Trump State of the Union Address Highlights: Democrats slam ‘reckless’ tariffs, ‘broken’ immigration system in reply

LiVE coverage for Trump's State of the Union address has ended.

Despite delivering a speech of record length, Trump in his State of the Union 2026 address mentioned China just once — during an aside about how Chinese and Russian military technology failed to protect Nicolas Maduro’s compound in Caracas.

There was no mention of strategic competition between Washington and Beijing.

It should be noted that Trump is slated to visit China from 31 March – 2 April.

Trump surpassed the previous record set by Bill Clinton in 2000, whose SOTU address lasted one hour and 20 minutes.

He also exceeded his own prior record of a one-hour-and-40-minute address to Congress, set last March during an annual address.

Read all about Trump's 'lengthy' 2026 SOTU speech, here.

Trump, during his SOTU speech, touched on several issues ranging from the economy and jobs to immigration and foreign policy.

Check out his speech in numbers, right here.

“They have sent children, a little boy in a blue bunny hat, children to far off detention centers… They have killed American citizens in our streets,” Spanberger said of the Trump administration.

“They have done it all with their faces masked from accountability … Our broken immigration system is something to be fixed, not an excuse for unaccountable agents to terrorize our communities,” she added, calling for accountability, in her reply speech that lasted 12 minutes.

“Since this president took office last year, his reckless trade policies have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs. Small Businesses have suffered. Farmers have suffered some losing entire markets every day. Americans are paying the price,” Virginia Governor Spanberger charged in the Democrats' reply to Trump's speech.

Virginia's Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger led the party’s response to Trump’s State of the Union address.

“Let me ask you, the American people watching at home, three questions. Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? Is the president working to keep Americans safe, both at home and abroad? Is the president working for you?,” she said.

Commenting on 250 years of US independence, Trump recalled how America had grown “from 13 humble colonies to the pinnacle of human civilization and human freedom… the strongest, wealthiest, most successful nation in all of human history.”

He ended his speech on this note, highlighting successes such as liberating people from “chains of fascism and communism", the moon landing, and the spread of the internet, among others.

“I've always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor but I was informed I'm not allowed to give it to myself," Trump joked after announcing recipients for the same.

“If they ever open up that law, I will be there with you some day,” the US President joked, adding he did not know on what basis he would give himself the honour.

Speaking on recent military successes, Trump hailed the US Armed Forces for their “spectacular” operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

“We've also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all… you saw that yesterday," Trump said, without naming Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho’, who was recently killed in Mexico, sparking a wave of violence across the country.

Trump on Tuesday record for longest State of the Union address, speaking for more than 1 hour and 41 minutes.

He beat Bill Clinton's 2000 record of 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Stating that Iran had signalled its willingness to come to a deal, Trump said that talks were still on because the US hadn't “heard those secret words — ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon'.”

"My preference is to solve this through diplomacy, but one thing is certain — I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror to have nuclear weapons," Trump said to loud applause.

Trump said that Iran already had missiles capable of striking Europe and were building missiles “that will soon reach the United States of America”.

Trump came down heavily on the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters, claiming that 32,000 had been killed since protests broke out in December.

He also claimed that his administration prevented the hanging of many protesters through the “threat of serious violence”.

Trump said that the Islamist regime in Iran and its “murderous proxies” have “spread nothing but terrorism, and death, and hate”.

Heaping praise on Operation Midnight Hammer conducted last year, Trump claimed that the US had “obliterated” Iran's nuclear programme.

Claiming that his administration was “working very hard” to stop the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump claimed that 25,000 soldiers were dying every month in the conflict.

The war “would have never happened” if he were President, said Trump.

Commenting on the Israel-Gaza truce, Trump said he played a crucial role in securing the release of all hostages “living” and “dead”.

Claiming that he had stopped eight wars in 10 months, Trump asserted that he negotiated a truce between India and Pakistan and prevented the conflict from escalating into “nuclear war”.

“35 million people said that the Prime Minister of Pakistan would have died had it not been for my involvement,” Trump said.