President Donald Trump recapped six weeks of aggressive efforts to cut the federal workforce, reorganise the economy and reorient foreign policy in his first address to a joint session of the United States Congress on Tuesday.
His speech was long by historical standards – about an hour and 40 minutes – and it inspired more opposition party pushback than any in recent memory.
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson ejected Al Green, a representative from Texas and longtime Trump critic, after he disrupted the president a few minutes into his speech. Republicans cheered Green’s removal. As Trump mentioned law enforcement, some Democratic lawmakers shouted “January 6”, referring to the 2021 Capitol riot that led to numerous casualties among the Capitol Police force. Johnson banged his gavel and called for decorum.
Trump emphasised his commitment to following through on tariffs, including those that went into effect earlier in the day against Canada, Mexico and China.
“Tariffs – they’re about protecting the soul of our country,” Trump said. “There will be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.” To farmers, who have been worried about retaliatory tariffs against the crops they export, Trump said, “it may be a little bit of an adjustment”, but he urged them to “have a lot of fun – I love you, too”.
Here’s a rundown of some of his key claims, fact-checked.
“Mexican authorities, because of our tariff policies being imposed on them, think of this, handed it over to us, 29 of the biggest cartel leaders in their country. That has never happened before,” Trump said.
This needs context.
Mexico extradited 29 “leaders and managers of drug cartels” to the US on February 27, the Department of Justice said. The number of people extradited in one day was described as “unconventional” and “unprecedented” by InSight Crime, a think tank focused on crime and security in the Americas.
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