Transcript: President Trump speech to the Joint Session of Congress
Currently, when we ship products out of America, many other countries make us pay very high tariffs and taxes, but when foreign companies ship their products into America, we charge them nothing or almost nothing.
I just met with officials and workers from a great American company, Harley-Davidson. In fact, they proudly displayed five of their magnificent motorcycles, made in the U.S.A., on the front lawn of the White House.
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And they wanted me to ride one, and I said, “No, thank you.”
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At our meeting, I asked them, “How are you doing? How is business?” They said that it’s good. I asked them further, “How are you doing with other countries, mainly international sales?”
They told me — without even complaining, because they have been so mistreated for so long that they’ve become used to it — that it’s very hard to do business with other countries, because they tax our goods at such a high rate. They said that in the case of another country, they taxed their motorcycles at 100 percent.
They weren’t even asking for a change. But I am. I believe …
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I believe strongly in free trade, but it also has to be fair trade. It’s been a long time since we had fair trade.
The first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, warned that “the abandonment of the protective policy by the American government will produce want and ruin among our people.”
Lincoln was right, and it’s time we heeded his advice and his words.
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I am not going to let America and its great companies and workers be taken — advantage of us any longer. They have taken advantage of our country no longer.
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I am going to bring back millions of jobs. Protecting our workers also means reforming our system of legal immigration.
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The current, outdated system depresses wages for our poorest workers and puts great pressure on taxpayers. Nations around the world, like Canada, Australia and many others, have a merit-based immigration system.
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It’s a basic principle that those seeking to enter a country ought to be able to support themselves financially. Yet in America we do not enforce this rule, straining the very public resources that our poorest citizens rely upon.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current immigration system costs American taxpayers many billions of dollars a year. Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, we will have so many more benefits. It will save countless dollars, raise workers’ wages and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class. And they will do it quickly, and they will be very, very happy, indeed.
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I believe that real and positive immigration reform is possible, as long as we focus on the following goals: to improve jobs and wages for Americans, to strengthen our nation’s security and to restore respect for our laws.
If we are guided by the well-being of American citizens, then I believe Republicans and Democrats can work together to achieve an outcome that has eluded our country for decades.
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