Live: Trump Delivers Historic State of the Union Address
🇺🇸 Trump to address economy, tariffs and foreign policy in 2026 State of the Union address
President Donald Trump is set to deliver State of the Union speeches at 9PM EST, while the Democrat’s response is expected at 10:30PM EST.
The President will address a joint session of Congress in a speech that will likely outline what he feels are the accomplishments of his first year in office and his policy agenda moving forward. Lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives will attend, though several Democrats have said they plan to skip it.
What is the State of the Union?
The event is a keynote speech in which the US president sets out their agenda for the next year, highlights their accomplishments to the American people, and shapes a political message.
It is a requirement of the US Constitution that the president “shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient”.
That requirement has been interpreted differently in the more than 200 years since President George Washington delivered the first one in 1790.
In recent decades, the speech has become one of the major media events on the US political calendar. It is followed by a rebuttal from the opposition party – this year that will be delivered by Democratic Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger.
In recent years, it has also produced some memorable moments – like when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ripped Trump’s speech in half in 2020. Pelosi later said she “tore up a manifesto of mistruths”.
