REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing

HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 28, 2020

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
March 27, 2020
5:56 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Great to have you. And thank you all for being here. My administration is taking new action to ensure that America has the medical resources and equipment needed to fight the global pandemic. It’s been a brutal pandemic for over 150 countries all over the world.

We’ve had great success over the last month. We’ve — as you know, the millions and millions of pieces of equipment have been delivered successfully by us — purchased and delivered. And we’ve made it available to the states. And the governors have been very gracious for the most part, I would say. There are a couple that aren’t appreciative of the incredible job. They have to do a better job themselves; that’s part of the problem.

But, generally speaking, I have to tell you the governors have been great. I just spoke to the governor of New Jersey, Governor Murphy, and he’s very thankful. And Governor Cuomo has been very nice. They’ve — they’ve really appreciated, I think, what the federal government has done. You look at the hospitals that are being built all over the country by the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA; it’s been really incredible. Nobody has seen — they’ll build hospitals in two or three days — portable hospitals.

This afternoon, I invoked the Defense Production Act to compel General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize federal contracts for ventilators. Ventilators are a big deal and we’ve delivered thousands of them. And oftentimes, you don’t need ventilators very much. Hospitals don’t have very many. And now we’re — turning out that we have to produce large numbers. But we’ve been able to do that and we’re going to be doing a lot more.

This invocation of the DPA should demonstrate clearly to all that we will not hesitate to use the full authority of the federal government to combat this crisis. We thought that we had to deal with, as an example, General Motors. And I guess they thought otherwise; they didn’t agree. And now they do. They do agree. And I think we might be able to pull it. But we let them know the way we felt, and they can’t be doing that.

We’ll work in partnership with the private sector, but where an emergency exists — and it’s very important that we get to the bottom line and quickly — we will do what we have to do and immediately exercise all available lawful authorities to get the job done.

This afternoon, I also signed an executive order investing — and very, very strongly investing — the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security with the full authorities available under the Defense Production Act to respond to the outbreak of the terrible virus — the “invisible enemy,” as we say.

My order also establishes that Peter Navarro — a very trusted person from the White House, and he’s been an incredible — he’s done an incredible job for me in terms of negotiation, in terms of understanding where the world is going, economically. But my order establishes that Peter will serve as National Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator for the federal government. That’s a very important position — more important, probably, than it’s almost ever been in our country.

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Q Just before you go, could I ask you something that just popped on Wall Street Journal? It says, headline: “The Trump administration plans to suspend the collection of import tariffs for three months according to administration officials.” True or not true?

THE PRESIDENT: It’s not even talked to me about. It’s just more fake news, John.

Look, not even talked to me. They’re talking about — the only one I’ve heard that from — like, as an example, China pays 25 percent interest on $250 billion worth of product that they send in. That’s a lot. Everybody keeps saying, “Oh, are you going to suspend the tariffs?” Well, the answer is no. But President Xi never even brought it up last night. It wasn’t even discussed. It’s fake news. Tell the Wall Street Journal. You know, the Wall Street Journal does a lot of fake news too. It’s pretty amazing.

So I want to leave — leave you by just saying I want to thank you for being here. I want to thank the American public and all of the people that have helped so much. And we’re going to give the podium to Vice President Pence, who has been incredible. And if he’s tired and if he’s not answering questions like he should, we have a great reason because he hasn’t slept in about four weeks.

But I want to thank him because he has dedicated — I mean, he is a dedicated person — long before this. But the job he’s done has been fantastic. So I want to thank Mike, all the people on the task force, and FEMA, and Army Corps — everybody. You’ve been fantastic. Thank you all very much.

Q Thank you, Mr. President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, good evening, everyone. And thank you, Mr. President.

{snip}

And on behalf of the President and grateful nation, we thank you.

Madam Secretary?

SECRETARY DEVOS: Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President. And I just want to begin by thanking President Trump for his clear-eyed leadership during these challenging times for our country and for our world, and, Vice President Pence, for your tremendous leadership of the task force and for truly making a difference — making a difference that’s certainly true for America’s students and teachers as well. Most of them, as Owen said a moment ago, experiencing unprecedented disruptions in learning and in their lives. I want each of them to know that President Trump and his administration are taking decisive action to keep them safe and healthy so they can continue learning.

We must rise to the challenge of educating all children from all walks of life who, all of a sudden, are in many, many different learning environments, and they’re counting on all of us to find solutions.

I’m really pleased to be here today for the announcement of another terrific solution initiated under the President’s leadership. Secretary Perdue is going to share details of this public-private partnership. But before that, I’d like to provide a few additional comments and talk about the work that the Department of Education has been doing on behalf of students, parents, and teachers during this national emergency.

{snip}

I thank, again, the President and the Vice President for their leadership on behalf of America’s students and on behalf of all of us.

And now I’ll turn to my friend, Secretary Sonny Perdue, to share more on how we’re working together to help support student nutrition.

SECRETARY PERDUE: Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President.

{snip}

Mr. Vice President, under your leadership, the President’s leadership, this is that whole-of-America approach. The federal government can’t do it all, but we got great partners out there in the food supply chain, as well as our food nutrition services, and our partners in our school nutrition services doing a great job to continue to get these meals to kids there.

{snip}

SECRETARY PERDUE: I want to welcome Niren Chaudhary, CEO of Panera Bread.

MR. CHAUDHARY: Good evening. Thank you, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, for your leadership. It’s an honor to be here, and I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity.

{snip}

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me say — let me say good evening each one of you. I trust this was helpful and we’ll continue to keep you informed.

Over the course of the weekend, the President will be traveling to Norfolk for the embarkation of the U.S. Navy Ship Comfort. Our task force will be meeting through the course of the weekend, and we’ll be reviewing the data and preparing recommendations for the American people going forward. But thank you all for your time and attention.

END ‘

7:32 P.M. EDT