Donald Trump completed his stunning political comeback Monday when he was sworn in as the 47th U.S. president, during which he promised tariffs, deportations and a new approach to race and gender.
In his inaugural address inside the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, Trump began laying out the details of his first-day executive orders.
First up was declaring a national emergency at the southern border. He said he will send troops to the border and begin deporting “illegal” immigrants. Trump promised to designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel gangs as quickly as possible.
Trump did not mention the northern border, as Canadian politicians prepare to respond to the president’s threatened tariffs on imports. An incoming administration official said the new president will issue a broad trade memo later today; it’s not expected to include new tariffs on Canada.
Trump referred in passing to his plan to impose trade penalties but remained vague. “We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said.
He promised to undo Biden’s green energy policies, including an electric vehicle mandate, and to “Drill, baby, drill” more oil.
Trump said his government’s view will be that there are only “two genders: male and female.” He also vowed to end the effort to “socially engineer race” into every aspect of public and private life and “forge a society that is colour-blind and merit-based.”
Donald Trump was sworn in Monday to his second term in office, becoming the 47th president of the United States.
Promises of world peace, astronauts on Mars
Trump overcame impeachments, criminal indictments and two assassination attempts to win his second term in the White House, during which his Republican party will take control of Washington.
Trump is only the second president in American history to serve non-consecutive terms and the first felon to hold the most powerful political office in the world. He took the oath during an unusually small ceremony in the rotunda away from the general public, after it was moved indoors due to cold weather.
The 78-year-old’s speech was more optimistic than the one he gave during his 2017 inauguration. He started by saying, “The golden age of America begins right now,” and later added, “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking after he was inaugurated for a second term, promised a ‘golden age’ for Americans and pledged to remake the country’s institutions. ‘From this moment on, America’s decline is over,’ said Trump, who outlined a slew of executive orders that will touch on everything from trade and border issues to energy and place names.
He referred to the Pennsylvania assassination attempt on him and said he was saved by God to restore the country.
Trump said he will be a peacemaker and “stop all wars,” while also vowing to “take back” the Panama Canal.
He said he will rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and said the U.S. will pursue putting astronauts on Mars — a longtime goal of billionaire Elon Musk, who has cozied up to Trump and will sit on the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, speaking with Adrienne Arsenault after several U.S. media outlets reported that incoming president Donald Trump’s tariffs would not come on Monday, said Canada is prepared no matter what comes.
Billionaires were prominently featured in attendance inside the Capitol.
Musk, along with Amazon executive chair Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai — a quartet whose combined GDP exceeds that of a broad swath of countries — had prime spots, seated closer than some members of Trump’s incoming cabinet.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was also inside the Rotunda, seated in an area usually reserved for former presidents, family members and other distinguished guests. The U.S. banned the social media app on the weekend only for Trump to reverse the ban hours later.
Trudeau congratulates Trump
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a statement congratulating Trump on his inauguration, saying Canada and the U.S. have the world’s most successful economic partnership.
“Canada is strengthening this mutually beneficial relationship. We’re making massive investments to bolster cross-border trade, reinforce our supply chains, and create jobs on both sides of the border,” he said.
“We are strongest when we work together, and I look forward to working with President Trump, his administration, members of the United States Congress, and officials at the state and local levels to deliver prosperity for our peoples — while protecting and defending the interests of Canadians.”
