President Donald Trump outlined his top priorities and asserted his role as leader of the new Republican party during a Friday morning speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“The GOP will be, from now on, the party of the American worker,” the president said, reminding the audience and press that the Republican party has grown to include new voters as a result of his election. “We haven’t been, as a group, given credit for this but if you look at how much bigger our party has gotten during this cycle… millions and millions of people joined the party,” the 45th president said.
The president lost union households to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by eight points, but that number is 10 points lower than the union household support Obama received over Romney in 2012.
The president spoke about his Thursday meeting with U.S. manufacturing CEOs, saying that the White House doors are now open.
“We’re meeting with unions, we’re meeting with law enforcement and we are meeting with leaders from around the world,” Trump told the conservative audience.
The president said that the country would move toward bilateral trade agreements, which would allow the country to better negotiate one-on-one with countries, rather than massive multilateral trade agreements that can be difficult to maneuver.
“None of these big quagmire deals that are a disaster,” referring to multilateral trade deals. The president used NAFTA as an example of bad trade policy. “One of the worst deals ever made by any country when it comes to economic development,” Trump said, adding that, “Its economic un-development if you ask me.”
The president also asserted that the coal miners are going back to work. He promised to roll back regulations, and doubled down on his support for clean coal.
“We will not answer to donors or lobbyists or special interests, but we will serve the citizens of the United States of America,” Trump said of his administration.
“There is one allegiance that unites us all, and that is to America. No matter our background, or income, or geography, we are all citizens of this blessed land. “no matter our color, the blood we bleed is the same red blood of great, great patriots,” the president said near the conclusion of his speech.
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