Donald Trump (00:01):
And she's become a friend, and we really have a great relationship between Italy and ourselves. And, we talked about trade, we talked about many, many things during our luncheon. And, she'll be saying a few words, but she's a very special person, and it's nice to have you with us. Thank you very much.
Giorgia Meloni (00:22):
Thank you very much. Mr. President. Thank you for the warm welcome. Thank you for this occasion, which is- You know today is April 17th, and April 17th marks the anniversary of the agreement that allowed Christopher Colombus, who made his trip. And I say to remember how our tensions are, our ties, but also to remind us that we both shared another fight, which is the fight against the war and DEI ideology that would like to erase our history. And as I know that we share lots of things on tackling illegal migration, on fighting against synthetic drugs.
(01:13)
You know Italy has been one of the nations that made a plan against fentanyl, for example. But we have been talking about many bilateral topics and things that we can do together.
(01:27)
About defense, about economy, about space, about energy. Italy will have to increase its LNG imports and also nuclear that we are trying to develop. I think there can be ways to work together and the Italian enterprises will invest as they've been doing for many years, as you know, in the next years, I think around 10 billions. That shows how interconnected our economies are. And that's very important, Mr. president. It's not only about Italy, it's about the entire Europe. The exchange between us is a very big one. Investments trade. It's a topic that we are discussing here this week.
(02:26)
But at the end of the day, look, somebody calls me, I was saying it before, such a Western nationalism, I don't know if it is the right word, but I know that when I speak about west, mainly I don't speak about geographical space. I speak about civilization and I want to make [inaudible 00:02:53].
(02:53)
Try to sit [inaudible 00:02:55]
(02:53)
For having accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to Rome in the near future, and consider the possibility on that occasion to meet also with Europe. The goal for me is to make the West great again. And I think we can do it together.
Donald Trump (03:15):
We can
Giorgia Meloni (03:18):
And we will keep on work on that. I am going to close. I want to say only I'm proud of sitting here [inaudible 00:03:24].
(03:24)
Very good, as a very good situation, despite the difficulties, a stable country, reliable country, 1 million more jobs in the last two years and half.
Donald Trump (03:39):
Great.
Giorgia Meloni (03:41):
Inflation is going down. So you forgive me if I promote a bit my country, but you're a businessman and you understand me. So migration flows going down 60%. [inaudible 00:03:57].
(03:57)
Ukraine, I'll close, together we've been defending the freedom of you Ukraine. Together we can build trust and lasting peace. We support your efforts.
Donald Trump (04:06):
Thank you very much. And I think we're doing well in that effort, but we want to get it done and we'll see if we can. We want to save… On average, think of it, every week, 2,500 people are being killed. Mostly soldiers, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. And if we can save those lives, that'd be a very good thing. So we'll see what we can do. I think we're getting close, but we'll let you know very soon. And you've been very helpful. I appreciate it. Thank you. Any questions?
Press (04:33):
Mr. President, on Jerome Powell… Mr. President-
(04:37)
How much longer does Vladimir Putin have to respond to your ceasefire proposal before you put secondary tariffs or sanctions on Russia?
Donald Trump (04:47):
We'll see what that will be. We're going to be hearing from them this week. Very shortly actually, and we'll see. But we want it to stop. We want the death and the killing to stop.
Press (05:00):
Mr. President, on Jerome Powell, you said that the termination of Jerome Powell cannot come fast enough. He says he won't leave even if you ask him to. Do you believe you have-
Donald Trump (05:10):
If I ask him to, he'll be out there, but-
Press (05:12):
Do you believe you have the power to remove him and are you trying to do that?
Donald Trump (05:15):
I don't think he's doing the job. He's too late, always too late, really slow. And I'm not happy with him. I let him know it. And if I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast. Believe me.
Press (05:30):
Will you remove him? Are you trying to remove him?
Donald Trump (05:32):
Question?
Press (05:34):
Are you trying to remove him, Mr. President?
Donald Trump (05:36):
Do you have a question?
Press (05:36):
Today Judge Boasberg, in a case against your administration. So the Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial order. Do you agree with that statement?
Donald Trump (05:48):
Well, you're going to have to speak to the lawyers. We have great lawyers. I can tell you this, we're doing a fantastic job of getting criminals out of this country who Biden allowed into the country. Hundreds of thousands of criminals, murderers, and drug dealers. And I was elected because of the fact, I would say maybe that was the number one factor. A lot of reasons, the economy, a lot of things. But one of the primary reasons I was elected is because I said I'm going to get the criminals that he allowed. [inaudible 00:06:22]
(06:21)
I'm going to get them out. And I got a lot of votes. Record-setting numbers of votes. As you know, we won everything, the popular vote, all seven swing states. We won everything. And that's what the public wanted. That's what I'm doing. But you have to speak to the lawyers because it's up to them.
Press (06:42):
What do you think of the proposal from France and UK of a peace mission in Ukraine with soldiers, and do you think that Italy should take part into it?
Donald Trump (06:52):
I think Italy will have to make that determination, but peace missions are always good with me. I'm okay with peace missions. Yes?
Press (06:59):
Mr. President, What areas of cooperation have you discussed with the Prime Minister vis-a-vis Italy and the United States, and Europe and the United States, and on China-
Donald Trump (07:08):
We discussed it very briefly. No, we're doing very well with negotiations, I think with all countries.
Press (07:14):
Do you have a timing?
Donald Trump (07:15):
Scott could tell you a little bit, but we are doing very well. We have a lot of countries that want to make a deal. Frankly, they want to make deals more than I do. Go ahead, Scott, would you say something?
Scott Bessent (07:26):
Yeah, we've got a process in place. We're working on the big 15 economies first. We had a fantastic meeting with Japan yesterday. I believe there've been calls with the EU already. And then we have a South Korea coming in next week. And I believe India is also talking. That's moving very quickly.
Press (07:48):
Mr. President. Mr. President Mr. President.
(07:51)
On Ukraine's President Zelensky has said he has evidence that China is supplying weaponry or ammunition to Russia. Do you have any evidence along those lines? And also he said we could see a minerals deal signed this week. Is that-
Donald Trump (08:04):
We have a minerals deal, which I guess is going to be signed on Thursday, Scott? Next Thursday.
Scott Bessent (08:08):
Yes.
Donald Trump (08:08):
Soon?
Scott Bessent (08:10):
Yes.
Donald Trump (08:12):
And I assume they're going to live up to the deal, so we'll see. But we have a deal on that. No, I have no comment on that. I have no idea. That's his statement, not mine.
Press (08:22):
Mr. President, there are reports you waved off an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. Can you comment on that, is that accurate?
Donald Trump (08:31):
And they say the attack is what?
Press (08:32):
That you waved off an Israeli plan to attack Iranian nuclear facilities recently.
Donald Trump (08:38):
I wouldn't say waved off. I'm not in a rush to do it, because I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country. And to live happily without death, and I'd like to see that. That's my first option. If there's a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran. And I think Iran is wanting
Donald Trump (09:00):
… to talk. I hope they're wanting to talk. It's going to be very good for them if they do. And I'd like to see Iran thrive in the future, do fantastically well. I know the Iranian people, they're incredible people. Always have been very…
(09:14)
… allow us to do anything. Once they terminated, you know what the deal was, it was a terrible deal, really. One of many terrible deals made by the US. But no, I'd like to see Iran thrive and they can do that I think very easily. Or they can do it the other way, and the other way is not going to be good for them. Can be really bad for them.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
[inaudible 00:10:31] … CEO going to China and met with trade officials there.
Donald Trump (10:35):
Well, Jensen's an amazing guy. He is become a friend of mine. And I don't know, he's a person that's very proud of our country. He loves our country. I'm not worried about Jensen at all.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
[inaudible 00:10:48] Will you take steps to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States and put him in front of a judge?
Donald Trump (10:57):
Well, I'm not involved in it. I'm going to respond by saying you'll have to speak to the lawyers, the DOJ. I've heard many things about him and we'll have to find out what the truth is. But I will say this. We were inundated by millions of people, many millions of people during the Biden administration. They say 21 million and a big percentage of those are criminals. Serious criminals. I'm not saying just criminals, because they came into the border illegally. I'm saying they're criminals at the highest level, murderers. Many of those people murdered more than one person and they're on the loose. And I was elected to get rid of those criminals, to get them out of our country or to put them away, but to get them out of our country. And I don't see how judges can take that authority away from a president. We've done an amazing job, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem.
(11:56)
We have done an amazing job. Nobody can believe the job we've done. Far greater than what I said. I mean, I got elected on that, but we've done much better. We have right now 99% border. It's a 99%. Nobody thought that would even be… Nobody's coming through our border practically. Two weeks ago, we had nine people come through, all for medical reasons. We allowed them. We brought them through, because one had a heart attack, one had something else. And all for medical reasons. We have a great border. We had a great border four years ago, but we have a border now that's even tighter. And we did that in a matter of weeks. And now we need to get murderers and drug dealers, and people that were in jail for horrible… They released jails, Georgia, from all over the world and released them… Not just South America, all over the world, the Congo and Africa.
(12:52)
Many, many people come from the Congo. I don't know what that is. But they came from the Congo and all over the world. They came in, opened their jails, Venezuela, practically all of their prisoners released into our country. And we took them, because we had an incompetent administration called the Biden administration and to think what they've done to our country. And I was elected to straighten that out and I'm doing that. But we have activist judges that don't want murderers to be sent out of our country. They don't want killers and drug dealers, and drug lords, and people from mental institutions. They want them to stay in our country, I guess. I don't know, maybe that's the liberal way or as they call it nowadays, the progressive way. But I don't think it's the way that our country believes. And that's why I won in a landslide.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
[inaudible 00:13:44] Mr. President, you did say that you are confident these deals will be done, but you also said that you're in no rush. Americans are seeing prices rise. They're seeing it on their bills. How long can they expect that pain to last?
Donald Trump (13:59):
So they've already seen it get much better, because if you were truthful, which you're not, I know you very well, you have gasoline that hit a $1.98 yesterday in a couple of states. You have gasoline's way down. The price of oil has dropped substantially. The price of groceries are substantially down. The price of eggs, when I came in, they hit me with eggs. I just got there. I was here for one week and they started screaming at me, "Eggs have gone through the roof."
(14:33)
I said, "I just got here."
(14:34)
I was there for seven days. And I hear that eggs have gone through the roof before I got there. And they were screaming at me, the press, the fake news like you, you're fake. And the fake news is screaming at me about eggs. I said, "I've only been here, this is my seventh day."
(14:51)
And they were right. They went up 87% and you couldn't get them. They said, "You won't have eggs for Easter." Which is coming up. Happy Easter, everybody. "You won't have eggs for Easter."
(15:01)
And we did an unbelievable job, and now eggs are all over the place and the price went down 92%. And our Commissioner of Agriculture, Brooke, has done a fantastic job, really done a fantastic job. So prices haven't gone up. The only thing that's gone up actually is interest rates, because we have a Federal Reserve Chairman that is playing politics. Somebody that I've never been very fond of actually. But he's playing politics. Interest rates should be down now. They should be coming down. In Europe, as you know, they reduced them, I guess seven times. It looks like they're going to reduce him again and again and again. But our guy wants to play cute. But interest rates are pretty much even, maybe they went up just a slight bit. But that's the only thing. But that's because of the Federal Reserve, because they're not very smart people.
(15:55)
[inaudible 00:15:59].
(15:59)
Go ahead. Yes sir. Please go ahead, please.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Do you regret nominating him, Jerome Powell?
Donald Trump (16:07):
Look, in the first four years we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. Stock market went up 88 points. I think he's terrible, but I can't complain, because we had the most successful administration economically in the history of our country. I think we're going to do even better this time, because you will see that the numbers that we're taking in are astronomical. We're taking in tremendous amounts of money with the tariffs. We were treated very unfairly on trade. And countries are having a hard time getting used to the fact that they can't do that to us anymore, because we have a real president. We have a president that understands a what it's all about. We had presidents that in some cases were smart, but they didn't understand business or they didn't like business, or it wasn't like a priority.
(16:56)
And then you had the last administration, the only thing they were good at was cheating at elections. That's about all they could do. They couldn't do anything. They were useless. They were incompetent. Worst administration in the history of our country, worse than Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn't the worst president. Joe Biden was. So I think you're going to see some fantastic numbers when this all happens. It's happening now. Everybody wants to make a deal, and if they don't want to make a deal, we'll make the deal for them, because that's what's going to happen. We'll just say, "This is what it is." But we want to listen to everybody.
(17:33)
[inaudible 00:17:34].
(17:33)
And I think I can say for Scott and the other people that are working on it, that we're listening and we're going to be very fair to people. But we are the one that really sets the deal, and that's what we'll be doing.
(17:51)
[inaudible 00:17:51].
(17:51)
Go ahead, please.
Speaker 5 (17:56):
[inaudible 00:17:56] Question, today our prime minister-
Donald Trump (17:59):
Oh, you have a great
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Italian.
Donald Trump (18:00):
… great Prime Minister. You're so lucky. Yes?
Speaker 6 (18:01):
Italiano?
Donald Trump (18:03):
Yes, yes.
Speaker 6 (18:04):
Okay.
Giorgia Meloni (18:04):
I'm not sure that would be…
Speaker 6 (18:05):
[foreign language 00:18:08]
Giorgia Meloni (18:05):
[foreign language 00:18:21]
Donald Trump (19:31):
I mean, it sounded great.
Interpreter (19:32):
It was about…
Donald Trump (19:33):
It was beautifully presented but… Maybe I could hear what she said.
(19:38)
Go ahead.
Interpreter (19:38):
It was about asking…
Donald Trump (19:38):
Hold it, hold it.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
Guys, have some respect, please.
Donald Trump (19:46):
Thank you. No, no, wait. Go ahead. I want to hear what she said. Go ahead.
Interpreter (19:55):
Prime Minister Meloni was asked what she thinks about the fact that President Trump holds Zelensky responsible for the war in Ukraine, and Prime Minister Meloni answered, "Well, actually, we have a…" No… And also if you talked about the military spending and the raising of the military spending, and the first thing Prime Minister Meloni said, "No, actually, we didn't talk about the raise and military spending. Of course, Italy will keep its commitments with 2% and then we will see, because we are absolutely aware of the fact that it's very important to…"
Giorgia Meloni (20:41):
Well, I will do that. Wait, I will do that.
(20:44)
They've been asking if we decided another defense percentage about the defense spending, and I said… Yes, NATO. And I said that Italy is reaching the 2% as it was already decided. We didn't speak about specific other percentage, but we are aware of the fact that defense is important for the future and we see what also the work that we are trying to do at the European level.
Donald Trump (21:13):
And I don't hold Zelensky responsible, but I'm not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started. That was a war that we would've never started if I were president. You'd have millions of people living right now that are dead. You'd have cities that would be open and thriving and they'd have their beautiful terraces. Those terraces are the most beautiful in the world, but they're not with us any longer. They're smashed to smithereens, laying on the ground in a million pieces, getting hit by rockets, bombs, and bullets.
(21:46)
And so I'm not happy with him and I'm not happy with anybody involved. I think it's a war. I know it's a war. It didn't happen for four years. It was never close to happening. It was never even a thought. And I spoke to President Putin about it a lot. It was the apple of his eye, but there's no way he would've ever gone in if I were president. Now I'm trying to get him to stop, because as you know, Russia's a lot bigger. It's a bigger military force, and if you're smart, you don't go involved and get involved in wars that you can blame.
(22:23)
The man that was sitting in this seat, Biden, he didn't know what the hell was going on. But I can guarantee you that, and everybody agrees to it, if I were president, that war would've never taken place. I'm not blaming him, but what I am saying is that… I wouldn't say he's done the greatest job, okay. I'm not a big fan. I really am not a big fan.
(22:43)
Go ahead. Go ahead.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
[foreign language 00:22:52]
(22:52)
Mr. President, are you sure about the definition of parasite or European, would you say again that Europeans are parasites?
Giorgia Meloni (22:58):
He never said.
Speaker 6 (23:04):
Would you say again that Europeans are parasites?
Giorgia Meloni (23:09):
Have you ever said that Europeans are parasites?
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Yeah.
Giorgia Meloni (23:13):
Have you said it?
Donald Trump (23:13):
No, I didn't say. I don't know what you…
Giorgia Meloni (23:15):
He didn't say it.
Donald Trump (23:16):
I don't even know what you're talking about.
(23:21)
Go ahead, please. Go ahead. No, no. Wait, wait. Next, next, next. Go.
Speaker 9 (23:26):
Thank you. Prime Minister Meloni just said, "We want to make Europe great again and we want to do it together, together [inaudible 00:23:34] west."
Donald Trump (23:35):
Sure.
Speaker 9 (23:35):
I guess, that's what she said. Mr. Prime Minister, how are you going to do that? And are you looking to do it to counter China who is really trying to gather influence against the United States with the help of other [inaudible 00:23:51].
Donald Trump (23:51):
I hope that Europe is going to be great again. Europe is going through a lot of problems. And a lot of it's having to do with immigration. And I'm not a big fan of Europe and what they've done with immigration at all. And I think they got to get smart, because Europe is being very badly hurt by what they've done with immigration. Now, I'll say this, that the Prime Minister has taken a very tough stand on immigration, and I commented to her before. I said, "I wish more people would be like you having to do with that subject, but they're not." Europe is very important to me. Europe is very important to the world. I want Europe to do very well. I think they have to get a lot smarter on immigration.
Giorgia Meloni (24:34):
But we are beginning to do it. You've all seen now the policies of the European Union in the last two and a half years have been changing. Okay, at the beginning, we were talking only about how we were redistributing illegal migrants coming to Italy. Now we are talking mainly about how to stop illegal migration, work with the countries of origin, and transit and to return people. The European Commission just did the new rules about repatriations and things like that. So things are changing, thanks also to the example that Italy brought in lowering the rates of illegal migration. So we are working now together. So I'm optimistic on that.
Donald Trump (25:20):
Go ahead. I hope so. Go ahead, please. Go ahead.
Speaker 8 (25:27):
I'd like to ask. I would like to ask President Meloni, if you have discussed the option of a Starlink [foreign language 00:25:33] direct communications? And President Trump, if you want to see the Google company growing up?
Donald Trump (25:46):
The Google what?
Speaker 8 (25:46):
The Google company.
Donald Trump (25:46):
What about it?
Speaker 8 (25:46):
Google business?
Donald Trump (25:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (25:46):
[Inaudible 00:25:46]
Donald Trump (25:46):
Go ahead, please.
Giorgia Meloni (25:47):
Oh, well, we didn't discuss about Starlink. We've been discussing about defense, space, where we will work together, also in the Mars missions. So there are big, big things to do together, but we didn't discuss it.
Speaker 10 (26:03):
[inaudible 00:26:04] the Prime Minister that changed your mind potentially about tariffs and what you plan to do, going forward?
Donald Trump (26:14):
No.
Speaker 10 (26:14):
Is there anything the Prime Minister said to you that changed your perspective?
Donald Trump (26:16):
No. Tariffs are making us rich. We were losing a lot of money under Biden. Trillions of dollars, trillions on trade. And now that whole tide has turned. We're making a lot of money. We're taking in a lot of money. Don't forget, we're taking in 25% on cars, 25% on steel, 25% on aluminum, 10% baseline. We put penalties on China for sending us fentanyl. We put penalties on Mexico and Canada, 25%, for allowing fentanyl, and allowing the borders to be weak. Now we're taking in billions and billions of dollars while I sit here and talk
Donald Trump (27:00):
… talk to you. And, we didn't take in anything before, other than the tariffs that I put on previous to Biden, which were the tariffs I put on China where we took in up until this point, probably $700 billion. They were Trump tariffs. He tried to weaken them. He did everything he could. He got paid money by China. The family got paid money, he did. And so I don't know, maybe that was the reason, or maybe it wasn't. But, he tried to weaken them, but he couldn't because it was so much money that his budgets, they couldn't stand not doing it. But I took in the, up until this point, my tariffs on China, nobody ever took in 10 cents from China. No other President took in 10 cents. I took in more than $700 billion from China.
(27:49)
So, we're doing very well. Our country's doing very well. They had a bad report today from one of the healthcare companies that had an impact on the stock market. But, this isn't about that, this is really, we're building a base. We're building a country like no other. And again, I had the strongest economy in the history of our country by far. History of any country, probably, but the history of our country in four years. And I think this has a chance to be much better.
Speaker 11 (28:23):
Can you just clarify on the mineral field, will that be signed here at the White House with Ukraine on Thursday? Will President Zelenskyy be coming here for that?
Donald Trump (28:28):
I don't know exactly, I'm going to leave that to Scott. What do you think? Where would it be signed and when?
Scott (28:33):
We're still working on the details, we're shooting for around April 26th.
Speaker 11 (28:37):
Is there any more detail that you could tell us about what's in that deal and how it came together?
Scott (28:42):
It is substantially what we'd agreed on previously, but the President was here, we had a memorandum of understanding. We went straight to the big deal. And, I think it's an 80-page agreement, and that's what will be signed.
Speaker 12 (29:01):
President Trump, on rate cuts. Can he clarify on rate cuts, do you intend to seek Powell's firing if he doesn't change his stance on rate cuts, or is that not on the table or is that-
Donald Trump (29:10):
Well, I think he should do the rate cuts because I think if Europe has done it puts us at a disadvantage to Europe. He plays right into their hands. So I think he should do the rate cuts. We don't have really inflation now. I just said the major things are going down. Oil is great. Oil is way ahead of schedule, and that's because of our policies. But oil is down into the $60, $65 range now per barrel. And I told you in certain states we have less than $2 for gasoline. And food is down, groceries, as we call it, are down. Other than interest rates, everything's down. Interest rates are pretty flat. It's not that they're up, but we should be better than flat. If he would lower the interest rate, I think it would have a good impact on that too.
(30:03)
But, the costs are down. We have very little inflation. I would say we have essentially no inflation. Hard to have inflation when oil goes down, and oil goes down. When Biden came in, oil went through the roof, that's what caused our problem. That and is very dumb spending. But, when the oil prices go down, and they have gone down a lot, we've gotten it down really good. We've opened it up and we've gotten them down. And that means that people driving cars are going to be paying $2 and $2.50 instead of $4.50. And even at the end, they tried just for the purpose of the election to get it down, but they had really lost that sucker. It was not good.
(30:47)
But if they had won, oil right now would be at $7 or $8 because of their policy, and we're going to be at about $2. Could be even a little bit less than that. And you're starting to see it. So, I don't know how you can have inflation when oil has come down quite a bit. And, I would say the Fed really owes it to the American people to get interest rates down. That's the only thing he's good for. And he would have an effect on that if he lowered them. And, I think at some point he will. He's going to have a lot of political pressure. They are political, also. And I think there's a lot of political pressure for him to lower interest rates. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 13 (31:35):
Sorry.
Donald Trump (31:35):
Please.
Speaker 13 (31:37):
Do you think that Italy can be your best ally in Europe? And also, do you ever notice when you walk, if you step on ants?
Donald Trump (31:42):
Only if the Prime Minister remains, The Prime Minister can it be our best. She's doing, no, she's doing a great job. And yeah, certainly one of our great allies, not just in Europe, anywhere. She's a fantastic person, and doing a great job, and our relationship is great. And we have a lot of Italians in this country, I tell you. And they like Trump, and they voted for Trump. Anyway, thank you very much, everybody.
Speaker 14 (32:22):
Thank you. Thanks guys, let's go.
