Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters Aboard Air Force One En Route to West Palm Beach, Florida

The President. Hello, everybody.

Q. Mr. President.

The President. Just got back from Walter Reed.

The President's Annual Physical Examination

Q. How'd it go?

The President. I'm on the plane the with you.

It went, I think, well. I think, well. Took every test you can imagine. I was there for a long time, the yearly physical. And I think I did well. You'll—I think they're releasing the report on Sunday, the doctors—highly respected doctors. Great place. Great—amazing place, actually.

Q. Did they give you any suggestions or advice on anything you need to change up?

The President. A little bit. But overall, I think I'm in very—I felt I was in very good shape. Good heart, a good soul—very good soul.

And I took—I wanted to be a little different than Biden. I took a cognitive test. And I don't know what to tell you, other than I got every answer right. I took just a lot of different tests having to do with the heart, having to do with other things. And I think you'll find that I'm—I—they're going to release the report on Sunday. I think you'll find it very good.

The President's Cognitive Health

Q. Can you tell us about the cognitive test? Is that "man, woman, person, camera, TV"? That——

The President. It's a—I think it's a pretty well-known test. Whatever it is, I got every one—I got it all right, as I've done about four times before. You know, I've taken the cognitive test, I think, four times, and I've done—I've got nothing wrong. That's what the American people want, right?

Biden refused to take it. Kamala refused to take it. I think most of them refused to take it, but I don't refuse to take it.

What else?

Stock Market Volatility/Tariffs

Q. Can I ask you what you thought of the markets today and this week and the——

The President. Which one?

Q. The markets this week and the reaction to the tariffs.

The President. I think the markets are solid today. I think people are seeing we're in great shape. We have—we're making a lot of money as a country now, for the first time in a long time. We were losing billions of dollars a day, and now we're making billions of dollars a day. That's a big difference.

And we then brought it down to 10 percent, and so that made it a little bit less. But I did that because I wanted to be fair to other people, to other countries.

China

Q. Is it up to President Xi to pick up the phone? Where do things stand with China?

The President. I guess so—you know, whatever it is, it is. I don't—you know, we have a lot of countries, not just China, and—but whatever it is, it is. I think we're in very good position. We're doing well. We have a lot of things happening. A lot of new companies are coming on board, because of the tariffs and because of the November 5 election.

Immigration Enforcement Actions

Q. Do you—how does the administration, how do you plan to respond to the Supreme Court ruling and the other courts about the gentleman who was from Maryland who was put in the El Salvador prison?

The President. Is that the one that was not Tren de Aragua, but he was MS-13?

Q. Just the one that they've said needs to come back.

The President. No, but is—was he MS-13?

Q. I don't——

The President. Because I only know him by that. I mean, I don't know which one. But if the Supreme Court said bring somebody back, I would do that. I respect the Supreme Court.

Q. And the lower court judge as well? He's been asking for daily updates——

The President. Well, I don't——

Q. ——about where he is.

The President. I'm not talking about the lower court. I will respect—I have great respect for the Supreme Court. So I'm not available—you know, I'm not totally well versed as to the specific case, but if they said to bring him back, I would tell them to bring him back.

Trade Negotiations

Q. You spoke a little bit about your negotiations, that—how they're going with other countries, aside from China. It sounds like you were talking to some before you left for Walter Reed this morning.

The President. I've spoken to the other countries. And ultimately, you know, we pretty much can do what we want to do, but we want to be fair. We can set the tariff, and they can choose not to deal with us, or they can choose to pay it. And that's where we are.

We can—you know, we can set the tariff, or we can do it a number of different ways, but that seems to be appropriate. And they can pay it or negotiate it, or they can not pay it. They can just say we can't do business with them. If they think it's too high, they don't have to do business with us. But I don't think anybody would think that, actually.

Baseline Tariff Rate

Q. Is 10 percent the floor, Mr. President?

The President. Pretty close. Yes, I would say.

Q. Pretty close to the floor?

The President. There could be a couple of exceptions for, you know, obvious reasons, but I would say 10 percent is a floor.

President Xi Jinping of China

Q. Are you wanting to get to the table with China, or are you comfortable with the tariffs with where they're at right now?

The President. I'm very comfortable. I mean, honestly, I'm very comfortable now. But I've always gotten along well with President Xi. We had a good relationship, very good, and I think something positive is going to come out of it.

China/Border Security

Q. Are you done with that level? Their last response, I think, brought theirs to 125.

The President. We'll see what happens. I mean, look, China is a—it's a very big, great country. He's a very good leader, a very smart leader. It's a different form of leadership. It's a different form of government. But they certainly are big.

But you know, this should have been done—what I've done should have been done by past Presidents for many, many years, and they allowed this to happen.

You could say that about—more recently, about how do you let people pour into our country like Biden allowed to happen? That's a big focus. We now have the best border we've had ever. But you know, how do you allow that to happen? It could have been stopped so easily. He didn't need legislation. You know the expression: "Just needed a new President."

We have the best—we have now the best border that we've ever had. So——

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Okay. Yes, please.

Masters Tournament/Professional Golf

Q. Yes. Who would you like to see win the Masters this Sunday?

The President. Oh, they have so many great guys. They're all friends of mine. They're all friends of mine. You have some great ones. Scottie Scheffler is great. Bryson is great.

Q. Did you see his round today?

The President. Jon Rahm, a great one. You have some really great—Justin Rose is a friend. But they're all friends of mine.

But it's going to be a good Masters. It looks like it's going to be a very good Masters. They have some fantastic golfers in the top, so it should be good. The course looks beautiful.

Strength of the U.S. Dollar

Q. What do you make of the dollar having gone down a little bit after the tariff announcement?

The President. It doesn't matter. We're the currency of choice. We're always going to be as long as you have somebody smart. And you know what? If a nation said we're not going to be on the dollar, I would tell you that, within about one phone call, they would be back on the dollar. You always have to keep the dollar.

No, the dollar is—I think, when people understand what we're doing, I think the dollar will go way up. I'm not talking about the—I'm talking about—you're talking about the value of the dollar, which is what I'm talking about too. I think the dollar is tremendous. It's going to be stronger than ever.

Bond Market

Q. How are you feeling about the bond market right now, sir? The 10-year——

The President. I think good.

Q. ——has risen [inaudible].

The President. Look, the bond market is going good. It had a little moment, but I solved that problem very quickly. I'm very good at that stuff. You know, I solved it very quickly.

Q. You said——

The President. I didn't know I solved it that well.

Q. How concerned——

The President. We had the biggest day in history.

National Economy

Q. How concerned were you about the bond market? To what extent did that play a role——

The President. I'm not—it wasn't—you know, a lot of people say was that—no, it wasn't.

China-U.S. Trade

Q. What was it?

The President. I want to put the country in an unbelievable economic position, which is where we should be. And it should have been done many years ago by other Presidents, and they didn't do it. They didn't have the courage to do it. And to me, it's not a question of courage. I think we had no choice.

But I think it's very obvious what's going to happen. We're very strong. We're making billions of dollars a day. We were losing billions of dollars a day. This is in a period of 2 weeks. We're making billions of dollars a day. China now is losing billions of dollars. I don't want them to lose money, but they're losing billions, and we're making billions. I flipped it.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Iran/President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Sir, on Iran, we know that your ultimate goal is to not allow them to have a nuclear weapon. What are your short-term goals for talks this weekend?

The President. Only that. I want them not to have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country, but they can't have a nuclear weapon. And we're negotiating with them on Saturday. We have a big meeting with them.

Q. What do you hope to come from that?

The President. Right now we have a meeting with President Putin as we speak. There's a meeting going on right now.

But, with Iran, I want them to flourish, but they can't have a nuclear weapon.

Thank you, everybody.