REAL News for REAL People
Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members of Congress, and Members of the Cabinet in Meeting on Trade
THE PRESIDENT: No, that number is going way up because of our big military spending now. You know we - something we all agree on. We had to do a lot of work on our military. Our military had not been taken care of properly, and now it's being taken care of properly. So that 3 percent number will be going way up. But at the same time, it's not a tremendous - you know, it's not - as a percentage, it's not a tremendous number.
I will say this: Steel and aluminum are interesting. It will create a lot of jobs. I believe that some of the dumpers will eat a lot of the tax themselves because they do it to keep people working. And we do it for that and other reasons.
But I will say that a finished product is a much simpler thing. As an example, Germany sends us cars. We send them cars; they practically don't take them. I mean, how many Chevrolets do you see in the middle of Berlin? Not too many, folks. (Laughter.) Not too many. But they send Mercedes, they send BMW. They send them over here in tremendous numbers.
Japan sends us tremendous numbers of cars. They also make cars. In a way, there's no tax. All they have to do, Mike, is, very simple - they do a factory here. There's no tax. Now all of a sudden there's no tax. So they'll build factories here in order to avoid the tax.
But with cars, with television sets, with things like that, where they're dumping them on us - we don't make television sets anymore in this country. They come from South Korea, and they come from, to a lesser extent, Japan. Most of them come from South Korea. It's not fair. And I believe that we should have reciprocal taxes on that, likewise.
That's a different product, that's a much simpler - you know, we did it with the washing machines, as you saw a couple of weeks ago. It's had a huge impact on that industry. A huge impact. And, by the way, you know what's happening? The people that made the washing machines outside of this country are now expanding their factories in the United States so they don't have to pay the 25 and 30 percent tax.
And the same thing is happening with the solar panels. We're starting to make - we had 32 companies. I think we're down, Gary, to two, right? We made solar panels, but every one of our companies was wiped out. And I have to say this, and this is agreed to by - we made a much higher quality, a much better solar panel. We make them better, but we couldn't compete. Now - and we've had a lot of good - a lot of places are opening up. They're starting to make solar panels again.
So with a finished product, it's a little bit different. But again, with steel and aluminum, which is what we're talking about today - you know, that's a good point, Mike. You're right. The question is, would you rather pay a little bit more and create jobs all over the country? And it's possible you won't be creating - really, you won't be having much of a problem in terms of pricing. Because I actually think a lot of the countries are going to eat it because they want to continue to, you know, export. And they're making a fortune.
Look, we have rebuilt China. We have rebuilt a lot of - with the money they've taken out of the United States. We're like the piggybank that had people running it that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And we have rebuilt countries, like, massively. You look at some of these countries - look at South Korea, look at Japan, look at so many countries. And then we defend them, on top of everything else.
So we defend Saudi Arabia. They pay us a fraction of what it costs. We defend Japan. We defend South Korea. They pay us a fraction of what it costs. And we're talking to all of those countries about that because it's not fair that we defend them, and they pay us a fraction of the cost of that defense. Separate argument, but a real problem.
Gary, would you like to say something?
MR. COHN: Senator Wyden, would you like -
THE PRESIDENT: Senator, go ahead.
SENATOR WYDEN: Thank you, Mr. President. We have Senator Brown, Senator Peters, Senator Casey. So you've got a good collection from the Finance Committee and the Commerce Committee.
I'll just make two points really quickly, Mr. President. First, yesterday, you all released the infrastructure plan. And I looked at it very carefully, and I couldn't see even any incentives, let alone requirements, to use American steel. Now, Senator Brown, I think, always says this is a great opportunity for bipartisanship. If we can work with you on that one, that ought to be a no-brainer.
THE PRESIDENT: We can. It's a very easy one.
SENATOR WYDEN: And there's one other thing, on that point, Mr. President. I'll be very brief. And that is, actually, with respect to American steel, the way the plan reads now, it actually allows the states to walk back from commitments to use American steel. So point one would be, could we work with you on that?
Point two is, the Secretary and Ambassador Lighthizer have been very forthcoming in working with us. But we have been trying to see this 232 report. And we appreciate your asking us for our advice. We will need to see that report in order to give you more specifics. But I come back to Senator Brown's point, I think there's an opportunity for real bipartisanship here, and those would be two areas.
THE PRESIDENT: I agree. And I'd like you to come back with a suggestion on infrastructure and the plan. And I think that's a bipartisan plan.
I will tell you, when I approved the two pipelines - the Keystone and - you know, we did the two big ones. And when I approved them, I said, "Where's the steel being made?" And they told me a location that did not make me happy. And I wrote down that from now on steel is being made for pipelines - as you know, it's got to be made in the United States. And it's got to be fabricated in the United States. And so I'm a believer in that also.
But if you would come back with a suggestion, that would be great.
Bob, what about 232?
AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: Well, I think we could put out the report. But rather than focus on that, let me just say, I want to, sort of, second what the Senator says. Trade has always been bipartisan in this country and just until the last few years. And I really think, with this and with NAFTA and the other things we're doing, we can have Democrats and Republicans vote in large number together and start a new way to approach this.
That really is the point that I wanted to make. I think Senator Wyden and I think Senator Brown feels exactly -
PARTICIPANT: And Senator Casey.
PARTICIPANT: Can I speak on that, too?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
SENATOR BROWN: Thank you. I very much appreciate the work that Ambassador Lighthizer has done, generally and specifically, on 232. And Secretary Ross has worked on 232. And I want to talk for a moment about NAFTA. Not too much, but Ambassador Lighthizer has been so good on that.
I mean, trade, as he says, has always been nonpartisan. And I think good evidence of that is what Senator Portman, my colleague from Cincinnati - I'm from Cleveland - what we've been able to do together on Level the Playing Field Act; on trade remedy; on trade enforcement; on currency; and most recently, on Clyde, Ohio, on the washing machine case. And we appreciate what you've done here.
I sent the President and the transition staff - three days after the election, sent him a letter outlining what we can do together in trade. And the President - thank you - sent back a nice handwritten note about that. I appreciate working together on everything from TPP, to non-market economy status, to 232, to the washing machine case, to all of those issues. And I asked, in the washing machine case, it's 3,000 jobs in a small town in Northwest Ohio, and an hour from Toledo. So that really matters to a lot of families.
I'm hopeful we can do quick action on 232. It needs to be comprehensive; aimed, as Todd said, certainly at China. But beyond China, 232 needs to apply more broadly.
And I also - I will just conclude that we can work on NAFTA together. Well, I will work if NAFTA is written in a way that supports workers, as I'm confident it will be, with Ambassador Lighthizer's handprints on it, that we can deliver Democratic support. It will be bipartisan if done right. And that's my reputation and that's what I'll continue to fight for.
And I know Senator Wyden, and Senator Casey, and Senator Peters are on board with that.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. I actually think that we can go bipartisan on infrastructure, maybe even more so than we can on DACA. Because the difference is we want to help DACA; you don't. Okay? (Laughter.) I'm kidding. I'm sure you do. I hope we can.
By the way, while we're at a table, I hope we can do DACA. That's currently up. Everybody is in there working hard on it right now. I think we can have a chance to do DACA very bipartisan. I think that can happen, and I hope we're going to be able to do that, Senator.
SENATOR BROWN: It's important (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: And I think we will.
On infrastructure, which is the purpose of what we're doing today, come back with a proposal. We put in our bid. Come back with a proposal. We have a lot of people that are great Republicans that want something to happen. We have to rebuild our country.
You know, I said yesterday, we've spent $7 trillion. When I say "spent," and I mean wasted, not to mention all of the lives - most importantly - and everything else. But we've spent $7 trillion, as of about two months ago, in the Middle East - $7 trillion. And if you want to borrow two dollars to build a road someplace, including your state, the great state of Ohio - if you want to build a road, if you want to build a tunnel or a bridge, or fix a bridge, because so many of them are in bad shape, you can't do it. And yet, we spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Explain that one.
SENATOR BROWN: We'll have a bipartisan - we have a bipartisan proposal.
THE PRESIDENT: We can do it fast.
SENATOR BROWN: With real dollars on it in infrastructure. We're glad that (inaudible) -
THE PRESIDENT: We can do it fast.
SENATOR BROWN: - and work together on a real infrastructure bill with real dollars, plus what you can leverage in the communities and the private sector.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. Do a combination.
SENATOR BROWN: It needs real dollars.
THE PRESIDENT: I would love to have you get back to us quickly, because we can do this quickly. And we have to rebuild our country. We have to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our tunnels. So the faster you get back, the faster we can move. Focus on DACA this week, if you don't mind. Right? But the faster you get back, the faster we move.
Jackie, you were going to say?
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm grateful for you willingness to sit down, listen, and just talk today.
But I represent the recreational vehicle industry in northern Indiana, Elkhart County. We have 85 percent of that market. And I'm a defense hawk, I get what you're saying, I get what we're all saying around this table. We're one of the largest manufacturing districts in this country.
And the problem is, right now, even the mere - when we look balance and we talk about balance, the mere threat of tariffs, right now, from some of my folks that are manufacturing right now - they employee some 15,000 people just in my district in Indiana. And a guy - one of my guys called me this morning, and he said, the mere threat of tariffs, right now, has already raised aluminum and steel costs by 25 percent. Canadian softwood has raised 20 percent. The labor cost to the industry is already up 10 to 15 percent because the job market is so tight.
And this is a market that was 21 percent unemployment when we really had the financial crisis in this country, and now we're down to 2.1 percent. Their concern, my concern, is if we seriously have a balanced effort, and be able to keep and retain a momentum in a place like northern Indiana, and be fair at the same time, I am 100 percent supportive of what you do.
I would just ask that you look at that balance of what it's doing to current employees and giant growth that our tax reform helped just two months ago.
THE PRESIDENT: But what you have to ask your manufacturers too -
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Sure.
THE PRESIDENT: - and I know some of those manufacturers. They were great to me.
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Absolutely, yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: And they're friends. And they voted. And they - they're great people. But you have to ask them one question. When you build your product and you send that big, beautiful product that they make like nobody else, and you send that to another country, how much tax does that other country charge them? And therefore, they don't sell it there very much because the tax is so high.
And one of the things we want to do is we want fairness. We don't want what's been happening. Because you look at it and you do well here, but they come in and they compete with you, and we take their product for nothing. And you want to sell your product overseas - which is probably triple the market for you if you ever could get it. But a lot of manufacturers have given up. They've given up on that. They don't even talk.
I will tell you, Harley Davidson - I was saying, well, what's the story? They were saying it's a 75 and 100 percent tax. They got used to it for so many years. For so many years, they weren't even asking me to do this. I mean, I'm doing it for them and others, but they weren't even asking because they've gotten used to it. And your folks have gotten used to it too. Because you take that great product and you sell it overseas, they make it almost impossible for you to do that - not only monetarily with the tax, but they also have other criteria which make it impossible.
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: I understand. But I would say, Mr. President, there's also the second issue that has developed in this country with these corporations in producing the quality of vehicles that they do is, the true-American smelters left. And in reference to the costs here, they won't even fill the products of some of these customers because they don't have to, because they got people standing in line to buy - there are so few, right?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Let's -
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: So if you can't buy the specs, you're out of a job.
Go Back
I will say this: Steel and aluminum are interesting. It will create a lot of jobs. I believe that some of the dumpers will eat a lot of the tax themselves because they do it to keep people working. And we do it for that and other reasons.
But I will say that a finished product is a much simpler thing. As an example, Germany sends us cars. We send them cars; they practically don't take them. I mean, how many Chevrolets do you see in the middle of Berlin? Not too many, folks. (Laughter.) Not too many. But they send Mercedes, they send BMW. They send them over here in tremendous numbers.
Japan sends us tremendous numbers of cars. They also make cars. In a way, there's no tax. All they have to do, Mike, is, very simple - they do a factory here. There's no tax. Now all of a sudden there's no tax. So they'll build factories here in order to avoid the tax.
But with cars, with television sets, with things like that, where they're dumping them on us - we don't make television sets anymore in this country. They come from South Korea, and they come from, to a lesser extent, Japan. Most of them come from South Korea. It's not fair. And I believe that we should have reciprocal taxes on that, likewise.
That's a different product, that's a much simpler - you know, we did it with the washing machines, as you saw a couple of weeks ago. It's had a huge impact on that industry. A huge impact. And, by the way, you know what's happening? The people that made the washing machines outside of this country are now expanding their factories in the United States so they don't have to pay the 25 and 30 percent tax.
And the same thing is happening with the solar panels. We're starting to make - we had 32 companies. I think we're down, Gary, to two, right? We made solar panels, but every one of our companies was wiped out. And I have to say this, and this is agreed to by - we made a much higher quality, a much better solar panel. We make them better, but we couldn't compete. Now - and we've had a lot of good - a lot of places are opening up. They're starting to make solar panels again.
So with a finished product, it's a little bit different. But again, with steel and aluminum, which is what we're talking about today - you know, that's a good point, Mike. You're right. The question is, would you rather pay a little bit more and create jobs all over the country? And it's possible you won't be creating - really, you won't be having much of a problem in terms of pricing. Because I actually think a lot of the countries are going to eat it because they want to continue to, you know, export. And they're making a fortune.
Look, we have rebuilt China. We have rebuilt a lot of - with the money they've taken out of the United States. We're like the piggybank that had people running it that didn't know what the hell they were doing. And we have rebuilt countries, like, massively. You look at some of these countries - look at South Korea, look at Japan, look at so many countries. And then we defend them, on top of everything else.
So we defend Saudi Arabia. They pay us a fraction of what it costs. We defend Japan. We defend South Korea. They pay us a fraction of what it costs. And we're talking to all of those countries about that because it's not fair that we defend them, and they pay us a fraction of the cost of that defense. Separate argument, but a real problem.
Gary, would you like to say something?
MR. COHN: Senator Wyden, would you like -
THE PRESIDENT: Senator, go ahead.
SENATOR WYDEN: Thank you, Mr. President. We have Senator Brown, Senator Peters, Senator Casey. So you've got a good collection from the Finance Committee and the Commerce Committee.
I'll just make two points really quickly, Mr. President. First, yesterday, you all released the infrastructure plan. And I looked at it very carefully, and I couldn't see even any incentives, let alone requirements, to use American steel. Now, Senator Brown, I think, always says this is a great opportunity for bipartisanship. If we can work with you on that one, that ought to be a no-brainer.
THE PRESIDENT: We can. It's a very easy one.
SENATOR WYDEN: And there's one other thing, on that point, Mr. President. I'll be very brief. And that is, actually, with respect to American steel, the way the plan reads now, it actually allows the states to walk back from commitments to use American steel. So point one would be, could we work with you on that?
Point two is, the Secretary and Ambassador Lighthizer have been very forthcoming in working with us. But we have been trying to see this 232 report. And we appreciate your asking us for our advice. We will need to see that report in order to give you more specifics. But I come back to Senator Brown's point, I think there's an opportunity for real bipartisanship here, and those would be two areas.
THE PRESIDENT: I agree. And I'd like you to come back with a suggestion on infrastructure and the plan. And I think that's a bipartisan plan.
I will tell you, when I approved the two pipelines - the Keystone and - you know, we did the two big ones. And when I approved them, I said, "Where's the steel being made?" And they told me a location that did not make me happy. And I wrote down that from now on steel is being made for pipelines - as you know, it's got to be made in the United States. And it's got to be fabricated in the United States. And so I'm a believer in that also.
But if you would come back with a suggestion, that would be great.
Bob, what about 232?
AMBASSADOR LIGHTHIZER: Well, I think we could put out the report. But rather than focus on that, let me just say, I want to, sort of, second what the Senator says. Trade has always been bipartisan in this country and just until the last few years. And I really think, with this and with NAFTA and the other things we're doing, we can have Democrats and Republicans vote in large number together and start a new way to approach this.
That really is the point that I wanted to make. I think Senator Wyden and I think Senator Brown feels exactly -
PARTICIPANT: And Senator Casey.
PARTICIPANT: Can I speak on that, too?
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
SENATOR BROWN: Thank you. I very much appreciate the work that Ambassador Lighthizer has done, generally and specifically, on 232. And Secretary Ross has worked on 232. And I want to talk for a moment about NAFTA. Not too much, but Ambassador Lighthizer has been so good on that.
I mean, trade, as he says, has always been nonpartisan. And I think good evidence of that is what Senator Portman, my colleague from Cincinnati - I'm from Cleveland - what we've been able to do together on Level the Playing Field Act; on trade remedy; on trade enforcement; on currency; and most recently, on Clyde, Ohio, on the washing machine case. And we appreciate what you've done here.
I sent the President and the transition staff - three days after the election, sent him a letter outlining what we can do together in trade. And the President - thank you - sent back a nice handwritten note about that. I appreciate working together on everything from TPP, to non-market economy status, to 232, to the washing machine case, to all of those issues. And I asked, in the washing machine case, it's 3,000 jobs in a small town in Northwest Ohio, and an hour from Toledo. So that really matters to a lot of families.
I'm hopeful we can do quick action on 232. It needs to be comprehensive; aimed, as Todd said, certainly at China. But beyond China, 232 needs to apply more broadly.
And I also - I will just conclude that we can work on NAFTA together. Well, I will work if NAFTA is written in a way that supports workers, as I'm confident it will be, with Ambassador Lighthizer's handprints on it, that we can deliver Democratic support. It will be bipartisan if done right. And that's my reputation and that's what I'll continue to fight for.
And I know Senator Wyden, and Senator Casey, and Senator Peters are on board with that.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. I actually think that we can go bipartisan on infrastructure, maybe even more so than we can on DACA. Because the difference is we want to help DACA; you don't. Okay? (Laughter.) I'm kidding. I'm sure you do. I hope we can.
By the way, while we're at a table, I hope we can do DACA. That's currently up. Everybody is in there working hard on it right now. I think we can have a chance to do DACA very bipartisan. I think that can happen, and I hope we're going to be able to do that, Senator.
SENATOR BROWN: It's important (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: And I think we will.
On infrastructure, which is the purpose of what we're doing today, come back with a proposal. We put in our bid. Come back with a proposal. We have a lot of people that are great Republicans that want something to happen. We have to rebuild our country.
You know, I said yesterday, we've spent $7 trillion. When I say "spent," and I mean wasted, not to mention all of the lives - most importantly - and everything else. But we've spent $7 trillion, as of about two months ago, in the Middle East - $7 trillion. And if you want to borrow two dollars to build a road someplace, including your state, the great state of Ohio - if you want to build a road, if you want to build a tunnel or a bridge, or fix a bridge, because so many of them are in bad shape, you can't do it. And yet, we spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Explain that one.
SENATOR BROWN: We'll have a bipartisan - we have a bipartisan proposal.
THE PRESIDENT: We can do it fast.
SENATOR BROWN: With real dollars on it in infrastructure. We're glad that (inaudible) -
THE PRESIDENT: We can do it fast.
SENATOR BROWN: - and work together on a real infrastructure bill with real dollars, plus what you can leverage in the communities and the private sector.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. Do a combination.
SENATOR BROWN: It needs real dollars.
THE PRESIDENT: I would love to have you get back to us quickly, because we can do this quickly. And we have to rebuild our country. We have to rebuild our roads and our bridges and our tunnels. So the faster you get back, the faster we can move. Focus on DACA this week, if you don't mind. Right? But the faster you get back, the faster we move.
Jackie, you were going to say?
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm grateful for you willingness to sit down, listen, and just talk today.
But I represent the recreational vehicle industry in northern Indiana, Elkhart County. We have 85 percent of that market. And I'm a defense hawk, I get what you're saying, I get what we're all saying around this table. We're one of the largest manufacturing districts in this country.
And the problem is, right now, even the mere - when we look balance and we talk about balance, the mere threat of tariffs, right now, from some of my folks that are manufacturing right now - they employee some 15,000 people just in my district in Indiana. And a guy - one of my guys called me this morning, and he said, the mere threat of tariffs, right now, has already raised aluminum and steel costs by 25 percent. Canadian softwood has raised 20 percent. The labor cost to the industry is already up 10 to 15 percent because the job market is so tight.
And this is a market that was 21 percent unemployment when we really had the financial crisis in this country, and now we're down to 2.1 percent. Their concern, my concern, is if we seriously have a balanced effort, and be able to keep and retain a momentum in a place like northern Indiana, and be fair at the same time, I am 100 percent supportive of what you do.
I would just ask that you look at that balance of what it's doing to current employees and giant growth that our tax reform helped just two months ago.
THE PRESIDENT: But what you have to ask your manufacturers too -
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Sure.
THE PRESIDENT: - and I know some of those manufacturers. They were great to me.
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: Absolutely, yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: And they're friends. And they voted. And they - they're great people. But you have to ask them one question. When you build your product and you send that big, beautiful product that they make like nobody else, and you send that to another country, how much tax does that other country charge them? And therefore, they don't sell it there very much because the tax is so high.
And one of the things we want to do is we want fairness. We don't want what's been happening. Because you look at it and you do well here, but they come in and they compete with you, and we take their product for nothing. And you want to sell your product overseas - which is probably triple the market for you if you ever could get it. But a lot of manufacturers have given up. They've given up on that. They don't even talk.
I will tell you, Harley Davidson - I was saying, well, what's the story? They were saying it's a 75 and 100 percent tax. They got used to it for so many years. For so many years, they weren't even asking me to do this. I mean, I'm doing it for them and others, but they weren't even asking because they've gotten used to it. And your folks have gotten used to it too. Because you take that great product and you sell it overseas, they make it almost impossible for you to do that - not only monetarily with the tax, but they also have other criteria which make it impossible.
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: I understand. But I would say, Mr. President, there's also the second issue that has developed in this country with these corporations in producing the quality of vehicles that they do is, the true-American smelters left. And in reference to the costs here, they won't even fill the products of some of these customers because they don't have to, because they got people standing in line to buy - there are so few, right?
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Let's -
REPRESENTATIVE WALORSKI: So if you can't buy the specs, you're out of a job.
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