Excerpts of Remarks by President Trump at the Economic Club of New York:
PRESIDENT TRUMP: 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 5 million more Americans had left the labor force, and jobs were not exactly what you would call plentiful; and 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 workforce in record numbers. They predicted and projected a decade of sluggish growth, and they expected unemployment over 5 percent — and, really, 6, 7, and even, in some cases, 8 percent — for many years to come. The so-called 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 couldn’t be any other way, or I would have never done this. I refused 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, one-sided trade deals, and an economic policy that put America’s 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, then economic prosperity would come thundering back to our country at a record speed. And that’s what’s happening.
Today, I’m proud to stand before 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) — thank you. I was waiting for that. Thank you. I was waiting for that. (Laughter.) I almost didn’t 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.
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Back in 2016, before I took office, the Congressional Budget Office projected that fewer than 2 million jobs would be created by this time in 2019. Instead, my administration has created nearly 7 million jobs, and going up rapidly. We beat predictions — (applause) — thank you. We beat predictions more than three times the highest estimate that I saw during the campaign. Nobody thought it was even possible to get close to a 7 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. African American unemployment, Hispanic American unemployment, and Asian American unemployment, have all reached the lowest rates in history. Women’s unemployment, the best numbers in 71 years. We expect that that number of 71 years — which isn’t 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’ve added 25,000 mining jobs, 128,000 energy jobs, and 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 jobs. Well, we brought them back, and we brought them back to over 600,000 manufacturing jobs as of today. (Applause.) And those are very important jobs.
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Nearly 7 million people have been lifted off, very importantly, food stamps. Seven million people off of food stamps. (Applause.) And we’re getting Americans off of welfare and back into the workforce. (Applause.) Nearly 2.5 million Americans have risen out of poverty. That’s a record. The rate of African American and Hispanic American families in poverty has plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded, by far. (Applause.) And most of you people wouldn’t know these numbers because most of you aren’t very active in the market. (Laughter.)
But since my election, the S&P 500 is up over 45 percent, the Dow Jones is up over 50 percent, and the NASDAQ is up 60 percent, slightly more.
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American markets have vastly outpaced the rest of the world. This exceptional growth is boosting 401(k)s, 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 benefactors of what we’ve done are middle-class workers and low-income families. It’s been amazing, actually.
Altogether, we’ve added nearly $10 trillion of new value to our economy. That’s in a short period of time. Remember, I only use numbers from the time of the election because I can’t go to January 20th. It’s 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’ve gone in the opposite direction. (Applause.) It would’ve gone in the opposite direction had the other result taken place, which, fortunately, it didn’t.
Last year, GDP growth matched the fastest rate in more than a decade, and it was the best of the G7 countries by far. By far.
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The average median income under President Bush rose only $400 over an eight-year period. Under President Obama, it rose $975 over an eight-year period. And under my administration, it rose $5,000 over slightly more than just two and a half years. That’s a big difference. (Applause.)
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So, we’ve achieved this stunning turnaround because we’ve 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’re competing against other nations for jobs and industry, growth and prosperity. Factories and businesses will always find a home. It’s up to us to decide whether that home will be in a foreign country, or right here in our country, our beloved USA. And that’s where we want them to stay, and be, and move to. (Applause.)
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To fuel our economic boom, we are bolding — and boldly pursuing American energy independence. And you see that in the Middle East, where ships are at great danger. And they keep saying, “What happened to the American ships?” They don’t see too many American ships over there anymore. Do you notice that?
We stopped the radical crusade to dismantle U.S. energy production and empower rogue regimes. We withdrew from the one-sided, horrible, horrible, economically unfair, “close your businesses down within three years,” “don’t frack, don’t drill, we don’t want any energy” — the horrible Paris Climate Accord that killed American jobs and shielded foreign polluters. It was a disaster for this country. Ask them, “How are they doing in Paris with your Paris Accord?” Not too good.
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According to the Council of Economic Advisers, the astonishing increase in production, made possible by the shale revolution, saves Americans $2,500 for a family of four in lowering electric bills and prices at the pump. And the number is actually now even higher than that.
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They recently came out with a poll that President Obama is much more popular in Germany than I am. I said, “Guess what? He should be. He should be.” (Laughter.) The day I’m more popular than him, you know I’m not doing my job. Let’s put it that way. (Applause.) Because we’re treated very badly by countries. They take advantage of us, and they have for many, many years. It’s hard to break that cycle. But we’re breaking it and we’re getting along with them, believe it or not. We’re actually — I think they respect us far more today than they ever have, if you want to know the truth.
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Since the election, real wages have gone up 3.2 percent for the median American worker. But for the bottom income group, real wages are soaring — a number that’s never happened before — 9 percent. And that means you might make a couple of bucks less in your companies. You know what? That’s okay. That’s okay. This is a great thing for our country when you talk about equality. This is a great thing for our country.
Our tight labor market is helping them the most. Yet, Democrats in Washington want to erase these gains through an extreme policy of open borders, flooding the labor market, and driving down incomes for the poorest Americans, and driving crime right through the roof. They want nothing to do with looking at the people that are coming in. And some very, very bad people are trying to get in.
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