Key takeaways from Trump's swearing-in as 47th U.S. president

Donald Trump has taken the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States, returning to the White House four years after leaving it in defeat.

This is Trump's second presidency, after serving in the White House from 2017 to 2021. Trump is the first president in more than a century to win a second term after losing the White House and the first felon to occupy it. The oldest president ever to be sworn in, he is backed by Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.

In his inaugural speech on Monday, Trump, 78, vowed a new "golden age" for America and promised a slew of measures on everything from the Mexican border to defining gender and ending U.S. participation in the fight to stop global warming.

New U.S. 'golden age'

"The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world," Trump said at the Capitol, where the inauguration was held indoors for the first time in decades due to freezing weather.

Trump said he will also sign orders declaring a national emergency at the Mexican border and deploy U.S. troops to tackle illegal immigration – a key campaign issue that drove his election victory over Kamala Harris.

He also pledged to re-implement his 2019 "Remain in Mexico" policy, which required asylum seekers to stay on the other side of the border while waiting for their immigration appointments and court dates.

Also in Monday's speech, Trump repeated his false assertion that foreign countries were emptying their prisons and mental health institutions across the U.S. border, and he pledged to designate drug-trafficking cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations."

Then, he added, he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the president to detain and deport foreign nationals during times of war, to go after "all foreign gangs and criminal networks."

He also said his government would recognize "only two genders: male and female," ending the current practice of providing a third gender option in some settings, and scrap government diversity programs.

Trump also vowed to "drill, baby, drill" for oil and scrap rules aimed at persuading motorists to buy electric vehicles.

The returning president struck a nationalistic tone, pledging to impose trade tariffs, rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and take "back" the Panama Canal, which has been controlled by the Central American country since 1999.

Finally, he vowed to "plant the Stars and Stripes" on the planet Mars.

Executive orders

After the inauguration, Trump signed orders in front of a cheering crowd. His initial executive orders revoked Biden administration policies governing artificial intelligence and electric vehicles, among others.

At the White House, Trump signed an order declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, which would unlock funding and allow him to dispatch troops there.

He signed an order ending a policy that confers citizenship to those born in the United States, which is certain to trigger a lengthy court fight. Another executive order designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations.

The 78-year-old also imposed a freeze on federal hiring and ordered government workers to return to the office, rather than working from home. He also signed paperwork to create a "Department of Government Efficiency," an outside advisory board headed by billionaire Elon Musk that aims to cut large swaths of government spending.

Trump signed executive orders declaring a national energy emergency and withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Paris climate deal, an international pact to fight global warming. He also signed orders aimed at promoting oil and gas development in Alaska and reversing Biden's efforts to protect vast Arctic lands and U.S. coastal waters from drilling.

Another executive order was signed to allow the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization, a body he has repeatedly criticized over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for the TikTok order, he also signed an executive order to delay the TikTok ban by 75 days "to permit my administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course of action with respect to TikTok."

He did not take immediate action to raise tariffs, a key campaign promise, but said he could impose 25 percent duties on Canada and Mexico on February 1.

The Republican also reached out to core supporters by signing an order pardoning those convicted for attacking the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election loss to Biden.

(With input from agencies)