Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2025
October 27, 2025
The President. Hello, everybody.
Q. How are you doing, Mr. President?
The President. How are you? Bumpy weather up in the plane. We're way up in the air. We're a little bit bumpy.
So what's the word? Do you have any questions?
Brazil-U.S. Trade/President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil
Q. Sir, could you tell us a little bit about how the Lula meeting went yesterday?
The President. Very good. We had a good meeting. We'll see what happens. I don't know if anything is going to happen, but we'll see. They'd like to do a deal. We'll see. Right now they're paying, I guess, 50-percent tariff.
But we had a great meeting. It's happy birthday. I want to wish the President happy birthday.
Okay? It's his birthday today. Did you know that?
Q. No.
The President. He's a very vigorous guy, actually, and I was very impressed. But today's his birthday. So happy birthday. All right. Would you let him know, please?
Q. Mr. President, a couple more questions on tariffs. Secretary Bessent has—and Jamieson Greer have——
The President. He's right here.
Q. ——have both said——
The President. Where is he? He's right here, the handsome guy behind me.
Q. Hi. Hi, Mr. Secretary. You've said you've—you're near a framework——
The President. Stand right—stand right over here.
Wait. Let me just give him a little room. He's doing a good job. Come over here. We also have Marco here.
China-U.S. Trade/U.S. Automobile Industry/Tariffs
Q. You said—can you give us a status on the preliminary talks with the Chinese and where that sets things up for Thursday's meeting?
Secretary of the Treasury Scott K.H. Bessent. [Inaudible]—we had a very good meeting, Jamieson and myself, with our counterpart, the Vice Premier, and we have a framework for President Trump, President Xi to decide on. And we discussed a wide range of things, from tariffs, trade, fentanyl, substantial purchase of U.S. agricultural products.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson L. Greer. And rare earths.
Secretary Bessent. And rare earths.
Ambassador Greer. That's the most important.
The President. Nothing has been agreed to yet.
Q. How do you feel about it?
The President. But we feel good. I mean, we feel good. I feel better that this guy has got nice, broad shoulders. If the plane makes a big turn or something, I'm grabbing his shoulder. [Laughter]
Q. Please do.
The President. You know what, [inaudible] over here. Marco, where are you? Come on up here. Want to move over here. I think it's——
Secretary Bessent. Yes. Yes.
The President. Got a good team. This is the greatest team ever assembled.
Q. Mr. President——
The President. You know that if I weren't elected President, in my opinion, every automobile company in the United States would be either bankrupt or very close to it. And instead, they hitting record highs. Their stock is through the roof. You saw Ford and you saw General Motors yesterday go up big. It's all because of tariffs. If it weren't tariffs, it'd be just like it's been for the last 30 years, where we lost about 52 percent of our automobile manufacturing business.
In my opinion, whether it be now or very shortly, if it weren't for what I've done as president, every automobile company in America would be bankrupt. Instead, they're doing phenomenal business. That's all because of tariffs.
All right, go ahead.
Canada-U.S. Trade/Tariffs
Q. You—on the flight yesterday, you said on your Truth Social about the Canada tariffs. Can you walk through when you expect those to take effect? And can I ask why——
The President. I don't know. We're going to—we're going to let them know.
Ronald Reagan loved tariffs. He used them sparingly, which he probably would make a mistake—he made a mistake on that. And again, I'm—I was the biggest fan of Ronald Reagan, but on finance, on trade, it wasn't his strong suit. But he liked tariffs, and they totally changed that to say that he didn't, because they're catering to the Supreme Court, because Canada has been ripping us off for a long time, and they're not going to rip us off anymore.
Canada has been ripping us off for a long time.
Q. Why?
The President. One of the most difficult countries to deal with has been Canada. As much as I love Canada itself and the people of Canada, they've just had a lot of bad representatives.
They did a fake ad yesterday. They were caught. The Ronald Reagan Foundation was the one that caught them, and it was totally the opposite of what they said. So I don't like that. That's dirty pool, and you can't do that. And—and let me just tell you, they shouldn't have done it.
They've apologized, and they said, "We're going to take the ad down." Well, they did it, but they did it very late. They let it play for another 2 nights, and now they took that ad down.
So I don't know when it's going to kick in. We'll see. But I don't really want to discuss it. Let's go.
Ontario Province Advertisement Critical of U.S. Tariff Policy
Q. Can I ask—can I ask—Mr. President, could I just—this is an ad—that was an ad run by a provincial government in Canada. Why are you mad at the federal government?
The President. I don't care. Because the—whether it's provincial or Canada itself, they all knew exactly what the ad was. The Prime Minister knew. Everybody knew. The prime minister knew what the ad was before it ran.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada
Q. Will you see him at APEC? Do you want to meet with him?
The President. I don't want to meet with him. No, I'm not going to be meeting with him for a while. No. I'm very happy with the deal we have right now with Canada. We're going to let it ride.
Federal Reserve System Board of Governors
Q. While we have Secretary Bessent here, can we ask about the Fed search as well? Where are you on interviewing candidates for a new chair?
Secretary Bessent. We're down to five. We're obviously traveling a lot now, but we're going to continue. We're going to do a second round. And we hope to present a good slate to the president right after Thanksgiving. It'll ultimately be his choice. I think he's got a—some very strong candidates.
The President. I'm thinking about him for Fed. What do you think?
Q. You're thinking about Secretary Bessent?
The President. I'm thinking about Marco. I'm thinking about Jamieson. [Laughter] Would you like that? I'm thinking about a lot of people.
Secretary Bessent. I think Stephen Miller.
The President. We do have a lot—Stephen Miller. [Laughter] How about Stephen Miller?
We have a lot of candidates that want the job. Let's——
Q. When do you think you'll make a decision?
The President. I think it's the world's easiest job, but to get it right, you have to be very smart. And we have a person that's not at all smart right now, and for it—he should have been much lower, much sooner. That's why we call him Jerome "Too Late" Powell.
Let's go.
Q. Mr. President——
Missile Testing/Russia/Ukraine
Q. The—Russia said this week that they've tested a new missile that can go more than 8,000 miles. Has that been saber-rattling for you? What is it? What is that?
The President. They know we have a nuclear submarine, the greatest in the world, right off their shores. So, I mean, doesn't have to go 8,000 miles. And they're not playing games with us. We're not playing games with them either.
We test missiles all the time. But you know, we do have a submarine—a nuclear submarine. We don't need to go 8,000 miles. And I don't think it's an appropriate thing to Putin—for Putin to be saying, either, by the way.
You ought to get the war ended. A war that should have taken 1 week is now in its soon fourth year. That's what he ought to do, instead of testing missiles.
European Sanctions on Russia
Q. Mr. President, should the EU use frozen Russian assets to help pay for defense of Ukraine?
The President. I don't know. That's—you have to ask EU. I'm not involved in that. That's up to EU.
Russia/U.S. Sanctions
Q. Are you considering additional sanctions against Russia?
The President. You'll find out.
U.S. Shipbuilding Industry
Q. Mr. President, shipbuilding has been a big part of your trade deals with both South Korea and Japan. Why is it so important to increase our shipbuilding to counter China?
The President. Well, pretty obvious answer to that: because we want more ships. We're going to be back in the shipbuilding industry. We have a lot of companies coming into our country now. They're going to start building. We have the shipyards available.
You know, in World War II, we were the biggest in the world in shipbuilding, and then over the years, we went wokey and stupid and weak, and we started buying ships from everybody.
And you know, we lost that industry, but we'll get that industry back. We were the best at it, and we'll soon be very good at it, if not the best.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of Japan
Q. What are you going to announce in Japan? Can you give us any preview?
The President. We're going to announce—just announce great friendship. I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister. I hear phenomenal things. She was a great ally and—and friend of Shinzo Abe, who was my friend—the former Prime Minister. And he was—he was great. He was one of my best—he was one of the best. Out of the group, he was one of the best—really best.
And I know they were very close, and I think philosophically they were close, which is good. It's going to be very good. That really helps Japan and the United States. I think she's going to be great.
The President's Schedule
Q. Which CEOs are going to come to your dinner tomorrow? Can you say what companies——
The President. I'd rather not say. You'll see tomorrow.
President Xi Jinping of China/TikTok
Q. Are you planning to sign the final deal on TikTok on Thursday when you meet with——
The President. We might. We might. That will be one of the things we're discussing. Somebody reported it's been approved recently. I mean, we got an original approval from President Xi. I expect we'll have an approval, but I'd rather wait till a couple of days to let you know.
Q. Is it part of the grand deal? I mean—[inaudible]—Thursday?
The President. No, but it's something we're going to talk about.
China-U.S. Trade
Q. [Inaudible]—350-percent tariffs on China. Is the understanding from both countries that that will remain regardless of what that——
The President. I don't want to tell you what the understanding is because what we understood yesterday or 2 days ago or even today is not going to be necessarily what it's going to be in two days. We're going to have a great talk. I have a lot of respect for President Xi. I like him a lot. He likes me a lot, I believe, and respects me, and I think he respects our country a lot. And we're going to have—I think we're going to have a successful transaction for both countries.
Crash of a U.S. Naval Aircraft in South China Sea
Q. Have you been briefed on the incident on the Nimitz? Both a fighter jet and a helicopter were lost.
The President. I've heard about it. Yes. Yes.
Q. Do you know what happened there? Was that——
The President. They're going to let me know pretty soon. I think they should be able to find out. It could be bad fuel. I mean, it's possible it's bad fuel. Very unusual that that would happen, to be honest.
Q. You don't think there was, like, foul play or anything, security—[inaudible]?
The President. No, no. They're thinking might be bad fuel. We're going to find out. Nothing to hide. We'll find out.
South Korea/Immigration Enforcement Actions/U.S. Shipbuilding Industry
Q. Sir, has there been a snag in terms of the South Korea trade talks? Is that—how is that going?
The President. No, I don't think so. Scott, is there?
Secretary Bessent. No, there are just a lot of details to work out. It's a very complicated deal, and I think we're very close.
Q. Do you expect to finalize that on Wednesday, or will it maybe not quite be done?
Secretary Bessent. I think not quite. But I think the overall framework is done. We're just getting the—crossing the t's, dotting the i's. That's what Ambassador Greer's team does, and nobody's better at it than they are.
Q. Mr. President——
The President. Do you want to say something?
Ambassador Greer. Sure. So, with the Korea deal, there are a few parts to this. There's some, you know, national security–related issues, which are really, you know, not my wheelhouse. Then we have some pure trade issues where they've had some nontariff barriers to us for a long time, and we've resolved a lot of those. So that's great. And then there's another piece, which is really about investment going forward.
The Koreans have a great plan to invest in U.S. shipbuilding even more than they've already done it. And so they're talking right now, frankly, about how to implement Korean investment in the United States in the best way to make sure that we're——
The President. And especially towards shipbuilding.
Ambassador Greer. Exactly right.
The President. We're very much involved in getting the shipbuilding going again, which, really, we should have never lost. Years ago, they lost that. Years—many decades ago. But we were number one. We'll be either number one or right up around number—China is making a lot of ships. I take my hat off to them. Now, they wouldn't if we had that situation where we charge, essentially, a fee, but we're not looking to hurt their shipbuilding industry.
Q. Mr. President, are you concerned about the——
South Korean Investment and Business Ventures in the U.S.
Q. Have the Koreans asked for any visa guarantees after that immigration raid in Georgia?
The President. No, but you know how I feel. I was very much opposed. Look, when they come in, and they're making very complex machinery, equipment, things, they're going to have to bring some people in, at least at the initial phase. In that case, it was batteries. Batteries are very complex, and they're actually very dangerous to make. You can't just pick people off an unemployment line and say, "We just, you know, opened up a $2 billion battery factory." So we've got an understanding. And this is with the world.
Q. Did I hear you correctly? You said you were opposed?
The President. By the way, this is not just with South—this is—when they come into our country—we have a lot of factories being built by outside—by foreign interests. When they come in, some of these factories make very, very complex, very highly sophisticated equipment.
They've got to bring people in with them for a period of time. They'll teach our people how to do it. But even for a fairly long period of time, they're going to need expertise to be successful.
Q. What pieces?
And we're going to let people know. I'm letting them know right now that when they come into our country, we can expect to see them bring in with them some very talented people that have been doing it for many years. They'll teach our people how to do it. Our people will be just as good as they are within a period of time. And it'll be a phase out. But we want them to bring in experts, and that's the way it is.
Semiconductor Manufacturing/Workforce Development
Q. But, Mr. President, what visa would they come under? And how long would those——
The President. We're going to have that set. We're doing a whole new plan for that. But what you can expect—let's say they come in—for instance, we have massive number of chip companies—in particular, one the biggest, by far; the biggest in the world coming in. You can't expect them to make unbelievably complex chips and computers and other things and pick people off the unemployment line that haven't worked in 5 years. But we're going to. So I want them to come in with talented people, and they're going to—we—it will be a phase out—a slow phase out.
Immigration Enforcement Actions
Q. Did I hear you right that you said you were opposed to the way that raid in Georgia was handled?
The President. I was opposed to getting them out. And in fact, before they got out, they were pretty well set. But before they got out, I said they could stay. They went, they left, and they're going to be coming back.
President Javier Gerardo Milei of Argentina/Argentina-U.S. Trade/U.S. Drug Interdiction Efforts
Q. All right. Did you see the results from the Argentina election? It looks like Milei's party—[inaudible].
The President. Wow. What a great question that is. I love that question because that was a big win in Argentina. I want to congratulate the victor, and he was a big victor, and he had a lot of help from us. He had a lot of help. I gave him an endorsement—very strong endorsement. And it was really unexpected to have a victory of that—some people thought it would be hard to win.
And not only did he win, he won by a lot.
So Argentina, that was a great thing. And I give Scott and I give Jamieson, everybody—Marco—a lot of credit for that, because, you know, we are sticking with a lot of the countries in South America. We're focusing on—very much on South America, and we're getting a real strong handle in South America in a lot of ways, including the fact that we don't want their drugs. We don't want drugs coming into our country, and you're seeing that.
Domestic Agriculture Production/Beef Prices
Q. You had suggested that you might not proceed maybe with the swaps plan or with the changes to beef purchases depending on the result of that election.
The President. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We're going to take care of—look, we're going to take care of our ranchers one way or the—we have two situations. The ranchers, for 35 years, have done very poorly, the cattle people. They've done very, very poorly. And now they're doing well, but the price is up. So what I can see happening is, we're going to take some beef, because I have to get the price down. I want to get—most prices are down. If you look at energy and all the—I have things down, but beef is high, and the cattle ranches are doing good. They backed me from day one. What we're going to do is we're going to make sure that they don't get hurt. But we have to also make sure that I get the prices down. I want to get the prices down like I did with eggs, like I did with lots of others.
We had a couple of them where, when I first took over, eggs were double and quadruple what they were. That was Biden's fault. A lot of this is Biden's fault too. And we're going to get the price of beef down, and I'm going to make sure the cattle ranchers don't get hurt.
State Affairs Commission President Kim Jong Un of North Korea
Q. Mr. President—Mr. President, you talked about North Korea on your way here. Have you heard anything back from Kim Jong Un?
The President. I haven't mentioned it. I haven't said anything. But I'd love to meet with him if he'd like to meet. I got along great with Kim Jong Un. I liked him. He liked me. If he wants to meet, I'll be in South Korea.
Q. Would you extend your trip in order to try to meet Kim——
The President. Say it?
Q. Would you extend your trip in Asia in order to meet with him?
The President. Well, I hadn't thought of it, but I think the answer would be yes, I would. I would do that, sure. It's our last stop, so it's pretty easy to do. Yes, I would you do that.
The President's Schedule
Q. When you do meet with him, sir——
The President. With Kim Jong Un?
Q. Yes. What does the U.S. have to offer him?
The President. Well, I didn't say I was meeting with him——
Q. But if.
The President. ——but I'd like to meet him around. You know, I'll be in South Korea, so I could be right over there. We'll hop——
Q. But what could the U.S. offer him at this point?
The President. Well, we have sanctions. Right? That's pretty big to start off with. I would say that's about as big as you get.
Q. Anything as like an inducement to do a deal?
The President. I just had a good relationship with him. I would love to see him if he wants to, if he even gets this message. We haven't mentioned anything, but he knows I'm going over there. If he'd like to meet, I'd love to meet him.
Air Traffic Control System Staffing Shortages/Lapse in Federal Government Appropriations
Q. Are you concerned about fights being halted at LAX due to shortages for air traffic controllers? Is there a way we could pay them?
The President. Yes, there is. But the Democrat should just do a simple extension. That's the best way. The Democrats are holding it up. They want $1.5 trillion for people that came out of prisons, for illegal aliens that come into our country. We don't want to do that, because that will help—really hurt the health care that we have in our country, and frankly, we'd like to see better health care, period. We're not looking to do that.
The Democrats can solve that problem with air traffic control. All they have to do say, "The country is open." We only need five votes. The Republicans are with us. We only need five votes. So let's see what happens. I would imagine that gets taken care of—not only the controllers but other people too.
Former White House Senior Adviser Elon R. Musk
Q. How is your relationship with Elon these days? And is there a DOGE 2.0?
The President. I think it's good. I mean, you saw that during Charlie's beautiful tribute. Elon came up. It's good with Elon. I like Elon. I've always liked Elon. Elon is good.
Q. Have you talked to him since the memorial?
The President. On and off. A little bit. Yes, very little. Nothing much.
Look, he's a nice guy, and he's a very capable guy. I've always liked him. He had a bad spell.
He had a bad period. He had a bad moment. It was a stupid moment in his life. Very stupid. I'm sure—I'm sure he'd tell you that. But I like Elon, and I suspect I'll always like him.
Illegal Immigration/Federal Law Enforcement Support in U.S. Cities
Q. Sir, what are your thoughts on the continued protests outside immigration centers in Chicago?
The President. Well, when people come into our country illegally, especially in terms of speed, they're very bad ones—murderers, because we've had murders came in through the Biden administration—we have very tight borders now, but we had open borders. Incredibly, we had open borders.
What were they thinking? But we have murders. Over 11,000 murders came in. Many of them murdered more than one person. We want those people out. We want people that were in prisons, we want them to go back to their prison, not our prison. We want them out, and we'll get them out. Get them all out.
Q. Do you think deportations are happening——
The President. It was really a terrible mistake that was made. When you think of it, so much of a time—our time is spent on that subject. And it's a big subject, because it's probably 20 or 25 million people, the real number. And of the 25 million people, it's, you know, millions of people should not be here. Now, all of them shouldn't be here if they came in illegally, but we have to get the criminals out.
Washington, DC, is doing great. Memphis is starting to do great. We just started there 2 weeks ago. Any place we touch is going to do well.
If I were a Governor, I'd say: "Please get your—get your people in. Whether it's National Guard or the military, get them in." And as you know, we've been winning those cases.
San Francisco, California/Chicago, Illinois
Q. Is there a deadline for San Francisco to get their crime rates down before you send the National Guard in?
The President. Yes, I mean, I'd like to do it. But you know, I have a lot of very important people that are really into San Francisco that are really trying to do it themselves. I said we can do it better, because we have a strong group, a tough group, a group that has powers that other people don't have. Locally, you don't have the powers that the Federal Government has, and we can do a better job of it faster.
But I listened to a few of the people—you know, Jensen, who's fantastic, from Nvidia, as you know, and Marc from—he owns Time Magazine, among a lot of other things, right? He's a good man. And they would love to give it a shot. And I say: "Go ahead. Do it."
And I would have done that with Chicago, but Chicago is very far along the way. We have to do something with that. If—I have a lot of friends influential in Chicago. If they call me, maybe I'd do the same thing.
But we have to save Chicago immediately. We can do that pretty easily, but we have to get in quickly.
Argentina/South America/U.S. Assistance
Q. Can I go back to Argentina quickly?
The President. Yes.
Q. What do you think the state of the fiscal situation is there now? Do you think you'll have to do another deal?
The President. Well, we have the alltime expert right here. I think right now we've made a lot of money based on that election, because the bonds have gone up, their whole debt rating has gone up. You know, that election made a lot of money for the United States.
Now we're not in that for money, per se. But if you look at the value of the bonds, the debt—Scott, you go ahead. Please.
Secretary Bessent. Yes, I think the great victory in this election—President Milei, I think, is going to expand his coalition, and, you know, they have some big refinancings next year.
But the Argentinian people have spoken. President Trump—they know that the U.S. is their ally, thanks to President Trump; we're behind them; and you know, that they're going to be able to fix their fiscal and keep on the road. He's working against a hundred years of bad policies, and he's going to break them, thanks to the support for the United States.
The President. And we're helping other South American countries also, as you know.
Q. Will they need more support? And would you consider it if they need it?
The President. They might. Yes, we would consider it, I think. I think they'll be a good shape.
Secretary Bessent. Yes, we think the market is going to do it from here, now that he's gotten over this. As I always said, this was a bridge. We've bridged him. Thanks to President Trump's support, he did better than anyone ever expected.
The Peronists said it wasn't a fair election because we were running against "Donald Trump II." And now I think the market is going to take care of itself, and it's going to have a lot of confidence in his policies and the way forward.
The President. The polls were very wrong on that election. I mean, the polls really got it wrong. That was an election they said was going to be lost, and not only was it won, but it was won by a lot.
And maybe we did help. I hope we helped.
Press Access
Q. Sir, for you or Secretary Rubio. Over the weekend, Israel assassinated the military official of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement. Does that violate the cease-fire law between Israel and Hamas? Or are they treated as a separate group?
Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio. You're talking about the strike against the Palestinian Jihad individual?
Q. Yes.
Secretary Rubio. Yes. Look, Israel didn't surrender its right to self-defense. Obviously, the ceasefire is based on obligations on both sides. By the way, we'd also like to see Hamas speed up the return of hostage bodies. We still have 13 hostages, two Americans included.
But we don't view that as a violation of the cease-fire. They have a right if some—there's an imminent threat to Israel, and all the mediators agree with that.
The President. How transparent is the Trump administration? You've got Scott. You've got Jamieson. You've got Marco.
We're not saying "You—please don't ask this question." You can ask anything you want.
Q. Secretary Bessent——
The President. There's never been anything like this. Do you agree with that?
Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Leadership
Q. Well, I just wanted to ask a clarifying question from an earlier thing. You said five Fed candidates. That's Waller, Hassett, Warsh, Rieder, and Bowman, right?
Secretary Bessent. Rieder—Rieder—Rick Rieder and Bowman.
Q. All right. Thank you. I just want to clarify whether there was a surprise fifth. And you've had a surprise sixth occasionally, with Secretary Bessent.
The President. Well, I'd love—he likes what he's doing too much. I don't think you could—you couldn't pull him out of there, no matter what. It's like Karoline.
How's Karoline doing? Good? Would you say she's doing good or just okay?
Q. She's been very gracious with us.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. I'm the one who brought them all back here.
You should be thanking me. [Laughter]
The President. That's right. Without her, we wouldn't be here right now. She's doing great.
Q. When do you think you'll make a decision on the Fed? Last Fed question.
The President. I'd say maybe by the end of the year.
Secretary Bessent. Yes, before Christmas. Right around——
The President. I think by the end of the year, early next year. But by the end of the year. We want to get Too Late out as soon as possible. We want to be too early with Too Late.
The President's Foreign Policy
Q. Sir, Steve Bannon said in a recent interview that there could be plans for you to be able to run and potentially win a third term in 2028. Is that something you'd be willing to challenge in court to be able to do?
The President. Well, I haven't really thought about it. We have some very good people, as you know. But I've had—I have the best poll numbers I've ever had. I mean, I just solved eight wars, and a ninth is coming. I believe Russia-Ukraine will happen. But we just did—you know, we just left—and when you look at the treaty we just did, that was a war—that was thousands of people were already shot at the border. And when you look at what we just did was pretty amazing. Pretty amazing.
We got a lot of good credit. And I really have to thank Malaysia for that, because they really—the Prime Minister and everybody really helped get the two countries together. But it was—it was quite a great peace treaty.
But that was one of eight. And makes me feel good. I mean, it's millions of people that we save. We—I saved the lives of millions of people. That's what's important.
Yes.
2028 Presidential Election/Democratic Party
Q. Who are the very good people?
The President. They are good people. What?
Q. 2028.
Q. When you said that, for 2028, there are very good people. Who do you have in mind?
Q. Who are they?
The President. Oh, we have great people. I don't have to get into that, but we have one of them standing right here. We have J.D., obviously, the Vice President, who's great. I think Marco is great. I think—I'm not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they ever formed a group, it would be unstoppable. I really do. I believe that. I would—I would love to do it. And I have my best numbers ever. It's very terrible. I have my best numbers, and if you read—if you read a——
Q. So you're not ruling out a third term?
The President. Am I not ruling it out? You'll have to tell me. All I can tell you is that we have a great—a great group of people, which they don't. They have Jasmine Crockett, a low-IQ person. They have—A.O.C. is low IQ. If you give her an IQ test—have her pass, like, the exams that I decided to take when I was at Walter Reed. I took—those are very hard—they're really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they're cognitive tests.
Let A.O.C. go against Trump. Let Jasmine go against Trump. I don't think Jasmine—the first couple of questions are easy. A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about 5 or 6, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn't come close to answering any of those questions.
The President's Health
Q. The readout from Walter Reed mentioned advanced medical imaging. Did you get an MRI? Can you tell us why that was?
The President. I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect. Yes.
Q. Can you tell us what for?
The President. I mean, I gave you the full results. We had an MRI. And in the machine, you know, the whole thing. And it was perfect, yes.
Q. Could you say what in particular they were look for?
The President. I—you could ask the doctors. In fact, we have doctors traveling with us. But I think they gave you a very conclusive—nobody has ever given you reports like I gave you. And if I didn't think it was going to be good, either I would let you know negatively, I wouldn't run, I'd do something. But the doctor said some of the best reports—for the age, some of the best reports they've ever seen.
2028 Presidential Election
Q. One theory on how you might try to serve a third term is that you could run as the Vice President.
The President. Yes, I'd be allowed to do that.
Q. Do you—is it the White House's or the White House Counsel's or your legal—position, I guess, that you could do that?
The President. Yes, you'd be to do that, but I wouldn't want—I wouldn't do it. I think it's—
—
Q. You're ruling that out?
The President. It's too cute. Yes, I would rule that out, because it's too cute. I think the
people wouldn't like that. It's too cute. It's not—it wouldn't be right.
Golf
Q. Sir, a golf-related question.
The President. Ah.
Q. Do you mind, your most—personally, the most difficult shot for you in golf?
The President. You mean right now?
Q. Yes. How are you playing?
The President. The most difficult shot? It used to be chipping, but I've become a very good chipper. I hit them all pretty good. I'm a pretty good golfer. I won 38 club championships. That's pretty good. And pretty much I hit—I'm very solid, very consistent, pretty long. I mean, I hit the ball pretty long.
I play with Gary Player. You know, Gary is 90, and he shot 70 with me the last time we played, which is pretty amazing, from—[inaudible].
Q. Putting is pretty good for you?
The President. Putting is pretty good. Putting is—used to be—I'd say putting used to be the best. But I'd say putting is pretty good.
Vietnam-U.S. Trade/Tariff Adjustments
Q. Sir, could I ask just one more trade question. There were some tweaks to the Vietnam deal, where they're going to have some zero-tariff items that can come into the United States.
The President. Yes.
Q. Why was that change made?
The President. I don't know.
Ambassador Greer. That's just—there's a handful of things like coffee, et cetera—the type of stuff we don't make in the United States or grow like climatologically——
The President. That we don't make.
Ambassador Greer. ——we can't. So it makes sense, if people are going to do a deal with us, we'll give them a good deal there. But overall, 20 percent on Vietnam.
The President. And we want to get coffee down a little bit.
Q. So, just to clarify, technically, that was stuff that was at 20 and now will be brought to zero? Is that—
Ambassador Greer. Well, it was brought to whatever congressional level of tariff there is, right? I mean, this is—you know, working—we have a huge deficit with Vietnam. And so they've taken down all their tariffs to zero on everything.
The President. All gone.
Ambassador Greer. All the nontariff barriers gone. They're going to accept all our autos, all our standards, all of that. We have 20 percent on that.
The President. Which, by the way, people said impossible to get.
Ambassador Greer. They did say impossible to get.
The President. They're all gone.
Ambassador Greer. Yes. Yes.
And so we just have a few items like that that we can't grow or extract from the ground in the United—certain spices—right?—that we don't grow in America, that kind of thing.
China-U.S. Trade/Payroll Support for U.S. Servicemembers During the Government Shutdown
Q. How worried are you still above the risk of transshipment through Vietnam from China?
Ambassador Greer. Yes, so part of the deal that they have to—they've agreed to a duty evasion agreement with us, and if we catch them doing it, we can charge an additional 40 percent, right?
Q. On top of the 20?
Ambassador Greer. That's right, yes. And that's an Executive order that's already in place, so——
The President. You guys have a very interesting couple of days. We have Japan, and then we have South Korea, but we have China coming, and it's going to be very interesting. I have a lot of respect for President Xi, and we are going to—I think we're going to come away with a deal, but I really feel good.
Our country is doing so well economically. It's doing so incredibly well. The Democrats should let it open. I guess they don't do that because it's doing so well. It's too bad. But on the—you know, the macro scale, it's not having that kind of an effect. We just want people to get paid. We think it's very unfair.
And how about the man that put up $130 million to make sure our military got paid? This is a——
Q. You won't tell us who he is.
The President. I won't tell you. I won't tell you.
Q. Was it Tim Mellon?
The President. But this is a person that called me, that said, "Sir, I'd like to make a contribution of any difference needed for the United States military." I said: "I don't know. That could be a big number." And we worked it out. It was about $130 million. And he wrote a check for $130 million, because he's an unbelievable patriot, and that's what it's all about.
So we're going to have a good time over the next 2 days. Get little rest.
Major League Baseball's World Series/Baseball Hall of Fame
Q. [Inaudible]—World Series yet?
The President. I haven't been watching it too much, the World Series. No, I'm disappointed——
Q. Did you make a wager with Carney?
The President. They didn't put Pete Rose in. I said, "Put Pete Rose in before he dies." He had over 4,000 hits. They didn't do it. And with all the gambling you see now, I mean, give me a break. They didn't put Pete Rose in. I asked the commissioner, "Put Pete Rose in, Commissioner," long before he died, like a year before he died. They didn't get it done. Should have gotten it done. Pete Rose. Pete Rose was a great baseball player.
China-U.S. Relations/Vietnam
Q. Sir, one quick one. Just—you said yesterday that you might invite China to Mar-a-Lago.
The President. Yes.
Q. When would that be?
The President. Well, sometime after—I'm going to go—we pretty much agreed that I'll be going to China.
Q. When is that?
The President. In the earlier part of the year.
Q. Okay.
The President. And President Xi will be coming into maybe Washington or in Palm Beach or someplace sometime after that.
Q. Vietnam said that you accepted an invitation there as well. Do you plan on visiting Vietnam?
The President. Well, he invited me. If I can, I will. We have a good relationship with Vietnam. And they were—look, they made a lot of money with the United States over the years with presidents that really didn't know what they were doing.
But now, as you know, Vietnam is not charging those tariffs, and that's a big step. And based on that, I would. That's a big move for them.
China-U.S. Trade
Q. On Friday, Ambassador Greer launched a 301 on whether China reneged on its phase one deal. Is that part of these talks? Would you pause that? How connected is that to Thursday's talks or talks with China?
The President. I don't think it's going to be. It may be a part of the talk, but it may be a part of just the negotiation.
Ambassador Greer. That was a separate deal from before——
The President. Yes.
Ambassador Greer. ——and there's a lot of, you know, view in the United States that they didn't keep aspects that deal. So we're just looking into it as—if, you know, that's continuing, but we're really focused on—[inaudible].
The President. If all works out well, I'm sure they'll be able to talk us out of it. Would you agree? [Laughter]
Ambassador Greer. We'll see.
The President. I think so.
Ambassador Greer. It's up to you, sir.
The President. I have a feeling. I have a feeling they'll talk us out of that.
President Xi Jinping of China/Global Coronavirus Pandemic
Q. You've long said that you have a great relationship with Xi Jinping; you really get along.
The President. Yes.
Q. Could you just elaborate on that? What about your relationship is so great? And what about him are you—[inaudible]——
The President. I just like him. We were obviously—that was hurt pretty badly by COVID when COVID came in. It came in through Wuhan. Everybody knows that. I always said it. I said it right from the beginning. So that had an impact, but, you know, an impact for a lot of reasons. Number one, we didn't get to speak as much because we're all busy getting out of that nightmare.
But no, I think have a very good relationship, as good as anybody, and I would say that likewise with him.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.
Q. Can I ask about——
NOTE: The President spoke at 1:56 p.m. in the press cabin. In his remarks, he referred to White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller; Chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Jerome H. Powell; President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin of Russia; Jensen Huang, founder, president, and chief executive officer, NVIDIA Corp.; Marc R. Benioff, chair, chief executive officer, and cofounder, Salesforce; Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia; Reps. Jasmine F. Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; former professional golfer Gary J. Player; and Robert D. Manfred, Jr., commissioner, Maor League Baseball. Secretary Bessent referred to Vice Premier of the State Council He Lifeng of China; Christopher J. Waller and Michelle Bowman, members, and Kevin M. Warsh, former member, Federal Reserve System Board of Governors; National Economic Council Director Kevin A. Hassett; and Rick Rieder, chief Investment officer of global fixed income, BlackRock. Reporters referred to former White House Chief Strategist and War Room podcast host Stephen K. Bannon; White House Counsel David A. Warrington; and Saratoga, WY, resident and philanthropist Timothy Mellon. The transcript was released by the Office of Communications on October 30.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Air Force One. Locations: Air Force One.
Names: Anwar Ibrahim; Benioff, Marc R.; Bessent, Scott K.H.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Carney, Mark; Crockett, Jasmine F.; Greer, Jamieson L.; Huang, Jensen; Kim Jong Un; Leavitt, Karoline; Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio; Manfred, Robert D., Jr.; Milei, Javier Gerardo; Miller, Stephen; Musk, Elon R.; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Player, Gary J.; Powell, Jerome H.; Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich; Rubio, Marco A.; Takaichi, Sanae; Vance, James D. "J.D."; Xi Jinping.
Subjects: Agricultural production, strengthening efforts; Argentina, elections; Argentina, President; Argentina, U.S. assistance; Automobile industry, strengthening efforts; Baseball; Brazil, President; Brazil, trade with U.S.; California, crime in San Francisco; Cambodia, relations with Thailand; Canada, Prime Minister; Canada, trade with U.S.; China, President; China, trade with U.S.; COVID–19 pandemic; District of Columbia, law enforcement improvement efforts; Federal Government appropriations, lapse; Federal Reserve System; Golf; Illegal immigration; Illinois, crime in Chicago; Japan, Prime Minister; Japan, relations with U.S.; Malaysia, Prime Minister; Manufacturing industry, domestic investment; National Guard; News media, Presidential interviews; North Korea, President of the State Affairs Commission; Russia, conflict in Ukraine; Russia, President; Russia, U.S. and international sanctions; Secretary of State; Secretary of the Treasury; Semiconductor manufacturing; Shipbuilding, domestic expansion efforts; South China Sea, crash of U.S. naval aircraft; South Korea, investment and business ventures in U.S.; Tariffs; Tennessee, law enforcement improvement efforts in Memphis; Thailand, relations with Cambodia; TikTok; U.S. Trade Representative; Ukraine, Russian invasion and airstrikes; Undocumented immigrants, deportation of criminals; Vice President; Vietnam, trade with U.S.; White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy; White House Press Secretary.
DCPD Number: DCPD202501059.