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Donald Trump has ushered in a period of disruption for the global economy, threatening new tariffs against US allies and moving to dismantle Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign agenda just hours after his return at the White House.

In extensive comments to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday night, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1, which hit the money of countries and push US equity futures lower.

The newly minted 47th US president also threatened will apply taxes on Chinese imports up to 100 percent if Beijing fails to agree a deal to sell at least 50 percent of the TikTok app to a US company, and tariffs on EU products unless they buy more American oil .

The comments and shake-up in global markets offered yet another reminder of Trump’s willingness to change the world order and engage in high-stakes coercive negotiations to impose America’s will on key players. trading partner.

The remarks in the Oval Office came just hours after Trump used his inaugural address to promise an end to America’s “denial” and the start of a new “golden age” based on a dramatic shift in the progressive agenda of the Biden administration.

The 78-year-old president has been quick to announce aggressive new measures to boost fossil fuel production, deport immigrants, and deliver the populist and nationalist platform that carried him to victory in the White House race. House last year.

He rescinded several of Biden’s executive orders related to everything from advancing racial equality and imposing extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, to strengthening Medicaid and promoting voting access.

The sweeping overhaul includes the withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate pact and marks a statement of intent by the world-renowned right-wing politician, who was elected after promising to reverse the agenda of the Biden administration.

Trump also announced that he would pardon people convicted of participating in the riots on January 6, 2021 in the US Capitol, when his supporters stormed Congress to violently stop the certification of Biden’s victory in the election of 2020.

The pardon of the rioters sparked a remarkable comeback by Trump himself, who won the election last year despite becoming the first president to be convicted of a crime and after two attempts on his life.

Trump’s trade bluster grew by the day. In his inaugural address, Trump suggested that tariffs are his preferred tool of international economic diplomacy and are essential to raising revenue for the US, ignoring their potential to raise prices for consumers. in America.

“Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” he said.

Trump said a plan to impose a universal tariff on all imports — a measure he favored during his campaign — remains on the table.

Trump spoke in the Oval Office surrounded by key aides including chief of staff Susie Wiles, policy chief Stephen Miller, and Peter Navarro, his top White House adviser on trade and manufacturing policy. .

Signaling that an immigration crackdown remains a domestic policy priority, Trump also signed a national emergency on the US-Mexico border and took steps to restrict birthright citizenship for those born to undocumented immigrants. immigrant to US soil.

“That’s big . . . We are the only country in the world that does this with birthright,” he said, although many countries allow the right.

Trump’s move will almost certainly be challenged in court for violating the 14th amendment of the US constitution.

The president also ordered the Pentagon to come up with a plan to send troops to the US-Mexico border.

Trump has also designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Sending US special forces to Mexico to retrieve them “could happen. Stranger things have happened,” he added.

Trump declined to say whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement would begin raids in major cities on Tuesday to round up undocumented migrants. “I don’t want to say when, but it’s going to happen, it has to happen, or we won’t have a country.”

Among his foreign policy pledges, Trump said the US would take back control of the Panama Canal and “build the strongest military the world has ever seen”, even as he promised to end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, saying that he will be a “peacemaker”.