'We're Negotiating With Many Countries': Trump Discusses Ongoing Trade Deals And Tariff Strategy

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, President Trump discussed ongoing trade negotiations.

Transcript

00:00Mr. President, do you have any trade deals coming this week?

00:03It could very well be.

00:05Can you tell us more about them?

00:06Nobody understands.

00:08We're negotiating with many countries.

00:11But at the end of this, I'll send my own deals, because I sent the deal.

00:15They don't send the deal. I sent the deal.

00:16They've been ripping us off for years. I sent the deal.

00:20Every country, almost without fail, friend and foe, has been ripping us off for years.

00:26So we're meeting with almost all of them, including China.

00:30And at the end, I'm setting the deal.

00:33They keep saying, when are you going to...

00:35This is not like a big deal that's going to be signed.

00:37In some cases, we'll sign.

00:38But we don't have to have said...

00:40I'm going to be setting the deal. I'll be setting a tariff.

00:43You keep asking the same question.

00:45When will you agree?

00:47It's up to me. It's not up to them. It's up to me.

00:49Now, they don't have to deal with us, which is okay, because we lost...

00:53Under Biden, we're losing $5 billion a day.

00:56Think of it.

00:57$5 billion a day.

01:00Now, we're not dealing with China at all, because the tariff's so high that they basically can't deal.

01:06And because of that, we're saving billions of dollars, you know?

01:10But just...

01:11And I'm not saying this to be a wise guy with you, to be mean.

01:14I don't want to be mean to you. You're a good professional.

01:17But you do keep asking me that same question.

01:21It's not like we're going to sit down in an ivory room and we're going to just...

01:25He's going to say...

01:26There'll be some of that.

01:27Very little.

01:28I don't see a lot of it.

01:30I don't see a lot of it.

01:31At some point in the next two weeks or three weeks, I'm going to be setting the deal.

01:36I'm going to say that such and such a country has had a tremendous trade surplus, surplus their way, with us.

01:44They've taken advantage of us in various ways.

01:47And we fully understand what they were doing.

01:50We were being led by people that were not very smart.

01:54They were able to be taken advantage of.

01:55But I can't be taken advantage of.

01:57So at a certain point, I'll be just setting a certain tariff number.