TRANSCRIPT: President Trump Speaks to Reporters On Board Air Force One, 6.17.25
Question: How's it going?
President Trump: It's going well. Did everybody have a good time?
Question: Yes. Did you have a good time? Yeah, how about you?
President Trump: I did. I always have a good time.
Question: (laughs) So you –
President Trump: Hi, Jennifer.
Question: Hi there. You just posted right before we took off that you're not looking for the -- the ceasefire. Why are you –
President Trump: No, I'm not looking to get a ceasefire. We're looking at something better than a ceasefire. We're not looking for a ceasefire. I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire. That was Emanuel. Nice guy, but he doesn't get it right too often. But, uh, we're not looking -- We're looking for better than a cease –
Question: That's a -- What -- what you're looking -- What specifically? You're looking at this more -- So it's not the U.S.' conflict, this stage. You can do anything more for Israel right now?
President Trump: Doing pretty well. Right now we're doing pretty well. Remember, Iran cannot have any nuclear weapons. Very simple. Don't have to go too deep into it. They just can't have nuclear weap -- weapons.
Question: When -- when you say better -- What are you thinking on the call for Tehran to evacuate? Is there a threat or is there any coming? What was the reason that call –
President Trump: Not at all. I can -- I want people to be safe. That -- that's always possible that a thing like that could happen. I just want people to be safe.
Question: Is there any new concern about U.S. troops or assets in the region at all today?
President Trump: You got great people that know how to protect themselves.
Question: And when you say, "better", what –
President Trump: Or we'll come down so hard if they do anything to our people. We'll come down so hard, then the gloves are off so beautifully. Now, uh, they, uh, I think they -- I think they know not to touch our our troops.
Question: What -- Are you –
President Trump: Find out when our troops are ready.
Question: When you say, "better" -- [Inaudible] -- there's reports that you want to send the Vice President and Senator Witkoff to speak with the Iranians, did that discussion get set?
President Trump: I may, actually. I bet. It depends on what happens when I get back.
Question: What specifically is better than a ceasefire? What are you looking for here?
President Trump: An end. A real end, not a ceasefire. An end.
Question: So something that would be permanent?
President Trump: Yeah, or -- or, uh, giving up entirely. [Inaudible]
Question: Are you -- are you close or is that even possible? Is that possible in the next 24 or so hours?
President Trump: Certainly possible that they would give up. That's possible.
Question: How did the Israeli -- Did you get the Joint Chief and Secretary of Defense drawn up plans for you if Iran were to attack U.S. bases in the area?
President Trump: [Inaudible]
Question: [Inaudible] U.S. involved militarily that it would destroy Iran's nuclear program in --
President Trump: There's no guarantees in everything for Iran. They got money. You know that. Look at you, right? There's no guarantee. But you're saying a guarantee of what?
Question: Do you think if the U.S. got involved military, it would actually wipe out Iran's nuclear program? Or where's your assessment of that?
President Trump: Well I hope their program's going to be wiped out long before that. But they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.
Question: What you -- what are you reasons -- Do you have any reason to believe the Israelis are going to slow down or are they going to hit the accelerator right now because they have superiority?
President Trump: We'll find out over the next few days. We're going to find out.
Question: What does that mean?
President Trump: Nobody's slowed up so far.
Question: Has the [Inaudible] been notified about what's coming in the next couple days?
President Trump: Well we'll be talking to him.
Question: What can you --
President Trump: It's not necessary.
Question: What can you do from Washington that you couldn't do to take advantage?
President Trump: Just be a little bit, uh, I think more well versed. Not having to use telephones so much because I don't believe in telephones. It's people like you who listen to him. So, being on the scene is much better. And we did everything I had to do in the G-7. We had a good G-7. We signed a deal with, uh, European Union. Phase one of the deal. Oh, we signed a deal with the UK.
Question: What -- What –
President Trump: And the UK is really great. We -- we, uh, well, very far down the line, a lot of deals. Let me look, we're actually finished with every deal if you really think about it. Because all I have to do is this is what it is.
Question: Did Secretary Bennett --
President Trump: But it's -- it's nice to be nice.
Question: Did Secretary Bennett [Inaudible]
President Trump: Yeah.
Question: Oh, okay. Anybody else?
President Trump: Yeah, a couple people. Here we go. Who else has a question other than CNN beggars?
Question: [Inaudible] Mr. President, can you talk with me or -- Can you tell us where the status is on those talks beside the UK?
President Trump: I don't feel that they're offering a fair deal yet. They've been very tough over the years, dealing with the European Union. They -- they formed in order to earn the United States credit. And we're either going to make a good deal or they'll just pay whatever we say they have to pay.
Question: What about the Japanese? Are you that brief with the Prime Minister Ishiba?
President Trump: No, we had a great conversation, uh, I thought he was terrific, actually. No, I was very friendly with Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister. He was a great man. But I think this -- I think he's going to do a very good job.
Question: Do you think you have a chance to make a deal with them?
President Trump: Yeah, there's a chance. Good talk. The Japanese are lovely. But ultimately, you have to understand, we're just going to send a letter and say this is what you're going to pay otherwise you don't have to do business with us. There's a chance.
Question: They want to do the auto tariffs as well. Is that on the table?
President Trump: We'll see what happens.
Question: All right. Did you see this drone attack --
President Trump: Anything else?
Question: Yeah, there's a drone attack in Kyiv. What's your response to that? It looks like 14 --
President Trump: Wait, what was that?
Question: A drone attack -- a Russian drone attack in Kyiv.
President Trump: When?
Question: Very recently.
Question: Just now.
Question: 14 civilians, an apartment building. [Inaudible]
President Trump: [Inaudible] sounds like it. I'll have to look at it.
Question: The joint statement on the Middle East, what changed about that that convinced you to sign onto it? The G-7 Joint Statement.
President Trump: Well I haven't seen the statement yet. But -- but I authorized, I'll have to see, certain things. I don't know whether or not they said it correctly. But I think they probably did. We had a good, uh, good meeting. I think that, uh, Canadian representatives were very good. He did a very good job.
Question: How were -- how were the --
President Trump: The Prime Minister did a very good job.
Question: How was your meeting with him? How were the talks with the Canadians?
President Trump: Well that was good. I think we had a lot of good talks. A lot of meetings.
Question: You said he was looking for something more complex. Can you tell me what you mean by that?
President Trump: Well they get too complex so the deals always never get done. But we need speed. You know, we're dealing with really, if you think about it, probably 175 countries. And most of them we just -- we sent them letters saying it'll be an honor to trade with you and here's what you're going to have to pay to do it. We're making a lot of money. You know, we took in $88 billion in tariffs. And I was told by Congress about two nights ago saying, "We don't understand. The numbers are so far off." And I said, "Is that good or bad?" He says, "Well, we're taking in so much more income than we thought. We've never seen anything like this. What is it?" I said, "Check the tariff column." And it's about $88 billion that they've never seen before. And that's nothing compared to what it's going to go to.
Question: Now --
Question: You've got other tariffs coming down the pipe here --
President Trump: I have a lot of them. Yep.
Question: What's the timing on those for things like lumber [Inaudible] pharmaceutical drugs?
President Trump: Yeah, we're going to be doing pharma very soon. It's going to bring more of the companies back into America.
Question: All of them or [Inaudible]
President Trump: It's going to bring most of them back in. At least partially back in. You know they left us because we had presidents that didn't know what the hell they were doing. We should've never lost our car business. We lost 52% of our car business over the years. Should have never lost it. All they had to do is say, Hey, if you make a car... You're going to leave us, you're going to make a car, you're going to pay a 45, 30% tariff. And they would've never left. No body said that to anybody.
Question: Homeland Security is saying that ICE is going to start [Inaudible] and farms again. Is that a change in force and possibly [Inaudible]
President Trump: We're looking everywhere. But I think the biggest problem is the inner cities. We're looking everywhere. But what they let into this country, but Biden let in -- But I don't think he knew what the hell he was doing in practice. But whoever worked for him. What they let into this country, we're never going to forget it. They let prisoners in, they let gang members in, drug dealers in, mentally insane into our country. No, we're going to get them out.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: There are more, there are far more in the inner cities. Democrat-run cities. And it's sad, really. I'm just giving you the facts. There's far in more in there than you have on the farms.
Question: So no one's getting exceptions anymore or anyone is?
President Trump: Farmland is being looked at, but the bigger problem is the cities right now.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: And then you're -- that tends to be where the real [Inaudible] are. The murderers. You know, they've let in 11,888 murderers. People that kill people. Biden allowed that to happen, so. The Democrats allowed it to happen. Biden didn't know who was even around.
Question: Question on your Senate Confirmation, with all the military actions, there are only three of your six sub-cabinet members in the [Inaudible]
President Trump: Like you said, [Inaudible] the Democrats hold up our nomination.
Question: Are you talking Senator -- Senator --
President Trump: Yeah, I know. Johnson is doing a very good job. You know, I've got a lot of people in there, but yeah, he's doing a very good job.
Question: Have you had a chance --
President Trump: The Democrats, if we had George Washington up for approval, the Democrats would take maximum time, every hour, every minute, to delay him as much as possible. If we had a combination of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, they would go max, well max time.
Question: So you've said that you don't believe Iran should be able to have a nuclear weapon, but how close do you personally think that they were to getting weapons [Inaudible]
President Trump: [Inaudible]
Question: [Inaudible] that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon.
President Trump: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having --
Question: I've got to [Inaudible] this beautiful scene for the meeting. And you said a lot about acquiring Canada as a state. What, did anybody talk to you about that?
President Trump: I think it's a much better deal for Canada, but you know, it's up to them.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: They're going to have to pay a lot of tariffs and they, they're going to have to pay a lot of money for the dome, the Iron Dome, if they want to be a part of it.
Question: Could you --
President Trump: We may make a separate deal on that [Inaudible]
Question: On the dome?
President Trump: We discussed it, yeah. [Inaudible]
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: They want to be at 71 billion, they're going to pay.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: They'll be in the dome. Yeah, they'll be under the [Inaudible]
Question: Are you open to negotiating with the Iranians right now or do you want to wait?
President Trump: I don't know, I, I've been negotiating -- I told them to do the deal, they should have done the deal. Their cities have been blown to pieces. Lost a lot of people. They should have done the deal. I told them, "Do the deal." So I don't know. I'm not in too [Inaudible].
Question: Do you think you'll be in the situation [Inaudible]
President Trump: Yeah.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: While you're sleeping.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: Goodbye everyone.
Question: [Inaudible] tell people to evacuate Tehran. [Inaudible]
President Trump: Yeah, I b -- Yeah, I think it's safe.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: There's a lot of bad things happening. Yeah, I think it's safe enough to evacuate.
Question: On Minnesota, there are a lot of horrific details that came out today about the suspect who's been charged there. Have you called the governor yet or been able to speak to any of them?
President Trump: I don't really call him. It's look, he avoided this kind of a position. Um, I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out, I'm not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call him. Say, "Hi, how you doing?" Uh the guy doesn't have a clue so, he's a mess. So you know, I could be nice and call him but, why waste time?
Question: On The Big Beautiful Bill sir, [Inaudible]?
President Trump: We're doing well with The Big --
Question: How's it looking at the Senate? They proposed a change --
President Trump: The great, big, beautiful bill.
Question: Are you okay with their change?
President Trump: I hear so far it's going well.
Question: [Inaudible]
President Trump: Look, if doesn't get approved, 68% tax increase and I think that the democrats would have to, you know, they, they'd be, we won't get democrats who
[Inaudible] -- we're giving the biggest tax cut in history. Instead you have the biggest tax increase in history.
Question: How's Rand Paul --
President Trump: 68%.
Question: Are you [Inaudible] again?
President Trump: Probably, yup. It's probably going to have to get China approval. I think we'll get --
Question: You have the legal basis?
President Trump: I think President Xi will [Inaudible].
Question: But do you have the legal basis to do that?
President Trump: Yes.
Question: To do --
President Trump: [Inaudible]
Question: [Inaudible] is there, uh, any side that supports Korea been getting more involved in helping Iran, or is Russia getting more involved with that?
President Trump: I haven't seen it. No. I don't think anybody wants to get involved. It's a mess.
Question: What about Americans, U.S. peoples who trying to leave the area with the airport shut down, Ben Gurion shut down?
President Trump: We're doing the best we can. We're working on that with the other guys. Thank you everybody.