This is an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy. Cristiano ronaldo also appeared to deny the allegations in an instagram live. She is seeking damages for physical as well as emotional loss. Back to you. The details in the allegations are chilling, for sure. Thank you very much, nick watt. Well keep everyone posted on that as it develops. Thank you for being with us today. Im poppy harlow. Im jim sciutto. At this hour with kate bolduan starts right now. Hello, everyone. Im kate bolduan. Any moment now, President Trump will be live in the rose garden of the white house. After more than a year of high stakes talk that included many a standoff, many a breakdown, and many a threat, the president will announce a new trade deal, making good on an old campaign promise. Say goodbye to nafta and say
hello to the United States, canada, mexico agreement, otherwise known as the usmca, rolls right off the tongue. Whats changed and who benefits . Well bring you his comments live. And theyll be beginning any moment. But its not all good news at the white house this morning. The white house is facing a new investigation into Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh and facing new charges that theyre working behind the scenes to limit the scope of that investigation. And kavanaugh is facing a new accusation he wasnt telling the truth when he testified to the senate. Lets get over to the white house. Cnn White House CorrespondentKaitlan Collins is there in the rose garden, keeping an eye over your shoulder. What are you hearing, first, what are we expecting to hear from the president any minute now . Well, kate, were expecting President Trump to come out here and tout this as a big win for him. Of course, you know since he became president , he has repeatedly criticized nafta saying it was unfair to the United States. And thanks to some lastminute negotiations in the 11th hour before the midnight deadline last night, they have now come to an agreement where its still
going to be the same countries that were in nafta, just with a different name. So its canada, mexico, the United States. There are some key provisions in this that the United States is going to say is a big win. One of those being that canada has agreed to open up its dairy market to the u. S. More. Thats a really big Sticking Point for President Trump as well. As stipulations about automobiles and those tariffs as well. Expect President Trump to come out here and celebrate. Hes going to be excited about this. And this is something, kate, we werent exactly expecting to happen. Last week, we heard from President Trump when he was in new york at the United Nations meeting and he said he rejected a meeting with the canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau and he didnt like their trade representative. So President Trump is going to come out here. That was a lot of late night work last night. Hes going to tout this as a big win for him, but of course, one big question is going to be, they have about 60 days or so to sign this, and then its got to go through congress. Now, if that Doesnt Go Through Congress until next year and its after the midterms and we see a lot of democrats win seats
in the house, thats going to be a big question for this white house, if that can even get passed in congress. So thats what were looking to see, but expect today there to be a lot of celebrating at the white house for President Trump on this big Trade Agreement. Something the president promised from the Campaign Trail onward, that he would tear it up or renegotiate it, and today hes coming out to announce its been both, torn up and renegotiated, i guess we could say. Also, i do want to ask you, though, about Brett Kavanaugh. The other thing that is bearing down on this white house. What are you hearing from the white house about who is controlling the fbi investigation now into his past . Well, kate, nafta is the big topic out here today, but of course, that Brett Kavanaugh confirmation and the drama surrounding it is looming pretty large over this white house because the fbi is in the middle of its investigation. That investigation that came at a lastminute request from some people who are going to be key votes if they do vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. Senator jeff flake, susan collins, Lisa Murkowski. We know that investigation is under way, but right now, there
are Big Questions about the scope of that investigation. And a lot of criticism from democrats who believe that the white house is interfering with that too much and theyre trying to limit the scope of that investigation and who the fbi can talk to, to talk about these accusations against judge brett kavanau kavanaugh. Of course, the white house is saying theyre not limiting the scope of it. President trump tweeting he wants them to interview and talk to whoever has these allegations so they can get this cleared up. But then President Trump, of course, tapping into that criticism from democrats saying essentially will be good enough for them and now theyre trying to complain this investigation may be too narrow. What were waiting to see, of course, and only people whose opinions matter are the key senators who will be key votes for Brett Kavanaugh. We could hear from President Trump out here while hes talking about nafta today. Well see if he answers our questions. And though this investigation, we would assume, started on friday when this all went down, its still a big Question Mark about the scope and scale of this investigation. Great to see you. Well see if he takes any questions as soon as he comes
out. From the white house now to this new accusation against Brett Kavanaugh. This time, coming from another former yale classmate who says that kavanaugh was not telling the truth when he answered questions before the Senate Judiciary committee about his drinking. Cnn politics reporter lauren fox is joining me from our Washington Bureau with much more. Lauren, this former classmate isnt just talking. Hes talking to the fbi and hes released a statement. Whats he saying . Thats right. Chad ludingten released a Statement Last night. Hes a former classmate, and he said Brett Kavanaugh was not honest in what he said before the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Last week. Now, this is exactly what he said in his statement. Quote, when i watched brett deliver his testimony under oath to the Senate Judiciary committee on thursday, i cringed. For the fact is, at yale, and i can speak to snow other times, brett was a frequent drink sxr a heavy drinker. Can know because especially our first two years of college, i often drank with him. His statement goes on to say he was deeply troubled by what he heard from kavanaugh, that it was a blatant mischaracterization of his time at yale and his Drinking Habits there. He planned to share what he knew with the fbi. But hes not the only classmate we have heard from. We also heard from liz swisher. Heres what she had to say. Theres no problem with Drinking Beer in college. The problem is lying about it. He drank heavily. He was a partier. He liked to do beer bongs. He played drinking games. He was a sloppy drunk. He was more interested in impressing the boys than in impressing the girls. I never saw him be sexually aggressive, but he definitely was sloppy drunk. Now, kate, we talked to a wide range of people who knew kavanaugh in college, including friends who are saying this was not who kavanaugh was. I spoke with chris dudley, another former basketball player and friend of kavanaughs last week. He said this is not at all who he remembers. A lot of mixed messages out there this morning. Absolutely. Great to see you. Lets talk about the state of things. The scope of this fbi investigation, what the accusation means and all of it. Joining me now, james galliano, josh gamble, both retired fbi special agents, and mark preston is also here. Cnns political analyst, and cnn political reporter niamalika henderson. Great to have you here, keeping an eye on the rose garden. Josh, if youre back at the fbi and chad comes in with this statement this morning, what do you do with it . Looking at the statement, i read through it, there are some damning allegations that are in there, but we have to remember what they are now, simply allegations. It will be up to the fbi to determine the veracity of the claims. Questions youre going to ask yourself is this someone i believe, someone who seems to me at least to be truthful . And what is the motivation for this person, what is causing them to come forward to provide this information . Those will all be part of this calculus. The larger issue is if it is
corroborated what is in the reports, is that something the fbi will be able to look into further. We know we reported over the weekend that this investigation is very limited in scope, and the question, at least what were determining now is that does not include his overall drinking history. With allegations like we saw from mr. Ludingten, will it be a part of it. The last part, which is very interesting, the overarching issue for this investigation is theres this pattern i think i see where people come forward, witnesses, and theres this inclination to say there must be some ulterior motive, we cant trust them. Thats counter to what people in Law Enforcement try to do. I spent a decade in the fbi trying implore the public, if you see something, say something. We see people coming forward with allegations that are serious and the white house is handcuffing the fbis ability to look into it, what message does that send to the rest of the public. Being a sloppy drunk is not disqualifying for the job, necessarily. James, but when it comes to you
have people now coming forward from college saying that he was not telling the truth about describing the nature of his drinking, if he had ever blacked out or not during his senate testimony. If he was an aggressive belligerent drunk, would this have come up in the previous six Background Checks . It speaks to character reputation, certainly. When it comes to the six previous Background Checks, understand the difference between a Criminal Investigation and an fbi background check. People that are being investigated by the fbi for background, for suitability, fitness for office type of things like a judicial nominee, they supply the fbi with a list of names and contacts to contact and get in touch with. So youre going to give them people that are probably sympathetic to you. Thats a starting place for the fbi. Then they go from there. Now, i believe this whole thing about the white house trying to curtail or limit or the scope of this thing is a tempest in a teapot. Why . Because this is different again from a Criminal Investigation
where the white house is not allowed at all to weigh in on. This is a Background Investigation of somebody that the president has put up. Of course, his counsel and he are going to have some concerns and issues and interest in this. They can supply whatever recommendation they want to. He doesnt have to listen to one of them. If an fbi interviews somebody and that somebody gives somebody elses name or gives something of criminal activity that potentially the judge had been involved in, no one is going to stand in front of an fbi agent and say you cant go talk to people. This is a tempest in a teapot. I would respectfully disagree. What you described is how we want the investigation to be done. We dont want the fbi to be handcuffed. Whats going to handcuff them . Ill explain that, a number of people over the weekend that are familiar with the investigation that say Background Investigations are different from Criminal Investigations. In this case, the white house is the client. These are people very familiar with Whats Going On who are saying the white house is setting the parameters on what is taking place here, and the white house, we saw
who they should speak with grrb. And what theyre saying is the fbi comes up with Additional Information and they have to provide that to the white house and say this is beyond that mandate, can we go further . Thats going to be the question, if the white house permits them to. Can we take the next step . The president s tweet, well say right here, is absolutely untruthful. We dont believe what hes saying when hes saying the fbi has free reign. The president s tweet is inconsistent with our reporting. Thats a lie, right . Say youre in the fbi, and you go into a house, someone told you theres narcotics in the house. If you come in as the white house or some authority and say you cant look anywhere in this house but this bedroom, but in thas bedroom, you have free reign. Thats not a fulsome investigation. You believe Director Wray is instructing his agents, go out, ask these people questions. If anything comes out of that, you are not aalou you are not aaloallowed to take actionable lead. We get a lead, we follow that to another lead. You believe Director Wray i
dont believe he would ever say you cannot take the next step. Thats how Background Investigations work. Theyre different than Criminal Investigation. The white house as a client sets the parameters and then the fbi will take that to the white house and say we saw over the weekend that ms. Ramirez said here are a number of potential witnesses. The question is will the white house permit the fbi to go beyond that scope. Im going to go on record right now. The white house will not be able to restrict fbi agents from interviewing whoever they deem essential and necessary to the conduct of this investigation. The president can say what he wants. We know sometimes he can be intemperate with what he says and tweets. But i believe in my heart of hearts from what i have seen thus far of this director, the eighth director of the fbi, i cannot imagine him not immediately tendering his resignation if the president says youre not allowed to ask about this, youre supposed to look at character, associations, reputation, loyalties, abilities, finances, bias, and alcohol and drug usage. How can you restrict that and say you can talk to these eight
people, but if they give you more names, josh, which you know is what usually happens, youre not allowed to talk to them and you cant ask anything about one of the nine essential characteristics off a Background Investigation. When Chad Ludingten comes forward with a statement to the fbi and said its about Brett Kavanaugh, they have a responsibility as the bureau to apply that to his background . If its to be done right, absolutely, kalt. Thats right. You described a framework that we all hope is the case. Again, what im talking about is the reality now. What happens when something new comes up, in any conversation or interview, and they say to the white house, we need to go now this direction, what does the white house do in response . Thats how well know whether this is serious. I wonder if well hear about it until after the fact. Youll see it in the report. I want to talk about that in a second. Vice president pence is coming in, which means the president is shortly on his tail. Let me bring in mark preston on the politics of what were discussing. He said kavanaugh did fought
tell the truth in his testimony, specifically when he was asked about if he has ever drank to the point of blacking out. Jeff flake was asked about it on 60 minutes, the idea of lying. Hes obviously a key voice. I wont play the sound because were probably going to the president soon, but if he was lying, if he was shown to have lied to the committee, is the nomination over. And jeff flake says, oh, yes. Did flake paint himself into a corner here, do you think . I think jeff flake, you know, ever since he made that decision in the Committee Hearing to delay the vote basically on judge kavanaugh, hes kind of cut his path forward. I will say this, though, kate. I will say this, though, is that there is going to be a lot that comes out about judge kavanaugh. Who knows how much is true or false, but it is all going to come into play, certainly in the court of Public Opinion and in the minds of the three senators, susan collins, Lisa Murkowski, and jeff flake, as they are, you
know, when they have to vote on this later this week. Overarching, im so confused, again, why there is uncertainty about the scope of the nomination. It should be pretty straightforward, but you have the president saying free reign. You have sources saying the white house is limiting it to a handful of interviews. It should be hammered out by now what the scope is or isnt. One would think. Thats the story of this administration, right . Conflicting narratives out of white house and then the aides saying Different Things and then sources telling cnn and other outlets something else. The president saying theres free reign. You had Kellyanne Conway saying this isnt meant to be a fishing expedition, and then you have Senate Republicans having a role in here, too, likely instructing this white house and sort of what they want to see and perhaps keeping it within the bounds of the testimony we saw last week. So again, i mean, whats interesting is we went into this, if youre jeff flake and if youre Lisa Murkowski and susan collins, you went into
this wanting some kind of clarity, wanting the fbi to be kind of a neutral arbiter, kind of a referee, and now it looks like a lot of the stuff is going to be shrouded in politics, and well see if at some point it comes out, what was the instruction from this white house to the fbi, did the Senate Republicans weigh in as well . But the question is, will we find out before the fbi is done with this, will we get more names as to whos on that witness list or is it going to come out after . Josh, it was part of the discussion with jeff flake and chris coons on 60 minutes as well, what are the chances that after this week, whatever, amount of investigation, that we all end up in the same place where we are right now . What do you think . I think a lot is going to come down to transparency and how much information is provided to the public. We talk about the fbi reports that will go to the white house. Theyll determine suitability. Does that then become public . In this case, very contentious issue, very contentious confirmation process. There is certainly a Public Interest here. The public wants to know, the senate wants to know what the fbi found, if what happens and those reports are handed over to the senate and theyre not made public, there will be this lingering question as far as what was the thoroughness, what did they find, and are we taking the white houses word for it . I think in this case, i hope they opt for transparency. What the fbi sends to the white house, does the fbi send to congress . They would issue a report to the Senate Judiciary committee in this instance. Lets look at past being prolog prologue. Lets go back to 1991 when Clairence Thomas and anita hearing. The fbi took three days to investigate transgressions that happened some eight or nine years earlier at the Department Of Education when both worked there. They prepared a report. No one told them, put a finger on the scale, told them what they could investigate or couldnt. Thats the way it should be, thats the way it will be here
too as well. What then happened next is they sent it to the white house. The Bush Administration then read the report, and then they read into it what they wanted. They came back and said none of ms. Hills claims could be corroborated. They didnt call her a liar. They just said they could not be corroborated. My guess here is its going to be the same thing. That report will go to the white house, the white house will make political hay out of it, however they want. It will then go to the Senate Judiciary committee. As everything leaks in d. C. , well have it online or on the set moments later. Nia, from the political perpective, were not sure if well be in the same place one week from now kind of from an investigative standpoint. From a political perspective, will we be . Probably. A lot of this seems to be baked in. If youre a democrat, a progressive, you likely arent going to be changed in terms of how you feel about Brett Kavanaugh and his appropriateness of him joining the court. If youre a conservative and republican and you see that kavanaugh could be a decisive member of the court and make the
court conservative for decades, its unlikely your mind is going to be changed by what comes out of this fbi report. We will see. I will leave that i will leave it right there, as President Trump is coming out right now. He will be talking about the United States mexico Canada Agreement. The new nafta, if you will. Lets listen in. Its really great to see everybody on this beautiful, beautiful day. In washington, d. C. Some people say the swamp, but i will not say that today. I refuse. This is too important, what were doing. One of the most important deals, and the most important trade deal we have ever made by far. I want to thank senator joni ernst for being here. Thank you very much. Of iowa. And ill be there very soon. Well be doing something very important in iowa. But this is maybe more important than all of it put together, right, joni . I want to thank you for being
here. Congressman holding, congressman rowe, congressman newhouse, and congressman meadows, thank you all for being here. We very much appreciate it. You have been very instrumental. Thank you. Im thrilled to speak to the american people, to share truly historic news for our nation. And indeed, for the world. I want to thank Vice President pence for joining us this morning. My great honor to announce that we have successfully completed negotiations on a brandnew deal to terminate and replace nafta. And the nafta Trade Agreements with an incredible new u. S. mexico Canada Agreement called usmca. Sort of just works. Mca. Usmca. That will be the name, i guess, that 99 of the time well be hearing, usmca. Has a good ring to it. I have long contended that nafta was perhaps the worst trade deal ever made. Since naftas adoption, the United States racked up Trade Deficits totaling more than 2 trillion, and its a much higher number than that. With canada and mexico, it lost vast amounts of money. And lost 4. 1 Million Manufacturing jobs and 1 in 4 auto jobs. Lost about 25 of our auto jobs, even more than that. Throughout the campaign, i promised to renegotiate nafta and today we have kept that promise. But for 25 years as a civilian, as a businessman, i used to say how could anybody have signed a deal like nafta . And i watched new england and so many other places where i was just the factories were leaving,
the jobs were leaving, people were being fired. And we cant have that. So we have negotiated this new agreement based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity. To me, its the most important word in trade, because we have been treated so unfairly by so many nations. All over the world, and were changing that. We just signed a much better deal with south korea. We had a horrible, horrible deal, and we just signed that at United Nations. And thats worked out well. And theyre happy, were happy. Good for jobs, good for a lot of things. When that deal was signed, they said 250,000 jobs will be given by signing this transaction. And they were right. I have said it before. They were right. 250,000 jobs to south korea, not to the United States. So thats changed. And very much for the better. This one is a brandnew deal. The agreement will govern nearly 1. 2 trillion in trade, which makes it the biggest trade deal
in the United States history. I want to congratulate u. S. Trade representative Bob Lighthizer who has worked nobody understands how hard hes worked. [ applause ] no matter when you called him, he was in the office or in somebody elses office doing the same thing. Bob lighthizer, hes great. I heard it for years. I said if i ever do this, i have to have bob. I have the usta standing behind me and in the audience. Peter navarro, everybody. Thank you all. Fantastic group of people. They love our country. I also want to thank secretary
mnuchin, secretary ross, secretary nielsen, secretary perdue, Jared Kushner, Peter Navarro and the United States ambassador to canada, kelly kraft. Thank you, kelly. I also want to thank president pena nieto of mexico, who we had a few disagreements, but i really like him a lot. I think he may like me. Im not sure. But i think hes a terrific person. And hell be leaving soon, but hes really done a good job. And wonderful, wonderful person. And the mexican president elect, lopez obadore, who has given his support to the agreement, and were developing a really good relationship, which i think is very important for our country, frankly, and for mexico. And so they worked together on this. This was done by both. I said, look, i dont want to sign an agreement and then a new president comes in, they dont
like it and we have difficulty. They worked very much together on it. And i appreciate it from both. I have to certainly give my highest regards to Prim Minister of canada, Justin Trudeau. Lot of stories came out about justin and i. Having difficulty together. We did over the trade deal. But i tell you, its turned out to be a very, very good deal for both. And a very, very good deal for all three. It puts us in a position that we have never been in before. Its very good when you look at the world and what the world is doing and when you look at the unfair Trade Practices that countries are using against the United States. This is a terrific deal for all of us. Once approved by congress, this new deal will be the most modern, up to date, and balanced Trade Agreement in the history of our country. With the most advanced protections for workers ever
developed. If you look at the reviews, people that would normally not under any circumstances say good things, because automatically, they have to say bad. Even some democrats say thats amazing. We had some they havent been given the sound bites, i guess, mike, but you had some democrats say this is really amazing if he really got all of that. But by tomorrow, i would suspect they will change their tune, but thats okay because people know how good it is. Its an amazing deal for a lot of people. Likewise, it will be the most advanced trade deal in the world with ambitious provisions on the digital economy, patents, very important, financial services, and other areas where the United States has a strong competitive advantage. Mexico and canada have agreed to strong new labor protections, environmental protections, and new protections for intellectual
property. So important. This new deal is an especially great victory for our farmers. Our farmers have gone through a lot over the last 15 years. They have been taken advantage of by everybody. Prices have gone way down. And were working on some other deals that are going to make them very happy, also, but this is a very, very big deal for our farmers. Mexico and canada will be opened up a lot more than they are now. And i think there will be a better spirit between the three countries, which is important for our farmers. The agreement will give our farmers and ranchers far greater access to sell american grown produce in mexico and in canada. The deal includes a substantial increase in our farmers opportunities to export american wheat, polltwelltry, eggs, and dairy, including ice cream and butter to name a few. I want to be very specific. I want to be very specific. Right . And many other products, but those products were not really being treated fairly as far as those that worked so hard to produce them. And now theyre going to be treated fairly. These measures will support many hundreds of thousands of american jobs. This is also a historic win for american manufacturers and American Autoworkers who have been treated so badly. We lost so many jobs over the years under nafta. Under the current new deal, and if you look at the current nafta deal, the new deal is taking care of all of these problems because nafta, Foreign Companies have been allowed to manufacture many of their parts overseas, ship them to mexico and canada for assembly, and send their foreignmade cars into the United States with no tax. So we let all our people go, we
fire everybody, they make cars. They make products, they make everything in another country. They send them into the United States, no tax. And the cost is very little difference. Sometimes its more for those people that like to talk about cost. With this agreement, were closing all of these terrible loopholes. Theyre closed. Theyre gone. They were a disaster. For example, were requiring a large portion of every car to be made by highwage workers which will greatly reduce foreign outsourcing which was a tremendous problem, and means more auto parts and automobiles will be manufactured inside the United States. Well be manufacturing many more cars, and our Companies Wont be leaving the United States, firing their workers, and building their cars elsewhere. Theres no longer that incentive. Before, under the nafta deal, they had that incentive. They have the opposite
intentative, were not losing our companies. That was to me the most important thing. I dont want to see our companies leave and fire our workers, and our workers never get jobs to replace those jobs. Those days are over. This deal will also impose new standards requiring at least 75 of every automobile to be made in North America in order to qualify for the privilege of free access to our markets. And thats what it is, its a privilege. We dont take it as a privilege. We dont take it as a privilege. Its a privilege for them to do business with us. And im not talking about mexico, canada. Im talking about everybody. Everybody. Its a privilege for china to do business with us. Its a privilege for the European Union, who has treated us very badly, but thats coming along. To do business with us. Japan, every country, its a privilege for them to come in and attack the piggy bank. In this, we will have a result of much more happening right here in the United States. It means more than anything else, far more american jobs, and these are highquality jobs. There are also strong provisions to enforce whats called the rules of origin requirements. This will incentivize billions of dollars in new purchases of u. S. Made automobiles. Once approved, this will be a new dawn for the American Auto industry and for the American Autoworker. They will see. They understand. They voted for us in large numbers, even though their leadership always goes democrat. A couple of them said to me, i dont know how i can do it again. Many of them, the leaders would back democrats and would tell me, youre going to get most of the votes from union workers, and we got most of the votes from workers, period. But the American Autoworker was very much behind what we were doing, as one primary aspect. It will transform North America back into a Manufacturing Powerhouse. If you remember the Previous Administration said, were not going to have Manufacturing Jobs anymore, essentially. Were not going to make things anymore . No. Just the opposite. Going to be a Manufacturing Powerhouse and allow us to reclaim a supply chain that has been offshored to the world because of unfair trade issues. We also provide brandnew Intellectual Property protections for Bilogic Drugs which will make North America a haven for medical innovation and development. We want our drugs to be made here. When you talk prescription drugs, we dont like getting them from foreign countries. We dont know whats happening with those drugs, how theyre being made. Too important. This Landmark Agreement will
send cash and jobs pouring into the United States and into North America. Good for canada, good for mexico. Instead of jobs leaving for overseas, they will be returning back home, and we have already had it. We have many, many Car Companies. I was with Prime Minister abe of japan. He said we have sent many Car Companies to the United States over the last year and a half. Its true. Big expansions. And very importantly, he said many more are coming. Because they have an incentive now to be here. People want to be back in the United States again. As i say, the United States is respected again. But its also respected as to trade and industry. This is a truly extraordinary agreement for the United States, canada, and mexico. President pena nieto, so important that the president and i have developed this sort of a
bond. A bond on trade. Pena nieto. A man that has done a very good job for mexico in terms of trade. And Prime Minister trudeau, who i just spoke to, just spoke to both of them a little while ago, they love their countries. They want to do right by their countries, and thats what they have done. We really formed, if you look at the agreement, we formed a Great Partnership with mexico and with canada. And i plan to sign the agreement by the end of november. I then will submit it for approval to congress where in theory there should be no trouble, but anything you submit to congress is trouble. No matter what. The single greatest agreement ever signed, theyll say well, you know, trump likes it, therefore, were not going to approve it, because that would be good for the republicans so therefore we cant approve it. But it will be sent to congress, pursuant to the trade promotion
authority act. Disagreement follows on the heels of our successful completion of a new and balanced trade deal with south korea. Tremendous difference in that deal from what it was. It was a disaster, as i said, to improve the old deal that had killed so many jobs. It also follows on our announcement last week of a new Trade Negotiation with japan. Japan would never negotiate with the United States. They said were not going to negotiate. They told the Previous Administration, were not going to negotiate. I said, you dont have to negotiate. But were going to put a very, very substantial tax on your car if you dont. By the way, without tariffs, we wouldnt be talking about a deal. Just for those maybes out there that talk about tariffs. That includes congress, please dont charge tariffs. What tariffs, we wouldnt be standing here. I can tell you, bob and all of these folks would not be standing here. R were totally prepared to do
that if they dont negotiate. Japan is wanting to negotiate. They called about three weeks ago, and hes a terrific man, just had a tremendous victory. And they said we would like to start negotiations immediately. India, which is the tariff king, they called us and they say, we want to start negotiations immediately. When Bob Lighthizer said what happened . He would never do this, they said, no, we want to keep your president happy. Isnt that nice . Isnt that nice . Its true. They have to keep us happy because they understand that were wise to whats been happening. India charges tariffs of 100 , and then if we want to put a tariff of 25 on, people will call from congress, but thats not free trade. I look back to people and say where do these people come from . Where do they come from . So because of the power of tariffs and the power we have with tariffs, we in many cases
wont even have to use them. Thats how powerful they are. And how good they are. But in many cases, were not going to have to use them. In many cases, countries that are charging massive tariffs are eliminating those tariffs. As you know, we have 250 billion at 25 interest with china right now. And we could go 267 billion more. And china wants to talk very badly. And i said, frankly, its too early to talk. Cant talk now because theyre not repy. Because they have been ripping us for so many years, it doesnt happen that quickly. If politically people force it too quickly, youre not going to make the right deal for our workers and for our country. But china wants to talk. We want to talk to them. We want them to help us with north korea. We want them to continue to help us with north korea. Thats very important. The European Union, its been
very tough on the United States. Last year and for many years, they have lost in the vicinity of 150 billion a year. They have massive trade barriers. And they didnt want to come. They didnt want to talk. Jean claude, great business person, head of the European Union, i would say jean claude, we want to make a deal. He goes no, no, we are very happy. I said you may be happy but im not happy because we have one of the worst deals of any group. We have one of the worst deals with the European Union. And they just didnt want to come because they were happy with the deal. I said but were not happy with the deal, and finally, after going through a whole process, i said look, were just going to put a tax of 20 on all of the millions of mercedes and bmws, all of the cars. Millions and millions of cars that they sell here that they wont take over there. They wont take over there
because there are barriers. Youre not allowed to. Our farmers arent allowed to sell over there many of their products, much of their products, mest of them. I announced were going to put a 20 tariff, could be 25 on their cars coming in. And they immediately called and said we would like to start negotiations. Were having a successful negotiation. Well see what happens. Who knows. I always say who knows, but well see. I have a feeling well be successful. A pillar of National Security is Economic Security and trade. National security is not what we lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year. Over the last five years, we have averaged 800 billion a year loss on trade. How dumb is that . 800 billion. This group doesnt know about those numbers. I dont even want them to hear those numbers. But the United States in its trade deals has lost on average almost 800 billion a year. Thats dealing with china,
dealing with European Union, with everybody, japan, mexico, canada, everybody. And were not going to allow that to happen. But we have to have a Strong Manufacturing base and manufacturing sector. We need a thriving economy. Those are all really essential ingredients to National Security. We cant allow whats been happening over the last 25 years to happen. Were building our military like never before. It will be the strongest it ever was. All of those jets that are made and rockets and missiles and ships, theyre all being made in the United States. Jobs. Our economy is booming like never before. Jobless claims are at a 50year low. The stock market is at an
alltime high. Think of that. Over 50 since my election. 50 . People, the 401 k s, and they have 401 k s and they were dying with them for years. Now theyre so happy. I was telling the story i often tell of a policeman in new york came up. His wife was always very upset with him as an investor. Because he wasnt doing well with the 401 k s. Now, she thinks hes a genius because the numbers are so crazy. But were up over 50 since the election. And you have heard me say this many timeser but africanamerican unemployment, asian unemployment, hispanic unemployment, is at record lows. In history. Not, you know, for the last two years. The history of our country, africanamerican, asian, hispanic. Young people without high school diplomas. All at historic thats a very
important sector. All at historic lows. The lowest in history. Really something thats great. This is helping so much with people to get out of prison. We have a tremendous problem, people come out of prison, they cent cant get a job. Employers dont want to hire them. The economy is so good, they hire him, and they have turned out to be incredible workers. Theyre given a second chance, sometimes a third chance in some cases. I had numerous employers saying i have taken people who were in prison and we have hired them. He wouldnt have done this in a normal economy or a bad economy. Only in this kind of an economy. And now hes like the biggest fan. One man in particular has taken numerous people. He said most of them have been unbelievable. You could ask is most. But most of them have been unbelievable. Thats a great thing. Thats a really great thing. It gives them a chance. So before we take questions, i want to extend our warmest condolences to the country of indonesia. Friend of mine, were going to be calling up the leader who is a great leader, indeed. But they got hit by a giant tsunami like people have not seen in this part of the world hasnt seen it so much, fortunately. They say thats the worst of all. You look at tornadoes, hurricanes, you look at all the different natural disasters. A friend of mine who studies natural disasters, i dont go why he does that, but he does. He says that tsunami is the worst of all, and they got hit very hard. And probably thousands of people killed. We have already sent a lot of First Responders and military and others to help. But its a really bad, bad
situation. And finally, before closing, i want to send our thoughts and prayers to the victims of the las vegas shooting. That was a horrible, horrible time in the life of our country. Took place exactly one year ago today. All of america is grieving for the lives lost and for the families they left behind. So to all of those families and to the people of las vegas, we love you. We are with you. Were working with you very hard. That was a terrible, terrible event. So thank you very much for that. I want to ask Bob Lighthizer, who is just a terrific individual as well as a man that knows a lot about this subject, to come up and say a word about the usmca, the new agreement. And if you have any questions, well take some questions after that. Please, bob. [ applause ] thank you, mr. President. Before i start, i would just like to give a vignette, because i think it says something about working for the president. So august 16th of last year, we started the process. Im at a hotel in washington, and theres hundreds of people to have the introduction of myself and my two counters parts, and i get a call that says the president wants to talk to you. I go in a little room and get on the cell phone. The predstarts talking. And everybody is kind of waiting, and hes talking and going through what he wants to get done in nafta and his problems, all of which hes quite familiar with. Then he finally says two things which i thought were telling. One, he said bob, i will back you up like no other ustr has been backed up in history. The second thing, he did that by the way, and the second thing,
he said now go out there and have fun. I thought, well, its probably not going to be as much fun from my side as it will be from your side. But im proud to be on your team. I really am proud to follow you through this and the other trade changes. As you have said, mr. President , this agreement is historic in many ways. The usmca will cover 1. 2 trillion, easily making it the biggest agreement in history. We have done this in 14 months. And believe me, in trade negotiating terms, thats like warp speed. When we began these negotiations last year, the president s instructions to me were precise and straightforward. Protect american workers, fight for our farmers and ranchers. Preserve americas competitive innovation edge. Secure greater access for our businesses, and above all, bring back jobs to america. I think we have succeeded with
this agreement. The usmca will accelerate the manufacturing renaissance our country has enjoyed under President Trump. It will bring our Trading Relationship with mexico and canada into the 21st century. And it will protect americas competitive age in Digital Innovation across the economy. The new agreement will also serve as a template for our Trade Agreements under the Trump Administration in the future. This paradigm shifting model rests on three pillars. The first pillar is fairness. We have negotiated stronger rules of origin for automobiles, which will bring billions of dollars of manufacturing back to america. We have secured greater Market Access for our farmers and ranchers. We have agreed to unprecedented Labor Standards that will help level the Playing Field for our
workers. We have also agreed to a first of its kind review and termination provision. Which will insure that the usmca, unlike nafta, will not become unbalanced and out of date. The second pillar will consist of a host of ambitious provisions on digital trade, Intellectual Property, Services Including financial services, designed to protect our competitive edge. The third pillar consists of new provisions designed to eliminate unfair Trade Practices, including strong new disciplines on stateowned enterprises, on currency manipulation, relations with nonmarket economies and much, much more. We wouldnt be here today if it were not for several people who contributed so much to this endeavor. First, the president s key adviser and my good friend Jared Kushner was my partner in leading the u. S. Negotiating
team. I have said before and ill say it again, this agreement would not have happened if it wasnt for jared. So thank you very much. I would like to thank my counterparts, Secretary Guajardo and freeland, as well as other mexican and canadian officials, including jerry butts and Katie Tulford of canada, and so many more. I would also like to thank the wonderful staff at ustr, many of whom are on here. I like to think of us a little bit like we were the marine corps, so i like the name particularly of this agreement. Ustr is about 250 people, and theyre all devoted and all exceptional, and they all work around the clouk. Many of the people youre looking at spent more than one night in the office over the course of the last few weeks. And they have
finally, i would like to thank President Trump, your leadership, vision, and great made this agreement possible. No other person could have done it. Millions of americans will benefit for years to come because of this vision and probably more important, his great. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Some questions. Yes . Steve . Question . Thank you, sir. You had tensions with Prime Minister trudeau. How did that this affect your ability to get it done. I dont think it did. We had strong tensions, but it was an unfair deal whether it was mexico or canada and now
its a much different deal. Not nafta redone, its a brandnew deal. I spoke with him and we have a great relationship and we will work as a partner. The rest of the world is looking to take advantage of us and as a region, you might say. We are going to work closely with canada and mexico because we will be able to compete with anybody. We have things nobody else has. We have Energy Nobody Else has. We have timber that nobody else has and things that no other part of the world has to the exat the present tie extent we have. There was a lot of tension between he and i and more specifically, its all worked out. You know when it ended . About 12 00 last night. Hes a good man and he loves the people of canada. You mentioned the 267 million and more tariffs on
china. What do they need to do to avoid that. We will see what happens. We have lost in Trade Deficits. They have a surplus with the United States and it has been that way for years and years. We rebuilt china. They took that money and built fighter jets and bridges. They baltimore bridges than we built in the last 100 years, probably. Big ones like the George Washington bridge. Big bridges. Im not going to take i dont blame china. I blame leadership. I told that to president xi. I was hitting china hard. Im in china. I dont know if thats a good thing to do. I dont blame you. I blame our leadership for
allowing this to happen. He knew what i meant. We had no deal with china. I asked one of the top people. A representative at the highest level. I said let me ask you. Hes a pro. He doesnt have to be cute. He said nobody ever did anything from the United States. When we put on a 25 tariff on every car that comes from the United States into china, we thought we would be rebuked. We thought it would be terrible. Nobody ever called. Nobody did anything. That was years ago. We charge them nothing. We dont collect it. We do now, by the way. They charge 25 and we charge essentially nothing. I said how did that happen. He said nobody ever called. We dont have a deal with china. They do whatever they want. We have a tremendous problem
with theft of Intellectual Property and a lot of other problems with china. Primarily trade problems. As you know, they are having a much more difficult time. I dont want them to have a difficult time. We are doing better than we have ever done. Everybody talked about the tariffs. Tariffs ended in 1913. They then went to a different system in 1918. Totally unrelated. In 1928, you had the great depression. For a lot of differently reasons. Not are inially our countrys fault, but a little bit our countrys fault. Then in the 1930s, they said we better start changing tariffs. We need money to come into our country again. Im not advocating tariffs. Our Steel Industry is stronger than it has been in 25 years. This has taken six months because i charge for the
dumpers. They were dumping steel and dumping alum numb into our country. I charged 25 . Thats a lot. Could be more. Thats a lot. If you look at u. S. Steel and new corps, they Just Announced a plant and already started construction. They are building eight or nine plants. I dont think there is any industry like whats happened to steel in the last nine or 10 months. Since i started doing what im doing. Its amazing. Aluminum also. We need steel for defense. What are we going to do, get our steel from another country . Cant do that. We need steel and we need it badly for defense. Im very proud of whats happened with the Steel Industry. Question . Go ahead. She is shocked i pick her. Shes in a state of shock. I know you are not thinking. You never do. Excuse me . Go ahead. You said you are limiting the scope of the fbi investigation. What are does it have to do with trade . It has to do with the headlines. Do you think the trade will pass through congress . If it doesnt, we have other alternatives. I think if they are fair, the republicans love it. Industry loves it. Our country loves it. If its fair, it will pass easily. Its a great deal. Nafta passed. Its one of the worst deals. Inconceivable. Fair question. Any other questions on trade. I would like to go forward with my kavanaugh question. Lets do that later. I will call you a second time. Thank you very much. You have described india and can you explain that . India charges tremendous tariffs. When we send Harley Davidsons to india, they charge high tariffs. I spoke to the and he is going to reduce them. Nobody ever spoke to these people. He said nobody ever spoke to me. We had leaders here, im not trying to be overly dramatic. We had president s of the United States and Trade Representatives that never spoke to india. Brazil is another one. Thats a beauty. They charge us whatever they want. If you ask the companies, they say brazil is among the toughest and maybe the toughest in the world. We dont call them and say you are treating our country
unfairly. India is very, very high tariffs. On motorcycles it was 100 . You send a motorcycle to india, its 100 . Who is going to buy it . It costs you so much. They reduced that substantially, but its still too high. My relationship with india is great. They are going start doing a lot. They called us to make a deal. We didnt even call them. They called us. Thats shocking to people. Yes. I do have a second question on the kavanaugh thing when you get back to that. You will take that no. No. Does this mean the end of tariffs for canada . No. The steel is staying where it is and aluminum. It means we probably for the most part wont be having to use tariffs unless we are unable to make a deal. We cant make a deal with the European Union and put tariffs on the cars and the United States will take in billions and billions of dollars into the conferences. Isnt that nice . You dont hear that. It will take in billions and billion of dollars, but whats going to happen is they make the cars in the United States. They dont have to pay the 25 or 20 tax. I dont think you will have to use the tariffs, but there will be cases where you have countries that are absolutely not willing to do whats fair. In that case they pay tariffs and the United States will do either way. Either way. Do you think it will pass in canada and mexico and more importantly here in the United States. All we know is we made a deal