Our country will be woke no longer, said US President Donald Trump in his first address to Congress after returning to power, adding that the hirings will be based on skill and competence.
“We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant or an air traffic controller, you should be hired on the basis of skill and competence, not race or gender,” Donald Trump said. Follow Trump Congress address live updates
“You should be hired based on merit, and the Supreme Court in a very powerful decision has allowed us to do so,” he said, highlighting his order “making it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders - male and female”.
Donald Trump took credits for bringing back "Free speech" in America, recalling his order from a few days ago making English as the official language of the United States and the renaming of the 'Gulf of Mexico'.
Donald Trump entered the chamber of the House of Representatives amid a thumping round of applause, saying 'America is back' in his opening remarks.
{{/usCountry}}Donald Trump entered the chamber of the House of Representatives amid a thumping round of applause, saying 'America is back' in his opening remarks.
{{/usCountry}}“We are just getting started”, Donald Trump said, adding that “our confidence is back and the American dream is surging bigger than ever before.”
US President Donald Trump first Congress address of his second term follows a turbulent first six weeks in office during which he has taken actions to reshaped US foreign policy, triggered a trade war with key allies, reduced the federal workforce, and engaged in a verbal spat with Ukraine's Zelensky in the White House, where he has hosted several other global leaders as well.
The speech, his first to Congress since his inauguration on January 20, comes after Donald Trump’s new tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China sent US markets into a sharp decline for the second consecutive day.
Trump spoke before lawmakers in the House of Representatives, where, just over four years ago, Congress members were forced into hiding as a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump.
Trump's latest sweeping orders
The speech comes a day after a set of sweeping orders by Donald Trump, including suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine that followed a tense Oval Office meeting in which he publicly scolded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The decision to halt aid came as a major setback for Kyiv’s defense efforts against Russia, which invaded Ukraine three years ago, and further unsettled European leaders.
While Trump has suggested that Ukraine shares blame for starting the war, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that 70 per cent of Americans, including two-thirds of Republicans, believe Russia is primarily at fault.
Donald Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada, two close US allies, kicked in on Tuesday along with doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20 per cent, raising concerns among investors about the state of the economy.