Donald Trump's first week in office remarkable, says advisor

Kellyanne Conway said US spends billions protecting the borders of other countries around the world

US President Donald Trump's first week in office has been remarkable so far with busy meetings and engagements, a top advisor has said.

"This has been a pretty remarkable week in just four work days. We have had wage-boosting, job-creating measures. We have had manufacturing CEOs from all over the country here, really premier job creators, really heeding the president's call to try to have an explosion in manufacturing in our nation," Kellyanne Conway, Trump's senior advisor told PBS News in an interview.

"Then on the very same day, we had the labour union leaders, along with laborers themselves here at the White House, talking about what it means for them be a carpenter, a pipe fitter, a plumber, a steelworker, like the many men I grew up with in South Jersey outside of Philadelphia," she said.

"They said that they had never been invited to the White House before, Democratic or Republican. They felt so included that they're part of the national conversation," she said.

Trump has issued executive orders withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), so that the US would have bilateral trade agreements in the future that benefit the US and its workers and its allies and its interests.

"So, it's been a very busy week. We're very happy to have our first foreign leader tomorrow, Prime Minister Theresa May, here, meeting with President Trump," Conway said.

Responding to a question on reported move of the administration to impose tax on import of goods from Mexico, she said this is just one idea.

"That is one of the many methods by which to pay for the wall (US-Mexico border). It is one proposal on the table. Certainly, there are others," Conway said.

"When you consider the price tag for this wall, which will be a physical wall constructed on the southern border, let's contrast that to the billions and billions that we spend on benefits for and accommodating illegal immigrants," she said.

America, she said, spends billions of dollars protecting the borders of other countries around the world.

"It's high time we start protecting our own. We're a sovereign nation. And as President Trump has said all along, made a centerpiece of his campaign from day one, we have to stop the flow of people and drugs over our borders," she said.