President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One, Oct. 28, 2025

Hello everybody. We had a great trip to Japan and it was really wonderful. Malaysia, fantastic. Hundreds of millions of dollars are coming into our country primarily because of the election result. But the real reason is tariffs. The tariffs are coming in. As you know, last night I was with a lot of the greatest leaders in Japan, the big business people. And Mr. Toyota was there from Toyota and he's agreed to invest $10 billion in building auto plants. They're going to build numerous auto plants throughout the United States with American workers, as you know. And it's a tremendous, it'll be one of the biggest investments ever in the auto business. This isn't just AI, this is in the auto business. So, and that was because of tariffs. If you build in the United States, you don't have any tariffs. So everyone's coming. We're up to close to $20 trillion of investment. And yesterday, as you saw, we picked up about $518 billion. These are big numbers. These are numbers that no country has ever seen before. And we're now going, as you know, to South Korea. Then I'm meeting tomorrow with President Xi.

Mr. President, sir, on the Xi meeting, are you expected or do you anticipate being willing to lower the fentanyl related tariffs?

Yes, I expect to be because I believe that they're going to help us with the fentanyl situation. They're going to be doing what they.

Can do and on the rear of the curve. Sir, do you need to see more than just a one year delay? Is that sufficient to make other concessions?

I don't know. We haven't talked about the timing yet, but we're going to work out something. We're doing very well with rare earth, as you know, and we're. I think we're going to make a big step with methanol. The thing with methanol, the border is now so tight. It's much tougher for them doing very well with that. The, I call it the drug by sea. You know, the boats took out four of them over the last two days and they're really stopping. They're not coming anymore. They're coming by land, but to a lesser extent. And if necessary we're going to. Well, it will be necessary probably, but we'll be hitting them at land, but the boats are very few and far between. We took in tremendous amounts of debt. They call them the boats of death. Tremendous amounts of debt coming into our country. And each. This is estimated. I don't know if this is exactly right, but it's pretty close. 25,000 people died from each boat that we think have gotten back. If it had gotten to our country, kills 25,000 people. Not even talking about the destruction it does to families in terms of people that are become addicted and all of the problems caused by new families. So. And over the last two days, I guess we took out four, but there are very few of them. There are very few of them now. That's down. I hear that's down about 80% by water, the drugs by water, down, as you know, about 80% down. And I would imagine it's going to be pretty close to 100%. Nobody wants to do it. And we'll be. And we already are. We're stopping them on land also. Sir, what is China? We're actually making our country safe. Think about it. Just saying as I speak to you very simply, we're making our country safe. Beautiful thing. Sir, what is China doing to justify removing trendable tariffs? Well, I think they're going to do things, you know, they have an industry that has to do with drugs. The fentanyl has other reasons for being. And we have to get rid of it. We have to stop it. And now we're stopping it at the border to a very much larger extent than ever before. Under Biden, you had open borders. This stuff was flowing in. I think they killed 300,000 people last year. Drugs coming through the southern border and now nobody gets through the southern border. We just had another report of a 00 people came. We are very tough for the border and we're allowing people into our country, but they're coming in legally through the legal process. And I want to commend, I have to tell you, our border agents, our border patrol agents, they've been amazing. And ice, these people do such a great job. What they're doing. Memphis is making tremendous progress, as you know, is extremely dangerous. And already it's down to less than 50%. A lot of criminals, career criminal people that came in illegally have been brought back to their countries and never to come back again. We tell them, if you come back again, it's going to be brutal. Sorry, just to clarify. So China's going to be working with US law enforcement on fentanyl or how is that going to work? China's going to be working with me, they're going to be working with me and we're going to do something, I believe. I mean, look, we have to have the meeting, a meeting tomorrow. That's a big meeting. And fentanyl will be one of the things that we discuss importantly. We'll be discussing the farmers. We'll be discussing a lot of things. But fenol will be one of the things we discussed last night when you.

Said you were prepared to send more than the National Guard into American cities.

Sure, I would, I would do that. It was necessary, you know, I, it was necessary to do that, but it hasn't been necessary. We're doing a great job without that was necessary. As you know, I'm allowed to do that.

Do you mean other branches of the military you send in or who do you call you in the New York Times?

That's right. Very good. You write it, correct? Give you the answer. But you know, I want to enact a certain act. I'm allowed to do it routinely and other about 50% of presidents have used that, as you know. And I'd be allowed to do whatever I want. But we haven't chosen to do that because we're very well, we're doing very well without it. But I'd be allowed to do that, you understand? And the courts wouldn't get involved. Nobody would get involved. And I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force brains, I could say send anybody I wanted, but I haven't done that because we doing so well without it. Washington D.C. continues to be amazing, safe and it's really great. As I said, Memphis, where we are now is doing really well. It's down I think almost 70, 60, 70% and within two, three weeks it'll be down to almost no crime. Now we're taking a lot of bad people out. We're incarcerating some very bad people, some gangs. You have a lot of bad gangs there. If we're taking care of it and we're doing things that frankly local law enforcement just going to have a hard time doing. We were all set to go last Saturday into San Francisco. We look forward to that. We would have solved that problem in less than a month, but at the behest of a couple of really great people, very successful, great civic minded people. They said we'd love to try doing it ourselves and that's okay. And we worked with the mayor and working with those people, but we didn't surge the city. And I said if we surge it's going to go a lot quicker and much more effective. But I want to give them a chance to do it themselves. If they can't do it themselves, we'll solve San Francisco in three weeks on the southern border.

Claudia, President Sheinbaum of Mexico said that the tariff troops with the US has been extended for talks. How long Are you willing to wait for that to pay off?

Well, I like the extension with Mexico because, you know, we're doing very well with that extension. We get a lot of tariffs. They're paying a lot of money. As you know, a lot of car companies are moving from Mexico back into the United States. They took our car companies a long time ago, 30 years ago, and opened it more. We lost about 57% of our automobile manufacturing over the decades. And it's all coming back because of tariffs. It's all coming back. And the tariffs are really national security as much as anything else. It's national security in many ways, but one of the ways that it's national security is we're building up great wealth because of terrorists. You need wealth to be secure. But it's in the more traditional sense also national security, very important. But we're bringing back our auto plants that deserted us 20 and 30 years ago. They're all coming back. Last night I met with Mr. Toyota and we had an amazing meeting. I said, what's your name? Toyota. I said, you're rich. And he's going to invest, think of this, $10 billion in the United States to build manufacturing plan. They'll build their cars with American workers large. They have the right to send some experts, but they're going to be building cars in the United States. So we're getting all of our manufacturing back in the car business. And AI, we're leading China, we're leading the world in AI. We're getting the rapid approvals on energy. I've allowed them to produce their own energy for each plant, so that rather than relying on an old and somewhat weak grid, the electric grid, they build their own energy and then if they have excess energy, they sell it back into the grid. So it's great. It's, it's really worked out well. It's, it's allowing them to build rapidly and they are building all over the United States. Sir, could we get your reaction to Israel striking in Gaza again? Well, as I understand it, they took out an Israeli soldier. Just. I just heard about it a while ago. They took out, they killed an Israeli soldier. So the Israeli at least hit back and they should hit back. When that happens, they should hit back.

Do you think that, does that worry you about the ceasefire? Does that jeopardize the ceasefire anyway?

Nothing's going to jeopardize. That's. You have to understand, Hamas is a very small part of peace in the Middle east and they have to behave. They're on the rough side, but they said they would be good, and if they're good, they're going to be happy. And if they're not good, they're going to be terminated. Their lives will be terminated. And they understand that. And we have many countries that are willing to do that. You know, we have many countries. Even Japan today said we'd love to be involved in the Middle east, and we can help you by sending anybody, by sending people, including experts. But we have many countries that would do that, not just Israel. No, that's a very strong piece. Hamas is a small thing, but they kill people. They grew up killing people, and I guess they don't stop. But the. Nobody knows what happened to the Israeli soldier, but they say it was sniper fire, and they. It was retribution for that. And I think they have a right to do that. Is it possible that there are fringe elements within Hamas that are trying to. I think there are, because we actually met with people that were leading it and they really want to see. And they really. In my opinion, based on the experts that dealt with them, I think they're unhappy when they see some people being killed. Well, Hamas not like it was, by the way, but some people being killed. We don't want that. Will Hamas decommission as well weapons? That's a key part of the next. Yeah, we're looking at that right now. That's starting because we're getting into phase two, and that's starting. You have to understand Hamas is a very small part of the overall Middle east peace. We have peace in the Middle East. If we have to, we'll take out Hamas very easily and that'll be the end of Hamas. We would rather not. We made a deal with them where they were going to behave, and they have to behave. If they don't behave, they get taken out. And it could be from numerous countries. It could be from Israel, but it could also be from other countries. Numerous countries have already called me that are parties to the deal and said, we'd love to do it if you want us to do it. And these are powerful countries. These are not countries to be toyed with. What do they say?

North Korea has launched missiles this morning.

What's your reaction to that? The missiles? The North Korean missiles? Missiles? Oh, I don't know. They've been want. He's been launching missiles for decades. Just another missile launched. I always had a very good relationship with him. You know, at some point, I'll be meeting. The schedule is very tight, as you know. But at some point, I look forward to meeting up Again, but we had a very good relationship. I mean, more than a really. We had a really good understanding of each other. We met, we spoke to each other, numbers, and we had a good relationship. At some point, we'll be involved with North Korea.

That means there's no meeting with Kim Jong Un.

I don't know people, I think they'd like to and I'd like to, but I. We also want to focus on China. I mean, our focus is now on tomorrow with China, and I want to make that the focus. But we'll come back and we'll, at some point in the not too distant future, meet with North Korea.

How much do you expect Xi to try to push you on Taiwan?

I don't know that we'll even speak about Taiwan. I'm not sure. He may want to ask about it. There's not that much to ask about. Taiwan is Taiwan. But the beautiful part about Taiwan, frankly, and they understand it, is we're bringing a lot of those chip makers into the United States. If you look at the number one chip maker in the world, they're building a massive factory in Arizona, the biggest in the world, actually. We're making chips. If you look at Nvidia, Nvidia is doing unbelievable. We're bringing a lot of. A lot of the Taiwan business back to the United States. I think by within two years, I think we have 40 to 50% of the chip market. That's happening and I don't know, it's happening because of the tariffs. It's also happening because of the fact that probably maybe they're a little bit concerned about things, but they are. They are, you know, tremendous. I don't know if you're reporting it, but massive numbers of and percentages of the chip business is coming back right now as we speak. They're building plants in Arizona, Texas and other places.

My chip, sir, have you agreed or will you agree with Qi Digitally to allow the license of more exports of Nvidia?

Blackwell we'll be speaking about. Blackwell. We'll be speaking about. Blackwell is the super duper chip. Blackwell's amazing. Nvidia makes it. The Jensen is an amazing, brilliant band and it's probably 10 years ahead of any other chip. And unlike a lot of other businesses, you just can't catch it. You know, it's mostly you can copy and you can do things you really can't in the chip business. For whatever reason, that doesn't work that way. But Blackwell just came out. Jensen presented me with the first Blackwell chip3 days ago in The Oval Office. And it's an amazing thing that they've done. But we're, you know, that's our country. We're about 10 years ahead of anybody else in chips, in the highly sophisticated chips. I think we may be talking about.

That with President Xi's actually discouraged sale of purchase of those chips. Is that something that's on the table?

Well, China actually terminated the relationship with Nvidia. That was a big thing. But in the meantime, Nvidia hit a brand new high. You know, the stock market yesterday hit the highest ever that it ever was. All of the markets, I mean every one of our markets say we're doing great, the country is doing great. We have the shutdown caused by the Democrats and at some point they'll get, they'll come back. I think they're getting just killed right now. But all they have to do is say let's get back to business and we're back. There's nothing to sign, there's nothing to negotiate. Hurricane Melissa, have you been following that? I've never seen numbers like that. I said we wanted a 195 mile an hour wind. I've never seen that before. I've never seen, I guess it could get that high, but I've never seen it. And it's literally just, you know, knocking down everything in front of it. It's just, it's a stage five, I guess, and you don't see stage, you don't see fives. Right. You see fours and threes. But this is a five early on, meaning it gets worse. So it's done a tremendous job. You've been to a jamaic, make it. And is the United States going to? Well, we have, on a humanitarian basis we have. So we're, we're watching it closely and we're prepared to move. But you know, it's doing tremendous damages as we speak. It's right there, right now.

Sir.

Are you not sure what's the AI problem?

That's what some would say that some investments.

Everybody wants AI because it's, it's the new Internet, it's the new everything, one of the biggest things anyone's ever seen. So everyone wants it? Yeah, I mean the only problem is if you don't get it, in order to get it, you have to be able to produce tremendous amounts of electricity. And we're allowing them to produce and make their own electricity. This way they don't have to rely on government. And by the way, they're making electric plants that are so sophisticated and so incredible. So much beyond that. Companies that make and service electricity, you and Con Edison, all the different companies that do that and do it well, but they've never seen anything like what's happening. It's almost a revolution in the making of electricity, the level of sophistication. Sir, Speaker Johnson says that he told you that there's no time to amend the Constitution to allow you to serve a third term. Is that an accurate representation of the Constitution? I don't want to even talk about that because, you know, the sad thing is I have my highest numbers that I've ever had. As I said, I ended eight wars. And we have the greatest economy in history. And by the way, energy prices are way down. Everything's way down. Beef is a little bit high. We're going to get beef down, too, but prices are down and the economy's up. The only thing that's not down is the stock prices. And 401ks are through the roof. Everyone's 401ks hitting records. So we have the greatest economy we've ever had. I have my highest poll numbers that I've ever had. And, you know, based on what I read, I guess I'm not allowed to run. So we'll see what happens.

Says you're trolling. When you talk about a third term.

Are you polling or. I don't think. I don't think he said that. I don't think he used that term. But it's a very interesting thing. I have the best numbers for any president in many years. Any president. And I would say that if you read it, it's pretty clear I'm not allowed to run. Stupid. But we have a lot of great people being sent out on Saturday. The Department of Agriculture says they cannot have any contingency fund to fund that. Is your administration. Food stamps SNAP benefits. Is your administration. Well, we're going to get it done. The Democrats have caused the problem on food stamps because all they have to do is sign. And, you know, if they sign, I'll meet with them. They're all saying, well, they actually said Trump is doing an amazing job in this trip. This trip. We're bringing back trillions of dollars. So it's hard, but they do want to meet with me when I get back. But I say get the economy open and we'll meet. I'll meet and we'll solve any difficulties. We have to fix health care because Obamacare is a disaster. When you see the increases in Obamacare, it never work. It never will work. And we can do something with the Democrats, much better than Obamacare. Less money and better health care. And that's something, I think, that can come out of this with the Democrats. You work with the Democrats, because right now the insurance companies are making too much money and they're making a fortune. And the health care, Obama. Obamacare is poor and the premiums are ridiculous. It's going up a lot. I don't want to say the number. The number is very substantial. But when you hear the number and it's Obamacare, it never worked. It never will work. It'll never be good. And I think it's a great time for the Republicans and Democrats to get together and make something that will work and let the insurance companies make money. They're entitled to that, but not the kind of money that they're making.

Would you bring Democrats in to have that discussion? Yeah, we do that.

But now, sir, I'd say open up the government and we're working on it. I think a lot of good things can happen. Listen, thank you very much. We have two big days. This is a big day, and we're going to be speaking at apac and a lot of countries are there. They're all investing in the US we're the hottest we've ever been. We're the hottest country in the world and they're all investing. So I'll be doing that. And then tomorrow morning is the one that most people find most interesting. And I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China and a lot of problems are going to be solved. You're optimistic. Yeah, very optimistic. I am. And I know a little bit about what's going on because, you know, we have been talking to them, not just walking into a meeting call, but the relationship with China is very good. So I think we're going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world. Actually, I think it's important for the world. How's your name? To practice. We're doing very well with Rare Earth. You know, we've been involved with Rare Earth all over the place. Now some amazing things happen. Do you mention the name of the Japanese prime minister? I think she's fantastic. I think she's a wonderful woman. She's very sharp, very smart, very energetic. And you see it. I mean, you know, the pictures don't lie. They really do. The pictures are amazing. I saw some of the pictures this morning and they're amazing. But I think she's a terrific woman, first woman ever to be Prime Minister of Japan, and she'll go down as one of the really great ones. You know, I had a fantastic relationship with Shinzo Abi, the prime minister, who was assassinated, horribly assassinated. He was a great man, and he was my best relationship. And she comes with that exact habit. He would have supported her had he been around you. Touched by the putter and the golf bag. Very beautiful. I played golf with him, and they gave me the putter that he played with. And he put it very well that day. Thank you very much, Everybody. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.