First presidency of Donald Trump

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First presidency of Donald Trump January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
Cabinet	See list
Party	Republican
Election	2016
Seat	White House
← Barack Obama Joe Biden →
Seal of the president
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This article is part of a series about Donald Trump
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Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump was inaugurated and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, in which he lost the popular vote to Clinton by nearly three million votes. Upon his inauguration, he became the first president in American history without prior public office or military background. Trump made an unprecedented number of false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. His first presidency ended following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election to former Democratic vice president Joe Biden, after one term in office.

Trump was unsuccessful in his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act but rescinded the individual mandate. He sought substantial spending cuts to major welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and a partial repeal of the Dodd–Frank Act. He appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. Trump reversed numerous environmental regulations, withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change, and signed the Great American Outdoors Act but later issued an Executive Order undercutting its impact. He signed the First Step Act aimed at reforming federal prisons. He enacted tariffs, triggering retaliatory tariffs from China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. He withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations and signed the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, a successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement with modest changes. The federal deficit significantly increased under Trump due to spending increases and tax cuts.

Trump implemented a controversial family separation policy for migrants apprehended at the United States–Mexico border, starting in 2018. His demand for the federal funding of a border wall resulted in the longest US government shutdown in history. He deployed federal law enforcement forces in response to the racial unrest in 2020. Trump's "America First" foreign policy was characterized by unilateral actions, disregarding traditional norms and allies. His administration implemented a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia; denied citizens from several Muslim-majority countries entry into the United States; recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel; and brokered the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and various Arab states. Trump withdrew United States troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to occupy the area. His administration made a conditional deal with the Taliban to withdraw United States troops from Afghanistan in 2021. Trump met North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un three times. He withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement and later escalated tensions in the Persian Gulf by ordering the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.

Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019) concluded that Russia interfered to favor Trump's candidacy and that while the prevailing evidence "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government", possible obstructions of justice occurred during the course of that investigation. Trump attempted to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rival Joe Biden, triggering his first impeachment by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, but he was acquitted by the Senate on February 5, 2020. Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials in his messaging, and promoted misinformation about unproven treatments and the availability of testing.

Following his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Biden, Trump made unproven claims of widespread electoral fraud and initiated an extensive campaign to overturn the results. At a rally on January 6, 2021, Trump urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, where the electoral votes were being counted by Congress in order to formalize Biden's victory. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, suspending the count and causing Vice President Mike Pence and other members of Congress to be evacuated. On January 13, the House voted to impeach Trump an unprecedented second time for incitement of insurrection, but he was later acquitted by the Senate again on February 13, after he had already left office.

Trump was elected for a second non-consecutive term in 2024 and will start his second presidency on January 20, 2025.