Trump touts 'thousands' of new jobs in business roundtable

(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

published 23 February 2017

President Donald Trump met with manufacturing executives Thursday to discuss "tax and trade, regulatory reform, and jobs," Fox News reports.

"Today we have [here] 24 CEOs from the largest manufacturing companies in the country, and even in the world," Trump said. "They represent — people just in this room — nearly $1 trillion of sales and two million employees, large majorities of which are in the United States."

During the roundtable, Trump touted the creation of 1,800 Lockheed Martin jobs, which were announced earlier this month, as well as Walmart's plan to create 10,000 U.S. jobs this year, which was announced prior to Trump's inauguration.

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Trump also took time to engage with the CEOs, asking the Lockheed Martin CEO if she would have wanted Hillary Clinton to win the election, telling the CEO of Caterpillar that "Caterpillars are the best," and replying to the Campbell Soup Company CEO's introduction with "good soup."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.