Donald Trump sent the world spinning on his 21st day in the White House after he threatened to slap further tariffs on countries around the world.
The Republican politician made history as he became the first sitting President to attend the Super Bowl. But the unpredictable President also made waves in other areas. On an Air Force One flight to the American Football game in New Orleans, the US President said he would slap 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports entering America. Countries across the world – including the UK – are now scrambling to get clarity.
During the flight, he also repeated his desire to annex Canada and make it into America’s “51st state”, ranting about how the border between the US and Canada was drawn “with a ruler” many years ago. And after the Super Bowl game, he started trolling popstar Taylor Swift on social media.
Mr Trump made other wild comments about Canada and defended under-fire Elon Musk in a pre-recorded interview with Fox News, which was released during his flight to New Orleans. His participation in the Super Bowl interview marked a return to the tradition of Presidents giving a sit-down chat to the network broadcasting the game – which is the most-watched television event of the year.
Here’s a round-up of his wildest moments as we mark three weeks since Mr Trump returned to the White House.
1. Causing global chaos on tariffs
In comments on his way to the Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, the US president shocked the world when he said he will impose 25% tariffs on “any steel coming into the United States”, adding that aluminium will also be subject to additional duties.
He did not offer any details, but did confirm he plans to announce on Tuesday or Wednesday other “reciprocal tariffs” on countries that have their own duties on US products. The UK exported 166,433 tonnes of steel to the US in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available.
The UK has so far avoided being hit with tariffs, but officials are now urgently seeking further details on whether we’ll be hit by Mr Trump’s latest announcement. Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle this morning said the Government will have to “wait and see whether the president gets more specific about what he meant by that comment”.
2. Trolling Taylor Swift over the Super Bowl
After dipping out of the Super Bowl game early, the erratic President decided to take to social media to troll global superstar Taylor Swift.
In a bizarre post on his platform Truth Social, Mr Trump shared a video of himself at the American football game in New Orleans where cheering and applause could be heard in the background, alongside a video of an uncomfortable-looking Swift on the stadium TV screen apparently being booed. The US President added: “Trump gets massive cheers at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed.”
In another mocking comment, the attention-seeking Mr Trump wrote: “The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA [Make America Great Again] is very unforgiving!”
Swift was at the match supporting her boyfriend Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce , whose team lost to the Philadelphia Eagles.
3. More obsessing over renaming the ‘Gulf of Mexico’
During his flight to New Orleans, Mr Trump signed a proclamation declaring February 9 the first ever “Gulf of America Day” as Air Force One flew over the body of water that he renamed by proclamation from the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico also yesterday hit back mockingly at Mr Trump’s obsession over renaming , in a sarcastic comeback to his comments on the Gulf of Mexico. This had once been the name of the territory in 1607 on an historic European map.
Elsewhere Mexican President Sheinbaum last month wrote a letter to Google asking it to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico. For people using the app in the US, it will appear with the new name the Gulf of America. Elsewhere across the globe it will keep its current name, which has been used for hundreds of years.
4. Saying his Canada 51st state dream ‘is a real thing’
Mr Trump ranted about how serious is about wanting Canada to become the 51st state in an interview that aired Sunday during the Super Bowl pre-show.
Asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing” by Fox News, the US President said: “Yeah it is. I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” he said.
Mr Trump then repeated false claims that the US is subsidising Canada, adding: “Why are we paying $200billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?” The US is not subsidising Canada. It buys products from the country, including commodities like oil. While the trade gap has surged in recent years, it largely reflects US imports of Canadian energy.
Canadian officials had previously dismissed Mr Trump’s thoughts on a 51st state as a joke. But a leaked recording of Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders he believes it “is a real thing” and that Mr Trump might be serious.
5. More ranting about Canada
Elsewhere, Mr Trump made faint threats that he would withdraw any military support to Canada. He claimed that Canada is “not viable as a country” without U.S. trade, and warned that the founding NATO member can no longer depend on the U.S. for military protection.
“You know, they don’t pay very much for military. And the reason they don’t pay much is they assume that we’re going to protect them,” he said. “That’s not an assumption they can make because… why are we protecting another country?”
After making the comments, Mr Trump then continued to rant about Canada as a 51st state being a “cherished state”. He said the US would be “beautiful” without the border between itself and the US. “Somebody drew it many years ago with a ruler, just a line,” he said.
6. Fawning over ‘terrific’ Elon Musk
Elsewhere in Mr Trump’s Fox News interview, he defended the work of his sidekick Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency – nicknamed DOGE – has been under fire.
And he aimed criticism at a federal judge who had blocked DOGE from accessing sensitive personal data. A judge on Saturday temporarily blocked DOGE’s access to the US Treasury Department following a lawsuit, hitting out at the risk of “irreparable harm.”
Discussing the ruling, Mr Trump said: “I disagree with it 100%. I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem.” The US President said Musk, who owns Tesla and Twitter /X, has been “terrific”.
7. Seeing his trade war with China play out
In the last 24 hours, Mr Trump’s trade war with China intensified. Beijing announced it has imposed retaliatory tariffs on America after the US President decided to slap an additional 10% levy on Chinese products.
It marks a huge escalation in the trade war between the two biggest economies in the world. China announced tariffs against the UK minutes after Mr Trump’s new levies hit them in January.
Last week China accused the US of making “unfounded and false allegations” about its part in the fentanyl trade to justify slapping tariffs on Chinese products. The country lodged a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in which it said the measures were “discriminatory and protectionist” and violated trade rules.