Trump Archive
Video4 min read

Remarks: Donald Trump Holds a Pull-Aside Meeting with Ursula von der Leyen - September 23, 2025

12:00 AM
Donald Trump 00:00:00-00:00:15 (15 sec)

Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to be with a very powerful, very smart woman and a friend of mine -- become a friend of mine. And she does a fantastic job running lots of different nations. And Ursula, thank you very much for being with us. Thank you.

Ursula von der Leyen 00:00:15-00:00:30 (15 sec)

Thank you. Thank you for having me here. I'm very much looking forward to our conversation. I think it will be mainly around Ukraine, the missing children and certainly the new hybrid threats we are experiencing in Europe. So, thank you very much for making the time.

Donald Trump 00:00:30-00:00:36 (6 sec)

Well, thank you very much and we will have a very good conversation. Any questions, please?

Question 00:00:36-00:00:47 (10 sec)

How soon do you think -- Madam President, how soon do you think that Europe can stop buying Russian oil and gas fully [ph] like President Trump has asked for?

Ursula von der Leyen 00:00:47-00:01:11 (25 sec)

President Trump is absolutely right, we're on it. We have reduced already massively the gas supply from Russia, completely gotten out of Russian coal, and massively also reduced the oil supply, but there's still some coming to the European continent. So, what we do now, we put sanctions out to those ports where, for example, LNG is coming from Russia.

Ursula von der Leyen 00:01:11-00:01:25 (13 sec)

And we want to put tariffs on oil supplies that are still coming to the European Union. So, we are really getting after the last bits of oil and gas coming from Russia to the European Union. We want to get rid of it.

Question 00:01:25-00:01:29 (4 sec)

When do you think you'll be able to do that? You've previously said 2027 and you're looking at a quicker timeline now.

Ursula von der Leyen 00:01:29-00:01:44 (15 sec)

We want to be out earlier, absolutely. So, until the end of the year we have the phasing out. We have now the sanctions on the table proposed, member states have to agree, but we have to be faster because every payment is filling Putin's watches. This cannot be.

Question 00:01:44-00:01:58 (13 sec)

Mr. President -- [Inaudible], nice to see you. During your speech to the General Assembly, you talked about the UN not reaching its potential. Do you see any kind of consequence if they don't step up and do what they should on a number of issues?

Donald Trump 00:01:58-00:02:18 (20 sec)

Well, they've never really reached -- not just now, they've never reached their potential. The UN could be unbelievable with certain people running it. And no, it's never reached the potential. Look, I put out seven wars, if you think about it and I'm not the UN, but -- and I wasn't helped by the UN, I was never even given a phone call.

Donald Trump 00:02:18-00:02:43 (24 sec)

But you have a list of the wars, and these were wars that were pretty much unstoppable. These were wars that were not going to be settled. One was 31 years, one was 32 years, one was 35 years and altogether a total of seven, two were starting. And I was never called by the UN, I was never like -- I didn't even think about it frankly until after we did it. I never gave it a lot of thought.

Donald Trump 00:02:43-00:03:02 (19 sec)

And then recently I started thinking, you know we were never helped by the UN. The UN has tremendous potential, tremendous potential. It's going to hopefully put out the wars themselves. I mean, someday it's going to do what I've been doing, and they should be able to do it. Thank you for that question. I appreciate it. Yeah.

Question 00:03:02-00:03:10 (9 sec)

Given what you just said, what structural changes would you like to see in the UN and what role do you think it can play in peacekeeping, for example, going forward, given what you just said?

Donald Trump 00:03:10-00:03:32 (21 sec)

Well, it's a fantastic role in peacekeeping, it should be great. I mean we shouldn't have any wars if the UN is really doing its job. I know they were involved originally with Russia-Ukraine and that didn't get done because that was the time to stop it. But no, it's -- I always say about the UN, fantastic potential, but it's all about the people.

Donald Trump 00:03:32-00:03:50 (19 sec)

You know, you can have a wonderful concept, but if you don't have the people. The UN has never lived up to its potential. But I'm the example of it, we do all these wars and we weren't helped by the UN. We weren't hurt by them, but we weren't helped. They didn't do anything. And they're supposed to be solving these problems.

Donald Trump 00:03:50-00:03:59 (9 sec)

Thank you very much, everybody. We have a lot of meetings. We have a lot of meetings to go. Thank you.