Thank you very much. It's a great honor to have Prime Minister Starmer in the Oval Office. It's a very special place and he's a special man. And the United Kingdom is a wonderful -- this is a wonderful country that I know very well. I'm there a lot, and I'll be going there and we expect to see each other in the near future.
We'll be announcing it. But we're going to be discussing many things today. We'll be discussing Russia, Ukraine. We'll be discussing trade and lots of other items. And I think we can say that we're going to be getting along on every one of them.
We've had a tremendous relationship. And frankly, the Prime Minister and I have met twice before and we get along very famously, as you would say. And I look forward to it very much. We look forward to the day and the meeting. We'll be having a luncheon after this and then another work session and I believe we're going to have a press conference at the end.
So I look forward to it. And Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President. Can I say thank you for your hospitality, for your leadership? We have met a number of times. We've talked a number of times and we have had a very constructive conversation. I'm sure we will today. And of course, our countries have been bound together for a very long time now. The closest alliance, I think, of any two countries when it comes to prosperity and security.
And I know that together we will strengthen that even further. And on issues like Ukraine, thank you for changing the conversation to bring about the possibility that now we can have a peace deal and we want to work with you to make sure that peace deal is enduring, that it lasts, that it's a deal that goes down as a historic deal that nobody breaches.
And we'll work with you to make sure that that absolutely happens. And it is my pleasure to bring from His Majesty, the King, a letter. He sends his best wishes and his regards, of course. But he also asked me to bear this letter and bring it to you. So can I present the letter from the King to you?
Yes. Thank you very much. Am I supposed to read it right now?
Yeah, please do.
I will do that.
I've got to tell him what your reaction is, so I need to know. I need to know.
He is a great gentleman, a great, great gentleman. Oh, that's -- wow. Well, that is really nice. I must make sure his signature is on that. Otherwise, it's not quite as meaningful. It is. It is and that's quite a signature. Isn't it beautiful? He's a beautiful man, a wonderful man and we appreciate -- I've known him, gotten to know him very well, actually, first term and now second term.
Perhaps you'd like to say what that very important paragraph. Yeah. So this is a letter from His Majesty the King. It's an invitation for a second state visit. This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented and I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us. So this is a very special letter.
I think the last state visit was a tremendous success. It was.
His Majesty, the King, wants to make this even better than that. So this is truly historic, an unprecedented second visit.
That's a great, great honor.
Because he wants to talk that through with you.
And that says at Windsor. That's really something.
Yes. Yes. What I haven't got yet is your answer.
The answer.
I do need to --
The answer is yes. On behalf of our wonderful First Lady, Melania and myself, the answer is yes. And we look forward to being there and honoring the King and honoring, really, your country. Your country is a fantastic country and it'll be our honor to be there. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you very much, Mr. President. I shall happily take that back to His Majesty.
That's beautiful.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to keep that one.
You're going to keep that one.
President Trump, Andrew and Tristan Tate landed in Florida today on a private jet after being released from custody in Romania. They are accused rapists, human traffickers, not thought of as good people in many circles. Did your administration pressure the Romanian government to release them? And if so, why?
I know nothing about that. I don't know. You're saying he's on a plane right now?
He's back. They're already back.
Yeah, I just know nothing about it. We'll check it out. We'll let you know.
Obviously, this involves -- there's an English element here, so obviously it's important that justice is done and human trafficking is obviously, to my mind, a security risk. And so we'll catch up with the story in due course.
You're aware of -- are you aware of -- I didn't know anything about it. Yeah.
Mr. President, veterans make up 30 percent of the federal workforce. Are you tracking how many veterans have been fired so far?
Yes, we are.
Do you want DOGE [Inaudible]?
And we take good care of our veterans and we're watching that very carefully and we hope it's going to be a smaller number as possible. But we are having great success in slimming down our government. It's been really very successful and some took pay outs and buyouts and others took other things and some people, we're finding out don't even exist.
We're finding that we have a lot of people that don't exist, that people thought that did. We will be making a statement on that. But we're taking care of our veterans. We love our veterans. We're going to take good care of them.
Mr. President? Mr. President?
OK. Please.
Mr. President, could you be persuaded as part of a peace settlement in Ukraine to provide air cover, a backstop security position to the contributions that Europe might make as well?
Well, so President Zelenskyy is coming to see me on Friday, Friday morning, and we're going to be signing really a very important agreement for both sides because it's really going to get us into that country. We'll be working there. We'll have a lot of people working there. And so in that sense, it's very good.
It's a backstop, you could say. I don't think anybody's going to play around if we're there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare earths and other things, which we need for our country. And we appreciate it very much. And I look forward to seeing him. We'll be talking about it and we'll also be talking about that today with the Prime Minister.
Yeah. I mean, as you know, we've already indicated that we'll play our full part in making sure that any deal, if there is one. And I hope there is and I think this is a historic moment, to make sure it's a lasting deal and we're about to have a discussion about how we can make that work.
But I have to say this, as I said yesterday, you're talking about a peacekeeping force. We have to make a deal first. Right now, we don't have a deal. We have Russia. We have Ukraine. I think we're very well advanced. I think Russia has been acting very well. We have Representative Steve Witkoff and Scott and Marco and JD. We're all involved, every one of us and a lot more, but I think we're very well advanced on a deal.
But we have not made a deal yet, so I don't like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal. I like to get things done. I don't want to give it the bad luck sign. We don't want to do that. But we've had very good talks with Russia and we've had very good talks as you know, with Ukraine. Yes, sir.
Mr. President, does this Prime Minister have to choose a closer relationship with the EU as he is seeking and a good trade relationship with you? Which one would you go for?
Well, I think we have just a great relationship. We actually had a good relationship before. We've met a couple of times and I'm very impressed with him and very impressed with his wife. I must say, she's a beautiful, great woman.
I second that.
I said, you're very lucky. He's very lucky. And no, we've had a very good relationship.
Are you worried about Britain potentially undoing some of the benefits of Brexit by seeking a closer tie with the EU, who you said was set up to screw the United States?
No, I don't worry about that. I thought, frankly, what they did was the right thing at the time and I think that'll probably prove out over the centuries. You have a long time to go, but I think I predicted that it was going to happen and it did happen and it'll work itself out. I think it's already worked itself out.
Mr. President? Can I ask on Chagos, Mr. President? Keir Starmer has signed a deal to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Will you approve that deal?
Well, we're going to have some discussions about that very soon. And I have a feeling it's going to work out very well. They're talking about a very long-term powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years actually. That's a long time and I think we'll be inclined to go along with your country. Yeah.
I think it sounded -- it's a little bit early. We have to be given the details, but it doesn't sound bad. Yeah, please.
Mr. President, you obviously can do business with our Prime Minister Keir Starmer. You said yesterday that the EU was constructed to screw the US when it comes to trade. What can our Prime Minister say to you to persuade you not to impose tariffs on the United Kingdom?
Yeah. Did I use the word that you said, that bad word?
I think so. I'm sorry to repeat.
Well, I think that the EU -- yeah, I've had problems with the EU because -- and we're not talking about -- we happen to have a great relationship with you but we did have and we do have problems with the EU because they've tariffed us. They do it in the form of a VAT tax, which is about 20 percent and many other taxes.
They sue our companies. They sued Apple, got $16 billion or $17 billion, which was, I think, totally ridiculous decision and they're suing Google for a lot of money. They're suing a lot of other companies, and we don't like the way they're treating our people now. We don't like the way they're treating our companies.
They sell us cars. We don't sell them cars. They don't take our cars. They don't take our much of our agriculture. And we have a deficit with them of about $350 million.
So, I wouldn't say it's been such a great relationship personally, but other people did because it's politically correct to say that it's been good. But it hasn't been good and we're going to change that and we are going to have reciprocal tariffs. We're not going to have tariffs, we're gonna have reciprocal -- whatever they charge us, we're going to charge them, which for many years foolishly -- I would have done that.
But then all of a sudden, we had COVID and we had other things to think about. So, it took me a little while to get that on and we -- but we had -- in my first four years, we had the greatest economy in the history of I think the world, but certainly in the history of our country, I think we're going to have that Again.
But the EU was very, very tough on us from the standpoint of trade. Then you could take it a step further and go into NATO. And that was a very tough situation for us. I mean that's been a very tough situation because we were paying a disproportionate share, and it wasn't good. So, as you know, they paid hundreds of millions of dollars after I got involved and they evened it out a little bit, but not very much.
And then if you look at the war, we're in for $300 billion plus and they're in for $100 billion, they get their money back and now we'll get our money back also. But under Biden, you wouldn't have done that. Biden did a terrible job, I have to say. I hate to say that about somebody that sat here just before me, but he did a terrible, terrible job.
That war should have never happened, the war between Russia and Ukraine. Frankly October 7th should have never happened. Israel, that should have never happened. What happened there should have never. Inflation should have never happened. Afghanistan should have never happened the way they got out -- not getting out but the way they got out.
So -- But I can say that as far as we're here for a different reason, we're talking about a very different place, and this is someplace that I -- I have investments there. I have -- I own Turnberry, I own Aberdeen, and I own a great place called Doonbeg in Ireland. So, I have a great warm spot for your country.
And our trade obviously is fair and balanced, and in fact you've got a bit of a surplus. So, we're in a different position there. And obviously, we've contributed hugely in relation to Ukraine and taken together with Europe about 50 percent all in.
It'll work out, it'll work out. It's going to work out.
On a personal level, Mr. President. So, does that mean there won't be any sanctions on the UK then?
Well, I have to take a look. I mean, we're going to have a good discussion today and we have some very talented people on the other side, and we have some people that probably aren't as talented to them, but they're pretty good, Marco, what do you think [Laughter]? Our people are pretty good and, no, we're going to have a good discussion and we'll be talking about that.
Mr. President, Mr. Starmer -- the prime minister has said that he believes that Vladimir Putin would be at risk of invading Ukraine again without a sufficient backstop. Do you think that Vladimir Putin would be likely to invade again in the event of a peace deal?
No, I don't think so. I think when we have a deal, it's going to be the deal. I don't think if -- if I didn't win the election, I don't think we'd be even talking to Putin right now or anybody else. I think it would just -- I don't know if you're looking at the stats, but thousands of people are being killed a week, soldiers mostly because the towns have been destroyed, but thousands of soldiers.
This was a very bad week, by the way, I get the stats.
Terrible numbers.
And you're talking about human life. Number one, I want to see that, and it doesn't involve American soldiers, but it's Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. And I can think -- I think I'm speaking for both.
Yeah, yeah, nobody wants to see that.
Number one, we want to see that stop. And number two, I want to stop paying the kind of money that we're talking about. You know, we're helping and we're helping NATO, but we're helping a lot, more than anybody else by far and I want that to stop also. Jeff, go ahead.
Thank you, sir. You talked about trade tariffs this morning on your social media site.
I did.
Just a question about China. 10 percent tariffs have already been implemented on China. Are you planning to do an -- .
There's an additional 10 above the 10.
This will be an additional 10 above. And is there -- from the talks with Canada and Mexico so far, are you not seeing the progress that you wanted in order to extend --
[Crosstalk]
I don't see it at all, no, not on drugs. We've done a great job. If you look at Tom Homan, he's been incredible, and Kristi, they've done a great job in terms of the border. But the drugs continue to pour into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of people. We're losing substantially more than 100,000 people.
I mean dead, they're dead, the families are destroyed after that happens. So, it's not just that, that's the ultimate, but the families are absolutely destroyed. The drugs come in through Mexico. They come -- a lot of them, not all of them, but a lot of them come from China and that's why we did that. It's 10 plus 10 in case -- was there confusion on that?
There was, sir, yeah.
OK, 10 plus 10, it's a second 10. And I think you'll -- I think you're going to see -- eventually you're going to see drugs stopping because the country should not be allowing those drugs to come into the United States of America. And we're not going to allow it to happen. So, that goes on, on the 4th of March.
And then on the 2nd of April, we have reciprocal tariffs, that's reciprocal where we charge countries what they're charging us. And nobody should have a problem with that. We have reciprocal -- it's reciprocity. It's something that I think everybody I've spoken to said that's fair. And it is -- if somebody charges us 25 percent, we charge them 25 percent.
If somebody charges us 10 percent or 15 percent or 30 percent or 70 percent, we charge them an exact like amount. And it's pretty simple but it's reciprocal tariffs. Because the United States has been taken advantage of by many, many different countries, including our friends, friend and foe. And in many cases, our friends took bigger advantage of -- when you talk about the EU, we're talking about the EU. The EU has been really very bad to us in terms of trade.
And I'm a different kind of a president. I can't let that happen. Thank you. Please, ma'am, go ahead.
Mr. President, what would you be willing to do if Vladimir Putin did not stick to the terms of any deal on Ukraine?
If he did not what?
If he did not stick to the terms of any deal on Ukraine, because he has a history of not sticking to his word when it comes to international agreements.
I think he'll keep his word. I think he's -- I've spoken to him. I've known him for a long time now. We had to go through the Russian hoax together. That was not a good thing. It's not fair. That was a rigged deal and had nothing to do with Russia. It was a rigged deal with inside the country and they had to put up with that too.
They put up with a lot. It wasn't just us. They had to put up with it with a phony story that was made up. I've known him for a long time now and I think he will -- I don't believe he's going to violate his word. I don't think he'll be back -- when we make a deal, I think the deal is going to hold. Now they're going to have security, you're going to have security, you're going to have soldiers.
I know France wants to be there. The president has said he wants to have soldiers there. I don't think we're going to even be necessary, but I don't think there'll be any problem with keeping the deal with the security.
[Crosstalk]
Did you want to say something?
No, I was just going to say, I mean, the deal if we get it is going to be hugely important. I don't think it would have happened if the space hadn't been created for it by yourself. But if there's a deal in, we've got to make sure it's a deal that lasts, that is not temporary but lasts. And that's why we need to make sure that it's secure and we've lent in and said we'll play our part.
But we've talked and we will talk about how we work with yourself, Mr. President, to ensure that this deal is something which is not violated because it's very important that if there is a deal, we keep it.
And that will be -- and I think I can say that will be the easy part. That's the part we look forward to, because putting security there, that's the part we all look forward to. That's easy. The difficult part is getting the deal made. So -- but I think we've come a long way. Did you have something? He's got such a nice face [Laughter]. No, he's smiling but watch, he'll ask a total killer question [Laughter].
Those who have known him a long time.
Yeah, they're the ones that get you. No, he looks like a nice guy.
On a personal level, Mr. President, what do you get on most -- what's your common ground with Sir Keir Starmer, because you're both from different political backgrounds?
It's true, I think I can say this because we've known each other now really for a little while. This is not our first meeting, as you know. He loves his country and so do I. That's our common theme. He loves his country, and I love our country, and we also have two countries that have gotten along for the longest period of time.
Number one ally on each side. And we have good -- France and Australia. We have a lot of good ones, but we've had a long-time relationship, a long time, hundreds of years. And we like each other, frankly, and we like each other's country, and we love our country, and I think that's our common thread. Thank you.
Mr. President, on tariffs, you just said with China -- .
Who are you with?
I'm with the Independent.
Oh, that's good.
On tariffs you just said with China --
[Crosstalk]
Yeah, thank you. We charged them. We charged them as in we charged China, but the tariffs are paid eventually by American importers and consumers.
No, they're not -- no, I think they're paid for by the country. But look, we can get into that. I had -- I put a lot of tariffs on in my first term and we made tremendous amounts of progress because of those tariffs. China paid us hundreds of billions of dollars, billions. We never had -- because they took advantage.
And President Xi is a friend of mine, but he knows he knows better than anybody he took advantage of our country.
He took advantage of presidents that didn't know what they were doing and they expect them -- they actually expect them -- the smart countries expect them from me because they know me and they know our country, but they got away with murder for decades. And we just can't let that happen anymore. Behind you, please.
That's very kind, Mr. President. It sounds as though one of you completely trusts President Putin and one of you doesn't trust him an inch. Have I got that right? And why do you trust him?
Look, it's trust and verify. Let's call it that, and I think we both can be that way. You have to verify because you never know what's going to happen. I know a lot of people that you would say no chance that they would ever deceive you and they're the worst people in the world. I know others that you would guarantee they would deceive you and you know what, they are 100 percent honorable, so you never know what you're getting.
No, I have confidence that if we make a deal, it's going to hold.
Mr. President? On fentanyl, Mr. President, less than one percent of all fentanyl that comes into the US is apprehended at the Canadian border. So why use fentanyl as a reason for --
Because they should be apprehending much more. They're only apprehending one percent. You're right about that. It's a little more than that, but they should be apprehending much more because a lot comes through Canada. And as Mexico gets stronger in terms of the border, it goes up to Canada and a lot of drugs are coming in through Canada.
We can't have that.
Mr. President? Mr. President?
Yeah, go ahead, please, in the back.
Is there anything you can say tomorrow to President Zelenskyy to reassure him that his country's war hasn't been in vain and its sovereignty is not going to be threatened by any deal with Russia?
Well, he's coming. Perhaps he's already on his way, and we're going to be signing the deal together, probably in front of the media and we're going to be having a good conversation. No, we want to work with him, President Zelenskyy, as you said before. We want to work with him and we will work with him. I think the president and I actually have had a very good relationship.
It maybe got a little bit testy because we wanted to have a little bit of what the European nations had. They get their money back by giving money. We don't get the money back. Biden made a deal. He put in $350 billion and I thought it was a very unfair situation.
We're not getting all of ours. I mean, quite a bit of ours was gifted. It was given. There were some loans, but mainly it was gifted, actually.
Mr. President, the Europeans want Ukraine to be part of NATO as part of this deal. Are you willing to budge on that at all or is it a firm --
Well, I could be very nice and say, oh, well, we'll work to it. Look, it's not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. That's what started this whole thing. Biden said that and all of a sudden, the guns started. That was one of the primary reasons it started. And this was long before President Putin.
They never said it was an impossibility. So we can say, oh, gee, well, we'll try, but that's something that's just not going to happen. And then the other question you ask is about the land. Will you get your land back? Well, they fought long and hard on the land. And you and I will be discussing that, and we're going to certainly try and get as much as we can back.
But on the NATO, that's not going to happen. Yeah, please?
Mr. President, you talked about having common ground with Keir Starmer, but there are things you disagree on as well. You described Zelenskyy as a dictator. He describes President Putin as a dictator. Do you see that as a problem?
The relationship between President Zelenskyy and President Putin is not a good one. You've noticed, right? It's not a good one. It's not a good relationship and we're going to have to try and work something out. Sometimes that happens. I get along with both. I have a very good relationship with President Putin.
I think I have a very good relationship with President Zelenskyy and now we're doing the deal and we're going to be in there. We're going to be actually in there, digging our hearts out and hopefully, we need the rare earth and we have some here, but we don't have enough. Our economy is very strong and we need a lot of things that in some cases we don't have here.
So I think we're going to have a very good relationship, but the relationship between them is not the best.
Mr. President, do you think that Mr. Zelenskyy is a dictator?
Did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question. Yeah, please. Go ahead.
Yeah. [Inaudible] Financial Times. Can you see any situation where US forces could be deployed as a backstop in a peacekeeping operation in direct confrontation with Russian forces?
Well, there is a backstop thing. First, you're going to have European countries because they're right there. We're very far away. We have an ocean between us. But we want to make sure it works. So I don't know when you say backstop, you mean a backstop psychologically or militarily or what, but we are a backstop because we'll be over there.
We'll be working in the country. That's a great thing economically for them. Because when you talk about economic development, we're going to have a lot of people over there. So we'll be working in the country. So I just don't think you're going to have a problem. I think when we have an agreement, you can say whatever you want about security, who's going to do it and all, and that's going to be a very pleasant conversation.
The hard conversation is will we have an agreement, and I think the answer is yes. I think Russia will agree and I think that I really believe Ukraine will agree also.
Just to follow up on that, if British troops are in Ukraine keeping the peace and getting attacked by Russia, will you come to their aid?
If the British people are in Ukraine and they get attacked --
[Inaudible]
I've always found about the British, they don't need much help. They can take care of themselves very well. You know what? No, it sounds like it's evasive, but it's not evasive. The British have been incredible soldiers, incredible military and they can take care of themselves. But if they need help, I'll always be with the British.
OK? I'll always be with them, but they don't need help. You look at their career, you have done very well over the years, haven't you?
We have. I'm very proud of our country, but we've also always been there backing each other up between our two countries. That is why this is the greatest alliance for prosperity and security, I think the world has ever seen. Whenever necessary, we've absolutely backed each other up and that's --
Could you take on Russia by yourselves? All right. One or two more. Yes, ma'am.
In his remarks at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President Vance condemned free speech violations in the UK, particularly, could you respond? What is your message?
I have an idea. We have the man right here. Come on. Let's go, J.D.. We're putting you on stage.
Great. Yeah, look, I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the UK and also with some of our European allies. But we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British, of course what the British do in their own country is up to them, but also affect American technology companies and by extension, American citizens, so that is something that we'll talk about today at lunch.
Thank you.
We've had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.
[Inaudible]
Well, no, I mean, I certainly we wouldn't want to reach across US citizens and we don't, and that's absolutely right. But in relation to free speech in the UK, I'm very proud of our history there.
Will you be discussing AUKUS, with the Australian and the Brits, will you be discussing AUKUS, Prime Minister, sir?
What does that mean?
AUKUS, the Australia US Defense Alliance.
Yeah, we'll be discussing that. We've had another great relationship and you have too with Australia.
Yeah, yeah.
We've had a very good relationship with Australia. Please.
Mr. President, while we have the vice president here, are you both disappointed that the AFD didn't come first in the German elections, given your previous support for them?
No, whatever happens with Germany -- look, the relationship has been very strong with Germany, but we'll have to see what happens. They have a lot of things going on right now. We'll have to see. No, I'm not disappointed about anything. If anything, you would say that the group that we would be most opposed to lost but we got along with them also.
We have a very good relationship with all groups in Germany.
Blackwater CEO Erik Prince was on our channel News Nation. He was talking about his proposal to use private forces to assist in deportations. Have you read that proposal and do you support it?
No, I haven't seen it. I don't think it's necessary. Our people are doing a phenomenal job. I wouldn't be opposed to it necessarily, but I'd go to our military people and I'd go to Tom Homan and Kristi. I'd go to the various and ask. But I don't see it as being -- we're doing unbelievably and getting people out, getting criminals out, people that should have never been here, that the Biden administration with their stupid open borders should have never allowed.
They came in from prisons and jails and mental institutions, and gang members and drug dealers coming into our country like this. We're getting them out and we're doing really well. I mean, the level of effectiveness has been incredible. Everybody is talking about it. How about one more. You've asked.
Mr. President, one on the Middle East.
Go ahead. You look so nice.
Thank you.
Here we go. [Inaudible]
Mr. President, are there areas specifically of Ukraine that you're talking about in giving back, specifically Crimea, have you gotten to those details yet on such an agreement?
Well, you mean the areas that were taken?
Yeah.
There are a lot of areas that were taken. Yeah. We've talked about it. A lot of the sea lion has been taken and we'll be talking about that and we're going to see if we can get it back or get a lot of it back for Ukraine, if that's possible. We'll be seeing about that. OK? Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.