Trump touts ‘America first’ agenda in weekly address as he meets world leaders

President Trump touted his promise to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States in his weekly address Friday, ripping international trade deals that he said amounted to a “global theft of American wealth.”

“For decades, American jobs have been ripped out of our communities, industries and towns have been stripped bare, and the entire communities have been uprooted and left,” he said. “Foreign nations got rich at America’s expense and many special interests profited from this great global theft of American wealth.”

“The era of economic surrender is over,” he added.

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Trump boasted about his administration’s efforts to implement a “buy American and hire American” policy, and said he was working to tear down “every barrier to domestic energy production to unleash the full power of our economy.”

He also ripped the non-binding 195-nation Paris climate deal, which he withdrew from in June. Trump’s withdrawal makes the United States one of only three nations in the world that hasn’t committed to the accord.

The president’s reiteration of his “America first” policy approach and criticism of international trade agreements comes as Trump is meeting with leaders of the world’s top economic powers at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.