World Leaders Welcome Trump’s Measured Tone, Await Details of ‘America First’ Policies

But while his prime-time address to Congress and the nation wrapped his nationalistic politics in prose that was more presidential, it is unlikely to overcome the deep divisions created by his first few weeks in office. He said he was looking for Trump to address Obamacare, tax reform, and immigration.

As he stood behind the podium, Martin joked: “It’s pretty surreal, watching Trump up there”. Yet the president only obliquely referenced this head-turning position in his speech.

After nearly six weeks in office, Trump supporters hope he is hitting his stride and has learned from his early stumbles.

As such, it was received with an audible negative response from Democrats in the chamber, who have long criticized Trump for demonizing immigrants.

Trump pledged: “Dying industries will come roaring back to life, veterans [will be] remembered, infrastructure replaced, with new roads, bridges, tunnels and airports, [the] drug epidemic will slow and stop, and our neglected inner cities will see a rebirth of hope, safety, and opportunity – we will keep our promises to the American people”. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said he too expects allies to ensure fairer burden sharing, and noted that defense spending among European allies and Canada rose 3.8 percent over 2016.

Trump did not directly mention the travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim- majority countries that was struck down by the courts.

“The time for small thinking is over, the time for trivial fights is behind us”, Trump said.

Much of the rest of the speech was a laundry list of policies and goals akin to what other presidents have asked for – and hearing them, Trump could sound surprisingly normal. He spoke of healing and hope, and called for bipartisanship in the name of common national objective.

At the beginning of the speech Trump condemned bomb threats against Jewish community centers and day schools and vandalism at Jewish cemeteries across the nation.

“Once again Trump has left large spaces open for China to, in a sense, exploit in diplomatic terms”, he said. Throughout the Obama administration American diplomats were constantly – if a little more solicitously – calling for American allies, and in particular member states of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, to increase defence spending to at least 2 per cent of GDP. He expressed support for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but also signaled a retrenchment of America’s role on the global stage.

“My job is not to represent the world”, Trump said. “That said, for markets valuations are looking stretched, which will impact both the USA as well as domestic equities”, Nair said.

Instead he hedged by offering the outlines of a plan with greater “choice” and “access” in health-insurance, two weasel words favored by those who don’t believe that the government should guarantee a basic level of “insurance for everybody”. In addition, 69% said that the speech made then more optimistic about the country, while only 28% said it made them more pessimistic.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump executed a big change in tone possibly after a family intervention.

But he never quite got there, until now. Among those who will sit with Melania Trump are Jessica Davis, Susan Oliver, and Jamiel Shaw, Sr. – each who had a family member killed by an immigrant in the country illegally, according to the White House.

Trump tempered his familiar phrases of fear like “beachhead of terrorism” with expressions of optimism, asserting that “every problem can be solved” if Republicans and Democrats work together.

Trump’s voters – the type that usually eat up his his fiery rhetoric on security – probably still got the message, just as he and his speechwriters intended. He was also unimpressed by the president’s inclusive language.

“All markets including equity markets will be wanting more details primarily around tax reform and its impact to corporate and individuals’ balance sheets”, said Sean Simko, who manages $8 billion in fixed-income assets at SEI Investments Co.in Oaks, Pennsylvania. Both were legacy policies of the Obama administration. But Republicans are hopeful.