History of the United States (2016–present)

The period in the history of the United States from 2016 to the present began during the final year of the presidency of Barack Obama. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Republican Party ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence, using a populist message, defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Obama finished his presidency by completing a withdrawal of thousands of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and declassifying significant Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

During his first presidency, which began in 2017, Trump enacted tax cuts, increased immigration restrictions, and expanded the Mexico–United States border wall. Trump promoted an "America First" foreign policy that included a trade war with China. In December 2019, Trump was impeached for his alleged role in a scandal involving the Russo-Ukrainian War, for which he was subsequently acquitted. In 2020, Trump oversaw the federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession as he ran for reelection against Obama's vice president Joe Biden. The Democratic ticket of Biden and Kamala Harris beat Trump and Pence in the 2020 presidential election. Trump, along with his supporters, made multiple attempts to overturn the presidential election with false claims of fraud, which culminated with the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. The attack and Trump's involvement led to his second impeachment and acquittal.

The presidency of Joe Biden, which began in 2021, included major legislation such as the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Biden's foreign policy oversaw the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops that ended the war in Afghanistan, leading to the Taliban retaking control from the collapsed Afghan government. Biden kept tariffs from Trump's trade war with China. Biden responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing civilian and military aid to Ukraine. Biden strongly supported Israel's military efforts during the Gaza war that began in 2023 before adopting a ceasefire proposal at the end of his term. Biden abandoned his 2024 reelection campaign and endorsed Harris, who lost to the Republican ticket of Trump and JD Vance in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Trump began his second presidency, which began in 2025, by pardoning around 1,500 January 6 rioters, initiating mass layoffs of the federal workforce, signing the Laken Riley Act, and starting a trade war with Mexico and Canada while escalating the trade war with China. Trump's administration suspended the provision of intelligence and military aid to Ukraine, offered concessions to Russia, requested half of Ukraine's oil and minerals as payment for U.S. support, and said that Ukraine bore partial responsibility for the invasion. These moves have been criticized by most of the United States' allies and by many international organizations. Trump's broad and extensive use of executive orders has drawn numerous lawsuits challenging their legality.

This period has been called the Second Cold War due to a return to great power rivalry between the United States, China, and Russia, as well as part of a Second Gilded Age, due to increasing wealth inequality.