Trump set to be sworn in as 47th president – DW – 01/20/2025

Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the Vice President-elect J.D. Vance when he arrived to the White House.

Usually, only the president-elect comes to the White House on Inauguration Day before the swearing-in ceremony.

Harris and Vance were accompanied by their spouses and all shook hands and posed for a photo.

Trump has repeatedly stated that he will impose 10%-20% tariffs on all goods entering the US in an attempt to boost domestic manufacturing and close the trade gap.

But critics have warned that the tariffs would hit US consumers while also putting pressure on other global economies, such as Germany.

DW takes a deeper dive into the possible impacts of Trump’s tariff threats.

A few hours before being sworn in as President of the United States, Donald Trump and his wife Melania attended a service at St John’s Episcopal Church near the White House in Washington.

The traditional pre-inauguration service was also attended by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance and his wife Usha, as well as members of the Trump family, including son Barron. 

The Trumps will head to the White House for a coffee and tea with outgoing President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden after the service.

The two men and their spouses will ride in a joint motorcade to the Capitol before the swearing-in ceremony.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration hours before the ceremony.

During a meeting of the Russian Security Council, Putin said he was open to dialogue with the new US administration on Ukraine and nuclear weapons.

Putin also said he wanted to secure a lasting peace in Ukraine, rather than a brief ceasefire.

Pope Francis wished Donald Trump well in a message sent ahead of his inauguration, urging him to promote “peace and reconciliation among peoples” and to lead a society with “no room for hatred.”

The pontiff offered the incoming president “cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength and protection.”

“It is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion,” the head of the Catholic Church wrote.

“At the same time, as our human family faces numerous challenges, not to mention the scourge of war, I also ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples,” he added.

A day before Trump’s inauguration, Pope Francis criticized his plans for large-scale deportations of undocumented migrants.

In an interview with Italian television aired on Sunday, the pope said the plan would “make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he hoped the United States would remain a “historic partner” of his country after Donald Trump’s inauguration.

“I hope that (Trump) has a successful administration and that the Americans continue to be the historic partner of Brazil,” leftist leader Lula said.

“On our side, we do not want to get into any fight with the US or with Venezuela, China, India, Russia,” he said at a ministerial meeting.

During his first term, Trump was an ally of Lula’s far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro. On Saturday, Bolsonaro said he hoped Trump would help him overcome his legal problems.

Bolsonaro had hoped to attend Trump’s inauguration, but was blocked by Brazil’s Supreme Court, which cited the risk that he might flee to escape an investigation into an alleged coup attempt in 2022 after losing the election to Lula.

DW traveled to Pennsylvania, a key swing state in the November presidential election, where the vote tally was split nearly 50/50.

In Lancaster, one of the state’s most populated counties, we talked to the people who helped decide the outcome.

So what do people expect from Trump’s second term?

Watch the report below:

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to impose a 10-20% tariff on all goods entering the United States. He said this would boost domestic manufacturing and encourage consumers and businesses to buy American-made products by making imported goods more expensive. 

Trump threatened to impose even higher tariffs on Chinese imports, ranging from 20% to 60%. Economists and trade experts predict that these tariffs could apply to finished goods, not raw materials.

The president-elect also accused Canada and Mexico of failing to live up to the terms of a free trade agreement he helped negotiate — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which went into effect in 2020.

Trump said USMCA hasn’t reduced the US trade deficit, so he’s threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from both countries. He also said he plans to renegotiate the deal when it comes up for review next year.

The incoming president has also called on European automakers to increase their US production. While he didn’t specify a tariff figure, Trump has proposed tax breaks for foreign automakers that move more production to the United States.

Read more from DW’s Business Desk here: How Trump’s tariffs could take trade wars to next level

In his final hours in office, President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol. 

He said they “do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”

“These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said in a statement. “Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”

Biden’s decision comes after incoming President Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s behavior around the January 6 uprising.

Meanwhile, Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years and was Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. 

He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and drew Trump’s ire when he refused to back Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about the virus. 

Read more: Biden preemptively pardons Fauci, Milley, Jan. 6 committee

As US President Joe Biden leaves office, Americans have a dimmer view of him than they did at the end of Donald Trump’s first term four years ago.

Watch DW’s review of his presidential term’s successes and blunders below:

Trump’s swearing-in ceremony is just hours away.

If you’re wondering what happens during the event, who is invited, or who pays for it all, DW has you covered.

We’ve compiled everything you need to know about the inauguration right here.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly said he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine. 

But since his election, he has not repeated that pledge, and his aides now concede that it will take months to reach a peace agreement.

While there is no fully developed Trump peace plan, most of his key advisers support taking Ukraine’s NATO membership off the table as part of any deal, at least for now. They also broadly support freezing the battle lines at their current locations.

Trump has also indicated that Kyiv may have to cede some territory in order to reach a peace agreement.

In early January, Trump said he was optimistic the war would end within six months. He also said preparations were underway for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Kremlin had received no proposals from Trump’s team for a meeting with Putin.

According to Lavrov, Russia has not yet seen any concrete proposals on how Trump intends to bring the two sides to the negotiating table.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic relations as well as European self-reliance.

He made the comments in the Rheinische Post newspaper ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Scholz said that “trans-Atlantic relations are vital for Germany and Europe.”

He also highlighted the US’ role in the development of democracy in West Germany and NATO’s role as a guarantor of Germany’s security, reaffirming the US as Germany’s closest ally.

“That is why we need stable relations with the US,” he said.

Scholz also emphasized Europe’s strategic advantages, saying that “as a community of more than 400 million Europeans” the region has economic might and can “build on our own strength.”

The chancellor’s remarks came after a cable by the German ambassador to the US was leaked in which he said that Trump’s presidency would be “driven by vengeance” and that the new US president would undermine “fundamental democratic principles.”

Trump says he plans to issue a flurry of executive orders and directives on issues ranging from energy to immigration after his inauguration.

The incoming president has pledged to deport a record number of immigrants living in the US illegally, and many of the actions he plans to take on his first day as president are aimed at ramping up immigration enforcement.

The executive actions would give federal immigration agents more leeway to arrest people without criminal records, send more troops to the US-Mexico border and restart construction of the border wall. Trump is also expected to declare illegal immigration a national emergency to free up military funds for border wall construction.

On energy, Trump is expected to reduce support for electric vehicles and charging stations and withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, an action he also took during his first term.

Another move Trump could make is to follow through on threats to raise tariffs on imports from America’s largest trading partners.

He has also vowed to sign an executive order ending transgender rights in the US military and in US schools.