Trump: Boeing deal with Singapore will create 70K US jobs

President Trump emphasized Monday that a new Boeing deal with Singapore International Airlines will create 70,000 jobs in the U.S.

“Otherwise we’ll cancel the order,” Trump joked, according to pool reports.

During a White House event with Singapore’s prime minister on Monday, Boeing Co. signed a previously announced $13.8 billion deal to sell 39 aircraft to Singapore International Airlines.

Trump and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong and Boeing Executive Vice President Kevin McAllister for the sales contract signing, which took place in the Roosevelt Room.

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“One of the things we’ll be doing in a short period time is signing, together, a very large contract where Singapore is buying billions of dollars’ worth of airplanes from Boeing that will be made in our country. So that’s jobs,” Trump reportedly said earlier. “And you’re also buying the best plane, by the way. So that’s very good.”

Trump welcomed Lee to the White House on Monday for an Oval Office meeting and a private working luncheon.

Trump, who will embark on a 12-day trip to Asia next month, added that the relationship between the U.S. and Singapore is at its “highest point, and it will continue.”

During Rose Garden remarks later in the day, Trump thanked the Singaporean people for their “faith in American engineering and our American workers to deliver the best product, by far.”

This story was updated at 2:14 p.m.