Trump talks Gaza, Russia, China, tariffs, AI in first White House presser

US President Donald Trump has ended Day 1 of his presidency with a dizzying display of force, signing a blizzard of executive orders, pardoning nearly all of his supporters who rioted on January 6, 2021, warning China, EU of tariffs and Russia of sanctions, touting $500 billion AI project, and taking credit for Gaza truce.

In his first White House press conference of the new term on Tuesday evening, Trump laid out plans to slap tariffs on the European Union and impose a 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods starting February 1, citing the flow of fentanyl from China to Mexico and Canada.

"The European Union is very, very bad to us," he asserted, emphasising his tough stance on international trade. Trump's history of confronting trade imbalances was clear as he reiterated, "It's the only way ... you're going to get fairness."

Trump said his administration was discussing imposing a 10 percent tariff on goods imported from China on February 1 because fentanyl is being sent from China to Mexico and Canada.

The US President added that he had already imposed large tariffs on China during his first term.

Ukraine and Gaza wars

Addressing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Trump hinted at the likelihood of additional sanctions on Russia, depending on President Vladimir Putin's willingness to engage in peace talks.

"Sounds likely," he responded when asked about further measures.

His thoughts on the war itself were blunt: "The war should have never started. If you had a competent president, which you didn't, the war wouldn't have happened. The war in Ukraine would have never happened if I were president."

Trump criticised former President Joe Biden's handling of Israel's genocide in Gaza, saying he could not secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal sooner.

"Biden couldn't get it done," he said. "It was only the imposition that I put on it as a deadline that got it done."

"The hostages are starting to come back. If I weren’t here, they wouldn't be back ever...They would have all died."

Trump blamed the Biden administration's "weakness" for the October 7, 2023 raid on Israel by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, saying it should have never happened.

"Nobody should be dead. But through weakness, they allowed it to happen, and then it was a disaster...Six months ago, you would have had 11 more living hostages."

Asked if he plans to visit the Middle East, he said: "We’re thinking about going to the Middle East. Not yet."

Elon Musk and TikTok

On the topic of tech, Trump expressed openness to Elon Musk buying TikTok, offering a deal where the United States would take half of the app's ownership.

"What I'm thinking about saying to somebody is buy it and give half to the United States of America. Half, and we'll give you the permit. And they'll have a great partner, the United States," he said, proposing a partnership between Musk and the country.

To save the company's US operations, Trump on Monday also floated the idea of a 50-50 partnership between "the United States" and its Chinese owner ByteDance, though he did not provide details on how this could be achieved.

Leader in AI race

In a bold move for the future of AI, Trump announced a massive $500 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure, spearheaded by Softbank, Oracle, and OpenAI, calling the venture "Stargate." This is part of his broader strategy to cement the US as a leader in the AI race.

Joining Trump fresh off his inauguration at the White House were Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Larry Ellison of Oracle. All three credited Trump for helping to make the project possible.

The venture, called Stargate, "will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States," Trump said.