Caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] lester holt good evening from Hofstra University in hempstead, new york. Im lester holt, anchor of nbc nightly news. I want to welcome you to the first president ial debate. The participants tonight are donald trump and hillary clinton. This debate is sponsored by the commission on president ial debates, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization. The commission drafted tonights format, and the rules have been agreed to by the campaigns. The 90minute debate is divided into six segments, each 15 minutes long. Well explore three topic areas tonight achieving prosperity, americas direction, and securing america. At the start of each segment, i will ask the same leadoff question to both candidates, and they will each have up to two minutes to respond. From that point until the end of the segment, well have an open discussion. The commission or the campaigns. The questions are mine and have not been shared with the commission or the campaigns. The audience here in the room has agreed to remain silent so that we can focus on what the candidates are saying. I will invite you to applaud, however, at this moment, as we welcome the candidates democratic nominee for president of the United States, hillary clinton, and republican nominee for president of the United States, donald j. Trump. [applause] ms. Clinton how are you, donald . Holt good luck to you. [applause] well, i dont expect us to cover all the issues of this campaign tonight, but i remind everyone, there are two more president ial debates scheduled. We are going to focus on many of the issues that voters tell us are most important, and were going to press for specifics. I am honored to have this role, but this evening belongs to the candidates and, just as important, to the American People. Candidates, we look forward to hearing you articulate your policies and your positions, as well as your visions and your values. So, lets begin. Were calling this opening segment achieving prosperity. And central to that is jobs. There are two economic realities in america today. Theres been a record six straight years of job growth, and new census numbers show incomes have increased at a record rate after years of stagnation. However, income inequality remains significant, and nearly half of americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Beginning with you, secretary clinton, why are you a better choice than your opponent to create the kinds of jobs that will put more money into the pockets of American Workers . Ms. Clinton well, thank you, lester, and thanks to hofstra for hosting us. The central question in this election is really what kind of country we want to be and what kind of future well build together. Today is my granddaughters second birthday, so i think about this a lot. First, we have to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. That means we need new jobs, good jobs, with rising incomes. I want us to invest in you. I want us to invest in your future. That means jobs in infrastructure, in advanced manufacturing, innovation and technology, clean, renewable energy, and small business, because most of the new jobs will come from small business. We also have to make the economy fairer. That starts with raising the National Minimum wage and also guarantee, finally, equal pay for womens work. I also want to see more companies do profitsharing. If you help create the profits, you should be able to share in them, not just the executives at the top. And i want us to do more to support people who are struggling to balance family and work. Ive heard from so many of you about the difficult choices you face and the stresses that youre under. So lets have paid family leave, earned sick days. Lets be sure we have affordable child care and debtfree college. How are we going to do it . Were going to do it by having the wealthy pay their fair share and close the corporate loopholes. Finally, we tonight are on the stage together, donald trump and i. Donald, its good to be with you. Were going to have a debate where we are talking about the important issues facing our country. You have to judge us, who can shoulder the immense, awesome responsibilities of the presidency, who can put into action the plans that will make your life better . I hope that i will be able to earn your vote on november 8th. Lester holt secretary clinton, thank you. Mr. Trump, the same question to you. Its about putting money more money into the pockets of American Workers. You have up to two minutes. Mr. Trump thank you, lester. Our jobs are fleeing the country. Theyre going to mexico. Theyre going to many other countries. You look at what china is doing to our country in terms of making our product. Theyre devaluing their currency, and theres nobody in our government to fight them. And we have a very good fight. And we have a winning fight. Because theyre using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild china, and many other countries are doing the same thing. So were losing our good jobs, so many of them. When you look at whats happening in mexico, a friend of mine who builds plants said its the eighth wonder of the world. Theyre building some of the biggest plants anywhere in the world, some of the most sophisticated, some of the best plants. With the United States, as he said, not so much. So, ford is leaving. You see that, their small car division, leaving. Thousands of jobs leaving michigan, leaving ohio. Theyre all leaving. And we cant allow it to happen anymore. As far as child care is concerned and so many other things, i think hillary and i agree on that. We probably disagree a little bit as to numbers and amounts and what were going to do, but perhaps well be talking about that later. But we have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us. We have to stop our companies from leaving the United States and, with it, firing all of their people. All you have to do is take a look at carrier air conditioning in indianapolis. They left fired 1,400 people. Theyre going to mexico. So many hundreds and hundreds of companies are doing this. We cannot let it happen. Under my plan, ill be reducing taxes tremendously, from 35 to 15 for companies, small and big businesses. Thats going to be a job creator like we havent seen since ronald reagan. Its going to be a beautiful thing to watch. Companies will come. They will build. They will expand. New companies will start. And i look very, very much forward to doing it. We have to renegotiate our trade deals, and we have to stop these countries from stealing our companies and our jobs. Lester holt secretary clinton, would you like to respond . Ms. Clinton well, i think that trade is an important issue. Of course, we are 5 of the worlds population. We have to trade with the other 95 . And we need to have smart, fair trade deals. We also, though, need to have a tax system that rewards work and not just financial transactions. And the kind of plan that donald has put forth would be trickledown economics all over again. In fact, it would be the most extreme version, the biggest tax cuts for the top percent of the people in this country than weve ever had. I call it trumpedup trickledown, because thats exactly what it would be. That is not how we grow the economy. We just have a different view about whats best for growing the economy, how we make investments that will actually produce jobs and rising incomes. I think we come at it from somewhat different perspectives. I understand that. You know, donald was very fortunate in his life, and thats all to his benefit. He started his business with 14 million, borrowed from his father, and he really believes that the more you help wealthy people, the better off well be and that everything will work out from there. I dont buy that. I have a different experience. My father was a small businessman. He worked really hard. He printed drapery fabrics on long tables, where he pulled out those fabrics and he went down with a silkscreen and dumped the paint in and took the squeegee and kept going. And so, what i believe is the more we can do for the middle class, the more we can invest in you, your education, your skills, your future, the better we will be off and the better well grow. Thats the kind of economy i want us to see again. Ms. Clinton lester holt let me follow up with mr. Trump, if you can. Youve talked about creating 25 million jobs, and youve promised to bring back millions of jobs for americans. How are you going to bring back the industries that have left this country for cheaper labor overseas . How, specifically, are you going to tell american manufacturers that you have to come back . Mr. Trump well, for one thing and before we start on that my father gave me a very small loan in 1975, and i built it into a company thats worth many, many billions of dollars, with some of the greatest assets in the world, and i say that only because thats the kind of thinking that our country needs. Our countrys in deep trouble. We dont know what were doing when it comes to devaluations and all of these countries all over the world, especially china. Theyre the best, the best ever at it. What theyre doing to us is a very, very sad thing. So we have to do that. We have to renegotiate our trade deals. And, lester, theyre taking our jobs, theyre giving incentives, theyre doing things that, frankly, we dont do. Let me give you the example of mexico. They have a vat tax. Were on a different system. When we sell into mexico, theres a tax. When they sell in automatic, 60 , 16 approximately. When they sell into us, theres no tax. Its a defective agreement. Its been defective for a long time, many years, but the politicians havent done anything about it. Now, in all fairness to secretary clinton yes, is that ok . Good. I want you to be very happy. Its very important to me. But in all fairness to secretary clinton, when she started talking about this, it was really very recently. Shes been doing this for 30 years. And why hasnt she made the agreements better . The nafta agreement is defective. Just because of the tax and many other reasons, but just because of the fact lester holt let me interrupt just a moment mr. Trump secretary clinton and others, politicians, should have been doing this for years, not right now, because of the fact that weve created a movement. They should have been doing this for years. Whats happened to our jobs and our country and our economy generally is look, we owe 20 trillion. We cannot do it any longer, lester. Lester holt back to the question, though. How do you bring back specifically bring back jobs, american manufacturers . How do you make them bring the jobs back . Mr. Trump well, the first thing you do is dont let the jobs leave. The companies are leaving. I could name, i mean, there are thousands of them. Theyre leaving, and theyre leaving in bigger numbers than ever. And what you do is you say, fine, you want to go to mexico or some other country, good luck. We wish you a lot of luck. But if you think youre going to make your air conditioners or your cars or your cookies or whatever you make and bring them into our country without a tax, youre wrong. And once you say youre going to have to tax them coming in, and our politicians never do this, because they have special interests and the special interests want those companies to leave, because in many cases, they own the companies. So what im saying is, we can stop them from leaving. We have to stop them from leaving. And thats a big, big factor. Lester holt let me let secretary clinton get in here. Ms. Clinton well, lets stop for a second and remember where we were eight years ago. We had the worst financial crisis, the great recession, the worst since the 1930s. That was in large part because of tax policies that slashed taxes on the wealthy, failed to invest in the middle class, took their eyes off of wall street, and created a perfect storm. In fact, donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis. He said, back in 2006, gee, i hope it does collapse, because then i can go in and buy some and make some money. Well, it did collapse. Mr. Trump thats called business, by the way. Ms. Clinton nine Million People nine Million People lost their jobs. Five Million People lost their homes. And 13 trillion in Family Wealth was wiped out. Now, we have come back from that abyss. And it has not been easy. So were now on the precipice of having a potentially much better economy, but the last thing we need to do is to go back to the policies that failed us in the first place. Independent experts have looked at what ive proposed and looked at what donalds proposed, and basically theyve said this, that if his tax plan, which would blow up the debt by over 5 trillion and would in some instances disadvantage middleclass families compared to the wealthy, were to go into effect, we would lose 3. 5 million jobs and maybe have another recession. Theyve looked at my plans and theyve said, ok, if we can do this, and i intend to get it done, we will have 10 million more new jobs, because we will be making investments where we can grow the economy. Take clean energy. Some country is going to be the Clean Energy Superpower of the 21st century. Donald thinks that Climate Change is a hoax perpetrated by the chinese. I think its real. Mr. Trump i did not. I did not. I do not say that. Ms. Clinton i think science is real. Mr. Trump i do not say that. Ms. Clinton and i think its important that we grip this and deal with it, both at home and abroad. And heres what we can do. We can deploy a half a billion more solar panels. We can have enough clean energy to power every home. We can build a new, modern electric grid. Thats a lot of jobs, thats a lot of new economic activity. So ive tried to be very specific about what we can and should do, and i am determined that were going to get the economy really moving again, building on the progress weve made over the last eight years, but never going back to what got us in trouble in the first place. Lester holt mr. Trump . Mr. Trump she talks about solar panels. We invested in a solar company, our country. That was a disaster. They lost plenty of money on that one. Now, look, im a great believer in all forms of energy, but were putting a lot of people out of work. Our Energy Policies are a disaster. Our country is losing so much in terms of energy, in terms of paying off our debt. You cant do what youre looking to do with 20 trillion in debt. The obama administration, from the time theyve come in, is over 230 years worth of debt, and hes topped it. Hes doubled it in a course of almost eight years, sevenandahalf years, to be semiexact. So i will tell you this. We have to do a much better job at keeping our jobs. And we have to do a much better job at giving companies incentives to build new companies or to expand, because theyre not doing it. And all you have to do is look at michigan and look at ohio and look at all of these places where so many of their jobs and their companies are just leaving, theyre gone. And, hillary, id just ask you this. Youve been doing this for 30 years. Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now . For 30 years, youve been doing it, and now youre just starting to think of solutions. Ms. Clinton well, actually mr. Trump i will bring excuse me. I will bring back jobs. You cant bring back jobs. Ms. Clinton well, actually, i have thought about this quite a bit. Mr. Trump yeah, for 30 years. Ms. Clinton and i have well, not quite that long. I think my husband did a pretty good job in the 1990s. I think a lot about what worked and how we can make it work again mr. Trump well, he approved nafta. Income went up for everybody. Mr. Trump he approved nafta, which is the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country. Ms. Clinton when i was in the senate, i had a number of trade deals that came before me, and i held them all to the same test. Will they create jobs in america . Will they raise incomes in america . And are they good for our National Security . Some of them i voted for. The biggest one, a multinational one known as cafta, i voted against. And because i hold the same standards as i look at all of these trade deals. But lets not assume that trade is the only challenge we have in the economy. I think it is a part of it, and ive said what im going to do. Im going to have a special prosecutor. Were going to enforce the trade deals we have, and were going to hold people accountable. When i was secretary of state, we actually increased american exports globally 30 . China 50 . D them to so, i know how to really work to get new jobs and to get exports that helped to create more new jobs. Mr. Trump but you havent done it in 30 years or 26 years or any number you want to ms. Clinton well, ive been a senator mr. Trump you havent done it. You havent done it. Ms. Clinton and i have been a secretary of state mr. Trump excuse me. Your husband signed nafta, which was one of the worst things that ever happened to the manufacturing industry. Ms. Clinton well, thats your opinion. That is your opinion. Mr. Trump you go to new england, you go to ohio, pennsylvania, you go anywhere you want, secretary clinton, and you will see devastation where manufacturing is down 30, 40, sometimes 50 . Nafta is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country. And now you want to approve transpacific partnership. You were totally in favor of it. Then you heard what i was saying, how bad it is, and you said, i cant win that debate. But you know that if you did win, you would approve that, and that will be almost as bad as nafta. Nothing will ever top nafta. Ms. Clinton well, that is just not accurate. I was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out. I wrote about that in mr. Trump you called it the Gold Standard. You called it the Gold Standard of trade deals. You said its the finest deal youve ever seen. Ms. Clinton no. Mr. Trump and then you heard what i said about it, and all of a sudden you were against it. Ms. Clinton well, donald, i know you live in your own reality, but that is not the facts. The facts are i did say i hoped it would be a good deal, but when it was negotiated mr. Trump not. Ms. Clinton which i was not responsible for, i concluded it wasnt. Mr. Trump so is it president obamas fault . Ms. Clinton before you even announced. Mr. Trump is it president obamas fault . Ms. Clinton there are different views about whats good for our country, our economy, and our leadership in the world. And i think its important to look at what we need to do to get the economy going again. Thats why i said, new jobs with rising incomes, investments, not in more tax cuts that would add 5 trillion to