President Donald Trump Addresses the World Economic Forum

President Trump speech in Davos, Switzerland

Transcript

00-00

Thank You class very much it's a

00-01

privilege to be here at this forum we're

00-03

leaders in business science art

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diplomacy and world affairs have

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gathered for many many years to discuss

00-12

how we can advance prosperity security

00-15

and peace I'm here today to represent

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the interests of the American people and

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to affirm America's friendship and

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partnership in building a better world

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like all nations represented at this

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great forum America hopes for a future

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in which everyone can prosper and every

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child can grow up free from violence

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poverty and fear over the past year we

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have made extraordinary strides in the

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u.s. we're lifting up forgotten

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communities creating exciting new

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opportunities and helping every American

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find their path to the American dream

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the dream of a great job a safe home and

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a better life for their children after

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years of stagnation the United States is

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once again experiencing strong economic

01-11

growth the stock market is smashing one

01-15

record after another and has added more

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than seven trillion dollars in new

01-21

wealth since my election consumer

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confidence business confidence and

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manufacturing confidence are the highest

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they have been in many decades since my

01-34

election we've created 2.4 million jobs

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and that number is going up very very

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substantially small business optimism is

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at an all-time high

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new unemployment claims are near the

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lowest we've seen in almost half a

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century african-american unemployment

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has reached the lowest rate ever

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recorded in the United States and so has

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unemployment among Hispanic Americans

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the world is witnessing the resurgence

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of a strong and

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prosperous America I'm here to deliver a

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simple message there has never been a

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better time to hire to build to invest

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and to grow in the United States America

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is open for business and we are

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competitive once again the American

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economy is by far the largest in the

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world and we've just enacted the most

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significant tax cuts and reform in

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American history

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we've massively cut taxes for the middle

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class and small businesses to let

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working families keep more of their

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hard-earned money we lowered our

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corporate tax rate from 35% all the way

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down to 21% as a result millions of

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workers have received tax cut bonuses

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from their employers in amounts as large

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as $3,000 the tax cut bill is expected

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to raise the average Americans household

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income by more than four thousand

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dollars the world's largest company

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Apple announced it plans to bring 245

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billion dollars in overseas profits home

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to America their total investment into

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the United States economy will be more

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than three hundred and fifty billion

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dollars over the next five years now is

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the perfect time to bring your business

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your jobs and your investments to the

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United States this is especially true

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because we have undertaken the most

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extensive regulatory reduction ever

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conceived regulation is stealth taxation

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the u.s. like many other countries

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unelected bureaucrats and we have

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believe me we have them all over the

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place and they've imposed crushing and

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anti business and anti worker

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regulations on our citizens with no vote

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no legislative debate and no real

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accountability

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in America those days are over I pledged

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to eliminate two unnecessary regulations

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for everyone new regulation we have

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succeeded beyond our highest

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expectations instead of two for one

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we have cut 22 burdensome regulations

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for every one new rule we are freeing

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our businesses and workers so they can

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thrive and flourish as never before we

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are creating an environment that

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attracts capital invites investment and

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rewards production America is the place

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to do business

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so come to America where you can

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innovate create and build I believe in

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America as president of the United

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States I will always put America first

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just like the leaders of other countries

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should put their country first also but

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America first does not mean America

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alone when the United States grows so

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does the world American prosperity has

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created countless jobs all around the

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globe and the drive for excellence

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creativity and innovation in the US has

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led to important discoveries that help

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people everywhere live more prosperous

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and far healthier lives as the United

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States pursues domestic reforms to

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unleash jobs and growth we are also

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working to reform the international

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trading system so that it promotes

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broadly shared prosperity and rewards to

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those who play by the rules we cannot

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have free and open trade if some

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countries exploit the system at the

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expense of others

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we support free trade but it needs to be

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fair and it needs to be reciprocal

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because in the end unfair trade

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undermines us all the United States will

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no longer turn a blind eye to unfair

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economic practices including massive

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intellectual property theft industrial

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subsidies and pervasive state-led

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economic planning these and other

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predatory behaviors are distorting the

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global markets and harming businesses

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and workers not just in the US but

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around that low just like we expect the

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leaders of other countries to protect

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their interests as president the United

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States I will always protect the

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interests of our country our companies

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and our workers we will enforce our

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trade laws and restore integrity to our

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trading system only by insisting on fair

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and reciprocal trade can we create a

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system that works not just for the US

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but for all nations as I have said the

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United States is prepared to negotiate

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mutually beneficial bilateral trade

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agreements with all countries this will

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include the countries in TPP which are

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very important we have agreements with

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several to them already we would

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consider negotiating with the rest

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either individually or perhaps as a

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group if it is in the interests of all

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my administration is also taking swift

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action in other ways to restore American

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confidence and independence we are

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lifting self-imposed restrictions on

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energy production to provide affordable

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power to our citizens and businesses and

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to promote energy security for our

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friends all around the world no country

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should be held hostage to a single

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provider of

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energy America is roaring back and now

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is the time to invest in the future of

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America we have dramatically cut taxes

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to make America competitive we are

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eliminating burdensome regulations at a

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record pace we are reforming the

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bureaucracy to make it lean responsive

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and accountable and we are ensuring our

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laws are enforced fairly we have the

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best colleges and universities in the

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world and we have the best workers in

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the world energy is abundant and

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affordable there has never been a better

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time to do business in America we are

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also making historic investments in the

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American military because we cannot have

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prosperity without security to make the

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world safer from rogue regimes terrorism

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and revisionist powers we are asking our

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friends and allies to invest in their

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own defenses and to meet their financial

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obligations our common security requires

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everyone to contribute their fair share

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my administration is proud to have led

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historic efforts at the United Nations

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Security Council and all around the

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world to unite all civilized nations in

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our campaign of maximum pressure to de

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nuke the Korean Peninsula we continue to

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call on partners to confront Iran

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support for terrorists and block Iran's

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path to a nuclear weapon we're also

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working with allies and partners to

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destroy jihadist terrorist organizations

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such as Isis and very successfully so

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the United States is leading a very

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broad coalition to deny terrorists

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control of their territory and

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populations to cut off their funding and

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to discredit their wicked ideology I am

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pleased to report that the coalition to

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defeat Isis has retaken almost 100

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percent of the territory once held by

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these killers

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in Iraq and Syria there is still more

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fighting and work to be done and to

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consolidate our games we are committed

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to ensuring that Afghanistan never again

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becomes a safe haven for terrorists who

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want to commit mass murder to our

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civilian populations I want to thank

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those nations represented here today

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that have joined in these crucial

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efforts you are not just securing your

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own citizens but saving lives and

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restoring hope for millions and millions

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of people when it comes to terrorism we

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will do whatever is necessary to protect

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our nation we will defend our citizens

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and our borders we are also securing our

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immigration system as a matter of both

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national and Economic Security America

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is a cutting-edge economy what our

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immigration system is stuck in the past

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we must replace our current system of

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extended family chain migration with a

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merit-based system of admissions that

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selects new arrivals based on their

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ability to contribute to our economy to

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support themselves financially and to

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strengthen our country in rebuilding

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America we are also fully committed to

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developing our workforce we are lifting

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people from dependence to independence

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because we know the single best

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anti-poverty program is a very simple

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and very beautiful paycheck to be

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successful that is not enough to invest

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in our economy we must invest in our

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people when people are forgotten the

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world becomes fractured only by hearing

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and responding to the voices of the

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Forgotten can we create a bright future

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that is truly shared by all the nation's

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greatness is more than the sum of its

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production

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and nation's greatness is the sum of its

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citizens the values pride love devotion

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and character of the people who call

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that nation home from my first

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international g7 summit to the g20 to

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the UN General Assembly to APEC to the

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World Trade Organization and today at

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the World Economic Forum my

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administration has not only been present

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but has driven our message that we are

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all stronger when free sovereign nations

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cooperate toward shared goals and they

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cooperate toward shared dreams

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represented in this room are some of the

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remarkable citizens from all over the

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world

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you are national leaders business Titans

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industry giants and many of the

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brightest minds in many fields each of

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you has the power to change hearts

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transform lives and shape your country's

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destinies with this power comes an

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obligation however a duty of loyalty to

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the people workers and customers who

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have made you who you are

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so together let us resolve to use our

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power our resources and our voices not

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just for ourselves but for our people to

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lift their burdens to raise their hopes

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and to empower their dreams to protect

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their families their communities their

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histories and their futures that's what

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we're doing in America and the results

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are totally unmistakable it's why new

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businesses and investment are flooding

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in it's why our unemployment rate is the

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lowest it's been in so many decades it's

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why America's future has never been

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brighter today I am fighting all of you

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to become part of this incredible future

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we are building together thank you to

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our hosts thank you to the leaders and

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innovators in the audience

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but most importantly thank you to all of

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the hard-working men and women who do

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their duty each and every day making

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this a better world for everyone

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together let us send our love and our

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gratitude to make them because they

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really make our countries run they make

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our countries great thank you and god

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bless you all

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thank you very much

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[Applause]

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thank you very much

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Thank You mr. president for this

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inspiring speech as it is tradition it's

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a form I will ask you one or two

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questions and my first question is why

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is the tax reform why has it been for

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such a high priority for your

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administration well first of all class I

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want to congratulate you this is an

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incredible group of people we had dinner

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last night with about 15 leaders of

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Industry none of whom I knew but all of

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whom I've read about for years and it

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was truly an incredible group and I

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think I have 15 new friends so this has

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been really great what you've done and

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putting it together the Economic Forum

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the tax reform was a dream of a lot of a

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lot of people over many years but they

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weren't able to get it done many people

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tried and Ronald Reagan was really the

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last to make a meaningful cut and reform

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and ours is cutting and reforming we

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emphasize cut but the reform is probably

17-28

almost as important we've wanted to do

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it it is very tough politically to do it

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hard to believe that would be but it is

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very very tough that's why it hasn't

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been done in close to 40 years and once

17-41

we got it going it was going and the big

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and and I wouldn't say a total surprise

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but one of the big things that happened

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and took place is AT&T; and some others

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came out very early and they said they

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were going to pay thousands and

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thousands of dollars to people that work

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for their companies and you have three

18-02

hundred thousand four hundred thousand

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five hundred thousand people working for

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these companies and all of a sudden it

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became like a big waterfall a big

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beautiful waterfall where so many

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companies are doing it and even today

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they just announced many more but every

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day they announce more and more and now

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it's a fight for who's going to give the

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most it started at a thousand now we

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have them up to 3,000

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this is something that we didn't

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anticipate oftentimes in business things

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happen that you don't anticipate usually

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that's a bad thing but this was a good

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thing this came out of nowhere nobody

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ever thought of this as a possibility

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even twe it wasn't in the equation we

18-42

waited we said wait'll February 1st when

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the checks start coming in and people

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Klaus have a lot more money in their

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paycheck because it's not just a little

18-51

money there's a lot of money for people

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making a living doing whatever they may

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be doing and we really thought February

18-58

1st it was going to kick in and

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everybody was going to be well we

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haven't even gotten there yet and it's

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kicked in and it's had a incredible

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impact on the stock market and the stock

19-08

prices we've set 84 records since my

19-12

election record stock market prices

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meaning we hit new highs 84 different

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times out of a one year period and

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that's a great thing and in all fairness

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that was done before we passed the tax

19-28

cuts and tax reform so what happened is

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really something special then as you

19-34

know and as I just said Apple came in

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with 350 billion dollars and I tell you

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I spoke with Tim Cook I said Tim I will

19-42

never consider this whole great run that

19-47

we've made complete until you start

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building plants in the US and I will

19-53

tell you this moved up very

19-54

substantially but when I heard 350 I

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thought he was talking I thought they

19-59

were talking three hundred and fifty

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million dollars and by the way that's a

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nice sized plant not the greatest but

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not bad

20-06

and they said no sir it's three hundred

20-09

and fifty billion dollars I said that is

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something well we have tremendous

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amounts of money including my newfound

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friends from last night great companies

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they're all investing when one of the

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gentlemen said he's putting in two

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billion dollars because of the tax cuts

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I said to myself wow he's actually the

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cheap one in the group because they're

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putting in massive numbers of billions

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of dollars so

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I think you have a brand-new United

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States you have a United States who are

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people from all over the world are

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looking to come in and invest and

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there's just nothing like what's

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happening and I just want to finish by I

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have a group of people that have been so

20-53

outs I have a whole lot of them so I

20-55

won't introduce cousin Ellen self at

20-56

least half of them but I've had a group

20-59

of people that work so hard on this and

21-01

other things and we're really doing we

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had a great first year so successful in

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so many different ways and there's a

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tremendous spirit when you look at all

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of the different charts and polls and

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you see as an example African American

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unemployment at the historic low that's

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never it's never had a period of time

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like this

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same with Hispanic women at a 17-year

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low it's it's very heartwarming to see

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but there's a tremendous spirit in the

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United States I would say it's a spirit

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like I have never witnessed before I've

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been here for a while I have never

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witnessed the spirit that our country

21-42

has right now so I just want to thank

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you all and all of those that are

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pouring billions of dollars into our

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country or ten dollars into our country

21-51

we thank you very much Thank You mr.

21-54

president I well I will ask you maybe a

21-57

personal question but before doing so it

22-01

sounds very interesting

22-02

Akinori I didn't know about this one I

22-04

would like to acknowledge the strong

22-07

presence of your cabinet members yes who

22-11

tremendously contributed to the

22-13

discussions good it's a loss I would

22-16

like to do that that's no Steven Wilbur

22-21

Gary Robert even my general and my

22-27

various other generals you know we're

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making our military protection a little

22-32

bit better for us too so thank you very

22-35

much does everybody understand that I

22-36

think so thank you all for being all why

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I may be personal question would be

22-45

what experience from your past have been

22-50

most useful in preparing you for the

22-54

presidency well being a businessman has

22-57

been a great experience for me I've

22-59

loved it I've always loved business I've

23-02

always been good at building things and

23-04

I've always been very successful at

23-05

making money I'd buy things that would

23-07

fail

23-08

that would be failures and I turn them

23-10

around and try and get them for the

23-12

right price and then I turned them

23-13

around make them successful and I've

23-15

been good at it and that takes a certain

23-17

ability and you know historically I

23-19

guess there's never really been a

23-21

businessman or businessperson elected

23-25

presidents always been a general or a

23-26

politician throughout history it's

23-29

always been a general you had to be a

23-31

general but mostly it was politicians

23-34

you'd never have a businessman and then

23-35

in all fairness I was saying to Klaus

23-37

last night had the opposing party to me

23-41

won some of whom you backed some of the

23-45

people in the room instead of being up

23-47

almost 50% the stock market is up since

23-51

my election almost 50 percent rather

23-54

than that I believe the stock market

23-56

from that level the initial level would

23-58

have been down close to 50% that's where

24-01

we were heading I really believe that

24-02

because they were going to put on

24-04

massive new regulations you couldn't

24-06

breathe that was choking our country to

24-07

death and I was able to see that Klaus

24-10

as a businessperson the other thing is

24-12

I've always seemed to get for whatever

24-14

reason a disproportionate amount of

24-16

press or media and not my whole life

24-22

somebody will explain someday why but

24-24

I've always gotten a lot and as a

24-27

businessman I was always treated really

24-29

well by the press you know the numbers

24-30

speak and things happen but I've always

24-32

really had a very good press and it was

24-35

until I became a politician that I

24-38

realized how nasty how mean how vicious

24-41

and how fake the press can be as the

24-44

cameras start going off in the back

24-48

but but overall I'm in the bottom line

24-51

somebody said well they couldn't have

24-53

been that bad because here we are were

24-54

president and I think we're doing a

24-56

really great job with my team I have a

24-58

team of just tremendous people and I

25-02

think we're doing a very special job and

25-04

I really believe it was time and it was

25-07

time to do that job because I don't

25-09

think the United States would have done

25-12

very well if it went through four or

25-14

eight more years of regulation and

25-17

really a very anti business group of

25-20

people we have a very pro-business group

25-23

we have regulations cut to a level in

25-26

the history of our country class this

25-29

was reported recently in one year we've

25-32

cut more regulations in my

25-33

administration than any other

25-36

Administration in for eight or sixteen

25-39

years in the one case we've cut more

25-41

regulations in one year and we have a

25-43

ways to go

25-44

I mean we're probably 50% done and we're

25-47

going to have regulation there's nothing

25-49

wrong with rules and regulations you

25-51

need them but we've cut more than any

25-56

administration ever in the history of

25-58

our country and we still have a ways to

26-00

go so I think between that and the

26-02

tremendous tax cuts we've really done

26-05

something and one other thing I said and

26-06

I saw it last night was some of the

26-08

leaders and the business people I think

26-12

I've been a cheerleader for our country

26-14

and everybody representing a company or

26-17

a country has to be a cheerleader or no

26-20

matter what you do it's just not going

26-22

to work and the reason I'm a cheerleader

26-24

is because it's easy because I love our

26-27

country and I think we're just doing

26-31

really well and we look forward to

26-33

seeing you in America special place and

26-37

where you are is a special place also

26-39

thank you all very much I appreciate it

26-41

thank you

26-44

thank you very much mr. president for

26-48

being with us sir World Economic Forum

26-52

community who is assembled here will be

26-55

certainly and I quote you from the last

26-58

piece of your remarks will be suddenly

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be amongst a hard-working man and women

27-05

who do serve duty each and every day

27-09

making this world a better place for

27-12

everyone thank you very much thank you

27-15

thank you very much everybody thank you

27-17

[Applause]

 

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