Here is the full transcript of President Trump hosts Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in the Oval Office and takes questions from reporters on Thursday, April 25, 2025. The bilateral discussions focused on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, trade relations, and bilateral cooperation.
Listen to the audio version here:
Opening Remarks on Ukraine Conflict
PRESIDENT TRUMP: …be loved in this country. And we’ve had talks on the war with Ukraine, Russia, and trade. We’re doing very well, I think, on both. We’ve had some pretty good movement, and in every respect the war is very important that it ends with, I used to say, 2,500 people a week dying, young people, mostly soldiers from Russia, Ukraine. And we want to end that war, we want to end it quickly. I think we’ve made a lot of progress, and we’ll see what happens. This next few days is going to be very important. Meetings are taking place right now.
Additionally, we talked about trade, and we will definitely, we get along very well on trade. We’ll do something. But I think the Prime Minister knows that over the years, the United States has been very good to a lot of people. And it’s time for us to benefit also. So we’re going to have a good relationship on trade. And we discussed other things also. But Mr. Prime Minister, it’s an honor to have you at the White House. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: Well, thank you, Mr. President. This year is 200 years since the first immigration from Norway to the U.S. We come here early in your term. Appreciate that you take time. We have highlighted that very close cooperation. We are allies. We look after security in the North, in the Arctic, a lot of confidence between our services.
We have discussed in detail the war in Ukraine. I have saluted the President for his initiative to make progress towards something that can be a ceasefire and an end to this terrible conflict. It is a complex picture, but it needs political will and push. And we have exchanged ideas on that. And I think the President and his team have been open to hear our perspectives.
And on trade, we have also emphasized that we can benefit, both of us, by trading. We can be complementary. And we can find good solutions. But first of all, I appreciate, Mr. President, the spirit and the tone of this conversation, which has been a confirmation of a very strong partnership. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Appreciate it. Any questions?
Questions from Reporters
REPORTER: Can I ask you first, Mr. President, you have been talking about the tariffs that you want to impose on Norway. Is there a chance that you can lower the tariffs?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We spoke about trade, and we understand each other very well. I think we will have no problem.
REPORTER: Do you think that you can get an agreement on that?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think we will have no problem whatsoever with Norway.
REPORTER: Did you discuss a possible visit to Norway?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We did not, but I love it. I have been there, and it is a beautiful place.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: I told the President that he is receiving us early in the term. He is welcome to visit Norway. We would like to have him, and it will be another way of emphasizing this strong friendship.
REPORTER: Norway has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022. Has something been discussed here today that may have altered your views on this?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We want to, very simply, I have no allegiance to anybody. I have allegiance to saving lives, and I want to save a lot of lives. A lot of young people, mostly young people, it is the war, it is the soldiers, and if we can do that. Also, as you know, I got started because the money that has been spent on this war is insane. It should have never happened, and it would have never happened if I were President. But Biden spent $350 billion on this, and it is a shame. And that is what got me involved, and then I look at, and I see the results. It is horrible. It is a killing field. 5,000 soldiers a week on average, and we want to stop that. We both want to stop that for a lot of reasons, but I would say that is my number one reason.
REPORTER: Do you think that you can get Russia to accept the deal that also Ukraine and Europe will accept?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think so, yeah. I do. I believe they will accept, and I think we are going to get this over with. I hope so, soon.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you continue to lack support from NATO allies in your goal of obtaining Greenland. How will you proceed if you do not get that support?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, Greenland is going to be interesting, but that is for another day. I think we need that for international peace, and if you do not have that, I think it is a big threat to our world. So, I think Greenland is very important for international peace.
REPORTER: Mr. President, this morning in a certain social post, you used the words, “Vladimir, stop.” That seemed like a slightly different message, a personal message. What is your level of frustration with President Putin at this point?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I was not happy with it, and we are in the midst of talking peace, and missiles were fired, and I was not happy with it. That is what I meant, and that is what it is.
REPORTER: Mr. President, what do you mean by that?
REPORTER: Sorry, if the bombs keep falling, will you consider additional sanctions for Russia, or what will you do if President Putin—
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I would rather answer that question in a week. I want to see if we can have a deal. No reason to answer it now, but I will not be happy.
Let me put it that way. Things will happen.
REPORTER: Mr. President, why are you not putting more pressure on Russia? I know a lot of Europeans—
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Putting a lot of pressure? You do not know what pressure I am putting on Russia. They are dealing—you have no idea what pressure I am putting on Russia. We are putting a lot of pressure.
REPORTER: Can you maybe tell us?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: We are putting a lot of pressure on Russia, and Russia knows that, and some people that are close to it know, or he would not be talking right now. The Prime Minister understands that better than anybody. He would not be talking right now. He is talking, and we are putting a lot of pressure. I think he wants to make a deal. We are going to find out very soon, but it takes two to tango, and you have to have Ukraine want to make a deal too. They are being hit very hard, and I do believe they want to make a deal.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you said that the Ukraine has to give some territory to win peace, among them Crimea. Do you stand by that? I know that the former NATO General Secretary today has told you that he does not agree, and he believes in the territorial integrity of the Ukraine. How would you deal with that with your allies?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Former Secretary General happens to be right here, so they cannot put words in his mouth. He has been a great general, frankly, because that is what you are. Really, you are a general, but he has been a great Secretary General. We had a tremendous relationship, very successful, and I think he could speak for himself. He is right here.
REPORTER: But do you still agree that Ukraine has to give some territory away to win peace?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, it depends what territory. They have been fighting. They have lost a lot of territory. We will do the best we can. Working with Ukraine, we will do the best we can, but they lost a lot of territory. When you say Crimea, that was handed over during a president named Barack Hussein Obama. That had nothing to do with me, Crimea. That was 11 years ago with Obama, and they made a decision. There was no bullet fire. There was no fighting. There was no anything. They just handed it over. Now they say, well, can you get it back? I think that is going to be a very difficult thing to do. That was given by Barack Obama when he was president, not by Donald Trump.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.
REPORTER: Mr. President, I do not believe… that you put on the table that it is a 30-day ceasefire proposal that the national security team presented to both Ukraine and Russia. Two months ago, Ukraine agreed to that ceasefire proposal. Immediately, Russia has not. And my question is, is Russia the obstacle that keeps us based upon that, just getting to that 30-day ceasefire?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I do not think so. I think that they both want peace right now. They are ready to do something. We will see what happens. Complicated, very complicated. But I think they are both very much looking to make a deal…
MARCO RUBIO: Well, first of all, what was put before our partners was options to discuss about things that it would take to end a war. This war is endable. Both sides just have to agree to it. We have shown them a pathway forward. We have discussed those ideas. There was a good meeting yesterday. There will be good meetings over the weekend. We have shown them the finish line. We need both of them to say yes.
But what happened last night with those missile strikes should remind everybody of why this war needs to end. It is horrible. Those missiles landed. What is even worse is there are today people that were alive yesterday that are not alive today because this war continues. And the President wants to stop it. And everyone should be thanking the President for being a peacemaker and trying to save lives. That is what we are trying to do here. It is not our war we did not start, as you know. But we are trying to end the dying. We are trying to end the destruction.
And we have shown the path forward. We can see the finish line. But both of them have to get there. We are going to do everything we can to help them get there. But they have to ultimately say yes.
TRUMP: And we are using a lot of pressure on both. If you think we are just in there because we are nice people, then we are nice people. But we are using a lot of pressure on both.
REPORTER: What concessions, Mr. President, and to your national security team, what concessions has Russia offered up thus far to get to the point where you are closer to peace?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Stopping the war. Stopping taking the whole country. Pretty big concession.
REPORTER: Mr. President, if you are going to take down the [pirates], what do you want Norway to buy more from the U.S.?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: To buy more? Well, you do not need snow. You do not need skis. You do not need ski champions either, right?
Yes, a lot of them. But we just want to keep the relationship the way it is. We have had a great relationship. I think now maybe closer than ever. But we have had a great relationship with Norway. I think just keep it the way it is. You cannot do better.
REPORTER: Really? Not even by, say, a [pirate]?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, if they want to give us some additional concessions, that is okay. But you cannot do much better.
Finding Common Ground on Ukraine
REPORTER: Mr. President, you had a long meeting with Norway today. You said that Norway is doing a lot of things right. But on Ukraine, if I can ask both you and the Prime Minister, did you find common ground today on Ukraine and the peace plan?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Totally. It is totally common ground. The Prime Minister can speak about it, but I can just say he wants to see people stop dying more than anything else. And he would like to see it end. He is going to help us end it.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: Mr. President, can I say that to move towards an end of this war, U.S. engagement is critical, and President Trump made that possible. That is clear. That is obvious. It is really happening. Now the important thing is that both parties have to know that they have to deliver, and they have to feel the pressure to deliver. Ukraine is under attack. They are defending themselves. Lives are being lost.
And we believe very firmly that there needs to be a ceasefire, the initiative taken by the U.S. some time ago. It needs to be respected. And then to move on to something which both parties can own. That is the complicated part in such a dramatic war. And here I believe Europeans and Americans working together, as we do much closer now. I salute the team of President Trump for being open in that process. We had a good discussion on this today. And then we have to move on.
And we cannot lose time because this is too much drama happening. One thing is people losing their lives. But it is a bad thing for Europe, and it is a bad thing for the world to have such a broad conflict going on. It can have ramifications far beyond Ukraine.
REPORTER: Mr. President, if I forgot my question. I wanted to ask you about…
PRESIDENT TRUMP: All right. It happens. It happens sometimes, yeah.
REPORTER: No, Mr. President, I wanted to ask you about the, well, actually, Zelensky has said that he wants more patient response. So far there has been no response from the United States. If you, as the United States decides to pull out of negotiating for peace, is that also a no on sharing intelligence with Ukraine?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Let’s see what happens. I think we’re going to make a deal. And if we make a deal, that’ll be wonderful. We won’t have to worry about your question. You can ask that question in two weeks. And we’ll see. But I think we’re getting very close. The Prime Minister feels the same way. And we’ll hopefully not have to answer that.
Norway’s Invitation to the White House
REPORTER: Mr. President, you want Norway as the third country to be officially invited to the White House after the restoration. Why did you invite Norway so soon to the White House?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Because I like them. And I like you, Prime Minister. And I like the way your government runs. And I respect the king. He’s highly respected in Norway. It’s a great thing. Not an easy thing to do. He’s done a great job.
REPORTER: Would you like an invitation to visit the king?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Absolutely. You gave me that invitation.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: I just told the President he’s welcome to visit Norway.
Norway’s Petroleum Fund
REPORTER: You said before that you like the Norwegian Petroleum Fund. And I’m wondering if that’s enough for a discussion today, the way that you have structured our economy and what our vision is.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: Well, this fund was created in the late 1990s to save for future generations the income from our oil and gas. Norwegians should continue to work as hard, dedicated, innovate, and move forward despite having these incomes, which we happen to be in the period or history where we can harvest. And we have transferred that into investments, half of them, by the way, here in the United States.
So I think this is a model which we have been able to explore if we can share experiences, and we do with our colleagues in the US. You never copy this one-to-one, but there can be techniques and way of working that we have used in organizing our fund. Jens Stoltenberg was the finance minister when the first dollar entered that fund. So, he is a safe hand to have as a finance minister today.
JENS STOLTENBERG: No, and as you said, Mr. Prime Minister, we are ready to sit down with the U.S. to also work with them if they want to establish a sovereign wealth fund, because we have a good experience with our fund, and I think that the only example of how we work together with the United States is that half of the fund, close to one trillion U.S. dollars, are invested in the United States, mainly in equity, but also some in fixed income, including government funds. So, this is an expression of trust in the United States, expressed by the strong investment of the sovereign wealth fund.
Then, just briefly on Ukraine, since it was mentioned, we had a very good and extensive discussion about Ukraine, the path forward to peace, and as the Prime Minister said, we commend the U.S. for pushing forward to try to find a negotiated solution. At the same time, we need to continue to support Ukraine, and therefore, I’m proud that Norway has actually tripled the military support to Ukraine, and this year, we will allocate close to eight billion U.S. dollars to Ukraine, that will strengthen them and also their hand on the negotiating table.
PRIME MINISTER STØRE: If I may add to that, you know, if there is a peace, and there will be a peace, we have a common responsibility in securing democratic Ukraine for the future, and the best security guarantee they can have is the ability to defend themselves, and we are investing in that.
Tariffs Discussion
REPORTER: Mr. Prime Minister, if I may, as it relates to tariffs…. Mr. President, when you unveiled your reciprocal tariffs on April the 2nd, the tariff rate for Norway was 15 percent. Based upon your conversations that you had today with the Prime Minister, do you see that tariff rate coming down from what you proposed just a few weeks ago?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, they have a great fund of $2 trillion, it’s a big fund, and they don’t have any debt. So, I think they’d probably be willing to pay us more than that,
REPORTER: Mr. President, in 2018, your former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered an end to Russian occupation of Crimea. Why does this administration, why has this administration changed its stance on territorial concessions for Crimea?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, the war started, it would have never started if I were President. This is a war that is horrible. The old wars are horrible, this one is particularly bad, and I don’t know that you can ever say there’s going to be a winner because so many lives have been lost, not only soldiers, a lot of lives have been lost.
I think that we want to do one very simple thing. It would have never happened if I were President, zero chance it was going to, and it didn’t. You know, people say, how do you know that? Number one, it didn’t happen, we never even discussed it. I would talk to Putin about it, it was the apple of his eye. You know, Ukraine was the apple of Putin’s eye, but there was never even a thought that he’d go in. And I think he understood that I would not be happy if he did.
And it was only when I got out, and you know, when you mention what happened to Ukraine years ago under President Obama and a Vice President that was also President later, unfortunately for this country. What happened is large chunks of land were given up and it was called Crimea, and that was a big thing, that was a big moment.
But this is not my war, this is Biden’s war, this is a war that Biden was President when the war happened, but I’m trying to put out the fire, and I think we’ll be successful and if we do, we’re going to save a lot of lives. Otherwise, and the Prime Minister had a statement, he said, this is just a point in time. We’re very lucky because this is the point, and if this doesn’t happen, this could go on for a long time.
Foreign Relations and Diplomatic Meetings
REPORTER: Mr. President, would you have Putin as a world leader in the near and long term future?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: I don’t think he will. I think he wants to make peace, I think he wants to end it. And I feel pretty confident of that, but we’re going to know pretty soon.
REPORTER: Mr. President, would you meet with other world leaders when you’re in Rome?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Yes, I will.
REPORTER: Which leaders do you want to meet, sir?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I’d like to meet them all. That would be nice. I’d like to take care of all of them, but we have many of them there and they all want to meet, and they want to meet about trade. And we are making some great inroads and great deals. You might want to speak about that, Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY: We had a very successful bilateral meeting with the Republic of South Korea today. We may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week, as we reach an agreement on understanding as soon as next week. So South Koreans came early, they came with their A-game, and we will see if they follow through on that.
Discussion on the Nobel Peace Prize and Abraham Accords
REPORTER: President Trump, do you think that you deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Do I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize? Well, maybe for the Abraham Accords. I don’t want to get ahead of myself on this one, but they say for the Abraham Accords. And, by the way, speaking of that, we’re going to be filling it up. A lot of countries want to come into the Abraham Accords. You know, we have four. And Biden did nothing on that one, too. It sustained four. They’re great countries, and they were brave doing it, and it’s worked out very well. And we’re going to be filling up the Abraham Accords. We’re going to be, I think, filling it up very rapidly.
REPORTER: Mr. President….
TRUMP: Could you say something about that?
MARCO RUBIO: This great enormous opportunity to grow the Abraham Accords. But I would just point to one thing. Of all the leaders in the world today, no leader is working harder to prevent wars or end them than President Trump is right now. That’s why we’re talking to Iran. That’s why we’re engaged with Ukraine and Russia. It’s the desire to prevent these wars from breaking out and to end the ones that exist already. And, again, I just think it’s tremendous for our country to be led by a president who desires to bring peace and establish peace and protect peace. So it’s hard work.
Iran Relations and Economic Updates
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Marco just mentioned something that maybe we should talk about for just a second if we could, Mr. Prime Minister. And you’re involved in it, too, because you’ve been involved in the world and peace. But I think we’re doing very well with respect to Iran. And we’re having very serious meetings. And there are only two options. And the one option is not a good option. It’s not a good option at all. And I think we’re doing very well on an agreement with Iran. But that one, we’re doing a lot of things, I will say. But that one is well on its way. We have a very, very good decision. And a lot of lives will be saved.
REPORTER: Mr. President, on the economy, there was a slowdown as it relates to home sales in the month of March. The slowest pace since 2009. Is that an economic indicator? Or perhaps the Treasury Secretary can weigh in on this as well. Is that an economic indicator that concerns you about the broader U.S. economy?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, they have very good numbers on housing today, extremely good numbers. And that’s despite interest rates. Because, you know, if you look at what happened, everyone said, oh, I said I was going to get prices down. I did. Energy just hit $1.98 in a couple of states. It’s way down. Energy is down. And we’re about $64 a barrel. When I came in and we were looking at $89, $90, $95. And, by the way, that helps us solve the war, too. Because energy prices is a big incentive for Russia to also agree with solving the war problem.
Groceries are down. When I was with you two months ago, you were complaining about eggs. I said, I just got here. I’ve been here for about a week when the press started saying about eggs have gone through the roof. I said, I just got here. Tell me about eggs. And they happened. They went through the roof and you couldn’t get them. We just had a big Easter egg hunt at the White House, thousands and thousands of eggs. And the price was down 87 percent. So we did a great job.
Housing is doing very well. We should lower interest rates. That’s the Fed. I hope they lower interest rates. That’s a smart thing to do. Be ahead a little bit, although already it’s a little bit late. But, in the end, we just have a great country. We have a very strong country.
And we have every other country. I can’t think of one country that doesn’t want to negotiate a deal. And they either negotiate a deal or we set a deal that we think is fair. Because we don’t have to go through all of these – it would be physically impossible. You know, you have so many people that really understand it, which is a very small group of people here. And we are going to, at some point, just set prices for deals. Some will be tariffed. Some treated as very unfairly. They’ll be tariffed higher than others.
But we’ve been ripped off for many, many years. The United States has been ripped off like no country probably in the history of the world has been ripped off for 45, 50 years. And countries have gotten rich by doing that with the United States. We’ve taken care of their militaries. And military is another subject we talk about. We’re not going to make that subject to any of the deals. But, you know, you know the same countries that I do where we virtually take care of their military and then don’t get treated fairly on trade.
So the people – and I don’t blame those countries. I blame the people that sat at that beautiful desk right behind you. Because those people didn’t do the job for this country. And they let us lose $4 billion a day on trade. We were losing $4 or $5 billion a day on trade when I got here. And now we’re going to be much better than breaking even. And we’re going to be making $4 or $5 billion a day on trade. So
PRESIDENT TRUMP: —but I don’t blame any country. Not the worst of them. And we were abused by countries. I blame the President of the United States that happened to be sitting where these deals were made. Disgraceful. When I was here, we had a great four years. We had the most successful economy in the history of our country my first term. And we were very tough on trade. And with China, as you know, they paid hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs. But nobody else ever did that. China paid not 10 cents to any other president. And not only China. Virtually every country got away with murder. And we just can’t let that happen.
Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you very much.
