Q Mr. President, any message to Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: No. No message to Iran. They know what they're doing. They know what they're playing with. And I think they're playing with fire. So, no message to Iran whatsoever.
Q Any reaction to the protests in Hong Kong today?
THE PRESIDENT: In Hong Kong? I just hope it gets solved. I was with President Xi of China. We had a great talk, a great discussion. We're talking about doing something. And we've talked about it briefly, but that's very sad. I've rarely seen a protest like that. It's very sad to see.
Q Will you be delaying the census, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Where?
Q Will you be delaying the census for the Supreme Court ruling on the census question?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we're looking at that. We think that a census - obviously, if you do all of this work and you're talking about - nobody can believe this, but they spend billions of dollars on the census, and you're not allowed to ask? You don't knock on doors of houses, check houses? You go through all this detail and you're not allowed to ask whether or not somebody is a citizen? So you can ask other things, but you can't ask whether or not somebody is a citizen?
So we are trying to do that. We're looking at that very strongly.
Q And why - oh, I'm sorry, if I could follow up. Why do you think it's so important that that question be asked on the census?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it's very important - to find out if somebody is a citizen as opposed to an illegal? I think there's a big difference, to me, between being a citizen of the United States and being an illegal. And, you know, the Democrats want to treat the illegals, with healthcare and with other things, better than they treat the citizens of our country.
If you look at a coal miner that has black lung disease, you're talking about people that get treated better than the coal miner. And these people got sick working for the United States. And we treated people that just walked in better.
If you look at what they're doing in California, how they're treating people, they don't treat their people as well as they treat illegal immigrants. So at what point does it stop? It's crazy what they're doing. It's crazy. And it's mean, and it's very unfair to our citizens. And we're going to stop it, but we may need an election to stop it, and we may need to get back the House.
Yes.
Q Mr. President, when will the round of trade talks with China begin, after your agreement over the weekend?
THE PRESIDENT: It's already begun.
Q Are they meeting already?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, already begun. They're speaking very much on the phone, but they're also meeting. Yeah, it's essentially already begun. It actually began before our meeting.
Q But do you know when Lighthizer will sit down with Liu He?
THE PRESIDENT: Whatever it takes. Look, if we don't make a great deal, if we don't make a fair deal - it has to be better for us than for them because they had such a big advantage for so many years. In other words, you can't make a 50/50 deal when somebody else has been absolutely - I've been talking about this for years.
China made - we had a surplus - meaning they did, on us - of $507 billion. It's been hundreds of billions of dollars a year for many, many years. So, obviously, we can't make a 50/50 deal. It has to be a deal that is somewhat tilted to our advantage. And if we're not going to do that, we're taking in a fortune from tariffs. And, unfortunately, we're hurting China by doing that because many of their companies are leaving and going to a non-tariff state, so they don't have to pay the tariffs.
And the other misconception about China - and I think you read an article today in the Wall Street Journal about it: Our people aren't paying for those tariffs, in that case, certainly. China is paying for them, and those companies are paying for them.
China devalued their currency very substantially, and they also put a lot of money into their economy. They're pouring money. It's fake money, but it's money. And they're pouring money into their economy to take care of the tariffs. Some people aren't - you don't have increased inflation. You have no increased inflation. But I'll tell you what is happening: Our Treasury is taking in billions and billions of dollars of money that normally would be for China.
So we'll see what happens. We hope that we can make a deal, but it's got to be a fair deal. We had a deal, as far as I was concerned. And then, at the last moment, China decided they didn't like that deal, and they changed it. It's all right. Then I said, "You're going to pay 25 percent tariffs on $250 billion."
Q And did President Xi say he would move on some of those issues that were disputable?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, sure, I'd expect him to move. And if he doesn't move, that's okay too. I'm very happy either way. But I think we have a good chance of making a deal. I think they want to make a deal. Because they're losing many companies that are leaving because of the tariffs, because they don't want to pay the tariffs. So they're losing many companies. They're moving to Vietnam. And, by the way, some are moving back to the United States, where they belong.
Q Mr. President, can I ask you about the Mexico tariffs?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q Are those entirely off the table now, as far as -
THE PRESIDENT: Well, now they are, because I think the President is doing a great job. He put 16,000 people in this weekend, and they're forming but they're getting to the border, and they're doing a great job. And he has 6,000 people at the border with Guatemala. So - I mean, it's been way down. It's cut way down. You'll start to see the numbers over the next three or four weeks.
Q But you didn't get it that you were going to continuously reassess.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's true.
Q So are you absolutely taking it off the table?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, that's true. Yeah, if they don't do it. But they're doing a good job. Right now, they're doing a very good job. We're very happy with the job they're doing.
No, it was because of tariffs that they're doing it. But the point is they're doing a very good job. And he's very smart to do it, because that's a tiny fraction. It sounds like a lot of soldiers, but that's a fraction of what tariffs would cost Mexico.
But I very much appreciate it. And he's doing a great job for Mexico because the Mexican people were very upset with all of these tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people walking through Mexico. And the people of Mexico are just as happy as I am with what they're doing.
Q Can I ask you about the Border Patrol Facebook group and these derogatory and vulgar comments that they have been making about members of Congress?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't know what they're saying about members of Congress. I know that the Border Patrol is not happy with the Democrats in Congress. I will say the Republicans do want border security. The Democrats want open borders. Open borders means tremendous crime.
If you look, there was a report that came out where approximately 600 people in the last caravan were serious criminals. I don't want them in our country.
So, the Border Patrol, they're patriots. They're great people. They love our country. They know what's coming in.
And you know who knows it better than anybody? Hispanics. Hispanics love what I'm doing because, number one, they don't want to lose their job. They don't want to take a pay cut. And very importantly, most importantly, they don't want to have crime. They understand it.
The people that understand the border the best are Hispanics. They understand it better than anybody. And they don't want to have to suffer crime. And they don't want to take a pay cut. They don't want to lose their job. That's why my poll numbers went way up with Hispanics because they really understand the border the best of anybody. Okay. Any other -
Q Mr. President, do you plan to have tanks out on Fourth of July at the Lincoln Memorial for your speech?
THE PRESIDENT: We're going to have a great Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. It'll be like no other. It'll be special. And I hope a lot of people come, and it's going to be about this country and it's a salute to America.
And I'm going to be here, and I'm going to say a few words. And we're going to have planes going overhead - the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too. And we're going to have some tanks stationed outside.
You've got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks, so we have to put them in certain areas. But we have the brand new Sherman tanks and we have the brand new Abram tanks. And we have some incredible equipment - military equipment on display - brand new. And we're very proud of it.
You know, we're making a lot of new tanks right now. We're building a lot of new tanks in Lima, Ohio - our great tank factory that people wanted to close down until I got elected. And I stopped it from being closed down, and now it's a very productive facility. And they do - nobody - it's the greatest tank in the world, the Abrams.
Q Do you think that you can give a speech that can reach all Americans on July 4th?
THE PRESIDENT: I think so. I think so. I think I've reached most Americans. Most Americans want no crime. Most Americans want a strong military. They want good education. They want good healthcare. If you look at preexisting conditions, the Republicans are going to save preexisting conditions. The Democrats won't be able to do it. What the Democrats' plan is going to destroy the country and it's going to be horrible healthcare. Horrible healthcare.
And everybody's taxes are going to go to 95 percent. And, by the way, that's not enough. But the taxes - if they ever did what they want to do, your taxes go to 95 percent and that isn't nearly enough. Thank you very much everybody.
Q One last one on Hong Kong. The United States has traditionally supported democracy movements - struggles around the world. Do you have a message directly to those demonstrators who say they want more democracy and that China is not a democracy?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they're looking for democracy. And I think most people want democracy. Unfortunately, some governments don't want democracy. But that's what it's all about. It's all about democracy. There's never been anything better. And I think we're the best example of it right here in the United States. Okay?
Thank you very much. Thank you everybody.
END • 5:16 P.M. EDT
You can visit a collection of all White House posts by clicking here.
