Press Conference by President Trump
Q What will you do to elevate their position to support them in order - after they help the United States to defeat ISIS? Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we are helping them a lot and we've been very friendly with them. And, as you know, we've fought side-by-side. And we have defeated ISIS, essentially, a very short while ago, in the Middle East. And we did it with a lot of help from the Kurds. And they are - they're great fighters.
You know, some people are great fighters and some people aren't. The Kurds are great fighters. And they're great, great people. And we're going to be working - we're discussing that situation exactly right now.
Q What will you do to support them, sir, (inaudible) Syria?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm just telling you, we're going to be discussing that situation. We have already started discussing that situation. But we have tremendous support from the Kurds in defeating ISIS. Okay?
Q And about Syria: Sir, in your speech you did not mention -
THE PRESIDENT: Uh, yes. Go. Uh oh.
Q Here we go. (Laughs.)
THE PRESIDENT: You don't need it.
Q Mr. President, Susan Li from Fox Business. Did you reject a one-on-one meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I did.
Q Why?
THE PRESIDENT: Because his tariffs are too high, and he doesn't seem to want to move, and I've told him, "Forget about it." And frankly, we're thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That's the motherlode. That's the big one. We're very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada.
We don't like their representative very much. They've taken advantage - I love Canada, by the way. I have so many friends. I have everybody, and so many friends. But that has nothing to do with this; I'm representing the United States.
Mexico was totally - I mean, they were great. By the way, the new President has been great. The deal is done. Now, it has to go through Congress and, you know, a lot things have to happen. But we've done - Bob Lighthizer, who's here someplace. Where's Bob? Bob. Bob Lighthizer has done a great job of negotiating, as they have. But the deal is done. It's up to Congress.
Q And, Mr. President -
THE PRESIDENT: But Canada has treated us very badly. They've treated our farmers in Wisconsin, and New York state, and a lot of other states very badly.
Dairy products - 300 percent. Three hundred percent. How do you sell a dairy product at 300 percent? The answer is: You don't. What it is, is a barrier. It's - basically, they're saying, "We don't have any barriers. By the way, it's 300 percent." So you don't send it in, because you can't compete.
So Canada has a long way to go. I must be honest with you, we're not getting along at all with their negotiators. We think their negotiators have taken advantage of our country for a long time. We had people that didn't know what they were doing. And that's why we had - over the last five or six years, if you average it out, we had $800 billion a year in trade losses. It's ridiculous. It's not going to happen.
Q What about NAFTA? Sir, Mr. President, NAFTA -
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q What does that mean for NAFTA? Will you be pulling out of NAFTA?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't like NAFTA. I never liked it. It's been very bad for the United States. It's been great for Canada. It's been great for Mexico. Very bad for us.
Q But will you pull out of the -
THE PRESIDENT: I'm not going to use the name "NAFTA." I refuse to use it. I've seen thousands of plants and factories close. I've seen millions of jobs lost to auto companies that moved. I mean, Mexico has 25 percent of our auto business now because of NAFTA.
Under our deal, it's not going to happen anymore. I hate to tell you, it's not. We're going to keep companies. And I told the Mexicans, I said, "We have to keep companies." But they're getting a lot, also. They're getting other things. They're getting a lot of good things. Mexico made a very good deal.
But with Canada, it's very tough. What we're doing is if we made a deal with Canada - which is, you know, a good chance still. But I'm not making anything near what they want to do. We're going to be fair.
Q But you're - are you going to notify Congress of pulling out of NAFTA?
THE PRESIDENT: What we're probably going to do is call it the "USMC." Like the United States Marine Corps, which I love. General Kelly likes it even more. Where's General Kelly? He likes that. "USMC" - which would be U.S., Mexico, Canada. But it'll probably or possibly be just "USM." It'll be United States and Mexico.
Q Yes or no, are you going to -
THE PRESIDENT: Canada will come along. Now, if Canada doesn't make a deal with us, we're going to make a much better deal. We're going to tax the cars that come in. We will put billions and billions of dollars into our Treasury. And frankly, we'll be very happy because it's actually more money than you can make, under any circumstance, with making a deal. Okay?
Good job, too. You do a very good job. Really good. Yes, please. Mr. Kurd.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. (Laughter.) (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead.
Q Thank you very much for your time, Mr. President. Two, quickly, questions: What will be the U.S.A. relations with the Kurds -
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I thought I just answered that.
Q - post-ISIS. Post-ISIS.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. We're trying to get along very well. We do get along great with the Kurds. We're trying to help them a lot. Don't forget, that's their territory.
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: We have to help them. I want to help them.
Go ahead, what's next?
Q Then, what -
THE PRESIDENT: They fought with us. They fought with us. They died with us. They died. We lost - tens of thousands of Kurds died fighting ISIS. They died for us and with us. And for themselves. They died for themselves. But they're great people. And we have not forget - we don't forget - I don't forget. What happens someday later - but I can tell you that I don't forget. These are great people.
Okay. Yes, ma'am. Please. Please -
Q About Iran, Mr. President. About Iran, one question: What is your clear plan to stop Iranian influence in Iraq, in Syria, and especially in Iraqi Kurdistan?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think you've seen that. I must tell you, it's - I don't mind your question because -
Q Raheem Rashidi, from Kurdistan TV. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: I think there's been no greater change - other than maybe China, because China - unfortunately, their markets have dropped - would you say, 30 percent in the last four months, right? I think I watched you recently when you said that. I said, "I think she's wrong. I think it's actually 32. But that's okay." But a lot.
There's been no - other than maybe that, but even that. Because China is a very special place. And Iran is a very special place. But I think there's been no country that's changed so much as Iran.
In the last six months, since I took off the horrible, horrible Iran nuclear deal, as they called it - one of the dumbest deals ever made. As an example, why didn't they take care of Yemen in the deal? Why didn't they take care of Syria in the deal? You know what Kerry said - the reason? "It was too complicated."
We're giving $150 billion, we paid $1.8 billion in cash - cash. This whole room would be filled up with hundred-dollar bills. And you'd need probably five rooms like this. But you have $1.8 billion in cash. Why didn't we take care of Yemen? Why didn't we take care of Syria and other? And he said, "Because it was too complicated." Well, you just gave all your cards. You gave them $150 billion. And now Yemen's a mess, but it's getting better.
And Syria's a mess. And I was responsible - and I hope it stays that way - when I put out on social media, a few weeks ago, about Idlib Province. I said, "Don't do it." And I'll tell you, it happened - where I was at a meeting with a lot of supporters, and a woman stood up and she said, "There's a province in Syria with 3 million people. Right now, the Iranians, the Russians, and the Syrians are surrounding their province. And they're going to kill my sister. And they're going to kill millions of people in order to get rid of 25,000 or 35,000 terrorists or enemies of theirs." But I think we can call them terrorists.
And I said, "That's not going to happen." I didn't hear of Idlib Province. And I came back to New York, and I picked up the failing New York Times - I hate to admit it was the New York Times, but it was the failing New York Times. And I opened it up - not on the front page, but there was a very big story. I said, "Wow, that's the same story that the woman told me that I found hard to believe." Because why would - how would anyone do that with 3 million people? And it said that they were being surrounded, and they were going in and starting - literally, the next day, they were going to drop bombs all over the place and perhaps kill millions of people in order to get 35,000 terrorists.
And I put out on social media and elsewhere - I gave Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, everybody these orders: "Don't let it happen." I said, "Don't let it happen." That doesn't mean they can't be selective. They can't be - you know, go in and they've got to do what they've got to do with terrorists. I assume they're terrorists. But don't kill millions of people.
And it stopped. You saw that. Nobody's going to give me credit, but that's okay. That's okay. Because the people the people know.
I have had more Syrians thank me for that. This was about four weeks ago, I put that out. I said, "They're surrounding a city of 3 million people. They're going to start bombing the city. Don't let it happen." And I meant it, too. I meant it. And millions of people have been saved.
And I gave, today, great credit to Iran. I don't know if you heard that. I gave great credit to Iran, to Russia, and to Syria for not doing it.
Now I hope it's going to be surgical - meaning go in and do - it's lengthy and everything else. And they possibly have to do it. But I think millions of people would have been killed. And that would have been a shame.
And hopefully - and I have to tell you, Turkey has been a big help. Turkey has been great. Turkey has helped us very much with that whole situation.
Q Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.
Q Thank you, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much.
Q Touching back on Iran: Of course, this week, you put out a call to action to other countries to rally with America, to put pressure on Iran. Rouhani is still calling for the U.S. to come back into the old deal. But after meeting with world leaders this week, did you make any progress towards a potential new deal?
THE PRESIDENT: Doesn't matter what world leaders think on Iran. Iran's going to come back to me and they're going to make a good deal, I think. Maybe not. Deals - you never know.
But they're suffering greatly. They're having riots in every city, far greater than they were during the green period with President Obama. Far greater. When President Obama stuck up for government, not the people. You probably would have had a much different Iran had he not done that. But I'm sticking up for the people. I am with the people of Iran.
But here's the thing: They have rampant inflation. Their money is worthless. Everything is going wrong. They have riots in the street. You can't buy bread. You can't do anything. It's a disaster. At some point, I think they're going to want to come back, and they're going to say, "Hey, can we do something?"
And I'm very simple; I just don't want them to have nuclear weapons. That's all. Is that too much to ask? I don't want them to have nuclear weapons.
I want them to have a great economy. I want them to sell so much oil so that the oil prices - I'm not happy with OPEC. I told them, "I'm not happy with OPEC." We take care of all these people, we defend them. They wouldn't be there for two weeks if it wasn't for me, and the United States, and a much stronger armed forces than it was. Because our armed forces was depleted. We had old equipment.
Now, we have - hey, you know better than anybody - $700 billion and $716 billion. We have the most incredible new jets and everything. We need it. Not that I want to spend it, although it is jobs. It's all made in the United States.
But Iran has to come back, and they have to talk. And I'm not doing this from strength or weakness. I'm just saying, at some point, I think they're going to have to come back.
If you look at what's going on, companies are leaving left and right. Mercedes Benz just left. They're all leaving. They don't want to be in Iran. Because they have a choice: Do they want to be with Iran, or do they want to be with us?
And we have, by - we picked up $10 trillion since my election. We were being caught by China. Now it's going the other way. People can't believe it. People have never seen this situation with China. Everything's always been - for 20 years, "Oh, China is so great. China is so great." You don't hear that so much anymore. I love China; I think they're great. But you don't hear that so much anymore. You know who's great now? We're great now.
Okay, how about just a couple more. Now, I could be doing - I could be doing this all day long. I could be doing this all day long. Should we continue for a little while? It doesn't matter to me. A couple of more. I don't care.
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