21:00 EST

     EL PRESIDENTE: Hola a todos. Hola.

     P Hola.

     EL PRESIDENTE: Hola a todos. 

Acaban de ver esto. (El presidente muestra un artículo de USA Today titulado “Cómo votó Estados Unidos, qué condados se inclinaron por Trump y una mirada a la participación electoral”). Esto acaba de salir y yo diría que es bastante bueno. ¿Verdad? Desde cualquier punto de vista, es bastante bueno. 

No debería irme de Estados Unidos. ¿Hay alguien aquí de USA Today?

P Ayer tuvimos a alguien de...

EL PRESIDENTE: Ayer. Lo extrañamos. 

¿Todo el mundo conoce a Steven Cheung? Es un encanto. No querrías pelearte con él, ¿verdad?

De todas formas, ¿qué pasa?

P: Señor Presidente, con respecto al acuerdo con TikTok, ¿hay novedades al respecto?

EL PRESIDENTE: No, hay mucha gente interesada en TikTok y creo que tenemos la oportunidad de hacer algo bueno. Y también hablaremos con China sobre eso, porque ellos son parte del proyecto, obviamente. Pero sería genial mantener vivo TikTok, vendérselo a alguien que haga un gran trabajo con él.

P ¿Vio usted al CEO en el evento de hoy, señor?

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Hice qué?

P ¿Viste al CEO hoy en el evento?

EL PRESIDENTE: No, no hablé con él. ¿Estaba allí?

P Se suponía que él estaría allí.

EL PRESIDENTE: Creo que sí, pero no lo vi.

P: Señor, Elon Musk está proponiendo la posibilidad de dar dinero a los estadounidenses en función de lo que descubra DOGE. ¿Tiene alguna opinión al respecto?

EL PRESIDENTE: Me encanta. Un dividendo del 20 por ciento, por así decirlo, por el dinero que estamos ahorrando al perseguir el despilfarro, el fraude, el abuso y todas las demás cosas que están sucediendo. Creo que es una gran idea.

P ¿Cuánto dinero cree usted que los estadounidenses...

EL PRESIDENTE: Podría ser mucho. Quiero decir, si es el 20 por ciento, devolveríamos mucho dinero al contribuyente. Y también sería un incentivo para que el contribuyente saliera y nos informara sobre cosas que nos permitan ahorrar dinero.

P Entonces, hoy firmó una orden ejecutiva relacionada con la inmigración. ¿Qué opina de los arrestos del ICE en este momento? ¿Cree que deben aumentar el número de personas que arrestan?

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Dónde?

P — ¿aumentar el ritmo de los arrestos de ICE?

EL PRESIDENTE: No, creo que están haciendo un gran trabajo. Hay gente que se esconde. Son profesionales del escondite. Eso es lo que han hecho durante gran parte de sus vidas. 

Y son criminales. En muchos casos, criminales muy graves, incluso asesinos. Y, obviamente, no son fáciles de capturar, pero se los está capturando en cantidades récord y se los está sacando de nuestro país y llevándolos de regreso a donde vinieron.

P. Sr. Presidente, con respecto a Boeing, usted mencionó que tal vez se podría tomar una ruta diferente. ¿Qué implicaría una ruta diferente?

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Sobre qué?

Q    On Boeing, with the Air Force One plane.

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I’m not happy with Boeing.  It takes them a long time to do —

You know, Air Force One, we gave that contract out a long time ago.  It was a fixed-price contract, and I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taking so long.  And we may do something else.  We may go out and buy a plane or get a plane or something, but I’m not happy with the fact that it’s taken Boeing so long.  There no excuse for it. 

(Cross-talk.)

And, you know, they had a fixed-price contract.  I made that deal, and now they — supposedly, they’re losing a lot of money and they’d like to see if they could, you know, up the price.  But I make fixed-price deals.  I don’t like time and material deals. 

Q    Sir, the only other commercial aircraft maker that could make a plane that big is Airbus.  Would you consider buying a —

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I would not consider Airbus over Boeing, no.  But I could buy one that was used and convert it.  I could buy one from another country, perhaps, or get one from another country. 

So, we’re looking at other alternatives, because it’s taking Boeing too long. 

(Cross-talk.)

You know, they were supposed to be finished, like, years ago.

Q    Yeah.

THE PRESIDENT:  Years ago.

Q    Sir, and you —

THE PRESIDENT:  Don’t forget, I signed that contract during my term, and it was a very good contract.  And I took, like, a billion six off the price, and it was supposed to be done, you know, quickly, and it’s a long time.  Right?

Q    Would you push for your preferred color scheme for Air Force One?

THE PRESIDENT:  Oh, no, it’s going to be that color, yeah.  No matter what, it’s going to be for that color. 

Q    Sir, about Gaza.  Do you e- — do you find the Egyptian proposal to redevelop Gaza acceptable?  And does that change your —

THE PRESIDENT:  I haven’t seen it.  I haven’t seen it.  When I see it, I’ll let you know.

Q    Sir, can I you about Ukraine?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    You — you said today that you had a deal on critical minerals, and Ukraine broke it.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, we had a deal where we were going to get — look, you have to understand, Europe is being paid back the money that they put up, and they’re only putting up a fraction of what we’re putting up.  I think they’re in for $100 billion, and we’re in for $350 billion.  There’s no reason that should have happened.  It’s Biden’s fault.  He shouldn’t have allowed that to happen. 

But on top of it all, they’re getting their $100 billion back, and we’re not.  And I’ve been talking about this for two years.  I said, “You have to loan them the money so that if things work out, they’re going to pay you back.”  And they didn’t do that.  So, Biden didn’t do it.  It’s his fault.  Nobody has ever seen anything so stupid. 

So, Europe gets their money back, and they’re only in for a small fraction.  And, obviously, everything is important, but it’s more important for them because they’re right next to Russia.  So, it’s more important than — we have an ocean in between us.  So, it’s obviously more important to the European countries than it is to the U.S.

(Cross-talk.)

But here’s the thing, we don’t get our money back.  And we told them that the deal is we’ll do something for the rare earth and some oil, et cetera, et cetera, and that would be all right.  And they agreed to it, more or less. 

And then Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because — essentially, they told him no, and Zelenskyy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him.  He traveled many hours on the train, which is a dangerous trip.  And we’re talking about the secretary of the Treasury.  He went there to get a document signed.  And when he got there, he came back empty.  They wouldn’t sign the document. 

But for Europe, they pay back their money.  It’s a loan.  Think of that.  And we should’ve had a loan, too, but we had an administration that was incompetent.

Q    Can you resurrect that deal?  Is there anything that you can do?

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, I think I’m going to resurrect it, or, you know, we’ll see what happens.  But I’m going to resurrect it, or things are not going to make him too happy. 

And, look, it’s time for elections.  They haven’t had an election in a long time.  It’s wonderful to say, “You know, we can’t have an election.”  But it’s time for elections.

And it’s also time to find out what happened with all the money, because he made the statement that half of it he doesn’t know where it is or something like that.  And I’d like to find out: All the money that we’ve been sending to Ukraine, where is it?

And I can tell you we’re doing very well with Russia.  We’re going to do something with Russia that he was unable to do.  We can make a deal with Russia to stop the killing of, you know, potentially additional millions of people.  The soldiers are being just wiped out on both sides.  Wiped out.  It’s horrible. 

You know, the weaponry today is so powerful, so, you know, strong that it’s killing a lot of soldiers.  And I don’t want to sol- — they’re Russian and they’re Ukrainian.  I don’t want to see those soldiers killed.  They have mothers and fathers.  They have sisters and brothers.  I don’t want to see them killed.

Q    Mr. President, on tariffs, you mentioned lumber.  That’s something that I don’t believe we’ve heard before.  Any specific —

THE PRESIDENT:  Lumber, yeah.  Forest — forest product, yeah. 

Q    And do you have a rate in mind for that?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, but we’re thinking about maybe 25 percent.

Q    And would that also be April 2nd?  On or before April 2nd?

THE PRESIDENT:  In that vicinity, yeah.  A little bit later.

Q    And also, which car companies did you — you said that you spoke with some car companies.

THE PRESIDENT:  I spoke to all car companies.  Everybody is coming back into America.

Q    So, these are foreign car companies?

THE PRESIDENT:  Including foreign companies, yeah.  They’re going to be coming in, because they don’t want to pay the tariffs. 

Q    You said you’ll be having lunch with some Democrats next week.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    Can you elaborate on who that is and what you all plan to discuss?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, you’ll see when I do it, but some good ones.

     Q    Are you —

     THE PRESIDENT:  Some biggies. 

Q    Are you con- — are you concerned about congressional funding?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, I’m just —

Q    Is that on the table?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think we’re going to just talk. 

I think it would be great if Republicans and Democrats could get along.  It’s time.  It’s time.  It makes sense.

Q    Sir, would you say you trust the Russians to negotiate in good faith going forward?  Do you trust them?

THE PRESIDENT:  I do.  I think the Russians want to see the war end.  And I do.  I really do.  But I think they have the cards a little bit, because, you know, they’re — they’ve taken a lot of territory, so they have the cards. 

Q    Mr. President, have you set a date for the British prime minister’s visit to Washington?

THE PRESIDENT:  No.  He’ll be coming soon, though.  He has asked to come and see me.  So, he’ll be coming.

Q    What about Macron?

THE PRESIDENT:  And president of France also.  Macron will be coming.

Q    But no set dates yet?

THE PRESIDENT:  Very soon.  Maybe Monday.

Q    Mr. President, on congestion pricing.  So — they’re going to be — it’s supposed to have saved about — or raised about $15 billion to help the MTA.  Do you have an alternative way that — to fund the MTA system now that there won’t be cong- —

THE PRESIDENT:  No, that’s up to New York.  They have to do that. 

Look, New York has treated a lot of people very badly.  And it’s hard to — you know, it’s hard to feel sorry for what’s happened in New York.  It’s sad to see the way they’ve treated people, and they continue to do it. 

And, you know, look at what’s going on with the mayor.  Look at what’s going on with so many other things.  So, congestion pricing is not a good situation, and they’re treating the people of New York very badly. 

That’s a — supposing you worked in a shoe shop or you worked in a restaurant as a waiter, and you have to come into Manhattan, and they’re taking, you know, many, many dollars out of your pocket.  You can’t afford to do it. 

And price — you know, you — if you take a look, traffic will go down because people aren’t going to come.  If people don’t come, that means the whole place is — it’s going to be a disaster. 

So, it could be, and it’s probably going to show that.  Traffic will come down, but that means they’re not going to spend their money in New York.  They’ll go someplace else.

Q    (Inaudible) prepared to go to court if lawsuits ensue?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, we’ll see what happens.  You could give me the final, because I haven’t seen it as of late today because I was making a speech. 

Did I make a good speech?  Yes. 

Okay.  Go ahead.  What else?

Q    Can I ask you about the Chinese?  So, you know, eventually, you would like to meet with President Xi.

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah.

Q    But we heard —

THE PRESIDENT:  I have very good relationship with President Xi.  I think a great relationship with President Xi.  But remember, he loves China, and I love the USA.  So, you know, right there, there’s a little bit of competitiveness.  But the relationship I have with President Xi is, I would say, a great one. 

Q    We heard that you —

THE PRESIDENT:  It was obviously hurt by COVID coming in.  It hurt them, hurt us, hurt everybody.  Hurt the whole world.  But outside of that, I have a very, very good relationship with President Xi.

Q    Are you looking to make a new trade deal?

THE PRESIDENT:  I think he’s — I think he’s — I think he’s a very unique person.

Q    Would you make a new trade deal with China?  I mean, you know, the —

THE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, it’s possible.

Q    One trade deal never really got —

THE PRESIDENT:  It’s possible. 

Well, we did a great trade deal with China.  We did it — great for the farmers, great for manufacturers.  They had to buy 50 billion dollars’ worth of our product, and we were making them buy it.  The problem is that Biden didn’t push them to adhere to it. 

Q    Sir, do you think D.C. should govern itself, or do you think that governing of District of Columbia should go back to Congress? 

THE PRESIDENT:  I think that we should govern District of Columbia.  It’s so important, the D.C. situation.  I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawlessly beautiful. 

And I think we should take over Washington, D.C.  Make it safe.  People are getting killed.  People are being hurt.  You have great police department there, but, somehow, they’re not utilized properly. 

We should govern D.C.  I think the federal government should take over the governance of D.C. and run it really, really properly. 

And I like the mayor.  I get along great with the mayor, but they’re not doing the job.  Too much crime.  Too much graffiti.  Too many tents on the lawns of these magnificent lawns, and there’s tents.  And, you know, it’s a — it’s a sad thing.  You know, homeless people all over the place, and we got to take care of the homeless.  But you can’t have that in Washington, D.C.

You know, when they come over to see me — like Macron is coming and the prime minister of UK is coming and all these people are coming over to see me — we’ll have, ultimately, President Xi, and we’ll have everybody coming, right?  And you can’t let that be.  You just can’t let that happen.  You can’t have tents all over your beautiful — your once magnificent plazas and lawns and all of it.  You just can’t do it.

(Cross-talk.)

MR. CHEUNG:  We’ll do — we’ll do a couple more.

P. Señor, ¿cree que aún puede pagar la extensión de sus recortes de impuestos sin recortar tanto Medicaid como Medicare?

EL PRESIDENTE: Sí, absolutamente.

Los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes están planeando hacer recortes al programa Med-

EL PRESIDENTE: Bueno, creo que vamos a recibir una cantidad enorme de dinero en concepto de aranceles, en primer lugar. Y en segundo lugar, si se analiza el caso de DOGE, se puede ver lo que está sucediendo: estamos ahorrando miles de millones de dólares.

P. Sobre DOGE. ¿Sabes qué están investigando, específicamente, en el Departamento de Defensa en este momento? Y...

EL PRESIDENTE: Sí, están mirando todo.

P ¿Y van a recortar más la seguridad nacional?

EL PRESIDENTE: Están buscando... y vamos a ir a Fort Knox para asegurarnos de que el oro esté allí. 

P ¿Van a recortar más?

EL PRESIDENTE: ¿Lo sabía? Vamos a ir a Fort Knox. ¿Lo sabía?

P Señor — señor —

(El Air Force One experimenta turbulencias.)

EL PRESIDENTE: Ese fue un golpe fuerte.

P ¿Van a eliminar más puestos de seguridad nacional y civiles allí en el Departamento de Defensa?

EL PRESIDENTE: Veremos qué pasa.

Pero una de las cosas que queremos es comprobarlo. Quiero decir, esperamos que todo esté bien en Fort Knox, pero vamos a ir a Fort Knox, el legendario Fort Knox, para asegurarnos de que el oro esté allí. 

P ¿A dónde habría ido el oro?

EL PRESIDENTE: Si el oro no está ahí, vamos a estar muy disgustados.

P ¿Puedes llevarnos contigo?

P Hace tiempo que no menciona Groenlandia. ¿Está viendo...?

EL PRESIDENTE: No, no, mucho. Necesitamos a Groenlandia desde el punto de vista de la seguridad nacional y de la seguridad internacional. Tenemos que hacer algo con Groenlandia. Tenemos que proteger a Groenlandia. Pero la necesitamos para la seguridad nacional y, quizás más importante aún, para la seguridad internacional.

(Diálogo cruzado.)

SR. CHEUNG: Está bien, haremos uno más. Uno más.

P: ¿Puedo continuar? ¿Lo considera parte de alguna de las conversaciones que está manteniendo con los europeos y Putin para llegar a algún tipo de acuerdo de paz?

EL PRESIDENTE: No, no. Necesitamos Groenlandia por razones de seguridad nacional, incluso más ahora que hace 20 o 30 años, cuando también se hablaba de ello. 

Ya sabes, solían hablar de ello. Hace años, hablaban de Groenlandia, pero ahora, con las armas modernas, los aviones y la velocidad de los aviones, y todo eso, se habla mucho más de ello. Tenemos que tener Groenlandia. 

Muchas gracias. 

FINALIZAR 9:14 p. m. EST