Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, Members of Congress, and Members of the Cabinet in Meeting on Trade | Eastern North Carolina Now

    But we can do more with our existing laws as well. And I think 232 is part of the overall response, but it needs to be targeted. I agree with what Senator Alexander and others have said about the balance, Senator Toomey and others. You got to be careful because we don't want to increase the cost to our consumers of all these steel products that go into our other manufacturing. But there are areas, like electrical, like pipe and tube, where we've got to stand up and help to defend, in the case of electrical, our last American manufacturer.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right. Well, you know, Rob, we have steel coming into our country from countries that don't even know what steel is. They don't make it, they never made it. It's transshipping. It's coming from China and some others, but mostly from China. And they send it through countries that don't make steel, and it comes pouring into our country - and free. Free. And it's a very bad - very bad situation.

    Kevin.

    REPRESENTATIVE BRADY: Yeah, so, one, I think everyone in this room supports you aggressively holding China accountable for its overcapacity in a major way. Thank you for that.

    232 is a little like old-fashioned chemotherapy. It isn't used as much because it can often do as much damage as good. And an example - it happens all around the country - but we send steel pellets from Corpus Christi over to Austria, to this company that does this amazing job - super-refined, specific job.

    We bring it back to Navasota, Texas - my district - refine it even further. Sell it to many American energy companies who use that specialized steel to compete and win against Russia and China and all the other countries. If transactions like that, that are pretty typical around the country, get caught up, in that case we punished three American manufacturing industries for that, all of whom, by the way, are looking at expanding because of your tax reform plan.

    THE PRESIDENT: That's right.

    REPRESENTATIVE BRADY: And so my point is - so we have to be really targeted. You have to be really targeted here. Also, we've got allies with us against China's unfair trade practices. We have to be careful, as you look at these decisions, to target it, to make sure our allies are with us as we do this.

    THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Very good. Thank you, Kevin.

    Go ahead, Rick.

    REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD: Thank you, Mr. President. One thing I want to point out - we had the conversation about the national security imperative, and I think we've looked at it in the context of the defense industry.

    And I just wanted to add one thing to that: It's our ability to address our own inputs - not just addressing the needs of the defense industry, but our ability to produce for our own consumption as we take on infrastructure projects and so on.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right. That's right.

    REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD: So I think we don't just need to focus on those percentages but also, broadly, how this impacts our ability to provide for our own inputs.

    And then, one other thing I wanted to mention is, 74 percent capacity right now here in the United States. The steel industry is losing market share, and that translates to -

    THE PRESIDENT: Rapidly.

    REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD: - economic loss in communities, as Representative Bost - he and I co-chair the steel caucus, and so we're very keenly aware of what this can do to these communities when we don't have that kind of certainty.

    THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you, Rick. Thank you very much.

    Senator.

    SENATOR PETERS: Hello, Mr. President. I appreciated your comments about Michigan and the auto industry. I'd like to say that a big reason why those jobs are coming back is because we have the best workers anywhere in the world here.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's also true. I agree.

    SENATOR PETERS: That's why we're here. And they can build it on time and build it with outstanding qualities, as long as the rules are fair.

    So I appreciate this issue. And it should be -

    THE PRESIDENT: You do have great workers. The problem is you didn't have good policy, and that's why so many jobs left. But now they're coming back. And they like coming back to Michigan.

    SENATOR PETERS: Well, they'd love coming back to Michigan, as long as we have fair rules and -

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    SENATOR PETERS: - so have to continue to push this forward.

    I would like to pick up on Senator Alexander's comments, too, is that we also have to be concerned about the auto parts industry as well.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    SENATOR PETERS: We have probably more jobs in auto parts in Michigan than any other of the industrial sector, so they all go together.

    We've got to deal with the steel pricing issue. I agree with everything that's been said here. But then we can't have the dumping of auto parts that will take away Michigan jobs as well as jobs around the country.

    THE PRESIDENT: You're right.

    SENATOR PETERS: And if I could just bring up one other issue that I think we should take a look at. I'm working in a bipartisan way with Senator Burr on an issue related to the Commerce Department having the ability to self-initiate trade enforcement actions smaller than industries like steel or aluminum or washing machines - is that we have small businesses that don't have the resources, quite frankly, to bring a trade enforcement case -

    THE PRESIDENT: Good point.

    SENATOR PETERS: - to go through the lawyers to do that. In Michigan, for example, we have cherries. Right now, we've got the dumping of cherries that's making it very difficult for our growers in Michigan. But they don't have the resources to bring those kinds of enforcement actions.

    So we're working on legislation to give Secretary Ross, the Department of Commerce, more tools to help our small businesses.

    THE PRESIDENT: I like that.

    SENATOR PETERS: And I'd love to have your help.

    THE PRESIDENT: You have my help. I think it's a fantastic idea. Because you're right - they can't hire the lawyers, it's too small. But it's - you know, in a double way, it's very, very big.

    Wilbur, are you working on that?

    SECRETARY ROSS: Yes, sir.

    THE PRESIDENT: Good.

    SECRETARY ROSS: As you know, for the first time in many years, the Commerce Department did initiate - self-initiate - it happened - it was in a big industry. It was in aluminum.

    But there are limitations to what a conventional trade case can do, and the main limitation is it doesn't prevent people from the transshipment through other countries. And of lot of what 232 can do for us is to solve that problem.

    And 232 doesn't have to mean the same tariff on every single country. It doesn't have to mean the same tariff on every single product. It can be applied in a much more surgical way. And we presented the President with a range of alternatives that goes from a big tariff on everything from everywhere, to very selective tariffs from a very selective group of countries.

    There are one of two countries that figure quite prominently in all of the lists, and those names will come as no surprise to you. But, for example -

    THE PRESIDENT: And the problem you have with that, though, is transshipping.

    SECRETARY ROSS: Yes.

    THE PRESIDENT: You think you're going to put a pinpoint on a country, but then they ship it to other countries that you're not even thinking about.

    SECRETARY ROSS: Right. And so -

    THE PRESIDENT: So you have to be careful with that.

    SECRETARY ROSS: Yeah. So what the 232 would let us do is to have quotas on the countries that we weren't putting a tariff. (Inaudible) at what they're shipping in now. So it's not going to restrict supply, but it would prevent the evildoers from transshipping more goods through that country.

    THE PRESIDENT: Evildoers. That's a good word. Of which there are many. (Laughter.)

    SECRETARY ROSS: Yes, there are - there are, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: You're doing a good job, Wilbur. Thank you.

    SECRETARY ROSS: Thank you, Mr. President.

    THE PRESIDENT: We've been very - we've been tough.

    Go ahead. Fellas.

    REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON: Mr. President, the comments that have been made here - been made today about balance is absolutely essential. I mean, managing job creation and controlling cost at the same time has got to be the major factors in this mix.

    Two points that I'll make.

    THE PRESIDENT: And deficits too? Deficits too?

    REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON: Absolutely.

    THE PRESIDENT: You know, there are some people who don't believe in deficits. They think it doesn't matter. To me, I think it matters a lot.

    REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON: I think it matters a lot.

    Two points that I'll make. One, to, kind of, put a stamp on what Senator Portman said, AK Steel is the only manufacturer in America that makes the electrical steel that is necessary for the transformers that feed and produce electricity in our electric grid. China - we are at risk of losing that industry; and if we lose that, we are absolutely, potentially at hostage by the Chinese for management and maintenance of our electrical grid.

    Number two, you've made a big case, and I think you have, rightfully so, told the world that America is open for business. And the regulatory reforms that you've done, the tax reforms that you have done, has put America back in business.

    One of the biggest businesses that is promoting job creation today is the oil and gas industry.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON: And in Eastern and Southeastern Ohio, big projects like ethane cracker plants, they require a tremendous amount of steel.

    We've got to make sure that whatever we do in this formula keeps cost down because those projects are huge. I mean, they are massive. You're talking about $6- to $8-billion projects, and big cost increases in steel could be a big deal.

    So we got to balance the job creation with the cost.

    THE PRESIDENT: I agree. I agree. And I know that area very well. You're right.

    Yes.

    REPRESENTATIVE SMITH: Thank you, Mr. President. At home in Southeast Missouri, we have a real example of where we lost 900 jobs in March of 2016 because our aluminum smelter closed. And I believe that these aluminum smelters can be reopened.

    I don't fall underneath the premise -

    THE PRESIDENT: And for a different reason, too. Because of what we've done, our energy prices are going so low, our electric costs are going so low, that other countries aren't going to be able to compete with us. We're really doing a great job of bringing them down. And a lot of that had to do with the tax cuts, but it has to do with lots of other things, too.

    REPRESENTATIVE SMITH: Exactly.

    THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead. Tell me about that.

    REPRESENTATIVE SMITH: When you look at Southeast Missouri, the median income household is $40,000. It's one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. And when we lost 900 jobs, with the average salary of $70,000 a year, that hit home in the Bootheel of Missouri.

    And without a doubt, if you just look at the numbers of the aluminum production in China that in 2000 was 10 percent of the world's production, and in 2015 was 54 percent, there's a problem, Mr. President. And I believe that we can have the production back, and we have a vacant facility in New Madrid, Missouri that we want to open, and we want to create more jobs.