Remarks With Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom Announcing a United States Trade Agreement With the United Kingdom and an Exchange With Reporters

President Trump. You all set to go?

[Prime Minister Starmer joined the remarks via teleconference.]

Prime Minister Starmer. Ready when you are.

President Trump. Okay. We're ready. We have the Prime Minister on the phone, and we have a nice hookup. This looks like the kind of a hookup that's not going to be causing any problems. And your voice comes through beautifully, Keir.

So I just want to——

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, that's good.

President Trump. Yes, it is. You sound great.

I just want to begin by saying this is a very special day because it's Victory Day—World War II, May 8. And just by happenstance, we have the Prime Minister on the phone, and we were great allies in that. And it's very unusual that the trade deal comes due, and we signed it up on the same day that we had a great victory, the greatest victory of them all.

So we are talking more and more about Victory Day, because we were a big part of it. And so was the U.K. And it's just, I guess—I don't know what you call it. It's just incredible that that day is the same day that we signed a tremendous trade deal for both countries.

So I'm going to begin by just adding that we just concluded the rare earth deal with Ukraine. That's been fully ratified and approved by their legislative branches. And so we appreciate that, and I'll be speaking with the President in a little while, a little bit later. And we appreciate that. But the deal is all, now, signed up and ratified. And we have access to a massive amount of very, very high-quality rare earth.

This morning I'm thrilled to announce that we have reached a breakthrough trade deal with the United Kingdom. Incredible country. Today is a Victory Day for World War II. We won that war together exactly 80 years ago, so there could be no more perfect morning to reach this historic agreement—and it's beautiful weather out—I will tell you that, Keir. Beautiful weather. It's so perfect outside. But it's really, in particular, the agreement with one of our closest and most cherished allies. And that's the way it worked out.

I want to thank Prime Minister Starmer and his very talented team for their outstanding work and partnership. Today's agreement with the U.K. is the first in a series of agreements on trade that my administration has been negotiating over the past 4 weeks. With this deal, the U.K. joins the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of international trade.

The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol, and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers. And our Secretary, as you know, of Agriculture is here. Brooke, thank you very much——

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. Thank you.

President Trump. ——being here.

Secretary Rollins. It's a good day. Thank you, sir.

President Trump. You'll let the farmers know.

Secretary Rollins. Yes, sir.

President Trump. In addition, the U.K. will reduce or eliminate numerous nontariff barriers that unfairly discriminated against American products. But this is now turning out, I think, really to be a great deal for both countries, because it will be really great for the U.K. also.

So they're opening up the country. Their country was a little closed, and we appreciate that.

They'll also be fast-tracking American goods through their customs process so our exports go to a very, very quick form of approval, and there won't be any redtape. Things are going to move very quickly both ways.

The final details are being written up in the coming weeks. We'll have it all very conclusive, but the actual deal is a very conclusive one. We think just about everything has been approved.

It's so good for both countries. And we'll also receive new market access for American chemicals, machinery, and many other industrial products that weren't allowed. And they'll end up getting products that they'll be able to price. And if they like them better—and we make great products—they'll be buying those products. But they were not available in the U.K.

Furthermore, in a historic step, the deal include plans that will bring the United Kingdom into the economic security alignment with the United States. It's the first of its kind.

So we have a big economic security blanket, and that's very important. And we feel very, very comfortable with that, because it's been a great ally—truly one of our great allies. I mean, a lot of people say our greatest ally. I don't want to insult people by saying that—[laughter]—but I can say it's certainly one of our greatest and are right at the top. And they're the first one we're talking about.

And by the way, we have many meetings planned today and tomorrow, and every country wants to be making deals. And we have a meeting—as you know, Scott will be going over to Switzerland on Saturday, and that will be very—very interesting—[inaudible]—find out. But I think they want to make a deal very badly too.

Both countries have agreed that the economic security is national security, and we'll be working together as allies to ensure that we have a strong industrial base, appropriate export controls, and protections for key technologies and industries like steel.

Steel is a big factor. Both countries will become stronger with steel and things necessary for military. You know, we used to build ships and other things, literally at a level that nobody has ever seen. And we haven't—we've eased up. And I would say that the U.K. certainly eased up. But now we're going to be uneasing both, and we work together.

Once again, I want to thank Prime Minister Starmer—he's been terrific—for his partnership in this matter. The special relationship and external bond—it's really an external and an internal bond—between our two countries will soon be stronger than ever before.

We really do. We have a great relationship. I want to just say that the representatives of U.K. have been so professional, and it's been an honor doing business with all of them and, in particular, the Prime Minister.

And I'd like to introduce him now to say a few words. Mr. Prime Minister, please take it away.

Prime Minister Starmer. Thank you, Mr. President, Donald. This is a really fantastic, historic day, in which we can announce this deal between our two great countries. And I think it's a real tribute to the history that we have of working so closely together.

Can I pay tribute, Donald, to your negotiating team as well——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——particularly Howard and Jamieson, who've done an incredible job, a very professional job, and my team as well—

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——two negotiating teams have worked at pace now for a number of weeks to bring in this deal today.

Really important deal. This is going to boost trade between and across our countries. It's going to not only protect jobs but create jobs, opening market access. And as you say, Donald, the timing couldn't be more apt—[laughter]—because not only was it 80 years ago today that victory came for Europe after and at the end of the Second World War, but, of course, on that day, the U.K. and the U.S. stood together as the closest of allies.

And, Donald, I think even down to the hour, because you may or may not know that it was about this time of day, exactly 80 years ago, that Winston Churchill announced victory in Europe. And that led to great celebrations across Europe, across America, but particularly in the United Kingdom, literally people going out into the street, putting bunting up, going up to the palace.

And so, to be able to announce this great deal on the same day 80 years forward, almost to the same hour, and as we were 80 years ago, with the U.K. and the U.S. standing side by side, I think it's incredibly important and makes this truly historic. That close relationship has endured over those 80 years.

As you know, Donald, when it comes to defense and security and intelligence sharing, of course, there are no two countries that are closer than our two countries, and now we take this into new and important territory by adding trade and the economy to the closeness of our relationship.

It is built, as you say, on those notions of fairness and reciprocal arrangements. We've always had a fair and balanced arrangement between our countries. This builds on that. Hugely important for sectors like car manufacturing and for steel and aluminum and so many others.

And yes, we can finish ironing out some of the details, but there's a platform—a fantastic platform here—including, of course, on the tech side, where I think I'm right in saying we're the only two Western countries with trillion-dollar sectors when it comes to tech.

And in the end, it comes down to, as you say, Donald, economic security is national security. On national security, we've been absolutely the closest of allies for so many years, keeping the peace through that close alliance, that friendship.

And now we add to that this deal on trade and the economy. And I want to thank you for your leadership on that, Donald, and for the way in which your team have negotiated this. And I'm so pleased that we've got this deal, we've finalized it, and we've built an incredible platform for the future.

So thank you so much, Donald. I'm now going to go and do a press conference. I think you have your press in with you. But on the details, I think, if you've got Howard, we can deal with that through one of my team.

President Trump. That's great. Well, Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much. It's an honor. We're going to have a continued—maybe a better relationship than ever before.

You know, I don't know if the media knows, but the U.S. and U.K. have been working for years to try and make a deal, and it never quite got there.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. It did with this Prime Minister. So I want to just congratulate you.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, well, with this President and this Prime Minister, we've managed to achieve what many people have tried to achieve for many years.

President Trump. That's right.

Prime Minister Starmer. And I'm really pleased, and it feels completely historic and on a special 80-year anniversary as well.

So, Donald, thank you so much. It's really good to have got this deal over the line. Tribute to both teams, tribute to our countries, and tribute to your leadership.

President Trump. Thank you. Well, it really is a great thing. And you go do your press conference, and I'll see you soon. Maybe speak to you later. But thank you——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——very much. And an incredible thing. I can tell you that for so many years, even as I sat, everybody talked and talked and talked about a deal with—it just seemed like a natural deal, but it was not done, but now it was done with us. So I feel very proud to have been a part of it.

Keir, thank you very much.

Prime Minister Starmer. Thanks, Donald, and we'll speak again soon.

President Trump. Very good. So long. Bye.

That's very nice. Why don't I do this: Why don't I have our Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, give a little description of the deal pretty quick?

And then the good side, the very nice side will be speaking about it also, maybe, from—so you get a pretty equal—I think it's a very—it's just been a deal that was, we thought, very complicated. It became very simple. It's opening up a country that we really didn't have the kind of access to that I would have thought. I was surprised.

I think it's why the deal never got done before. It was—you know, they've been working on this deal for 25 years, and we got it done or we got it done—really, it's going to be great for both countries.

So, Howard, if you could go, and then just somebody else. You may have—you'll pick whoever you want who'd like to do it. I have a feeling you're going to do it, right?

[At this point, the President shook hands with the United Kingdom's Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson who was standing behind the Resolute Desk.]

[Laughter] So you guys go ahead, and then we'll take questions right after that. But I think you'll get a pretty good understanding of how big it is. It's a very large deal, a very big deal.

And, Howard, go ahead.

Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick. So the U.K. is the sixth-largest economy in the world and the fourth largest that we export to, right? So it's a huge market, a top-10 market. If you remember Liberation Day, they were at 10 percent because we have balanced trade with the U.K., right? They say they have a surplus. But, of course, that counts gold bullion, which is—so, let's just call it balanced trade.

So, how do you open up a market in balanced trade? People think it's impossible. They've always thought it was impossible, until President Trump came on the scene and changed the way things work.

[Secretary Lutnick continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

And this is a perfect example of why Donald Trump produced Liberation Day. People don't understand. He gets things done in a matter of time. This would have taken Jamieson and I three years, maybe. And instead, we got it done in 45 days, certainly because we work for Donald Trump.

So, Jamieson, my partner in all this—maybe, Jamieson, you'd like to talk a little, and then we'll turn it over to the U.K.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson L. Greer. Sure. Happy to do that.

Everyone has had great remarks. I just have to echo the President and the Prime Minister. When we talk about V-E Day, this is something we've been waiting for for decades, and there is no more appropriate day to do this. And when we step back and we look back a few weeks from now or months from now or years from now, we're going to look back at this day and—and better appreciate the significance, I think.

[Ambassador Greer his remarks, concluding as follows.]

And I would say, on this deal, Mr. President, what we've shown is that it is time to change the way we do trade. People said we couldn't do a global tariff. We did a global tariff. They said no one would want to deal with us. People want to deal. They said no one would give offers. You saw that stack of offers I showed you yesterday, all those countries. They said we wouldn't get deals, and here we are with the deal with the sixth largest economy. We've agreed to have fair and reciprocal trade, and we've done it in record time.

President Trump. Thank you very much.

Ambassador Greer. Yes, sir.

President Trump. Great job.

Ambassador Greer. Thank you, sir.

President Trump. Mr. Ambassador, please.

Ambassador Mandelson. Well, Mr. President, thank you very much indeed in hosting us this morning, and thank you very much indeed, also, for that very typical 11nth-hour intervention by you with your phone call to the President—[laughter]—demanding even more out of this deal than any of us expected. So, thank you for that. The Prime Minister was delighted, obviously, to take that call late at night.

[Ambassador Mandelson continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

You've launched us extremely well today. It just—in my view, as the Prime Minister has said, just shows what two countries who trust each other, who are confident in each other and are familiar with each other can do not just for ourselves, but for those of the rest of the world who need to benefit from a bigger and better international trading system.

President Trump. Thank you very much. That was beautifully stated. What a beautiful accent too. [Laughter] I'd like to have that accent. Thank you very much.

Ambassador Mandelson. My mother would be proud. [Laughter]

President Trump. Thank you very much.

Any questions?

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Q. Mr. President, James Matthews with Sky News.

President Trump. Yes?

United Kingdom–U.S. Trade

Q. And can I ask: Why Britain, and why now? And you describe this deal as a full and comprehensive deal, and yet we've just heard from Mr. Mandelson it's the end of the beginning. Clearly, there's much more work still to do.

With respect, are you overstating the reach and significance of this deal because you're a President who needs a result at a difficult time?

President Trump. I think that it's a great deal for both parties. It's—for us, we're opened up.

I didn't know how closed—it was quite closed, the market, as you know—the U.K. And it opens up a tremendous market for us, and it works out very well. Very well. And a lot of assets. You see the chart, and those are tremendous assets.

But we've been trying. And when you say, "Why us"—meaning your country—we've been trying for years and they've been trying for years to make a deal, including when I was in the, you know, first term. It would always be people talking, but they weren't getting it done. But for 25 years before that, they were trying always to make a deal—a very significant deal.

I actually—until I looked at the numbers, I didn't realize this is a very conclusive deal, but we think we can grow it even from that. But this is a maxed-out deal, not like you said it. You said it really incorrectly. This is a maxed-out deal that we're going to make bigger, and we make it bigger through growth.

But we have tremendous assets involved. I was surprised to see how big your country is in trade, actually. You know, one of the biggest in technology and so many other things. It's agriculture. I really didn't know. It's—depending on your definition, it's from four to five to six. It's—that's pretty big in the world. So I was very impressed by that.

But we're going to take it to new levels. It's a very big deal right now, but I think it is going to grow. Just of its own volition, it's going to grow.

And over time, there will be changes made. There'll be adjustments made because we're flexible. We'll see things that we can do even better. But it's very conclusive, and we think everyone's going to be happy, and the people of your country are going to be very impressed with the result.

And they'll be able to buy for more people. They'll be able to price things differently. They'll be able to get some products that aren't available to them now that we make better than anybody in the world.

And it's just something that—it's a great thing that it came together. It's so nice, because we have—many countries want to make a deal, and many countries are very unhappy that we happened to choose this one, to be honest with you. But it's longtime—our oldest ally—or just about. I guess a couple of people claim that too, but let's put it right at the top.

I think it's going to be something very special for U.K. and special for the United States.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

Trade Negotiations/United Kingdom/European Union

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Reagan Reese, with the Daily Caller. How close are you to more deals? And when do you expect the next to be announced?

President Trump. Well, very close. We have numerous deals. I know Howard is going back as soon as this is finished, your press conference. He's got numerous—and Scott, who's right over here, who is fantastic, by the way—you were great on television this morning. I watched you. That was very good. [Laughter] He gave them a little lesson on the world and economics.

But Scott's going to be going to Switzerland, meeting with China. And you know, they very much want to make a deal. We can all play games. Who made the first call? Who didn't make the—doesn't matter. It only matters what happens in that room.

But I will tell you that China very much wants to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.

Every country throughout the last 40, 50 years has literally ripped off the United States on trade, on military, on protection, on all the different things. And we are now making fair deals. And in this case, it's great because we really weren't very much involved. You have the European Union, which is, I think, you know—I think you made the right decision years ago.

I don't know if you remember, I was opening up Turnberry the day that you were voting, and they asked me, "Would it happen or would it not happen?" I said, "No, I think they're going to go their own separate way. I think it's better for them." And they did. I think it's going to end up being a very smart decision. But a big part of that decision was always that you'd be able to make a deal with the United States. And they were unable to do that, but now they made it. And it's a tremendous—you know, it's very important.

That was always a big part of your decision on Brexit, and they were never able to make that deal. It was—you know, it was a tough one. And this one was—it's amazing, with time, this one just went very smoothly. Went quickly and smoothly, and a lot of common sense, as I like to say. There's tremendous common sense.

But it's going to make your country much bigger in terms of trade, and it's going to make our country much bigger in terms of trade too.

Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Thank you. For the——

President Trump. Go ahead. Behind you.

Q. Tom Bateman at the BBC. Thank you, Mr. President. You mentioned meeting—

President Trump. You're with who?

Q. The BBC.

President Trump. Oh, good. Very nice. They treat me beautifully.

U.S. Agricultural Exports

Q. You mentioned meat and beef exports. The U.K. currently doesn't accept American beef because of its own food—standards. Are you calling on the U.K. to accept all American beef and chicken products?

President Trump. Well, I think they'll take what they want. We have plenty of it. We have every type. We have every classification you can have. As you know, Bobby Kennedy is doing a tremendous job, and he's, I think, probably heading toward your system with no chemical—no this, no that. I mean, I think we're heading that way. It seems to be.

And—but we have that also. So we have—we're a very big country. We have a lot of beef. We're a very big country——

Secretary Rollins. Sir, may I——

President Trump. ——so it will——

Secretary Rollins. Sir, may I——

President Trump. ——it will be great.

Yes. Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Secretary Rollins. Do you want me to jump in?

President Trump. Yes.

Secretary Rollins. Let's talk about American beef really quickly. And it can't be understated—I'm Brooke Rollins, by the way—how important this deal is and what this means to American farmers and ranchers. Specific to the beef, this is going to exponentially increase our beef exports.

[Secretary Rollins continued her remarks, concluding as follows.]

And I don't know if there's an industry that has been treated more unfairly and has suffered more than our agriculture industry. So we look forward to—I'll be in the U.K. on Monday, talking to my counterpart over there for the next—really, for next week, and I look forward to moving that out across the country.

The President is an incredible defender of America.

President Trump. I think we can say that we have the best in the world—the best tractors, the best everything in the world. And they say that our agriculture is, you know, second to none, you understand. And it will be a great asset.

People are going to be able to have options, choice, and they'll have more of it. And that usually means lower prices.

How about we'll do you and then you. Go ahead.

European Union/United Kingdom

Q. A question for the Italian TV. Daniele Compatangelo, LA7, TV2000, primetime media. So congratulations for the deal. We see a big revenues from the chart. But what's the rest of Europe? There is—it's a Victory Day. But other European country, it seems like they're losing the—[inaudible].

President Trump. We intend to make a deal with Europe. We have found that the European Union treated us extremely unfairly—they're very difficult—and hurt themselves in doing so, and they very much want to make a deal. We'll be dealing with them. We are dealing with them currently, so that will cover pretty much the rest of it.

But this was separate. Because of Brexit, in particular, this—you know, this was a separate deal. It always seems so natural. I mean, all the media would say that this seemed to be like, "Why did this happen 25 years—why didn't it happen a long time ago?"

And it was always amazing to me. Somebody would say: "Hey, we've got to make a deal. We have to make a deal." But this deal just fell into place. The Prime Minister did a fantastic job. His representatives are total professionals, and they got along well. And it just seemed to work.

And I think one of the reasons it did is because we blew up the whole system. If we would have just been dealing with you separately, or, you know, country by country—we didn't. We blew up the whole system. It was very fair to the United—and very unfair to the United States.

And I think because of that, this worked out so nicely, and I'm honored that it was the first deal.

Please.

Q. Sir, you mentioned——

President Trump. Well, why don't you go, in the back? Yes.

U.S. Tariffs on Overseas-Produced Movies

Q. Oh, thank you, sir. It's—I'm with the London Times. I would say this is a great day for James Bond, because now Aston Martins will be available to American——

President Trump. That's true.

Q. ——buyers. [Laughter] But will it—will it be even better by extending it to film? You've talked about a big tariff on—on films, and we'd like to know if there will be a relief on British and other films.

President Trump. Well, we're going to have a discussion on that separately. And as you know, we're putting tariffs on that particular—film, he said; the moviemakers. And we're going to be doing some tariffs to get them, because a lot of them have left this country. They all live here. The money comes from here. Everything comes from here, but they make them in other countries. So we're going to do something to bring them back, maybe to a large extent.

But James Bond has nothing to worry about. That I can tell you. [Laughter] James Bond—and, you know, Sean Connery was a friend of mine. Sean Connery was responsible for my getting zoning in Aberdeen. He said, "Let the bloody bloke build his golf courses." [Laughter]

And I was, like, 4 years into the process, and it was impossible—in Aberdeen. And he—I don't know, he just stood up one day and he said that. As soon as he said that, I got the approvals in about 2 minutes. [Laughter] So he had great—he was a great guy, Sean Connery, and great character.

Q. Will you share if you're going back there in the—later in the year? Are you going back to the——

The President's Schedule

President Trump. Say it?

Q. Are you going to Scotland and to the U.K. as well?

President Trump. I—will be, sure. It's great. And we have a lot of investment over there. We have Turnberry, Aberdeen. We have, as you know—and Doonbeg in Ireland, right on the ocean. They're all on the ocean. I only have interest if they're on the ocean. And we have good investments over there. Been beautiful.

Yes.

China-U.S. Trade/Tariff Rates/Automobile Industry/Domestic Manufacturing Investment/Semiconductor Manufacturing

Q. Mr. President, if the talks go well this weekend between Secretary Bessent and Ambassador Greer with their Chinese counterparts—not preemptively, but if the talks go well, would you then consider lowering the tariff rate on China?

President Trump. Well, it could be. I mean, we're going to see. Right now you can't get any higher. It's at 145, so we know it's coming down.

I think we're going to have a very good relationship. You know, I always got along very well with President Xi. That relationship was greatly disturbed by COVID, when COVID came in. But we get along very well now.

I mean, we had a—I mean, the relationship was hurt with a lot of people, a lot of countries when COVID came in. But I think we're going to have a very good relationship. I—expect to have a very good relationship with China, Scott. I think it's a very friendly meeting. They look forward to doing it in an elegant way.

China, as you know, has a tremendous trade surplus with us, and we can't—you know, we just can't have that. And—but I think it's going to—I think it's going to be very good for both countries.

I would like to see China opened. You know, one of the big things here is—and nobody would know this, but the U.K. was largely closed. It was very much closed to trade, and now it's opened. And a lot of the financial reporters are very happy about that, because that—so much I—I listen to them, "I hope they get countries opened up," and then you compete on a fair basis, but you can't compete when you're not allowed to—to go there.

China would be the number-one example of that. You know, it's very closed. We almost had it last time before COVID, and that didn't work out. But we made a great deal with China. They had to buy $50 billion worth of our food products, and it was a great deal, doing very well for our farmers.

And then when Biden came in, as usual, nothing happened. You know, he didn't enforce it. And it got less, less, less. And ultimately, you know, it destroyed a great deal. That was a great deal.

But no, I think that we're going to have a—I think we're going to have a good weekend with China. I think they have a lot to gain. I do think they have far more to gain than we do, in a sense, but we're going to have a good—I think we're going to have a very good weekend.

Q. Will you speak to Xi after the weekend talks?

President Trump. I might. Yes, sure, depending on what Scott says. We sort of—Scott is doing certain countries, and Howard is doing certain countries. I mean, I wish I had, like, 10 more of each, if we—then we could do them all at one time.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent. So do I. [Laughter]

President Trump. But there will be a time we'll do—we'll do a number of them, and then there'll be a time—I think I can say this, Scott and Howard—where we're just going to say—because we understand the countries, we understand what they want—where we're just going to make the deal. In other words, we don't need the country involvement, because we've already had it.

And we'll say this particular country, which had big surpluses, let's say, we had, therefore, deficits—that this particular country is going to pay a 25-percent tariff or a 30 percent or a 50 percent or a 10 percent or whatever it may be.

This was—I think we should explain it now, Howard. One of the things we did here that we'll rarely do is on cars. We took it from 25 to 10 on Rolls-Royce, because Rolls-Royce is not going to be built here. I wouldn't even ask them to do that. [Applause] You know, it's a very special car, and it's a very limited number too. It's not, you know, one of the monster car companies that makes millions of cars. They make a very small number of cars that are super luxury, and that includes Bentley and Jaguar.

So we have some very special cars. So, in order to help that industry—and that's really, you know, handmade stuff. And they've been doing it for a long time in the same location. And I said, "Yes, that would be good—let's help them out with that one."

But that's different than a car company that comes out and makes millions of cars, which they'll be doing in our country. They're going to build—we have many, many factories, car plants being built or going to be built very soon.

I think we can say that we'll be close to $10 trillion of investment. I think we're actually at that number now, if you—if you add up some of the ones we haven't heard about yet. I mean, we have some going up right now. They have plants going up, and they haven't even spoken to us. They're doing it because of the tariffs.

And tariffs have always been used against us, and I never understood. I used to sit back—as you know, China paid hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs when I was President, but until then, China never paid anything. And, you know, they really did a big number on us from the standpoint of trade. But we are using tariffs now for our benefit, and we have now close to $10 trillion—think of that—$10 trillion.

If you look at the past administration—and we're talking about over, you know, essentially two months, because you—we could say three, but it took a little while to get the office in perfect shape, right? [Laughter] It took a little while to get things done, but once we started—when you think of that, close to $10 trillion of investment. You've had years where the United States wouldn't do that in a whole—wouldn't do $1 trillion in a year. Wouldn't do anywhere near $1 trillion. We did $10 trillion in 2 months.

So it's amazing what's happening. We're getting calls from—and that has to do with chips, has to do with cars. We used to make chips. We had Intel, and we used to make chips. We had a monopoly on chips. Everything was made here. And now, over a period of years, because of presidents that didn't know what they were doing, they allowed that business to be stolen from us. Most of it moved to Taiwan.

And you probably were in the same position—right?—because you had a lot of the chipmaking capacity, but they moved it in. And if we would have said: "That's fine. If you want to move it to Taiwan, that's good. But if you want to sell back into the United States, we're going to put a 50-percent or 100-percent tariff on," they would have never left. But we had people sitting here that didn't understand that, and it's too bad.

But now they're coming back, because I'm saying it. I'm saying it about 40 years too late, but they're coming back. As you know, we have the biggest chipmakers in the world spending—in one case, $300 billion; in one case, $500 billion, same as Apple; and in another case, $200 billion.

And we're going to have a large share—a very, very substantial share of the chipmaking market.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

China-U.S. Trade

Q. You said that next weekend is going to be a friendly visit, but do you expect that it will just be a formality to break the ice, or are they going to get into substantive negotiations?

President Trump. I believe so, yes. I believe it's substantive, yes. I think we would like to say, "Yes, we're having a meeting to meet." Well, we're meeting. So what are we going to do: talk about meeting again? [Laughter]

So I think it's going to be substantive. I think we could say that. Right, Scott?

Secretary Bessent. Yes, sir.

The President. Very substantive.

No, China wants to do something. And look, they have to at this point. You know, essentially, they made a trillion dollars a year, and now they have absolutely, you know, no business because of the tariffs. They have no business, and they want to have business. And we want them to have business. We want them to do well. We want them to do very well.

So I think it's going to be very substantive.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tariffs/China-U.S. Trade

Q. Because business—has slowed down, as you mentioned, we're seeing——

President Trump. In China.

Q. But we're seeing, as a result, the ports here in the U.S., the traffic has really slowed——

President Trump. That's good.

Q. ——and now thousands of dockworkers and truck drivers are worried about their jobs. Is that——

President Trump. Yes. No, we lose—that means we lose less money. You know? When I see that, that means we lose less money.

Look, China was making over a trillion—$1.1 trillion, in my opinion. You know, different numbers, from $500 billion to a trillion or a trillion one. I think was $1.1 trillion.

And frankly, if we didn't do business, we would have been better off. Okay? You understand that. So, when you say it slowed down, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

But we're going to make it so they can—I'd like to say they can do better, actually, in terms of the bottom line. We'd like to see China opened up so we can compete in China and, you know, give people something that they've never had—you know, access to something. That would be great for the world. It would be great for our businesses, and I think it would be great for friendship.

I really expect—a lot of people think I'm a militant guy. I'm really not. I think that trade can bring a greater friendship with China. It can be something good. But you know, one of the things that I know Scott is going to be talking about very high on the list is open up and let our businesses go into China, because when you talk about a closed country, that's a really closed country. And I think it would be great if it was opened up. It'd be—give people a lot of choice and would create a lot of jobs, a lot of everything.

So I think it would be a great thing for China, and that's going to be one of the things we'll be discussing, like we discussed with U.K.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please. Please

Baseline Tariff Rate

Q. So what—does Britain have to do for you to drop the baseline 10-percent tariff that you're maintaining?

President Trump. Well, I think that's set because that has to do with a lot of different things, including past. You know, there are a lot of past things that we—this is very inclusive. We included everything. And that's pretty well set.

Yes, please.

United Kingdom

Q. Yes. Mr. President, the 10-percent baseline tariff remaining in place, is that a template for these future trade deals?

President Trump. No.

Q. You say you're going to keep it here.

President Trump. No.

Q. Is it going to stay in every case?

President Trump. No, that's a low number. They—made a good deal. Many—some will be much higher, because they have massive trade surpluses and, you know, in many cases, they didn't treat us right.

One thing with U.K., they had, you know, somewhat closed—not like a China, as an example—but—they always treated us with great respect.

Q. So was—[inaudible]——

President Trump. They treated us with great respect.

The template of 10 will—is probably the lowest, and therefore, they, you know, made that deal. And—but they—you know, we've had just a very special relationship with them.

Like, I won't do that deal with cars. I mean, unless somebody shows me that there's another kind of a car that's comparable to a Rolls-Royce, and there aren't too many. This is a good commercial for Rolls-Royce, by the way. [Laughter] You've got——

Ambassador Mandelson. Mr. President——

President Trump. ——they're going to order a lot of cars.

Ambassador Mandelson. Mr. President, I wonder whether you'd like to buy a Rolls-Royce? [Laughter] I mean——

President Trump. Well, the last time this happened I ended up——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ambassador Mandelson. I would be happy to suggest a discount—obviously, a very modest discount.

President Trump. Yes.

Ambassador Mandelson. We have to protect our profit margin, but——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. You—I've had many of them, actually. [Laughter]

I'll—you know, the last time that happened, I ended up buying a Tesla. You know that? [Laughter] [Inaudible]

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Go ahead. Go ahead.

United Kingdom–U.S. Trade

Q. Thank you. Mary Margaret Olohan with Daily Wire. I had a question about the U.K. deal today. I heard there was talk that part of the agreement would depend on whether the U.K. would respect free speech and freedom of religion. I know the VP is really interested in that and talked about that earlier this year. Was there any assurances that you guys got on that front?

President Trump. You want to handle that?

Secretary Lutnick. Yes, that was not part of the conversation. Our conversation was an economic conversation from start to finish, closed by the President yesterday. This was a business deal: Open their markets and also protect their workers; grow our markets and help our workers.

President Trump. This was about business religion. [Laughter] You know, business is sort of a semi-religion, but not nearly as important. I don't want to get myself in—[laughter]——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Your new nominee for Surgeon General——

Go ahead please. In the back, go ahead.

Ukraine/Russia/Iran

Q. Mr. President, will you be asking China to help you close, you know, the gap between Ukraine and Russia?

The President. I think so, yes. I think it's a natural thing to ask.

Q. What do you expect them——

President Trump. Sure.

Q. ——to do?

President Trump. I don't know. I think we're—we're making good progress. The fighting is a little bit different than it was.

I think if we weren't involved, Russia would be, you know, going at it to maybe get the whole thing. And without our involvement, they'd be able to get it, because we supplied a lot of—lot of different things, foolishly. But we've been sort of paid back by doing the rare earth deal that I talked about before.

I think that—no, I think that we will be very much involved in trying to get that bloodbath—it's a bloodbath. It's a horrible situation. Five thousand—it's really more than that, but it's 5,000 soldiers, on average, a week—mostly soldiers—are being killed. Young, beautiful people—I mean, they're being killed.

I see the satellite pictures coming back, body parts lying all over fields, heads and arms. It's so terrible. I've never seen anything like it, actually.

And if we can get that stopped, that will be a great accomplishment. And we're trying very hard, and I think we're close.

And Mr. Witkoff is talking constantly back and forth. He's a real professional. He's got a great relationship with both countries, and I think we have a good chance.

And, likewise, we're trying to work on Iran to get that solved without having to get into any bombing—as we say, big bombing. I don't want to do that. I want them to work a deal. I want them to be very successful.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Edward Lawrence from Fox Business.

President Trump. Yes.

United Kingdom–U.S. Trade

Q. On the nonmarket barriers, how did you get the U.K. to bend? And what was the 11th-hour deal or ask that was made?

President Trump. Well, I think it was really just a part of the overall. I mean, they have so many things that are so good for them. It's going to be so good for the country, and that was sort of easy. It wasn't—it—we had nonmarket—I call it nonmarket or nonmonetary trade barriers, and we had quite a few of them. Not nearly as bad as some countries. Some countries have—you know, they have virtually no tariff, but the rest of it is so brutal you can't do business with them, right? So it's a very important question, actually.

No, I think the overall just worked out very well from their standpoint. They were willing to give that in order to get other things.

And you might want to speak to that, Mr. Ambassador.

Ambassador Mandelson. Look, the point about the deal is that we will continue reducing tariffs and nontariff barriers. This is a continuing picture. It's a movie. It's not a still picture here. It's a movie.

President Trump. Yes.

Ambassador Mandelson. It continues. And we're both committed to freeing up trade between our countries. We're both committed to freeing up investment between our countries.

And the point about this deal is that it provides a very good template and a very good launchpad for what we can continue to do and build on in the future, and that's what we're both determined to do.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Trade Negotiations

Q. What was the 11th-hour—what was the 11th-hour ask?

President Trump. You know, many of—many of the—well, I better not say. [Laughter] Many of these——

Ambassador Mandelson. That's between us. [Laughter]

President Trump. Many of these—we'll keep it confidential, right?

Yeah, how about just one more little thing, right? And well, it got the deal closed. And it was handled very well from the other side too.

But many of these things that we're talking about, we've been talking about this for 25 years. It's hard to explain when—if you weren't sitting behind this beautiful Resolute Desk, you just wouldn't get it. I have been hearing about making a deal with U.K. for 25 years, and especially around the time of Brexit. They wanted to make a deal. So they came out of Brexit, and they make a deal. And it—how natural. And it just couldn't be done. It couldn't be done. Good people.

And this is a bigger deal. This is a much bigger, better, stronger deal for both of us than we ever even contemplated before. This is a big deal.

Ambassador Mandelson. Virtually everyone said that it would end in failure, it would end in tears. And it's ended in exactly the opposite.

President Trump. Yes.

Ambassador Mandelson. But, Mr. President, can I say that that is due to—Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer have been absolutely fantastic——

President Trump. Right.

Ambassador Mandelson. ——but yesterday I received a call, a very diplomatic call, that just edged things over the line, and that was from your new Ambassador in the United Kingdom——

President Trump. Who is terrific, by the way.

Ambassador Mandelson. ——Warren Stephens. He's here.

President Trump. Where is Warren?

Secretary Lutnick. Right here.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Warren Stephens. Right here, sir.

President Trump. Hello, Warren.

Ambassador Stephens. How are you, sir? Nice to be here.

Ambassador Mandelson. And he's flying to London tomorrow night. He's going to be very popular with the British people. He's going to be a very successful Ambassador.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. And he's got plenty of cash. [Laughter] That guy has plenty of cash.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Ye, go ahead.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Are you planning—are you planning to meet Ursula von der Leyen, sir?

President Trump. No, go ahead, fast.

President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission

Q. Yes, are you planning to meet Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, anytime soon?

President Trump. Oh, she's so fantastic, right? She's so fantastic. I hope we're going to meet.

Yes. The answer is yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

I saw her—actually, I saw her a few days ago, and I think that we'll definitely meet. Yes. The European Union is a big thing. They want to make a deal very badly. You know, everybody wants to make a deal.

Look, everybody wants to make a deal with the United States, and we're doing that. And we're making—we're going to make fair deals. I'm just honored that this was the first one.

Go ahead, please.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Jerome H. Powell/Tax Code Reform/Deregulation Efforts

Q. The Federal Reserve Chairman—the Federal Reserve Chairman, Mr. President, says that you would have to call him for a meeting. Do you plan to meet on—with him? And what do you think about——

President Trump. I could call him for a meeting——

Q. And what do you——

President Trump. ——but it's like talking to a wall. [Laughter] He should—be—

Q. What do you think about not cutting? The Bank of England cut today.

The President. Well, the Bank of England cut. China cut. Everybody is cutting but him. It's—you know, I don't know. Let's—we'll see what happens. It's a shame.

I call him "Too Late"—you know, "Too Late Powell." That's his nickname, and it's a shame. It's ridiculous. So—meaning he's always too late.

But, in this case, it's not going to matter that much because our country is so strong. We're so powerful in terms of economic strength and what we've done. And I'll tell you what, if we didn't have our first term, you wouldn't be—we created things in the first term. We cut more regulations than any President in history. We cut the taxes more than anybody in history.

And a very big factor is going to be the tax bill that we have right now—the one big, beautiful bill, as we call it—which is all-encompassing. The biggest tax cuts ever in history, bigger than even the first time.

And the incentives—even great for the U.K., because it will make us so strong that we're going to be doing more business with you. It's a very important element for taxes, for every aspect—regulation cuts.

That bill is—I believe it's the biggest bill of its kind ever in the history of this country.

And Speaker Johnson and—and Leader Thune have done an incredible job. I mean, I'll let you know when we have to get a vote, but we have a lot of support for that bill.

And if that happens on top of all of these trade deals that we're doing, this country will hit a point that—you'd better go out and buy stock now. Let me tell you, this—country will—be like a rocket ship that goes straight up. This is going to be numbers that nobody has ever seen before. That's a very important element of all of this, you know, if we get that.

If you don't—and the Democrats are fighting it only because they want to fight. They have Trump derangement syndrome. You know, if it was somebody else, they wouldn't fight. If you had a normal person, if you had some stiff sitting behind here, they'd be fine. [Laughter] But—but they have Trump derangement syndrome.

The—you know, Senator Schumer has become a Palestinian. [Laughter] He's welcome—II don't know when they're going to give him the ceremony, whatever the ceremony may be. [Laughter]

But it's terrible what's happened to the Democrats.

So a very, very important element of everything—of what we're doing—unrelated to today, but related in the sense that we'll do, if that passes, we'll do even more business with the U.K. We'll have so much.

It's the biggest tax cut in history. It's going to make our country zoom. It's going to be incentive, as you know, with the deduction for—basically, for work—you work, you build your plant, et cetera—your deduction. It's going to be the biggest—it's the biggest bill of its kind to ever pass, maybe the biggest bill ever passed. That's why we thought the one big, beautiful bill.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

U.S. Surgeon General Nominee Casey Means

Q. You just announced a new nominee for the U.S. Surgeon General who never finished her residency and is not a practicing physician. So can you explain why you——

President Trump. Well——

Q. ——picked her to be——

President Trump. Well, she's a—yes.

Q. ——America's top doctor?

President Trump. Because Bobby thought she was fantastic. She's highly—she's a brilliant woman who went through Stanford, and, as I understand it, she basically wanted to do—she wanted to be an academic, as opposed to a surgeon. I think she graduated first in her class at Stanford. And Bobby really thought she was great.

I don't know her. I listened to the recommendation of Bobby. I met her yesterday and once before. She's a very outstanding person—a great academic, actually. So I think she'll be great.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

The President's Nomination of Ed Martin To Be U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia

Q. On Ed Martin, Mr. President, your nominee for U.S. attorney of DC. Do you have a backup plan if the Senate does not——

President Trump. Oh, I do. Yea. But he's a terrific person, and he wasn't getting the support from people that I thought—you know, he's done a very good job. Crime is down 25 percent in DC. during his period of time. I'm very disappointed in that.

But I have so many different things that I'm doing now with the trade. You know, I'm one person. I can only make—boom—I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day. But we have somebody else that will be great.

I just want to say, Ed is unbelievable, and hopefully, we can bring him into—whether it's DOJ or whatever—in some capacity, because he's really outstanding.

It was—to me, it was disappointing. I'll be honest. I have to be straight. I was disappointed. A lot of people were disappointed, but that's the way it works sometimes. You know, that's the way it works. And he wasn't rejected, but we felt it would be very—it would be hard, and we have somebody else that we'll be announcing over the next 2 days who's going to be great.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tariffs/Egg Prices/Interest Rates

Q. Mr. President, with companies like Ford and Mattel—with companies like Ford and Mattel recently saying they're going to raise the prices on certain products, how long do you think the American public is going to be patient——

President Trump. Yes.

Q. ——and wait for you to do these——

President Trump. Well, I don't think—I think they're saying——

Q. ——trade deals while prices are going up?

President Trump. ——that just to try and negotiate deals with me. [Laughter] Okay? They're not——

Q. You don't think they're raising prices?

President Trump. Look, tariffs is—are the most misunderstood thing, maybe in any form of business, anywhere in business. Oftentimes, the country picks them up. Oftentimes, the company picks it up. The people don't pick it up, okay? The people don't pick it up.

And if Ford did that, they wouldn't sell any cars.

And if Mattel—I don't know, some—I'm not so sure they sell—they also said—they—they're the only country I've heard, they said: "Well, we're going to go counter. We're going to try going someplace else." That's okay. Let them go, and I'll—we'll put a hundred-percent tariff on his toys, and he won't sell one toy in the United States. And that's their biggest market. I heard that. I mean, I watched this guy talking about how, "I'm going to go counter." I said, "Well, I wouldn't want to have him as an executive too long."

The Ford people I know very well. What they're doing is negotiating with us by saying that.

But we don't think that's going to happen. Look, I put out a truth today, and it said that gas is down, gasoline is down, energy is down, groceries are down, eggs are down. I mean eggs—thank you very much—but eggs are down.

When I came in the first week, you guys hit me with eggs. I said, "What the hell happened with eggs?" Eggs were up like 170 percent and going up. And they said, "Don't order any for Easter." And we were thinking about ordering plastic eggs, like everybody was doing.

And Brooke did a fantastic job—Agriculture. Brooke did a fantastic job, and we had hundreds of thousands of eggs out here on the lawn——

Secretary Rollins. We did.

President Trump. ——just 2 weeks ago at Easter. And—but you take a look at the cost. Energy is down, even interest rates are down.

Now, if the Chairman of the Fed, Jerome—if he would lower interest rates—like China did; like, I think, U.K. did; but like numerous other countries have done—it would be—it's like jet fuel. It would be great, but he doesn't want to do it.

I think he doesn't want to do it. Probably, he's not in love with me. I think that's right. It's sort of a crazy reason, but that's the way life is. Anybody in his position would be lower—it would be like jet fuel. But even without that, we're doing well.

But remember this—you know, I've watched you people reporting over the last few months that if we do this, you know, prices are going to go through—well, groceries are down. All of this stuff is down. Lumber is down. Oil is—has gone to—I mean, we have—that thing broke $60—right?—$60 a barrel. And 98—$1.98, $1.99 in some cases, and heading in that direction.

No, I think it's been amazing actually.

You know, and what that's good for—it gives the consumer more money and it gives them a better life, because we—we just came out of the worst inflation, in my opinion, in the history of our country. They say 48 years, but Biden really screwed it up. He screwed up energy, and he also—he—he spent too much money. He was spending it on, you know, the "green new scam."

And that's like throwing the money—see that beautiful window behind—take money, throw it right out that window, because it's the same thing. He just——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

——he spent—he set—he spent $10 trillion. He wasted it.

Not only was it bad, it was—it was a negative. It wasn't even like it helped a little bit. It was a real negative.

And then, on top of it, they let 21 million people into our country without any identification, any anything. They just let them in. It's very, very sad.

Well, we'll do one or two more.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

Q. Two—two if I may.

President Trump. Go ahead. Who are you with?

Q. How—I'm with the Daily Telegraph. You know me from another place, but——

President Trump. Yes, I do.

China-U.S. Trade

Q. How concerned are you about the U.K.'s reliance on China—Chinese money in the money markets, Chinese exports—[inaudible]——

President Trump. We're not concerned.

Q. Is that something that came up in discussions?

President Trump. And honestly, I'm not concerned about anything. If I was, I wouldn't even be here right now. If I was concerned about anything—and it wouldn't be that—but I wouldn't be here right now. No, we're not concerned.

We're going to have, I believe, a very good relationship with China and a fair relationship. And it will get bigger, and it'll grow. It will grow. As an example, if they open up the country, that will be the best thing China ever did for itself. They don't know that yet because, you know, it's been a different system. But that will be the greatest thing that ever happened to China.

The people will be happier. They'll buy for less. They'll see things that they never saw before, and they'll be buying them. And it will really create great long-term peace.

U.S. Agricultural Products

Q. And if I could ask one of the Agriculture Secretary, actually. There's a lot of concern about chlorinated chicken, the import of hormone-treated beef. Has that question been addressed, resolved in these talks, or is that something for the continuing negotiations?

Secretary Rollins. Well——

Ambassador Greer. You know——

President Trump. Yes, Jamieson. Go.

Ambassador Greer. I would just say that it's—it's very clear, and we have in the heads of terms that we are going to discuss all of these types of issues. And obviously, the importing country, whether it's us or them, you got to follow the rules on those types of things.

But our point is the rules need to make sure that they are based on science, and that's our expectation. We know the U.K. believes that too, so we want to come to an accommodation. We want the consumers in each country to be able to choose what they want and give them the information that they need.

President Trump. Okay.

Secretary Rollins. And we have an incredible EPA——

Q. Yes. Thank you, sir.

Secretary Rollins. ——led by Administrator Zeldin that is on this. So the talks continue, but we are very, very confident in our products, and what the President has done——

President Trump. We have great products.

Secretary Rollins. ——to open up the markets is unprecedented for these farmers here in America.

Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. Go.

Stock Market Volatility

Q. Mr. President, what's your message to Wall Street as they watch this? I mean, you saw the stock market decline sharply after "liberation day," and it's rallied back since then. Do you have an——

President Trump. Well, now it's going to really rally because, you know, don't forget, they said, "This is all a pipe dream." And this is a tough one. This is—somebody would said, "Well, this is easy." This is much tougher, I think, than any other deal, because they've been at it for so many years, decades, trying to make this deal.

And it's very conclusive, and it's a great deal, and it's a very big deal, actually. No, this is just the beginning. We're going to be having conferences or—or, at some point, we won't have conf-—we'll just put out a statement that we just signed this country, that country.

And after a number of these are done—nobody has enough people to do it—we're just going to put out: "X country is going to pay this. And if they open up, they're going to do this and that." And then they're going to be open up.

Everybody wants to be here. I—you know, I say this is where they want to be shopping. They want to shop in this country, because we have the consumer, and we have the consumer like nobody else. And you know, if this country went bad, the whole world would go bad.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

But we really—but we really saved it from going bad.

Yes, please.

Air Traffic Control System/Aviation Safety/Federal Contracting

Q. Sir, can I ask you about the air traffic control issue? Are you looking at getting new software, new equipment?

President Trump. I'm glad you asked me about it, because I'm just going to be talking to, now, with the heads of the airlines and everything else.

So I was all set, before we had the rigged election, to give out a brandnew, gorgeous system to one company that was going to do the whole thing, one of the best companies in the world that you know very well. You know, there are three or four of them that do it. And when they took over, Buttigieg, who has no clue—you know, he drives to work on his bicycle, with his—in all fairness, with his husband on the back, which is a nice, loving relationship—but he didn't have a clue. This guy didn't have a clue.

And he's actually a contender for President. Between him and Crockett, you can have that party. [Laughter]

But he didn't have—he didn't know what he was doing. And he took what they call dry systems, systems where you have wires in the earth, buried in the earth or whatever. And then you had the open-air systems, where you have satellites, and you can't mesh them. Anybody would know that if you went through about two months of study in school, if you study that kind of thing. And he did.

They spent tens of billions of dollars trying to take old, broken equipment and merging it into existing new equipment with brandnew equipment. It's one of the greatest—they spent, like, $40 billion—$40 billion. And what they did is they made it worse because it doesn't work together. You can't make it work together.

If you have a satellite system, you need satellite. If you don't—they had all these different technologies, some of them 50 years old, and they're trying to mesh them in. And they end up spending twice the money they should have—you could have bought a whole new system.

So we have a very good guy, who you all know—Sean Duffy is head of Transportation—and I've given him a 10-minute lesson in buying—[laughter]—and he's become really good. And we are now in the market to buy a gorgeous, brandnew system.

The helicopter that crashed into the plane at 400 feet, it shouldn't have been. What would have happened is all sorts of bells and sirens would have been going off 3 minutes before that accident happened, if you had the right equipment, but they didn't.

And the new equipment is unbelievable, what it does. You can have—you don't even—well, I was going to say something, but you always—in my opinion, you always need pilots. I want pilots. But you wouldn't even have to have pilots. This system is so incredible, what they can do.

But we have a system that's obsolete. And what they did is the worst. They tried to combine the really old, broken stuff with the new stuff, and you can't combine it. And anybody should have known.

So Biden—you think Biden figured this out? I don't think so, fellas. [Laughter] Do you think he has any clue? He doesn't know what the hell is happening.

So here's the story. We're going to be buying a brandnew—it's going out to bid very soon—brandnew, state-of-the-art system that will cover the entire world.

I'll give you an example. When my pilot—now I have military pilots, but prior to that, I had very good pilots—great pilots. They would land—and I won't tell you which country, but they would use the system of another country. They wouldn't even use the system of the United States. So, if I'm landing in New York or Florida or Tennessee, they're using a system from another country. I said, "Why is that?" And they were—you know, they're not into business, but they're just saying, "Our system doesn't work, sir." And I said, "Boy, that's pretty sad."

But we were all set to give it out to—you know, look, you have a Raytheon, and you have different companies like that—numerous companies. And you have companies that would do it, like an IBM, as an example.

But—and you give out one deal, one contract. They gave out hundreds of contractors. They had diggers. They had nondiggers. They had people that focused on satellites. They had hundreds of different contracts.

One contract where one guy is controlling everything. You need a trench, then they dig a trench. But if you don't dig the trench, they don't blame you. What happens is, you don't dig, then they say, "We want a cost overrun."

No, we have it all set, and we're going to be doing it. We would have done it, except that the election took a little strange turn. But the second one didn't. That was too big to rig.

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

Q. Thank you, Mr. President.

President Trump. Thank you.