good morning it's 8:00 a.m. at amazon headquarters in california and it's 11:00 a.m. on wall street "squawk alley" is live ♪ let's go, girls ♪ come on ♪ i'm goin' out tonight i'm feeling all right ♪ ♪ i'm goin' to let it all hang out ♪ ♪ wanna make some noise need to raise my voice ♪ ♪ yeah i want to scream and shout ♪ happy international women's day. welcome to "squawk alley." i'm carl quintanilla with jon fortt and morgan brennan president trump expected to make announcement on imported aluminum and steel this afternoon. but there are a lot of moving parts. reports say aides frnt aren't

sure what is going to happen >> they're hoping they have a bit more detail to work with and just about an hour's time, midday, a few hours before the president now expects to have a meeting with steel and aluminum workers which i'm told will be rank and file workers. that's the expectations versus the ceos that he is normally photographed with before these types of announcements white house officials are feeling quite a bit of deja vu after last week when repeatedly they told the president there was no position paper or legal framework from which to make a formal announcement. but the president decided in that venue to do it anyway this time around, just a week later, the president could do just about anything at this afternoon's cabinet meeting or the steel and aluminum meeting that is happening later this afternoon. interestingly, one of the hang-ups is a potential exemption for canada and mexico. we reached out to officials in both of those countries for comment. they declined to comment or even engage on the topic until the

white house's position was final. they have seen this movie before the white house officially is saying the cabinet meeting that happens at 11:30 is going to be about the national space counsel, agriculture secretary sunny purdue is going to talk on agriculture and rural development and the transportation secretary is going to talk about transportation and infrastructure with so much dissent among the cabinet about what the tariffs should look like and what the fine print should be, you have to imagine that that is going to take up a sizable amount of that meeting today as well. we'll bring you more when we visit, carl. back to you. >> we're going to keep you close. thank you. she's at the white house today for that important meeting this afternoon. the other big story is m & a in health care, cigna buying a management company express scripts. they form their own health care alliance putting more pressure on the industry's biggest players. joining us this morning is the ceo of doctor on demand, hill

ferguson he joins us to talk about the deal thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> we talked to david cordani of cigna earlier. he said he didn't talk with two of the three, bezos, buffet, dimond how much is in an attempt to head off that? >> you know, you mentioned jp morgan and amazon and berkshire hathaway and also aetna and cvs late last year these are major moves in the industry that are signalling change which is exciting so i think there's definitely a lot of people and a lot of board rooms trying to figure out how to evolve because the current system is definitely not sustainable. >> he also said that there is enormous pressure. but i'm not sure if he was talking about from employees or for end consumers for the status quo not to hold.

for there to be change we talk about technology and the impact on how customers, patients can take control of their care and that's a big part of what you do how are you seeing these forces come to bear and on doctor on demonld demand that patients want you to take care of. >> we're a employer sponsored health care system by and large. they're the ones paying the bills. we work with hundreds of large employers across you can't trithat employ doctor on demand to provide greater access to care for their populations but also lower their costs and so when you look at a lot of the moves that are happening, m & a activity, a lot is about lowering koflts. but we can't forget that there is a patient involved here, too. not just the payer and we need to take advantage of the opportunity to make sure that we redesign the system to be consumer centric and patient

friendly >> hill, all this consolidation we are seeing in health care sector, do you believe that it will help lower the run away health care costs? >> i think the it will help lower costs, i do. certainly in the short term. you know, i think the opportunity though is also just to create greater access, use technology to enable the patient to be more engaged, to help navigate the system better to engage in their health and get care on demand when they need it. that is another big opportunity there. but costs are clearly like the number one priority. >> how would you characterize overall say in the past year the cost curve in this country are we doing any good? all the measures that we talk about, even on the marge snin. >> i think on the margin it's better but, you know, it's still a situation where we're growing at an unsustainable rate as an overall system we're not getting the outcomes and quality that should go along

with the investment that we're making but there are green sheets of invasion that i thi innovation that can pay off. you're seeing a lot thereafter in the news today. but just keeping people healthy, exchanging the insentive structure and how you pay doctors, giving consumers more information and power about how to manage health and lead a healthy lifestyle. these are all things that over the long run will have a massive impact but they're not going to happen overnight. >> hill, is this m & a environment good for companies like yours that are trying to innovate do you view these larger companies as potential acquirers, as focusing more attention on the technological change that needs to happen? or are they a threat to you? >> i think it's helpful in the sense that it raises awareness that sometimes has to change there is not a person out there who's running a large benefits plan for an employer or large health plan who is not looking at ways to lower their overall

care delivery costs or improve the consumer experience. and so that call to action is getting us a lot of new business and new accounts and we're growing really quickly as a result of that. people want to partner with innovative companies and you look who -- look at who berkshire hathaway and j.p. morgan decided to work with is amazon so companies that can be customer focused and really strong at building great software and services and experiences are the ones that are going to help lead the charge in innovation >> would you be open to an acquisition? >> you know, we're not focused on that at all with we've got so much room to grow in current strategy today so we're not entertaining any m & a at this point. but down the road who knows? >> hill, i don't mean to ask you to play stock analyst. but we were wondering why cigna is down marketedly today, much more than the rivals some analysts believed that if

amazon were to make a acquisition in the space the most natural target would have been cigna i mean who knows if this price action today is about disappointment in that regard. but i wonder if that rings true to you, that cigna would have been the most likely target. >> you flow, i destiny don't want to play stock analyst either i can't make money in the market myself i couldn't comment on that with any accuracy >> we feel your pain hill, thanks obviously it's fascinating space. so many cross currents thank you so much. >> that you recollect. >> hill ferguson, the ceo of doctor on demand the energy summit in houston is in the final full day brian sullivan is doing great work all week. he joins us today with a special guest. hey, brian >> hey, carl thank you very much. yes, we are joined by the u.s. secretary of energy, former governor of the great state of texas, rick perry. secretary perry, governor perry, thank you very much for joining us. >> welcome to houston. welcome to texas. >> spending a the love time

here energy is front and center generally. trade is front and center right now. can we expect the president to sign the tariffs into law today? >> i don't know. i don't want to get ahead of the president. but, you know, i'm not particularly concerned that we're going to be in a position that doesn't continue to make this country one of most competitive in the world that's what the president is really about is -- when i was at davos, i was explaining to people about when president talks about america first, he doesn't mean america alone he says we're going to put america in a very competitive position and whether it's these tariffs or whether it's some other policy that's we're working on, america is going to be as competitive as it can be going forward. but i don't want to get ahead of him. he'll announce these at the appropriate time >> the biggest trade we have between canada, mexico, our nafta partners is energy, is oil, is gas. >> that's correct. >> you've been speaking with pretty much every energy ceo here i'm sure they brought it up.

what have they said to you what are they concerned about? >> it's less concern than it is just pure optimism that's coming out. everybody's got concerns about their particular sector whether it's the utility guys, instra fr -- infrastructure guys. there are concerns, don't get me wrong. but the overall message here is just one of sheer optimism 15 years ago we heard that we were out of energy, we weren't going to be able to produce it even if we found anymore it would be prohibitively expensive. and that was just -- that wasn't reality. the new energy realism, that's what i talked about yesterday in my speech was that the united states, you know, we've been blessed with this extraordinary resource and it's innovation rather than regulation the old reality was we're going to regulate. the new reality is we're going to innovate. and the innovation that's coming out of the private sector, the

innovation that comes out of u.s. dement of energy national labs, working together, is a fascinating story about what american ingenuity can do, the technology that is there so these energy private sector types and my colleagues from canada and mexico jim carr in canada and caldwell from mexico, they're very excited about a north american energy region, a strategy together working together, the quality of life that comes from that >> understood. but we have spoken with ceos here all week and steel is a massive part of their business pipelines, refineries, shipping. they've expressed concern to us. are they worried that any potential tariffs could turn into a trade war that would dramatically impact the energy industry >> again, listen, i understand the media business p i understand that let's speculate about what's going to happen i'm not going to get out in front of the president on this

and then, you know, let's talk in three days and it may be a completely different conversation than what you all were trying to drive right now the point is this. the energy in the energy industry is palpable it's real. it hasn't been this good maybe in any of our life times and america, canada and mexico understand how important that is to their citizens and their population >> i think that's the point, secretary perry. things are good now after years of boom and bust and hundreds of bankruptcies how important is energy simply to trade particularly with canada and mexico? >> as you correctly said, they're our number one trading partners it's going to continue to be again, i'm excited about what we're seeing i think my counter parts understand listen, we're always going to have discomfort.

competition leads to discomfort. whether you're an athlete or whether you're in the energy business or whether you're selling wigets somewhere, there is always a competitor that's a good thing. we're not in monopolies here we're in competitive environments united states, canada, mexico, we understand that we are partners but we're competitors. and finding that nice balance is what this is all about >> the one thing that we know from this conference is that whatever form it is we need more power. we need more energy for electric cars, for the communications industry the global and u.s. growth need for power is going to be massive. what's nuclear's role in that? can we get new nuclear power plants built in this country >> well, this president is an all of the above energy pro poen enlt he understands that renewables

have their place, that fossil fuels have their place, that civil nuclear is a very important part of a portfolio of energy that is going to drive the economy of the world it's the reason that we're having conversations with some of our allies around the world about building out their civil programs it's the reason that you see this president really opening up through clear messaging back to his agencies of government i don't want your permitting to get in the way of our being able to sell l & g to our allies in india, for instance. i mean, there's a -- >> the first ship load went out a couple of days ago >> it did. i spoke to them just this morning. we talked about this shipment headed to india. so there is extraordinary opportunities here but its not just one segment we're not picking winners and losers we're going to let the market get out there and drive this thing. government needs to get out of the way. absolutely protect our citizens, protect the environment which we can do and we proven we can do

but don't pick winners and losers because of your political background of saying well, we don't like civil nuclear we don't like fossil fuels we're going to put it on renewables this president says, bologna we're going to let the market really drive this thing. we're not going to get in the way. the citizens of the world will pick the energy that they need for their best interests >> we spoke with canadian natural resource minister jim carr yesterday we'll speak with the mexican minister in a few minutes here you've been on panels with them and meeting with them in private. energy -- you three are driving the trade dialogue on the energy side how is your relationship with your counter parts from canada and mexico >> personal relationships had, caldwell i knew when i was the agriculture commissioner >> you had a nice embrace.

>> listen, he's a friend these are personal friends jim carr is an absolute fabulous individual in his personal life. hard negotiator and a strong o proponent of canadian policies and canadian natural resources we don't get confused that you can be a friend and, you know, listen, the united states and canada and mexico, we marry each other, we do business with each other. these are relationships that are going to last a whole lot longer than this administration and our personal lives >> we have to go i asked that, secretary, for one reason should the american people be -- the markets are a little jittery. should the markets or the american people be comfortable that these kinds of relationships are working behind the scenes and that it's not just about the headlines and maybe sometimes the hair on fire media. but that behind the scenes there is grown-up dialogue occur sflg. >> -- occurring >> i love your descriptive term about hair on fire that's true.

it's out there it happens and i can say this no matter what occurs from a regulatory stand point, no matter what occurs from a policy standpoint, can dash standpoint canada, the united states and mexico are going to continue to be these great partners, these friends, these neighbors, and we know that it's in our best interests to have as free and as fair trade as we can. >> secretary perry, governor perry, thank you very much, sir. we appreciate your time on cnbc. >> carl, there you go. we can see it here, the human conversations between these counter parties is very warm there is hugs and warm hand shakes so there is tough negotiations going on but i can tell you personally there is a relationship there which maybe will carry over into the negotiating room >> certainly in the energy business relationships are a big piece of the equation. and once you're in, you're usually in for life number

surprise they go for a while great stuff, thank you brian sullivan interesting discussion especially in light of what we may hear this afternoon regarding trade but also the overall picture about production in this country. absolutely incredible. >> very upbeat about relationships with canada, u.s. and mexico he said we'll be great friends and partners for a long time it's interesting that he said it's not up to the government to pick winners or losers but then he also talked about how important civil nuclear was. the market has been basically signalling that with cheap natural gas nuclear, not very viable in this country right now. >> also saying that president trump is an all of the above president whether it comes to different types of energy generation and arguing for not letting politics into that but very careful not to get ahead of the president in whatever happens with tariffs. you wonder if he knows >> we'll see we'll see. hours to go until we get that meeting. of course, the cabinet meeting is coming up the video game meeting with the

executives and president to discuss gun violence we have new highs and activision is at an all time high we'll talk about how the meeting may affect shares. we'll have a lot more. "squawk alley" continues after a short break. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

you know what's not awesome? when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. video game industry leaders set to meet with the president to discuss gun violence. we have the details. this is exactly the sort of situation optics that the video game industry hates.

>> yeah, absolutely, jon there is not what you want is to be called in for a meeting where you don't know where this is going to go. the president says he wants to talk about violence in video games and whether that violence desensitizes children in particular there is part of the school safety pitch in the wake of that horrific shooting in florida now the question is whether they're going to come to any specific proposals here in this meeting today. we're -- we believe that what we're going to see is just a discussion at 2:00 p.m here are the executives who will be in the room, some of the prominent video game representatives along with politicians. representatives of take 2 interactive, the software association and zenemax media will be in the room along with politicians and others from the administration we'll wait and see what they come to as a potential solution here but this reminds me a little bit of that moment in the late 1980s, early 1990s when the record companies were facing criticism that content was inappropriate for children

that ended up with a rating system for records we'll see whether this ends up with any concrete proposal at all, jon the industry will be on the back heel at this point today >> all right thank you. now let's go out to cayla who i believe has some breaking news all right. no the quite yet >> still ahead, peter teal speaks out about what silicon valley's controversial billionaire saysbo ceok-russia problem. your me-time thing. that sunday night date night with hbo allllllll night thing. that island without men or children would be nice to visit thing. buy an at&t unlimited plan, and get hbo included. more for your thing that's our thing.

welcome back getting headlines from a pool spray at the white house with the president saying he'll announce his decision about aluminum and steel at that 3:30 p.m. meeting this afternoon. says it will be fair and flexible but will protect the american worker. also some other headlines about gun control. he says they're almost finished with legal papers on bump

stocks congratulates florida on the recently passed gun legislation. says measures are working along well on the u.s. congress. the headline here is that we should find out one way or another what the decision is at 3:30 >> fair and flexible that's, to me, especially that flexible word is the twoun key in on when you look at the headlines. >> also in the eye of the beholder, flexible for whom and fair in whose eyes i imagine the eu, canada might have a different take on that than perhaps the oval office will. >> we'll have to wait and see at 3:30 p.m. eastern. >> in the meantime, markets in a tight range. doms. is watching. >> european stocks are on track for a fourth straight day of gains. the euro is falling in reaction to comments from the european central bank that central bank standing pat on interest rates and lifting the full year growth forecast for the euro-zone while dropping its long standing pledge to increase bond buying if

necessary. but at a news conference in frankfurt, mario draghi indicated a gradual path toward normalization saying that underlying inflation remains rather subdued here. now that comment sent the euro down from the eyes highs of the session giving a lift to the european export type names draghi spoke about president trump's plan to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports calling moves towards protectionism dangerous and a risk to growth >> i would say there is a certain worry or concern about the state of international relations. because if you put tariffs to against what are your allies, one wonders who the enemies are. >> now as you guys just mentioned, with president trump's announcement on tariffs just hours away, let's take a look at the european steel stocks and how they're faring. you can see they're off by 1.5%.

tyson crook is flat and salzgitter, up 1% as well. these are names to focus on as we watch the european close. back to you. >> all right thank you for that when we come back, former u.s. trade rep carla hills p join us as we await the president's decision on tariffs. she served on boards like ibm, united, a number of others we'll discuss how a trade war might impact business and diplomacy. as we go to break, check on the dow. as we said, relatively muted range, up 45 s&p up five. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95.

we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. i we worked with pg&eof to save energy because wenie. wanted to help the school. they would put these signs on the door to let the teacher know you didn't cut off the light. the teachers, they would call us the energy patrol. so they would be like, here they come, turn off your lights! those three young ladies were teaching the whole school about energy efficiency. we actually saved $50,000. and that's just one school, two semesters, three girls. together, we're building a better california.

i'm contessa brewer. here is your news update this hour more than 130,000 customers remain without power in connecticut after a nor'easter dumped more than two feet of heavy snow, wet snow in parts of the state here dozens of roads closed because of downed trees and wires and will take several days tory store power to everyone. hyundai is recalling nearly 155,000 mid sized cars in the united states because the air

bags might not inflate in a crash. the company says it's received four reports of the air bags not deploying. the syrian civil defense released video showing what they say is a syrian government attack on the rebel held eastern ghouta plumes of dust and smoke are seen billowing into the air. and prince harry and his fiancee are visiting birmingham to mark international women's day. they're helping to encourage young women to pursue jobs in ma math, science, technology and everything nearing that's our cnbc news update for this hour. back to you. and as we await the president's 3:30 p.m. decision on tariffs, we did get interesting sound. china's aluminum association offering a warning, air rare interview with our reporter. take a listen. >> all right we don't have that at this

point. we can talk about it joining us now is ambassador carla hills, former u.s. trade representative ambassador, welcome. >> thank you good to be with you. >> so as we await the president's decision on expected tariffs, we have other countries meeting to sign the revised version of the tpp which president trump pulled the u.s. out of you understand this chess board as well as anyone. tell us what does this mean and what is the u.s.'s position right now when it comes to power and global trade >> i worry about it. for 70 years whether under democratic or republican administration have tried to open markets the economic reports and calculations show that it's added more than a trillion dollars to our gdp so i do worry that we have turned more inward i worry very much about the 232 tariffs because particularly on

national security grounds because i think there will be retaliation by those that are adversely affected >> and you -- your firm spoke about the president's moved to tie the tariffs to nafta saying you don't think this is a good idea i believe one of the folks that you work with says that this could turn into a gordy knot if you tie too many of these threads together is it possible though that this is some sort of a negotiating gamut that the president set up and all turned outokay >> well, there are all kinds of ways to negotiate. and he certainly has the power to exempt for a period of time various countries. canada is our largest supplier of steel and mexico is in the top five or six. but really so much better would have been to sit down. you know, the oecd has a forum

where there is a global overproduction and wouldn't it be wonderful if the u.s. were to lead on that and to find a solution china -- >> ambassador? >> yes, sir? >> i want you to get to pause a moment we have an update on the news from the white house about the president's expected action later. >> yeah, jon i want to emphasize it's a very unsettled situation here at the white house. nobody seems to really know exactly what it is the president's going to be doing at 3:30 the president just said in the cabinet meeting he will be announcing his decision at 3:30. i'm told just by one official, bear in mind this is just one official talking, but one official saying that what the president will sign today is legal paper enacting the president's objectives here and also laying out dates and time frames for those objectives to be met now we're going to have to parse that a little bit. what is meant by legal paper, i'm not entirely clear

kinlt get t i can't get the dates for you right now. sounds like we're talking about something lower down the poll than an executive order. but some kind of paperwork that the president will sign laying out the time frame for achieving his objectives on trade. try to get you more detail but that's the best question get right now as to exactly what the president's going to be signing at 3:30. it may be a situation, jon, where we go all the way up to the 3:30 event without really knowing what it is that the president's going to be laying out. that's what happened last week that might be what happens again today, jon >> all right thank you. and ambassador, want to get your take on that latest information about what we might be seeing when we reach 3:30, signing legal taper as opposed to an executive order. does it make a difference one way or the other >> well, the executive order would start the process running. i can't tell you because we don't know what we're saying when we say a legal paper. i was told that the exemption of any parties would take some time

to draft the papers and it may be that this is an interim effort i just don't know. he had meetings scheduled with people who would benefit, the companies that would benefit, i'm told and that meeting has not been confirmed. apparently he still thinks there's going to be -- still plans on having a 3:30 meeting >> ambassador, whether we have a country like china overnight basically saying they may have to take retaliatory measures if the tariffs are put into place, looking at trade deficit data, we have another round of it yesterday. who has more to lose here, the u.s. or china? they import a lot of stuff here. >> well, i think that united states loses on this because china only imports -- we only import about 2% of our steel from china but what we've done is force all of the countries that we work

with, the top five countries from which we buy are canada, mexico, south korea, germany t these countries have been our strongest allies and we're alienating them one by one through various actions. that concerns me >> we are getting reports that gary cohen is in the meeting he still likes adviser cohen he might come back to the white house. a.p. has a quote here saying he may be a globalist but i still like him we had a big discussion yesterday about the degree to which personnel is policy. and the degree to which he was a voice arguing and against policies that the market would find harmful how much of that do you think is significant? >> well, i hope gary cohen comes back i think he has economic training i think that's extremely

important when you're making economic decisions of the magnitude that the president is making and as i said earlier on, we have benefited from opening markets. you know, with 5% the world's population, we produce far more and we need to have markets beyond our borders >> ambassador, i'm wondering where you feel this goes from here and if there are particular land mark times that we ought to be watching. we have now the revised tpp in motion are there particular moments in the coming months, in the coming quarters whether we're going to see one way or the other how this is playing out for the benefit of the u.s. or other who's have a more globalist view perhaps of what should be working? >> i do believe that if we impose tariffs globally that w will be hit with counter -- duties coming back p the world

trade organization permits a safeguard mechanism and i think countries that feel that they've been adversely affected will take means, some may just retaliate right off and others may take a safeguard mechanism but the overwhelming effect on our other industries from agriculture to manufacturing to clothing will be far, far greater than the jobs that we hope we would get from putting tariffs up against steel and aluminum so we'll be the big loser. >> well, all eyes on 3:30. ambassador hills, thanks for giving us that important take. carla hills, former u.s. trade representative >> thank you so obviously a fluid situation. we're keeping our eye very close on the white house today frafrnl, we' for example, we'll go back to cayla right now. >> carl, we are just getting

some headlines in from that cabinet meeting that just wrapped up we're expecting the pool play back to come back any moment now. but in that meeting, the president did talk about tariffs. he said that if a deal is reached with canada and mexico that they would not levy the tariffs on the two countries he said that he is sticking with the initial decision of 25% tariffs on steel, 10% on aluminum he reserves the right to change his mind and to move those figures up or down at any point in time. he also made some comments about gary cohen, his economic adviser who announced resignation earlier this week. he said that he still likes cohen who is attending the final cabinet meeting today and says he's going to leave to make more money but then could still join the administration at some point in the future. they reported that cohen would consider potentially the chief of staff job if it became available in a couple months the president seems to think that cohen is potentially not done with the white house for good we'll see. and we'll get that you play back as soon as it comes in those are some of the top level

headlines for our audience at this hour. >> stick with us for a moment as we await some tape playback of the meeting. the president's comments appear to corroborate what your sources told you and that is the exclusion would be contingent on some level of successful nafta renegotiation with canada and mexico, right? zblfr and th >> and that would seem to signify if we reach a deal with them that there's an expiration on how long that exclusion would last if it is 30 days as my sources have been saying overnight, that was what was being considered, then that would expire just around the time that the next nafta round is expected to start during the first week of april here in washington on the white house's home turf with canada and mexico potentially needing to have some concessions extracted from president trump in order to continue to be exempt from the tariffs. >> as we continue to look ahead to what might be coming at this

3:30 meeting, let's go back to our reporter at the white house? >> interesting that comments about gary cohen i was told by a senior white house official that cohen's withdraw from the administration came four or five weeks after discussing what his future would be between gary cohen and the president of the united states here in the administration gary cohen clearly a very ambitious person he wanted a larger role here there was some discussion of cabinet level positions. there's been discussion of that chief of staff job possibly opening up if john kelly were to be removed from the white house. so cohen seems to have hit a roadblock here he seems to have not been able to get the job that he wanted, national economic council director is not the big enough position for him the president seems to generally like getting advice from sort of that ideological wing and that wall street perspective. the president said earlier this week that he likes conflict. he likes people to disagree. he wants to sit back and watch advisors duke it out and then the president is the

two one to make the ultimate decision is gary cohen's role over for good that's to be determined. the president does have a habit of going back to people who have left the administration. >> we'll see about that. we'll also see if we get some tape playback here with the president in the meeting >> busy day. a lot of things in store you know, we're going to be meeting today with the video makers having to do with the violence and what impact and effect that has on school shootings and our children we have a very big meeting at 3:30 i called an economic meeting something we have to do to froekt our ste protect our steel and aluminum in our country i want to say this one cabinet meeting has a lot of things that have been happening. very positive things have been happening for our country. pleased to report that our very massive tax cuts are continuing

to show tremendous results 90% of american workers are already seeing bigger paychecks and that number is actually going to go up almost 4.6 million people have received tax cut bonuses wages are rising at the fastest pace in more than a decade something that people have been walting f wa waiting for. as i was campaigning, i was talking about 18 and 20 years and wages effectively went down. now for the first time in a long time they're starting to go up for people we've created almost three million new jobs since the election and unemployment claims are at the lowest level in 49 years think of that. unemployment at the lowest level in 49 years. that's a beautiful statistic we're also taking action to protect american industries that are vital to our national security including american aluminum and steel you'll be hearing about that at length at 3:30

aluminum and steel are the backbone of our nation they're the bedrock of our defense and industrial base. greatest presidents from washington to jackson to lincoln to mckinley and others, they froekt protected our kun fridcountry fm outside countries stealing our wealth and jobs and companies. we're going to be very fair. we're going to be very flexible. but we're going to protect the american worker. i said i would do that in my campaign we recognize that today is international women's day and we're proud in all of the measures we've taken economically to empower women, especially in the workplace. you see what is happening. and i'm very pleased to announce that the unemployment rate for women in our workforce is at an 18-year low. lowest it's been in 18 years

we're very close to the all time record we hope to be able to hit that soon i'll be able to say is the all time low so they've hit an 18-year low and we're very close to breaking the record as our economic policies restore prosperity, we're also working to bring back our safety we have a lot of safety provisions you read so much about our cutting of regulations but we are in some cases cutting but in many ways making it stronger having to do with safety and i would also say, believe it or not, having to do with the environment. you can have fewer regulations and have the remaining regulations be stronger and more effective. that's what we're doing. i would say doing it to a fa fairthewell. in recent weeks i met with the victi victims from the marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida in the aftermath of that terrible tragedy

we're taking very strong action, as you know, bump stocks, we're almost finished with the legal papers we have statutory ceilings we have to go through to get rid of things that people agree that we should get rid of. so bump stocks are just about finished from the stand point of getting the legal work done, the paperwork. again, you have to wait periods of time before you make the next move and it's a long, complicated process, unfortunately but bump stocks are going to be gone and i want to congratulate the state of florida and your representatives on some very good legislation that's been passed i guess they've been listening to me a lot more because unexpectedly they passed conceal carry for some very special teachers that have a great ability with weapons and with guns and they passed that it was somewhat surprising to people because they didn't go in thinking about that. but i guess they liked what i said and a certain group of people have great talent.

they're in the school. they love their students it's concealed and i think it brings great safety they're on the sight you don't have to call them. it doesn't take 15 or 20 minutes to get there and you know exactly what's whas going on so they passed that. and it's -- a lot of people were surprised. i wasn't so surprised. i think they did a great job in many respects. they passed a lot of very good legislation last night we're working to harden our schools and to make them less vulnerable to attack we're working to strengthen our early warning systems so that when there are red flags, as we had in the case in florida, there were 39 red flags, was a disgrace so many red flags. they were crying out for somebody to go and nab that guy. authorities will take action quickly and decisively

and we're working on common sense measures to protect the rights of law abiding gun owners while keeping the guns out of the hands of those who pose a violent threat or even a threat. background checks are moving along in congress, and i think moving along pretty well you know, you've been covering congress for a long time, and some things like even background checks, making them tougher, it's never that easy, but it's moving along, and a lot of great things are being done. we're making them much tougher but a lot of things are happening right now as we speak. i will also say that at the state level, a lot of states are doing things that go along with the federal government a lot of this can be done by states, as was the case over the last few days with florida and really, some tremendous legislation is happening with states and having to do with school safety and safety but it's not enough to secure

only our schools we must secure the communities where our kids are growing and whe whereever they go, they're secure, and where everything goes that's why we're reducing violent crime like no other administration we're fighting the deadly gangs, the ms-13, the gangs they're vicious and horrible there's no excuse for allowing them to flourish as they were. we've taken thousands of them out of circulation, got them out. we've got them out of the country, or they're in jail. and we're tackling this deadly scourge like nobody's ever tackled it before. sanctuary cities, we're working very hard. the justice department has done a fantastic job. i do think we should have legislation where we put an extra line in the money that we

give them, you want the money, you can't have the same thinctu cities that way we avoid the court battles all the time, which we probably will win, but who needs it they want the money, they should give up the sanctuary cities what the mayor of oakland did the other day was a disgrace, where they had close to a thousand people ready to be gotten, ready to be taken off the streets. many of them, they say 85% of them were criminals, and had criminal records and the mayor of oakland went out and she went out and warned them all, scatter. so instead of taking in a thousand, they took in a fraction of that, about 150. and they were all set. this was long in the planning. and she said get outta here. and she's telling that to criminals. and it's certainly something that we're looking with respect to her individually. what she did is incredible and

very dangerous from the at some point of i.c.e. and border patrol very dangerous she really made law enforcement much more dangerous than it had to be. so we're looking at that situation very carefully we're also establishing the federal interagency council and crime prevention in approving reentry to help former inmates reenter society as productive citizens we have people that have been in jail they make a mistake, they get out, they can't get a job no matter what they do. what i'm doing best for them is making the economy strong, but we need them in the whole system and many of them go in and they're phenomenal employees, phenomenal we're doing studies on that, in fact we'll be putting out some information. but they go into the system. and when they can get a job, they really take advantage of it, they do a great job.

and it's very important. each of the cabinet secretaries here today has a very vital role one of the things i'll be starting off the meeting with is to continue to cut regulations we have a tremendous way to go i think we're probably 40% of the way there. again, statutory requirements make it where you have to give a 90-day notice, then you have to give a 30-day notice, then you have a six-month notice. by the time you give all these various notices, time goes by. but still, in 12 months, in fact at the end of the 11th month, we cut far more regulations than any administration in the history of our country, whether it's four years, eight years, or in the one case, 16 years. so nobody -- but we're going to cut a lot more, we really have a lot more to go we're working with general mattis very much on the army corps of engineers, because they've been not so fast and they're slowing up some

jobs so we're going to get that taken care of. we've been working on that the army corps, epa gets it done, we're all getting to done, the army corps has to follow much quicker and we may have to streamline it, because they're in charge of areas of the country that really have nothing to do with the army corps so much anymore. so general mattis is working to streamline that whole procedure. some jobs are being held up because of the army corps of engineers. they're fantastic people but we're going to have to speed that up. this is gary cohn's last meeting in the cabinet and of the cabinet. and he's been terrific he may be a globalist but i still like him he is seriously a globalist, there is no question but you know what, in his own way, he's a nationalist because he loves our country where is gary?

you love our country [ applause ] and he's going to go out and make another couple of hundred million and then he's going to maybe come back, you might come back, right? >> absolutely. >> we'll be here another seven years, hopefully, that's a long time but i have a feeling you'll be back. i don't know if i can put him in the same position, though, he's not quite as strong on those tariffs. seriously, on behalf of all of us, i want to thank gary, he's been great he really worked with wilbur and steve and all of the people, mike we all worked so hard on it, on the tax cuts and they have been far beyond, i would say, gary, our wildest expectations what we thought would be very good has turned out to be unbelievable, great. and people are appreciating it a lot. the democrats don't know what to do they're saying, boy, this is

turning out to be not good for them we didn't get one democrat vote. so i just want to thank gary before me are some rocket ships. you haven't seen that for this country in a long time and many of the jobs we're doing, and mike pence is the chairman, many of these jobs they're doing are financed, we're letting them use the kennedy space center for a fee rich guys, they love rocket ships. and that's good. that's better than us paying for them and i notice the prices of the last one, they said it cost $80 million. if the government did it, the same thing would have cost probably 40, 50 times that amount of money, i mean, literally. when i heard $80 million, i'm so used to hearing different numbers with nasa. but nasa is making tremendous strides. and we're using a lot of private money, a lot of people that love -- they love rockets, and they're rich, so they're going

to be a little less rich probably, but a lot of rockets are going up we're really at the forefront. nobody is doing what we're doing. i don't know if you saw with elon with the rocket boosters where they're coming back down to me that was more amazing than watching the rocket go up, because i've never seen that before, nobody's seen that before, they're saving the boosters, they came back without wings, without anything, they landed so beautifully. so we're really at the forefront and we're doing it in a very private manner at the same time, nasa is very much involved in doing their own projects but we're bringing that whole space flight back. we'll be sending something very beautiful to mars in the very near future. and we're going to areas that nobody thought possible, certainly not this quickly so we're very proud. they had these outside, in fact they were sort of spread much further apart. i said, let's bring them a little closer so the cameras can see them but it's amazing what's

happening with regard to space and our country. thank you all very much. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. >> reporter: when you said [ inaudible ] tariffs, what do you mean by that >> i'll take that, it's fine basically defense is so important, we need steel, we need aluminum. we're negotiating with mexico. we're negotiating with canada. and the nafta. and depending on whether or not we reach a deal, also very much involved with that is national defense. but if we reach a deal, it's most likely we won't be charging those twocountries the tariffs we have other countries that are very much involved with us on trade but also on military and working together with military and we'll be making a decision as to who they are we have a very close relationship with australia. we have a trade surplus with australia. great tr