President Donald Trump vowed in his Tuesday speech to Congress and the U.S. that his administration would work to take “America’s destiny into our own hands” and promised that “this will be our greatest era” where he would fight to forge the most free civilization.
Trump’s remarks came as he delivered an address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday in a speech similar to the annual State of the Union, where he declared that “America is back” and that the “American dream is surging.”
Trump unveiled in his speech that Ukraine is prepared to sign off on a rare-earth minerals deal and continue peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and that his administration has caught the terrorist behind an attack in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of 13 U.S. troops. He also promised he would drive down inflation costs and would “wage a war” on drug cartels as he bragged about his administration’s accomplishments already in the past six weeks — including driving down illegal immigration crossings.
Specifically, Trump urged lawmakers Tuesday to beef up funding for border security to foot the bill for deportations and construction of a border wall along the U.S. southern border, and touted that his administration has “launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history.”
“The cartels are waging a war on America, and it’s time for America to wage a war on the cartels, which we are doing,” Trump said Tuesday.
TRUMP ADMIN REVEALS LIST OF CARTELS AND GANGS TO BE DESIGNATED TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
Trump said that he’s sent Congress a detailed funding request laying out how to eliminate threats and carry out the “largest deportation operation in American history.”
“Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay, so I can sign it into law,” Trump said, urging Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to pass such a measure so he could sign it into law quickly.
Furthermore, Trump also said Tuesday his administration inherited an “economic catastrophe,” while accusing the Biden administration of allowing the egg prices to get “out of control.”
“Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families,” Trump said. “As president, I am fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again.”
The consumer price index shows consumer prices increased roughly 20% under former President Joe Biden’s administration, and that egg prices have soared nearly 37% in the past year.
DEMOCRAT REMOVED FROM HOUSE CHAMBER AFTER DISRUPTING TRUMP’S SPEECH TO CONGRESS
Trump also defended his administration’s new tariffs, comments that come after the U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, and raised existing tariffs on Chinese products to 20%.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday that Canada would slap tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods, and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico would unveil their own retaliatory tariffs on Sunday.
“Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them…Whatever they tax us, we tax them,” Trump said. 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. We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before.”
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have cautioned that tariffs would ramp up prices for American consumers, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told CBS News in February that “It will drive the cost of everything up.”
Americans remain split along party lines regarding the outlook of the economy in the next year. While 73% of Republicans said they expect the economy to improve a year from now, 64% of Democrats said they predict the economy will worsen, according to the Pew Research Center survey.
TRUMP PAUSES AID TO UKRAINE AFTER FIERY MEETING WITH ZELENSKYY
Trump also said that he would continue to work to end the war in Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and after negotiations stalled on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Washington Friday amid negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and was poised to sign a minerals agreement that would allow the U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals in exchange for U.S. support in the country.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said Tuesday hours before Trump’s address that Ukraine is now prepared to “come to the negotiating table” and said “it is time to make things right” in a post on X. He also called the exchange on Friday “regrettable,” and that Ukraine is prepared to sign a minerals deal.
Trump said Tuesday he received a letter from Zelenskyy stating that Ukraine is ready to negotiate and resume peace talks, and would sign the minerals deal.
“It’s time to end this senseless war,” Trump said, noting that it’s important to talk to both sides to end wars.
Special guests who attended the Tuesday address included Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, the former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director; Noa Argamani, who suffered captivity from Palestinian militant group Hamas after the group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023; and hockey legends Buzz Schneider and Rob McClanahan, who were inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003 and were part of the U.S. hockey team that defeated the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics.
While all lawmakers are typically invited to the president’s annual address, Democrats including Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Patty Murray of Washington, along with Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York chose to opt out of attending the speech this year.
Freshman Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., is slated to deliver the Democratic party’s official response to Trump’s speech Tuesday. Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who worked at the Pentagon and the White House under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, previously served several terms representing her state in the U.S. House of Representatives before joining the Senate.
