President Donald Trump hosted 24 CEOs at the White House Thursday morning to take part in a U.S. manufacturing “listening session.”
“Bringing manufacturing back to america, creating high wage jobs was one of our campaign promises and themes, and it resonated with everybody,” the president said at the beginning of the meeting. “It was really something,” he added, before reminding the room that he won many rust belt states that voted Democrat in recent years. “A lot of it had to do with the jobs.”
The president hosted the “listening session” as he develops a strategy to fulfill his campaign promise of bringing back American manufacturing jobs. The president, along with the new Congress, have highlighted tax reform, regulatory reform and infrastructure investments as crucial avenues in spurring a modern manufacturing revival. (Manufacturers Confident That Trump Can Deliver On Campaign Promises)
Campbell Soup, Ford, General Electric, Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, Emerson, U.S. Steel, Whirlpool, Lockheed Martin, Harris Corporation, International Paper, 3M, Dell Technologies, General Dynamics, and Archer Daniels Midland were among the companies represented at the session.
“The United States lost one third of out manufacturing jobs since NAFTA,” the president said. “70,000 factories closed since China joined the WTO. 70,000 factories.”
The president cited Intel, Ford, GM, Wal Mart, Amazon, Fiat, Carrier as companies that have already announced significant new investments in the United States since his election. (RELATED: Fiat Chrysler Announces $1 Billion Investment In U.S.)
Greg Hayes, from Carrier’s parent-company United Technologies, introduced himself during the meeting, and the president asked, “Did you bring anymore of those jobs back from Carrier?” Hayes confirmed that people are buying more Carrier products due to the previous announcement it would keep jobs in the U.S.
The president commended Ford CEO Mark Fields for investing additional resources in the United States, after spending months on the campaign trail blasting Ford for plans to outsource additional jobs to Mexico. (RELATED: Ford Cancels Mexico Plant; Creates 700 Jobs In The U.S.)
“We’re going to find out how we bring more jobs back,” the president said before thanking the media and going into a private session with the business leaders.
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