President Trump brought business titans from Pepsi to Fiat Chrysler and Boeing to his Bedminster golf club tonight on Tuesday for a dinner.
Reveling in their attention, the president, bragged in front of reporters that the United States’ GDP could top five percent in the next quarter. He predicted ‘super growth’ even after his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, attempted to temper expectations.
‘I think we’re gonna be, very shortly in the fives. Again, numbers that people wouldn’t have believed, I really think we can go much higher than in the fives, once we get trade deals that are rational and sane and good for our country,’ Trump boasted. ‘And not even good for our country, just fair for our country.’
President Trump brought business titans from Pepsi to Fiat Chrysler to Boeing to his Bedminster golf club tonight on Tuesday evening dinner

Ivanka Trump and Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk, right, attend a dinner on Tuesday evening
The president allowed attending business leaders and his wife to take the floor one-by-one, praising the first lady midway through the event as ‘caring’ and ‘loving’ as he highlighted her approval rating.
‘Well welcome to Bedminster. It’s great to have to you have here,’ she said after a round of applause. ‘And we’re looking for a good discussion tonight. And I just want to thank the president for doing an incredible job and for all of your help. Thank you very much.’
Her husband had made a joke moments earlier at the first lady’s expense. Describing Pepsi’s outgoing CEO, Indra Nooyi, he said she is routinely named one of the ‘most powerful’ women in the world.
‘No Melania, I’m not talking about you,’ he jested.
Several minutes later he came back to his wife, though, offering her the ultimate compliment.
Referring to her as ‘the great first lady’ the president said, ‘she has been so caring, so loving, so good to people, and you know I was in Ohio the other night, and there’s so many signs, we love our first lady, we love our first lady.’ He then invited her to stand.
The president also praised his daughter Ivanka’s workforce initiatives with the senior White House staffer and her husband Jared Kushner present – neither of whom were invited to or volunteered to deliver remarks.

Reveling in their attention, the president, bragged in front of reporters that the United States’ GDP could top five percent in the next quarter

Describing Pepsi’s outgoing CEO, Indra Nooyi, he said she is routinely named one of the ‘most powerful’ women in the world. ‘No Melania, I’m not talking about you,’ he jested
Trump used the dinner at his New Jersey estate, where reporters were briefly allowed to observe him and then escorted out again, take credit for American economic gains.
The former real estate mogul cast his tariffs as ‘powerful trade policies’ and told business leaders ‘some of you probably love them and a couple of you probably don’t because you’re on the wrong side of the border.’
‘But if you’re from this country, you’re loving what’s happening. The steel industry, as an example, is one of the hot industries of the world right now.
‘What’s happened to steel in the United States, where we have plants opening up literally on a daily basis,’ he claimed. ‘Nobody thought that would be possible.’
Moments later, the president told the group, ‘As you know we’re doing record, and close to record, GDP. Nobody thought would be anywhere above, even close to 2, and we’re at 4.1. And I think we’re going much higher. And as trade deals come in, we can go much, much higher.”

Several minutes later he came back to his wife, though, offering her the ultimate compliment. Referring to her as ‘the great first lady’ the president said, ‘she has been so caring, so loving.’ He then invited her to stand and deliver remarks

FLOTUS laughed as the president made a joke about her status as a powerful woman
Trump said, ‘We anticipate this next quarter to be, this is just an estimate, but already they’re saying it could be in the fives.’
Kudlow in remarks put the marker at 4 percent GDP, leaving it where it’s at now. But Trump wasn’t satisfied. He estimated growth would be higher than it was during the boom in the late ’90s.
‘You’re gonna see super growth very soon when it’s all set, when it’s all, it’s like a fine-tuned machine. But you’re gonna see some really super growth,’ he said.
Trump acknowledged that the U.S. had entered into a ‘little bit of a fight with China right now’ to get there.
‘And we’ve gone up, and I don’t want them to go down, because I’m big fan of President Xi, a friend of mine,’ he said, ‘but we want them to treat us fairly. They have not treated us fairly for many decades, which is the president’s fault.’
He said: ‘I take responsibility for my time, and I couldn’t let that happen.’
Trump said it’s his belief that the U.S. will have a ‘fantastic trading relationship’ with China in the end. He claimed ‘it’s all working out’ in the trade arena.


The president also praised his daughter Ivanka’s (left) workforce initiatives with the senior White House staffer and her husband Jared Kushner (right) present
The relationship with North Korea is also working itself out, he claimed, despite reports that the rogue nation has continued to develop its weapons programs since dictator Kim Jong-un and Trump’s June summit.
‘We’re doing well,’ he said. ‘And we have a good relationship with North Korea. So, we’ll see how it works. I have a feeling that China now is not happy, and maybe they’re doing a little bit of a number, but we’ll figure that out.’
Notable attendees of Tuesday’s dinner include Dennis Muilenburg, the CEO and president of Boeing.
‘I think Boeing has to like me a lot,’ Trump told him. ‘I think everybody in this room frankly likes me. We’ll keep it that way.’
Also participating in the dinner was fracking billionaire Harold Hamm.
The oil and gas baron with an estimated net worth of $18.7 billion was reportedly considered to be President Trump’s energy secretary in 2016.

Trump looks over at MasterCard President and CEO Ajay Banga as he speaks at Tuesday’s dinner meeting with business leaders
Hamm spoke at the Republican National Convention on Trump’s behalf and has been critical of the energy policies of the Obama administration.
He is against the nuclear pact with Iran that Trump squashed on Monday when he signed an executive order putting harsh sanctions on major industries, including precious metals, within Tehran.
Friend of the president and Newsmax owner Chris Ruddy also made a last-minute appearance at the dinner attended by some of the nation’s most powerful CEOs.
‘I am an enemy of the people that actually supports Donald Trump’s policies,’ the conservative news publication owner said to laughter in the room.
Trump is in New Jersey on what is being pegged as a working vacation while the West Wing undergoes what the White House has claimed are ‘needed renovations’ to the presidential work space.
He has been spotted on at least one occasion golfing, although the White House said that he met Monday with staff and spoke by phone to his senior-most advisers.
It was unclear how he spent his Tuesday.
The president had nothing on his schedule, aside from the dinner, which Deputy White House Press Secretary Lindsey Walters told reporters provides ‘an opportunity for the President to hear how the economy is doing from their perspective and what their priorities and thoughts are for the year ahead.’
A release later in the day from the White House bragged that ‘manufacturing employment is surging under the Trump Administration’ after the sector added 24,000 jobs a month on average in 2018.