Photo: Alamy
President Trump announced on Thursday a new $20 billion investment in the U.S. by the shipping company CMA CGM. He made the announcement from the Oval Office and was joined by Rodolphe Saade, Chairman and CEO of the company, who confirmed the scope of the investment.
In his announcement, President Trump described CMA CGM as one of the largest shipping companies in the world and praised Saade for his leadership, saying “they’re probably going to be number one in the not too distant future knowing him.”
Trump highlighted the scope of the company, pointing out it employs over 160,000 employees and has 750 major container vessels worldwide.
“I’m thrilled to announce that he’s going to be investing $20 billion into the United States because of the election…which comes along with a lot of other things like trade protections,” Trump said.
Trump explained the purpose of the investment, stating it would be put towards the construction of “shipping logistics, infrastructure and terminals.” Trump also said the investment could potentially lead to the creation of 10,000 new jobs.
Saade echoed Trump’s positive projections for the investment, saying there would be “more ships with the U.S. flag as we move forward, and you can count on us to do as much as we can.”
Trump characterized the investment as part of the mission of his administration to get America back on the right track.
“You know, we lost our way for many years. We haven’t done anything,” Trump said. “We used to build a ship a day and now we essentially don’t build ships. We’re going to start that.”
Trump continued by stating there would be more announcements to come and that this investment was the first step in a new effort to rebuild American shipping production.
“We’re going to be announcing next week or the week after a massive new program for building the largest ships in the world,” Trump said.
