Addressing the assembled staff in a White House East Room ceremony, Trump first promised aid for the tornado-hit states of Georgia, Florida and Alabama, where 16 died and many more were injured in a weekend of violent weather.
"The tornadoes were vicious and powerful and strong and they suffered greatly," Trump said. "So we'll be helping out."
The president then confirmed that he would be meeting with Prime Minister of the UK Theresa May and President of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto in the very near future, as well as with Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau.
On his meeting with the Mexican president, Trump elaborated. "We will be meeting with the President of Mexico, who I know, and we're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA… we ran a campaign somewhat based on NAFTA."
Negotiations will also cover immigration and border control, the president said.
Trump had some praise for his frequent campaign punching bag. "Mexico has been terrific, actually… and the president has been really very amazing, and I think we're going to have a very good result for Mexico, for the United States, for everybody involved," he said. "It's very, very important."
He also promised his staff that they would do great things "over the next eight years," a line that got applause from the otherwise solemn room.
Trump told his team the US was "going to come out ahead; way, way ahead," repeating the "America first" theme he struck in his inaugural address.
Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner was among those sworn in. Kushner is to serve as a senior adviser to the president.
