President Trump meets with racing champions at the White House and speaks to reporters following his shock 90-day pause on most tariffs.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Transcription by ESO. Translation by —
00:30Hello, everybody.
00:49Hello, everybody.
01:14Yeah, it's up almost seven points.
01:17Thank you, sir.
01:18It's going to be about 100 times.
01:19Nobody's ever heard of it.
01:20It's going to be a record.
01:21May?
01:22Yeah.
01:23Yeah.
01:24Will you make an announcement for next?
01:25Yes, sir.
01:26Mr. Martin.
01:27Can you get a little bit more?
01:28Yes, sir.
01:29Absolutely.
01:30Thanks.
01:31Hello, everybody.
01:34It was a nice night.
01:36Is this the car?
01:45Yes, sir.
01:48Yes, sir.
01:49Yes, sir.
01:51Pretty amazing job.
01:52Pretty amazing.
01:53This is the cane behind it here.
01:55I want to go fast.
01:57Thanks for having us.
02:06We had to do it.
02:07Somebody had to do it, right?
02:09Well, thank you very much, everybody.
02:13We have a very special day for a lot of reasons, actually, if you really think about it.
02:18But this is a day because Roger Penske is a great friend of mine.
02:22I've known him a long time.
02:24He received a few years ago the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest award in the country
02:31outside of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
02:33It's sort of the civilian version of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
02:38And I watched him win his 18th Indianapolis 500.
02:44And now I just said, did you win 19?
02:47He said, well, actually, we won 20.
02:49He won two more since then.
02:50So that was like five years ago.
02:52And he won two more since then.
02:54And just well-deserving of you.
02:56If you look, Germany, Japan, the countries, they spend billions of dollars trying to win
03:02Indy.
03:03And I guess they do it sometimes, but not much.
03:05But he's done it 20 times, you know.
03:06So he must know something about cars and racing.
03:09And trucks, too, by the way.
03:10He knows a lot about trucks.
03:12But he's been a very special guy.
03:14And he's brought some of our outstanding racing champions with tremendous courage and guts
03:22and grit.
03:23Hello, fellas.
03:24I didn't see you guys over there.
03:25That's a good-looking couple of teams, too.
03:27They have a lot of courage.
03:29And we'll see you in a second.
03:30So we're joined by the 2023-2024 NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney and Joey Lugano.
03:38That's really fantastic, fellas.
03:40That's great.
03:42How fast do you get that start going, Mike?
03:45As an example, on average, how fast will you go?
03:48About 190.
03:49About 190.
03:50You can have it.
03:51I don't want to go but 190.
03:54That's fantastic.
03:55And on a straightaway, you'll go how much?
03:57About 190, 200.
03:59About 190, 200.
04:00Well, it takes a special genetic.
04:04You know that, right?
04:05It's genes.
04:07It's genes, really.
04:09Most people couldn't do that.
04:11Very few people could do it.
04:13The 2023 and 2024 Indianapolis 500 winner, Joseph Newgarten.
04:19Joseph.
04:20And the 2025 champions of the 24 Hours of Daytona, Felipe Nasser, Nick Tandy, and Lawrence Ventura.
04:36Thank you, sir.
04:37Thank you, sir.
04:38Thank you, sir.
04:44This is just a celebration of racing, and it's a celebration of Roger and his great success and his life, and these incredible champions who really do what very few people could do.
04:57And mentally, psychologically, it's a big factor here.
05:00Like, it is in all sports, really.
05:02But you need a great physical ability.
05:04People that do this, they don't realize what great athletes they are.
05:07It's just not the car.
05:09I had a friend.
05:10He was a very successful guy, but he was a driver and started off.
05:15He wanted to be a race car driver.
05:17He wanted to be like you.
05:18He wanted to be like, just like Joey Lugano.
05:20And he had it for business, but he didn't have it for the, he said, I just couldn't compete with the good drivers.
05:26He couldn't do it, no matter what he did.
05:28And he got lucky.
05:29He went into business and made a lot of money.
05:31He was very successful.
05:33But he said, I couldn't press the accelerator down all the way, and the best drivers could.
05:38So there was just a difference.
05:39It was really, I never forgot that story.
05:41But these are great champions, and it's a great sport.
05:45And what you've done in Indianapolis also with the track and everything has been incredible.
05:51I mean, it's really incredible.
05:53People tell me it's been amazing.
05:55I'll have to get young enough to get there maybe this year with you.
05:59But, well, thank you very much.
06:03We had to, we did Daytona.
06:05We went around the track and the beast, what's called the beast, with the thick windows and the whole thing.
06:10And you're not supposed to hear anything, but I heard the fans, they were going crazy outside.
06:13So it was, it was a great honor.
06:15So I just wanted to welcome them to the White House, a special place, very, very special place.
06:22And we love champions, and these are the greatest champions in the world.
06:26These are the greatest champions in racing, and it's an honor to have you all.
06:30And thank you very much.
06:31All of you, thank you very much.
06:32I wouldn't ride in that thing if you take it.
06:35How fast will that go?
06:37240 plus.
06:38240?
06:39Yeah.
06:40That's unbelievable.
06:41Two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500.
06:45Consecutively, right?
06:46Yes, sir.
06:47So what the hell are you doing?
06:48What do you eat?
06:50A lot of milk.
06:51Drinking a lot of milk, hopefully.
06:53I'm going to take some.
06:54And that one is pure speed and endurance, right?
06:59Correct, sir.
07:00Speed and endurance.
07:01Is that car a very different car than, let's say, this one?
07:05Very different?
07:06Very different.
07:07Made for, yeah.
07:08Got to last so many hours.
07:10Right.
07:11And we all share the car, so three drivers.
07:14It's a totally different engine.
07:15Different engine.
07:16Everything's different.
07:17Everything.
07:18And you'll go, is it 24 hours?
07:19Yeah.
07:20That's a long time.
07:21And that car just, there's no let-up.
07:23There's no, it's just constant, right?
07:26That's fantastic.
07:27Congratulations.
07:28That's endurance.
07:29Endurance is a big factor in life and success, I can tell you.
07:32So you guys have it.
07:34Well, thank you very much.
07:35Would you like to ask Roger or any of these champions any questions while we're here?
07:42I have a question for you.
07:44Yeah?
07:45You started the morning saying, be cool.
07:47And then just a few hours later, there was a pause put in on the terrace.
07:52Can you walk us through your thinking about why you decided to put a 90-day pause on the terrace?
07:58Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line.
08:02They were getting yippy, you know?
08:04They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions.
08:09Because we have a big job to do.
08:10No other president would have done what I did.
08:12No other president.
08:13I know the presidents.
08:14They wouldn't have done it.
08:15And it had to be done.
08:16What was happening to us on trade, not only with, you know, if you look at it, not only with China,
08:23but China was by far the biggest abuser in history, and others also.
08:28But somebody had to do it.
08:30They had to stop because it was not sustainable.
08:33Last year, China made $1 trillion off trade with the United States.
08:38That's not right.
08:40And now I've reversed it.
08:41It's for a short period of time.
08:43But we made $2 billion.
08:45We're making now $2 billion a day.
08:47And somebody had to do it.
08:52Roger actually said it.
08:53Charles Schwab was here a little while ago, one of the great financial people.
08:56And he said he's been waiting for 40 years for somebody to do what I did over the last month.
09:03And if you didn't do it, you wouldn't have a country.
09:06It wouldn't be sustainable.
09:07So I'm honored to have done it.
09:09And, you know, look, nothing's over yet.
09:12But we have a tremendous amount of spirit from other countries, including China.
09:16China wants to make a deal.
09:18They just don't know how quite to go about it.
09:20You know, it's one of those things that are not quite proud people.
09:24And President Xi is a proud man.
09:26I know him very well.
09:27And they don't know quite how to go about it, but they'll figure it out.
09:31They're in the process of figuring it out.
09:33But they want to make a deal.
09:34And we have other we have we have many other countries, as you know, many more than 75.
09:40And they all want to come.
09:42They want to come here or they'll go to commerce or they'll go to Treasury.
09:45We have our great senators here and congressmen.
09:48They'll call John to somebody.
09:52They'll go through somebody.
09:53But they're all calling.
09:54How do we do this?
09:55They all want to make a deal.
09:56Somebody had to do what we did.
09:58And I did a 90 day pause for the people that didn't retaliate.
10:01Because they told him, if you retaliate, we're going to double it.
10:05And that's what I did with China because they did retaliate.
10:08So we'll see how it all works out.
10:10I think it's going to work out amazing.
10:12I think that our country is going to be at the end of a year or shorter.
10:16But I think we're going to have something that nobody would have dreamt possible.
10:20A man like Roger Penske, I don't want to get him in trouble with China, so I won't.
10:24But he would know that you have to someday you have to cut the bow and you have to do what you have to do.
10:30Right, Roger?
10:31And that's what I did.
10:32And I'm very happy to have done it.
10:34Mr. President, the Prime Minister of Greece just told Breitbart's Matt Boyle that he thinks absolutely the European Union and the United States could work out a trade deal that's win-win and, quote, mutually beneficial to both sides.
10:47What do you think about the Prime Minister's comments?
10:49And do you think a deal could be struck with the European Union?
10:52First of all, I know him.
10:53He's a good man.
10:54And I appreciate his comments.
10:55Yeah, a deal could be made with every one of them.
10:57A deal is going to be made with China.
11:00A deal is going to be made with every one of them.
11:02And they'll be fair deals.
11:04I just want fair.
11:06They will be fair deals for everybody.
11:09But they weren't fair to the United States.
11:11They were sucking us dry.
11:13And you can't do that.
11:15You know, we have $36 trillion of debt for a reason.
11:19We don't have it there for fun.
11:21They have it for a reason.
11:22And people took advantage of our country.
11:25And they ripped us off for decades.
11:28I've been thinking about this for decades.
11:30If you ever saw me on television, I was young like these guys.
11:34And those are good old days, I'll tell you, Roger.
11:37But I was like these guys, young.
11:39And I was talking about it.
11:41Nothing changed.
11:42And nothing was done about it.
11:44Then I did it.
11:45In my first term, I did it.
11:47And did it well.
11:49We took in hundreds of billions of dollars from China and others.
11:52And I started the process.
11:54But then we had a fix-up from the COVID mess caused by China.
11:57We had a fix-up from that, and we did a good job of doing it.
12:00And when we handed back the reins after a rigged election,
12:03and when we handed back the reins,
12:05the stock market was higher than it was before COVID coming in.
12:10So, you know, we did a great job.
12:12But we didn't have time to do the big thing, which we're doing now.
12:17And it's, you know, it's like a patient is sick.
12:19You have to do surgery.
12:20The patient is very, very sick.
12:22And Joe Biden handed us over a country that was in very serious trouble.
12:29Economically and in every other way.
12:31They let China run away with things.
12:33They let other countries run away with things.
12:35And maybe, worst of all, in a certain way,
12:37is what they did at the border.
12:38We had people pouring into our country by the millions.
12:42Many of them were murderers and drug lords and thieves
12:46and people from prisons from all over the world.
12:49And there were people from mental institutions, insane asylums.
12:54They were taking their mentally insane
12:57and they were dumping them into the, into our country.
13:01And I'll tell you, Tom Holman and Kristi Nohm
13:04are doing a fantastic job in removing them.
13:07And now the courts, the Supreme Court,
13:09just gave us numerous good rulings
13:12where we have to be able to get them out.
13:14You had other judges trying to take over the system.
13:17And think of it, they take over.
13:19They want these people coming back.
13:21Trent de Iroquois from Venezuela.
13:23The Venezuela jails that cut off the fingers of a man in Colorado.
13:28They cut off his fingers because he called the police looking for help.
13:32They said, did you call the police?
13:34He said, yes, I did.
13:36Put your hand down and they cut off the fingers.
13:38This is what they want to bring these people back now.
13:41And I want to thank the president of El Salvador
13:44for the job he's done.
13:45Because that is, that's the way it has to be done.
13:49It's stupid.
13:50Yeah, please.
13:51Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi,
13:53they've been talking about tariffs for decades.
13:55How come when these Democrat elites want tariffs,
13:57everything's hunky-dory,
13:58but when President Trump wants tariffs, all hell breaks loose?
14:01Do you see this double standard?
14:02I love this guy.
14:03I love this guy.
14:04Whoever the hell that is.
14:06That's really nice.
14:07I appreciate that question.
14:08No, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi,
14:10everybody knew you had to do it,
14:11but they never had the guts to do it.
14:13It does take guts.
14:14It even takes guts for our country to go through it.
14:16That's why I say, be cool.
14:18They were saying about, you see, just be cool.
14:20It's going to work out.
14:21It's going to work out.
14:22And it's, it's working out.
14:24I can tell you, working out maybe faster than I thought.
14:27But I said, it's, you know, it's,
14:30it's going to take a little conditioning.
14:33It's a transition to, it's really,
14:35I think it's a transition to greatness.
14:37It's going to be greatness.
14:39Our country is going to be,
14:40there'll be nothing like it.
14:41And people investing in our country,
14:43they're going to do better than they've ever done before.
14:45We have more car manufacturers, Roger,
14:48coming into our country.
14:49Now, speaking of cars, we've never seen anything like it.
14:52And they're coming in because of the election,
14:54but they're coming in because of the tariffs,
14:57because they don't want to pay 25 or 50 or whatever it may be.
15:01They don't want to pay that.
15:02They can't pay that.
15:03We had three cancellations in Mexico, building a plant.
15:09They're all coming into the United States.
15:11Canada, they're coming in from China.
15:14They're coming, they're coming in from everywhere.
15:16And that's just cars.
15:17We have chip makers come with the biggest chip maker in the world,
15:20from Taiwan, coming in, spending $3 billion to build plants and a big,
15:25mostly a big plant.
15:27This is a hell of a plant when you spend the kind of money there,
15:30that they're going to go $200 to $300 billion, not million.
15:34You know, you'd say million would be the right number.
15:36It's not $200 to $300 billion, billion dollars.
15:40Think of that, $300 billion.
15:42If you look at Apple,
15:45Apple is going to spend $500 billion building a plant.
15:49They wouldn't be doing that if I didn't do this.
15:51They'd just keep building them in China.
15:53And that's unsustainable.
15:55It's not a pleasant thing to do.
15:57But I appreciate the question.
15:59And, you know, interestingly, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi,
16:03Crazy Nancy, they've wanted to do this for years,
16:07but they never had a president that had the guts to do it.
16:10Because it does take guts, believe me.
16:12The Press.
16:14What are the bond markets that persuaded you to reverse course?
16:18No, I was watching the bond market.
16:20The bond market is very tricky.
16:21I was watching it.
16:22But if you look at it now, it's beautiful.
16:26The bond market right now is beautiful.
16:28But, yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy.
16:32I think everything had — well, the big move wasn't what I did today.
16:38The big move was what I did on Liberation Day.
16:41We had Liberation Day in America.
16:43We were liberated from all of the horrible deals that were made,
16:46all of the horrible trade deals that were made.
16:48And I was helped by people just like this —
16:51senator, congressman, and friends, right?
16:54And we had great help in the Senate.
16:58Republican senators have been amazing.
17:01They stood tall.
17:02And likewise in the House.
17:03And John Thune has done an amazing job.
17:07Barrasso has done an amazing job.
17:09All of — I mean, I can't think of a senator.
17:13Really, we had tremendous support.
17:15We got a bill passed the other day with almost unanimous support in the Senate.
17:20And I think we're going to get that in the House, too.
17:22And I have to tell you that Mike Johnson is a great speaker.
17:26He's done a fantastic job.
17:28We had a majority of one.
17:30Now we have a majority of seven.
17:32And you don't realize how big seven is until you have a majority of one.
17:36Seven.
17:37Sounds like so much.
17:38But we're doing well.
17:40But Mike Johnson and John Thune have done a really great job.
17:44The Press.
17:45Mr. President, was anyone who influenced your decision?
17:46Did you speak with anyone — you know, Jamie Dimon?
17:49Did you speak with anyone just about —
17:50Well, I watched Jamie Dimon on Maria Bartiromo show this morning, and he was very good.
17:55He said that — actually made the statement to effect that something had to be done with
18:00the tariffs and trade.
18:01He said that.
18:02He said, look — you know, at some point — but he said something has to be done with
18:06tariffs and trade.
18:07He understood it.
18:08He's very smart and very genius financially.
18:11He's done a fantastic job at the bank.
18:13And he knows that.
18:15Everybody knows that.
18:16Anybody that's even a little bit smart knows it.
18:19It wasn't sustainable what was happening.
18:21Somebody had to pull the trigger.
18:22I was willing to pull the trigger.
18:24This should have been done long ago, just like Biden should have stopped the border long ago.
18:29I mean, allowed 21 million people-plus into our country — many of whom should never have
18:35been allowed out of prisons and jails.
18:37They came out of prisons and jails from all over the world.
18:40And now we're getting them out, bringing them back to their countries.
18:43But it's — should have never been done.
18:45And this is a question.
18:46Where is the takeoff of the industry?
18:47Yeah, go ahead, please.
18:48Sir, would you consider exempting some U.S. companies, maybe some larger companies,
18:53who have been hit hard in the markets the last few days during this 90-day —
18:56Well, I'll take a look at it.
18:57As time goes by, we're going to take a look at it.
18:59There are some that have been hard.
19:01There are some that, by the nature of the company, get hit a little bit harder.
19:04And we'll take a look at that.
19:05Yeah.
19:06Just instinctively, more than anything else.
19:10I mean, you almost can't take a pencil to paper.
19:13It's really more of an instinct, I think, than anything else.
19:16What is your credibility like?
19:19Because you said that these tariffs would go into effect on Monday.
19:22You said no pause.
19:23And today there is a pause.
19:24So how can people believe your words today?
19:27Yeah, it's not a question of that.
19:29You have to have flexibility.
19:31I could say, here's a wall, and I'm going to go through that wall.
19:35I'm going to go through it no matter what.
19:37Keep going, and you can't go through the wall.
19:39Sometimes you have to be able to go under the wall, around the wall, or over the wall.
19:43These guys know that better than anybody, right?
19:45You've got to go around them sometimes.
19:47You're not going to go through them.
19:48So I consider, you know, I think in financial markets, because they change.
19:53Look how much it changed today.
19:55We went from, you know, pretty moderate today, but over the last few days it looked pretty glum,
20:02to, I guess they say it was the biggest day in financial history.
20:07That's a pretty big change.
20:09And I think the word would be flexible.
20:11You have to be flexible.
20:12Like, he's asking the question about some companies.
20:15Some companies, through no fault of their own, they happen to be in an industry that is more affected by these things than others.
20:22You have to be able to show a little flexibility.
20:25And I'm able to do that.
20:28I'm going to say hello to these champions, because they are great champions.
20:31They've got to say hello.
20:32Thank you, Mr. President.
20:33I'm going to ask you a question.
20:34Thank you for the presentation.
20:35Thank you for the presentation.
20:45I love that.
20:47I love that Tom.
20:48Thank you, Mr. President.
20:50You guys want to take your holes down?
20:52Yes.
20:53We took them.
20:57The National Committee.