Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on 20 January.
The ceremony will take place in Washington DC and marks the peaceful transition of power from Joe Biden to Mr Trump – who is returning to the White House for a non-consecutive second term.
Here is your guide to everything we know so far about the events that will happen during the day and night.
When to expect oaths of office and Trump’s speech
The inauguration ceremony will take place at the US Capitol building.
Vice president-elect JD Vance will be first to take his oaths of office on 20 January, followed by Mr Trump.
This typically happens at around midday local time (about 5pm UK time).
John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, is expected to administer the oath to the incoming president, in line with tradition.
Mr Trump will hold up his right hand and place his left on a Bible. The Bible is usually held by the incoming president’s spouse.
Image: The Capitol building on the day of Mr Trump’s inauguration in 2017
Mr Trump will then recite the following: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Mr Trump’s first presidential address of his second term will follow.
The length of the speech varies from president to president, with Mr Trump’s last inaugural speech in 2017 lasting around 17 minutes, while Mr Biden spoke for just over 20 in 2021.
Image: President Joe Biden being sworn in as president in 2021. Pic: AP
The inaugural procession
Following a signing ceremony and an inaugural luncheon, which often features cuisine from the president and vice president’s home states, Mr Trump will lead the inaugural procession down Pennsylvania Avenue.
The parade goes from the US Capitol to the White House and is a celebrated and much-anticipated event for millions of Americans across the country.
The procession will begin at approximately 3pm local time (around 8pm UK time). The day ends with a series of inaugural balls across Washington DC.
How to get tickets or watch from home
The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies makes a limited number of inauguration tickets available to the public through members of Congress in the weeks leading up to the event.
Tickets are free and allow people to watch the ceremony on the grounds of the US Capitol as the president and vice president are sworn in.
Viewers will be able to watch live coverage of inauguration day on Sky News.
For those wanting to want the action elsewhere, all major US broadcast networks will cover the event live including NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, CSPAN, Fox News and PBS.
A live stream of the event will also be available through the White House.
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1:53
The inaugural addresses of past US presidents
World leaders invited for first time
Outgoing president Mr Biden has confirmed he will attend the inauguration later this month.
In an opinion article for The Washington Post at the beginning of January, he wrote that he was “determined to do everything [he] can to respect the peaceful transfer of power and restore American traditions”.
He said he had also invited Mr Trump to the White House on the morning of the inauguration.
It is also customary for living former presidents to attend the ceremony, with Mr Biden having already ordered flags be flown at half-mast to honour Jimmy Carter – who died on 29 December at the age of 100 – to the annoyance of Mr Trump.
Image: Mr Trump has invited world leaders to the inauguration for the first time. Pic: Reuters
Republican Mr Trump is sure to put his own mark on the event.
He is already the first president-elect to invite world leaders to his inauguration, including China’s President Xi Jinping.
Experts have suggested the Chinese president is unlikely to attend, but at least one foreign leader, the Argentinian President Javier Milei, is planning to be there.
Who will perform?
Every inauguration attracts famous faces to perform – whether it is singing the national anthem The Star-Spangled Banner on the steps of the Capitol, or taking to the stage at the various inauguration balls throughout the evening.
Beyonce, Lady Gaga and rock band 3 Doors Down have all performed in the past.
Back in 2017, Mr Trump seemed to struggle to secure celebrity attendees, with a host of names including Elton John, Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli publicly declining an invitation.
Country singer Toby Keith ended up as the biggest name in the final line-up, while classical singer Jackie Evancho, a former America’s Got Talent contestant, sang the national anthem.
There is currently no confirmation about who will be performing at the inauguration this time around, but the singer Kid Rock has been a vocal supporter of the president-elect.
Singer Mary Millben also stands a chance of performing, having sung the national anthem at both Mr Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally and the Republican National Convention back in July.
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From 2021: Lady Gaga and J Lo perform at Biden inauguration
Heightened inauguration day security
US officials have said they are not anticipating any major disruptions or protests on the day of the inauguration.
“At this time, we are not tracking any credible or specific threats associated with these events,” Dave Sundberg, the assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington field office, said.
Image: Trump’s inauguration in 2017
The District of Columbia National Guard will deploy roughly 7,800 soldiers for security, which includes traffic control and patrolling underground stations.
Thousands of federal agents, police and other law enforcement officials will also be on hand.
In the build-up to the inauguration, authorities said they are having to deal with a string of high-security events in the nation’s capital.
Former president Jimmy Carter’s state funeral will take place on Thursday 9 January, while Mr Trump is planning to hold a major victory rally at the Capital One Arena the night before the inauguration on 19 January.
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7:09
Donald Trump sworn in as president back in 2017
Stark differences to Biden inauguration
Mr Trump’s inauguration will stand in stark contrast to President Biden’s four years ago, an event that the president-elect skipped amid his false claims that the election had been stolen from him.
More than 1,000 people were later charged in connection with the riot.
As a result of the COVID pandemic and subsequent violence from the Capitol riots, the National Mall, where thousands traditionally gather to see the new president sworn in – was closed to the public on Mr Biden’s inauguration day.
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Joe Biden sworn in as president back in 2021
In addition to events during the day, a prime-time inauguration day TV programme entitled Celebrating America was hosted by Tom Hanks on the evening of 20 January 2021.
The programme was shown by all major broadcasters and included performances by Foo Fighters, John Legend, and Bruce Springsteen from iconic locations across the country.
There is no confirmation if a similar programme will be aired following Mr Trump’s inauguration this year.
Thousands of people gathered in various cities across the US as protests against Donald Trump and Elon Musk took place in all 50 states on Saturday.
Around 1,200 demonstrations were planned in locations including Washington DC, New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida – just miles away from where the US president has this weekend played golf.
The “Hands Off!” protests were against the Trump administration’s handling of government downsizing, human rights and the economy, among other issues.
In Washington DC, protesters streamed on the grass in front of the Washington Monument, where one person carried a banner which read: “Make democracy great again.”
Image: Thousands gathered in Washington DC to rally against various Trump policies. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: AP
Another protester took aim at Mr Trump‘s handling of Russia and Ukraine, with a placard that read: “Stop Putin’s puppets from destroying America.”
Tesla boss Mr Musk also featured on many signs due to his role in controversial government cuts as head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Image: Demonstrators in NYC. Pic: AP
Image: People marching in Atlanta, Georgia. Pic: Reuters
Image: A rally in Vermont. Pic: The Brattleboro Reformer via AP
Terry Klein, a retired biomedical scientist, said she drove to the rally to protest Mr Trump’s policies on “everything from immigration to the DOGE stuff to the tariffs this week, to education”.
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“I mean, our whole country is under attack, all of our institutions, all the things that make America what it is,” she added.
Image: A drone view of the protest at the Utah State Capitol building. Pic Reuters
Image: A protester sports a Handmaid’s Tale costume. Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: Reuters
Some at the various protests carried Ukrainian flags, while others sported rainbow attire and waved rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
Other protesters wore Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and carried “Free Palestine” signs.
Protesters refuse to take Donald Trump’s policies lying down
It was built to honour George Washington, a founding father of the United States.
And in the shadow of the 555ft Washington Monument, protestors were refusing to accept Donald Trump’s policies lying down.
“Stand tall,” they chanted, again and again.
“In every city, stand tall. In every state, stand tall. In truth, stand tall. In justice, stand tall.”
Those words, shouted by thousands on the city’s iconic mall, were reinforced by the words on their placards and t-shirts.
A minister, wearing a t-shirt with ‘Troublesome Priest’ printed on it, told me she found what was happening in the US government “appalling and immortal”.
One man said he had won the long-distance award, having travelled 2,750 miles from Hawaii for the protest.
“I finally reached a breaking point,” he added. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Another woman said: “We have to speak up, we have to act, we have to do something, because this is not America.”
I asked her what she would say to those who argue the people did speak when they elected Donald Trump as president.
She replied: “Some people have spoken and then some people have not and those of us that have not, we need to speak now.”
Thousands marched in New York City’s midtown Manhattan and in Boston, Massachusetts, while hundreds gathered in the sunshine outside the Utah State Capitol building in Salt Lake City, and in the rain outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio.
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Mr Trump – who shook financial markets with his tariffs announcement this week – spent the day in Florida, playing a round of golf before returning to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Image: People protest in Manhattan. Pic: Reuters
Image: Activists in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Pic: AP
Some four miles from Mar-a-Lago, more than 400 people gathered – and drivers honked their horns in support of protesters who held up signs including one which read: “Markets tank, Trump golfs.”
The White House has said Mr Trump plans to go golfing again on Sunday.
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
Image: The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
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Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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5:07
The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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3:27
How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”