President Donald Trump used his first White House weekly address to talk up his early raft of executive orders and tout their potential to create jobs, improve infrastructure and boost security.
“One week ago, our administration assumed the enormous responsibility that you, the American people, have placed in us,” Trump began, before summarizing his most high-profile executive orders.
Trump started by addressing the very first action of his presidency, an executive order aimed at repealing and replacing Obamacare. “It’s about time,” he said.
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He then turned his attention to trade, branding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal “a disastrous deal for our workers,” adding that withdrawing from the agreement would enable the negotiation of “one-on-one deals that protect American workers.”
Companies will no longer ship jobs out of the country, and have been told in no uncertain terms that “we want to make things in America and we want to use American workers,” he said.
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Trump added that his order to approve construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would only take effect under the condition that pipelines installed within U.S. borders will be built using American steel and labour.
On the testy issue of illegal immigration, Trump reiterated his desire to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” — cities with policies protecting illegal immigrants from being deported — and get a Mexican border wall up. “We have to take care of that horrible situation,” he said.
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“This administration has hit the ground running at a record pace. Everybody’s talking about it. We’re doing it with speed and we’re doing it with intelligence, and we will never, ever stop fighting on behalf of the American people,” he concluded.
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