Thank you very much. Today we're announcing the creation of the U.S. Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve, the first-ever stockpile of critical minerals for civilian use in times of emergency. We have the greatest experts on Earth behind me. We're joined by General Motors CEO Mary Barra, who's setting records, and Robert Friedland of Ivanhoe Mines. We also have Senators Marco Rubio, Bernie Moreno, and others from my administration. Today we're launching Project Vault to ensure American businesses are never harmed by shortages again. Just as we have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we're creating this for American industry. It involves $10 billion in Export-Import Bank financing and $2 billion in private sector financing. Over the past year, my administration has taken extraordinary steps to ensure we have all the critical minerals and rare earths we need, expediting federal permitting and signing major deals worldwide.
President Trump Participates in Signing Time, Feb. 2, 2026
Thank you, Mr. President. You gave us a very clear directive to figure out how to create a strategic critical minerals reserve for the first time in American history that would benefit the non-military manufacturing complex. We knew you expected us to deliver in a big way that was scalable and designed for long-term success without being subsidized by American taxpayers. Project Vault is a uniquely American solution, bringing together capital markets, manufacturers, and miners. Everyone wants to engage with your administration, and your call to action allowed us to bring the fiercest competitors together. This is the largest EXIM Bank deal in history by more than double, and it will drive national security and manufacturing.
Mr. President, thank you. You've done more in the last year for mining and minerals in our country than any president in history. Just like 'drill, baby, drill,' you said 'mine, baby, mine.' You've led us through equity deals to balance the market and unlocked Alaska with the Amber Road project, opening over 1,700 mining claims. On clean coal, we've unlocked critical minerals co-located there. While the previous administration did zero coal leases, you've done hundreds of millions of tons, which will drive down electricity prices. Permitting that used to take 29 years is now getting done in four months, or even 12 days under emergency authorities. You've also created a club of nations starting with Australia, Japan, and others to allow for the trade of critical minerals.
Fantastic job, Doug. I'd like to ask Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO of General Motors, which is setting records every single day, to say a few words about the car business in the U.S.
Mr. President, I want to thank you for your commitment to strengthening U.S. manufacturing and supporting the auto industry. A resilient supply chain is critical for our nation and all industries, especially the auto industry. We have been strengthened by many of the policies put in place over the last year, so I want to thank everybody for that. It not only supports U.S. manufacturing, it supports job creation and the consumer. Business is very strong, and we still see a strong consumer, so I'm excited about the coming year.
It's going to be a record with all the new plants opening in our country. Robert, please.
Mr. President, thank you so much for what you've achieved. Everything we touch, we either grow it agriculturally or we mine it. All these cameras and phones are mined. The ability for miners in this country to help you industrialize the nation is so stimulating. We're super excited that America is doing something not only for national security but for the re-industrialization of the country. You can't re-industrialize Detroit without a lot of metal. On behalf of every miner I know, they're elated at the breakthroughs achieved here. This is the first administration where we have hope to really go out and do it. We're working to bring these metals back to the United States to refine them and use them right here.
Great job, Robert. How about French Hill to say a few words?
Thank you, Mr. President. On behalf of Congress, Chairman Westerman can talk about unleashing mining through permitting reform, but we're best when we take the private sector and leverage it with the directions you've made. Together with our reauthorization of the EXIM Bank, we leverage that resource with private sector dollars to make this a success. It's going to be a huge strategic change in America's industrial capacity.
Big difference. Bernie, please.
Not to be hyperbolic, but if you hadn't been elected, the auto industry in America would be over. What the Democrats had done with electric vehicle mandates was a disaster, but what you were able to accomplish last year has transformed the industry. It's never been better for people in the auto industry. The people you really saved were the car dealers in California, New York, and New Jersey. They fought you all the way, and now they're saying thank you.
The country would be over.
As you always say, economic security is national security. A country does not have sovereignty if we don't have control over our critical minerals, steel production, and industrial base. Thanks to your leadership, this public-private partnership is taking back our sovereignty. Project Vault will give us a phenomenal level of security going forward.
And how is your new and improved Fed Chairman doing? How is that all going? I think he's off to a great start with built-in credibility, and the American people will be able to trust the Federal Reserve to steer the economy for them. Howard, please.
Prior presidents took America for granted. They let our critical minerals be controlled by China and let our mining business go to hell while China opened plants. Our auto industry production fell below 50% under the previous administration. Thank goodness you are in this chair changing it and taking it back. We are taking back mining, the auto industry, pharma, and semiconductors. None of this could happen without your leadership, and it's fun to watch you making America great again.
That's very true. Anyone else? Chairman Westerman, go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. President. A great day that couldn't have happened without your leadership. We're bringing back American mining and manufacturing. God blessed our country with abundant resources. The Amber Road has 49 critical minerals that can be mined in sufficient quantities, from northern Minnesota to Arizona and my home state of Arkansas. When we get them out of the ground, refine them, and manufacture with them, it will unleash great wealth for our country.
Questions, please.
Mr. President, would you like to see Jeanine Pirro drop the investigation into Jerome Powell to help Senator Tillis, who said he's not going to work with your administration to help bring Walsh?
No, I want them to take it to the end and see. It's like you're doing a small renovation and they spent almost $4 billion on it. I've built a hotel called the Waldorf for around $200 million, and it was a much bigger job. They're spending $4 billion, and I don't even see an end in sight. I feel badly for the new Fed Chairman because he may not have an office for four years. It's either gross incompetence or theft and kickbacks. Jeanine Pirro is incredible and she'll figure it out. We can't go around spending billions on a renovation of a small little complex.
Speaking of renovations, you announced you wanted to build a new entertainment complex at the Kennedy Center. Do you plan on tearing it down and how much will it cost?
Probably around $200 million. In real estate and building, I've done so much of it and done so well with it. It's in very bad shape, run down, and dilapidated. It's dangerous, things falling out of ceilings. We had some big events there over the last year, but you can't do any work because people are coming in and out. We had a marble man there the other day who said every time he puts down a piece of marble, people step on it before it can dry. We're going to close it around July 4th and make it far better than it ever was. We'll be using the steel structure and some of the marble, but when it's opened, it'll be at the highest level. We can do a much better and faster job if we close it instead of doing it piecemeal. We'll have brand new air conditioning from Carrier and all new heating.
About your meeting with President Petro later this week. He's been quite critical of you since the Maduro raid. What do you expect from him in terms of drug trafficking in Colombia?
He's been very nice over the last month or two. He was certainly critical before that, but after the Venezuelan raid, he changed his attitude very much. I look forward to seeing him. We'll be talking about drugs because tremendous amounts of drugs come out of his country.
Secretary Whitfield is going to meet the Iranian Foreign Minister on Friday. What do you hope will come out of that?
A lot of things are happening with Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East. We settled eight wars, and I think we're doing very well with Ukraine and Russia. For the first time, I'm saying we might have some good news. They're losing 25,000 to 30,000 people a month being killed in that ridiculous war. It's a stadium full of people every single month. I make everyone pay for weapons, and NATO countries are paying us in full, so it doesn't cost us ten cents. I want to save those people. All eight wars were difficult, but my relationship with President Putin would give us an easier road. There's tremendous hatred between Zelensky and Putin, which is a shame. I called up President Putin and he's agreed not to shoot missiles into Kyiv or other towns for one week, so it's something. Regarding the nuclear program, we have big ships heading to Iran right now, and talks are going on.
The Pentagon released the National Defense Strategy last week, and it says the U.S. will provide critical but only limited support for European defense. What does 'limited support' mean? Will the U.S. still provide security?
I get along very well with Europe because I got the GDP lifted from 2% to 5% and they're giving us a lot of that money back for military equipment. But Europe has to be careful because between immigration and energy, it's becoming unrecognizable. In the UK, they basically closed down the North Sea oil and buy energy from Norway instead. You need energy, and you can't do it with windmills because you're supposed to make money with energy, not lose it. I love the people of Europe, but they're at a tipping point with immigration and energy problems.
Governor Noem just announced they're deploying body cameras to Minneapolis. What's your thinking behind this and should police states cooperate?
I leave that to her, but they generally tend to be good for law enforcement because people can't lie about what's happening. Remember, we closed the border. I got elected on a disastrous border, and now we have nobody coming in. We had 25 million people come in in four years, many of them murderers, drug dealers, and people from mental institutions. Now the Democrats report zero people coming in, so I assume it's true. Our crime levels are at the lowest point in 125 years, since 1900, despite the fact that 11,888 murderers came in.
There was a homicide in D.C. in January. Do you think this is due to your efforts and should blue states see this as a sign to cooperate?
D.C. has become a very safe place. That was an in-house homicide, a dispute within a family. We have virtually no crime in D.C. now, and it's considered a very safe place as it should be. We sent in the soldiers. I read the Washington Post this week and they were trying to determine how we got such low crime numbers, but they didn't want to mention that we put our National Guard and great soldiers inside our city. People who work in the White House walk to work now, whereas a year and a half ago, they would have been killed or mugged. We have very big, strong, good-looking soldiers standing around, and I think they make the place look better.
Yesterday you said you were speaking to people about Cuba to reach an agreement. What sort of agreement with the Cuban government?
It's a failed nation now. They're not getting any money from Venezuela or anywhere else. Mexico is going to cease sending them oil. I'd like to take care of the people here from Cuba who fled through shark-infested waters on rafts. Many would like to go back or at least visit their relatives. We are dealing with the Cuban leaders right now.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Royal Family of Abu Dhabi invested hundreds of millions of dollars in your World Liberty Financial. Why did you take that investment?
I know that crypto is a big thing and a lot of people like it. My sons and family are handling that, and I guess they get investments from different people. I have all I can handle right now with Iran, Russia, and Ukraine. I'm a big crypto person, and I probably helped crypto more than anyone. The reason I believe in it is because if we don't do it, then China's going to do it. It's just like AI—we're leading by a lot, and if we weren't leading, China would have led.
You made America the digital asset capital of the world. We did the Janus Acts for stablecoins, and many people here are working on a bill to give the market structure and bring U.S. best practices to this new industry. If we didn't do it, China and others in terrible jurisdictions would have been dominant.
China would have had the lead.
On Iran, sir, can you say what your threshold for military action is?
I can't tell you what I'm going to do, but right now we have a tremendous force going there, even bigger than what we did in Venezuela. I'd like to see a deal negotiated, but I wouldn't tell you if I knew.
On the government shutdown, do you think there could be a resolution? Have you gotten assurances from House Republicans?
I spoke with Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune, and I think they're pretty close to a resolution. We were at 5.6% GDP and lost a point and a half because of the 42-day shutdown. We would have been at 7%, a number nobody's ever seen. Shutdowns are very bad for our country, but despite that, we have the highest numbers we've ever had. I spoke with Senator Schumer numerous times, and I don't think they want to see a shutdown either.
Are you going to sue Trevor Noah? Last night in a post you alluded that something big could be coming.
Well, he said that I spent time on Jeffrey Epstein's island. I didn't. This guy is a lightweight and I thought he did a terrible job at the Grammys. He was a lousy host, not as bad as Jimmy Kimmel but close. He made a statement about me and Jeffrey Epstein's island, and I had nothing to do with that. In fact, the DOJ released three million pages, and other than Bill Clinton and Bill Gates, there's nothing on me. They found that Jeffrey Epstein and this sleazebag writer named Michael Wolff were conspiring against Donald Trump for me to lose the election. Epstein was conspiring with a writer for me to lose. The amount of time being wasted on this is a shame, especially since it's the Democrats who were with and conspired with Epstein.
Mr. President, do you have an update on the U.S. troop level in Europe? Are you planning any force reductions?
We have a great relationship with Europe and our troops. A year and a half ago, they had the worst recruitment numbers in the history of our country; nobody wanted to join the military, police, or fire departments. Now, Doug, as I told you, we have the best recruitment numbers we've ever had in our military, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force, and Coast Guard. We have waiting lists for everyone who wants to join because people are proud of our country again. Mary can say the same thing for her training programs. A year and a half ago, people were embarrassed by our country and our leadership, and now they are proud. Thank you very much, everybody.