Transcript: Trump Makes Drug Price Announcement Alongside AstraZeneca CEO

Do it at numbers that nobody thought, even I thought, were not possible. When you think, think of it, if you got a 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 percent, that’s good. You did a good job. We’re talking about 100, 200, 300, 500, 700, in some cases, some big, big numbers. And the largest drug companies in the world are working with us to make this a reality.

And so I look forward to being at your opening of that incredible facility. I hear something. And it’s been a great location, Len. One of the beautiful locations. So I’d now like to ask Secretary Kennedy to say a few words, followed by Dr. Oz, Pascal, Governor Yunkin. And we’ll take some questions afterwards. Would anybody like to have some, yes? Oh, I’m shocked. Okay. We’ll take them right after. Okay? Bobby, please.

Kennedy Contrasts Administration’s Approach with Previous Drug Price Negotiations

SECRETARY KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. President. I talked about this a little yesterday in the Cabinet meeting. But it’s worth repeating because it shows the, this historical achievement that’s really monumental. When I was in my confirmation process, virtually every Democratic senator showed me their preoccupation with making sure that we completed, that I was going to continue to get a commitment from me to continue the IRA drug price negotiations. The IRA required the Democrats, while President Biden was in, the first year of the IRA to negotiate 10 drug prices down. And then I was supposed to, my first year, negotiate 15, and then 15 every year thereafter.

And now it wasn’t a plan. The Democrats claimed that they had a 22 percent reduction, and that that was a great success. And we actually looked at that when I came into the agency. We realized we were actually paying more for eight of those, eight of the 10 drugs. The 22 percent reduction was off of list price. And Medicare ended up paying more for eight of the drugs, equal for the ninth, and about a 2 percent discount on the 10th drug. So that was the plan, and that’s what they did.

Achieving Most Favored Nation Status Through Tariff Leverage

We are continuing the IRA negotiations, but thanks to the president’s leadership, we have achieved something extraordinary here, which is a dream that he’s had for 20 years because he’s the common-sense president. He says something, 20 years ago, he learned that we were paying three, four, five, sometimes 10 times for the same drug as they were paying in European countries. Some of these drugs were manufactured in facilities in New Jersey and then sold for one-tenth the price in London or Paris that Americans were being charged for them a year.

He saw that this was unfair. Every Democratic president, every Republican president has said that this was the gold standard. This is what we needed to do. Nobody’s been able to change it. And when we came in, I have to say I was pessimistic about doing MFN. Dr. Oz was pessimistic. Our staff, John Brooke and Chris Klomp and the other people we brought in were all pessimistic. The president saw something that we didn’t see, which is we had leverage, and that came through Howard and the tariffs, and we had extraordinary leverage to craft these deals.

We had Pfizer in, which is one of the biggest American pharmaceutical companies. Today we have AstraZeneca in with Pascal Soriot, which is one of the biggest European pharmaceutical companies. And the president saw, the president asked us to do three things. One, to get MFN prices. Two, to not bankrupt these companies. He understood that America has to be the center for innovation.

The drug industry needs to innovate, that it’s critical for its bottom line, it’s critical for the health of the American people. And he asked us also to make sure that those companies would keep their promise to reshore this industry. For national security purposes, for our economy, it’s critical these companies are making these drugs in the United States.

We were able to achieve all those things, and largely with the visionary help of Pascal Soriot, who understood that innovation and the business doesn’t work if everybody is not pulling the oars, if everybody doesn’t have the skin in the game. The whole world was riding on our shoulders and riding on our dime. Seventy percent of pharmaceutical revenues comes from this country. We only have 4.2 percent of the world’s population, and we were paying for 80 or 90 percent of the innovation here. And the rest of the world was a free rider.

And Pascal understood that that’s not fair, and it’s not a good, sustainable, long-term business model. And he came to the table, he was one of the first leaders to come to the table. I want to thank him for his vision, for operating with us and good faith, and this is an extraordinary deal.

Not only that, but as the President has pointed out, he is also reshoring this industry here. He’s building, he has 19 facilities already operating in this country. He has this other facility in Albemarle County that Dr. Oz went with Governor Youngkin and broke ground on yesterday. He has a second facility that is under construction in Kendall Square in Boston, another facility in Rockville, Maryland, and a fourth facility in Cooper, Texas, right outside of Dallas-Fort Worth. And he’s got plans for building many more in this country.

And through the President’s leadership to the tariffs and to the common sense, the President has demonstrated in his own commitment to make drug prices lower for hardworking Americans. So I want to thank the President for your visionary leadership. I want to thank Dr. Oz for his heart and Marty Makary in negotiating this deal. Dr. Heidi Overton, Theo Merkel, Chris Klump, and John Brooks, who all played critical parts in the negotiation. And of course, Howard Lutnick, who was the key to these negotiations.

Who do we bring up now? Dr. Oz.

DR. OZ: Thanks, Secretary. He’ll take your place, Pascal. Oh, Pascal. I get to introduce Pascal, which I’ll do a great show in honor.

So the world is watching as President Trump tries to make peace in every place he can go. But at the same time, President Trump is putting peace into the hearts of Americans and bringing peace of mind to them, especially Americans who cannot afford their medications.

And just to put a number on this, as he releases us from the bondage of paying three times more for the exact same product made in the same factory, in the same pillbox, in the same instruction manual overseas, rather in this country than we pay overseas, it creates an opportunity for us. Mr. President, you’re turning the art of the deal into the art of the heal. And that is something that you’re going to witness today. And it’s the second we have more coming. But this is a very important one.

So I want to set the stage here. And, Mr. Secretary, you’re too modest. Secretary Kennedy did have a vision to push hard on this. He understood we could give the right medications to the right people at the right time. And there is nothing more MAHA than giving folks lifesaving medications in a timely fashion so you prevent illnesses and treat other ones that have already occurred. You save lives that way. That literally is what was on the line as we began negotiating these.

Building on the Pfizer Agreement

So let’s set the stage. Where are we right now? Wide shot order. Last week, in this very room, President Trump welcomed the CEO of Pfizer. And that company, a leading U.S. pharmaceutical company, pledged to provide exactly what the President promised. Massive discounts to allow us to have most favored nation drug pricing in this country so we don’t allow our people to pay more than folks overseas.

And this was unthinkable, unthinkable even six months ago, seven months ago when we came into office. And Americans now have the ability to do that. But we needed to prove it was scalable. So we went to AstraZeneca, which is the leading pharmaceutical company, a leading company in the entire world, but a massive opportunity in this march to MFN, a march to most favored nation drug pricing.

And to have this message land clearly, we needed to make sure that the President’s demand for fair drug pricing was heard all around the globe. And I actually think the single most powerful tool we had was the President because people take him seriously. And some of the things that they were hearing overseas were alarming at them enough that they began to realize the jig was up.

The Deal Points

So let’s talk about the deal specifically. John Brooks, if you could give me my van of white, please. John, back there is Theo, Vince, Heidi were parts of the team. There are other members of the team I’ll speak of in a second.

So these are the five deal points. This is what Trump RX, by the way, was just launched. Trump RX dot gov, which was a unanimous name, by the way, Mr. President. He was not involved in picking the name, but it was not a difficult one to land on. We thought it had a catchy element to it.

All primary care medications sold by AstraZeneca are going to be available on Trump RX, which means no more gaming, no more middlemen. Starting early next year, when you go to the website, you’ll be able to see a marketplace. We’re not selling the drugs. We’re just making information available to everyone so you go to the right place to buy the right medication.

Second, drugs for lung diseases are discounted massively, and that’s over here on this line. The President highlighted 650 percent. They’re significant discounts, and these are medications. We just picked the ones for lung disease and one for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, but there are others that are included.

We have most favored nation pricing for everyone who is on Medicaid in this country. That’s why Governor Youngkin is able to do backflips with his nimble six-foot physique, because for governors, this is a massive problem. If Medicaid prices continue going up, it crowds out other social services, which he’ll speak to.

We also have MFN for all new prescription drugs. Mr. President, by the time this term is done, 95 percent of all drugs sold in America, branded drugs and generic, will be available at a most favored nation in drug pricing.

Americans are going to benefit if the prices drop abroad, so Secretary Lutnick is going to make sure that if we get better prices for these companies from our partner countries overseas, the American people see those benefits, and there’s going to be onshoring of manufacturing.

Manufacturing in Virginia

And as has been mentioned, I stood with Governor Youngkin and Pascal Soriot as we broke ground yesterday in Charlottesville, Virginia, and amassed a $4 billion facility. That’s the hard hat, Mr. President. I know you like construction, so that was all I could bring back. But there was a lot of remarkable energy, and here’s what that event really does.

It sends a signal for all countries around the world to stop freeloading off American innovation. It’s done. It’s not going to happen anymore with this President, and if you aren’t picking up your end of the bargain, then you’re going to be welcoming a lot more companies to leave your shores and allow us to welcome them into our shores as they open up manufacturing facilities here.

And for all the pharmaceutical companies out there, we’re talking to all of you. Pick up a shovel. This is a great place to build a facility, as AstraZeneca has shown us, and I think it has a wonderful opportunity in the future as well, as this country continues to support the innovation Secretary Kennedy spoke about, because we’re not compromising that at all. We’re just getting fair prices for the American people.

The Negotiating Team

To the team, tough negotiations, Mr. President. You know how hard they can be. You can’t get there without world-class negotiators, and we are blessed by individuals to work with the AstraZeneca team who are killers head-to-head. And why? Because talented people out of the private sector are coming into government to serve this President in a generational opportunity that they feel in their heart will make a difference.

John Brooks was part of that team. Chris Klump in Mayananda. Numerous other folks contributed as well, but we’re open for business, and if you want a great position and a patriot like the folks who negotiated these deals, please consider coming with us, because the President has made it clear that you will make a difference in government.

Finally, I want to thank Pascal Soriot. Pascal is an interesting, almost enigmatic individual. He’s the CEO of AstraZeneca. He is born in France, Australian citizen, knighted in Great Britain running their largest pharmaceutical company. So you figure out the lineage.

But one thing I know is a very, very smart man who came here early on, took the President seriously, and he recognized the inherent unfairness of the European model of global freeloading off our innovation. He appreciated the challenge, and he wanted to be part of the solution. So, Pascal, take it away. Thank you so much.

PASCAL SORIOT: So, President Trump, it is really a pleasure to see you again since I had the chance to meet you last time you visited the UK for your state visit. I know the King actually kept you late during the night, during your visit, late up at night. And I must thank you, actually, for returning the favor. I can tell you you’ve kept me up at night, my team as well. But it has been really worth it. It’s been worth it because today I’m really excited to announce AstraZeneca’s commitment to your vision for a healthy America.

Vision for a Healthy America

Great leadership is about having an ambitious vision that can energize people and you appoint a very talented team that can deliver on this. Your vision is exactly that. It is about lowering the price of medicines for American patients while ensuring that America remains a global powerhouse of innovation in biopharmaceuticals. And that’s not easy to do. We need to keep inventing the technologies and the products that will cure disease. But you actually gave us a key, equalization. That’s an important word.

You’ve assembled a remarkable team actually that, together with us, found a way to deliver on your vision. I would like to thank you, Mr. President, for your collaborative and your trusting approach throughout the discussion that led to this agreement. In addition, I would like to thank Secretary Lutnick, I’d like to thank Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and the CMS team, in particular John Brooks, who is here today, but also Chris Klump, for their very straightforward approach and their collaborative work that, together with my great team at AstraZeneca, enabled us to deliver this agreement today.

A Win for American Patients

It is an agreement that allows a number of wins. First of all, a great win for American patients. This agreement will deliver improved access to our medicines at a lower cost. We’ve addressed the four points that you raised in your letter, ensuring Americans do not pay more than patients in other wealthy countries. So it’s a big win for patients and the health care system as a whole.

But it’s also a big win for the economy and for taxpayers, because it supports rebalancing the cost of innovation across wealthy nations. For too long, America has shouldered a disproportionate portion of the world’s R&D costs for breakthrough medicines development. That imbalance is not sustainable. It had to change. And equalization levels the playing field, with wealthy nations contributing their fair share to the cost and the risk associated with biopharmaceuticals R&D.

And I would say it’s also a big win for state budgets, because these Medicaid price reductions will have an immediate impact on Medicaid budgets and provide a substantial relief to state budgets.

Securing America’s Position in Life Sciences

Finally, your vision also secures America’s strong position in life sciences and the onshoring of critical innovations in manufacturing. As a company, we will invest $50 billion in manufacturing and in R&D. We already have a large presence in the United States. We have 19 sites and we employ 25,000 people around the country. They’re all developing the new generation of medicines. But we continue to increase our presence in this country. We’re expanding our manufacturing footprint in Texas. We’re building our second large R&D center in Kendall Square in Boston. We are building a cell therapy manufacturing plant in Rockville, Maryland. And there’s more to come. So a lot of investment over the next few years.

I want to say that I appreciate very much Secretary Lutnick granting us a three-year tariff exemption to localize the remainder of our products. Most of our products are locally manufactured, but we need to transfer the remaining part to this country. And also for your great support to convince other wealthy countries to share the cost of pharmaceutical innovation. It is an important part of this agreement, rebalancing the cost around the world.

Yesterday, I showcased our commitment to the United States with this $4.5 billion in the beautiful commonwealth of Virginia to manufacture what we call API, active ingredients for our medicines, but also antibody drug conjugates that are such a critical part of the future treatment of cancer care, what is called smart chemotherapy, targeted chemotherapy. I want to thank Dr. Oz for joining us for the groundbreaking ceremony near Charlottesville together with Governor Youngkin. And I actually love your AstraZeneca hat.

I know you wanted to bring a shovel, but didn’t make it to this beautiful room. I have to say it has been a really great pleasure to work with Governor Youngkin and his team, in particular Secretary Segura on this investment. Like you, President Trump, they are deal makers that move at the speed of business. And it’s very important for us as a company to be able to work with people who understand who we are and move very fast.

Our new facility will be a great example of Virginia supporting domestic production of medicines for America, enhancing national security and pharmaceutical supply, but also create thousands of highly skilled jobs. Governor Youngkin gave me a beautiful Virginia flag that we will proudly fly alongside the American flag in front of our new facility. So AstraZeneca’s commitment to the United States is very strong. And this agreement ensures we’ll make an even bigger difference for American patients. So Mr. President, thank you again for welcoming me in this beautiful office and for making this moment possible. Thank you so much.

Governor Youngkin on Landmark Drug Pricing Reform

GOVERNOR GLENN YOUNGKIN: Thank you very much. Well first of all, I just want to thank everyone for celebrating this landmark moment. This landmark moment is not just a moment to announce a new way to buy less expensive life-saving medicine, but it is a step function change in the way that Virginians and Americans can access medicines.

And it is a step function change because historically there was an opaque pricing mechanism that had so many people standing between the manufacturers and the patients that no one knew really what it cost. Well now we can go direct to consumers. And that’s what Trump Rx is all about, going direct to consumers, where a consumer can come and find that particular medication that they need and go direct to the company and get the best possible price.

Most Favored Nation Clause Benefits

Second of all, the most favored nation clause is a groundbreaking moment. It’s a groundbreaking moment because as you’ve heard that American customers have been paying three, four, five times what international customers have been paying. That is just not fair. And Mr. President, I want to thank you for simply recognizing that America must come first and Americans deserve the best pricing, not the worst.

It changes everything for a state. In Virginia, we have a billion and a half dollars a year of pharmaceutical expenditure under our Medicaid plan. A billion and a half dollars a year. We save 10%, 20%, 30%. All of a sudden 150, 300 million, 450 million in savings can be realized by a state. Now I firmly believe that’s the people’s money and it should go back in tax relief. But think about the change that that enables for a state as they manage their health care expenditures.

Reshoring Critical Supply Chains

Finally, Mr. President, you have driven a reshoring of critical supply chains that no one thought could happen. The industries that everyone thought were lost are now coming home and with pharmaceutical manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredients, particularly coming back to America, it changes everything.

It’s an economic moment for us. Yes, four and a half billion dollars into the Virginia economy and that will in fact translate into three or four dollars of extra economic impact for every dollar that is spent. 3,600 great paying jobs, but it’s even more than that. This is a national security moment. And what you’ve just heard is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world is choosing America and yes, Virginia, to invest nearly $5 billion to build the most critical manufacturing for the future of America’s health.

It’s not just a single example. It’s happening all over. And in fact in Virginia, Mr. President, we’ve been blessed with nearly $10 billion of commitments to build new pharmaceutical manufacturing in the great commonwealth of Virginia. And therefore I believe this is a moment to celebrate, to celebrate investment, but more importantly to celebrate breakthroughs for American citizens to get access to life saving medicines at cost that they deserve because they’re all made here.

Mr. President, you and your cabinet have been amazing. As a governor, I have found that the cooperation with every one of your cabinet members and sir, yes, you, has been beyond compare that I could ever imagine. I want to thank you for helping us make Virginia great again too. Thank you.

Historic Investment Milestone

PRESIDENT TRUMP: So we have at this moment, I think we just cracked $18 trillion in commitments and investments in our country. As an example, the last administration was far less than $1 trillion for four years. We’re at plus $18 trillion for eight years. Eight months. There’s never been anything like it in history, in any country, anywhere in the world.

So that’s great. But maybe for purposes of this, more importantly, we’re going to bring drug prices down at numbers that nobody ever thought possible, Glenn. I think nobody ever even thought it was possible. So we’re going to be doing a lot of business, but we’re going to be also numbers that when you’re 2, 3, 4, 500 percent less. You just notice one of them over here, 654 percent discount. Six hundred and fifty-four. The laggard is 98 percent. Right? Nine is at what? Well, it’s 96. Ninety-six, 230 percent, but 654. And we have some that top that by a lot. So it’s really going to be incredible. And that’s going to be so good for Medicaid and Medicare and everything, frankly, for your life. It’s going to be so good. So nobody ever thought they were going to see. And don’t let Democrats take the credit because, you know, they’ll try. They’ll say, oh, we worked so hard. They didn’t work hard. They did. They obstructed. They actually did the opposite.

So that’s really more important than even the tremendous investments being made in our country. But think of it. We cracked 18 trillion with a T. Trillion dollars. And frankly, one trillion for four years wasn’t that bad. He did less than a trillion. But we did that in a period of eight months. So it’s pretty, pretty record shattering by many trillions of dollars. Any country, no matter what country you’re talking about, nobody’s done numbers like that. So thank you all for being here.

Do you want to have a couple of questions? Yeah, please.

Questions on Tariffs and Pharmaceutical Companies

REPORTER: One on this, a good one on China, if I may. First on this, could you have brought these pharmaceutical companies to the table without that 100 percent tariff that you imposed?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No, it’s not 100 percent. You’re talking about China might be 100 percent.

REPORTER: 100 percent you imposed on pharmaceuticals.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I would never have been able to bring him. Now, I’m not sure that Pascal would like to say, but behind the scenes, he did say tariffs were a big reason he came here. And also the fact he loved Virginia. He liked this guy. He liked me. I think the November 5th election was a very important date. We had a good election, and that was important. But yeah, he’s here. A lot of a lot of. I can speak for almost everybody that’s here. Most of them are here because of tariffs. Because you have to understand, he has no tariffs. If you build in this country, there are no tariffs.

Questions on China Meeting and Export Controls

REPORTER: So I just want to confirm, have you canceled your meeting with President Xi?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And so, but I don’t know that we’re going to have it, but I’m going to be there regardless. So I would assume we might have it. But, you know, they hit the world with something that really is not anything that people are going to do. And it’s it was shocking. I can tell you, Howard and I and Todd, we all, Scott, we’re all speaking about it before. And there was we said, where did that come from? It was just that was out of the blue, right? Out of the blue, they came up with this whole import, export concept. And nobody knew anything about it.

REPORTER: So if they roll back their export controls the new announcement, would you roll back?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’re going to have to see what happens. That’s why I made it November 1st. We’ll see what happens. Yeah, go ahead, please.

REPORTER: What else besides software could be on the table in terms of?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: A lot more. I mean, you have a lot more. We have airplanes. We have airplane parts. You remember that from last time. We were just surprised to have a very good relationship with President Xi. And they did that. This is not something that I, you know, instigated. This was just a response to something that they did. And they didn’t really aim it at us. They aimed it at the whole world. The whole world is subject to it. So I thought it was very, very bad. But we have many things, including a big thing, is Airport. They have a lot of Boeing planes and they need parts and lots of things like that. Steve?

Question on Gaza Deal

REPORTER: Why did you persuade the Commission of the American Government to accept the Gaza deal? And what would be your message to the Knesset when you speak to them?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, he wanted it. You know, it’s been a long time. He’s been fighting a long time. He’s been fighting hard. He wanted it.

It’s a great deal for Israel, but it’s a great deal for everybody — for Arabs, for Muslims, for everybody, for the world. And as you know, on Monday, the hostages come back. They’re getting them now. I mean, they’re getting them now. They’re in some pretty rough places. Under Earth, they’re in some pretty rough places where only a few people know where they are, in some cases. So they’re getting them, and they’re also getting the bodies — approximately 28 bodies. And some of those bodies are being unearthed right now, as we speak. I mean, they’re working on it right now, as we speak. It’s a tragedy. It’s a tragedy.

No, he was very happy with it. And I can tell you that I saw Israel dancing in the streets, but they were dancing in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and UAE and many, many countries. I saw Egypt. They were dancing. I’ll be going to Israel. I’ll be speaking at the Knesset, I think, early on. And then I’m also going to Egypt. They were terrific. But all of the countries were great. Indonesia was great. Jordan was great. They were all great. Everybody — everybody wants this deal to happen.

REPORTER: What happens in Gaza the day after the hostage release?

TRUMP: Day after what?

REPORTER: The day after the hostage release, what happens there then?

TRUMP: Well, hopefully, you’re going to have great success for — I call it everlasting success. I think you will, too. I think you’re going to have tremendous success. And Gaza is going to be rebuilt. And you have some very wealthy countries, as you know, over there. And it would take a small fraction of their wealth to do that. But — and I think they want to do it. And we’re also setting up, as you know, a Board of Peace. It’s called the Board of Peace. I don’t know if that’s the final name, but the word peace is definitely in there. And they asked me if I’d share it. We’ll make sure things go well.

REPORTER: And how confident are you that the ceasefire will hold?

Confidence in Ceasefire Agreement

TRUMP: I think it’ll hold, yeah. I think it’ll hold. They’re all tired of the fighting. Don’t forget, you had October 7th, which was a horrible day — 1,200 people killed. But Hamas has lost 58,000 people. That’s big retribution. That’s big retribution. People understand that. So, no, I think they’re all tired of fighting. And this really gives the whole Middle East — this is beyond Gaza. Gaza is very important. But this is beyond Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East. And it is a beautiful thing. You know, it’s a term that you and I have been hearing since we were very young, right? And now we have a chance of really having that.

International Support for Peace Deal

And, as you know, most of the countries have passed all these resolutions. Every country is there. Iran came in. I was very happy to see that. I was very honored that Iran came in. They said they support it. Russia came in. President Putin, he supports it fully. Very fully. So, I was happy to see. Even countries that weren’t necessarily involved in the process, they all supported. I don’t know of anybody that doesn’t. And I’ve never seen happier people than many of these places. Not just Israel. Many of these places. They’re all dancing in the streets. I’ve never seen anything like it. Go ahead, please, in the back.

REPORTER: And what guarantee did you give Hamas to display them that Israel will restart the bombing campaign once the hostages have been exchanged?

TRUMP: What did I do with respect to them? Well, you know, I spoke a little bit tough. And that’s what would happen. I mean, you have to speak tough. That’s the tough world. That’s the tough, as they say, neighborhood. And they’re tough people. They’re very tough people. And they’re smart people. They’re good negotiators. You know, they have a lot of things going. They put that to good use. They’re going to be very, very successful. But they knew the retribution would be tremendous. Unsustainable. It would have been unsustainable. Would have been — it would have been complete obliteration. And they didn’t want that.

Rebuilding the Middle East

And nobody wants it at this point. They want to get on with, you know, rebuilding the entire Middle East. It’s not only Gaza. It’s going to be the entire Middle East. They’re going to be able to live in peace. Now, we have some little hotspots, but they’re very small. You know the ones I’m talking about. They’re very small. They’ll be very easy to put out. Those fires are going to be put out very quickly. Yes, ma’am.

REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Talking about the Middle East still, going to the phases that come after this first phase, is there a consensus on the additional points in your plan, or are the details still being fine-tuned?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I think there is consensus on most of it. And some of the details, like anything else, they’ll be worked out because you’ll find out that when you’re sitting in a beautiful room in Egypt, you know, it’s easier to work something out. But then sometimes it doesn’t work from a practical standpoint. So, certain little things. But for the most part, there’s consensus, yes.

REPORTER: Do you intend to ask that out when you’re in Egypt?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I might, yeah. I mean, I’ll be there because I’ll be going to — I think I’ll go to Cairo. I think that’s where we’re going, as opposed to the place of the signing. And we have a lot of leaders from all over the world coming, too. You know, they’ve been invited. And then I’m coming back, I believe it’s Tuesday night, for Charlie Kirk — a friend of mine, a friend of all of ours, a friend of a lot of the people right here.

And we’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the highest honor you get outside of the Congressional Medal of Honor. One’s military, one’s civilian. But it’s the greatest honor. And Eric, his beautiful wife, is going to be here. And a lot of people are going to be here. So, you know, it’s not easy for me to get back. It’s a very quick trip, but I’ll be making — at two major stops, and then I’ll be on the plane trying to get back in time for Charlie. They’re going to have a great celebration at the White House, in the East Room of the White House.

Government Layoffs Announcement

REPORTER: Russell Vogt said the reductions in force have begun related to this shutdown. How many layoffs have you authorized for this first round? And from which agency?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: And it will be Democrat-oriented, because we figure, you know, they started this thing, so they should be Democrat-oriented. It’ll be a lot, and we’ll announce the numbers over the next couple of days, but it’ll be a lot of people, all because of the Democrats. I mean, they want to give $1.5 trillion to people that came into the country illegally.

More important than that, because we all have a big heart. We want people to be taken care of. But, you know, we have zero people coming in. You know that, Glenn, right? That’s a pretty impressive number, even for a successful governor. But we’ve had, for the last four months, zero people coming in illegally. They’re coming in, but they’re coming in legally. They’re coming in through a process that’s really — a really good process right now, because we want people to come in, but they have to come in legally.

So, what we’re doing is, as these different groups come due, we’re going to make a determination. Do we want them or not? And I must tell you, a lot of them happen to be Democrat-oriented. These are people that the Democrats wanted that, in many cases, were not appropriate. We fought them at the time, and it was ultimately signed in. And some of these people — these are largely people that the Democrats want. Many of them will be fired.

Yes, please, behind.

Nobel Peace Prize and Peace Deals

REPORTER: Yeah, the Nobel Peace Prize was announced this morning. Your thoughts?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Which one?

REPORTER: The Nobel Peace Prize. Do you have any thoughts?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Look, I — including a very big one. And I’m not sure — you know, when you say big, it’s certainly, I think, to the mind of most, the most important deal ever made in terms of peace. But the one we just signed, it’s been signed, sealed, and it’s going to start taking place now. It’s already started. Monday is going to be a very big day when the hostages come back.

But I made eight deals, transactions of wars. One was 31 years going on. Ten million people were killed. One was 34 years. One was 36, 37. One was 10. One was just starting. Two were just starting, actually, but they were well on their way. In the case of India and Pakistan, seven planes were shot down. It was a bad one.

And I did it largely through trade. I mean, that one, numerous of them. I talked tariffs. I said, “Look, if you’re going to do that, we’re going to put very big tariffs on your country.” And they were both great. They stopped fighting, and they were two nuclear powers. So, you know, they’re all big.

They’re every one of them big. You take a look at the Congo. You take a look at the Congo and Rwanda. Ten million people killed over a long period of time. That one’s solved. We did a total of eight as of two days ago. I would have said seven, which I did say. But the other one was signed up, sealed. As you know, Israel signed it just now. They signed it, and they approved it today, their parliament. And it’s a great honor to be involved with so many.

So the person who actually got the Nobel Prize called today, called me, and said, “I’m accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.” A very nice thing to do. I didn’t say, “Then give it to me,” though. I think she might have. She was very nice. And I’ve been helping her along the way. They need a lot of help in Venezuela. It’s a basic disaster. And you could also say it was given out for 24, and I was running for office in 24. You know, all of the transactions that we did in terms of closing. But there are those that say we did so much that they should have done it. But I don’t take, I’m happy because they saved millions of lives, many millions of lives.

Keegan Bradley Recognition

And speaking of somebody that saves lives, don’t ever play golf with them, because Keegan Bradley just walked in, one of the greatest golfers in the world, the captain of the Ryder Cup. And, man, I’ll tell you, you did a good job. You almost came back. I turned on. I said, you know, I sort of turned off. It wasn’t looking good. And then, a little while later, I turned on. I said, you guys might make that, that would have been the miracle. What a great job. He’s respected by those golfers like nobody. And I just want to compliment you, Keegan. That is an incredible job.

Right here, we have a lot of unfriendly fake news media. But, and he’s not used to that. He’s used to getting only good publicity, I think, Howard. These are all golfers. But you’re some golfer, I’ll tell you that, and some leader. Thank you very much. Great job. Thank you, Keegan.

REPORTER: Mr. President, on China.

TRUMP: Yeah, please.

REPORTER: On immigration, is there legal arrests? Are we arresting courthouses in New York City and around the country?

TRUMP: Criminals are being arrested. Criminals. That’s right.

REPORTER: Yeah.

TRUMP: Go ahead. I’m happy about it. I want them to arrest criminals.

D.C. Safety Improvements

And if you take a look at D.C. A year ago, D.C. was, this, our great capital, was a very unsafe place. You know that. Some of you were mugged. And talk openly about it. Some of the media was mugged. But right now, D.C. is one of the safest places in the whole country. The restaurants are booming. They’re opening up new restaurants. The restaurants are all closing. Now you can’t get into a restaurant. They’re opening up new restaurants.

Merit-Based System

It took 12 days for us. We sent in not politically correct military. We sent them in based on merit. You know, we won the case in the Supreme Court. Everything now is based on merit. Our country was founded on things based on merit. Like, Keegan Bradley is not going to be playing golf if he wasn’t a great player. If he shoots lower scores, boy, there’s no more merit system than that one, Keegan, right? If you miss a putt, they don’t say, “Oh, that’s okay, let’s take it again,” do they? No, it’s based on merit. Everything is based on merit.

And we’re back to the merit system. And when they saw that military, that military is all about merit. They’re big, strong people that want to, they’re patriots, too. And you take a look at D.C. And now we’re in Memphis. And Memphis was really crime-ridden. It was terrible. A lot of people being killed. And they say in 12 days, they can’t even believe how much better it is. And it’ll take probably a month over there.

Crime in Chicago

And we’re heading to Chicago because we want to save Chicago. Do you know they had over 4,000 people killed in Chicago over a short, 4,000 people. And I have to watch this slob of a governor stand up and say that, “Well, everything’s okay, we’ve got it under control.” They had 4,000 people murdered over a very short period of time.

There’s not a city in the world, I don’t believe, that can claim — you know, you hear so much about different — I won’t embarrass anybody, like by saying Mexico City or by saying anywhere in Afghanistan. There’s no place like that. And then I have to listen to the mayor, who’s got a 5 percent approval rate, maybe less. He’s an incompetent man. And the governor’s an incompetent guy. He’s a guy that was thrown out of his family business like a dog. And his — I know his family very well. And now he’s a governor.

And when I watch him trying to say that it’s okay, we have crime under control — look, 4,000 people over a very short period of time. Over — I believe it’s like 6,000, 7,000 people were shot. But didn’t die. But 4,000 people died. And then he gets up and talks about how it’s not a problem.

Or Portland, Oregon. I mean, every time I look at that place, the place is burning down. There’s fires all over the place. When a store owner — there are very few of them left. But when a store owner rebuilds a store, they build it out of plywood, and they don’t put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up because they know it’s going to be ripped down. And then I hear how wonderful it is. It’s not wonderful. It’s a disaster. That’s almost an insurrection, that place.

So, we put our people in there, and they do the job. And they’ve really done the job. And the beautiful thing is, we’ve done it. Twelve days, we had this place safe. And now it’s — I would say, within a month, it was beautiful. And it continues to be. That was three months ago. I’ll tell you, D.C. now is one of the hottest places, just like this country.

Economic Recovery and Global Recognition

We were a dead country. And you’ve heard me say it a hundred times. We were a dead country. King of Saudi Arabia said it. Others say the emir of Qatar said it. Many — UAE said it. The leader. Great leader, UAE. All great leaders. They said, effectively, the same thing. One year ago, we had a dead country. Now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

Closing Remarks and Appreciation

I just want to thank everybody. And I want to, in particular, thank AstraZeneca. What a great company you have. What a company you’ve built. You’ve been there a long time and done some job. It’s been an honor to have you. I assume you’re going to build — so it’s $4.5 billion for a plant. That’s a pretty big plant, isn’t it? I was going to say, could you make it a little bit more?

Well, we have a couple of them where they’re going to spend $65 billion on one plant, you know, the AI. All I know is that AI is based on information. I hope they’re right about information. I don’t know. You’ve got to make a lot of money to — there’s got to be a lot of information out there. But that seems to be pretty hot. But we have a lot. We’re leading the world on information, and AI, as you know, by a lot. It’s not even close.

So we’re doing a job. And I want to thank everybody. But in particular, Pascal, thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Have a good time.

Thank you, Press. Thank you, Press. Thank you, Press. Thank you, Press. Let’s go. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Thank you, Press. Thank you, Press. Let’s go. Let’s go. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Press. Thank you friends, thank you Tiger, let’s go, let’s go, thanks guys, thank you for everything, thank you friends, be great.

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