‘WHEN US GROWS SO DOES WORLD’
Trump tells world leaders America First doesn’t mean America alone
AMERICA is open for business and is competitive once again, US President Donald Trump told world leaders yesterday.
He promised that Apple would bring tens of billions of dollars in tax funds back to America following controversy about its use of an Irish tax haven.
But Mr Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos that his ‘America First’ policy does not mean ‘America alone’.
‘As president of the United States, I will always put America first just as the leaders of other countries should put their countries first,’ he said.
‘When the United States grows, so does the world. American prosperity has created countless jobs around the globe and the drive for excellence, creativity and innovation in the United States has led to important discoveries that help people everywhere live more prosperous and healthier lives.’
There were loud boos and hisses when Mr Trump took up a favourite topic – ‘how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be’. He addressed the crowd of over 1,500 people packed into a high-ceilinged hall in Davos.
One of his major themes was bringing American corporate profits back to the US.
He insisted America’s prosperity would ‘not be complete’ until Apple and others invested more in the US and warmly welcomed the firm’s pledge to invest $350billion over the next three years.
Mr Trump added: ‘You remember my campaign: I said I won’t consider this great until Apple starts coming in and really investing big money, doing the plants. They’re gonna do a lot.’
Apple announced earlier this month it planned to contribute $350billion to the US economy over the next five years, including continuing its yearly payments of $55billion to US firms, investing $30billion in capital expenditures, paying $38billion in taxes, investing $5billion in manufacturing, building a new tech-support campus and employing 20,000 people.
During his presidential campaign Mr Trump pledged many times to bring profits from American multinationals back to the US, citing Ireland’s low tax rates as an example of how other countries were reaping the profits of Apple and other tech giants.
Meanwhile, the US president said he did not intend to cause offence by sharing anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right British group. He also said he would apologise if the people who made the videos turned out to be ‘horrible racists’. Mr Trump told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show he knew nothing about the Britain First group but that he was the ‘least racist person that anybody’s going to meet’ and that his retweet was not an endorsement.
He sparked outrage when he shared the anti-Muslim videos last November, earning severe criticism from British PM Theresa May.
When pressed on whether he would apologise for his retweet, Mr Trump said that if the group was made up of racists then he would. ‘Here’s what’s fair, if you’re telling me they’re horrible people, horrible racist people, I would certainly apologise if you would like me to do that,’ he said. ‘I know nothing about them. I don’t want to be involved with (these) people, but you’re telling me about these people because I know nothing about these people.’
Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of anti-immigration Britain First, posted the videos which she said showed a group of people who were Muslims beating a teenage boy to death, battering a boy on crutches and destroying a Christian statue. Fransen said outside a Belfast court yesterday that she believed Trump had been ‘railroaded’ into making an apology and claimed Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan owed her an apology for misrepresenting her views.
‘The British establishment is trying to censor the president of the United States,’ she added, after a brief appearance in the dock on two hate charges. Party leader Paul Golding, 36, who faces charges over the same event, was excused.
Fransen is accused of making a speech intended to create religious hatred in the city last August.
It follows a video the 31-year-old made at a peace wall, saying a war was coming with Muslims and that all British cities would soon have walls between Muslims on one side and everyone else on the other unless Islam is kept in check.
‘I will always put America first’
‘I’m least racist person you’ll meet’