The White House • February 13, 2019

Not one more person should suffer under socialism Today, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump welcomed President Ivan Duque Marquez and First Lady Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval of Colombia to the White House. “We’re working on many things together: the eradication of drugs in Colombia and outside of Colombia; and obviously, Venezuela,” President Trump said. “We want to work together to put an end to the brutal dictatorship that has been affecting the Venezuelan people,” President Duque added. Three weeks ago, the United States officially recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela. “We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom, and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair,” President Trump said in his State of the Union address last week. To keep its word, America has imposed tough sanctions on Maduro and his corrupt associates. The Trump Administration is blocking assets in the United States controlled by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, disconnecting Maduro and his cronies from their needed revenue sources and protecting crucial assets for the future of Venezuela. Here at home, mainstream Americans are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our own country. From Venezuela to the historic horrors of Maoist China, Cuba, and the Soviet Union, socialism turns modern prosperity into primitive scarcity. Even Europe’s Nordic countries—often held up by American liberals as socialist “success stories”—reveal the failure of state control: Today, living standards in the Nordic countries are at least 15 percent lower than in the United States, according to the Council of Economic Advisers. “America was founded on liberty and independence, and not government coercion, domination, and control,” President Trump told Congress last week. “Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.” President Trump is standing up for the people of Venezuela. White House report: The true costs of socialism

Top CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook, team up with Ivanka Trump In the world's best economy, a skills gap shouldn't stand between hardworking Americans and 7.3 million available jobs. So 25 leaders—including Fortune 500 CEOs, nonprofit executives, and governors—are joining Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to get more Americans into the jobs they want. The American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, announced by Secretary Ross and Ms. Trump today, will work with President Trump’s National Council for the American Worker to help our labor force navigate the technological disruptions and rapidly changing nature of work today. The board’s goal is to “ensure inclusive growth” in the U.S. economy, Ms. Trump says. Joining the board will be Apple CEO Tim Cook, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, and 23 other leaders from across business, the nonprofit sector, and government. Bloomberg: ‘Wilbur Ross, Ivanka Trump introduce workforce advisory board’  The pledge: More than 200 companies have pledged opportunities for workers

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Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez and his wife Mrs. Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval | February 13, 2019