Trump Takes Victory Lap After U.S.-China Trade Deal Announced

Forbes Breaking News

At a press briefing, President Trump discussed the just-announced U.S.-China trade deal.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, everybody. It's a big day. It should be fun. I don't know. You'll maybe find reasons

00:07why it's not. But I can't imagine, because we have a lot of great things happening. It's been

00:13a very strong week and a very strong weekend. Before we begin, let me say a few words about

00:20the historic events that took place over the last few days. On Saturday, my administration

00:26helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire, I think a permanent one, between India and

00:33Pakistan, ending a dangerous conflict of two nations with lots of nuclear weapons. And they

00:40were going at it hot and heavy, and it was seemingly not going to stop. And I'm very proud

00:47to let you know that the leadership of India and Pakistan was unwavering powerful, but unwavering

00:57in both cases. And having these, they really were from the standpoint of having the strength

01:03and the wisdom and fortitude to fully know and to understand the gravity of the situation.

01:09And we helped a lot. And we helped also with trade. I said, come on, we're going to do a

01:16lot of trade with you guys. Let's stop it. Let's stop it. If you stop it, we're doing trade.

01:22If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade. People have never really used trade

01:27the way I used it, that I can tell you. And all of a sudden they said, I think we're going

01:31to stop. And they have. And they did it for a lot of reasons. But trade is a big one.

01:39We're going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan. We're going to do a lot of trade with India.

01:43We're negotiating with India right now. We're going to be soon negotiating with Pakistan.

01:48And we stopped the nuclear conflict. I think it would have, it could have been a bad nuclear

01:52war. Millions of people could have been killed. So I'm very proud of that. I also want to thank

01:57Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio for their work and efforts. They worked

02:03very hard on that. We also, as you know, created a situation

02:09where the Houthis, for the first time ever, have ceased firing. And they've let it be known

02:17that they're not going to be firing at American ships anymore, not going to be firing at Americans

02:23anymore. This was a heavy barrage that lasted for approximately 50 days.

02:33And as you know, they've been in war essentially for forever. But over the last 10 years, they've

02:38been very difficult for other countries. Nobody was able to do what we did. But they stopped

02:45and we take their word for it today. The surrogates and them directly said, we don't want to do

02:52this anymore. And so we were satisfied with that. In addition, yesterday, we achieved a total reset

03:01with China after productive talks in Geneva. Both sides now agree to reduce the tariffs imposed after

03:10April 2nd to 10 percent for 90 days as negotiators continue in the larger structural issues. And I want

03:19to tell you that a couple of things. First of all, that doesn't include the tariffs that are already

03:24on that are our tariffs. And it doesn't include tariffs on cars, steel, aluminum, things such as

03:31that, or tariffs that may be imposed on pharmaceuticals because we want to bring the pharmaceutical

03:37businesses back to the United States. And they're already starting to come back now based on tariffs

03:42because they don't want to pay 25, 50 or 100 percent tariffs. So they're moving them back to the

03:48United States. I spoke to Tim Cook this morning, and he's going to, I think, even up his numbers,

03:57$500 billion. He's going to be building a lot of plants in the United States for Apple.

04:02And we look forward to that. I really do look forward to that. But

04:10the talks in Geneva were very friendly. The relationship is very good. We're not looking

04:15to hurt China. China was being hurt very badly. They were closing up factories. They were having

04:20a lot of unrest. And they were very happy to be able to do something with us. And the relationship

04:28is very, very good. I'll speak to President Xi maybe at the end of the week. We have some other

04:34things we're doing. But one of the biggest things that we're doing, and I don't know if people realize

04:40this, but we made a great deal with China, a great trade deal. But it was a much bigger deal originally,

04:48and then they canceled it right in the last day. Some of you faces, I remember, were there when that

04:54happened? I remember you. And we had a deal where they opened up their country to trade with the

04:59United States. And they took that away at the last moment. And then I canceled the whole thing. And then

05:04six months later, we ended up doing a smaller deal. But it was a big deal. It was $50 billion

05:09worth of product that they were going to purchase from our farmers, et cetera.

05:13And we agreed to that. People thought it was 15, because they were doing 15. We made it 50,

05:18because I misunderstood the 15. I thought they said, I said, you got to get 50. Because when I asked,

05:25if you remember the story, when I asked, what are we doing with them? My Secretary of Agriculture

05:31at the time, Sonny Perdue said, sir, it's about 15 billion and we're asking for 15. And I thought he said

05:3850. So I said, so they came back with the deal at 15. And I said, no way, I want 50, because you said 50.

05:45They said, sir, we didn't say that anyway. Bottom line, I said, go back and ask for 50. And they gave

05:49us 50. And they were honoring the deal. And we would call them up a lot for the corn and for the

05:55wheat and for everything. They were honoring the deal. And then when Biden got in, they no longer

06:03honored the deal. There was nobody to call. I would call on an average of once every two weeks to say,

06:09come on, you have to speed it up a little bit. And our farmers were doing great. I said to them,

06:14buy more land and bigger tractors, if you remember. That's what happened. But the deal was a very good

06:21deal. But the best part of the deal was that we opened up China. China agreed to open itself up to

06:29American business to go in. And it would have been a great thing, I think, for China.

06:34They would be able to see things that they haven't seen. They would be able to buy products that they

06:39have never been able to buy. Would have been great for American business. I think it would have

06:44brought unity between China, better unity between China and the United States. And the bottom line

06:52is that they canceled it the last day. We were all set to sign it. And I went a little bit angry. I got

06:58a little angry. They said they canceled it. The deal was done. It was all ready to be signed. And

07:04people went over. They came back to me, sir. They don't want to sign the opening up China. Well,

07:10the biggest thing that we're discussing is the opening up China. And they've agreed to do that.

07:14But it's going to take a while to paper it. You know, that's not the easiest thing to paper.

07:20But that's the single, I think, to me, some people would disagree. Some people would say we're

07:24getting a lot of money with tariffs or whatever. But, you know, especially when you add what we already

07:29have because remember, we're already getting the 50 percent on steel and different things. That's

07:34not included in these numbers. So you can add that. But but the biggest thing to me is the opening

07:41up. It would be I think it would be fantastic for our businesses if we could go in and compete

07:46and compete with China. It would it would be a lot of jobs for China. It would be I think at a time

07:51when they can frankly use the jobs. And that's what we're talking about. So that's a very,

07:56very important element to add. So when Scott, I watched him speak the other day and I think he

08:06didn't want to say it. But I said, it's OK to say it. Look, if we don't get it, we don't get it. But

08:10if we don't get it, it won't be a positive thing. But if we do get it, I think it's maybe the most

08:15important thing to happen. Because if you think about it, we opened up our country to China.

08:21They come. We don't have very few restrictions. And they didn't open their country to us.

08:26Never made sense to me. It's not fair. And they've agreed to open China, fully open China.

08:33And I think it's going to be fantastic for China. I think it's going to be fantastic

08:37for us. And I think it's going to be great for unification and peace.

08:42China will also suspend and remove all of its non-monetary barriers. They've agreed to do that.

08:48Well, they're very numerous. But again, to me, the biggest thing that came out of that meeting

08:56is they've agreed. Now we have to get it papered. But they've agreed to open up China. It's going to be

09:00great for everyone.

Category

Transcript

Recommended