Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway and an Exchange With Reporters

President Trump. Thank you very much. We have—Jonas Gahr Støre is here, who is the—as you know, the Prime Minister of Norway. He's a great gentleman, highly respected, beloved in his country.

And we've had talks on the war with Ukraine-Russia and trade. We're doing very well, I think, on both. We've had some pretty good movement in every respect. The war is very important that it ends with—I used to say 2,500 people a week dying—young people, mostly soldiers, from Russia and Ukraine. And we want to end that war. We want to end it quickly. And I think we've made a long—a lot of progress, and we'll see what happens.

This next few days is going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now.

Additionally, we talked about trade, and we will definitely—we get along very well on trade. We'll do something. But I think the Prime Minister knows that over the years the United States has been very good to a lot of people, and it's time for us to benefit also.

So we're going to have a good relationship on trade, and we discussed other things also.

But, Mr. Prime Minister, it's an honor to have you at the White House. Thank you very much.

Prime Minister Støre. Well, thank you, Mr. President. This is—this year is 200 years since the first immigration from Norway to the U.S.

We come here early in your term. Appreciate that you take time. We have highlighted that very close cooperation. We are allies. We look after security in the north, in the Arctic. A lot of confidence between our services.

We have discussed in detail the war in Ukraine. I have saluted the President for his initiative to make progress towards something that can be a cease-fire and an end to this terrible conflict. It is a complex picture, but it needs political will and push. And we have exchanged ideas on that, and then I think the President and his team have been open to hear our perspectives.

And on trade, we have also emphasized that we can benefit both of us by trading and we can be complementary and we can find good solutions.

But first of all, I appreciate, Mr. President, the spirit and the tone of this conversation, which has been confirmation of a very strong partnership.

President Trump. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Any questions, please?

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

Q. Mr. President, can I ask you the——

President Trump. Yes.

Norway-U.S. Trade

Q. First, Mr. President, have you spoken about the tariffs that you want to impose on Norway? Is there a chance that you can lower—that you could lower——

President Trump. We spoke about trade.

Q. ——those tariffs?

President Trump. And we understand each other very well. I think we'll have no problem.

Q. You think that you will get an agreement with Norway?

President Trump. I think we'll have no problem whatsoever with Norway.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President's Schedule

Q. Did you discuss a possible visit to Norway? Did you two discuss a possible visit for President Trump to Norway?

President Trump. We didn't, but I would—I love it. I mean, I've been there, and it is a beautiful place. They have——

Prime Minister Støre. And I told the President that, you know, he is receiving us early in the term. He's welcome to visit Norway. We would like to have him, and it will be another way of emphasizing this strong friendship.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, Norway has been a staunch supporter of the Ukraine——

President Trump. Yes.

Q. ——since the Russian invasion in 2022. Has something been discussed here today that have—may have altered your views on things?

President Trump. No, we want to—very simply, I have no allegiance to anybody. I have allegiance to saving lives, and I want to save a lot of lives—a lot of young people's—mostly young people. It's the war. It's the soldiers. And if we can do that—I also—as you know, I got started because the money that's been spent on this war is insane. It should have never happened, and it would have never happened if I were President.

But Biden spent $350 billion on this, and it's a shame. And that's what got me involved. And then, I looked at—and I see the results. It's horrible. It's a killing field. Five thousand soldiers a week, on average, and we want to stop that. We both want to stop that for a lot of reasons, but I would say that is my number one reason.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/Ukraine

Q. Do you think that—do you think that Russia—that—that you will get Russia to accept a deal that also Ukraine and Europe is willing to accept?

President Trump. I think so, yes. I do. I believe they will accept, and I think we're going to get this over with. I hope so. Soon.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Mr. President, you continue to lack——

Q. Mr. President, President Zelenskyy——

President Trump. Go ahead.

Greenland

Q. You continue to lack support from NATO allies in your goal of obtaining Greenland. How will you proceed if you don't get that support?

President Trump. Well, Greenland is going to be interesting, but that's for another day. I think we need that for international peace.

Q. What are you expecting of your allies——

President Trump. And if you don't have that, I think it's a big threat to our—our world. So, I think Greenland is very important for international peace.

Yes, please. Go ahead.

Russia's Recent Airstrikes on Ukraine

Q. Mr. President, this morning in a Truth Social post, you used the words, "Vladimir, STOP!" That seemed like a slightly different message, a personal message. What is your level of frustration with President Putin——

President Trump. I didn't like last night.

Q. ——at this point?

President Trump. I wasn't happy with it. And we're in the midst of talking peace, and missiles were fired. And I was not happy with it. That's what I meant, and that's, you know, what it said.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. If the bombs keep——

President Trump. I assume that's what you mean.

Q. Sorry.

President Trump. Yes. I assume that's what you mean.

Q. If the bombs keep falling, will you consider additional sanctions toward Russia, or what will you do if President Putin does not respond?

President Trump. I'd rather answer that question in a week. I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now. But it—I won't be happy. Let me put it that way.

Q. Mr. President——

President Trump. Things will happen.

Russia/U.S. Diplomatic Efforts

Q. Mr. President, why are you not putting more pressure on Russia? I know a lot of Europeans would like to see that.

President Trump. We're putting a lot of pressure. You don't know what pressure I'm putting on Russia. They're dealing. You have no idea what pressure I'm putting on Russia. We're putting a lot of pressure.

Q. Can you maybe tell us what kind of pressure are you putting on Russia?

President Trump. We're putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that, and some people that are close to it know, or he wouldn't be talking right now. The Prime Minister understands that better than anybody. He wouldn't be talking right now. He's talking, and we're putting a lot of pressure. I think he wants to make a deal. We're going to find out very soon. But it takes two to tango, and you have to have Ukraine want to make a deal too. And they're being hit very hard, and I do believe they want to make a deal.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Ukraine

Q. You have said that it's—that the Ukraine have to give some territory to win peace—among them, Crimea. Do you stand by that? And I know that the NATO—former NATO General Secretary today has told you that he does not agree and he believes the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. How will you deal with that with your allies?

President Trump. Well, the former——

Q. And do you stand by that Ukraine have to give Crimea to win peace?

President Trump. The former Secretary General happens to be right here, you know? So they can't put words in his mouth. He's a—he's been a great general, frankly. He was—because that's what you are. Really, you're a general. But he's been a great Secretary General. We had a tremendous relationship. Very successful. And I think he could speak for himself. He's right here.

Q. But do you still agree that Ukraine have to give some territory away to win peace?

President Trump. Well, it depends what territory. They've been fighting. They've lost a lot of territory. And we'll get—we'll do the best we can, working with Ukraine. But we'll do the best we can. But he—they lost a lot of territory.

Crimea—when you say Crimea, that was handed over during a president named Barack Hussein Obama. That was—had nothing to do with me, Crimea. That was 11 years ago with Obama, and they made a decision. There wasn't a bullet fired. There was no fighting. There was no anything. They just handed it over.

Now they say, "Well, can you get it back?" I think that's going to be a very difficult thing to do.

That was given by Barack Obama when he was President, not by Donald Trump.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ukraine/Russia

Q. This proposal that you put on the table, it's a 30-day cease-fire proposal. Your national security team presented it to both Ukraine and Russia. Two months ago, Ukraine agreed to that cease-fire proposal immediately; Russia has not. And my question is: Is Russia the obstacle to peace, based upon that? Just getting to that 30-day cease-fire.

President Trump. I don't think so. I think that they both want peace right now. They're ready to do something. We'll see what happens. Complicated. Very complicated. But I think they are both very much looking to make a deal.

Marco, what would you say?

Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio. Well, first of all, the—what was put before our partners was options to discuss about things that it would take to end a war. This war is endable. Both sides just have to agree to it. We've shown them a pathway forward. We've discussed those ideas. It was a good meeting yesterday. There will be good meetings over the weekend. We've shown them the finish line. We need both of them to say yes.

But what happened last night with those missile strikes should remind everybody of why this war needs to end. It's horrible those missiles landed. What's even worse is there are, today, people that were alive yesterday that are not alive today because this war continues. And the President wants to stop it.

And everyone should be thanking the President for being a peacemaker and trying to save lives. That's what we're trying to do here.

It's not our war. We didn't start it, as you know, but we're trying to end the dying. We're trying to end the destruction. And we've shown the path forward. We can see the finish line, but both of them have to get there. And we're going to do everything we can to help them get there, but they have to ultimately say yes. Both of them do.

President Trump. And we are using a lot of pressure on both. You know, if you think we're just in there because we're nice people—and we are nice people, but we're using a lot of pressure on both.

Q. You've had a long meeting today——

Russia/U.S. Diplomatic Efforts

Q. What concessions, Mr. President—and to your national security team—what concessions has Russia offered up thus far to get to the point where you're closer to peace?

President Trump. Stopping the war. Stopping taking the whole country. Pretty big concession.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Norway-U.S. Relations

Q. Mr. President, now, if you are going to take down tariffs, what do you want Norway to buy more of from the U.S.?

President Trump. To buy more? Well, you don't need snow. [Laughter] You don't need skis. You don't need ski champions either, right? You have a lot of them.

We just want to keep the relationship the way it is. We have—we've had a great relationship. I think now maybe closer than ever. But we've had a great relationship with Norway. I think just keep it the way it is. Can't—you can't do better.

Q. Really? Not even by, say, fighter jets or——

President Trump. Well, if they want to give us some additional concessions, that's okay. [Laughter] You can't do much better.

Yes. Yes.

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Mr. President, you've had a long meeting with Norway today. You said that Norway is doing a lot of things right. But on the Ukraine, if I can ask both you and the Prime Minister, did you find common ground today on Ukraine and the peace plan?

President Trump. Totally. It's totally common ground. The prime minister can speak about it, but I can just say he wants to see people stop dying more than anything else, and he'd like to see it end. He's going to help us end it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Prime Minister Støre. Can I say that to move towards an end of this war, U.S. engagement is critical, and President Trump made that possible. That is clear. That is obvious. It's really happening.

Now the important thing is that both parties have to know that they have to deliver and they have to feel the pressure to deliver.

Ukraine is under attack. They are defending themselves. Lives are being lost. And we believe very firmly that there needs to be a cease-fire.

The initiative taken by the U.S. some time ago needs to be respected, and then to move on to something which both parties can own. That is the complicated part—part in such a dramatic war.

And here, I believe, Europeans and Americans are working together, as we do, much closer now. And I salute the team of President Trump of being, you know, open in that process.

We had a good discussion on this today, and then we have to move on. And we cannot lose time, because this is too much drama happening.

One thing is people losing their lives, but it is a bad thing for Europe and it's a bad thing for the world to having such a broad conflict going on. It can have ramifications far beyond Ukraine.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Mr. President, a follow-up question on China.

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Sir—Mr. President, if—I forgot my question. That was a—[laughter]. I wanted to ask about——

Q. I have one.

President Trump. It's all right.

Q. ——about—sorry?

President Trump. It happens to the best of us.

Ukraine/U.S. Security Assistance

Q. It happens sometimes, yes.

No, Mr. President, I wanted to ask about the—well, actually, Zelenskyy has said that he wants more Patriot missiles. So far, there's no—has been no response from the United States. If you and the United States decides to pull out of negotiating for peace, trying to broker peace, does that also mean a no on Patriot missiles, a no on sharing intelligence with Ukraine?

President Trump. Let's see what happens. I think we're going to make a deal. And if we make a deal, that will be wonderful. We won't have to worry about your question. You can ask that question in 2 weeks, and we'll see. But I think we're getting very close. The Prime Minister feels the same way. And we'll, hopefully, not have to answer that question.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Norway-U.S. Relations

Q. Mr. President——

Q. Mr. President, in twenty——

Q. ——Norway is the third country to be officially invited to the White House after Liberation Day. Why did you invite Norway so soon to the White House?

President Trump. Because I like them—[laughter]—and I like your prime minister, and I like the way your Government runs, and I respect the King. He's highly respected in Norway. It's a great thing—not an easy thing to do.

Q. Would you like an invitation——

President Trump. He's done—he's done a great job, yes.

Q. Would you like an invitation to visit the King?

President Trump. Absolutely. You get me that invitation, okay?

Prime Minister Støre. I just told the President he's welcome to visit Norway. [Laughter]

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. Yes, please.

Q. You said before that you like the Norwegian petroleum fund. And I'm wondering, is that—if that has been up for discussion today, the way that we have structured our money and whether——

President Trump. Please.

Prime Minister Støre. Well, this fund was created in the late 1990s to save for future generations the income from our oil and gas. Norwegians should continue to work as hard, dedicated, innovate, and move forward, despite having these incomes, which we happen to be in the period of our history where we can harvest, and we have transferred that into investments—half of them, by the way, here in the United States.

President Trump. Mm-hmm.

Prime Minister Støre. So, I think this is a model which we have been able to explore, if we can share experiences, and we do with our colleagues in the U.S. You never copy this one to one, but there can be techniques and way of working that we have used in organizing our fund.

Jens Stoltenberg was the Finance Minister when the first dollar entered that fund, so he is a safe hand to have as a Finance Minister today. What do you say?

Minister of Finance Jens Stoltenberg. No—and as you said, Mr. Prime Minister, we are ready to sit down with the U.S. to also work with them if they want to establish a sovereign wealth fund, because we have a good experience with our fund.

And I think that one example of how we work together with United States is that half of the fund—close to 1 trillion U.S. dollars—are invested in the United States, mainly in equity, but also some in fixed income, including Government bonds.

So this is an expression of trust in the United States, expressed by the strong investment of the sovereign wealth fund.

Then just briefly, on Ukraine, since it was mentioned, we had a very good and extensive discussion about Ukraine, the path forward to peace. And as the Prime Minister said, we commend U.S. for pushing forward to try to find a negotiated solution.

At the same time, we need to continue to support Ukraine, and, therefore, I'm proud that—that Norway has actually tripled their military support to Ukraine, and this year we—we will allocate close to 8 billion U.S. dollars to Ukraine. That will strengthen them and also their hand on the negotiating table.

Prime Minister Støre. If I may add to that, you know, if there is a peace, and there will be a peace, we have a common responsibility in securing democratic Ukraine for the future. And the best security guarantee they can have is the ability to defend themselves, and we are investing in that.

Q. Mr. Prime Minister, if I may.

Tariffs

Q. Mr. President—as it relates to tariffs, Mr. President, when you unveiled your reciprocal tariffs on April the 2d, the tariff rate for Norway was 15 percent. Based upon your conversations that you've had today with the Prime Minister, do you see that tariff rate coming down from what you proposed just a few weeks ago?

President Trump. Well, they have a great fund of $2 trillion. It's a big fund. And they don't have any debt. So I think they'd probably be willing to pay us more than that. I hope.

Q. Are your two nations in agreement—[inaudible]——

Ukraine/Russia

Q. Mr. President. Mr. President. Mr. President——

President Trump. Yes.

Q. ——in 2018, your former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, called for an end to Russian occupation of Crimea. Why does this administration—why has this administration changed its stance on territorial concessions for Crimea?

President Trump. Well, the war started. It would have never started if I were President. This is a war that is a horrible—a horrible—this—all wars are horrible. This one is, in particular, bad. And I don't know that you can ever say there's going to be a winner to this, because so many lives have been lost. Not only soldiers. A lot of lives have been lost.

I think that we want to do one very simple thing. It would have never happened if I were president. Zero chance it was going to—and it didn't. You know, people say, "How do you know that?" Number one, it didn't happen. We never even discussed it.

I would talk to Putin about it. It was the apple of his eye. You know, Ukraine was the apple of Putin's eye. But we never—there was never even a thought that he'd go in. And I think he understood that I would not be happy if he did.

And it was only when I got out—and, you know, when you mention what happened to Ukraine years ago under President Obama and a Vice President that was also President later, unfortunately for this country, what happened is large chunks of land were given up, and it was called Crimea. And that was a big, big thing. That was a big moment.

But this isn't my war. This is Biden's war. This is a war that—Biden was president when this war happened, but I'm trying to put out the fire. And I think we'll be successful. And if we do, we're going to save a lot of lives. Otherwise—and the Prime Minister had a statement. He said, "This is just a point in time." We're very lucky, because this is a point. And if this doesn't happen, this could go on for a long time.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Do you worry—do you worry that Vladimir Putin might take advantage of a future Democrat President?

President Trump. I don't think he will. I think he wants to make peace. I think he wants to end it, and I feel pretty confident of that. But we're going to—we're going to know pretty soon.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President's Travel to Rome, Italy

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, will you have meetings—will you have meetings with other world leaders when you're in Rome——

President Trump. Yes, I will.

Q. ——this weekend?

Which leaders do you want to meet, sir?

President Trump. Well, I'd like to meet them all. That would be nice. I'd like to take care of all of them, but we have many of them there, and they all want to meet. They want to meet about trade. And we are making some great inroads and great deals.

You might want to speak about that, Mr. Secretary.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent. We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of South Korea today. We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week, as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week. So South Koreans came early. They came with their A game. And we will see if they follow through on that.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Mr. President, you are rounding out your first hundred days——

The President's Diplomatic Efforts/Middle East Peace Efforts/Iran

Q. Do you think you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize if you manage to create peace?

President Trump. Do I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

Q. If you manage to create peace in Ukraine.

President Trump. Well, maybe for the Abraham Accords. I don't want to get ahead of myself on this one, but they say for the Abraham Accords.

And by the way, speaking of that, we're going to be filling it up. A lot of countries want to come into the Abraham Accords. You know, we have four. And Biden did nothing on that one too. It's the same four.

But they're great countries, and they were brave doing it, and it's worked out very well. And we're going to be filling up the Abraham Accords. They're going to be, I think, filling it up, Marco, very rapidly.

Marco, could you——

Q. Mr. President——

President Trump. Could you say something about that?

Secretary Rubio. There's great, enormous opportunity to grow the Abraham Accords.

But I would just point to one thing: Of all the leaders in the world today, no leader is working harder to prevent wars or end them than President Trump is right now. We're trying—that's why we're talking to Iran. That's why we're engaged with Ukraine and Russia. It's the desire to prevent these wars from breaking out and to end the ones that exist already.

And again, I just think it's tremendous for our country to be led by a President who desires to bring peace and establish peace and protect peace. So it's hard work.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. You know, Marco just mentioned something that maybe we should talk about for just a second, if we could, Mr. Prime Minister, and you're involved in it too, because you involved in the world and peace. But I think we're doing very well with respect to Iran, and we're having very serious meetings.

And there are only two options, and the one option is not a good option. It's not a—not a good option at all.

And I think we're doing very well on an agreement with Iran, but that one—we're doing a lot of things, I will say, but that one is well on its way. We could have a very, very good decision, and a lot of lives will be saved.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. On the economy, there was a slowdown——

President Trump. Yes, please.

National Economy/Oil Prices/Inflation/Interest Rates/Trade Negotiations

Q. Mr. President, on the economy, there was a slowdown, as it relates to home sales, in the month of March, the slowest pace since 2009. Is that an economic indicator—and perhaps the Treasury Secretary can weigh in on this as well. Is that an economic indicator that concerns you about the broader U.S. economy?

President Trump. Well, we had very good numbers on housing today—extremely good numbers, and that's despite interest rates. Because, you know, if you look at what happened, everyone said, "Oh"—I said I was going to get prices down. I did. Energy just hit $1.98 in a couple of States. It's way down. Energy is down, and we're about $64 a barrel. When I came in and we were looking at $89, $90, $95.

And by the way, that helps us solve the war too. Having those energy prices is a big incentive for Russia to also agree with solving the war problem.

Groceries are down. When I was with you 2 months ago, you were talking—you were complaining about eggs. I said, "I just got here. I've been here for"—I was here for about a week when the—when the press started saying about, "Eggs have gone through the roof." I said, "I just got here. Tell me about eggs." And they have been. They were—they went through the roof, and you couldn't get them.

So we just had a big Easter egg hunt at the White House—thousands and thousands of eggs—and the price was down 87 percent, so we did a great job.

Housing is doing very well. We should lower interest rates. That's the Fed. I hope they lower interest rates. That's a smart thing to do. Be ahead a little bit. Although, already, it's a little bit late.

But in the end, we just have a great country. We have a very strong country. And we have every other country—I can't think of one country that doesn't want to negotiate a deal, and they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair. Because we don't have to go through all of these—it would be physically impossible.

You know, you have so many people that really understand it, which is a very small group of people here, and we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals. Some will be tariffed. Some treated as very unfairly. They'll be tariffed higher than others.

But we've been ripped off for many, many years. The United States has been ripped off like no country probably in the history of the world has been ripped off for 45, 50 years. And countries have gotten rich by doing that with the United States. We've taken care of their militaries, and military is another subject we talk about.

We're not going to make that subject to any of the deals, but, you know, you know the same countries that I do, where we virtually take care of their military and then we don't get treated fairly on trade.

So the people—and I don't blame those countries. I blame the people that sat at that beautiful desk right behind you, because those people didn't do the job for this country, and they let us lose $4 billion a day on trade. We were losing $4- or $5 billion a day on trade when I got here, and now we're going to be much better than breaking even, and we're going to be making $4- or $5 billion a day on trade.

So—but the—I don't blame any country—not—not the worst of them. And we were abused by countries. I blame the President of the United States that happened to be sitting when these deals were made. Disgraceful.

When I was here, we had a great four years. We had the most successful economy in the history of our country, my first term, and we were very tough on trade.

And, with China, as you know, they paid hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, but nobody else ever did that. China paid not 10 cents to any other president, and they—but not only China, virtually every country got away with murder, and we just can't let that happen. Okay?

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you.