Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, President Trump was asked about trade negotiations with China.
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00:00On China, your press secretary has suggested that some progress is being made.
00:04Are negotiations actively underway?
00:07And do you agree with Secretary Besant, who has suggested that the current standoff with China is not sustainable?
00:14We're doing fine with China. We're doing fine with every, I think almost every country.
00:20Everybody wants to have involvement with the United States.
00:23As you know, we were losing $5 billion a day when, during the Biden administration, during that last year, was a horror show, what they were doing on trade.
00:33$5 billion a day.
00:35And now we have it down to a very low number because we're getting 25% from the automobile industry, from autos.
00:42We're getting 25% for steel, 25% for aluminum.
00:47And we're getting the baseline of 10%.
00:49And think of it, we're losing almost $2 trillion on trade.
00:55And those days are gone. We're not going to do that again.
00:57We're not going to let that happen.
00:58We're being ripped off by almost, I don't say every, but very close to every country, everywhere, everywhere in the world, just being ripped off left and right.
01:08You had no leadership. You had people that didn't know what they were doing.
01:12And we're going to turn the country around.
01:14You know, we have a very nice phrase, make America great again.
01:17And that's what we're going to do. And it's going to start with trade.
01:20We're doing really well. I see the stock market was up nicely.
01:23But this is a transition period. And it's going to be a little while.
01:29But we are doing well with every country.
01:32Ultimately, we have something they want. And you have to view it that way.
01:36We have something they want, and they want very badly.
01:39And, you know, it's going to be – they're coming in, they're taking treasure, they're taking jobs when they do that, and they have to pay.
01:47And they don't have to pay if they come in and create their own jobs.
01:50You know, if they do their product here, if they build their product or make their product in the United States, we have absolutely no tariffs, and we welcome people.
01:59But we're taking in a lot of money from tariffs.
02:03And our country is getting stronger all the time because the other was not sustainable.
02:08But how many times have you started with China?
02:11Are you going to play hardball with them?
02:13Are you going to mention COVID?
02:14Well, I'm not going to say – no, I'm not going to mention COVID.
02:17I'm not going to say, oh, I'm going to play hardball with China.
02:20I'm going to play hardball with you, President Xi.
02:22No, no, we're going to be very nice.
02:25They're going to be very nice, and we'll see what happens.
02:28But ultimately, they have to make a deal because otherwise they're not going to be able to deal in the United States.
02:35And we want them involved, but they have to, and other countries have to make a deal.
02:40And if they don't make a deal, we'll set the deal because we're the ones that set the deal.
02:46Scott and Howard and myself and others, we're going to be setting the deal.
02:52And it'll be a fair deal for everybody, and it'll be – I think it's a process that's going to go pretty quickly.
02:58We've spoken to many, many countries, and we're getting their views on things.
03:03You know, there are a lot of things.
03:04They have VAT taxes.
03:06They have everything you can have.
03:09Don't forget, as an example, the European Union was set up to take advantage of the United States.
03:14That's why it was set.
03:15And they've done that, but they're not doing that anymore.
03:19Yeah.