WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump at a joint address of Congress said he would take steps to improve the U.S. economy, even as stock markets slid Tuesday on fears of a budding trade war with the country's biggest trading partners.
The speech was met with protests, jeers and walkouts from Democratic lawmakers, and cheers from Republicans. At one point early in his address, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas — a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee — was led out of the chamber for telling Trump that he did not have a mandate to make the kind of sweeping changes that his administration has pursued.
"It's worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up," Green said outside the chamber.
Trump, meanwhile, said that the election offered him a "mandate for bold and profound change."
Trump touted the executive orders he's passed and the work that the Department of Government Efficiency — a rebranded U.S. Digital Service, which is not a cabinet-level department — has pursued in slashing the civil service and reducing fraud in the federal government. Democratic lawmakers and outside analysts and experts have challenged the veracity of DOGE's purported claims.
"We're going to find out where that money is going and it's not going to be pretty but slashing all of the fraud, waste and theft we can find will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors and put more money in the pockets of American families," Trump said.
Trump said during his presidential address that DOGE is "headed" by Elon Musk, who attended the speech. The Department of Justice has maintained in legal filings that Musk is simply an advisor to the president and not the head of the body, which has spearheaded the mass firing of thousands of federal workers.
Some of the Trump administration's effort on the federal workforce has centered on dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been operating under a stop work order, has had its office shuttered and is currently the
"The people elected me to do the job and I'm doing it," Trump said.
Trump's speech comes as the economy
While bankers are
He gave no sign of standing down on escalating tariffs between the United States, China, Mexico and Canada in his address. He previewed so-called reciprocal tariffs on April 2, doubling down on previous promises.
"Whatever they tariff us, we tariff them," Trump said in prepared remarks. "Whatever they tax us, we tax them. If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market."
The deep changes to the civil service, laying off
Trump repeated some of his campaign promises to ease economic burdens on American families, while blaming those woes on the Biden administration.
"We inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare," he said.
He said he wanted no taxes on tips, on overtime pay and on Social Security. He also added a new plank — no taxes on auto loans on vehicles made in the United States.
Trump asked Congressional leaders, who have not yet agreed on a path forward to extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, to send him a bill before the government spending deadline next week.
"I'll sign it so fast you won't even believe it," Trump said.
