Remarks on Prescription Drug Prices and an Exchange With Reporters

The President. Hello, everybody. Nice to have you. This is a big announcement. We have a lot of big announcements. They're sort of all big announcements, actually.

It's wonderful to be in the Oval Office. I think you probably like it the best. You like it the best for press conferences? I sort of do.

But today I'm excited to announce another historic achievement in our quest to lower drug prices for all Americans. You know, prices have come way down. We've gotten prices way down for groceries, for oil, especially. Today we broke 60—$60 a barrel. They'll be—we think the oil is going to be under $2 gallon very soon. That's about 70-percent lower than what it was just a year ago. So that's a big thing. And when the oil comes down, everything comes down. It's pretty beautiful to watch.

AstraZeneca, the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer in the United Kingdom, is committing to offer Americans major discounts on their vast catalog of prescription drugs—one of the great companies, by the way—and a most-favored-nations pricing clause.

So most favored nation is, you're going to pay whatever the lowest price anywhere in the world is. That's what you're going to be paying. And I was—I had it going very well in my first term, but we were interrupted by a rigged election, so I was unable to carry it forward. We started it, but this was something I—one of the reasons I wanted to run again was we had to have favored nations, where the world is not going to be paying just a fraction—just a tiny fraction of what we were paying.

I want to thank CEO Pascal Soriot—very highly respected, one of the most respected men in business and certainly in the industry—for joining us today, as well as Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, and Virginia Governor—a man who's done an incredible job—and good luck with the upcoming election. I know you're working very hard. I watched you—you're right there. He's out there working. He wants to see that young woman win—and the attorney general, who I endorsed, et cetera, et cetera. Glenn Youngkin. Thank you very much, Glenn. Thank you for being here.

For many years, Americans have paid the highest prices anywhere in the world for prescription drugs by far—by far—many times the amount that other countries are paying. Ridiculous. Upon taking office, I signed an Executive order to make sure that Americans pay no more for prescription medications than the lowest price for the same drug in other locations and developing nations.

Today AstraZeneca is committing to offer all of their prescription medications to Medicaid at most-favored-nations prices—in other words, the lowest price anywhere in the world; that's what we get—a move that will save American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

And I tell the story, Glenn, that in my first term, I had the honor of being the first President in 28 years to lower drug prices during the course of the year. And we actually did, and I was so proud of myself. We called a news conference. I announced it. It was one-eighth of 1 percent. One-eighth of 1 percent. Now drug prices are going to be going down 100 percent, 400 percent, 600 percent, 1,000 percent, in some cases.

But for one-eighth of a cent—Bobby, think of that—I was so proud. Because for 28 years, nobody had done it, and now it's, I think, back to that. I said I shouldn't have had that news conference. But it is true, I was the only one that did it. But it was not very much. And now we're going to get, in some cases, 1,000-percent reduction. And this is going to have a huge impact on everything from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid, anything where they're buying any prescription drugs. It's going to have an incredible impact. It's going to lower itself greatly.

AstraZeneca will also list many of their most popular drugs online at TrumpRx.gov. TrumpRx. I don't know why they put the name Trump. I did not tell them to do it, but I'm honored to let them do it. [Laughter] It's true, actually. And heavily reduce most favored nations cost. Americans can expect discounts. And as I said, of—it could be, in many cases, way over 100 percent.

And as an example, one particular drug that's hot, very hot—654 percent on inhalers. COPD and asthma, as well as certain diabetics medications, they're going to be averaging about 654-percent reduction in price. You believe that one? The Democrats will say, "Well, he should have gotten more." It's crazy.

In addition, all medications AstraZeneca introduces to the American market going forward will also be sold at these heavily discounted rates.

Furthermore, AstraZeneca will invest $50 billion in the United States over the next 5 years for research and development of new drugs and to onshore manufacturing facilities across the country, like the new plant that broke ground yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the governor attended.

They had a tremendous group of people attending. It's going to have 3,600 jobs just to begin with, and that's going to be a fantastic plant. I saw a picture. It's going to be the best, right? It's—can't get any better.

This is a tremendous victory for Virginia and for American patients and for everything, for the country. It's an amazing company to have coming over to the United States in such a big way. That's going to be a big part of the company.

Presidents have promised for years to lower the cost of health care, but my administration is actually the first to do it and do it substantially, do it at numbers that nobody thought—even I thought were not possible, when you think. Think of it. If you got a 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 percent, that's good. You did a good job. We're talking about 100, 200, 300, 500, 700, in some cases. Some big, big numbers.

And the largest drug companies in the world are working with us to make this a reality. And so, I look forward to being at your opening of that incredible facility. I hear it's something, and it's in a great location, Glenn, right? One of the beautiful locations.

So I'd now like to ask Secretary Kennedy to say a few words, followed by Dr. Oz, Pascal, Governor Youngkin, and we'll take some questions afterwards.

Would anybody like to have some questions—yes? Oh, I'm shocked. Okay. We'll take them right after. Okay?

Bobby, please.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Thank you, Mr. President. I talked about this a little yesterday in the Cabinet meeting, but it's worth repeating because it shows the—this historical achievement is really monumental.

When I was in my confirmation process, virtually every Democratic Senator showed me their preoccupation with making sure that we completed—that I was going to continue—to get a commitment from me and continue the IRA drug price negotiations. The IRA required the Democrats—while President Biden was in, in the first year of the IRA, to negotiate 10 drug prices down. And then I was supposed to, my first year, negotiate 15, and 15 every year thereafter. And that was their plan.

[At this point, Secretary Kennedy continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

So I want to thank the President for your visionary leadership. I want to thank Dr. Oz for his part and Marty Makary in negotiating this deal; Dr. Heidi Overton, Theo Merkel, Chris Klomp, and John Brooks, who all played critical parts in the negotiation; and, of course, Howard Lutnick, who was the key to these negotiations.

Who do we—who do we bring up now?

The President. [Inaudible]

Secretary Kennedy. Dr. Oz.

Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz. Thank you, Secretary.

The President. He'll—he'll take your place, Pascal. [Laughter]

Administrator Oz. Oh, Pascal—I get to introduce Pascal, which I'll do with great joy and honor.

So the world is watching as President Trump tries to make peace in every place he can go. But at the same time, President Trump is putting peace into the hearts of Americans and bringing peace of mind to them, especially Americans who cannot afford their medications.

And just to put a number on this, as we—he releases us from the bondage of paying three times more for the exact same product made in the same factory, in the same pill box, in the same instruction manual overseas—rather, in this country than we pay overseas, it creates an opportunity for us, because, Mr. President, you're taking—turning the art of the deal into the art of the heal. And that is something that you're going to witness today in just a second. And we have more coming. But this is a very important one, because I want to set the stage here.

[Administrator Oz continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

Finally, I want to thank Pascal Soriot. Pascal is an interesting, almost enigmatic individual. He's the CEO of AstraZeneca. He is born in France, Australian citizen, knighted in Great Britain, running their largest pharmaceutical company. So you figure out the lineage, but one thing I know is a very, smart man who came here early on, took the President seriously, and he recognized the inherent unfairness of the European model of global freeloading off our innovation. He appreciated the challenge, and he wanted to be part of the solution.

So, Pascal, take it away.

AstraZeneca Executive Director of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot. Thank you so much. So, President Trump, it is really a pleasure to see you again. Since I had a chance to meet you last time you visited the U.K. for your state visit.

The President. That's right.

Mr. Soriot. I know the King actually kept you late during the night, during your visit—late up at night, and I must thank you, actually, for returning the favor. I can tell you you've kept me up at night, and my team as well. [Laughter] But it has been really worth it. It's been worth it because today I'm really excited to announce AstraZeneca's commitment to your vision for a healthy America.

Great leadership is about having an ambitious vision that can energize people, and you appoint a very talented team that can deliver on this. Your vision is exactly that. It is about lowering the price of medicines for American patients while ensuring that America remains a global powerhouse of innovation in biopharmaceuticals.

[Mr. Soriot continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

So AstraZeneca's commitment to the United States is very strong, and this agreement ensures we'll make an even bigger difference for American patients.

So, Mr. President, thank you again for welcoming me in this beautiful office and for making this moment possible. Thank you so much.

The President. Thank you very much, Pascal. Thank you very much.

Mr. Soriot. Over to you, right?

Governor Glenn A. Youngkin of Virginia. Well, first of all, I just want to thank everyone for celebrating this landmark moment. This landmark moment is not just a moment to announce a new way to buy less expensive, lifesaving medicine but it is a step-function change in the way that Virginians and Americans can access medicines.

And it is a step-function change because historically there was an opaque pricing mechanism that had so many people standing between the manufacturers and the patients that no one knew really what it cost.

Well, now we can go direct to consumers, and that's what TrumpRx is all about: going direct to consumers, where a consumer can come and find that particular medication that they need and go direct to the company and get the best possible price.

[Gov. Youngkin continued his remarks, concluding as follows.]

And therefore, I believe this is a moment to celebrate: to celebrate investment, but more importantly, to celebrate breakthroughs for American citizens to get access to lifesaving medicines at costs that they deserve, because they're all made here.

Mr. President, you and your Cabinet have been amazing. As a Governor, I have found that the cooperation with every one of your Cabinet members—and, sir, yes, you—has been beyond compare that I could ever imagine. I want to thank you for helping us make Virginia great again too. Thank you.

The President. So we have—at this moment, I think we just cracked $18 trillion in commitments and investments in our country. As an example, the last administration was far less than $1 trillion for 4 years. We're at plus-$18 trillion for 8 months. There's never been anything like it in history, in any country, anywhere in the world.

So that's great. But maybe for purposes of this, more importantly, we're going to bring drug prices down at numbers that nobody ever thought possible, Glenn. I think nobody ever even thought it was possible.

So we're going to be doing a lot of business, but we're going to be—also numbers that—when you're 2-, 3-, 4-, 500-percent less—I just noticed one of them over here: 654-percent discount—654. The laggard is 98 percent, right? Nine—is that right? Wow, 96—230 percent. But 654—and we have some that top that by a lot.

So it's really going to be incredible. And that's going to be so good for Medicaid and Medicare and everything, frankly. For your life, it's going to be so good. So nobody ever thought they were going to see.

And don't let Democrats take the credit, because, you know, they'll try. They'll say, "Oh, we worked so hard," and they didn't work hard. They did—they obstructed. They actually did the opposite.

So that's really more important than even the tremendous investments being made in our country. But think of it. We cracked $18 trillion—with a "t"—trillion dollars. And frankly, $1 trillion for 4 years wasn't that bad. He did less than a trillion. But we did that in a period of 8 months.

So it's pretty record-shattering by—by many trillions of dollars. Any country, no matter what country you're talking about, nobody's done numbers like that.

So thank you all for being here. Do you want to have a couple of questions?

[Several reporters began asking questions at once.]

Yes, please.

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain/AstraZeneca

Q. Yes, Mr. President, one on this, if I could, and then one on China, if I may.

The President. Okay.

Q. First, on this. Could you have brought these pharmaceutical companies to the table without that 100-percent tariff that you imposed?

The President. Well, it's not a hundred percent. You're talking about China might be a hundred percent?

Q. No, I'm talking about the hundred percent you imposed on pharmaceuticals for that sectional tariff.

The President. I would never have been able to bring them—now, I'm not sure that Pascal would like to say it, but behind the scenes, he did say tariffs were a big reason he came here and also the fact he loved Virginia. He liked this guy. He liked me.

I think the November 5 election was a very important date. We had a good election, and that was important.

But yes, he's here. A lot of—I can speak for almost everybody that's here, most of them are here because of tariffs. Because you have to understand, he has no tariffs. If you build in this country, there are no tariffs. So——

China-U.S. Trade

Q. Let me ask you about China, if I could. Just want to confirm: Have you canceled your meeting with President Xi? And——

The President. No, I haven't canceled, but I don't know that we're going to have it.

Q. And if——

The President. But I'm going to be there regardless, so I would assume we might have it. But, you know, they hit the world with something that really is not anything that people are going to do, and it's—it was shocking.

I can tell you, Howard and I and Todd, we all—we all—Scott, we were all speaking about it before. And it was—we said, "Where did that come from?" It was just that was out of the blue. Right? Out of the blue, they came up with this whole import/export concept, and nobody—nobody knew anything about it. So——

Q. Well, Mr. President, they rolled back their export controls—the new announcement. Would you roll back your 100-percent tariff?

The President. Well, yes, they—look, we're going to have to see what happens. That's why I made it November 1st. We'll see what—what happens. Yes.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Q. Mr. President, the last time——

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Go ahead, please.

U.S. Export Controls/China-U.S. Trade

Q. What else besides software could be on the table in terms of export controls?

The President. Oh, a lot more. A lot more.

Q. And what——

The President. I mean, you have—you have software, but you have a lot more. We have airplanes. We have airplane parts. You remember that from last time. We were just surprised that China—I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and they did that.

This is not something that I, you know, instigated. This was just a response to something that they did. And they didn't really aim it at us. They aimed it at the whole world. The whole world is—is subject to it. So I thought it was very—very bad.

But we have many things, including a big thing is airplanes. They have a lot of Boeing planes, and they need parts and lots of things like that.

Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters].

U.S. Cease-Fire Proposal Between Hamas and Israel/Hostages Held in Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. How did you persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the Gaza deal? And what will be your message to the Knesset when you speak to them?

The President. Well, he wanted it. You know, it's been a long time. He's been fighting a long time. He's been fighting hard. He wanted it. It's a great deal for Israel, but it's a great deal for everybody—for Arabs, for Muslims, for everybody, for the world.

And, as you know, on Monday, the hostages come back. They're getting them now. I mean, they're getting them now. They're in some pretty rough places, under earth. They're in some pretty rough places where only a few people know where they are, in some cases.

So they're getting them, and they're also getting the bodies—approximately 28 bodies. And some of those bodies are being unearthed right now as we speak. I mean, they're working on it right now as we speak. It's a tragedy. It's a tragedy.

No, he was very happy with it. And I can tell you that I saw Israel dancing in the streets, but they were dancing in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. and many, many countries. I saw Egypt—they were dancing.

I'll be going to Israel. I'll be speaking at the Knesset, I think early on, and then I'm also going to Egypt. They were terrific. But all of the countries were great. Indonesia was great. Jordan was great. They were all great. Everybody—everybody—wants this deal to happen.

Gaza, Palestinian Territories

Q. What happens in Gaza the day after the hostage release?

The President. Day after what?

Q. The day after the hostage release, what happens there then?

The President. Well, hopefully, you have great success for—I call it everlasting success. I think you will too. I think—I think you're going to have tremendous success.

And Gaza is going to be rebuilt. And you have some very wealthy countries, as you know, over there, and it would take a small fraction of their wealth to do that. But—and I think they want to do it.

And we're also—we're also setting up, as you know, a board of peace. It's called the board of peace. I don't know if that's the final name, but it—the word "peace" is definitely in there. And they after—asked me if I'd chair it. We'll make sure things go well.

Hamas Attacks of October 7, 2023, on Israel/Peace Efforts in the Middle East

Q. And how confident are you that the cease-fire will hold?

The President. I think it will hold. Yes. I think it will hold. They're all tired of the fighting.

Don't forget, you had October 7, which was a horrible day—1,200 people killed. But Hamas has lost 58,000 people. That's big retribution. That's big retribution. People understand that.

So, no, I think they're all tired of fighting. And this really gives the whole Middle East—this is beyond Gaza. Gaza is very important, but this is beyond Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East. And it is a beautiful thing. You know, it's a term that you and I have been hearing since we were very young, right? And now we have a chance of really having that.

And as you know, most of the countries have passed all these resolutions. Every country is there. Iran came in. I was very happy to see that. I was very honored that Iran came in. They said they support it.

Russia came in, President Putin. He supports it fully—very fully.

So I was happy to see even countries that weren't necessarily involved in the process, they all support it. Every—I don't know of anybody that doesn't. And I've never seen happier people than many of these places—not just Israel. Many of these places, they're all dancing on the streets. I've never seen anything like it.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, go ahead, please. In the back.

Hamas

Q. Thank you. What guarantees did you give Hamas to persuade them that Israel won't restart the bombing campaign once the hostess have been exchanged?

The President. What did I do with respect to them? Well, you know, I spoke a little bit tough, and that's what would happen. I mean, you have to speak tough. It's a—that's a tough world. That's a tough, as they say, neighborhood.

And they're tough people. They're very tough people, and they're smart people. They're good negotiators. They're—you know, they have a lot of things going. They put that to good use, they're going to be very, very successful.

But they knew the retribution would be tremendous, unsustainable. It would have been unsustainable. Would have been—it would have been complete obliteration, and they didn't want that. And nobody wants it at this point. They want to get on with, you know, rebuilding the entire Middle East.

It's not only Gaza. It's going to be the entire Middle East. They're going to be able to live in peace.

No, we have some little hot spots, but they're very small. You know the ones I'm talking about. They're very small. They'll be very easy to put out. Those fires are going to be put out very quickly.

Yes, ma'am.

Peace Efforts in the Middle East

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Talking about the Middle East still. Going to the phases that come after this first phase, is there a consensus on the additional points in your plan, or are the details still being fine-tuned at this point?

The President. I think there is consensus on most of it. And some of the details, like anything else, it will be worked out, because you'll find out that when you're sitting in a beautiful room in Egypt, you know, it's easy to work something out, but then sometimes it doesn't work from a practical standpoint. So certain little things. But for the most part, there's consensus, yes.

Q. Do you intend to hash that out when you're in Egypt?

The President's Travel to the Middle East/Presidential Medal of Freedom

The President. I might. Yes. I mean, I'll be there, because I'll be going to—I think we'll—I'll go to Cairo. I think that's where we're going, as opposed to the place of the signing. And we have a lot of leaders from all over the world coming too. You know, they've been invited.

And then I'm coming back, I believe it's Tuesday night, for Charlie Kirk, a friend of mine, a friend of all of ours, a friend of a lot of the people right here. And we're giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor you get outside of the congressional Medal of Honor. One's military, one's civilian. But it's the greatest honor.

And Erika, his beautiful wife, is going to be here, and a lot of people are going to be here. So, you know, it's not easy for me to get back. It's a very quick trip, but I'll be making two major stops, and then I'll be on the plane trying to get back in time for Charlie. They're going to have a great celebration at the White House—in the East Room of the White House.

Federal Workforce Reduction Efforts/Lapse in Federal Government Appropriations

Q. Mr. President——

The President. Yes, please.

Q. ——Russell Vought said the reductions in force have begun related to this shutdown. How many layoffs have you authorized for this first round——

The President. Well, it'll be a lot.

Q. ——and from which agencies?

The President. And it will be Democrat-oriented, because we figure, you know, they started this thing, so they should be Democrat-oriented.

Q. But can you give us any numbers?

The President. It will be a lot, and we'll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it will be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats. I mean, they want to give 1½ trillion dollars to people that came into the country illegally.

More important than that—because we all have a big heart, we want people to be taken care of—but you know, we have zero people coming in. You know that, Glenn, right? It's—that's a pretty impressive number, even for a successful Governor.

But we've had, for the last 4 months, zero people coming in illegally. They're coming in, but they're coming in legally. They're coming in through a process that's really a really good process right now, because we want people to come in, but they have to come in legally.

So what we're doing is, as—as these different groups come due, we're going to make a determination. Do we want to allow it? And—and I must tell you, a lot of them happen to be Democrat-oriented. These are people that the Democrats wanted that, in many cases, were not appropriate. We fought them at the time, and it was ultimately signed in, and some of these people—these are largely people that the Democrats want. Many of them will be fired.

Yes, please. Behind you.

Nobel Prize for Peace/The President's Foreign Policy/Golf

Q. Yeah. The Nobel Peace Prize was announced this morning. Your thoughts?

The President. Which one?

Q. The Nobel Peace Prize, your—your thoughts?

The President. I—look, I—including a very big one. And I'm not sure—you know, when you say "big," it's certainly, I think, to the mind of most, the most important deal ever made in terms of peace. But the one we just signed—it's been signed, sealed, and it's going to start taking place now. It's already started. Monday is going to be a very big day when the hostages come back.

But I made eight deals, transactions of wars. One was 31 years going on; 10 million people were killed. One was 34 years. One was 36, 37. One was 10. One was just starting—two were just starting, actually, but they were well on their way.

In the case of India and Pakistan, seven planes were shot down. It was—it was a bad one, and I—I did it largely through trade. I mean, that one, numerous of them, I talked tariffs. I said, "Look, if you're going to do that, we're going to put very big tariffs on your country." And they were both great. They stopped fighting, and they were two nuclear powers.

So, you know, they're all big. They're—every one of them big. You take a look at the Congo—you take a look at the Congo and Rwanda—10 million people killed over a long period of time. Got that one solved.

We did a total of eight as of this—2 days ago, I would have said seven, which I did say, but the other one was signed up, sealed. As you know, the—Israel signed it just now. They signed it and they approved it today, their Parliament. And it's a great honor to be involved with so many.

So the person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today—called me and said, "I'm accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it." That—a very nice thing to do. I—I didn't—I didn't say, "Then give it to me," though. [Laughter] I think she might have. She was very nice.

And I've been—you know, I've been helping her along the way. She—they've—they need a lot of help in Venezuela. It's a basic disaster.

So—and you could also say it was given out for '24, and I was running for office in '24. You know, all of the transactions that we did, in terms of closing—but there are those that say we did so much that they should have done it.

But I don't take—I'm happy because I saved millions of lives—many millions of lives.

And speaking of somebody that saves lives, don't ever play golf with him, because Keegan Bradley just walked in—[laughter]—one of the greatest golfers in the world, the captain of the Ryder Cup.

And, man, I'll tell you, you did a good job. You almost came back. I turned on—I said—you know, I sort of turned off. It wasn't looking good. And then a little while later, I turned on. I said, "You guys might make"—that would have been the miracle. What a great job.

He's respected by those golfers like nobody. And I just want to compliment you, Keegan. That was an incredible job. Right here we have a lot of unfriendly fake news media, but—and he's not used to that. He's used to getting only good publicity, I think, Howard. These are all golfers.

But you're some golfer, I'll tell you that, and some leader. Thank you very much.

Professional golfer Keegan Bradley. Thank you.

The President. Great job. Thank you.

[Several reporters spoke at once.]

Yes, please.

Immigration Enforcement Actions/Public Safety in the District of Columbia/ Deployment of Military Personnel to U.S. Cities/National Economy/Artificial Intelligence

Q. Mr. President, on immigration. ICE are making arrests—targeted arrests at courthouses in New York City and around the country——

The President. Criminals—they're arresting criminals. That's right.

Yes, go ahead.

Q. So what's your reaction to that?

The President. I'm happy about it. I want them to arrest criminals. And if you take a look at DC, a year ago, DC was—this, our great Capital, was a very unsafe place. You know that. Some of you were mugged and talk openly about it. Some of the media was mugged.

But right now, DC is one of the safest places in the whole country. The restaurants are booming. They're opening up new restaurants. The restaurants were all closing. Now you can't get into a restaurant. They're opening up new restaurants.

It took 12 days for us. We sent in—not politically correct—military—we sent them in based on merit. You know, we won the case in the Supreme Court. Everything now is based on merit. Our country was founded on things based on merit.

Like Keegan Bradley is not going to be playing golf if he wasn't a great player. He's—if he shoots lower scores, it's—boy, there's no more merit system than that one, Keegan, right? You're either—if you miss a putt, you—they don't say, "Oh, that's okay, let's take it again," do they? No, it's based on merit. Everything is based on merit, and we're back to the merit system.

And when they saw that military—that military is all about merit. They're big, strong people that want to—they're patriots too.

And you take a look at DC, and now we're in Memphis, and Memphis was really crime-ridden. It was terrible. A lot of people being killed. And they say, in 12 days, they can't even believe how much better it is. And it will take probably a month over there.

And we're heading to Chicago, because we want to save Chicago. Do you know they had over 4,000 people killed in Chicago over a short—4,000 people. And I have to watch their slob of a Governor stand up and say that: "Well, everything's okay. We've got it under control."

They had 4,000 people murdered over a very short period of time. That's—there's not a city in the world, I don't believe, that can claim—you know, you hear so much about different—I won't, you know, embarrass anybody, like by saying Mexico City or by saying anywhere in Afghanistan—there's no place like that.

And then I have to listen to the mayor, who's got a 5 percent approval rate, maybe less. He's an incompetent man. And the Governor is an incompetent guy. He's a guy that was thrown out of his family business like a dog. And his—I know his family very well, and now he's a Governor.

And when I watch him trying to say that: "It's okay, we have crime under control. I lost 4,000 people over a very short period of time—over, I believe it's like 6-, 7,000 people were shot but didn't die, but 4,000 people died." And then he gets up and talks about how it's not a problem.

Or Portland, Oregon—I mean, every time I look at that place, the place is burning down. There's fires all over the place. When a store owner—there are very few of them left—but when a store owner rebuilds a store, they build it out of plywood, and they don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up because they know it's going to be ripped down. And then I hear how wonderful it is. It's not wonderful. It's a disaster. That's almost an insurrection, that place.

So we put our people in there, and they do the job, and they've really done the job. And the beautiful thing is we've done it. Twelve days, we had this place safe, and now it's—I would say, within a month, it was beautiful, and it continues to be. That was three months ago.

I'll tell you, DC now is one of the hottest places, just like this country. We were a dead country—and you've heard me say it a hundred times—we were a dead country. King of Saudi Arabia said it. Others say—the Amir of Qatar said it. Many—U.A.E. said it. The leader—great leader, U.A.E.—all great leaders. They said, effectively, the same thing: One year ago, we had a dead country. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

I just want to thank everybody. And I want to, in particular, thank AstraZeneca. What a great company you have. What a company you've built. You've been there a long time and done some job. It's an honor to have you.

I assume you're going to build—so it's $4-, $4.5 billion for a plant. That's a pretty big plant, isn't it, huh? I was going to say, could he make it a little bit more? [Laughter]

Well, we have a couple of them where they're going to spend $65 billion on one plant. You know, the AI. All I know is it's—you know, AI is based on information. I hope they're right about information. I don't know. You've got to make a lot of money to—it's got to be a lot of information out there. But that seems to be pretty hot.

But we have a lot—we're leading the world on information, on AI, as you know, by a lot. It's not even close. So we're doing a job.

And I want to thank everybody. But, in particular, Pascal, thank you very much.

Mr. Soriot. Thank you.

The President. It's a great honor. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody. Have a good—[inaudible]—store owner.