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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump launched his second term with a strident inaugural address that vowed to prioritize America’s interests with a “golden age” for the country, while taking on “a radical and corrupt establishment.”

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“Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” Trump said on Monday from Washington, minutes after taking the oath of office in the US Capitol Rotunda. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.” 

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Trump’s remarks laid the groundwork for what he aims to be a transformational administration that was elected on pledges to overhaul US immigration, trade, tax and energy policy — part of a broad effort to reshape the country’s economy, government and ties with other nations. The address marked a triumphal high point in what is a largely unprecedented political comeback, with the president speaking from the very building his supporters stormed just over four years ago in a bid to keep him in power after a 2020 election defeat. 

Trump vowed to overhaul “a government that cannot manage, even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time, stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad.”

“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” Trump said.

The president went on to cast his victory as divinely ordained, evoking the attempted assassination during his campaign where he was grazed by a bullet.

“I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason — I was saved by God to make America great again,” the president said.

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Trump overcame that election defeat as well as legal cases including four criminal indictments — one of which led to him being convicted — a wide field of Republican primary challengers, and two Democratic opponents as he forced former President Joe Biden from the race and defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris.

He returns to office more emboldened than before and with fewer likely checks on his efforts to implement his populist worldview on the US. Trump aims to open that effort with dozens of planned Day One executive actions he is expected to announce and sign later Monday. 

“Our sovereignty will be reclaimed, our safety will be restored, the scales of justice will be rebalanced,” Trump said.

Early Orders

Trump detailed many of the actions he intends to take during the address, saying he would declare a national emergency at the border to crack down on a surge in undocumented migrants that was one of the top concerns for voters in the election. He pledged to end the policy by which migrants are released while they await an asylum hearing, send troops to the southern border and designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. 

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“As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” he said. “We will do it at a level that nobody has ever seen before.”

Trump also pledged to tackle inflation by declaring a national energy emergency to bring down costs for Americans. Those plans aim to unleash domestic production, with policy changes that would enable new oil and gas development on federal lands and roll back Biden-era climate regulations.

“With my actions today, we will end the green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said, adding that the US would withdraw from the Paris climate accord. He also pledged to increase purchases of the US strategic oil reserve and boost energy exports abroad.

Trump during the campaign threatened sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries, casting them as a source of revenue and a way to force companies to bring manufacturing jobs to the US. He reiterated that pledge on Monday, saying he would “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

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As part of that effort, Trump said he would restore the name of Mount McKinley — which was named Denali during the Obama administration in a nod to the native peoples who live near the continent’s highest mountain peak — as tribute to President William McKinley, himself a proponent of tariffs. 

Trump will not unveil China-specific tariffs on his first day in office, according to incoming officials, but will instead call for federal agencies to study policies on levies.

Trump has also already vowed to move quickly on one of his immediate challenges, the future of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok. The president has said he would extend a deadline to sell TikTok.

The president has also teed up executive actions on hot-button cultural issues, planning an executive order that recognizes two sexes — male and female — and one ending diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government.

Trump inherits a relatively strong economy; the last month where the US lost jobs was his last full month in office during his first term, December 2020, when the country was in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic. He still faces persistent inflation, however, price growth has been moderating and the Federal Reserve is grappling with the pace of its interest rate cuts.

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Foreign Policy

Trump touted a more aggressive stance abroad, repeating his pledge to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and vowing that the US would retake the Panama Canal.

“We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made, and Panama’s promise to us, has been broken,” Trump said, repeating claims that China is controlling the canal.

“We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back,” he said.

Trump’s vows to force an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine and demand that US allies spend more on defense have rattled foreign capitals.

On Monday, Trump said his “proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier” who should be judged by his ability to keep Americans out of foreign conflicts.

“We will measure our success, not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly the wars we never get into,” he said.

Business Leaders 

Trump’s economic pledges won him support from many on Wall Street and in corporate America, wooed by his vows to roll back regulations and expand tax cuts. Among those attending Monday’s events were some of the world’s richest people, including Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos, Meta Platforms Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk, who will have a role helping Trump slash government spending. TikTok CEO Shou Chew also attended with the fate of the app’s US operations in Trump’s hands. 

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Many of the tech titans also joined Trump at church and at the US Capitol, where some sat in front Cabinet nominees and other luminaries to watch him take the oath.

Still, Trump’s agenda also hinges on Congress, where Republicans are preparing for talks on a major tax package they will move in one or two bills, a difficult task with a narrow House majority. 

Trump will also weigh the extent to which he wants to orient his administration around personal grievances, including his frequent complaints about his 2020 electoral defeat and efforts to prosecute him after leaving office. Earlier Monday, Biden announced pardons for family members and some government officials that Trump had threatened to punish on the campaign trail.

Trump oriented his speech toward a broader electoral coalition, saying he would seek to unify the country under the banner of “common sense.”

“I’ve heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come,” Trump said to Black and Hispanic voters who had backed his electoral effort.

The trappings of Monday’s ceremony were more subdued than typical. Citing the brutal weather, Trump moved his swearing-in inside the Capitol Rotunda, and shifted the inauguration parade — normally along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House — to the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.

Still, the inauguration, which fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, carried some of the traditional pageantry. Trump and many of the corporate executives attended a church service in the morning, with the incoming president then visiting Biden for a customary tea at the White House. Other former presidents, including George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — who was joined by his wife, former Secretary of State and Trump electoral foe Hillary Clinton — attended the inaugural event.

(Updates throughout with additional remarks, background)

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