President Donald Trump will address Congress on Tuesday after upending U.S. foreign policy, igniting a trade war with close allies, slashing the federal workforce and stretching the limits of presidential
power during a dizzying six weeks in office.
The speech, his first to Congress since taking office on January 20, was set to begin at 9:10 p.m. ET (0210 GMT on Wednesday), after Trump’s sweeping new tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China drove U.S. markets sharply downward for a second straight day.
Trump will speak in the House of Representatives, where lawmakers huddled in fear for their lives a little over four years ago while a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory over the then-incumbent Trump.
A former TV showman with a flair for the dramatic, Trump at one point appeared to be preparing for a surprise announcement: the signing of a rare minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine that could ease tensions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Trump told advisers earlier in the day that he wanted to announce the deal in his speech, sources told Reuters, though they cautioned that nothing had been finalized.
Later on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News there was “no signing planned” for a minerals deal, a reporter for the network said on X.
Trump paused all military aid to the beleaguered U.S. ally late on Monday, following a disastrous Oval Office meeting in which Trump angrily upbraided Zelenskiy in front of TV cameras.
The suspension dealt a heavy blow to Kyiv’s efforts to defend against Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion three years ago, and further rattled European leaders worried that Trump is moving the U.S. too far toward Moscow.
While Trump has appeared to fault Ukraine for starting the war, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found 70% of Americans – including two-thirds of Republicans – say Russia was more to blame.
Trump’s 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, two of the country’s closest allies, and an additional 10% on Chinese imports deepened investor concerns about the economy.
The Nasdaq Composite is down more than nine per cent from its record closing high on December 16.
Just one in three Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, according to the Reuters Ipsos poll, a potential danger sign amid worries his tariffs could increase inflation.
A senior White House official said the theme of Trump’s speech is the “renewal of the American dream.”
The speech is akin to a State of the Union address but not called that in a President’s inaugural year.
The official said Trump’s topics will include laying out his plans to end the Ukraine war and gain the release of hostages abducted from Israel by Hamas militants and held in Gaza.
Trump is expected to laud his rapid-fire efforts to slash the federal bureaucracy, reduce the flow of migrants over the U.S.-Mexico border and use tariffs to force other nations to bow to his demands.
On the domestic front, Trump is likely to make a case for extending his 2017 tax cuts. Congressional Republicans have advanced a sweeping $4.5 trillion plan that would extend the cuts, tighten border security and fund a huge increase in deportations.
The proposal calls for $2 trillion in spending reductions over a decade, with possible cuts to education, healthcare and other social services.
Trump has asserted an unprecedented level of executive power, working with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person – to jettison more than 100,000 workers across the government despite dozens of lawsuits.
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has dismantled agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid, including lifesaving medicine and food, that had been authorized by Congress.
Musk will attend the Tuesday night speech, a White House official said.
Democrats plan to underscore the harm they say Trump’s policies have caused everyday Americans by inviting civil servants hit by DOGE firings or funding freezes to Tuesday’s speech.
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA agent, will deliver the Democratic Party’s rebuttal.
First lady Melania Trump will be joined at the address by selected guests, including the family of Corey Comperatore, a firefighter killed by the gunman who grazed Trump with a bullet during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last July.
Others include Marc Fogel, a history teacher freed from detention in Russia in February.
