Republicans in the Rose Garden clap and cheer for Lighthizer and Kushner, two important players in the negotiations, as they walk in before Trump's speech.
Trump is speaking now, Trudeau is speaking at noon. Let the spin begin.
Trump calls this "the most important trade deal that we've ever made, by far." Since it is mostly NAFTA and TPP, that is interesting.
Trump begins by saying that he's in Washington, D.C. "Some people say the swamp, but I will not say that today. I refuse. This is too important, what we're doing."
Trump describes this as a "brand new deal to terminate and replace NAFTA." Again, it makes incremental changes to NAFTA without using the termination clause.
Trump on the new name, USMCA: "It sort of, just, works."
Trump repeats his false claim that U.S. officials had claimed 250,000 jobs would be created in the U.S. with the trade deal with South Korea. Obama had said KORUS would "support at least 70,000 American jobs."
Trump thanks Mexican President Pena Nieto. "I really like him a lot. I think he may like me, I'm not sure."
Trump: "I have to certainly give my highest regards to Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. A lot of stories came out about Justin and I having difficulty together...but I'll tell you, it's turned out to be a very, very good deal for both."
I believe that is the first time Trump has publicly called Trudeau something other than a disparaging "Justin" for months.
Trump on the deal: "It's very good when you look at the world and what the world is doing."
Trump touts gains for farmers: "Mexico and Canada will be opened up a lot more." He specifically talks about the milk, butter, cheese, and ice cream access gains with Canada.
It's worth remembering that almost all agricultural products were already traded tariff-free under NAFTA. Dairy was a notable exception.
Trump touts the auto provisions, specifically the one requiring 40% of a car to be made by workers making at least $16 per hour, saying "we will be manufacturing many more cars, and our companies won't be leaving the United States."
Trump's view of international trade: "It's a privilege for them to do business with us...it's a privilege for China to do business with us. It's a privilege for the European Union...Japan, every country...it's a privilege for them to come in and attack the piggy bank."
By "attack the piggy bank," Trump literally means "selling products to Americans."
Trump repeats his lie that Obama said, "essentially," that you're "not going to have manufacturing jobs." Obama said *some* jobs were gone for good, but boasted about how many the U.S. still had. 
Trump: "The United States is respected again. But it's also respected as to trade and industry."
Trump touts his "bond" with Pena Nieto. He doesn't say the same of Trudeau, but says of both Pena Nieto and Trudeau, "They love their countries. They want to do right for their countries. And that's what they've done."
Trump foreshadows congressional problems to come: "Anything you submit to Congress is trouble." He says Democrats will oppose it because Trump likes it. (Democrats might also oppose it for substantive reasons, but...yes, Trump liking it might well be an issue.)
Trump says that his tariffs and tariff threats were the reason this deal was secured: "Without tariffs, we wouldn't be talking about a deal. Just for those BABIES out there that keep talking about tariffs."
Trump repeats an egregious lie: "Japan would never negotiate with the United States...they told the previous administration, we're not going to negotiate." Japan negotiated the whole TPP with the Obama administration.
Trump calls India "the tariff king" but says it recently called and said it wants to negotiate. He claims that people expressed surprise that this happened, but that India told him, "We want to keep your president happy." He adds: "Isn't that nice. Isn't that nice. It's true."
Trump refers to his 25% tariffs on China as "25% interest." It is not interest. It is a tax on Americans who buy Chinese products.
Trump repeats his lie about U.S. farmers selling to the European Union: "Our farmers aren't allowed to sell over there...most of them." The EU is the fifth-largest market for US agriculture, purchasing more than $11 billion last year.
Trump briefly described this agreement he described as the best and most important ever...and then returned to his regular rants about China, Japan, the European Union, and other things. Now he's talking about military equipment.
Trump repeats his regular false claim that Asian-American unemployment is at a record low. (Was in May, then went back up.) Trump repeats his regular false claim that the trade deficit was $800 billion last year. (It was $566 billion counting services trade too.)
Trump says he wants to end by conveying condolences to "the country of Indonesia." He says its leader is a "friend of mine," then says, "We're going to be calling up...the leader." He does not name the leader.
Trump says an unnamed friend of his studies natural disasters. He adds: "I don't know why he does that. But he does. He says that tsunami is the worst of all."
Trump expresses his sympathies to the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting a year ago.
Lighthizer says Trump advised him at the beginning of the negotiations to "go out there and have fun." He says he knew it would not be very fun for him.
Lighthizer says the agreement will "accelerate the manufacturing renaissance" he says the U.S. has experienced under Trump. It has added 348,000 manufacturing jobs. Here's the chart of manufacturing employment over the last 10 years. Right of the line is the Trump era.
Lighthizer says the agreement would not have happened without Jared Kushner. He also thanks Canadian minister Chrystia Freeland and senior Trudeau aides Katie Telford and Gerry Butts.
Lighthizer to Trump: "Your leadership, vision and grit made this agreement possible. No other person could have done it."
Trump is taking questions. Someone ask him something specific!
Trump on how tensions with Trudeau affected the dealmaking: "I don't think it did. He's a professional, I'm a professional. We had very strong tensions. It was just an unfair deal...and now it's a fair deal...it's a brand deal."
Trump: "It's a brand new deal...it's not NAFTA redone." It is absolutely NAFTA redone.
Trump says tension with Trudeau is over with: "It's all worked out. You know when it ended? About 12 o'clock last night...he's a good man."
Sorry, this should say "brand new deal," not "brand deal."
Trump again claims he asked "one of the top people in China," in the Oval, how the trade relationship got so unfair in China's favour, and the unnamed Chinese official said no previous president ever raised these issues with them. (There is not a good chance this was ever said.)
OMG this Trump History. "You know, tariffs ended in 1913. They then went to a different system in 1918, totally unrelated. And then in 1928, you had the Great Depression. For a lot of different reasons...and then in the 1930s, they said we'd better start charging some tariffs."
Trump promotes his U.S. Steel lie to "eight or nine plants." It started at "six plants," then went to "seven plants," then "eight plants," then Saturday "minimum of eight plants," and this was the first "nine."
Cannot stop staring at this
Trump tries to stop a reporter from asking about him limiting the FBI investigation. He asks what this has to do with trade. He suggests that someone else ask a question. He doesn't usually do that - loves talking about multiple subjects at once.
Trump promises that he'll take the Kavanaugh-FBI question "later."
Trump says that previous American presidents "never spoke to India" about trade. You may have noticed that he is a big liar.
Trump says "no" when asked if this means he's taking off tariffs on Canada. He says, "The steel is staying where it is, and aluminum."
Trump isn't gloating that he's dominated the other two countries: "This is good for all three."
Asked about the steel tariffs on Mexico and Canada, he says he'll keep them "until such time as we can do something that would be different like quotas perhaps so that our industry is protected." He falsely says the U.S. steel industry would've vanished in two years without them.
Asked by @RichardMadan about Canadian dairy, Trump says he fully understands Canada can't fully open up its industry and get "overrun" by U.S. dairy, but he's happy with the gains they've made.
Trump claims that Nucor has announced it's spending $1 billion on a brand new plant. He's been saying this since Nucor announced it was investing $650 million in an existing Kentucky plant.
Asked what his biggest concession to Canada was, Trump says, "I think my biggest concession would be making the deal. Because we are the one that people come and want to take from." He says, "Every deal we have is a loser."
Trump warming on Trudeau: "The only problem with Justin is he loves his people, and he's fighting hard for his people."
For the 23rd time, Trump falsely claims, "Almost every country in the world we have trade deficits. We lose with everybody." The U.S. had surpluses with more than half of all countries last year.
Asked how confident he is that this deal will be passed by Congress, Trump says, "Not at all confident. I'm not."
One day Trump is going to be asked a specific policy question and it's going to be amazing
Trump says that Republicans are doing fantastic in the midterms, expanding the map, but it's hard because he's not on the ballot, but he's trying to explain to his supporters that they're really voting for him.
Told that reporters now want to ask about Kavanaugh, since he's taken many questions on trade, Trump says, "Don't do that. Don't do that. Excuse me? Do you have a question on trade. Don't do that. That's not nice."
Trump has the microphone taken away from a reporter who tried to ask him about Kavanaugh.
Trump is now back to his ICE/MS-13 monologuing. "I'm treating ICE good and I'm treating our law enforcement good."
Asked if paying for the wall was part of the NAFTA negotiation, Trump says: "Yes it was, yeah we talked about it...it was a big part...and certain things and certain understandings are had. At the same time, we don't want to mix it up too much."
Asked whether the FBI investigation is limited or not: "I think the FBI should do what they have to do to get to the answer. At the same time...this is the seventh investigation" of a great man.
On Kavanaugh, Trump laments "the trauma" (to Kavanaugh).
"I want it to be comprehensive," Trump says of the FBI investigation, saying that would actually be good for Kavanaugh, who is suffering indescribable unfairness and pain.
Trump on Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual assault: "A charge made or said to have occurred 36 years ago. And nothing happened since."
Trump won't answer directly when pressed on whether he's putting any limitations on the FBI investigation, instead insulting the reporter. "You don't understand what I'm saying. You do understand, you just don't want to report it that way."
Trump, who enjoys innuendo, says that he knows a lot about the Democrats who are criticizing Kavanaugh, and they are "not angels."
Trump claims the Senate is dictating what the FBI does with this investigation; he's just passing on the Senate's wishes. But he's being very evasive. Eventually says: "We don't want to go on a - to use an expression often used by me - we don't want to go on a witch hunt."
"It wouldn't bother me at all" if Julie Swetnick were interviewed by the FBI, Trump says, though he's heard she has little credibility. He adds: "If there is any credibility, interview the third one."
Reporters are doing a really good job here pressing Trump over and over on the FBI investigation.
.@PeterAlexander has consistently asked excellent press conference questions of Trump. This time, he gets Trump to say, "The FBI should investigate anybody that they want, within reason."
Trump complains of people who want the FBI to investigate Kavanaugh's drinking: "What happened? They're going back to HIGH SCHOOL?" Blasey Ford alleged that Kavanaugh committed the sexual assault while drinking in high school.
Trump is passing the buck on the FBI investigation, claiming it's up to senators to decide how this goes. The authority is his.
Trump calls the press "loco," his third "loco" in three days. He says he's using that word in honour of the U.S. having made an agreement with Mexico.
Trump, asked about whether it'd be disqualifying if Kavanaugh lied under oath, says he was surprised at how vocal Kavanaugh was "about the fact that he likes beer." He says Kavanaugh was very open about his drinking.
Trump lies of Blumenthal: "He didn't just say he went to Vietnam...for 15 years he said he was a war hero." He did just lie that he went to Vietnam. He did not say he was a hero there.
Trump then lies that Blumenthal cried when he was caught, "tears were all over the place."
Trump then lies that Blumenthal cried when he was caught, "tears were all over the place."
Trump says he calls Sen. Blumenthal "Da Nang Richard" in honour of Blumenthal's lies about serving in Vietnam. This is all pretty somethin'.
Trump directs a message to the Democrats, then says he'll direct it to the media also, because "I consider you a part of the Democrat Party." Lighthizer and Kushner and other Republicans have just been staring ahead, standing behind Trump, this whole time.
Trump on his teetotaling: "It's one of my only good traits. I don't drink." He adds: "Can you imagine if I had? What a mess I'd be? I'd be the world's worst."
Asked if he'd pull Kavanaugh's nomination if it came out that he lied about his drinking, Trump says, "I don't think he did!" He says Kavanaugh admitted "that he drank a lot," so there wouldn't be big "discrepancies."
Asked if Kavanaugh was too partisan and political, Trump says, "He's been treated horribly."
Trump says his chief concern is that he'd ask someone to serve on a court but they'll decline for fear of being accused of things.
Asked to offer specifics about his innuendo about Democrats being non-angels, "I think I'll save it for a book like everybody else."
Trump says four times that Kavanaugh was "#1 at Yale." Yale doesn't do class rankings.
Trump has also said that Gorsuch was #1 at Oxford, which does not rank its PhD students, and #1 at Harvard Law, where he was outside the top 50.
Trump is asked whether he's done anything to try to get Canada and Mexico to get rid of their retaliatory tariffs. He misunderstands and says of his own tariffs, "They're not retaliatory. They're really trying to get some really bad things from happening."
For about the 70th time, Trump falsely says the trade deficit with China is "$500 billion a year." It has never once been $500 billion, was $337 billion last year. This time Trump acknowledges his claim is disputed, says $500 billion is "probably the real number."
Asked if there's a Plan B if Kavanaugh fails, Trump says he doesn't want to talk about it. "I'm waiting just like you. Certainly if they find something, I'm going to take that into consideration. I have a very open mind."
The press conference is over.
