President Trump Makes an Announcement with the Secretary of Commerce

Well, thank you very much everyone. I think you read my release. I put it out on Iraq. We're out of there. We have a very good prime minister who I endorsed actually in the election. He was uh not doing particularly well, but he was a great gentleman and a great man and I endorsed him and he won. And uh we left Iraq after 23 years and uh billions and billions of dollars spent. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, but we're now gone. And we took everything with us. Every every nut, every bolt, every screw, every tank, every plane. We we're we left Iraq. Isn't it nice? Should have never been there, but we should have left a long time ago. So I'm very honored to tell you that. and we left with dignity and respect. In fact, the prime minister has great respect for your president and for us and he appreciates everything. And we'll be there to help if we if we need to. But that's a big thing. We're out of Iraq after 23 years. I I notice you complain about Venezuela, which was 148 hours. We're in we won the war in 148 hours and no deaths. And in Iran, where their military is gone, their navy's gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone, everything's gone, their leaders are gone, just about everything's gone. They have a 301% just came out. Inflation rate of 301%, their currency is valueless. Uh, we lost 18 people, great people. Losing one is too many. But if you look at just if you look at Iraq, we lost 4,500 people. And uh the result isn't anywhere near what we have here. Although we went into Iraq to destroy ISIS and I did that in my first term. That's why they should have left long ago. But the sole reason we went to Iraq was to eradicate ISIS. And I did it in my first term. They should have left. Today, we're thrilled to announce one of the largest energy infrastructure investments in American history. Thanks to the agreements my administration has secured with the Republic of Korea, they will invest up to $200 billion. That's the Korean government. $200 billion to build a six gawatt power generation facility in Texas. Uh that's a major plant. That's about as big as you'll see. eight new largescale nuclear power plants and at long last Alaska liqufied natural gas pipeline. That's a big one and that's why we have a lot of people from Alaska including a very great governor and your great senator Dan Sullivan. We're joined on this occasion by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik who's very involved in this whole situation, a big one. Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergam, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Senator, as I said, Dan S. Sullivan, you know, the Democrats put up another man in the race named Dan Sullivan. He's a fraud. Dan Sullivan's a fraud. That Dan Sullivan is a disgraceful fraud. They put it up for confusion and everything else. And uh I believe he actually tried to get his initial because his initial I think was J. And he said, "No, I have nothing to do with this." But despite saying he has nothing to do with it, I believe he tried to get his initial made to an S. So it could be exact because it was Dan S. Sullivan and Daniel J. Sullivan. He tried to get it to be Daniel S. Daniel S is the good one. Let's see. How do you remember that? Super, right? Super intelligence. So vote for the guy with S because I don't know if they got the guy unless he's already got that. It's so corrupt. The Democrats are corrupt. But uh Dan Sullivan, the senator of Alaska, has been a great senator. He's been working on this deal and other deals in Alaska, the pipeline for almost 20 years, and we're now getting it done. And so I want to thank in particular Dan Sullivan for getting this deal done wherever you may be. Dan, >> thank you, Mr. I want to thank as well Alaska Governor Mike Dunlevy who's fantastic. World's tallest governor by the way. The tall guys is I think Baron might have you. I have a son who's pretty tall. I have a couple of them actually that are tall. But I want to thank Alaska Governor Mike Dunley. He's been fant he's a great governor. also as somebody who's a warrior, representatives Nick Begich and he is really a warrior. We uh we've been together in a lot of good fights and Nick has done a fantastic job. Thank you, Nick. Really appreciate it. Westinghouse CEO, a man who's done unbelievably and bringing the company to a very high level. Dan Summer. >> Dan, thank you. Dan's over there. >> Thank you, Dan. Where are you? Come here. Young guy. Look at you. >> Nice young guy. It's nice to be young, isn't it? Young is very successful. But he's done a great job at Westinghouse. Next year is CEO John Ketchum. John, hi John. How are you, John? >> Great job. You've done great company. Somebody that I relate to. He's the head of Related. Related a big real estate company, but he was a competitor of mine and a friend of mine, but he's a real estate man at the highest level. CEO Jeff Blau. Thank you, Jeff. Great job you've done. >> He's an unbelievable real estate person. I can tell you. Lewis Energy CEO Rod Lewis. Rod. Hi, Rod. Hello. Thank you very much. Sure. And Glenn Farm CEO Brendan Duval. >> Brendan. Hi, Brandon. >> How are you? >> Great. >> Thank you very lot of great people in this transaction. The colossal package of investments we are announcing today is a major step toward securing our critical energy supply chain, ensuring American energy dominance, and making our partnership with South Korea and the entire Pacific region stronger than ever before. As you know, in our trade agreement with South Korea, they have to invest hundreds of billions of dollars. And for doing that, I reduced their tariffs to 15%. But they paid to get them reduced and uh part of that money is going into this project otherwise this project is so big probably I don't know maybe the money wouldn't be available very very easily available but Japan is paying 550 billion unrelated Europe pays 650 billion and uh South Korea is about $250 billion is all money that you never heard about before, but we make great deals. That's what we do, right, Jeff? Jeff knows that the natural gas power plant that will be constructed in Texas will be among the largest ever built anywhere in the world. The eight new nuclear reactors built across the country will solidify our position as the world's leading producer of nuclear power. And we've really taken that lead once we were able to show the tremendous safety that's now taking place with respect. It's become safe. And once we were into that, we really pushed it, pushed it hard. We're now the leading producer of nuclear power. Pretty amazing considering we got a very late start over certain countries in Europe. And by building the Alaska LG pipeline, we will deliver nearly 4 billion cubic feet of liqufied natural gas per day. And that makes us uh puts us at a level that's not comparable with anyone else. The United States is already the largest natural gas producer and exporter in the world, and this pipeline will help us expand those exports even further. For five decades, politicians have talked about the Alaska pipeline. I've been hearing about it from the time I'm a little boy. The Alaska pipeline's going to be built someday. I was always fascinated by it. But today, with the help of Senator Dan S. Sullivan, and don't get it confused with anybody else, remember they put up a fake. It's a fake Sullivan. Guy knows nothing. In fact, I think he just switched to the Republican party, didn't he? He just switched over. >> He was never a Republican. >> He was never a Republican. and he still isn't a Republican, but we're finally getting it all done. But it just shows you how dirty and disgusting the political game is to do that. But this alone will be one of the largest energy projects in American history and a gigantic win for the people of Alaska. It will create up to 12,000 construction jobs immediately and 1,000 operational jobs. It'll also save Alaska households up to $1,500, maybe even as much as 22 $2,200 per year in energy costs. It's amazing. So now I'd like to ask a man, and I have to tell you this because he has an election. It's a crooked deal. It's crooked as hell. I'll say it. When they put up a man with his exact name, they picked him out of a hat. They said, "Anybody named Dan Sullivan in Alaska?" and they put somebody up against him because they know they can't win without cheating. That's what they do is they cheat. But this is a great senator who is totally responsible for this pipeline, for what we're doing. So many of the jobs we've done and so many of the jobs, you know, I won Alaska by a lot. Many, many points. Did I win it by how many points? Like, you know, >> 15, sir? >> Yeah. How about 22? A lot of points. So, we shouldn't have a problem. But one of the reasons I won is we've done more for Alaska than anybody in history times 10. And this is a man that worked with me by shouldertosh shoulder. But to say a few words, I'd like to ask Secretary Lutnik to start, Secretary Bergam, Secretary Wright, Governor Dun Levy. But I'd like to start with Dan Sullivan. So he's running for office. He's a spectacular senator, not just for Alaska. He's great for the for the world, for our country and the world. What he's done is so important. And he's got my ear and he's had my ear for a long time on Alaska. We did so many jobs between Cove Road and all the different things that we got to prove that nobody else could have ever. All these energy projects are all mine and I got them done working with Dan Sullivan. So Dan, could you say a few words and then we'll go to the rest of the group. >> Mr. President, I would say this is the most important project in our state by far. This is the project that is going to keep our kids and grandkids in Alaska uh with a great bright future. This is the project that our state has been working on to try to get done for almost a half century. And uh the reason is it's going to deliver lowcost energy to Alaskans, to our churches, to our schools, our hospitals, our businesses. And we need lowcost energy. This will this will deliver lowcost energy to Alaskans for 50 to 100 years. Not to mention our military, which we're all working together to grow our military, a huge military buildup. They need the energy, as you said, Mr. President, 12,000 jobs just to build this project. then this could unleash all kinds of other opportunities in Alaska. Manufacturing opportunities, the sky is the limit when we get this project done. And uh Mr. President, I want to thank you and your team. You know, you have been focused on this from day one. Literally, your executive order on unleashing Alaska's extraordinary potential focuses on this Alaska LG project and pipeline. your first State of the Union address, you highlighted how this was a really, really important project for you and your team here. They have been absolutely outstanding. All your cabinet officials, your chief of staff, everybody, Howard Lutnik in particular, Mr. Secretary, thank you. But, Mr. President, this one is huge for Alaska. It's why I've been, as you mentioned, sir, working on this relentlessly for well before I was a US senator because it's the most important thing for my constituents, but it's great for America. This is going to be the biggest LG project in our country. We'll be able to get gas, of course, to Alaskans first and our military, and we need it, but to our Asian allies. Um, so, Mr. President, thank you again and everybody here. We're going to get this done. We're going to get this done. This is really exciting for my state, my constituents, and uh the United States of America. So, thank you again, Mr. President. >> Thank you very much. Congratulations. >> Thank you, Dan. Great job. Secretary Lenik, please. Korea is going to invest with their sovereign money just under $200 billion dollar in America in energy infrastructure to strengthen American energy dominance. Right? This is exactly what the president talked about from the beginning, right? To use our unfair trading relationships around the world to restructure them, right? And as the president said, 15% tariffs, but $200 billion. So these projects are being financed, fully paid for by the Korean government for the benefit of the United States of America. So three projects just under $200 billion we're announcing today, right? The largest 120 billion. It's hundred billion plus a $20 billion contingency to build eight gigantic nuclear power plants. And they're going to go across the United States. They're going in Ohio. They're going in Tennessee. They're going to South Carolina. And they're going in Kentucky. Right? These are gigantic nuclear power plants because we want to create the supply chain for nuclear so we can be the exporter on the world of nuclear. This is exactly what the president said in his executive order and we are executing that today. Second project, 50 just over $50 billion invested in Alaska for the Alaska LNG project. This is Alaska is the most resourcerrich state in our union. Right. And this project, $50 billion is going to start to unleash the incredible natural resources of Alaska. It couldn't happen. Everybody talked about it. But it's the combination of your deal making and your trade deal that allowed this to happen. And this is extraordinary. This will change Alaska and it will change geopolitics because all of Southeast Asia is now going to get their gas after the senator uses it and reduces the cost to all Alaskans, right? All of Southeast Asia is going to be leaning on the president and the United States of America for their gas, for their natural resources, changing the way the world looks at America and works with America. And then lastly, we're building over $22 billion gas fired power plant, 6.5 gawatt in Texas. All of that today, none of it, none of it could possibly happen without the structure of the trade deals we did and the dealmaker chief of the United States of America who made the deal. And I had, look, I have the best job cuz I get to sit and watch Donald J. Trump make the coolest deals I've ever seen in my life. And I have the best time doing it. And when we sat with the Koreans, it was the most it was the most extraordinary thing I've ever seen. And that produces today. So, I am proud to be up here with these great executives. These are the people going to execute it, right? But the number one thing I'm happy about is Dan Sullivan is gonna stop calling me every single day pushing me to get this deal done. So, I am really happy that we're going to go on to execution going forward. So, thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you. >> Secretary Doug Bergam, please. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. So much gratitude to share today. uh the with starting with President Trump and Howard Lutnik. Uh as was just described, this is a historic deal that changes the future of Alaska and it changes the future of geopolitics of oil. Uh not only are we going to be in a position to lower the price and drive affordability through this strategic piece of national security infrastructure for Alaskans. It also is going to help Hawaii. Hawaii imports their oil today from the Middle East. They're going to be able to import natural gas. are territories where we have military bases in Guam, American Samoa, Marianas Islands, which are all managed as part of the Department of the Interior. They all are dependent on foreign foreign sources for energy. We'll be able to fill that from Alaska. Japan, who's an ally of ours, where we have 50,000 troops, it's almost 30 days for a shipment to come from the Middle East, uh, if it gets there at all, to Japan. It's 8 days from Anchorage to Tokyo, most of that through US territorial waters. Korea also much closer to be able to ship to them. The Philippines, Taiwan, all of our allies can be dependent on American energy. And so, not again, President Trump when he ran, he was running on America first, but that meant prosperity at home. It meant peace abroad. This critical piece of of national infrastructure security is going to deliver on both that prosperity and on the peace. And it wouldn't have happened without President Trump's leadership. His EO on day one, January 20th of last year on the first page. One of the 54 items of unleashing Alaska's energy potential was this pipeline. He's delivering on that and and of course wouldn't have happened without the incredible delegation and the leadership in Alaska. So Dan Super Sullivan, Governor Dunl, uh Congressman Begage, uh you guys have been fantastic in helping make this happen. But without Howard Buckley, Chris Wright, Lee Zeldon, uh the whole cabinet you've assembled, uh this is a team effort. Uh extraordinary President Trump, thank you for your leadership and uh a big day for America, big day for Alaska. >> Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Chris Wright, please. >> Yeah, today is pure joy. I have been an energy nerd my whole life. The way to make America better is much more energy infrastructure, much more energy resources. President Trump uh has always been about energy addition, energy expansion. In his first term in his campaigns as a businessman, he got how central energy was. The first time I ever sat in the Oval Office on the other side of the desk from the president, he brought up this project on day one of this new administration and said, "You know about this project? We need to build it." And I said, "Unfortunately, fortunately, I do know about this project because I've known Dan Sullivan before I came into politics. And Dan Sullivan talked to me about this project years ago. It the the Alaska LNG project will be the largest energy infrastructure project built in 50 years. It is transformative for the state of Alaska absolutely. But for the United States to have a Pacific Coast LNG export terminal, our fastest growing export, the fastest growing energy source on planet Earth is natural gas. This puts the United States geostrategically positioned and grows our ability to export that to our friends and allies while hitting a home run for the state of Alaska. I can also turn Dan Sullivan off blocked on my phone. Then he said, "Well, that's not going to work cuz I'll get a new phone and I'll have a different middle initial and so I'll still be able to get through to you." And then he was smarter. He got my wife's cell phone number. So Dan has always been able to reach me. And I will tell you, I love his passion. He cares about the people of Alaska. He gets how important energy is to Alaska and our country. And he has been ceaseless on this. And to achieve difficult things, you have to be ceaseless, principled, and right. But the combination of President Trump, it's just an incredible alignment of stars, Dan Sullivan's uh relentless pursuit of this project, Governor Dunlevy and Representative Begit's passionate champions, anyone they meet, they talk about this project. Then Howard Lutnik comes in in a negotiating way to find a way to make this happen. And and Secretary Bergam in charge of the interior and so many of the lands in Alaska had to say, "We're going to be practical. How are we going to benefit the environment and build energy infrastructure, make our country better and save the economic future of Alaska? I am thrilled to be partners with all the gentlemen and the businessmen to my left. It is an incredible day for America. God bless your leadership, President Trump. Thank you. >> Same to you, Sullivan, and all my other partners here. Love you guys. >> Thank you. Great. Thank you. And uh we'll maybe not totally finish off because we have a couple of people that I think everybody wants to hear from, but a man who's really been a great governor and friend of mine. Governor Dun Levy, please. >> Mr. President, this is an incredible day for the state of Alaska. Um I have to condense two hours of just discussing with the people all the things that your administration has done for this great state. You have to realize uh we're only 740,000 people at the top of the world. We could be forgotten. This president on day one issued an executive order for the great state of Alaska across the board directing his departments to do everything they could to unleash Alaska's energy. President Trump by far, and I've said this before, has been the greatest president in the history of our our state. 1959, we became a state. No president, in my opinion, in the opinion of many other Alaskans has come close to doing what the president has done simply by looking out for Alaska. Um, if it's if it's everything from the King Cove Road to the Tongas National Forest to oil to this massive massive gas line, this will save the state of Alaska. This will transform the state of Alaska. This is probably the largest project ever in the Arctic. Probably one of the largest, if not largest project in the Pacific. And it's going to transform our great state for 50, 60, 70 years. And it wouldn't have been done without the President of the United States, Donald Trump. There's no doubt about it. I want to thank you for the great team you put together. you put together, I think, a world-class team in and Doug Bergen, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Wright, and then uh Secretary Lutnik, I I can't say enough about your secretaries and your staff, Mr. President. They have executed what you want to have happen for this country and for the great state of Alaska. These guys have been incredible. Uh Secretary Lutnik has been fantastic on this project. He's basically taken this project and moved it not just into life, but into a reality that is going to transform the entire country, the entire Pacific basin. And I just want to thank Dan Sullivan. Dan Sullivan I knew back in 2012 when he was with the state of Alaska. He had a role as the uh Department of Natural Resources um commissioner as well as attorney general. He has been working on this gas line since 2012. And everywhere I go, whether it's in Japan, uh, Korea, anywhere here in the United States, Dan Sullivan is there selling Alaska to everybody on how great this state could be. And I want to thank Dan. I want to thank President. I want to thank all the secretaries. Thank you very much. This has been fantastic. Fantastic. >> You know, at the end of the day, this is a this is a transformative opportunity for the state, for the nation. And, you know, I think it really speaks to the level of teamwork that we have with the administration and among our delegation. Leaders like Dan Sullivan, like Governor Dunlevy have been pushing this project for years, for years, trying to find a way. And we we have found a way to bring that energy to market, to our benefit, to the benefit of the nation, and to the benefit of so many allies around the world. We're seeing right now a realignment, a realignment uh for energy flows globally. And uh people have recognized that there's a price to be paid when you're rolling the dice in certain areas of the world that aren't as stable as the United States. The United States offers our allies and our friends abroad something that they can't find anywhere else, and that's reliable energy flows. And that's what Alaska is going to bring to the table. And Mr. President, I can't thank you enough for being a partner for Alaska and your cabinet, incredible work. Secretary Bergam, Secretary Lutnik, Secretary Wright, you have prioritized Alaska from day one. We couldn't have a better partner than you. Thank you. Thank you very anybody. Would anybody like to say anything? Anyone? Do you want to talk about the real estate business real? >> Good. So, um, >> Mr. President. >> Yeah, please. Please. >> Yeah. John Ketchum with Next Era. And this administration has just been amazing in supporting energy dominance across this country. And Next Era is spending a billion dollars a week trying to finance and fund and build the energy infrastructure this country needs. And this announcement today is just an example of what this administration has been able to accomplish. So, thank you so much, Mr. President, for your leadership. A billion a week. That's a lot of money. >> That's a lot. >> Every week. Not every month. Every week. >> Every week. >> Every week. >> Wow. That's pretty good, I think. >> Well, the country is doing great. And if it wasn't, you wouldn't be spending a billion. Spending a lot less. Do you have any questions, please? >> Question. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Jennifer Shanberger with Yahoo Finance. Building on the discussion here. The United States is a net exporter of crude oil. Yet, California has to rely on foreign crude oil because it doesn't have refineries. And so, how much will this new LNG facility help not just with Alaska and Hawaii, but other um coppers here in the United States? Do you have any thoughts or plans? >> And and it's a great question because it's so unfair what California is doing. They closed their refineries. You know, they had a lot of refineries. They're actually the third or fourth biggest oil producer in the country. Nobody thinks of California that way. They have a lot of oil in California, but they don't use it because of the environmental lunatics and uh this will help the people of California a lot. You know, they're being charged so much. It's so sad to see it how they keep electing these people that have no idea what they're doing. Uh but we have maybe just very shortly I could ask Chris Wright because he is an expert on how they've destroyed California and the refineries. Chris, do you want to give that a quick shot please? >> No, no, you're right. California has just stood in the way of building any infrastructure. So they can't get oil delivered to the states. We're a net exporter of oil, as you said. They they import over 60% of their oil from abroad. And then they refine that oil in California until they force so many of their refineries to close. They can't even produce enough gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. They're going to have to build a new pipeline to bring refined products to California. Well, they were going to be an energy island. They strangled their own oil and gas industry and their refining industry. So, California's been dead set on making energy expensive, impoverishing their citizens, and encouraging all the bit businesses and people to leave the state. That's just the exact opposite of President Trump's goal, which is lower energy prices to make things more affordable, increase job opportunities to raise wages up. I don't know why California does what it does. I will tell you the Trump administration has been ceaseless in trying to help the population of Californians. They are Americans. This should not be imposed on them. >> Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, on on this uh project that has been announced today, two questions. What is the timeline for completing the LNG product project? And secondly, I was in Alaska just a few weeks ago. Energy costs are exceedingly high. Is there any consideration of constructing another oil refinery for gas? >> Going to bring those prices down. One of the reasons Alaska prices are going to become way down. When do you see completion of the job, fellas? >> Well, the pipeline is going to take three years and we can start immediately with soon as this financing funds, >> right? >> So, three years, we'll have cheap gas for Alaska, which will be the lowest price in probably 20 years, the gas we can deliver. And then the LG will start exporting roughly two years after that. So roughly five years from LG export. >> Gasoline prices in Alaska are going to tumble. Well, as soon as the war ends, which is going to be soon, the Iran war, uh prices are going to come way down regardless, but gasoline price because of this project and a couple of others in Alaska are going to tumble. Now, uh if the Democrats come along, I can't speak to that. They will you're going to have double the prices will double if they