Remarks by President Trump at a USMCA Celebration with American Workers | Warren, MI | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Dana Incorporated  •  Warren, Michigan  •  January 30  •  4:12 P.M. EST
    THE PRESIDENT: Okay, let's get back to work. Come on. (Applause.) I love that song, but every once in a while, we have to get back to work. (Laughter.)

    So I am very honored to be at Dana Incorporated, a tremendous company, a plant in Warren, Michigan. We're very proud of Michigan. (Applause.) Dana has been around - I also like it because we happened to win here, so I was very happy with that. (Applause.) Very happy with that.

    But you've been around - 116 years of brilliant American craftsmanship. And that's what it is. I just took a tour with some of your leadership, some of your great people, some of the workers that do such an incredible job. And it's unbelievable to see what you do.

    I will say that we just ended a nightmare known as NAFTA. (Applause.) They took our - they took our jobs for a long time. They took it for a long time. And we now have a brand-new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It's a whole different ballgame, and it's going to be great for this plant. It's going to be incredible for Michigan and for every place else in our country.

    The USMCA is the fairest, most balanced, and beneficial trade agreement we have ever signed into law. It's the best agreement we've ever made, and we have others coming. And, by the way, the China deal, two weeks ago, was just signed. And that's going to bring $250 billion into our country. (Applause.) One after another.

    But we're bringing your jobs back to America. Jobs are coming back, and they're coming back fast, and they're coming right here to Michigan. They are coming rapidly. You see what's going on. (Applause.)

    We're very grateful to be joined with - some special people came today: Ambassador Robert Lighthizer. Where's Bob? What a job you've done. (Applause.) What a job. He did this deal. He did China. He did Japan. They all worked together. But fantastic job. He worked night and day to complete this outstanding agreement.

    And, Bob, I just want to tell you, on behalf of our country, we thank you very much. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

    And with us also, we have some of our people that have been just incredible. They're warriors. I call them warriors. We won 196 to nothing on a little vote a couple of weeks ago. (Applause.) You know, you do all these great deals. Everybody says, "Thank you, sir. This has never happened." Everybody said, "It's impossible to do. It'll never, never take place," trade deals like this. And then we've built our military, we've cut taxes. We've taken care of regulations, cut more than any other President in the history of our country. And we did that in three years instead of eight years, or in one case, more. (Applause.) And we protect our Second Amendment. We protect our Second Amendment. (Applause.)

    So we've done all these things. And, remember, the tax cut was the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. And what do they do? They impeach you.


    AUDIENCE: Booo -

    THE PRESIDENT: Explain. Explain that one.

    But we have great Republicans out there, and they don't like it any better than you do. Very partisan situation. A disgrace. It's, frankly, a disgrace to our country.

    But there has been - no administration has done what we've done in the first three years of an administration. No administration. (Applause.) And we're very proud of it.

    But I want to thank Tim Walberg. Where are you guys? Are you all around here someplace? Tim. Fantastic job. Bill Huizenga. John Moolenaar. John Moolenaar. Jack Bergman. Jack. Thank you, Jack. And Paul Mitchell. Thank you very much, Paul. (Applause.) These are your congressmen. They've been fantastic. You have a lot of your other leaders here, and leaders in Michigan. These are members of our incredible Representative House.

    And I want to say that - you know, I used the term "warrior" - very, very not easily, but they are warriors. We've had a lot of warriors, wouldn't you say? I'd say we had 196 warriors. (Applause.) And we had a zero. So, 196 to nothing. And we actually had three Democrats join them. That was pretty good, wasn't it? Huh? And one actually left the party and joined the Republican Party. (Applause.) Jeff Van Drew.

    But I said to them, "I know you have a wonderful Iraqi Christian community in Michigan." Do you know about that? Yes? You know about that? I hear they're wonderful.

    And the congressmen were telling me on the plane how rough it's been for them. It's been a very tough time for a lot of Christians all over the world. All over the world, it's been very tough. The Chaldeans - you know the Chaldeans, right? We have some Chaldeans that are working here. (Applause.) And we talked about it long and hard on the flight in, and we're going to make sure that we do everything we can to keep people who have been good to this country out of harm's way. And when I get back, we're going to give those who need it an extension to stay in our country. And so we're going to be extending them. (Applause.) And lot of people in Michigan have been asking for that. So we'll work with that when we get back to your great congressmen. Thank you very much, fellas.

    Michigan is a steward of one of our nation's most treasured resources, the incredible Great Lakes. Anybody hear of the Great Lakes? Huh? (Applause.) Think so. And I told the members who are here with me that we are going to work together to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp - who would have thought that was going to happen? - and other invasive species. And it really is; it's become a big problem. And we're working on it very strongly. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already has a plan, and we are going to get this done and ready to go. It's going to be very quick. We're going to do very quick. It's not easy. But we have all of the top technology, and we're going to take care of it, just like I made the promise - and that promise where so much has already been done.

    I also made a promise to you, not so long ago, right here in Michigan - and it had to with Soo Locks. Soo Locks. (Applause.) So I came here, I heard about the problem. They had been working on the problem since 1980. 1980. Nothing was done. It was getting - it was rotting away. The locks were rotting away. It was all talk and no action. And I was being told, "It's never going to happen, sir. Too much money. It's just not going to happen." And they all said, "Leave it to the next President to do." But I said, "But I am the next President." And that's - (applause). It's a big deal.


    And now, as your congressmen can tell you - and they worked so hard on it - all of the funding has been fully - fully approved. Right? Fully. (Applause.) Done. I signed. You think it's easy getting $922 million out of Congress? Not easy. (Laughter.) But this had to be done.

    You know, we're talking about 11 million jobs, indirectly, all over. Those locks serve 11 million jobs. Some people think as many as 18 million jobs.

    So, Soo Locks, we're going to be starting that in a matter of a couple of months. And we're going to have it all set. We got our maximum funding, and we have the maximum design. And it's going to be good for another hundred years, they say. So we're going to get it done. Okay? (Applause.)

    Also, I know everybody here in Michigan supports our great armed forces as much as any place - Michigan. And that's why we're giving strong consideration to deploying some of our mighty F-35s to Selfridge Air National Guard Base. (Applause.) And you know what that means, right? You know what that means. That's a big deal.

    So, Selfridge, you're going to see a lot of very fast planes. Actually, they're totally stealth, so maybe you won't see them come in. (Laughter.) Okay? You won't see them come in, but they're coming in.

    These members and your congressmen - I mean, your congressmen, as members, have worked so hard for this state. They support all of the great jobs here at Dana. Dana Incorporated employs more than 1,500 people. And it's having one of the best years they've ever had.

    And the hardworking men and women right here in Warren make the axles, drive shafts, and assemblies of some of the world's toughest vehicles. And, proudly, they bear that glorious phrase - and I like that when they put it on. You know, a few years ago, they weren't using that phrase very much anymore. It's called: "Made in the USA." "Made in the USA." (Applause.)

    ...

    Read the full transcript HERE.


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