Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025
October 26, 2025
[President Trump's remarks were joined in progress.]
President Trump. I think the press is worn out. They've been—look. I think the press has had it. They can barely make it.
Hello. I'll see you back on the plane.
Q. Hi, Mr. President.
President Trump. Politico. Politico. [Inaudible]
Q. Hi, Mr. President.
President Trump. Hello, how are you?
Q. How are you feeling?
President Trump. I feel good.
Brazil-U.S. Trade/Tariffs
Q. What's going to be your message to President Lula?
President Trump. [Inaudible]
Q. Are you going to raise the tariffs?
President Trump. Yes, I think I want to raise them on Mexico a little bit—[inaudible].
Brazil—Brazil is—we're going to—we're going to make a deal. I think we'll make a deal with Brazil. We get along very well.
We met just before I found out that they turned off my teleprompter at the United Nations. When I walked up, I had no teleprompter. I just shaked—I shook his hand and then got up, and they were introducing me, and I see all the leaders—158 leaders—and I notice there was nothing on my teleprompter.
That wasn't nice, but it worked out well. And I think it was a better speech than if I had it.
Brazil-U.S. Trade
Q. Mr. President, are you convinced—or were you convinced by the Brazilian Government that the reasons you presented to impose tariffs on Brazil were not fair?
President Trump. No, I think everything's fair. Look, you know, we have economies, and I have a lot of respect for your President, as you know—a lot of respect for Brazil.
So we'll see. We'll probably work out some deals. I'll leave these guys to work them out. But I think we're going to work out some deals. We have to get——
Q. Mr. President, about the——
President Trump. We have to get certain things.
Q. ——about the—[inaudible]——
President Trump. Wait. Who's that shouting? Who's shouting? Is that you? Don't shout.
Don't shout.
Who was—well, first of all, let me just say it's a great honor to be with the President of Brazil. It's a great country. It's a big, beautiful country. And I think they're doing well. I think they're doing very well, from what I understand.
And I think we should be able to make some pretty good deals for both countries. And I'm going to leave that a little bit to Jamieson and Scott and Marco in different ways. Marco—less on the economic side. You could—you could do it very well, but I don't think you'll have to.
But I think we'll have—I think we'll be able to do some pretty good deals. We've been speaking, and I think we'll end up having a very good relationship. We always have had a good relationship. I think it'll continue.
President Lula. I think the press will have good news after we end the meeting. It's only assumptions before we start the meeting.
Brazil is highly interested to have an extraordinary relationship with the U.S. There's no reason for having any kind of conflict between Brazil and the U.S. I believe that when two Presidents sit around the table and each one raises their viewpoints and their problems, and then we can move forward to reach a deal afterwards.
And I am convinced and I said before I came here I was very optimistic to advance the relationship between Brazil and the U.S.
I don't know if President Trump will have time, but I have an agenda to discuss with you. I brought it in writing. I'll give you a copy of our agenda, already in English. If we don't have time to—I don't know if we'll have time to discuss all the issues here, so that's why I brought—I brought it in writing.
[At this point, several reporters began asking questions at once.]
Brazil-U.S. Trade/Cambodia/Thailand/Russia/Ukraine
Q. President Trump, you said yesterday—Mr. President, you said yesterday that under the right conditions, you would reduce the tariffs of Brazil. What are those conditions, the circumstances?
President Trump. We're going to see. We're dealing on it right now, and we'll be discussing it for a little while, and I think we'll probably come to a conclusion pretty quickly.
We know each other. We know what each other wants. I think we'll come to a conclusion. I think we'll come to a lot of conclusions this week.
This has been a very big week. We concluded a war just now. We just had the official signing. And that was a great honor. That's actually why we came here.
We had Cambodia and Thailand and, really, lots of others. We've done eight, and we're looking to do number nine, which would be Russia and Ukraine.
So we've done a lot of work—[inaudible]——[Several reporters spoke at once.]
We've done a lot of good work. So yes, please—please go ahead.
Former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil
Q. How are you feeling about Mr. Bolsonaro, Mr. President?
President Trump. Well, I've always liked him. I've always liked him. I feel very badly about what happened to him, really. I've always thought he was a straight shooter, but you know, he's gone through a lot.
President Trump's Meeting With President Lula
Q. Is this on the agenda today?
President Trump. He's going through a lot.
Q. Is on the table today?
President Trump. It's none of your business.
China-U.S. Relations
Q. What about China, Mr. President? Are you concerned with—about the President's relationship with China and its privileged commercial relation?
President Trump. No, I think we're going to do well with China. I think we're going to have a deal with China.
We meet, as you know, in South Korea with President Xi. I think we're going to have a good deal with China. And they want to make a deal, and we want to make a deal. We've agreed to meet.
And we're going to meet them later in China, and we're going to meet in the U.S., in either Washington or—or at Mar a Lago, Palm Beach.
So no, I think—you know, a lot of these talks—when we meet, we've done a lot of discussions before we meet. We've done discussions with Brazil. So I think we're going to end up having a good deal for both countries.
I think, with China, that's going to happen. And we have other deals—you know, we have Japan, we have South Korea. We have a lot of meetings.
But people seem to be very interested in China. I think we're going to have a——
Q. Brazil——
President Trump. ——a very fair meeting with China. Yes.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Yes. Right here. Yes.
Q. Can you lift some of the tariffs today on Brazil? Brazil is requesting that——
Brazil-U.S. Trade
President Trump. Yes, we can do things fast. We move quickly. We're very nimble. We're very nimble.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
Q. Do you plan to discuss the situation—do you plan to discuss the situation in Venezuela?
President Trump. Not you again. Please no. [Several reporters spoke at once.]
Go ahead, please. Yes.
Venezuela
Q. Are you discussing your actions in Venezuela today? And is there anything you're asking the Brazilians to do or not do?
President Trump. I don't think we're going to be discussing Venezuela. They're not involved with Venezuela. They're not dealing with Venezuela.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
You know, I would discuss—if they want to, I'll discuss it. But no, I don't think we're going to be discussing it.
[Several reporters spoke at once.] Yes, please. In the back.
Brazil-U.S. Trade
Q. Mr. President, besides Bolsonaro, is there anything that Brazil can offer to improve relations with the U.S.?
President Trump. We're going to find out in, probably, 15 minutes. It will be go -—it'll go very quickly. They can offer a lot, and we can offer a lot.
Q. Rare earths?
President Trump. Either—it's good—and it's good for both countries. Please.
China/Brazil-U.S. Trade
Q. Mr. President, with you in Asia making all of these deals in China's backyard, what should they take away from the strong U.S. presence in this region?
President Trump. I don't think they should take away anything. I think we're going to have a good deal with China. I think we're going to make a deal. It's going to be great for China, great for us.
I mean, you know, we have a lot of things that are good for both, and we know pretty much—we've been dealing with China. You know, we don't just meet in a vacuum. We've had a lot of discussions—Jamieson, Scott, Howard, Marco—on different things. We've had a lot of discussions with China.
We have with Brazil too. We're not walking into the room, like, with no knowledge. We're walking in with great knowledge. And the meetings don't even have to take that long, frankly. We know pretty much where we are, and we know where they are.
President Lula. I would like to suggest that the press would continue the interview after the meeting. [Laughter]
President Trump. That's a good ending. I like that.
President Lula. We don't have much time, and we will waste time or lose time talking with the journalists. So we have—[inaudible]. If you have the patience, you'll know the results of the meeting afterwards. [Inaudible] You're going to hear the new things that will come out in the meeting.
So I suggest that——
President Trump. They're not great questions today, I must say. You know, it's—they're sort of boring. They're sort of boring questions.
[Several reporters spoke at once.]
We'll see you later. Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke at 3:46 p.m. at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson L. Greer; Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent; Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio; and Secretary of Commerce Howard W. Lutnick.
President Lula spoke in Portuguese, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on October 27.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Brazil, President Lula.
Locations: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Names: Bessent, Scott K.H.; Bolsonaro, Jair Messias; Greer, Jamieson L.; Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio; Lutnick, Howard W.; Rubio, Marco A.; Xi Jinping.
Subjects: Brazil, President; Brazil, trade with U.S.; Cambodia, relations with Thailand; China, President; China, trade with U.S.; Japan, trade with U.S.; Malaysia, President Trump's visit; Mexico, trade with U.S.; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Secretary of Commerce; Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; South Korea, trade with U.S.; Tariffs; Thailand, relations with Cambodia; U.S. Trade Representative; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Venezuela, drug trafficking.
DCPD Number: DCPD202501053.