MARINETTE — President Trump traveled to northeast Wisconsin Thursday to tout his ‘Buy American, Hire American’ initiative.
The president held a town hall event at a Green Bay airport Thursday afternoon before heading to Marinette to tour and give a speech at a Wisconsin company that was awarded a massive contract to build Navy ships.
Less than two months ago, the president’s administration announced that Fincantieri Marinette Marine was granted the first portion of a $5.5 billion contract to build 10 Navy missile frigates which span the length of two football fields each.
The ships will be built over the next decade to one day provide national security overseas.
Fincantieri Marine Group spokesman Eric Dent said the contract allows the company to hire at least another 1,000 employees and pump more than $200 million into Wisconsin’s economy.
“These are good jobs, trade skills, management jobs so we’re excited about what this brings to our company,” Dent said. “We’re excited about what the Navy’s going to get, a tremendous ship, a great warfighter and then the economy in Wisconsin, our local community, they’re going to reap the benefits of this contract also.”
Unlike what we’ve seen at the president’s latest rallies, Dent said the 500-600 attendees at the Marinette speech will be required to wear masks if they’re unable to keep 6 feet apart from others. Dent said this is an effort to prevent the potential spread of coronavirus among the company’s workforce and the broader community.
Watch Trump's full speech below:
