Trump pledges ‘dominant’ civilization as he takes aim at Canada, Mexico in Congress speech

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U.S. President Donald Trump took aim at Canada and Mexico in a highly partisan and divisive address to Congress in which he pledged tariffs against America’s allies and promised an economic resurgence for his country in a speech that was at times interrupted by jeers from Democrats.

In a speech lasting longer than 90 minutes that touched on cost-of-living, government waste, border security and social issues, Mr. Trump touted his administration’s record and vowed to bring a “common sense revolution” to the United States.

Mr. Trump, who on Tuesday imposed 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, said the current trade practices are unfair and the U.S. won’t allow it anymore.

“Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada. But we have very large deficits with both of them,“ Mr. Trump said.

“We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars. And the United States will not be doing that any longer.”

Mr. Trump repeated his pledges to reclaim the Panama Canal and told the people of Greenland: “And, if you choose, we welcome you into the United States of America.”

It was part of a broader theme struck by Mr. Trump as he seeks to preside over the reshaping of American society and might. He cast his ambition in civilizational terms.

“We are going to forge the freest, most advanced, most dynamic and most dominant civilization ever to exist on the face of this Earth,” he said.

Mr. Trump called his predecessor Joe Biden “the worst president in American history,” and bemoaned the lack of applause from his political opponents.

The speech focused heavily on rebuilding America’s economic prowess as well as border security, with the President paying tribute to invited members of the gallery who had lost loves ones to crimes at the hands of illegal immigrants.

Mr. Trump called Venezuelan gang members “savages,” devoting an extended period of his speech to the families of women whose deaths have been blamed on migrants.

At one point, he called Mexico “the territory to the immediate south of our border,” describing that country as a region “now dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture and exercise total control.”

Those cartels, he said, “are waging war on America and it’s time for America to wage war on the cartels, which we are doing.”

Trump repeated exaggerated justifications for imposing tariffs

Mr. Trump threatened economic devastation on his allies and criticized Canada and Mexico again for allowing fentanyl to come into the U.S. Canada has also announced retaliatory tariffs on American products.

However, a Globe and Mail investigation, published last week, determined that the northern border data set doesn’t reveal anything about the origin of the drugs and, in fact, includes fentanyl that came from Mexico. The fentanyl moving from Canada into the United States is a tiny fraction of the thousands of pounds of the illicit drug trafficked into American territory each year.

The U.S. administration has sent conflicting messages about the reasons behind the tariffs. Mr. Trump initially framed the issue as being about border control and fentanyl. But in recent days he has also linked tariffs to manufacturing jobs in particular in the auto industry and said if companies come to the U.S. there will be no tariffs.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also suggested Tuesday that Mr. Trump may make a compromise on tariffs with Canada and Mexico as early as Wednesday.

“If you don’t make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration you will pay a tariff. And in some cases, a rather large one,” Mr. Trump said in his speech.

“On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico and Canada – have you heard of them – and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair.”

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He also repeated his threat to issue reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

In the Democratic response after Mr. Trump’s speech, Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin said tariffs on allies like Canada will raise prices on energy, lumber and cars “and start a trade war that will hurt manufacturing and farmers.”

Mr. Trump also criticized what he called the “open border policy” of the Democrats and urged Congress to pass across the board tax cuts.

At the beginning of the speech, Mr. Trump was interrupted by members of the crowd shortly after he started speaking, prompting Speaker Mike Johnson to issue a warning and remove Texas Congressman Al Green from the chamber. “He has no mandate,” shouted Mr. Green, who later clarified to reporters he was talking about cutting Medicaid.

President again targeted DEI initiatives, transgender athletes

In decrying diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, Mr. Trump declared “our country will be woke no longer.”

Mr. Trump also took aim at the issue of transgender athletes in women’s sports, and said schools must kick men off the girls’ team or they will lose all federal funding. He also said he wants to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing “sex changes on children” and “forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”

“Our message to every child in America is you are perfect exactly the way God made you,” he said, adding: “Wokeness is trouble. Wokeness is bad. It’s gone.”

Mr. Trump also promoted his Department of Government Efficiency initiative (DOGE) and acknowledged Mr. Musk in the audience, who was greeted with a mixture of applause and boos. He said Mr. Musk has found hundreds of billions of dollars in savings, listing off a litany of spending such as $8-million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, “which nobody has ever heard of.”

Mr. Trump said among his highest priorities is to rescue the economy and get “dramatic and immediate relief to working families,” blaming the previous administration for creating “an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”

The President also pledged to take action later this week to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths in the U.S.

Mr. Trump also announced a new office of shipbuilding in the White House and said he will offer special tax incentives to bring the industry back to America.

Still hoping to broker peace in Ukraine

On foreign policy, Mr. Trump said he is working “tirelessly” to end the “savage conflict” in Ukraine.

“Millions of Ukrainians and Russians have been needlessly killed or wounded in this horrific and brutal conflict, with no end in sight,” he said.

“You want to keep it going for another five years?”

The White House on Monday paused U.S. assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr. Trump accused the Ukrainian President of not being committed to peace, while the U.S. President aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Trump said he received a letter from Mr. Zelensky Tuesday that said Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. He said he appreciates the letter, and that the U.S. has had “serious discussions” with Russia and received “strong signals” that they are ready for peace.

In her response, Ms. Slotkin later said Mr. Trump believes in cozying up to “dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth.”