The White House Press Secretary has said that clamping down on US multinationals located abroad to avail of more favourable tax regimes is not a top priority of the Trump administration.
Sean Spicer said President Donald Trump's first priorty was US-based companies that were trying to bring jobs back to the US, or grow their operations in the US.
Mr Trump met separate groups of top US CEO's yesterday and today to discuss how they could boost the US economy.
Yesterday, he met 12 manufacturing industry leaders, and today he met with the top auto industry CEOs.
One of the companies Mr Trump met was Johnson and Johnson - which has significant manufacturing operations in Ireland - but today Mr Spicer said the President was focused on getting greater market access for companies like them.
However, during the campaign Mr Trump repeatedly said that he would target US multinationals who kept profits abroad, in more favourable tax regimes, forcing them to repatriate those profits or face a penalty.
Mr Trump has also signed five executive actions, including one to reverse the action taken by his predecessor Barack Obama preventing the construction of the controversial Keystone Pipeline.
Today, Mr Trump ordered that the company resubmit its proposal and that it be granted expedited approval.
He signed another other to fast-track the approval for the planned Dakota Access pipeline.
Another executive order requires any pipes used in US pipelines to be made in the US.
Mr Trump signed two other orders - one streamlining the regulatory process for domestic manufacturing operations, and another requiring expedited environmental impact reviews and approvals for big projects.
The Government Press Secretary was asked when Mr Trump would take action against illegal immigrants as promised on the campaign trail.
In response he said that the first focus of Mr Trump would be on those who were undocumented and criminals, and once that was addressed he would focus on the bulk of illegal immigrants who are law-abiding.
He did not give a timeline for that.
Controversy over voter fraud claims
However another controversy arose during today's press briefing when Mr Spicer was asked, repeatedly, about claims Mr Trump made after the election, and re-iterated in a private meeting yesterday, that there had been widespread voter fraud and that he had lost the popular vote because of millions of votes cast by undocumented immigrants.
This claim is not backed by any publicly-available evidence, but nevertheless Mr Spicer said Mr Trump believed it to be true based on "studies and evidence" that people have presented to him.
He added though that the White House was not instigating an investigation into the claims of voter fraud because Mr Trump had won comfortably in the electoral college and that was all that mattered at this stage.
Trump urges US automakers to push for new plants
Earlier, Mr Trump pushed the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to increase production in the United States and boost American employment.
Mr Trump opened a meeting with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne at the White House, saying he wants to see new auto plants built in the United States.
"We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants," he told reporters.
The new Republican president, who took office last Friday, vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States.
"I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!" he said in a tweet ahead of the meeting with automakers, saying he would discuss US jobs with the chief executives.
Will be meeting at 9:00 with top automobile executives concerning jobs in America. I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2017
US automakers have been reluctant to open new US auto plants in recent years, but they have expanded some operations at existing plants.
Mr Trump has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35% tariffs on imported vehicles.
The meeting is the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a US president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American."
Today's gathering was the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers have met jointly with a US president since a July 2011 session with former Democratic President Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Mr Trump was looking forward at the meeting "to hearing their ideas about how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry."
US and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump's comments. Mr Trump, a New York real estate developer, often singled out Ford's Mexico investments for criticism during his election campaign.
