‘President Trump Does Not Support American Workers Being Replaced’: White House | World News

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that President Donald Trump is committed to protecting American jobs while continuing to welcome major foreign investment into the United States. The remarks come at a time when the H-1B visa program is under intense scrutiny and concerns that foreign workers could displace Americans in specialized industries.

Speaking to reporters, Leavitt said: “The President does not support replacing American workers… The President wants to see the American manufacturing industry come back better than ever. That’s part of what he’s doing by using tariffs effectively and making good trade deals around the world.”

He emphasized that Trump took a “tactful and common sense” stance when answering questions about H-1B visas. He explained that he supports this initial phase if foreign companies invest significant sums in the United States and bring in skilled workers to start advanced manufacturing projects. “If foreign companies are investing trillions of dollars in the United States and bringing in foreign workers to create niche products like batteries, that’s what he wants to see initially… But ultimately the President always wants to see American workers in those jobs.”

Leavitt added that Trump communicated directly with international investors: “He told foreign companies investing here that if you are going to do business in the United States, you should hire my people.”

Recently, Trump defended the H-1B program, saying he “loves his conservative friends and MAGA” but believes the U.S. still needs high-skilled foreign workers. Speaking at the US–Saudi Investment Forum on 20 November, he pushed back against criticism from within his own base.

Trump argued that companies that spend heavily on state-of-the-art facilities cannot rely solely on untrained domestic labor. He said companies “can’t open a massive computer chip factory for billions of dollars” and then “hire people off the unemployment line to run that plant,” emphasizing that foreign experts are often needed to train Americans before eventually leaving.

While acknowledging discontent among some MAGA supporters, he insisted that advanced industries depend on specialized talent: “They don’t understand.”

Bolstering his position, Trump said: “You can’t think you’re going to open a huge multi-billion dollar computer chip factory like they did in Arizona and hire people on the unemployment line to run it. They’re going to have to bring thousands of people with them, and I’m going to welcome those people. This is MAGA.”
He repeated: “They don’t understand.”

Trump also explained that American workers need time and training before taking on certain roles: “People need to be trained; it’s something they haven’t done before. But we’re not going to be successful if we don’t allow the people who have invested billions of dollars in plant and equipment to bring in a lot of people from their country to open that plant and run it and get it up and running. I’m sorry.”

Defending the continued need for H-1B visas, he added, “No, you don’t. You don’t have certain talents… You can’t take people off the unemployment line and expect them to operate advanced factories or make missiles.”

His comments come as some Republican leaders intensify pressure on him to repeal the program, even as Trump maintains that high-skilled immigration remains essential to U.S. competitiveness.

(with ANI entries)