heels of his move to cut off military aid to Kyiv and last week’s big Oval Office altercation with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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