Trump Returns From Asia Trip, Says World Saw 'Strong, Proud And Confident America'

WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) -- President Donald Trump is back from his five-nation and nearly two-week tour of Asia, and on Wednesday, he took time to cite the trip as a success.

As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, it came as Congress is ready to act on tax reform.

Trump took a kind of victory lap after his Asia tour. He touted his accomplishments and insisted the U.S. is prouder and more confident on the world stage.

He went on to cite three goals he wanted to achieve.

"During our travels, this is exactly what the world saw – a strong, proud and confident America," Trump said.

Trump said America is back, and touted his accomplishments over the last 10 months.

"Economic growth has been over 3 percent the last two quarters and is going higher. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 17 years. The stock market has gained trillions of dollars in value," Trump said.

Trump said while abroad, he had candid conversations about fair trade, and put the world on notice about the danger of North Korea.

"I spoke the truth about the evil crimes of the North Korean regime, and I made clear that we will not allow this twisted dictatorship to hold the world hostage to nuclear blackmail," Trump said.

Trump's speech came a day before congressional action on his tax reform plan. Senate Republicans have decided to eliminate the individual mandate from Obamacare.

The mandate forces people to buy insurance or pay a fine.

"Republicans decided to throw the mother of all monkey wrenches into the bill -- repealing the individual mandate," said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-New York).

"The goal is to repeal an unpopular tax from an unworkable law in order to provide more tax relief to middle class families," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

Republicans said they did not have enough time to get the individual mandate into the House bill, which will be voted on Thursday. But already, some Republicans object to key provisions of the bill.

"It eliminates the deduction for state income tax altogether. It eliminates all of the property tax deduction except for $10,000, which would still hurt many of my constituents, many constituents on Long Island and throughout New York state," said Long Island U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-New York), "and right now there is no hint of any compromise, so based on that, I would have to vote no."

Repealing the individual mandate would save the government $330 billion over the next 10 years, and that money would help offset the increase in the deficit from the tax cuts.

But an estimated 13 million people would lose their insurance.