Remarks at a Dinner Hosted by Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin in Honor of Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar

President Trump. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much. Please. Thank you.

Well, this is a who's who, Tamim, of business. Even you are impressed, and that's pretty hard. [Laughter] But this really is. This is a great room. Many friends. And everybody I know and recognize just from reading about you and your great successes.

I want to say that our country has never done better. We're setting records. On Friday, we had the alltime—in the history of our stock market—the alltime highest number. And we intend to go a lot higher. I think we will be a lot higher than even what we've done. We have tremendous potential. There's a lot of room for growth.

And during the campaign, I'd talk about growth. And we've had great growth, but we're going to have a lot more of it. And a lot of people in this room are going to be the reasons for that growth.

And, Tamim, you've been a friend of mine for a long time, before I did this Presidential thing, and we feel very comfortable which—with each other. And I have to say that the investments that you make in the United States—one of the largest in the world—but the investments that you make are very much appreciated. And I know the planes you're buying and all of the other things you're investing in. And I view it differently; I view it as jobs. Because for me, it's jobs.

And today we set a new record for jobs. We're setting it almost on a daily basis. We're up to almost 160 million jobs. And that's a statistic that is just so obvious and so—there are more people working—if you think, more people working in the United States today than at any day ever in our history. That's a very important number. And it's simple, but it's probably as beautiful as we can do. Everybody in the room understands that very well.

But I just want to thank you. We're meeting tomorrow, and it's going to be a very interesting meeting. Maybe we can do everything tonight. We don't have to bother tomorrow. And that would be okay. [Laughter] We'll save some good time. But I look forward to it. We have a big meeting with your representatives, and we have a lot to talk about. There are many things we're going to be talking about, from defense to purchases and trade.

And I know everything is going to be very positive. You've been a great ally, and you've helped us with a magnificent military installation and military airport, the likes of which people haven't seen in a long while.

And I understand there's been another $8 billion invested. Thank goodness it was mostly your money, not ours. In fact, even better, it was all of their money, not ours. That's even better.

But you have been terrific, and you've been my great friend, and I appreciate it. And I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. We're going to have some very good talks.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody, for being here. Thank you.

Amir Tamim. President Trump, friends: It's a great honor to join you again in Washington, DC. Thank you for your continued hospitality. And a personal thank you to Secretary Mnuchin for hosting the dinner tonight. My visit this week will reaffirm the ideals we share. And tonight we are here to celebrate the strong economic partnership. Our nations share a commitment to human capital, working to create resilient, knowledge-based economic—economies, with an emphasis of education—on education, openness, and opportunity for all.

Unfortunately, there are some in my region who do not share our beliefs. In today's world, at times, alliances have to be made with necessary partners, and certain allies are not actually friends. But with the United States and Qatar, we are partners, allies, and friends. Qatar and the U.S. are working together to eradicate terrorism and its financing, wherever it may take root, to ensure a more peaceful and secure world.

We continue our mutual commitment to remain closely invested in both military and security alliance, as we are expanding Al Udeid Air Base to accommodate U.S. troops and their families. We are also partnering with charities here, like the Bob Woodruff Foundation, to support veterans. And our political cooperation in the wider region creates stability so that economic development can flourish.

Together, our two countries continue to seek more investment opportunities to further enhance our common prosperity. Qatar is one of the fastest growing economies in the Middle East, and American companies are a treasured part of Qatar's success and development. We have a long history of exchanging expertise and resources in oil and gas to make both countries top energy exporters.

Our partnership also growing in many nonenergy sectors, one being the exciting back-to-back World Cup 2022 in Qatar and 2026 in the U.S. This year, our mutual economic partnership is estimated at $185 billion, a number which we both intend to grow. This has already created more than half a million American jobs.

And in Qatar, America is the number-one source of imports. You should all be happy—especially you, Mr. President—to hear that there is a trade deficit between our countries that favors the United States of America. [Laughter]

We are looking forward to the continued partnership, alliance, and friendship of our two nations and to the health, prosperity, and happiness of the people of the United States of America and Qatar. Thank you very much.