Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2026
January 21, 2026
President Trump. They're all very nice people that we have.
President Elsisi. Yes.
President Trump. She's one of the best photographers. See that? She's a great photographer, right, Doug [Doug Mills, New York Times]?
Q. Yes, sir.
President Trump. Margo. Do you rate her——
Q. Oh, absolutely.
President Trump. Do you rate her as great or just good?
Q. Great.
President Trump. Great what? Great looking? [Laughter]
Q. Great everything.
President Trump. You ready? Well, thank you very much. A friend of mine is—he was a great general, and he's a great President. And it's an honor to have him.
And, Mr. President, we have a lot to talk about, so I thought maybe the press might want to ask us a couple of questions after you say a few words.
But we had a wonderful time, and I think we've made a lot of progress so far in Switzerland, in Davos.
Made a speech. It's being reviewed quite nicely.
And we have a fantastic relationship with Egypt. And the President will call and ask for things, and we always are able to work it out. But it's—the relationship has been very strong right from the beginning, from years ago. So I want to thank you very much.
[At this point, President Elsisi spoke briefly in English as follows.] President Elsisi. Thank you. Thank you.
President Trump. Please.
[President Elsisi continued in Arabic, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter as follows.]
President Elsisi. Allow me, Mr. President, beginning to extend my thanks and appreciation for you for allowing this opportunity to happen and to have this meeting with you.
I'd like also to congratulate you on a year full of achievements since you came back to office.
President Trump. Thank you.
President Elsisi. I'd like also to thank you, Mr. President—congratulate you for all the achievements that you have done on one of the toughest files in our part of the world. And this is Gaza file.
I said it before, and I reiterate it now. I reemphasize it before our colleagues and before the media. But for President Trump, we wouldn't have reached an agreement on Gaza.
I really would ask you, Mr. President, to continue paying your attention and care——[President Elsisi spoke briefly in English as follows.]
Argue. Argue.
[President Elsisi continued in Arabic, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter as follows.]
——your attention and care for this file so that the plan should be implemented fully.
Mr. President, you've announced the second phase of the Gaza plan. This is very important that it comes forward and it takes effect. And, on our part, we'll be standing there, ready to provide everything that we can to make this a success.
As for the Council of Peace, it is our pleasure to be on the Council of Peace.
Participant. The Board.
President Elsisi. The Board of Peace. We are very happy to be on the Board of Peace, and we are supporting and very happy to be there backing up every effort that can bring about peace in our part of the world and globally as well.
I like also to thank you, Mr. President, for your support us in an existential issue, and this is the GERD—the Grand Renaissance Dam—in the River Nile.
And for the record and before the press, I'd like just to remind everybody that your excellency did a lot of effort in this regard—in this file, in your first term in office. We almost had a deal. And you've done—you did everything in your power at the time to get this deal done.
Mr. President, accept our highest appreciation and respect.
President Trump. Well, thank you very much.
They're talking about the dam that's been built in Ethiopia. It's one of the largest dams in the world—the largest dam in Africa, but it's one of the largest dams anywhere in the world. It was financed by the United States, and it basically blocks the Nile River.
You know, when I think of Egypt, I think about the Nile more than any other place, in all fairness, but it goes through Ethiopia. And a dam was built, a very big one—very, very big one. Massive. And it was something that should have been talked about a long time ago when they were building it and financing it.
So I got involved at the end of my first term, and I was going to have a deal. We were going to have—pretty close to a deal. Then we had a rigged election, and I left. And of course, Biden didn't do anything about it, because he didn't know he was alive.
And you know, I come back, and it's become a very dangerous issue—the dam. And I'll see if I can get that back on track. We were all set to make a deal. We were going to do a joint venture of sorts, and it would have been good. I think it would have been good for both.
But it's a dangerous thing. They built a dam where somebody is not getting the water that they are supposed to get and that they've gotten for a million years. And all of a sudden, the water flow is blocked by a very massive dam. I wouldn't be happy about it.
And you know, you have a very strong leader in the President. And I hear you have a strong leader in Ethiopia too. I don't know him as well as I know you, but he's a strong guy. And I'm going to try bringing the two of you together, see if we can make a deal.
[President Elsisi spoke briefly in English as follows.] President Elsisi. I appreciate that.
President Trump. I think he understands me, right? I think he understands English better than we do. Okay? [Laughter]
You know, a lot of these guys that don't understand, they understand. They understand it very well. [Laughter]
But I think we'll be able to get—do something about the dam. The dam is a big problem, but we'll be able to do something.
Most importantly, great leader, great guy, and we're there for each other. We've known each other right—from before Hillary. It was before Hillary. And we met during the campaign with Hillary, and we met at a hotel. She was supposed to meet with the President, and I was supposed to meet—I went first, and after he met me, he didn't want to meet her. [Laughter] And that was—I said, "I like that guy."
But we had a—we've had—from that moment on, we had—that was before the election.
President Elsisi. Yes. I remember.
President Trump. We've always had a great relationship, and it continues stronger than ever.
Thank you very much.
President Elsisi. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
President Trump. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much.
Board of Peace/Middle East Peace Efforts/Gaza, Palestinian Territories/U.S. Airstrikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities
Q. Mr. President, how many countries have committed to being permanent members of the Board of Peace?
President Trump. Well, we're going to have a lot. We have a lot of great people that want to join. It's going to be the most prestigious Board ever formed.
The President is a member. We have the major countries, and some need parliamentary approval, but for the most part, everybody wants to be on.
I have a little bit of the opposite problem. People want to be on, and we didn't ask them.
They want to get on. But we'll look at the country.
So we're going to have—it's—I think it's the greatest board ever formed. And we call it the Board of Peace. That's what it is. It's a Board of Peace. And it started on Gaza.
And I appreciate what you said on Gaza, because it's true. If we weren't involved, there'd be no peace. It's peace—we have peace in the Middle East now. And you might have Hamas. We have a little flame here and there, but basically, that will be taken out. If they don't get rid of the guns, then we'll—they'll be—then they will be very unhappy people. You know, it's going to—we'll have no choice. They will be eliminated. They made a deal to get out.
You have Hizballah in Lebanon. We have to do something there. You know, they're causing a lot of problems, but those are small.
We actually have peace in the Middle East, and the President was very instrumental. He really helped us—one of the most. And we've had great help from a number of countries, but
Egypt has been great. The President's been great. And we have peace in the Middle East. It's an amazing thing. Nobody thought that we'd ever see that.
Now, I would say, if we didn't bomb the Iran nuclear plant, they would have had a nuclear weapon within 2 months. You would not have peace in the Middle East. You wouldn't be able to—nobody would be able to do that.
But that's what gave us peace in the Middle East. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
Greenland
Q. Greenland. A Greenland question.
What prompted you to take military off the table for Greenland?
President Trump. Well, we'll see what happens. The military is not on the table. I don't think it will be necessary. I really don't.
Q. Okay.
President Trump. I think people are going to use better judgment. They'll use their best judgment, and I don't think—that will not be necessary. Okay?
Thank you very much, everybody.
NOTE: The President spoke at 5:32 p.m. at the Davos Congress Centre. In his remarks, he referred to White House Communications Adviser Margo Martin; President Taye Atske Selassie of Ethiopia; and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in her capacity as the 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee.
Categories: Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters, Davos, Switzerland; Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Egypt, President Elsisi.
Locations: Davos, Switzerland.
Names: Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Elsisi, Abdelfattah Said; Martin, Margo; Taye Atske Selassie.
Subjects: Board of Peace; Egypt, President; Egypt, relations with U.S.; Ethiopia, President; Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project, regional negotiations; Greenland, ownership and administration; Hamas political-paramilitary organization; Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement implementation; Lebanon, Hizballah political-paramilitary organization; Switzerland, President Trump's visit; White House Communications Adviser.
DCPD Number: DCPD202600048.