Remarks by President Trump and President Duda of the Republic of Poland in Joint Press Conference | Eastern North Carolina Now

    And he didn't want to renegotiate. And after three times, he still didn't want to renegotiate. I said, "That's okay, we don't have to renegotiate any longer. We're going to put a tariff on all of the millions of cars you send into the United States." And honestly, he was in my office so quickly, from Europe, that I didn't know they had airplanes that flew that fast. I said, "Where did you find this plane?"

    And we have the semblance of a deal. Because it's, to a large extent, economically all about cars. Cars are a very big factor. And they send millions of BMWs and Mercedes into our country.

    So we are working on trade very hard. It's very important to me. It has been for 30 years. I've been saying for 30 years. It started with Japan. I talked about Japan; I was right. I talked about China; I was right. It's what I do. And I like doing it. But I like doing it for the people because our country has been abused and taken advantage of by virtually every country that it does business with. And we're just not letting that happen anymore. And that includes what I said previously about the military.

    Please.

    Q President Duda, welcome back to the U.S. As it relates to U.S.-EU relations, as the President mentioned, you are a proud - Poland is a proud member of the European Union. How would you describe U.S.-EU relations right now? Did you talk about improving that relationship? Did you carry a special message to the President from Mr. Juncker?

    PRESIDENT DUDA: (As interpreted.) Sir, I would be very happy if it was Poland which would disrupt the trade balance of the United States. I really would be happy if that was the case. Because my understanding, as far as politics is concerned, and carrying for the matters of your country is similar to the view of Mr. President Trump. Mr. Trump is saying "America first," and I'm saying, "Poland first." So we understand each other very well.

    And it is hard for me to be surprised with the fact that Mr. President being a very experienced man - a man of success, as far as business is concerned - knows how to calculate. He knows how to calculate, and I think nobody puts that into question either in the U.S. or in another place. And he takes care of the United States. It lies in the interest of the country to have a balanced trade exchange, and this is something that you have to take care of. And of course, there is a clash of interest. However, objectively looking, it is hard not to understand it.

    So there is always competition of interest. There is - every kind of business is a competition of interests. And I represent Polish interests, whereas President Trump represents American interests.

    The whole thing is as follows: On important matters, you have to strike an agreement to make sure that both countries win and lose as little as possible. And then we have an understanding, an agreement. And then we can say that we are cooperating with each other on equal level. And I believe this is the kind of cooperation that Mr. President would like to have with the European Union. And it will be hard to be surprised with that.

    I'm listening kindly to that, and I would like Poland to be such a country, such an economic superpower, that it would be a very important partner to the United States. I said jokingly, in the beginning, that I wish it was Poland which disturbed the trade balance of the United States and our exports to the United States, but I do believe that our cooperation is going to develop well on partners, like (inaudible).

    PRESIDENT TRUMP: The trade deal with South Korea has been fully renegotiated and is ready for signature. We may sign it at the United Nations or shortly thereafter. That was a terrible deal for the United States. Now it's a fair deal. But that's been fully renegotiated, in addition to Mexico and some of the others that are very close.

    Thank you very much, everybody. We appreciate it. Thank you.

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