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President Donald Trump on Wednesday promoted nearly $10 billion in new defense-related investments in Pennsylvania, saying his administration is removing regulatory barriers to strengthen the nation’s defense industrial base.
Speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, the president said the administration is working to speed approvals for defense manufacturers and expand domestic production.
“We’re clearing every obstacle to building the defense industrial base,” he stated during the keynote address.
Trump said executives from defense companies told him they had struggled to obtain permits and complete projects under the previous administration.
“So many people, I was shaking hands backstage, just came up and they said, ‘We couldn’t even function two years ago in this country,'” President Trump said.
“We couldn’t get anything built. We couldn’t get approvals; we couldn’t do anything. And now we cannot imagine the change,” he continued.
According to the president, the investments announced Wednesday are expected to create more than 4,000 jobs supporting the production of ships, submarines, military vehicles, weapons and other defense equipment.
“Pennsylvania workers will build the ships, submarines, trucks, weapons, and industries that will ensure America remains the strongest and most powerful nation in the history of the world,” he said.
The summit, organized by Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., brought together administration officials, defense contractors, technology companies and financial executives as the United States seeks to expand military production.
Among the projects highlighted by the administration was a planned $2.5 billion investment by General Dynamics to expand submarine production, a move Trump said would create about 1,500 jobs.
He also cited a $2.3 billion contract awarded to Day & Zimmerman for work at the Hawthorne Army Depot and a partnership with Eos Energy Enterprises to develop energy storage technology for the proposed Golden Dome missile defense system.
Trump also said the federal government would allow major technology manufacturers to build their own power plants rather than rely exclusively on the existing electrical grid, which he said would help remove another barrier to industrial expansion.
The president tied the investments to his proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027, which includes $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending and an additional $350 billion the administration plans to seek through a third budget reconciliation bill.