Updated January 20, 2025

03:07 PM EST

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AFP / Getty Images

Key Takeaways

  • President Donald Trump took office for the second time Monday, taking over from Joe Biden.
  • Trump has promised sweeping changes that will have economic consequences, including mass deportations, tariffs on imported goods, fewer regulations and lower taxes.
  • Under Biden’s leadership, the economy prospered but was undermined by persistent problems including stubborn inflation, high housing costs and a soaring national debt.

Donald Trump was sworn in as president Monday for a second time, taking over management of an economy that’s running smoothly in many ways but facing unprecedented challenges. 

Trump took the oath of office at the Capitol Rotunda, becoming the 47th president of the United States, now empowered to pursue the numerous sweeping changes to the economy he promised on the campaign trail. His agenda includes cutting taxes, reducing federal regulations, deporting immigrants, imposing tariffs on products imported from overseas, and promoting cryptocurrency.

In a speech promising a new “golden age” for the U.S., Trump laid out an economic agenda focused on fighting inflation, taxing foreign trade, deporting immigrants and, in a rebuke of his predecessor Joe Biden’s climate policies, promoting oil production instead of green energy.

He inherits a prosperous economy that’s nonetheless underlined by persistent problems that the Biden administration was unable to get under control. During Biden’s presidency, employers added jobs every single month he was in office, the stock market boomed, wages rose faster than inflation by some measures, and the economy grew at a healthy rate, defying predictions of experts that it would slide into a recession.

At the same time, the post-pandemic surge of high inflation lingered, angering voters and holding back standards of living for many workers; and home ownership became the least affordable in decades. The withdrawal of pandemic-era social safety net programs put millions of children back into poverty after Biden’s efforts to extend the child tax credit expansion ran aground in the Senate. The national debt continued to rise, setting off alarm bells about the stability of the financial system and triggering political confrontations.

With Republicans in charge of the Senate and House of Representatives following the November elections, and with a 6-3 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, Trump will have broad power to implement the sweeping changes to the economy he promised on the campaign trail. The incoming president has promised to begin many of those changes on Day One without waiting for legislation, including imposing tariffs and laying the groundwork for mass deportations.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to include a reference to Trump’s remarks during his inaugural address.