The President: Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
These are great, great people and these are real workers.
I love the workers.
We're doing a good job for the workers.
And I'm thrilled to be back in Wisconsin.
The optimism in this room is the same incredible
spirit that is sweeping across our country -- and
even greater than that great day in November when
I won the state of Wisconsin and when we
won the presidency.
That was a great day.
(Applause.)
That was a great day.
And thank you, Wisconsin.
No administration has accomplished more in the
first 90 days -- that includes on military, on
the border, on trade, on regulation, on law
enforcement -- we love our law enforcement -- and on
government reform.
Today, we're building on that optimism, and I'm
proud to announce that we're about to take bold,
new steps to follow through on my pledge to
Buy American and Hire American.
(Applause.)
I can't think of a better place to make this
announcement than right here at Snap-On -- I
just took a tour of the company -- good place, by
the way; it's doing well, too -- standing among the
workers who make the tools that will rebuild our nation.
Your craftsmanship is incredible.
It's a pleasure to be see my good friend,
Governor Scott Walker.
He has been such a big help.
He has been so incredible.
(Applause.)
Stand up, Scott.
Governor Walker.
As well as Senator Ron Johnson.
We worked hard together.
Thank you, Ron.
(Applause.)
And although he could not be here today,
my thanks go to Speaker Ryan,
who's represented this city for nearly two decades in Congress.
And you know where he is?
He's with NATO -- so he has a good excuse.
And I said, Ron, make sure these countries start
paying their bills a little bit more.
They're way, way behind, Ron.
We have to -- or I'm going to talk to you about that, Ron.
But Paul, you're over with NATO -- get them
to pay their bills.
And, Ron, you have to work on that, too.
And, Scott, you're right here in Wisconsin -- you
don't have to bother.
We'll keep you right here.
(Laughter.)
For a little while at least.
Also with us is a famous local resident, the pride
of Kenosha -- Reince Priebus, my Chief of Staff.
Where is Reince?
(Applause.)
Where is he?
What a good man.
There he is.
In fact, we flew over his house on the way up and he
got all excited, he was taking pictures of it.
(Laughter.)
Reince went to high school right here,
just about a mile away, where he took his wife
Sally to the prom.
And that was a match made in heaven.
Very nice.
I also want to thank Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin for being with us today.
Secretary Mnuchin is working to put together a
tax reform plan to make our industry more
competitive and also to provide a level playing
field for our workers.
We don't have a level playing field, believe me.
You're going to have one very soon.
And our tax reform and tax plan is coming along very well.
It's going to be out very soon.
We're working on healthcare and we're going
to get that done, too.
Our Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, is also here.
Where is Betsy?
She's around here someplace.
Stand up.
Thank you, Betsy.
(Applause.)
Secretary DeVos is working to ensure that our workers are
trained for the skilled
technical jobs that will, in the future,
power our country.
I'm excited to be joined today by students from
Gateway Technical College --
(applause)
-- and remember the college president, Bryan Albrecht.
Thank you.
(Applause.)
Great job.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Bryan.
Your partnership with Snap-On is a great example
of why vocational education is the
way of the future.
When I was growing up in Queens, we had vocational
schools that were great.
We don't have schools like that so much anymore, but
we're bringing them back -- vocational schools.
These are very talented people that love that type
of work, and it's great work.
It really is great work.
So vocational schools are going to be a big factor
in the Trump administration.
Together, we're going to do everything in our power
to make sure that more products are stamped with
those wonderful words: "Made in the USA."
(Applause.)
In the old days, we used to use it.
We don't use it so much anymore.
We're going to start using it again -- Made in the USA.
For too long, we've watched as our factories
have been closed and our jobs have been sent to
other faraway lands.
We've lost 70,000 factories since China
joined the World Trade Organization.
And you've seen that and you've heard about it
-- 70,000.
The World Trade Organization -- another
one of our disasters.
But this election, the American people voted to
end the theft of American prosperity.
They voted to bring back their jobs -- and to bring
back their dreams into our country.
That's why I'm here today.
In just a few moments, I will be signing a Buy
American and Hire American executive order.
You haven't heard about that in a long
time in this country.
With this action, we are sending a powerful signal
to the world: We're going to defend our workers,
protect our jobs, and finally put America first.
(Applause.)
I see all the "Make America Great Again" hats,
so it's a good crowd.
Those are good hats.
Through the years, Snap-On tools have been at the
center of our industrial life.
Your tools have fixed the cars our families depend on.
They've sailed with the fleets that patrol the oceans.
They've fixed the planes that cross our skies.
And Snap-On tools have reached the heights of
space, used by astronauts in orbit to carry out
their very, very important work.
And I don't know if you noticed, recently I signed
a very big order: We're going to spend again on
the NASA space program, and that's something we
need, and we also need it psychologically.
(Applause.)
But it's going to be very exciting.
For decades, this company has served the needs
of American workers.
It's time we had a federal government that does the same.
The "Buy and Hire American" order I'm about
to sign will help protect workers and students like
those of you in the audience today.
This historic action declares that the policy
of our government is to aggressively promote and
use American-made goods and to ensure that
American labor is hired to do the job.
It's America first, you better believe it.
(Applause.)
It's time.
It's time, right?
It's time.
First, we will fully monitor, uphold and
enforce our Buy American laws -- which we haven't done.
Buy American laws require that when the federal
government buys, builds or funds a project, domestic
goods and products should be used.
But over the years, these Buy American standards
have been gutted by excessive waivers and
reckless exemptions.
The result has been countless jobs and
countless contracts that have been lost to cheap,
subsidized, and low-quality foreign goods.
With this order, I am directing every single
agency in our government to strictly uphold our Buy
American laws, to minimize the use of waivers, and to
maximize Made in America content in all federal projects.
(Applause.)
It's time.
And for the first time ever, we are going to
crack down on foreign bidders that used dumped
steel and other subsidized goods to take contracts
from workers like you.
They take them away, and they've been doing
it for a long time.
Not going to happy anymore.
(Applause.)
We are finally standing up for
our workers and for our companies.
In short, this order declares that American
projects should be made with American goods.
No longer are we going to allow foreign countries to
cheat our producers and our workers out
of federal contracts.
Everyone in my administration will be
expected to enforce every last Buy American
provision on behalf of the American worker, and we
are going to investigate every single trade deal
that undermines these provisions.
Secondly, we are going to enforce the Hire American
rules that are designed to protect jobs and wages of
workers in the United States.
We believe jobs must be offered to American
workers first.
Does that make sense?
(Applause.)
Right now, widespread abuse in
our immigration system is allowing American workers
of all backgrounds to be replaced by workers
brought in from other countries to fill the same
job for sometimes less pay.
This will stop.
American workers have long called for reforms to end
these visa abuses.
And today, their calls are being answered
for the first time.
That includes taking the first steps to set in
motion a long-overdue reform of H1B visas.
Right now, H1B visas are awarded in a totally
random lottery -- and that's wrong.
Instead, they should be given to the most-skilled
and highest-paid applicants, and they
should never, ever be used to replace Americans.
No one can compete with American workers when
they're given a fair and level playing field, which
has not happened for decades.
We're using every tool at our disposal to restore
the American Dream.
In fact, when it comes to wasteful, destructive,
job-killing regulations, we are going to use a tool
you all know very well -- it's called the sledgehammer.
(Laughter.)
It's what we're going to use.
We're also going to stand up for our dairy farmers
in Wisconsin --
(applause)
-- and I've been reading
about it, and I've been talking about it for a
long time -- and that demands, really,
immediately fair trade with all of our trading
partners, and that includes Canada.
(Applause.)
Because in Canada, some very unfair things
have happened to our dairy farmers and
others, and we're going to strategy working on that
with Ron and with Scott and with Paul, with all
of your representatives.
What's happened to you is very, very unfair.
It's another typical one-sided deal against
the United States.
And it's not going to be happening for long.
So, Scott, you and Ron and myself and Paul and
everybody else, we're going to get together and
we're going to call Canada, and we're going to
say, "What happened?"
And they might give us an answer, but we're going to
get the solution, not just the answer, okay?
Because we know what the solution is, all right?
(Applause.)
And if you guys can't do it, we'll bring maybe Reince.
Reince, you ready, Reince?
We better bring Reince back.
No, we'll get that done.
We're going to work on that very hard.
We're going to work on it immediately; in fact,
starting today.
It's a terrible thing that happened to the
farmers of Wisconsin.
The fact is, NAFTA has been a disaster for the
United States -- a complete and total disaster.
And we're going to do some things, and we have all
sorts of rules and regulations that are horrendous.
Like we want to start to negotiate with Mexico
immediately, and we have these provisions where you
have to wait long periods of time, you have to
notify Congress, and after you notify Congress, you
have to get certified, and then you can't speak to
them for 100 days.
The whole thing is ridiculous.
NAFTA has been very, very bad for our country.
It's been very, very bad for our companies and for
our workers, and we're going to make some very
big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA
for once and for all.
Cannot continue like this, believe me.
(Applause.)
Big things will be happening on trade with other
countries over the coming months,
and I mean very big.
We're also working with Congress on tax reform and
simplification, and we're on time if we get that
healthcare approval.
So press every one of your congressmen, press
everybody, because we want to get that approval.
And it just makes the tax reform easier and
it makes it better.
But it's going to make it steeper, it's going to be
bigger, and that's what we want to do.
So we're in very good shape on tax reform.
We have the concept of the plan.
We're going to be announcing it very soon.
But healthcare -- we have to get the healthcare
taken care of.
And as soon as healthcare takes care of -- we are
going to march very quickly.
You're going to watch -- we're going to surprise you.
Right, Steve Mnuchin?
Right?
Secretary of Treasury.
(Applause.)
I see Sean.
Stand up, Sean.
Stand up.
I had no idea -- I was told a year ago -- he's
been so great to me -- I was told a year ago he's
like a world champion climber; climbs the trees.
And after that I look -- every time I look at him,
I look at him now differently.
I'm very impressed with that, Sean.
And he's also very good on television
and very helpful.
Thank you.
Thank you, man.
Thank you.
We'll be making big investments in rebuilding
our military and repairing our badly depleted infrastructure.
And that will happen soon also -- infrastructure.
Big infrastructure bill, probably use it with
something else that's a little bit harder to get
approved in order to get that approved.
But infrastructure is coming, and it's coming fast.
New ships, bridges, tunnels and airplanes will
be constructed with American hands, American
steel, and, yes, American tools.
(Applause.)
As we work to restore the American Dream
at home, we're also working to restore
America's standing abroad.
That means strengthening our partnerships and
ensuring that our friends and allies pay their fair
share, and that very much includes, as I've already
said in my little statement to Paul, it also
includes the NATO companies and countries.
They are really sort of letting us down in that
one respect, and we don't want people taking
advantage of the United States.
And that's not going to happen for very much longer.
I'm going over there very soon and we're going to
have it, and everybody is going to be paying.
And we're going to be a much happier country,
we're going to be a much happier world.
No matter the circumstances, everyone
will know we act from this core conviction that
America's strength must be unmatched and its first
priority unquestioned -- the safety and security
of our citizens.
This is the surest path to a more peaceful and
prosperous world for us all.
Together, we can build a better future in the
spirit of this company's earliest days.
Great company, great history.
I recently learned that decades ago, in the 1920s,
when your salesman entered a dusty repair shop, or
stained, a nice, beautiful stained garage floor --
which I've seen many of -- they would find a spot to
lay out a beautiful green felt mat.
The people of the company know what that means.
And on that green felt mat, he would carefully
place a gleaming set of new Snap-On tools.
The founders of this company wanted their
customers to know that the tools of the mechanic were
just as important as the tools of the doctor, the
dentist, the politician, or the business leader,
and that his craft was a noble, noble craft,
as noble as any.
This is a wonderful story about your company and its
Wisconsin heritage.
And Wisconsin has a truly great heritage, and it's
led by incredible people.
But it's also a story that tells us a lot about
the American spirit.
In America, we honor work.
We honor grit.
We honor craftsmanship.
We honor the men and women who turn dreams into
reality with their own two hands.
In America, we honor all of you.
We are a nation of builders.
We are the country that dug out the Panama Canal,
that put a man on the face of the moon, and that
linked our cities with majestic railroads and
curving highways.
We are the country that is always on the cusp
of the next invention.
But we can only get there with all of you.
We can only restore this nation we love so much by
working and building with all of you.
We can only get there together.
We are the one people sharing one destiny,
saluting one great, beautiful American flag.
I'm thrilled to be here today to celebrate our
great American heritage and to proudly embrace our
great American future.
I want to thank the people of Wisconsin for
doing so much for me.
That's why I came back here -- not just for the company,
frankly, for the people of Wisconsin.
You have been so incredible to me and my
administration, and we will never, ever let you down.
God bless you.
God bless the American worker.
God bless the American Dream.
And God bless the United States of America.
Thank you all very much.
Tremendous honor.
Thank you.
(Applause.)