white for the pontiff. the pope will auction it off going to all the victims of isis in the middle east. the sticker price is $238,000. with the pope's autograph, expect it to go for more. i'm dana perino. here's shepard smith. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 at the white house. president trump is expected to speak live in just a few minutes on issues including nuclear nation of north korea. will the president take up the topic of roy moore? that alabama senate candidate is refusing to leave the race after accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers. today fresh defiance from judge moore in the face of criticism from leading lawmakers. judge andrew napolitano on why roy moore is a constitutional legal and political problem for the gop. plus, the president speaking as senate republicans aim for changes on their tax plan ending

the obamacare penalty that makes people pay a fine if they don't buy health insurance and making tax cuts for individuals temporary while corporate tax cuts are permanent. let's get to it. the news will break in just a moment. waiting to hear from president trump scheduling to speak at half passed the hour. scheduled to talk on north korea and trade. the president returned to washington after two weeks in asia. we don't know if he will weigh-in on roy moore and the accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers. a white house official does tell fox news the president could take questions. he often does. the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says judge moore is not fit to be a u.s. senator. mcconnell said he talked to the president about it and republicans are looking at all the options to keep roy moore out of the united states senate.

we'll have the president's remarks as they begin live and uninterrupted. right now, kristin fisher has an update. hi, kristin. >> hi, shep, this is the major announcement that president trump has been hyping up for several days now. we know he will talk about two topics for sure, trade and north korea. north korea, the chinese just announced they're sending a special envoy to pyongyang friday, this is the first time in two years that they have sent this high level of a chinese official to north korea. it's a big deal. they've been down-playing the timing of this saying this is really -- it's just a coincidence, there's no correlation between the president's visit and this trip to pyongyang with these chinese officials. it will be interested to see if president trump agrees with that, says the same thing or if perhaps he tries to take credit for it or shep, he could say something entirely different. perhaps he could put north korea back on the list of state

sponsored of terrorism as he's been rumored about doing for some time now. even before he went over seas to asia. on the trade front, president trump said that one of the greatest accomplishments of this trip to asia has been all of the trade deals that he's been able to get for the united states. $300 billion worth according to the president. so we know that. we don't have a lot of specifics. it will be interested to see if today president trump uses this announcement to sort of fill in the details especially since he just tweeted about it a few hours ago telling people to "watch trade." so that could be a big part of this announcement as well. the other big question is will president trump even take questions. there's a chance that he will. if he does, the number 1 question is, of course, going to be where does he stand on this roy moore controversy. this story broke before president trump -- it broke while he was overseas in asia. he hasn't weighed in on it yet.

a lot of questions. first around foremost, do you believe roy moore or do you believe the women who were accusing him of misconduct. of course, do you think roy moore should even stay in this race to begin with? this is of course an issue that is really divided the republican party, pitting establishment republicans like mitch mcconnell and paul ryan against the former white house strategist steve bannon, even though bannon is now reported that he may be having some doubts about roy moore as well. so where doesn't trump stand on this and will he answer that? that's what a lot of folks at the white house are looking for white now, shep. >> shepard: we'll know soon enough. thanks, kristin. let's bring in anna palmer from politco and co-author of the politco newsletter. nice to see you. >> good to see you. >> shepard: do you stick to trade and whatever you want to be the discussion regarding the trip that you've just finished, because if that's what you want to do, don't mention roy moore.

once you go there, that's the headline, right? >> this is one of the few times that trump could be overshadowed that is of news that isn't his own making. he wanted to come back from the 11-day asia trip. he's been saying the last couple days, teasing out without any details that there's some big trade announcement. clearly, the elephant in the room is what donald trump going to do about roy moore. his aides and behind the scenes, a lot of discussion with the white house and senator mitch mcconnell about should attorney general jeff sessions be a write-in candidate. what should they do? clearly republicans are very uneasy about the roy moore candidacy going forward. >> shepard: often these overseas trips for presidents is about showing american engagement in foreign affairs, making friends, making statements, that sort of thing. there was a suggestion that he might have a big accomplishment on this trip. north korea as a state sponsor

of terrorism returning to that list would be one thing. can you think of something else that might tout as see, this is what we're doing for you. >> much as what has come back from this trip is what trump loved, the great reception he got in these countries and the parades -- >> shepard: maybe the best he has ever seen. >> and that is important to him. i don't know it's that surprising considering he's the president of the united states. be so far there's no indication there was a massive behind-the-scenes deal. clearly the story broke that will be a chinese envoy going to north korea. maybe you can some more information coming being teased out about that. there's no kind of massive trade deal that is expected to be announced here. >> shepard: how do you process this business with duarte? the president talked about how we were in a bad place in the philippines under the obama administration. there was a reason why. because he was having people go out and murder his people under

the cover of a drug war there. thousands of dead people in the street. he's been accused of crimes against humanity. now we're all chummy duarte. to what end. do you have a clue? >> i mean, that was a big question mark of the entire trip over there. certainly in terms of how chummy he was, duarte singing to the president. they didn't take any questions. the press pool, we had a reporter that is over there, traveling with the president. they repeatedly tried to get answers did the president bring up human rights, did he try to get some kind of concessions from the president over there. so far the white house shut down all questions on that. the president himself did not respond to any questions. >> shepard: it was confusing. one read-out from the trump team said one thing and said something else from the philippines. did we get to the bottom of that? >> i've not heard the bottom.

oftentimes what they said was very little information as you recall. duarte in the press avail with the photographers said, you know, all the press get out, you guys are spies and trump laughed at that. another nudge at the press and president trump didn't do anything to back up the free -- the free press there. >> shepard: you wonder. any time he wants something out there, he goes to the fake "new york times" or maggie haberman or someone at the times. he says the media is terrible but he goes to the media all the time. seems to be it's working for him on more than one front. >> yeah, he play as great inside outside game, right? >> shepard: yeah. >> the base and what he does on twitter, the fake news, how terrible cnn is and the fake news and then he works reporters

like myself. the minute he gives us an interview, we give it to him because you know it's going to make news. he feels like he's the best messenger, better than sarah huckabee sanders can drive the message and get everybody to pay attention. >> shepard: while we wait for the president to speak and the white house says he may take questions, he takes questions in events like that more than any president that i can remember. i don't remember them coming to any president, coming up to the rope lines and answering questions the way the questions president does. he does it all the time. hope he does today. can you give our viewers insight what it's like with the president when the pens are down and the microphones are off and you're just chatting it up before or after an interview or in whatever setting that might be applicable. >> yeah. i think, you know, in those settles, you can tell he's a

salesman. he's been interacting with reporters for a very long time. he can clearly have familiarity and comfortable in those settings. whereas a lot of other presidents and senators and members of congress, it takes them a very long time to build up that rapport. he understands the drama of it all, what we need to do our job and make listeners read us. behind the scenes, he comes across much as he does, you know, in public, although not as adversarial. >> shepard: when he gets up in the morning and program what's we're going to do for the day which he does with his twitter. i wake up earlier because i need to be up and read the president's tweets. when he programs the news day, does he do that consciously or does he wake up with thoughts on his mind and want to get them off his mind and send them to twitter? is his consciously programming the day? >> i think trying to get inside trump's psyche, what he's

doing -- >> shepard: have you ever brought it up? >> it's two fold. sometimes things are on the top of his mind. clearly this is the president that he says it or not, watches a lot of television. fox and friends, morning joe. you can see him in real time, reacting to what is being said on cable news. sometimes that drives the day. i'm up very early writing playbook that comes out at 6:30. he starts tweeting 5:45, 6:00 -- >> shepard: yeah. too early. we need to stop that. go ahead. >> yeah that is one of the things that he feels like particularly when there's maybe news that isn't what he wants to be talking about, he's able to shift the conversation and he does so very adeptally. >> shepard: yes, he does. see you in the morning. anna palmer from politco. the president will speak at the bottom of the hour. so it's kind of in flux.

could be before then, after then. whenever it is, we'll have it live. we don't know if he will take questions. even the white house is telling us, we think he may. we get the idea that that is sort of up to him at the moment. why wouldn't it be? rest assured, they have lots of questions to ask him on topics including roy moore. he's been hitting back at his critics and refusing to step down despite the accusations involving teenage girls. that's coming up from the fox news deck on a very busy wednesday afternoon. nice to have you in. before i had the shooting, burning, pins-and-needles of diabetic nerve pain these feet... liked to style my dog as a kid... loved motherhood, rain or shine... and were pumped to open my own salon. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and she prescribed lyrica. nerve damage from diabetes causes diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is fda approved to treat this pain from moderate to even severe diabetic nerve pain. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions,

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>> shepard: breaking news. the news will break shortly. we know it will. we're told the president will speak at the white house and they suggest that he may answer some questions, which would be fantastic. after returning to washington from this overseas trip, a long trip, the reporters have been along said it's grueling. one of the elephants in the room is, will he weigh-in on roy moore. unlike republican leaders, the president has not called for the senate candidate from alabama to immediately step aside. president trump was in asia, of course, when this broke last week. at the time the white house said the president believes roy moore will quit the race if the accusations of sexual misconduct with teens are true. the information you're going to get we now have. we have the words of these woman, the two women, that were, you know, significantly underage at the time and you have the

word of roy moore. you have the kind of denials that roy moore gave and the kind of specificity that was given by the women and then you, whoever you are, you have to decide if you're in alabama, a voter, you have to decide. but it's not a criminal matter. it's a political matter. the court of public opinion matters. mitch mcconnell said you have to go. we'll see what the president says. there's word the president spoke with the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, today, and what the white house legislative director told nbc news, he apparently did not say what they discussed, but i mean, mcconnell has said that he spoke with the president last week about roy moore and that they have plans to have further discussions. as we reported earlier and others have reported, leader mcconnell has said that roy moore is not fit to be a senator and republican leaders have looked at all the options to stop him from becoming a senator. that he's been raising a lot of money off of this matter. i think the goal was $250,000.

he's raised it up because he's there. the senate majority leader has floated the idea of jeff sessions runs as a write, in candidate to take back his old seat if roy moore won't step aside. everybody knows jeff sessions. he's the kind of guy, not saying him specifically, but someone with that great of name recognition who has been in service as long as he has would be the perfect person for a write-in. you can spell his name right. you know his background. you know how you feel about him. there's the concern among alabama politicians and republicans in general that that might split the ticket and give it to the democrat. a lot in mix here. here's what leader mcconnell said at an event hosted be i the "wall street journal." listen. >> we're in discussion here about how to salvage this seat, if possible. it appears as if the only option would be a write-in. the name being most often

discussed may not be available. but alabamian that would fit that standard would be the attorney general. he's totally well-known and extremely popular in alabama. >> shepard: yep. that would be an option. but his people, the people very close to jeff sessions, have said to our producers numerous times that he's not doing it. mitch mcconnell said if voters in alabama elect roy moore, he would face an ethics investigation because five women have come forward claiming that roy moore pursued them in one way or another when he was a teenager. he denies the accusations. he's still refusing to quit the race. listen. >> obviously i made a few people mad. i'm the only one that can unite democrats and republicans. [laughter] because i think i would be opposed by both. >> shepard: roy moore went after the senate majority leader

saying mitch mcconnell is helping to elect a far left democrat. #alabamasenate. south carolina republican senator lindsey graham says that this is a defining moment for republicans. he's calling for the republican party of alabama to fix the problem for the good of the state and the entire country. the republican national committee has now dropped out of a joint fund-raising agreement with roy moore's campaign. three republicans familiar with the move told the associated press that president trump did sign off on the decision. that might be a hint as to how the president feels about this. the national russian senatorial relations committee cut fund-raising toes with roy moore last week. so where are we? let's get to our own southeastern correspondent, jonathan serrie. i guess there's something different said by his

constituents there. >> yeah, we spoke with one woman that went to high school with roy moore. she described him as polite, an excellent student. we asked about the allegations against him. here's what she said. >> i do not believe they're true. if they were true, you would think that it would come out when it happened. if not then, when he first ran for office. none of this ever surfaced at that time. >> we also spoke with a local surgeon who is more skeptical of moore. listen. >> i think it's reasonable to have an element of suspicion about the allegations even though to me they're very hard to dispute. to say that even if he has done it, you're still going to vote for this man is very disturbing, especially coming from a christian viewpoint. >> what do you think happens on election day? >> i think roy moore will win. >> a sampling of public opinion here in roy moore's hometown.

>> shepard: thank you, jonathan. president trump expected to take to the podium in about nine minutes. could he be early? sure. later? sure. he's the president. the president hopeful will weigh-in on roy moore. we'll see if he does that. we'll know if and when he does it. we'll take you to the white house and not interrupt you by commercial breaks. if the reporters ask questions, we'll stick around for that, too. glad you're here.

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>> shepard: there's a thing happening in washington. trying to get the tax thing done. they need all the republicans they can get, especially on the senate side. they just lost one. the "wall street journal" with which this news channel shares

common ownership is reporting that ron johnson, the republican of wisconsin, republican senator from wisconsin, says he opposes the senate tax package. the reason he opposes it, he says i oppose it because it benefits corporations more than other types of businesses. here's a quote. if they can pass it without them, let them. mr. johnson said i'm not going to vote for this tax package. that's one republican gone on the senate side. others that are shaky. we don't know. he's the first one that i know of to say that i am not voting for this. again, this isn't fox news material. this is the "wall street journal." his position could undermine the senate's position to pass the plan by december or get the bill to the president's desk by christmas. they want it done to get to it the president, have it done by the time santa claus comes. they want a new tax plan. this is going to make it tough.

republicans are counting on near universal support from within the party. the thing is, there was some devastating q&a regarding what will happen with this individual versus the corporation on taxes. it upset a lot of people on the right. ron johnson apparently is one of them. we have a no vote from ron johnson. one more plus one and she's gone. while we wait for the president, i want to bring in judge andrew napolitano. our senior judicial analyst. law guy. i'm curious. there's the political part of the alabama story. there's a constitutional part of this. if they -- if he gets elected, how do they get rid of him? >> if he's elected, they must seat him. they can't refuse to seat him. if they refuse to seat him, they're adding another qualification to becoming a

senator which the constitution doesn't set for. >> shepard: that's not in there. >> correct. if they do seat him, they can only expel him for something he's done while he was a sitting senator. there's simply no one ever been expelled from either house of congress for something that they did before they were in the congress. so they would be stuck with him to use the language of the streets. they really have to decide now whether or not they want to have a senator that nobody will shake hands with because the allegations against him or a democrat who the last polls show who is leading in the race. >> shepard: what if they run a writing in candidate against him? >> the write-in candidate -- alabama permits write-in candidates. you have to correctly spell the first lane and last name. jefferson sessions or luther strange. i think there's no appetite for that. listening to and reading e-mails

from the chair of the alabama republican party. they seem to fear and they're on the ground there that a write-in vote would split the republican vote and let the democrat waltz in. >> shepard: one of the things we've written that everybody learned, as i knew it, you might have thought they're alabamians. they add an i in there. you know what to call them. >> and they emphasize the i. >> after the iron bowl is over, we can get back to something is normal on many levels, this is a big deal. down there, we've seen the polls that he's gone up in popularity since this scandal broke. but there's an brand new politico poll that is out the top of the hours, 28 minutes or so, this is from politico. it's an nrsc poll and it says republican roy moore is trailing doug jones by 12 points. >> that's the first time i've

seen that. that's significant. >> shepard: 12 points. you have to consider, president trump won alabama by what? 28 points. >> yes. >> shepard: there hasn't been a democrat elected in alabama since a democrat was a different thing than it is now. >> agreed. understood. >> shepard: the idea that a democrat would win in alabama, that means in the big city, birmingham, you have african americans coming out, you have women. this would be astounding and could shift the political balance of the nation. >> shepard: brings the balance to 51-49. right now it's 52-48. two of the democrats aren't even democrats. they're independents. bernie sanders and angus king. it's razor thin as it could possibly be, shep. >> shepard: so if you're the president, like we know mitch mcconnell doesn't want him to run. we haven't heard from the president but i presume we will hear from him shortly.

>> you'll hear from him on a couple minutes. i don't know how he can avoid answering this. the republican party believes, it has problems with the votes of married women. so do they want to address this issue and live with the democrat or do they want to look the other way and let roy moore get in. there's no clear thinking about which way they want to go on this. there's no legal avenue for them to stop him. it's too late. >> shepard: is there a chance here -- can you figure the phone call? i wonder if it's happened already. has president trump spoken with roy moore? i don't know. we're two minutes to the president. here's what's about to happen. our local stations across the country, we have this news channel and hundreds of local station. >> they're coming to us? >> shepard: they're coming to us. what is happening on local fox stations, they're about to interrupt their programming and we'll do a simulcast and then hear from the president. i'm told we're now about a

minute and 40 seconds to the president. so we can stop speculating. new kids coming to the party. hang on. from fox news in new york, i'm shepard smith. this is special coverage of a presidential speech, news conference, gaggle with the president. president trump is back from his trip to asia. he returned to the united states last night and he's about to give a statement. we believe north korea is on the agenda. we believe trade is on the agenda. little birdies have been saying he has a big announcement, a big announcement on something. maybe trade. could north korea be returned to a list of state sponsors of terrorism? that could be a thing. and as we have been discussing on the fox news channel before those of you watching on fox television stations, there's the elephant in the room of roy moore and will he mentioned roy moore. judge andrew napolitano is with us. imagine the phone call from donald trump to roy moore. if donald trump says you have to get out.

roy moore says i'm not one of your guys anyway. he didn't support him. have to wonder how that would go. >> it's a standoff. and roy moore seems firm and unbending, he's not going to leave the race voluntarily and there's no legal means to do so under federal or alabama law. >> shepard: so what we have is and we just discussed this on fox news channel, there's a new poll out from politico that was released at the top of the hour and shows roy moore, the republican, is trailing the democrat in this race, jones, by 12 points. this is a dramatic change from before. maybe the president will mention it. here he is. president donald trump. >> thank you very much. last night i returned from a historic 12-day trip to asia. this journey took us to five nations, to meet with dozens of foreign leaders, participate in three formal state visits and

attend three key regional summits. it was the longest visit to the region by an american president in more than a quarter century. everywhere we went, our foreign hosts greeted the american delegation, myself included, with incredible warmth, hospitality and most importantly respect. this great respect showed very well our country is further evidence that america's renewed confidence and standing in the world has never been stronger than it is right now. when we are confident in ourselves, our strength, our flag, our history, our values, other nations are confident in us. when we treat our citizens with the respect they deserve, other countries treat america with the respect that our country so richly deserves. during our travels, this is

exactly what the world saw. a strong, proud and confident america. today i want to update the american people on the tremendous success of this trip and the progress we've made to advance american security and prosperity throughout the year. when i came into office, our country was faced with a series of growing dangers. these threats included rogue regimes pursuing deadly weapons, foreign powers challenging america's influence, the spread of the murderous terror group isis and years of unfair trade practices that had dangerously depleted our manufacturing base and wiped out millions and millions of middle class jobs. the challenges were inherited. these products really showed what previous mistakes were made over many years and even decades

by other administrations. some of these mistakes were born of indifference and neglect. others from naive thinking and misguided judgment. in some cases, the negative influence of partisan politics and special interests was to blame. but the one common thread behind all of these problems was a failure to protect and promote the interests of the american people and american workers. upon my inauguration, i pledged to rebuild america, restore its economic strength and defend its national security. with this goal in mind, i vowed that we would re-affirm old alliances and form new friendships in pursuit of shared goal. and i swore with every decision and every action, i would put the best interests of the american people first. over the past ten months,

traveling across the globe and meeting with world leaders, that is exactly what i have done. earlier this year in saudi arabia, i spoke to the leaders of more than 50 arab and muslim nations about our strategy to defeat terrorists by stripping them of financing, territory and idealogical support, and i urged the leaders to drive out the terrorists and extremists from their societies. since that time, we have dealt isis one crushing defeat after another. in israel, i reaffirmed the unbreakable bond between america and the jewish state, and i met with leaders of the palestinian authority and initiated an effort to facilitate lasting peace between the israelis and the palestinians. in brussels i urged our nato allies to do more to strengthen our crucial alliance and set the

stage for significant increases in member contributions. billions and billions of dollars are pouring in because of that initiative. nato, believe me, is very happy with donald trump and what i did. in warsaw, i declared to the world america's resolve to preserve and protect western civilization and the values we hold so dear. in rome, sicily, hamburg and paris, i strengthened our friendships with key allies to promote our shared interests of security and prosperity. in september at the united nations general assembly in new york, i urged that the nations of the world join in confronting rogue regimes that threaten humanity and laid out a model for international cooperation grounded in respect for sovereignty and the

responsibilities that come with it. on each trip i have worked to advance american interests and leadership in the world. to each of these places, i have carried a vision for something stronger and sovereign, so important, sovereign, independent nations confident in their destinies and cooperating to advance their security, prosperity and the noble cause of peace. it was this same vision that i carried to asia two weeks ago. it was the same commitment to you, the american people, that was always at the forefront of my mind and my thinking. our trip was defined by three core goals. first, to unite the world against the nuclear menace posed by the north korean regime. a threat that has increased steadily through many

administrations, and now requires urgent action. second, to strengthen america's alliances and economic partnerships in a free and open indopacific made up of thriving independent nations respectful of other countries and their own citizens and safe from foreign domination and economic servitude. third, to finally after many years insist on fair and reciprocal trade. fair and reciprocal trade. so important. these two words, fairness and reciprocal trade or what all nations want.

that is why we have almost an $800 billion a year trade deficit with other nations. unacceptable. we're going to start whittling that down and as fast as possible. with these goals, it was my profound honor to travel on this journey as your representative. i explained to all of the world leaders and across asia how well the united states is doing. economic growth has been over 3% the last two quarters and going higher. unemployment is at the lowest level in 17 years. the stock market has gained trillions of dollars in value since my election and has reached record highs. we are massively increasing our military budget to historic levels. the house has just passed a nearly $700 billion defense

package, and it could not come at a better time for our nation. once again, our country is optimistic about the future. confident in our values and proud of our history. a role in the world. i want to thank every citizen of this country for the part you have played in making this great american comeback possible. in asia, our message was clear and well-received. america is here to compete, to do business and to defend our values and our security. we began our trip in hawaii to pay our respects to brave american service members at pearl harbor and the united states pacific command. the guardian of our freedom across the pacific region.

as our country prepared to observe veterans day, we remembered the incredible sacrifices and courage of all of the veterans whose service has preserved our liberty and a way of life that is very special. we also thanked military families for their support for our brave servicemen and women. from hawaii we travelled to japan. a crucial u.s. ally and partner in the region. upon landing in japan, my first act was to thank the american service members and japanese self-defense forces that personified the strengths of our enduring alliance. prime minister abe and i agreed on our absolute determination to remain united to achieve the goal of denuclearized north korea. shortly following our visit,

japan announced additional sanctions on 35 north korean entities and individuals. japan also committed to shouldering more of the burden of our common defense by reimbursing costs borne by american taxpayers as well as by making deep investments in japan's own military. this will include purchases of u.s. advanced capabilities from jet fighters to missile defense, systems worth many, many billions of dollars and jobs for the american worker. prime minister and i also discussed ways we can deepen our trade relationship based on the core principles of fairness and reciprocity. i'm pleased since january of this year, japanese companies

have announced investments in the united states worth more than $8 billion, 17,000 jobs. thank you. japanese manufacturers, toyota and mazda, announced that they will be opening a new plant in the united states that will create 4,000 jobs. we also signed agreements between our nations to enhance infrastructure development, increased access of affordable energy and advance our foreign policy goals to economic investment. from japan we traveled to another key american ally in asia, the republic of korea. my first state visit to south

korea was the first by an american president in 25 years. speaking before the national assembly of the republic of korea, i spoke the truth about the evil crimes of the north korean regime. i made clear that we will not allow this twisted dictatorship to hold the world hostage to nuclear blackmail. i called on all nations including china and russia to cut off all ties of trade and commerce until they stop their dangerous provocation -- and this is the whole key to what we're doing -- denuclearization. we have to denuclearize north korea. we have ended the failed strategy of strategic patience and as a result we have already seen important progress, including tough new sanctions from the u.n. council. we have a security council that has been with us and just about with us from the beginning.

south korea agreed to harmonize sanctions and join the united states in sanctioning additional rogue actors whose fund and funds have helped north korea and north korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. it's unacceptable to us. the united states welcomed the decision of respect moon to remove the pay load restrictions on missiles to combat the north korean threat and together we reaffirmed our commitment to a campaign of maximum pressure. like japan, south korea is increasing its defense contributions. during our meetings, president moon acknowledged his desire for equitable cost-sharing for the united states military forces stationed in south korea. and i visited soldiers at camp humphries, a brand new base paid for almost entirely by the south

korean government. at that base, i discussed with the united states and south korean military leaders both military options and readiness to respond to north korean provocation or offensive actions. during our visit, president moon and i also discussed america's commitment to reducing our trade deficit with south korea. at my discretion and direction, we are currently renegotiating the disastrous trade agreement negotiated up the prior administration. it was a disaster for the united states. last year, 42 south korean companies announced their intent to invest in projection worth more than $17 billion in the united states. 24 companies announced plans to purchase $58 billion in american goods and services. from south korea, melania and i

traveled to china where as in japan and south korea, we were greatly honored by the splendor of our reception. our trip included the first official dinner held for a foreign leader in the forbidden city since the founding of the modern china where we enjoyed a very productive evening hosted by president xi and his wonderful wife. during our visit, president xi pledged to implement u.n. security resolutions on north korea and to use his great economic influence over the regime to achieve hour common goal of a denuclearized korean peninsula. president xi recognizes that a nuclear north korea is a grave threat to china and we agreed that we would not accept a so-called freeze for freeze agreement like those that have consistently failed in the past.

we made that time is running out and we made it clear. all options remain on the table. i also had a very candid conversation with president xi and reducing our staggering trade deficit with china and for our trading relationship to be conducted on a truly fair and equitable basis. we can no longer tolerate unfair trading practices that steal american jobs, wealth and intellectual property. the days of the united states being taken advantage of are over. in china, we also announced $250 billion worth of trade investment deals that will create jobs in the united states. from china, i flew to vietnam to attend the asia pacific economic

cooperation meeting. there i spoke to a major gathering of business leaders where i reminded the world of america's historic role in the pacific as a force for freedom and for peace. standing on this proud history, i offered our vision for robust trading relationships in which indopacific nations can prosper and grow together. i announce the united states is ready to make bilateral trade deals with any nation that wants to be our partner in fair and reciprocal trade. we will never turn a blind eye to trading abuses, to cheating, economic aggression or anything else from countries that profess a belief in open trade, but do not follow the rules or live bi-its principles itselves. no international trading or any sayings can trade if members are allowed to exploit the openness of others for unfair economic gain. trade abuses harm the united

states and its workers, but no more. no more. we will take every trade action necessary to achieve the fair and reciprocal treatment the united states has offered to the world for decades. my message has resonated. the apec leaders recognized the importance of fair around reciprocal trade, recognized the need to address unfair trade practices and acknowledged that the wto is in strong need of reform. these leaders also noted that countries must do a better job following the rules to which they agree. i also made very clear that the united states will promote a free and open indopacific in which nations enjoy the independence and respect that they deserve. in vietnam, during a state visit in hanoi, i also met with the

president and the prime minister to discuss the growing friendship between our countries. our vietnamese partners are enforcing sanctions on north korea. we pledge to address the imbalances. i am particularly pleased that the united states and vietnam recently announced $12 billion in commercial agreements, which will include $10 billion in u.s. content. finally, i visited the philippines where i meet with numerous world leaders at the u.s. and east asia summits. the association of southeast asian nations, we made it clear that no one owns the ocean. freedom of navigation and overflight are critical to the security and prosperity of all nations. i also met with the prime

ministers of india, australia and japan to discuss our shared commitment to a free and open indopacific. during our visit, president duarte thanked the american people and our armed forces for supporting the recent liberation of isis. we pledge to strengthen and deepen our long-standing alliance. at the east asia summit, the united states negotiated and signed four important leader statements on the use of chemical weapons, money laundering, poverty alleviation and countering terrorist propaganda and financing. crucially at both summits and throughout the trip, we asked all nations to support our campaign of maximum pressure for north korean denuclearization. they are responding by cutting trade with north korea, restricting financial ties to the regime and expelling north

korean diplomats and workers. over the last two weeks, we have made historic strides in reasserting american leadership, restoring american security and rea wakening american confidence. everywhere we went, i reaffirmed our vision for cooperation between independence and sovereign countries. i made clear the united states will be a friend and advocate for its own citizens. the momentum from our trip will launch us on our continued effort to accomplish the three core objectives i outlined. to unite the world against north korean nuclear threat, to promote a free and open indopacific region and to advance fair and reciprocal economic relations with our trading partners and allieds in the region. we have established a new frame

work for trade that will ensure reciprocity, enforcement actions, reform of international organizations and new fair trade deals that benefit the united states and our partners. we have laid out a pathway towards peace and security in our world where sovereign nations can thrive, flourish and prosper side by side. this is our beautiful vision for the future. this is a future where this vision, this dream is only possible if america is strong, proud and free. as long as we are true to ourselves, faithful to our founding and loyal to our citizens, then there's no task too great, no dream too large or no goal beyond our reach. my fellow citizens, america is back. the future has never looked

brighter. thank you, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. thank you all. >> should roy moore resign, mr. president? should he resign? >> shepard: well, that kind of makes sense. if what you want to do is focus on what you consider to be your accomplishments from the last 12 days to answer that question in this forum would probably not benefit you. at some point there will be discussions on this and at some point we'll hear from the president and the white house, for today, no questions. for those of you watching on fox television stations, we'll continue discussion on this matter on fox news channel and satellite and cable. for those of you on local fox stations, back to local programming. i'm shepard smith. fox news in new york. and on fox news channel, we're back to just us now. let's bring in josh lederman, foreign affairs reporter.

hi, josh. >> hi, shep. >> shepard: so if later on, after dinner tonight, maybe you're having a coffee around the dinner table and somebody says, the president spoke today, what was it about, what would you tell them? >> this had the feeling that your cousin told you about their vacation but makes you watch the slide show of the pictures? there was nothing new in here that we didn't know from having watched the president's travels. clearly the white house wanted to show the president had come away from this trip with accomplishments. they went into detail in his comment just now about here's what we got as far as commitments on north korea, understandings about how we'll move forward on trade. this fell short of the major announcement we had been teased and lead to be coming from the president. the fact of the matter is, he didn't walk away with any concrete bilateral agreements on trade like he's been talking about. instead we saw the 11 other

nations in the trans pacific partnership moving ahead without the united states. so it's going to be up to the president's fans and critics to determine whether they feel like the kind of problem he was talking about just now really does demonstrate movement ahead for the u.s. or whether the united states is seeding some leverage to china as the president walks away from this historic trip to asia. >> shepard: his detractors suggested he was. back to the roy moore matter. a lot of people in the republican party have weighed in on this. you would suspect that at some point the president would do the same once he gets -- i'm sure he's hoping for a news cycle out of that. at some point you expect to hear from him, right? >> that's right. the president's advisers says he knows he need to address this. it's a major issue royaling the country while he was abroad. he plans to way in. he wanted to take time when he gets back home to read the temperature of the country and figure out how to go forward. i would imagine the president

wanted to be about his asia trip and not step on that measure and come back to address what is happening with the republican party and with that senate race in alabama, shep. >> shepard: has anyone thought of a way that the republicans can -- in the absence of roy moore, save this senate seat? >> it's something that the republicans are anxiously and feverishly working on now. we've heard about write-in cap -- campaigns and what if he's elected and kicking him out. a lot of macinations. we'll see what happens. >> shepard: thanks, josh. it's been a rough day in the markets. the dow is down. we're still at -- within a

couple hundred points of the highest ever. it's down a little bit. neil cavuto will fill us in on that, what oil is doing. i can tell you, if nothing else, i think fiji water is probably trending. >> neil: all right. they are without the vote right now of senator ron johnson of wisconsin. that might have fueled a little bit more selling than we thought. i'm neil cavuto. in the capitol, they were taken aback on news that this wisconsin republican as things stand in the tax package is a no vote on that. this comes at the same time that the house is sort of detailing how its going to get set to vote on this thing tomorrow when the president comes up on capitol hill. but stocks which were down already going into this, maybe jostled a little bit on this unexpected development. ron johnson said he had concerns