President Trump delivered an emphatic message on January 26 to business titans and leaders of scores of nations at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland: “America is open for business.”
“There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States,” said the president, who recited a litany of economic successes since his election — even before enactment of massive tax cuts in December 2017.
Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the annual gathering in the Swiss Alps town of Davos, said the new American tax cuts are giving “a tremendous boost to the global economy.”
“America is roaring back, and now is the time to invest in the future of America.”
~ President Trump
“The United States is the place to do business,” Trump told the business chiefs, “so come to America where you can innovate, create and build.”
“America first does not mean America alone,” the president reassured the 3,000 leaders at the forum’s concluding session. “When the United States grows, so does the world.”
He affirmed the U.S. commitment to be a friend and partner “in building a better world” and renewed his call for a more free and fair international trade system.
“We cannot have free and open trade if some countries exploit the system at the expense of others. We support free trade, but it needs to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal,” he said.
Trump said the U.S. would no longer “turn a blind eye” to unfair economic practices — including intellectual property theft, industrial subsidies and “pervasive state-led economic planning” — that harm businesses and workers in the U.S. and around the globe.
He said the United States is prepared to negotiate mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreements with all countries, including those in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership from which his administration withdrew last year.
The United States already has bilateral pacts with some of those Asian nations who have signed the partnership and will “consider negotiation with the rest individually or perhaps as a group if it is in the interests of all.”
The president said increased U.S. military spending will make the world safer, and he called on other countries to do their part.
He expressed pride in leading “historic efforts … to unite all civilized nations in our campaign of maximum pressure to de-nuke the Korean Peninsula.”
He also called on partner nations to block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon and continue the successful campaign to eradicate ISIS and “discredit their wicked ideology.”
“When it comes to terrorism, we will do whatever is necessary to protect our nation. We will defend our citizens and our borders,” he said.
