Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland

The President's Travel to Des Moines, Iowa

Q. How're you feeling, Mr. President?

The President. Thank you very much. How are you?

Q. Doing very well. Congratulations.

The President. Thank you very much.

So we have a very big trip planned to Iowa. Some of you are going with us, and perhaps a lot of you are going with us.

How are you?

And we have a very big crowd, so it's going to be a lot of fun. And we're sort of celebrating, like, the biggest bill of its kind ever signed, and it's going to make this country into a rocket ship. It's going to be really great.

The President's Legislative Agenda

Q. Mr. President, you met with a lot of House Republicans yesterday. What got them to "yes"?

The President. The—I think when you go over the bill, it was very easy to get them to a yes. You know, we went over that bill and point after point: biggest tax cut in history, great for security, great on the southern border. Immigration is covered. We covered just about everything.

Again, it's the biggest bill ever signed of its kind.

The President's Outreach to Republican Members of Congress

Q. Mr. President, you—some House Republicans that were concerned about the bill said that they had conversations with you where you made promises. What promises did you make? Did you tell Representative Clyde that he could have some action on gun rights? What sort of deals did you make with those holdouts?

The President. Well, I talked to a lot of different Republicans in doing it, and we had a good time in being there. I did not have much of a problem with any of them.

As you know, we had two negative votes, but we had—whatever it was, the final votes.

Q. Did you make any deals to get them to agree to "yes"?

The President. Yes, I think a few of them, I did, but I think they would have gone yes anyway.

Q. What were those deals?

The President. No deals. No deals. What I did is, we talked about how good the bill is. I mean, that's a deal, I guess, when you think about it, but obviously convinced them. But it was not hard.

This is a great bill. This is going to be a great bill for the country.

Representative Brian K. Fitzpatrick

Q. Mr. President, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick was one of two noes to vote no for the "Big Beautiful Bill." Do you want to primary him too?

The President. Well, I was disappointed that he did that. There were two of them that voted no, so I was disappointed that he voted no.

Q. Mr. President——

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. What did your call with Vladimir Putin today accomplish?

The President. We had a call. It was a pretty long call. We talked about a lot of things, including Iran. And we also talked about, as you know, the war with Ukraine, and I'm not happy about that. I'm not happy about that.

[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Did you make any progress with him on a deal with Ukraine? Did you feel like you made any progress with Putin?

The President. No, I didn't make any progress with him today at all.

The President's Legislative Agenda

Q. Mr. President, how much growth can the country expect from the "One Big Beautiful Bill"?

The President. I think we're going to get great growth. I think we'll have growth at record numbers. This is going to be something that's amazing. And everybody was watching it, all over the world. And I want to congratulate the Speaker and Tom Emmer and Steve Scalise and everybody else. I mean, they worked so hard. So hard.

This has really been going on for over a year, if you think about it. I think, to be exact, about 14 months. And this was the culmination. And I guess it ended a lot earlier. A lot of people thought it would end up the following afternoon. Well, it ended up late in the evening. But they—they were great. They were great.

Q. What do you think it says about——

The President. And by the way, on the Senate side, I thought Senator Thune did a fantastic job.

The President's Achievements in Office

Q. What do you think it says about the power you've amassed within your party compared to your first term that you were able to get this over the finish line?

The President. I think I have more power now. I do. You know, I could say, "Oh, gee, I don't know." I think I probably do, because we've had a great record of success.

You know, my first term was very, very successful. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. I think we're going to blow it away this term. But you know, we——

Q. Mr. President——

The President. ——we've proven certain things. And yes, I think probably it's got more gravitas, more power.

Vietnam-U.S. Trade/Tariffs

Q. [Inaudible]—trade deal with Vietnam yesterday. A great deal: 40 percent on transshipping.

The President. Yes.

Q. Can we expect any more of that before next week, sir?

The President. So we have a couple of other deals, but I—you know, my inclination is to send a letter out and saying what tariff they're going to be paying. It's just much easier. We have, you know, far more than 170 countries, and how many deals can you make? And you can make good deals, but they're very much more complicated.

I'd rather—and I've been like this from the beginning. I'd rather send out a letter saying, "This is what you're going to pay to do business in the United States." And I think it will be well received. I think—it's just so many countries. And you know, then they go specific: "Let's do this. Let's do that. Beef. Ethanol." And I'd rather just do a simple deal where you can maintain it and control it. "You're going to pay a 20-percent or a 25- or a 30-percent tariff."

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

And we're going to be sending some letters out starting probably tomorrow—maybe 10 a day—to various countries saying what they're going to pay to do business with the U.S.

Shooting in the District of Columbia

Q. Mr. President, a Republican—an intern of a Republican Congressman was gunned down last night in Washington, DC. Do you think it's time for Congress to take back control of DC?

The President. I think that DC has to become a very safe place, and we're not going to let anything bad happen to DC. That's our beautiful DC, and we're not going to let anything bad—and we'll have something to say about it next week.

Q. On Iran.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. Mr. President, why did you pull back the—why did you pause weapons shipments to Ukraine?

The President. On what?

Q. Why did you pause weapons shipments to Ukraine?

The President. We haven't. We're giving weapons, but we've given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons, and we're working with them and trying to help them. But we haven't.

You know, Biden emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.

Q. Sir, you go—and what message does that send to Putin?

The President. Who are you with?

Q. The New York Times.

The President. Ah, no wonder.

Go ahead.

Q. Mr. President, on Iran.

Independence Day Celebration/The President's Legislative Agenda

Q. Mr. President, there's going to be a lot of symbolism tomorrow when you sign the "One Big Beautiful Bill" on Independence Day at the White House, kicking off the 250 years of American independence. What message should Americans be getting tomorrow when you sign this bill?

The President. Well, I think it's going to be really a message of proudness. You're going to be proud of your country, because our country is doing fantastically well. The economy is great. You saw the stock market today. We're setting records.

And in every aspect of our country, we're doing well, despite the fact that we inherited millions of people that shouldn't have been here. And I think we have crime stats that are coming out that are showing the lowest numbers we've had in many years, and that also despite the fact that a lot of people are here that shouldn't have been let into our country. So they're going to be very proud tomorrow.

So we're signing at about 5 o'clock, and at about 5 o'clock we're going to have B–2s and F–22s and F–35s flying right over the White House. And the Speaker and I and John Thune—we're all there together with most—I think, most Republican Senators and Congress men and women. And it's going to be a great day.

So we'll be signing with those beautiful planes flying right over our heads. All right?

Iran/U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven C. Witkoff

Q. What are—your expectations for the next round of talks with Steve Witkoff and his Iranian counterparts?

The President. Well, we're going to see. Steve is a great guy. He's a great negotiator. Iran does want to speak, and I think they'd like to speak to me, and it's time that they do.

We're not looking to hurt them. We're looking to let them be a country again. They got beat up, and, you know, they were—they were both exhausted, frankly, but Iran really got beat up. And I think they want to meet. I mean, I know they want to meet, and if it's necessary, I'll do it.

But Steve is involved and very much involved, and he's done a fantastic job.

All right. One more.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, on Gaza. Do you still want the U.S. to take over Gaza as a part of a peace plan?

The President. I want the people of Gaza to be safe, more importantly.

Q. So that could include——

The President. I want to see safety for the people of Gaza. They've gone through hell.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Q. Thank you, sir.

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. See you in Iowa.