Well, thank you very much. We very much appreciate the attention. Today is a big day in that we had a G-7, and President Macron is a very special man in my book. We were together. We did it together. And I think a lot of progress has been made. We've had some some very good talks with Russia. We've had some very good talks with others and we're trying to get the war ended with Russia and Ukraine.
And I think we've come a long way in a short period of weeks, and the president's been very helpful also. And we're also talking about trade, various trade deals that we will be doing with France. And we'll be discussing a little bit further then we'll have a press conference later on. You can ask some questions.
We'll be having a press conference in a little while. We're going to have lunch with the entire French staff and we look forward to it. And again, the relationship has been very special with France and very special with this gentleman on my right. And we look forward to keeping that going for a long period of time.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank Mr. President for his hospitality. We had a good discussion this morning for the G-7 here and for the third year of this war in Ukraine. And I think our common objective clearly is to build peace and a solid and long-standing peace.
And this is what we will discuss obviously, because I have great respect for bravery and the resistance of Ukrainian people. And we do share the objective of peace, but we are very aware of the necessity to have guarantees and solid peace in order to stabilize the situation. I'm here as a friend because through centuries, we've been friends and we are personal friends, as you mentioned it, because we work very well together.
And I think the US and France always stands on the same side, the right side, I would say of history and this is exactly what is at stake today, and this is a very important moment for Europe as well. And I'm here as well after discussions with all my colleagues to say that Europe is willing to step up to be a stronger partner, to do more in defense and security for this continent and as well, to be a reliable partner and to be engaged on trade, economy, investment in a lot of topics.
So I'm very excited by the discussion we will have. And obviously we will follow up. And I want to thank you again, Mr. President, for your presence for Notre Dame de Paris. It meant a lot for French people, and I want to thank you for that.
That's the cathedral and they've done a fantastic job. The president's done a great job in bringing it back. That was a terrible thing like what, five years ago?
Yeah.
Watching that burn was a very horrible, horrible sight and you've done a fantastic job in bringing it back. So I congratulate you. Thank you for being here.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Anybody want to ask a question or two? [Inaudible] question.
Have you reached an agreement with the Ukrainians on the critical minerals deal?
It looks like we're getting very close. The deal is being worked on where I think getting very close to getting an agreement where we get our money back over a period of time. But it also gives us something where I think it's very beneficial to their economy, to them as a country. But we're in for $350 billion.
How we got there, I don't know, but that's a lot of money, a lot of lot of money invested and we had nothing, nothing to show for it and it was the Biden administration's fault. The Europeans are in for about $100 billion and they do it in the form of a loan. And the Europeans have been great on this issue.
They understood it wasn't fair and we were able to work something out. But with the Ukrainians, I think I can say that we're very close. Scott's around here someplace and I think we can say that we're very -- hi, Scott. I think we're very close. Do you have something to say about that, Scott?
We are very close, the one-yard line.
All right. Good. What?
Would a minerals deal include a security guarantee for Ukraine?
Well, it'll be -- Europe is going to make sure that nothing happens. I don't think it's going to be much of a problem. I think once we settle, there's going to be no more war in Ukraine and it's not going to be a very big problem. It's going to be the least of it.
-- the Greek media reporting that the US has agreed to shut down a military base in Greece that's been a logistical hub for NATO.
That who shut down?
The US has agreed to shut it down at the request of Turkey and Russia. Is that all true?
Marco, do you have anything to say about that?
Sir, that's a no. That's a no.
Is it a no, you said?
It's a no, sir.
It's not a correct story.
Thank you. Mr. President, how do you react to people in Europe, who said that you are abandoning Ukraine and that you are going to sacrifice the security of Ukraine by making a deal with Putin?
No, we're helping Ukraine like nobody's ever helped Ukraine before. And I can say this, if I didn't become president, Ukraine would right now still be at a level where there would be no even thinking about a peace. And it's a sad thing that this happened. This would have never happened, this war, if I were president.
Zero chance, and it has happened. So my function is to get you out of the war, get them out of the war, let them live. It's a bloody war. It's a horrible war. Thousands of people have been killed a weak. And I would say Russia, may be 700,000 people. I think Ukraine probably a similar number, and that's not talking about the towns and the cities that have been blown up. That's talking about soldiers.
This has been a horrible, bloody mess and we're going to get it solved. We got to get it solved. And we're not talking about American soldiers, soldiers from this country. We're talking about Russia and Ukraine. But on a humanitarian basis, we have to get this very, very bloody savage problem solved. And I will say this also, it could lead to World War III if it's not solved.
There'll be a point at which it's not going to stop at those two countries. Already, there's such involvement from other countries and it could really lead to a very big war, World War III, and we're not going to let that happen either.
Would you support the idea to send European troops in Ukraine to back the ceasefire?
Yeah. European troops may go into Ukraine as peacemakers. So when the agreement is done, they can watch that everything is followed properly. I don't think that's going to be a problem. And a lot of the European countries, I think, I don't want to speak for France, but I know that the president has talked about doing that also.
I think that will be a very good day, when we can go in as peacekeepers as opposed to what's going on right now with everybody being killed.
Will they have US backing? Those troops going into Ukraine, will they have US backing from US troops?
Well, we're going to have a backing of some kind and obviously, the European countries are going to be involved and I don't think you're going to need much backing. I think that's not going to be a problem. Once an agreement is signed, Russia is going to get back to its business and Ukraine and Europe are going to get back to their business.
I don't think it's going to be a problem.
Mr. President will you meet with President Zelenskyy soon?
What?
Will you meet with President Zelenskyy soon?
I will be meeting with President Zelenskyy. In fact, he may come in this week or next week to sign the agreement, which would be nice. I'd love to meet him. We'd meet at the Oval Office. So the agreement is being worked on now. They're very close to a final deal. It will be a deal with rare earths and various other things.
And he would like to come, and I understand it, here to sign it and that would be great with me. I think they then have to get it approved by their council or whoever might approve it, but I'm sure that will happen.
[Inaudible]
Yeah. At some point, I will be meeting with President Putin also, yes.
How soon?
I don't know when. We speak. We're trying to get this thing worked out. But yeah, at some point, I'll be meeting with President Putin too.
[✧ AI Transcript] Monsieur Macron, pouvez-vous dire quelques mots? [In English: "Mr. Macron, can you please say a few words?"]
I can say a few words in French.
Yes, please.
[✧ AI Transcript: Le président l'a dit. Je pense que c'est 1.1 moment important parce que c'est un moment important de la discussion. On veut bâtir la paix en Ukraine et le bilan qui a été rappelé, c'est une réalité. Il y a 1,000,000 de morts et de blessés depuis le début de ce de ce conflit et de cette guerre d'agression.
Notre volonté, c'est que cette paix dure parce que nous, nous avons déjà eu un cessez le feu et une paix qui n'a pas été respectée.]
[✧ AI Transcript: C'étaient les accords de Minsk un, puis deux. Et donc le corps de cette discussion, c'est de s'assurer d'abord qu'il y ait un cessez le feu, ensuite que les Ukrainiens soient impliqués. Et je pense que ce que vient de dire à l'instant le président Trump est très important, c'est à dire qu'il va rencontrer rapidement le président Zelinsky pour signer cet accord sur les minerais critiques et les terres rares, et que c'est aussi un moyen d'avoir une implication américaine forte.
Les Européens sont prêts à prendre leur charge sous des formes diverses de soutien à l'armée ukrainienne de présence, y compris pour pour s'assurer que la paix soit durable et l'implication dans la durée des Etats-Unis d'Amérique à travers cet accord est une bonne chose. Et donc tout est encore à construire.
Et je ne veux pas préempter les discussions. Mais nous partageons le même objectif et ce qu'on a discuté ce matin pendant 1 h après la visioconférence ensemble et ce qu'on va continuer de travailler et sont pour moi des bonnes avancées. Et l'annonce de l'intégrité Territoriale de l'Ukraine est encore un objectif très [Inaudible].]
[Via translator] President Trump has already spoken about this this just a moment ago. This is exactly what we want to do. We want to build a peace with Ukraine. As President Trump mentioned, there are already one million dead and wounded in Ukraine since the war began. We had a ceasefire in the past that was not respected.
[Via translator] This was under the Minsk agreements one and two. President Trump, as he said, will be meeting with President Zelenskyy to sign a deal on rare earths and we are pleased to see this very strong American involvement. Europe, of course, also stands ready to support Ukraine in various ways, supporting its military and we don't want to preempt any sort of discussions that are currently underway, but we do share the same objective of building this lasting peace.
I just want to tell you a little story. So we we're at the Eiffel Tower having dinner with your wonderful wife and with my wonderful wife, and we came out and he started speaking the French deal. And we didn't have an interpreter and he was going on and on and on and I was just nodding yes, yes, yes. And he really sold me out because I got back the next day and I read the papers.
They said, that's not what we said. He's a smart customer, I will tell you.
[Inaudible] President Zelenskyy a dictator. Would you use the same words regarding Putin?
I don't use those words lightly. I think that we're going to see how it all works out. Let's see what happens. I think we have a chance of a really good settlement between various countries. And you're talking about Europe and you're talking about Ukraine as part of that whole situation. The other side has a lot of support also.
So let's see how it all works out. It might work out. Look, you can never make up lives. And one thing you can't, you can make up the money, but you can't make up the lives. A lot of lives lost. I think probably a lot more lives than people are talking about. It's been a rough war, but I think we're close to getting it solved.
Go ahead.
Mr. President, do you think that DOGE could benefit from more streamlined communications? There is that email telling employees to give five things that they've done last week. Agency heads then told people to ignore it.
You're talking about the last email that was sent, where he wanted to know what you did this week? You know why he wanted that, by the way, I thought it was great, because we have people that don't show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government. So by asking the question, tell us what you did this week, what he's doing is saying, are you actually working?
And then if you don't answer, like you're sort of semi-fired or you're fired because a lot of people are not answering because they don't even exist. They're trying to find -- that's how badly various parts of our government were run by and especially by this last group. So what they're doing is they're trying to find out who's working for the government.
Are we paying other people that aren't working? And where's the money going? We have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud so far. And we've just started. We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there because maybe somebody stole the gold, tons of gold. So I think it was, actually, there was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people are working and so we're sending a letter to people, please tell us what you did last week.
If people don't respond, it's very possible that there is no such person or they're not working.
Some of the agency heads instructed their employees not to respond. They're waiting on further guidance. But Elon Musk's tweet said failure to respond would be taken as a resignation. So there's been a disconnect in communications. Are you concerned at all about that?
No, no, no. That was done in a friendly manner. Only things such as perhaps Marco at State Department where they have very confidential things, or the FBI where they're working on confidential things. And they don't mean that in any way combatively with Elon. They're just saying there are some people that you don't want to really have them tell you what they're working on last week.
But other than that, I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea. We have to find out where these people are, who are they. And we said, if you don't respond, we assume you're not around.
And that holds? That stands?
You're not getting paid anymore too. So we're doing a real job and we just had a poll come out, I guess the Harvard poll, saying that it's massively popular, what we're doing.
So Mr. President, do you still believe in NATO, in the alliance between Europe and America in NATO? Are you going to go to the summit in June?
NATO is very much involved in this. When I first got elected at the very beginning, first term, I got hundreds of billions of dollars put into NATO. NATO had no money because they hadn't paid for years. And I said, look, if you don't pay and we're not going to be a part of NATO, we're not going to protect, we're not going to do what we're supposed to do. We took in hundreds of billions of dollars into NATO.
No, NATO is a good thing if it's done properly and if it's used properly.
Mr. President, in these days, these days, you speak a lot about tariff in Canada, in Mexico, and Europe. I want to know, what is your idea about Italy, if you want to make the same thing [Inaudible]?
What? Can you talk up a little bit?
In these days --
No, louder. Can you talk a little louder? You have a beautiful voice, but you're not -- where are you from?
Italy.
From Italy. Oh, I love Italy. Go ahead.
I want to know if you have the same idea with Italy about Paris.
Well, look, I love Italy and Italy is a very important nation. We have a wonderful woman as your leader and she was on the conversation today, one that we had, the G-7. And no, I think Italy is doing very well. I think Italy has got very strong leadership with Georgia.
[✧ AI Transcript] Monsieur le Président, qu'est-Ce que vous répondez au président Trump, qui a dit que les Français et les Britanniques n'avaient pas -- [In English: "Mr. President, what do you say to President Trump, who said that the French and the British did not have --"]
Any other questions over here?
Mr. President?
Yes, ma'am.
Can you clarify what you meant in your truth today on the major economic development transactions between the US and Russia? Any more details?
With respect to what Russia?
In solving a peace deal. You said there would be major economic development transactions which will take place between the United States and Russia.
Yeah, we're trying to do some economic development deals. They have a lot of things that we want and we'll see. I mean, I don't know if that will come to fruition, but we'd love to be able to do that if we could. You know, they have massive rare earth. It's a very large -- it's actually the largest in terms of land; it's by far the largest country and they have very valuable things that we could use and we have things that they could use and it would be very good if we could do that.
I think it would be a very good thing for world peace and lasting peace. Well, I mean our first, by far, our first thing that we want to do, the first element of the overall transaction is ending the war. But just as we're doing with Ukraine, if we could do some economic development in terms of Russia and getting things that we want, something like that would be possible.
Yes.
Mr. President? Mr. President?
Yes, go ahead, please.
Can you explain the rationale in having the US vote against the UN resolutions that Ukraine proposed and also the US proposed?
I would rather not explain it now, but it's sort of self-evident, I think.
Mr. President, you talked about increasing the tariffs on products from the European Union. Is that still something you want to do today?
Well, it's not increasing, it's reciprocal. So whatever they charge us, we're charging them. So it's not a question of increasing. If they charge us 20 percent, we charge them 20 percent. If they charge us 30 or 40 percent, then we do that too. So that would be on European Union, but that really would be with respect to everybody.
It's reciprocity. So reciprocal, whatever they charge us, we charge them. Nobody has a problem. Even you, I see you have a problem.
Mr. President, are you thinking of going to Moscow soon, maybe in May for the 9th of May for the anniversary?
I mean, not soon. But I would be certainly -- if this all gets settled out, which I think it will, sure, I would go there. And he'd come here too.
On the 9th of May, on the red square?
I don't know the 9th of May. No. I think that's pretty soon. But no, at the appropriate time, I would go to Moscow.
When do you think [Inaudible].
I think the war could end soon.
How soon?
Within weeks.
Weeks?
Yeah. [Inaudible] you think so? I'd like to ask you. I think we could end it within weeks if we're smart. If we're not smart, it'll keep going and we'll keep losing young, beautiful people that shouldn't be dying and we don't want that. And remember what I said, this could escalate into a third world war and we don't want that either.
Mr. President, your envoy Steve Witkoff suggested a temporary ceasefire in the conflict but the Russian government has denied that out of hand. Are you worried that they're not dealing in good faith?
No, I think they at some point will agree to that. I think they probably wanted to. And I think once you have a ceasefire, it's going to end because they're not going from a ceasefire back to war. I think people have had their full. I'm just glad I was able to help because there was no communication with Russia until I came along.
Biden didn't communicate. He couldn't communicate with his own child. So Biden didn't communicate, he couldn't. It was terrible. He hadn't spoken to Putin in three years. You're trying to end a war. People are being killed. Every week, thousands of people are being killed, soldiers, in this case, mostly.
Also towns, as missiles go in and back and forth. No, it's a shame. This should have never happened. This is a very sad -- this is going to go down in the history books. This is a very sad moment because that should have been stopped. That should have never started. And if it did start, it should have stopped the first week, not three years later, OK? OK?
[Crosstalk]
[✧ AI Transcript] Des réponses justes. Je pense que plusieurs questions -- [In English: "Fair answers. I think that several questions --"]
Please.
[✧ AI Transcript] -- au niveau de votre collègue qui ont été posées en français et qui rejoignent les questions posées par les collègues américains. D'abord, cette discussion est utile et construire la paix est une nécessité. La deuxième chose, c'est qu'il y a aujourd'hui une capacité de dissuasion qui est restaurée et que c'est ce que veut dire le président Trump quand il dit Il n'y aura plus de problème. [In English: "-- at the level of your colleague that were asked in French and that join the questions asked by American colleagues.
First, this discussion is useful and building peace is a necessity. The second thing is that today there is a deterrence capacity that is restored and that is what President Trump means when he says There will be no more problem."]
[✧ AI Transcript] Je pense que la force du réengagement américain aujourd'hui, c'est en quelque sorte l'incertitude aussi pour le président Poutine. Et donc il y a une capacité de dissuasion qui est là, qui permet de sceller d'abord sans doute une trêve, la capacité à vérifier que cette trêve est respectée et ensuite un accord de paix qui permettra de reconstruire l'Ukraine, mais de lui apporter aussi les garanties de sécurité dans le cadre de ses garanties de sécurité. [In English: "I think that the strength of the American re-engagement today is in some way the uncertainty also for President Putin.
And so there is a deterrent capacity that is there, which allows us to seal first of all a truce, the capacity to verify that this truce is respected and then a peace agreement that will allow Ukraine to be rebuilt, but also to provide it with security guarantees within the framework of its security guarantees."]
[✧ AI Transcript] Nous pensons que nous avons notre rôle à jouer. Et donc on verra à ce moment là la discussion, je ne veux pas la préempter, ce qui est nécessaire pour que l'Ukraine puisse rester un pays souverain. Et d'ailleurs, dans les discussions entre l'Ukraine et les États-Unis d'Amérique. Il y a cette question de d'une souveraineté ukrainienne qui est, qui est respectée. [In English: "We believe that we have our role to play.
And so we will see at that time the discussion, I do not want to preempt it, what is necessary for Ukraine to remain a sovereign country. And moreover, in the discussions between Ukraine and the United States of America. There is this question of Ukrainian sovereignty which is, which is respected."]
[✧ AI Transcript] Et donc nous, ce que nous avons préparé, en particulier avec nos partenaires britanniques, dans le cadre d'un travail très étroit qu'on a mené ces dernières semaines et partager avec tous les pays européens et alliés qui sont prêts à s'y joindre. C'est l'idée de dire On est prêts à apporter ces garanties de sécurité. Les conditions doivent en être définies par l'envoi de troupes. [In English: "And so we, what we have prepared, in particular with our British partners, as part of very close work that we have carried out in recent weeks and shared with all European countries and allies who are ready to join.
It is the idea of saying We are ready to provide these security guarantees. The conditions must be defined by sending troops."]
[✧ AI Transcript] Elles doivent être définies par par l'accord. Ça peut aller jusqu'à l'envoi, comme l'a dit le président. De troupes qui iront observer que la paix est bien respectée et qui iront se positionner. Pas sur la ligne de front, pas pour justement en quelque sorte être dans le conflit, mais marquer une présence comme une garantie.
Il y a d'autres moyens de soutenir qui peuvent être des soutiens accrus et capacitaires à l'armée des des structures nouvelles. [In English: "They must be defined by the agreement. It can go as far as sending, as the president said, troops who will go and observe that peace is being respected and who will go and position themselves.
Not on the front line, not to be in the conflict, but to mark a presence as a guarantee. There are other means of support which can be increased and capacity support for the army or new structures."]
[✧ AI Transcript] Et je pense aussi que l'accord qui est discuté, le Président l'a dit, la crédibilité américaine qui est mise dans ce moment, c'est aussi montrer que chacun est dans son rôle, mais que nous avons une unité. Européens et Américains, et donc avec une forme de garantie que les Américains prennent par la discussion sur les minerais critiques qui sont en train de finaliser. [In English: "And I also think that the agreement that is being discussed, the President said it, the American credibility that is being put into this moment, is also showing that everyone is playing their role, but that we have unity.
Europeans and Americans, and therefore with a form of guarantee that the Americans take through the discussion on critical minerals that are in the process of being finalized."]
That is the most beautiful language. I have no idea what he's saying, but that is the most elegant, beautiful language. Go ahead, please.
This is a question that was asked by several. What we need to do is make sure that we are building peace.
Can you speak up, please?
We have deterrence capabilities that have been restored. As President Trump said, there won't be any more problems. We've seen the US re-engagement and the message that that sends to Mr. Putin. We have deterrence, which will allow a truce to take place. Verification of that truce and then a peace agreement can be put in place so that we can start rebuilding Ukraine with security guarantees and we have a role to play in that.
Again, I'm not preempting any discussions, but we've spoken about Ukraine's sovereignty and that has been a subject of discussion between the US and Ukraine. We have also been working closely with our British partners this week. We've shared this information with other European countries and we are ready and willing to provide those security guarantees, which could perhaps include troops, but they would be there to maintain peace.
They would not be along the front lines. They would not be part of any conflict, but they would be there to ensure that the peace is respected. Our assistance may include other capacity building perhaps for the military. We see US credibility here. We each have our role to play, but we will be done in a united fashion.
Mr. President, do you think that Ukraine should give up a part of its territory?
Well, we're going to see. It's a negotiation that's just starting and they've been fighting and there's been a lot of land that's been taken. So we'll have to see how that works out. That's part of the negotiation. I will say, there was great unity in that room today. They were via Skype or whatever, but it was great, tremendous unity today in that room with the other countries. [Inaudible]
-- is back. Can they take back what they lost in the past years?
That's not an easy thing to do. Is it, right? It's not an easy thing to do. Asking whether or not you can take back the land that they lost. And I say that, yeah, perhaps some of it, yeah. I hope so, but that's not an easy thing to do.
But not everything?
It's going to be something we're talking about.
Will you convince Putin to accept the European troops as peacekeepers would you think?
Yeah, he will accept that he will that.
He will accept it?
I've asked him that question.
You talked to him?
I've asked him that question.
He said yes? [Inaudible] lift the block on --
Look, if we do this deal, he's not looking for more war. He doesn't mind, but I've specifically asked him that question. He has no problem with it.
Is France going to lift the block on the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets in Belgium? France has opposed unfreezing it to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support. Is France going to lift its opposition to that?
I mean, we speak about frozen assets. We already used them to backs precisely the loans negotiated at the G-7, and it's part of the sanctions. So it will depend on the follow up of the discussions. But clearly, we respect international law, it's just frozen assets now. You can take the proceeds of the frozen assets, but you cannot take the assets themselves because it's not respecting international law and we want to respect international law.
How is one different than the other? If you can take the proceeds from it, how can you not take --
Because it's very different. To keep the assets, you take the proceeds because they are paralyzed in a certain way. You take the proceeds during the wartime, but you keep the asset and it's part of the negotiation at the end of the war. Because I mean this war cost all of us a lot of money. And this is the responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia.
Should the US be compensated?
So at the end of the day, this frozen asset should be part of the negotiation, all in all.
Will France support the US being compensated?
I support the idea to have Ukraine first being compensated because they are the ones who have lose a lot of their fellow citizens and being destroyed by these attacks. Second, all of those who paid for it be compensated, but not by Ukraine, by Russia because there wasn't one to agress.
Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They get their money back.
Now, in fact to be frank, we paid. We paid 60 percent of the total defaults and it was like the US, loans, guarantee grants and we provided real money to be clear. We have $230 billion frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets. But this is not as a collateral of a loan because this is not our belonging. So they are frozen.
If at the end of the day in the negotiation we will have with Russia, they are ready to give it to us, super. It will be loan at the end of the day and Russia will have paid for that. This is my wish.
If you believe that, it's OK with me. They get their money back, we don't and now we do, but that's only fair.
Mr. President, do you think Russia should be the one that pays everybody back? Are they the aggressor?
Well, we're negotiating everything and everything is on the table and we'll see if we can get some land back and we'll see about a lot of different things. And we're going to be making a little speech and say a few words. In a little while we're going to have another meeting, a luncheon meeting and we'll see you in about two hours.
OK? Thank you very much, everybody.