Remarks by the President on Energy and the Economy

Business Wire, July 29, 2008

EUCLID, Ohio -- Lincoln Electric Company

3:46 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, all. George D. -- (laughter) -- introduces George W. -- (laughter) -- at Lincoln Welding. Thanks. I'm proud to be here with "the welding experts."

I want to talk a little bit about our economy and the importance of energy, but before I do so I do want to thank you all for your hospitality. I want to thank the workers here for their hard work. This is a productive site. This is a site that proves with good investment and good education and a company that treats its workers well that America can compete with anybody, anytime, anywhere. That's what this country -- (applause.)

I appreciate Mayor Cervenik for being here from Euclid. Thanks for coming, Mr. Mayor, appreciate you coming. I oftentimes say you have a tougher job than I do -- you have to fill the potholes. (Laughter.) But I appreciate you coming.

Two members of the United States Congress, Steve LaTourette and Pat Teeberry, right here from the state of Ohio have joined us. Thank you all for coming, proud you're here. (Applause.)

Laura sends her best -- mother of the bride and a great First Lady. I'm sorry John is not with us, he is in Colombia. Isn't that interesting? He's in Colombia trying to make sure that Lincoln Welding can sell more products down there. One of the issues that in a time of economic uncertainty -- and these are uncertain times, no question about it -- they're uncertain because you're paying high prices at the gas pump. They're uncertain because you're reading the newspapers about the housing issue. They're uncertain times.

And during uncertain times, we ought to be playing to our strengths, and implementing good common-sense policy. Well, one of our strengths is right here in this company. You're good at making a product that people want. People want it here in the United States of America, and when people are introduced to it around the world, they want it as well.

So John is down there trying to get new business. The problem is that our government policy relative to a country like Colombia is backwards. I don't know if you know this or not, but most of the goods produced in Colombia come to our country duty free. The United States Congress, as a result of what is called the Andean Trade Preference Act has passed law that said they can sell into our markets, which frankly is good for our consumers. But the more product you get to choose from, the better off you are. On the other hand, products going into Colombia from the United States face a duty, a tariff, a tax. In other words, the products made in the United States going into that market cost more because of taxes imposed by the Colombian government.

I think it makes sense for the United States Congress to level the playing field, to say, "We treat you one way, you treat us another way." So we've negotiated a treaty that said with Colombia, all we want to do is be treated fairly in the United States of America. We don't want anything special. We don't think you ought to go overboard, just treat us the way we treat you.

Most of your products come in duty free. We want our products, like those manufactured right here in Euclid, Ohio, going into that Colombia market without a special tax on it.

And Congress needs to pass that trade bill. It would be good for workers right here in this plant and good for workers all across America. This government ought to be working to make it easier for you to sell products. Because if you sell a product, you got people working here in steady jobs. (Applause.)

But I really want to talk to you about energy. I understand what it means to our families and our small businesses and people right here in this room to be paying high energy prices, high gasoline prices, like a tax. I've worked hard to keep your taxes low. Our energy policy hasn't done a very good job of keeping your gasoline prices low, and therefore it's like paying a tax. My whole philosophy of government, by the way, is, yes, we've obviously got some needs in Washington, D.C.; the primary one is to make sure those who wear the uniform have the full support of the government of the United States of America. (Applause.)

But I think it makes sense for government to trust you with your money. See, I'd rather have you spending your money than the government spending your money. (Applause.) I trust -- I'd rather you figuring out what's best for your families rather than us telling you what's best for your families. And so therefore, I really have worked hard to keep your taxes low at the federal level. I can't help it at the state level or local level, but I can help you at the federal level. The problem is gasoline prices have negated a lot of those tax cuts. And so it's -- our economy is facing uncertainty. And I want to talk to you about what we could do about high energy prices.

First, let me tell you, there's no such thing as a quick fix. Somebody said, what are you going to do about gasoline prices? I said, if I had the magic wand, I'd wave it. It took us a while to get to those position, and it's going to take us a while to get out of it.