Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020

May 19, 2020

The President. Thank you very much, everybody. Please. So, welcome to our Cabinet meeting. And every member of my Cabinet is working tirelessly to defeat the invisible enemy. That should have never happened to our country. It should have never happened to the world. It's a disgrace. It could have been stopped at the source, but they decided not to do that.

But we're going to safely reopen our country and our economy, and it's happening very rapidly. And it's happening, interestingly, where numbers are actually going down; you look at Florida, the State of Florida. Done a great job. You look at Georgia, you look at othersâthey're open. And some are doing extremely well, far beyond what people thought.

And the numbers are going down. The numbers that we have been talking about for the last 2 months, they're actually going down. So it's really terrific.

In our drive to crush the virus, the U.S. has completed nearly 12 million tests. And that testâthat number today is almost 14 million. And nobody is close. Germany would be second with approximately 10 million less than us. And we also have the best tests. South Korea is doing very well, but we're at 14 million, and they're at numbers that are very small by comparison.

What has been done with testing, what's been done with ventilators, what's been done with the distribution of product has been incredible. We've made a lot of Governors look very good. We've actually made all of the Governors look very good. Some have done a good job, but we've made them all look very good. We got them equipment, and we got them their gowns and their ventilators and their tests like nobody would have thought possible.

Vaccines are moving quickly into phase one and phase two trials, and trials of dozens of therapies and cures are underway. And we're making tremendous strides with therapies, cures, and vaccines. I think we're way ahead of schedule.

And you probably heard: Logistically, we have our military engaged. And as soon as we have whatever it is that we're going to have, whether it's therapeutic or vaccine, it will be distributed very rapidly. Our military is ready to go. They can deploy hundreds of thousands of men and women a day. And now what they're going to be doing is, they're going to be doing the vaccine, which we are geared up for even before we have it. But the chances of us having it are extraordinary.

Secretary Azar will update us on all that we're doing to safeguard Americans. He'll be talking in a second. To protect our people and defeat the virus, we must also defend the health of our Nation's economy. Secretary Mnuchin will report on the economic recovery efforts and the good numbers that are being produced ahead of schedule.

Secretary Carson will update us on the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.

And, Ben, you've done a fantastic job. We appreciate it. He's looked at HUD much differently than people that would have been in the pure real estate business, and he has a way of seeing things that's different and really good for our country. And Ben is working onâvery hardâ different plans to restore health and prosperity to disadvantaged and minority communities, and that's really working out well.

One of the things we're very proud of is Opportunity Zones. Tim Scott of South Carolina came to me with a proposal, and few people understand how successful the Opportunity Zones have been. It's a great tribute to Tim and to others in the Senate that helped us with that.

The pandemic has shown once again the vital importance of economic independence and bringing supply chains back from China and other countries. I probably got electedâone of the primary reasons was that. "Make America Great Again," "America first"âcall it whatever you want. But we went way out of bounds; we build a car, and we go to 12 countries to build a car. I want to build a car from one country: We make the parts.

To achieve this goal, we've slashed redtape and bureaucracy and unleashed the largest industrial mobilization since World War II, especially when it comes to big things like a ventilator. It's a very big, clumsy, highly sophisticated product. And we have now assembly lines. We're the talk of the world. We're supplying them to other countries. We're helping other countries that are going through this plague, and they're never going to be able to do ventilators.

So we areâit's really been an incredible thing what's happened. It's the biggest mobilization since World War II. And we're fighting for the livelihoods of American workers, and we must continue to cut through every piece of redtape that stands in our way. And that's why this is such an exciting meetingâbeyond being a Cabinet meeting, which is always goodâbecause with millions of Americans forced out of work by the virus, it's more important than ever to remove burdens that destroy American jobs.

In a few minutes, I will sign an Executive order instructing Federal agencies to use any and all authority to waive, suspend, and eliminate unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery. And we want to leave it that way. We want to leave it that way. In some cases, we won't be able to, but in other cases, we will.

And you've heard me say many timesâI've said and I've said it very strongly that regulationsâwe've done more regulation cutting than any President in history, whether they're there for 4 years, 8 years, or, in one case, more. We've done more regulation cuttingâI don't mean just in a year or 2 years. I mean in the 3Â½ years that we've been here, we've cut far more regulations by a factor of a lot than any other administration, any other presidency. So that's really something.

I'm directing agencies to review the hundreds of regulations we've already suspended in response to the virus and make these suspensions permanent where possible. I'm also instructing agencies to use the emergency authorities to speed up regulation cuts or new rules that will create jobs and prosperity and get rid of unnecessary rules and regulations.

We had cases where it would take 20 years to build a highway. You'd have to go through various agencies to get the same permit. I lived with it in the private sector, so I know it better than anybody, where you'd go years and years and years to build a simple roadway or a simple building, and it would end up costing an absolute fortuneâmany, many times what it should cost.

And it would take years before you could even seek final approvalâ5 years, 7 years, 20 years, 21 years. A certain highway built recentlyâa small highway; I would call it a roadâ21 years to get it approved. And then, by the time they get it approved, it costs 100 times more, in some cases, numbers that you wouldn't even believe. We're getting rid of all of that.

We're down now, on roadsâworking with Elaine and the Department of Transportation, we're down to a 2-year period. We want to see if we can do better. We have roads in there for 18, 17, 20, 21 years, over the years. I'm not blaming Elaine for that. I'm just saying, over the years, there have been roads that have gone through a process for many yearsâroads and highways.

So we're going to be getting it down to a year. And maybe it's not going to get passed for environmental reasons or safety reasons, but we're going to know quickly. But if it does pass, it's going to happen fast.

Acting OMB Directorâsoon to be permanent Directorâwhere's Russ? Did you hear what I said? "Soon to be permanent director." [*Laughter*] Okay? That's a big statement. Some people would say that's big news. He's done a fantastic job, so congratulations. But we have to get them to approve, butâgood. We'll give you a congratulations just prior to approval, right? So you're doing great. Thank you very much.

So Acting OMB director Russ Vought will present details on this effort, and we'll go into that. So Russ has done a great job on exactly what we'reâhe used to come into my office and he'd say, "I think we can cut a lot of different things, in terms of regulation." And, Russ, I think also, very importantly, we'll have a better product. It's actually going to give us a better result. And we're adhering to environmentalâthe environmental impact studies and all of the other things we have to do to get these permits. Butâso, Russ Vought, thank you very much.

I want to once again thank every member of the Cabinet for your commitment to helping our Nation reopen, to recover and rebuild. I'd like to now ask a man who has done a fantastic job as the head of the Task Forceâhe's workedâliterally, I mean, I think literally 24 hours a day, sometimes, to make sure everything has gone well.

Today we had a really great article by Rich Lowry, who talked about the tremendous job that we've done in terms of the Task Force, in terms of the coronavirus, and getting things going and getting people what they needâwhether it's ventilators, testing, or many other things. And I appreciated that article very much because there's been a very false narrative. People have no idea what an incredible job the people in Federal Government have done. And that includes generals and admirals and lots of others.

So I want to thank Mike Pence for the great job you've done, Mike. And please say a few words.

Vice President Michael R. Pence. Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I think everyone around this Cabinet knows that, from the first day of this administration, you've made it clear that you have no higher priority than the safety and security of the American people.

[*At this point, Vice President Pence continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

And, Mr. President, I'm proud to report to you that we're on our way. And I promise you, this entire team is going to continue to work with Governors around the country, at your direction, until we bring the American economy all the way back, as you often say, "bigger and better than ever before."

So thank you, Mr. President.

The President. Thank you very much, Mike. And again, thank you very much for doing a great job.

So I'm going to sign this now, and then Ben and Steve will speak, and then we'll go around the room a little bit, and we'll say what we want.

I'd like to congratulate Rick Grenell for doing such a fantastic job as ActingâI don't think you want to be permanent, so I think you're very happy to be Acting. But what a job. I think you'll go down as the alltime great Acting ever, at any position. So thank you very much, Rick. Thank you very much. Would you like to say something? Go ahead, please.

Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard A. Grenell. Sure. I would just say greetings from an intel community that is very interested in providing policymakers, everybody around this table, with raw intelligence that is not politicized in any possible way.

And I have to tell you, Mr. President, that I have heard from hundreds of members of the current intel community who are extremely pleased with transparency of their work. And that's

what they're shooting for. That's what they want to provide to policymakers, is information that is not politicized by politicians in any way, on any side of the aisle, but to be able to protect their intelligence estimatesâwe all know that they're estimatesâand they're proud to give them when not manipulated by others.

The President. Well, we appreciate your great work. Thank you, Rick, very much.

Acting Director Grenell. Thank you, sir.

The President. I'm going to sign this now. And so this is regulations are going to be cut. And the potential is that you're going to find regulations that nobody has ever thought of before because you're going to be doing it yourselves. And this gives you great authority to cut regulations. So we've already had the record by a lot. It's not even close. But you'll have a chance to cut regulations.

When I look at EPA sitting here and I look at the Veterans sitting here, and I look at all of the different peopleâHomeland Security, ChadâI look at all of the great talent around this table, you'll have a right to do something that nobody would ever have thought you would have the right to do that.

And so I just want you to go to town and do it right. Do it proper. Make sure everything is safe and make sure it's environmentally good, for those of you that are in that category, but it's very, very important. Elaine, you can do things that nobody would believe in your department, Department of Transportation.

So good luck. And I'm signing this. It gives you tremendous power to cut regulation. [*The President signed an Executive order titled "Regulatory Relief To Support Economic*

Recovery." He then presented the pen to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Benjamin

S. Carson Sr.]

Here you go, Ben. Here, take that. Okay, Ben, would you like to say something please?

Secretary Carson. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. And a big thank-you to all the Cabinet members. Almost everybody has been deeply involved in the refocusing of the Opportunity and Revitalization Council. And Jared and Christian and Brooke also big, big help. Just as was done during the Greatest Generation, many sectors of our society are being reconfigured to meet the singular goal of winning our war against this invisible enemy. Companies that made bedding linen are now making masks, and plants that produce vehicles are now producing ventilators. I worked at some of those plants growing up in Detroit.

[*Secretary Carson continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

The American people will come out the other side of this crisis stronger and more determined than ever. Thanks to the authority you have vested in the Revitalization Council, we will leverage these powers to heal America's hardest hit communities and return to prosperity as safely and swiftly as possible. And thank you for not giving in to the naysayers and to the people who use fear to control people, and instead giving people hope not with just your words, but with your actions. Thank you.

The President. Well, thank you very much, Ben.

You know, I had to run against him, and he was very tough. And he was even tougher when he'd run onto a stage holding a Bible up in the air. That was tough. I said, "That's tough to beat." But I said, "If I'm ever so lucky, I have to get him in the administration." So that's what happened, and you've done a great job. Thank you very much.

Steve, where are we and what are we doing?

Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. Thank you, Mr. President. So I'm pleased to report your administration has been hard at work implementing the CARES Act. We've really made incredible progress over the last month working on putting over $3 trillion into the economy, unprecedented amount of support for American business and American workers. And I just want to highlight a few of the things.

[*Secretary Mnuchin continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

Now, there's no money for you on it. This is a blank debit card. But I want you to see what many Americans will now get so that we can get their money to them even quicker. And going forward, we think debit cards are a safe and secure way of delivering refunds.

So thank you very much.

The President. Do I sign the letter again or not? [Laughter.]

Secretary Mnuchin. The next time we send money, you'll get to send another letter.

The President. All right. Thank you, Steve. Steve has had a great career. He had a great educational careerâa tremendous studentâand went on to very, very tremendous business success. And all of that experience was necessary for what you're doing, right? But there's nobody better with money and controlling money and handling money. So I want to thank you very much.

Secretary Mnuchin. Thank you.

The President. Thank you. Alex, please. Say a few words.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex M. Azar II. Well, thank you, Mr. President. You know, your top priority has always been the health, safety, and wellbeing of the American people as we've been going through this pandemic. And that's been our priority throughout this crisis. We've got to get life back to normal, and we've got to restart the roaring Trump economy, and we have the tools to do that. The right mindset for reopening is not about balancing health versus the economy. It's actually about balancing health versus health. By one estimate, the virus- induced recession will see an extra 65,000 deaths from suicide, drug overdose, alcohol abuse in the coming years. Possibly even more.

[*Secretary Azar continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

You know, I mentioned some of the physical health risks of theâof keeping our country closed down, but we have here today with us our Assistant Secretary for Substance Abuseâfor Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Dr. Eli McCance-Katz, who's a psychiatrist and is the first- ever psychiatrist to lead SAMHSA. And she, if you don't mind, was going to say a couple words, really, about how extended stay-at-home orders can impose really lasting mental health challenges for us. If that's okay, Mr. President.

The President. We'd love that. Please, Doctor.

Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Elinore F. McCance-Katz. Mr. President, Vice President Pence, members of the Cabinet, and colleagues, as I've listened to States and communities struggle with mental illness issues that have arisen as a result of the virus, I wanted to ensure that Governors, yesterday, heard these concerns from a medical perspective.

[*Assistant Secretary McCance-Katz continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

If we ignore the reality of the enormous mental health strain we've put on our citizens on the backdrop of an already overburdened mental health care system, I'm saddened but certain that the next major public health crisis of our time will be that of mental and substance use disorders, and it is not far behind. I urge you to factor this reality into your planning, and I thank you for the work you've done thus far on behalf of the millions of Americans with mental and substance use disorders.

The President. Thank you very much, Doctor. Appreciate it. Very sobering. That's tough. That's very tough, but we're getting there. We're getting back. That's very important. Thank you. Great job.

I'd like to ask Chad Wolf from Homeland Security just to sayâmaybe discuss the record- low numbers we have of people crossing the borderâour southern border, in particular.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad F. Wolf. Absolutely, Mr. President. I think we are takingâat your direction, the Vice President's direction, the Task Forceâwe've taken a number of measures thatâprotecting public health: proactive and prudent measures at the border. Those include nonessential travel restrictions that we have with both Canada and Mexico. Those also include continued construction of the border wall system. But perhaps most importantly, new measures that we've instituted along that southwest border regarding illegal border entries. And those are the numbers that you're referring to.

Last month, in April, we had a little under 17,000 folks that crossed the border illegally.

Compare that to a year ago: April of '19 was over 120,000 individuals. Soââ

The President. And they were all brought out, right?

Acting Secretary Wolf. That's right. And so 80 percent of thoseââ

The President. Seventeen thousand crossed, but seventeen thousand were brought outââ

Acting Secretary Wolf. Eightyââ

The President. ââand sent back.

Acting Secretary Wolf. Eighty percent of those 17,000 were removed within 120 minutesâ2 hours. The rest took just a little bit longer, but are continuing to be removed as well. Soââ

The President. And that's a first. That's a first in the last 40 years.

Acting Secretary Wolf. That's absolutely right. Again, at theâat your leadership, the Task Force leadership, we continue to make progress on that border. Thank you.

The President. Good. Thank you very much, Chad.

Acting Secretary Wolf. Thank you.

The President. Also, Mark Meadows, who's our Chief of Staff, he's been around Washington for a while. He's very popular in North Carolina. He had a seat that was very easy for him to keep. And I talked to him long and hard for a whileâfor a long while. But he's a friend of mine but he's going to go down as the ultimate, hopefully, Chief of Staff. So, Mark, it's really nice to have you. Would you like to say a few words?

White House Chief of Staff Mark R. Meadows. Thank you, Mr. President. Obviously, your work and the work of this Cabinet on behalf of the American people is very evident. It's critical that we make sure that Americans are healthy, safe, secure, and prosperous. And because of the work of everyone around this table and, more importantly, your leadership, we're setting the example of how not only to tackle one of the most difficult, silent killers that we've ever faced in our history, but also how to come out of that more united.

And because of your Executive order today, we are not only ready to reopen our country, but we're open for business once again. So I thank you for your leadership. And it's an honor to serve you and the people of this great country.

The President. Thank you very much, Mark. You're doing really, really well. Appreciate it.

And Bob Lighthizer is working on the trade deal with U.K., United Kingdom. And I hear they want to very much do it. And we'd like to do it. How are you doing?

U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer. Well, thank you, Mr. President. We're doing well. I'm never in a hurry to do a deal, as you know. So yes, we'll see how that works out. I would like to report though, that on July 1, we will have USMCA fully in effect, which is just in time for the reopening. We'll have the new rules that will help American workers, farmers, and ranchers. And we're now beginning to see some substantial new salesâI'll defer to Sonny, of course, on agricultureâbut in the agriculture area and a variety of others, because of this and the other deals that you've done.

But in terms of the U.K. deal, we're just beginning that, and we'll see how that turnsâss you said to me 1,000 times, "We'll see how that turns out." [*Laughter*] So that's what I tell them: "We'll see how that turns out."

The President. It's through experience. You never know. You never know, do you? Well, we usually do. And actually, we've signed a great deal with Japan: $40 billion. We've created a new deal with South Korea, which was many, many billions of dollars. It was a defective deal; now it's a very good deal.

But USMCA is actually the largest trade deal ever made anywhere in the world. People don't realize the amount of moneyâof business that we do with Canada and with Mexico is monumental. It's the biggest trade deal in the world. Bigger than the deal we've made with China. Most people don't know that. And the China deal is kicking in. They're buying a lot, but I feel differently now about that deal than I did 3 months ago. And we'll see what all happens.

But it's been a very disappointing situation. Very disappointing thing happened with China because the plague flowed in. And that wasn't supposed to happen, and it could have been stopped.

So I want to thank you very much, Bob. You're doing really a fantastic deal. You have a lot of records. And one of the people I wanted to get when I was elected was Bob Lighthizer, because he had the record and really had the reputation as being the best trade negotiator anywhere in the world that everybody respected. He was the authority. So I got him, and you've lived up to your reputation. Now let's see if you can exceed it, because you have plenty of work to do.

Ambassador Lighthizer. It's going toâit's going to take 4 years.

The President. How is going with U.K.? What do you think? Ambassador Lighthizer. Four more years to do any of that. The President. I know. [Laughter]

Ambassador Lighthizer. That's all I ask.

The President. Well, the Borisâthe first thing Boris did when he gotâwhenâfortunately, he was better, because he's a great guyâBoris Johnson, Prime Minister. He called me, and he wanted to talk about the trade deal: "How's it going?" That was his first words to me: "How's the trade deal going?" I said, "How are you feeling?" So it was really something.

But great job. And Mike Pompeo has done a fantastic job at State, and he's been doing a lot of traveling. Working hard. Anything to say, Mike?

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo. Sir, I'd just add that, in the course of this, we have brought 93,000 Americans back home who were stuck because travel had ceased. The State Department has done fantastic work getting these Americans back to their families. There's still a few more out there. We still got a little more work to do. And we're working to make sure that the global economy gets back on its feet too. So, along with Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation, we're trying to make sure that we've got all the processes in place so people can travel again in the way that they did before this virus hit this entire world.

The President. Good, Mike. Thanks. Great job.

I'd like to maybe ask Scott Turner to finish. He's somebody who's young and strong and powerful. And he's done an incredible job with Opportunity Zones and other things. And maybe you could finish it off. And we could take a couple of questions from the media if you'd like.

But, Scott, make the media so crazedâ[*laughter*]âthat they say, "Boy, are they doing a great job." [*Laughter*]

White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Executive Director Scott Turner. Well, thank you, Mr. President for theâis this on? Okay. Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership, and Secretary Carson and Mr. Vice President. Thank you all. And you know, I was sitting here listening to all the remarks and what's going on, and I'm very encouraged. And I was reminded of my time from playing peewee football, all the way to the NFL. And one of the greatest times that we had was the huddle.

[*Executive Director Turner continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

And I say that, Mr. President, because this is a blessing to me to be in this huddle. But when we say: "Ready? Break," the enemy had better look out because we're going to be victorious against the enemy and have long-term sustainability and a generational vision for America. So, long after we're gone, the people that come behind us will be blessed. So I want you all to be encouraged.

And I want thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Dr. Carson and Mr. Vice President, and all of you for your leadership. And I'm encouraged to be here. So thank you.

The President. So you know, we have a couple of seats availableâcongressional seatsâ [laughter]âwhere I'm not overly impressed with the candidate. [Laughter] And I thinkâwould you like to move to a little different section of the United States? Because I could guarantee this guy would be in Congress in about 2 minutes. [Laughter]

And you know, I know somebody that knew Scott from the NFL. I said, "What kind of a player was he?" He said: "He was fast, but more than anything else he was tough. He was just mean and tough." And that's what we want. He's tough, but he's got a great heart. He's got a great heart. And I've known him now a long time, Scott. And we're lucky to have you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Fantastic. [*Applause*] Trueâand tough.

Okay, any questions? Please. Yes. Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters], go ahead.

China-U.S. Trade/Coronavirus Outbreak in China

Q. When you say you feel "differently" now about the China trade deal, could you amplify on that a little bit?

The President. No, it just seems to mean less to me, because, you know, we did this great deal with Chinaâthey have to buy billions and billions of dollars of product, farm product and other productâand it was very exciting. One of the biggest deals ever made. Actually, not as big as the USMCA, which surprises people. But it could have been bigger over a period of time, because the potential there is just beginning, in a sense. And it was very exciting.

But once the virus came inâonce the plague, as I call it, came in, I said: "How did they let that happen? How did they let that happen?" And how come it didn't go into other sections of China? Why did they block it from leaving Wuhan, but they didn't block it from going to the rest of the world, including the United States? Why is that? Beijing doesn't have it; other places don't have it. So why is it that it was blocked very effectively from leaving that area and going into China, but it went out to the rest of the world, including the United States? And why didn't they let us go in and help them fix it? So I'm very disappointed in China.

Yes.

Q. Mr. President, can I follow?

Q. Mr. President, whyââ

Q. Just to follow up: You've been talking about possible retaliation for that. Are you any closer to a decision on that, sir?

The President. I don't talk about retaliation. Go ahead.

Economic Recovery Efforts

Q. Mr. President, why haven't you announced a plan to get 36 million unemployed Americans back to work? You're overseeing historic economic despair. What's the delay? Where's the plan?

The President. Oh, I thinkâI think we've announced a plan. We're opening up our country. Just a rude person you are. We're opening up our country. We're opening it up very fast. The plan is that each State is opening and it's opening up very effectively. And when you see the numbers I think, even you will be impressed, which is pretty hard to impress you.

Yes, go ahead. Please.

Q. But, Mr. President, a lot of these jobs areââ

The President. Go ahead. That's enough of you.

Q. âânot coming back, according to these studiesââ

The President. Go ahead.

Canada-U.S. Border

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Canada has confirmed that the border is going to remain closed until June 21, 10 days before the UMââ

The President. Right.

Q. ââthe USMCA. Aren't you worried for the economy of the border States?

The President. Yes, we do. And we speak to Canada all the time. Obviously, the relationship is very good with the Prime Minister and myself and with the two countries. You know, Canada is our neighbor. We have a great relationship. We love Canada. So we're going to be talking, and at the right time, we'll open that up very quickly. That'll go very easily.

Yes, please.

Q. It could happen before June 21?

The President. Yes, it could. Sure. It could. They're doing well. We're doing well. We're both doing well.

U.S. Export of Ventilators/Availability of Medical Supplies and Equipment

Q. Thank you. Mr. President, you've said repeatedly that the United States is now the "king of ventilators" and that we have so many that we're sending them overseasâselling them and then, in some cases, actually gifting them to other countries. My question is: Are you looking to use these diplomatically to strengthen ties with other nations and counter Chinese influence in some parts of the world?

The President. No. No, I'm not looking to do diplomatically. I'm looking to save lives. If we can save lives of another country, that's a great thing. So I'm only looking to save lives. Probably, that's good diplomatically, but I'm not looking at that.

You have countries that have no chance; they have no ventilators. They wouldâthey don't have a capacity to build them. And we're sending hundreds and even thousandsâand we have thousands nowâand they're being produced at a very rapid pace. Jared and his whole team of geniuses from Silicon Valley and other places came in, and they've done an incredible job. So we have them by the thousands.

We had none, essentially. We had very few, and they were obsolete. They were broken. We're building not only a lot of them, but we have a very high-quality ventilator, one of the highest. So countries know that, and they're calling us, and they're asking for help. They need help.

So I only think in terms of saving lives. The countryâwe've gotten some very unusual calls from people that normally wouldn't be calling us too easily, callingâasking for help. You know, you can get swabs, and you can get gowns, and you can get a lot of things, but getting ventilators is very toughâvery, very toughâbecause it's a very complex machine, very expensive machine.

So we've done a very good job. And probably, it does help diplomatically, but we do it for helping people's livesâsave lives.

Yes, please. Please.

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. Yes.

The President's Travel to Ypsilanti, Michigan/Protective Face Masks

Q. Do youâso Ford Motor Company has previously required visitors to wear masks when they visit their facilities. Do you plan to wear one when you go there on Thursday?

The President. I don't know. It'sâI haven't even thought of it. It depends. I mean, you know, in certain areas, I would. In certain areas, I don't. But I will certainly look at it. It depends on what situation. Am I standing right next to everybody? Or am I spread out? And also, you lookâyou know, is something a hospital? Is it a ward? Is itâwhat is it exactly? I'm going to a plant. So we'll see. Where it's appropriate, I would do it. Certainly.

Yes.

Federal Support for Minority Communities/Federal Coronavirus Response

Q. Mr. President, you continue to talk about helping minority communities. What specifically are you looking at to help those communities? What actions?

The President. So one of the things I was most proud of was the minority community and all of the work we've done for the minority communities. Black unemployment, Hispanic unemployment, Asian unemployment was the best ever in the history of our country. We've never had anything like it. We've never had so many African American jobs everâeverâin the history of our country, by far.

And we are bringing our country back, and a big focus is exactly that with the minorities. Specifically, if you look at the Asians, they've done incredibly well; Hispanics, incredibly well; African Americans, record-setting, every month. You know that. Every month, it was a record- setting jobs number. And that's what we want to do. We want to get it back to that level.

We had to artificially close our country. One day, we had toâwe did the right thing. We would have lost millions of lives if we didn't. Think of it: If we lost 100,000 lives, the minimum we would have lost is a million-two, a million-three, a million-five maybe. But take it to a million. So that would mean 10 times more than we lost already.

Now I've seen hospitals like Elmhurst Queens, whereâI grew up near that; I know that hospitalâwhere they had, one day, 11 body bags in a hallway, and they had some outside. And thatâthey had refrigerated trucks coming to take bodies away. Now multiply that times 10. It would have been unacceptable. And that's the lowest number possible. It probably would have been times 20 or maybe 25. So we did the right thing.

But now we have to get back to work, and we want to open up, and the people want to open up. But we've learned a lot about the disease. We've learned about distancingânobody ever heard of social distancing before. We've learned about the washing of hands. I used to wash my hands a lot, but I'll tell you, right now I wash them more. We learned a lot. And we also learned how to put out the embers or the fires, whatever may comeâwe learnedâwithout having to close down the whole country.

And we have big sections of our country that don't have much of a problem. We have some sections that don't have any problem at all. So we're opening up our country, we're doing really well, and most excitingly, we're working on vaccines, therapeutics, and cures that are really moving along at a level that nobody would have thought possible.

And the military, I can say, Mark Esperâokay, you know Mark Esper? He's become a very important person in the world of medicine, because his military is going to be distributingâ whether it's therapeutically or whether it's cures or whether it's a vaccine. And by the way, I have to say, all three are doing unbelievably well. But Mark and the military are going to be getting them out. So he has hundreds of thousands of people that he is immediatelyâthat work for us right now. They're fully ready to deploy. They're ready to get the job done. They'll be doing it at a record business.

And everything we've done with the military has been terrific. We've had admirals. We've had generals. I remember when Cryin' Chuck Schumer said, "We should get the military involved." I said, "They are." He said, "We should use one of our generals." I said, "We do." Our generals have done a great job, Jared, right? And our admirals have done a greatâwe had everybody involved. And they are tremendously talented people. And this isn't what they do; they fight. They're great fighters, and they fight.

But yes, the minority communities are really going to be well served. I think we are going to get that right backâand this includes everybody; this includes our whole countryâbut right back to where it was, which was record-setting numbers.

Resumption of Economic and Commercial Activity/Economic Recovery Efforts

Q. But are there specific options right now that you are considering for those communities?

The President. Right now we're opening up areas and a lot of people are getting jobs. I heard some numbers yesterday that were really incredibleâthe amount, percentage-wise, of the country that opened up so quickly over the last few days. I think you're going to see some very big numbers. And I think next year is going to be an incredible year, economically.

You can never make up for all of the loss of life; you can never do that. From an economic standpoint, however, next year is going to beâI think, it's going to be potentially a great year for us.

Yes, please.

Study of Hydroxychloroquine To Treat Coronavirus in Hospitalized Veterans/The President's Use of Hydroxychloroquine

Q. The FDA has said hydroxychloroquine should not be used outside of a hospital setting or outside of a research study.

The President. No, that's not what I was told. No.

Q. So can youââ

The President. There was a false study done where they gave it to very sick people, extremely sick people, people that were ready to die. It was given by, obviously, not friends of the administration. And the study came out. The people were ready to die. Everybody was old, had bad problems with hearts, diabetes, and everything else you can imagine. So they gave it. So, immediately, when it came out, they gave a lot of false information, just so you understand. Great studies came out of Italy on hydroxy. You know what I'm talking about, right? Right? Great studies came out. And the combination of the three.

But we had some great studies come out: Italy, France, Spain, ourselves. Many, many doctors. Many doctors came out, and they said, "It's great." Now, you have to go to a doctor. I have a doctor in the White House. I said, "What do you think?" And it's just a line of defense. I'm just talking about it as a line of defense. I'm dealing with a lot of people. Look at all the people in the room. You know, I'm the President, and I'm dealing with a lot of people. And it's a very inexpensive drug. It's almost pennies. It's very inexpensive. And it's been out for close to 70 years for a couple of different things, right? Lupus and malaria and even arthritis, they say.

But I think it's worth it as a line of defense. And I'll stay on it for a little while longer. I'm just very curious myself. But it seems to be very safe. But that study was a phony study put out by the VA. You may want to talk about that. I mean, we could talk about that if anybody wants to. And maybe I'd ask Alex to talk about thatâif you would introduce our great, talented head of the VA and let him say a couple of words.

But that was a phony study, and it's very dangerous to do it. The fact is, people should want to help people, not to make political points. It's really sad when they do that.

Go ahead.

Secretary Azar. Yes. So hydroxychloroquine has been approved by the FDA for decades here in the United States for the treatment of malariaâfor the prevention of malaria, the treatment of lupus, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. And the system we have here in the United States is: Once a drug has been approved and on the market, a doctor, in consultation with a patient, may use it for what we call "off-label" purposes, which are indications that are not yet proven and not yet in the label.

And this is the "right to try" President. He, for the first time, got the historic "right to try" legislation for experimental therapies, but that applies to our existing regime, which is approved

products may be used in the judgment of a physician in consultation with their patient. As the President saidâand I'll ask Secretary Wilkie to talk a bit about the VA studyâthere has beenâ there's been some studies around the use of hydroxychloroquine later in disease progression. But we are still working on some controlled studies earlier in the disease progression to see if we can measure the effectiveness of it in preventing the replication of the virus and spread in mild to moderate cases rather than the more serious. And that data is still pending, butââ

The President. And it's gotâwell, it's got very good reviews. Very good. From many, many doctors. Many, many doctors.

Secretary, please.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert L. Wilkie, Jr. Thank you, Mr. President. Iâand I want to clear up something that the media has not reported accurately. That was not a VA study.

The President. Can you hear him? Because I think it's important. You asked the question.

Secretary Wilkie. Yes. That was notââ

Q. Yes. Yes, I can hear him.

The President. Do you want to listen? Because I don't even think you're listening.

Q. I can hear him.

The President. Go ahead, why don't you listen to him?

Secretary Wilkie. Yes.

Q. I am listening.

Secretary Wilkie. That wasâthat was not a VA study. Researchers took VA numbers, and they did not clinically review them. They were not peer reviewed. They did not even look at what the President just mentioned, the various comorbidities that the patients who were referenced in that study had.

I also want to echo what the Secretary of HHS said. The instructions I received from the President were very clear, and that was to preserve and protect life. Those of us who've had a military lifeâsome of us around this tableâwe've been taking this drug for years. As the President mentioned, the Department of Defense and VA have been using it for 65 years. On everyâany given day, VA uses 42,000 doses of this drug. And what we did, when this virus first hit us, was to use every means necessary to help preserve life.

We believed that the Congress was right, and the President signed legislation to protect life: the "right to try." And we did this in consultation, not only with the families of those veterans, but we did this in consultation with our doctors, under FDA guidelines.

So I want to knock down the phony story that this is somehow the VA going back on what the President told us to do, which was to use every means possible to protect and preserve the lives of our veterans. And I think, as the President mentioned, we've seen in many cases across this countryâin fact, I was on the news the day that the Governor of New York was asking you for tens of thousands of doses.

The President. That's right.

Secretary Wilkie. We are doing everything we can to protect the lives of our veterans. And this is one of the means that we used.

The President. Thank you. Hydroxychloroquine is used by thousands and thousands of frontline workers, so that, hopefully, they don't catch this horrible disease or whatever you want

to call it. It is a terrible virus. It's a terrible thing. And a lot of people are taking it. A lot of doctors are taking it. A lot of people swear by it.

It's gotten a bad reputation only because I'm promoting it. So I'm obviously a very bad promoter. If anybody else were promoting it, they'd say, "This is the greatest thing ever." But because of meâso a lot of doctors swear by it; I think we can say that, Mr. Secretary.

A lot of doctors think it's great. But the one thing that is true, one way or the other way, whether you like it or not: It's been around for 70 years. Unbelievably effective for malaria and for lupus and probably effective for arthritis. And what has been determined is it doesn't harm you. It's a very powerful drug, I guess, but it doesn't harm you.

And so I thought, as a frontline defense, possibly it would be good. And I've had no impact from it. I've nowâI've had noâI feel the same. I haven't changed, I don't think, too much.

And at some point, you know, I won't take it. Might be soon, might be in a little bit. It doesn't seem to have any impact on me. But it seems to be a extra line of defense, and it's gotten tremendous reviews from some people, including many, many doctors all over the world.

And you should look at some of the studies. They've been amazing, some of the studies. But that's up to people, and it's upâI think, strongly recommend to people with their doctor's advice and acknowledgement. Okay?

Q. Is anyone else in the Cabinet taking that regimen, Mr. President?

The President. Say it?

Potential Use of Hydroxychloroquine by Cabinet Members/The President's Use of Hydroxychloroquine

Q. Is anyone else in your Cabinet taking hydroxychloroquine?

The President. I don't know. I don't know. Iâthat's a personal thing as to whether or not they want to answer that question. But I think many of them would take it if they felt it was necessary.

I also had a case where we had somebody fairly close to meâa very nice, young gentlemanâhe tested positive.

Q. Your valet?

The President. And he tested positive. Plus, I deal with Mike alikeâa lot, and Mike had somebody very close to him, who I also see, who tested positive. So I thinkâI thought, you know, from my standpoint, not a bad time to take it, because we had the combination of thoseâ the two people. It's two people in a very big building with a lot of people working. Butâso I thought it would be appropriate, but it has had no impact, in terms of me. Okay?

Any other question, please?

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. Yes.

Q. Can I ask youââ

The President. Go ahead. Do you want to go? Go ahead.

Travel Restrictions/Brazil/Coronavirus Testing Prevalence/Sweden

Q. I just want to ask you a question on Brazil, which is nowââ

The President. Brazil?

Q. ââyesâin third positionâplace now, catching up to Russia in second place for the number of cases. Are you finally considering a travel ban from Brazil and Latin America?

The President. We are considering it. We hope that we're not going to have a problem. The Governor of Florida is doing very, very well. Testing isâin particular Florida, because big majority come into Florida. Brazil has gotten more or less "herd." You know what that isâherd. And they're having problems.

By the way, you know, when you say that we lead in cases, that's because we have more testing than anybody else. So we test much more than anybody else. Again, we're close to 14 million and we said 12, 12Â½. It's actually close to 14 million now.

And so we have 14 million tests. And Germany, if they do 2 million, that's a lot. And others are doing 1 million. So if you're testing 14 million people, you're going to find many more cases. Many of these people aren't very sick, but they still go down as a case. So actually, the number of casesâand we're also a much bigger country than most.

So when we have a lot of cases, I don't look at that as a bad thing; I look at that asâin a certain respect, as being a good thing, because it means our testing is much better. So if we were testing a million people instead of 14 million people, we would have far fewer cases. Right? So I view it as a badge of honor. Really, it's a badge of honor. It's a great tribute to the testing and all of the work that a lot of professionals have done. Okay?

Q. Aren't you worried that they're going to bring their cases andââ

The President. Oh, yes. No, I seeâI mean, as to your first part of your question: Yes, sure, I worry about everything. I don't want people coming in here and infecting our people.

I don't want people over there sick either. We're helping Brazil with ventilators. We're sending them ventilators, okay? They need ventilators. I'm sending them ventilators. We have so many thousands of them. We're sending them. We're sending a lot of people. No, Brazil is having some trouble. No question about it.

Sweden, by the wayâyou know, I've heard a lot about Sweden and the way they're doing. Well, they haveâyou have Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden. That little group of beautiful countries. Well, Sweden, took a little different attitude, but Sweden has far more deaths than the other three. You know that, right? Do you know that?

Q. Mm-hmm.

The President. Yes, a lot more death, many times the deaths. But they did it a different way, and you know, I understand that too. And as Mike said very well before, there is death on both sides. There's death on both sides. There is death in staying in a shutdown also and lots of other things, but there's also death. Okay?

Restrictions on Travel From Europe to the U.S./New Jersey/New York

Q. What do youâsir, what do you want to see in terms of travel between the United States and Europeâlifting travel restrictions?

The President. I'd love it to open up as soon as it can, but we have to make sure that we're doing well and they're doing well. And in many cases, we are. But you know, we have a very big country. We have some areas that have done incredibly well. We have other areas where the results areâit's tougher. New York and New Jersey are tougher.

People don't realize New Jersey is the most dense State. A lot of people don't realize that.

The Governor is a terrific person. He's very liberal, but that's okay. He's a very liberal guy, but we like him. He's a good man and he's working very hard. But New Jersey is a very dense area, very, very dense.

And I speak to Andrew a lotâAndrew Cuomoâa lot. We're working very well together.

And you know, those are the two spots that have really been very heavily hitâa big portion, a big percentage. I don't know what it is. It's a very big percentage. Almost half of our deaths would be to those two.

Now, at the same time, the numbers, even in those two places, are coming down. They're coming down very rapidly. And I put out yesterday a statement: Numbers are coming down, with the exception of very littleâfew exceptionsâthe numbers are coming down all over the United States very rapidly. Very rapidly. It's a beautiful thing to watch. But it's left behind serious death, and it shouldn't have happened.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 3:12 p.m. in the East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Sen. Timothy E. Scott; Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao; Rich Lowry, editor, National Review magazine; Prime Minister Justin P.J. Trudeau of Canada; White House Senior Adviser to the President Jared C. Kushner; Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer; Physician to the President Sean P. Conley; Press Secretary to the Vice President Katherine R. Miller; Gov. Ronald D. DeSantis of Florida; Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey; and Gov.

Andrew M. Cuomo of New York. Secretary Carson referred to Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs Brooke L. Rollins.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Cabinet meetings; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: White House.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Azar, Alex M., II; Carson, Benjamin S., Sr.; Chao, Elaine L.; Conley, Sean P.; Cuomo, Andrew M.; DeSantis, Ronald D.; Esper, Mark T.; Grenell, Richard A.; Johnson, Boris; Kushner, Jared C.; Lighthizer, Robert E.; Lowry, Rich; McCance-Katz, Elinore F.; Meadows, Mark R.; Miller, Katherine R.; Mnuchin, Steven T.; Murphy, Philip D.; Pence, Michael R.; Pompeo, Michael R.; Schumer, Charles E.; Scott, Timothy E.; Trudeau, Justin P.J.; Turner, Scott; Vought, Russell T.; Wilkie, Robert L., Jr.; Wolf, Chad F.

Subjects: Business and industry : Domestic investment, promotion efforts; Business and industry

: Manufacturing industry :: Strengthening efforts; Cabinet meetings; Canada : Free trade agreement with U.S.; Canada : Prime Minister; Canada : Relations with U.S.; China : Coronavirus outbreak; China : Trade with U.S.; Congress : Senate :: Minority leader; Coronavirus pandemic, international cooperation efforts; Defense and national security : Border security; Defense, Department of : Secretary; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts; Employment and unemployment : Unemployment rate; Environmental Protection Agency; Europe : Coronavirus outbreak; Florida : Governor; Football League, National; Germany : Coronavirus outbreak; Government organization and employees : Federal infrastructure review and permitting, modernization efforts; Government organization and employees : Federal regulations, review; Health and Human Services, Department of : Assistant Secretaries :: Substance Abuse and Mental Health; Health and Human Services, Department of : Secretary; Health and medical care : Experimental drugs and therapies; Health and medical care : Medical equipment and supplies; Health and medical care : Research and development; Homeland Security, Department of : Acting Secretary; Housing and Urban

Development, Department of : Secretary; Immigration and naturalization : Illegal immigration; Intelligence, Office of the Director of National; Management and Budget, Office of; Mexico : Free trade agreement with U.S.; New Jersey : Governor; New York : Governor; Opportunity and Revitalization Council, White House; South Korea : Coronavirus outbreak; State, Department of : Secretary; Trade Representative, Office of the U.S.; Transportation, Department of : Secretary; Transportation, Department of the : Secretary; Treasury, Department of the : Secretary; United Kingdom : Prime Minister; United Kingdom : Trade with U.S.; Veterans Affairs, Department of : Secretary; White House Coronavirus Task Force; White House Office : Assistants to the President :: Chief of Staff; White House Office : Assistants to the President :: Physician to the President; White House Office : Assistants to the President :: Press Secretary to the Vice President; White House Office : Assistants to the President :: Senior Adviser; White House Office

: Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202000380.