Remarks Following a Meeting With Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom and an Exchange With Reporters in South Ayrshire, United Kingdom

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, let me welcome you, Mr. President, to Scotland. And fantastic to be here at Turnberry with you. Thank you so much for——

President Trump. Thank you very much.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——showing us around and having this opportunity to sit in this fantastic ballroom——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——which is absolutely incredible, and to start talking about some of the issue that are most pressing in your country and my country. And in particular, we've had the opportunity to talk about the situation is Gaza and the intolerable situation, including images of starvation.

And I think both of us know that we have to get to that cease-fire and we have to increase humanitarian aid in. And thank you for what you've already been doing, are doing, and are committed to, because without you, this would not be capable of resolution.

And I think that if we can work not just on the pressing issues of the ceasefire but also on this issue of getting humanitarian aid in at volume, at speed—and then we've discussed a plan for what then happens afterwards. I think we can do our very best to alleviate what is an awful situation at the moment.

So thank you very much for the discussion we've had so far and the discussion we're about to continue on that really important issue.

But it's fantastic to be here. Thank you for your hospitality.

President Trump. Thank you very much.

Prime Minister Starmer. And to see this amazing golf course.

President Trump. Yes. [Inaudible]

Prime Minister Starmer. I'll invite you to a football grounds—[laughter]——

President Trump. Good. Good.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——at some stage, and we can exchange sports.

President Trump. Well, it's been great being with you, and thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. And you've done a fantastic job with regard to the trade deal.

You know, they wanted a trade deal here for years, many years, through many different terms of different people, and you got it done. So I want to congratulate you on that. And it's a great—it's a great deal for both. It brings unity. We didn't need unity, but we—it—brings us even closer together, I think. It's good for both parties.

We also discussed, obviously, Gaza. And I think before we get to phase two, which is, you know, what's going to happen afterwards, we want to get the children fed. We made a contribution a week ago of $60 million, all going into food. We only hope the food goes to the people that need it, because so—so much, as you know, when you——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——do something there, it gets taken by Hamas or somebody, but it gets taken.

But—and we're prepared to help. You know, we want to help. It's a terrible situation. The whole thing is terrible. It's been bad for many years. But it's great to hear you feel the same way that we do.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. We have to help on a humanitarian basis. Before we do anything, we have to get the kids fed.

So we've been sending in a lot of food. A lot of the food that's been going there has been sent by the United States.

I spoke yesterday with the President of the European Union, Ursula, who—who was terrific also on this subject, and she's going to play a big role——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——also in helping us. So we have a good group of countries are going to help with the humanitarian needs, which is food, sanitation, and some other things.

It's very difficult to deal with Hamas, as I said. You know, we got a tremendous amount of hostages out, but it would take place in drips and drabs. You'd get 10, you'd get 5, you'd get 2, you'd get 10, 12. We'd get 12 one time. Many of them would come to the White House, and they were so thankful.

But I always said, when you come—when you get down to the final 10 or 20, you're not going to be able to make a deal with these people, because they use them as a shield, and when they give them up, they no longer have a shield. And the people of Israel feel so strongly about the hostages. Some people would take a different view, but they feel so strongly about the hostages.

So that's an ongoing process.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. Hamas has become very difficult to deal with in the last couple of days, because they don't want to give up these last 20, because they think as long as we have them—they have them, they have protection.

But I don't think it can work that way. So I'm speaking to Bibi Netanyahu, and we are coming up with various plans. We're going to see. It's a very difficult situation.

If they didn't have the hostages, things would go very quickly, but they do, and we know where they have them, in some cases, and you don't want to go riding roughshod over that area, because that means those hostages will be killed.

Now, there are some people that would say, "Well, that's the price you pay," but we don't like to say that. We don't want to say that. And I don't think the people of Israel want to say that, either, which is pretty amazing. A lot of people would say, "Just get it done, and whatever it is."

You could also say speed might be better for the hostages. You go through, you know, with speed, you may have a better chance, because they're in deep trouble. They're in deep trouble.

You saw October 7, and you saw what the damage and the horror that they committed. People can't forget that. You know, they tend to forget it, but they can't forget. That was one of the most evil things I've ever seen, and you just cannot forget that.

So we're very much involved. The Prime Minister is involved. I'm involved.

And I think I can speak—we just signed a very big trade deal, the biggest of them all, yesterday——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——right?

And the European Union is very much involved in wanting to help with the—really, the Palestinians, in terms of getting people fed—but the area of Gaza. Another way of defining it is "the area of Gaza." It's a very troubled place, and it has been for many, many years. It has been for many decades. So it's not like this just happened.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. This has been going on for a long period of time.

So that's it. We—our hearts are in the right place.

We have some good news, because the recent war that you just saw—they just announced, I see—the newest of the five—now this would be six that we've stopped. I have six—stopped six wars——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——in the last—I'm averaging about a war a month. [Laughter] But the last three were very close together: India and Pakistan, and a lot of them. Congo was just—and Rwanda was just done.

But you probably know—I won't go into it very much, because I don't know the final numbers yet. I don't know—numerous people were killed, and I was dealing with two countries that we get along with very well. Very different countries, from certain standpoints. They've been fighting for 500 years, intermittently. And we solved that war. You probably saw, it just came out over the wire.

So we solved it through trade. I said, "I don't want to trade with anybody that's killing each other." So we just got that one solved. And I'm going to call the two Prime Ministers, who I got along with very, very well, and speak to them right after this meeting and congratulate them.

But it was an honor to be involved, and that was a very—that was going to be a very nasty war. Those wars have been very, very nasty. So we've done a lot of good work.

We've had great support from the Prime Minister. Anytime we needed help, anytime we needed any form of support, you've been there. We appreciate it very much.

Prime Minister Starmer. [Inaudible]

President Trump. And we're going to continue onward. We do have to take care of the humanitarian needs at the—on the—what they used to call the Gaza Strip. You don't hear that line too much anymore. You don't hear the "Gaza Strip," but it is the Gaza Strip, and it's amazing. It's now being handled a little bit differently.

We're going to set up food centers, and we're going to do it in conjunction with some very good people, and we're going to supply funds. And we just took in trillions of dollars. We got a lot of money, and we're going to spend a little money on some food. And other nations are joining us. I know your nation is joining us.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes. Yes.

President Trump. And we have all of the European nations joining us. And others also have called, and they want to be helpful. So we're going to set up food centers and—where the people can walk in, and no boundaries. We're not going to have fences. And you know, they can't—you—they see the food from 30—30, you would say, yards away, and they see the food. It's all there. But nobody's at it because they have fences set up that nobody can even get it. It's crazy, what's going on over there.

So we're going to work very closely together with your country—a great country.

We also discussed inside that we are—you know, there's a whole new thing happening with regard to energy from nuclear.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. And the Prime Minister is looking at that very strongly. And I know you have Rolls-Royce nuclear plants.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. That sounds pretty good, right? I love that. What a great brand that is.

But you're also doing the Rolls-Royce or the nuclear plants—the smaller plants. We're doing smaller and bigger, but the small is interesting. They do a small plant—very easy, very safe. And as they need more, they hook up another plant, and they have a series of plants, instead of, you know, doing the $20 billion plant. That gets tough for a lot of people to do.

So we're just studying that, and it sounds like you're very far progressed. But that's a great thing you're doing on nuclear. We opened up nuclear about 2 months ago.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. And it's now safe and very inexpensive.

Prime Minister Starmer. No, we see civil nuclear as a big part of the future as we go to sustainable, independent energy. And I think that between the two of us, we can work very much more closely——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——on this, and we've agreed that that's our ambition. That's our aspiration. And this is going to be a big part of the future, when it comes to energy.

And you can see, in the last few years, energy has been weaponized. Prices have dictated both families and businesses across the United Kingdom, and therefore, taking control of energy is a huge prize. So the more we can work together on this——

President Trump. Right.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——the better. And small modular reactors are a very big part of the future here, and we've got great companies like Rolls-Royce involved in that.

So I'm very much looking forward to working together with you——

President Trump. Good.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——Mr. President, on that.

President Trump. We'll do that. We'll do that.

We're going up to your oil capital in a little while. We're going up to Aberdeen. That's called the oil capital of Europe, and that's a great asset that you have up there. Someday, if they ever think their—change their thinking on that, you have a great and valuable asset. There's a lot of valuable resources underground there.

But that's a decision for you to make. But it's a very amazing place, and it's—it is considered the oil capital of Europe. So it's a—it's another option that you have.

So we are doing really well as a country, and I think that the Prime Minister is—he's been so supportive of us and so strong and so respected. And I respect him much more today than I did before, because I just met his wife and family. He's got a perfect wife and family. [Laughter] And that's never easy to achieve, right? [Laughter] But——

Prime Minister Starmer. I take no credit for that. [Laughter]

President Trump. But he's become—he's become a friend. And together, we got a deal done that has not been able to be done. It was a deal that's very good for both parties.

Prime Minister Starmer. A really good deal for both of our countries.

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. And very, very well received here——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——in the United Kingdom.

President Trump. So thank you very much for having us.

Prime Minister Starmer. Thank you.

President Trump. Appreciate it.

Any questions?

Russia/Ukraine

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

Q. Mr. President, I just want follow up on Russia. Earlier, you said that you were going to change the deadline from 50 days.

President Trump. Yes. I——

Q. So, what is your new deadline on Russia?

President Trump. I'm going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There's no reason in waiting. There's no reason in waiting. It's 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Humanitarian Assistance

Q. Mr. President, on Gaza, you just talked about setting up food centers in conjunction with other organizations.

President Trump. Right.

Q. Are you talking about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or recognized aid agencies? How will this work?

President Trump. Well, it's going to be working with the United States. We'll be helping with the food. You know, we have a lot of access to food. We've got a lot of food ourselves, and we're going to bring it over there. We're also going to make sure that they don't have barriers stopping people.

You know, you've seen the areas where they actually have food, and the people are screaming for the food and they're 35, 40 yards away, and they won't let them because they have lines that are set up. And whether they're set up by Hamas or whoever, but they're very strict lines, and we have to get rid of those lines.

But we're going to be getting some good, strong food. We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are—that's real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that.

Prime Minister Starmer. [Inaudible]

President Trump. So we're going to be even more involved. We did some airlifts before, some airdrops, and the people are running for it.

And the Prime Minister is going to help us. They're very effective with that. You've done that before—

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes. Yes.

President Trump. ——for many—they've done that for a hundred years, very well. So, it's not—

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

It's not very hard to do, actually.

Yes.

President Trump's Affection for Scotland

Q. Mr. President, you say you love Scotland. You're the most Scottish President ever in the White House. Is there a better deal to be done for Scotland, for Scottish industry, in the—deal that you've done with the Prime Minister? Whiskey, for example?

President Trump. Well, we have—I have great love for Scotland. You know, my mother loved Scotland, and she loved the Queen. I don't know, I might hurt myself by saying that. The monarchists are going to like it. Some other people might. But she loved the Queen. Whenever the queen was on television, she wanted to watch. And she would come back religiously. She'd come back to Scotland once a year with my sister Maryanne, primarily, and sometimes my sister Elizabeth also.

But they loved this part of the world. And you know, we're talking about the Isle of Lewis. We're talking about serious Scotland. That's serious Scotland. There's no—there was no doubt about it.

So, yes, it gives me a feeling. You know, it's different—you go to another country: You have no relationship to it. You've got to like, maybe, the head of the country or something. But it's different when your mother was born here. Stornoway—right in Stornoway, a beautiful, little place.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

United Kingdom/Trade With U.S.

Q. So is there a batter deal to be done? Is there a better deal to be done for Scotland for whiskey, for example? Because of your love of Scotland, is there a better trade deal to be done for Scottish businesses, like whiskey?

President Trump. Well, I assume when we do our trade deal overall, a lot of it comes to Scotland, I hope. Maybe all of it should go to Scotland.

Prime Minister Starmer. It's a very good deal for the whole United Kingdom. And we have already achieved great things on the deal, and we'll achieve even more as we work together.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. A lot of it is going to Scotland. I mean, I do know that. But, I mean, we're dealing with the U.K., but a lot of it comes to Scotland. And you know, I was very particular. This is a part of the world I want to see thrive. It's going to thrive.

Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, back to Gaza. You talk about Hamas stealing food and stealing aid. What responsibility does Israel have for limiting aid to the region? And if I could ask a follow-up to the Prime Minister: What pressure can be put on Israel, and is that something that you and the United States could work on together?

President Trump. Israel has a lot of responsibility. They're hampered by the fact that you still have 20 hostages or so, and the people of Israel are very concerned about the 20 hostages. It's very interesting. You could say they could be more concerned about retribution than the 20 hostages, but they really want the 20 hostages to survive and live to make it.

You know, many of the hostages came to my office in the White—the Oval Office, and I was amazed by—I would ask them the question: "Was there any sign of love? Was there any sign of—when you were a hostage and you have all of these people from Hamas around you—sometimes hundreds, sometimes 10, sometimes 2, but you're a hostage, and you're being stored in a pipe"—it's not even really, you know, a cave or anything.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. It's a pipe, a little pipe. And some said they didn't think they were going to make it because they were losing air. There wasn't enough air. And they'd open up the pipe just in time. But they didn't do it on purpose. They just happened to open it. They got lucky.

But I said: "Did they ever wink at you and say, like, 'Don't worry, you're going to be okay'? Did they ever give you some extra food, even if it was a piece of bread? Did they ever give you anything during that time?" And some were there for 4-, 500 days now, right? That's a long time—a year and a half, more than that. And not one person said there was any love from anybody.

You know, in other words, you have hundreds of people—and you see it in the movies, where somebody is a prisoner, and somebody is helping. You even see it with Germany, where people would be led into a house and live in an attic in secret. You know, you'd see signs of some—I said: "Did you see anything like—did they wink at you? Did they say, 'Don't worry, you're going to be okay'?"

I never received—I asked that question all the time. I've never received one answer that said, "Yes, they really wanted to help." No, the hatred is just incredible.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories/Iran

Q. But, sir, on the access to food issue, can—what more can Israel do? And, again, to the Prime Minister as well.

President Trump. Well, I think Israel can do a lot. I will say that Iran, I think, interjected themselves in this last negotiation. Can you imagine? The beating they took—we wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we'll wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. We'll have to do that. We will do that gladly—openly and gladly.

They've been saying—Iran has been sending out bad signals, I'll tell you. For a country that just got wiped out, they've been sending very bad signals, very nasty signals, and they shouldn't be doing that. They shouldn't be doing that. They were talking about things that they shouldn't be talking about. They were interviewed on a recent show, and the Foreign Minister, saying things that he shouldn't be talking about, shouldn't be saying.

And I think they got involved in this negotiation, telling Hamas and giving Hamas signals and orders, and that's not good. That's not good.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, I would say, look, we need to get the hostages out. They've been held for a very, very long time, and we must always start from there. But also recognize the situation on the ground in Gaza is absolutely intolerable.

And I think that, certainly, speaking for the British public and myself, seeing those images of starving children, in particular, are revolting. And there's a sense of revulsion in the British public at what they're seeing, and they know and we know that humanitarian aid needs to get in at speed, at volume.

Yes, some could be air-dropped, and we're working with others—with the U.S., with Jordan—on that, but the trucks need to get in, because that's the only way you can get the volume in. And we do thank the President for the work he's done to try to get to a cease-fire, which we desperately need, but also to put aid in to the region. There needs to be much more of that. We need to galvanize other countries in support of getting that aid in.

And yes, that does involve putting pressure on Israel, because it absolutely—this is a humanitarian catastrophe now.

We also need to look beyond that situation to what then happens in the event of a cease-fire, which is desperately needed. And that's why I'm really pleased that we're having a discussion about what a peace plan would look like after that, the component parts of that.

And we have to be really clear, at this point, that Hamas can play absolutely no part in any future governance in Palestine, and that's—and in Gaza. And it's really important that we're clear about what triggered this, who took the hostages, and calling out Hamas for what they are, which is a terrorist organization.

But I think, today, the focus has to be on getting that humanitarian aid in at speed.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Pharmaceutical Industry

Q. Mr. President, will the U.K. avoid your pharmaceutical tariffs? And will it happen before August the 1st, if they do?

President Trump. Well, we'll be announcing on pharmaceuticals sometime in the very near future. We have a very big plan on pharmaceuticals. We want to bring a lot of the pharmaceuticals back to America, where—you know, where they should be.

If you look at COVID, it sort of taught us a lesson. We were getting our pharmaceuticals from other countries. We almost didn't make any. We used to make them ourselves. And we're going to want to be making a lot of them ourselves—all of them, in a sense.

But you also have a good pharmaceutical business.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. We'll be dealing with you on pharmaceuticals also. And we certainly feel a lot better with your country working on pharmaceuticals for America than some of the other countries that were. With the relationship we have, you would not use that as a cudgel. You wouldn't be using it as a block.

But we're going to be announcing sometime very soon, I think, pharmaceuticals, our whole thing. And the companies know. And drug prices are going to be coming down very substantially in the U.S.—very, very substantially. And that will happen very soon.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia

Q. Mr. President, we all sense your frustration with Vladimir Putin——

President Trump. No. Go ahead, please. Hold it.

Q. Sorry, we can all sense your frustration with Vladimir Putin.

President Trump. Yes.

Q. Do you think he has been lying to you about his intentions in Ukraine?

President Trump. Well, I don't want us to use the word "lying." All I know is, we'd have a good talk, and it seemed—on, let's say, three occasions, it seemed that we were going to have a—a cease-fire and maybe peace, and you divide it up, and you do whatever you have to do that—obviously, to get to the end. And all of a sudden, missiles are flying into Kyiv and other places.

And I say: "What's that all about? I spoke to him 3, 4 hours ago, and it looked like we were on our way." And then I'd say, "Forget it, and I'm not going to talk anymore." You know, this has happened on too many occasions, and I don't like it. I don't like it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Truth Social/Social Media Websites/Internet Safety for Children and Youth

Q. You have a successful social media site. There are new powers here to censor your site, state-mandated powers.

President Trump. To censor my site?

Q. To censor your site and Twitter——

President Trump. You mean Truth?

Q. ——and Facebook.

President Trump. Truth Social?

Q. I mean Truth. Is that okay?

President Trump. Well, I don't think he's going to censor my site——

Prime Minister Starmer. No, no, no.

President Trump. ——because I say only good things there.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. Will you please uncensor my site? [Laughter]

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, we're not censoring anyone. We've got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites. We've had too many cases in the United Kingdom of young children taking their own lives. And when you look through their social media, they've been accessing sites which talk about suicide and, you know, encouraging, if you like, children down that road, and that is what we want to stop. Nothing about censoring free speech.

Q. But that treats all adults like children.

Prime Minister Starmer. But this country is a proud——

Q. But that can treat all adults like children.

Prime Minister Starmer. Free speech in this country has been for a very long time. We're very, very proud of it. We will protect it forever.

But, at the same time, I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers, and that's what it usually is, from things like suicide sites. I don't see that as a free speech issue. I see that as a child protection issue.

President Trump. We actually passed a bill in Congress, headed up by my wife, actually——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——which was to pull bad stuff out——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——having to do with children, because it is a problem. But I cannot imagine him censoring Truth Social. [Laughter] That's more of a very political—and you know, it's been a very big success.

Prime Minister Starmer. Not going to happen.

President Trump. And I only say good things about him and his country. So, if they censor me, you're making a mistake, I have to—[laughter]. I'm going to give my Ambassador the job, make sure it's not censored.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Warren Stephens. It's not happening.

President Trump. I had not heard that.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Tax Code Reform/U.S. Economy

Q. You're—a big investor in this area, Mr. President——

President Trump. Say it.

Q. You're a big investor in this area of Scotland.

President Trump. To put it mildly. Like, this ballroom that we built from scratch.

Q. Do you worry, though, about being—the risk of increased taxes here? Will that stop you investing? And do you have a message last night on the soccer—to the English Lionesses who won the European trophy?

President Trump. So I think that I have a theory that low taxes bring growth. We just passed a big tax cut bill. The biggest bill in the history of our country, actually. And—"One Big Beautiful Bill." I used to call it the "Great One Big Beautiful"—we took the word "great" out. But it's actually called the "One Big Beautiful Bill." It's essentially a very large tax cut bill for everybody.

And our country is pretty soon—I think I can say—it right now: Our country has never done better. We had a country that was dead. It was dead 6 months ago, a year ago. Leaders from NATO, when I—we had a very successful meeting—

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, very good. Yes.

President Trump. ——at NATO. Your Prime Minister was there. It was an unbelievable lovefest with all of those countries. And they agreed to go 5 percent and all the things. Very smart to do.

But many of the leaders said—you know, essentially, they said, "Your country was dead 1 year ago." One year ago, we had a dead—and we did. We had a dead country. We had a President who didn't know where the hell he was. We had horrible, horrible people running our country. I think they were sick people, actually. Sick.

You talk about censorship, that's—those are big—that's all they did was censor, and they didn't know what to do. And they had high taxes.

They wanted more tax, total censorship, transgender for everybody, men playing in women's sports. Everything bad they wanted, and they still do. That's what they still do. That's why they're down at 15 percent or something, I saw today; the lowest that the other part of the Democrats have ever been.

But no, I think—I find that when you lower taxes, you get growth. I will say this area—and the Prime Minister hasn't been here very long, on all fairness. I think he'll be a tax cutter. But I find that as we cut taxes, we did more business.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

The President. You know, in my first tax bill, we cut taxes from 39 percent down to 22 percent. And we ended up, at the end of the first year—when it was still a little raw—we ended up taking in much more revenue than we did at 39 percent. It was pretty amazing.

And we're taking in a lot of revenue right now, and this was an additional tax cut. So, I find, for whatever it's worth, tax cuts are very good.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes. I——

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/U.S. Sanctions/Ukraine

Q. On Russia. You moved up the deadline. It's now 10 or 12 days.

President Trump. Yes.

Q. Is the sanction the same that you're going to slap a hundred-percent tariff on anybody who does business with Russia? And what's the threat?

President Trump. So what I'm doing is, we're going to do secondary sanctions as—unless we make a deal. And we might make a deal, I don't know. I don't know. You don't know. It's—we've done so many peace deals. This is the one I started out with. And you know, this is—I know President Putin called me. He wanted to know if I could help him with Iran. I said: "No, I don't need your help with Iran. I need your help with Russia." [Laughter] And so that's the one deal that continues to linger.

And, you know, we're losing 5,000—they're losing—I'm not losing, you're not losing—but 5,000 Russian——

Prime Minister Starmer. [Inaudible]

President Trump. ——and Ukrainian kids a week are dying. And that's not mentioning the people that are dying, also, in towns where, you know, he's lobbing missiles into certain towns, like Kyiv.

And he's got to make a deal. It's—too many people are dying. It's a really bloody war. And the five are now—they're really telling me that number is obsolete. It's like 7 seven.

Prime Minister Starmer. That's terrible.

The President. So you have 7,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dying every single week, for no reason whatsoever. So you would think—based on common sense, you would think he'd want to make a deal. We'll find out.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Russia/Ukraine/North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Q. [Inaudible]—you say publicly? Have you had any other—through any channels, conversations with the Russians reiterating this?

President Trump. In—what?

Q. Reiterating this new pressure and deadline.

President Trump. You know, we're going to have—yes. I mean, well, you're the press. I'm reiterating it to you.

Yes, I'd say 10 to 12 days. I'll announce it probably tonight or tomorrow. But there's no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait? And it—would be sanctions and maybe tariffs—secondary tariffs. You know what a secondary tariff is.

And look, the Russian—I don't want to do that to Russia. I love the Russian people. They're great people. I don't want to do that to Russia. But this—this thing, I—they're losing a lot of Russians. They've lost a million Russians. And that's the—you know, sons. That's the sons and daughters of Russian families. They leave the house, they go, "Bye, Mom, bye, Dad," and then they get blown away. And Ukrainian too. Look what—look at Ukraine. It's a disaster what's happened there.

But it continues to go on. As you know, we made a deal where the European Union is essentially involved. But it's NATO, and we're supplying weapons to NATO. NATO is now paying, because—the United States, because of Biden, is in for $350 billion. The European nations are in for about $100 billion. Should be the opposite way, by the way, because we have a big ocean in between. Should be the opposite way.

But I think that eventually something is going to happen—it should happen fast. So many people are dying. You know, when I settled out with Congo and Rwanda, they lost almost 8 million people. And it just made so much sense. And if I didn't get involved, they wouldn't have done it. They weren't even thinking about settling it. It was just going on forever. And nobody could go into those territories, because they'd get killed. They'd get killed. And now they have a—I hear it's a whole different ball game. We settled it. This is one that should be settled, Russia-Ukraine. This is one that really should be settled.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Scottish Independence Referendum

Q. On Scotland, Mr. President. Scotland's First Minister has today set out his plans for a second referendum on Scottish independence. Can I get your reaction to that as someone with deep ties to Scotland?

President Trump. Well——

Q. And, sorry, Mr. Prime Minister, can I also get your thoughts on that? If the SNP do win a majority at next year's election, then they have a right to hold a referendum, do they not?

President Trump. Well, I don't want to get involved in your politics. We've got enough politics of our own. I will say that I predicted what was going to happen the last time. Do you remember? I was opening the first course over at Aberdeen, and I was over here and—at the same time, and they asked me that question and I made a prediction. It was the day before the vote. And I made it correct. I like to be correct, but I made a correct prediction. I don't know.

I do say that when they made that deal, somebody said that it was—and I remember this very distinctly. I said, "Could they do this all the time?" There was a little bit of a restriction, like 50 or 75 years before you could take another vote. Because, you know, a country can't go through that too much.

I don't know the First Minister, but I've heard great things about him. I've spoken to him. I hear very good things about him, and I'm meeting him today, so maybe I'll have a better opinion then.

Prime Minister Starmer. And let me answer that straightforwardly, because I believe in a stronger Scotland, in a better United Kingdom. And I think that, at a time like this, when it's quite clear that there's uncertainty and volatility around the world, the strength of the United Kingdom together is very important for all four nations, very important for Scotland. And that should be our priority. That should be our focus, not on the politics, which feels like the politics of yesteryear now, at a time like this.

And I think that, you know, I—the First Minister should probably focus more on his delivery in Scotland than on his constitutional issues. And we might have a better health service in Scotland.

But, at a time like this, I think the United Kingdom is always stronger as four nations. I think that's better for all four nations. I think that's how Scotland is stronger.

Look at—look at the deal that we've been able to do with the United States, a really important deal that we made just months ago. That is what the United Kingdom can do when we act as a powerful set of four nations together. And there are very many other examples.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Federal Reserve System Headquarters

Q. Mr. President, you toured the Federal Reserve last week.

President Trump. I did.

Q. And they are set to meet this week. Do you think your visit will—has inspired a potential rate cut, or how do you see things shaking out this week?

President Trump. Well, it's interesting. I did tour it. I toured the building.

Q. Yes.

President Trump. And if you looked at this building—if you came here, like 14, 15 years ago—we've had it a long time. It's been an honor to have Turnberry. But I was on much more opulent walls, ceilings, floors. We had to do this.

And we did a very great job. I mean, you see how beautiful it is inside. Everything was saved. Everything was preserved. We had ceilings that were in bad shape. They were falling down. The—you know, it was very old, wasn't properly maintained. Now it's brandnew and beautiful. And we saved everything, the—if you really think here, you took a look and you were sort of commenting, you—to coloring, the—now, this is a brandnew building, but if you look outside, it's equally opulent and beautiful. And we didn't do that by spending, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars in surrounding a railing underneath an area that you're painting.

I mean, I saw—I'd never say that like it: brandnew, beautiful plywood—very expensive—wrapped around a figurine or a railing to preserve it. But you don't have to do that. You can just wrap a cloth. They call it a blanket. And you don't even have to do that, if you're careful when you're doing the ceiling.

But I don't know what they did. They'd take down a ceiling and put up a new ceiling. And the new ceiling had no opulence to it. Or they'd fix the ceiling. But I would say that all I need is a good plaster and a can of paint.

And you know, they spent $3.9 billion. And I spent a lot of money too, but it's, I'd say, three-point—I would say $3.8 billion less, you know, meaning I spent probably $100 million making this place incredible.

Prime Minister Starmer. And you were saying a lot of that was local trades, local business.

President Trump. I used local trades.

Prime Minister Starmer. We were looking at the windows, I think, in the next room.

President Trump. Right. I had local trades——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——do a lot of this. We had—we have the most opulent windows next door. And I had a choice: Do I take them out? You know, they've suffered through 125 years of storms. You have very big storms——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——in this area. When you have a storm, you have a storm.

Prime Minister Starmer. We do it properly.

President Trump. And they made it, barely, but they were in bad shape. So I had some local people come up, and we looked at them. You have some great craftsman here, I think is what you're getting at.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, yes.

President Trump. And they said: "Sir, honestly, they've had it. We can copy it and do it much better." And they did. If you take a look at the windows in the various dining rooms, they're magnificent. And they're new, and they're much better looking than what was there. Same exact look, other than a much higher quality.

Interest Rates

Q. But do you foresee a rate cut?

President Trump. And they're local people. I used a lot of your local people. You have really great local tradesmen here.

Yes?

Q. But do you foresee a rate cut this week? Do you expect the Fed——

President Trump. A rate cut?

Q. Yeah, do you expect the Fed——

President Trump. Meaning a—meaning a tax cut?

Q. No, no, no. Do you expect the Fed to cut rates this week?

President Trump. Oh. I think he has to. You had 11 cuts. You know, in Europe, they had 11 cuts. In other places, they had 10 or 11 cuts. And we had none.

But I'm not going to say anything bad. You know, we're—we're doing so well, even without the rate cut. With the rate cut, it would be better. It affects our housing a little bit.

Look, we should be three points lower. Each point is $360 billion. Can you imagine that? That's big numbers. Each point—one point of cut is the equivalent of $360 billion in savings. That's big stuff. You know, those are big numbers in the U.S. Everything is big.

He should cut. A smart person would cut. You know, he leaves very soon, so it's like one of those things. But I'll miss him greatly. I'll miss him.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Trump Turnberry Hotel and Resort/Golf

Q. On Turnberry. On Turnberry, if I may. Have you or will you enlist the prime minister in your effort to bring the open back to Turnberry? And, Prime Minister, you described this beautiful course. Do you agree with the President that it's time to bring the Open back to Turnberry?

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, as you know, that's not a matter directly for me. That's for the sporting authorities.

But look, I mean, it is—the first time I've been here. It's absolutely magnificent, both inside and out, and looking at the courses itself and the building. It's incredible.

But the decision on the Open is not a decision for me, as you'll understand.

I should just pick up on the earlier question, because I, for one, will say congratulations to the Lionesses last night, our women's football team——

President Trump. That's right.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——won the Euros.

President Trump. That's right.

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, defended the Euros, I should say——

President Trump. That's a big story.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——which was a really big success, and the mental and physical resilience that they showed was quite incredible.

President Trump. It's a big deal.

Prime Minister Starmer. So there's a lot of bunting out today and tomorrow to celebrate them——

Q. Did you get the chance——

Prime Minister Starmer. ——bringing that cup home.

President Trump's Upcoming State Visit to the United Kingdom

Q. Did you get the chance to do any planning for the upcoming state visit? And how is that going to work? Where would you stay? And anything about this?

President Trump. Well, I'm looking forward to it. It's never been done before twice. We had our original at Buckingham Palace——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——and now, I guess, we're going to Windsor.

Prime Minister Starmer. Windsor, yes.

President Trump. And it's never been done. And I'm a big fan of King Charles. I have—I've known him for quite a while. He's a great guy. He's a great person. I had—he looks really well to me. He looks great.

So we look forward to coming over. It's going to be—it's—it was one of the most beautiful evenings I've ever seen. I hate to say it, but nobody does it like you people—[laughter]——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——in terms of the pomp and ceremony.

Ambassador Stephens. It's true.

President Trump. And I look forward to being here with the ambassador. Our Ambassador is a very, very successful man who just wanted to do this. And I said, "How do you—how are you to be able to do that?" And he's so committed to, you know, the relationship between the countries. But he's very great guy and a very, very successful man. So I very much thank you for doing this.

Ambassador Stephens. Well, thank you for the honor, sir.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, United Kingdom

Q. Mr. President, after the state visit, will you go to London, or are you worried it's no longer a welcoming city?

President Trump. About what?

Q. Will you visit London during the state visit or are you worried it's——

President Trump. I will. I'm not a fan of your mayor.

Q. Why not?

The President. I think your mayor is—I think he's done a terrible job, the mayor of London. But a nasty person. I think he's done a—I think——

Q. Do you worry that it's no longer safe?

President Trump. No, I think he's——

Prime Minister Starmer. He's a friend of mine actually. [Laughter]

President Trump. No, I think he's done a terrible job. But—but I would certainly visit London, yeah.

United Kingdom's Reform U.K. Party Leader Nigel Farage/President Trump's Upcoming State Visit to the United Kingdom

Q. Will the Parliament be recalled? So MP Nigel Farage has asked for Parliament to be recalled when you're there, so you can talk to the MPs.

President Trump. Well, I like Nigel. I mean, like, Nigel, as you know, is a friend of mine. Nigel has done very well. He's a friend of mine, and Keir is a friend of mine.

Q. Would you recall Parliament so that the President can talk to MPs?

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, Parliament is in recess at the time. But look, I do want to be clear: This is an unprecedented and very special state visit. This has never been done before. There will be many elements of it that have never been seen before. So this is going to be a historic occasion, and we're all very much looking forward to it.

And I was very, very pleased to be able to put forward the invitation when we were at the White House earlier this year.

President Trump. That's right.

Prime Minister Starmer. So—but this is not just a state visit. They're always incredible occasions, and this is an unprecedented second state visit. So you can imagine just how special that's going to be.

President Trump. The fact that it's never done—been done before, and that's because it's nonconsecutive. And it's the only reason it could be—made it even more interesting, frankly. So it's going to be great.

And being with Charles and Camilla and everybody I've gotten to know—because of four years and now six months—gotten to know a lot of the family members. They're great people. They're really great people. And in that sense, I think that the U.K. is very lucky.

You can have people that weren't great people. I don't know if I'd say that, but you could have people that weren't but——

Prime Minister Starmer. We're very lucky to have our——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——royal family. They're absolutely fantastic.

President Trump. So we really look forward to that. As far as Parliament, I'll—if he wants me to speak in Parliament, I'll do it. [Laughter] Okay. But it doesn't have to be that. It could be some other time. Maybe we should save it for another time. We'll let the one visit speak for itself. But anytime, if I could be helpful, I would certainly do it. Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. On Gaza. What kind of alternatives are you considering to get the hostages out if there's no cease-fire deal?

President Trump. Well, there are a couple of alternatives. Some are pretty strong. But the most sensible alternative is talk and negotiation. But I said a long time ago, at a certain point, they're not going to be talking, because they're going to lose their shield.

The hostages are a shield for them. They did horrible things on October 7, and the hostages are a shield. And I said, "You know, you're going to get down a number, and the number is going to be at a point where you're not going to be able to get them back, unless you're going to be very energetic, or to put it a different way, unless you're going to be very ruthless and violent." It's a bad situation to be in. Very bad.

Q. Mr. President, with the EU deal last night——

President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia/Russian Economy

Q. Mr. President, back to Russia. You talked during the campaign about President Putin respecting you and that helping you have a relationship with him. Do you still feel that way, that he respects for you, considering the conversations you've had that have been really nice, or is he being disrespectful?

President Trump. Yes. I've always gotten along with President Putin. I have had a great relationship with him. And he went through the "Russia, Russia, Russia" hoax too. You know, I mean, it was—we used to talk about it. We used to say, "You know, it's too bad we really can't do anything between our country." Because if we did, they'd say, "Oh, it's, you know, some"—look, I was tough on Putin, because I was the one that closed up Nord Stream, and Biden came along and opened it up. I was very tough on Putin, in one way, but we got along very well. And I—I never—you know, I never really thought this would happen. I thought we'd be able to negotiate something out. And maybe that will still happen, but it's very late down the process. So I'm disappointed.

And you know, the funny thing is that their economy isn't that big, and it's having a hard time right now. But it's a relatively small economy—a strong military but strong economy and—it used to be a strong economy. Now it's not.

He's gone through a lot economically. It's not easy. But it's pretty small, you know, compared to that magnificent size of that land. The land is massive. It's got, I guess, nine time zones or something. It's a massive piece of land.

Russia could be so rich. It could be so rich. It could be thriving like practically no other country. And they're holding that back, because we can't—he wants to do trade deals with us. He talks about it all the time. He wanted to, and I envision that—a lot of trade with Russia.

They have a lot of valuable things. When you talk about rare earth, they have serious rare earth. Right? They have just about every form you can have.

So, you know, Russia could be such—so rich right now. Instead, they spend all their money on war. They spend everything on war and killing people, and it doesn't make sense to me. I thought he would want to end this thing quickly. I really felt it was going to end. But every time I think it's going to end, he kills people.

Q. Could a meeting help? And are you considering, as been proposed, to meet in Turkey?

President Trump. I don't know. I'm not—you know, I'm not so interested in talking anymore. He's—he talks. We have such nice conversations—such respectful and nice conversations. And then people die the following night in a—with a missile going into a town and hitting—I mean, recently, I guess, the nursing home, but they hit other things. Whatever they hit, people die. So I don't—and we'll see what happens.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

United Kingdom Politics/President Trump's Accomplishments in Office/2024 U.S. Presidential Election

Q. We've just had a sense of your differences in political persuasion, where Nigel Farage and Sadiq Khan came up in conversation. I wonder if you have any advice, either of you, for a very divided, polarized world, on how you make your relationship work when you come from—

President Trump. Not differences. Yes, it's not differences. I happen to like both men. I like this man a lot, and I like Nigel. And you know, I don't know the politics over here. I don't know where they stand. I would say one is slightly liberal—not that liberal, slightly—[laughter]—and the other one is slightly conservative. But they're both good men.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, look, I mean, we like each other. We respect each other. We get on, and we've both got a great love of our countries, of our families. And therefore, there's a huge amount that we have already achieved, actually, together and will achieve as we go forward leading our respective countries and, of course, the relationship between our countries.

Donald, we were talking about this this morning—that whether it's defense, security, intelligence sharing, it's a close, historic relationship. We have fought together in the past. We've always stood together. And I, for one, am very pleased that we've got such a good personal relationship between us.

And I think it just shows that even if you come from different political perspectives, different backgrounds, actually, there's a huge amount of common ground when it comes to what is in the best interests of our two great countries. And they are two great countries. And I think that because we focus on what's best for our countries, we get along very well, and I'm very pleased that that's the case.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. I do know he wants to cut taxes as much as he can. And you know, politics is pretty simple. It's—I assume there's a thing going on between you and Nigel, and it's okay. You know, it's two parties.

But generally speaking, the one who cuts taxes the most, the one who gives you the lowest energy prices and the best kind of energy, the one that keeps you out of wars—he's kept you out of wars—but the one that keeps you out of wars. You know, you have a few basics, and—and you can go back a thousand years——

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes.

President Trump. ——a million years, whoever does these things. But low taxes, keep us safe, keep us out of wars, no crime—stop the crime. And, in your case, a big immigration component, you know, because I know that your attitude has become strong on immigration, strong on the toughness of immigration.

But I think whoever is going to be—I think I won because of—I think I won because we had a lousy President, to be honest with you. We had an incompetent President. But I won because of—I was very strong on immigration.

Now, we had inflation. We had sort of a bad economy with this guy. We had a lot of problems, but the—I focused on immigration more than I did anything else. And I think I won because of immigration. I think I won because of the border. I had a bad border, where millions of people were coming into our country illegally.

And, as you know, in—last month, zero people came into our country illegally. Zero. So we went from a bad, incompetently run border to the most competently run border that anybody has ever seen.

Q. Prime Minister, the President makes it look easy, dealing with illegal migration. You must be envious of his record in such a short period of time.

Prime Minister Starmer. Well, I think we've been discussing—irregular, illegal migration is a huge issue in both of our countries. In the United Kingdom, it is a real cause for concern, and that's why we must bear down on it in all its aspects—upstream across Europe, where a lot of ours comes into, through Northern France, across the channel. Working with our allies, with our colleagues to break the gangs that are actually running this trade. But equally, being very strong that when people are—have arrived in this country who have got no right to be here, then we should be removing them to their own country.

And that is why I am really pleased that we have been able to focus on this very intensely and get 35,000 people out of the United Kingdom—had no right to be here—because the message has to be: You can't make your way to the United Kingdom. We won't tolerate our rules being broken. And if you get here, you will be returned to where you came from.

Q. But we have such an attractive—but we're such an attractive place.

Prime Minister Starmer. It's really important that we bear down on that.

Q. We're such an attractive place for people to come because they want a better life, because we are a wonderful country.

Prime Minister Starmer. People coming via the rules are always welcome. Of course, we've welcomed talent and people into this country for centuries, literally. But what the British people will not tolerate is those that break the rules, those that come through irregular routes. And that's the really important distinction here, and that's what we're bearing down on.

And I'm really pleased that we're—through pretty well all of the international engagement I've done, all the meetings I've had, the country we've done deals with—we've done deals with countries in the last 12 months that many people thought it was not possible to do a deal with when it came to immigration—irregular immigration, and we returned thousands of people who have got no right to be here.

And that, I think, is—for the British people, we're a reasonable, tolerant country. Where people are coming lawfully to contribute to our communities, to our country, then, of course, they're welcome, and they've made a great contribution.

But what people will not tolerate is those that are breaking the rules, and that is an issue of today. But it's a very British thing. We are people who respect rules. We don't approve of those that break rules.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

President Trump. I can say, though, that I had one of the greatest victories—they say, the most consequential in 129 years. I don't know about that, but it was pretty close. And we won all of the swing states, which never happens. We won the popular vote by millions of votes. We won, you know, tremendous Electoral College sweep. And I believe I did it, more than anything else, because of my strong stand on immigration.

And I don't think this country is any different in that sense. I think—I think it's a big factor, and it is with a lot of the European countries. Some of the countries have—you know, they've lost their way, and they have tremendous crime because of it. I mean, you had countries with no crime that now have tremendous crime. And you know the countries, and I know the countries.

And so I think it's a huge factor in any election—not just this election, but in any election. I think the one that's toughest and most competent on immigration is going to win the election. But then you add—you add low taxes, and you add the economy.

He did a great thing with the economy, because that—a lot of money is going to come in because of the deal that was made.

But I think that—I think that immigration is now bigger than ever before.

China-U.S. Trade/Trade Negotiations

Q. Mr. President——

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President——

Q. ——your Treasury Secretary is meeting with Chinese trade officials——

President Trump. Right. Right now.

Q. ——right now. Have you received an update? Do you expect a deal when these talks are over——

President Trump. Right.

Q. ——especially with the August 1——

President Trump. Yes.

Q. ——deadline looming?

President Trump. No, they're meeting right now. And, you know, we have a good relationship with China, but China is tough and—like you're tough. You know, we're all tough, I guess. But we're going to see what happens.

We made—we just concluded our deal with Japan. It was very good—good for everybody. We're making, you know, great deals. We're making deals that are good for us, but we want them to be good for everybody. It's important. It's—sometimes I'll do something that I shouldn't do because it's not very important for our country, but it's very meaningful for the country on the other side, and I'll let them have that point because it's very important for them.

So I don't know—but we've made a lot of deals in the last couple of months. And then, ultimately, as you—you might as well know, we're going to just—because we have—you know, you have 200 countries—more. But people don't know that. You've got a lot of countries. And I wouldn't want to sit down with 200 people and have to deal the way I—he was calling me all the time: "We want this. We've got to have that. We have"—[laughter]. He's a tough negotiator.

These are—you know, look, they're smart people, tough negotiators. They know what they want, and—but we're going to be setting a tariff for, essentially, the rest of the world, and that's what they're going to pay if they want to do business in the United States, because you can't sit down and make 200 deals. But we've made the big ones.

We just finished Indonesia. They opened up their country.

We just finished Japan. They opened up their country. You know, Japan opened up the country. They were totally closed. They opened up to our cars, even to rice. Rice was a big deal. They would never take anybody else's rice. They're taking rice. But they opened up their country.

Philippines, we just finished. They opened up their country. They were very closed.

I'd love to see China open up their country.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

So we're dealing—we're dealing with China right now as we speak. Yes, we're dealing with China right now.

United Kingdom/European Union

Q. The deal you've got with the U.K. is better than the one with the European Union. Is that because you think Brexit was a good idea for this country?

President Trump. No, look, you know, we have a very special relationship with this country. Like, you know, my mother was born here—and not only born here, loved it. She'd come back, I told you, religiously every year, and she would go up to Stornoway and see her relatives. But she loved the country.

Yes, that probably has—it always has an impact. Always has an impact.

But you know, Germany has a new leader, and I think he's terrific. I think you like him too.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes. Yes. We get along.

President Trump. I think he's terrific.

My father was born in Germany. Or his—Germany was—his parents had—were just out. But—so, you know, you have—you have a lot of feeling for this—for this part of the world. I do. I want to see this part of the world do well: Germany, Scotland, the U.K. I want—I want this part of the world to do well, all of the nations.

You know, you feel—you do feel a certain—you have a feeling, a warm feeling toward a part when your parents are born, essentially, here. And—well, I think maybe it's slightly different. Maybe it's not. I don't know, but maybe it's slightly different.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Convicted Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell

Q. Mr. President, you didn't completely rule out a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell when you landed. Is that something you would ever consider, and why?

President Trump. A pardon for who?

Q. For Ghislaine Maxwell. In the Epstein case.

President Trump. Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon.

Q. Yes. You are, yes.

President Trump. I—nobody's approached me with it. Nobody's asked me about it. It's in the news about—that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it. So——

Wind Energy

Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, your opposition to offshore wind is—is well-known. In Scotland and across——

President Trump. Wind is a disaster.

Q. But in Scotland and across the U.K., wind farms are cropping up offshore, onshore——

The President. I know. It's a shame. It's not his fault.

Q. Well——

President Trump. I used to——

Q. ——[inaudible]——

President Trump. I used to tell Alex Salmond. [Laughter]

Q. Did you—have you spoken to the Prime Minister, and will you speak to the first minister of Scotland?

President Trump. Well, I just—all I can do is give my w- —look, wind is the most expensive form of energy, and it destroys the beauty of your fields and your plains and your waterways. And look out there. There's no windmills. But if you look in another direction, you see windmills.

If—when we go to Aberdeen, you'll see some of the ugliest windmills you've ever seen. They're the height of a 50-story building, and you can take a thousand times more energy out of a hole in the ground this big. This big. It's called oil and gas, and you have it there—the North Sea. This big, that nobody would even see.

You can take a thousand times more power, because the wind is intermittent. It doesn't work. It's extremely expensive. All the windmills are made in China. They used to be Germany and China; now they're mostly in China. They all come out of China. They say that the blades, which are carbon—carbon fiber—you can't bury. Oh, okay, you can't bury. What are you going to do, dump them in the ocean someplace? Because they only last a certain period of time.

And remember, a windmill has a life of 8 years, especially when they're out in the salty sea and they start to rot and to rust. You're going to have to replace them. It's very hard to replace them.

Wind needs massive subsidy, and you are paying—in Scotland and in U.K. and all over the place where they have them—massive subsidies to have these ugly monsters all over the place. So I restricted windmills in the United States.

Now, a couple, we have—you know, the poor, stupid people at the beginning, they approved them. So they have their full approvals. But I restricted windmills in the United States because they also kill all your birds. You know, they wipe out—you know, it's interesting, if you shoot a bald eagle in the United States, they put you in jail for 5 years. And yet windmills knock out hundreds of them. They don't do anything. You explain that.

So it's a very expensive energy. It's a very ugly energy, and we won't allow it in the United States.

Prime Minister Starmer. So we believe in a mix. [Laughter] And obviously, oil and gas is going to be with us for a very long time, and that will be part of the mix, but also wind, solar, increasingly nuclear—which is what we've been discussing this morning, civil nuclear—as we go forward.

The most important thing for the United Kingdom is that we have control of our energy and we have energy independence and security, because, at the moment, whatever the attributes and facilities in the North Sea, that is sold onto the international market. We buy it back off the international market. That was a historic mistake, in my view.

But what we need is a mix so that we get the energy security that we need for the future, and that's the focus of everything that we're doing.

But what we have discussed today is that the energy prices are too high, which is why we recently took measures to reduce the energy prices, particularly for energy-intensive businesses. But in the long run, the only way to reduce your energy price is to take control of your energy, and that's what we're doing: taking control of our energy.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

King Charles III of the United Kingdom

Q. Mr. President, our King Charles, who you're a great friend of, is a big fan of eco projects with windmills, as you call them. Is he wrong?

President Trump. So King Charles is an environmentalist, I will tell you. And I say that in a positive way, not a negative way. And every time I've met with him, he talked about the environment, how important it is. And I'm all for it. I think that's great, you know.

King Charles, more than anything else, loves the country. But I got to know him very well. He truly is an environmentalist. He wants clean air, clean water—you know, all of the things that we all want.

Department of Justice Files Concerning Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. Mr. President, you have said that you have not been briefed on the Epstein files, but—or your name has not appeared in the Epstein files. But doesn't the AG have to tell you if your name is in the files?

President Trump. Well, I haven't been overly interested in it. You know, it's something—it's a hoax that's been built up way beyond proportion.

I can say this: Those files were run by the worst scum on Earth. They were run by Comey. They were run by Garland. They were run by Biden and all of the people that actually ran the government, including the autopen. Those files were run for 4 years by those people. If they had anything, I assume they would have released it.

The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files. I was running against somebody that ran the files. If they had something, they would have released.

Now, they can easily put something in the files that's a phony. Like, as an example, Christopher Steele, a person you know well—happens to be from your country—but Christopher Steele, as an example, wrote a book—a dossier. We call it the "fake news dossier," and the whole thing was a fake. The whole thing was a fake. They can put things in the file that are fake.

But those files were run by bad, sick people. If they had anything, why didn't they use it when I was killing Joe, and then he gave out because he was 25 points down and then I get—got somebody new? Nobody even know anything about her. She was a horrible Vice President. She was our border czar, but she never went to the border. She never once called a Border Patrol agent to find out how we're doing, but she was the border czar. Her name was Kamala. Nobody knows her last name. It was Harris, but nobody knew her last name.

So I ended up—how would you like to end up in a race where you're killing somebody, you're beating him so—and then they say: "All right. Well, take him out. He's not working. Let's put somebody else"? And then she had a 6-week honeymoon. It was amazing. They predicted she will have a 6-week honeymoon, and she did. And then she got slaughtered.

Q. Do you feel that——

President Trump. But think of it. Those files were run by these people. They were run by my enemy. If there was anything in there, they would have used them for the election.

Yes.

Q. Do you feel that——

Wall Street Journal Reporting on the President's Association With Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein

Q. Do you think that drawing that—I think I heard you say something the other day that the drawing that was the subject of The Wall Street Journal report—

President Trump. I don't do drawings. I'm not a drawing person.

Q. Do you think it was fraudulent or——

President Trump. I don't do drawings.

Q. ——like, someone in your name?

President Trump. Sometimes people would say, "Would you draw a building," and I would draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity. So—but don't—I'm not a drawing person. I don't do drawings of women. That, I can tell you. They say there's a drawing of a woman, and I don't do drawings of women.

And also, you know, Epstein was always a very controversial guy. I was at a very high position, you know, pretty much all my life. In all fairness, I've been—I've been doing this for a long time. I had the top show on television. I had the number-one bestsellers. I had no- —everything, right? And I was a very successful business guy.

He was a very controversial—who would do a controversial drawing?

Now, with that being said, they say there were many letters done by many people, and many big people—you know, big, successful people. But I just don't—when you—you know, when you talk about files, I just keep going back—and other people too. Even the enemy says, "This thing is not correct, because if we had it, we would have used it on the guy." It's a bad issue.

They say it's a good issue for Trump. Do you know that my poll numbers are up four and a half points since this ridiculous Epstein stuff? My poll numbers have gone up four and a half points, because people don't buy it. Okay? People don't buy it.

And he's gone, and we want to focus on trade deals. I want to focus on the deal we just made with the European Union, which is the biggest trade deal in history. It's the biggest deal, I think, in history—not just trade deal.

So, if they would have had something, they would have used it, yeah.

Deceased Convicted Sex Offender Jeffrey Epstein/Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida

Q. And people keep writing stories about the time you threw him out of Mar-a-Lago. What was—can you settle that? What was it about? What caused the breach with him?

President Trump. That's such old history. Very easy to explain, but I don't want to waste your time by explaining it.

But, for years, I wouldn't talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn't talk, because he did something that was inappropriate. He hired help, and I said, "Don't ever do that again." He stole people that worked for me. I said, "Don't ever do that again." He did it again, and I threw him out of the place. Persona non grata. I threw him out, and that was it. I'm glad I did, if you want to know the truth.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

And by the way, I never went to the island. And Bill Clinton went there, supposedly, 28 times. I never went to the island, but Larry Summers, I hear, went there. He was the head of Harvard. And many other people that are very big people, and nobody ever talks about them. I—I never had the privilege of going to his island, and I did turn it down. But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments, I turned it down. I didn't want to go to his island.

Yes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel/Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. Mr. President, on Gaza. Next time you speak to Netanyahu, what will you be asking him to do to——

President Trump. Say it. What? Louder.

Q. Next time you speak to Netanyahu, what will you ask him to do to end the crisis in Gaza?

President Trump. Well, I'm going to say, look, we're giving money, and we're giving food, but we're over here, and we're over in the United States. And I think I can speak for the Prime Minister. We're giving money and things. He's got to sort of, like, run it.

Q. What should he do?

President Trump. Well, I want them to make sure they get the food.

Q. Open—[inaudible]?

President Trump. I want to make sure they get the food, every ounce of food.

I think you wanted to say something.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, absolutely. It's an absolute—[inaudible].

President Trump. Because that food isn't being delivered——

Q. Mr. President——

President Trump. ——or at least all of it.

Tariffs

Q. ——you said you were going to set, essentially, a tariff for the rest of the world. What——

President Trump. For the world.

Q. What percent will that tariff be?

President Trump. I would say it will be somewhere in the 15-to-20-percent range.

Q. So, maybe 15 or 20 or——

President Trump. No, I said—you know, I sort of know, but I just want to be nice. I would say in the range of 15 to 20 percent.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Probably one of those two numbers.

United Kingdom/Trade With U.S.

Q. But U.K. and steel, aluminum makers here are worried about tariffs. Will you do anything to help them here in U.K.?

President Trump. Aluminum?

Q. And steel.

President Trump. You're a pretty big aluminum maker, aren't you?

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes, that's already covered in the deal that we've agreed. So, we're just doing the implementation of that.

Q. But, Mr. President, when will that come down from 25 percent to zero on British steel?

President Trump. You mean on the overall?

Q. Yes.

President Trump. On the world?

Q. On steel and aluminum from Britain, it's 25. And you said it would come to zero.

President Trump. Well, we're going to know pretty soon. We're going to have it pretty soon, yes.

Q. Mr. President, on Canada and——

President Trump. You have real—you have no idea that these people are tough negotiators. Okay? But we're a big buyer of steel, but we're going to make our own steel and we're going to make our own aluminum, for the most part. But we buy a lot of aluminum from right here and a lot of steel too.

Prime Minister Starmer. Yes. Yes.

Q. On Canada——

President Trump. Who are you with?

Q. We have a lot of unhappy——

President Trump. Who are you with? Because you're asking such nice questions.

Q. Sorry. GB News. Bev Turner from GB News.

President Trump. Very good.

Q. We have——

President Trump. They're lucky.

United Kingdom/Trade With U.S./Agricultural Industry/Tax Code Reform

Q. We have a lot of unhappy farmers in this country at the moment, and I'm sure the prime minister won't thank me for raising this. We've had changes to inheritance tax, which mean a lot of farmers feel they're going to lose their farms when they die or their father dies. How important are farmers to a country?

President Trump. Oh, you mean they're going to lose the farm because of estate taxes on the——

Q. The—correct. So that when the—when they die——

President Trump. So what I've done——

Q. ——they'll have to pay so much. They're cash poor, but they have great properties.

President Trump. I know. Well, they're cash poor. They're land rich and cash poor. A lot of people are. I've had that too. I've had—sometimes I'm land rich and cash—sometimes I'm cash rich and land poor. I like it both ways, but as I get older, I like the more conservative route.

So I did something that I don't know if you can do, but it was great. I love our farmers. As you know, in our tax bill, we have a clause that's very important. We were losing a lot of farms to the banks, because a—a mother—a loving mother and father would die and left their farm to their children or their child—but their children, their family. And they loved their family, and they would—they thought they were doing them a favor, but they had a 50-percent tax to pay. So the land would get valued and at a high number, because some of the farms were valuable, but they didn't—you know, they—you—they couldn't quantify it. And they go out and borrow money to pay the estate tax—or the death tax, as it's called—and they'd overextend, and they'd lose the farm. And they'd commit suicide, in many cases.

Q. We're seeing that.

Prime Minister Starmer. No, no, no, no. Our—our levels are nowhere near 50 percent.

Q. They're not at 50 percent, but the dissatisfaction is—[inaudible]——

Prime Minister Starmer. They're not. We've just introduced——

President Trump. Yes.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——where it's paid over many years. Works out about——

President Trump. Well, that's good.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——an extra 2 percent a year over 10 years. So it's not at those levels by any stretch of the imagination.

But the other thing that we've done, as you know, is make sure that we've got a pathway for farmers that actually increases their year-on-year income, which is the most important thing. And in all of the deals that we do, we ensure that our farmers are the central focus for much of it, particularly on agriculture——

President Trump. That's good.

Prime Minister Starmer. ——and including in the U.S. deal, because I don't think we can go on for years saying that it's acceptable for farmers to have a year-on-year income which isn't sufficient. We've got to fix that problem. We cannot simply live with that problem.

So it's a very different situation.

President Trump. Well, we ended the estate tax. There is no estate tax on farmers.

Q. We need to do the same.

President Trump. So, when a parent leaves their farm—because, again, a lot of these farms, they don't make a lot of money, but they—it's a way of life, and they love their way of life. And they love that dirt. That dirt is the most beautiful thing they've ever seen. They love it. I mean, they're farmers. They love doing—they don't know how to do anything else, but they don't want to do anything else.

I speak to farmers. I say: "Would you like to live in my penthouse in Manhattan? It's the most beautiful"—"No, sir, I want this farm."

And what happens is—I mean, we were losing a lot of people to suicide. They'd buy—they'd borrow money to pay the estate tax, and they would—were not able to pay it. And some banks are ruthless; they wouldn't do anything. And they would end up committing suicide.

We have totally ended the estate tax on those situations, so there's no estate tax. So, when a parent leaves the farm to the kids, they don't have to worry about their local, possibly unfriendly banker coming in and stealing their farm.

Q. Mr. President——

Q. On Canada and Mexico——

White House aide. Thank you, press.

Q. On—back to migration.

White House aide. Thank you, press. Thank you, press.

Q. One the hot, flash-point issues in Britain——

White House aide. Thank you, press. Thank you, press.

Border Security

Q. ——is migrants being housed in hotels and people in the local communities not feeling safe. Is that an appropriate place to be housing migrants? Does Britain need——

President Trump. I don't like anything about it. They shouldn't be allowed in. Anybody illegally should not be allowed in the country.

Thank you all very much.

White House aide. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

President Trump. Thank you. Thank you.