Trump was forced to enact the shutdown after he failed to secure funding for his controversial border wall. He wanted $5.6billion (£4.4billion) to fund the wall. But his Democratic foes have refused to yield, spearheaded by the formidable Nancy Pelosi, the new speaker in the Lower House, who branded the project “immoral”.
Trump’s address to the American people will begin at 9pm EST (2am GMT) and is set to be aired live on all major US television networks.
The channels include ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN, Fox Business, Fox News, MSNBC and PBS.
The speech, the first of 2019, will be delivered amid the government shutdown.
The shutdown has dominated US politics for several weeks – causing Trump to miss some of his planned Christmas holidays on his Mar-a-Lago resort with his wife, First Lady Melania and their 12-year-old son, Barron.
In US politics a government occurs when Congress fails to pass, or the President refuses to sign, legislation funding federal government operations and agencies.
The President is expected to use his address today to highlight the need to pass legislation that will address the security on the Southern Border.
The White House maintains that any government funding bill must address the “security and humanitarian crises on our Southern Border”.
Building a border wall was a major campaign promise by Trump.
Follow below for LIVE updates on the speech as we get them. (All times are in GMT.)