MACUNGIE, Pennsylvania — President Donald Trump envisions Pennsylvania shaking off the Rust Belt moniker that insinuates decay. In an exclusive interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump said he sees it as America’s “Money Belt,” a region rapidly reinventing itself with massive investments in energy and defense contracts in manufacturing, robotics, and artificial intelligence.“I look around here, and you can still call Pennsylvania part of the Rust Belt, but I think it is really the ‘Money Belt,’” Trump said in the shadow of Mack Trucks’ massive M917A3 Heavy Dump Truck that is made at this Lehigh Valley facility for the War Department.Trump spoke to the Washington Examiner after a private tour of the facility led by Mack President Stephen Roy. He then spoke to hundreds of employees from a stage constructed on the shop floor while he marveled at the company’s ability to stay in business for over 100 years.
“It is really amazing what they’ve accomplished and what they make here,” the president said.Trump told the Washington Examiner that he wanted to come to Lehigh Valley to emphasize his commitment to both workers and the manufacturing industry and to touch on the nation’s economic successes.“And to keep my promise to protect American jobs and the American worker,” he said.Trump also announced that he will be one of a very elite group of American presidents to visit the U.S. Army War College Barracks at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, joining the ranks of George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, and George W. Bush. Trump told the Washington Examiner that he will visit Carlisle for the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on July 15.Trump said the summit, the brainchild of Sen. David McCormick (R-PA), will link the patriotic grit of the working class to the historic outpost and showcase the state as a cornerstone of America’s defense industrial base.The significance of holding a defense event at the Army War College was not lost on the president.The institution represents the absolute best of the Army and has long been a beacon of leadership. Nestled on one of the oldest military outposts in the country, its history stretches back to the French and Indian War, long before the founding of the republic.Trump said it brings America’s story full circle by tying the modern defense industry and the people who build the nation’s military machinery of today to such historic and revered ground.The conversation drifted to the soul of the country. For Trump, these are “his people.” They are the ones he said he feels most connected to because they were drawn to the movement by a shared love of country and a common sense approach to the economy. It’s a working-class coalition that has rewritten the political map in places such as Pennsylvania.Mack Trucks has had a presence in the Lehigh Valley for over 120 years. Originally headquartered in New York, it moved to the Allentown area in 1905. Since 2009, its headquarters have been located in North Carolina, but its manufacturing remains anchored in Pennsylvania.The facility, referred to internally as Lehigh Valley Operations, is a massive 1.7 million-square-foot operation that employs over 3,000 workers who keep the country’s supply chains moving.
