Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
On day 100, Trump talks trade
President says his change to D.C. has been ‘profound’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday marked his 100th day in office by saying he had brought “profound change” to Washington and reaffirming that “my only allegiance” is to those he governs.
On a threshold that Trump has both derided and tried to define, the president also said he is putting Americans first even as he learns on the job.
“My only allegiance is to you, our wonderful citizens,” Trump said in his weekly radio address.
It was a preview of a day on which Trump traveled to Pennsylvania to emphasize such priorities as American manufacturing, better trade deals for the U.S. and his victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. He also was promoting a still-to-be defined tax cut plan and the nation’s economy, on which many of his political fortunes rest.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s missile launch Saturday signaled its continued defiance of the U.S., China and other nations, on which Trump tweeted: “Bad!” Asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” if military action would follow a nuclear test by the North, Trump responded: “I don’t know. I mean, we’ll see.”
Trump’s 100th day events were set in politically important Pennsylvania, which he won with 48 percent of the vote. It was the first time the state had voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush in 1988.
In Pennsylvania, Trump was visiting a shovel company when he signed an executive order directing the Commerce Department and the U.S. trade representative to conduct a study of U.S. trade agreements. The goal is to determine whether America is being treated fairly by its trading partners and the 164-nation World Trade Organization.
The AMES Companies in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland County has manufactured shovels since 1774. After Trump’s visit there, he went to Harrisburg, the state capital, for a campaign-style rally. Democrats planned their own rally nearby.
Trump’s 100-day rally was a bit of counterprogramming from the former reality television star. Back in Washington, media organizations and a few stars were gathering on Saturday for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Trump is the first president since 1981 to stay away from the event. That year, President Ronald Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt.
At the 100-day mark, Trump chose instead to spend the evening with people who helped elect him and, polls show, remain largely in his corner.
After an introduction by Vice President Mike Pence, the president opened the rally to cheers and chants of “U.S.A! U.S.A.!” by attacking one of his favorite targets, the news media, which he categorized as “dishonest” and “fake.”
After remarking on his election victory in November, Trump made observations familiar from his campaign about what he described as unfair trade deals, the poor security of the southern border with Mexico, and his plan to put “America first.”
Though the White House created a website touting accomplishments of the first 100 days, Trump has downplayed the importance of the marker, perhaps out of recognition that many of his promises have gone unfulfilled.
“It’s a false standard, 100 days,” Trump said while signing an executive order on Friday, “but I have to tell you, I don’t think anybody has done what we’ve been able to do in 100 days, so we’re very happy.”
His rally Saturday in Pennsylvania will give him a chance “to talk to voters about what he has done over the past 100 days and how he sees the next 100 days and the 100 days after that,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
A failed effort to overhaul President Barack Obama’s health care law behind him, Trump is turning to what he has billed as the nation’s biggest tax cut. It apparently falls short of Reagan’s in 1981, and tax experts are skeptical that the plan would pay for itself, as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has claimed.
The economy, so far, has been Trump’s ally. Polls show that Americans feel slightly better about his job performance on that subject than his job performance overall.
“Together we are seeing that great achievements are possible when we put American people first,” Trump said in his weekly radio and internet address. “That is why I withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That day was a turning point for our nation. It put the countries of this world on notice that the sellout of the American worker was over.”