President Barack Obama landed at Everett on Friday morning, heading to the Boeing plant nearby for a tour and to use it a backdrop to push for more U.S. exorts.
Boeing, the nation's largest exporter, has continued to enjoy huge demand for its commercial airplanes even as it has fallen behind European rival Airbus and offloaded an increasing amount of work to foreign suppliers and partners.
"We know that the last few decades haven't been easy for manufacturing," Obama said, noting that increased efficiency and global competition have cost American jobs and will continue to be factors.
"That does not mean that we've got to just sit there and settle for a lesser future," he said. "America is a place where we can always do something to create new jobs and new opportunities and new manufacturing and new security for the middle class, and that's why I'm here today. ... I want us to make stuff. I want us to sell stuff."
Speaking at Boeing's assembly line for its new composite-fuselage 787 Dreamliner, Obama noted that Boeing orders rose by more than 50 percent last year, spurring the company to hire 13,000 people across the country.
"The tide is beginning to turn our way," he said. "American manufacturers are hiring for the first time since 1990, and the American auto industry is back, and our economy is getting stronger.
Obama said the country is ahead of schedule on the goal he set two years ago to double U.S. exports in five years.
The president mentioned the various states that supply parts of the 787 while omitting any reference to its foreign suppliers.
"We can't bring every job. Anybody who says they can, they're not telling you the truth," Obama said.
But it's getting more expensive to make stuff in China, while U.S. workers are more efficient than ever, he added. "Even when we can't make things faster or cheaper than China, we can make them better."
Continuing a theme from the State of the Union address, Obama called for ending tax breaks for businesses that move jobs overseas, saying: "That money should be covering moving expenses for companies that want to bring jobs back home."
He called for a minimum tax on multi-national companies, so they don't have a tax advantage for making things elsewhere and said that money should go to lower taxes on companies keeping jobs here.
Obama touted the role of government in manufacturing, pointing to the Export-Import Bank's involvement in Boeing's
record deal from Indonesian carrier Lion Air for 230 planes. Congress extended the Export-Import Bank's authorization through May of this year, but White House officials said the bank will reach its lending limit at the end of March.
Before Obama spoke, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Jim Albaugh also called out the bank, saying: "85 percent of our backlog is made up of international orders, and what Ex-Im does is it provides backstop financing so we have a level playing field when we go around the world and compete."
Congress needs to reauthorize the bank, which balances out unfair financing that other countries' provide, Obama said, noting he directed the administration to create a trade enforcement unit.
"I will not stand by while our competitors don't play by the rules," he said. "If we have a level playing field, America will always win because we've got the best workers. It's also because we've always believed in the power of innovation."
And government supports the basic research, such as NASA work behind some of the innovations in the 787, Obama said. "Government research helped to create this plane."
Obama's visit comes less than a year after the National Labor Relations Board sparked outrage on the right by
charging that Boeing illegally put the second 787 Dreamliner assembly line in South Carolina in retaliation for strikes in Washington and should be required to open the line in the Northwest. Republican presidential candidates seized upon the case, accusing the NLRB of threatening a new Boeing factory in South Carolina.
But that labor strife gave way in December to
a landmark four-year contract deal that settled the NLRB case and ensured Boeng will assemble its new 737 MAX airplane in Renton, where it builds current 737s.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters that Obama's visit would be focused on manufacturing and trade promotion and had "nothing to do with" the NLRB case.
While visiting the Master Lock plant in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Obama hailed the company's "insourcing" of jobs. Boeing continues to have
a massive U.S. workforce -- 171,692 employees, including 82,125 in Washington, by the latest count. But there are some clouds on that picture.
Airbus delivered 534 commercial aircraft and netted orders for 1,419 last year, beating Boeing's total of 477 airplanes delivered and 805 ordered. And Boeing's newest airliner, the 787 Dreamliner, relied more than any predecessor on a global network of partners to design and build major components.
In the wake of major problems with many of these outsourced components, Boeing executives have admitted the company went to far in moving production out of its house. But they've remained committed to a global-partner model.
Bill Clinton was the most-recent sitting president to speak at Boeing's Everett wide-body plant, although George W. Bush talked with company workers at Seattle's Boeing Field in 2004.
Obama also threw in a few moments of levity, starting during his tour of a United Airlines 787.
After opening an overhead compartment, he announced: "this space is pretty good."
He then played with the electronically dimming windows, saying "look at that! The thing goes dark on its own," and pronouncing it "spiffy."
Later, he told workers: "I was in there fooling around with those windows."
Referring to the mammoth airplane plant, Obama joked: "Your heating bills must be crazy."
And he mentioned the Everett-made 747 that serves as Air Force One, saying: "I get to see your handy work in action every single day."
After lauding the 787's unprecedented efficiency, he added: "and it looks cool"
In addition to the trade announcement, Obama was holding two fund-raisers in the Seattle area Friday, including a fundraising luncheon with 65 people at the Medina home of Jeff Brotman, the co-founder of retailer Costco. Tickets for the event cost $17,900.
Obama also was appearing at a reception with 450 supporters in Bellevue, with a musical performance by the band The Head and the Heart. Tickets started at $1,000. Both events are supporting the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee of Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Obama reported Friday that it had raised $29.1 million for his campaign and the Democratic Party in January, putting him ahead of the pace he set in the last quarter of 2011. Obama has raised about $250 million through the end of January.
In October, the president signed off on free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, a move that could be worth billions of dollars to American exporters and generate tens of thousands of jobs.
Republicans have said the Obama administration has moved too cautiously in finding new trade partners, putting U.S. exporters at a disadvantage with foreign competitors. The administration has sought to pursue free trade while ensuring that basic worker and environmental rights are preserved and U.S. job growth promoted.
