President Donald Trump returned to his roots on Tuesday, railing against the North American Free Trade Agreement during a speech in Wisconsin in which he pledged to put 'America first' and crack down on a visa program that's said to hurt American workers.

The president is in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he signed an executive order dubbed 'Buy American, Hire American' that will overhaul a foreign worker program he once said should be eliminated.

Trump's order makes changes to the controversial H-1B visa program that brings in 'high-skilled' workers - but has been accused of driving down wages for Americans.

'With this action, we are sending a powerful signal to the world. We're going to defend our workers, protect our jobs and finally put America first,' Trump said this afternoon at an event his Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos attended with him.

Turning to the topic of NAFTA, he said, 'It's been very, very bad for our companies and our workers, and we're going to make some very big changes or we are going to get rid of NAFTA for once and for all. Cannot continue like this, believe me.'

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President Donald Trump returned to his roots on Tuesday, railing against the North American Free Trade Agreement during a speech in Wisconsin in which he pledged to put 'America first' and crack down on a visa program that's said to hurt American workers

The president is in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he signed an executive order dubbed 'Buy American, Hire American' that will overhaul a foreign worker program he once said should be eliminated

He's seen showing off the signed order after the event as Wisconsin lawmakers and his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (his left) and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnunchin (Trump's left in the red tie) applaud

Trump campaigned on an 'America First' platform but has been accused of shoving it aside since he ascended to the Oval Office. He reaffirmed Tuesday at the headquarters of a hand and tool manufacturer that it remains his North Star as he talked about trade and visa abuses.

Alleged H-1B visa abuse by Walt Disney The most high-profile example of alleged H-1B visa abuse is the Walt Disney Company. It was sued last year by former workers who said they were made to train their replacements and then let go. Two workers accused Disney of conspiring to violate visa laws. Disney worked with outsourcing companies to replace them with workers on H-1B visas from India, they said. The plaintiffs argued that Disney was in violation of a regulation that the hiring of foreign workers cannot 'adversely affect the working conditions' of a company. Companies must also certify that H-1B visa hires 'will not displace any similarly employed U.S. worker' within six months on their coming on. A Florida judge ruled in October that the plaintiffs were 'adversely affected' by the H-1B visa hires but sided with Disney in his judgement. 'None of the allegedly false statements put at issue in the complaint are adequate,' U.S. District Court Judge Gregory A. Presnell said. Source: The New York Times Advertisement

'We're using every tool at our disposal to restore the American Dream,' Trump promised. 'In fact, when it comes to wasteful destructive job killing regulations we are going to use a tool you all know very well: it's called the sledgehammer.'

White House officials said prior to the event that the order Trump signed at Snap-on Inc., in House Speaker Paul Ryan's district, directs departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Labor and State to propose new rules to prevent immigration fraud and abuse in the H-1B visa program.

Departments are being asked to offer changes so that H-1B visas are awarded to the 'most-skilled or highest-paid applicants,' administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity despite the president's frequent criticism of the use of anonymous sources, said.

That work has already started, an official said during a conversation on the way back from Wisconsin.

The White House says the H-1B visa program undercuts American workers by bringing in cheaper labor and some tech companies are using it to hire large numbers of workers and cut down labor costs.

'The companies will always try to get an advantage by cutting labor costs. That's the job of a company,' an official said Tuesday. 'It's not the job of the American government to have a race to the bottom, trying to help any particular company reduce labor costs to the lowest degree possible.'

Continuing, the official said, 'It's the job of the United States government to represent the interests of the nation as a whole, and the interest of the nation as a whole is to have higher wages paid to American workers.'

Speaking in Wisconsin, Trump said foreign workers 'should never, ever be used to replace Americans.'

'No one can compete with American workers when they are given a fair and level playing field,' he said.

President Donald Trump greets Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson after speaking at the headquarters of tool manufacturer Snap-On on today in Kenosha, Wisconsin

Officials say Trump's order seeks to strengthen requirements that American-made products be used in certain federal construction projects, as well as in various federal transportation grant-funded projects in addition to the reforms to the visa program.

The order specifically asks the secretary to review waivers of these rules that exist in free-trade agreements. The administration said that if the waivers are not benefiting the United States they will be 'renegotiated or revoked.'

An official on Tuesday described Trump's executive order as a 'very muscular way' of getting agencies to begin that process. They now have to report to the president, which ensures an 'enormous amount of accountability,' especially when it comes to the granting of waivers.

During his campaign, Trump said at some point that he supported high-skilled visas, then came out against them.

At one debate, he called for fully ending the program, saying: 'It's very bad for our workers and it's unfair for our workers. And we should end it.'

Trump admitted then that he had taken advantage of the program as a businessman - but said he shouldn't have been allowed to and it should be abolished.

'I know the H-1B very well. It's something that I, frankly, use,' he said. 'I’m a businessman and I have to do what I have to do, and it's sitting there waiting for you, but it's very bad.'

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters during a call Tuesday that Trump had failed to keep the promises he made to American workers when he was running for president.

'Unfortunately President Trump has been siding since he became president with the CEOs and special interests over the American workers at every turn,' the top-ranking Democrat contended. 'Unfortunately, sadly, "Buy American and Hire American" has been nothing more than a campaign slogan.'

A White House official said Monday that the political system has ignored pleas for reforms to foreign worker programs for a long time, and Trump's 'acknowledgement of the problem in and of itself is quite remarkable in the sense that past administrations in both parties have failed to do so.'

'So that in and of itself represents a fairly historic event and really underscores again how President Trump has changed politics as we know it and has captured the hearts and minds of working-class voters in a way that both parties have failed to do,' the official charged.

'It's a remarkable testament to his leadership and to our changing political landscape, and turning the Republican Party into a vehicle to broadly represent working-class citizens who felt underrepresented by our political system.

White House officials said Monday that changes to the H-1B visa program could be administrative or legislative and could include higher fees for the visas, changing the wage scale for the program or other initiatives.

About 85,000 H-1B visas are distributed annually by lottery. Many go to technology companies, which argue that the United States has a shortage of skilled technology workers.

But critics say the program has been hijacked by staffing companies that use the visas to import foreigners - often from India - who will work for less than Americans. The staffing companies then sell their services to corporate clients who use them to outsource tech work.

Employers from Walt Disney World to the University of California in San Francisco have laid off their tech employees and replaced them with H-1B visa holders. Adding to the indignity: The U.S. workers are sometimes asked to train their replacements to qualify for severance packages.

On the order by Trump, Ronil Hira, a professor in public policy at Howard University and a critic of the H-1B program, said, 'It's better than nothing.' But he added, 'It's not as aggressive as it needs to be.'

The tech industry has argued that the H-1B program is needed because it encourages students to stay in the U.S. after getting degrees in high-tech specialties - and they can't always find enough American workers with the skills they need.

A White House official said Tuesday the solution to that problem is vocational education and training, not foreign workers.

Donald Trump holds up Green Bay Packers jersey given to him by House Speaker Paul Ryan at a rally in West Allis, Wisconsin last December. Trump went to Ryan's congressional district in Wisconsin today to sign his executive order, but Ryan was overseas

Congress is considering several bills to overhaul the visa program.

One, introduced by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, would require companies seeking H-1B visas to first make a good-faith effort to hire Americans, a requirement many companies can dodge under the current system.

It would also give the Labor Department more power to investigate and sanction H-1B abuses and offer 'the best and brightest' foreign students studying in the U.S. priority in getting H-1B visas.

Trump's stop at the world headquarters of Snap-on Inc. comes as he faces an approval rating of just 41 percent in Wisconsin, a state he barely won in November.

The visit took him to the congressional district of House Speaker Ryan, who did not join the president because he's on a bipartisan congressional trip visiting NATO countries.

'He has a good excuse,' Trump quipped. The president told Ryan while 'you're over with NATO, get them to pay their bills.'

White House Chief of Staff Renice Priebus is also a Wisconsin native and hails from Kenosha. He accompanied the president on the trip along with chief strategist Steve Bannon (right)

White House Chief of Staff Renice Priebus is also a Wisconsin native and hails from Kenosha. He accompanied the president on the trip along with chief strategist Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller.

Trump has traveled to promote his agenda less than his recent predecessors. He's hosted foreign leaders at the White House and made frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate, instead.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wanted to visit 'a company that builds American-made tools with American workers' on today's trip.

Trump carried Wisconsin in November by nearly 23,000 votes - less than 1 percentage point - making him the first Republican to win the state since 1984. He campaigned on the promise of returning manufacturing jobs that have been lost in Upper Midwest states.

Founded in Wisconsin in 1920, Snap-on makes hand and power tools, diagnostics software, information and management systems, and shop equipment for use in a variety of industries, including agriculture, the military and aviation.

Its headquarters are in Kenosha and it has eight manufacturing sites in North America, including one in Milwaukee. The company employs about 11,000 people worldwide.