Donald Trump vowed to stop wars across the world as he declared “the golden age of America begins right now” in a triumphant speech marking his return to the White House.
He placed himself at the head of a global movement opposing “woke” culture and job-destroying environmentalism, as he declared “sunlight is pouring over the entire world”.
But he also placed America’s trading partners on notice that he intended to “put America first” and impose swingeing taxes on imports, in a move that could cost the UK billions if the new President goes ahead with his threat.
The UK is the biggest trading partner of the US and total British exports to the country amounted to £188.2 billion in 2024.
In a striking passage of his inauguration speech at Capitol Hill in Washington, Mr Trump pointed out that he survived two assassination attempts and declared: “My life was saved for a reason, I was saved by God to make America great again.”
The new President also said America would send a manned mission to Mars.
Key messages include:
An end to war
Mr Trump claimed the US was providing “unlimited funding to the defence of foreign borders”.
He declared: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.”
And he declared: “Our power will stop .. wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and unpredictable.”
The President is determined to end the practice of sending billions of US dollars to Ukraine. The concern for the UK will be that this involves making a deal with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin that allows Russia to keep some of the territory it has seized during the three-year attempted invasion.
There is also concern about whether Mr Trump is fully committed to the NATO military alliance.
However Mr Trump was also signalling that he will not follow the example of previous Presidents such as George W Bush, who invaded Iraq, and get involved in foreign wars unless there is no other option.
Tariffs on foreign imports
Mr Trump vowed that foreign countries will be forced to pay the US in return for access to its markets.
He said: “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich our countries we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.
For this purpose we are establishing the external revenue service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources.”
Despite the tough words, it’s not clear that this will mean tariffs on UK goods, which would cost our country an estimated £2.5 billion every year or more. Some Washington experts believe this is a negotiating position and Mr Trump is likely to avoid introducing tariffs quickly.
No more “woke”.
Mr Trump condemned an “education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country.”
He said: “All of this will change starting today and will change very quickly.”
The President took on gender ideology, insisting it will be government policy “that there are only two genders, male and female”.
And he said attempts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” will end.
While his comments refer specifically to the US, they will give heart to opponents of woke across the world.
The world is changing
Mr Trump suggested his election marked a sea change in attitudes worldwide.
He said: “A tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before”.
This is a view that will be echoed by some British politicians such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who believe that there is a worldwide rebellion against woke ideology and net zero policies.
Seizing new territory
Despite talking about peace, Mr Trump also had tough words about America using its power to pursue its interests.
He insisted: “Nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans”.
He reiterated plans to re-named the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. There’s nothing to stop him giving the gulf any name he likes but what might be tougher is his goal of re-claiming the Panama Canal from Panama.
Mr Trump said the US would be a “growing nation” which “expands our territory”.
And he confirmed plans to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”.
The UK can be in no doubt that the new US President will always put America first.