Remarks on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement at Derco Aerospace in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The President. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We've had an exciting time. It's been incredible. And as you know, we just hit the highest we've ever hit on the Dow. The stock market is the best it's ever been. Jobs are the best they've ever been. A couple of other little factors, not so bad. We're doing great, and we have a great military, and I thank you for that.
And I want to thank Marillyn. She's been a friend of mine for a long time, and she's done an incredible job. And she just did me a beautiful favor, keeping it—a beautiful Sikorsky plant—open in the great State of Pennsylvania. Some people would say "Commonwealth." I'll call it both. But all I know is, they're really happy in Pennsylvania right now. And we love Pennsylvania, and they've—I really appreciate what Marillyn did.
I'm thrilled to be back in your great State, a State that I won. And we won it not so late in the evening, a little bit early in the evening, actually, which is even better. And we had a lot of support from your company. Derco has been incredible. We have a lot of support here. And one of the reasons I'm here is Marillyn, and one of the reasons I'm here are you. Because we really have had tremendous—there's a great spirit, a great spirit in this company.
We're here today to celebrate the triumphant return of American manufacturing. You know what they said: It was going to be gone. But it's not gone; it's really thriving, and it's starting to build up at a level that nobody thought was possible. Everything we're doing to keep the assembly lines rolling full speed ahead, that's being done, and we're doing it right.
We're proudly defending our most important national resource: the American worker. That's what it is. It's pretty amazing how the American worker has just really—there's nobody like our American worker.
We're glad to be joined today by Secretary Wilbur Ross. Where is Wilbur? Wilbur. Wilbur? How are you? Thank you. Thank you, Wilbur. Great job.
A friend of mine and somebody who is very, very tough and very, very smart, Senator Ron Johnson. Ron, thank you. And two real fighters. They fight for us, and they fight for you, and they fight like nobody: Representatives Glenn Grothman and Sean Duffy. Sean. Thank you, Sean. Thank you, fellas. Thank you.
I especially want to thank your general manager here at Derco, Peter Winkler. Peter? Peter? Good job. They were showing me some of the work they do. It's beautiful, it's complex, and it is real stuff. That's the real deal. Right, Peter?
For 40 years, the patriots of Derco Aerospace have built and repaired parts for airplanes, jets, and helicopters—and you have done it with unmatched precision and unmatched skill—really an incredible company. Recently, our entire Nation was inspired by the mastery of your craftsmanship during our wonderful Independence Day celebration on the National Mall. It's called a—[applause]—right? Salute to America. That was something.
They weren't sure—the fake news—they weren't sure if people were going to show up. [Laughter] Did they ever show up, right? Did they ever show up. We had a tremendous—it was packed. And it was raining. It was—a few people said, did I have a tent, because I looked very dry. I said, "I wasn't dry, and I had no tent." It was a rainy day, but in a way, it was a beautiful day. And when those planes and helicopters flew overhead, it was something like we haven't really seen too much lately. There's tremendous spirit and love in our country.
That day, the United States marines soared overhead in a magnificent aircraft like the ones you support from here in Milwaukee: the MV-22 Osprey. Our country also witnessed the awesome might of the U.S. Navy, flying another plane that you will soon support: the unstoppable stealth F-35 Lightning II.
I get to meet a lot of pilots. I once said to one of the pilots—he looked like central casting. He looked like Tom Cruise, but maybe better. [Laughter] A little taller and a little stronger. [Laughter] And I said: "So tell me. How good is the F-35 compared to other planes—enemy craft?" He said, "Well, they have a problem: They can't see it." I said, "That sounds good to me," not knowing too much about it. "That sounds good." But he said, "There's nothing like it." And I remember it. That was a long time ago now, toward the beginning.
In addition, workers at this facility help maintain our massive C-130 Hercules transport planes and our fearsome UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and our F-16 Fighting Falcons. Great. You're pretty busy. What do you do in your spare time, by the way? [Laughter] That's a lot of work.
With the help of 280 pound Americans at Derco—and you know what I mean—the U.S.A. truly has the best aircraft flown, the best pilots. And we have the greatest pilots in the world. They fly the—they are pilots like no other. Made the—made and maintained the best workers in—best workers anywhere in the world.
And I'm excited to hear that, thanks to your new responsibilities for the F-35, your company will be expanding its workforce by 15 percent. Is that right, Marillyn? Wow. That's good. [Applause] I like to hear that. That's great.
Since the election, we have created more than 6 million new jobs. Nobody would have believed that during the campaign. If I would have said "6 million jobs," they would have said, "Oh, that's—no, he's exaggerating." I did say, like, 4 million, but we got 6 million. [Laughter] So I was underexaggerating. Including more than half a million manufacturing jobs. We added 224,000 jobs last month alone, which is a tremendous number, far greater than projection.
Last year, U.S. manufacturers reported the highest optimism ever recorded. So folks like Marillyn would say we're the most optimistic we've ever been. Would you say that's true? You'd better say yes, Marillyn. [Laughter] She knows. I know Marillyn very well, and I know she feels that way.
We're now the economic envy of the entire world. When I meet Prime Ministers and Presidents and Kings and Queens, they all start off by congratulating me on the great economy. Wages are rising fast, and rising fastest for our blue-collar workers. That's exciting. You hear so much about the upper end. Well, they don't realize that blue-collar—proportionately, blue-collar workers, the manufacturing companies—these are the companies that are doing so well.
Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in over half a century, and we expect to soon be beating that. African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American unemployment have reached their lowest levels ever in the history of our country. And right here in Wisconsin, the unemployment rate is just 2.8 percent, among the very lowest in the country. It's a great State. It's a fantastic State. So—doing some phenomenal work.
We've powered our economic turnaround by following two fundamental rules: If it hurts American workers, we don't do it. It's very simple. And if it helps American workers, we definitely do it, and we do it quickly. It's very simple. Our agenda is proworker, profamily, progrowth—100 percent pro-American. It's America First. It's "Make America Great Again." And you know what? Now, it's "Keep America Great," because we're doing awfully well. We're doing awfully well.
To stop the offshoring—you know what offshoring is of American jobs—I signed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in the history of our country. Since then, $876 billion—that's a lot even for you, Marillyn, right? That's a big number. [Laughter] Has poured back into the United States from abroad. We want companies to invest, hire, build, and grow right here in America and right here in Wisconsin.
We cut a record number of job-killing regulations, which will give the average household an extra $3,000 each year. So, each year, the average household—and you all see it; you all feel it—will get an average of $3,000. That's a lot. That's the biggest tax cut we've ever had in this country.
And by the way, I see the Democrat platform. They want to raise your taxes. I don't think that—I don't know, maybe—you know, I haven't been a politician too long. [Laughter] Somehow, that doesn't play well, right? They want to raise your taxes. Okay, we'll figure that one out. [Laughter]
We launched an American energy revolution. The United States is now the number-one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world, and it's not even close. And with a couple of environmental approvals for certain pipelines, we can get that and really do something with that number. It will go up very substantially, very quickly, especially in the State of Texas.
We're reversing decades of economic surrender and restoring America's industrial might. We surrendered, economically. What we did was so crazy. We helped other countries, but we never thought about our own country. We lost the magic. We've gotten it back. And we've gotten it back, I think you'll soon see, greater than ever before.
And your executives know this: Companies are pouring back into our Nation. Automobile companies from Japan and other nations are pouring back in. Many, many of the great auto companies are coming back into Michigan. They're coming back into Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina.
You have not so many jobs left; we have to get some more workers over here, I think, Marillyn. We have to do something. But we have automobile companies and other companies pouring back in. And you had the greatest year you've ever had in the history of this State. This is a great State, but you had your best economic year that you've ever had, so that's great.
Our Nation was made of vibrant and strong—and it's got to be the most powerful, the best—it really was made with American manufacturing. And you know that a previous administration said: "Manufacturing is gone. You're going to have to take a magic wand to bring it back." Well, that was wrong.
The previous administration, they allowed foreign nations to plunder our wealth and to pillage our factories. They sold out our workers, and they hollowed out our industrial heartland. But those days are over.
And I have to tell you: It's not just the previous administration. It's been many administrations, in all fairness to President Obama. It's been many, many administrations. They allowed it to happen. They allowed our factories to close, our workers, really, to go—to not have jobs. We created jobs for other places, for other nations. And we sacrificed so many—60,000 plants. Millions and millions of jobs were lost during, I call them, "the stupid years." But now we're back into the really smart years. We had "the smart years"; now we're "the really smart years." [Laughter] They were "the stupid years." What they were doing was incredible. NAFTA, one of the world's worst trade deals ever. I know a couple of others—we've been involved in them too. World Trade Organization, that's a beauty. You don't know as much about that. But NAFTA was a disaster for this country, and we're going to be replacing that very soon, hopefully, with the USMCA. And that's going to be something really, really special. It's going to keep jobs.
One of the things I said, to start off: I don't want people leaving this country, meaning companies. I don't want to incentivize companies to leave, fire their people, build product, sell the product over in our country—no tax whatsoever—so we end up with no jobs, no factories, no taxes, no nothing. It's not going to happen anymore, and it can't happen under our new agreement.
And I've been talking about this subject for 20 years. It's possibly one of the reasons I ran. I used to look at Michigan, where they'd lose their car companies one after another. You lost so many companies in Wisconsin. Everybody lost, Ron. Everybody lost companies. They were losing companies left and right. And we're not going to have that anymore.
We have an incentive now to stay in this country. We have an incentive to build and manufacture in this country. And that's the way we want it. That's the way it's going to be. It's going to be America first.
After years of rebuilding foreign nations, we are finally rebuilding our Nation. It's as simple as that. We've built other nations. We've focused on other people's borders. We'd fight for other borders, but we don't fight for our own border. We have open borders, and they had our military men protecting their borders. Figure that one out.
But it's all changing, and it's changing very rapidly, and we're doing really well right now. Mexico has 21,000 troops on the border, guarding our border. Our laws are so bad, our military can't do a damn thing. We have the greatest military in the world. But between catch-and-release—we catch them, and we release them. [Laughter] Think of it. We catch them, take a little number—"Come back in 3, 4 years." [Laughter] These are the Democrats. And they should change them, Sean. They should change them so easily. But they don't want to do it. It's politics. They want open borders. I really think they want open borders. Even though 4 or 5 years ago, they all wanted strong borders, and they wanted walls and everything else. That was when they were sane, but they're no longer sane.
For years, politicians let China take the crown jewels out of our country. My administration has taken the toughest ever stance to stop these incredible abuses.
As a candidate for President, I also promised to replace the disaster known as NAFTA. Since NAFTA's adoption, the United States was losing jobs and losing plants like nobody has ever lost before. Almost one in five auto jobs were lost during NAFTA, and I think that's a wrong number; I think it's worse than that. But now we're demanding that you get—as people working here, and as companies, and as great, great strength—I want you to have strength, but I want you to have a level playing field. Because when you have a level playing field, nobody can beat you. You didn't have a level playing field. You had a playing field that was like this, and you had to go uphill.
That's why we're replacing NAFTA with the brandnew U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The USMCA will be the most modern, cutting-edge trade agreement in history, with the strongest protections for the American worker ever put in any trade agreement. And that was the single most important thing to me.
The USMCA will close the biggest loopholes that caused the mass exodus of—you had an exodus of manufacturing under NAFTA. By ratifying the USMCA, Mexico has now committed to be the toughest and have the toughest labor provisions, the highest environmental standards, and the most comprehensive enforcement provisions ever implemented in a trade agreement—ever.
For years, labor unions and lawmakers urged past administrations to secure these types of trade provisions. They did absolutely nothing. No administration did anything except lose jobs. We were laughed at by the rest of the world. We were patsies.
And I didn't blame China. I didn't blame all of these countries—Mexico. Mexico, they took 30 percent of our automobile business. I don't know if you know that or not. They have plants the likes of which you've never seen before. They took 30 percent—probably more than that—of our automobile—I don't blame them. I don't blame anybody. I blame our past leaders. I blame the people and administrations that allowed this to happen.
It's not China's fault that we were stupid. It's not China's fault that we allowed it to happen. We lose $500 billion a year. It's now turning. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs. I'm giving billions of dollars back to the farmers, because they pinpointed the farmers. They said: "We're not going to buy here. We're not going to buy there, because then Trump will stop doing to us what he's doing." Except the farmers said, "We don't care, because he's right." Because for 15 years, the farmer—if you look, 15 years, it's been like this. It's a one-way street, and it was a street downward.
But it's been incredible. And I'll never forget, I had a meeting, Marillyn, with farmers a year ago. And I told them what is going to happen. And I said, "You're going to be the single biggest beneficiaries, ultimately." And I said, "We're going to get you subsidies, we're going to get"—and farmers looked at me like—all at one time. I had probably 30 in a big, beautiful room—the Cabinet Room at the White House. Beautiful. For the Cabinet, but I wanted the farmers in the Cabinet Room, because I like the farmers.
And they said, "Sir, we don't want subsidies." I said, "What do you mean?" "We don't want subsidies. We want a level playing field." I said: "How can you tell me—nobody has ever said that. Everybody is coming in here looking for whatever they can get. They're"—"We don't want subsidy." It was—to this day, it's never happened before. They didn't want that. They just wanted a level playing field. They said, "Give us a level playing field, and nobody can beat us at what we do." I thought it was one of the most beautiful things.
But, in the meantime, they were targeted by China. I went to Sonny Perdue, and I said, "Sonny, how much has China spent, let's say, in the—in just about the biggest year?" He said, "Sixteen billion dollars, sir." I said: "Here's what I'm doing. I'm giving our farmers $16 billion out of the tariffs, which frankly, are much more than that." I shouldn't say that, because they'll ask for more. [Laughter] But they are. The tariffs are far more than that.
And a lot of companies are leaving China now, because they want to go to a nontariffed country, and some of those companies are coming here. It's been incredible.
We're taking in billions and billions of dollars, and I'm giving our farmers a chunk because they were targeted. These are great American patriots. And I'll tell you, I didn't see anybody—you know, they go, and they do these focus groups on television. Even on the real fakers on television, where you think it would be—the farmers were all: "No. It's not like things are perfect, but we are with our President."
But now things are pretty good, because we are doing $16 billion, and that was the most that China ever purchased. And some of the farmers are really doing well. I think they're really starting—we're over the hump. We're doing really well.
And, in the meantime, our Government has billions of dollars of money pouring in, and that money is paid for by China through reducing—if you take a look, what they're doing is, they're playing around with their monetary policy to a level like nobody has ever seen before. We're not paying. And they're also pumping out cash into their system. And China is paying; our people are not paying.
Now, other countries, it's a little bit different. China is China. But they're doing things in order to make sure that they keep those jobs in China. But they're losing a lot of companies, and some of those companies are coming here, because we get it done. We know how to get it done. I know how to win. We win—Marillyn knows how to win. This company knows how to win. The job you've done is incredible at this company. And that's why I'm glad I'm here.
The USMCA is vital to the future of the American automobile industry. Under NAFTA, foreign companies could manufacture thousands of their parts overseas, ship them to Mexico and Canada for assembly, and send their foreign-made cars right into the United States, tax free. You knew about that, Mr. Manager, right? Tax free. That doesn't work too well, right? Wouldn't you say they should have ended that about 20 years ago?
With the USMCA, we have declared: No more of that nonsense. We're not letting it happen. Seventy-five percent of every automobile, under the deal, must be made in North America. And we are requiring a large portion to be made by high-wage labor, which means American labor, because you were competing against people that, frankly, were slightly—they were getting slightly less money than you do. Am I trying to be nice when I say that? [Laughter] Does anybody object to hearing that? They were getting slightly less—like about 20 percent—20 percent of what you get.
The USMCA is—but it was unfair to our country. It was unfair to our people. It was unfair to our workers. The USMCA is estimated to create 76,000 brandnew American auto jobs and very quickly. That means more cars, more trucks, and auto parts will be stamped with those beautiful words: "Made in the U.S.A." Remember we used to see that all the time? "Made in the U.S.A." Maybe we could start stamping here. We'll start right here. "Made in the U.S.A." People love it. People love it. I remember I used to see it all over, "Made in the USA" or "Made in America."
But maybe we should, you know—it would take you about, with your geniuses here, they could have that stamped on parts in about 2 seconds, right? He's looking—he said, "I wonder if that's going to cost us any money to do that?" [Laughter] Not much. Not much. It's all part of the whole deal. But "Made in the U.S.A."
The USMCA is also a tremendous victory for, in particular, farmers because we have had such support. To help dairy farmers right here in Wisconsin, the USMCA stops unfair trade barriers from Canada. People love Canada. I love Canada, but there were few countries that took advantage of us more than Canada. They were charging us tariffs of 297 percent. They want to keep it under 300 because it sounded better—297 percent. Nobody knew that.
The farmers knew that. They knew it very well, because essentially, what they're doing is, they're saying "You can't sell your product in Canada." Because the tariff was so high you couldn't say—you couldn't sell it in Canada.
Under our trade agreement, we will see significant increases in exports of Wisconsin agriculture, supporting jobs throughout the State. It's going to have a tremendous impact on your agriculture and on your manufacturing.
Once fully implemented, the USMCA will bring up to 600,000 jobs to our shores. And it's probably going to be well over 1.2 million jobs. And here at Derco, you'll be able to expand your commerce with Canadian customers and suppliers, and they'll be buying your product. Now they have an incentive to buy your product. Before this deal, they had no incentive whatsoever to buy product in the United States.
I want to personally thank Marillyn and Lockheed Martin for supporting this groundbreaking agreement. What you've done is really great. You've been—she has been—you've been calling everybody, I hope, right? I've heard you have. You know, the wake was left. You know, they were going, "Can you get her off our back?" [Laughter] That's good. That's what I want. That's why I told Marillyn, "See if you can do it, if you want to do it."
We need help from the Democrats to get it done, because it's political season. And I say it's a bipartisan—let it be a bipartisan bill. I don't want credit for it. Let it be a bipartisan bill—the USMCA. For years, Members of Congress have demanded a replacement for NAFTA. Now they finally have the best replacement that they could ever even imagine. The farmers can't believe it. The manufacturers can't believe it. Even, Marillyn, the unions can't believe it. It's good for everybody.
So on behalf of our Nation's loyal hard-working citizens, I'm calling on Congress to pass USMCA and send it to my desk immediately for signature. We shouldn't be playing around. And every day that goes by, it gets more and more political, because we get closer and closer to the election, and maybe it's harder. It shouldn't be hard. I mean, the day before—you should sign this the day before the election.
But view it as bipartisan bill. And it shows that Congress is doing something other than wasting time on the witch hunt and the nonsense that they work so hard at. They work so hard. If they worked 1/100th as hard on immigration, it would be solved in about 15 minutes. It's just a waste of time. Amazing.
[At this point, the President turned around and addressed participants on the dais.]
Hi, folks. Thank you.
To ensure that all citizens can thrive, the modern economy as we know it—and it's really gotten modern. We also launched the Pledge to America's Workers. I'm thrilled that Lockheed Martin has committed to providing apprenticeships and workforce development opportunities for 8,000 of our great citizens. Thank you. My administration lives by a very crucial motto—a motto that you would agree with 100 percent—"Buy American and Hire American." Those other days are gone.
So, as we restore our economy, we're really restoring our standing in the world. We're respected again. America is respected again like it hasn't been respected in many, many years. We were laughed at. We were scoffed at. We were liked. Why shouldn't we be liked? We were a patsy. But we're respected again, folks.
As you know better than anyone, economic security is national security. And here at Derco, one in every five employees is a veteran. That's a great number. [Applause] Great number. And by the way, Sean—stand up for a second, Sean. I want to just say: Reciprocal trade, right? He's—I put him in charge. I said: "Do me a favor, when a country charges us 100 percent, we charge them 100 percent. When a country charges us 25, we charge them 25. When one charges us, in some cases, 340 percent, we charge them 3"—so something is going to happen.
Maybe they'll go down to zero, or maybe we'll take in a lot of money. But Sean is in charge. The Reciprocal Trade Act of—probably, we'll say 2019 or 2020—call it whatever you want—it has to get done. When that gets done, nobody is going to be taking advantage of this country any longer. So I appreciate you doing that. Reciprocal Trade Act. My favorite word: "reciprocal." It's my favorite word: "reciprocal." [Laughter] Among those with us today is Theresa Sprader-Trinh, who began her career in the U.S. Air Force and the Wisconsin Air National Guard. Where is she? Where is she? Come on up here. Come up. Come on.
In the military, she supported legendary aircraft such as the U-2 and the SR-71 Blackbird. For the past 21 years, from right here in Derco—they like you, by the way, Theresa. [Laughter] They really like you. You know—you like them too, I'll bet. Right?
Derco Aerospace Manager of Quality Standards Theresa Sprader-Trinh. I do. [Laughter]
The President. Theresa has continued to keep our Nation's aircraft flying. I want to just thank you. You're a very special person. I said, "I want a couple of special people." "Eh, we don't have too much time." "Just give me one." And they gave me you. That's pretty good. [Laughter] Say a few words.
Ms. Sprader-Trinh. Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity. When I joined the Air Force after high school, I never imagined where this journey would take me. It has been amazing. One of the many things that I enjoy about being part of Derco and Lockheed Martin is that I get to work alongside the most talented people in the aviation industry, such as yourself.
As a veteran, I'm incredibly proud to work for Lockheed Martin because I continue to support our men and women in uniform every day. Thank you, Mr. President, for your steadfast support of our military.
I would also like to thank Ms. Hewson and my Lockheed Martin and Derco family. Most importantly, I would like to thank my husband for taking this journey with me and for his service to our country as a military retiree. Thank you.
The President. Great job. Thank you, Theresa. Thank you very much. Good family. Nice. Beautiful. Thank you.
To ensure our servicemembers have the tools they need, we're rebuilding the U.S. Armed Forces with $700 billion last year and, this year, $716 billion. That's the highest ever. And I must say, the projected budget is probably in the neighborhood of—you'll be happy about this, Marillyn—$730 billion, maybe $733 billion.
But you know, our Armed Forces were depleted. They were just depleted. They were tired. They were exhausted. The planes were old. The equipment was old. Even the uniforms were old. And there's no other more important job that a President has. You know, they say, United States Supreme Court judges—that's very important—but I think, even before that, it's our military. It's defense.
So while I like to cut budgets—and all of the folks up here and Ron, we like to cut budgets—we also have to have a strong military. In other words, budgets don't mean too much when you get right down to it. So we don't have a big choice.
So our commitment to our defense industrial base is creating jobs for Wisconsin workers in Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and all across this wonderful State. From Wisconsin to Arizona, Pennsylvania to California, workers such as you are forging new tanks and ships and submarines and beautiful American aircraft to make our military the most powerful anywhere on the face of the Earth. Our military now is new. We have new planes. We have new ships. We have many ships being built, many submarines being built—submarines like nobody has ever seen before—and other things.
Men and women like you make this country run. You make this country proud. You make this country great. You keep our lanes of commerce flowing, our communities thriving, and our great American flag flying high. The magnificent Red, White, and Blue flies high. Every day, you're building our Nation's unlimited future, and you are doing it with American hands, American hearts, and with American steel. Our steel companies are coming back so strongly. The dumping is slowing down. And when they do dump, they pay a very, very heavy price—it's called 25 percent—right into the Treasury of the United States. And our steel companies are coming back, and they're coming back strong.
No one can beat the American worker. And no one can match the might of loyal, dedicated, patriotic American citizens. You're incredible people. Today and every day, we will fight for workers, we will fight for your families, we will fight for Wisconsin, and we will fight with all our soul for the glorious Nation that we all love. Together, we are making America stronger and greater than ever before.
And to Marillyn, to everyone at Derco, I want to thank you. Sir, I want to thank you very much. What a job you do, what a great company this is, and what incredible people I've met today. And it's been my honor to be here.
God bless you. God bless everyone. Thank you. Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 2:38 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to Marillyn A. Hewson, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Lockheed Martin Corp., the parent company of Derco Aerospance; and actor Tom Cruise.
Donald J. Trump, Remarks on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement at Derco Aerospace in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/333707