In his inauguration speech yesterday, the new US President Donald Trump delivered a modest and nuanced address in which he promised to reunite the United States and bring peace to the world. He also promised to crush his opponents and take back the Panama Canal. That's how it is in politics: it's all about compromise, notes the British newspaper "Telegraph", writes BTA in its press review.
Inauguration ceremonies are usually held outdoors and are boring. This one broke tradition on both counts. In the rotunda of the Capitol, under the gaze of George Washington, gathered on one side the Washington elite and the tech giants on one side of the hall - and on the other, the people who believe that these people are bloodthirsty sharks.
Former US presidents were present - the Clinton and Bush families. Barack Obama and Joe Biden came without their wives. After the opening speeches and ceremonies, the moment of national reconciliation lasted for three whole minutes - until the new head of state took the podium to declare war on the "corrupt establishment". Among his plans were: militarizing the border, ending the Green New Deal, renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and restoring the former name of Mount McKinley, in Alaska, which is now called Denali.
His speech was not only funny, but a perfect summary of American conservative ideals. A story of pioneers crossing deserts and conquering mountains. A call to "farmers and soldiers", i.e. to "the common man", and a reminder of the ideals of Martin Luther King.
Trump then said that during the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, God had saved his life "so that I could make America great again". He also expressed his belief in the destiny of the United States, which would one day lead to planting its flag on Mars - something that made Elon Musk applaud approvingly. The money given to elect Trump was well spent, notes the "Telegraph".
"The Golden Age of the United States begins now!", Trump announced.
Trump's Golden Age will be based on oil and tariffs, notes the British newspaper. "Independent". The 47th president of the United States laid out a radical right-wing agenda in his domestic and foreign policies. He vowed to eliminate federal protections for minorities and assured that his government "will recognize only two sexes". He also abandoned the policy of zero carbon emissions in favor of accumulating American oil, calling on energy giants to drill hard for "liquid gold".
Then his speech quickly turned against some of the attendees. In the front row were Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, forced to watch as Trump undoes everything they had achieved. The new president accused them of being "a radical and corrupt clique that extracts power and wealth from our citizens". Referring to his own legal troubles over the past four years, he promised to end the "weaponization of the law."
But his speech also contained a huge threat to other countries around the world and should also make Sir Keir Starmer's government in London worry after Trump promised to impose tariffs to promote US prosperity.
"Americans have been paying taxes to enrich other countries - that will stop," Trump promised. According to him, the new tariffs would "enrich Americans."
Trump also promised the US to take an active peacekeeping role, while at the same time expressing a renewed intention to take control of the Panama Canal. He accused Panama of handing it over to China and said that "the canal should never have been given to Panama".
The new president did not specifically mention Ukraine, but said the US would end its involvement in international conflicts. His top priority, however, is the migrant crisis, declaring an immediate national emergency on the southern border with Mexico.
The Alien Enemies Act, passed in 1798, will be re-enacted, and will be used to combat cartels and foreign criminal gangs "operating in central American cities". Trump promised to deport "millions" of illegal immigrants, restore America's greatness with a "patriotic administration" and "make it greater than ever".
Nigel Farage and other populists hoping to win power in Western democracies will be watching to see if the 47th US president can deliver on his agenda, the "Independent" newspaper notes. Meanwhile, liberal and progressive governments, such as Starmer's in the UK, are bracing for a response from the Trump administration.
According to sources close to the new US president, he will take a tough stance on the EU and redouble efforts to get NATO allies to significantly increase their defense spending. Regardless of how things develop, Trump's protectionist nationalism is sure to change the international order.
Trump now faces the difficult task of fulfilling his promise to lower the cost of living for the middle class - a promise that was his most powerful political weapon in the election fight with Kamala Harris, notes the British newspaper "Financial Times".
But Trump stopped short of immediately announcing new tariffs. Instead, he plans to issue instructions to government agencies to review trade relations with countries such as China, Mexico and Canada.
This hesitation suggests that his top advisers have not yet decided how to impose aggressive tariffs on the US's major trading partners. But Trump said new tariffs were coming, the publication emphasizes.
The dollar fell as much as 1.3% against other currencies in afternoon trading in the United States yesterday and is on track for its biggest drop since November 2023.
Last night, new President Donald Trump signed executive orders that reversed a number of Biden administration policies, froze federal regulations and hiring, returned federal employees to full-time work, ordered agencies to address the cost of living, withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and ordered the preservation of records of court cases conducted during the previous administration, which he said were politically motivated, notes the "Washington Post".
He also promised that pardons for participants in the riots on January 6, 2021 will be carried out when he returns to the Oval Office.
The actions were taken hours after being sworn in as the country's 47th president, when Trump promised in his speech to "put America first" and assured that "America's golden age begins now". The US will once again be considered a country that "expands its territory".
Meanwhile, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to accelerate the confirmation of the former "Fox News" host Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee to head the Pentagon.
The Senate also confirmed Florida Senator Marco Rubio as Secretary of State by a 99-0 vote, the American publication notes.
Trump later pardoned almost all of the 1,600 people held accountable for the Capitol riots after his loss in the previous election, the "New York Times" reports. His decision appears to apply to both those who committed minor offenses and those accused of serious violence.
Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement was also part of the orders on the new president's first day in office, as well as the termination of a program allowing immigrants from four countries to enter the United States.
Trump also said that he had signed an executive order stopping the federal ban on "Tik Tok". His order gives the app another 75 days to live in the United States to give the administration "an opportunity to determine the right course" for it.
The new president has expressed his displeasure with the wave of last-minute preemptive pardons issued by President Biden to protect some of Trump's opponents, including General Mark Milley. Two of those pardoned, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson and former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, thanked Biden, saying they were pardoned "not for breaking the law, but for following it."