State Department's Thomas Pigott on Trump's first 100 days

DW (English)

Thomas Pigott, the principal deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, addressed concerns surrounding President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office in an interview with DW. He maintained that Trump's policies are fostering prosperity and strengthening international relationships.

Transcript

00:00Tommy Piggott is the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State.

00:04So, Piggott, thank you so much for being with Deutsche Welle.

00:06Thanks for having me on.

00:07100 days of Donald Trump, many Americans are really worried.

00:11Empty shelves are expected due to Donald Trump's China, tariff politics,

00:16and even the sales of McDonald's are dropping to a low,

00:20which we haven't seen since COVID. Is this a good start?

00:23Look, I think I would reject a lot of what you were saying there.

00:26I think a much different frame is how Americans are viewing this.

00:28We're seeing a president that's putting America first,

00:31but also making sure that we're securing a lot of different trade deals across the world,

00:36making sure that we're having a robust manufacturing center,

00:39making sure we're working with our allies and partners to advance our common interests.

00:43Americans are seeing that President Trump made a lot of promises,

00:46and he's already delivered on them, coming to the border, the economy, foreign policy.

00:49So, I think when we look at the economy, we look at the accomplishments of the last 100 days,

00:53the one word to describe it truly is historic.

00:56It's been a historic 100 days, and the next 100 days are going to be just as good,

00:59and President Trump's going to keep on keeping his promises.

01:01But looking at the polls, Donald Trump is not doing that well.

01:05Even many Republicans are starting to get worried.

01:09If this massive, a tariff kind of war, some people call it like that,

01:15is really heading in the right direction.

01:17What do you tell those people are really worried about the future of the economy of this country?

01:23Well, I think I tell them to look at the dialogue that's happening.

01:26The fact that we already have countries coming to the table

01:28to really get that fair and reciprocal trading relationship.

01:31And when we have that fair and reciprocal trading relationship,

01:34that of course helps the American worker, that helps the American consumer,

01:37but it also makes bilateral relationships with different countries a lot stronger.

01:41It makes it stronger in the long term,

01:43because fairness and reciprocity are what leads to economic prosperity in a lot of ways.

01:47So, I would say, look at all the countries that are coming to the table.

01:50Look at the fact that we have inflation down from when President Trump took office.

01:54Look at the fact that we're seeing all this dialogue happening.

01:57And that's really what President Trump promised to do.

01:58It's what he is doing, and the American people see that.

02:01But did you expect these turbulences?

02:04I mean, you're talking about inflation, but the dollar is down.

02:06I mean, I get so much more money for my euro now.

02:09So, the dollar is as weak as it hasn't been for a long time.

02:13Well, look again, I think, look at all the countries coming to the table.

02:16This is about making sure that we have a revitalized manufacturing center,

02:20making sure we're having investment coming to the United States.

02:22And there are already examples of investment coming into the United States.

02:25Making sure we are lowering those prices, and we're seeing that with inflation.

02:28Making sure, again, that the American worker is put first.

02:31Speaking from an American perspective, you're seeing a wide array of people from

02:34traditionally different sides of the aisle coming together to support these tariffs

02:37because of the initiative it has to put the American worker first.

02:41So, we're seeing that dialogue, we're seeing that fairness, that reciprocity.

02:44And again, that's what leads to a long-term economic success,

02:47peace through strength, as President Trump likes to say,

02:49but also stronger bilateral relationships based on fairness, based on reciprocity,

02:54based on mutual interest to really pursue our common interests.

02:58Another big promise, of course, was migration, immigration.

03:02Donald Trump talked a lot about it during his campaign.

03:05And now, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas bared the Trump administration from

03:12deporting Venezuelans.

03:13How big is this, like, of a backlash for the Trump deportation policies?

03:19Well, I'm not going to comment on pending litigation, ongoing litigation.

03:23But what I can say is that illegal border crossings are down 95 percent compared to last year.

03:28Ninety-five percent.

03:29That is a huge promise made, promise kept to use a very popular political term.

03:33But it's not just a political term. It's based in reality.

03:36We are seeing those decreases in illegal border crossings.

03:39And we're also seeing enthusiasm from countries across the Western Hemisphere,

03:42but really across the world, to partner with us to stop illegal immigration.

03:46Because illegal immigration doesn't just hurt the United States.

03:49It hurts every country that's dealing with it,

03:51especially when you add in the element of transnational crime, the cartels.

03:54Strong efforts we've taken here at the State Department to designate certain cartels

03:58as foreign terrorist organizations, making sure we're combating the flow of fentanyl.

04:01We're seeing partnerships with countries around the world, again, because they recognize as well

04:06that we need to end illegal immigration. We need to combat transnational crime.

04:09So we're seeing those partnerships and we're seeing that success with illegal border crossings

04:13down 95 percent, 95 percent compared to this time last year.

04:16But does this mean that you have deported four-year-old kids with cancer?

04:24Well, look, when it comes to that case that you're speaking of specifically,

04:27the mother was here illegally, the secretary spoke to this, and the children go with the parents.

04:31I mean, that's not a controversial phenomenon that children should be with their parents when

04:35it comes to if the mother's here illegally. And I think, again, going back to the general point here,

04:40illegal border crossings are down 95 percent. And I think what's important to stress is the mutual

04:44benefit we're seeing here. The only group that benefits from illegal immigration that we saw over

04:48the past four years were the transnational criminal enterprises. The migrants, the illegal immigrants,

04:53did not benefit. We saw a huge amount of horrifying stories for people that were making that route to

04:58the border. The Americans don't benefit because of the flow of fentanyl. Countries don't benefit

05:02that are seeing these transnational gangs go from country to country on their way to the United

05:06States. This is about mutual benefit. We're seeing that mutual benefit. We're seeing those illegal

05:10border crossings go down. That's a major success story for this administration.

05:14Another big promise was, of course, to end the war in Ukraine on day one. This didn't happen for many

05:19reasons, but now we have this very crucial mineral deal. Would you agree that with this deal, Donald

05:25Trump has tied himself closer to Ukraine than to Russia? Well, it's about the mutual prosperity of

05:30the United States and Ukraine. I mean, that's a clear point of this initiative. And it's also

05:35important to note that 50 percent of the funds from this deal are going to go towards future

05:39projects to have that reconstruction in Ukraine. I mean, this is about mutual prosperity, mutual benefit.

05:44I keep on using those terms because it really is a hallmark of this administration to pursue

05:48those common interests, put America first. But in doing so, so many different people benefit,

05:53including in those bilateral relationships. So we are seeing this first-of-its-kind historic

05:58critical minerals deal that's going to lead to prosperity in the long term for the people of

06:02Ukraine, for the people of the United States. It really is historic. And the fact that it comes

06:05in this 100 days, again, shows the success of President Trump, his new approach, his approach to

06:10being the best dealmaker that he is, but also the peacemaker that he is, and the foreign policy that

06:14he's pursuing. What do you think Donald Trump or his administration is going to do if

06:18Vladimir Putin keeps bombarding Ukraine? Will they send more weapons or military aid to Ukraine?

06:25So I don't want to speculate or preview what may happen. I don't want to speculate what might

06:28happen down the road. That's ultimately up to the President. President Trump has spoken about this,

06:32about how he hasn't been happy with certain actions that have been taken, and has himself put forward

06:36different options that may happen. Again, I don't want to preview or speculate on those. But what is

06:40clear is that President Trump is a peacemaker. His North Star is the pursuit of peace. That's why we've seen the

06:45engagement from the highest levels of this administration in pursuing that peace. That's

06:49why we've seen this critical minerals deal pursued for first showing that getting to that peace, but

06:54also the economic partnership that we want to see, the investments, the mutual prosperity we want to

06:58see. So President Trump's a peacemaker. He's going to continue pursuing that peace. He has been pursuing

07:03that peace. And that's really one of the guiding principles of his foreign policy.

07:07As I have you, we have to talk about Waltz. He kind of got canned, left, whatever. He's no longer

07:15the national security advisor to Donald Trump. Why? Well, I think, first of all, taking a step

07:21back, what we're seeing is President Trump building his team. We're seeing National Security Advisor

07:24Waltz go into the United Nations. That's an incredibly important post. We're also seeing Secretary Rubio

07:29again being part of this team. And I think it's a testament to the team that President Trump has put

07:33together. A testament to the partnership that we've seen and the foreign policy accomplishments

07:37we've seen. The last hundred days truly have been historic. There have been so many accomplishments

07:41and we're building on that progress going forward. President Trump, of course, being the visionary

07:45here with that foreign policy. So when we're looking at this team, President Trump has that team in

07:50place. We're seeing maybe people go to different positions, but it's a testament to the accomplishments

07:53we have seen and the accomplishments we hopefully will see in the next hundred days.

07:57But Walt's reposting has something to do with SignalGate, no?

08:02Well, again, what I can say is that this is about reshuffling those positions and that's a testament

08:05again to the accomplishments of this administration. The partnership that President Trump has with

08:10Secretary Rubio, for example, I can speak to that here at the State Department. The partnership that they

08:14have, the communication they have, the accomplishments that they have together and will hopefully continue

08:19seeing the next hundred days. But Marco Rubio is now wearing four hats. How can a foreign minister

08:25like be the national security advisor to the president, who is normally really close to the

08:29president? How does this work out? Flying around the world and being close to Donald Trump?

08:34Well, again, it's a testament to that partnership that they have, the communication they've had,

08:37the accomplishments we've seen. I think that's a big story here. And we're looking at this recent

08:42announcement. The fact that we have a foreign policy that has been so successful under President

08:46Trump and Secretary Rubio and will continue hopefully being successful over these next hundred days and

08:50beyond. Mr. Pickett, thank you so much. Thank you very much.

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