President Trump and First Lady join leaders in America’s war on drug abuse

This afternoon, President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump addressed the Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta, Georgia. The annual event brings together practitioners and stakeholders from the front lines of the war on drug abuse.

Past Presidents have attended the summit, but today President Trump was able to share evidence of real progress from his Administration’s fight to end the opioid epidemic.

Watch: President Trump says everyone united by same vital goal

The Trump Administration has unveiled numerous programs across the Government since President Trump launched his Initiative to Stop Opioid Abuse last year. Those efforts include securing $6 billion in funding, increasing law enforcement efforts through the Department of Justice, and signing the bipartisan SUPPORT Act into law.

Another crucial part of the President’s plan is to cut off the flow of illicit drugs before they flood into our communities. The Department of Homeland Security recently seized 1.2 billion lethal doses of fentanyl over a single 12-month period—enough of the deadly drug to kill every American four times over. President Trump’s efforts to secure our border and crack down on illegal distributors are drying up this lucrative drug supply.

The death toll from this “crisis next door" is nothing short of a national tragedy, but there are signs of progress from the Administration’s massive push. In the President’s first year in office, 68 percent fewer Americans over the age of 26 began using heroin than in the previous year. Meanwhile, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizures of fentanyl alone are up 265 percent over the last two full fiscal years.

“We will not solve this epidemic overnight,” the President told leaders in the fight against drug abuse today in Atlanta. But “we will never stop until our job is done.”

Join other Americans and share your story from the crisis next door.

Watch: First Lady says we will replace the bond of addiction with the bond of love

The American car industry is back. Let’s keep it that way.

This afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence traveled to the Ford Motor Company’s Dearborn Truck Plant in Detroit, Michigan. It’s the same factory town that has produced some of the most iconic Ford automobile lines in American history, from the Model A and Mustang to the newer F-150.

Today, the plant is home to some 7,500 employees—each one of them using innovative techniques to help develop America’s next generation of cars.

“The automotive industry is the backbone of American manufacturing today,” Vice President Pence told workers. “The [United States–Mexico–Canada trade agreement] will finally give workers the level playing field and be able to compete and win on a global stage as never before.” The USMCA, which President Trump negotiated late last year, will replace NAFTA once it is approved by Congress.

Vice President Pence: New trade agreement puts auto industry first