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TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Addresses the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, 7.15.25

[Video]

 

President Trump: Thank you very much. Come on, [Inaudible].

 

David McCormick: Well, good afternoon, Mr. President. Welcome back to Pittsburgh. We're so glad to have you here. A year ago almost to the day, I was with you at Butler and I witnessed your strength and your courage on that day. And Dina and I are beyond grateful that you're here safely with us and we are honored and thrilled to have you back in town, the town we're proud to call home at such an historic time for our great Commonwealth and for our nation. In your first term, you famously promised you were elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris. And today, you're once again making good on that promise and what's happening here today is absolutely historic. Your visit and your leadership has catalyzed $90 billion of investment in energy and AI revolution in Pennsylvania, $90 billion. Your presence and those commitments showcase Pennsylvania's story to the world and today's summit begins to deliver on the promises that you and I made to the working families of Pennsylvania by creating many thousands of new jobs. Mr. President, you and I campaigned on an agenda to make America energy dominant, to secure our nation's AI leadership, to create jobs and opportunity for working families in Pennsylvania and across America, and your policies are working. You're making our country energy dominant once again. You're supporting workers at every level. You've embraced foreign investment and created good paying jobs right here in the United States of America and you have been unwavering in your commitment to rebuilding America's industrial capacity and securing long-term AI leadership. Those policies are not only crucial to our economic well-being to the people here in Pennsylvania, but to our national security. And this agenda has galvanized private capital. It's unleashing a new wave of industrial development and job creation across America and in Pennsylvania. And I just want to say, I'm so thankful to you, but also to your incredible team, Secretary Lutnick, Secretary Bessent, Secretary Burgum, Secretary Wright, David Sax. We have had such incredible leadership and support from your team. Before we talk about those commitments here and what it means for Pennsylvania workers, I know you want to say a few words. And so I'd like to say, ladies and gentlemen, it's my honor to introduce the 45th and the 47th president of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump. Thank you. Thank you. Very nice. Well, thank you very much. Well, thank you very much and it's a real honor to be here and this is a place that warms my heart. We did very well in this state, as you know, three times actually, and it's been a tremendous experience. I went to school here, I went to college here and got to know it very well. And the people are the greatest people on earth, so it's a real honor to be here. And I have to say about David and Dina, they had the toughest race there was. I said, this is going to be a tough one and every campaign stop that I made, we had lots of people. Tens of thousands would be a small crowd. And I'd invite David and he'd get up and do a fantastic job and it all worked out, but he won a race that was really not doable, I think. His opponent was here for a long time and his father was there for -- it's about 50 years at least total and those people aren't easy to beat, but you beat them. So I just want to congratulate you. That's amazing. And he wouldn't have done it without Dina, that I can tell you.

 

McCormick: That is for sure.

 

Trump: Anybody that knows Dina knows exactly what I'm saying. And you mentioned Butler, but what nobody really talks too much about because they didn't see the order. But I actually looked down to the right before that thing happened, and I said, oh, there's David McCormick, he's running for the Senate, David, come on up. And there was a little -- there were so many people, there was a little problem he had coming up because I said, look, just do it later and then about a minute later -- so if you would have come up, I don't know what the hell would have happened, right?

 

McCormick: Saved my life.

Trump: It worked out better this way, right?

 

McCormick: Exactly.

 

Trump: I don't know if he would have been around, but -- I want to take full credit for that. I said, no, don't bother, we'll do it later. So if I didn't say that, who knows. But really great job. Exactly one year ago this week, David was at that rally in Pennsylvania and 12 months later, look at what we have. We have a president, we have a -- really, I mean if you think about it, we had a country -- and I just left the NATO leaders, I left the Middle East, the king of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, as you know, Emir, so great and UAE. These are three great leaders and then we just made a deal with NATO where they pay for everything and we give them the ammunition and the missiles and we give them whatever they want. We got to get that war stopped. It's so bad, but every leader said, no matter where, they all said the same thing to me, some of them separately, but it's the same words just about. They said, it's amazing. One year ago you had a dead country, we were dead. We didn't think you could ever come back and now today you have the hottest country anywhere in the world. It's true, it's true. So, we're back in Pittsburgh to announce the largest package of investments in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and it's not even close. I don't imagine it's too close. I don't think second is -- I don't think second is too close. That's a big statement. This afternoon, 20 leading technology and energy companies are announcing more than $92 billion of investments in Pennsylvania. And if you want, we could probably get them up, let's talk to them, right? But this is a really triumphant day for the people of the Commonwealth and for the United States of America. We're doing things that nobody ever thought possible. As of about a month and a half ago, when we came back from the Middle East, we came back with $5.1 trillion of investments from the three countries that I mentioned. And they're great people, great leaders of those countries, but we came back with many, many planes that they are going to build through Boeing. They came back with a package of goods that were, you know, nobody's seen, I don't think anybody's seen, $5.1 trillion. And we are now at about 16 -- think of this $16 trillion. And we're at a little bit less than six months, but really we're probably at three months because it took me a little time to get started, right. So, in three and a half, four months, let's say we have about $16?trillion. There's never been anything like that in history. You can go for years, and they didn't have numbers like that. And if you look at the last administration, you had negative numbers, you didn't have positive numbers, you're going in the wrong direction. But we have the hottest country and we're going to keep it that way. Today's commitments are ensuring that the future is going to be designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh, and I have to say right here in the United States of America. I want to thank – we have some great talent in the administration. I want to thank and say hello to a few people that are with us, secretaries Scott Bessent, Howard Lutnick, Doug Burgum, Chris Wright. You know, Chris Wright's very friendly with the people up here. Doug – I wanted Doug for energy, I didn't know about Chris. And Doug said, no, I have somebody that's much better than me, right? Doug never said that in his life you have to know. [Laughter] I said this guy must be very good, but what a team they are. You know, one controls the land and one controls the energy. But it was sort of intertwined. So, we put them together, right? We never even discussed who's supposed to be the leader of the pack. But boy, you are – it was one instruction, drill baby drill, right? And they are drilling, they are drilling. We have the EPA administrator, probably – I must say this, Doug. I hate to say it, Chris and Doug and all of you guys. The most important man on the dais today is Lee Zeldin. It's called environmental protection because he's going to be the one that gets you a permit. He's going to get you a permit for the largest electric producing plant in the world in about a week, would you say? Now if you go nuclear, I promised him I'd give him two weeks, OK. Nuclear we'll give him a little more time. But you know, the biggest problem we've had is it takes years and years to get permits. And he really is – he's a phenomenal guy and, you know his history. He's a great lawyer, great Congressman in a race that was according to most unwinnable, almost won for governor. Just missed it by a few points and he's really fantastic. But he's essentially the Environmental Protection Agency, the top man, and he's got things rocking. And already they're building plants, and they have their permits. These are permits that would have taken you literally 10 years to get – or I would really say 10 years before they voted against you because that's really what was happening. And it's crazy all over the country, but we're freeing it up and he really is going to be able to produce. And I'm looking at the numbers of China where they're producing a lot of electric. Well, they only have one man they have to worry about, our friend, right, President Xi. He can do that by himself. I don't know if I can. Do I have the right to overrule you? Maybe, I don't know. Probably I do, but I won't have to. But so, he has one man, and we have one man. The one man is sitting right there. We appreciate – you're doing an amazing job. They're building plants already, and they have – they're building plants, and they have already their permits. And I have to take – I have to brag just for a second because when I first heard about AI – you know, it's not my thing. Although my uncle was at MIT, one of the great professors, 51 years, whatever, he was the longest serving professor in the history of MIT. Three degrees in nuclear chemical and math, that's a smart man. Kaczynski was one of his students, do you know who Kaczynski was? There's very little difference between a madman and a genius. But Kaczynski, I said what kind of a student was he, Uncle John, Dr. John Trump, he said what kind of a student? And he said, seriously good. He said he'd go around correcting everybody. But it didn't work out too well for him, didn't work out too well, but it's interesting in life. But I will say this that we have the greatest brains, we have the greatest power and we are going to have more electric. I said to some of the guys coming in, they wanted to hook up to the grid. I spoke to Mark and Jeff and a lot of people, and they said, well, we want to know about the electric, because I was told we'll need from David. The first one – you're the first one that told me that's why I hired him because I said he told me something I didn't know. He said you need double the electric of what we have right now and maybe even more than that. Remember that? And I said what, are you kidding? And that's double the electric that we have. Take everything we have and double it. And actually, the number – that was even low, you need more than that. And to do that you'd have to hook up to an old grid, in many cases broken and certainly very much open to destruction from bombs and planes and from, frankly, storms. You see what happened, that horrible situation in Texas. And you'd be subject to that and it's fragile, but it is old and it can't have the capacity unless you totally rebuild it, that would take decades. And I said, well, why don't we do this? Why don't we – when you build your plant, wherever you build it, you build your own electric plant? And nobody took it seriously. They sort of looked like, I can't really take that seriously because they didn't believe it was happening. So, the smartest people, some of them on stage right now were saying, huh? And then they'd say, well, how do we hook up to the grid? We want to hook up to – they didn't believe what I was saying. And I said no, no, I'm really serious. I'm going to let you build – right, Lee – I'm going to let you build – with your plant you're going to build – we'll make you like a public utility. You're going to build your own Con Edison in New York. You're going to build your own electric factory and you're going to make your own electricity. So, this way you can have a great plant. And what you'll do is, if you have excess, you can sell it back into the grid, you'll even make money from the electric business because these guys do know how to make money. They'll end up doing things that will be shocking and you're going to make your own plant. So, when I looked at the numbers before, I saw a board outside and it showed how much electricity China is making. Well, we just started, but we're going to actually end up doing more than them and it's going to be done privately and you're going to own your own electric plants and they'll be powered by maybe nuclear, maybe gas, maybe coal. You know, we brought coal back in. They won't be powered by wind because it doesn't work. I hate to say it just doesn't work. It's rather intermittent. You don't want it, causes a lot of problems. But we have every form of fuel that you want to use for your plant. And you'll build a plant, you'll build your electric. And this way, you have no excuses because I didn't want to be the one that said, listen, we're trying to build that grid in 10 years from now and you wouldn't be able to open. You're going to build it with your own plants. And so, people heard that – they couldn't believe it. And finally, now they believe it because we have a couple that are already started and they're building their electric plants along with their separate plant. And in fact, some of them are building the electric plant inside of their main building. So, it's really exciting to see, but I was very, very proud of that, actually. White House I Czar, David Sachs, David, thank you very much. Great job. David interviewed me on his podcast about – what's that now, two years ago or something in San Francisco. And I said this guy's very smart. If I ever – if I pull this sucker off, I'm going to probably hire him in some form. I got to get him in, but you've been doing great. Thank you, David, very much. Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Michael Kratsios. Michael, thank you. Thank you, Michael. Where's Michael? Thank you, Michael. Good job. They tell me you're doing great. Thank you very much. As well as state Senate President pro Tem, Kim Ward. Kim? Thank you, Kim. Good job. Kim's very happy right now. State senate majority leader, Joe Pittman. Joe? Oh, thank you. And State Senator Greg Rothman. Thank you very much, Greg. Thank you. I also want to recognize your great Congressman. These are friends, these are warriors, they just passed the great Big, Beautiful – I added the word great, I like to say, because it was really supposed to be Great Big, Beautiful – they call it the Big, Beautiful, but I had great – they took the word great out. I was on a show called Deface the Nation or something like that. Ladies and gentlemen, Deface the Nation, and I said I want a great big beautiful bill and they named it that and it really is. It was supposed to be seven bills. Could have been two or three, but it was supposed to be originally seven. I said let's put them all together and if you put them all together, there's going to be something for everybody and that's what happened. And we got it passed and Republicans did it. We didn't get one Democrat vote, think of it the biggest tax cut in history and we didn't get a Democrat vote and so many other things – no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime. But the biggest tax cut in the history of our country, you got that, also the biggest deduction. You know, you have a 10-year period, last time we had a one-year period, now you have a 10-year period. And that's what made the first one. We had the most successful economy in the history of our country during my first term, and we had the – we passed a bill, but that bill, honestly, as good as it was, was nothing compared to this one. And the biggest thing and the biggest reason for the success was the deduction. And you're allowed to do it, and this time, we're including structure, so you're able to deduct those big structures that you're building. So, nobody thought that was even possible. But I want to introduce the people that did it. Dan Meuser is here. Where's Dan, Dan? Oh, they're in Washington working on our next bill. Good, they shouldn't be here. Now I don't have to mention their names, you know. Although they're watching on television, I guarantee, oh, that's right. They're working on our next one which is coming for a vote I think on Friday. Wow, I'm impressed. But JT, GT Thompson, Lloyd Smucker, John Joyce, Mike Kelly, Scott Perry, Rob Bresnahan, all terrific people, and Guy Reschenthaler. These are great people, they're warriors, they fought with us, they voted with us. We only had two negative votes. I didn't invite those two guys to anything. [Laughter] We had a guy named Rand Paul Jr., he's known as Rand Paul, Jr, in the house. He always votes no. We had somebody else, they did him a big favor and I said, well, he's not going to -- sir, I don't think so-and-so is going to vote. I won't mention his name. I said no, he's going to vote because I did him a very big, big favor, very personal favor, as big as you can get having to do with death and life. But having to do -- no, he's going to vote, don't worry about it. OK, sir, if you tell me, but I don't think we're going to get his vote. Don't worry about it, I said I know what I'm talking about, don't worry about it. And sure as hell he voted against us and I said another one down -- another great move by Trump. Anyway, so much for favors. You know, it's welcome to the world of politics, right? Right, David? We know about that. But we're here today because we believe that America's destiny is to dominate every industry and be the first in every technology. And that includes being the world's number one superpower in artificial intelligence. And we are way ahead of China, I have to say, we're way ahead of China and the plants are starting up, the construction is starting up. And did you notice that two days ago they just announced that they had a budget surplus of $25 billion in this country. Right, Howard. They never saw anything like that. Everyone's saying where did that -- that's been like decades, $25 billion and that's peanuts compared to what it's -- and it's good business practices. The tariffs are coming in by the hundreds of billions of dollars, and they haven't -- they're really at the infant stage right now. It's only on cars and steel mostly and the rest is starting to kick in. We just made a deal today, a big one, with Indonesia, a great deal and they've opened up Indonesia fully. You know, Indonesia really has great copper, very, very powerful copper. But they have a lot of things, and we have full access to Indonesia. We'll soon be announcing probably, I don't -- you know if we do, we do. If we don't, that's OK too. I don't mind because I'm very happy with the letters that we send out that you'll be paying X percent. I almost like it better, if you want to know the truth. But Scott and Howard, you know they like to go the old fashioned way. Let's work hard to make a deal. I don't know. There's something about pay us 35 percent of everything and we're very happy. But I think India is going to open up and a lot of countries are going to open up. And some that don't, they'll just be paying a very substantial tariff, but peanuts compared to what they should be paying. So, we have some amazing things. China and other countries are racing to catch up to America having to do with AI and we're not going to let them do it. We have the great chips, we have the great everything, and we're going to be fighting them in a very friendly fashion. I have a great relationship with President Xi and we smile at the back and forth, but we are leading. I heard somebody say before that we're going to try and catch China. We're not catching them, we're leading. And one of the advantages they have is they show the electric that they have it. They're opening up coalfired plants all over the place and we're entitled and allowed now to do that too. We took coal, it was taken out of the chain and coal is actually a very, very powerful -- I say you're not allowed to call it coal. You have to call it clean, beautiful coal. You're not allowed, John, to call it just coal because people don't understand. We call it clean, beautiful coal. But China is -- I think they're going to be very far behind. Mark my words, I think they're going to be very far because these are -- we have a lot of places going up right now and they're all going to be great and they actually feed off each other. But remaining the world's leader in AI will require an enormous increase in the energy production, and that's taking place and you're doing it yourself in a massive build out of physical infrastructure and the tremendous technology skill that Pennsylvania has. I mean, you have tremendous skill in this state. Today, the Commonwealth is reclaiming its industrial heritage and taking its place at the forefront of the AI technological revolution. And as I said before, it's an expression I used all during the the campaign and screamed it out. We'll drill baby drill. And people went crazy. We had big crowds, as you probably heard, biggest ever, biggest in history. The investments being announced this afternoon include more than $56 billion in new energy infrastructure and more than $36 billion in new data center projects, and a lot more than that are going to be announced in the coming weeks, not even months. I think we could say weeks, right, Howard? In the campaign I promised that I would save the Homer City power plant 50 miles east of here that Joe Biden's green new scam forced to shut down. It's a green new scam, greatest scam in history, the greatest in history. Well, the Autopen, I think, is a bigger scam if you want to know the truth. Actually, I do believe that. Today we're pleased to report that a $15 billion investment from Knighthead Capital Management. Who's here from Knighthead? Well, I'm very impressed with that, $15 billion. That's pretty good. It's a great location too. Wow, that's very impressive. Thank you very much. That's a big number, huh? That's a big number and yet it's peanuts relative to what -- that's a good job. But the Homer City site is being resurrected as the largest natural gas fired power plant ever to be built in North America. Is that right, huh? That's fantastic. As another example, Google will be investing billions and billions of dollars to revitalize two major hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania. Congratulations. Say hello to Sergey and Sundar. They've done a pretty good job at Google, I'll tell you. And they have their star right here. So, congratulations, that's really fantastic. And under the last year of Biden, China added 11 times as much power generation capacity as did the United States, that's under Biden, that's not under Trump, that's under Sleepy Joe. Under the Trump administration America is getting back in the game and we're going to actually be doing more than they do, as I said. And on day one, I ended the Green New scam. I also ended Joe Biden's war on clean, beautiful Pennsylvania coal, totally ended it. Coal has equal if not greater status. It's a very powerful -- it's a very powerful thing, coal. China -- it's sort of interesting. China makes windmills, but how many wind farms do you see in China? I haven't seen any lately, it's sort of crazy. They buy -- they build the windmills, sell them into our country, sell them all over the world and they ruin their fields and ruin their valleys. And then you look at China, where's your wind farm? Well, we have one. We're thinking about one. No, the whole thing is crazy. But they use coal and they're building right now about 52 power plants, all of coal. I signed a historic executive orders to expedite construction of brand new nuclear power plants, which is very hot. We've issued an order, as you probably know, one month ago, making it very easy and very safe to build nuclear power. And Westinghouse I know is represented here and they've become a whole brand new Westinghouse. Congratulations. It's a great thing you're doing. They were hurt by some very incompetent people. I watched what was going on there and in the form of regulators, they were really doing a number. Our regulators are the opposite. We'll be very safe, but we're fast and safe and you're going to get a whole different group of people, but it's announcing plans to build ten state of the art nuclear reactors in the United States. That's great. Congratulations to Westinghouse and to further accelerate investment in the industries of tomorrow. Two weeks ago, we enacted the largest tax cuts in American history when I signed that One, Big, Beautiful Bill into law, we're adding to it a little bit and we're refining it a little bit all to the positive. And that's why the congressman -- I'll pretend I'm really angry at them, but I would actually be angry at them if they showed up late, right? I'd be much more if they were here, I would not be happy. The bill allows 100 percent expensing on all new equipment, something that's never happened before, factories, research, and as I said before, even structure to further protect Pennsylvania industry. Two months ago, I came here to announce my approval of a historic investment deal with Nippon Steel, Nippon Steel of Japan to keep U.S. steel right here in Pittsburgh. And we have a great woman here, Salena Zito, she's the writer. She -- she writes on the Rust Belt and the Midwest really. But the Rust Belt, anything having to do with Rust and Belt, where is Salena, Is she around there someplace? Because I'm doing an interview with her in a little while and I said, do me a favor. Let me do the interview after this this way. We can be right on time. Where is Salena?

 

McCormick: She's up there.

 

Trump: Oh, She's great, you can't be angry at me now, Salena, because I'll be with you. I said, Salena, can we make it after otherwise, we're going to keep a lot of money waiting. These people have big money. When I saw the people here, I said, Salena, I'm sorry, I have to delay this and also Miss McAdams. Where is miss McAdams? We're going to do one with her too and she's great with Fox and she's been fantastic. Stand up, stand up, young and smart and vibrant. She's been very -- you've done a great job. So we'll see you in a couple of minutes. All right, that's great. We can't keep this kind of money waiting. These are the biggest -- these are truly the biggest investors in the world, including my friend John on my left. But these are the biggest investors in the world -- I'm sorry, McAdams and I'm sorry, Salena, we just -- that's the way it works. It's very impressive. But Nippon Steel and we got it and we have all sorts of, uh, protections because of the fact that US Steel was you people years ago, 80 years ago was the biggest company in the world, the most powerful company in the world. And we were very strong and Nippon's coming in, they're going to be investing $17 billion. They're going to build new plants all over the country using US Steel. And we have the absolute control because we don't want to lose control of that one name. That one name is very important for the -- to the history of this country. And I think Nippon is going to do a fantastic job and, you know, in some cases they could take it back to their country. I said to people because a lot of people said, well, what do you think Japanese companies coming in? I said, well, you know, when they spend $1 billion in a steel plant, they're not going to put it on a boat and take it away. It's going to be right here with us no matter what, but they are going to do a fantastic job and they look forward to it and they're so excited about it. They actually fought very, very hard to get that deal. And I think when you look at the countless jobs at the Mon Valley Works in western Pennsylvania, we have something that's going to be really incredible. And we did keep a golden share. You know who has the golden share? I do. I have the golden -- does everybody know what a golden share. A lot of these people from the Middle East, they don't have to worry about golden shares, but we have a golden share, but Nippon's going to do a fantastic job. With that historic announcement and the new commitments being made today, we're building a future where American workers will forge the steel, produce the energy, build the factories and really run a country like I believe, like this country has never been run before. I think we have a true golden age for America. We've been showing it and it truly is the hottest country anywhere in the world. And I'm honored to be in Pennsylvania and I'm honored to be in Pittsburgh and you're going to see some real action here so get ready, lots of jobs, lots of success, really a beautiful thing is it's going to be beautiful to behold. So enjoy yourselves. And I look forward to hearing some of your geniuses, speak if that's okay. I'll stay around. All right. Okay. Thank you.

 

McCormick: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much. Again, thank you for being here and you coming has allowed us to have this incredible summit. I won't surprise you this summit was Dina's idea, but what it's allowed us to do is catalyze the investment. It's allowed us to get a lot of attention on Pennsylvania Story and it's allowed us to deliver on the promises you and I talked about, which is jobs for working families, really create opportunity here in Pennsylvania. So it's the manifestation of your agenda and we're going to talk today about those $90 billion of investment you'll hear from Blackstone and Core Weave and others. They pledged $36 billion to build data centers. You also hear from companies that invested tens of billions in generating the power needed to run those data centers. We have great investments in natural gas production and pipelines, but also in nuclear, Brookfield's repowering of two hydro facilities with Google that you mentioned, the Great Pittsburgh Company Westinghouse will tell you how they're going to deliver on your call to strengthen America's nuclear power industrial base by placing ten reactors under construction by 2030 and Constellation, which is here. Joe Dominguez is upgrading, upgrading Limerick Clean Energy Center to bring an additional 340 megawatts online. First Energy in Pennsylvania's PPL have collectively collectively pledged $20 billion to build and operate the grid infrastructure required to support a data center renaissance right here in Pennsylvania and to ensure that ratepayers don't foot the bill. And finally, you got technology companies like Google and they're investing in bringing the benefits of AI to Main Street and their AI Works for Pennsylvania initiative, which will offer AI training for 1 million small businesses. The great thing about today is these are not empty promises. These are tangible real commitments and they're only the beginning. The distinguished leaders you have around the table here from Larry Fink to Darren Woods from Toby Rice to Bruce Flatt to great global investors like my good friends Lim Chow Kiat from Singapore, Khaldoon Al-Mubarak from the United Arab Emirates. They've traveled long distances to witness this firsthand, this historic moment. And to see firsthand what's happening in Pennsylvania. And these investments are a testament to Pennsylvania's unique resources, unbelievable natural gas reserves, abundant fresh water, a massive installed base of nuclear power, incredible tech universities like CMU. Our host today, thank you, Farnham. Amazing skilled trade engineers represented by Pennsylvania's own Rob Bayer and Brandon Bishop here of the National Building Trades. But none of this would have happened -- none of this would have happened without your unwavering commitment to unleashing American energy dominance and standing up for workers in Pennsylvania and across the nation. They're going to see those workers tangible job opportunities here today. These projects will create tens of thousands of construction jobs and thousands of well-paying direct and indirect jobs supporting these projects supporting these industries. It's going to make a big difference in Pennsylvania communities. So, Mr. President, this is the beginning of an economic renaissance for Pennsylvania and a huge step forward and I want to thank you for making it possible and for being here in the Steel City. So let me give you one more hand. Thank you. Thank you.

 

Trump: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 

McCormick: So with that, if it's all right with you, Mr. President, I'm going to call on a handful of the people here and let them tell you a little bit about what they're thinking and why they're investing. I'll start with to your left, Jon Gray, president and CEO of Blackstone, $25 billion in data center and energy infrastructure in northeast PA.

 

Jon Gray: Thank you, Dave. I want to start by thanking President Trump for recognizing the importance of American leadership in AI innovation and for prioritizing the physical investment required in digital and energy infrastructure to make this AI revolution possible. We believe this new technology can lead to a manufacturing renaissance in the United States. Generating electrons will spur economic activity and employment growth right here in Pennsylvania. That also leads me to thank Senator McCormick for hosting this terrific summit with Dina's help, of course. So many important participants from around the globe have come here, including political leaders in Pennsylvania from both sides of the aisle who all care about making this state. In the US successful in this vital area. By the way, I love this state too. I went to college like you here as well. I met my wife here and it is a great place. I will say that at Blackstone, we have enormous investments here and we're very excited to announce that we're going to make a further $25 billion investment into Pennsylvania's digital and energy infrastructure.

 

Trump: Thank you. Thank you.

 

Gray: Thank you, Mr. President.

 

Trump: Great.

 

Gray: The investment should catalyze over the next 10 plus years a further $60 billion on top of that into the state. Pennsylvania, as you've heard, is uniquely situated as a strategic hub to power the nation's AI objectives. Abundant low-cost energy, 20 percent of the country's natural gas production and by co-locating data centers next to the natural gas, we eliminate the enormous costs and time delays with these projects, which makes us super bullish on this state. America's AI future, obviously, requires rapid acceleration of data center construction. Our company, QTS, is the largest independent data center developer and operator in the world. QTS has secured multiple land sites throughout the northeast of Pennsylvania. We're very excited about that. The co-CEO tag is over there. We're also excited to announce today a JV with Pennsylvania utility PPL to invest in new natural gas generation facilities. These will ensure grid reliability and power Pennsylvania's digital infrastructure as well as homes and businesses across the Commonwealth. Net-net here this continues our long-term partnership at Blackstone with Pennsylvania. We believe 6,000 plus jobs will be created or supported annually. Over the 10-year construction timeline, over 3,000 permanent jobs will be created or supported by QTS and its customers. We have long standing relationships with labor, we plan to continue those here in Pennsylvania, and we intend to commence construction on these projects by year end 2028. Thank you for having us today, Senator McCormick. Thank you, President Trump, for your leadership. We are honored and excited to be investing in the future of Pennsylvania and the United States.

 

McCormick: All right, thank you, Jon. That's great. And I'm going to keep us moving because there's so many people here, I want to call on. Brian Tierney, CEO of First Energy, a $9.3 billion investment across PA to expand power distribution, strengthen grid infrastructure. Brian?

 

Brian Tierney: Thank you, Senator McCormick. And thank you, President Trump, for your leadership, particularly on energy security and what it means to our economy. Thank you. At FirstEnergy Pennsylvania, we have 6,000 contractors and employees who are thrilled to serve 2 million customers in the state. We are planning $15 billion of investment between now and the end of your term in the distribution grid and the transmission grid to enable things like artificial intelligence development, shale gas development and any other form of economic and technological development that there is. We have partnered with the unions, the IBEW and the UWAW. We have a journeyman lineman hiring program and we have an apprenticeship program that will create not just jobs, but long-term, good paying careers for the people of the Commonwealth. We're thrilled to be making this investment in the grid and infrastructure in the Commonwealth and look forward to working with those around the table to make it happen in the years to come. Thank you.

 

McCormick: Thank you, Brian. All right. Dan Sumner, you know, a Pittsburgh iconic name, Westinghouse, $6 billion. This ties directly to the executive order and your commitment to nuclear power, a $6 billion investment to deliver 10 new large nuclear reactors by 2030, consistent with your executive order and we're so excited about it here. Dan, take it away.

 

Dan Sumner: Senator McCormick, thank you. President Trump, you've led on nuclear energy in this country, and you've reinvigorated our industry with the vision that you've set forth in your executive orders. Our industry is reinvigorated. We're ready to mobilize. Westinghouse today is the world's leader in nuclear technology. Over 50 percent of the reactors that operate in the world use Westinghouse technology. And today, we as a company service over 60 percent of the world's operating nuclear fleet right here from our headquarters in the Pittsburgh region, actually Butler County, as well as sites around the country and around the world. What we're happy to share today is we've taken the call to action under your executive order to partner with companies across our industry to mobilize a plan to deliver 10 AP1000 reactors in the US with construction to begin by 2030. This is not only critical to achieve your goals with respect to energy dominance and winning the AI race, but it's a driver of massive economic benefit across our country. When we deploy a fleet aligned to your vision, we'll drive $75 billion of economic value across the United States with $6 billion of value here in Pennsylvania. It's also a jobs machine. Implementing your vision will create or sustain over 55,000 jobs across the country and over 15,000 jobs here in the Commonwealth alone. And these are great jobs across manufacturing, engineering and construction. And beyond that, we're happy to announce today a strategic collaboration with Google to leverage Google's expertise in AI and AI solutions, along with Westinghouse's AI technology and 75 years of OEM nuclear engineering and construction data to build an AI machine that helps us rethink how to do nuclear construction in this country and honor your commitment and your expectations for us to -- when we deliver nuclear, we'll do it on budget and on cost. Mr. President, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your vision. Westinghouse and our industry are ready to deliver. Thank you.

 

McCormick: Thanks, Dan. You almost gave the introduction for my good friend Ruth Porat. Ruth, thank you for being here and Google is doing a number of things, partnering with Brookfield, which Bruce Flatt is here. Great partnership. We're lucky to have them both engaged in Pennsylvania. Bruce is also the majority owner of Westinghouse -- Brookfield is a majority owner of Westinghouse. And also, an incredible effort to train a million small businesses in AI. So, Ruth, please tell us what you're doing in Pennsylvania and thank you.

 

Ruth Porat: Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you so much for your leadership, for your clear and urgent direction that our nation invests in AI and the infrastructure, technology and energy needed to unlock the extraordinary capabilities and really enable America to continue to lead. And Senator McCormick and Dina. Thank you for this extraordinary convening. It really has delivered the energy, no pun intended, that we were striving to achieve here. On behalf of Google, I'm very pleased to be here in Pittsburgh to announce that Google is investing more than $25 billion in data centers and AI infrastructure across the states in this critical PJM region over the next two years. And to support the investment, we're investing in three additional ways and focused on them. First, Mr. President to support your mandate for energy abundance, we're investing in hydro, as you referenced. It is a $3 billion 20-year agreement with Brookfield Energy to modernize two hydropower facilities in Lancaster County. Second, we've already heard about the importance of the grid. The Department of Energy has estimated that there is up to 100 gigawatts of additional capacity in America's grid infrastructure if we collectively work to unlock it. So, at Google, two things, we're applying advanced technology to ensure that we're most efficiently using power from the grid. And we're also working on ways that AI can help to identify and deploy capacity more efficiently. I think what's really exciting also is we're focused on jobs. There are two parts of the focus on jobs. One is really training to support the jobs to modernize the grid. There is an acute need for electrical workers in this country, it's estimated in the 100,000 plus. Last month, Google made a grant to the Electrical Training Alliance to equip more than 100,000 electrical workers with the skills that they need, and train 30,000 new apprentices by 2030. Today, we are expanding that grant to increase the projected pipeline of new electricians in Pennsylvania by 64 percent. Third, we think it is critical, as Senator McCormick said, to build a fair America, an America where everyone has the opportunity for jobs of the future and to ensure that we can do that today starting in Pennsylvania, we're really proud to announce AI Works for America. And through partnerships with leading employers, universities, skilled trades and manufacturers, we're going to help train American workers and students by teaching them essential AI skills. And as part of this, I'm very proud that Google will be offering free AI training to every small business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. One final comment, we are proud that Pittsburgh is our home, it's been our home since 2006. Our first office was actually right here at Carnegie Mellon. And continuing the trend of this line right here, I also went to school in Pennsylvania and am very proud of it. So, thank you again. Thank you for being here and thank you for all your catalyzing.

 

McCormick: Thanks, Ruth. That's what we like to hear. I want to call on just briefly Mike, Mike Intrator. Mike, I want to take note of this for all you CEOs. Mike is the CEO of CoreWeave, which made a big announcement today, $6 billion investment in Pennsylvania and his stock went way up. So all you CEOs just take notice. Investing in Pennsylvania is good for your stock price. Mike, please tell us about this project. It's very exciting.

 

Michael Intrator: Thank you very much, Mr. President, Senator McCormick. And yes, you're correct. The market responded well to our announcement of investing $6 billion into a Lancaster, Pennsylvania data center. It's a data center that we will be able to host some of the most advanced state of the art computing infrastructure that the country needs in order to maintain its position as the leader in artificial intelligence. The data center will drive 600 jobs for -- across the trades as we construct the site and then another 175 jobs of permanent employment. We're extremely excited about the role that this data center is going to play in our plans to be able to support not just the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but the -- the broader Mid-Atlantic region for us. And, you know, your support has been incredible across the energy space that's required to deliver clean, reliable power as well as your support for artificial intelligence at large. Thank you very much. We appreciate your support. Thank you.

 

McCormick: Thank you, Mike. Mr. President, what you hear over and over again are these incredible job creation, but we need -- we need workers to be able to fulfill these jobs and I see my friend Barry in the audience and we've talked a lot about the need for construction workers. Um, there he is -- there's Barry. Um, we have Brandon Bishop with us today from the National Building Trades. And, you know, I was with a bunch of guys from the building trades a couple of weeks ago and they were saying, you know, we don't want to do the apprenticeship program until we sure about the work. And I said double, triple, quadruple the programs, right? We got to have skilled workers who can meet the needs. We got a tsunami of opportunity coming for Pennsylvania and so maybe you could take a minute, Brandon on that. Thank you for being here.

 

Brandon Bishop: Thank you, Senator McCormick. Mr. President, it's an honor to be here today representing North America's building trades unions and our 3 million members, especially the thousands of highly-skilled workers across Pennsylvania who are ready to deliver on all of the historic investments being announced here today. All the projects discussed here today aren't just about energy and innovation. They're about job creation and all of us in the building trades stand ready to deliver if you want the highest quality, most productive, long-term labor certainty partner with us from day one don't just build with us, stay with us and maintain it for decades. And when you partner with the building trades, you get results, productivity is 14 percent higher, projects cost 4 percent less on average there are 40 percent less likely to face labor shortages and labor turnover is cut by two-thirds. We are the solution to the workforce challenge. Our members are sourced and trained through the largest private workforce development system in the country. Over 16,000 world class training centers, including many right here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, these centers train hundreds of thousands of men and women through our gold standard registered apprenticeship programs, no taxpayer dollars required and they don't just lead to jobs. They launch lifelong middle class careers with family sustaining wages, health care and retirement. So if you're investing in Pennsylvania, let's talk, let's plan let's partner because there is no workforce more prepared to build the future and no investment more certain than when you build with us. That's what we do. We build, we maintain and deliver all while doing the best way safely, on time, on budget and with the highest quality.

 

McCormick: Thank you. Thanks, Brandon. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. So I asked the president. He, uh, he said I could, uh, take the opportunity we got. We got the A team here in terms of the cabinet, the president put together. So I'd like to do a lightning round and just call on a couple of cabinet members to comment on, on what's going on in terms of the incredible action and activity at the intersection of the AI revolution and the energy revolution. We got a great team here that's working together. So let me -- let me just work my way around the table. Um, Mr. Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson and then I'll turn to you Howard, and then you, Chris, and then you, Doug, and, Director Zeldin. I'm sorry, I didn't mention you before, but I'm so glad you're here. You're doing great things for our country. Thank you.

 

Scott Bessent: Thank you, Senator. I want to thank President Trump for his leadership. President's laid the foundation for a golden age economy and it comes just in time to begin America's 250th anniversary celebration. Three industries will define the future manufacturing, energy and technology. Not coincidentally, Pennsylvania is at the forefront of all three. For more than two centuries, the commonwealth has been the keystone at the top of the American arch and politically, economically and technology is play -- played an indispensable role and will continue to do so under President Trump and Senator McCormick's leadership that the Rust Belt is no more. It's a thing of the past. The factories that industrialize America won World War II and built our modern infrastructure are firing up again and new factories are coming online, online taking place along. The blue collar boom is a CapEx boom that we heard about today and this is just the beginning. This is the third time I've had the privilege of being in the Iron City in less than a year. I was here President Trump's final day on the campaign trail at the auditorium at the Duquesne Arena and I saw the steelworkers there to support him. I was back three weeks ago when he announced the Nippon Steel deal at the US steel plant and it's an honor to be here with all of you today and see this CapEx boom along with a working a workers boom.

 

McCormick: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. All right, my my good buddy, Secretary Lutnick.

 

Howard Lutnick: Advanced manufacturing technology lead our technology is the best in the world. President Trump is out to unleash that technology to make sure we win the AI race. But he knows that we need energy to drive it and that's why he campaigned on drill baby drill because we need energy, we need it across the nation and we need it in Pennsylvania which has got amazing natural gas resources. Incredible and then we've got to turn that into advanced manufacturing. So those three buckets are where we're going and President Trump is leading the charge on that and we are very excited, $16 trillion in investment dollars coming into America. So your workers, man, are they going to be busy.

 

McCormick: Thank you, Howard. Secretary Wright, let me turn to you and then Secretary Burgum.

 

Chris Wright: Yes, thank you, Senator McCormick, and thank you, President Trump. We are all here and we're talking about $90 billion of investment in this state because of a dramatic pivot in the leadership of our country. President Trump, an East Coast real estate developer, understands in his gut energy more than anyone I've met. He knows energy is the infrastructure for everything we do. If you could energy wrong, nothing else matters. If you get energy right, the possibilities are just immense and Pennsylvania, the oil and gas industry -- global oil and gas industry started a few dozen miles from here in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The shale gas revolution may have started in Texas, but it really flourished and hit its peak right here in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania today exports more energy to other states than any other state except for Texas and it would export more, but it had blocks on building pipelines. Two great opportunities for Pennsylvania energy. One -- and President Trump is hard at work in both of these. One is to get those pipelines built from Pennsylvania to New England so we can change the quality of life and opportunities. People in New England have a lower quality of life than they deserve for bad political decisions that can be changed. And number two, the opposition to building pipelines out of Pennsylvania doesn't stop the production of gas in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania natural gas production could ramp up tremendously fast and Pennsylvania could lead the world in AI and reshoring manufacturing.

 

McCormick: Secretary Burgum, thank you.

 

Doug Burgum: Thank you, Dave and Deena. President Trump, it's such an honor to work for you. Your vision of energy dominance is the foundation of this golden age for America is coming true and it's -- it's just common -- you've called this the party of common sense, but it's -- when we talk about cutting taxes like never before, cutting regulations, speeding permitting, we're the hottest country in the world because of the policy changes that are drawing all that capital to come here. And now we combine this with the incredible natural resources that we have. You understand better than anyone that the balance sheet of America is the biggest balance sheet in the world, the natural resources that we have. And by unleashing energy, you know that that's what's lowered inflation. It's bringing prosperity at home, but it's also bringing peace abroad. You identified that there was a couple of threats to our country, one was Iran having a nuclear weapon. The other was losing the AI arms race to China. You took care of one of those a few weeks ago. You're helping to take care of the other one here. And I just want to say again that your understanding of what needs to be done, you're understanding that we need more power because a kilowatt of electricity today is worth more than it ever has been in Human history. Because we can take Pennsylvania natural resources like gas, turn it to electricity, turn it to intelligence and that intelligence lifts every single industry, not just one industry, not the company that owns the data center. It lifts everybody that uses it. This is going to be the biggest change in human productivity in history and the US is going to lead thanks to your vision.

 

McCormick: Thank you. Listen, I want to just close by saying what an extraordinary group of people here today. Thank you all for coming as we have -- there's just people you could talk for days just listening to the people around this table. So, thank you for being here. Thank you for your commitment and investment in Pennsylvania. Thank you, all of you in the audience. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran an article last week and it said in the first line or two, not since the days of Andrew Carnegie has so much economic power been gathered in one room in Pittsburgh. And I really believe, Mr. President, based on you being here, we're going to look back on this day and say that this was a real seminal moment in the history of our Commonwealth and maybe even in the history of our country, because not only of you being here, but all the policies that are leading us in this direction and the leadership you're showing. So, I want to thank you on behalf of Dina and me. Thank you on behalf of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, we're grateful for your leadership and thank you for being here today.

 

Trump: Well, thank you very much and I have to say that David said, could you just come in and make a quick statement and then you can leave right away. And I said OK, good, I'll do it. But when I saw the people gathered, I said I'm not leaving, I want to learn something, and I have learned something. This is the smartest group of talent probably that you've ever had in terms of energy and even finance, ever had in one room. So, it's an honor to be with you. I used to do what a lot of you guys did. I like this better though. I don't care. [Laughter] And you're doing a fantastic job, but really it's an honor to be with you and congratulations, you're going to have tremendous success all over the country, but you're going to have tremendous success in the Commonwealth. So, good luck to everybody and if I can help you, let me know. Thank you very much.

 

Transcript courtesy of CQ Factbase