And we had, I believe, 58 Muslim countries - the leaders. The kings, the emirs, the absolute leaders from every - there was nobody in second place. They were the leaders of the whole thing.
And unbeknownst to anybody else, people would come up to me, individually - it wasn't a setup. They'd come up to me and say, "Sir, you can't have peace in the Middle East without peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians." I said, "Why? What difference? Why does that matter so much?" They said, "It just is impossible to make peace in the Middle East unless you have between the Israelis..."
So, I heard that from one - the King of Saudi Arabia, who is a great guy - King Salman. And then, somebody else came up. And he wasn't told, "Oh, go up and say it." I know where they're coming from. And I must have had 12 leaders say it. And they just said it.
And I started to realize that peace between Israel and the Palestinians, for the Middle East, is a very important thing. And we're trying very hard to get it. I think, probably, two-state is more likely. But you know what? If they do a single, if they do a double, I'm okay with it if they're both happy. If they're both happy, I'm okay with either. I think the two-state is more likely.
Okay, how about one - go ahead.
Q New York Times? New York Times?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, okay.
Q Thank you, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: I would have gotten bad story in the New York Times. But I will anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter.
Q We're - we're kind of, uh -
THE PRESIDENT: Okay, we'll do you after that.
Q We're kind of, uh -
THE PRESIDENT: And then we'll call it quits.
Q We're kind of thriving, not failing these days.
THE PRESIDENT: You're doing very well.
Q Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: Say, "Thank you, Mr. Trump." (Laughter.)
Q (Laughs). I think I'll stop short of that. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: I wonder how you do - you know, all my life, I've had very few stories - but I've had some on the front page of the New York Times. Now, I think I think I average about three or four a day, right?
Q That is -
THE PRESIDENT: And, of the three or four, they're all negative. No matter what I do, they're negative. But you know what? That's okay. I still love the paper.
Go ahead. (Laughter.)
Q I wanted to come back to China, because I think what you announced today was really important.
THE PRESIDENT: I agree.
Q You talk about this friendship you have with Xi Jinping, and yet, essentially, what you did today is accused his government -
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
Q - of interfering in our internal affairs -
THE PRESIDENT: That's right.
Q - subverting our Democratic process, and doing it to hurt you, the Republican Party -
THE PRESIDENT: Doing it to help them.
Q - and your backers.
THE PRESIDENT: You know what? Yeah. Doing it to help them.
Q So how can a guy who does that be your friend?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that we are able to - and maybe he's not anymore. I'll be honest with you, I think we had a very good friendship. I think we had a very good relationship; we understand each other. They are doing studies on Donald Trump. They're trying to figure it all out because this has never happened to them before. It's never happened.
Think of it, you've never seen - you've covered very well - you've never seen this happen. They're having big problems. I don't want them to have problems, but they got to make a fair deal. Just like Canada has got to make a fair deal.
I believe that he and I have a very good chemistry together. And I can tell you that about many leaders. I can also tell you a few where I don't feel I'll ever have a chemistry with them. I don't want to have a chemistry with them. And for those people, I'll have Pompeo, Nikki, Bolton, Jared. I can go - our general; I'll have our general. Or if they can't do it, I'll have Sarah Huckabee do it. Right?
But for the most part, I have very good - very good with Prime Minister Abe. Very good with President Moon.
By the way, what President Moon said last night - I know you won't report it - but Bret Baier interviewed him last night and he asked him about me. I can't say - because you would say I'm too braggadocios - but what he said about me last night was an unbelievable thing. "Couldn't have happened without President Trump, and it never would happen without President Trump. And nobody else could do it." You know, I mean, you'll take a look.
But I will tell you, China is very special. Very special. They're incredible people. It's an incredible country. What they've done is unbelievable.
Q How would -
THE PRESIDENT: And it all started with the WTO. It was a defective deal. And it all started - without the WTO, China is not China as we know it today.
And then it started also by - our people that are standing right in this position, that are in the Oval Office - another way of saying it - allowed them to get away with murder. Allowed a lot of countries to get away with murder.
I think we still probably have a very good relationship. But you know what? In honor of you, I will, tomorrow, make a call to him. Say, "Hey, how you doing?" Okay?
Q Can I - can I just ask -
THE PRESIDENT: "You don't mind paying billions of dollars a month in tariffs."
Q I just had two small follow-ups. One is, how would you compare the level of interference you see today from the Chinese to what Russia did in 2016?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it's different. If you look at the Des Moines Register, I mean, they have ads that are made to look like editorials. Saying about, "Oh, you got to stop Trump. You got to stop him. You got to vote against him." My farmers are so incredible. These are patriots.
You know, on a network that doesn't like me very much - which is most of them - but a network that didn't - doesn't really treat me very good, they interviewed farmers. And they got hurt because, you know, all of a sudden China stops buying.
By the way, they've started buying again. I don't know if you've noticed. And soybeans are going up, and things are going up. And we've had very little hurt from what I've done. In fact, the markets have gone up. And the farmers are going to do great.
But, ultimately - but they had farmers, and these guys are amazing; I love them. And they voted for me and they love me. And they said, "We don't care if we get hurt. He's doing the right thing." And, you know, a lot of people - it's a complex game. A lot of people don't know exactly what it is. They don't know how to define "tariff." They don't know it is really different than a tax, although it's getting close.
But they know that for the first time in many, many years, they have a President that's fighting for them; that's not letting their jobs be taken to other countries; that's not allowing the kind of abuse that we - I mean, when you look at what happened, as an example, with NAFTA. And for years - because it was never changed - NAFTA was defective deal the day it was signed.
You know why? Because they had a VAT tax of 17 percent and nobody from this country knew that. And by the time they found out, which was about a week later, nobody went and changed it. So you went many years and they never changed it. There was a VAT tax that Mexico got. So we were 17 or 16 points behind, before we even started. NAFTA was a horrible thing.
So the farmers and - by the way, the steel workers - you know, I stopped the dumping. The dumping was horrible. And now if they want to dump, that's okay, but they've got to pay the United States of America 25 percent on everything they dump. That's okay. But as I told you before, steel is doing phenomenally well.
But the farmers say, "This man is fighting for us. No President has ever fought for us before." And you really have to study what's happened over the 15 years with the farm. The farmers have been decimated over a 15-year period. They've been decimated. The farmers are going to come out great. These are great people. They're great, great patriots.
I think we should finish with that one. Is that okay?
(Cross-talk.)
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Go ahead. Let's go. Fast.
Q Sure.
THE PRESIDENT: I always like - always like to finish with a good one.
Elton John said, "When you hit that last tune and it's good, don't go back." (Laughter.) I've seen - have you ever seen? They do great. They're great. They hit the last tune and everyone goes crazy. Then they go back for an encore, right? And they don't hit it. And they leave - everyone leaves. They said, "That wasn't a very good concert, was it?"
Let's go.
Q Well, I'll ask you one final question -
THE PRESIDENT: You - don't make me wrong. Go ahead.
Q - ahead of tomorrow's hearing. Because you were asked earlier in the news conference about Brett -
THE PRESIDENT: Say it again. Say it again.
Q About the hearing tomorrow.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You were asked earlier in the news conference by my friend from Sky News about the message that you are sending to -
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q - the women of the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
Q What about the message that you may be sending to young men? You're a father. What does this moment that we're in - the cultural moment -
THE PRESIDENT: It's a very big cultural moment.
Q Right. So what messages do you for young men of America?
THE PRESIDENT: It's a very big - it's also - you're right. I think it's a great question.
This is a very big moment for our country because you have a man who is very outstanding, but he's got very strong charges against him - probably charges that nobody is going to be able be - to prove.
So I could have you chosen for a position. I could have you, or you, or you - anybody. And somebody could say things. And it's happened to me many times, where false statements are made. And honestly, nobody knows who to believe.
I could pick another Supreme Court judge - Justice. I could pick another one. Another one. Another one. This could go on forever. Somebody could come and say, "Thirty years ago, twenty-five years ago, ten years ago, five years ago, he did a horrible thing to me. He did this. He did that. He did that."
And honestly, it's a very dangerous period in our country. And it's being perpetrated by some very evil people. Some of them are Democrats, I must say. Because some of them know that this is just a game that they're playing. It's a con game. It's at the highest level. We're talking about the United States Supreme Court.
This can go on forever. I can pick five other people. At a certain point, the people are going to say, "No, thank you." This is the most coveted job, probably, in the world.
And you know what? I would honestly say - because I interviewed great people for this job. He's great, but I interviewed other great people for this job. I could conceivably imagine going to one of them and saying, "It's too bad what happened to this wonderful man, but I'm going to choose you, number two. I want you to go." And I could conceivably be turned down by somebody that desperately wanted this job two months ago.
Q With respect, sir -
THE PRESIDENT: So this is - this is - and this is beyond Supreme Court.
Q Right.
THE PRESIDENT: There's nothing beyond Supreme Court; this is beyond Supreme Court. This has everything to do with our country.
When you are guilty until proven innocent, it's just not supposed to be that way. Always I heard, "You're innocent until proven guilty." I've heard this for so long, and it's such a beautiful phrase. In this case, you're guilty until proven innocent. I think that is a very, very dangerous standard for our country.
With that being said, I look forward to what she has to say. I also look very forward to what Judge Kavanaugh has to say. I think it's going to be a very, very important day in the history of our country.
Q And -
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank you all. We'll do it again.
Q Sir, the message to young men? Sir?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
