President Trump holds a swearing-in ceremony for David Perdue, Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, and takes reporters' questions in the Oval Office.
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00:00Thank you very much.
00:13Before we begin, I'm pleased to announce that I've just signed a proclamation officially
00:19designating tomorrow, May 8th, as a victory day for World War II, commemorating the 80th
00:27anniversary of America's victory in the Second World War.
00:31All over the globe, our World War II allies are celebrating this week, but the United States
00:37has never joined in with the proper celebration of our own, and the victory was mostly accomplished
00:46because of us.
00:47Whether you like it or not, we came into that war, and we won that war, and we had a lot
00:53of help from a lot of great people, a lot of great allies.
00:58But I think there would be nobody that would say that we were not the dominant force in
01:02that war, and we don't celebrate it.
01:05And I think that's a great disservice to the people that lost their lives and people that
01:08fought so hard in winning World War II, and also a separate victory day for World War
01:16I, and we're going to be doing that too.
01:19There was American tanks and ships and trucks and airplanes and service members that vanquished
01:25the enemy 80 years ago this week without America.
01:28The liberation would never have happened.
01:32And so we have to pay tribute and homage to those people that gave us victory.
01:42And we did something else that people don't talk about.
01:46We rebuilt the world.
01:48All of these countries that were destroyed, we helped them rebuild.
01:52And that's something that, for the most part, others did not do.
01:57So with this proclamation, we are hereby honoring the incredible sacrifice and heroism of millions
02:04of Americans who served in World War II, along with the unprecedented mobilization, homefront
02:11that helped deliver this great triumph.
02:15All Americans should take pride in what these incredible patriots have achieved.
02:19So I just want to say Happy Victory Day to all.
02:23So we are celebrating every year now.
02:26I can guarantee for four years.
02:28I think after that, we're going to have two victory days, World War I and World War II.
02:34This is World War II Victory Day.
02:36In the future, we're going to have a major celebration of each day.
02:44We're not going to have days off because we don't have enough days in the year.
02:47We have too many celebrations already.
02:51We're going to have victory day and first World War I, World War II.
02:56And without us, those wars would not have been won.
03:01I think we can say that would not have been won.
03:05And I think it's time that the United States start taking credit for their achievements.
03:11And it's I really believe it's a shame.
03:13You know, it's I was watching for the last week.
03:17And I noticed France, I noticed other countries all getting ready for victory day.
03:23And I said, that's sort of strange because David just added something.
03:27He said, we also rebuilt the world.
03:30And I didn't have that.
03:31And I should have that.
03:32That was a big factor.
03:34But I noticed all of the countries, Russia, having a big day tomorrow.
03:41And by the way, they lost millions of people.
03:44And they were absolutely a major factor.
03:48But there was no major factor like us.
03:50We won the war.
03:52And we won it with the help of others.
03:53But everybody was celebrating but the United States of America.
03:56And I said, you know, I think it's time that we start celebrating victory.
04:02And that's what we're doing.
04:05So now for the reason that we're here.
04:10But I asked David, would it be appropriate if I did that?
04:12He said, absolutely.
04:14That's a big thing that we're doing on your swearing in very big thing.
04:19But now for the real reason and a reason that I'm very proud of because he's been my friend
04:24for a long time.
04:25We're swearing in our next ambassador to the People's Republic of China.
04:29What timing, David?
04:30What timing?
04:31Maybe you could have picked this timing.
04:35I picked him a long time ago, but it just happened to come due on a pretty important date.
04:41But our friend, David Perdue, Senator David Perdue, joining David this afternoon are his incredible
04:48wife, Bonnie's been at his side for a long time.
04:51Their sons, David and Blake, their daughter in law, Danielle, and daughter in law, Charlotte,
04:58and their grandsons, David Hudson and Jack.
05:02That's a beautiful family.
05:03Congratulations.
05:04I didn't think you had it in you, David.
05:06That's something.
05:07That's pretty amazing.
05:08Look at that.
05:10Our new ambassador brings to this position a lifetime of experience at the highest levels
05:17of business and politics, and he is at the highest level.
05:21Over four decades in business, he rose to lead several major American corporations, including
05:27as the president and CEO of the footwear giant Reebok, where he did very well and did a great
05:33job, and later CEO of Dollar General.
05:36Likewise, he did a great job.
05:38David also lived and worked in Singapore and Hong Kong for several years, developing a wealth
05:43of experience negotiating and doing tremendous business deals for lots of different leaders
05:51that he worked with.
05:53Following his tremendous business success as an executive, David stepped forward to serve
05:58American government, and as we all know, in 2014, he was elected United States Senate in
06:05Georgia, and he was very popular, very respected from day one.
06:10He served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was a tremendous partner to our administration
06:16during my first term.
06:18I dealt with him a lot, and he solved a lot of problems.
06:22Now I'm entrusting David to help manage one of America's most complex and consequential
06:28foreign relationships, and I know he'll do a fantastic job.
06:33As our lead diplomat in Beijing, David will work to promote American interests and stability
06:39in the Indo-Pacific.
06:41Help stop the flood of Chinese fentanyl across our borders, which we have to do.
06:45We lost, I believe, 300,000 people last year.
06:50Seek fairness and reciprocity for the American worker, ensure the safety of our citizens overseas,
06:56and promote peace in the region and in the world.
07:00And I'm confident that he will do an exceptional job.
07:04He's an exceptional man and make our country very proud and make our country very safe, too.
07:10So, David, I want to congratulate you.
07:12This is as big as it gets, and the timing is unbelievable, but it's time that we have somebody like this.
07:20This is a very, very extraordinary man, and you're going to do a fantastic job.
07:26And say hello to President Xi when you're over there, please.
07:29Okay?
07:31Thank you very much.
07:31Marco, would you do the service?
07:33I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.
08:03That I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, without any mental reservation, for a purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
08:23So help me God.
08:25Congratulations.
08:28Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
08:30Mr. President, I'm humbled to be in this office today.
08:42I love what you've done with this office.
08:44I like the Declaration of Independence.
08:46I want the world to know that I know this man personally.
08:49He loves this country, and I am glad to be your man in China.
08:53Thank you, David.
08:55I think just for the sake of formality, here we go, David.
09:02Come on up.
09:03Come on up here, Bonnie.
09:05That's what it's all about, right?
09:09And now we send you on your way.
09:11Lots of luck.
09:12We're right behind you, David.
09:14I'm looking forward to seeing you over there, sir.
09:16Okay.
09:17Have a good time.
09:19Congratulations, everybody.
09:21Congratulations.
09:22Any questions, please?
09:23The Treasury Secretary just told lawmakers that a tariff exemption for certain baby
09:27items, like car seats, is under consideration.
09:30Will you exempt some products that families rely on?
09:32I don't know.
09:33I'll think about it.
09:34I don't know.
09:35I really don't.
09:36I want to make it nice and simple.
09:37I'm not looking to have so many exemptions that nobody knows what's doing.
09:41We have to make it very simple, but I'll take a look at it.
09:44Mr. President, there are rumblings in Washington that some House Republican moderates are opposed
09:50to defunding Planned Parenthood in this year's reconciliation package.
09:54What do you say to those members?
09:55And are you supportive of them?
09:56Well, I don't know yet.
09:57I have to see because you're just telling me that for the first time.
09:59Well, we'll work something out.
10:01Mr. President, what are you hoping your representatives will get out of the talks in Switzerland on China?
10:06And secondly, what does China need to do on fentanyl specifically?
10:08What do you want to see?
10:09Well, they have to stop fentanyl from coming in.
10:12That'll be a very big part.
10:13And I had that understanding with President Xi before I left last time and we had a deal
10:19and he would have honored the deal.
10:20But when Biden came in, of course, nothing ever happened with him.
10:23He didn't know what the hell he was doing, but that would have saved a lot of lives.
10:26That election cost us a lot of lives and a lot of heartache.
10:30The fact that we went through four years of misery and you look at what's coming through the border
10:36and the job of getting murderers out of our country.
10:39So many so many bad things happened.
10:41The wars you wouldn't be having.
10:43You wouldn't have October 7th.
10:46You wouldn't have Russia fighting with Ukraine.
10:49You wouldn't have had that disaster in Afghanistan.
10:51You wouldn't have had inflation.
10:53All these things would have not taken place.
10:55So sad to see what happened.
10:57Any other questions?
10:58Are your administration sending migrants to Libya?
11:04I don't know.
11:04You'll have to ask Homeland Security, please.
11:07Would you support that?
11:08Would you support that?
11:10Russia was asking for too much to end the war.
11:13Given that, do you still have confidence that earlier this morning?
11:18Well, it's possible that he's right.
11:20He may know some things that because I've been dealing with this and some other things.
11:25But we are getting to a point where some decisions are going to have to be made.
11:32I'm not happy about it.
11:34I'm not happy about it.
11:35Okay.
11:36Just to follow up, sir.
11:37On the talks in Switzerland, what do you expect?
11:39What do you hope to come out of it?
11:40We'll see.
11:41I mean, look, we were losing a trillion dollars a year.
11:44Now we're not losing anything.
11:45You know, that's the way I look at it.
11:47We were losing with China on trade a trillion dollars a year.
11:50More, actually.
11:511.1.
11:52But let's say a trillion.
11:53You know what we're losing now?
11:54Nothing.
11:55That's not bad.
11:56That's not bad.
11:57There's plenty of new ceasefire and hostage proposal for Israel and Hamas before you head
12:03over to the region next week.
12:04Where?
12:05Where?
12:06In Gaza.
12:07In Gaza.
12:08Well, we're going to see what's happening.
12:11There's a lot of talk going on about Gaza right now.
12:14You know that, right?
12:16So you'll be knowing probably in the next 24 hours.
12:19Are you thinking about the actions between the war in India and Pakistan?
12:23What's your position?
12:24Oh, it's so terrible.
12:26My position is I get along with both.
12:29I know both very well.
12:30And I want to see them work it out.
12:32I want to see them stop.
12:34And hopefully they can stop now.
12:35They've gone tit for tat.
12:38So hopefully they can stop now.
12:40But I know both.
12:41We get along with both the countries very well.
12:43Good relationships with both.
12:45And I want to see it stop.
12:46And if I can do anything to help, I will be there.
12:49Mr. President, China says China said...
12:51By the way, unrelated, but I guess it's all related when you look at the world nowadays.
12:57Rwanda and the Congo.
12:59We've made a lot of progress in getting that disaster stopped.
13:03We've had a very talented person over there.
13:05And we've made a lot of progress with Rwanda and Congo fighting a very violent war, by the
13:12way.
13:13China says in order to have substantive negotiations, you have to bring down your 145% tariffs.
13:18Are you open to pulling back your tariffs in order to get China to the negotiating table?
13:22No.
13:23Mr. President, Senator Tillis has come out against Martin as U.S. Attorney.
13:28Do you have any response to that?
13:30Well, it's disappointing because, you know, I know it.
13:33He's very talented.
13:35Crime is down in Washington, D.C.
13:37Street crime, violent crime by 25%.
13:41And it's...
13:43People have seen, they've noticed a big difference.
13:45So I haven't...
13:46I didn't know that.
13:47But if he...
13:49If anybody voted against him, I feel very badly about it.
13:52Only in the sense that in this short period of time that he's been there, crime is down
13:5725% in Washington, D.C.
13:59But that's really up to the senators.
14:01If...
14:02If they, you know, feel that way, they have to vote the way they vote.
14:05They have to follow their heart.
14:07And they have to follow their mind.
14:09Mr. President, are you referring to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf?
14:12Are you going to make that announcement on your trip?
14:14They're going to ask me about that when I get there.
14:15And I'll have to make a decision.
14:17So you haven't made a decision?
14:18I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.
14:19I don't know if feelings are going to be hurt.
14:22Why have a case right over here?
14:23It's called Gulf of America.
14:25And I guess a lot of people get ideas from us.
14:29But the Gulf of America was something I thought should have been named a long time ago.
14:34I'm going to be given a briefing on that.
14:37It was just done.
14:38And I'll make a decision.
14:40Is it the U.S. position that Iran can have an enrichment program as long as it doesn't reach a weapons...
14:45We haven't made that decision yet.
14:46We will.
14:47But we haven't made that decision yet.
14:49Mr. President?
14:50China said the U.S. initiated the trade talks this weekend
14:54and that its position hasn't changed.
14:56Are you still confident you can reach a deal with China?
14:59They said we initiate it?
15:01Well, I think they ought to go back and study their files.
15:05Okay?
15:06I do think that.
15:07Go ahead.
15:08Are you planning to ease chip export restrictions to some of these Gulf countries
15:12and then also make announcements regarding...
15:14We might be doing that, yeah.
15:15And their nuclear programs, civilian nuclear programs?
15:17And it'll be announced soon.
15:18And you're going to help them develop nuclear power...
15:20Well, we're going to take a look.
15:21We're going to take a look.
15:22But, you know, we had really a very good...
15:27As you know, we had a very good outcome with the Houthis.
15:31And we honor their word.
15:33I mean, they made a commitment.
15:35And we dealt with other countries that were close to them and their surrogates.
15:41And we honor all of their words.
15:43We'll see what happens.
15:44But I think, you know, I believe that hopefully that's over with.
15:48And they'll leave the ships alone.
15:50You know?
15:51Just leave those ships alone.
15:53But so, we do.
15:54We take their word for it.
15:55It was...
15:56You know, we hit them very hard.
15:57They had a great capacity to withstand punishment.
16:01They took tremendous punishment.
16:03And, you know, you could say there's a lot of bravery there.
16:08It was amazing what they took.
16:12But we honor their commitment and their word.
16:14They gave us their word that they wouldn't be shooting ships anymore.
16:17And we honor that.
16:19I want to thank you all for being here.
16:21I want to congratulate David Perdue and his family.
16:24He's going to be really an incredible ambassador to China.
16:27I have no doubt about it.
16:29And we're going to work together very closely.
16:31Thank you all very much.
16:34Thank you, Danny.
16:36Thanks, everybody.
16:38Thanks, everybody.
16:40Thanks, guys.
16:45Thank you, guys.
16:46Thanks, everyone.
16:48Just take this, and then...
16:50Come on over here, everybody.
16:51Would you bring this to the board?
16:52This guy's a coward?
16:53Okay.
16:54Okay.
16:55Okay.
16:56You know what?