ST. LOUIS _ President Donald Trump returned to Missouri for a third presidential visit Wednesday to tout the benefits of his tax cut plan, promising a group of workers and business executives gathered at Boeing Co. in St. Louis that a "phase two" of tax reform is coming.
"It is wonderful to be back in this great state. This was about the first place I announced that we were going to be asking for massive tax cuts," Trump said. "And everybody said it would never happen."
Dan Mehan, president and chief executive of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, praised Trump's economic policies, as did other members of the roundtable. They spoke with Trump in a Boeing hanger flanked by two of the company's fighter jets.
Representatives from 10 companies participated, sharing word about bonuses, wage increases or other investments they had made since the passage of the "Tax Cut and Jobs Act" last year. Some workers told Trump that they were able to take the money they saved and invest in in health care or college funds for their kids.
"It's been really something great," Trump said. "Families right here in Missouri will save something like $4 billion in taxes _ and that's just for this year alone.
"We helped Wall Street, we helped Main Street, we helped everybody," he said.
Additional tax and regulatory reforms are in the works, the president said.
"We're actually going for a phase two, which will help in addition the middle class, will help companies, and it's going to be something I think, very special," he said.
Asked about that second phase, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it would be premature to discuss details.
"The important issue is the president is not willing to just sit back and rely upon the success of tax reform, which took 30 years to get here and we accomplished," Mnuchin said. "He's now asked us to look at different types of things that would be in a phase two and work with Congress, but this is in the very early stages of planning."
Before the roundtable discussion, Trump toured the St. Louis plant with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenberg and other company officials.
"Great planes, incredible," Trump said he walked through the Boeing facility and examined an F/A-18 Super Hornet. The fighters are made at Boeing's St. Louis facility, and the production line here has gotten a boost from the administration's request for 24 more Super Hornets in fiscal 2019 on top of the 24 Congress has written into this year's budget.
During the roundtable, Trump reiterated that he'd asked Congress to fund more new F/A-18s, joking with Muilenberg that if they couldn't work out a good deal they'd have to buy them elsewhere.
"Maybe we can work out a good price," Trump said to laughter.
Trump also showered praise on Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican who this week kicked off his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., in a nationally watched Senate race.
"Josh is doing a fantastic job, I can tell you that. He's working hard," Trump said.
Hawley was on hand at St. Louis Lambert International Airport earlier in the afternoon to greet Trump as he disembarked Air Force One, a task more typically carried out or shared by the governor, but Gov. Eric Greitens was nowhere to be found on Wednesday amid his felony indictment for invasion of privacy.
Roughly 100 people were on the tarmac to welcome the president, many wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats. Hawley walked with him to the crowd, where the two shook hands and posed for photographs for about five minutes before leaving in a large motorcade.
After the Boeing event Wednesday, Trump attended a private fundraiser for Hawley at the Frontenac Hilton, where tickets sold for up to $50,000 each. Reporters and members of the public were kept away from the hotel.
Hawley is far behind McCaskill in fundraising. According to the latest campaign reports, he raised a total of about $1.8 million last year, and came into 2018 with just under $1.2 million available. McCaskill raised $11.8 million for the year _ an apparent Missouri record _ and went into January with more than $9 million still on hand after expenditures.
Still, McCaskill is seen as one of the most vulnerable incumbent senators in the country this year, and the both sides have targeted Missouri as a top-priority race.
Before Trump's arrival at the fundraiser Wednesday, a small group of protesters gathered outside of the hotel to deliver a message about gun control. Two Rockwood Summit High School seniors, Caroline Bundschuh and Brian Wingbermuehle, said they thought it would be a good idea to bring their message to Trump at the hotel.
Both said they were members of gun-control groups at their school.
Another group of about the same size turned up to support Trump. They held two blue Trump flags as they stood across from the hotel.
Joe Jackson, of Oakville, said support for Trump is underestimated by liberals.
"He's the president, and his agenda is getting through, and there's a lot more people who support him and want to make America great again," he said.
Trump, addressing the crowd at Boeing, made the same point.
"It's happening a lot faster than anyone thought possible," he said.
