TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Questions After Air Force One Arrival, 5.30.25
[VIDEO]
President Trump: That was a great trip to a fantastic place, the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania. The, um, steelworkers are very happy. We did the tariffs, it's gonna put them even, make them even more competitive. And it's turning out to be a great deal. I think it's gonna be a fantastic deal. $17 million is -- Uh, $17 billion is being invested for new steel mills, new everything, and it's gonna be something special. So that was in honor of the steelworkers of Pennsylvania and it was a fantastic time. We had a great day. And it is raining quite hard, but that's okay. How are you? Go ahead.
Question: Yes, sir. Can you make Pennsylvania the steel capital of the world again?
President Trump: I think it's gonna happen. I think it's gonna happen.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: Not much. Uh, we just had $17 billion given. And again, we're gonna have control in the U.S. It's gonna be a USA deal. The board is controlled. More importantly, the money's built, you know, it's spent on facilities. You can't take 'em and leave unless put 'em in a boat. Somebody said, "Well, what about that? Supposing they leave?" Well, the money's invested on the, you know, on brick and mortar. You can't lift it up and take it. But I, I think much more importantly, that's gonna be a great partnership. And uh, the company, Nippon, is coming in with 17 billion-plus. So it's gonna be fantastic for all steelworkers.
Question: Is it an acquisition? Is Nippon acquiring U.S. Steel?
President Trump: This is an investment. It's controlled by the United States. And more importantly, they're spending the money on brick and mortar. You can't take it. What are you gonna do? Pick it up and move it to Japan? That's not gonna happen.
Question: But they will own U.S. Steel?
President Trump: And you know, I rejected this about four times now. And when they finally got it right, I liked it a lot. And you could see how happy the steelworkers were. More importantly, you could see from the union's standpoint, the union loved it.
Question: Well, Mr. President, [Inaudible]
Question: Thousands of -- It means thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania. Right?
President Trump: Thousands. Many thousands of jobs.
Question: [Inaudible] for the State of Pennsylvania going forward.
President Trump: That's right. That's right. I like this man.
Question: Mr. President, were you –
President Trump: I like (laughs). Thank you.
Question: Were you aware of Elon Musk's regular drug use?
President Trump: No, I, I wasn't. I think he's fantastic. I think Elon is a fantastic guy. And, uh –
Question: Are you troubled by these reports?
President Trump: I -- I'm not troubled by anything with Elon. I think he's fantastic. Did a great job. And, you know, DOGE continues and by the time it's finished, we'll have numbers that'll knock your socks off. It's gonna be, uh -- He did a fantastic job. And he didn't need it. He didn't need to do it.
Question: How do you repl –
Question: Your steel deal final? Has it been finalized?
President Trump: He's not easily replaced. He really isn't.
Question: Mr. President, the Nippon deal is finalized, signed off on?
President Trump: No, I have to approve the final deal.
Question: Well, how will you, how will it stay in U.S. ownership, if the US –
President Trump: Well, you'll see. I mean, but I have to approve the final deal with Nippon. And, uh, we haven't seen that final deal yet. But, uh, they've made a very big commitment and it's a very big investment. It's the largest investment in the history of the State of Pennsylvania in any deal, not just steel. And it's thousands of steel workers. And not only there, all throughout the country.
Question: Mr. President. Do you support the Lindsey Graham Blumenthal bill that would levy sanctions on Russia?
President Trump: I don't know, I have to see it. I'll take a look at it.
Question: Are you confident that your proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that was just submitted this week will get approved by Hamas?
President Trump: I think they wanna, uh, they wanna get out of that mess. They're in a big mess. I think they want to get out of it.
Question: Mr. President, have you announced any detail --
Question: Can we anticipate -- Can we anticipate any trade deals next week at all? And does this deal today with Nippon sort of overall help your talks with Japan?
President Trump: Well, Japan very much wants to make a trade deal. I don't think this has much to do with it, uh, but, uh, certainly it, uh, it certainly won't hurt because we have a very good relationship with Japan, but as you know, Japan is in there right now negotiating as we speak, and they wanna very much make a deal. I think the deal I'm most proud of is the fact that we're dealing with India, we're dealing with Pakistan, and we were able to stop potentially a nuclear war through trade as opposed through bullets. You know, normally they do it through bullets. We do it through trade, so, uh, I'm very proud of that. Nobody talks about it, but we had a very nasty potential war going on between Pakistan and India, and now if you look, uh, they're doing fine. It was getting very bad. It was getting very nasty. They're both nuclear powers. The, uh, Pakistan representatives are coming in next week, and India, as you know, we're very close to making a deal with India. And I wouldn't have any interest in making a deal with either, if they were gonna be at war with each other, I would not, and I let 'em know.
Question: Your message to the G7 here in two weeks, you're going to Canada. Mark Carney up there obviously has a different view of the world than you do.
President Trump: He does.
Question: Uh, when it comes to energy clearly, what's your message gonna be at G7 here in a couple weeks?
President Trump: Well, it's in Canada, and he's a very nice guy, by the way, Mark Carney. I think he's really a very nice person, and we've had some good talks. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens.
Question: Sir, are you aware of the reports that Susie Wiles' phone has been breached and somebody's been impersonating her?
President Trump: I've heard that, yeah. [Inaudible]
Question: Are you concerned about that? Do you know anything about the --
President Trump: Well, she's, uh, she's an amazing woman. She can handle it, but I've heard that they, uh, they breached her phones or they tried to impersonate her. Nobody can impersonate Susie. Nobody.
Question: Mr. President --
President Trump: There's only, there's only one Susie.
Question: Mr. President, what's your message to Chinese college students in the United States that wanna stay in the United States, don't want their visa revoked?
President Trump: Well, they're gonna be okay. It's gonna work out fine. We just wanna check out the individual students. We have -- And that's true with all colleges, and I don't know why Harvard's not giving us the list. There's something going on, because Harvard's not giving us a list. They ought to give us a list and get themselves out of trouble, but they don't wanna give the list because they have names on there that supposedly are quite bad. We want people that can love our country and take care of our country and cherish our country, and for some reason Harvard doesn't want to give us a list. I would suggest you all get out the rain now. Goodbye everybody. Have a good time. Thank you.
Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
President Trump: Thank you. Who are you with?