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