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Presidents typically use these speeches to promote their accomplishments and lay out their plans. President Trump is expected to touch on Ukraine and government cuts.
By Tyler Pager
Tyler Pager is a White House correspondent. He reported from Washington.
March 4, 2025, 5:02 a.m. ET
Since taking office just six weeks ago, President Trump has blitzed Washington by issuing a flurry of executive actions and leading a dramatic overhaul of the federal bureaucracy.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump is expected to promote those actions while laying out his priorities when he delivers an address to a joint session of Congress. Mr. Trump’s speech is not an official State of the Union address because he was just sworn in as president, but the event will look very similar to one with all three branches of government converging inside the House chamber.
As is common with these types of speeches, Mr. Trump will most likely tick through a laundry list of accomplishments — think immigration, tariffs and cuts to government spending — and outline his plans for the months ahead.
Mr. Trump says he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker,” and so he is expected to discuss his plans to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The president will also have to address the funding battle unfolding on Capitol Hill. If Congress does not pass a new spending bill by March 14, the government will shut down.
Here are four questions to consider before Mr. Trump takes the rostrum at 9 p.m.
What will Trump say about Putin and Zelensky?
Mr. Trump on Monday temporarily suspended the delivery of all U.S. military aid to Ukraine, days after an explosive Oval Office meeting with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump will have the opportunity to explain the decision and address what the United States’ support for the war-torn country will look in the future.
The president is no fan of Mr. Zelensky and has made clear he wants a drastically different approach from the Biden administration, which sent billions of dollars in aid and weapons to counter Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago.
