Trump has new slogan

UNITED STATES: Donald Trump has offered a preview of his 2020 election campaign with a rambling speech to supporters during which he announced his slogan will be ‘‘Keep America Great!’’

At a rally in the industrial heartland of Pennsylvania at the weekend, he touched on familiar themes: Railing against European Union tariffs and the news media, and promising the ‘‘greatest deal’’ with North Korea.

Yesterday, White House officials confirmed details of the president’s plans to toughen school security. In a move sure to please the gun lobby, the plan does not include a push to increase the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons to 21. Instead, a new federal commission on school safety will examine the age issue.

Trump said he had settled on a slogan that borrowed from his 2016 effort. ‘‘We can’t say ‘Make America Great Again’ because I already did that,’’ he said. ‘‘I’m almost positive, you can never be 100 per cent sure, but our new slogan when we start running is going to be ‘Keep America Great ... exclamation mark.’’

Trump was campaigning for Rick Saccone, the Republican candidate for a congressional byelection in an area known as ‘‘steel country’’. Saccone is losing in a district that voted for Trump by 20 percentage points in 2016. A Republican loss could signal a bloodbath in the November midterm elections.

He gave an impassioned defence of his recent announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminium. Addressing the EU directly, he said: ‘‘Open up the barriers and get rid of your tariffs, and if you don’t do that we’re going to tax Mercedes-Benz, we’re going to tax BMWs. Cars are the big money item.’’

Describing his decision to meet Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader, Trump lambasted previous presidents, saying no-one else could have done it. ‘‘I may leave fast, or we make the greatest deal for the world.’’ - Telegraph Group