US President Donald Trump is set to deliver a speech to Congress on Tuesday evening, in which he is expected to discuss new US trade tariffs and the war in Ukraine.
The televised address, scheduled for 21:00 EST (02:00 GMT), will be Trump’s first major speech since his return to the White House more than six weeks ago.
Its theme will be the “Renewal of the American Dream”, Fox News reports, and it will have four sections: Trump’s accomplishments so far in his second presidency, the economy, funding for border security and Trump’s plans for global peace.
It comes after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico, prompting a fall in stock markets, while pausing all US aid to Ukraine.
Trump teased the speech in a post on his Truth Social network on Monday, writing: “TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS.”
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said it would be “must-see TV”.
She told Fox News that the address “will celebrate his extraordinarily successful first month in office while outlining his bold, ambitious and common sense vision for the future”.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has drastically upended US policy on key foreign policy and trade issues.
He has also created a Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), fronted by tech titan Elon Musk, to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government in a bid to cut costs and balance the books. Doge has since instructed controversial mass layoffs in the federal workforce across departments.
Democratic lawmakers have invited several workers who were fired as a result of Doge cuts to Tuesday’s address.
Trump’s speech will be followed by a rebuttal from Democrats, which will be delivered by newly-elected Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Slotkin would “offer a bold vision of hope, unity, and a brighter future for everyone, not just the wealthy few at the top”.
While Tuesday’s speech appears to be like a traditional State of the Union (SOTU) address, it is expected to be slightly different.
SOTU addresses are typically given by the president annually in late January or early February, and serve as an update on events of the previous year as well as future agendas.
Tuesday’s remarks, however, are what is called a joint address to Congress – a formal speech to all US lawmakers that a president could deliver at any time to discuss matters of national importance.
The practice of calling for a joint address to Congress at the beginning of a presidential term was pioneered by Ronald Reagan, and has been carried out by every US president since.