President Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One as he heads to Miami, Florida.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody.
00:03How are you?
00:05How are you, Mr. President?
00:07Nice to see you.
00:08Nice to see you.
00:09I haven't seen you in a while.
00:11Good to see you, sir.
00:12Five million?
00:13For $5 million, this could be yours?
00:16That was the first of the cards.
00:18And you know what that card is?
00:19What card?
00:20It's the gold card.
00:23The Trump card, gold card.
00:25Who's the first buyer?
00:27Me.
00:28Who's the second?
00:30I don't know, but I'm the first buyer.
00:33It'll be out in about less than two weeks, probably.
00:38Pretty exciting, right?
00:41Ready for some questions?
00:42Anybody want to buy one?
00:46Okay, let's go.
00:49First, we'd love to get your reaction, sir,
00:51to what's going on in the financial markets today.
00:55Well, I mean, it's to be expected.
00:56We're — this is a patient that was very sick.
01:01We inherited — we really inherited a terrible economy,
01:04as you know, with a lot of problems,
01:07including loss of manufacturing and plants
01:11closed up all over the country.
01:12You know, we've lost 90,000 plants since NAFTA.
01:16I mean, think of that.
01:18Ninety thousand. It's not even believable.
01:21Had about 6 billion jobs.
01:23And so it's a sick — it was a sick patient.
01:25It went through an operation on Liberation Day.
01:29And it's going to be — it's going to be a booming country.
01:34A very booming country.
01:35It's going to be amazing, actually.
01:36And we see it because we have trillions of dollars
01:40committed to come in. Trillions.
01:42Sir, can I ask you, when you say that it was an operation
01:46and the patient's healthy now,
01:48does that mean you see us as kind of towards the —
01:50the high-water market in terms of how high?
01:52Sure. The operation's over.
01:57And now we let it settle in.
02:00You see the plants are starting to construction already.
02:03We have many plants.
02:05Indiana, a massive photo plant.
02:09Honda. And we have so many — so many plants.
02:13And they'll be under construction.
02:14And as they start to build,
02:16you're going to see a lot of construction jobs
02:17and you're going to see a lot of jobs when they open.
02:20Does that mean chips and pharma tariffs are not on the table?
02:23They're starting very soon.
02:25The chips are starting very soon.
02:29The pharma is going to be starting to come in,
02:34I think, at a level that you haven't really seen before.
02:38We are looking at pharma right now, pharmaceuticals.
02:42It's a separate category.
02:44And we'll be announcing that sometime in the near future,
02:46not too distant future.
02:48That's under review right now.
02:49Are you negotiating with partners currently?
02:52What we have is we have a set of tariffs
02:54based on what they have been charging us.
02:58That's reciprocal.
02:59And those tariffs have come in and many —
03:03every country has called us.
03:05That's the beauty of what we do.
03:08We put ourselves in the driver's seat.
03:11If we would have asked some of these countries,
03:13almost most of these countries, to do us a favor,
03:15they would have said,
03:17no, now they'll do anything for us.
03:19But we have tariffs. They've been set.
03:23And it's going to make our country very rich.
03:25But are you open to deals with these countries
03:28if they're calling you?
03:29Well, it depends.
03:29If somebody said that we're going to give you
03:31something that's so phenomenal,
03:32as long as they're giving us something that's good.
03:35For instance, with TikTok as an example,
03:38we have a situation with TikTok
03:41where China will probably say,
03:46we'll approve a deal,
03:47but will you do something on the tariffs?
03:50The tariffs give us great power to negotiate.
03:53Always have.
03:53I've used them very well in the first administration,
03:56as you saw.
03:57But now we're taking it to a whole new level
03:59because it's a worldwide situation.
04:04And it's very exciting to see.
04:07And what it's done is driven a lot of great companies
04:10to our country.
04:12And you're going to see construction starting all over.
04:15I already got a couple of calls from Lee Zeldin
04:18from Environmental.
04:19He's got some big plans to approve.
04:21Like, really, Mr. President.
04:24How long will it take to get manufacturing,
04:26American manufacturing, to where you would like to see it?
04:29Well, let's say it's a two-year process.
04:31They start a plant, and they're big plants.
04:33We're giving them approval to also, in many cases,
04:36to build the electric facility with it
04:38so you have electric generation.
04:40And the plant, they're big plants.
04:43Now, the good news is there's a lot of money for them,
04:45and they can build them fast.
04:47But they're still very big plants.
04:48So I'd always say it would take a year and a half to two years.
04:52Mr. President, I'm curious.
04:53Mr. President, can I ask you about the NSC?
04:54We've already started, so.
04:55Mr. President, have you been following the New York City
04:57mayor's race?
04:58And specifically, Andrew Cuomo is now the frontrunner,
05:01according to the polls.
05:02How do you feel about that?
05:03Do you think you can have a good relationship with the mayor,
05:06Andrew Cuomo?
05:06Well, I've always gotten along with him.
05:08We had our ins and outs a little bit.
05:10We did a great job for him.
05:11Remember, we built the convention center rooms for him.
05:14He didn't use them, unfortunately.
05:16And we sent the Mercy ship.
05:19We sent the really magnificent hospital ship,
05:22and they didn't use it.
05:24But we always had a pretty good relationship.
05:26You going to make an endorsement in that race?
05:28Well, it's not something I'm thinking about yet.
05:30Is he thinking about running?
05:31Yeah.
05:32On Russia-Ukraine, there's a Russian envoy
05:35in town for some meetings.
05:36Can you give us an update on how that's going?
05:40We do.
05:40We have an envoy from Russia.
05:42We're talking about it.
05:43We'd like to see that stop as soon as possible.
05:46Because thousands of people are being killed a week,
05:49soldiers, mostly soldiers, and Ukrainian soldiers
05:53and Russian soldiers.
05:55And you're losing 2,000, 3,000 sometimes a week.
05:59So we're spearheading the drive to get it done.
06:04Europe has not been successful in dealing
06:07with President Putin, but I think I will be successful.
06:10Sir, can I ask you about the NSC?
06:12How many snappers were let go, and why?
06:14Your National Security Council.
06:15How many snappers were let go?
06:17There were some.
06:18There were some.
06:18Always, we're going to let go of people.
06:20People that we don't like or people
06:24that we don't think can do the job
06:26or people that may have loyalties to somebody else.
06:30You'll always have them.
06:31Sir, you mentioned that Yahoo recently,
06:33Israel has now talked about staying in Gaza,
06:36doing long-term occupation.
06:37Has anything changed in regard to the U.S.-Gaza-Israel plans?
06:41I spoke to him today, as a matter of fact.
06:44And I think he's going to be coming to our country sometime
06:47in the not-too-distant future, maybe next week.
06:50And we'll speak about Israel.
06:52We'll speak about what's going on.
06:54That's another thing we'd like to get solved.
06:58And I think we will get it solved.
06:59But I think he very well may be coming.
07:02Who's coming in now?
07:03Benjamin Netanyahu.
07:05On Israel, can I follow up on your earlier comment
07:07about TikTok?
07:08You said that the Chinese might be willing to agree
07:10to approve that sale in exchange for tariff relief.
07:14Is that something that you floated to them
07:16or you've heard from them?
07:17I'm just using that as an example.
07:20Let's say we had a problem with TikTok.
07:22And let's say China wasn't going to approve.
07:25We could use tariffs in order to get it approved, you know?
07:28The deadline is seven.
07:29You can have something in return.
07:30What's the update on the deal negotiations for TikTok?
07:33We're very close to a deal with a very good group of people
07:36for TikTok.
07:37Larry Ellison and Oracle?
07:38Is it multiple investors?
07:39Just this?
07:40Multiple.
07:40And then did the last-minute bids kind of throw things
07:43into disarray for you?
07:44Or do you have your strategy completely locked up
07:47on who's going to be—
07:47Which last minute?
07:48Which?
07:49On acquiring TikTok.
07:51There were, like, some last-minute bids.
07:53I think that China maybe will call and say,
07:56well, we're upset with the tariffs.
07:59And maybe they want to get something a little bit
08:02in order to get TikTok approved.
08:04Who knows?
08:05Is there a plan underway to speed to China?
08:07I have no knowledge of that, but that's the kind of thing—
08:09On Israel, can you give us any update
08:10on the Palestinian relocation plan?
08:12Are we talking to any countries?
08:15We're going to try and solve the Gaza problem.
08:17It's been a problem for many years.
08:20For many, many decades, it's been a big problem.
08:23We have—I've met with, as you know, a lot of the hostages.
08:26It's a terrible situation.
08:28But if you notice, hostages are being released now.
08:32And that's happened only since I got involved.
08:34So, we have hostages being released.
08:38Quite a few, actually.
08:39But you're still committed to the relocation?
08:40Hopefully.
08:41Yeah, I'd like to get as many hostages as we can.
08:44And then Gaza.
08:45Gaza's a very, very important thing.
08:48It's been under siege for many, many years.
08:53It's a shame.
08:54It's a shame.
08:55A lot of people die in Gaza.
08:56Gaza's been a place we haven't—a lot of people die.
09:00A lot of bad things happen in Gaza.
09:02We'll see what we can do about it.
09:03So, dinner tonight.
09:04Can you tell us about it?
09:05Who's going to be there?
09:06Any leaders?
09:07So, dinner tonight is sort of a—
09:09I have a couple of them, actually.
09:11But a lot of it's based around charity.
09:14It's at Doral.
09:15And we raise a lot of money for charities.
09:19But also, I'll be having one of the big golf tournament—
09:22professional golf tournament in Beirut.
09:24And that'll take place over the next few days at Doral.
09:29From, I guess, tomorrow till—
09:32they have—I think they have a pro-am right now.
09:34But I'll be speaking tonight.
09:36I think I'm making a speech to the players.
09:38Great players.
09:39Some of the best players in the world.
09:42And ultimately, hopefully, the two—
09:45the two tours are going to merge.
09:46That would be good.
09:47I'm involved in that, too.
09:49But hopefully, we're going to get the two tours to merge.
09:51You have the PGA Tour.
09:52You have the Lyft Tour.
09:54And I think having that merge would be a great thing.
09:57Mr. President?
09:58Yes.
09:59About the tariffs, do you have any message for the American—
10:01for American businesses that might feel the impact
10:04of any reciprocal tariffs coming from the EU,
10:06for example, or from other countries?
10:08Well, I think it's going to all work out.
10:09Remember, there are no tariffs if you build your plant
10:12or you build your product—
10:13make your product in the U.S.
10:16And so, a lot of people—
10:17I mean, there's going to be a transition period
10:19because they're going to be building
10:21instead of paying tariffs to some other place.
10:25And—but there are no tariffs.
10:26You know, if you think there are no tariffs,
10:29all you have to do is build—
10:31make your product in the United States.
10:32So, it's—and a lot of people are doing that.
10:35The—they're moving, like the auto companies.
10:38I know I've spoken to two of the four or five
10:41that are really active,
10:43and they've already started moving their parts,
10:45making things out of Mexico, out of Canada,
10:48and into the United States.
10:50Sir, do you have a sense of how—
10:52how long Elon Musk's mission will last
10:55and when he will depart?
10:57Well, Elon is fantastic.
10:59And I think it's—you know, he's a patriot,
11:01and I think it's a shame what they're doing
11:04with his car company.
11:06He had a great car. It's a great car.
11:07Great product.
11:10And it tells you what a patriot he is.
11:12He's amazing.
11:13No, I mean, as long as he'd like.
11:15I like—I like smart people, and he's a smart person.
11:18I also like him, personally.
11:20When he endorsed me, that's when I really got to know him.
11:22I knew him a little bit before that, but not much.
11:24And then he endorsed me,
11:26and it was a very strong, embracing endorsement,
11:29as we all know.
11:31And I would say Elon will stay for a certain period of time,
11:35and then he's going to want to get back
11:36to his businesses full-time.
11:39But he's done a fantastic job.
11:40We found hundreds of—think of it,
11:43just hundreds of—we found millions of dollars of fraud
11:47and abuse and waste.
11:50And they're still going—I mean, they're going strong.
11:54They're finding—they found something today
11:56that's horrible. It's horrible.
11:58So what they found—well, you'll find out very soon.
12:01What they found is incredible.
12:03And I give him a lot of credit.
12:06He's got some very smart people with him.
12:07Do you think he confesses?
12:08And they're working very closely with our secretaries
12:11and the people that are the heads of—
12:12Do you think you would appoint him to another position
12:15once he's 109 days?
12:16I would—I think Elon's great,
12:18but he also has a company to run
12:21or a number of companies to run, you know,
12:22that he can do this, that he can find the time.
12:25He loves the country. That's why he does it.
12:28But we're in no rush.
12:31But there'll be a point at which time
12:32Elon's going to have to leave.
12:34So are you going to give him a specific date on when he's leaving?
12:37I would make a few months.
12:38Even when you—even when Elon leaves,
12:40it goes back to being CEO.
12:43Will Doge stick around in some kind of capacity?
12:46Yeah. It'll still—
12:49Doge? Doge itself, yeah.
12:51At some point— What does that look like?
12:53Just so you understand, I don't want to get it wrong.
12:55I want Elon to stay as long as possible.
12:59Number one, I like him.
13:00Number two, he's doing a great job.
13:02Number three, he is a patriot.
13:03That's why he's doing this.
13:04And he's, you know, a very costly man.
13:07But—so I want him to stay as long as possible.
13:10But there'll be a point where
13:13he's going to have to leave.
13:15And when he does, the secretaries will take totally over,
13:18and Doge will stay active.
13:21Yeah. We have a lot of smart people.
13:23A lot of those people, I believe, are going to go into the agencies
13:26and they'll work on it from the inside.
13:29You mentioned auto companies that you've been speaking with.
13:31Have you spoken to any executives today?
13:33No.
13:34Who?
13:35I don't want to say who, but I speak to a lot of the auto executives.
13:38But we have much more than autos.
13:39We have jibs coming in.
13:41We have steel coming in.
13:42But do they call that thing for exemptions?
13:44The steel factories are opening up and expanding at levels
13:48that people have not seen also.
13:51Can you tell us a little bit about your meeting with Laura Loomer
13:54and Mike Waltz today and how that came about?
13:57So, Laura Loomer is a very good patron.
14:01She is a very strong person.
14:04And I saw her yesterday for a little while.
14:06She has—she makes recommendations of things and people.
14:10And sometimes I listen to those recommendations like I do with everybody.
14:15I listen to everybody and then I make a decision.
14:17But I saw her yesterday.
14:19She was at the ceremony.
14:21And she is—she'll always have something to say.
14:25Usually very constructive.
14:26What did she recommend?
14:29She recommended certain people for jobs.
14:32Adding. Adding to the administration, not—
14:34Adding.
14:35But not firing?
14:36Well, she'll recommend that, too.
14:38But yesterday she recommended some people for jobs.
14:40Did she have anything to do with the NSC aides who were ousted?
14:44No. No.
14:46Do you know how many, sir?
14:47Do you know how many from the NSC?
14:48Not many.
14:49Was it five? A dozen?
14:52I really don't know.
14:53Who does Loomer want?
14:54There were a couple there.
14:55Who did Laura recommend hiring?
14:57Well, I don't want to say that, but she's—
14:59she's recommended some good people over the years.
15:01She's been—she's been in the party a long time.
15:04She's done a good job.
15:05Do you trust your national security staff?
15:07Yeah.
15:08Doing what you want them to do?
15:09We've done very well.
15:11We've had big success with the Hooties, as you probably know.
15:15Nobody's been able to do it like us.
15:17And they were shooting the boats out of the water.
15:21They were sinking ships.
15:22That's what they want to do.
15:23They're getting a big charge out of sinking ships.
15:26And unfortunately, they're associated with Iran very closely.
15:31So they have to stop that.
15:32But we've hit them very hard, and we've been hitting them very hard.
15:35Did you talk to Congresswoman Luna about her resolution to end maternity?
15:40Congresswoman Luna?
15:41The congresswoman about her resolution to allow proxy voting for new mothers.
15:45Did you speak to her?
15:46I did.
15:47I did, and I would say this.
15:51I guess there's two sides to it, right?
15:53It's a little controversial.
15:54I don't know why it's controversial.
15:56I think she's great.
15:58Yeah, Ana.
15:59Do you support her movement to have maternity proxy voting for new mothers?
16:01I think that, and I'm going to let the speaker make the decision, but I like the idea of
16:08being able to, if you're having a baby, I think you should be able to call in and vote.
16:13I'm in favor of that.
16:15But I understand some people are not involved in the issue.
16:18But I did, I spoke to Ana yesterday.
16:22She and some people feel strongly about it.
16:25And I would agree with her, yeah.
16:28Sir, you mentioned Iran.
16:30They have come out and said if they're going to sit down with the U.S., they want to use
16:33an intermediary.
16:34And I believe the U.S. wanted direct talks.
16:37Would you still be willing to talk to them by an intermediary?
16:39I think it's better if we have direct talks.
16:41I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go
16:45through intermediaries.
16:47They want to use, they wanted to use intermediaries.
16:50I don't, I don't think that's necessarily true anymore.
16:54I think they're concerned.
16:56I think they feel vulnerable and I don't want them to feel that way.
17:00And I think they want to be, yeah, Iran, they're talking about Iran.
17:05You said you don't think they want to use intermediaries anymore.
17:08Did they send another letter?
17:09Yeah.
17:10Did the UAE let you know about this?
17:11Yeah, I know for a fact.
17:14I think they'd like to have direct talks.
17:16Can you say anything about what the letter said from Iran?
17:19No, I just think they, I'm just telling you, I think they want to have, forget about letters,
17:24I think they want to have direct talks.
17:26Okay.
17:26When can that happen?
17:27On being hanged, Seth, in this IG investigation, do you want to weigh in on that?
17:31What, what is it?
17:32There's an IG investigation into the Secretary of Defense's use of the Signal app.
17:38Oh, is that, you're bringing that up again?
17:40Don't bring that up again.
17:41You're editors probably.
17:42That's such a wasted story.
17:44So what else?
17:45Chinese farmland.
17:46Do you have some plans for Chinese ownership of farmland in the U.S.?
17:51Oh, we look at that all the time.
17:53Look, I have a very good relationship with China and with the President.
17:57I have a lot of respect for President Xi.
18:00So, you know, we look at that all the time.
18:02Farmland, it's been an issue for years.
18:04It's been, people have talked about it for years.
18:06But I have a lot of respect for China and I have a lot of respect for President Xi.
18:10When's the last time you talked to President Xi?
18:13I speak to him.
18:15Doesn't matter when, but I speak to him.
18:17When's the last time you talked to Zelensky recently?
18:20Not too long ago, yeah.
18:23How did that go?
18:24Good. I think he's ready to make a deal.
18:26No progress, though, other than that?
18:28I think a lot of progress.
18:29No, he's ready to make a deal.
18:31And I think that President Putin is ready to make a deal.
18:35And you'll stop the killing of thousands of young people a week.
18:40Did Kirill Dmitriev say that to his counterparts in the U.S.?
18:46Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian negotiator that's in Washington right now?
18:49We're not talking about specific people.
18:51I just will tell you that there's a lot of good conversation going on about Ukraine, Russia.
18:57Sir, have you given your approval for the U.K.'s deal over the Chagos Island that Prime Minister Stoker and you discussed?
19:03We're talking to the Prime Minister about it and we'll see how that turns out.
19:08He's, we have a very good dialogue going.
19:12And I think he's very happy about how we treated them on tariffs.
19:15Sir, a lot of people were upset about how that, the Daily Mail.
19:21A lot of people were upset today about how their 401Ks were appearing.
19:24Do you have investments?
19:25Will you be looking at that?
19:26I think the, I think our markets are going to boom.
19:28We've got to give it a little chance.
19:29But we're taking in jobs and we're taking in industry and we're taking in trillions of dollars.
19:35I think, I think our markets are going to boom.
19:38Got to give it a little bit of time.
19:40But they've already started construction on numerous plants.
19:44Soon it'll be many, many plants all over the country they're going.
19:48But you've also been checking your 401K.
19:50You've got to give that a little time.
19:52I haven't checked my 401K.
19:54Thank you very much.
19:55Sir, sir, what was on the Fed?
19:56A lot of money markets are now pricing in more Fed cuts this year.
19:59But one thing I like is interest rates going down.
20:02You see that happening.
20:03The 10-year yield is like below 4%.
20:05You know what's beautiful is interest rates go down.
20:07I like, I like groceries going down.
20:10I like eggs going down.
20:12And very importantly, the gasoline prices are going down.
20:16So, a lot of good things happening.
20:18Thank you very much.
20:19Thank you for your time, Mr. President.
20:20Thank you, sir.
20:21Appreciate it.