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Trump Delivers Remarks at the McDonald's Impact Summit, Nov. 17, 2025

November 17, 2025 · The White House · 0:49:19

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump delivered remarks at the McDonald’s Impact Summit in Washington, D.C., on November 17, 2025, telling the franchise owners and operators in the room: “I’m honored to stand before you as the very first former McDonald’s fry cook ever to become president of the United States,” a reference to his 2024 campaign stop behind a fry station, which he joked had lasted about 30 minutes.

The speech was an affordability pitch aimed at small business. “Affordable should be our word,” he said of the cost-of-living debate. He ran through the tax law’s provisions as he stated them — no tax on tips, overtime, or Social Security for seniors, and expensing for owners — and cited Walmart’s announcement that Thanksgiving would cost 25 percent less than the year before, as he stated the figure. “I’m fighting every day to support small businesses like yours and the citizens that we all serve,” he said in the passage the White House also clipped separately, “and together we’re fighting for an economy where everyone can win — from the cashier starting her first job to a franchisee opening his first location.”

Why it matters

The summit puts the administration’s affordability argument in front of one of the country’s largest franchise systems — the small-business audience the Economy hub tracks — and it is the fullest statement that week of the pitch the Vice President’s Breitbart chat and the Press Secretary’s briefing, paged alongside this one, also carried.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: affordability claims as stated by the President on November 17, 2025, including the Walmart Thanksgiving figure (25 percent less than the prior year). Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Delivers Remarks at McDonald’s Impact Summit” (official upload, embedded above). Remarks as delivered at the summit.