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Trump Speech Attacking Clinton on Trade, Economy. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 28, 2016 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[14:30:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: It had tariffs, emphasizing taxation of foreign, not domestic, production. Yet today, 240 years after the revolution, we've turned things completely upside down. We tax and regulate and restrict our companies to death. And then we allow foreign countries that cheat to export their goods to us tax-free. How stupid is this? How could it happen? How stupid is this?

(APPLAUSE)

As a result, we have become more dependent on foreign countries than ever before.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to declare our economic independence once again. That means --

(CHEERING)

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TRUMP: That means voting for Donald Trump.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: I'll do it. No doubt about it. Not even a little doubt.

It also means reversing two of the worst legacies of the Clinton years. America has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs since 1997, even as the country has increased this population -- think of this -- by 50 million people.

At the center of this catastrophe are two trade deals pushed by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

First, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or the disaster called NAFTA. Second, China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history -- it's like -- the history of this country. And China's entrance into the World Trade Organization has enabled the greatest job theft of our country. It was Bill Clinton who signed NAFTA. People don't remember. In 1993. And Hillary Clinton, who supported it, and the havoc that wreaked after he left office, was unbelievable.

It was also Bill Clinton who lobbied for China's disastrous entry into the World Trade Organization, and Hillary Clinton who backed that terrible, terrible agreement. Then as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton stood by idly while China cheated on its currency, added another trillion and stole hundreds of billions of dollars in our intellectual property.

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TRUMP: And I've been talking about China for many years. And you know what? Nobody listened. But they're listening now, that I can tell you.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: The city of Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania have lost one-third of their manufacturing jobs since the Clintons put China into the WTO. 50,000 factories across America have shut their doors in that time. And this factory, because of the great owners, Dave and Gloria, it's hanging in. Hanging in. But they just told me, it's not easy.

Almost half of our entire manufacturing trade deficit, in goods with the world, is the result -- and it is the result of trade with China. It was also Hillary Clinton as secretary of state who shoved us into a job-killing deal with South Korea. As reported by the Economic Policy Institute in May, this deal doubled our trade deficit with South Korea and destroyed nearly 100,000 American jobs.

As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton voted for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions, millions of jobs.

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TRUMP: Trade reform and the negotiation of great trade deals is the quickest way to bring our jobs back to our country.

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[14:34:52] TRUMP: To understand why trade reform creates jobs -- and it creates a lot of them -- we need to understand how all nations grow and prosper. Massive trade deficits subtract directly from our gross domestic product. From 1947 to 2001, a span of over five decades, our inflation adjusted gross domestic product grew at a rate of 3.5 percent. However, since 2002, the year after we fully opened our markets to Chinese imports, our GDP growth rate has been cut in half. What does this mean for Americans? Not good. For every 1 percent of GDP growth we fail to generate in any given year, we fail to create over one million jobs. What a waste and what a sad, sad thing.

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TRUMP: America's job creation deficit, due to slower growth since 2002, is well over 20 million jobs, and that's just about the number of jobs our country needs right America back to work at decent wages. Wages are very low because there's no competition. And they're going to go up because we're going to thrive again as a country. (APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the greatest danger yet. The TPP, as it is known, would be the death blow for American manufacturing. It would give up all of our economic leverage to an international commission that would put the interests of foreign countries above our own. It would further open our markets to aggressive currency cheaters. Cheaters, that's what they are. Cheaters. They're not playing by the rules. They're cheating. It would make it easier for our trading competitors to ship cheap subsidized goods into United States markets while allowing foreign countries to continue putting up barriers in front of our exports, which is what they do. It is very hard to export to their countries. They make it very difficult. We, on the other hand, come on in, everybody, come on in. Bad leadership. The TPP would lower tariffs on foreign cars, while leaving in place the foreign practices that keep American cars from being sold overseas.

That's not all. Mark my words. China will enter the TPP through the backdoor at a later date. They are watching. They are studying. They're not in it now, but they're going to be in it. If it's good, they'll be there. By the way, if it's no good, they'll pass. Same way. Always is.

The agreement would also force American workers to compete directly against workers from Vietnam, one of the lowest wage countries on earth.

Not only will the TPP undermine our economy, but it will undermine our independence. That's what's happened. The TPP creates a new international commission that makes decisions the American people are no longer given the right to veto. These commissions are great for Hillary's Wall Street funders who can spend vast amounts of money to influence the people on the commissions and the outcomes. It should be no surprise then that Hillary Clinton, according to "Bloomberg," took a leading part in drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Please remember that. Especially in November.

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TRUMP: She praised or pushed the TPP on 45 separate occasions and even called it the gold standard. Hillary Clinton was totally for the TPP just a short while ago. But when she saw my stance, which is totally against, she was shamed into saying she would be against it, too. And I will tell you, it was the same shame that she had recently where she was sort of forced into saying "radical Islamic terrorism," which she didn't want to say but she was shamed into the one.

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TRUMP: But have no doubt that she will immediately approve it if it is put before her. And that is guaranteed. Guaranteed. She will do this just as she has betrayed American workers for Wall Street and throughout -- throughout her career. Her whole career. She has betrayed the American worker. She's trying to put on a good front now. She will betray you again. [14:40:27] Her career, and her husband have signed so many disasters

and never, ever forget NAFTA. Just never, ever forget it because you know what it's done and I know what it's done. And in touring, I've seen the devastation that it's left behind.

Here's how it would go. She would make a small token change, declare the TPP pact fixed, and ram it through, and you will suffer. That's why Hillary is now only saying she has problems with TPP in its current form. That means they'll make a little two-word change. She'll fix it and she'll feel great. But she says in its current form. She can rush to embrace it again and she will at the earliest opportunity.

If the media doesn't believe me, I have a challenge for you -- and Hillary. Ask Hillary if she's willing to withdraw from the TPP her first day in office and unconditionally rule out its passage in any form.

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TRUMP: There is no way to fix TPP. We need bilateral trade deals. We do not need to enter into another massive international agreement that ties us up and binds us down like TPP does.

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TRUMP: A Trump administration will change our failed trade policies. I mean quickly.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you.

Here are seven steps I would pursue right away to bring back our jobs.

Number one, I am going to withdraw the United States from the Trans- Pacific Partnership, which has not yet been ratified.

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TRUMP: I'm going to appoint the toughest and smartest -- and I know them all -- trade negotiators to fight on behalf of American workers.

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TRUMP: I'm going to direct the secretary of commerce to identify every violation of trade agreements a foreign country is currently using to harm you, the American worker.

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TRUMP: I will then direct all appropriate agencies to use every tool under American and international law to end these abuses. And "abuse" is the right word.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: Number four, I'm going to tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal by a lot. Not just a little. By a lot. For our workers.

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TRUMP: And if they don't agree to a renegotiation -- which they might not, because they're so used to having their own way. Not with Trump. They won't have their own way.

(CHEERING)

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TRUMP: And I will submit, under Article 2205 of the NAFTA agreement, that America intends to withdraw from the deal.

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TRUMP: Number five, I'm going to instruct my treasury secretary to label China a currency manipulator, which should have been done years ago.

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TRUMP: Any country that devalues their currency in order to take unfair advantage of the United States -- which is many countries -- will be met with sharply. And that includes tariffs and taxes.

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[14:45:11] TRUMP: Number six, I'm going to instruct the U.S. trade representative to bring trade cases against China, both in this country and at the WTO.

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TRUMP: China's unfair subsidy behavior is prohibited by the terms of its entrance to the WTO. And I intend to enforce those rules and regulations and basically I intend to enforce the agreements from all countries, including China.

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TRUMP: Seven, if China does not stop its illegal activities, including its theft of American trade secrets, I will use every lawful -- hey, look, in is very easy. This is so easy. I love saying this. I will use every lawful presidential power to remedy trade disputes, including the application of tariffs consistent with Section 201 and 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. And when they say trade expansion, they're talking about other countries. They're not talking about us, because there is no expansion. They get the expansion, we get the joblessness. That's the way it works. Not going to happen anymore.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: President Reagan confronted similar trade measures when semiconductor imports threatened the U.S. industry. I remember. His tariff on Japanese motorcycles was 45 percent and his tariff to shield America's semiconductor industry was 100 percent. And that had a big impact, folks. A big impact.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign of fear will try to spread the lie that these actions will start a trade war. We already have a trade war and we're losing badly. Badly.

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TRUMP: She has it completely backwards. Hillary Clinton unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible deal after another, from NAFTA, to China, to South Korea. It doesn't matter. No matter where she went, the American worker was hurt. And you will be hurt worse than ever before if she becomes president of the United States. That I can tell you.

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TRUMP: A Trump administration will end that war by getting a fair deal for the American people and the American worker. The era of economic surrender will finally be over. It will be over. You're not going to see it anymore. Hello. I can guarantee it because, after me, they'll probably start doing it again. But we will have four and maybe eight great, great, great productive years and we'll never go back and we'll make sure we never go back.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you. Thank you very much.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it.

A new era of prosperity will finally begin. America will be independent once more. Independent once more. Doesn't that sound great?

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TRUMP: Under a Trump presidency, the American worker will finally have a president who will protect them and fight for them.

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TRUMP: We will stand up to trade cheating. Cheating. Cheaters. What they are? Cheaters. We will stand up to trade cheats anywhere and everywhere it threatens the American job.

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: We will make America the best place in the world to start a business. We'll hire workers and we'll open factories and we'll get rid of these horrible regulations that make it impossible to do business in this country.

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[14:50:03] TRUMP: This will also include massive tax reform to lift the crushing burdens on American workers and businesses. We will also get rid of all of these rules and all of these problems and all of the bureaucracy which are destroying, absolutely destroying our job creation capacity, which we used to be the best in the world, and now we are getting close to the bottom. We're getting close to the bottom.

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TRUMP: Many, many people think that these regulations are an even greater impediment than the fact that we are one of the highest taxed nations in the world.

We're also going to fully capture America's tremendous energy capacity. This will create for our workers -- that's what we want -- for our workers growth for our economy and begin reducing our budget deficits, which are massive. Massive. Our trade deficits, we don't even want to talk about it. Our budget deficits are massive.

Hillary Clinton wants to shut down energy production and shut down the mines -- and she wants to shut down -- and she said it just recently -- she wants to shut down the miners. I want to do exactly the opposite.

(CHEERING)

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TRUMP: A Trump administration will also ensure that we start using American steel for American infrastructure.

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TRUMP: And aluminum.

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TRUMP: Just like the American steel from Pennsylvania that built the Empire State Building, it will be American steel that will fortify America's crumbling bridges. American steel. It will be American steel --

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TRUMP: It will be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring, a beautiful sight. More beautiful with American steel. It will be American steel that rebuilds our inner cities. It will be American hands that remake this country. And it will be American energy mined from American resources that powers this country.

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TRUMP: It will-American workers who are hired to do the job. Nobody else. American workers.

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TRUMP: We are going to put American steel, and aluminum, back into the backbone of our country.

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TRUMP: This alone will create massive numbers of jobs, high-paying jobs. Good jobs. Not the jobs we have today, which everybody agrees are bad jobs. We're going to create massive numbers of good jobs.

On trade, on immigration, on foreign policy, we are going to put America first again.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We are going to make America wealthy again.

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TRUMP: We are going to reject Hillary Clinton's policy of fear and her policy of absolute nonsense because it's not working and it's grossly incompetent and we can't take it any longer and we're not going to take it any longer.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: We are going to embrace the possibilities of change. But real change. Not Obama change. Real change.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: It's time to believe in the future. It's time to believe in each other. It's time to believe in America again. This is how we are going to make America great again for all Americans. For all Americans.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE) TRUMP: We're going to make America great again for everyone, greater than ever before. And I promise you, if I become president, we are going to be working again. We are going to have great jobs again. You are going to be so happy. You are going to be proud of your president. You are going to be proud, proud, proud of your country once again.

[14:55:14] Thank you. I appreciate it.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: You just heard Donald Trump attack Hillary Clinton on the economy, speaking from an industrial plant near Pittsburgh.

I have a team of reporters and analysts standing by.

But starting with chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, this was build as his most detailed economic speech yet. Was it?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think it was. It was a seven-point plan in which he said very clearly that he intends to withdraw from the TPP and he challenges Hillary Clinton to say she will do so. He will try and renegotiate NAFTA, but if he can't, he will withdraw from NAFTA. He will impose tariffs on unfair trading partners, including China, which, as you know, Hillary Clinton says and others say would result in a trade war. So I think this was a seven-point plan as he laid out very clearly and it was clearly meant to appeal to those working class white voters in the state to which he was speaking, which is in Pennsylvania, who feel like they have avenue been left behind this economy, whose wages have been stagnant. This is a grievance, as you know, that unites not only those on the right, but those on the left who supported Bernie Sanders.

BROWN: David Chalian, what do you think? Was he effective in selling his populist message?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I'm not the one to give advice to presidential candidates. They have a team of advisors to do that. If I were, I would say Donald this speech every single day from now through November. This is the core of where his support came from, tapping in to the economic anxieties of the modern globalized economy and what that has meant for some Americans here at home. This is the driving force behind the Trump phenomenon that we've seen throughout the last year and he gave it big voice today. Obviously, Hillary Clinton has a totally different economic world view, as Gloria pointed out. She thinks tariffs would be a trade war. They can debate those policies back and forth and they can each line up experts to explain why they are right. But fundamentally, this is Donald Trump's core message that's been working for him and he's clearly retooled himself to focus on this.

And of course, as Gloria noted, you can't look past where he's doing this. This is a county Mitt Romney won with 61 percent of the vote. This is exactly the kind of place in a state like Pennsylvania where, if Donald Trump is going to successfully alter the electoral map and get to 270 electoral votes, it is because he will awaken and create enthusiasm among voters in a place like where he is in Pennsylvania today.

BROWN: Corey Lewandowski, you just left the Trump campaign as manager. What is the strategy behind this speech? Do you think he accomplished what he hoped to?

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This is Mr. Trump's best speech of the presidential cycle candidacy. This is right on message, his core message of putting Americans first. This is about bringing jobs back to America. This is making a clear difference between him and the Clinton campaign and challenging the Clinton campaign who have supported the TPP on 45 different occasions to step forward. The AFL-CIO is against TPP. These are the kind of people Donald Trump will bring into the Republican Party to bring success to states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. He's on his way to a county in Ohio, a blue collar area hit hard by bad trade practices, by NAFTA, by TPP. It used to be the heart of the steel industry. Those days are gone. So this is a very, very strong message for him. The best speech he's given all cycle.

BROWN: Best speech. Who writes his speeches? Does he? Does someone else and he makes tweaks? Bring us behind the scenes of how this goes on.

LEWANDOWSKI: This is a particular area where Mr. Trump has a lot of experience understanding how bad trade deals have affected our country, understanding what job creation is all about. These thoughts are predominantly his. There are tweets from additional members of the team. At the end of the day, he decides what goes into the speech and what doesn't. He's extremely comfortable in this area. There's a clear difference from a businessman's perspective between him and Hillary Clinton. This is something where this is a winning issue for him all day long.

BROWN: Before we go along to our other reporters and analysts, I have to ask you, his use of teleprompter, when did this change? Did he fight it at all?