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Trump Delivers Remarks on the Economy in Rome, Georgia, Feb. 19, 2026

February 19, 2026 · The White House · 1:11:56

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

What happened

President Donald Trump delivered remarks on the economy and affordability at the Coosa Steel Corporation in Rome, Georgia on February 19, 2026 — the speech at the center of a Georgia day that also took him to two local businesses (the White House’s separate visit and factory-tour uploads from the trip are held in the queue). “I’m thrilled to be back in the great state of Georgia with the men and women of an incredible American company,” he said. “Under the Trump administration, our policy is the exact opposite: making it harder to outsource while rewarding those who invest, hire, grow and build right here in the USA.”

Steel and tariffs were the speech’s spine, as he told it: the plant’s new steel and equipment “just went up because of our tariffs,” and a drug-company chief executive had come to the White House the day before to say he was building 11 plants in the United States — “I said why are you doing that? Tariffs. Tariffs!” His jobs account, as he stated it: 172,000 private-sector jobs added in the announcement the previous week, against 300,000 to 400,000 public-sector jobs cut; more than 5,000 manufacturing jobs created in Georgia alone; and 70,000 new construction jobs building factories. “Today more Americans in the prime of their lives are part of a labor force at any time since 2001,” he said.

He ranged across the wider platform from the factory floor: voter ID, proof of citizenship, and an end to mail-in ballots except for the military, the ill, the disabled, and travelers — “95% of the people want voter ID,” as he put it — and the state of the Supreme Court tariff case he was still awaiting that day (“I have to wait for this decision. I’ve been waiting forever”). He closed by promising the steelworkers he would return in three years to a plant “two times bigger.”

Why it matters

The Rome speech is the affordability road case in its purest form — one tariff-credited steel plant standing in for the national jobs and investment figures — delivered the day before the Supreme Court took the tariff authority at the center of the speech away. It is recorded on the Economy, Tariffs & Trade hub.

Scoreboard watch

The President’s figures as stated at Rome — 172,000 private-sector jobs added, more than 5,000 Georgia manufacturing jobs, 70,000 factory-construction jobs — are recorded here as candidate items for the weekly scoreboard. The scoreboard entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Delivers Remarks on the Economy, Feb. 19, 2026,” The White House, February 19, 2026 (official upload, embedded above; Rome, GA, per the official description). All figures and characterizations as stated by the President at the event.