{"id":56749,"date":"2018-04-09T13:27:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-09T20:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=56749"},"modified":"2018-04-09T13:28:35","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T20:28:35","slug":"president-trump-at-cabinet-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=56749","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at Cabinet Meeting with Comments on Syria, Russia &#038; More.."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much.  I\u2019d like to begin by condemning the heinous attack on innocent Syrians with banned chemical weapons.  It was an atrocious attack.  It was horrible.  You don\u2019t see things like that.  As bad as the news is around the world, you just don\u2019t see those images.  We are studying that situation extremely closely.  We are meeting with our military and everybody else, and we\u2019ll be making some major decisions over the next 24 to 48 hours.  We are very concerned when a thing like that can happen.  This is about humanity.  We\u2019re talking about humanity.  And it can\u2019t be allowed to happen.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R4ciDJHcomU\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019ll be looking at that barbaric act and studying what\u2019s going on.  We\u2019re trying to get people in there.  As you know, it\u2019s been surrounded.  So it\u2019s very hard to get people in because not only has it been hit, it\u2019s been surrounded.  And if they\u2019re innocent, why aren\u2019t they allowing people to go in and prove?  Because as you know, they\u2019re claiming they didn\u2019t make the attack.<\/p>\n<p>So if it\u2019s Russia, if it\u2019s Syria, if it\u2019s Iran, if it\u2019s all of them together, we\u2019ll figure it out and we\u2019ll know the answers quite soon.  So we\u2019re looking at that very, very strongly and very seriously.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d also like to provide an update on trade negotiations.  We have a situation with China where we have a very good relationship with China, and I think we\u2019ll maintain that relationship.  I\u2019m very good friends with President Xi.  I have great respect for President Xi.  And as you know, I spent two days in China.  The President spent two days with us at Mar-a- Lago, in Florida.  And they were four great days.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, China has been taking advantage of the United States for many years, really, if you look at it since the start of the World Trade Organization.  And they have really done a number on this country.<\/p>\n<p>And I don\u2019t blame China.  I blame the people running our country.  I blame Presidents, I blame representatives, I blame negotiators.  We should have been able to do what they did.  We didn\u2019t do it; they did.  And it\u2019s the most lopsided set of trade rules, regulations that anybody has ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>With that being said, we have many of them.  NAFTA was a horrible deal.  We\u2019re renegotiating it.  We\u2019ll see what happens.  But we\u2019re strongly renegotiating NAFTA.  If you look at the European Union, they have tremendous barriers \u2014 trade barriers.  We, essentially, have bad deals with everyone.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re close to finishing a deal with South Korea, which was a horrible deal.  It was going to give us 200,000 jobs.  Well, that didn\u2019t exactly happen.  It gave them 200,000 jobs.  We lost jobs.  And it was a horrible deal, and that\u2019s being renegotiated.  And we have a long way to go, but we\u2019ve made a tremendous progress.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re fairly close on NAFTA, and if we don\u2019t make the right deal we\u2019ll terminate NAFTA and we\u2019ll make the right deal after that.  But we have a chance to make a deal on NAFTA.  And as I said, the North Korea and South Korea situation, which complicates it \u2014 the deal that we have with South Korea, I think, is going to be \u2014 I think it\u2019s going to be a very fair deal.  We want a fair deal.  And we don\u2019t have fair deals.<\/p>\n<p>North Korea, by the way, as you\u2019ve probably seen \u2014 and we\u2019ve been in touch with North Korea \u2014 we\u2019ll be meeting with them sometime in May or early June.  And I think there\u2019ll be great respect paid by both parties and hopefully we\u2019ll be able to make a deal on the de-nuking of North Korea.  they\u2019ve said so; we\u2019ve said so.  Hopefully, it will be a relationship that\u2019s much different than it\u2019s been for many, many years.<\/p>\n<p>This should have been done by other Presidents and they\u2019ve decided they didn\u2019t do it.  They couldn\u2019t have done it.  But it would have been a lot easier if it were done 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 20 years ago.  A lot easier than now.  But we have a meeting that is being set up with North Korea.  So that will be very exciting, I think, for the world.  I think it\u2019s going to be a very exciting thing for the world.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re going to be talking about opioid today \u2014 opioid destruction and drug destruction.  As you know, we strengthened up our southern border.  Last year, we had record-low numbers.  This year, they\u2019ve gone up to a certain extent.  It might be because our economy is good and people are trying to come into our good economy.  But we\u2019re putting the National Guard and military at the border.  We\u2019re beefing up the Border Patrol, who\u2019ve done a fantastic job.  ICE has done a fantastic job, and we will take care of that situation.<\/p>\n<p>We need a wall.  Whether you\u2019re a Republican or Democrat, we need a wall.  And it will stop your drug flow.  It will knock the hell out of the drug flow.  And it will stop a lot of people that we don\u2019t want in this country from coming into our country.  But right now, we\u2019re putting the military and we\u2019re putting the National Guard, and we\u2019re going to have very strong borders.  We have strong borders now, but they\u2019re going to be much stronger.<\/p>\n<p>And with that, the Cabinet meeting will begin.  We\u2019re going to be discussing a lot of different elements of what\u2019s going on.  The country is doing very well.  We\u2019ve created 3 million jobs since the election.  We have 700,000 jobs in the last number of months.  The numbers are starting to come out from companies, corporations.  They\u2019re doing incredibly well.  It\u2019s very solid.  Our country is on very solid footing.<\/p>\n<p>When we do a deal with China, which, probably, we will.  If we don\u2019t, they\u2019ll have to pay pretty high taxes to do business with our country.  That\u2019s a possibility.  But if we do a deal with China, if during the course of a negotiation they want to hit the farmers because they think that hits me, I wouldn\u2019t say that\u2019s nice.  But I tell you, our farmers are great patriots.  These are great patriots.  They understand that they\u2019re doing this for the country.  And we\u2019ll make it up to them.  And in the end, they\u2019re going to be much stronger than they are right now.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget, farmers have been trending downward over an eight-year period.  Their numbers have trended downward, in some cases significantly.<\/p>\n<p>So between NAFTA and China and all of the things we\u2019re doing, we\u2019re going to make them much better than they\u2019ve ever been.  But during this period of time \u2014 Sonny Perdue is here.  You understand exactly what I\u2019m saying.  There will be a little work to be done.  But the farmers will be better off than they ever were.  We\u2019ll take a little while to get there, but it could be very quick, actually.  But I say, it\u2019s not nice when they hit the farmers specifically because they think that hits me.<\/p>\n<p>So with that being said, we\u2019re doing very well on trade and trade deals.  I think deals will be made.  I think we\u2019re going to make deals with a lot of countries that have taken advantage of us.  And we will be reporting back to everybody, and we\u2019ll start our Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n<p>And thank you all, media, press.  Thank you all for being here.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, do you still want to get out of Syria?  Do you still want to get out of Syria, Mr. President?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We\u2019re going to make a decision on all of that, in particular Syria.  We\u2019ll be making that decision very quickly, probably by the end of today.  But we cannot allow atrocities like that.  Cannot allow it.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Does Putin bear responsibility for this?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  He may.  Yeah, he may.  And if he does, it\u2019s going to be very tough.  Very tough.<\/p>\n<p>Q    He\u2019ll pay a price if \u2014<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Everybody is going to pay a price.  He will.  Everybody will.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, is U.S. military action off the table?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Excuse me?<\/p>\n<p>Q    U.S. military action, is it off the table as it relates to Syria?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Nothing is off the table.  Nothing is off the table.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Is there some doubt as to who was responsible for this, sir?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Well, they\u2019re saying they\u2019re not.  But to me, there\u2019s not much of a doubt, but the generals will figure it out probably over the next 24 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.  Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Thank you, Mr. President.<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Jon.<\/p>\n<p>Q    Mr. President, are you concerned about the stock market (inaudible)?<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  No, not at all.  No.  The market is up today very substantially.  No, not at all.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget, our country is going to be much stronger when this is all finished, just so you understand.  You know, these trade deals are horrible.  Our country is going to be much stronger when this is finished.  Okay?  So that\u2019s very important.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.  Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you very much. I\u2019d like to begin by condemning the heinous attack on innocent Syrians with banned chemical weapons. It was an atrocious attack. It was horrible. You don\u2019t see things like that. As bad as the news is around the world, you just don\u2019t see those images. We are studying that situation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Fullscreen-capture-492018-12651-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}