Remarks on Signing Memorandums and an Executive Order on Domestic Pipeline Construction, Manufacturing Industry Regulatory Policy, and Infrastructure Development and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. This is with regard to the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, something that's been in dispute, and it's subject to a renegotiation of terms by us. We're going to renegotiate some of the terms, and if they'd like, we'll see if we can get that pipeline built. A lot of jobs. Twenty-eight thousand jobs. Great construction jobs.

[At this point, the President signed the memorandum on construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.]

Okay. Keystone Pipeline.

White House Chief of Staff Reinhold R. "Reince" Priebus. Dakota Pipeline.

The President. This is with respect to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dakota Access Pipeline. Again, subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated by us.

[The President signed the memorandum on construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.]

Okay.

Chief of Staff Priebus. This is the pipelines in America.

The President. This is construction of pipelines in this country. We are, and I am, very insistent that if we're going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipes should be made in the United States. So unless there's difficulty with that—because companies are going to have to, sort of, gear up—much pipeline is bought from other countries. From now on, we're going to start making pipeline in the United States.

We build it in the United States. We build the pipelines, we want to build the pipe. Going to put a lot of workers, a lot of steelworkers, back to work.

[The President signed the memorandum on construction of American pipelines.]

Okay. We will build our own pipeline. We will build our own pipes—that's what it has to do with—like we used to in the old days.

This was about streamlining the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process and reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing. Many of the people that we've been meeting with over the last long period of time, but yesterday and others—the process is so long and cumbersome that they give up before the end. Sometimes, it takes many, many years, and we don't want that to happen. And if it's a no, we'll give them a quick no. And if it's a yes, it's like, "Let's start building."

[The President signed the memorandum on streamlining permitting and reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing.]

The regulatory process in this country has become a tangled-up mess and very unfair to people. That's a big one. This is the expediting of environmental reviews and approvals for high-priority infrastructure projects. We intend to fix our country: our bridges, our roadways. We can't be in an environmental process for 15 years if a bridge is going to be falling down or if a highway is crumbling. So we're expediting environmental reviews and approvals. That's that business.

[The President signed the Executive order titled, "Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals for High-Priority Infrastructure Projects."]

Okay? Thank you very much.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Protests Against the Dakota Access Pipeline Project/Supreme Court Nomination Process

Q. Mr. Trump, any comment on the Standing Rock community, the protesters out there?

White House staffer. Thank you, press.

Q. ——Supreme Court nomination, Mr. President?

The President. Sometime next week, I'll be making my decision. This week, we'll be announcing—next week. We have outstanding candidates, and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court Justice. But I'll be announcing it sometime next week.