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Remarks by President Trump at Ford Rawsonville Components Plant
Press Release:
Ford Motor Company • Ypsilanti, Michigan • May 21 • 4:44 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, thank you very much. I like that dais very much, actually. That's very special. Nice wood. Beautiful like the dashboards on your cars, Bill. Right?
MR. FORD: Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And I just heard you're going to be having two more — two thousand more jobs right down the road for the Bronco, which is a big winner. That's great. Fantastic job. Thank you very much, Bill.
MR. FORD: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. It's right down the road. (Applause.) It's an honor to have Bill with us. Thank you very much.
And I'm thrilled to be back in Michigan. We've done a lot of work in Michigan. A lot of plants are opening. A lot of plants stopped — we stopped them from closing. And we kept your workers here in Michigan and in the United States — different places, as you know, all over the United States. But it's an honor to do it. It's one of the reasons I'm standing here.
In fact, years ago, I was honored. Long before I ever thought of the presidential situation, I was honored in Michigan. And I said, "How come you're losing so much of your car business to Mexico and other places?" And I asked that question very innocently; it was probably 10 years ago. The "Man of the Year" — they named me "Man of the Year" in Michigan. And I said, "What's going on in Michigan?" And we've stopped it.
And thanks to a lot of great companies like Ford, a lot of things are happening here. And it's why I'm so honored when — when Bill mentioned the plant, that you're going to be doing 2,000. And it's also a great success, the Bronco. So that's really — really big news. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
And I'm honored to stand on a factory floor operated by the incredible workers of Ford Motor Company. You really are tremendously talented people. I know it. I'm not sure everybody in the world knows it, but a lot of people do and they're all going to know it after this speech. But you are really talented, great people. Thank you very much for doing a great job. (Applause.) We know what it takes. Few people have that ability. Few.
In our nation's war against the invisible enemy, the hardworking patriots here today answered the call to serve. You proved that the American worker is "Built Ford" and you're "Built Ford Tough." A great expression. You still use that expression, I think, Bill. Right? That's a great expression. And you're — let's see, can I use it for maybe myself? "Built Trump Tough." I don't know. They may say that's a takeoff; that's no good. You can't do that.
And you've made, really, America proud and you've made Ford proud. And America is very proud of Ford. Right here at the Rawsonville Component Plant, you're building a great medical arsenal to defeat the virus and cement America's place as the leading manufacturer and exporter of ventilators anywhere in the world. We're now getting calls from other countries — many other countries, both friend and foe, believe it or not. We get calls from foe. And we want to help them out, too. And we're making thousands and thousands of ventilators.
And I think we really sort of started right over here. We got a call very early on from Bill and the group. And this is incredible — what's happened and what you've done.
With your help, not a single American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. Not one. And as you remember, we took over empty cupboards. The cupboards were bare. And we got into the business of ventilators and testing and all of these other things.
Now we've done 14 million tests. The second country is at 3 million and less than 3 million — Germany, South Korea. And they've done a good job, but we're at 14 million tests, and the tests are the best of all.
But on behalf of our entire nation, I want to say thank you very much. Thank you very much for doing a great job.
Driven by the love and sweat and devotion of everyone here today, we're saving lives, we're forging ahead, and, as of this week, the beating heart of the American auto industry is back open for business. That started right away, didn't it? And it starts right now. And you have all those supply chains coming in; they're going to come through. Because if they don't come through, just build the product right here, okay? Because, you know, that can happen, too. But we heard that. It's a big story that — we're starting with the cars now, and it's going to be a big success.
In addition to many wonderful UAW workers, we're joined by Secretary Ben Carson, who's done a fantastic job. Where's Ben? Ben is here. Thank you, Ben. Where is he? Oh, there he is. Hi, Ben. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. (Applause.)
And a man who has done a fantastic job for Ford — although I'll ask Bill about this later. I'll just find out. I want to make sure for myself. But I know — based on results, I know. CEO Jim Hackett. Jim, thank you very much. (Applause.) The word is "yes," Jim. The word is "great job." Great job.
Plant manager Angela Weathers. Angela, thank you very much. (Applause.) That's a big job. That's a big job. Do you enjoy it? Yeah, great job. Fantastic. It's a big — big deal.
And GE Healthcare U.S. and Canada president Everett Cunningham. Thank you, Everett. (Applause.) Thank you, Everett.
Before going further, let us send our love to all of the families that have been displaced by the flooding near Midland. I spoke to your governor this morning, and we've sent some tremendously talented people out here. We have FEMA and we have the Army Corps of Engineers, and they can do things that, frankly, nobody else can do. The Army Corps of Engineers, what they do — so they're very good at rebuilding dams that are busted or blown up or, for whatever reason, bad things happen.
But Americans are praying for Central Michigan. We're going to take care of your problem. The governor and I had a great conversation this morning. And at the appropriate time, I'll go and see the area that we'll be fixing. We're going to help you out. We signed a emergency declaration very quickly — very, very quickly. And we're going to help you out very quickly also.
In recent months, this state and this country have faced great challenges. Here in the Detroit area, you were hit hard by the virus — very, very hard in this area.
As one people, we hold in our hearts the precious memory of every person that we have lost, and we've lost too many. One is too many. We lost too many.
It came in from China, and it should have been stopped in China. They didn't stop it. They should have stopped it.
And as one grateful nation, we proclaim, "God bless our healthcare workers." They've done an incredible job. They're like warriors. They're like warriors. I want to thank all of the nurses and doctors. (Applause.)
Because of the virus, Ford was forced to stop automobile production for the first time since World War Two. That's something. But you did not despair. Your company leadership called up the White House and asked the most American of all questions: "How can we help?" True. I said, "That's nice. That's very nice."
Every one of the workers in this project volunteered to take part in the greatest industrialization and mobilization project that our society has done, the American people have done in our lifetimes.
The company founded by a man named Henry Ford — good bloodlines, good bloodlines, if you believe in that stuff. You got good blood. (Laughs.) They teamed up with the company founded by Thomas Edison — that's General Electric. It's good stuff. That's good stuff. And you put it all together. They're all looking down right now and they'd be very proud of what they see.
You began the production of 50,000 lifesaving ventilators, a number that, if you go back just two months, I would say -most people would say it would be impossible to believe. The media is back there and they would have said, a couple of months ago, the creation of that many ventilators would have been not a possible thing.
...
Read the full transcript HERE.
You can visit a collection of all White House posts by clicking here.
Go Back
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Well, thank you very much. I like that dais very much, actually. That's very special. Nice wood. Beautiful like the dashboards on your cars, Bill. Right?
MR. FORD: Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And I just heard you're going to be having two more — two thousand more jobs right down the road for the Bronco, which is a big winner. That's great. Fantastic job. Thank you very much, Bill.
MR. FORD: Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you. It's right down the road. (Applause.) It's an honor to have Bill with us. Thank you very much.
And I'm thrilled to be back in Michigan. We've done a lot of work in Michigan. A lot of plants are opening. A lot of plants stopped — we stopped them from closing. And we kept your workers here in Michigan and in the United States — different places, as you know, all over the United States. But it's an honor to do it. It's one of the reasons I'm standing here.
In fact, years ago, I was honored. Long before I ever thought of the presidential situation, I was honored in Michigan. And I said, "How come you're losing so much of your car business to Mexico and other places?" And I asked that question very innocently; it was probably 10 years ago. The "Man of the Year" — they named me "Man of the Year" in Michigan. And I said, "What's going on in Michigan?" And we've stopped it.
And thanks to a lot of great companies like Ford, a lot of things are happening here. And it's why I'm so honored when — when Bill mentioned the plant, that you're going to be doing 2,000. And it's also a great success, the Bronco. So that's really — really big news. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
And I'm honored to stand on a factory floor operated by the incredible workers of Ford Motor Company. You really are tremendously talented people. I know it. I'm not sure everybody in the world knows it, but a lot of people do and they're all going to know it after this speech. But you are really talented, great people. Thank you very much for doing a great job. (Applause.) We know what it takes. Few people have that ability. Few.
In our nation's war against the invisible enemy, the hardworking patriots here today answered the call to serve. You proved that the American worker is "Built Ford" and you're "Built Ford Tough." A great expression. You still use that expression, I think, Bill. Right? That's a great expression. And you're — let's see, can I use it for maybe myself? "Built Trump Tough." I don't know. They may say that's a takeoff; that's no good. You can't do that.
And you've made, really, America proud and you've made Ford proud. And America is very proud of Ford. Right here at the Rawsonville Component Plant, you're building a great medical arsenal to defeat the virus and cement America's place as the leading manufacturer and exporter of ventilators anywhere in the world. We're now getting calls from other countries — many other countries, both friend and foe, believe it or not. We get calls from foe. And we want to help them out, too. And we're making thousands and thousands of ventilators.
And I think we really sort of started right over here. We got a call very early on from Bill and the group. And this is incredible — what's happened and what you've done.
With your help, not a single American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. Not one. And as you remember, we took over empty cupboards. The cupboards were bare. And we got into the business of ventilators and testing and all of these other things.
Now we've done 14 million tests. The second country is at 3 million and less than 3 million — Germany, South Korea. And they've done a good job, but we're at 14 million tests, and the tests are the best of all.
But on behalf of our entire nation, I want to say thank you very much. Thank you very much for doing a great job.
Driven by the love and sweat and devotion of everyone here today, we're saving lives, we're forging ahead, and, as of this week, the beating heart of the American auto industry is back open for business. That started right away, didn't it? And it starts right now. And you have all those supply chains coming in; they're going to come through. Because if they don't come through, just build the product right here, okay? Because, you know, that can happen, too. But we heard that. It's a big story that — we're starting with the cars now, and it's going to be a big success.
In addition to many wonderful UAW workers, we're joined by Secretary Ben Carson, who's done a fantastic job. Where's Ben? Ben is here. Thank you, Ben. Where is he? Oh, there he is. Hi, Ben. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. (Applause.)
And a man who has done a fantastic job for Ford — although I'll ask Bill about this later. I'll just find out. I want to make sure for myself. But I know — based on results, I know. CEO Jim Hackett. Jim, thank you very much. (Applause.) The word is "yes," Jim. The word is "great job." Great job.
Plant manager Angela Weathers. Angela, thank you very much. (Applause.) That's a big job. That's a big job. Do you enjoy it? Yeah, great job. Fantastic. It's a big — big deal.
And GE Healthcare U.S. and Canada president Everett Cunningham. Thank you, Everett. (Applause.) Thank you, Everett.
Before going further, let us send our love to all of the families that have been displaced by the flooding near Midland. I spoke to your governor this morning, and we've sent some tremendously talented people out here. We have FEMA and we have the Army Corps of Engineers, and they can do things that, frankly, nobody else can do. The Army Corps of Engineers, what they do — so they're very good at rebuilding dams that are busted or blown up or, for whatever reason, bad things happen.
But Americans are praying for Central Michigan. We're going to take care of your problem. The governor and I had a great conversation this morning. And at the appropriate time, I'll go and see the area that we'll be fixing. We're going to help you out. We signed a emergency declaration very quickly — very, very quickly. And we're going to help you out very quickly also.
In recent months, this state and this country have faced great challenges. Here in the Detroit area, you were hit hard by the virus — very, very hard in this area.
As one people, we hold in our hearts the precious memory of every person that we have lost, and we've lost too many. One is too many. We lost too many.
It came in from China, and it should have been stopped in China. They didn't stop it. They should have stopped it.
And as one grateful nation, we proclaim, "God bless our healthcare workers." They've done an incredible job. They're like warriors. They're like warriors. I want to thank all of the nurses and doctors. (Applause.)
Because of the virus, Ford was forced to stop automobile production for the first time since World War Two. That's something. But you did not despair. Your company leadership called up the White House and asked the most American of all questions: "How can we help?" True. I said, "That's nice. That's very nice."
Every one of the workers in this project volunteered to take part in the greatest industrialization and mobilization project that our society has done, the American people have done in our lifetimes.
The company founded by a man named Henry Ford — good bloodlines, good bloodlines, if you believe in that stuff. You got good blood. (Laughs.) They teamed up with the company founded by Thomas Edison — that's General Electric. It's good stuff. That's good stuff. And you put it all together. They're all looking down right now and they'd be very proud of what they see.
You began the production of 50,000 lifesaving ventilators, a number that, if you go back just two months, I would say -most people would say it would be impossible to believe. The media is back there and they would have said, a couple of months ago, the creation of that many ventilators would have been not a possible thing.
...
Read the full transcript HERE.
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