Press Conference Key Quotes

Introduction and Economic Outlook

"In the last quarter century, a sitting president of the United States has come to Davos only twice. Both times, it was Donald Trump."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:00:11

"When I asked to serve in this new role that I have, he was one of the first leaders I called and invited to return."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:00:21

"This was March 2020. Markets were under extreme stress. Some economists were warning we could be headed towards a second Great Depression."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:00:35

"What stood out to me during the extraordinary period was a president's willingness to bring together people from governments, from business, across institutions, across perspective, to think differently, and importantly, to act decisively."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:00:46

"One of the central challenges that is impacting me is how capitalism can benefit more, and how can we broaden our global economy for greater and greater participation."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:01:32

"As he enters the second year of his second term, we are interested in hearing his plans for 2026 and beyond, and will no doubt create more and more conversations."

— SPEAKER_01 • 00:02:05

"Well, thank you very much, Larry. It's great to be back in beautiful Davos, Switzerland, and to address so many respected business leaders, so many friends, few enemies, and all of the distinguished guests."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:02:30

"Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my inauguration, and today, after 12 months back in the White House, our economy is booming, growth is exploding, productivity is surging, investment is soaring, incomes are rising."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:03:05

"Under the Biden administration, America was plagued by the nightmare of stagflation, meaning low growth, and high inflation, a recipe for misery, failure, and decline."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:03:49

"Over the past three months, core inflation has been just 1.6%, meanwhile, fourth quarter growth is projected to be 5.4%, far greater than anybody other than myself and a few others had predicted."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:04:34

"Since the election, the stock market has set 52 all-time high records, so that's in one year, 52 records, adding $9 trillion in value to retirement accounts, 401ks, and people's savings."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:04:58

"In four years, we've secured commitments for a record-breaking $18 trillion, and we think when the final numbers come out, they'll be closer to $20 trillion of investment."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:05:42

"Just over one year ago, under the radical-left Democrats, we were a dead country. Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:06:05

"The USA is the economic engine on the planet, and when America booms, the entire world booms."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:07:15

"My biggest surprise is I thought it would take more than a year, maybe like a year and one month. But it's happened very quickly."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:08:10

"This afternoon, I want to discuss how we have achieved this economic miracle, how we intend to raise living standards for our citizens to levels never seen before, and perhaps how you too and the places where you come from can do much better by following what we're doing, because certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:08:30

"In recent decades, it became conventional wisdom in Washington and European capitals that the only way to grow a modern Western economy was through ever-increasing government spending, unchecked mass migration, and endless foreign imports."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:09:40

"The consensus was that so-called dirty jobs and heavy industries should be sent elsewhere, that affordable energy should be replaced by the Green New Scam, and that countries could be propped up by importing new and entirely different populations from faraway lands."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:09:55

"This was the path that Sleepy Joe Biden administration and many other Western governments very foolishly followed, turning their backs on everything that makes nations rich and powerful and strong."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:10:15

"The result was record budget and trade deficits and a growing sovereign deficit, driven by the largest wave of mass migration in human history."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:10:35

"Virtually all of the so-called experts predicted my plans to end this failed model would trigger a global recession and runaway inflation. But we have proven them wrong."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:11:18

"In one year, our agenda has produced a transformation like America has not seen in over 100 years."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:11:40

Energy and Environmental Policies

"Instead of closing down energy plants, we're opening them up. Instead of building ineffective money-losing windmills, we're taking them down and not approving any."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:12:05

"Instead of empowering bureaucrats, we're firing them. And they're going out and getting jobs in the private sector for two and three times what they were making in government."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:12:26

"Instead of raising taxes on domestic producers, we're lowering them and raising tariffs on foreign nations to pay for the damage that they've caused."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:12:50

"In 12 months, we have removed over 270,000 bureaucrats from the federal payrolls, the largest single-year reduction in government employment since the end of World War II."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:13:12

"We've cut federal spending by $100 billion and slashed the federal budget deficit by 27% in the single year."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:13:39

"I promised to cut 10 old regulations for every single new regulation, but instead, I've cut actually till this point 129 regulations for every one new regulation approved."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:14:20

"In July, we passed the largest tax cuts in American history, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security for our great seniors."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:14:47

"We also provided 100% expensing. That's the one they like. And bonus depreciation for all new equipment and capital investments to help companies expand and shift production to America."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:15:02

"With tariffs, we've radically reduced our ballooning trade deficit, which was the largest in world history. We were losing more than $1 trillion every single year."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:16:21

"And all of this with no inflation, something everyone said could not be done."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:17:05

"American exports are now up by more than $150 billion. Domestic steel production is up by 300,000 tons a month. And it's doubling over the next four months."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:17:33

"Factory construction is up by 41%. And that number is really going to skyrocket right now because that's during a process that they're putting in to get their approvals."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:18:10

"In the process, we've made historic trade deals with partners covering 40% of all U.S. trade. Some of the greatest companies and countries in the world."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:18:28

"In America, I've stopped the nation-wrecking energy policies that drive up prices while sending jobs and factories to the world's worst polluters."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:19:30

"Under sleepy Joe Biden, new domestic oil and gas leases fell by 95%. Think of that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:19:51

"Under my leadership, U.S. natural gas production is at an all-time high, by far. U.S. oil production is up by 730,000 barrels a day."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:20:29

"The price of gasoline is now below $2.50 a gallon in many states, $2.30 a gallon in most states. Then we'll soon be averaging less than $2 a gallon."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:21:15

"I've signed an order directing an approval of many new nuclear reactors. We're going heavy into nuclear."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:22:05

"And we're leading the world in AI by a lot. We're leading China by a lot."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:22:50

"I read recently an article in the Wall Street Journal that China is creating so much energy, and they are. I've got to hand it to them. But we're creating as much or more, and we're letting them do that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:23:10

"We needed more than double the energy currently in the country just to take care of the AI plants. And I said, we can't do that. We have an old grid system."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:23:40

"The United States avoided the catastrophic energy collapse, which befell every European nation. That pursued the Green News scam, perhaps the greatest hoax in history."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:24:40

"Germany now generates 22% less electricity than it did in 2017. And it's not the current chancellor's fault. He's solving the problem."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:25:18

"The United Kingdom produces just one-third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999. Think of that, one-third, and they're sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world, but they don't use it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:25:45

"There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place, and they are losers."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:26:45

"One thing I've noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses, and the worse that country is doing."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:27:00

"China makes almost all of the windmills, and yet I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China. Did you ever think of that?"

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:27:18

"They're smart. China's very smart. What they make of it, they sell them for a fortune. They sell them to the stupid people that buy them, but they don't use them themselves."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:27:33

"They killed the birds. They ruined your landscapes. Other than that, I think they're fabulous, by the way."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:28:18

"The consequences of such destructive policies have been stark, including lower economic growth, lower standards of living, lower birth rates, more socially disruptive migration, more vulnerability to hostile foreign adversaries, and much, much smaller militaries."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:28:35

Geopolitical Stance and National Security

"I want to see it do great. That's why issues like energy trade, immigration and economic growth must be central concerns to anyone who wants to see a strong and united West."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:29:45

"Because Europe and those countries have to do their thing, they have to get out of the culture that they've created over the last 10 years."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:30:00

"We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones. We want Europe to be strong."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:30:30

"So, ultimately, these are matters of national security and perhaps no current issue makes the situation more clear than what's currently going on with Greenland."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:30:45

"I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark. Tremendous respect."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:31:20

"But every NATO ally has an obligation to be able to defend their own territory. And the fact is no nation or group of nations is in any position to be able to secure Greenland other than the United States."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:31:35

"We saw this in World War II when Denmark fell to Germany after just six hours of fighting and was totally unable to defend either itself or Greenland."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:32:15

"So, the United States was then compelled. We did it. We felt an obligation to do it, to send our own forces to hold the Greenland territory and hold it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:32:30

"We saved Greenland and successfully prevented our enemies from gaining a foothold in our hemisphere. So, we did it for ourselves also."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:33:30

"And then after the war, which we won, we won it big without us. Right now, you'd all be speaking German and a little Japanese, perhaps."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:33:45

"After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that?"

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:34:00

"Now our country and the world face much greater risks than it did ever before because of missiles, because of nuclear, because of weapons of warfare that I can't even talk about."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:34:30

"Greenland is a vast, almost entirely uninhabited and undeveloped territory. Sitting undefended in a key strategic location between the United States, Russia and China."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:35:35

"That's exactly where it is, right smack in the middle. Wasn't important nearly when we gave it back."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:35:50

"We need it for strategic national security and international security."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:36:45

"This enormous, unsecured island is actually part of North America, on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere. That's our territory."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:37:00

"And, in fact, it's been our policy for hundreds of years to prevent outside threats from entering our hemisphere. And we've done it very successfully."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:37:20

"That's why American presidents have sought to purchase Greenland for nearly two centuries. You know, for two centuries they've been trying to do it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:37:40

"In 2019, Denmark said that they would spend over $200 million to strengthen Greenland's defenses. But, as you know, they spent less than 1% of that amount."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:38:25

"It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it and improve it and make it so that it's good for Europe and safe for Europe and good for us."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:39:15

"And that's the reason I'm seeking immediate negotiations to once again discuss the acquisition of Greenland by the United States."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:39:40

"Just as we have acquired many other territories throughout our history, as many of the European nations have."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:39:55

"But this would not be a threat to NATO. This would greatly enhance the security of the entire alliance, the NATO alliance."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:40:45

"The United States is treated very unfairly by NATO. I want to tell you that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:41:00

"And yet I've done more to help NATO than any other president by far, than any other person."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:41:35

"You wouldn't have NATO if I didn't get involved in my first term."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:41:50

Ukraine War and International Relations

"The war with Ukraine is an example. We are thousands of miles away, separated by a giant ocean. It's a war that should have never started, and it wouldn't have started if the 2020 U.S. presidential election weren't rigged."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:42:15

"It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:42:30

"I inherited a mess with Ukraine and Russia, something that would have never happened. And I know Putin very well."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:45:00

"He and I would discuss Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. But he wasn't going to do anything. I said, Vladimir, you're not doing it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:45:15

"Biden had given Ukraine and NATO $350 billion, a staggering sum, $350 billion."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:45:55

"And I've now been working on this war for one year, during which time I settled eight other wars, India, Pakistan."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:46:40

"I settled other wars that were Vladimir Putin called me, Armenia, Abir, Bajan. He said, I can't believe you settled that one."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:46:55

"What does the United States get out of all of this work, all of this money, other than death, destruction, and massive amounts of cash going to people who don't appreciate what we do?"

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:47:40

"NATO was only supposed to pay 2% of GDP, but they weren't paying. Most of the countries weren't paying anything. The United States was paying for virtually 100% of NATO."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:49:10

"And I got that stopped. I said, that's not fair. But then, more importantly, I got NATO to pay 5%, and now they were paying, and now they are paying."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:49:30

"So something nobody said was possible. They said, we will never go up higher than 2%. But they went to 5%, and now they're paying the 5%."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:49:45

"We probably won't get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable. But I won't do that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:50:15

"The United States is asking for is a place called Greenland, where we already had it as a trustee, but respectfully returned it back to Denmark not long ago, after we defeated the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, and others in World War II."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:50:50

"We were a powerful force then, but we are a much more powerful force now. After I rebuilt the military in my first term and continue to do so today, we have a budget of $1.5 trillion."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:51:30

"We're bringing back battleships. The battleship is 100 times more powerful than the great battleships you saw in World War II."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:51:55

"So what we have gotten out of NATO is nothing except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:53:05

Economic Policies and Reforms

"Biden and his allies destroyed our economy and gave us perhaps the worst inflation in American history."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:54:50

"Costing the typical family $33,000. What they did to this country should never, ever be forgotten."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:55:15

"He has to be rated as the worst president we've ever had by far. The auto pen did many of the, much of the damage. The auto pen, he was the auto pen president."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:55:30

"But now grocery prices, energy prices, airfares, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all coming down and they're coming down fast."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:56:00

"Under my most favored nation policy for drug prices, the cost of prescription drugs is coming down by up to 90 percent, depending on the way you calculate."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:56:40

"A pill that costs 10 percent in London costs one hundred and thirty dollars. Think it costs ten dollars. In London costs one hundred and thirty dollars in New York or in Los Angeles."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:57:55

"So over the years, they stayed the same. We just went up, up, up. And I mean, we would pay 13, 14, 15 times more than some certain countries would."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:58:45

"So I said, no, they'll approve it 100 percent. So you'll never get them to approve it. I said, I guarantee you."

— SPEAKER_02 • 00:59:10

"In fact, I am 100 percent sure you're going to. No, no, no. I will not do it. Because, yes, in all fairness, he has to double or triple."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:00:05

"So they may have to go to $20 or $30. No more than that. I said, Emmanuel, you're going to be doubling or tripling. No, no, no."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:01:10

"If you don't, I'm putting a 25 percent tariff on everything that you sell into the United States and a 100 percent tariff on your wines and champagnes."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:01:50

"And every one of those countries have agreed to do it. So one of the biggest things that I've done is the fact that we have now most favored nations."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:03:05

"After declining $3,000 under Biden, real incomes are up in the United States by 2,000, 3,000, and even $5,000 and more."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:03:55

"But today, I'm taking action to bring back this bedrock of the American dream."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:04:35

"You've driven up housing prices by purchasing hundreds of thousands of single-family homes. And it's been a great investment for them, often as much as 10% of houses on the market."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:05:00

"Homes are built for people, not for corporations. And America will not become a nation of renters."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:06:15

"That's why I have signed an executive order banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. It's just not fair to the public."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:06:30

"The profit margin for credit card companies now exceeds 50 percent, one of the biggest. And they charge America's interest rates of 28 percent, 30 percent, 31 percent, 32 percent."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:07:30

"So to help our citizens recover from the Biden disaster, all caused by this horrible, just horrible precedent, I'm asking Congress to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent for one year."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:07:55

"To unleash innovation and savings and financing, I'm also working to ensure America remains the crypto capital of the world."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:08:35

"And it is just like they want the AI. And we've got that market, I think, pretty well locked up."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:09:30

"But it is politically popular, but it's it's much more importantly, we have to make it so that China doesn't get the hold of it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:09:50

"Finally, I've instructed government backed institutions to purchase up to two hundred billion dollars in mortgage bonds to bring down interest rates."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:10:15

"We have a terrible chairman right now, Jerome Too Late Powell. He's always too late."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:11:40

"Last week, the average 30-year mortgage rate dropped below 6% for the first time in many years."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:12:05

"Another major factor in driving up housing costs was the mass invasion of our borders."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:12:20

"And because we have had such a good run, the house values have gone up tremendously. And these people have become wealthy."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:13:00

"And every time you make it more and more and more affordable for somebody to buy a house cheaply, you're actually hurting the value of those houses, obviously, because the one thing works in tandem with the other."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:13:25

"I can crush the hell out of the market. We can drop interest rates to a level, and that's one thing we do want to do. That's natural."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:15:15

"We should be paying the lowest interest rate of any country in the world, because without the United States, you don't have a country."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:16:00

"So I said, let's put a 30% tariff on them so that we get back some of it, not all of it at all."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:16:50

"And I made it 39%. And then all hell really broke out. And I was paid visits by everybody."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:18:40

"But I realized that without us, it's not Switzerland anymore."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:19:55

"Without us, it's not any of the countries that are represented here. And we want to work with the countries."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:20:10

"In the old days, and I used to say I'm the youngest in the room. Now I'm among the older, I hate to say it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:21:45

"Now when they say the United States had a record quarter, it's unbelievable how well it's doing. All the stocks crash because they say, oh, no, inflation, inflation."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:22:25

"Growth doesn't mean inflation. We've had tremendous growth with very low inflation. In fact, growth can fight inflation, proper growth."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:24:00

"So we want to get back to the days when we announced great numbers because we're going to be announcing phenomenal."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:24:20

"Remember, 18 trillion dollars is invested. I think the second number is three. And that was China many years ago. Investments in the country from outside."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:25:25

"Car plants are moving back to the United States. They're coming in from Canada. They're coming in from Mexico, from Japan."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:26:20

"We have more plants being built now. Car plants than we've ever had built even in the heyday from the 1940s and 50s."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:26:55

"In 2024, the U.S. built less than 2 million new homes. But Biden admitted more than 8 million new migrants."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:27:30

"And those days are over. In 2025, for the first time in 50 years, the United States had reverse migration."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:27:50

"We've gotten most of them out. And then ICE gets beat up by stupid people from leadership in Minnesota."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:28:20

"Right now, Washington, D.C. is as safe as it gets. It was one of the most unsafe, I had to admit."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:29:30

"Memphis also, Memphis, Tennessee, New Orleans, Louisiana. We're there for three weeks. It's cut. We've cut the crime down by 64 percent within another month."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:30:40

"I know Gavin was here. I used to get along so great with Gavin when I was president. Gavin's a good guy."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:31:30

"We're cutting illegal aliens off welfare and other government benefits. And I have directed that starting immediately, there will be no more payments to sanctuary cities because they are really just sanctuaries for criminals."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:32:40

"And despite that, we have the lowest crime numbers that we've ever had in the history of the country. Just came out."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:33:25

"But equally importantly, we're cracking down on more than $19 billion in fraud that was stolen by Somalian bandits."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:33:40

"We shoot them out of the water just like we shoot the drug boats out. They're not pirating too many boats lately, do you notice?"

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:34:45

"We've knocked out two of them. The Democrats say they were fishing. You have ruined somebody's fishing weekend."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:36:00

"We've knocked down drugs by water, the oceans, the sea by 97.2%. Think of that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:36:30

"The situation in Minnesota reminds us that the West cannot mass import foreign cultures, which have failed to ever build a successful society of their own."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:37:15

"I mean, we're taking people from Somalia and Somalia is a failed. It's not a nation. Got no government. Got no police. Got no military. Got no nothing."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:37:30

"And then we have this fake congressperson who they just reported is worth $30 million. Do you believe this? Ilan Omar talking about the Constitution provides me."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:38:00

"The explosion of prosperity and conclusion and progress that built the West did not come from our tax codes. It ultimately came from our very special culture."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:38:50

"We live in an incredible, changing period. It's an unbelievable time. But we have to take advantage of the time that we're in."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:40:15

"I mean, AI, two years ago, nobody ever heard of the term. And now everybody's talking about it. And it can have some very good purpose. It could also have some dangerous purpose."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:41:05

"It is the pioneers in this room. Many of you in this room are true pioneers."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:42:30

"Everything Larry touches turns to gold. He made this very successful."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:43:25

"So together with confidence, boldness, and persistence, let us lift up our people, grow our economies, defend our shared destiny, and build a future for our citizens that is more ambitious, more exciting, more inspiring, and greater than the world has ever seen."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:44:45

"And the United States is back. Bigger, stronger, better than ever before."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:46:00

Follow-up Questions and Discussions

"The U.S. economy is doing really, really well. But how to sustain this growth moving forward? Because there's always a recession looming around the corner."

— SPEAKER_00 • 01:47:45

"Well, you know, the one thing about economies and recessions is sometimes you get hit unexpectedly and there's nothing you can do about it."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:48:00

"One example was COVID. We had an economy going at levels like nobody had ever seen my first two and a half, three years. And then I heard the word pandemic, not COVID."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:48:30

"I always said it came from Wuhan. It did come from Wuhan. And there were body bags. We saw it by satellite."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:49:20

"We did a phenomenal job. I don't think we got the credit we deserve. We did something that Operation Warp Speed, which some people say was one of the greatest military feats ever."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:49:55

"But sometimes you get hit with things, nothing you can do. You get hit with things like that unexpectedly."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:50:30

"But we're poised to have an economy like no other, not only in this country, but anywhere."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:51:30

"And, you know, luck. I hate to say it, but we need a little luck. We don't want to get hit by something that nobody could have thought."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:52:15

"But we're poised to have the greatest growth of any large country. I think any country that there's been, when you look at what's happening in the United States, it's really amazing."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:53:20

"Well, the big thing is growth. I mean, growth is the way. If we grow like this, we go from having a $37, $36, $37 trillion. We go from having high debt to low debt."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:54:10

"But we also are cutting expenses, you know, the old-fashioned way. We have extraordinary growth. I think we're going to be growing our way out. I think we're going to be paying off debt."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:54:30

"We're taking in tremendous money from tariffs fairly. And again, I'm using them judiciously. You know, Switzerland's a case study."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:54:55

"Now, if you take a look at Minnesota, $19 billion in fraud and other things. People going to airports, they came into the country, they don't have 10 cents, and they're leaving with hundreds of thousands of cash in their bags."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:55:30

"If we were able to cut out 50% of the fraud, 50%, and we should be able to do better than that, we would have a balanced budget without having to talk about even growth."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:56:20

"Well, AI has been a big factor. Their AI is massive."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:57:45

"I mean, Mark Zuckerberg showed me a plant where he put it over a map of Manhattan, and it was basically the size of Manhattan. This is not – I said, you've got to be kidding."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:58:00

"And, you know, when I heard they're going to spend $50 billion building it, I said, what – you know, if you spend $50 million, you can build a nice little shopping center."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:58:40

"And, again, so big as we're letting them build their own electric generation. This way we have no problem. And otherwise they'd be complaining."

— SPEAKER_02 • 01:59:35

"So I've always had a very good relationship with President Xi and with President Putin. Talk about, you know, the larger powers. But I've always had a very good relationship with President Xi of China."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:00:30

"He's an incredible man. And what he's done is amazing. He's highly respected by everybody. And I do now."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:00:50

"I used to call it the China virus. But he said, do you think you could use a different name? And I decided to do that because why should we have a problem over that?"

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:01:20

"Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio. He said, let me teach you about diplomacy."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:02:40

"He got liberal Democrats and radical right Republicans to approve him. He's the only one."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:03:00

"And at first I wasn't happy about it. I said, wait a minute. I don't like that. And now it turns out that the Democrats probably wish they didn't do that."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:03:20

"And Marco has been fantastic. Marco, stand up, please. You have done a great job as secretary of state."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:03:45

"So we're drilling more oil and gas now than we ever have by almost double."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:05:15

"Well, it's costing Denmark hundreds of millions a year to run it. And Denmark's a small country and wonderful people. But, you know, it's very expensive."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:07:00

"I mean, I don't want to repeat the speech, but it's very important that we use that for national and international security."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:07:30

"NATO has treated the United States of America very unfairly. We never asked for anything. We never got anything."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:08:15

"So I got NATO to pay because they're rich countries. But I think it's time that NATO step up."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:08:50

"Without us, I think Putin would have gone all the way. I think we have it. I think Putin, I think there could have been a World War III, if you want to know the truth."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:09:30

"And I will say Steve Whitcoff has been dealing incredibly with, but we're not going to have World War III. We want to get it stopped, but we're not going to have World War III."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:10:00

"I thought that was going to be so I settled eight wars plus. And I thought that was going to be one of my easier ones."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:11:10

"The United Nations should be doing this. I shouldn't be doing it, but it doesn't matter. It's got to get done saving a lot of lives."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:11:55

"With Ukraine, Russia, there's tremendous hatred between President Zelensky and President Putin. That's not good. That's not good for settlements."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:12:30

"What happens is oftentimes we'll have a deal with Russia. Russia's set and President Zelensky will not do it. You saw that when he was in the Oval Office."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:13:20

"It's a drone war. The drones are killing, you know, thousands of people a week. Thousands."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:14:55

"I believe they're at a point now. I'm going to meet with President Zelensky later today. I believe they're at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:15:40

"I do. I mean, I think we have peace in the Middle East. There are some little situations like Hamas."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:16:45

"And Hamas has agreed to give up their weapons. Now, you know, they were born with a weapon in their hands, so it's not easy to do."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:17:00

"If they don't do it, they're going to have to be blown away very quickly. They'll be blown away."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:17:40

"And there's a problem with Hezbollah in Lebanon. And we'll see what happens there."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:18:35

"If we didn't do that, you would have never had peace in the Middle East."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:19:30

"Iran would, if we didn't take them out, they would have had a nuclear weapon within two months. They were very close to having the nuclear weapon."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:20:15

"The bully was Iran, the bully of the Middle East. They used to call it for years. They were the bully of the Middle East. They're not the bully of the Middle East anymore."

— SPEAKER_02 • 02:21:30