Trump Holds News Conference After Meeting With Teamsters About Union Support Transcript

Mr. President.

Well, thank you very much. We had a very strong meeting with the Teamsters. Over the years I've employed thousands and thousands of Teamsters and they've done a great job, especially in New York where we have a lot of unions. (00:22) I've had great relationships with the Union. We're with Sean O'Brien, as you know, and Fred Zuckerman and the terrific people, great leaders actually. And I think we had a very productive meeting. Stranger things have happened. Usually a Republican wouldn't get that endorsement for many, many years. They only do Democrats. But in my case, it's different because I've employed thousands of Teamsters and I thought we should come over and pay our respects. (00:49) And as you know, a big part of the voting block votes for me, very big part. Some people say more than 50%, nobody knows what the exact number is, but some people say more than 50% of the Teamsters vote for me. We had a very, very productive meeting, I think with a lot of Teamster representatives upstairs.

Okay.

Mr. President, the Teamsters also say they want to sit down with Nikki Haley. I'm curious, does that signal to you that they believe there's still a Republican race happening?

I don't know that they're going to meet with her. I mean, she's down at 12%. I think a poll came out today. It's 88 to 12, so I don't know. If they want to waste their time. They can do that. That's up to them.

This week, President Biden said that he has already decided how he's going to respond to the attack on the three Americans killed. If you were in the White House today, would you strike Iran directly?

It wouldn't have happened if I were in the White House. You would've never had this attack. You would've never had the attack on Israel. You would've never had the attack on Ukraine. You would not have the inflation that is destroying our country. The inflation is so bad. The damage done already by inflation has been so bad. And while it may be down, you're still up 30%. Prices are 30% higher than they were four years ago, and that's a bad thing. (02:07) You wouldn't have had any of that. But you wouldn't have had attacks on Israel. You wouldn't have had attacks, period. They weren't attacking. I knocked out ISIS. We took over 100% of the ISIS caliphate. That was it. We pulled our troops out. Nobody's done what I did. And you would've had no attacks. (02:26) Putin would not have attacked, guaranteed. For two reasons. The oil went up so high under Biden that they made money by attacking. But for two reasons. The other reason is he wouldn't have done it against me. He would not have done it. We used to talk about Ukraine. It was the apple of his eye. He would've never done it. (02:43) And Israel would've never been attacked, would've never been attacked. And China wouldn't be talking about Taiwan. All of these things that it's so sad to see. And now here we go with the Middle East again, dropping bombs all over the place, it would've never happened.

As a former Trump- I'm sorry, go ahead.

Sorry. Mr. Trump, is it true that you're considering a 60% flat tariff on China and 10% for all other countries, including preexisting trade?

Well, I want to bring jobs back to the country and I want to bring jobs back to the United States. We were doing that and at the Trump administration at a level like nobody had ever seen, we saved the steel industry. Now US Steel is being bought by Japan. It's so terrible. But yeah, we want to bring jobs back to the country and sometimes tariffs can do that. But we will bring back millions of jobs to our country and we're going to start making our product. (03:32) And we started that process and did very well with it, and we will finish it up. But right now, a lot of the progress that we made, whether it's on the border, because we had the safest border ever, and now we have the worst border ever. And I mean anywhere, there's never been a border like this ever in the world what's happening at our border. (03:52) And I hope the Republicans and the Democrats don't make a bad border deal because a bad border deal would be worse than no deal at all. You don't need a deal to tighten up the border and to make it secure. I had the most secure border in history. I didn't have a deal. I didn't have a bill. I said, "No people are coming in. No drugs are coming in. We don't want to have human trafficking," which nobody even talks about. That is the number one... You take a look at that border today, human trafficking is up 114% they say. 114%. You wouldn't have that. (04:27) We were working so hard on human trafficking. It's a horrible thing. You think of it as an ancient crime. It's not ancient. Because of the internet it's, for the people that do it, a tremendous money maker. None of that, you would've had none of that. And now you look at what's happening, the numbers are astronomical. (04:47) And drugs too. The drugs boring into our border. And you have the right to close up your border. You don't need bills that complicate it and make it to a level that nobody's going to be able to do it. And the minimum was 5,000 people a day, if that can be right. It's hard to believe that that can be right. But they were negotiating to allow 5,000 people a day. That's a tremendous amount. Nobody wants to have that happen to our country, and they're still not going to know where they're coming from. Right now, we have no idea who these people are that are pouring into our countries. (05:24) Last night I watched where they're beating up police officers in New York City, a gang of people that just came in that didn't speak English. Nobody knows who they are, where they come from. And very importantly, I can tell you, they come from jails and prisons, they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. And they're terrorists. They have a lot of terrorists coming too. And we don't want them. I'm sorry. We had a very strong order.

What would you say-

Are you planning?

Jill.

Thank you. Do you plan to try to use campaign funds or PAC money to try to pay some of the penalties in the New York defamation and fraud cases?

I don't understand. What?

Are you thinking of potentially trying to use campaign money to pay some of those penalties that you might incur in the New York?

What penalties?

In the New York fraud case, in the defamation case.

I didn't do anything wrong. I mean, that's been proven as far as I'm concerned. And actually we won in the Court of Appeals, you probably saw that. That case has been largely won in the Court of Appeals. That was a political case coordinated with the White House by the Attorney General, I assume is what you're talking about. And we won that case largely in the Court of Appeals.

And then the Carroll, also the defamation case, the additional penalty this week.

That's a ridiculous case. That case is a ridiculous case. We're appealing it. It is, she didn't know anything about me. She didn't know when it happened. There was nothing. People are looking at that case. It's a disgrace. We're appealing that case. We had a very hostile judge. We're appealing that case. It's a ridiculous case.

[inaudible 00:06:54] Traditionally, would you block the US steel acquisition by Nippon steel from Japan if you were in office?

I would block it. I think it's a horrible thing where Japan buys US steel, I would block it instantaneously. Absolutely.

Traditionally former presidents would get access to intelligence briefings. Biden canceled access to you in 2021. I'm curious though, if you end up being the Republican nominee, like things are leading right now, would you expect intelligence briefings as the Republican nominee?

I would not give him intelligence briefings because I don't believe he's competent. I would cancel for him because I don't believe he's competent.

Mr. Trump, there's been a lot of talk about your role in the immigration talks ongoing on Capitol Hill. Can you outline those conversations you've had with people? And is it true that you've told people that you don't want to see Democrats, particularly President Biden, get a win on this?

No, I didn't say that. I did say that if you're not going to get a great border bill, an immigration bill, don't do a bill. If it's not going to be good, if it's not going to solve the border problem, don't do the bill. And that was very important to me. And a lot of people do call me and they respect me and they say, "What do you think?" If the bill's not going to be a great bill and really solve the problem, I wouldn't do it at all. Not for political reasons, just for US reasons.

[inaudible 00:08:16] Wouldn't there be some benefit for Republicans in looking like they've supported a bipartisan bill?

Yeah, you could view it either way, frankly. I just want to see a great bill. This isn't Republican or Democrat. That's a terrible bill. 5,000 people a day, that's a lot. That's record setting stuff. No, I want to see a great bill. If we get a great bill, we should do it. If we don't get a great bill, but I don't think you're going to get a great bill. And if you're starting at 5,000 people a day, it's insane. It's insane.

What would you say to-

We just had a meeting with the Teamsters and one of the biggest problems they have is millions of people are going into the country. And that's a killer for the Teamsters. And I'm going to stop it. And that's why the Teamsters, I think support me. Now I don't know if the top people will support me. We're going to have to find that out. But within the union itself, I have tremendous support.

If you had to give an odds on the Teamster's endorsement right now to the meeting.

They never do that. They never give it.

10%, 30?

But I felt it. Yeah. I mean, we have a good shot I think. They like what I do. They never had a better four years than they had during the Trump administration. I can say that for a lot of businesses and a lot of people, African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, they had the best four years they've ever had.

The UAW chose to endorse Biden just last week. I know you called the UAW leader a dope. I'm just curious, is that something that the Teamsters can expect if they end up backing Biden? Are you going to call them dopes too?

Well, I think the UAW made a terrible decision. And by allowing all electric cars, they're all going to be made in China. You're going to have no jobs over here. But I will not allow all electric cars. I'm going to have all kinds of cars because the electric mandate is a disaster. They don't go far enough. They cost too much and we don't have the materials to make them. But China does. (10:03) And you've heard me say it 100 times. Now, I would end that. You can buy an electric car, absolutely, but you're also going to be able to buy other types of cars and types of propulsion depending on what you want. You're going to be able to buy what you want to buy. Many of you were there, Iowa, where it was 40 degrees below zero on voting, at 40 degrees below zero. (10:27) And did you notice all those cars pulled over to the side? They were all electric cars. They don't work well in cold weather. That was very cold weather. I just want to say though, we had an incredible month. We beat in Iowa, knocked out the competition. We got the best vote percentage wise, margin wise of any candidate that ever ran. (10:49) And we went to New Hampshire. We got the most votes of anybody that ever ran in actually the most... That's like the home run record, who had the most home runs, who had the most hits. We got the most votes of anybody that ever ran in the New Hampshire primaries. I mean, we just had an incredible time. We're now focused on Nevada, which is next. And we think we're going to do there, get close to 100% of those votes. (11:11) And then we have the islands coming up too, by the way. You know that. Don't forget that. That's for four delegates. We have that coming up. And then we go to a place that's been very good to me and I've been very good to them in South Carolina. I think we're going to do great there. We see a poll today that we're 40 points up. In fact, we actually went up over the last week or two. But right now we're going out, as you know, next week we're going to Nevada where we have the caucus, the big caucus, and I think we'll do very well.

Mr. President, you've criticized Joe Biden for being soft on China, but your former trade representative said that he's praised Biden's policies and said he's had great respect for Katherine Thai. How can you campaign against policies in a platform that you're own team has-

I don't understand the question. Go ahead. Say it again loud.

Oh, sorry. Excuse me. Your trade representative has praised-

Which one?

Bob Lighthizer.

Okay.

Has praised Joe Biden's policies on his approach to China and said he has a great respect for Katherine Thai. How can you campaign against a platform that your own team has said positive things about?

Well, I don't know her. I can only say that the tariffs should be higher in my opinion. And I have a lot of respect for Bob. He's done a great job. I mean, he's really been very good and highly respected. I think he's got a friend, I don't know her. But he's friendly.

Are you considering tariffs as high as 60% for Chinese goods? And 10%-

We're going to see what happens. We're going to see what happens. What I want to do is bring back manufacturing into our country.

Would you consider-

I want to make the cars sold by China in here in the United States. And I think we'll do that. And I had a very good relationship with China. It came apart when we had the COVID situation. I didn't want to. That was a step too far. What happened there was a step too far. And I said from the beginning it was Wuhan and it was Wuhan. But I had a very good relationship with China. (13:02) But we want China to manufacture here. We don't want China to make their cars in China. And Bob and I have these discussions all the time. And there's pros and cons, but there's not very many of them. The fact is we want them to manufacture, we want them to spend money in this country. But if they're going to sell cars in this country, they should make them in this country. We want them to make them in this country. We want them to put our workers to work.

President Trump.

Thank you all very much. Any other questions.

President Trump.

What was the mood in the room?

I'm just curious, I'm you've repeatedly said DC has just fallen off the map in terms of crime, in terms of other issues. I'm just curious, now that you're here for the day, what would you do if back in the White House to actually make DC safer? I know if you saw, there was a pretty brutal carjacking in DC just this week that killed one man, seriously hurt another. Somebody who I believe had connections to your campaign.

You used to come to DC and it was safe and you felt great. And you'd come in from Nebraska, you'd come in from Iowa. You'd come in from different places and you'd say, "Wow, this is so beautiful, so safe, so nice." Now you come and you have a good chance of being shot. They had three people killed last week too. It's just the crime has got to be... You have to have strong, tough procedures on law enforcement and they don't have that. (14:17) And I know a lot of the police in DC, got to know them. They're great, but they're not allowed to do their job. You have to let them do their job. It's a crime fest right now, and we can't have that. Also physically, graffiti all over the place, garbage all over the roads, medians falling down on the roadways. (14:37) I mean, when foreign leaders come to this country, they probably look around and they say, "This is DC. The graffiti is horrible." You'll have white columns, beautiful white columns, and you'll have a swastika on the white column. The place has got to be cleaned up. It's got to be made great again, to be very honest with you, because it was something so special. You think about over the years. (15:00) And frankly in my term, when I saw tents starting to form in the parks, we took them out. We had to take them out immediately because once you have... You can take out two or three, when you have 1,000. But you look at what's happening with the homeless in DC and probably the migrants too, because the migrants are coming into DC at levels that they've never seen before, in all fairness to DC. And you have hundreds of thousands of people coming into this country, millions and millions of people, a lot of them are coming right here. (15:29) We have to make our capital safe and we have to make it clean and respected and beautiful. And that's part of my plan. And we're going to run it through the federal government and it's going to be run very tough and very smart and very safe. People are coming here and they're getting shot. They come here for an evening. I want to see the Lincoln Memorial. I want to see something. I want to see something so beautiful. I want to look at the Capitol building. I want to look at the White House. And they go home in a casket. Not going to happen.

Mr President Trump. [inaudible 00:15:58].

One of the Teamsters-

I realize you said that it wouldn't have happened, meaning the strikes in Jordan if you were president. But President Biden is now facing a decision to react. What would you do if you were in the Oval Office?

Well, the first thing you do is you don't say what you're going to do and he shouldn't be saying what he's doing. He says, "Well, we're thinking about doing something." You got to do it. You got to get it done. But it's so important that I have to say this, this should have never happened. (16:24) When I was president Iran had no money. They had no money to do this. They had money to live, but they didn't have money to do this. We would've made a great deal with them. I would say had it worked out differently, two weeks after the election we would've had a great deal with Iran and everybody would've been happy. Instead, Iran now has $200 billion and they're spreading their money all over the place and things are happening that would've never happened with me. (16:50) And most Democrats agree with that. It's very interesting. I watched over the weekend, one of the shows and two people said, "I do agree that this would not have happened with Trump as president."

[inaudible 00:17:01] President Trump, one of the teamster's executive board members objected to your visit today calling you a known union buster, scab and insurrectionist. What's your response to that?

They're wrong about that. I've dealt with unions for my whole life. I've had a great relationship with unions and I do it both ways, frankly. I have unions and some jobs they have non-union. Some parts of the country, they really don't have unions actually. If you wanted a union, they don't have them. Other parts, I happen to grow up in New York and I've done great there, and we had all union just about. (17:32) Now, I could have gone a different way, but I didn't. You have companies that will build non-union in New York, but I didn't do that and I think they respected that. I think we had a great meeting today. It's going to be very interesting. Nice to see you all.

What was the mood in the room? What do you

Say to American manufacturers and American business owners who argue that the country needs more workers, not fewer? They don't want the border closed down as you said in your press release this morning?

Well, most people need it closed down. And I can tell you, and people feel differently about different things, but the unions and the Teamsters, if they don't have it closed down, they're not going to exist. They're not going to be able to exist. Thank you very much.

What would you say to Senate Republicans who vote for the bill even after you've expressed your opposition?

I think they're making a terrible mistake if they vote for the bill. This is a terrible bill. Terrible bill for our country. It's a terrible bill. 5,000 people alone, don't even look at the rest of the bill. 5,000 people a day coming into our country. Who's negotiating this bill? Now it'd be a terrible bill. Thank you, all.

Thank you.

See you on the trail.

How's your hand? It looks like it's better now.

My hand?

Yeah. Remember, what happened the other day?

What was wrong with it?

You didn't see the photos coming out Trump Tower?

No.

Okay.

What was wrong with it?

The other one? Yeah. Okay. You don't want to tell us what happened with the hand?

Nothing. Maybe it's AI. Nothing.

Did you have a paper? I think it was a paper-

Did you talk about infrastructure, any other priorities, the Teamsters or self-driving cars that they're opposed to?

No. The infrastructure is very important to the Teamsters because they're the ones that largely build it. We had a great meeting today. It was really...

What about right to-

Sean is terrific. Fred

Did right to work come up?

We talked about it.

Do you agree with their position?

We just had a very good discussion. We didn't come to any conclusion, but we had a very good discussion. Thank you all very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My pleasure. [Inaudible 00:19:44]