PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Vice President Mike Pence told Breitbart News exclusively that President Donald Trump has delivered on a number of promises he made to the American people to put “America First,” especially on trade, China, and immigration.
Asked about Trump’s meeting the day before this Thursday interview with Breitbart News aboard his and Trump’s campaign bus in Pennsylvania with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador—in particular about the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—Pence said Trump delivered on his promise to American workers.
“The USMCA is a huge win for American jobs and American farmers,” Pence said. “It’s one more example of promises made, promises kept. I saw the president drive a hard bargain. I just left; I visited a dairy farm here in rural Pennsylvania, and dairy farmers were struggling in Wisconsin with the unfair trade practices coming out of Canada. I saw the president on that issue, on manufacturing, on automotive workers. He just stood strong, and putting American workers and manufacturers first and delivered a great victory that’s, that combined with the strong stand he’s taken on China, I think, show the American people that they really do have a president who will always put America first.”
What’s more, former Vice President Joe Biden—the presumptive 2020 Democrat presidential nominee—has attempted to claim that President Trump is weak on China. In recent months, Biden’s campaign has tried to claim that Trump has not been forceful or effective enough when it comes to standing up to the communist regime in Beijing. Pence debunked that when asked by Breitbart News to detail many of the things that President Trump has done to hold communist China accountable during his three-plus years in the White House now.
“When we took office, China was half of our international trade deficit,” Pence said. “President Trump made it clear that those days are over. We put China on notice that we were no longer going to tolerate trade policies and practices that have seen American jobs shipped overseas. So he’s used his authority and imposed tariffs and taken a strong stand. We’ve also, on strategic issues, we’ve made it clear we’re going to stand up for the interests of America in the Asia-Pacific. We’ve defended the freedom of navigation. In fact, we have two aircraft carriers in the South China Sea taking a strong stand. Also, just more recently with China breaking their word on Hong Kong, and the president has announced we are taking action that will be out in the coming days that will demonstrate our commitment to the people of Hong Kong and our commitment to freedom-loving people around the world. But that, whether it be the strong stand on trade and tariffs, whether it be our commitment to our strategic interests in the region, or whether it be our stand for freedom and human rights, no president in my lifetime has been tougher on China than President Donald Trump.”
Then when it comes to immigration, Pence said President Trump’s orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, in particular the ones halting new immigration and the ones stopping guest worker programs like the H-1B program mean that as the jobs come back and the economy recovers, the jobs go to Americans first.
“It’s helping the American comeback,” Pence said when asked about the president’s myriad immigration orders during the pandemic. “When the president stood up the White House Coronavirus Task Force, we had one mission, and that was to save lives. Now our mission going forward is to save lives and open up America again. But efforts the president took to protect American jobs throughout this pandemic, whether it be the Paycheck Protection Program or support for families or resources for businesses, was historic. But the action he also took to make sure that when the jobs come back, the jobs are going to Americans also played a critical role in the fact that at the height of the pandemic, we lost 22 million American jobs, and now in a few short months, we’ve added seven million jobs back to the economy. We have a ways to go, but the president’s action in every respect has been to make sure that American families and American businesses can see their way through this pandemic, and as the jobs come back, those jobs go to Americans first.”
Pence’s full interview with Breitbart News aired on Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel. Other topics covered include his reaction to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nonchalant dismissal of vandals who tore down a Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore to Biden’s association with the ascendant radical left socialist wing of the Democrat Party to the stakes of the 2020 presidential campaign.
LISTEN TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE ON BREITBART NEWS SATURDAY: