2. What discussions has the First Minister had about welcoming the President-elect of the United States of America to Wales? OAQ(5)0266(FM)

None as yet.

I thank you for your concise answer, First Minister. Now, I understand that arrangements about the new President—the President-elect—visiting Wales are in the future, but, in terms of trade, I wonder whether you would acknowledge that we now have a future President who is in favour of, and he’s vocally enthused about, striking a trade deal with the UK, and this may lead to a better prospect—[Interruption.] It may lead, despite the naysayers, it may lead to better prospects for a post-Brexit Wales—[Interruption].

I can’t hear the question; allow the question to be heard.

I apologise, Llywydd.

No, it’s not you who needs to apologise; it’s the others.

Thank you, Llywydd, for telling them off. First Minister, are you enthusiastic, as I am, about the future prospects for a post-Brexit Wales with President Trump?

Well, I remain to be convinced. And the reason why I say that is that Donald Trump was elected on the basis of putting America first. On that basis, I don’t see that free trade agreements are going to be high up in his agenda. He has said that he wants to unravel global trading arrangements. So, we will have to wait and see. I mean, clearly, there’s work to be done in order to make sure that the UK is in as strong a position as possible post Brexit, but I see no evidence yet to suggest that America will become an exponent of free trade agreements that are balanced and not wholly in favour of one side rather than the other.

In Islwyn, we celebrate the historic USA-Wales special relationship with great pride, in General Dynamics, with their base in Oakdale. And, at the important recent summit, those close ties between Wales and the USA were reaffirmed, with the Ministry of Defence signing a £3.5 billion deal, to order 589 SCOUT specialist vehicles. That deal ensured that the 200 employees employed by General Dynamics in Oakdale will have guaranteed work for the next decade. So, will the First Minister outline what plans he has to build on his very successful trip to the USA in September of this year and ensure more American companies want to invest in Wales and our wonderful workforce?

Yes, the message has been that Wales is open for business, and we carried that message to America. The US is a hugely important investor in the Welsh economy. There are two questions that are still posed by US investors: firstly, will they be able to access the large European market if they are based in the UK on the same terms as now? That’s not yet been answered. Secondly, will the regulatory regime be different in the UK compared to the EU? That’s a question that troubles them. So, we need to see answers to those questions as quickly as possible in order to make sure that the flow of investment continues.

First Minister, I think it would be funny if it wasn’t so serious that UKIP is rushing to welcome the President-elect to Wales without actually discussing the fact that this candidate, President to be, has been espousing misogyny, sexism and homophobia to the rest of the world, and we should be very, very concerned about this. I wonder, in the whole debate around Brexit, the United States and the current discussion around politics, how you will be working to restore faith in politics so that we can try to see through the darkness of some of these discussions. I was at an Asylum Justice meal last night trying to support those who need our help, as opposed to building barriers against supporting them. How can we, as a nation, support those very people who need our support when we have such leaders as Trump in this world?

Real leaders build bridges, not walls—that’s the one thing we have to remember. Humanity does not prosper when countries try to cut themselves off from each other. That leads to conflict, and we see from history where that leads. The President-elect will have a huge task on his hands to unite his very divided country—there’s no question about that. We’ve seen in the past week that America is far from being a country at ease with itself, and he will have a significant task to do in order to move forward towards a more united country. He will clearly have to tone down, at the very least, some of the remarks that he made during his election campaign. There are signs that that might be happening, but we wait to see what happens when he is inaugurated in January.