{"id":75315,"date":"2019-02-25T14:53:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T22:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=75315"},"modified":"2019-02-25T14:53:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T22:53:27","slug":"president-trump-at-2019-white-house-business-session-with-nations-governors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=75315","title":{"rendered":"President Trump at 2019 White House Business Session with Nation\u2019s Governors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you.  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  Thank you very much.  Please.  Thank you very much.<br \/>\n As governors, we all sort of get together and we have a good time.  But we also \u2014 we\u2019re going to accomplish a lot.  This going to be a very good meeting.  Tremendous things are happening for our country.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zli1W8oBiCM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m now \u2014 right after this meeting, I leave for Vietnam, where I meet with Chairman Kim and we talk about something that, frankly, he never spoke to anybody about.  But we\u2019re speaking, and we\u2019re speaking loud.  And I think we can have a very good \u2014 a very good summit.  I think we\u2019ll have a very tremendous summit.  We want denuclearization, and I think he\u2019ll have a country that will set a lot of records for speed in terms of an economy.<\/p>\n<p>And I told you last night \u2014 it was a lovely dinner \u2014 but I told you how well we did with our trade talks in China.  And it looks like they\u2019ll be coming back quickly again.  And we\u2019re going to have another summit.  We\u2019re going to have a signing summit, which is even better.  So hopefully, we can get that completed.  But we\u2019re getting very, very close.<\/p>\n<p>Ambassador Lighthizer, Steve Mnuchin, a lot of folks in the room have been helping and that\u2019s been great.  And I just see our great Secretary sitting there.  On drug prices, first time in 54 years that drug prices have actually gone down this year.  So, Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.  That\u2019s a great, great deal.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Today, it\u2019s my honor to welcome our nation\u2019s governors back to the White House after a wonderful evening last night.  And I\u2019m deeply grateful for your presence, your partnership, and your friendship \u2014 many of you are such good friends \u2014 as we work together on behalf of all Americans.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re here to forge bonds of cooperation between our federal, state, and local governments as we strive to deliver a safe, bright, and prosperous future for every community in our magnificent nation.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you as well to all of my Cabinet Secretaries who are here today to share their energy, expertise, and devotion.  They are devoted.  They work so hard and they\u2019re doing a terrific job.  There are few \u2014 I say there are none \u2014 but there are few administrations that have accomplished what we\u2019ve accomplished over the last two years and the first two years.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been pretty incredible with tax cuts and regulation cuts \u2014 more regulations than any other administration in history, and that\u2019s very important.  And we still have regulation.  But you don\u2019t have 10 of identical regulations that you have to get approved and wiped out from different departments.  So we\u2019ve really cut it down.<\/p>\n<p>A highway that would take 17 or 18 years of approval now takes probably two.  And we\u2019re trying to get it down to one.  And it may be rejected on various grounds, including environmental.  But we have it down to two, and we think we can get it down further.  So it will be \u2014 that will be something.  You know.  You have many highways and many roadways, and they\u2019re tied up for many years.  And that won\u2019t be happening too much anymore.<\/p>\n<p>In my State of the Union Address, I outlined many bipartisan priorities that we all share: delivering fair trade; rebuilding our nation\u2019s infrastructure \u2014 which we are going to work very hard on, because as governors, that has to be music to your ears.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>And I would like \u2014 on infrastructure, I would like you to call your senators and call your congressmen and women and get it done, because I\u2019m ready.  I want to sign.  I am totally ready.<\/p>\n<p>Reducing the price of healthcare and prescription drugs \u2014 and we\u2019ve made a lot of progress, as I said.  First year in 54 years that prescription prices have gone down, which is a big statement.  But we can get them a lot lower.  We\u2019re in the process, Mr. Secretary, of doing that.<\/p>\n<p>Creating a safe and lawful immigration system, and keeping America safe.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re gathered today at a truly incredible time for our nation.  Things are happening like rarely ever before.  Since the election, we\u2019ve created more than 5.3 million new jobs, including a half a million brand-new manufacturing jobs.  And that number is going to go over 600,000 manufacturing jobs in just a very short period of time.<\/p>\n<p>And if you remember, manufacturing jobs were never coming back to our country.  Well, they are coming back and they\u2019re coming back very strongly.  And we have companies opening up in the United States that we thought we lost, that would never be back, and some are coming back and some are brand new and they\u2019re big.  And they\u2019re coming in and they\u2019re moving in, which is one of the reasons we need people to come in.  They have to come in through a legal process.  But with a 3.7 [percent] unemployment, we need to have people coming in.  We need workers, frankly, because we have all of these companies pouring in.<\/p>\n<p>We were just discussing \u2014 our great new governor of Michigan \u2014 last night, where you have some good news coming up very soon.  And we have car companies opening up in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and so many other places.  I was with Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and he was saying it could be seven different plants in a very short period of time, not to mention all of the plants that have already opened.<\/p>\n<p>So, we need people.  We have to have people and they have to come in, but they have to come in legally and through merit.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 5 million Americans have been lifted off of food stamps during this very short period of time.  Blue-collar jobs are growing at their fastest pace in many decades.  The unemployment rates for African Americans \u2014 and you\u2019ve heard this many times \u2014 Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded.  And with women, it\u2019s now 64 years.  Lowest in 64 years.  Soon, it will be historic.<\/p>\n<p>So America now has, really, the hottest economy on Earth.  Whenever I greet a prime minister or a president, or any leaders of any countries, they always start off by saying, \u201cCongratulations on your economy.  It\u2019s been incredible.  Congratulations.\u201d  And many of them are trying to follow our formula, which was cutting taxes, cutting regulations, and many other things.<\/p>\n<p>We give incentives and we work very hard at getting companies to come back in.  Those companies that left, we \u2014 in particular, we want to work.  They left our country.  They fired all of their workers.  They moved to another country.  They\u2019re now coming back.  It\u2019s a great thing.<\/p>\n<p>In a few moments, our first session on vocational training and workforce development will begin.  We want every citizen to gain the cutting-edge skills they need to enjoy a rewarding, lifelong career.  Many of the governors here today have identified this as a very top priority.  My daughter, Ivanka, who is going to be speaking later, is \u2014 she has been so much involved.  So incredibly involved.  Where is Ivanka?  Ivanka, keep \u2014 keep going.  (Laughter.)  Created \u2014 my daughter has created millions of jobs.  I don\u2019t know if anyone knows that, but she\u2019s created millions of jobs.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>So, because of our roaring economy, there are more opportunities than ever before to get sidelined workers \u2014 and these are people that lost jobs and have never gotten them back, but now they\u2019re coming back and very, very rapidly \u2014 get these sidelined workers back into the labor force.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, my administration created the Council for American Worker and launched the Pledge of America\u2019s Workers, where we\u2019ve gained commitments from private sector leaders to hire and train more than 6.5 million Americans.  Think of it: 6.5 million.  And these are jobs that, for the most part, would not have happened.<\/p>\n<p>I was also proud to sign a modernized Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act into law.  We believe two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American.  It used to be a terrible thing when you said \u201cAmerica first.\u201d  People said all sorts of things: \u201cIt\u2019s terrible.  It\u2019s a horror.\u201d  It\u2019s \u201cAmerica First.\u201d  It\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d  (Applause.)  It\u2019s whatever you want to call it, but that\u2019s the way it is.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, you know very well.  And some can\u2019t say, and some can say proudly, but we would focus so much on other countries, it was almost like we put those \u2014 not almost.  We put those countries ahead of ours.  We actually took those countries and put them ahead of ours.  We can\u2019t do it.  And we\u2019re going to help other countries that we have great relationships.  But we can\u2019t do that anymore.  It\u2019s America first.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we also will discuss the bold action we took to address economic inequality by establishing Opportunity Zones as part of our historic tax cuts.  It\u2019s incredible what\u2019s going on.  I don\u2019t know, I think some of you really see it.  Okay?  You see what\u2019s going with the Opportunity Zones.  Far greater than anybody thought.  And we\u2019ve done a lot of them, and they have great incentives.  And money is being put in by very rich people and rich companies in areas that you would have said nobody will ever invest in.  We established incentives for investment in more than 8,700 distressed areas that you have designated in each of your states.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re designating some tough places.  I say, \u201cCan they give us some tougher places than that?\u201d  They are tough and it\u2019s \u2014 incredibly, for the first time ever, it\u2019s really working.  The concept was always good but it wasn\u2019t done properly.  I want to thank you for partnering with us in this critical effort to lift up neglected and totally forgotten communities.<\/p>\n<p>I also want to thank every governor here today who is supporting our new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement \u2014 the USMCA.  (Applause.)  I\u2019ve long said that NAFTA is the worst trade deal that any country has ever signed.  It emptied us out.  We had a surplus with Mexico and Canada, and we went to $130 billion trade deficit with the combination of Mexico and Canada.  And this deal will bring it back.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re opening it up to farmers.  We\u2019re opening Canada, as an example \u2014 and Mexico \u2014 to farmers.  They were closed.  It was a closed shop.  They had all sorts of non-monetary trade barriers.  And they had monetary trade barriers.  They were charging, for certain agricultural products, an almost 300 percent tariff.  Nobody ever talked about it.  Nobody ever knew about it.  And I\u2019d go up to Wisconsin and the farmers would say, \u201cSir, we can\u2019t compete.  They\u2019re charging us 287 percent, to be exact.\u201d  I said, \u201cYou got to be kidding.\u201d  And we did something about it.<\/p>\n<p>So the USMCA is very important.  It will help our dairy farmers in Wisconsin; our wine makers in Oregon and Washington and California; our autoworkers in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and all over; and dozens of other states, and ranchers and farmers and growers and manufacturers from coast to coast.  It\u2019s a very, very comprehensive deal.  It\u2019s a deal that nobody thought we\u2019d be able to get approved.<\/p>\n<p>I was able to get it approved, to be honest with you, by using tariffs.  I was putting very substantial tariffs \u2014 or was getting ready to \u2014 on Canada, who was very tough to negotiate.  You know, we think of \u201cOh, Canada.\u201d  Well, \u201cOh, Canada\u201d is tough.  They\u2019re tough.  (Laughter.)  And I said, \u201cLook, you know, you\u2019re either going to do this or we\u2019re going to put 20, 25 percent tariffs on your cars that you ship in here by the millions.<\/p>\n<p>And every time we had a problem, we\u2019d just say, \u201cThat\u2019s okay.  Don\u2019t worry about it.  We\u2019ll put the tariffs on.\u201d  And they said, \u201cOkay.  Fine.  It\u2019s okay.  We\u2019ll sign.\u201d  It was a tough \u2014 it was a really tough negotiation.  And same thing with Mexico.  But in the end, we got it done and it\u2019s a great deal for us, and it\u2019s a very good deal, I think, for Canada and for Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>They have to get it approved also.  We have to get it approved.  Let\u2019s see what happens.  And I think it probably will be.  It should \u2014 I think from our standpoint \u2014 I know how much they hate me, but they have to hate me even more not to get this deal approved.  Okay?  That\u2019s the only thing I can say.<\/p>\n<p>To be a prosperous nation, we must also be a safe nation. We passed groundbreaking criminal justice reform.  And I have to thank so many people for that.  But this was where super- conservatives got together with super-liberals, believe it or not.  I mean, I\u2019m looking at names on both sides and right down the middle.  Criminal justice reform, where people are put into jail for a pretty minor act \u2014 there\u2019s nothing minor \u2014 but a pretty minor act, and they\u2019re put in jail for 45 years and 50 years and there\u2019s no chance of ever coming out.  And it was a very \u2014 and it\u2019s very tough, by the way.  A lot of conservatives signed it, and signed it very willingly.  In fact, they pushed it.  They were pushing it, I think, as hard as the other side.  But it\u2019s very, very important.<\/p>\n<p>Many states here today are following the same roadmap to help former inmates become productive and law-abiding citizens.  And one of the thing that\u2019s helping the inmates so much \u2014 you know this probably better than I do \u2014 the economy is so strong that inmates, for the first time, are getting jobs when they come out.<\/p>\n<p>And I have a friend who\u2019s hired seven or eight.  I can\u2019t say every one was perfect, but he said, \u201cFive are \u2014 I\u2019ll always have them.  They\u2019re great.\u201d  They got a chance.  Nobody would hire them because they have that \u2014 whatever it is in the background.  And it\u2019s a very tough situation for them in the past.<\/p>\n<p>But the economy is so strong.  The economy \u2014 the strength of the economy became our best friend.  They couldn\u2019t get workers, and now they\u2019re hiring people that they normally wouldn\u2019t have.  And the results are incredible.  Companies all over the country are saying, \u201cWow, they are really \u2014 they\u2019re really doing a great job.\u201d  And it makes me very happy.  I think without that very powerful economy it couldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n<p>So, finally, to protect our communities, we must secure the border against human trafficking, drug smuggling, and crime of all types.  The human trafficking is a tremendous problem where, mostly women, and they\u2019re tied up and they\u2019re taped up, and they\u2019re put in the back of cars, and the car does not come through the port of entry.<\/p>\n<p>I mean, you watch this \u2014 \u201cEverything comes through it.\u201d  Ninety percent of the drugs don\u2019t come through the port of entry.  Ninety percent of the drugs and the big stuff goes out to the desert, makes a left, and goes where you don\u2019t have any wall.  I\u2019m going to call it a wall.  You know, they\u2019d like me to call it a barrier.  It\u2019s a wall.  It\u2019s a big, beautiful, powerful steel wall that you can see through \u2014 which is very important to be able to see through.  And if you don\u2019t have it, you\u2019re not going to have borders, you\u2019re not going to have a country pretty soon.  Because we\u2019re spending a fortune.  We\u2019re doing an incredible job.<\/p>\n<p>The Border Patrol has been amazing.  The military has been amazing.  I called in the military and they\u2019ve been amazing.  But if we had a wall, we\u2019d save a fortune not only on drugs that are being smuggled into the country.  And you\u2019re talking about billions and billions and billions of dollars\u2019 worth of drugs.  But we\u2019d save it just on not having to pay military, not having to pay so much on the Border Patrol.  The Border Patrol can go to other locations and other places.<\/p>\n<p>But I\u2019ll say this: Border Patrol and ICE \u2014 and I\u2019m proud of ICE because they go into areas where a lot of people don\u2019t want to go, including law enforcement.  These are tough, tough people that they\u2019re dealing with.  And you need tough people.  The ICE people, they\u2019re tough but they\u2019re incredible.  I mean, they\u2019re just incredible in so many ways.  They are patriotic people.  They love our country.  They want it to work.  And they\u2019ll go into situations that you want no part of.<\/p>\n<p>When you look at these MS-13 gangs, sheriffs all over the country have told me, \u201cWe\u2019re very happy to have ICE come in and take over.\u201d  Because this is a group of people that \u2014 hard to even understand how they could have developed this way.  They\u2019re mean.  They\u2019re sadistic.  Their crimes are incredible.  We\u2019re taking them out by the thousands, and we\u2019re bringing them back to where they came from.  And in some cases, we\u2019re putting them in jail.  But, you know, then we pay for them for the next 40 years.  But we\u2019re bringing them back where they came from.<\/p>\n<p>And I told Guatemala and I told Honduras, and I told El Salvador \u2014 three places where they send us tremendous numbers of people \u2014 and they\u2019re rough people.  They\u2019re not sending us their finest.  It doesn\u2019t make sense.  Why would they send their finest?  They\u2019re sending us some very \u2014 as I would sometimes say \u2014 rough hombres.  These are rough, rough, tough people.  Many criminal people.<\/p>\n<p>And I told these three countries \u2014 you know, we send them $500 million a year.  I said, \u201cWe\u2019re not sending it anymore.\u201d  And you organize caravans, and these caravans that are coming up \u2014 we had one \u2014 and we\u2019ve broken them up.  I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve been seeing.  We\u2019ve broken them up.  We\u2019ve gotten them broken up, in many cases now, before they get here.<\/p>\n<p>But you take a look at Tijuana, Mexico: Thousands and thousands of people are sitting there, trying to get into our country.  And if we didn\u2019t have a wall there \u2014 that we\u2019ve totally renovated and fixed \u2014 if we didn\u2019t have that wall, it would be impossible even for the military to stop them.  Because don\u2019t forget, unlike other countries \u2014 and this is a good thing; I don\u2019t want to create controversy because I hate controversy, believe me.  (Laughter.)  But unlike other countries, we don\u2019t let people get shot.  You know?  We don\u2019t have people standing there with the most sophisticated machine guns in the world and use them.  Many countries do.  Many countries do.  We can\u2019t do that.  We can\u2019t do that.  This country can\u2019t do that.  But the barrier does it very simply.  It just doesn\u2019t let them in.<\/p>\n<p>So you take a look at a place like Tijuana and other places.  It\u2019s incredible what that wall has done.  And that\u2019s not even the upper \u2014 you know, the most \u2014 the best of our walls.  We have a great system now.  We have a prototype.  We have \u2014 I expect to have 250 to 300 miles of wall built in the very near future.  Secretary Nielsen is here right now, and we have \u2014 we will shortly have about 200 miles under construction.<\/p>\n<p>We just started a 47-mile patch.  We have different patches.  We bid it out tough.  We have a much better prototype.  It\u2019s actually a beautiful wall.  It\u2019s a beautiful-looking \u2014 actually \u2014 you know, I\u2019ve always said part of the wall was that previous administrations, when they did little walls, they built them so badly.  So badly.  It\u2019s so unattractive.  So \u2014 I wouldn\u2019t want them in my backyard.  And the new one is incredible looking.  It\u2019s a piece of art, in a sense.  It\u2019s still \u2014 and it\u2019s, by the way, more effective.  I mean, it\u2019s more effective.<\/p>\n<p>So we are doing a job.  We\u2019re getting it up.  We have beautiful prototypes.  We\u2019re working with the Army Corps of Engineers.  We\u2019re total pros.  And I don\u2019t know if you saw what I put on Twitter, but I put on Twitter a piece of it.  That\u2019s not the new prototype; the new prototype has started in different locations.<\/p>\n<p>But we\u2019re going to be, pretty soon, having well over a couple of hundred miles of wall up.  We don\u2019t have to go 2,000.  We never planned on going 2,000.  It\u2019s 2,000 from the Gulf to the Pacific; it\u2019s 2,000 miles.  But you have many natural boundaries, including really tough waters, which you don\u2019t need the wall.  We have very, very rugged mountain areas, which you don\u2019t need the wall.  Actually, if we do a really good job, and if we have some money left over, we might even throw them in areas where you would say you don\u2019t need them because they\u2019ll figure a way.  That will be the area.  That will become the weak spot.  It\u2019s like water; it just seeks its own.<\/p>\n<p>But these people, they have the traffickers.  They\u2019re vicious, they\u2019re smart \u2014 the coyotes.  How about the name \u201ccoyote\u201d?  They have people tied up, put in the back of trucks and vans.  They can\u2019t go through checkpoints.  They have to go through open areas.  Can\u2019t walk through.  You can\u2019t go through it.  Because even if they don\u2019t do much of an inspection of your truck or your car, they do open the back door, or they do look through a window.  You can\u2019t have women sitting there that are tied up.<\/p>\n<p>So when I hear the other side say \u2014 and we have some of the other side here.  But when I hear the other side say, \u201cOh, no, everything goes through the checkpoint,\u201d that\u2019s absolutely false.  You have areas where you literally have roads that are carved in the sand that it\u2019s used so much.  They go right through these roads.  They go right, they hang a left and hang another left, and \u201cWelcome to the United States.\u201d  There\u2019s nobody there to even talk to them.  Because you\u2019re talking about 2,000 miles.  You\u2019re talking about a lot of area.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re doing really well on the wall \u2014 the emergency you\u2019ve all been reading.  We do have an emergency.  We have an emergency of people pouring into our country that we don\u2019t want \u2014 criminals, smugglers.  We have drugs pouring into our country.  We can\u2019t have it.  We can\u2019t have it.  We cannot allow this to happy to our country.  Most drugs \u2014 most of the major drugs are coming through the southern border.  This will make it \u2014 you\u2019re never going to stop it completely, but we can stop it a lot.<\/p>\n<p>One of the things that Ambassador Lighthizer and Steve, and all of the people that are working with China \u2014 the fentanyl is a tremendous problem.  It seems to be made 100 percent in China.  A hundred percent.  Now, China is paying us, right now, billions and billions of dollars of tariffs a month.  Every month, billions of dollars.  I love it.  Personally, I love it.  But they\u2019re paying billions of dollars.  And it\u2019s hurting them; it\u2019s not good for them.<\/p>\n<p>And I said to President Xi \u2014 I said, \u201cPresident, you have to do me a favor.  As part of our trade deal\u2026\u201d \u2014 it has nothing to do with trade, or certainly very little \u2014 but we\u2019re having shipped over here, from China, fentanyl.  It\u2019s killing 88,000 people a year, and probably more.  That\u2019s just the ones we know about.  It\u2019s deadly.  A little tiny spoonful can wipe out a state, it\u2019s hard to believe.  It can wipe out an entire state, a spoonful of this stuff.<\/p>\n<p>And in China, they have a very, very tough penalty for drugs.  It\u2019s called the death penalty.  And I said to President Xi, \u201cYou don\u2019t have much of a drug problem.  Do you have a drug problem?\u201d  \u201cNo.  No drug problem.\u201d  I said, \u201cSo you have 1.4 billion people, and you don\u2019t have a drug problem?\u201d  \u201cThat\u2019s right.  No drug problem.\u201d  I said, \u201cWhat do you attribute that to?\u201d  \u201cDeath penalty.  Quick trial.\u201d  They don\u2019t have trials that last 19 years.  At the end of a \u2014 the judge dies.  Everybody dies.  The only one living is the one that did the damage.  No, they have what\u2019s called a \u201cquick trial.\u201d  It goes quick.  It doesn\u2019t take a lot of time.  And if you\u2019re a drug dealer, you\u2019ll say, \u201cYou know what \u2014 maybe I\u2019ll just sort of stay out of China.\u201d  Singapore, the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>So I said to President Xi \u2014 I said, \u201cYou know, if you would criminalize the sale of fentanyl into the United States, you would be saving many, many lives.\u201d  It took me one minute, and he agreed.  Because it\u2019s not criminalized.  I think they view it as an industrial drug or something.  It\u2019s not criminalized.  And as part of our deal \u2014 and, Bob, don\u2019t forget to put that down \u2014 but as part of our deal, I think we\u2019re going to get a criminalization of fentanyl being sold into the United States.  It\u2019ll stop.  (Applause.)  It\u2019ll stop.  Very important.<\/p>\n<p>And I have to tell you, I have to really thank President Xi, both for that, and he has been a big help with respect to North Korea.  I have a very, very good relationship with Kim Jong Un.  Very, very good.  But we need all the help we can get.  And as you know, about 92 percent of the goods going into North Korea go through China.  And President Xi has been very good.  He\u2019s been very, very good.<\/p>\n<p>Now, you know, it helps that we are in a strong trading position.  But nevertheless, he\u2019s been very strong and he\u2019s, for the most part, held it.  At the beginning, he was perfect.  I told him the other day, \u201cAt the beginning, you were perfect.  Now you\u2019re good.  Not quite as good.  You got to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But maybe we\u2019ll make a deal and then we won\u2019t have to worry about that any longer.  So that will be something really great.  But he\u2019s been great.<\/p>\n<p>And the fentanyl is \u2014 they\u2019re already working on that process.  And, you know, I said, \u201cDo you need any other approvals?\u201d  \u201cNo.\u201d  I said, \u201cWell, that works a lot different than this country.\u201d  (Laughter.)  He needs no other approval.<\/p>\n<p>When I got the basketball players out \u2014 the three basketball players \u2014 that was a beautiful scene.  I was in China.  And you have these three, you know, potential stars \u2014 and I guess they\u2019re going into the NBA draft, or just have \u2014 but I said, \u201cWould you do me a favor?  Three players were just arrested.\u201d  They were arrested for stealing \u2014 in Louis Vuitton \u2014 sunglasses.<\/p>\n<p>And I wasn\u2019t happy with those three players because they never gave our country much credit for having gotten them out.  And believe me, they\u2019d be in jail.  Stealing in a store in China is a very big offense.<\/p>\n<p>And I said, \u201cWould you do me a favor?\u201d  I was having dinner with him at this incredible show that he put on in a ballroom, the likes of which few people have ever seen.  It was an incredible evening.  Melania is here.  And I\u2019m talking.  And it just happened and they were arrested.  They were put in jail.  And I said, \u201cMr. President, could you do me a favor?  Could you let the three basketball players out?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t know about it.  He called over to his people.  He\u2019s got 10 people standing behind him; every one is a central casting.  Central casting.  (Laughter.)  Glasses, pad \u2014 boom.  He went over \u2014 he came back.  He reported within two minutes, explained, \u201cBasketball players\u2026\u201d  Bom. Bom.  And I said, \u201cIt would be a great thing if you could possibly let them out.\u201d  He goes, \u201cSo be it.  They\u2019re out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought \u2014 I said, \u201cIs this different than our country?\u201d  Huh?  (Laughter.) It\u2019s just a little bit different.  And we got them out.  Then we came back, and the one father said, \u201cWell, we don\u2019t know that Trump helped.  I sent a consultant.\u201d  That consultant would\u2019ve gotten nowhere.<\/p>\n<p>But, you know, we just have a great relationship with so many of these countries.  And I think in some cases it\u2019s tough.  There are many countries that take advantage of us very seriously, both at NATO and on trade.<\/p>\n<p>The European Union is very, very tough.  Very, very tough.  They don\u2019t allow our products in.  They don\u2019t allow our farming goods in.  You people know.  Many of you represent farm states.  They won\u2019t \u2014 you know that better than anybody.  They won\u2019t allow our farm products in.  They don\u2019t take any.  They have these non-, you know, monetary barriers that are brutal.  They\u2019re worse than the \u2014 you know, than others.<\/p>\n<p>The cars \u2014 they charge us big tariffs.  And it\u2019s very hard for a car to get in, number one.  But if it does, they have to pay a big tariff, whereas we charge them almost nothing when they send their cars to us \u2014 Mercedes and BMW, and all of the things that they send.<\/p>\n<p>So we\u2019re taking care of it.  I mean, we\u2019ve informed them that, \u201cLook, if you don\u2019t \u2014 if you\u2019re not going play ball\u2026\u201d  President Obama, in eight years, couldn\u2019t do a thing.  They wouldn\u2019t even meet with him.  They said, \u201cWe have no intention of meeting.\u201d  They wouldn\u2019t even meet with President Obama.  They wouldn\u2019t meet with President Bush.<\/p>\n<p>EU is one of the toughest \u2014 maybe the toughest.  Maybe, in certain ways, tougher than China, just smaller, from our standpoint.  But they have to meet.  And we told them, \u201cHave to meet.  Sorry.  And if you don\u2019t meet, we\u2019re going to tariff the hell out of you.\u201d  And they\u2019re going to meet.  I mean, they\u2019re going to meet.<\/p>\n<p>But we lost last year with the European Union $151 billion.  This has been going on for many years.  Think of it \u2014 $151 billion.  We take their product; they don\u2019t take ours.  We don\u2019t charge them tariffs; they charge us tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>Other than that, it\u2019s a very fair arrangement.  And, by the way, we pay for their military.  Because we pay almost, getting close to 100 percent for their military.  I\u2019ve gotten them to put up over $100 billion toward NATO, which has made a big impact.  But \u2014 so they have to treat us fairly.  We want to have a great relationship.  I have a great relationship with the leaders.  But we have to be treated fairly.<\/p>\n<p>So, overall, we\u2019re doing a great job for our country.  Our country has rarely done better.  Maybe never done better from an economy standpoint.  We\u2019re very proud of it.  And we have tremendous potential when we fix these trade deals, because we\u2019re being ripped by everybody.  We are just being ripped, because we lose $800 billion a year on trade.  Think of it.  It\u2019s incon- \u2014 $800 billion.  Nobody even knows what that means.  And we\u2019re fixing that all up.  We start with Mexico, Canada, China.  China is the big one.  China is 50 percent of the number \u2014 even more.  And we\u2019re doing very well.  That could happen fairly soon, or it might not happen at all.  Okay?  Might not happen at all, but I think it\u2019s going to happen and it could happen fairly soon.  The relationship is great.<\/p>\n<p>So I just want to thank all of the governors for being here.  You\u2019re very special people.  I think we have 17 brand-new governors.  Right?  Brand new ones.  Very smart ones, like my friend.  Huh?<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations.  It\u2019s a great \u2014 you\u2019re going to have \u2014 you have such an easy state.  (Laughter.)  That\u2019s so easy.  Great state of Illinois.  What an easy state.  I don\u2019t know.  Huh?  Have you found it to be easier or tougher than you thought?<\/p>\n<p>GOVERNOR PRITZKER:  Well, you\u2019re going to help us out.  (Laughter.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  I\u2019ll help you out.  I help everybody out.  I\u2019m going to help you.  Congratulations.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an honor to have you all at the White House.  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC&#8230;Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Please. Thank you very much. As governors, we all sort of get together and we have a good time. But we also \u2014 we\u2019re going to accomplish a lot. This going to be a very good meeting. Tremendous things are happening for our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13330,"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-75315","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\/2015\/12\/whitehouselogo200.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75315","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=75315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=75315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=75315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=75315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}