Speakers have appeared before the club over the last century, and have established a very strong tradition of excellence. I would like to take a moment to recognize those of our 297 members as the Centennial Society attending today in the front of the room as their contributions continue to be the financial backbone for the club. They actually enable us to offer our wonderful diverse programming now and into the future. Wed also like to welcome students joining us today from Columbia Business School and Harvard Business school. In addition, we have attending members of the 2019 class of ecny fellows, a select cohort of next generation thought leaders sponsored by members of the club for our yearlong program. Welcome to all of you. [applause] it is both an honor and a privilege for me to welcome the 45th president of the United States, donald j. Trump. [applause] President Trump built on his success in private life when he entered into politics and public service. Hes a graduate of the university of Pennsylvania Wharton School of finance and followed in his fathers footsteps into the world of real estate development, making his mark in this great city. He is also the author of 14 bestsellers and his first book, the art of the deal, is considered a business classic. Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for president june, 2015, and one year later became the republican nominee. Clearing the field of 17 republican candidates during those primaries, and won the presidency in his first run ever for political office. Following the president s address, we will have questions and answers from two distinguished questioners. As a reminder to everyone, this conversation is on the record. It is being carried live. So if everyone could please turn their phones to silence. Mr. President , the podium is yours, sir. [applause] President Trump thank you very much, barbara. So sad that this is live. She said its live. Ugh. Its always live. Theres always somebody with a phone. Ask a lot of politicians that is are no longer in politics. [laughter] i want to thank marie josi gravis for your incredible leadership of the club. Its an honor to be here. It is wonderful also to be back in new york with so many friends and distinguished leaders, business and finance, academia. And i have to add, in real estate, all my real estate friends are here. Im especially grateful for and to your Longtime Club members because its a club with a tremendous reputation. And somebody doing an absolutely incredible job as director of the National Economic council, a friend of mine who i got i have been hearing this voice for 35 years, is driving me crazy larry kudlow. ,[applause] always calm, always cool. And hes just larry. And hes terrific, ill tell you that. Three years ago, i came to speak before this storied forum as a candidate for president , and at that time america was stuck in a failed recovery and saddled with a bleak economic future. And it was bleak. Under the last Administration Nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost. Almost five million more americans had left the labor force. And jobs were not exactly what you would call plentiful. 10 Million People had been added to the food stamp rolls. In 2016, the department of labor predicted that americans would continue dropping out of the work force in Record Numbers. They predicted and projected a decade of sluggish growth and they expected unemployment over 5 and really 6, 7, and some cases 8 for years to come. The socalled experts said the americans had no choice but to accept stagnation, decay, and a shrinking middle class as the new normal. That was said all the time. In short, the American People were told to sit back and accept a slow, inevitable decline. But i never believed for one moment that our magnificent nation was destined for a diminished future. I knew that our destiny was in our own hands. That we could choose to reject a future of america and really look at a future of american decline unacceptable and to build a future of american dominance, which is what i wanted. It couldnt be any other way. I would have never done this. I refuse to accept that americans had to lower their expectations or give up on their dreams. America is the single greatest country in the world. And i knew that, working together, we could make it even greater. In 2016, i stood before you supremely confident in what our people could achieve if government stopped punishing American Workers and started promoting American Workers and american companies. Our middle class was being crushed under the weight of a punitive tax code. Oppressive regulations, onesided trade deals. And an Economic Policy that put americas interest last and a very deep last at that. I knew that if we lifted these burdens from our economy and unleashed our people to pursue their ambitions and realize their limitless potential, the Economic Prosperity would come thundering back to our country at a record speed. Thats whats happening. I proud to stand before am you as president of the United States to report that we have delivered on our promises and exceeded our expectations by a very wide margin. We have ended [applause] i was waiting for that. Thank you. I was waiting for that. [laughter] i almost didnt get it. We have ended the war on American Workers. We have stopped the assault on american industry. And we have launched an economic boom the likes of which we have never seen before. I did this despite a near Record Number of rate increases and quantitative tightening by the Federal Reserve since i won the election. Eight increases in total. Which were, in my opinion, far too fast an increase and far too slow a decrease. Because, remember, we are actively competing with nations who openly cut Interest Rates so that now, many are actually getting paid when they pay off their loan, known as negative interest. Whoever heard of such a thing . Give me some of that. Give me some of that money. [laughter] i want some of that money. Our Federal Reserve doesnt let us do it. I dont say thank you. [applause] the smart people are clapping. Only the smart people are clapping. [laughter] i dont say thats good for the world. Im not president of the world. I am president of our country. But we are competing against these other countries nonetheless, and the Federal Reserve doesnt let us play at that game. It puts us at a competitive disadvantage to other countries. Yet in the face of this reality , our economic policies have ushered in an unprecedented tide of prosperity surging throughout all the nation. We are paying interest by other comparisons, we are paying actually high interest. We should be paying by far the lowest interest and yet we are doing better than any nation by far on earth. The extraordinary numbers tell the story. Back in 2016 before i took office the Congressional Budget Office projected that fewer than two million jobs would be created by this time in 2019. Instead, my administration, has created nearly seven million jobs and going up rapidly. We beat predictions [applause] thank you. We beat predictions by more than three times the highest estimate that i saw during the campaign. Nobody thought it was even possible to get close to a seven million number. Two million was maxed out if you were lucky, and if you did a great job. Unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate in 51 years. Africanamerican unemployment, hispanic american unemployment, and Asian American unemployment have all reached the lowest rates in history. Womens unemployment, the best numbers in 71 years, we expect that that number of 71 years, which isnt good compared to the other numbers, is it, but women , also, will soon be historic, we think. Blue collar jobs are leading the way in our middle class boom. We have added 25,000 mining jobs. 128,000 energy jobs. 1. 2 Million Manufacturing and construction jobs. And manufacturing was supposed to be dead in our country. You would need, according to a past administration representative, at the highest level of that past administration, you would need a magic wand to bring back manufacturing. Well, we brought them back and we brought them back to over 600,000 manufacturing jobs as of today. [applause] those are very important jobs. Nearly seven Million People have been lifted off very importantly food stamps. Seven Million People off of food stamps. [applause] and we are getting americans off of welfare and back into the work force. [applause] nearly 2. 5 million americans have risen out of poverty. Thats a record. The rate of africanamerican and hispanic american poverty has hispanic American Families in poverty has plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded by far. [applause] most of you people wouldnt know these numbers, because most of you arent very active in the market, but since my election the s p 500 is up over 45 . The dow jones is up over 50 . And the nasdaq is up 60 . Slightly more. [applause] and if we had a Federal Reserve that worked with us, you could have added another 25 to each one of those numbers, i guarantee you that. That doesnt happen. But we all make mistakes, dont we . Not too often. We do make them on occasion. American markets have vastly outpaced the rest of the world. This exceptional growth is boosting 401ks, pensions, and College Savings accounts for millions and millions of hardworking families. You hear so much about inequality and all of the differences and all of the problems. The single biggest factors of what we have done are middle class workers and lowincome families. Its been amazing, actually. Altogether, we have added nearly 10 trillion of new value to our economy in a short period of time. Remember, only use numbers from the time of the election because i cant go to january 20. Its not fair. We picked up tremendous stock market and economic numbers. They actually went wild the day after i won. I think that should be attributed to us not attributed to somebody else because it would have gone in the opposite direction. [applause] it would have gone in the opposition direction had the other result taken place, which, fortunately, it didnt. Last year, g. D. P. Growth matched the fastest rate in more than a decade. And it was the best of the g7 countries by far, by far. [applause] perhaps most importantly after years of stagnation and decline, american wages, salaries, and incomes are rising very fast. Median Household Income is now at the highest level in the history of our country. [applause] the average Median Income under president bush rose only 400 over an eightyear period. Under president obama, it rose 975 over an eightyear period. And under my administration it rose 5,000 over slightly more than just 2 1 2 years. Thats a big difference. [applause] and if you remember, president obama was paying 0 interest for a long period of time while we are paying a much higher rate of interest. But in addition to the 5,000, we have to add 2,200 for the tax cuts, average tax cuts and 2,000 to 3,000 for a regulatory and energy cuts. So that would be a total of almost 10,000. Versus 400 and versus 975. Thats something. You have, over eight years, you have 400. Over eight years, you have 975. Over 2 1 2 years, almost up to 3, that this was done and 1 2, andd only as of 2 it has only gone up since then, and we are almost 10,000. So our consumers, because of this, are in the best shape, probably in the history of our country. And i think its going to be very long lasting. Very, very long lasting. This also allows me the latitude and timing to take some of the horrible, incompetent, just terrible trade deals that have been made over the years and make them great. Like make America Great again. Make the trade deals great. I dont know if i can use the word again. Make them great, period. I dont think they were ever any good. Havent seen it. We were great. And then we werent so great. But we are great again. And by the way, on jobs, i am glad this is today, just now they Just Announced we have the , highest number of people working in our country in the history of our country, almost 160 Million People. We have never been close to that number. [applause] so we have achieved this stunning turnaround because we have adopted a new Economic Policy that finally puts america first. As president , i understand and embrace the fact that the world is a place of fierce competition. We are competing against other nations for jobs and Industry Growth and prosperity. Factories and businesses will always find a home. Its up to us to decide whether that home will be in a foreign country, or right here in our country, our beloved u. S. A. , and thats where we want them to stay and be and move to. [applause] if we want our families and communities to prosper, america must be the best place on earth to work, invest, innovate, build, pursue a career, hone a craft, or start a business. We Want Companies to move to america, stay in america, and hire American Workers. My mission is to put our country on the very best footing to thrive, excel, compete, and to win. For many years, our leaders in washington did the exact opposite. They imposed the highest Corporate Tax rates in the developed world. So high that people couldnt even understand what they were doing, and they would leave. Very, very smart executives didnt want to leave, but they would leave, sending our jobs and Everything Else, all aflutter. They waged an unethical regulatory assault on the American People. They tried to shut down American Energy. And, by the way they are still , trying. You want to see energy shut down . Take a look at what im competing against on the other side. I dont think they even believe in energy. So far, i havent found any form of energy thats acceptable to them. I think they think the factories are just going to work without energy, dont they . They dont have a clue, these people. But i dont want to mention it yet. [laughter] i want to wait a little bit longer. Let them go a little bit further so they cant take it back. As a campaign, i like it. I like it very much. [applause] let them keep talking. Every time they talk i say, boy, this looks like it might be easier than i anticipated. [laughter] they passed the disastrous trade deals but encouraged the shuttering of american plants and the offshoring of american jobs by the millions. In short, the failed Political Class sold out American Workers, sold out american prosperity, and sold out the american dream. This was the alarming situation i was elected to end. And ending is never that easy. You see that. You do have people that want to keep it going that way, but they are losing and losing now , rapidly and fast. Those days are gone. And we are not going back. As you know, one of the key insights of economics is the power of incentives. Unlike past leaders, my goal is to ensure that this power works for americas favor and for americas workers and for americas companies. We want the incentives created by our tax trade, regulatory, and Energy Policies to be progrowth, proworker, and 100 proamerican, and more is yet to come. If we take back the house, 2020, and retain the senate and the white house, you will see things that, even this room, and you have experienced a lot of great times over the last 2 1 2 years, but even you will be surprised to see. We have tremendous economic potential. We have tremendous potential. We have tremendous economic potential. At the heart of our economic revival is the biggest tax cut and reforms in american history. We provided massive relief for working families. Saving 2,000 a year for a typical family of four. To bring jobs back, we lowered our business tax rate from the highest tax rate in the developed world down to a very competitive number. Not quite the lowest, but getting close. We may even be able to get there one day in the nottoodistant , future. By the way, we are taking in more tax revenue with these greatly reduced rates, 21 , and it was 39 . But when you added Everything Else it was well into the 40s. And you couldnt bring your money back because that was prohibitive. Both ministerially and from an economic standpoint, the rate was so high. But we brought it down to a level that we are very proud of and we think we can bring it down still more and yet we are raising, we have more tax revenues coming into our treasury than we ever had before. That tells you something right there. Since then, nearly 1 trillion have returned to our shores where that money belongs. Couldnt get it back. No matter what you did, you couldnt do it. It was not only the rate being so high, but the bureaucracy, the documents, the signings, nobody could do it. To promote investment in distressed american communities, our tax plan created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones which are one of the biggest successes that you have ever seen. I dont think there has ever been anything like it. Worked with tim scott, senator tim scott, south carolina. And many of the great senators that we do work with and, frankly, congress, we