President Trump holds a gaggle on Air Force One as he heads back to Washington, D.C., after a weekend golfing in Florida.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello everybody.
00:02How are you?
00:04Any questions?
00:06How was the golf tournament?
00:08Very good, because I won.
00:10It's good to win.
00:12You heard I won, right?
00:14Did you hear I won?
00:16Just to back it up,
00:18over there, I won.
00:20I like to win very low.
00:22I have a very low handicap.
00:24Okay, let's go.
00:26Back up a little.
00:28The Chinese Ministry said
00:30that the market has spoken
00:32when asked about the tariffs.
00:34What do you make of that?
00:36The market has spoken
00:38when they look at the fact
00:40that we have a billion dollar
00:42trade deficit.
00:44When you look at the trade deficit
00:46that we have with certain countries
00:48way over a billion per country,
00:50with China it's a trillion dollars.
00:52And we have to solve our trade deficit
00:54with China.
00:56Hundreds of billions of dollars
00:58a year we lose with China.
01:00And unless we solve that problem,
01:02I'm not going to make a deal.
01:04Now I'm willing to deal with China,
01:06but they have to solve their surplus.
01:08We have a tremendous deficit problem
01:10with China.
01:12They have a surplus of at least
01:14a trillion dollars a year.
01:16I think it's like a trillion won.
01:18And I want that solved.
01:20And no other president
01:22has taken it on.
01:24And then we had a rigged election.
01:26No other president has taken it on.
01:28And so China is,
01:30you know, they say the market's spoken.
01:32China is right now
01:34taking a big hit.
01:36Because everyone knows we're right.
01:38They have to pay tariffs
01:40because otherwise we have a surplus
01:42that they have a surplus with us
01:44that is not sustainable.
01:46And we're talking
01:48about a trillion dollars.
01:50You know that, right?
01:52A trillion dollars for the privilege
01:54of buying pencils from China.
01:56On the idea
01:58of crashing the markets on purpose,
02:00there's been some speculation,
02:02partly because of the video
02:04that was posted on Truth Social,
02:06that there was some sort of deliberate
02:08effort on your part
02:10to have the markets sell off.
02:12Can you talk about that?
02:14No, that's not true. But I do want to solve
02:16the deficit problem
02:18that we have with China, with the European
02:20Union and other nations.
02:22And they're going to have to do that.
02:24And if they want to talk about that, I'm open to talking.
02:26But otherwise, why would I
02:28want to talk?
02:30And as you know,
02:32because of the tariffs, we have
02:34$7 trillion already committed
02:36to be invested in the United States.
02:38Building auto plants,
02:40building chip companies,
02:42and all sorts of companies
02:44are coming into our country at levels
02:46that we've never seen before.
02:48We had nothing coming in.
02:50This was a dead country with Biden.
02:52He didn't know what he was doing.
02:54And that's now been proven, at least.
02:56You talked to a lot of leaders this weekend.
02:58Can you tell us, sir,
03:00were there any deals made?
03:02I spoke to a lot of leaders,
03:04European, Asian,
03:06from all over the world.
03:08They're dying to make a deal.
03:10But I said, we're not going to have deficits
03:12with your country.
03:14We're not going to do that.
03:16A deficit is a loss.
03:18We're going to have surpluses or,
03:20at worst, going to be breaking even.
03:22But China would be the
03:24worst in the group
03:26because the deficit is so big.
03:28And it's not sustainable.
03:30And, you know,
03:32I was elected on this.
03:34This was one of the biggest reasons I got elected
03:36was exactly because of this.
03:38And we're going to put tariffs on.
03:40We've already put them on. It's not a question of we will.
03:42We're going to put them on.
03:44And those tariffs next year
03:46will make us $1 trillion.
03:50In addition to the $1 trillion,
03:52thousands of companies
03:54are going to relocate
03:56back into the United States and North Carolina.
03:58Already, furniture people
04:00are starting to move back in
04:02in Detroit and Michigan,
04:04which I won
04:06because of what I said, what I'm telling you.
04:08Car companies are starting to open up.
04:10In Indiana, a big one
04:12is under construction,
04:14as an example. Honda.
04:16But they're moving in
04:18like nobody has ever seen
04:20this before.
04:22So it's unsustainable
04:24for us to allow China
04:26to have surpluses
04:28of $1 trillion.
04:30We will be taking in over $1 trillion
04:32over the next short period
04:34of time with the tariffs
04:36that I've already instituted.
04:38They're already in place.
04:40What's going to happen with the market, I can't tell you.
04:42But I can tell you, our country
04:44has gotten a lot stronger.
04:46And eventually,
04:48it'll be a country like no other.
04:50It'll be the most dominant country
04:52economically in the world,
04:54which is what it should be.
04:56Is there a Trump put, though?
04:58Is there pain in the market
05:00at some point you're unwilling to tolerate
05:02this idea of a Trump put? Is there a threshold?
05:04I think your question is so stupid.
05:06I mean, I think it's a
05:08I don't want anything to go down.
05:10But sometimes you have to take medicine
05:12to fix something.
05:14And we have such
05:16a horrible...
05:18We have been treated so badly
05:20by other countries
05:22because we had stupid leadership that allowed
05:24this to happen. They took our businesses.
05:26They took our money. They took our jobs.
05:28They moved it to Mexico.
05:30They moved it to Canada.
05:32They moved a lot of it to China.
05:34And it's not sustainable. We're not going to do it.
05:36Now we have hundreds of billions
05:38of dollars that's pouring into our country
05:40on a monthly basis.
05:42It's pouring. It's already started
05:44because they put tariffs on it.
05:46And eventually it's going to straighten out,
05:48and our country will be solid and strong again.
05:50Elon Musk has said he hopes for
05:52zero tariffs between the U.S. and Europe.
05:54Is that a place you'd like to also get to?
05:56Well, the problem is that Europe has made a fortune
05:58with us. You know, Europe also
06:00has had a tremendous
06:02surplus with the United States.
06:04Europe has treated us
06:06it's a little smaller, but they've treated us
06:08very, very badly.
06:10China has, but Europe has also.
06:12Europe has been very, very bad to us.
06:14Europe has taken our
06:16leaders for a ride.
06:18They don't take our cars.
06:20They don't take our food products.
06:22They don't take anything.
06:24And we take their cars. Mercedes, Volkswagen,
06:26BMW.
06:28You know, we take their millions of cars.
06:30They take no cars.
06:32They don't take our farm product.
06:34They don't take anything.
06:36Europe's treated us very badly.
06:38We put a big tariff on Europe.
06:40They are coming to the table.
06:42They want to talk, but there's no talk
06:44unless they pay us a lot of money
06:46on a yearly basis.
06:48Number one for present, but also
06:50for past, because they've taken
06:52a lot of our wealth away, and we're not
06:54going to allow it to happen.
06:56Sir, have you talked to any tech leaders
06:58over the weekend about the tariffs?
07:00In the world, I talked to the biggest
07:02of them all. Many of them,
07:04but I've talked to
07:06I would say four or five
07:08that are considered the biggest.
07:10You know what they said?
07:12We don't blame you.
07:14Who did you talk to?
07:16I don't want to say. I'll put it out.
07:18I may give it to you.
07:20I have to find out if they mind.
07:22I don't know if that was a confidential call or not,
07:24but we had five or six.
07:26I've spoken to many countries.
07:28They all want to do it, just so you understand
07:30the power of what I'm doing.
07:32Every country is calling and being
07:34very solicitous of us.
07:36Very, very nice. They're being very nice.
07:38And we have
07:40to be able to justify
07:42where we...
07:44This is not sustainable.
07:46The United States can't lose
07:48$1.9 trillion on trade.
07:50We can't do that
07:52and also spend a lot of money
07:54on NATO in order to protect
07:56the United Nations.
07:58We cover them with military,
08:00then we lose money on trade.
08:02The whole thing is crazy.
08:04And I got elected on that basis.
08:06We explained it. You know, the American people
08:08understand it a lot better than the media.
08:10But the media understands it.
08:12And much of the media
08:14writes correctly about it, I must say.
08:16Sir, when do you...
08:18When are the next set of talks with Russia
08:20and who will participate and where are we
08:22in terms of making progress, in terms of peace?
08:24I would like him to stop.
08:26I don't like the bombing.
08:28The bombing goes on and on.
08:30Every week, people...
08:32Thousands of young people are being killed.
08:34And it's a horrible thing.
08:36It should have never started.
08:38It would have never started if I were president.
08:40100%.
08:42On the tariffs, is it a negotiation now?
08:44Bloomberg, sir.
08:46Is it a negotiation or rules of the road?
08:48Go ahead. Another question, please.
08:50Sir, about...
08:52Don't ask too many questions.
08:54Sir, about TikTok, there was a report
08:56that there was bound to be a deal, but China
08:58changed its mind because of the tariffs.
09:00I would say it was largely true.
09:02The report is that we had a deal pretty much for TikTok.
09:04Not a deal, but pretty close.
09:06And then China changed the deal because of tariffs.
09:08If I gave a little cut in tariffs,
09:10they'd approve that deal in 15 minutes.
09:12Which shows you the power of tariffs, right?
09:14Mr. President, former New Hampshire governor
09:16Chris Sununu is saying
09:18that he'll win the open Senate seat
09:20in New Hampshire and that he has no doubt
09:22you'll support him if he runs.
09:24Is that true?
09:26True. I told him. He came to my office.
09:28Came to the Oval Office and met with Chris Sununu.
09:30And I support him fully.
09:32I hope he runs.
09:34He's been very nice to me
09:36over the last year or so.
09:38But, no, I hope he runs.
09:40I think he'll win that seat.
09:42Sir, when we get into late summer,
09:44early fall, and people are doing
09:46their back-to-school shopping,
09:48do you think we'll have inflation to worry about at that point?
09:50I don't think it's going to be.
09:52I don't think inflation is going to be a big deal.
09:54Because if you look at me,
09:56I took in hundreds of billions of dollars.
09:58This is not new to me.
10:00I took in, during my four years,
10:02hundreds of billions of dollars from China.
10:04And we also took in
10:06a lot of money from other countries,
10:08but in particular China,
10:10because it was just getting started.
10:12And we had no inflation.
10:14Who had inflation was Biden.
10:16We had the worst inflation in the history of our country.
10:18I had no inflation.
10:20We had a perfect country.
10:22We had no wars.
10:24I ended them all. I defeated ISIS.
10:26Everything was good.
10:28And then when this numbskull got in,
10:30as they really call themselves now,
10:32numbskulls,
10:34but when he got in,
10:36bad things happened to our country,
10:38including our open border.
10:40And now we're doing very well.
10:42We have the best numbers on the border
10:44that we've ever had.
10:50Yeah, sure. It's really sad
10:52when you think that Biden allowed
10:54millions of people to come in,
10:56and if they find one.
10:58Now, I will tell you,
11:00somebody said he's a member of MS-13,
11:02not Tren de Aragua.
11:04He's a member of MS-13,
11:06and therefore he should
11:08immediately be brought back.
11:10Well, MS-13 is just as bad as Tren de Aragua.
11:12So they say,
11:14oh, we made a mistake, because he's not with them.
11:16He's with MS-13.
11:18Bring him back. Bring him back.
11:20MS-13's a very bad group.
11:24Maybe as bad, actually.
11:26How concerned are you about the measles outbreak?
11:28There was another fatality today,
11:30and what else would you like to see in terms of the response?
11:32Well, I think they're
11:34doing reports on it.
11:36It's so far a fairly small
11:38number of people relative to what we're talking about.
11:40It's something that
11:42people have known about for many, many years.
11:44I mean, measles has been,
11:46you know, this is not something new.
11:48And we'll see what happens.
11:50But certainly, if something,
11:52if it progresses,
11:54we'll have to take action,
11:56very strong action.
11:58El Salvador's president said on exit
12:00he'd been invited to the White House on April 14th
12:02for a working visit to discuss Tren de Aragua and MS-13
12:04and other ways we can support each other
12:06in the U.S. and El Salvador.
12:08I'm curious if you could expand more
12:10on what some of these other ideas you have for El Salvador.
12:12Well, I think, yeah, I think.
12:14You know, you're in the way of that camera, by the way.
12:16You should at least say that the camera operator
12:18should probably say that
12:20she's shooting the back of your head.
12:22I don't know why she doesn't say it.
12:24I have to say it instead.
12:28I have great respect for him.
12:30I know him.
12:32I've known him for a long time.
12:34He's a young leader,
12:36and he's very tough on crime.
12:38Very, very tough on crime.
12:40And in their system, their prison system,
12:42they spend a tiny fraction of the money
12:44that this country spends.
12:46So, but he is coming in.
12:48I don't know when, but he is coming in
12:50sometime over the next couple of weeks.
12:52What are you and Prime Minister Netanyahu
12:54going to speak about tomorrow?
12:56We're going to talk about trade,
12:58and we're going to talk about the obvious subject.
13:00You know what the obvious subject is, right?
13:02Do you have any news for us on the obvious subject?
13:04I'm not trying to do trade just to keep it down.
13:06No.
13:08There's a lot of things going on with
13:10the Middle East right now that have to be silenced.
13:12You know,
13:14we had no problem with the Middle East.
13:16Everything was done.
13:18We had no problem with Iran.
13:20We had no problem with anybody.
13:22And then you had October 7th.
13:24And that was all because Iran,
13:26as you know, was not giving money to anybody
13:28because they had no money.
13:30Now they have a lot of money.
13:32The President there said he would be willing
13:34to take American citizens and the federal prison population.
13:36Is that one of the ideas you're going to be discussing?
13:38Well, I love that.
13:40If we could take some of our 20-time
13:42wise guys that push people into subways
13:44and that hit people over the back of the head
13:46and that purposely run people over in cars,
13:48if you would take them,
13:50I'd be honored to give them.
13:52I don't know what the law says on that,
13:54but I can't imagine the law would say anything different.
13:56If they can house these horrible criminals
13:58for a lot less money than it costs us,
14:00I'm all for it.
14:02But I'd only do according to the law.
14:04But I have suggested that, you know,
14:06why should it stop just the people
14:08that cross the border illegally?
14:10We have some horrible criminals,
14:12American grown and born.
14:14And if we have somebody
14:16that bops an old woman over the head,
14:18if we have somebody
14:20that is in jail 20 times
14:22and goes back
14:24and shoots people all over the place
14:26and then has a bad judge
14:28or a bad prosecutor
14:30that do nothing about them,
14:32all they worry about is politics.
14:34They don't worry about that.
14:36I think if we could get El Salvador
14:38or somebody to take them,
14:40I'd be very happy with it.
14:42But I have to see what the law says.
14:44What else?
14:46Did you agree to lowering tariffs
14:48for any of the countries that you spoke to today?
14:50What you understand, Jennifer,
14:52you have to understand this.
14:54We have massive surplus countries
14:56and we have massive deficits.
14:58We've got to straighten that out
15:00because you can't continue to be that way.
15:02It's been that way for years now
15:04and it can't go on any longer.
15:06And we're the piggy bank.
15:08We have all the advantages.
15:10Forget markets for a second.
15:12We have all the advantages.
15:14We're going to become a wealthy nation again.
15:16Wealthy like never before.
15:18And we're not going to let other nations
15:20that have been ripping us off,
15:22whether it's China or the European Union
15:24or the European nations
15:26that have just made...
15:28It's been like a feast.
15:30Look, the European Union was formed
15:32for one reason. You know what that was?
15:34To rip off the United States.
15:36So put that in your bonnet.
15:38I hope you had a good flight.
15:40Have a good time.
15:42Thank you, sir.
15:44We'll see you tomorrow.