And we got rid of the individual mandate, which is going to be great for the people here and the people that work here. In other words, we got rid of Obamacare's - (applause) - individual mandate, where you have the privilege of paying a lot of money for not having to buy healthcare. Think of that. Think of that one. You pay a lot of money not to have healthcare. So it's gone. Most unpopular provision in Obamacare by far. And Obamacare is largely gone now.
And we're opening up - Secretary Acosta is here; Secretary Azar is here. We're opening up unbelievable healthcare cross state lines, highly competitive. Really great healthcare. Everyone is competing for it. All of the insurance companies are dying to get it. They all want to compete. The costs are going to be low. And it's costing our country nothing. Nothing. And it's so much better than any form of insurance.
We have association, and then Secretary Azar is coming out in three weeks with a massive plan. You won't believe it. And we did repeal and replace Obamacare. Unfortunately, one senator decided to put the thumb down, late in the morning. And that was not a good thing when he put that thumb down. But we've made up for it and, in many ways, more than made up for it. But that was a sad day, to me. But we repealed and replaced, but now we have something that ultimately, I think, is going to be better, and that's what we do.
Today we're seeing the results of the pro-American agenda, America First, Make America Great Again - all those hats. Greatest phrase ever used in politics, I suspect. Right? (Laughter.) That's the greatest - Make America Great Again. So what are we using in two years, two and a half years? Can you believe, two and a half years? So soon.
You know what the phrase is, right? Huh?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Keep America great.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. "Keep America Great" - of course, exclamation point. Right? "Keep" - because we can't say in two years - so we were here for four years, we can't say Make America Great Again. But when you look at what we're doing, it's very simple. It's called "Keep America Great!" We'll get you nice hats. Maybe we'll make them green this time, instead of red. Green, representing cash. (Laughter.)
This plant will manufacture state-of-the-art LCDs, adding an average of $3.4 billion to the state's economy every single year. And, by the way, I don't know this, but I understand life and I understand politics, I guess - or I wouldn't be here, in a short period of time. I must have potential, right? Because here we are, all together.
But I assume the Democrats are probably saying no deal is any good. You know, they say - any deal you do - you know, the Democrats, as headed by Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters - you know, they have a new leader, Maxine Waters. This is our new leader. But I assume - you know, because any deal you make, they have no idea what the deal is. We had a couple of them recently - a trade deal - and one of the Democrats got up, "The deal doesn't work." And he didn't know the deal. Nobody ever shared it to him. We didn't know the deal because we hadn't even negotiated it yet. And he was saying - but that's the way it is. They always will criticize. This is one of the great deals, ever. What this is going to do - and I don't even know that anybody is critical of it. I can't imagine they could be.
I know that Terry is investing $10 billion in the state. Ten billion dollars. Incredible. So even at this early stage, the economic benefits of this new plant are being felt in 60 of Wisconsin's 72 counties already. Don't worry, in another three weeks it will be 72. (Applause.)
Foxconn has already contracted 27 local Wisconsin companies to begin construction of the main facility. As big as this is, this is just a toy compared to the main facility. And I'm pleased to report that Foxconn intends to build 100 percent of the factory with beautiful American concrete and beautiful American steel, made right here. So important. (Applause.)
Our steel industry, our aluminum industry, our solar panel industry, it's all coming back. It's coming back fast.
One of the many people here with us today, who will benefit from this plant, is Celia Griffin. She is a mother of three and a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 139. Celia, could you come up, tell us what this Foxconn job, this incredible - this really incredible plant has done for you and for your family? Celia.
MS. GRIFFIN. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Hello, everyone. Giving honor to God - I started in 2005 as an operating engineer, and Hoffman Construction gave me my first job in a haul truck. (Applause.)
I went on from there to work for Gilbane, building the Northwest Mutual Towers in Milwaukee. (Applause.) Now the two families are together and they brought me to Foxconn to work in the haul truck again. And me and my family are grateful and very pleased to be at home again. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Celia. And, Celia, we want to tell, by the way - Harley-Davidson, please build those beautiful motorcycles in the USA, please. Okay? Don't get cute with us. Don't get cute. They don't realize their taxes are coming way down. They don't realize that yet. Spent a lot of time with them. Build them in the USA. Your customers won't be happy if you don't. I'll tell you that.
Now, let's hear from Dawn Wallace. After she and her husband, Dave, worked hard to raise three beautiful children, Dawn recently decided to take advantage of the new job opportunities that Foxconn created right here in Wisconsin. And I'd like to have - can you come up please? Where are you? Good. Hi, Dawn. Hi. (Applause.)
MS. WALLACE: So did you receive any of my tweets, President Trump? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: I did.
MS. WALLACE: You did?
THE PRESIDENT: I did. I actually did.
MS. WALLACE: A stay-at-home mom turned into Foxconn builder. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. I did. (Applause.)
MS. WALLACE: I would just like to thank Hoffman for giving me the opportunity to start something new. What a perfect way than Foxconn. I was super excited when I heard it was coming in our area.
THE PRESIDENT: Good job.
MS. WALLACE: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, Dawn. (Applause.) Good job. Thank you, Dawn.
I'd also like to welcome Chris Koski, one of the project managers of this site who has really done a fantastic job. Chris, please. (Applause.)
MR. KOSKI: Hello, everybody. So one of the best parts of my job is getting to put these teams together. It's one thing to build them - it's analytical; we look at pictures, and then we make them into the real thing in the real world. But in order to do that, I need, currently, 110 people to help me every day. And they show up early and they go home late, and we spend time together, probably more time together than we spend with our families. But they're there every single day, and they do everything that we ask. And we got the job done on time. And that's the part that makes it special.
So we get together out there every day, and we make sure to care for each other - take care of each other. We actually treat it like it's a family. It's a dangerous job in some ways, but we look out for each other. And I just think that it's probably the best thing. I've really been doing this since I was about 10 years old. And I can't believe I'm standing here talking to you all today about it.
So Foxconn is probably one of the best things that's ever happened to Hoffman Construction and, certainly, for Chris Koski. And I appreciate the opportunity.
President Trump, thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Chris. (Applause.)
And, by the way, as soon as I'm finished here, I'm going to hop in that plane, I'm going back to Washington, and we're going to pick ourselves one great United States Supreme Court justice - (applause) - to take the place of a great man. Justice Kennedy, really, a great person, great man. And I'm so honored that he decided to do this during our term, and I think that showed confidence in us. But he is a very special person, special man - Justice Kennedy. And just remember that name. He's done some very important decisions, very important things. Highly respected, and we love him. So we'll be - but we'll be picking somebody. And we'll be, hopefully, making you very proud. So important.
You know, when I ran for President, I started hearing, outside of obviously defense and all of that, the most important decision a President can make is the picking of United States Supreme Court justices - if you're lucky enough to do that. We had a fantastic choice with Justice Gorsuch. Very proud of it. Doing a fantastic job. And we're going to try and do just as good. So we're going to start working on that process. We've already started. And, hopefully, we're going to make you very proud. (Applause.)
So just in finishing, I want to say that today's groundbreaking is only one part of the exciting story that is playing out across our nation - all over our nation. Chrysler is shifting production from Mexico to Michigan. Toyota and Mazda will build a new facility in Alabama, a beautiful facility. And we have many other companies coming in. Not only the car companies. But this is where the action is.
I go around and I see the leaders of different countries, and they always say, "Congratulations on the great economic success that you're having in the United States." And we have an economy that's almost twice the size of China, and much larger than any other. And you know, if you think, we've made so much progress in the last year and a half that's put us in this position. And we're going up. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
And watch those GDP numbers. We started off at a very low number, and right now we hit a 3.2. Nobody thought that was possible in four years, but I think it's going to go a lot higher than that. So you watch those numbers. Each point is $3 trillion and 10 million jobs. Just remember that. Each point. And we already hit a 3.2. And I think we're going to be seeing fours. And I think we're going to be seeing fives too. And I think we're going to go higher than that, but that may be in the second term. Okay? Can I have a little break. Right? (Applause.) Right, Steve? (Applause.) Our Secretary - our great Secretary of the Treasury. Right, Steve? I'm like okay saying that, Steve? That's my - I think that's your projection, too. Steve Mnuchin. That's his projection too. You better be right, Steve. (Laughter.)
In the first quarter of this year, American companies repatriated a record $300 billion that would have never come back to this country. It's overseas profits, bringing the money back home to our country where it belongs. I think we're going to have three, maybe four trillion dollars before that's all over. It was impossible to bring that money back, virtually, for a lot of reasons. Now they're coming back.
In fact, Apple - as you know, Terry makes a lot of the product - laptops, iPhones - makes a lot of them for Apple. And Apple is spending $350 billion. Billion. There's another case. I would have been happy with $350 million, right? But they're spending $350 billion on plants, on building an incredible campus. And Terry is very happy about that.
We're also reclaiming our country's proud manufacturing legacy. That's why it's so important that we open up our steel mills again. We need that for purposes of defense. We need that for purposes of legacy. We're restoring America's industrial might. And thanks to the hardworking patriots like you, we're making America greater than ever before. It's greater than ever before. Very shortly, it's all happening. You see it happening. You see what's going on. They're all coming back. We're the place they want to be.
To Foxconn and to Terry Gou, and to all of the amazing Wisconsin workers with us today and all over this state, I want to wish you good luck and congratulations on truly one of the Eighth Wonder - I think we can say this is - we can say the Eighth Wonder of the World. This is the Eighth Wonder of the World. But this is something so special. So I want to just congratulate you all. You're very special people and a very special state.
Thank you very much. Thank you to Scott Walker. Thank you, everybody. Great honor to be with you. Good luck. Enjoy this great facility. Thank you. (Applause.)
