Donald Trump will pledge to 'bridge old divisions' in 'bipartisan' State of Union speech
Donald Trump will pledge to “bridge old divisions” and “heal old wounds” in his State of the Union address on Tuesday as he plays up the need for bipartisanship to solve America’s problems.
Speaking in the House of Representatives, which is now controlled by his political opponents the Democrats, the US president is expected to call for congressmen to work across party lines.
Mr Trump will name reducing prescription drugs prices and approving billions of dollars in new government spending on infrastructure as areas where the Democrats and Republicans can agree.
He will also urge politicians to green light his renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement [Nafta], an economic pact with Mexico and Canada whose reworking needs Congress’s approval.
But on the most contentious issue between both parties, immigration, the message could be less harmonious, with Mr Trump recently hinting he could declare a national emergency to build his Mexico border wall.
“Together we can break decades of political stalemate, we can bridge old divisions, heal old wounds, build new coalitions, forge new solutions, and unlock the extraordinary promise of America’s future. The decision is ours to make,” Mr Trump will say, according to an excerpt released by the White House.
A senior administration official gave an outline of the president’s thinking in a briefing ahead of Tuesday nigh's address, which was delayed for a week because of the partial government shutdown.
The speech is one of the stand-out events of the US political calendar, seeing the president address senators, congressmen, Supreme Court judges, members of his cabinet and senior diplomats
This year’s theme is “choosing greatness” and the speech will outline Mr Trump’s “inspiring vision” of the country’s future, according to a senior administration official. It will embody a “very American, can-do, optimistic approach”, the official added.
The address will focus on five areas: safe and legal immigration, trade deals to protect American workers, more infrastructure spending, lower prescription drug prices and US national security.
It is the first of those topics where Mr Trump’s call for bipartisanship will be most tested, given the historic recent standoff between Democrats and Republicans on the issue.
The Democrats’ refusal to give Mr Trump the $5.7 billion he demanded for his Mexico border wall contributed the government shutting down for 35 days, the longest in US history.
The chance of a new spending deal being struck before February 15 - the deadline for three weeks of immigration negotiations, after which the shutdown resumes – looks slim.
Declaring a national emergency would theoretically allow Mr Trump to circumvent Congress, using executive powers and pre-existing funds to construct a wall along the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border.
However it would likely trigger a legal challenge that could see his border wall held up in a court battle, with the result uncertain, and lead to rebellions from some Republican senators.
On foreign policy, Mr Trump is due to speak out against Nicolás Maduro, the embattled Venezuelan president whose legitimacy has been challenged by America and many other Western nations.
The US president is likely to discuss his trade talks with China, which will intensify in the coming weeks , and his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, due later this month.
Mr Trump will also reiterate his desire to “bring to an end our endless foreign wars”, a reference to his announced withdrawal of US troops from Syria and desire to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.
Democrats may approach Mr Trump’s cross-party rhetoric with caution. He made a similar appeal at last year’s State of the Union, only to soon return to familiar attacks against his political opponents.
