Aus dokumentarischen Gründen scheint es angezeigt, den Text der Rede, die der amerikanische Präsident Donald Trump heute, am Montag, den 21. Januar 2020, auf dem Treffen des World Economic Forum (WEF) gehalten hat, in ganzer Länge textlich zu dokumentieren. Nicht nur, um des Text in Ruhe lesend nachvollziehen zu können; auch weil die Praxis der Sekundenausschnitte in Nachrichtensendungen und Presseberichten oft nicht nur die meisten Passagen beiseite fallen läßt und einzelne Abschnitte so gern aus dem Kontext gerissen werden. Hinzu kommt die seit langer Zeit auffällige Tendenz, daß die negative Reputation, die ein Redner wie Donald Trump in den Medien nun einmal erfährt, hier jede unbeeinflußte Kenntnisnahme von vornherein untergräbt.
Der Protokollant hat dies vor gut sieben Jahren selbst erfahren können, als er die "Star Wars"-Rede von Trumps Amtsvorgänger Ronald Reagan vom Frühjahr 1983 einmal, sine ira et studio, aus Anlaß ihres 30-jährigen Jubiläums, im Original auf der Videodokumentation auf der Netzseite des Weißen Hauses in voller Länger angehört hat: Nichts war dort zu hören von Kriegstreiberei, von Aggressivität, von "Sieg über das Rote Imperium im Osten" - sondern ein behutsam sprechender Präsident, der in klaren Argumenten darlegte, warum ihm die Entwicklung einer hoch-technologischen Abwehr der sowjetischen Bedrohung durch Laser und Abfangraketen geboten und technisch angezeigt schien.
Deswegen im Folgenden, ohne Auslassungen und Kürzungen, das Transkript des "Keynote Speeches". Bei Zahlenangaben wurden gemäß der englischen Zeichensetzungs-Konvention, die Verwendung des Kommas als Markierung dreier Zehnerpotenzen und das Komma als Markierung der Nachkommastellen, beibehalten. Die Passagen in den Schlußabsätzen wurden farblich hervorgehoben, weil sie ein Credo darstellen: eines gegen den überbordenden Klima-Alarmismus, den Pessimismus, die schiere Negativität, die seit geraumer die "Alte Welt" mit nur wie ein Gespenst, sondern realiter heimsucht, eine Erinnerung, daß der menschliche Geist und der menschliche Optimismus keinen Grund hat, sich von allfälligen Drohungen von unmittelbar bevorstehenden Weltende schrecken zu lassen. Daß das, was sich in dem hysterischen Gelärme um eine "Klimakrise" zeigt, diesem menschlichen Geist und Ingenium, allen punktuellen Blindheiten und Mängeln, schlicht nicht WÜRDIG ist.
Ein Abschnitt wie "This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for ... optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good thought process - because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action. But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the Apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday's foolish fortune-tellers, and I have them, and you have them, and we all have them - and they want to see us do badly. But we won't let that happen. They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s; mass starvation in the '70s; and an "end of oil" in the 1990s. These alarmists always demand the same thing: Absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives. We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty. America will always be the proud, strong, and unyielding bastion of freedom. In America we understand what the pessimists refused to see: that a growing and vibrant market economy, focused on the future, lifts the human spirit and excites creativity strong enough to overcome any challenge - any challenge by far" - gehört in Stein gemeißelt gegen die Hysterie und die tyrannischen Ansprüche aller grünen, malthusianischen, kollektivistischen Vortänzer des vermeintlichen Zeitgeistes.
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Thank you very much. Congratulations on your fiftieth year of hosting the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, a truly amazing achievement. It's an honor to address the distinguished members of this organization for the second time as President.
When I spoke at this forum two years ago I told you that we had launched the "Great American Comeback." I am proud to declare that the united States is in the midst of an economic boom, the likes of which the world has never seen before. [0:42] We regained our stride, rediscovered our spirit, and we awakened the powerful machinery of American enterprise. America is thriving - America is flourishing - yes: America IS winning again like never before.
Just last week alone the United States concluded two extraordinary trade deals: the agreement with China, and the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement, the two biggest trade deals ever made. They just happened to get done in the same week. These agreements represent a new model of trade for the twenty-first century: Agreements that are fair, reciprocal and that prioritize the needs of workers and families. America's economic turnaround has been nothing short of spectacular. When I took off three years ago, America's economy was in a rather dismal state. Under the previous administratoin nearly two hundred thousand manufacturing jobs had vanished, wages were flat or falling, almost five million more Americans had left the labor force. When I got the job, more than ten million people had been added to the food stamp rolls. The experts predicted a decade of very, very slow growth or maybe even negative growth, high unemployment and a dwindling work force, and very much a shrinking middle class. Millions of hard-working, ordinary citizens felt neglected, betrayed, forgotten. They were rapidly loosing faith in the system. Before my presidency began, the outlook for many nations was bleak. top economists warned of a protacted worldwide recession. The World Bank lowered its projection for global growth to a number that nobody even wanted to think about. Pessimism had taken root deep in the mind of leading thinker, business leaders and policy-makers. Yet despite all of the cynics I had never been more confident in America's future. I knew we were on the verge of a very profound economic resurgence - if we get things right. One that would regenerate a historic wave of investment, wage growth and job creation. I knew that if we unleashed the potential of our people, if we cut taxes, and slashed regulations (and we did that, at a level that's never been done in the history of our country, in a short period of time) fixed broken trade deals and fully tapped American energy, that prosperity would come thundering back at a record speed. And that is exactly what we did, and that is exactly what happened.
Since my election America has gained over seven million jobs, a number unthinkable. I wouldn't say it, I wouldn't talk about it - but that was the number I had in mind. The projection was two million; we did seven: more than three times the government's own projection The unemployment rate is now less than 3.2 per cent, and that 3.2 per cent that's a number that is the lowest in more than fifty years. The average unemployment rate for my administration is the lowest for any US President in recorded history. We started off with reasonably high rates. For the first time in decades we are no longer simply concentrating wealth in the hands of a few; we're concentrating and creating the most inclusive economy ever to exist. We are lifting up Americans of every race, color, religion and creed. Unemployment rates among African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans have all reached record lows. African-American youth unemployment has reached the lowest it's ever been in the history of our country. African-American poverty has plummeted to the lowest rate ever recorded. The unemployment rate for women reached the lowest level since 1953, and women now compirse a majority of the American workforce - that's for the first time. The unemployment rate for veterans [has] dropped to a record low; the unemployment rate for disabled Americans has reached an all-time record low. Workers without a high school diploma have achieved the lowest unemployment rate recorded in US history. Wages are rising across the board, and those at the bottom of the income ladder are enjoying the percentage by far largest gains. Workers' wages are now growing faster than management wages. Earnings' growth for the bottom 10 per cent is outpacing the top 10 per cent, something that has not happened [before]. Paychecks for high school graduates are rising faster than for college graduates. Young Americans just entering the workforce are also sharing in America's extraordinary prosperity. Since I took office more than two million Millenials have gotten jobs, and their wages have grown by yearly 5 per cent annually - a number that was unthinkable. Nobody would ever have thought it was possible three years ago. A record number of Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are now working. In the eight years before I took office, over 300,000 working-age people left the workforce. In just three years of my administration 3.5 million people have joined the workforce. 10 million people have been lifted off welfare in less than three years. Celebrating the dignity of work is a fundamental pillar of our society. This is a blue collar boom. Since my election the net worth of the bottom half of wagers has increased by +47 per cent, three times faster than the increase for the top 1 per cent. Real median household income is at the highest level ever recorded. The American Dream is back, bigger, better and stronger than ever before. No one is benefiting more than America's middle class. We have created 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs; a number also unthinkable. After lsing 60.000 factories under the previous two administrations (hard to believe, when you hear "sixty thousand factories"), America has now gained in a very short period of time, 12,000 new factories under my administration - and the number is going up rapidly: we'll be beating the 60,000 number that we lost, except these wil be bigger, newer, and the latest. Years of economic stagnation have given way to a roaring geyser of opportunity; US stock markets have soared by more than 50 per cent since my election, adding more than 19 trillion dollars to household wealth, and boosting pensions and college-saving costs for hardworking families. In these numbers are a great many things, and it's despite the fact that the Fed has raised rates too fast and lowered them too slow. And even now as the United States is by far the strongest economic power in the world, it's not even close. It's going to be close, but a lot of good things happened to us and not-so-good things happened to ... other places. The force to compete - and we compete with nations that are getting negative rates (something new: meaning they get paid to borrow money, something I could get used to very quickly. Love that! "Can I pay back your loan? How much will I get?") - nevertheless, we stil have the best number we have had in so many different areas. It's a conservative approach, and we have a tremendous upside potential when all of the trade deals and the mass of deregulations start kicking in, which will be during this year, especially toward the end of the year. Those trade deals are starting to kick in already; deregulations are kicking in right now. And I see such tremndous potential for the future. We have not even started, because the number we are talking about are massive. The time for skepticism is over. People are flowing back into our country; companies are coming back into our country. Many of you who I know are coming back in with your plants and your factories. Thank you very much. America's newfound prosperity is undeniable, unprecedented, and unmatched anywhere in the world.
America achieved this stunning turnaround not by making minor changes to a handful of policies, but by adopting a whole new approach centered entirely on the well-being of the American worker. Every decision we make on taxes, trade regulation, energy, immigration, education and more, is foused on improving the lives of everyday Americans. We are determined to create the highest standard of living that anyone can imagine, and right now that's what we're doing for our workers: the highest in the world. And we're determined to ensure that the working and middle class reap the largest gains. A nation's highest duty is to its own citizens. Honoring this truth is theonly way to build faith and confidence in the market system. Only when governments put their own citizens first will people be fully invested in their national futures. In the United States we are building an economy that works for everyone., restoring the bonds of love and loyalty that unites citizens and powers nations. Today I hold up the American model as an example to the world of a working system of free enterprise that will produce the most benefits for the most people in the twenty-first century and beyond. A pro-worker, pro-citizens, and pro-family agenda demonstrates how a nation can thrive when its communities, its companies, its government and its people work together for the good of the whole nation. As part of this new vision we passed the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. We doubled the child tax credit benefiting 40 million American families and lifting 650,000 single mothers and their one million children out of poverty - and out of poverty quickly. We passed the first ever tax credit for employers who provide paid paternal leave for employees earing 72,000 dollars or less annually, and passed paid family leave for government employees as a model for the country. We make childcare much more affordable, and reduced or eliminated childcare wait lists all across the nation. Our childcare reforms are suppporting working parents and ensure that children have access to high-quality care and education, all of which they very much deserve.
We lowered our business tax from the highest in the developed world down to one that's not only competitive but one of the lower taxes. We created nearly 9,000 opportunity zones in distressed communities where capital gains or longterm investments are now taxed at zero. And tremendous wealth is pouring into areas that four a hundred years saw nothing. The 35 million Americans who live in these areas have already seen their home values rise by more than 22 billion dollars. My administration has also made historic investments in historically black colleges and universities. I saved HBC use: we saved them; they were going out, and we saved them. We're removing road blocks to success and rewarding businesses that invest in workers, families, and communities. We've also launched the most ambitious campaign in history to reduced job-killing regulations. For every new regulation adopted we are removing eight old regulations, which willsave an average of American households about 3,100 dollars per year. It was going to be "for every one we do two" - but we were able to lift that to eight, and we think that's going to go quite a bit higher. We still have a way to go. Today I urge other nations to follow our example and liberate your citizens from the curshing weight of bureaucracy. With that you have to run your countries the way you want.
We're also restoring the constitutional rule of law in America, which is essential to our economy, our liberty, and our future. And that's why we've appointed over 190 federal judges - a record - to interpret the law as written. 190 federel judges - think of that! - and two Supreme Court judges. As a result of our efforts, investment is pouring into our country. In the first half of 2019, the United States attracted nearly one quarter of all foreign direct investment in the world (think of that! 25 per cent of all foreign investment all over the world came into the United States, and that number is increasing rapidly). To every business looking for a place where they are free to invest, build, thrive, innovate and succeed, there is no better place on earth than the United States.
As a central part of our commitment to building an inclusive society, we established the Natinal Council for the American Worker. We want every citizen, regardless of age or background, to have the cutting-edge skills to compete and succeed in tomorrow's workplace. This includes critical industries, like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and 5G. Under Ivanka's leadership (who is with us today), our pledge to America's workers has a full-blown national movement, with over 400 companies committing to provide new job and training opportunities to already very close to 15 American students and workers. America is making sweeping changes to place workers and their families at the center of our national agenda. Perhaps the most transformative change of all is on trade reform, where we're addressing chronic problems that have been ignored, tolerated, or enabled for decades. Our leaders did nothing about what happened to us on trade. Before I was elected China's predatory practices were undermining trade for everyone. But no one did anything about it, except allow it to keep getting worse, and worse, and worse. Under my leadership America confronted the problem head-on. Under our new Phase 1 Agreement - Phase 2 is starting negotiations very shortly - China has agreed to substantially do things they would not have done: measures to protect intellectual property, stop forced technology transfers, remove trade barriers and agricultural good and on agricultural goods where we were treated so badly, open its financial sector totally (that's done), and maintain a stable currency - all backed by very, very strong enforcement. Our relatoinship with China right now has probably never been better. We went through a very rough patch, but it's never ever been better. (My relationship with President Xi is an extraordinary one. He's for China - I'm for the US. But other than that we love each other.) Additionally, China will spend an addiontal two hundred billion dollars over two years on American services, agriculture and energy and manufactured goods. So we'll be taking in excess to 200 billion - could be closer to 300 billion when it finishes. But these achievement would not have been possible without the implementation of tariffs, which we had to use - and we're using them on others, too. And that is why most of our tariffs on China will remain place during the Phase 2 negotiations. For the most part the tariffs have been left and we're being paid billions and billions of dollars a year as a country. As I mentioned earlier, we ended the NAFTA disaster, one of the worst trade deals ever made - not even close - and replaced it with the incredible new trade deal, the USMCA - that's Mexico and Canada. In the nearly 25 years after NAFTA the United States lost one in four manufacturing jobs, including nearly one in four vehicle manufacturing jobs. It was an incentive to leave the country. The NAFTA agreement exemplified the decades-long failures of the international trading system. The agreement shifted wealth to the hands of a few, promoted massive outsourcing, drove down wages and shuttered plants and factories by the thousands. The plants would leave our country, make the product, sell it into our country: we ended up with no jobs and no taxes and would buy other countries' products. That doesn't happen anymore.
This is the wreckage that I was elected to clean up. It's probably the reason I ran for President more than any other thing: because I couldn't understand why we were losing all of these jobs to other countries at at such a rapid rate, and it got worse and worse, and I think it's probably the primary reason that I ran - but there are other reasons also - and to replace with a new system that puts workers before the speical interests. The special interests would do just fine, but the workers come first. Our brand-new USMCA is the result of the broadest colation ever assembled for a trade agreement. Manufacturing, agriculture, and labor all strongly endorsed the deal. And as you know, it just passed in Congress overwhelmingly. It shows how to solve the 21st challenge we all face: protecting intellectual property, expanding digital trade, ensuring rising wages and living standards.
The United States has also concluded a great new trade deal with Japan - approximately 40 billion dollars, and completely renegotiated our deal with South Korea. We're also negotiating many other transactions with many other countries, and we look forward to negotiating a tremndous new deal with the United Kingdom (they have a wonderful new Prime Minister, "wants very much to make a New Deal", as they say) to protect our security and our economy.
We are also boldly embracing American energy independence. The United States is onw by far the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world (by far: it's not even close). While many European countries struggle with crippling energy costs, the American energy revolution is saving American families $ 2,500 every year, in lowering electric bills in numbers that people said couldn't happen, and also - very importantly - prices at the pump. We have been so successful that the United States no longer needs to import energy from hostile nations. With an abundance of American natural gas now available, our European allies no have to be vulnersable to unfriendly energy suppliers, either. We urge our friends in Europe to use America's vast supply and achieve true energy security. With US companies and researchers leading the way, we are on the threshold of virtually unlimited reserves of energy, including from traditional fuels, LNG, clean coal, next generation nuclear power and gas hydrate technologies.
At the same time, I'm proud to report the United States has among the cleanest air and drinking water on Earth, and we're going to keep it that way - and we just came out with a report that at this monent it's the cleanest it's been in the last 40 years. We're committed to preserving the majesty of God's creation and the natural beauty of our world. Today I'm pleased to announce the United States will join the "One Trillion Trees" initiative launched here at ther World Economic Forum. One trillion trees! And in doing so we will continue to show strong leadership and restoring growing and better managing our trees and our forests.
This is not a time for pessimism. This is a time for optimism. Fear and doubt is not a good thought process - because this is a time for tremendous hope and joy and optimism and action. But to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the Apocalypse. They are the heirs of yesterday's foolish fortunetellers, and I have them, and you have them, and we all have them - and they want to see us do badly. But we won't let that happen. They predicted an overpopulation crisis in the 1960s; mass starvation in the '70s; and an "end of oil" in the 1990s. These alarmists always demand the same thing: Absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives. We will never let radical socialists destroy our economy, wreck our country, or eradicate our liberty. America will always be the proud, strong, and unyielding bastion of freedom. In America we understand what the pessimists refused to see: that a growing and vibrant market economy, focused on the future, lifts the human spirit and excites creativity strong enough to overcome any challenge - any challenge by far.
The great scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century, from penicillin to high-yield wheat, to modern transportation and breakthrough vaccines, have lifted living standards and saved billions f lives around the world. And we're continuing to work on things that you'll be hearing about in the near future that even today, sitting here, right now, you wouldn't believe it's possible that we have found the answers. You'll be hearing about it, but we have found answers to things that people said would not be possible - certainly not in a very short period of time. But the wonders of the last century will pale in comparison to what today's young innovators will achieve because they are doing things that nobody thought even feasible to begin. We continue to embrace technology, not to shun it. When people are free to innovate, millions will live longer, happier, healthier lives.
For three years now America has shown the world that the path to a prosperous future begins with putting workers first, choosing growth and freeing entrepreneurs to bring their dreams to life. For anyone who doubts what is possible in the future, we need only look at the towering achievements of the past. Only a few hundred miles from here are some of the great cities of Europe: teeming centers of culture and commerce. each of them is full of reminders of what human drive and imagination can achieve. Centuries ago, at the time of the Renaissance, skilled craftsmen and laborers looked upwards and built the structures that still touch the human heart. To tihs day some of the greatest structures in the world have been built hundreds of years ago. In Italy, the citizens once started construction on what would be a 140-year project: The Dome of Florence - an incredible, incredible place. While the technology did not yet exist to complete their design, city fathers forged ahead anyway, certain that they would figure it out someday. These citizens of Florence did not accept limits to their high aspirations - and so the great dome was finally built. In France, another centuries-long project continues to hold such a grip on our hearts and our souls that even 800 years after its contruction, when the Cathedral of Notre-Dame was engulfed in flames last year - such a sad sight to watch, unbelievable sight! - especially for those of us that conisdered it one of the great, great monuments, sand representing so many diferent things - the whole world grieved. Though her sanctuary now stand scorched and charred, and a sight that's hard to believe, when you get used to it, lok at it: hard to believe. But we know that Notre-Dame will be restored, will be restored magnficently. The great bells will once again ring out for all to hear, giving glory to God and filling millions with wonder and awe. The cathedrals of Europe teach us to pursue big dreams, daring adventures, and unbridled ambitions. They urge us to consider not only what we build today but what will endure long after we are gone. They testify to the power or ordinary people to realize extraordinary achievements when united by a grand and noble purpose.
So together we must go forward with confidence, determination and vision. We must not be timid or meek or fearful, but instead we must boldly seize the day and embrace the moment. We have so many great leaders in this room - not only business leaders, but leaders of nations, and some are doing such a fantastic job; we work together very closely. We will draw strength from the glories of the past, and we will make this our common mission for the future. Together we will make our nations stronger, our countries safe, our culture richer, our people freer, and the world more beautiful than ever before. Above all else, we will forever be loyal to our workers, our citizens, and our families: the men and women who are the backbone of our economies, the heart of our communities, and the soul of our countries. Let us bring light to their lives, one by one, and empower them to light up the world.
Thank you very much. God bless you, God bless your countries, and God bless America.
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U.E.
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