President Trump Gaggles with the Press on Air Force One, June 17, 2025

How's it going? It's going well. Did everybody have a good time? Reasonable. How about you? I did. I always have a good time.

Hello.

Hi, Jennifer.

You just posted right before we took off that you're not leaving because of a ceasefire. Why are you.

Can you elaborate? We're looking at it better than ceasefire. We're not looking for a ceasefire. I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire. That was Emmanuel. Nice guy, but he doesn't get it right too often. But we're not looking. We're looking for better than a ceasefire.

You're looking to get into this more. You're not going to invent it in this conflict at this stage. Are you going to do anything more for Israel right now?

Doing pretty well right now? We're doing pretty well. Remember, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. We don't have to go too deep into it. They just can't have a nuclear weapon.

What was the thinking on the call for Tehran to evacuate? Is there a threat or is there incoming? What was the thinking on the floor?

I want people to be safe and that's always possible. Things like that could happen. I just want people to be safe. Is there any new concern about U.S. troops or assets in the region at all today? Great people. They know how to protect themselves. And when you say better, what specifically do you think so hard. If they do anything to our people will come down so hard, then the gloves are off so beautifully? No, they. I think they. I think they know not to touch our troops.

Are you sending the vice.

Our troops are ready when you send.

The vice President and Steve Witkoff, there's reports that you to send the Vice President and Steve Wyckoff to meet with the Iranians and have discussions. Is that something you're considering?

Not sure yet.

I may.

Depends on what happens when I get back. What specifically is better than a ceasefire? What are you looking for here? An end. A real end, not a ceasefire. An end. So something that will be permanent or giving up entirely. That's okay, too. Are you close there? Are you possible? Is that possible in the next 24 or 48 hours? Certainly possible. Complete give up. That's possible here.

Has the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Secretary of Defense drawn up plans for you if Iran were to attack US bases or do any damage to US bases?

I just can't do anything.

Can I ask you because there's been some skepticism. Is there any guarantee that if the US did get involved militarily that a US bomb could destroy Iran's nuclear program.

And facilities on everything or anything in our life. You know that. Look at you, right? There's no guarantee. But you're saying a guarantee.

Do you think if the US got involved militarily it would actually wipe out Iran's nuclear program or where's your assessment of that?

I hope their program's going to be wiped out long before that, but they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

Do you have any reason to believe the Israelis are going to slow down or are they going to hit the accelerator right now because they've got superiority.

Over the next two days? Right? You're going to find out. Has the Gang of Eight, nobody's slowed up so far.

Has the Gang of Eight been notified about what's coming in the next couple days?

We'll be talking to them.

But what can you do?

It's not necessary.

What can you do in Washington that you wouldn't do in Canada?

Just be a little bit, I think, more well versed not having to use telephones so much because I don't believe in telephones because people like you listen to them, you know. So being on the scene is much better. And we did everything I had to do on the G7. We had a good G7. We signed a deal with the European Union, phase one of a deal. But we signed the deal with the UK and the UK is really great. We very far down the line with a lot of deals. I mean, look, we're actually finished with every deal if you really think about it. Because all I have to do is say this is what you're going to pay. But it's, it's nice to be nice.

Did Secretary Beset stay behind as your representative?

Yeah. Okay.

Anybody else?

Yeah, a couple of people want to ask you where. Here we go. Who else has a question other than CNN?

Mr. President. Mr. President, you talk with the European Union. Can you tell us what the status is on talks on those you signed with the UK today?

I don't feel that they're offering a fair deal yet. You know, they've been very tough over the years. If you look at European Union, they formed in order to hurt the United States on trade. And we're either going to make a good deal or they'll just pay whatever we say they have to pay.

What about the Japanese or you met briefly with Prime Minister Ueshiba.

Conversation. I thought he was terrific. Actually. I was very friendly with Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister. He was a great man. But I think this, I think he's going to do a very good job.

You think you have a chance of a deal there?

Chance? They're tough. Japanese are tough. But ultimately you have to understand we're just going to send a letter and say, this is what you got to pay. Otherwise you don't have to do business with us. But there's a chance of a deal.

They want changes to the auto tariffs as well. Is that on the table?

See what happens. Anything else?

Drone attack in Kyiv. What's your response to that? It looks like 14 or so. A drone attack? A Russian drone attack in kyiv. Very recently. 14 civilians at Harvard.

Joint statement on the Middle East. What changed about that, that convinced you to sign on to it? The G7 joint statement? Well, I haven't seen the statement yet, but I authorized them to say certain things. I don't know whether or not they said them correctly, but I think they probably did. We had a good. A good meeting. I think Canadian representatives were very good. He did a very good job.

How were the trade. How was your meeting with him? How were the trade dogs working with the Canadians?

I think we had a lot of good talks with a lot of people.

He said he's looking for something more complex. Can you tell me what you mean by that?

We get complex on the deals and they never get done. And we need speed. You know, we're dealing with, really, if you think about it, probably 175 countries, and most of them are going to just be sent a letter saying it'll be an honor to trade with you and here's what you're going to have to pay to do it. We're making a lot of money. You know, we took in 88 billion in tariffs. And I was called by Congress about two nights ago saying we don't understand the numbers are so far off. And I said, is that good or bad? He says, well, we're taking in so much more income than we thought. We've never seen anything like this. What is it? I said, check the tariff column. And it's about $88 million that they've never seen before. And that's nothing compared to what it's going to be.

You've got other tariffs coming down the pipe here. What's the timing on those things like lumber, copper, pharmaceutical drugs.

We're going to be doing pharmaceuticals very soon. That's going to bring all the companies back into America.

All of them are focusing on search time.

Back in. At least partially back in. You know, they left us because we had residents that didn't know what the hell they were doing. We should have never lost our car business. We lost 52% of our car business over the years. Should have never lost it. All they had to do is say if you make a car, you're going to leave us. You're going to make a car, you're going to pay a 25, 30% tariff and they would have never left. Nobody said that to anybody until I came along.

Homeland Security is saying that ICE is going to start enforcing in hotels and farms again. Is that a change of course from last week?

We're going to look everywhere but I think the biggest problem is the inner cities. We're looking everywhere. Look what they let into this country, what Biden let in or allowed to. I don't think he knew what the hell he was doing, frankly. But whoever works for them, but they let into this country, we're never going to forget it. They let prisoners in, they let gang members in, drug dealers in, mentally insane into our country. No, we're going to get them out there more. There are far more in the inner cities, Democrat run cities, sadly. I'm just giving you a fact. There's far more in there than you have on a farm or someplace.

No one's getting exemptions anymore. Everyone is.

But the bigger problem is the cities right now. That's where. And that's. That tends to be where the really bad ones are. The murderers. You know, they've let in 11,888 murderers, people that killed people. Biden allowed that to happen, so the Democrats allowed it to happen. Biden didn't know he was even around.

Question on your Senate confirmations. With all the military actions, there are only three of your six sub cabinet members at the Defense Department.

Go faster than Democrats. Hold up our nominations.

Are you going to talk to Senator Thune about that?

John Thune is doing a very good job. You know, I've got a lot of people, but he's doing a very good job. The Democrats. If we had George Washington up for approval, the Democrats would take maximum time every hour, every minute to delay him as long as possible. If we had a combination of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, they would go max. It's called max time.

Mr. MC said that you don't believe Iran should be able to have a new nuclear weapon. But how close do you personally think that they were to getting one? Because Tulsi Gabbard, Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon.

I don't care what she said. I Think they were very close to having.

I got a spot on. You were at this beautiful scene for the meeting and you said a lot about acquiring Canada as a state. Did anybody talk to you about that? And where are you now?

Much better deal from Canada, but, you know, it's up to them. They're going to have to pay a lot of tariffs and things. They're going to have to pay a lot of money for the Dome. For the Iron Dome. They want to be a part of it. We may make a separate deal on that, by the way. We discussed that. Yeah, on the Dome. That may be a separate deal. They want to be at 71 billion. They're going to pay.

They're going to be a do thing separate from the terror.

In the dome. Yeah, they'll be under the Dome.

Are you open to negotiating with the Iranians right now or do you want to wait?

I've been negotiating. I told them to do the deal. They should have done the deal. Their cities have been blown to pieces, lost a lot of people. They should have done the deal. I told them do the deal. So I don't know. I'm not too much in a mood to negotiate now.

Do you think you'll be in the Situation Room tomorrow at any point?

Tomorrow morning, girl while you're sleeping. Goodbye, everyone.

Why do you evacuate Tehran? You know, you posted evacuate.

I think it's safer. A lot of bad things happening. No, I think it's safer for them to evacuate.

On Minnesota, there were a lot of horrific details that came out today about the suspect who's been charged there. Have you called the governor yet or been able to speak to any of them?

I really called him.

He's.

Look, he appointed this guy to a position. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out, I'm not calling. Why would I call him? I could call him, say hi, how you doing. The guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess. So, you know, I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?

Are you?

Beautiful bill, sir. Can you talk about what the Senate.

Well, with the big.

Change.

Beautiful bill.

Are you okay with their changes?

I hear so far it's going well. Get approved. 68% tax increase. And I think the Democrats would have to, you know, they'd be. Because we won't get Democrats. If we think of it, we're giving the biggest tax cut in history. Instead. You have the biggest tax increase in history, 68%.

Are you going to extend the TikTok deadline again? That's coming up in jail.

We probably have to get China approval. I think we'll get it.

You have the legal basis to do it?

I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.

And you have the legal basis to do that, to keep extending it?

We do.

Two more on Iran. Is there any sign that North Korea is getting more involved in helping Iran, or is Russia getting more involved with building?

I haven't seen it. I don't think anybody wants to get involved. It's a mess.

What about American citizens, U.S. citizens who are trying to leave the area? With the airport shut down, Manuran shut down.

We're doing the best we can with it. We're working on that. We're doing the best we can. Thank you, everybody, very much.

Thank you, Mr. President.