President Donald Trump pledged on Friday to create jobs for Amerricans across the country, as he promoted his message of “Buy American, Hire American” during a visit to South Carolina for launch of Boeing’s latest 787-10 Dreamliner plane.
“We’re here today to celebrate American engineering and American manufacturing. We’re also here today to celebrate jobs. Jobs,” he said to a receptive crowd in North Charleston.
Trump spoke after a week of controversies regarding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s ouster over contacts with Russian ambassador in Washington and reported discussion on US sanctions against Moscow, as well as Court setbacks to the White House’s travel ban executive order.
In Carolina, the president echoed his campaign message of putting Americans first.
“This plane, as you know, was built right here in the great state of South Carolina. Our goal as a nation must be to rely less on imports and more on products made right here in the U.S.A.
Next door, in North Carolina, Orville Wright was the first man to sail the skies in a little airplane in 1903 – a landmark moment that Trump recalled in his speech.
The president cited the return of manufacturing plants and with them jobs to America since his November 8, 2016 election victory.
“As your President, I am going to do everything I can to unleash the power of the American spirit and to put our great people back to work. This is our mantra: Buy American and Hire American,” he said to applause from a cheering crowd.
“We want products made in America, made by American hands. You probably saw the Keystone pipeline I approved recently, and the Dakota. And I’m getting ready to sign the bill. I said, where is the pipe made? And they told me not here. I said, that’s good — add a little sentence that you have to buy American steel. And you know what? That’s the way it is. It’s the way it’s going to be.”
“We are going to fight for every last American job. We’ve come a long way since the Wright Brothers and their first flight more than a century ago,” he said, praising the Boeing plane made of carbon fiber with 330 passenger seats.
“The name says it all: Dreamliner. Great name. Our country is all about making dreams come true.
“Over the last number of years, that hasn’t been necessarily the case, but we’re going to make it the case again.
That’s what we do in America –- we dream of things, and then we build them. We turn vision into reality, and we will be doing a lot more of that, believe me, in the months and years to come. ”
Trump also promised to rebuild the US military.
After his election victory, Trump had suggested the price for a new Air Force One was too high following which Boeing agreed to reduce the price. On Friday, the president said his administration was getting closer to the deal.
“We’re also working on the Air Force One project, which was a difficult project for previous administrations. But it looks like we’re getting closer and closer.”
“I campaigned on the promise that I will do everything in my power to bring those jobs back into America. We wanted to make much easier — it has to be much easier to manufacture in our country and much harder to leave. I don’t want companies leaving our country, making their product, selling it back, no tax, no nothing, firing everybody in our country. We’re not letting that happen anymore, folks. Believe me. There will be a very substantial penalty to be paid when they fire their people and move to another country, make the product, and think that they’re going to sell it back over what will soon be a very, very strong border. Going to be a lot different. It’s going to be a lot different.”
Trump also renewed his pledge to enact tax reforms. Here are some of the quotes from his speech:
“Already American industry will come roaring back. And believe me if we — not me, I’m a messenger — if we didn’t have this victory, we wouldn’t be even talking about it. To achieve that goal, we’re going to massively reduce job-crushing regulations — already started; you’ve seen that — that send our jobs to those other countries. We are going to lower taxes on American business so it’s cheaper and easier to produce product and beautiful things like airplanes right here in America.”
“We are going to enforce — very strongly enforce our trade rules and stop foreign cheating. Tremendous cheating. Tremendous cheating. We want products made by our workers, in our factories, stamped with those four magnificent words: Made in the USA.
“Since November, jobs have already begun to surge. We’re seeing companies open up factories in America. We’re seeing them keep jobs at home. Ford, General Motors, Fiat-Chrysler — just to name a very, very few. So many more already. They are keeping and bringing thousands of jobs back in country because the business climate, they know, has already changed.
“In Arizona, Intel announced it will open a new plant that will create 10,000 American jobs. They are spending billions of dollars.”
“We will see more and more of that across the country as we continue to work on reducing regulations, cutting taxes — including for the middle class, including for everyone, and including for business — and creating a level playing field for our workers. When there is a level playing field, and I’ve been saying this for a long time, American workers will always, always, always win. But we don’t have a level playing field. Very shortly, you will have a level playing field again. (Applause.) Because when American workers win, America as a country wins — big league wins.”
