*Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020 *

**Remarks Prior to a Meeting With President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission and an Exchange With Reporters in Davos, Switzerland **

*January 21, 2020 *

*President Trump.* Well, thank you very much. It's great to be with the President of the European Commission and a woman who's highly respected, I have to say, and I hear a very tough negotiator, which is bad news for us because we're going to talk about a big trade deal. And we've been talking about it for a while, and hopefully, we can get something done.

But it's a great honor, and we will be discussing other things also. But I would say trade, right now, on a deal between ourselves and essentially Europe, is something that we all want to be able to make. So thank you very much. It's a great honor. Thank you.

*President von der Leyen.* Thank you very much.

*President Trump.* Thank you. If you would like to say something?

*President von der Leyen.* Thank you very much for having me here.

*President Trump.* Okay.

*President von der Leyen.* It's a pleasure to meet you for the first time here in Davos. And I think what we never should forget that we have a long history of a common foundation——

*President Trump.* Yes.

*President von der Leyen. *——of a lot of business contacts, friendship, youth exchange, science, culture, since way more than 70 years. So——

*President Trump.* That's right.

*President von der Leyen. *——the American people and the European people are good friends, and this is what we're going to build on. And indeed, we have issues to discuss——

*President Trump.* That's right.

*President von der Leyen. *——and we will negotiate. But I'm looking forward to this relationship.

*President Trump.* Thank you very much.

*President von der Leyen.* Thank you so much.

*President Trump.* It's very nice. Great honor. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

*Senate Impeachment Trial/U.S. Economy *

*Q. *Mr. President, can you say whether you'll ask to introduce a motion to dismiss when the Senate trial begins?

*President Trump.* That whole thing is a hoax. It goes nowhere, because nothing happened. The only thing we've done is a great job. We have the strongest country in the world by far. And it was going in the wrong direction. We have the greatest economy we've ever had in the history of our country.

And I'm in Europe today because we're bringing a lot of other companies into our country, with thousands of jobs, millions of jobs, in many cases. So that whole thing is a total hoax. So I'm sure it's going to work out fine. Thank you all very much.

*Q. *How long will it last, sir, do you think?

*President Trump.* Thank you very much.

*Q.* Mr. President——

NOTE: The President spoke at 2:31 p.m. at the Davos Congress Centre.

*Categories:* Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: Davos, Switzerland; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : European Union Commission, President von der Leyen*.*

*Locations: *Davos, Switzerland.

*Names:* von der Leyen, Ursula*.*

*Subjects:* Business and industry : Domestic investment, promotion efforts; Congress : Senate :: Impeachment trial; Economy, national : Improvement; Employment and unemployment : Job creation and growth; Europe : European Union :: European Commission President; Europe : European Union :: Trade with U.S.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD202000025.