Remarks Prior to a Dinner for Technology Business Leaders and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Well, thank you very much, everybody.

It's an honor to be here with this group of people. They're leading a revolution in business and in genius and in every other word, I think, you could imagine. There's never been anything like it. The most brilliant people are gathered around this table. This is definitely a high-IQ group. And I'm very proud of them.

I know all of them indirectly, and I know some of them very well. But I know everybody at the table indirectly through reading about you and studying—knowing a lot about your business, actually. We're making it very easy for you in terms of electric capacity and getting it for you, getting your permits.

We're leading China by a lot—by a really—by a great amount. And I just wanted to—the press was going a little bit crazy because they saw this group together, so I thought we would let you have a little access—a little quick access.

And I thought if you would like to say—if anybody would like to say a few words or maybe describe some of the great things that you're doing with your company.

I know, Mark, you're building some buildings that are as large as Manhattan. That was——

Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark E. Zuckerberg. It's a fraction.

The President. ——pretty good, right? It's pretty good.

So I thought you'd say a few words, and we can take a couple of questions later, maybe.

Mark, would you like to say a few words about the company?

Mr. Zuckerberg. Sure. Well, I mean—I mean, it's—sorry, should I turn this on?

The President. Yes.

Mr. Zuckerberg. All right. [Laughter] Well, thanks for hosting us, and this is quite a group to get together. And——

The President. It is.

Mr. Zuckerberg. ——you know, I think, you know, all of the companies here are building—just making huge investments in the country in order to build out data centers and infrastructure to power the next wave of innovation. So it's—you know, we don't often get together as an—as the CEOs of the different companies, but it's—it's good to see everyone.

The President. How much are you spending, would you say, over the next few years?

Mr. Zuckerberg. Oh, gosh. I mean, I think it's probably going to be something like—I don't know—at least $600 billion through '28 in the U.S. Yes.

The President. That's a lot.

Mr. Zuckerberg. No, it's significant. [Laughter]

The President. That's a lot.

Thank you, Mark. It's great to have you.

Mr. Zuckerberg. Thank you.

The President. Great to have you.

David, you know you've done a wonderful job in working with the White House. A great expert. Would you like to say a few words?

Chairman of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology David O. Sacks. Thank you, Mr. President. It's a great honor to work here at the White House and to work for you. You really care about this industry and all Americans, and I think you've done a tremendous amount already to unleash our innovators and also help build out the infrastructure of the country.

And it's doing a lot, not just for tech companies but for ordinary working Americans: the construction industry, the trades, electricians, carpenters. There's a boom happening right now in AI because of what President Trump has done in terms of stimulating investment. It's going to benefit all Americans.

So it's really a thrill to be part of, and this is a really incredible group that you've assembled here. And it's really—it's—like I said, it's just a great honor to have a foot in each one of these worlds and being a part of it. So thank you.

The President. Well, thank you very much.

And, Sergey, you were saying a lot in the Oval Office. I figured you're somebody that likes to speak with his really wonderful MAGA girlfriend. [Laughter]

So would you like to say a few words, please?

Google Cofounder Sergey Brin. Well, babe, did you want to say something? [Laughter]

Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto. I—truly, every time I'm here or in your presence, I'm so grateful. So thank you. It's like——

The President. Thank you.

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. ——I can't believe it every time—like the Inauguration here. I think you're doing amazing work.

The President. Thank you very much.

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. We actually were just with Leonardo——

Mr. Brin. Leopold.

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. Leopold. Leopold.

Mr. Brin. We——

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. He's was——

Mr. Brin. Should I mention? Yes.

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. Sorry. I wanted to mention——

Mr. Brin. He's in Venezuela.

The President. Right. Right.

Mr. Brin. And you've—you're applying a lot of pressure——

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. One of the leaders of the opposition.

Mr. Brin. ——to Maduro, and I think that's phenomenal——

Ms. Gilbert-Soto. Amazing.

Mr. Brin. ——for an American President actually be applying pressure there in Venezuela and then, hopefully, in Cuba and so forth. So there's a lot of civil rights work that you're leading we didn't get a chance to mention.

I also just wanted to mention——

The President. Good.

Mr. Brin. We don't have to get into all the details talked about in the Oval Office, but I think it's a real incredible inflection point right now in AI, and the fact that your administration is supporting our companies——

The President. Right.

Mr. Brin. ——instead of fighting with them, it's hugely important. Obviously, it's a global race, and I think we're at the cusp where these AI models are about to become profoundly useful, kind of, beyond the "Okay, wow, it's cool it can do that," but actually, day-to-day incredible utility, incredible productivity.

So very grateful for your administration's support.

The President. Well, you had a very good day yesterday. Google had a very good day yesterday. And do you want to talk about that big day you had yesterday?

Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai. Well, I'm glad it's over. And—[laughter]—it's a——

The President. Don't forget, Biden was the one that prosecuted that lawsuit.

Mr. Pichai. Yes.

The President. You know that, right?

Mr. Pichai. Yes. Look, it's a long process. I appreciate that, you know, your administration had a constructive dialogue, and we were able to get it to some—somewhat a resolution.

The President. Right.

Mr. Pichai. I would echo what Sergey said. I think it's—the AI moment is one of the most transformative moments any of us have ever seen or will see in our lifetimes. So making sure the U.S. is at the forefront—and I think your administration is investing a lot. Already, the AI Action Plan under your leadership, I think, is a great start. And we look forward to working together, and thanks for your leadership.

The President. Great job you're doing.

Mr. Pichai. Thank you.

The President. Incredible, really, job.

Lisa, how about you?

AMD President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair Lisa Su. Well, Mr. President, it's such an honor to be here.

And the incredible work that your administration has done to support the semiconductor industry—you know, we're building the brains behind all of the wonderful AI that's being built here. And I think the amount of acceleration that we've seen just in the few short months——

The President. Yes.

Ms. Su. ——that the administration has been in place is really—we're so grateful for that support.

And we had a wonderful event this afternoon with the First Lady's support——

The President. That's right.

Ms. Su. ——of the AI education plan. So I think the main message is, we are all in to make sure that America wins the AI race. And it's an honor to be here.

The President. Thank you very much. Great job you're doing too. Amazing job. What you've done in a short period of time, really amazing.

And I see somebody down there, Bill, from Microsoft, that has done a pretty good job too. [Laughter] I'll tell you what, I had that stock. It was 28, and now it's about 500-and-something. I don't know. It's—what a job you've done.

Would you say a few words about your company?

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Satya Nadella. Absolutely, Mr. President. Thank you so much, obviously, for bringing us all together and the policies that you have put in place for the United States to lead. And one of the things that I think has made this industry unique is not only the innovation, but it's the market access that you have obviously championed for us all over the world and also the trust the world has on American technology.

I think that everything that you're doing in terms of setting in place the platform where the rest of the world can not only use our technology, but trust our technology more than any other alternative is perhaps the most important issue, and you and your policies are really helping a lot. So thank you very much.

And also, I wanted to thank Madam First Lady for hosting what I think is perhaps the most defining issue, which is about skilling and opportunity—economic opportunity that comes——

The President. That's right.

Mr. Nadella. ——with AI. And so I deeply appreciate you—your leadership there as well. Thank you.

The First Lady. Thank you.

The President. Thank you. Really—and a really amazing job you've done.

Mr. Nadella. Thank you.

The President. Bill, would you like to say a few words?

Microsoft Cofounder and Gates Foundation Chair William H. Gates III. Sure. Well, I'm in the second phase of my career, giving away all the wonderful money that Satya's good work has helped multiply a lot. But I think the thing that ties my first career—that I still spend some time on, because AI is so phenomenal—and my second career is innovation—you know, innovating in health, in areas like vaccines or gene editing. And the President and I are talking about taking American innovation to the next level to cure and even eradicate some of these diseases.

He mentioned polio, which is one that we're close. We don't need new science on that one. For some, like HIV and sickle cell, we do need new science. But the U.S. has the seeds that—in the same way that Warp Speed took those seeds and put them together, I think something fantastic can be done.

You know, AI, for our foundation, is that we want a doctor for everyone in Africa through AI. We want farmers to have incredible advice and, you know, kids to have a chance to learn. So, the work being done by the people at this table is changing the world. It's, you know, coming fast, so it's great.

You know, we all get together and talk about how the U.S. can lead in this key area and apply it even to the poorest outside the U.S., as well as to our great citizens.

So thank you for incredible leadership, including getting this group together.

The President. Thank you, Bill. That was very nice.

Tim Cook, you've done an incredible job with Apple. A little company called Apple.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Timothy D. Cook. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. And very, very few people have been able to do what you've done. Congratulations.

Please.

Mr. Cook. Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me. I want to thank you for including me this evening. It's incredible to be among everyone here, particularly you and the First Lady. I've always enjoyed having dinner and interacting.

I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States and have some key manufacturing, advanced manufacturing here. I think that says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation.

I also want to thank you for helping American companies around the world. This is a very key—a key thing, and I really enjoy working with your administration on those topics as well, because I think they're so important to the country.

I want to thank the First Lady for focusing on education. There's nothing more important than education. It is the great equalizer and always will be. And so thank you so much for including me.

We're all—we are all different in some ways, but we all believe in the power of technology to improve people's lives.

The President. Right.

Mr. Cook. And that is the thing that binds us all together.

The President. And, Tim, how much money will Apple be investing in the United States? Because I know it's a very lot, and it's—you know, for—you were elsewhere, and now you're really coming home in a big way.

How much money will you be investing?

Mr. Cook. Six hundred billion.

The President. Six hundred billion. All right. That's a lot of jobs.

Mr. Cook. We're very proud—we're very proud to do it.

The President. That's great. Thank you very much.

Mr. Cook. Thank you.

The President. Appreciate it.

Mr. Cook. Thank you, sir.

The President. Sam, you're a big leader of a very new industry at a very young age. You're a young guy. Do you want to tell us about your—what you're doing? You told me things before that are absolutely unbelievable. So what are you doing?

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman. First of all, to echo the comments of Tim and others, thank you so much for getting us all together, and thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation president. It's a very refreshing change. We're very excited to see what you're doing to make all of our companies and our entire country so successful.

The investment that's happening here, the ability to get the power in the industry back in the United States, I think, has set us up for, you know, a long period of great success leading the world. And I don't think that would be happening now without your leadership.

We're very grateful to be able to build our company here, to build data centers here, to build the entire AI industry and lead the world in the United States. Echoing many other people's comments, I think this will transform the world in a profound way. And I think it really will be to the United States advantage to be able to lead the world this way.

The event that the First Lady hosted today about education was really wonderful. And watching what AI is doing, even today, for education and so many other industries is really great. So thank you so much for enabling this.

We will invest a ton in the United States, and we will do our best to make sure that we continue to lead here.

The President. That's great. Thank you. Hundreds of billions of dollars, and it's going to be well worth it. And you have an unlimited market, right?

Mr. Altman. It seems like it.

The President. Come to think of it, how much is Google investing?

Mr. Pichai. You know, we are—[inaudible]. In the next 2 years, it's $250 billion in the U.S.

The President. That's great. That's great. Great. We're proud of you. Very good. Thank you. A lot of jobs.

Mr. Pichai. Thank you for your support—[inaudible].

The President. Yes. Good.

What about Microsoft? That's a big number.

Mr. Nadella. Yes. I would say, each year, we are close to, in the United States, around $75 to $80 billion.

The President. Good. Very good. Thank you very much.

Mr. Nadella. Absolutely.

The President. Would anybody like to say anything there? You have a lot of geniuses on my right—some young, some not so young. [Laughter] Mostly young, come to think of it.

Yes, please.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman. I just wanted to echo everyone's comments. I think we've been just very impressed with how this administration has really embraced AI. And I think that, in addition to the infrastructure—the most massive infrastructure built in history—I mean, we're talking 10X the size of the Apollo program—I think also, to me, the most important thing is what AI will do for all of us. And I think that there's been a choice of whether to approach it with optimism, and I think that that's what I've really seen from this administration.

So I just wanted to say thank you for that.

The President. Great job you're doing. Incredible job you're doing. I know every inch that you're building, and I can't believe it. They're big. Th biggest buildings ever. You know, we talked about 100-story buildings. These buildings blow them away, right?

So I just want to—they're more lateral than they are up and down, but they blow everything away. [Laughter] So congratulations.

Would anybody like to say anything, please? Satya?

Mr. Nadella. Mr. President.

The President. Would you like to go, Safra? Safra.

Oracle Chief Executive Officer Safra Catz. This is a most incredible time. AI is going to change everything. You hear all of us saying that, but the fact that you are our President and you recognize this right away and you've unleashed American innovation and creativity—all the work you're doing in basically every Cabinet post, in addition to what's coming out of the White House, is making it possible for America to win.

Today's event that was spearheaded by our wonderful First Lady, focusing on education, is the center of where we need to go, because it is all of these young people who can't be afraid of new technologies. They literally have to embrace it and make America even stronger. And that focus was very, very critical.

And I think this is the most exciting time in America ever—ever, at least, that I remember. So thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing.

The President. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Say hello to everybody—Larry and everybody else. It's a—an amazing company that you're involved with and running.

I just want to thank everybody for being here. I want to thank the media. They've been very nice lately. Although, I'm still here, so we have to—[laughter]. They made a couple of bad predictions. That was not good. I've never had that feeling before.

I went to an event, and people are coming up to me and saying, "You're still here." I said, "What do they mean by that? I didn't hear about this news." [Laughter]

But anyway. But I do. The press has been great in terms of this industry, and they understand the importance of it.

This is taking our country to a new level. We're leading the world. We're leading China, but we're leading the world by a lot, and we're leading it because of the people around the table. And all I can do is implement and make it a lot easier for you, and I'll be doing that, a hundred percent. So I just want to thank you all.

Yes, did you have a question? Go ahead.

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

Go ahead, please.

Bureau of Labor Statistics/Job Creation and Growth

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Tomorrow we have a jobs report coming out, the first since the BLS Commissioner, who you fired, won't be there. A lot of people will be turning to you to see if you believe the data that's released. Can you commit to saying the data will be credible?

The President. Well, we're going to have to see what the—the number. I don't know. They come out tomorrow. But the real numbers that I'm talking about are going to be whatever it is, but will be in a year from now, when these monstrous, huge, beautiful places—they're palaces of genius—and when they start opening up. You're seeing—I think you'll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible.

Right now it's a lot of construction numbers, but you're going to see job numbers like our country has never seen before.

Thank you very much.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I have two questions for you. First, with—after your phone call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy today, do you plan to speak with Russia's President Putin in the near future?

The President. What did—what?

The First Lady. If you will speak with President Putin in near future.

The President. I will be. Yes, I will be. We're having a very good dialogue.

I settled seven wars. The one that I thought would be maybe one of the easiest—you know that feeling? You think one thing is going to be easy, it turns out to be a little bit tougher. But the one that I thought would be an easier one—because of my relationship with President Putin and with Ukraine and everything else, I thought it would be the Russia-Ukraine disaster, where, this week, 7,014 people were killed—soldiers. In most cases, soldiers. A few from Kyiv. Relatively few. But mostly soldiers. And they're being killed at levels that we haven't seen since World War II.

And they're not American. They're not from any of the countries that some of you are from. But they're people. They're souls. And we'll get it done.

But that's turned out to be the most difficult of the group. You know, I settled three wars. One was 31 years going, and a lot of people killed—10 million people. Another was 34, and another was 37 years it was going on. And people said, "You can't settle them," and I settled them. This one turned out to be more difficult, but we'll get it—we're going to get it settled.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Q. Mr. President, Senator Bill Cassidy said, effectively, we're denying people vaccines. Do you have full confidence in what RFK, Jr., is doing?

The President. Well, I didn't get to watch the hearings today, but he's a very good person. He's—and he means very well, and he's got some little different ideas. I guarantee a lot of the people at this table like RFK, Jr., and I do, but he's got a different take, and we want to listen to all of those takes.

But I heard he did very well today. But it's not your standard—it's not your standard talk, I would say. That—and that has to do with medical and vaccines.

But if you look at what's going on in the world with health and look at this country also with regard to health, I like the fact that he's different. Okay?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tariffs/Semiconductor Manufacturing

Q. Can you give us your latest thinking on semiconductor tariffs, sir, which you're considering imposing? And have you discussed that with any of the leaders gathered here today?

The President. Yes, I have. I've discussed it with the people here—chips and semiconductors. And we'll be putting tariffs on companies that aren't coming in. We'll be putting a tariff very shortly. You probably are hearing we'll be putting a fairly substantial tariff on—not that high, but fairly substantial tariff—with the understanding that if they come into the country—if they're coming in, building, planning to come in, there will not be a tariff.

Q. So that's like—just like the ones outlined?

The President. If they're not coming in, there's a tariff. Fairly substantial tariff.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. So the—some of the companies around the table right now might not face it?

The President. Well, I don't know. If they're building here—and for the most part, I think they're building here. That's probably why they're here, for the—but, like, I would say Tim Cook would be in pretty good shape.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

No, no. Please. In the back.

New York City Mayoral Race

Q. Mr. President, are you urging or encouraging any candidates in the New York City mayor's race to drop out to clear the field?

The President. No, I don't like to see a Communist become mayor. I will tell you that. And I don't think you can win unless you have one on one, because somehow he's gotten a little bit of a lead. I would not—I have no idea how that happened. But I'd prefer not to have a communist mayor of New York City. And you know, that's what he is, based on his policy, if you look at his statements in the past.

So I would like to see two people drop out and have it be one on one, and I think that's a race that could be won, yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

United Kingdom/Freedom of Speech

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, you'll be heading to the U.K. in a few weeks. Yesterday, Nigel Farage was on Capitol Hill. He——

The President. Right.

Q. —–was talking a lot about pushing back on censorship online. He was asking politicians like yourself——

The President. Yes.

Q. —–some of the people in this room to really push back on that. How concerning is that to you? And, Mr. Zuckerberg, if I don't mind—if you don't mind answering, how concerning is that to you, the lack of freedom of speech online in the U.K.?

The President. You didn't think you'd get that question, did you? [Laughter]

Mr. Zuckerberg. No.

The President. He's—he's looking—–

Mr. Zuckerberg. Well, I didn't think I was coming for a press conference.

The President. He's looking at me saying, "How the hell"—[laughter]—he's saying, "How did I get that question?" [Laughter] If you'd like to answer it. Free speech.

Mr. Zuckerberg. Sorry. I actually wasn't paying attention, but what was—[laughter].

Q. There seems to be a crackdown—the British Government seems to be cracking down on social media posts—people being arrested for tweets, social posts. Just wondering how concerning that is to you, Mr. President and Mr. Zuckerberg.

The President. Yes. This is the beginning of your political career. [Laughter]

Mr. Zuckerberg. No, it's not. [Laughter] No.

The President. I will just say that, in terms of U.K., strange things are happening over there. They are cracking down and surprisingly so. And I've spoken to the Prime Minister, and let's see what happens. But it is a different—a little bit different situation. I'm very surprised to see what's happening in—are you talking about the U.K., in particular, right?

Q. Correct.

The President. Yes. I'm very surprised to see what's happening. Sad.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

It's sad. It's—and it's not a good thing.

Yes, please.

Artificial Intelligence Competition

Q. Mr. President, thank you. America is first in artificial intelligence, but what are your concern in the alliance of "Axis of Evil"—China, Russia, and North Korea—towards artificial intelligence, but also as military, sir?

The President. Well, I have no concerns. We have the most brilliant people at this table, and nobody's close. And I spoke to world leaders, and they admit—and they admit privately, but they admit—the biggest, they admit we have the smartest people. We have the greatest technology. They can copy, but they can't create like we can create.

We have the smartest people in the world right at this table. So thank you for the question.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Thank you.

Florida/Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. What's your reaction on Florida changing its vaccine mandate yesterday? Do you support that?

Q. Did you hear the Epstein victims on the Hill yesterday?

The President. I'll comment on that later. Thank you very much.