Will be talking about that new agreement with two of our biggest allies to save nafta. Well go live to the white house rose garden in a few moments. Also the combat over kavanaugh. Questions over what the fbi is going to be asking in the investigation of allegations made about the Supreme Court nominee, and about the people who will not be a part of that. Well look at that in a moment. But we start with just moments from now President Trump will step in front of reporters in the white house rose garden to tout an 1 1th Hour Trade Deal reached last night. The u. S. Mexico, Canada Agreement replaces nafta, at least in name. And at this mornings tweets if its any indication, you can expect a victory lap. The president writing the agreement is, quote, a great deal for all three countries and will bring all three great nations together in competition with the rest of the world. The markets so far seem to like the deal. All of the indices are up right
now. Jeff bennett standing by in the rose garden. Im also joined by john harwood and also josh barrow. An nbc political contributor as well. And phillip is with us as well, and former indiana congressman david mcintosh, the president of the federalist society. We have assembled quite the esteemed panel. John, let me start with you. This new agreement aims to do a number of things. Modernize food and agriculture trade. Addressing the digital trade anticorruption regulatory practices. Also gives the u. S. Greater access to canadas dairy market. What e else is in this deal . Is it a winter for t win for president . Its a win for the economy in
a sense that we avoid the threat of collapse of an old nafta. Thats one positive thing. There are some steps forward for particular u. S. Sectors like dairy. It is a good thing from u. S. U. S. Perspective that canada opened the dairy market a bit. But most of the improvements on the deal were on the president s deal the day he walked into office. They were negotiate by obama in canada and mexico as part of the Transpacific Partnership will President Trump threw in the trash can. This is mostly relabeling. Unclear whether it is going to result in more jobs and higher paying jobs in the u. S. For auto workers which is the goal of that. So mostly the president who is a Master Marketer is putting his
name on a deal that was already in place, and its better than not having a deal. Mr. Bennett, the president announcing this mornings event on twitter a few moments ago as we watched folks assemble for this News Conference. The president is calling it that. Do we know if President Trump is going to take questions or talk about anything beyond the trade deal . A staffer laid out a microphone which would suggest reporters will have a chance to ask questions. Another detail from the rose garden is the people on the stage who will end up flanking the president include staffers from the u. S. Trade Representatives Office and members of the National Economic counsel. These are all the folks involved in hashing out this deal ahead of this tdeadline. There are modest revisions. This is not a rewrite of the 24yearold nafta treatment. This is a political win. He gets to sell it as a promise made, promise kept. Its also a branding win. He suggested he might call it the usmc in honor of the u. S. Marine corps. Usmca won out. The things included in this deal, its more of a longterm win. This isnt expected to be ratified by congress until 2019. Shortterm, including tonight when the president heads to tennessee, expect him to tout this as a concrete policy proposal. Concrete policy achievement that he got to see on his watch. You just mentioned ratification there on the hill. Garrett haake standing by. Whats been the response on the hill so far . Congressman considering this a new deal or just a rebranded version of nafta . The response has been relatively muted. Weve heard from a couple of democratic lawmakers including nancy pelosi saying they need to review this and see whether or not they think it will ultimately be good for american workers. Thats the framework theyre looking the. Republican leadership inclined to be favorable. Republicans particularly in the senate have been back on their heels about how President Trump has dealt with trade thus far. This is much more the kind of thing that theyre comfortable with. The kind of deal. They want to see a republican president hammering it out. I dont think this is the kind of thing that can be done before the midterms. The house is already gone until november. I suspect well see a Lame Duck Session which could be interesting if democrats take control in january if theyll put more pressure on the president on this deal. But i would say cautious optimism so far from the hill as both parties are reviewing whats actually specifically in this new agreement. Again, as we wait for this News Conference to start there, not exactly sure why the camera just zeroed in. I dont see the president there unless somebody in the control room tells me otherwise, we are waiting for thats not the president there. Were waiting on the president to make his way to the rose garden for this announcement. Mr. Mcintosh, we just saw Commerce Secretary wilbur ross under the deal. The president s 25 is 25 tariff on canadian steel remains in place. On fox business this morning, the Commerce Secretary said there is no timetable, no time line for dropping these tariffs. Does that give the white house leverage . So one, i think the president has done a Great Service in stabilizing nafta, making sure it will continue to be in place and putting this new agreement there. But i think next steps have to be peeling back the tariffs. Theyre hurting american countries. Companies that are trying to use steel and aluminum to produce, and i think theyll get to that. Theres a battle within the administration between the free and fair traders and between the protectionists like navarro who want the lift high tariff boundaries around the United States. This is a sign the president is
going for an international agreement. Hes making it a better agreement, and one of the things that hes also doing is on Intellectual Property, unifying canada and mexico so he can go back to china and say you have to change. You have to adopt these new standards. Josh barrow, always enjoy having your perspective. Youre able to give us sort of the 30,000 foot view of all of this. What do you make of this new deal . Is it essentially just nafta 2. 0 . I think the remarkable thing is it buys the president into nafta. During the campaign he went around saying nafta was the worst agreement the u. S. Had ever entered. Now hes putting his stamp on a deal that is not terribly different from the old nafta deal. He can go out there and paint this as a win. I think some of the changes are genuine improvements to the deal. I think some of them are not necessarily positive for america including weakening some of the international dispute provision. More or less nafta is going to
come out not that different from how it went in. The president will be locked into the idea that now nafta is good. Its his stamp on it. A similar thing has happened with the South Korea Trade Deal which the president just touted relatively minor renegotiation of it and said it was a bad deal, and now its a good deal. I think the main long term effect is the president is in a way committing himself to a less protectionist agenda. And i think also some of the worst ideas that the Trump Administration had about how to change nafta were blocked by the canadians or mexicans. They wanted a sunset cause that caused nafta to blow up after five years. The Trump Administration wanted that in order to give themselves a stronger hand to force more changes on canada and mexico. Canada and mexico for good reasons refused to give them that. I think this is a win for free trade in the long run. The president will say hes making trade better. Hes raul just capitulating to the consensus in washington. Im happy about that. Between now and thursday President Trump is going to be speaking in rallies in tennessee, mississippi, minnesota as well. We are in full midterm mode now. You are Media Director for hillary clinton. You know the drill. How is this going to play with the midterms now just five weeks away . How is this going to play for voters in some of these key races . Well, i mean, just listen to the states you listed between tennessee and mississippi. I think right off the bat thats not a bad thing. The numbers are obviously against the democrats in the senate, but overall the midterms are feeling pretty good. I think there are two historical differences between 2018 and previous first term midterms. If you look at 2010 or 1994, people came out and voted republicans came out and voted against what president clinton and president obama had done in their first term in the first two years. Whether it was clinton and the budget deal or obama and obama care. Here you have a different dynamic. Here while no one is ever happen when their candidate loses, you could have held the mid terms on january 21st, 2017, and you would have had a tremendous backlash against republicans. President obama had fewer people at his Inauguration Protest against him the next day. Every day since nothing has gone well. In terms of the economy, theres also a distinction between the past. When president clinton ran for president and he pressed the economy, we were in a recession. When president obama ran we were on the verge of collapse. They saved our economy. President obama excuse me President Trump, too many president s names in a row. President trump is basically running around saying i raised this by. 2 and i lowered that by. 3 and im this economic god
when in reality he just kept the race car gassed and the tires fresh. Live look here. Rose garden. You can see Secretary Mnuchin there. We just saw Commerce Secretary wilbur ross. Also were told larry kudlow is somewhere in the house as well and so is the department of homeland security, secretary kiersten nielsen. Weve been given the five minute warning here. Jeff bennett is still there standing by for us. Jeff, you mentioned that theres a microphone in place for the assembled reporters . One would assume the president is going to be taking questions. One would probably also assume he will get at least one or two questions about his Supreme Court nominee, brett kavkavanau. And i want to jump in. The point made about President Trump being locked into nafta is a good one. There are some 36 states that count canada as its number one
exporter. All among members of congress who have to ratify this deal have been saying theyre not going to accept a u. S. mexico only deal. They say no canada, no deal. Now theres this usmca that will most likely get ratified sometime next year. The big question is Brett Kavanaugh, the reopened investigation into the Sexual Assault claims. The White House Counsels Office is limiting the scope of the investigation fbi can do. We heard over the weekend Sarah Huckabee sanders make the point that the white house is not micromanaging this process. Even if you take them at their word, maybe theyre not micromanaging, but theres no denying the white house is in charge of this process. Thats how this process works. The white house is the client here. The fbi is doing the investigative work on behalf of the white house. The white house sets the terms telling the fbi who they can and who they cant interview. On that long list of people to be interviewed by the fbi you
will not find julie swetnick. Why . They say she doesnt meet the threshold of being credible. Theres a concern among democratic and republican members of the senate, certainly those on the Judiciary Committee that by limiting the scope of the investigation, it could determine with the fbi finds. And theres also a notion that this does not meet the expectations that folks like jeff flake and others thought they were getting when they called for thissi weeklong pau. I asked President Trump if he would give free raeign. He said yes, whatever they need to do to come about finish their investigation. The thing is he has to give his white House Counsel the authorization to then give the fbi the free reign to do that work. David, lets talk about the impact of the Brett KavanaughConfirmation Process as we wait for the News Conference to
start. I apologize in advance if i have to cut you off. Theres this new nbc poll out. It found that 41 of men and 29 of women think that Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed. How concerned should conservatives be . How concerned should republicans be about the numbers . I think what that shows is men on the whole are saying look, you cant say that all men are guilty until proven innocent. And i think thats become for part of the population, the key take away from this whole process. Its unfair. Its putting him on trial. No collaborative evidence shows he did anything. I think what youre seeing is a division there that will actually in the election probably energize both parties. Now, the democrats were already energized as someone pointed out from the day after the election. But republicans were kind of lacking. Our polling showed that at the club for growth. This will likely energize both and well see what happens. It will come down candidate by candidate, issue by issue election. Where i think the republicans at that point stand a chance of winning and keeping both houses. No one else is predicting that, d youre the first person ive heard say that on the air. We just saw jared kushner. It would seem as if every adviser and cabinet member is there waiting for the president to come out and talk about the trade deal. Josh, let me pick up where i left off with david with regards to Brett Kavanaugh. You guy that . Do you think that Brett Kavanaugh becomes Justice Kavanaugh . I think he will be confirmed. I think were likely to see not that much come out in this fbi
report and the republican senators who sought the report seem to be looking for that political cover to say look, we took time. We had the fbi look into it. They didnt find much. Apart from any restrictions the white house imposes, this was 36 years ago and the evidence may be limited. In terms of effects on the election, i thought there was a good point. The undecided numbers in these polls about Brett Kavanaugh are high. Partisans with strong opinions. A lot of peopled in middle dont know what to make of the situation. Its the dr. Ford testified. She seemed credible. She has some people she discussed the incident with some years ago but some years after it happened. A lot of people look at this and dont know for sure whether Brett Kavanaugh did this or not so they cant make a strong opinion. That is one of several things in terms of the politics of it that make it unclear which party is likely to get partisan advantage here either if hes confirmed or
rejected. I think the politicians on both sides need to think about not just appealing to their bases but how to reach the voters in the middle who arent sure if Brett Kavanaugh should be on the court or not. One of the things that continues to strike me about the conversation that were having about Brett Kavanaugh in this country and over the weekend, i mean, it was all that anyone wanted to talk about when i saw them. It would seem as if folks pretty much had their mind made up before the hearing started. And it would also seem again, this is based on conversations ive been having with people. After the hearing their minds very pretty much the same. Do we think that minds are going to be changed at the end of this fbi investigation . Well, i think youre 100 right. Hes become a proxy war for much larger fight weve been seeing for 20 months. And people are dug in. I do think peoples minds can change because were only talking about a hand full of
minds. Were talking about jeff flake, Susan Collins, maybe bob corker, and i very much think or i want to believe that those minds can be changed. First off if jeff flakes mind couldnt be changed, he wouldnt have asked for this. He would have voted on friday. But he didnt. And i believe you have a problem here. You have two problems here. One, the hearing was a debacle. You not only have what he did in the past in question. I think you have u. S. Senators not to mention any sane person, looking at him and saying he was unhinged. He went haywire and he certainly lied even if its just out of embarrassment, about his past. If the white house continues to meddle and obstruct this conversation, i dont know how jeff flake and Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski in their right mind can say im happy now. Murkowski needs to vote now for
her own to last in politics. This comes down to Susan Collins. I want to believe she cant do it. President trump there in the rose garden at the white house making his way to the podium to talk about the new United States mexico cana states mexico Canada Agreement. This was an agreement reached last night. Its great to see everybody on this beautiful Beautiful Day in washington d. C. Some people say the swamp, but i will not say that today. I refuse. This is too important what were doing. One of the most important deals, and the most important trade deal weve ever made by far. I want to thank senator joni ernst for being here. Iowa, ill be there soon. Well be doing something very important in iowa, but this is maybe more important than all of it put together. I want to thank you for being here. Congressman holding, congressman rowe, Congressman Knewhouse and congressman meadows, thank you for being here. Youve been very instrumental. Thank you. I am thrilled to speak to the American People to share truly historic news for our nation and, indeed for the world. I want to thank Vice President pence for joining us this morning. Its my great honor to announce we have successfully completed negotiations on a brand new deal to terminate and replace nafta, and the nafta Trade Agreements with any credible new u. S. MexicoCanada Agreement called usmca. It sort of just works. Mca. Usmca. That will be the name i guess that 99 of the time well be hearing, usmca. Has a good ring to it. I have long contended that nafta was perhaps the worst trade deal ever made. Since naftas adoption the United States racked up Trade Deficits totaling more than 2 trillion and its a much higher number than that with dcanada ad mexico it lost vast amounts of money and lost 4. 1 Million Manufacturing jobs and one in four auto jobs. Lost about 25 of our auto jobs, even more than that. Throughout the campaign i promised to renegotiate nafta and today we have kept that promise. But for 25 years as a civilian, as a businessman, i used to see how could anybody have signed a deal like nafta. I watched new england and so many other places where i was just the factories were leaving the jobs were leaving. People were being fired. And we cant have that. So we have negotiated this new agreement based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. To me its the most important word in trade because weve been treated so unfairly by so many nations around the world and were changing that. We signed a much better deal with south korea. We had a horrible, horrible deal. We just signed it at united nations, and thats worked out well. And theyre happy. Were happy. Its good for jobs. Good for a lot of things. When that deal was signed they said 250 ,000 jobs will be given by signing this transaction, and they were right. Ive said it before. They were right. 25 0,000 jobs to south korea. This is a brand new deal. The agreement will govern nearly 1. 2 trillion in trade which makes it the biggest trade deal
in the United States historic. I want to congratulate u. S. Trade representative Bob Lighthizer who has worked. Nobody understands how hard hes worked. [ applause ] no matter when you called him, he was in the office, or he was in somebody elses office doing the same thing. Bob lighthizer is great. Ive heard it for years. I said if i ever do this, i want to get lighthizer to represent us. And the entire team at the Ustr Standing behind me and some right here in the audience. I want to thank you all. Fantastic job. Peter in a vnavarro, everybody. Thank you all. Thank you. Fantastic group of people. They love our country. I also want to thank Secretary Mnuchin, secretary ross,
secretary nielsen, secretary perdue, jared kushner, Peter Navarro and kelly craft. I also want to thank president of mexico. We had a few disagreements but i really like him a lot. I think he may like me. Im not sure. I think hes a terrific person, and hell be leaving soon. Hes really done a good job. And wonderful, wonderful person. And the mexican president elect who has given his support to this agreement, and were developing a really Good Relationship which i think is very important for our country, frankly, and for mexico. And so they Work Together on this. This was done by both. I said look, i dont want to sign an agreement, and then a new president comes in. They dont like it and we have
difficulty. They work very much together on it. And i appreciate it from both. I have to certainly give my highest regards to Prime Minister of canada, justin trudeau. A lot of stories came out about justin and i having difficulty together with what we did over the trade deal, but ill tell you, its turned out to be a very, very good deal for both, and a a very, very good deal for all three. It puts us in a position weve never been in before. Its very good when you look at the world and what the world is doing and when you look at the unfair Trade Practices that countries are using against the United States, this is a terrific deal. For all of us. Once approved by congress, this new deal will be the most modern up to date and balanced Trade Agreement in the history of our country. With the most advanced protections for workers ever developed. If you look at the reviews,
people that would normally not under any circumstances say good things because automatically they have to say bad. Even some democrats say thats amazing. They havent been given the sound bites yet, i guess, mike, but actually you had some democrats say this is really amazing if he really got all of that. But by tomorrow i would suspect theyll change their tune, but thats okay, because people know how good it is. Its an amazing deal for a lot of people. Likewise, it will be the most advanced trade deal in the world with ambition provisions on the digital economy, patents, very important. Financial services and other areas where the United States has a strong competitive advantage. Mexico and canada have agreed to strong new labor protections, environmental protections, and new protections for Intellectual Property. So important. This new deal is an especially
great victory for our farmers. Our farmers have gone through a lot over the last 15 years. Theyve been taken advantage of by everybody. Prices have gone way down. And were working on some other deals that are going to make them happy also. This is a very, very big deal for our farmers. Mexico and canada will be opened up a lot more than they are now. And i think there will be a better spirit between the countries which is important for our farmers. The agreement will give our farmers and ranchers far greater access to sell american grown produce in mexico, and in canada. The deal includes a substantial increase in our farmers opportunities to export american wheat, poultry, eggs, and dairy including milk, butter, cheese, yogurt and ice cream to name a few. I want to be very specific. I want to be very specific. All right . And many other products but those products were not really being treated fairly as far as those that work so hard to produce them. And now theyre going to be treated fairly. These measures will support many hundreds of thousands of american jobs. This is also a historic win for american manufacturers, and American Auto workers who have been treated so badly. Weve lost so many jobs over the years under nafta. Under the current new deal and if you look at the current nafta deal, the new deal is taking care of all of these problems, because nafta, Foreign Companies have been allowed to manufacture many of their parts overseas, ship them to mexico and canada for assembly and send their foreignmade cars into the United States with no tax. So we let all our people go. We fire everybody. They make cars. They make products. They make everything in another country. They send them into the United States, no tax. And the cost is very little difference. Sometimes its more for those people that like to talk about cost. With this agreement we are closing all of these terrible loopholes. Theyre closed. Theyre gone. They were a disaster. For example, we are requiring a large portion of every car to be made by highwage workers which will greatly reduce foreign outsourcing which was a tremendous problem. And means more auto parts and automobiles will be manufactured inside the United States. We will be manufacturing many more cars and our Companies Wont be leaving the United States, firing their workers, and building their cars elsewhere. Theres no longer that incentive. Before under the nafta deal they had that incentive. They have the opposite incentive now. To me that was the most important thing. I dont want to see our companies leave and fire our workers and our workers never get jobs to replace those jobs. Those days are over. This deal will also impose new standards requiring at least 75 of every automobile to be made in North America in order to qualify for the privilege of free access to our markets, and thats what it is. Its a privilege. We dont take it as a privilege. We dont take it as a privilege. Its a privilege for them to do business with us. And im not talking about mexico. Im talking about everybody. Everybody. Its a privilege for china to do business with us. Its a plrivilege for the European Union who has treated us very badly, but thats coming along, to do business with us. Japan, every country, its a privilege for them to come in and attack the piggie bank. And this, we will have a result of much more happening right here in the United States. It means more than anything else far more american jobs and these are high quality jobs. There are also strong provisions to enforce whats called the rules of origin. Once approved this will be a new dawn for the American Auto industry and for the American Auto worker. They will see. They understand. They voted for us in large numbers even though their leadership always goes democrat. A couple of them said to me i dont know how i can do it again. Many of them the leaders would become democrats and tell me youre going to get most of the votes from Union Workers and we got most of the votes from workers, period. But the American Auto worker was very much behind what we were doing as one primary aspect. It will transform North America back into a manufacturing power house. If you remember the Previous Administration said were not going to have Manufacturing Jobs anymore, essentially. Were not going to make things anymore . No. Just the opposite. Were going to be a manufacturing power house that allows us to reclaim a supply chain that has been offshored to the world because of unfair trade issues. We also provide brand new intellectual Product Protection for drugs. We want our drugs to be made here. When you talk prescription drugs, we dont like getting them from foreign countries. We dont know whats happening with those drugs, how theyre being made. Too important. This Landmark Agreement will send cash and jobs pouring into
the United States, and into North America. Good for canada. Good for mexico. Instead of jobs leaving for overseas. They will be returning back home and weve already had it. We have many, many Car Companies. I was with Prime Minister abe of japan. He said we have sent many Car Companies to the United States over the last year and a half. Its true, and big expansions. And very importantly he said many more are coming. Because they have an incentive now to be here. People want to be back in the United States again. As i say, the United States is respected again. But its also respected as to trade and industry. This is a truly extraordinary agreement for the United States, canada, and mexico. The mexico president , its so important that the president and i have developed this sort of a
bond. A bond on trade. Pena nieto, a man that has done a very good job for mexico in Terms Of Trade and Prime Minister trudeau who i just spoke to, just spoke to both of them a little while ago. They love their countries. They want to do right for their countries. Thats what theyve done, and if you look at the agreement, we formed a Great Partnership with mexico. And with canada. And i plan to sign the agreement by the end of november. By then well submit it for approval to congress where in theory there should be no trouble, but anything you submit to congress is trouble. No matter what. Its a single greatest agreement ever signed. Theyll say well, you know, trump likes it, therefore, were not going to approve it because that would be good for the republicans so we cant approve it. But it will be sent to Congress Pursuant to the trade Promotion Authority act. This agreement follows on the
heels of our successful completion of a new and balanced trade deal with south korea. Tremendous difference in that deal from what it was. It was a disaster, as i said. To improve the old deal that it kills so many jobs. It also follows on our announcement last week of a new Trade Negotiation with japan. Japan would never negotiate with the United States. They said were not going to negotiate. They told the Previous Administration were not going to negotiate. I said you dont have to negotiate, but were going to put a very, very substantial tax on your car if you dont. Without tariffs, we wouldnt be talking about a deal just for those babies out there that keep talking about tariffs. That includes congress. Oh, please dont charge tariffs. Without tariffs you wouldnt be we wouldnt be standing here. Bob and all of these folks would not be standing here right now. And were totally prepared to do that if they dont negotiate. But japan is wanting to negotiate. Actually, they called about
three weeks ago, and hes a terrific man. Had a tremendous victory. They said wed like to start negotiations immediately. India which is the tariff king, they called it and they say we want to start negotiations immediately when Bob Lighthizer said what happened, he would never do this. They said no, we want to keep your president happy. Is that nice . Isnt that nice . Its true. They have to keep us happy, because they understand that were wise to whats been happening. India charges tariffs of 100 . And then if we want to put a tariff of 25 on people well call from congress, thats not free trade. Id look back to people and say where do these people come from . So because of the power of tariffs and the power that we have with tariffs, we in many cases wont even have to use
them. Thats how powerful they are. And how good they are. But in many cases were not going to have to use them. And in many cases countries that are charging massive tariffs are eliminating those tariffs. As you know we have 250 billion at 25 interest with china right now. And we could go 267 billion more. And china wants to talk very badly. And i said frankly, its too early to talk. Cant talk now because theyre not ready. Theyve been ripping us for so many years, it doesnt happen that quickly. And if politically people force it too quickly, youre not going to make the right deal for our workers and for our country, but china wants to talk, and we want to talk to them. And we want them to help us with north korea. We want them to continue to help us with north korea. Thats very important. The European Union has been very tough on the United States. Last year and for many years theyve lost in the vicinity of 150 billion a year. They have massive trade barriers. And they didnt want to come. They didnt want to talk. Jean claude, great business person, head of the European Union, my friend, id say jean claude, we want to make a deal. He goes no, no, no, we are very happy. I said you may be happy but im not happy. We have one of the worst deals of any group with the European Union, and they just didnt want to come because they were happy with the deal. I said but were not happy with the deal. And finally after going through a whole process i said look, were going to put a tax of 20 on all the millions of cars. Millions of millions of cars that they sell here that they wont take over there. Farm product that they wont take over there because there are barriers. You cant sell. Youre not allowed to. Our farmers arent allowed to sell many of their products over there, most of them. And so i announced were going to put a 20 tariff, could be 25 on their cars coming in, and they immediately called and said wed like to start negotiations and were having a successful negotiations. Well see what happens. Who knows . Well see. I have a feeling well be successful. A pillar of National Security is Economic Security in trade. National security is not where we lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Over the last five years weve averaged 800 billion a year loss on trade. How dumb is that . 800 billion. This group doesnt know about those numbers. I dont want them to hear those numbers, but the United States in its trade deals has lost on average almost 800 billion a year. Thats dealing with china,
dealing with European Union, with everybody. Japan. Mexico, canada, everybody. And were not going to allow that to happen. But we have to have a Strong Manufacturing base and manufacturing sector. We need a thriving economy. Those are all really essential ingredients to National Security. We cant allow whats been happening over the last 25 years to happen. Were building our military like never before. It will be the strongest it ever was. And all the jets that are made and rockets and missiles and ships, theyre all being made in the United States. Jobs. Our economy is booming like never before. Jobless climbs are at a 50year low. The stock market is at an alltime high. Think of that. Over 50 since my election. 50 . People, the 401 ks and they have 401ks. They were dying with them for years. Now theyre so happy. I was telling the story, i often tell of a policeman in new york. Came up. His wife was always very upset with him as an investor because he wasnt doing well with the 401ks. Now she thinks hes a genius because the numbers are so crazy. Were up over 50 since the election. And youve heard me say this many times, but African American unemployment, asian unemployment, hispanic unemployment is at record lows in history. Not for the last two years. The history of our country, African American, asian, hispanic, young people without high school diplomas. All at historic thats an
important sector. All at historic lows. The lowest in history. Its really something thats great. This is helping so much with people to get out of prison. We have a tremendous problem. People come out of prison. They cant get a job. Employers dont want to hire them. The economy is so good theyre hiring them and theyre turning out to be incredible workers. They give it a chance. They give it a second, third chance in some cases. But ive had numerous employers come up and say ill tell you what. Ive taken people in prison, and weve hired them. He wouldnt have done this in a normal economy or bad economy. Only in this kind of an economy, and now hes like the biggest fan. One man in particular has taken numerous people. He said most of them have been unbelievable. Most of them have been unbelievable. Thats a great thing. Thats a really great thing. It gives them a chance. So before we take questions, i want to extend our warmest
condolences to the country of indonesia. Friend of mine. Were going to be calling up the leader who is a great leader, indeed, but they got hit by a giant tsunami, like people have not seen in this part of the world. This part of the world hasnt seen it so much fortunately. You look at the tornadoes, the hurricanes, all the different Natural Disasters, a friend of mine who studies Natural Disasters i dont know why he does that but he does he says tsunami is the worst of all, and they got hit very hard, and probably thousands of people killed. We have already sent a lot of First Responders and military and others to help but its a really bad, bad situation. And finally before closing, i want to send our thoughts and
prayers to the victims of the las vegas shooting. That was a horrible, horrible time in the life of our country. It took place exactly one year ago today. All of america is grieving for the lives lost and for the families they left behind. To all of those families and to the people of las vegas, we love you. We are with you. We are working with you very hard. It was a terrible, terrible event. Thank you very much for that. I want to ask Bob Lighthizer who is a terrific individual as well as a man that knows a lot about this subject, to come up and say a word about the usmca, the new agreement, and if you have any questions, well take some questions after that, please. Bob. Thank you, mr. President. Before i start, i would just like to give a vignette. I think it says something about working for the president. So august 16th of last year we started this process. And im at a hotel in washington, and theres, like, you know, hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to have the introduction of myself and my two counterparts, one from canada and one from the United States. Were sgetting lined up. I get a call that says the president wants to talk to you. The president starts talking. Everybody is waiting. Hes talking and going through what he wants to get done in nafta, and his problems with it all. Hes familiar with. He finally says two things which i thought were telling. When he said bob, i will back you up like no other usdr has been backed up in history. He did that. And the second thing he said was he said now, go out there and have fun. I thought well, its probably not going to be as much fun from my side as it will be from your side, but im proud to be on your team, and i really am positive to follow you through this and the other trade changes. As you have said, mr. President , this agreement is historic in many ways. The usmca will cover 1. 2 trillion easily making it the biggest agreement in history. We have done this in 14 months. And believe me, in trade negotiating terms, thats like warp speed. When we began these negotiations last year, the president instructions to me were precise and straightforward. Protect american workers. Fight for our farmers and ranchers. Preserve americas competitive innovation edge. Secure greater access for our businesses, and above all, bring back jobs to america. I think we have succeeded with
this agreement. The usmca will accelerate the manufacturing renaissance our country has enjoyed under President Trump. It will bring our Trading Relationship with mexico and can a into the 21st century, and it will protect americas competitive age in digital and innovation across the economy. The new agreement will also serve as a template for our Trade Agreements under the Trump Administration in the future. This paradigm shifting model rests on three pillars. The first pillar is fairness. We have negotiated stronger rules of origin for automobiles which will bring billions of dollars in manufacturing back to america. We have secured greater Market Access for our farmers and ranchers. Weve agreed to unprecedented Labor Standards that will help level the Playing Field for our
workers. Weve also agreed to a first of its kind review and termination provision. It will ensure that the usmca unlike nafta, will not become unbalanced and out of date. The second pillar will consist of a host of ambitious provisions on digital trade, Intellectual Property, Services IncludingFinancial Services designed to protect our competitive edge. The third pillar consists of new provisions designed to eliminate unfair Trade Practices including strong new disciplines on stateowned enterprises, on currency manipulation, relations with nonmarket economies and much, much more. We wouldnt be here today if it were not for several people who contributed so much to this endeavor. First the president s key adviser and my good friend, jared kushner, was my partner in leading the u. S. Negotiating
team. Ive said before and ill say again, this agreement would not have happened if it wasnt for jared. Thank you very much. Id like to thank my counterpar counterparts, mexican and canadian government officials and ambassadors. Id also like to thank the wonderful staff at ustr, many of whom are on here. I like to think of us a little bit like we were the marine corps. I like the name particularly of this agreement. Ustr is about 250 people, and theyre all devoted and theyre all exceptional, and they all work around the clock. Many of the people youre looking at spent more than one night in the office over the course of the last few weeks. And they have enormous ability and this president has unleashed them. Finally, i would like to thank
President Trump. Your leadership, vision, and grit made this agreement possible. No other person could have done it. Millions of for years to come. Because of this vision and probably even more important, his grit. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very much, bob. Thank you very much. Some questions. Thank you, sir. You have had tensions with Prime Minister trudeau. Yes. It how did that affect your ability to get this deal done . I dont think it did. Hes a professional, im a professional. We had very strong tensions. It was just an unfair deal, whether it was mexico and canada. Now its a fair deal for
everybody. Its a much different for everybody. Its a brandnew deal. Its not nafta redone. Its a brandnew deal. I just spoke to him, question ha we have a great relationship. Dont forget, the rest of the world is trying to take advantage of us as a region. And were going to work very closely with an da and mexico. We have energy that nobody else has. We have timber that nobody else has. We have things that no other part of the world has to the extent we have. So were going to do very well together. I think we have there was a lot of tension, i will say between he and i, i think more specifically and its all worked out. You know when it ended . About 12 00 last night. But hes a good man, hes done a good job. And he loves the people of canada. You mentioned the 267 billion in possible mortar rif s
more tariffs on china. We have lost 375 billion in Trade Deficits. They have a surplus of 365 billion, with a b, with the United States and its been that way for years and years and years. I always say, we rebuilt china, they took all that money and they built fighter jets, they built bridges. They built more bridges than we built in the last 100 years probably, big ones, like the George Washington bridge, like big bridges. And im not going to take, you knowlook, i dont blame china, i blame our leadership. They should have never let that happen. And i told that to president xi. I said, you know, i was making a speech in china, and i was really hitting china hard. And im in china, i dont know if thats a good thing to do. But i said, you know, i dont really blame you, i blame our
leadership orfor allowing this happen. We had no deal with china. I talked to someone who represented china at the highest level came to the oval office. I said how did this happen . Hes a pro so he doesnt have to be cute. He said nobody ever did anything from the United States. When we put on a 25 tariff on every car that comes from the United States into china, we thought we would be rebuked. We thought it would be terrible. Nobody ever called. Nobody did anything. That was years ago. And we charge them nothing, 2. 5, but we dont collect it. We do now, by the way. But we dont collect the 2. 5. So they charge 25, we charge essentially nothing. I said how did that happen . He said nobody ever called. We dont have a deal with china, theres no deal. They do whatever they want. So we have a tremendous problem with theft of Intellectual Property with china. We have a lot of other problems with china. We have primarily trade problems. And as you know, theyre having a much more difficult time now. I dont want them to have a difficult time. And were doing better than we have ever done. Everybody talked about the tariffs, oh, the tariffs, tariff tarif tariffs. You know the tariffs ended in 9 1913. And then they went to a totally different system. Then in 1928, you had the great depression, for a lot of different reasons, not our countrys fault, but a little bit our countrys fault. And then in the 1930s, they said we need to start charging tariffs, we need money to come into our country again. Im not advocating tariffs. But i will tell you our Steel Industry is stronger than its been in 25 years. This has taken six months. Because i charge for the
dumpers, they dumping steel, and dumping aluminum into our country. I charge 25 , thats a lot, but it could be mor more but thats lot. U. S. Steel is building eight or nine plants. Theyre expanding plants. I dont think theres industry like whats happened to steel in the last nine months, ten months since i really started doing what im doing. Its been really pretty amazing. Aluminum also. And we need steel, we need steel for defense. What are we going to do, go and say, well get our steel from another country . Cant do that. Excuse me. We cant do that. So we need steel and we need it badly for defense. So im very proud of whats happened with the Steel Industry. Okay, question. Yeah, go ahead. Sure. Shes shocked that i picked her. Shes in state of shock. Im not thinking, mr. President. I know youre not thinking. You never do. Im sorry . No, go ahead. In a tweet this week, mr. President , you said its incorrect to say youre limiting the scope of the fbi investigation. What does that have to do with trade . I dont mind answering the question. But i would like to answer the trade questions. It has to do with the administration. How about talking about trade and well get to that a little bit more. Do you think your trade deal with pass through congress, sir . We think so, but if not, we have a lot of other alternatives. I think so, i think if its fair on both sides, the republicans love it. Industry loves it, our country loves it. If its fair, it will pass. I think it will pass easily. Because its a great deal. I mean nafta passes, its one of the worst deals that was ever made. Inconceivable that it was made. Ill get back with you on the other question. It i would like to get back on my kavanagh question. Well do that later. Thank you very much. Thank you mr. President , you have described india charges tremendous tariffs. When we send Harley Davidsons motorcycles, other things to india, they charge very, very high tariffs. And i spoke with Prime Minister modi and hes going to look at it. Nobodys ever spoke to me. We have had leaders here, im not trying to be overly dramatic, we have had president s of the United States, and trade representatives. They never spoke to india. Braz brazils another one, thats a beauty. They charge us whatever they want. If you ask some of the companies, they say brazil is among the toughest in the world, maybe the toughest in the world. We dont call them and say, hey, youre treating our companies unfairly, youre treating our country unfairly. To india, they really charge
tremendously high tariffs. On motorcycles, it was 100 . So you send a motorcycle into india, theres 100 tariff. Thats so high that its like a barrier. In other words whos going to buy it, it costs you so much. They have already reduced it substantially. Our relationship with Prime Minister modi is great. They called us to make a deal. We didnt even call them, they called us to make a deal. Which is like shocking to people. Yes, sir, go ahead. Yes. Well, i do have a second question on the kavanagh thing when you get back to it. Thats good. Youll take that now . No, no, on trade. On trade, does this mean the end of tariffs, if you can spell that out for canada . No. The steel is staying where it is, and aluminum. But it means probably for the most part we wont have to use tariffs. In other words if we cant make a deal with the European Union, we will respectfully put tariffs on the cars. The United States will take in billions and billions of dollars into our country. Most people dont say that. But really whats going to happen, theyll make the cars in the United States, this way they dont have to pay the 20, or 25 tax. So i dont think youre going to have to use the tariffs too often. But there will be cases where you have countries that are just absolutely not willing to do whats fair and reciprocal. And in that case, theyll pay tariffs. And you know what . The United States will do very well. Either way, it will do very well