Donald Trump says he is 'just getting started' in speech to US Congress | BBC News

America is back that is the Bold statement from president Trump as he addressed a joint session of the United States Congress for the first time since he returned to the White House in a speech which was the longest a president has ever given to Congress Donald Trump said America was on the brink of an unprecedented comeback as he loaded the Bold actions his administration has made during the first 6 weeks in office praised was heaped on Elon Musk as the president thanked him for saving hundreds of millions of dollarss of fraud through his Department of

government efficiency on trade he confirmed from next month reciprocal trade tariffs will come into Force against several Nations and the President also announced a Crackdown on criminal gangs and immigrants promising what he called the largest deportation in American history and just days after there now Infamous bust up in the Oval Office president Trump said he had received a letter from president zelinski saying the Ukrainian leader is ready for talks with Russia to try and bring an end to the three-year conflict and signaled mosco was ready to make peace right off the bat president Trump made

this bold statement to both houses of Congress members of the United States Congress thank you very much and to my fellow citizens America is back president Trump also said his administration has saved millions of dollars in waste which he said was down to the work of Doge and the boss Elon Musk and to that end I have created the brand new Department of government efficiency goge perhaps you've heard of it perhaps which is headed by Elon Musk who is in the gallery tonight thank you Elon he's working very hard he didn't need this he didn't

need this thank you very much we appreciate it and on trade the president defended his decision to impose tariffs on Canada Mexico and China as well as making this announcement April 2nd reciprocal tariffs kick in and whatever they tariff us other countries we will tariff them that's reciprocal back and forth whatever they tax us we will tax them if they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our Market on the war in Ukraine president Trump said he'd received a letter from president

zalinski just days after their explosive Row in the Oval Office earlier today I received an important letter from president zalinsky of Ukraine the letter reads Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer nobody wants peace more than the ukrainians he said my team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts we do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and Independence regarding the agreement on minerals and security Ukraine is ready to

sign it at any time that is convenient for you I appreciate that he sent this letter just got it a little while ago simultaneously we've had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace wouldn't that be beautiful wouldn't that be beautiful well our correspondent Helena Humphrey was watching the speech from Capitol Hill that longest of the joint addresses to Congress there in history Donald Trump essentially taking to the stage taking a Victory lap I think it's fair to say this isn't strictly speaking a state of the union speech

but nevertheless Donald Trump certainly used it as an opportunity to tout what he saw as a long list of achievements in those at times frenetic six weeks back in the white house he came on to that Podium saying America is back he then started by touching on on some of those well-worn themes that we had heard on the campaign Trail when it comes to culture War issues for example saying that he had ended diversity equity and inclusion programs not just he said in the government but with it also now spreading to the private sector he

then referenced the work of the Department of governmental efficiency that initiative of course headed by the unelected billionaire Elon Musk who was there in the audience who stood up and was applaud Ed by Republican lawmakers there in the chamber who said for any of those federal workers who had been mandated to return to the office and did not do so they could stand to lose their jobs worth pointing out that Democrats had also invited in the audience some of those tens of thousands of federal employees who we know have already been laid off through that

initiative and then of course one of the really important points to watch for I think for many Americans of course had been the economy according to recent CBS polling That Remains the number one issue for Americans regardless of their political stripe Donald Trump said that after years of a cost of living crisis in this country he would make America great again but of course it's worth keeping in mind the context to all of this on Tuesday Donald Trump did go ahead with those promised tariffs on Mexico and Canada and we did see volatility on the

financial markets he paid a little lip service saying to that saying we saw a little disruption but saying essentially that he believed it would be worth it and then promising on the 2nd of April to bring in further reciprocal tariffs saying whatever they tax us we will tax them back immigration of course another key theme saying that we are getting people out and we are getting them out fast is what he said and of course foreign policy I think the eyes of the world were on that not just with regards to Gaza but crucially right

now Ukraine and referencing that letter from president zelinski uh saying that they were ready for a peace deal as soon as possible worth pointing out president zelinsky had said earlier in the deal that they were looking at a limited truce and wrapping all of this up coming back to this theme that we'd seen on The Campaign Trail Donald Trump saying that he believed that he was saved in Butler Pennsylvania in July during that assassination attempt as some kind of Act of divine intervention that essentially that is his mandate to make America great again Helena Humphrey

there who was watching that speech on Capitol Hill as was Julia Manchester political reporter at the American newspaper the hill and she gave me her assessment of his address well look it seemed a lot like a campaign speech in many ways the president repeating a lot of his you know lines that he US during the campaign to attack uh now former President Biden for example um scolded Democrats repeatedly for not cheering for his accomplishments um you know so it was certainly partisan in that nature and also you know Democrats also showed you know very a

lot of signs of partisanship as well of course you got Congressman Al Green uh standing up and yelling at president Trump about you know potentially cutting Medicaid shaking his Cane for the first time I believe actually in American history you saw a lawmaker escorted from the house chamber for interrupting a joint session or State of the Union Address so that was quite something to watch you also had a number of uh Democratic lawmakers holding up signs uh essentially saying to resist or bashing Elon Musk so this was incredibly partisan incredibly political and I think it's

probably more so than past state of the unions we have seen in recent history now you know the president touched on a number of uh various issues like foreign policy but Democrats you know that I've talked to uh seem to be complaining that he didn't talk about the economy and that seems to be a growing issue for the president now that we are continuing to see inflation in this country and these tariffs on Canada Mexico and China have been en enacted this week yeah I was just going to ask you about that because of course

this speech was was very late and that's because it's beamed across uh America on prime time uh television and so he's very much got that audience in mind I assume the domestic audience and for them was the most important issue the money in their pockets absolutely uh look um the president will tout the work he's done on immigration and you know in his words securing the southern border yes that absolutely was a top campaign issue but I would say that even the economy trumps that as a top issue for voters and there are some troubling

signs for president Trump when it comes to the econom there was a recent NPR Maris poll that was released on Tuesday that found that 46% of Americans uh believe Donald Trump is handling the economy for the worst while 42% said they believed he was handling it for the better you've seen the stock market react negatively to these tariffs and I think there are some concerns about how these tariffs are going to impact uh prices and just the economy in general in this country and I'm sure a lot of Republicans in the chamber even though they

were cheering him at every possible chance they could they were listening for his messaging on that issue because in two years these Republicans all of them in the House of Representatives and some of them in the Senate will be up for reelection and Democrats have already begun to hammer them on the economy something that Republicans mastered in terms of messaging during the last election Julia Manchester there from the hill well during his speech president Trump did refer to a letter he said he'd received that day from Ukraine's president saying that president zilinski is ready to

come to the negotiating table let's go live to Downing Street and join our chief political correspondent Henry zman Henry I'm sure uh some people in Downing Street behind you had the job of watching that speech which went on for more than a hundred minutes and of course Ukraine was was a part of that what do you think is going through the mind of the Prime Minister now this morning well I think as the Prime Minister wakes up Sally I don't know what time he wakes up whether he is awake yet but I think he'll be

mightily relieved that what Donald Trump said overnight hasn't particularly altered what is a very delicate and very fraught diplomatic situation Donald Trump hasn't been back in the White House that long but we've already had so many mornings where behind me and Downing Street the Prime Minister and others have woken up to discover a world which is changing this morning doesn't seem to be one of those mornings in fact if anything slightly encouraging signs that the president was talking up peace appeared to welcome Vladimir zelinsky's intervention yesterday in which he was clearly trying to do what

the UK has been privately urging him to do which is make up with the white house after that dizzyingly strange confrontation that Vladimir zinsky and Donald Trump had in the Oval Office last week now just because Donald Trump didn't spin this crisis again yesterday doesn't mean that it's all sorted there are all sorts of massive questions still hanging over Ukraine of course and that conflict but also really the Western Alliance the transatlantic so-called special relationship which K stor is still going to have to confront but this morning president Trump hasn't inserted any new complications into

that dilemma and I think that will be treated in Danning Street as a sign for relief