Oh gosh, this is funny. Politico had a phone interview with President Trump where they asked him for opinion of Democrat candidate Pete Buttigieg. President Trump responded with a one-liner:
…“Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States.”
So immediately everyone starting to look at the Mad Magazine character and compare the images. Too funny, Pete Buttigieg really does look like Alfred E Neuman.
Making things funnier, Buttigieg had no idea who the character was.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump participate in a celebration of military mothers at the White House earlier today [Video and Transcript].
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[Transcript] East Room – 4:30 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Great job. Thank you very much. And thank you for being here. And, Melania, you did a beautiful job in organizing this incredible celebration of America’s military mothers. That’s good. I had a great mother — Mary. I loved my mother. I miss my mother.
Military moms are the backbone of America. I know it is still two days away, but I wish everybody right now a very Happy Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, everybody. (Applause.) Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you.
We’re especially pleased to be joined by our great Vice President, Mike Pence. Mike? Stand up, Mike. (Applause.) Stand up, Mike. Doing a great job. And our wonderful Second Lady, Karen Pence. Karen, thank you. (Applause.)
And, by the way, they’re a proud military family and tremendous advocates for our warriors and their loved ones. Thank you both very much for being here.
This afternoon, I want to express our incredible appreciation to all of you: the moms serving our nation in uniform, the mothers of our great heroes, and the moms with spouses who serve in the armed forces.
Your unwavering dedication and support strengthens our entire nation. Today, we honor you. We celebrate you. We salute you and everything that you do — so many things, so many great things — for our country.
To the active-duty moms here today: We thank you for your courage, and we applaud your noble service. You have two of the most important jobs in the world: bravely defending America from our enemies and helping to raise the next generation of American patriots. You have spent Mother’s Days — (applause) — and, you know — come on, let’s go. (Applause.) Let’s go.
You have spent Mother’s Days on ships out at sea, on bases in faraway lands, and staring down foreign threats in very, very dangerous areas. And you’ve done it all out of love for family, for country, and for duty. Our nation is forever in your debt. Thank you very much. Great job. Incredible job. (Applause.)
We’re also honored to be joined today by the moms whose spouses are serving in the military. We know that you also make that tremendous sacrifice for your country — so much so. They would never be as successful without you, I have to tell you. (Laughter and applause.) And most of them know that. Most of them. I’m not sure all of them know that, but most of them know that, right? (Laughter.) When you married an American warrior — which is exactly what they are — you became part of an elite group of heroes.
As military spouses, you help carry your families through frequent moves and long deployments. You uplift your communities, care for your fellow military families, and sustain our service members through their most difficult battles.
You know that one of the great challenges of military spouses is to find a meaningful job as you move in support of your active-duty spouse. That’s why, one year ago, I took action to increase employment opportunities, as you probably know — I hope you’re all taking advantage of it; I’m sure you are — for military spouses all across our nation.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you! (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Incredible people. Thank you. (Laughs.) Who said that? Stand up. I want to see. Who said that? (Applause.) Thank you.
We want military spouses to be able to pursue their careers and help their families thrive.
Finally, to the moms in this room who raised children that grew up to join the United States Armed Forces, you have given our country a gift beyond measure. You raised your children to live by the sacred values of loyalty, bravery, patriotism and service.
The greatest honor of my life is serving as your Commander-in-Chief. This extraordinary group of men and women — and there’s nobody like you on the face of the Earth — the heroes of the American Armed Forces are more courageous, selfless, and fearless than any fighting force in all of human history. So true.
And Mike and I have worked very, very long and hard. Our military is now regaining strength like it’s never had before. We had budgets of $700 billion — far, far more than ever before. And this year, $716 billion. And I know we’re going for $750 billion.
And we had a very depleted military. You know it better than I did. And now it’s raring. It’s just something special. Hopefully, we don’t have to use it. They’re going to look at it, and they’re going to say, “We don’t want to mess with them.” Right? (Laughter.) We don’t want to mess with them.
So, our military is in great shape and I think it’s something you know, but I want you to know it just in case you had any questions. Anybody have any questions? (Applause.) It really is. Thank you.
And I just have to say that our nation is eternally grateful to our military mothers. Your love and devotion and sacrifice keeps America safe, strong, proud, and free. Today, and every day, we thank God for our military moms. You have always been there for us, and my administration will always be there for you. And you know that. You know that. (Applause.)
So I just want to finish by saying — to let me, once again, wish everyone in this room a very, very Happy Mother’s Day. You are very special people. I don’t even know if you know how special you are. You work so hard. Sometimes you don’t realize it. But you are very, very special people.
And I want to just say, God bless you and God bless our great country. God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you everybody. (Applause.) Thank you.
Giddy up… President Trump has fulfilled another campaign promise to confront China and hold firm. As promised, three decades of Donald Trump’s intense commitment to stop the exfiltration of Amerian wealth is on display today.
When you plant your tree in another man’s orchard don’t be surprised when you end up paying for your own apples….
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer; U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and U.S. President Donald Trump are confronting Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice-Chairman Liu He… and now consequential things get economically very serious.
There are going to see multiple geopolitical background moves now as the confrontation shifts to the painful phase…. who can outlast the economic standoff.
WASHINGTON DC – Negotiations to end the US-China trade war came to a surprisingly early close in Washington on Friday with no signs of a deal – reportedly just hours before the Chinese delegation will return to Beijing.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters at noon that the talks had been constructive as he left the US trade representative’s office, where negotiators held their latest round of talks in an attempt to end a months-long trade dispute. (more)
Steel your nerves; we’ve waited decades for this.
As most CTH readers are aware, Lighthizer has focused heavily on the enforcement mechanisms within the trade talks. [Previous Bookmark] Apparently, when the 150 page draft agreement was presented to the Chinese politburo, Beijing balked at allowing the U.S. to hold controlling enforcement over the trade agreement terms.
The fallback presentation from Vice-Chairman Liu was: we cannot put the binding enforcement mechanisms in writing, you’ll have to ‘trust us’ to honor the agreement; at which time Lighthizer said no-way.
However, Lighthizer and Trump are not only fighting China, they are fighting U.S. politicians who are beneficiaries of China. They are also fighting against the U.S. CoC, the multinational corporations, Wall Street and members of both political parties who desperately want to stop any trade balance reset.
Almost half, perhaps more than half, of congress has a better financial self-interest if China can gain economic superiority over the United States. This congressional hearing, and the severity of Lighthizer toward those purchased politicians, highlights this very tenuous internal challenge.
Stop and think about this again.
The U.S. economic, trade and manufacturing system is so structurally broken, after three decades of severe corruption by corporate financial interests: Almost half, perhaps more than half, of congress has a better financial self-interest if China can gain economic superiority over the United States.
The likely response from China will be additional tariffs on U.S. goods and/or refusal to purchase U.S. agriculture products. Their strategy will be to get key BIG AG senators, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to target fire toward President Trump over diminished farm prices.
CTH anticipated this dynamic in 2016. Any Chinese pull-back from U.S. farm purchases hits the Wall Street multinational corporations hardest.
Multinational corporations, BIG AG, are now invested in controlling the outputs of U.S. agricultural industry and farmers. This process is why food prices have risen exponentially in the past decade.
The free market is not determining price; there is no “supply and demand” influence within this modern agricultural dynamic. Food commodities are now a controlled market just like durable goods. The raw material (harvests writ large) are exploited by the financial interests of massive multinational corporations.
Because the domestic supply-side agricultural market is based on perishable goods; this predictable Chinese response has a rapid downstream impact. The wholesale price of domestic food drops rapidly inside the U.S. as the supply now exceeds the market. The multinational mega-food conglomerates will be apoplectic.
The prices of imported durable goods (stuff from China) will increase, slowly over time; depending on the supply chain for the specific product sector. However, if China retaliates by stopping import of U.S. agriculture products, the prices for U.S. domestic highly-consumable goods drops quickly.
In this scenario Wall Street is hardest hit. Other than the AG sector, Main Street -and the U.S. consumer therein- actually benefits.
The Big Club will go bananas.
There are trillions at stake.
It is simply incredible how President Trump has taken his 2015/2016 proposals, and made them current policy, absolutely proving he was right. Go back and READ THIS from February 2016…. it’s stunning how he was able to deliver on the plan.
What you will find in all of Donald Trump’s positions, is a paradigm shift he necessarily understands must take place in order to accomplish the long-term goals for the U.S. citizen/worker as it relates to “entitlements” or “structural benefits”.
All other politicians begin their policy proposals with a fundamentally divergent perception of the U.S. economy. They are working with, and retaining the outlook of, a U.S. economy based on “services”; a service-based economic model. Consequently their forecasted economic growth projections are based on ever-increasing foreign manufacturing dependency, and even more solidifying service-based economics.
While this economic path has been created by decades old U.S. policy, and is ultimately the only historical economic path now taught in school, candidate Donald Trump intended to change the course entirely.
Because so many shifts -policy nudges- have taken place in the past several decades, few academics and even fewer MSM observers, are able to understand how to get off this path and chart a better course.
President Trump has begun a process for less dependence on foreign companies for cheap goods, (the cornerstone of a service economy) and a return to a more balanced U.S. larger economic model where the manufacturing and production base can be re-established and competitive based on American entrepreneurship and innovation.
No other economy in the world innovates like the U.S.A, President Trump sees this as a key advantage across all industry – including manufacturing.
The benefit of cheap overseas labor, which is considered a global market disadvantage for the U.S., is offset by utilizing innovation and energy independence.
The third highest variable cost of goods beyond raw materials first, labor second, is energy. President Trump unleashed the U.S. energy sector and slashed regulations; as a consequence the U.S. manufacturing price of any given product now allows for global trade competition even with higher U.S. wage prices.
In addition the U.S. has a key strategic advantage with raw manufacturing materials such as: iron ore, coal, steel, precious metals and vast mineral assets which are needed in most new modern era manufacturing. Trump proposed we stop selling these valuable national assets to countries we compete against – they belong to the American people, they should be used for the benefit of American citizens. Period.
EXAMPLE: Currently China buys and recycles our heavy (steel) and light (aluminum) metal products (for pennies on the original manufacturing dollar) and then uses those metals to reproduce manufactured goods for sale back to the U.S.
President Trump stopped this process with global Steel and Aluminum tariffs; and shifted the dynamic to where we do the manufacturing ourselves with the utilization of our own resources; and we use the leverage from any sales of these raw materials in our international trade agreements.
When we combine FULL resource development (in a modern era) with with the removal of over-burdensome regulatory and compliance systems, necessarily filled with enormous bureaucratic costs, President Trump has proven we can lower the cost of production and be globally competitive.
In essence, Trump changed the economic paradigm, and we are no longer a dependent nation relying on a service driven economy.
In addition, an unquantifiable benefit comes from investment, where the smart money play -to get increased return on investment- becomes putting capital INTO the U.S. economy, instead of purchasing foreign stocks.
With all of the above opportunities in mind, this is how Trump takes us back to the pathway of rebuilding our national infrastructure. The demand for labor increases, and as a consequence so too does the U.S. wage rate which has been stagnant (or non-existent) for the past three decades.
As the wage rate increases (it is), and as the economy expands (it is), the governmental dependency model is reshaped and simultaneously receipts to the U.S. treasury improve. More money into the U.S Treasury and less dependence on welfare programs have a combined exponential impact. You gain a dollar, and have no need to spend a dollar. That is how the SSI and safety net programs are saved under President Trump.
When you elevate your economic thinking you begin to see that all of the “entitlements” or expenditures become more affordable with an economy that is fully functional.
As the GDP of the U.S. expands, so too does our ability to meet the growing need of the retiring U.S. worker. We stop thinking about how to best divide a limited economic pie, and begin thinking about how many more economic pies we can create.
Simply put, we begin to….
Today President Trump outlines an approach to head-off the anticipated retaliation from China over the increase in U.S. tariffs that began today. Whether this is structurally possible, or whether this is Trump’s attempt to diminish the leverage carried by Vice-Chairman Liu He, is an interesting question. However, the strategy is clear.
Overall U.S. inflation remains low relative to the economic gains from MAGAnomic policy. [Current CPI HERE]. GDP and wage growth are both exceeding inflation. As such, now is indeed the best time to confront China. President Trump notes this today in a tweet:
Inflation in the U.S. remains low overall at 1.8%…. now is the perfect time to hit Beijing with expanded tariffs. However, President Trump knows China will retaliate through the multinationals on Wall Street. President Trump knows China will specifically target the U.S. Agriculture sector. China will likely attempt to put pressure on Trump by refusing to buy U.S. farm product. The BIG AG multinationals will go bananas.
The BIG AG multinationals, those who control food/farm production, also control key Senators; they have been purchased through lobbyists. This is part of the Big Club approach/strategy. Wall Street and the U.S. Senate will be aligned to support China; as a consequence President Trump needs to counteract their effort.
President Trump’s approach to counteract China’s strike against the U.S. agricultural community is visible in a series of tweets today. I don’t necessarily agree with the proposal long-term, BUT I do understand the short-term objective…. optimum expediency.
As you can see, President Trump is proposing to counteract the Chinese boycott of U.S. farm product, by using income from the Chinese tariffs to purchase the farm product. It would appear the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Secretary Sonny Perdue, would be in charge of the program.
In the short term this would mean the corporate income losses from BIG AG multinationals would be offset by U.S. purchases. The Dept. of Agriculture would purchase harvests that exceed the domestic U.S. supply need. President Trump is proposing we then give that harvest to nations who need food: “poor and starving countries”.
In essence income from the tariffs on China would be used to subsidize U.S. farmers.
Perhaps as a short-term, optimal solution, this is a good plan. However, the downside is the U.S. food prices, what you pay at the grocery store, will remain artificially elevated.
If there was no intervention, domestic farm production would far exceed internal U.S. consumer demand. This would mean prices on U.S. food products would necessarily drop (rather quickly). The supply would far exceed demand.
This over-production dynamic is caused by more than 25 years of BIG AG growth, where multinationals have contracted with U.S. farms to grow and export food product. We’ve talked about this corrupted and “controlled market” system extensively here on these pages. [Go Deep]
The process of multinationals controlling farm output is very similar to how the multinationals controlled manufacturing output and moved the process to the place of lowest production costs; and highest profits. The outputs of U.S. farms are moved around the globe to the location of highest return; it is a controlled market. This process has driven up the domestic price of U.S food rapidly in the past 20 years.
The multinational agriculture lobby is massive. We willingly feed the world as part of the system; but you as a grocery customer pay more per unit at the grocery store because domestic supply no longer determines domestic price.
Within the agriculture community the (feed-the-world) production export factor also drives the need for labor. Labor is a cost. The multinational corps have a vested interest in low labor costs. Ergo, open border policies. (ie. willingly purchased republicans not supporting border wall etc.).
To offset the 20 year increase in U.S. prices, the multinational lobbyists paid DC to expand food subsidies (SNAP, Food stamps, EBT benefits); this helps their bottom line and shifts tax dollars onto their Profit-and-Loss statements. This is the ‘exfiltration’ of American wealth. It is a corrupt system.
The proposal by President Trump to shift tariff proceeds to off-set farm losses is okay, perhaps likely necessary, in the short term; but once the issues with China are resolved we are still going to have to deal with the underlying cause of this corrupted market process.
Economic security is national security.
We need to start looking at food production as a National Security issue.
♦The Modern Third Dimension in American Economics – HERE
♦The “Fed” Can’t Figure out the New Economics – HERE
♦Proof “America-First” has disconnected Main Street from Wall Street – HERE
♦Treasury Secretary Mnuchin begins creating a Parallel Banking System – HERE
♦How Trump Economic Policy is Interacting With The Stock Market – HERE
♦How Multinationals have Exported U.S. Wealth – HERE
Earlier today President Trump celebrates with Major League Baseball champions Boston Red Sox at the White House. [Video and Transcript]
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[Transcript] South Lawn – 3:44 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Well, there’s nothing like the White House. And a little rain is okay. We might wipe out a suit, but that’s all right, too. It’s raining a little bit, fellas. Nobody told me about that. You don’t need umbrellas, I know that.
Well, good afternoon. It’s my pleasure to welcome to the White House the 2018 World Series Champion, the Boston Red Sox. A very special group of people. (Applause.) A very special team. Thank you.
With us this afternoon are some of your biggest fans in my administration and on Capitol Hill, including Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Where’s Andrew? Andrew? A lot of deputy secretaries. A very great senator, Senator Tom Cotton. Tom. Ah, look at that beautiful boy is a big fan — right, Tom? Tom was a good player.
We’re also delighted to be joined by the senior leadership of Fenway Sports Group and the Boston Red Sox, John Henry. A great, great businessman. John, thank you very much. (Applause.) Great businessman.
Tom Werner, a man who has done a fantastic job in life. Where the hell is he? Tom. (Laughter and applause.) Mike Gordon, Sam Kennedy, and David Dombrowski. Thanks, fellas. Fantastic. (Applause.) Fantastic job. Great. To all the coaches and players of the Red Sox: Congratulations on your incredible victory.
The team has just come from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where they visited our wounded heroes and wounded warriors. (Applause.) And they believe very strongly in that.
I want to thank the entire Red Sox organization for your longstanding support for those American service members who have suffered the wounds of war to keep our country safe and strong and free. And we’ve never had a stronger military, right now. This is the strongest it’s been — $716 billion we spent last year, John. That’s a lot of money, even for you, right? Would you say? (Laughter.) That’s a lot of money.
Over the course of the 2018 season, the Red Sox were — frankly, they were unstoppable. I watched. You outscored your opponents by 229 runs and won 108 games in the regular season — the most in Red Sox history. (Applause.) You’ve got a lot of fans over here. You’ve got a lot of fans, huh? That’s a lot of fans they have.
In the playoffs, you bested your archrival, the Yankees. (Applause.) I think I’ll be a neutral on this one, huh? (Laughter.) But you did. You beat them, and beat the defending champions, the Astros — another great team — taking home the American League pennant and clinching a spot in the World Series.
After taking a two-game lead at historic Fenway Park to start the Series, you headed to Los Angeles for Game 3. I was at Fenway Park; I threw out the first pitch a long time ago. And George Steinbrenner was not happy about it. (Laughter.) That cooled my relationship with him for about two days. But he forgot about it. That was good.
But you headed to Los Angeles for Game 3. For 7 hours and 20 minutes, you faced the Dodgers in one of the most exciting games in postseason history.
It was in the 12th inning that relief pitcher Nathan Eovaldi — where’s Nathan? (Applause.) Where is Nathan? That was — that was a good job he did. Did you ever see such good-looking people behind me, too? (Laughter.) Not the owners; forget the owners. (Laughter.)
He stepped up to the mound. Over the final seven innings, Nathan threw 97 pitches, allowed only 3 hits, and struck out 5 batters. Nathan, that’s a great performance. We watched it. It was a dominant performance. Congratulations. (Applause.)
MR. EOVALDI: Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Though you ultimately lost Game 3 by a single run, Eovaldi’s tremendous effort inspired the whole team. You knew what a World Series victory was, you knew it was in reach, and you didn’t want to do anything to blow it. And that’s what happened.
But then in Game 4, after the Dodgers scored four unanswered runs, things were looking very grim. In the dugout, your starting pitcher, Chris Sale — who, by the way, last night, struck out 14 batters. (Applause.) That’s pretty good, right? No, I said, “How’s Chris doing?” “Well, he struck out 14 last night.” I said, “Fourteen?” I never heard about 14. I said, “Was that your best?” He said “No.” Fifteen is your best, right? (Laughter.) That’s called a power pitcher, by the way.
In the dugout, your starting pitcher, Chris, decided to give the team a little pep talk. Are you an emotional guy? Pretty much, huh? Because I heard it was a hell of a pep talk. Give us a little pep talk every once and a while. (Laughter.)
With great passion, Chris shouted, pointed to the field, and rallied the Red Sox. And, Chris, I know what you said. I heard little things about your — what you said. And we have children here, so I’m not going to talk about it. (Laughter.) But it worked. It really worked.
World Series MVP Steve Pearce tied it up. (Applause.) He tied it up and — with a home run. You’re doing well this year? Pretty well this year, right? Huh? (Laughter.) He’s doing well this year. When it counts, he really does well. Those are the ones we really like, huh? Followed by three RBIs in the ninth, the Sox won — 9 to 6 — and never looked back.
Chris Sale then returned to the mound for the final game. With two outs and a one-and-two count in the bottom of the ninth, against a great hitter, Sale stared down the batter, wound up, and delivered an amazing slider. Was that a slider? (Laughter.) You gave up the fastball? And the batter went down swinging and the Red Sox won the World Series. (Applause.) Right? It’s pretty good, huh? It’s pretty good.
In 2004, the Red Sox achieved their first World Series victory in 86 years. You quickly won two more in 2007, 2013. With your victory over the Dodgers, you now have won more World Series than any other team in this century. That’s pretty good, huh? (Applause.) Must be the ownership, too. I don’t know. I know these owners are great.
In the same period, Boston teams have won six Super Bowls, as well as an NBA and an NHL championship. And this has to be a great time for Boston’s fans. If you think of it, what Boston has done in a short period of time is pretty amazing — in a lot of ways, but in sports, certainly. Congratulations. That’s great.
Each Red Sox player is a shining example of excellence, living out an American sporting tradition that goes back many generations. From the open fields of our rich farmlands to the playgrounds and the vacant lots of our great cities, kids everywhere learn to catch fly balls, swing for the fences, and race to home plate. Baseball is truly America’s pastime.
I love it. I don’t know — I guess everyone out there loves it. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. But I love it. It’s a special — it’s a special game, a special sport. I played on a slightly different level. It’s called “on high school.” A little different level, but every spring I loved it. The smell in the air, right? Does that make sense? The smell in the air, right? It’s an amazing feeling.
Through every pitch, inning, game, and series, the 2018 Red Sox never gave up and never backed down. You always played like champions. This is a great champion right here, too. This is some champion. I want to congratulate you all on your spectacular victory.
And I just want to have Chris Sale and J.D. Martinez — two outstanding players and athletes and people — come up and say a few words. And then, after that, I’m going to take — unless the team doesn’t want to do it — you know, they never get to see Lincoln Bedroom. It’s like, sort of, you’re not supposed to be showing it. So if the press, the media, doesn’t report me for this, I’m going to take them up and show them the Lincoln Bedroom. They wanted to see the Lincoln Bedroom. So I’m going to give the tour myself. Okay? (Laughter.)
But, J.D., if you and Chris would come up and say a few words. Thank you. Thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.)
Thank you, Chris. Please.
MR. SALE: Well, Mr. President, on behalf of the Boston Red Sox organization, we’d like to thank you for having us here to celebrate our 2018 World Series Championship team. We’d like to thank our — obviously, our spouses, our family members, and friends, and our fans for coming here. This is a very high honor. It’s something that we appreciate very highly. And thank you again.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Congratulations. (Applause.)
MR. MARTINEZ: I just want to say thank you, Mr. President, for this once in a lifetime opportunity to be honored today here at the White House. And I know celebrating a Red Sox victory is tough for you, given that you’re a Yankee fan and all. (Laughter.)
But we really want to say thank you for your hospitality today. And we brought you a gift: this Red Sox jersey.
THE PRESIDENT: Wow.
MR. MARTINEZ: For you.
THE PRESIDENT: Beautiful. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
MR. MARTINEZ: Thank you.
MR. HENRY: Well, once again, I want to congratulate this group of men who — and women — who put together the best Red Sox team in history last year. And I — (applause) — thank you.
But, of course, we — we would not have been successful over the years in winning these titles without the fans of the Red Sox who are global. We often hear and see service men who are serving across the world who are tuning in to Red Sox games. And it’s a truly remarkable phenomenon around the world and throughout the United States that — how loyal and how committed Red Sox fans are. And they’re the reason that we have the resources to be successful.
And thank you, Mr. President, for this honor today. It really is an honor. And thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, John. Thank you, fellas. (Applause.)
So, again, I want to thank everybody for being here. A very, very special group. And I want to thank the families of the players — because without the families, it just wouldn’t work. You know that. They wouldn’t be up here. It would never work.
Thank you all for being here. It’s a tremendous honor to have you in the White House. And we’re going to look at the Lincoln Bedroom. (Laughter.) Thank you. Thank you everybody. (Applause.)
The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.
The indictment outlines how the freighter was used to transport coal from North Korea to China and Russia and back-haul heavy equipment from Chinese ports into the DPRK. However, the transport network changed with the timing of increased sanctions on the DPRK. Simply, the ship was routed to avoid being caught for violating sanctions.
The indictment also outlines how Chinese entities in Hong Kong assisted with routing the vessel to avoid maritime surveillance. There’s an aspect here that overlays a prior set of CTH discussions surrounding U.S. Navy training for a potential U.S. maritime blockade.
You might remember November 2017 CTH discussions about U.S. vessels conducting training exercises in/around shipping lanes. In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan.
On page 19 of the indictment the DOJ outlines how vessel Wise Honest was turning off their “Automated Identification System” (AIS), which is the automatic beacon that transmits their location to other surface vessels via satellite.
An interesting coincidence given the previous discussions on those 2017 Pacific shipping lane maritime collisions.
This is the big one. This is the inflection moment. Tonight around 5:00pm Chinese Vice-Chairman Liu He will engage with team U.S.A. on the substantive issues around the future of the U.S-China trade relationship. Trillions at stake.
At midnight tonight the tariffs on Round One of Chinese goods are scheduled to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. Round Two is yet determined. The background for the disposition of TEAM USA was outlined HERE.
Mnuchin – Trump – Lighthizer and Ross
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin previously worked a 150-page outline agreement with China on seven chapters of trade issues covering: Theft of U.S. intellectual property; protection for trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation. Last week China reversed course on all of the substantive agreements.
Today Vice-Chairman Liu He is going to try to justify to President Trump why China can no longer accept the commitments they made over the past three months.
It cannot be overstated how everything in/around DC must first be filtered through the prism of this inflection point. At the heart of U.S. politics, the majority of the Senate Chamber is aligned with the Chinese through purchased multinational lobbying interests. Again, there are trillions at stake. Wall Street through K-Street has paid the Big Club to defend their multinational/financial interests from President Trump.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China appealed to the United States to meet it halfway to salvage a deal that could end their trade war, with its chief negotiator in Washington for two days of talks hoping to stave off U.S. tariff hikes set to be triggered on Friday.
The two sides had appeared to be converging on a deal until last weekend, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced his intention to raise tariffs with his negotiators saying that China was backtracking on earlier commitments.
“The U.S. side has given many labels recently, ‘backtracking’, ‘betraying’ etc…China sets great store on trustworthiness and keeps its promises, and this has never changed,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said on Thursday.
[…] Gao said the decision to send the delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He to Washington despite the tariff threat demonstrated China’s “utmost sincerity”.
“We hope the U.S. can meet China halfway, take care of each others’ concerns, and resolve existing problems through cooperation and consultations,” he said.
Gao urged the United States to eschew unilateral action, while warning China was fully prepared to defend its interests.
“China’s attitude has been consistent and China will not succumb to any pressure. China has made preparations to respond to all kinds of possible outcomes.” He did not elaborate.
U.S. government and private sector sources previously told Reuters that a draft trade agreement was riddled with reversals by China that undermined core U.S. demands.
In each of the seven chapters of the draft, China had deleted its commitments to change laws to resolve core complaints that caused the United States to launch a trade war: Theft of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation.
The stripping of binding legal language from the draft struck directly at the highest priority of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer – who views changes to Chinese laws as essential to verifying compliance after years of what U.S. officials have called empty reform promises. (read more)
President Trump also stated his willingness to levy Round-Two tariffs on an additional $325 billion of China’s goods; layered on top of the $250 billion of its products already outlined.
Since July 2018, China has cumulatively imposed counter-tariffs of up to 25 percent on about $110 billion of U.S. products. China last levied tariffs, of 5 percent to 10 percent, on $60 billion U.S. goods including liquefied natural gas and small aircraft in September ’18.
Based on 2018 U.S. Census Bureau trade data, China only has about $10 billion in U.S. imports left to levy in retaliation for further U.S. tariffs, including crude oil and large aircraft.
At the conclusion of a presentation for healthcare ‘surprise billing’ initiative, President Donald Trump took multiple questions from the media on a variety of issues.
Topics include: China trade deal and upcoming meeting with Vice-Chairman Liu, President Trump notes receiving letter from Chairman Xi Jinping; the strength of the U.S. economy; issues surrounding special counsel Bob Mueller; North Korea missile launch; current status of issues with Iran; questions about Donald Trump Jr. subpoena. [Transcript will follow]
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[Transcript] Q Mr. President, on the North Korea missiles —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — what message do you take from them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well we’re looking at it very seriously right now. They were smaller missiles — short-range missiles. Nobody is happy about it, but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see. We’ll see.
The relationship continues, but we’ll see what happens. I know they want to negotiate. They’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate because we have to either do it — it’s very much like China. The Vice Premier is coming here today. We were getting very close to a deal, and then they started to renegotiate the deal. We can’t have that. We can’t have that.
So our country can take in $120 billion a year in tariffs, paid for mostly by China, by the way, not by us. A lot of people try and steer it in a different direction. It’s really paid — ultimately, it’s pad for by — largely, by China. And businesses will pour back into our country. So instead of making the product, it’ll be old fashion way, the way we used to do it. We made our own product.
And I think things are going along pretty well there. But a large group delegation, headed by one of the most respected men and highest officials of China, will be coming in today. They start at 5 o’clock. And they’ll see what they can do.
But our alternative is an excellent one. It’s an alternative I’ve spoken about for years. We’ll take in well over $100 billion a year. We never took in 10 cents from China. Not 10 cents. And it will be a — I think it will be a very strong day, frankly.
But we’ll see. We’ll see. It was their idea to come back.
Q Mr. President, do you have plans to talk to President Xi, or no? Not yet?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, he just wrote me a beautiful letter. I just received it. And I’ll probably speak to him by phone.
But look, we have two great alternatives. Our country is doing fantastically well. Our number is at 3.2. Don’t forget, 3.2 — the first quarter is always, by far, the worst quarter, or at least, almost always. You look back over the years: first quarter is always weak. And we had 3.2 GDP.
Our unemployment numbers are the best in the history of our country and we’re doing well. And our companies are really doing well. Even in Ohio — the great state of Ohio — yesterday, General Motors, at my very strong urging, to put it mildly, very strong urging. I wasn’t even nice about it. But I appreciate what they did. They sold the beautiful plant — Lordstown. They sold that beautiful plant to a very, very good company that going to make electric trucks.
And that work — because that was the only thing they could say about our whole economy. Lordstown. They kept saying, “Lordstown. Lordstown.” And when you had all of these great companies spending billions and billions of dollars coming into our country — they couldn’t talk about it — they’d only mention the one plant that was a GM plant from a very long time ago. And now we have a great company going in. Going to make electric trucks. Very appropriate. Interesting idea, actually. Electric trucks.
Yes, please.
Q Will you allow Robert Mueller to testify in Congress?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’m going to leave that up to our very great Attorney General, and he’ll make a decision on that. But I will say this: Look, the Mueller Report came out. It was done at — I guess I’m hearing numbers now close to $40 million, with 17 or 18 very angry Democrats who hated Donald Trump. And also, everything that they could possibly have at their disposal.
There was nobody that was, in the history of our country, more transparent than me. I said, “Give them every document. Give them every person. Let the White House Counsel testify.” I think he testified for 30 hours. I guess they must have asked him the same question because there wasn’t much to testify about.
But I said, “Let him testify and let him — keep him as long as you want.” Actually, when I heard 30 hours, I said, “That’s a long time.” But I let him testify; I didn’t have to. I have presidential privilege. I could’ve stopped everything. I didn’t have to give them a document. I gave them 1.5 million documents. I gave them White House Counsel. I gave them other lawyers. Anybody you want, you can talk to.
At the end of the testimony: no collusion and, essentially, no obstruction. Of course, a lot of people say, “How can you obstruct when there was no crime? When there was no collusion, can you possibly obstruct?” I’ll tell you — but it’s worse than that. It’s — not only was there no crime, but the crime was committed on the other side. So we’re protecting against the crime committed on the other side.
So after spending all of that money, all of that time — two years — they come up with a report. And Bob Mueller is no friend of mine. I had conflicts with him. We had a business dispute. We had somebody that is in love with James Comey. He liked James Comey. They were very good friends; supposedly, best friends. Maybe not, but supposedly, best friends. You look at the picture file and you see hundreds of pictures of him and Comey.
And with all of that and other things, he wanted the FBI job. I don’t know if anybody knows that, but as you know, he was considered for the FBI job, wanted it. And the day after he didn’t get it, he became the Special Counsel. That’s a conflict. And we had other things. But those are tremendous conflicts.
Listen to this: Your judge — call him a “judge” — has a business dispute with me. Your judge has a fantastic relationship with James Comey. Well, he’s a part of this. He lied to Congress. He leaked — he’s a liar, a leaker. And your judge has a situation where he wanted to become the FBI Director. We chose Director Wray instead, and told him, “I’m sorry.” Those are tremendous conflicts. Those are tremendous conflicts.
And then, he puts on his staff — almost all Democrats, many of whom contributed to Hillary Clinton. None of them contributed to me, that I can tell you. And it started out at 13 and went to 18. And these were angry Democrats. These were people that went to her — in one case, went to her — it was supposed to be a party; it turned out to be a funeral on election evening. And was going wild he was so angry. And this man now is judging me.
You had other people made big contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. They were angry Democrats in, I think, almost all cases. One of the people worked on the Clinton Foundation as — just about the top person at the Clinton Foundation.
With all of this, they came back, “No collusion.” There’s nobody in this room, including you — if they were — that’s you, John. If we looked at you, with $40 million, 18 angry people that hated you, and all of the other things I mentioned, they’ll find something. I don’t know. Maybe, John, not.
Go ahead. Finish it.
Q Mr. Mueller is also friends with Mr. Barr, and as you’re aware, Mr. Barr told lawmakers that he didn’t have a problem with Mr. Mueller testifying.
THE PRESIDENT: I’m going to leave that up to the Attorney General as to whether or not. I think, to me, it looks like a redo.
Here is what’s happened: The report comes back. It’s perfect. It’s beautiful. There’s no collusion. Nobody even talks about collusion. You know, I haven’t heard the word “Russia” in a long time. There’s no more talk about Russia. What happened to Russia? The Russian witch hunt — they don’t talk — because it was so on collusion, which, by the way, is by far — that’s the big deal, because it was all about Russia. So I haven’t heard the word “Russia.” They don’t use the word “Russia” anymore.
So, there’s no crime. There never was a crime. It was a hoax. It was a witch hunt.
So this comes back and it comes back totally exonerating Donald Trump and a lot of other people. This was a terrible thing that happened to our country.
Now, I’ll you what they are asking. They are asking about how did this whole thing start. That’s what people want to know. And I won’t tell you, I had an event last night; a lot of you were there. Thousands and thousands of people standing in a field. They’ve never seen anything like it — meaning, even the press. But it’s always that way. We’ve never had an empty seat. Thousands of people last night. You know what they want to know? How did this whole thing start?
It’s going to be hard for them to answer that one.
Yeah. Please.
Q Mr. President, are you satisfied with the advice you receive from John Bolton?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. John is very good. John is a — he has strong views on things, but that’s okay. I actually temper John, which is pretty amazing isn’t it? (Laughter.) Nobody thought that was going to — I’m the one that tempers him, but that’s okay. I have different sides. I mean, I have John Bolton and I have other people that are a little more dovish than him.
And, ultimately, I make the decision. No, I get — I like John. I get very good advice from John.
Q Mr. President, as you saw, the Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Don, Jr. That’s the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. What do you make of that?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I was very surprised. I saw Richard Burr saying there was no collusion two or three weeks ago. He went outside and somebody asked him. “No, there’s no collusion. We found no collusion.” But I was very surprised to see my son. My son is a very good person, works very hard. The last thing he needs is Washington, D.C. I think he’d rather not ever be involved.
I remember he said to me, a long time ago when I was thinking about running: “Dad, if I could help, let me know. It’s not my expertise. It’s not something I really like, but whatever I can do, you’re my father. Whatever I can do.”
He’s now testified for —
MS. CONWAY: (Inaudible) hours.
THE PRESIDENT: — twenty hours or something. A massive amount of time. The Mueller report came out. That’s the bible. The Mueller report came out and they said he did nothing wrong. The only thing is it’s oppo-research. If he did wrong, then everybody standing with me probably, except for John — and Lamar. I think Lamar is pretty — I’ll tell you. Did you ever do oppo-research on an opponent? I don’t think so, Lamar, right?
SENATOR ALEXANDER: Fifth Amendment, sir. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: And I know John Barrasso never did opposition research because he’s a fine, fine man. But I would say 99 percent of the rest of the folks are —
So, they didn’t — but what they didn’t discuss is this woman that came in, who I watched her on the “Today Show” when it all started. “Oh, I’m just an innocent…” Well, nobody even knows, although the halls of Congress know her very well because, for years, she’s walked around all over Congress.
She came in, and she left, supposedly, GPS Fusion. Goes and meets for a short period of time with my son and some other people. They talked about a subject as very well, you know, advertised and put out, which was nothing. It was a nothing meeting. In fact, Jared left. He said, “Get me out of this meeting. This is a waste of time.” She then went back to GPS Fusion. They were the ones that wrote the phony dossier. Why was she going to GPS Fusion? Why did she go back?
Then I heard that Don, for a year, made three phone calls with an unmarked number. They called it “unmarked.” And this was a tremendous event because they all knew — the fake news — they all — no, you were fair on that, John. But they all knew that these phone calls — these tremendous phone calls, before the meeting and after meeting — there were, I believe, three, right? They all knew that it had to be to his father. Unmarked. It’s perfect.
So, he reported about the meeting and then reported what happened at the meeting. Except, after looking and spending a tremendous amount of time and money, they’re able to go back years and find out who made the calls. One was a local real estate developer; the other was a great person from NASCAR. He took two of them. And a friend of Don’s. This went on for a year and a half. John, you heard all about the phone calls to, obviously, the father, where I knew — I never knew about the meeting. But the phone calls to the father turned out not to be the phone calls.
My son is a good person. My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by Mueller, who, frankly, does not like Donald Trump. Me — this Donald Trump.
And, frankly, for my son — after being exonerated — to now get a subpoena to go again and speak again after close to 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting, yeah, I’m pretty surprised.
Please.
Q Should he fight that? Should he fight that subpoena?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’ll see what happens. I’m just very surprised. I really am by it.
Yeah.
Q What did Iran do to prompt you to send an aircraft carrier to the region, the area? And is there a risk of military confrontation?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they were threatening. And we have information — we have information that you don’t want to know about. They were very threatening. And we just want to have — we have to have great security for this country and for a lot of other places.
Q Is there a risk of military confrontation, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I guess you could say that always. Right? Isn’t it? I mean, you know, always. I don’t want to say no. But hopefully that won’t happen. We have one of the most powerful ships in the world that’s loaded up, and we don’t want to have to do anything.
What I’d like to see with Iran, I’d like to see them call me. You know, John Kerry speaks to them a lot. John Kerry tells them not to call. That’s a violation of the Logan Act. And, frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don’t want to do anything that’s — only the Democrats do that kind of stuff, you know?
If it were the opposite way, they’d prosecute him under the Logan Act. But John Kerry violated the Logan Act. He’s talking to Iran and has been. Has many meetings and many phone calls, and he’s telling them what to do. That is a total violation of the Logan Act.
Because what they should be doing is their economy is a mess ever since I took away the Iran deal. They have inflation that’s the highest number I’ve ever heard. They’re having riots every weekend and during the week, even. And what they should be doing is calling me up, sitting down; we can make a deal, a fair deal. We just don’t want them to have nuclear weapons. Not too much to ask. And we would help put them back into great shape. They’re in bad shape right now. I look forward to the day where we can actually help Iran. We’re not looking to hurt Iran. I want them to be strong and great and have a great economy.
But they’re listening to John Kerry, who’s violated a very important element of what he’s supposed to be doing. He violated the Logan Act. Plain and simple. He shouldn’t be doing that.
But they should call, and if they do, we’re open to talk to them. We have no secrets. And they can be very, very strong, financially. They have great potential. Very much like North Korea. North Korea has tremendous potential, economically. And I don’t think he’s going to blow that. I don’t think so.
Q Can I circle back to trade just for a second?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, please.
Q Is it still possible to get a trade deal with the Chinese this week? Or is it — the difference is too wide?
THE PRESIDENT: It’s possible to do it. They’re all here. Look, the Vice Premier — he’s one of the most respected men, one of the highest officials in China — is coming. You know, you heard he wasn’t coming. He’s coming.
Q Are you going to meet with him?
THE PRESIDENT: I will say this: Once the tariffs went on, they upped the meeting. It was supposed to take place originally on Thursday. Then, about five weeks ago, they said, “How about Friday? How about next week?” I said, “What’s this all about?” And I said, “That’s okay, let’s — don’t worry about it. Let’s take in $100 billion a year.” And we put the tariffs on, we made the statement, and then they upped the meeting. “How about let’s go back to Thursday?”
So I have no idea what’s going to happen. I did get, last night, a very beautiful letter from President Xi. “Let’s work together. Let’s see if we can get something done.” But they renegotiated the deal. I mean, they took — whether it’s intellectual property theft, they took many, many parts of that deal and they renegotiated. You can’t do that.
And I’m different than a lot of people. I happen to think that tariffs for our country are very powerful. You know, we’re the piggybank that everybody steals from, including China. We’ve been paying China $500 billion a year for many, many years. China rebuilt their country because of us. They couldn’t have done what they’re doing. They’re building a ship every three weeks. They’re building aircraft like you’ve never seen. Fighter jets. I respect it. I don’t blame them. I blame our past leadership for allowing this to happen.
What I’m doing now with China should’ve happened many years ago. Not just Obama; long before Obama. I always say — you know, if you look, NAFTA is one of the first deals ever made — trade deal. But the worst trade deal ever made is the WTO, because China was flat-lining for many, many decades. Many, many — it was flat, right here. The WTO came along. We allowed China into the WTO, and they became a rocket ship. You got to take a look at a chart sometime. Do it. It’ll be very interesting. An economic chart.
They’re here, and they went up like a rocket ship. Well, they did it with our money — and others’ — and they did it because they’re very smart, and they’re good people. And I like the President a lot; he’s a friend of mine. But I’m representing the USA, and he’s representing China. And we’re not going to be taken advantage of anymore. We’re not going to pay China $500 billion a year. So we put very heavy tariffs on China, as of Friday, and we put them on, also, eight months ago.
And when people looked at the economic numbers, they were shocked. When they looked at the import/export numbers, they were shocked. They said, “Wow, how did they get to this point? This was very good. That was a very good report.” They’d never seen that for many years. I said, “Try looking at all of the tariffs that China has been paying us for the last eight months.” Billions and billions of dollars. And that’s only because I gave them a break — because we were negotiating good will. We were negotiating. I gave them a break. And I said, “Let’s keep it at 10 percent instead of 25 percent.”
So now, what we’re doing is we’re raising it to 25 percent on Friday, so it will be $250 billion at 25 percent, and it’ll be $325 billion at 25 percent. And we’re starting that paperwork today. So we’ll see.
But you know what? As President of our country, I had to do something about it. And as President of our great country, we’re going to be taking in more money than we’ve ever taken in. And all of these countries — many of them have taken advantage of us, including our allies. They’ve taken advantage of us on trade. They’ve taken advantage of us on military. We defend all these countries for nothing, or for a tiny fraction of what it costs. We take care of NATO. I’m all of for NATO. I’m all for NATO. And I think it’s just wonderful, but it’s different than it was 25 years ago and 40 years ago.
And I got NATO to put up an extra hundred billion dollars. Ask Secretary General Stoltenberg. He’s like Donald Trump’s biggest fan. Because spending was going down. The contributions that the 28 countries were making, it was heading like a slope down, like a very steep mountain. And then I came, and it went up. Like China, it went up like a rocket ship, okay?
But I don’t like seeing people take advantage. We pay for — anywhere from 70 to 100 percent of NATO. So we protect NATO. We protect European countries. And we protect them, and we protect them beautifully. We’re the power. We’re the most powerful nation, especially since we’ve redone our military, redoing and done all of the nuclear. You never want to use it but you have to have it.
But we’ve spent — and I thank Congress for this — $700 billion, and then 717 — 16 — billion dollars on our military. Our military, when I came to office, was totally depleted. We now have, by far, the strongest military in the world. But we defend countries.
When you look at our budget — so we’re at $716 billion, and Russia is at $68 billion. How do you figure that? Because Russia doesn’t go around defending every country in the world and not getting paid for it. And you know what? I don’t mind not getting paid. If there’s a country that’s been horribly treated, and lots of bad things are happening and they’re not a rich country.
But when we defend the richest countries in the world, and they don’t pay us for what we do, and frankly, they go back into closed meetings and they laugh at the stupidity of the United States for doing it — these are countries with nothing but cash. They could very easily — I told the story last night: I picked up $500 million with one phone call to a country. And that’s just the beginning. And I’ve done it with many other countries.
Anyway, but just over the last very short period of time — one phone call that lasted for a period of, I would say, five minutes, I picked up $500 million because I said, “You’re not taking care of us. We’re taking care of you, but you’re not taking care. It’s not fair.”
So, really, the word is “not fair.” NATO doesn’t treat us fairly at all, but now they’re starting to pay. And if you look at Mr. Stoltenberg, he will tell you he’s never seen anything like it. A hundred billion dollars. And that’s a low number. They’re paying $100 billion more.
But how do feel about this: Germany. You’re supposed to be paying 2 percent; Germany is paying 1 percent. They say 1.3, but call it 1 percent, because it really is closer to 1 percent.
Germany pays to Russia billions of dollars a month for the pipeline, and yet we’re supposed to be defending Germany from Russia. So Germany is giving the so-called “enemy” — I don’t call it an “enemy”; I want to get along with Russia and I want to get along with China, because I’m smart. Stupid people don’t want to get along. Because I’m smart. This witch hunt hurt us in our relationships with a lot of countries. It was a very expensive, horrible thing for our country.
And, by the way, should never, ever happen again to a President. Two years I’ve been going through this nonsense. And now we have a good report. And now guys like Jerry Nadler, who I fought for many years — successfully, I might add — back in New York, in Manhattan. He was a Manhattan congressman. I beat him all the time. And I come to Washington and now I have to beat him again — over nothing. Over nothing. Over a hoax.
And they know it’s a hoax. They’re smart. Nadler is a smart guy. Schiff is a smart guy. When Schiff goes to the microphone, he’s conning this whole country. And he knows that. And he goes back into a room, and he talks to his friends, and he laughs. Because that’s the way life is.
But our country is doing great. We’re going to find out about China tonight. And I think, in the end, you’re going to be very impressed with the kind of things we’re doing.
And the reason they were so surprised with the numbers two, three weeks ago — not the 3.2 GDP, which everybody was surprised at — but maybe, more importantly, export numbers, import numbers. Because we have billions of dollars coming to our country that our country never would have seen with a regular President. This should have been done many years ago.
And I told President Xi of China, and I tell Abe, who is a good friend of mine — Prime Minister of Japan. Doing a great job. I tell him, I tell everybody — I say, “I don’t blame you. I blame the people that ran the United States, and I blame their trade representatives. And frankly, I blame our Presidents. Because this should have never happened.” We’ve been losing, for years, close to $800 billion — not million — $800 million is a lot, but we’ve been losing 800 billion dollars on trade. Eight hundred billion dollars. We’re going to stop that. And we’ve already started.
So we have a meeting tonight at 5 o’clock with the top people from China, and we’ll let you know what happens.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
Q Mr. President, there was a moment at your rally last night where someone in the crowd seemed to say that the way to deal with illegal immigrants is to shoot them.
There are Red Sox who are skipping today’s event; they say you are too divisive.
THE PRESIDENT: The Red Sox are coming in a little while. I like the Red Sox.
Q What do you say to those who argue that you’re too divisive? And do you worry it’s going to hurt your reelection?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, it’s interesting — Puerto Rico — just so you understand, we gave Puerto Rico $91 billion for the hurricane. That’s the largest amount of money ever given to any state — talking about states and Puerto Rico; a little different — $91 billion. Texas got $30 [billion]. Florida got $12 [billion]. Puerto Rico got $91 billion. So I think the people of Puerto Rico should really like President Trump.
Now, that money was given by Congress, but they got $91 billion. Now, you remember how big the hurricane was in Texas? The largest water dump in the history of our country, they say. Three times — it went in, went out, went in. Texas got $30 billion. Florida got, actually, anywhere between $9- and $12 [billion]. Puerto Rico got $91 billion.
And now the Democrats are trying to hold up the money — from Georgia, from South Carolina, from Alabama, to Florida. They’re trying to hold it up. They’re hurting Florida. They’re holding — I mean, what they’re doing to North Carolina, to Louisiana. They’re trying to hold relief aid. Because Puerto Rico, which got $91 billion, have to love their President — they want to get Puerto Rico more money, so they’re willing to sacrifice Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and other states. The Democrats are doing that. They are very divisive people. Thank you very much.
The White House is promoting a new healthcare initiative to confront the issues of ‘surprise billing’ within the healthcare industry. [SEE HERE] Today President Trump delivered remarks on a new standard for informing healthcare consumers:
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[Transcript] – 12:06 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Yesterday, Secretary Azar announced a bold, new initiative to require drug makers to disclose the prices to consumers. And it’s going to be something, I think, very special. You may have heard about it; maybe not. But it’s the beginning of a plan of transparency. And I think it will have quite an impact. So, thank you very much. That was a job well done. Everybody said it. (Applause.)
Thank you all for being here as we address one of the biggest concerns Americans have about healthcare. The Republican Party — I have to say this — is, really, very much becoming the party of healthcare. You see what we’re doing. We’re determined to end surprise medical billing for American patients. And that’s happening right now.
I want to thank Secretary Acosta, Secretary Azar, and everybody else in the room for joining us. Some people with some incredible stories.
Thanks also to Senators Lamar Alexander, Maggie Hassan, Bill Cassidy, John Barrasso, and Representatives Kevin Brady, Devin Nunes, and Greg Walden. Thank you all very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
My administration has already taken decisive action to make healthcare more affordable for American families. We’ve vastly expanded lower-cost health insurance plans. That’s happening. And it’s been an incredible success.
We’ve begun a bold initiative to reduce the price of prescription drugs. And last year, drug prices saw their first decline in 46 years. First time in 46 years that drug prices have gone down. And now they’re going to be going down a long way further, including the fact that we may allow states to buy drugs in other countries if we can buy them for a lesser price — substantially less price. And that’s going to be very unique.
But we’ll allow them to go to other countries, because the drug companies have treated us very, very unfairly. And the rules and restrictions within our country have been absolutely atrocious. So we will allow them, with certain permissions, to go to other countries if they can buy them for 40, 50, 60 percent less. It’s pretty pathetic, but that’s the way it works.
For many years, drug companies gave foreign countries better deals than they gave our own country. Now we’re making sure that our great seniors share in the discounts given to other countries. And we will always protect patients with preexisting conditions, very importantly. The Republican Party will always protect patients with preexisting conditions. That’s the man right there.
In my State of the Union address, I asked Congress to pass legislation to protect American patients. For too long, surprise billings — which has been a tremendous problem in this country — has left some patients with thousands of dollars of unexpected and unjustified charges for services they did not know anything about and, sometimes, services they did not have any information on. They weren’t told by the doctor. They weren’t told by the hospitals in the areas they were going to. And they get, what we call, a “surprise bill.” Not a pleasant surprise; a very unpleasant surprise.
So this must end. We’re going to hold insurance companies and hospitals totally accountable.
And we’re joined today by families who have personally experienced some horrible injustices of surprise medical bills. Drew and Erin Calver from Austin, Texas. Drew, I’d like you to maybe come up, and Erin, to share your story. It’s a pretty amazing story.
MR. CALVER: Hi. I have insurance but was still stuck with a highly inflated medical bill. A lot of pain, stress, and fear with that bill looming over us. A highly inflated bill that I shouldn’t have to deal with.
And we hope that — we support the President that he’ll take it — the President’s call to Congress to take action and support, pass, end surprise billing, and also create more transparency in terms of medical bills. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Would you like to explain what happened in your billing? Because it was sort of an incredible story.
MR. CALVER: Yeah. I had a heart attack two years ago and was driven to the nearest hospital. And although I had insurance, I was still billed $110,000.
The hospital threatened to send my bill to collections. And so, from there, all that stress and the fact that it was highly inflated, I was in shock when I found out some of the real prices of stuff I was charged for.
So I feel like I was exploited at my most vulnerable time in my life, just having suffered a heart attack. And so I hope that Congress hears his call to take action, close the loophole, end surprise billing, and just work towards transparency for the bills.
THE PRESIDENT: You look very good now.
MR. CALVER: Oh, thank you. (Laughter and applause.) (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: So, when you got that second bill, you handled it, right?
MR. CALVER: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: The heart was okay. (Laughter.)
MR. CALVER: Yeah, luckily I made it through. (Inaudible.) Yeah.
MS. CALVER: Yeah. And we paid it.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. You don’t want to run for President, that I can tell you. (Laughter.) You think that’s bad. (Laughter.) But it is bad, and it’s a shame.
Also here with us today are Dr. Paul Davis and his daughter Liz from Findlay, Ohio. Dr. Davis and Liz would like to tell you about their story.
Hi, Doctor, how are you? Thank you. Please.
DR. DAVIS: Mr. President and honored guests, it’s an honor for me to speak to you today. My family, like so many others, was victimized by a surprise medical bill.
My daughter, Elizabeth, was charged $17,850 for a urine drug screening. If anyone is interested, I have the bill; you may see it.
She had successful back surgery in Houston, Texas. And, at a post-op visit, because she had been given a prescription for a narcotic pain reliever that she used appropriately and as directed, he just said, “Oh, by the way, I would like to get a urine specimen.” “Fine.” She did it. A year later, the bill showed up for $17,850.
This type of — you know, this test, at best, is worth $100. It’s — actually, you can get it for $10 or $20. And this type of billing is all too common not just among dishonest providers. The problem of improper medical billing affects most those who can afford it least.
We must put aside any other differences we have and work together to solve this problem. I am very pleased to see this issue being brought to the nation’s attention. And I thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Doctor. I see it. It’s — I sort of wanted to check it myself. (Laughter.) It’s almost not believable. You look believable, but look at — (laughter) — but he’s right: $17,850 for a urine test.
DR. DAVIS: The EOB says that they would have paid, if it was in network, $100.92.
AUDIENCE: Wow.
DR. DAVIS: And that’s still an inflated price.
THE PRESIDENT: So $100, and you paid $17,000.
DR. DAVIS: We settled for less, but I won’t go how much less, but it’s a bizarre story. I’d love to tell you, but I was told to keep it short.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it says it right here. (Laughter.) That’s terrible.
DR. DAVIS: Thank you, sir. Appreciate this opportunity. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a pretty amazing story. I’m glad I got to see that bill. I don’t know. You’re a very believable looking guy. What do you think, Lamar? I think — I think he had — check it out. Lamar, check that out, please. (Laughter.) That’s pretty incredible.
But there are many stories like that. I’ve heard them for years, myself — friends, where they just come back and they get a bill that they can’t understand it.
And we’re going to be announcing something, I think over the next two weeks, that’s going to bring transparency to all of it. And I think, in a way, it’s going to be as important as a healthcare bill. It’s going to be something really special. And we’re doing a great healthcare bill, if we get the Republican votes during the election, 2020.
But this could be something that will have a tremendous impact. Maybe a bigger impact than even a very good healthcare bill. Maybe even a bigger impact than when we took away the individual mandate from Obamacare. That was a big deal.
But the numbers you’re talking about through transparency are tremendous. It’s the new thing. And we’re going to be announcing it, I think, over the next two weeks. And it’s going to be very comprehensive.
We’re also joined by Dr. Martin McKary, a top surgeon at Johns Hopkins University — that’s a good place — who has studied this issue closely. Dr. McKary, please come up. Thank you.
Hi, Doctor. How are you?
DR. MCKARY: Great. Thank you.
Mr. President, thank you for listening to the real healthcare experts, who are the patients and the doctors, not just the special interests. So thank you.
When someone buys a car, they don’t pay for the steering wheel separately from the spark plugs and the conveyer belt. But yet, in healthcare, surprise bills and overpriced bills are now commonplace and they’re crushing everyday folks like these patients.
People are getting hammered right now. When hospitals were built, they were built with a charter specifying — most of them — that they would be a safe haven or a place of refuge for the sick and injured regardless, according to their charter — regardless of race, ethnicity, or one’s ability to pay.
Yet, today, surprise bills are hammering everyday Americans. They’ve done nothing wrong. They work and have a job and they have insurance, and they’re getting hammered.
In my own profession of surgical oncology, we see now that half of women with stage-four breast cancer report being harassed by medical bills. That’s a disgrace to my specialty. That’s a disgrace to the medical profession. And that’s a disgrace to our country. We can do better.
Hospitals and healthcare can get their act together to provide one honest and fair transparent bill so we can restore medicine to its mission and finally stop the erosion of the public trust that we’re seeing.
Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Doctor. Thank you, Doctor. Thank you very much.
And I’ll go a step further: No American mom or dad should lay awake at night worrying about the hidden fees or shocking unexpected medical bills to come.
Today I’m announcing principles that should guide Congress in developing bipartisan legislation to end surprise medical billing. And these senators and congressmen and women that are with us today are really leading the charge. And I appreciate that they’re all here. Thank you all. Thank you all for being here. This is fantastic.
And I think it’s going to be a successful charge. From what I understand, we have bipartisan support, which is rather shocking. That means it’s very important. That means it’s very good. But that’s great.
First, in emergency care situations, patients should never have to bear the burden of out-of-network costs they didn’t agree to pay. So-called balance billing should be prohibited for emergency care. Pretty simple.
Second, when patients receive scheduled, non-emergency care, they should be given a clear and honest bill upfront. That means they must be given prices for all services and out-of-pocket payments for which they will be responsible. This will not just protect Americans from surprise charges; it will empower them to choose the best option at the lowest possible price.
Third, patients should not receive surprise bills from out-of-network providers that they did not choose themselves. Very unfair.
Fourth, legislation should protect patients without increasing federal healthcare expenditures. Additionally, any legislation should lead to greater competition, more choice — very important — and more healthcare freedom. We want patients to be in charge and in total control.
And finally, in an effort to address surprise billing, what we do is, all kinds of health insurance — large groups, small group, individual markets, everything. We want everything included.
No one in America should be bankrupted and unexpectedly by healthcare costs that are absolutely out of control. No family should be blindsided by outrageous medical bills. And we’ve gone a long way to stop that.
I think next week we’ll go even further — possibly the week after. It’s being drawn now but it’s one of the strongest things we’ve done as an administration. And I don’t think any administration has done more. If we get this the way we want it, over the next two weeks, I think you’ll see something that’s going to be great.
Our initiative to end surprise medical billing is one of many steps we’re taking to fix our nation’s broken healthcare system and to deliver better care, with more choices, at lower costs.
My administration is eager to work with both parties in Congress to save American patients thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, and to give American families greater peace of mind. They’re surprised with these bills. It’s ruined people’s lives. They leave a hospital with something they think is going to be routine and they end up in court, and they end up going to court. And then they end up with lawyers’ bills that are bigger than anything they could have imagined. They get it from every side. We’re not going to have that anymore.
So today, I ask Democrats and Republicans to come together, to work together. Democrats and Republicans can do this. And I really think it’s going to be something that will be acted on quickly.
John, what do you think, right?
SENATOR BARRASSO: I believe it. Yes, sir, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Lamar, right?
SENATOR ALEXANDER: Mr. President, we’ll be bringing you a bill, we believe, in July.
THE PRESIDENT: Great. Going to be fantastic.
SENATOR ALEXANDER: Bipartisan.
THE PRESIDENT: That will be — well, you have great support in the White House and we appreciate it. And I want to thank everybody for being here. And hopefully you won’t have any stories like that again, Drew. That was not good.
And your story was just terrible. I hope you negotiated it down very, very low.
DR. DAVIS: Not as well as I should have. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Not — not that close to the hundred dollars? Huh? (Laughter.)
DR. DAVIS: I want to thank you for your leadership.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, and thank you very much. I appreciate it very much. Okay?
[Transcript continues in Press Q & A]
President Trump flew into Tyndall Air Force Base to tour the ongoing hurricane recovery effort ahead of a panhandle rally. After the visit and briefing President Trump will be heading to a MAGA rally at the Aaron Bessant Park Ampitheater in Panama City Beach, FL. President Trump is expected to speak at 8:00pm EDT.
UPDATE: Video Added
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