*Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020 *

**Remarks Prior to a Meeting With President Barham Salih of Iraq and an Exchange With Reporters in Davos, Switzerland **

*January 22, 2020 *

*President Trump.* Well, thank you very much. It's great to be with the President of Iraq, and we are obviously working on a lot of things together. We're working on military. We're working on ISIS. We're working on—we have a whole host of very difficult things to discuss and some very positive things also. And we've been friends, and the relationship is very good. And I just want to thank you very much, Mr. President. Please.

*President Salih.* Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. It's an important opportunity to meet President Trump to talk about the developments in our neighborhood. These are challenging times, difficult times. And I look for a very fruitful and candid conversation with the President.

We have had an enduring relationship, and the United States has been a partner to Iraq and in the war against ISIS. This mission needs to be accomplished, and I believe you and I share the same mission for a stable, sovereign Iraq that is at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbors.

*President Trump.* Great. Thank you very much.

*U.S. Military Presence in Iraq *

*Q. *What is the plan for pulling out U.S. troops from Iraq?

*President Trump.* Well, we're talking about a lot of different things, and you'll be hearing whatever we do. But they like what we're doing, and we like them, and we've had a very good relationship. I can only speak for my administration; I won't speak for past administrations, frankly. But we've had a very good relationship.

And we're down to a very low number. We're down to 5,000. So we're down to a very low number, historically low. And we'll see what happens.

*Iraq-U.S. Relations/Iraq's Petroleum Industry *

*Q. *Mr. President, are you still considering sanctions against Iraq?

*President Trump.* We'll see what happens, because we do have to do things on our terms. Okay?

*Q.* Mr. Salih——

*President Trump.* We——

*President Salih.* We have a lot of common interests: the fight against extremism; stability in the neighborhood——

*President Trump.* That's right.

*President Salih. *——a sovereign Iraq that is stable, friends of the neighbors, and friends of the United States.

*President Trump.* And we're also involved with them in their oil business, and that's always been very important from their standpoint and from our standpoint. So we have a lot of very positive things to talk about. But we are down to a low number, and we've been there for quite a while. So we'll make a determination.

Okay? Thank you all very much.

*Q. *President Salih, what was your reaction to the death of Qasem Soleimani?

*President Trump.* Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

We're going to do a news conference today. We have one other meeting, and then we're going to be doing a news conference right after this.

*President Trump's Schedule *

*Q. *You're doing a news conference, Mr. President?

*President Trump.* So that will be, I would say, within the next 45 minutes. Yeah, before leaving. We're going to be leaving in a little while.

We've had tremendous success in Davos. And we'll be leaving in a little while, but we'll do a news conference—a quick news conference. And then, we head back. Some of you are coming on a very nice plane.

Okay? So I'll see you in a little while.

NOTE: The President spoke at 11:34 a.m. at the Davos Congress Centre. In his remarks, he referred to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) terrorist organization.

*Categories:* Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: Davos, Switzerland; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Iraq, President Salih*.*

*Locations: *Davos, Switzerland.* *

*Names:* Salih, Barham*.*

*Subjects:* Iraq : Oil supply and refining; Iraq : President; Iraq : Relations with U.S.; Iraq : Security cooperation with U.S.; Terrorism : Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist organization.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD202000031.