Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
February 19, 2026
The President. So this gentleman has a now-great company. He was in big trouble 2 years ago, and then I put on the tariffs, and now he's going around the clock, making the racks, making the steel, making everything that he makes. And it's just amazing what's happened. That anybody can be complaining about tariffs. [Laughter] He just said, "I'd give you a big hug if the press wasn't out here," because the tariffs have really been a big difference.
Coosa Steel Corporation President Andrew Saville. It's been a game changer. We were competing with China. They had taken all of it. They were producing racks at $90 apiece. Our cost alone is $150. You've leveled it.
The President. Yes.
Mr. Saville. The playing field is back.
The President. So, when I came in and we did what we had to do to save all these businesses, you went through the roof, right?
Mr. Saville. We did. Our quotes, our orders—we're so busy now, we're—we don't know what to do. My lead time now on an order is 36 weeks. We were at a point in time, with our racks division, we were laid off—we were laying off workers. We were working one shift, 3 days a week, begging for work. Now we're——
The President. Now you're turning——
Mr. Saville. It's the exact opposite.
The President. He said he's turning work down.
Mr. Saville. We're turning work down, which is a position that nobody wants to be in, but it's the reality of what your tariffs have done.
The President. And honestly, you've got thousands of businesses all over the country, the same thing.
Mr. Saville. All, yes—all of them.
The President. We've taken it away. They were ripping us off. Every country in the world was ripping us off. And to think that we have to be between—before the Supreme Court on a thing like this.
Here's a man virtually going out of business, and now he's got a thriving business, hiring people, can't get enough people, and it's all because of tariffs.
I had Novartis come in yesterday, a big drug company. They're building 11 factories, 11 drug plants for prescription drugs in the United States. I said, "Why are you doing that?" He said, "One reason: tariffs." And we have to be between the Supreme Court, with China-centric people suing us, people from China suing us—they're all China-centric and people from outside of our country—to get rid of tariffs, and it's making our country rich.
And it's a disgrace that we even have to talk about this subject.
Mr. Saville. It's crazy.
The President. That's like men playing in women's sports. [Laughter] It's like, you know, the tariff is the greatest thing that's happened to this country. We're making a fortune. But more importantly, all of these factories are booming now, and they were all dead.
Mr. Saville. They were dead.
The President. All right. I hope you take it down. I hope you show them that we have to be—seriously, that we have to be before the Supreme Court of the United States to justify tariffs, which are making every one of these businesses thrive. And without them, all these buildings are closed, like they had been before I got here.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 4:18 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to Vasant Narasimham, chief executive officer, Novartis. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on February 20.
Categories: Addresses and Remarks : Coosa Steel Corp. in Rome, GA, tour. Locations: Rome, GA.
Names: Narasimham, Vasant; Saville, Andrew.
Subjects: Georgia, Coosa Steel Corp. in Rome; Georgia, President's visit; Prescription drug costs, reduction efforts; Steel and aluminum, U.S. tariffs on foreign imports; Tariffs.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600122.