According to Xinhua News Agency, on January 6, 2025, Eastern Time, a joint session of Congress held a ceremony to count the electoral votes, officially confirming Republican presidential candidate Trump as the President. After four years, Trump will once again take the White House.
The counting of electoral votes by Congress is the final confirmation procedure of the presidential election results, presided over by the current Vice President and Senate President, Harris, the Democratic candidate who lost in last year's election. The Senate is responsible for reviewing significant government personnel appointments.
The entire process lasted nearly 30 minutes, after which the audience stood and applauded, during which Harris smiled. Trump stated on social media that Congress is proving a 'great' electoral victory; Senator and Vice Presidential candidate Vance received congratulations from the crowd. The Associated Press commented that this shows a return to the tradition of peaceful transfer of power in the U.S. Over the past year, a series of political violence incidents have occurred in the U.S., exemplified by the shooting of Trump.
On that day, tall barriers were erected around the Capitol. Four years ago, the 'Capitol Hill Riot' occurred precisely on the day of the electoral vote count. At that time, after losing the election for re-election, Trump claimed that the Democrats manipulated the election. Subsequently, a large number of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of the election results. This riot resulted in five deaths. Last year, Trump reiterated that he would pardon most of those convicted due to this incident.
The 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that the presidential inauguration should be held on January 20, and if it falls on a weekend, it is postponed. The ceremony process includes escort parades, the Vice President's oath, the President's oath, the inaugural address, the outgoing President's departure, signing orders, the inaugural luncheon, and a review parade.
According to the Global Times, the newly re-elected Trump is very eager to take this opportunity to invite world leaders to the inauguration ceremony and has sent informal invitations through phone calls and other means. It is reported that heads of government from countries such as El Salvador, Italy, and Argentina have already received invitations, while Russian President Putin did not receive one.
However, the attendees of the inauguration ceremony are usually diplomats stationed in the U.S., and it is rare for foreign heads of state to personally travel to Washington for this. Recently, Ukrainian President Zelensky has expressed a desire to attend.
With less than two weeks until the official inauguration, Trump is already actively demonstrating his engagement in global affairs, having met with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, Hungarian Prime Minister Orban, Zelensky, and Prince William of the UK over the past month, as well as attending the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame in Paris.
According to several insiders, Trump's team is currently exploring a tariff plan applicable to each country, specifically targeting key imported goods related to U.S. national or economic security, including defense industrial supply chains (tariffs on steel, iron, aluminum, and copper), critical medical equipment (syringes, needles, vials, and medical materials), and energy production (batteries, rare earth minerals, photovoltaic panels), which is much milder than what Trump promised during his campaign. However, Trump himself promptly denied this.