Interview: Bret Baier Interviews Donald Trump in Beijing for Fox News - May 15, 2026

[Bret Baier conducted an interview with Donald Trump Friday morning Beijing time at the Four Seasons Hotel. The interview aired at 6:00 pm Eastern on Fox News' Special Report. Video courtesy and copyright Fox News.]

Welcome back to Beijing. Mr. President, thanks for the time.

Thank you.

You know, you said that this summit is a success, as you get ready to head back to Washington. What's the most significant specific thing you walk away from here for the U.S.?

I think the most important thing is relationship. It's all about relationship. Have a very good relationship with President Xi and with China, and it sounds like something that doesn't mean anything, but it's everything, and deal making, and problems we have solved. The two of us have solved a lot of problems between that somebody else would have maybe done very badly with.

We have solved a lot of problems over the years. We have a very good relationship. Trade has been very strong. We are getting a lot of soybeans for our farmers. We are doing a lot of, there is a lot of things happening with, for the farmers. He committed to 200 Boeings, big ones, 777s and 737s, and a lot of big, big ones, big beautiful Boeing planes. 200. That's a lot.

With a commitment that if they do a good job, and I told this to Boeing and General Electric. We are going to go the General Electric engines, which are great. Yes, if they do a good job, we could go up to 750.

And that's, and obviously, a lot of investment going back and forth. You know, some Democrats, even some Republicans had some concerns about Chinese manufacturing on U.S. soil. Is that happening?

Well, if they don't want to pay tariffs, it could happen, just like it's happening with other countries and companies. We have now more money being invested in the United States than any country at any time in the history of the world, including China, which probably is second from about 10 years ago. We have $18 trillion in 11 months, not the 12th month hasn't come in yet.

The numbers we have $18 trillion. If China wants to come in and wants to avoid tariffs, if they build here, for the most part, they are going to be hiring American people. If they want to avoid tariffs, they are going to build in the United States. I am OK with that.

[Crosstalk]

Despite concerns about China operating inside the U.S.

Look, we have Japan, is building massive Toyota, Honda, all of them. I mean, they are building massive plants all over the country. So, if China wants to build for their cars, now, I will tell you, I put 100 percent tariff on Chinese cars because I didn't want them coming into the country. If you take a look, only because they swamp you, they will destroy your auto industry, and that's what's happening in Europe.

And now, they are saying, we have to do a little bit like Donald Trump. Europe is being killed. They are being absolutely swamped by hundreds of thousands, of millions of Chinese cars. And Mercedes and BMW and Volkswagen, they are getting killed. So, if you notice, we haven't had that problem. You know why?

Because I have 100 percent tariff on cars made in China.

And even though the Supreme Court ruling, you are going to still continue that tariff or --

[Crosstalk]

No, no. The ruling was just on a specific type of tariffs.

And you are going a different route.

Correct. I have the right to do the same tariff, in frankly, a little bit more complex way, but it's actually a better tariff. It's actually, it's a more stringent tariff.

I want to ask you about Iran and AI But China made clear that Taiwan is very important to them. And after your first meeting here, President Xi's spokesman put out a statement to the media, through the media, saying this: "The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. If it is handed properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability.

Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy." You were still inside the meeting when that came out. That sounded almost like a threat.

Well --

[Crosstalk]

Was it, was it communicated that way behind closed doors?

No. And no, it wasn't. Not at all. But it has always been their most important issue, and it's not a takeover. They just don't want to see this place, Kokoda Place, because nobody knows how to define it, but they don't want to see it go independent. They don't want to do it. And I think they probably would do something pretty harsh, and then, they would be met harshly, and bad things will happen.

So, no, it's not that. It's, we talked, By the way, last night, we talked the whole night about that issue. I think I'm, I know more about Taiwan right now than I know about almost any country other than --

[Crosstalk]

Do you think it dominated the talk?

It's always been his most important thing, from the day, I knew him years ago. I've known him now 11 years, 12 years. It's always been the biggest thing for him, Taiwan. Now, with me, I don't think they will do anything when I'm here. When I'm not here, I think they might, to be honest with you.

[Crosstalk]

So, if --

But I'm not sure that they do anything if it remained as is. But they have somebody there now that wants to go independent. Well, it's a very risky thing. When you go independent, you know, they are going independent because they want to get into a war, and they want to, they figure they have a United States behind them, I'd like to see it stay the way it is. And I'll tell you something, I'll make a little news, I'd like to see everybody making chips over in Taiwan come into America, because to be honest with you, I think it's the greatest thing you can do, because it's a heated situation.

There is no question about it. And, as you know, we have massive amounts of chip companies now from Taiwan already coming in. We expect to have 40 to 50 percent of the world chip business by the end of my term, and I think it should be even more than that. I think all of those chip companies, if they are smart, they are going to start heading to Arizona and the places where they are building.

That's going to solve your problem.

Should the people of Taiwan feel more or less secure after your meetings with President Xi?

Neutral. Neutral. This thing going on for years.

[Crosstalk]

Has the policy changed at all?

No. Nothing has changed.

U.S. policy.

No, nothing has changed. I will say this: I'm not looking to have somebody go independent, and you know, we are supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down.

But you are waiting on approving billions of dollars of weapons for Taiwan. Is that moving forward?

[Crosstalk]

That's, well, I have not approved it yet. We are going to see what happens.

[Crosstalk]

What do you looking for?

I may do it. I may not do it.

Yes, what's your hinge point?

Well, I'm not going to say that. But I may do it, I may not do it. But we are not looking to have wars, and we are, if you kept it the way it is, I think China is going to be OK with that. But we are not looking to have somebody say let's go independent, because the United States is backing us. You know?

[Crosstalk]

So, President Xi probably liked that you have not approved the weapons to Taiwan.

I would say like is maybe too strong a word, because he thinks I could do it with just the signing of my signature, unlike Biden, who couldn't sign his signature. No, I'm holding that in abeyance, and it depends on China. Depends, it's a, it's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It's a lot of weapons, it's $12 billion.

It's a lot of weapons. But, you know, when you look at the odds, China is a very, very powerful big country, that's a very small island. It's, you think of it, it's 59 miles away. 59 miles. We are 9,500 miles away. That's a little bit of a difficult problem with all of that being said. You know, if you look at the history of Taiwan, Taiwan was developed because we had presidents that didn't know what the hell they were doing, because if they would have put tariffs on chips coming in, it would, they would have never left.

Everything was about intel, and everything was about our chip companies. They stole our chip industry. So, I've said that for years. I said, you know, for years they stole our chip. If we would have had one of our presidents just said we are going to say going to put 100 percent chip, you can leave, you can build in Taiwan, but we are going to, you sell it back into the United States, we are going to put 100 percent or 200 percent tariff, we would have never lost a chip.

We lost the chip industry. It's all coming back. And I do say this: Taiwan would be very smart to cool it a little bit. China would be very smart to cool it a little bit. They ought to both cool it.

On AI, was there any agreement about any kind of guardrails that China and the U.S. might agree to, so that AI doesn't go crazy, take over the world.

Well, we talked about it. Yes, we talked to, look, AI is mostly a great thing. Mostly. And we are leading China. We talked about that. We are leading China by a lot. I gave the right for AI to build their own electric producing plants. That's a big deal. They can manufacture their own electricity now, which we could never have gotten from the grid, and that, and now, you have these very rich companies headed by lots of geniuses, building electric plants.

Because of that, we are leading China by a lot in the AI race. Now, it's mostly the two of us. Other nations are in it, but mostly, and whoever wins the AI race, and we are going to win it. I mean, if we are smart, we are going to win it. If we are not smart, we are not. But we are leading by a lot. We talked about that last night.

President Xi was very surprised at how well we have done with AI, because they thought, you know, when it started, they took this gigantic lead, and we now have caught, we are substantially ahead of them in AI

But do you think there will be some buy-in? Set up guardrails or something?

I think, there could be. We talked about it. But you know, at the same time, we are competing. So, it's a little hard to say, 'oh, gee, let's put on, we are competing with each other, and we are going to put guardrails. It really doesn't work that way too much. But AI, if you look at medicine, some of the things are coming up with medicine.

Some of the cures they are coming up with that people would have never gotten there. It's going to be mostly a good thing, but we want to have some guardrails.

You said that the President Xi said he would offer assistance on Iran, specifically --

[Crosstalk]

I also said we don't need assistance.

No, you don't, didn't ask for it. You said that he was offering it. Specifically, to open the Strait of Hormuz, what do you think he will do?

I think, he is been very nice about it. He gets 40 percent of his oil there. He didn't send anybody. He didn't send ships. He didn't send ships with big fat guns on them that we would have had to repel. We would have. The good thing is where, I built, during my first four years the most powerful military in the world.

We have the most powerful military that was shown in Venezuela, which took one day, actually took 48 hours. I mean, took, let's see, about 48 minutes. I think, it was 48 minutes and 13 seconds, and it was over. And it's a strong country with a strong military, but it went very quickly. And now, by the way, we have made a fortune with their oil.

And so, if they have made more money in the last eight months than they have made in the last 10 years, and we are, we are really, you know, participating in the profit.

Venezuela. But obviously, Iran is no, yes.

[Crosstalk]

Venezuela. No, no. It's a different kind of a thing.

Yes, yes.

But we are doing probably almost as well as, I don't know how you can do better. They have no navy, they have no air force, it's all destroyed, their air force is destroyed. Their navy --

[Crosstalk]

But yet, they are talking a big game.

They are talking big game.

They were at BRICS.

[Crosstalk]

No, no. They are not talking.

You know, Iran's foreign minister said the strait is open to commercial shipping, only if they cooperate with the Iranians. But how does that --

[Crosstalk]

They are not talking a big game. You know, who is talking a big game? The fake news media. If you read the New York Times, you would think that we are losing militarily. Think of it. They have 159 ships. Everyone is now in the bottom of the sea. Every one of them is gone. They had mine droppers. They call them mine droppers.

Nice thing. Who has 22 mine droppers? The mine droppers are all gone now. They have what they call fast boats, you know they are runabouts, like you'd buy for your fantastic son if you wanted to buy him a nice boat, and they put a machine gun on it. OK? Most of them are knocked out. We knock them out, just like we knock out the drug dealers.

You like to talk about cards, it seems like they're playing with a bad deck, to your point.

They have no deck.

But they are still playing.

No, the only thing they have going is a fake press. They know how well we are doing militarily. And then, at the request of a very nice group of people from Pakistan, who are very close to Iran, I didn't go that final. They said, could you stop? We are going to make a deal. And we really had the confines of a deal.

No nuclear, they were going to give us the dust, nuclear dust, all the, everything we wanted. And every time they make a deal, they, the next day, it's like we didn't have that conversation, and that's taken place about five times. There is something wrong with them. Actually, they are crazy. And you know what?

Because of that, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. Because they are --

[Crosstalk]

The president of China agrees with you on that. And that --

[Crosstalk]

He agrees with me on that. He agrees with me that he wants to see it end. He'd like to see it end. He would like to help. If he wants to help, that's great. But we don't need help. And, you know, the problem with help, when somebody helps you, they always want something on the other side. That's the way help works.

Hard to believe, but it was one year ago today in UAE, I interviewed you, and I asked you about Iran. How did you get to a solution there?

We'll get 100 percent.

You think so?

Well, we're going to have a solution one way or the other. It's either going to be violent or not violent, and I far prefer nonviolent. By the way, perfect answer.

Obviously, you've explained, you've explained why you did what you did, because of the nuclear threat for Iran, but they asked you about Venezuela. It's different.

Well, it's different.

But you did say it was going to be fairly quick, you've said a numerous times.

Venezuela was sending drugs in at a level that was terrible, and they did something that was a terrible mortal sin. They emptied their prisons into our country. OK, that was terrible, and that was different. This one is, I guess you could say, worse. It's, that was pretty bad. You don't get much worse emptying your prisons, drug dealers, murderers into our country, that's pretty bad, but you could say this is worse.

In this one, they are trying to make a nuclear weapon. I've stopped it twice. They would have had it two years ago. They would have used it already on Israel and the rest of the Middle East. Look at all the missiles shot at people that didn't think they were even involved: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE. Look at all, I mean, Bahrain, Kuwait, they got all shot at. Nobody thought they were even involved in this thing.

They would have, they would have used a nuclear weapon on the Middle East. One thing I'll make clear right now, they said very specifically, because I deal with them, I said, we're taking the nuclear dust. They said, you can have it. I said, we're going to go get it. We're not going to let you take it. They said, we can't take it. We don't have the capability of taking it. I said, why?

I said, because it was hit so hard. I mean, the mountain literally collapsed on it, a granite mountain.

So, why isn't that good enough?

Just so you know. Well, wait, just, well --

I mean, if you want, if your goal was to set back --

It is good enough, but you know what, it's not good enough public relations wise. It's important, you know, it's important. It's probably good enough for a different reason, though. Space Force, which I created, has got cameras, nine different cameras in space on that site. We know everybody that moves there.

We can read the name of a person, we can ne- -- if his name is Mohammed something, and most of them are Mohammed, you can guess about 50 percent right. We can read his name right on his tag from space. It's the most amazing thing. Anybody that goes near that space, we have a tag, they haven't done anything there, and if they did, we would hit them very hard.

So, two days ago, in speaking to the Iranians, they told me it was hit so hard they actually said, I must say, that there's only two countries that could get it, us and China.

Right.

They said us and China, that they don't have the capability of getting it, because it was so obliterated, the term I used was obliterated. The fake news said, oh, maybe somebody can get it. They actually said if they wanted to get it, they couldn't, so that's not good enough for me. I want to get it.

So, why are we where we are? Did you underestimate the pain tolerance that Iran has?

I didn't underestimate anything. We hit them unbelievably hard. Look, we left their bridges, we left their electricity capacity. We can knock that all out in two days, two days, everything. We left Kharg Island, other than I said, hit it, except for the valves, where the oil comes out, because when you hit that, that means you're going to lose little oil.

But one thing is happening, amazingly, ships are floating up to Texas and Louisiana, and they're going to Alaska, and they're loading up with oil like we've never seen before.

Americans want to know when it's over, though. Right?

Yes, look, Vietnam lasted 19 years, Iraq was like 10 years, Korea was seven years, another one was 14 years, another one was 12 years, another one was nine years. We're in there for 2.5 months. The other thing they talk about, so we lost tens of thousands of soldiers in Vietnam. We lost tens of thousands of soldiers in practically every war.

I've lost, and I wish we'd lost none, because I know those parents. I spoke to them, lost 13 soldiers in two wars.

China got three tankers out this week filled with Iranian oil.

Because we allowed that to happen.

You did?

We allowed that to happen.

Before this trip. Gas prices in America are still high, painfully high.

We're going to drop like a rocket once it's over.

Painfully high though now, and could be creeping higher before it's done.

Well, lower than Biden. Excuse me, lower than Biden, and much lower than people thought they'd be.

This inflation number is going up. You're right, it's much lower than President Biden's was, but it's going up under you, the numbers are, you can imagine Democrats and political pundits jumped all over this statement that you made the other day.

The people get it.

You were asked on the -- when you were leaving.

[Begin video clip]

[Video clip] To what extent are American's financial situations motivating you to make a deal?

[Video clip] Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters, without talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about American financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all.

[End video clip]

That's right. That's a perfect sentence. I'd make it again.

You can imagine how many people stop the sound bite at I don't think about America's financial situation. So, what's your response to that framework?

Very simple, when people hear me say it, everybody agrees. Short- term pain, it's going to be short-term pain, but the pain is much less than people thought, because people thought that the oil would go up to $250. You know, it was $99.00 yesterday, $99.00 a barrel. I thought it might go up to 200, I was OK with that.

Not that I wanted it, but you cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. They will use it on us. They'll start off with Israel, wipe it out, the Middle East, wipe it out. It will go to Europe, you know they have a missile that goes to Europe, if you saw that, OK? They have a missile goes to Europe. I have done Europe a very big favor.

When you tell somebody you're going to have to pay a little more, not that much more, a little more for gasoline, for a very short period of time, because we want to stop the threat of being blown to pieces by a lunatic, by a crazy person, and they are crazy using nuclear weapons. Everybody says that's fine.

And that question was a fake question, and they didn't put my full answer. I totally care. Look, I inherited high prices, and they came in with the word affordability. My first press conference, two days in, and Biden didn't do press conferences, he'd go for years without doing, because he was incapable of doing it. He was an incompetent person.

But my first question was about eggs. Eggs have quadrupled. What are you going to do? I said, eggs, tell me about eggs. Tell me about the problem. Eggs have gone up four times. I said, I'll take care of it. By the way, I did take care of it, but they came up with a word, because they aren't good, they're rotten with policy, they're horrible politicians.

In many cases there, we have a new name. They're Dumocrats. I call them Dumocrats, not Democrats. They're Dumocrats. A lot of low IQ people. You have Ilhan Omar saying World War 11. She said world -- she was referring to World War II. She said World War 11. These people are destroying our country, and we have to stop.

And you know, President Xi said something yesterday. He talked about -- and he wasn't referring to the last 15 months. He talked about America is a nation in decline, and I said, you're right, but he wasn't talking about, because he said, what you've done in 14, 15 months is a miracle.

When you hear Trump voters, Alex says, voted for you three times. He just can't handle the costs, and he's not for this foreign conflict.

I hated it.

He's not for the foreign conflict, but Roy in Pennsylvania, he's a retired farmer, he can't handle the fuel going up, and he's just -- he says he's disappointed.

It's going to come down very fast.

And so, look --

Disappointed.

I'm just telling what they said.

When you say to him. Roy, Alex, we got a problem. We just hit the highest stock market price ever. By the way, then, when I went in, now again --

It's higher.

-- with the war, it's higher than it was when I went in. Think of that.

I agree.

The 401(k) is at their all-time high. There are more people working right now in the United States of America than at any point ever in the history of our country.

Detroit Free Press, a state that you won, while champagne flowed on the trading floor, and President Donald Trump celebrated record highs. Pessimism spread like wildfire outside Wall Street stores, straight into the kitchens of average American families, there is this sense that you know something is changing, whether they can hold on and believe that you're going to get them to know --

Bret, I have to do what's right. I said to my people, we just hit 50,000 on the Dow, that wasn't supposed to happen for five or six years. I did it in my first year. We just hit 7,000 on the S&P. That wasn't su-- -- that was even less of a chance of that than the Dow. We just have -- we have -- we just announced 401(k)s are at their all-time highest that they've ever been.

All these things happened, and I said I'm sorry to do this to you, but we have to stop this group of very crazy people. Now, those people are gone. They've been eliminated. The second group has been eliminated, and some of the third group, in a way, we've eliminated so many leaders that it's almost -- I'm trying to figure out who the hell are we dealing with, all right?

Who are you dealing with?

But, well, we're dealing with people that I think are right, but they're afraid to make a deal. They don't know how to make a deal. They've never been put in this position before.

So, you're going to hold out until they do.

Well, I'm going to do what's right. I have to do what's right.

But the Strait should be open, right?

It should be open. Look, see, to stop the Strait is very easy. All they have to do is say we dropped a mine in the Strait someplace, you know. See, we're at a little disadvantage, but that's OK. The Strait will be open, they will not have a nuclear weapon, and the world will go on, and you will see gasoline prices drop, energy prices generally drop like no, but don't forget, they have a lot of boats that are loaded up with oil that are going to bring the oil out as soon as this is over, and I think it's going to end fast.

They've been holding up the world for many, many years with the Strait, you know, they've used this many, many times, they said we'll close the Strait, they closed it in the past, they use it as a weapon, they're not using it as a weapon with me, and what they did, and actually what President Xi said last night, sort of smiling about, he said, well, they closed the Strait, and then you closed them.

But you think they're going to capitulate sometimes?

Yes, sure, I have no doubt.

Mr. President, stand by, if you would. Special Report from Beijing with the President of the United States continues after this.

[Commercial break]

Welcome back to Beijing and our conversation with the president of the United States. Mr. President, you pushed redistricting, and after some really big wins in courts, including the Supreme Court, contested districts are now tilting to Republicans. It looks like they have picked up a number of seats.

A lot.

At least on paper. Do you think that that makes the difference in holding the House?

Well, it helps. I mean, I don't know the difference. I think a bigger difference would be if I win quickly as opposed to after. But again, I'm not going to let the election determine what's going to happen with respect to Iran, because they cannot have a nuclear weapon. OK, but a bigger difference would be if that price went down.

Look, prices are down, but the energy caused it to go up. And I said to my people, I hate to do this to you, but I'm going to screw up your numbers for a little while because we have to stop the nuclear weapon stuff with Iran, because they're nuts. They are sick people. Even if they weren't sick, you wouldn't want it to happen, but they are crazy.

We are going to take a little curve. We are going to diverge down the pike, and we are going to hit them and we're going to stop them. And essentially, we have really put them on hold. We'll do it as quickly as we can. I call it a little pain. Look, I agree. The oil goes up, but it's going to come down lower than it was.

It will be down lower than it was. Now, speed, I hate to talk about speed.

I understand. When I'm saying speed --

Because I don't like, I don't like putting pressure on all of the people. I want to do the job right. If it takes an extra four weeks. But think of it, we were in Vietnam for 19 years. I'm doing this for two, two- and-a-half months.

There are people on one side that say, well, let's go again. Let's finish the job. Let's keep going. There are people on the other side say, let's get out.

All good people.

And November is come. The approval is upside down. You are not on the ballot, but do you think that this war and this moment is going to affect your ability to hold the House and Senate?

So, yesterday they had 18 elections. I won all 18. Everybody I endorsed won. Two weeks ago at a very big event, Indiana had like eight people that had never lost an election. Some were for 25 years, that had a 40-point lead. But they didn't want to do our -- they didn't want to give us additional people in Congress, very simple.

Redistricting?

And I said, you know what? If they don't want to redistrict, they are really not for us. And I ran candidates that nobody ever heard of, but good people. And every one won, other than one, because two or three people ran. Actually it was very smart. But I won every one of them. CNN did a poll recently that said I'm 100 percent approval in the Republican Party with MAGA, which is most of the Republican Party, so I think it's almost all of it now, actually.

I'm at 100 percent. And Harry, whatever his name is --

Enten.

Nice guy, Harry Enten, was jumping up and down.

Do you think you are going to win the midterms?

I don't know. I don't know. I can't tell you, because a couple of factors. They have got to pass the Save America Act. I really believe that's important. Because the Democrats cheat. This will keep them from cheating. It will make it much harder for them to cheat. Without cheating, they can't win.

They say they don't have the votes.

Because they have things like open borders where criminals can pour into your country. Men playing in women's sports, so ridiculous. These are 98 percent issues. The fake news, oh, these are 80-20. They're not 80-20. Transgender mutilation of your child. These are the things that they support. So, the one negative, and nobody can explain it, every president, Republican or Democrat, who wins the election, even if you win by a lot -- I won in a landslide.

I won every swing state. Even if you win a lot, and even if you do a good job and everyone says, look, we have the highest stock market price ever, all of the things that I went over before. We have the best employment in the history of our country. But even if you have a good president who has done a good job, they always lose the midterms.

On Cuba, you said Cuba is hurting and ready to make a deal. The CIA director was there Thursday. China has been active there. They have had a deal with Cuba about renewed energy, a renewable energy project.

They're not doing any more.

They've built 92 solar farms.

They are not there anymore.

So is Cuba going to turn to us and make a deal?

I think so. I think so. I mean, look, I have been hearing about Cuba since I'm a little boy. What is going on with Cuba? And I think we will be turning it. Marco has been very effective, and the whole group has been very effective. Yes, I think they are going to have to come to us. It's a failed nation. It's a totally failed nation.

And they are taking the aid now.

They're taking the aid. They want aid. They need help. They need help. I think about all those Cubans, 94 percent voted for me. The ones that were thrown out, families were killed.

Exiled.

Very violent. And they are living in our country right now. And I have never seen people happier than them. They said this is what we voted for. I think about those people. Maybe I think about them first. But I think about the people in Cuba. And, you know, the people living here, they want to go back and they want to invest in Cuba.

They want to bring Cuba back, et cetera, et cetera. It's a good thing. We're going to give them that option.

Let me end with this. Back here in China, any talk about human rights? There was some hope that you were going to get Jimmy Lai on the plane.

I did. I talked about it. I talked about it at length. I talked about Jimmy Lai I talked about two other people.

The pastors, the religious folks.

Yes, I talked about the pastor.

How was it received?

I have gotten hundreds of people out of different situations. Pastor Brunson was a big deal. Do you remember Pastor Brunson?

Sure.

He was in Turkey, 35-year term. I got him out. I called President Erdogan and got him out. I have got hundreds of people out.

This pastor --

And by the way, I don't pay a lot of the money -- I don't pay any money, like Biden would, they give $6 million all the time to get people out. I brought them up yesterday.

How was that received.

It's under consideration. I will say that I brought up Jimmy Lai, and I would say the response to that was not positive. He said that he has been, you know, he said he's been sort of his worst nightmare.

Opposition.

He went through a whole thing. And I said, well, I would appreciate if you would release him. He has gotten old and he's probably not feeling too well. It would be nice. I did not feel optimistic. I would have to be honest with you about that one. I did feel optimistic about the second one that's now under consideration, the pastor.

Very optimistic, actually. And I put him down, I made a point of it. I mentioned Jimmy Lai again, a second time. And I would like to tell you that I will be flying him back on Air Force One, but I won't be doing that. The other one I think will maybe get very strong consideration.

But as do you fly back on Air Force One, you feel like this was a success?

A fantastic success. And the relationship -- look, we're two very powerful countries, I call it the G-2, because nobody comes close. We are very powerful than China. We were heading in the wrong direction. We were going to be a failed nation. We were doubling our welfare and nobody was investing here. We have $18 trillion coming in. I mean, I was congratulated by President Xi in front of both groups for -- he said I have never seen anything like it. And I like him, he likes me. That's a good thing.

You have two very powerful nuclear nations, and having good relations at the top is very important. We have known each other for 11 years now. We have been dealing with each other for a long time.

And you will have him to the White House in September.

He's going to be coming in September or November, some time. But I think they set a date, September 24th, something like that. And it will be an honor. I'm going to do a fantastic job, just like they did here. People that study this said there has never been a celebration like they had over the last two years in China with a foreign leader coming in. There has never been anything like it. He went all out from the children to the military, what a beautiful group of military that was.

But there has never been -- and last night's event was incredible, actually.

Mr. President, we appreciate the time.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.