Trump declares administration ‘just getting started’ in address to Congress

Donald Trump on Tuesday declared that his administration was “just getting started”, after a radical start to his presidency that has seen his administration slash the size of the federal workforce, upend longstanding American alliances and rattle markets with an escalating trade war.

“America is back,” Trump declared, opening the his primetime speech to a joint session of Congress, the first of his second term. Republicans broke into a boisterous chant of “USA”.

Trump touted his administration’s “swift and unrelenting action” that includes, according to the president’s tally, nearly 100 executive orders and more than 400 executive actions. He will also blame the soaring price of eggs on his predecessor’s energy policies while pledging his “National ENERGY Emergency” would help usher in a new era of domestic drilling.

As Trump bragged about the size of his electoral college and popular vote victory, Democrats heckled and booed, prompting House Speaker Mike Johnson to bang his gavel and demand decorum. When Congressman Al Green of Texas refused to sit down, Johnson directed the sergeant-at-arms to remove the Democrat from the chamber as Republicans sang “Hey Hey Hey Goodbye”. Last month, Green filed articles of impeachment against Trump.

Representative Al Green shouts as Trump addresses Congress. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Trump is addressing lawmakers in the House chamber just hours after escalating a trade war against three of its top trading partners that sent financial markets spiraling and raised fresh concerns of inflation. Just after midnight on Tuesday, the US slapped 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and doubled to 20% the levy he imposed on Chinese products last month.

“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them. Whatever they tax us, we tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market,” Trump was expected to say, according to his prepared remarks. “We will take in trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”

In accordance with tradition, Trump’s arrival in the chamber was announced by the sergeant-at-arms. As he walked to the dais, Trump appeared to revel in the cacophonous applause of Congressional Republicans, who have declined to reign in the president even as he threatens their authority as an independent branch of government.

Seated behind Trump was his vice-president, JD Vance and Mike Johnson, the Republican House Speaker.

The 15 guests who joined Melania Trump, the first lady, to watch the address included the widow and daughter of Corey Comperatore, the firefight who was killed at the campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump survived an assassination attempt as well as Marc Fogel, the American teacher that Trump helped free from a Russian prison last month. Other guests were intended to highlight the administrations’ policies, including family members of Americans killed by men in the US without legal status and anti-trans advocates.

The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, had encouraged his members to attend the address in order to demonstrate a “strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber”. Many did attend, bringing fired federal workers and Americans who rely on social safety net programs threatened by Republicans’ budget proposal.

But several Democrats chose to skip the event, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who instead shared her live reactions to the speech on the social media platform BlueSky. Ahead of the address, several Congressional Democrats and elected officials joined a virtual pre-buttal, “Calling BS,” to slam the Trump administration’s actions so far.

“I don’t need to legitimize his lies by being in the room,” Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said on the livestream, adding that Democrats need to make clear that the president is “transparently and brazenly lying to the American people”.

Democratic lawmakers protest as Trump speaks during an address to a joint session of Congress. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said he plans to attend Trump’s speech as a way to show solidarity with Americans who are “rejecting Donald Trump’s hateful vising for our country”.

When the speech concludes, the newly elected Democratic senator Elissa Slotkin of battleground Michigan will deliver the party’s formal rebuttal after Trump speaks.

Trump is also likely to expand on his “America First” foreign policy vision, just days after a dramatic Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, spiraled out of control as Trump and Vance berated him over a perceived lack of respect.

With the future of US support for Ukraine hanging in the balance, Zelenskyy on Tuesday proposed a possible peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, saying he is willing to work “constructively” under Trump’s “strong leadership” and that his country was prepared to sign a deal granting the US access to its critical minerals.

Trump delivered the speech from the House chamber, where lawmakers scrambled for makeshift weapons as a mob of the president overran the Capitol and attempted to break down the doors on 6 January 2021. After his inauguration, the president issued pardons for 1,500 people involved in the attack, including those convicted of violently assaulting Capitol police officers.