Trump back in the White House: Is Elon Musk giving the Hitler salute?

Washington - US President Donald Trump (78) is making a radical U-turn on domestic and foreign policy on his very first day in office. Meanwhile, his sidekick Elon Musk (53) caused a stir with a questionable hand signal.

Immediately after taking the oath of office, Trump decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Meanwhile, at an event to mark his inauguration, tech billionaire Elon Musk polarized the audience with a gesture similar to the Hitler salute.

Musk was one of the speakers on stage before Trump's arrival at Washington's Capital One Arena. He thanked the supporters of the new president, then held his right hand to his heart - and extended it upwards in one swift movement.

He then repeated the gesture in a different direction. "My heart goes out to you," he said afterwards.

Many users on Musk's online platform X noted that the gesture was reminiscent of a Hitler salute. The news channel CNN repeated the scene several times in its program. One presenter said that viewers were smart enough to make up their own minds.

Musk initially gave no explanation of the gesture. But he shared a recording of his speech from the Fox News channel on his X account, in which the audience was shown at the moment of the first - and more problematic-looking - gesture.

Trump himself used his first day as president to roll back the policies of his predecessor Joe Biden (82) with dozens of executive orders.

At the start of his second term, Trump pardoned 1,500 supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington in January 2021.

He left no doubt about his foreign policy ambitions - taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland. He held out the prospect of tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Mexico and Canada.

Trump is celebrating an unprecedented comeback as the most powerful man in the world. After his conviction for concealing hush money last year, the Republican returned politically stronger than ever and with majorities in both chambers of parliamentfollowing his clear election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris (60).