President Trump Participates in a Meeting with the Secretary General of NATO

Oh, there is no Secretary General peace plan. But I'm here for—no, I really, I really want to correct that because I saw some of that in the media. Of course, many people are thinking how to bring this terrible war to an end and supporting the President in doing that. Why I'm here is to dialogue again with the President how I can be, how NATO, my colleagues in other colleagues in NATO can be of maximum support to get that done. But there is no peace plan on the table. I mean, the if there is a peace plan, it is what the President said last Friday and Sunday which is: stop where you are, stop the fighting.

This is about NATO. We're a very proud member of NATO. We have a great relationship with the countries of NATO. I think made much better by our visit a few months ago when they agreed to 5% instead of 2% of GDP. That was a big concession. I think that was a concession that two years ago nobody would have said, even a year ago.

Even nine months ago, before you were elected, nobody would have said that's possible.

Absolutely. And the difference is they're paying 5% as opposed to not paying 2%. They were a lot of them weren't paying. With the exception of Spain, I think you're going to have to talk to Spain. Because Spain is not a team player. So other than, other than Spain, everybody's 100%. And you could solve the Spain problem very easily, I think, if you tried. Go ahead, and then we'll take Brian. Go.

This story for farmers, are they going to be getting support from you soon in your...

Yeah, well they do. So what's happened, you could say with that, you could say with beef, with all of it. The beef, the ranchers, let's say, who have done a great job have lost their shirts for many, many years. They've really been decimated. And I helped them a lot. I put tariffs on things coming into the country, including beef. And that gave them a chance to finally have a decent industry. We are going to be talking to them; they're great people, but they've been hurt for 25, 30 years. They've been losing because other countries have taken advantage of them. And by putting tariffs on, they've been able to make a few dollars, they've been able to have an industry. But I also want to keep the beef prices low. So I'll be talking with the ranchers and I'll be speaking with a lot of different people, including Scott and Howard, and we'll do something. Because prices are way down in our country. Energy is way down. I think you're going to see 2-dollar gasoline very soon. I see that it's 2.50 in a lot of places. 2 dollars and 50 cents. We were heading to 5, 6, and 7 dollars. If Biden didn't go back to my policy toward the end, you would have seen—but he didn't go back to the full policy, and he missed the most important thing. So we were up to, you know, we were way up. I think you're going to see 2-dollar gasoline; could even break that number. That's a big difference. The only, the only cost that's really up is beef, and the fake news only wants to talk about beef. And what I did is I made it possible for those people to survive. They're incredible people, but they were being decimated by other countries. And I didn't want that to happen. So prices are way down, groceries are down, everything's down. Energy's way down. Even interest rates with the bad chairman of the Fed, he's terrible, he's a—he's a fool. But even interest rates are down. So our country has never done better. We're going to take in, I think 21, 20, 21 trillion dollars this year. No country has ever taken in more than 3, and we're going to take in 21 trillion dollars of investments because of the tariffs. If we didn't have tariffs, we would be a mess. We would be a national security problem. And we've—we've done a job. So I'm very happy about that. We're going to do—we're going to do something very quickly and easily on beef to get it down. The ranchers understand that; they're so happy for what I've done for I saved them. I don't think you'd have any beef in this country if I didn't do that. So we're very proud of that. Yes, Brian.

Yes, sir. Yesterday in Los Angeles, immigration officials were attacked by some protesters in an attempt to arrest an illegal alien. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats have used very aggressive language in terms of how to address ICE as well. Is there any responsibility that we can place on Gavin Newsom and other political officials for using such aggressive language?

Well, Gavin has to be careful. Remember that when I first came in, they had a terrible riot in Los Angeles. They had the fires, which shouldn't have happened; they didn't have the water for the fires. They should have had the water coming in from the Pacific Northwest. They didn't have the waters, they didn't have water in the hydrants or the sprinklers. So they had the fires, and then they had the riot. And if we didn't go and take care of that riot, you would have lost Los Angeles. We you would have canceled the Olympics, which is because of me in Los Angeles. And the police commissioner, the head of the police said, if the President didn't come in, we would have lost Los Angeles. We we did not have the capability of taking care of it. And he said it very strongly. And we did a great job, and within a week it was all done; within one day it was all done, but within a week it was all done. And then they go back to their normal practice of weakness, of not taking care of criminals—meaning taking care of, putting them in jails where they should be. Washington, D.C., and you all are the best people for that because Washington, D.C. is now one of the safest cities. It was one of the most dangerous cities in the country. Now Washington, D.C., believe it or not—I'm embarrassed to say it in front of you—but Washington, D.C. went from one of the worst, most dangerous cities to—you can walk down the street, you can send your child to meet you at a location. Your child is going to be fine. We have a very, very safe city, one of the safest. And you know, very proud of that. Memphis, by the way, is coming along fantastically. We're in Memphis right now. We're we had the FBI in Chicago, we're doing things. We haven't entered Chicago yet. When we do, Chicago will be very quickly a very, very safe city. But if you look at what's happening in Memphis, it's great. But you got to look at Washington. People are coming up to me, people that work in the White House and saying thank you, sir. And I immediately know what they're thanking me about. It's thank—they can walk to work. They would never walk to work a year ago. They can walk into work and they feel safe and secure and it's beautiful. And I'll tell you what, it's really an honor to add that great ballroom to the structures in Washington. It's going to be one of the great ballrooms of the world, and we're doing it—no cost to the country. It's being put—the money's being put in by me and donors, really great patriots, actually. And the spirit on the building of it is amazing. We are using little sections of footings and various other things, but that's sort of irrelevant. In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure. The way it was shown, it looked like we were touching the White House. We don't touch the White House. That's a bridge, that last bridge going from the White House to the ballroom. Then you get into the lobby of the ballroom, and then you go into the magnificent, the main room. And it's something that has gotten incredible reviews.

What about your meeting that's coming up with President Xi? What do you hope comes out of that meeting? What deliverables come out?

I think we'll make a deal. I think we're going to make a deal on... the rare earth is the least of it. Look, the tariffs are much more powerful than the rare earth. The rare earth is a disturbance, but there's a lot of rare earth around. I'll tell you, I've had more calls on rare earth. We've got it, everybody's... We'll make a deal on I think everything. I think we're going to make a deal on soybeans and the farmers. I think we're going to make a deal on maybe even nuclear. You know, President Putin in his call mentioned to me about nuclear, where we do a de-escalation. And I'm fine with that. I think it's good, I think it's a very appropriate thing. We have the most nuclear weapons, Russia's second, China is actually third by a long way, but they'll be even within four or five years. Too many. And we are talking about de-escalation; that's already being talked about. And I think we'll add—we'll probably add China into the mix.

Mr. President, can you persuade President Xi to stop purchasing all of that Russian oil that's funding this war against Ukraine?

Well, I think I'll be talking to him about it. I think it's a little bit of a different talk. India, as you know, has told me they are stopping, you know, it's a process. You can't just stop it, but by the end of the year they'll be down to almost nothing. That's a big thing, that was almost 40% of the oil, India. They've been great. Spoke to Prime Minister Modi yesterday. They've been absolutely great. China's a little bit different, you know, they're a little bit different relationship they have with Russia. It was never good, but because of Biden and Obama, they got forced together. They should never have been forced together, but they're a little bit forced. But they by nature they can't be friendly. They can't be by nature they can't I hope they are friendly, frankly, but they can't be... The you don't want—you should not have forced Russia and China together. And Biden did that and Obama did that. They forced them together because of energy, because of oil. And so they are closer than they would normally be. I think I'll probably be talking about it. What I'll really be talking to him about is how do we end the war with Russia and Ukraine, whether it's through oil or energy or anything else. And I think he's going to be very receptive. He he would now like to see—I'm not sure that he did at the beginning—he would now like to see that war end.

And before we go, Mr. President, do you think Xi plays an important role in terms of inserting himself and convincing Putin, who he speaks to regularly, to stop the war right now?

Yeah, I do. I think he can have a big influence on Putin. I think he can have a big influence on a lot of people. Look, he's a respected man. He's a very strong leader of a very big country. Yeah, I think he can have a big influence. And we will certainly be talking about Russia-Ukraine.

Thank you, Mr. President. Liam Kostopoulos here. My question is actually for the Secretary General. Mr. Secretary, I don't know if you've seen this, but polling out of Ukraine shows a massive collapse in Ukrainian support for the war. A Gallup poll had it at just 23%, that's less than a quarter. Zelenskyy came out today praising President Trump's proposal for freezing the front lines of battle as part of a ceasefire. He said that's a good compromise. So people view your coming here as, you know, you're lobbying the US government to continue its involvement in the war. You're obviously lobbying for more NATO weapons to be sent to Ukraine, but Ukrainians themselves don't want to fight the war. So how do you justify that morally?

Well, I'm lobbying only for one thing, and that is to make sure that we end this war. And I don't have to lobby the President because we totally agree on this, and this is what he has been doing from day one. Everything he could do to break the deadlock with Putin, get the dialogue going, dialoguing also with Zelenskyy, and getting this war done. It's crucial. And the fact that the US is now supplying weapons into Ukraine paid for by allies is extremely important. And that's now happening since two, three months. About two billion moving into Ukraine from the US paid for by allies.

But it's winded—it's not winding down. How do you think—how do you think that'll wind it down now? What do you mean? You think more weapons will wind down the war?

No, I mean, there's more to be done. So what you need—what the President said this weekend: stop where you are, so basically do a ceasefire and then have all your discussions about territory and whatever. But first, stop the war. This is what you said on Friday and on Sunday.

It's a war... I mean, your question's really a fair one. It's a war that should have never started. And you know how I feel about it, but it's a war that should have never started. And we're not selling any weapons to Ukraine. We're selling them to NATO, which is different from before with Biden. He just gave 350 billion dollars worth of weapons and cash right into Ukraine, and that was so foolish. But we we sell them to NATO, and in theory, you can do what you want with them. It doesn't have to be Ukraine, but probably it is most...

No, but nations are doing now is buying from this program and making sure that the supply is into Ukraine. So Europeans and Canadians, and for example, these are interceptors for the Patriot systems, crucial to protect the cities. Today again, a Russian attack has killed children, at least seriously wounded children in a kindergarten in in Ukraine. So we need to make sure that the air defense systems are in place, and we need the US systems to do that. And the Europeans are paying for that, and this is exactly the type of actions we needed. And the President is doing that and trying everything to get this war to an end, starting with a ceasefire.

Mr. President, do you believe Putin wants to take all of Ukraine?

I always felt that way. I always felt he wanted to. When I was in my first term, I was with—you know, I was very close to him relatively speaking; it was harder because of the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. But I would talk to President Putin about Ukraine, and it was the apple of his eye, I'd say it was the apple of his eye. But it would have never happened. He knew the consequences were too great. When we had a rigged election and all of a sudden I wasn't there, he said, "Wow." I think he looked at Afghanistan, how horribly that was handled, so stupidly. And I think that really gave him a little additional, you know, incentive. I always felt he wanted the whole thing, not a piece of it. But I think now he's willing to negotiate a little bit further, and I think he's willing to make a deal. We'll see. We'll see. We don't want him—we don't want him to have the whole thing.

Thank you, Mr. President. You've this big tariffs case before the Supreme Court this November. It's been suggested you might actually show up to the Supreme Court...

I'd like to. I think it's one of the most important decisions we'll ever have for the Supreme Court. With tariffs, we're a strong, sound country. We're a nationally secure and internationally secure country. We're a very rich country. Without tariffs, it's a slog for this country, a big slog. I think it's one of the most important decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. And I might go there; I really believe I have an obligation to go there. We are doing so well as a country right now because of tariffs. And you have to understand, tariffs have been used against us for many years, decades, and to—I mean, just slowly but surely hurting our country so badly. That's why we owe 37 trillion dollars. We owe that because other countries have taken advantage of us over many, many decades, over many decades. And now we're a rich country, we're taking in money like we've never done before. Without tariffs, that would not be happening. And also, I solved, as you know, eight wars. Of the eight, five of them, maybe even six of them, are because of tariffs. The threat of tariffs on these nations: if you want to fight, that's okay. India and Pakistan, if you want to fight, that's okay, but you're going to pay tariffs and they're going to be very substantial. And we're in the midst of a trade deal, and they said, "We don't want to do that." Two days later, they call up and they're not going to fight anymore; they've peace. But I've done that out of eight, I would say six, six times, five times, six times. Tariffs are vital to this country. And tariffs have been used against us by China, by every other country. And all we're doing is using them to negotiate fair deals. And as you know, we made a fair deal with Japan, we made a fair deal with all of Europe—the European Union. We made a fair deal with South Korea. These are countries that were taking so much money away from us, it's not sustainable. And now we're taking in hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars. If this country is not allowed to have tariffs, if this country is not allowed to have the President of the United States negotiate on behalf of it with tariffs, we are we are put in a position where we're going to be a third-world country. We can't let that happen. I think it's the most important case that we're going to have for many, many years to come. One of the most important cases we've ever had. With tariffs, we're a rich, secure country. Without tariffs, we're a laughingstock. We'll be a laughingstock, and I don't want to have anything to do with that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.