You met Trump when he was campaigning. Is he different as president, in your estimation?
“I thought he seemed humble. I remember even thinking that when he was here (in September). Prior to ever meeting him, you see these big rallies on TV. People act very different at big rallies ... But when he was here, he really listened.
“We have the fastest production laser in the world, one of the models of it. We stood there at that machine (in September) for 10, 15 minutes, and he kept asking questions about it. ‘Well, why this, why that?’ I’d answer, and he’d come back with another question.”
The March 31 meeting was called a ‘listening session.’ Do you feel Trump was actually listening?
“I do. And I commented on that back when he was here. I felt the person who was here back in September was different from the guy you see on the campaign trail doing the big rallies before 10,000, 15,000 people.
“When he was here, he was really interested in hearing what problems we had and what we were facing. The big things he wanted to know about then were regulations and taxes. And then the four things we all talked about Friday when we were there were regulations, taxes, infrastructure, workforce development.”
Did he ask detailed questions?
“The president asked a lot of questions. ‘Well, what do you mean by that? How does that affect you? What does that do to you in the long run? How does that make you less competitive? Why does it matter if you can’t do this as opposed to this?’
“To my interpretation, he has been studying this a lot.”
Did he ask about Dayton? Did he remember you?
“He said he remembered me, sure. When he walked in, he came up to me, he walked down the table and introduced himself to everybody, which I thought was kind of neat ... He was like, ‘Hi, I’m Donald Trump.’”
What will come of this visit? Did Trump make any assurances?
“He’s got some big things they’re working on for taxes and for trade. They’re looking at NAFTA. They’re gotten rid of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Regulations is another big (issue) they’re working on ... We can do things to continue on the path that we’re on and be successful and change some of the outdated regulations that are still in effect.”