Foreign Pool Report #4 - Fuller Oval quotes

The pool entered the the Oval at 11:44.

Some newsworthy material on Foreign policy:

Trump threatening Russia with "devastating" financial measures:

Trump: "There are things that wouldn't be pleasant in a financial sense. I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don't want to do it that because I want to get peace"

Trump: "In a financial sense, yes we could do things that would be very bad for Russia, that would be devastating for Russia. But I don't want to do that."

Trump on whether he will retaliate on the EU retaliatory tariffs:

Trump: "Of course I will respond"

Q: "Will you put tariffs on European cars, is that something you are considering?"

Trump: "Yes, absolutely"

From the top:

President Trump thanks Mr. Martin calling him a "special guy" and calling the relationship between both countries as "very very strong and very very good"

PM Martin in return thanked President Trump for his hospitality and also said that he "commend you in terms of the work you're doing in reaching peace".

Print pooler has covered a lot of Trump quotes. The Taoiseach spoke on a total of x occasions for a total of aroud x minutes out of the 50.

The Irish PM jumped in answering a question about trade relations:

"It's a two way street too, but we are investing a lot more in America now, and people might not realize but Ryanair one of our biggest airlines, and Aircap buy more Boeing airplanes than anybody else."

"That's good", Trump responded.

More on trade relations from the PM:

"There's a lot of Irish companies here now, about 700 Irish companies based in America."

"We've added value to American companies"

"I understand where you are coming from fully, but I think it's a relationship that we can develop and that will endure into the future."

On pharmaceutical companies:

"I think the pharmaceutical companies in Ireland are doing very well".

"I think there is actually room, and we can discuss this further, but I think there is room for this companies to grow in America."

When Trump did not answer a question about half of parties from the Northern Ireland government boycotting the WH St Patricks events because of Trump's stance on Gaza, Taoiseach Martin jumped in again:

"One thing we've learned in Ireland about the peace process that you've just spoken about, and I recall back in the early 90s when the first tentative steps to get peace in our people criticized people like John Hume or people like Albert Reynolds, but they kept going. And when we got that ceasefire in '93, it took a number of years to get the comprehensive peace, but again, the guns more or less largely went silent."

"The war in Ukraine is a devastating war on young people."

"Anything we can do to stop the violence, I think, is an extremely powerful thing."

"It's our job to try"

On what the PM would to if he wanted to "make Ireland great again":

"The number one issue is housing, to be honest. We got to build more houses. We got to build them faster, to get the young people an opportunity to buy a house or rent a house. That is my number one priority"

On whether PM Martin would use the bilateral meeting to about the Irish view on Gaza the Taoiseach responded:

"The president is very well suited to know the whole situation. We share the President's unrelenting voice for peace."

"I went to kibbutz Be'eri after October 7th, in solidarity with Israel, and that get's forgotten."

"It's complex, but we desperately need the hostages released, all of them. We have to surge the humanitarian aid going into Gaza, because again, there are too many children and people starving."

"It's always been my view, and it is our view that that a two state solution would be ideal"

On Trump's golf course:

"You have the distinction of being the only US president to invest in Ireland. And for anybody, you should go there. If you don't play golf you should go, it's a stunning landscape.

Let me know if you have any questions

Fouad Youcefi

Swedish Public Broadcaster, SVT

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