President Trump speaks to reporters while signing executive orders in the Oval Office.
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00:00Thank you very much.
00:01It's an honor to be with you today.
00:03We just celebrated Women's Day at the White House.
00:06It was fantastic.
00:07Attended by a lot of great women.
00:09A lot of great women.
00:10All women are great.
00:12So, this is the beginning of Liberation Day in
00:18America.
00:20We're going to take back just some of the money
00:22that has been taken from us by people sitting
00:27behind this desk or another desk that's not
00:29quite as nice, but they have their choice of
00:31seven, as you know.
00:34And we're going to charge countries for doing
00:41business in our country and taking our jobs, taking
00:44our wealth, taking a lot of things that they've
00:47been taking over the years.
00:48They've taken so much out of our country, friend
00:51and foe.
00:51And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much
00:53worse than foe.
00:56And this is very modest.
00:58And what we're going to be doing is a 25 percent
01:01tariff on all cars that are not made in the United
01:04States.
01:04If they're made in the United States, there's
01:06absolutely no tariff.
01:07We started off with a two and a half percent base,
01:09which is what we were at.
01:11And we go to 25 percent.
01:14And basically, as you know, and as you've been
01:16saying, not reporting as accurately as it should be
01:19reported because it's a massive story.
01:22Business is coming back to the United States so that
01:25they don't have to pay tariffs.
01:26And I think also because of November 5th, the
01:28election, they're very happy.
01:32AI is coming back to levels that nobody has ever
01:35seen before.
01:35It's a new sort of a new business, I guess, when
01:38you think about it.
01:39But it's plants are going up all over the United
01:42States, and many of them have already been started.
01:44We're getting early electricity taken care of.
01:48We're getting permits very quickly for them.
01:51And we're going to make their life very happy.
01:53They're coming in with tens of billions of
01:55dollars.
01:56Individual plants will cost 10, 15, 20 billion
02:00dollars.
02:01We're going to let them build electricity
02:03generating plants along with their plant.
02:06And they can't even believe it.
02:08And we're going to get a very quick permits, as
02:10I've done always.
02:11I did that in Louisiana with two LNG plants.
02:14I got them one permit in one day after waiting 14
02:17years and the other one in one week after waiting for
02:2012 years.
02:21But this is very exciting to me.
02:23This is the automobile industry.
02:24And this will continue to spur growth like you
02:29haven't seen.
02:30Before I was elected, we were losing all of our
02:31plants.
02:32They were being built in Mexico and Canada and
02:34other places.
02:35Now those plants largely have stopped and they're
02:37moving them to our country.
02:39And Indiana, the great state of Indiana.
02:42I love Indiana.
02:43Honda is building one of the biggest plants
02:47anywhere, and they've just started.
02:51They wouldn't have done it without this.
02:53In all cases, they wouldn't have done it
02:55without what we're doing.
02:58So we'll effectively be charging a 25 percent
03:00tariff.
03:01But if you build your car in the United States,
03:03there's no tariff.
03:04And what that means is a lot of foreign car
03:06companies.
03:07A lot of companies are going to be in great
03:08shape because they've already built their plant.
03:10But their plants are underutilized, so
03:12they'll be able to expand them inexpensively and
03:14quickly.
03:15But others will come into our country and build.
03:18And they're already looking for sites.
03:21They're looking for mostly sites.
03:23They don't want to take the old buildings that are
03:25empty and falling down.
03:26They want to build new.
03:28And there's tremendous action.
03:31There is, likewise, for other companies and
03:33countries like the chip-making process.
03:36Your chip bill was a disaster done by Biden.
03:39All he does is give tremendous amounts of
03:42billions of dollars to chip companies that will
03:47do nothing with the money.
03:48They're not going to use the money here.
03:49They're going to just keep it.
03:50They have plenty of money.
03:52The one thing they have is they have a lot of money.
03:54In our case, all we're doing is saying, you
03:56can't come in unless you build here.
03:58And the largest chip company, by far, is
04:02manufactured from Taiwan, is building here.
04:04And it'll give us almost 40 percent of the chip
04:06market just with that.
04:07They're spending almost $200 billion in the
04:11United States to build a plant.
04:12And they've almost started.
04:14They'll be doing much of the work in Arizona.
04:17So we have a lot of exciting things.
04:18But to me, this is one of the most exciting.
04:20Now, outside of one specific day, and that's
04:24Liberation Day.
04:24That's the real Liberation Day of America.
04:26And that's going to be in April 2nd.
04:30And I look forward to it.
04:31We'll have a little news conference.
04:33We'll talk about it.
04:34But this is very exciting.
04:35So we're signing an executive order today
04:41that's going to lead to tremendous growth in the
04:43automobile industry.
04:45As you know, the electric mandate that we did allows
04:49you to buy a car now, electric or gasoline
04:53powered or hybrid.
04:54You can buy any car you want.
04:56We had it so that within a short period of time, you
04:58had to buy all electric.
04:59And the country could never get — they could
05:02never provide the money necessary to build all of
05:07those power plants that you would need all over
05:09the country.
05:09As you know, in the Middle West, they built eight
05:13power stations.
05:15That's like — the size of this desk or smaller.
05:18And they ended up spending $9 billion on eight.
05:21And of the eight, four of them didn't work.
05:25And we're not doing that.
05:26So you can buy electric or you can buy gasoline, or
05:31you can buy hybrid or you can buy whatever you want
05:33to buy.
05:34And that's the way it should be.
05:35The market is going to determine that.
05:38And you're going to see prices going down, but
05:40it's going to go down specifically because
05:42they're going to buy what we're doing,
05:43incentivizing companies to — and even countries,
05:49but companies to come into America and build.
05:52And we're already setting records for new plants.
05:54I think the new plant number, the tally, is just
05:57within a period of a few weeks.
05:59It's very large.
06:01I want to be accurate.
06:02It's very large.
06:03And I'd like to ask Will just to come and give
06:05some of the basics, and then I'll sign it.
06:08And it's off to the races.
06:11I think our automobile business will flourish
06:13like it's never flourished before.
06:14Yes, please, Will.
06:15Mr. Deese.
06:16Thank you, sir.
06:17As you stated, we've prepared for your
06:18attention a proclamation imposing a 25 percent
06:22tariff on foreign-made cars and light trucks.
06:25This is in addition to tariffs that are already
06:28in place on those goods.
06:30In addition to, as you said, spurring increased
06:33domestic manufacture of cars and trucks, we
06:36expect that these tariffs will result in over $100
06:40billion of new annual revenue to the United
06:44States of America in tariff revenue.
06:46The President I think, ultimately, we could
06:49probably anywhere from $600 billion to a trillion
06:53dollars will be taken in over the relatively
06:57short-term period, meaning a year from now.
07:02But starting right away, starting right away, I
07:05think we'll go from $600 to a trillion within two
07:08years.
07:09And I think we'll be very — I mean, right from
07:11the beginning, we're going to be at a very high
07:13number.
07:14Right from the beginning.
07:15And right from the beginning, you're going to
07:17have a lot of construction jobs, but you're also
07:19going to have a lot of automobile jobs.
07:21So this is very exciting.
07:22But it's also exciting because of what's
07:25happening with other aspects.
07:26We're going to be doing tariffs on pharmaceuticals
07:30in order to bring our pharmaceutical industry
07:33back.
07:33We don't make anything here for — in terms of
07:36drugs, medical drugs, different types of drugs
07:40that you need, medicines.
07:42It's in other countries.
07:43Largely made in China.
07:45A lot of it made in Ireland.
07:47Ireland was very smart.
07:48We love Ireland.
07:50But we're going to have that.
07:51We're going to have lumber.
07:52We're going to free up some of our land.
07:54And you'll be able to meet a lot of other
07:57standards, like fire cuts.
07:58If Los Angeles had fire cuts, which they didn't
08:01have, that's a gap of half a football field
08:04between areas, you wouldn't have had the
08:07fires.
08:07They would have been contained.
08:09But you have fire cuts.
08:10And, by the way, you sell that wood for a lot of
08:12money, a lot of — a lot of profit is made from
08:14that.
08:15But we're going to be doing lumber.
08:16We're freeing up our land so that people can — so
08:18that we don't have to use outside sources of
08:21lumber.
08:22Energy, we're doing fantastically well at.
08:24You know, the energy prices have been coming
08:26down rapidly as we increase supply, and we've
08:30already done that.
08:31We have — Chris and Doug are doing a fantastic job
08:34on that.
08:35That's Department of Energy and Department of
08:37Interior.
08:39And they're working together hand-in-hand
08:41because Interior has the land and Energy has the
08:44ability to do the drilling and do what they have to
08:47do.
08:48Our coal areas are going to be opened up for clean,
08:51beautiful coal.
08:53Germany is opening up many coal plants now.
08:55You know, they tried the wind and it didn't work.
08:57They almost went out of business.
08:58They almost went bankrupt.
09:00They tried wind, which is a disaster because it's
09:02too expensive and it's — doesn't look good, kills
09:05all the birds.
09:05A lot of problems.
09:07But Germany is now building a lot of coal
09:09plants.
09:09China is building one a — one a week.
09:12Think of that.
09:13And they're using coal, which is very powerful.
09:15Coal is a very powerful energy.
09:18And we're opening up our coal mines again, and
09:21we're going to do — I call it beautiful, clean
09:23coal.
09:24The technology is so good now that coal can give you
09:27tremendous power.
09:28At the same time, it can be very clean.
09:31But we're also, obviously, doing oil and gas and
09:34various other things.
09:35You can do pretty much whatever you want.
09:37We don't like the wind because we think it
09:38ruins the landscapes, the plains.
09:41Ruins them.
09:43And it's got a lot of problems.
09:44It's also the most — by far, the most expensive
09:47energy.
09:49It looks horrible in the oceans.
09:51It's dangerous in the oceans in terms of
09:53navigation.
09:54And if you look at what's happening with whales, you
09:56know, in one area, they lost two whales, like, in
10:0120 years, washed ashore.
10:04And this year, they had 17 wash ashore.
10:08So there's something happened out there.
10:09There's something driving the whales a little bit
10:11loco.
10:12But they lost two in 20 years, and now they lost
10:1517 in a short period of time.
10:16So it's something wrong out there.
10:19So this is very exciting.
10:20This is going to lead to the construction of a lot
10:23of — a lot of plants and a lot of, in this case,
10:26auto plants.
10:27And you're going to have — you're going to see
10:29numbers like you haven't seen, both in terms of
10:31employment.
10:31It takes a little while.
10:32You're going to have great construction numbers
10:35initially, and then you're going to have —
10:36ultimately, you're going to have a lot of people
10:38making a lot of cars.
10:40And one other thing, we are trying — we have the
10:42Speaker of the House with us.
10:43He's doing a fantastic job.
10:46And where's Mike?
10:48And we're trying to get approved.
10:49Mike, thank you very much for being here.
10:52We're trying to get approved, if we can.
10:55If you borrow money to buy a car, you're allowed to
10:57deduct interest payments for purposes of income tax,
11:02but only if the car is made in America.
11:04So if the car is made in America, you get a loan,
11:07you can deduct the interest.
11:08That's a big saving.
11:10A lot of people in that part of the world, in
11:13terms of buying cars — a lot of them don't think
11:15in terms of deductions.
11:17People that think in terms of deductions are very
11:20wealthy people, but people are going to start
11:23understanding what a good deduction is all about.
11:25So when you get a loan to buy a car — and I think
11:30it's going to pay for itself.
11:31I don't think there's any cost.
11:32I think that's going to — you're going to have so
11:34many cars built.
11:36But you're only going to get that deduction of
11:38interest if the car is made in the United States
11:42of America.
11:43So I'm going to sign this.
11:45And, Mike, I hope you can get that because I think
11:47it's going to be amazing in terms of the number of
11:50cars that are going to be made because of it.
11:52And I want to thank Howard Lutnick, our fabulous
11:57Commerce Chairman.
11:58That's what he is.
11:59He's a chairman.
11:59He's a very successful guy, a great guy.
12:02And we have a big day, Howard, coming up next week.
12:05The President.
12:06The President.
12:07That's Liberation Day.
12:08That's going to be on the 2nd, and that's going to
12:09be reciprocal.
12:11And I think people will be impressed.
12:14We're going to be — we're going to be very
12:15fair.
12:16We're going to be very nice, actually.
12:17We have not been treated nicely by other countries,
12:20but we're going to be nice.
12:21So I think people will be pleasantly surprised.
12:24But it's going to make our country very rich
12:27because we're the piggy bank that everybody steals
12:30from, and they've been doing it for many years,
12:34for decades.
12:34And we're not going to let it happen.
12:36So — but we're going to treat people very nicely.
12:38We're going to treat other countries very, very
12:40nicely.
12:41And I think it's going to have a very positive
12:43effect on everybody, including those other
12:45countries.
12:46So I'll sign this, and we will see you again on
12:50April the 2nd.
12:52In terms of this, it's going to be another round.
12:55And it's about making America great again,
12:56making it strong and prosperous again.
12:58Thank you very much.
12:59The Press.
13:00So, Mr. President, on tariffs — can I ask you
13:02about tariffs?
13:03Mr. President, on the car tariffs, how do you
13:06assure that a car coming into the country is fully
13:08built?
13:09Could it — could an automaker in Germany say,
13:11leave the tires off a car?
13:12Go ahead.
13:13We're going to have very strong policing, and it's
13:16pretty easy to do.
13:18If parts are made in America and a car isn't,
13:22those parts are not going to be taxed or tariffed.
13:24And we'll have very strong policing, as far as
13:26that's concerned.
13:27For the most part, I think it's going to lead cars
13:29to be made in one location.
13:31You know, right now, a car would be made here, sent
13:34to Canada, sent to Mexico, sent all over the place.
13:36It's ridiculous.
13:37So this is a very simple system.
13:41And the beauty of the 25 — it's one number.
13:44It's not up or down, depending on the cost of
13:46the car.
13:47It's one number.
13:48And that number is going to be used to reduce debt
13:50greatly in the United States and to build
13:52things, reduce taxes.
13:54I mean, basically, I view it as reducing taxes and
13:58also reducing debt.
14:00And within a fairly short period of time, I think
14:03we're going to have a balance sheet that's
14:04going to be outstanding.
14:05Yeah.
14:06The Press.
14:07How do you assure Americans, then, that
14:10this will not cause a long-term increase in
14:12prices?
14:13Well, look, I think we're going to have a market
14:15the likes of which nobody has ever seen before, not
14:17in this country.
14:18You know, we had the best market ever in my first
14:21term.
14:22It was the strongest market ever, the best
14:24economy ever.
14:25And I think you're going to — I think this blows
14:28it away.
14:28But this is something that people have wanted to do.
14:31Presidents have wanted to do for a long time.
14:33A lot of them didn't understand it.
14:35It wasn't a priority for them.
14:37But foreign countries understood it very well.
14:40And they've really ripped us off at levels that
14:43nobody's seen before.
14:44But that's not going to happen.
14:46Mr. President, is this for today or on April 2nd, the
14:48auto tariffs?
14:49Say it.
14:49Do these auto tariffs go into effect today or on
14:52April 2nd?
14:53They go into effect on April 2nd.
14:54April 3rd.
14:55They're signing today.
14:57It's — it goes into effect April 2nd.
15:01We start collecting on April 3rd.
15:03Are there any more tariffs on any other sectors on
15:06April 2nd?
15:06Not then, but we will be putting a tariff on
15:09lumber.
15:10We're going to be putting a tariff on lumber.
15:12Not then, but we will be putting a tariff on
15:15lumber.
15:16We, as you know, have a tariff already on steel
15:20and on aluminum of 25 percent.
15:22And we're taking in tremendous amounts of
15:24dollars.
15:25More importantly, our steel factories and aluminum
15:29factories are roaring.
15:30They're starting to roar.
15:32They're building new ones.
15:32I just heard from Nucor, which is a big — a big
15:36company, very big steel company, and they're
15:38building a massive — a massive plant for steel
15:41that they wouldn't build without this.
15:43So we're going to — you're going to see — you're
15:45going to see things that are going to be actually
15:47amazing.
15:47And I think you already have.
15:50You know, we've had some news conferences where — I
15:52can't — I can't have enough.
15:53They want to do news conferences where they
15:56announce they're going to spend $20, $30, $40
15:58billion.
15:58But Apple, as an example, is spending $500 billion.
16:04Okay?
16:04Any other?
16:05The Press.
16:06The Press.
16:06On the Signal chat, Senator Roger Wicker,
16:09Chairman —
16:09Hold it one second.
16:10Yes.
16:10On the reciprocal tariffs next week, will those be
16:13immediately effective April 2nd on all countries, or
16:15will you focus on the worst offenders?
16:17No, we're going to make it all countries.
16:20And we're going to make it very lenient.
16:23I think people are going to be very surprised.
16:25It'll be, in many cases, less than the tariff that
16:28they've been charging us for decades.
16:30So I think people are going to be very, very
16:32surprised.
16:33And on these auto tariffs, is there —
16:35I think they'll be pleasantly surprised.
16:37I don't know.
16:37I think we're trying to keep it somewhat
16:39conservative.
16:39And on these auto tariffs, we saw, obviously, the
16:41NASDAQ — 100 go down, 2 percent it closed, S&P.
16:45Five hundred, down 1 percent.
16:46What are you — are you concerned about that
16:48market reaction?
16:49Yes, sir.
16:49I didn't say that.
16:50I want to see the jobs.
16:52I want to see — that'll all take care of itself.
16:53That could take care of itself in one day, two
16:55days, or one week.
16:57Are there any conditions under which you'd remove
16:59these auto tariffs, sir?
17:00Or is this permanent for the rest of your term in
17:02office?
17:03Oh, this is permanent.
17:04Yeah.
17:05A hundred percent.
17:05Yeah.
17:06No, because he may have a conflict, so we don't
17:12talk.
17:13I've never talked to him.
17:14Elon's amazing.
17:15He's never asked me for a favor in business
17:19whatsoever.
17:20I'm actually a little surprised by it.
17:22I might do it, I might not do it.
17:23I do what's right.
17:24And he'd want me to do what's right.
17:26No, he's a patriot.
17:27He has never — you know, these are big deals we're
17:29talking about.
17:30This is — it's probably nothing like this.
17:32And I've never had Elon come and say, would you
17:35do me a favor with the mandate or the electric
17:38mandate or anything.
17:39He's never asked me for anything.
17:40Sir, also, what's your response to Republican
17:43lawmakers who have said today that your
17:44administration should take more accountability and
17:47not downplay what's happened with the — with
17:49signal that we've seen in these messages today?
17:51What is your response?
17:51Well, I don't know about downplaying.
17:52The press upplays it.
17:53I think it's all a witch hunt.
17:55That's all.
17:55I think it's a witch hunt.
17:58I wasn't involved with it.
17:59I don't — I wasn't there.
18:00But I can tell you, the result is unbelievable
18:03because the Houthis are looking to do something.
18:06They want to know, how do we stop?
18:08How do we stop?
18:09How do — can we have peace?
18:10The Houthis want peace because they're getting
18:13the hell knocked out of them.
18:14It's been very, very strong.
18:16The Houthis are dying for peace.
18:18They don't want this.
18:20And they're bad.
18:21Look, they were knocking ships out of the ocean.
18:23You know, we had — in the Suez Canal, they only
18:26have about 20 percent of the ships going through.
18:27They have to go through a different way, which
18:30takes weeks of travel.
18:33And that really affects commerce.
18:34But the Houthis have been hit hard and they want
18:37to negotiate peace.
18:39But I don't think they're quite — I don't think
18:41they're quite —
18:42The Press Do you still believe there was nothing
18:43classified that was shared?
18:43The President Say it?
18:44The Press Do you still believe nothing
18:45classified was shared?
18:47The President Well, that's what I've heard.
18:48I don't know.
18:48I'm not sure.
18:49You'll have to ask the various people involved.
18:51I really don't know.
18:52I can only tell you this.
18:54You know, you don't want to talk about it.
18:56The Houthis have been horrible to the world,
19:01what they've done.
19:02Killed a lot of people and knocked down a lot of
19:04ships and planes and anything else.
19:06You know, it's not just the ships.
19:08And they have been hit — they have been hit harder
19:10than they've ever been hit.
19:12And they want us to stop so badly.
19:15And they've got to stop.
19:16They've got to say, no mas.
19:18But I can only say that the attacks — you know,
19:22it's attacks every day, every night.
19:25It's not just the one.
19:25You're talking about one.
19:27The attacks have been very successful, even beyond
19:31our wildest expectations.
19:32We've — we've hit them very hard, very successfully.
19:36And we're going to do it for a long time.
19:37We're going to keep it going for a long time.
19:39The Press Senator Republicans have asked
19:41for — Senator Republicans have asked — said that
19:44they have formally asked the administration for an
19:45inspector general report on the signal issue.
19:50Will you agree to that?
19:50The President It doesn't bother me.
19:52I don't know.
19:53You know, I want to find out if there's any
19:55mistake or if a signal doesn't work.
19:58It could be the signal is not very good.
19:59You know, it's a company.
20:01Maybe it's not very good.
20:02I think we'd rather know about it now.
20:04There was no harm done because the attack was
20:07unbelievably successful that night, and it has
20:10been unbelievably successful every single
20:12night for the last four or five nights.
20:15So —
20:16The Press And that's the thing that you should be
20:19talking about.
20:20This is something that should have been done by
20:22sleepy Joe Biden, but he was asleep at the wheel
20:24other than when it came to stealing money, of course.
20:27Joe Biden should have done this attack on Yemen,
20:30which is basically a certain group within
20:32Yemen, the Houthis.
20:35And this should have been done by Joe Biden, and it
20:38wasn't.
20:39And that's caused this world a lot of damage and
20:42a lot of problems.
20:42The Press He's also overseeing the
20:46investigation to find out what went wrong.
20:48Maybe —
20:48The President Who's responsible?
20:49The Press Mike Walz says that he's responsible.
20:51The President Well, yeah, Mike Walz, I guess he
20:53said he claimed responsibility.
20:54I would imagine it had nothing to do with anyone
20:56else.
20:57It was Mike, I guess.
20:58I don't know.
20:58I always thought it was Mike.
21:01But again, the attacks were unbelievably
21:05successful.
21:05And that's ultimately what you should be talking
21:08about, I think.
21:09Mike did.
21:09He took responsibility for it.
21:10The Press Should Secretary Hegseth consider his
21:12position over the signal?
21:12The President Hegseth is doing a great job.
21:14He had nothing to do with this.
21:15The Press And Mr. President, do you think
21:16that the attack on Yemen was a mistake?
21:18The President Hegseth is doing a great job.
21:19He had nothing to do with this.
21:20The Press And Mr. President, do you think
21:21that the attack on Yemen was a mistake?
21:23The President Hegseth.
21:23How do you bring Hegseth into it?
21:26He had nothing to do.
21:27Look, look, it's all a witch hunt.
21:30Here we are talking about some of the greatest
21:32business deals ever made.
21:33The greatest companies in the world are moving into
21:35the United States.
21:36And you want to ask about whether or not signal
21:39works.
21:39I don't know that signal works.
21:40I think signal could be defective, to be honest
21:42with you.
21:43And I think that's what we have to because you use
21:45signal and we use signal and everybody uses signal.
21:48But it could be a defective platform.
21:50And we're going to have to find that out.
21:52The Press Have you been briefed about soldiers in
21:54Lithuania?
21:54Have you been briefed about the soldiers in
21:56Lithuania who are missing?
21:58The President No, I haven't.
21:59The Press Mr. President, can I ask, have you
22:01spoken, sir, with the big three automakers about
22:05these tariffs?
22:05What was their reaction?
22:07The President I have.
22:07It depends on whether or not they have factories
22:10here.
22:11I can tell you if if they have factories here,
22:13they're thrilled.
22:15If you don't have factories here, they're
22:16going to have to get going and build them
22:17because otherwise they have to pay tariffs.
22:19Very simple.
22:20And most of those have pretty big factories here.
22:22Like General Motors has big factories here.
22:25They're going to move their parts divisions back
22:27to the United States because some of them were
22:28made in Canada and some of them were made in Mexico
22:31and other places.
22:33They'll be moving their parts division back to the
22:35United States in factories where they may be at 60
22:37percent capacity.
22:39So they don't even really have to build too much of
22:41a factory.
22:42Do it.
22:42You know, generally speaking, if they have
22:45factories here, plants here where they make their
22:48cars and equipment, but they make their cars here,
22:51they are thrilled.
22:53Same thing with the steel industry.
22:54Steel industry is now paying a 25 percent
22:57tariff, as you know.
22:57I put it on last week.
22:59And the business is roaring in the United
23:02States.
23:02And we can't because of military.
23:04We can't lose the steel industry.
23:06If I didn't put the initial tariffs on steel in
23:08my first term, you wouldn't be able to have a
23:11military because we wouldn't have every steel
23:13company.
23:14Every steel company would be bankrupt in the
23:18United States and every plant would be closed.
23:21But now they're booming and putting this tariff on
23:23this additional tariff for steel and aluminum.
23:26It's it's making them thrive.
23:28And it's already happened.
23:29The Press Will you extend the deadline if you don't
23:34have a deal?
23:35Do you support Oracle?
23:36We will have a form of a deal.
23:38Ticktock is very popular, very successful, very
23:42good.
23:43We're going to have a form of a deal.
23:44But if it's not finished, it's not a big deal.
23:46We'll just extend it.
23:47I have the right to have the deal and to extend it
23:50if I want.
23:51So we'll see whether or not we have a deal.
23:53We have a lot of interest in Ticktock.
23:55Is there a way for a U.S.
23:56company to operate it and buy things to still have a
23:59share of the algorithm?
23:59Well, there are numerous ways you can buy Ticktock
24:02and we will find the one that's best, best for the
24:05country, for our country.
24:06I'm worried about our country more than anything
24:09else with respect to Ticktock.
24:11And China is going to have to play a role in that
24:14possibly in the form of an approval, maybe.
24:18And I think they'll do that.
24:19Maybe I'll give them a little reduction in
24:22tariffs or something to get it done, you know,
24:25because every point in tariff is worth more money
24:28than Ticktock.
24:30If you think every point tariff is a much bigger
24:32world and Ticktock is big, but every point in
24:35tariffs is worth more than Ticktock.
24:38So in order to get China to do, maybe I give them a
24:42reduction in tariffs.
24:44As an example, it sounds like it sounds like
24:46something I did.
24:47Do you think these tariffs are going to be good for
24:49Tesla, sir?
24:50Good for who?
24:51Tesla, which makes cars.
24:53Well, he makes he is a fantastic Tesla.
24:55Will tariffs be good?
24:57I think they may.
24:59It could be a net neutral or they may be good.
25:01He has a big plant in Texas.
25:03Here's a big plant in California.
25:05And anybody that has plants in the United
25:08States, it's going to be good for my opinion.
25:10Mr. President, you said you want to return
25:12education control to the states.
25:14How would you handle it if a state like California
25:16were to put in place education policy?
25:18I haven't seen a mask in so long.
25:20You're wearing a mask.
25:21So nice of you.
25:22I haven't seen anybody wearing a mask in a long
25:24time.
25:25It's good.
25:26You feel more comfortable, right?
25:28Good.
25:28That's good.
25:30So go ahead.
25:31You said you want to return education control to the
25:34states.
25:34How would you handle it if a state like California
25:37were to put in place education policies you
25:39disagree with?
25:40Well, I think that California is going to be
25:42tougher because they are they're doing badly on
25:45everything they do.
25:46You know, everything they touch turns bad.
25:49So a place like California would be tougher for
25:51education.
25:52But what I would see with California is you'd have a
25:55Los Angeles department and you'd have Riverside.
25:58You'd have, you know, you'd go to various
26:00places.
26:01And I think you'd have some great areas in
26:02California.
26:03And you'd have some like everything else.
26:05It doesn't work so well.
26:06But ultimately, I think it would be very
26:08successful.
26:08I think in New York, as an example, you'd go to Long
26:10Island, Westchester, you may have Nassau County,
26:14Queens.
26:14You end up you break it up in certain ways.
26:17So they'd have maybe five departments, you know,
26:19because of the size that have five departments
26:21instead of one.
26:22A state like Iowa, you'd have one.
26:24And I mean, they're just chomping at the bit to get
26:26going.
26:27So many states are chomping at the bit to get
26:30education.
26:31And it's going to happen fast to get the education
26:34brought back to the states.
26:35And I mean, I tell you what, you have 40 states,
26:39in my opinion, that will be as good as Norway,
26:42Sweden, Denmark.
26:45You take a look at those three are top among the
26:48top, and they've been there for a long time.
26:51But I think you'll have a lot.
26:52A lot.
26:54Finland is very strong.
26:56Frankly, China is very strong.
26:58China's top 10.
27:00And that's something considering the size, you
27:02know.
27:02So it's not only a size thing.
27:04But Norway, Sweden have been very good.
27:08Denmark has been very good.
27:10I think you have Iowa and Indiana, and a lot of our
27:13states will be equal to them.
27:15But they can't be equal if it's going to be run in
27:17Washington.
27:18We don't want that.
27:19Yeah.
27:19The Press Today, Director Gabbard testified that any
27:22information that would indicate that the U.S.
27:24or its allies are going to make an attack should be
27:28classified.
27:29The Secretary of Defense has said that the
27:31information in those messages was not
27:33classified.
27:34Are you going to ask him to review whether it
27:36should have been?
27:37Should flight times and sequencing be classified?
27:40Sure, I would.
27:41It would be.
27:43You can view that two ways, frankly.
27:46There's a lot of ways to answer that question, but
27:48I'd certainly ask him to take a look at it.
27:50So there's a risk when they did this in hindsight.
27:52Should they have a war plan or not?
27:54Yeah, there may be a problem with the platform.
27:57And if there's a problem with the platform, nobody
27:58should use it.
27:59You know, they could have a basic problem.
28:01But, you know, I say it again.
28:05The attack was so successful.
28:06It was so lethal.
28:08Not that I'm looking for lethality.
28:10I wish we didn't have to do it at all.
28:12But they're shooting down our ships.
28:13They're shooting down our planes.
28:15And we can't allow that to happen.
28:17And again, this is something that should
28:18have been done by Biden a long time ago or one or
28:20two more.
28:21What did you make of the Vice President's comments
28:23that he doesn't like bailing out the Europeans?
28:26You agree with that?
28:27Well, I understand where he's coming from.
28:29The European Union has been treating us very,
28:32very badly in terms of the VAT tax that they
28:34charge.
28:36They charge a tremendous VAT tax.
28:37And they don't sell our cars in Europe.
28:41They don't sell our agriculture in Europe.
28:43They don't let us do very much.
28:45They treat us very badly.
28:46One of the reasons I'm putting tariffs on is that
28:49reason.
28:50We take millions of their cars.
28:52BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz.
28:55We take millions and millions of their cars.
28:57They take none.
28:58I don't know if they take any of our cars.
29:01And they have non-monetary tariffs where it's
29:03impossible for us to sell a car, almost, in Europe.
29:07And so I understand what he's saying.
29:09And same thing with NATO.
29:10When I got involved, these mostly European
29:14countries, as you know, we had 28 at the time, and
29:18only seven were paid.
29:20And most of them were not paid.
29:22Twenty-some-odd countries were not paid, or they
29:25were substantially less than they're supposed to
29:28be.
29:29And the United States was literally making up the
29:31difference in Europe.
29:33And it's very unfair.
29:34So I understand.
29:34I didn't know he made that statement.
29:36But if he did, I mean, I'm okay with it.
29:38It's a — I complain about it all the time.
29:41The European Union treats us horribly on trade.
29:44And NATO has treated — now, I raised a lot of
29:49money for NATO.
29:49Hundreds of billions of dollars.
29:51You were here last week when the Secretary
29:52General said, without Trump, there wouldn't be
29:54a NATO.
29:55Because I got them to pay money.
29:58It was unfair.
29:58The United States was paying 80, 90, 100 percent.
30:01Okay?
30:02The Press You said you're going to be more lenient
30:03than reciprocal next week on the tariffs?
30:04The President I think it'll be — yeah, I think
30:06if I was — if I did to them what they did to us,
30:11I think a lot of people would be very unhappy.
30:12Yeah.
30:13I think it'll be much more lenient.
30:15I'm going to be much more lenient with regard to
30:18the tariffs that you'll see on April 2nd.
30:21I'm going to be much more lenient than they were
30:23with us.
30:24The Press Are your tariffs going to be an enemy then?
30:25The President They were really bad with us.
30:27They've treated us badly.
30:28And the President should have stepped up.
30:30They should have stepped up and done something, and
30:32they didn't do it.
30:33And hence, we have $36 trillion in debt.
30:35The Press Are they going to do this 100 percent on
30:38office?
30:38The Press Mr. President, you've criticized
30:39Jeffrey Goldberg.
30:40Have you asked your National Security Advisor
30:42how he had his phone number in his phone?
30:44The President We have asked a lot of questions,
30:47and we're going to try finding all those things
30:49out.
30:49No, I just know Goldberg.
30:50He's a sleazebag.
30:51You know, his magazine is terrible.
30:53He's just a guy that I never had a lot of
30:57respect for.
30:57The Press Are you supposed to have money, John, or
30:59percentage?
31:00The Press Just how far are you prepared to go on
31:02Greenland?
31:03You said this morning that the United States needs
31:06Greenland.
31:06How far are you prepared to go?
31:07The President We need Greenland for national
31:08security and international security.
31:10So, we'll — I think we'll go as far as we have to
31:15go.
31:15We need Greenland.
31:17And the world needs us to have Greenland, including
31:19Denmark.
31:20Denmark has to have us have Greenland.
31:22And, you know, we'll see what happens.
31:25But if we don't have Greenland, we can't have
31:27great international security.
31:29If you look at the ships outside of Greenland —
31:33China, Russia — places that — we have to be
31:37there.
31:38If we're not there, we can't have national or
31:40international security.
31:42So it's — I view it from a security standpoint.
31:44We have to be there.
31:45The Press What's the reason why he said he's going to
31:46go solo to the dog sled race, and now he's going
31:50along?
31:51On Friday.
31:52The President Who's going into the —
31:52The Press The Vice President.
31:53But Usha was going to go to Greenland on her own.
31:55The President I don't know.
31:56I'm not sure.
31:56I think — I think you may have J.D.
31:59going, actually.
32:00Yeah.
32:01I don't know — I don't know if they've split
32:03that up, but — Usha's great.
32:05But I understand J.D.
32:06might be going, so.
32:07The Press Sorry, I'll tell you later.
32:08The Press The European Union has voted — or
32:10decided against Apple and Google during the Digital
32:13Markets Act.
32:14And they're the first U.S.
32:15companies they targeted with that.
32:16An Apple executive told me they believe that it's
32:18politically motivated because of the tariffs on
32:20April 2nd.
32:21The President The European Union is suing a lot of
32:22our companies, like Apple.
32:25And they have a $17 billion judgment.
32:29And they're suing Google.
32:30They're suing Facebook.
32:31They're suing a lot of other companies.
32:33And they use that money just like — it's like a
32:35tariff.
32:36They go before judges that are very pro-European
32:40Union, to put it mildly.
32:41I have that same thing here, but I don't think
32:43the people are going to stand for it, actually.
32:45The Press Are they using this leverage?
32:46The President No, they're just taking advantage of
32:48American companies, and we're not going to let
32:50them do it anymore.
32:51Okay?
32:52Thank you very much, everybody.