Remarks by President Trump and Prime Minister Morrison of Australia at Pratt Industries Plant Opening | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Pratt Industries  •  Wapakoneta, Ohio  •  September 22  •  6:35 P.M. EDT

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: So, a lot of people don't tell you about Anthony, but I'll tell you about Anthony. He is the most successful man in Australia. (Applause.)

    And he said, "I'm going to come here and I'm going to spend $10 billion if you win the election." And I won the election. And I said, "Come on, Anthony. What's happening here?" And he's going to - he's spent $2 billion. And he's spending a lot of more - a lot more money and he's a great man. And he's my friend and I appreciate it. Thank you, Anthony. (Applause.)

    And also, thank you for that warm welcome. Thank you for your tremendous investment in America and the hardworking patriots of Ohio. He's very happy. They said - this force - I said, "How are they? Are they as good as I think you said?" "Even better." (Applause.) That doesn't always happen. That doesn't always happen. (Applause.)

    I especially want to recognize and thank Claudine, who has worked with my company for a long time. She's a dynamo. She's an incredible talent. And when I found out she was with Anthony, I said, "Wow. That's a combination that cannot be beat." Where is Claudine? Claudine, thank you. (Applause.) That's an impossible combination to beat. (Applause.) Good.

    We're profoundly grateful to be joined today by one of America's greatest friends and most loyal allies - somebody that's become a very good friend of mine. We had an unbelievable event at the White House; you probably saw it on Friday. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. (Applause.)

    And he recently won the election in Australia. Some of you know. And it was supposed to be close and he blew them away - (applause) - because he believes a lot of the same things I believe, I guess. That helps. (Applause.) He blew them away. He's a great gentleman and they love him in Australia and they now love him in the United States of America, too. (Applause.) Thank you for being with us. It's a great evening.

    Thanks also to Ambassador Arthur Culvahouse. Way to go. You made it. You made it. My friend. (Applause.) And his Australian counterpart, Ambassador Joe Hockey. Thank you, Joe. (Applause.) Tough cookie, Joe is. Right? I hear that.

    We're honored to be joined by two great champions for Ohio workers: Senator Rob Portman and Congressman Jim Jordan. (Applause.) Where are they? Thank you, Jane. Thank you very much. Jim. No, how would I do wrestling Jim - 128 and 1? I don't know. (Laughter.) I'm bigger than he is. I don't know, Jim. You could have -

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    AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you, President Trump.

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

    Thank you, Rob. I appreciate you being here. I appreciate it. Jim, thank you very much.

    And finally, thank you to General Manager Ed Kersey and everyone at Pratt Industries. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

    This is a very special occasion. Today, we celebrate the extraordinary economic partnership between our nations and we proudly declare that Pratt Industries and this great, great state of Ohio is open for business. (Applause.) Open for business.

    And Pratt has pledged, as I said, to invest many billions of dollars in the United States. It's okay if you come back to Ohio. You know, you can keep coming back here. Do you - I think we want him back. He'll do another couple of plants. (Applause.)

    And it's been an incredible victory having Anthony and the whole Pratt Industries here. But it's been really a victory for American workers, American manufacturing, and American jobs. We love jobs. (Applause.)

    When this plant is fully operational, hundreds of Ohio workers will have full-time jobs with quality healthcare, retirement benefits, and really great wages. You guys are all getting good wages, I guess, right? Good? Huh? (Applause.) They say "yes." They're so happy you could probably reduce them a little bit, Anthony. (Laughs.) No, we're only - we're only kidding. We're only kidding.

    But I'm especially excited to announce that one in four workers at this plant is a veteran - a great American veteran. (Applause.) Right?

    MR. PRATT: Yeah.

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: Right? (Applause.) He knows what he is doing. Nobody like our vets. We love those vets. Thank you, fellas. Thank you very much. Thank you all.

    Every year, you will recycle discarded paper into 400,000 tons of high-quality new paper and more than 300 million boxes - all without cutting down a single tree. Not a single tree comes down. (Applause.) I was asking Anthony how many plants are those - what percentage of paper is made this way, and it's less than 20 percent - growing all the time, but less than 20 percent. And so this is really cutting-edge stuff. And that's really great.

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    Proving that we can protect our environment and grow our economy at the same time. With Pratt's new facility, our historic investment in the - and you remember this - the Lima Army Tank Plant. Remember I came and it was supposed to close down - (applause) - before the election? I came up, Anthony, and it was really something. Scott, they had this incredible plant that made Army tanks - the Abrams tanks, right? Abrams. The best tank in the world - known as the best tank in the world. And they were going to close it.

    And I came up, I said, "Why are we going to close it? You'll never be able to rebuild a thing like this." And then we got a lot of budgets. We won the election. And our military budget is $700 billion, $716 billion, and then $738 billion. And we're buying a lot of those Abrams tanks and we're also selling them to allies all over the world.

    And that's one of the busiest plants we have anywhere in the country. And if we would have closed it down, you could have never gotten the people to do tanks like that - the talent in that place. And I don't even know what it was; it was instinct. Because everybody said, "We're going to close it down. We're going to save about three dollars." (Laughter.) Not too good, right?

    As Anthony mentioned, over the next decade, Pratt Industries is creating 5,000 new jobs in the United States. This massive new investment is made possible by the historic tax cuts and tax credits that we signed into law. We lowered our business tax from the highest anywhere in the developed world to one that is extremely competitive - even really considered pretty low - meaning a lot of companies, like from Australia and other places are coming over.

    Since then, American companies have brought nearly $1 trillion back to our shores. And that's 1 trillion dollars' worth of jobs. So it's great. (Applause.)

    And just in concluding, our message is clear: There has never been a better time to hire, invest, build, and grow in the United States of America. Every day, we're seeing more products roll off the assembly line stamped with that beautiful grouping of words: "Made in the USA." Remember? "Made in the USA." (Applause.) "Made in the USA."

    Do you like better "Made in the USA" or "Made in America"? What do you like? "Made in the USA"? Go ahead. "Made in the USA." (Applause.)

    ...

    Read the full transcript HERE.


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