"FROM this day forward it's going to be only America first.”

Beyond Donald Trump’s rhetoric about building walls and crushing terrorism, his pledge to put US interests above anyone else’s will define his time in the White House.

Some Echo readers may feel that events in Washington have little direct bearing on their lives. At our afternoon news conference we debated long and hard about whether today’s front page should focus solely on local news or acknowledge that President Trump’s inauguration was an event impossible to ignore. In the end we decided to do both. Our first decision of the Trump era therefore was to reach a compromise.

President Trump may be dogmatic and inward-looking but the Echo has long been a newspaper with its heart in the North-East and its gaze fixed on matters of national and international importance.

We also believe that the move away from Barrack Obama’s internationalism to President Trump’s unabashed nationalism will be felt here in the North-East. Ours is the only part of the UK that exports more than it imports and the goods and services we send to the US are a key part of that. But Mr Trump was elected after vowing to turn the trade deficit in his nation’s favour. A policy of America first will pose a threat to North-East jobs.

When Theresa May flies across the Atlantic for trade talks in the coming weeks she cannot expect any special deal from Washington unless it is in America's interest. This week she sent President Trump a copy of a landmark wartime address given by Winston Churchill that stressed the need for close Anglo-American relations. She should note, however, that despite Churchill’s exhortations its closest ally remained unmoved by reports of a Britain battered by German bombs and only entered WWII when the homeland itself came under direct attack.

The America first policy is an old idea with a new frontman.