After taking office on a soggy January afternoon, Donald Trump wasted no time setting about an incendiary second term which has had far-reaching consequences around the world.
The 47th President of the United States set the tone with a blizzard of highly controversial moves, including pardoning the US Capitol rioters who rampaged through the seat of American’s power.
The megaphone message was clear: This is the Donald Trump show, and be damned with those who oppose it.
Unhinged, as critics might say, or a shrewd deal-maker out to Make America Great Again, he has nevertheless been given the full state red carpet by states keen to curry favour.
The 79-year-old billionaire’s unprecedented second state visit to the UK in September was a case in point, resulting from a handwritten letter presented by Keir Starmer in Washington.
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Overhanging his tenure has been his alignment with Russia as Vladimir Putin continues to wage his bloody and unprovoked war on Ukraine and the ever-simmering Epstein affair which refuses to go away.
However, MAGA-ites have reveled in the president being awarded the inaugural FIFA peace prize at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington, and hope it is a good omen for a Nobel Peace Price.
Let’s take a look at other key moments in Trump’s 2025.
White House comeback
Trump begins his second term in office by promising ‘the golden age of America begins right now’.
Historian and propaganda analyst Ian Garner told Metro that the statement is just another play on the idea Trump has sold since 2016 – that modern-day America is ‘degenerate’ and less than it once was.
In one of his first highly controversial moves, the newly elected president issued pardons or commutations for more than 1,500 people involved in the US Capitol riot four years previously.
Freezing aid to Ukraine
Trump cut off US military aid to Ukraine after his disastrous Oval Office meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in February.
In a move which the White House called a ‘pause and review’, the embattled nation’s first line of defence against Russia’s ballistic missiles was hit, leaving millions of people exposed.
The suspension also impacted weaponry and ammunition signed off by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, that is in transit in Europe.
The step was taken after the clash between Trump, JD Vance and Zelensky in the White House, where Ukraine’s leader was accused of ‘ingratitude’.
Trade wars
Economic consequences have been felt across the world after Trump went after tariffs with several nations, targeting Chinese imports first.
Key trading partners Canada, Mexico, the UK and the EU were also been hit.
According to the Tax Foundation, the tariffs amounted to a $1,100 average tax hike per US household in 2025. Goods being imported from the UK were also been hit, including a 50% tariff on all aluminium, steel and derivative goods imports.
While the special relationship feels like an anachronism, the two nations have signed a trade deal designed to deepen bilateral economic ties.
Immigration crackdown
Trump launched a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, as promised in his pre-election manifesto.
The drive intensified this month, with Washington raising work visa fees and deporting undocumented migrants.
The White House had already paused immigration applications from individuals in 19 countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, which are subject to the president’s travel ban.
Decisions on all asylum applications have been halted, with those approved under Joe Biden’s administration being put under review.
Red carpet in the UK
Keir Starmer invited Trump to an unprecedented second state visit to the UK when the prime minister visited the White House in February. Mr Starmer personally presented his counterpart with an invitation letter, signed by King Charles.
Trump then made a private, four-day visit to Scotland in July, taking in his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
The US President’s mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born and raised on the Isle of Lewis before moving to New York aged 18.
Some of Trump's biggest calls
‘Build a huge wall– and make Mexico pay for it’
Some partial new structures were erected in his first term in office but all the funding came from US taxpayer sources.
US next-generation ‘Golden Dome’ missile shield
Advanced missile defence system remains a work in progress.
‘Carry out the biggest deportation in US history‘
While there has been a crackdown on various types of immigration, the plan has encountered legal and logistical hurdles.
‘End the Russia war on Ukraine on day one’
Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine either within 24 hours of taking office or sooner than that. He told Time magazine in April 2025 that he hadn’t been speaking literally or seriously.
However the trip was branded a ‘cynical circus’ by Scotsman David Milne, who saw off the billionaire in a land battle over access and rights on the Menie Estate, Trump’s other golf estate.
Trump returned to the British Isles in September, visiting Windsor Castle where he was hosted by King Charles as he was given a full state welcome.
The president was also treated to a carriage procession and state banquet at the royal home, where he was toasted by the monarch.
BBC clash
Trump said he would sue the BBC over a spliced Panorama edit ‘for anywhere between $1billion and $5billion’.
The broadcaster apologised to the US president after a clip of one of his speeches was edited to appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He said: ‘We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week.
‘We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated.
‘They changed the words coming out of my mouth.’
Social media megaphone
Trump’s use of social media as a megaphone for his forthright — critics would say unhinged — views is nothing new.
However he is still managing to shock and offend on Truth Social in a style alien to the traditional presidential tone of his predecessors.
In one post, he appeared to suggest that Democratic lawmakers who had told military personnel to refuse illegal orders were guilty of ‘SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH.’
Trump also said the lawmakers, who were military or intelligence veterans, should be ‘arrested and put on trial.’
After bipartisan condemnation of his remarks, he said he was ‘not threatening death’ against the Democrats but that ‘I think they’re in serious trouble.’
Epstein files
Trump’s links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his inconsistent position on releasing the files have been a continued theme throughout the year.
He had promised to make the files public before the justice department said in July that no more documents would be publicly disclosed.
However lawmakers then introduced a resolution forcing the files’ release after anger across party lines — and the bill was signed by Trump.
The president was friends with Epstein but they parted ways before the disgraced financier was first arrested. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Military muscle
Trump has thrown America’s weight in the direction of other countries, including Canada and Greenland.
He then hailed US air strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites carried out in June, with Washington joining Israeli military action against the hardline clerical regime.
Trump claimed that the Iranian facilities had been ‘obliterated’ with ‘bunker buster’ bombs and he was ‘absolutely’ prepared to attack the country again.
The backdrop to the bombing raids includes Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan, which has been underway since early October. The deal established a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas terrorists.
Most recently, Venezuela has felt the impact of American force overseas. In the latest incident, US personnel seized an oil tanker off the country’s coast. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the tanker was being used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.
Trump said: ‘We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela. Largest one ever seized, actually. And other things are happening.’
Ukraine peace deal
Trump’s mooted peace deal and his accompanying swipes at Europe have been viewed by many as a significant moment in which the US president openly aligns with Vladimir Putin and pulls apart from America’s allies.
The peace plan, which involves Ukraine ceding swathes of its territory to Russia and giving up on NATO membership, is viewed as a ‘surrender document’ by many people supportive of the defenders.
Trump’s continued role in the war taking place in the heart of Europe will be a key concern for 2026, as Putin’s ‘grey zone’ war laps across the borders of NATO countries, including the UK.
The alignment with Russia may prove to be the riskiest yet move for the man who prides himself on being an expert dealmaker.
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