After meetings with the CEOs of Boeing and Lockheed Martin on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump said he and the aircraft makers will work to try and reduce costs on major defense projects, including a new Air Force One.

"We’re just beginning — it’s a dance,” Trump told reporters following a series of conferences at his golf resort in Palm Beach, Fla. “It’s a little bit of a dance. But we’re going to get the costs down and we’re going to get it done beautifully.”

One of his guests, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg, told reporters his company would cut the $4 billion estimate of a new Air Force One, a price tag that had raised the president-elect's ire. "We work on Air Force One because it’s important to our country," he said, "and we’re going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it’s done affordably."

Trump met with defense contractors on a day in which aides released a schedule of inaugural events next month and as he sought to push back on critics who emphasize his loss of the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by saying he aimed for a win in the Electoral College win all along.

"Campaigning to win the Electoral College is much more difficult & sophisticated than the popular vote," the president-elect tweeted. "Hillary focused on the wrong states!"

After meeting with Trump at his golf resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg vowed to bring down the $4 billion estimate of a new Air Force One, a price tag that had raised the president-elect's ire.

"We work on Air Force One because it’s important to our country and we’re going to make sure that he gets the best capability and that it’s done affordably," Muilenburg said.

Trump's meetings with the CEOs of Boeing and Lockheed Martin came just weeks after he criticized the size of government contracts they hold for the new Air Force One and the F-35 joint strike fighter, respectively.

While the president-elect has threatened to cancel a Boeing contract for a new Air Force One, military officials say the presidential plane needs an upgrade, including enhanced (and expensive) security equipment.

In a tweet earlier this month, Trump said that “the F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th."

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Trump said his meetings Wednesday dealt mostly with the F-35, saying that "we're trying to get costs down."

The president-elect also spoke with members of the Air Force leadership, one of whom could be seen carrying a binder with a photo of Air Force One on the cover.

Speaking with reporters, Muilenburg said that "we’re all focused on the same thing here, we’re going to make sure that we give our war fighters the best capability in the world and that we do it in a way that is affordable for our taxpayers."

In other developments Wednesday, Trump:

• Appointed businessman and investor Carl Icahn as "special adviser" on issues related to streamlining federal regulations. In a statement, Trump called Icahn "not only a brilliant negotiator, but also someone who is innately able to predict the future especially having to do with finances and economies."

• Announced that economist Peter Navarro would be the new director of Trade and Industrial Policy, working to correct what the president-elect has called unfair trade agreements with other nations. Navarro will lead the newly created White House National Trade Council. Noting that he read one of Navarro's books "years ago," Trump said that "he has presciently documented the harms inflicted by globalism on American workers, and laid out a path forward to restore our middle class. He will fulfill an essential role in my administration as a trade adviser."

Navarro has advocated a tougher trade line with China.

• Spoke with reporters briefly and condemned the recent violence in Germany and Turkey, saying that "what’s going on is terrible." Asked specifically about the terrorist attack in Berlin on Monday that left at least nine people dead, Trump called the assault on a Christmas market by a man driving a truck an "attack on humanity, and it’s got to be stopped."

Trump began the day on social media, defending what he called his election strategy.

Clinton, the Democratic candidate, won more than 65.8 million votes in the election, some 2.8 million more than Trump — but Trump won more states, cruising to victory in the Electoral College.

"I would have done even better in the election, if that is possible, if the winner was based on popular vote — but would campaign differently," Trump said during his brief tweet storm.

He added: "I have not heard any of the pundits or commentators discussing the fact that I spent FAR LESS MONEY on the win than Hillary on the loss!"

Trump made his comments before another round of transition meetings at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

While the president-elect hit Twitter, the Presidential Inaugural Committee released a schedule of official events surrounding the swearing-in of Trump next month.

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It begins Jan. 19 as Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence participate in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Later that day, Trump and Pence will attend a "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration" at the Lincoln Memorial.

The midday inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20 will be followed by a parade along Pennsylvania Avenue and an evening series of inaugural balls around Washington.

The day after he becomes the nation's 45th president, Trump plans to attend a national prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.

There will also be a series of other events leading up to the inauguration, including dinners to honor the new president, vice president, and Cabinet members.

“President-elect Trump is committed to unifying our country as we once again celebrate the foundation of our American system and the peaceful transfer of power,” said Tom Barrack, chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. "The 2017 inaugural celebrations will reflect President-elect Trump's eagerness to get to work in order to make our country safer and stronger.”

Stay with USA TODAY for full coverage of the 2017 inauguration.