Foreign Pool Report #3 - Oval quotes

Hello all,

Both men opened by discussing their admiration for each other's countries before taking questions. President Trump said the UK was a "very special place" and that PM Starmer was a "very special man".

PM Starmer said "our countries have been bound together for a very long time now, the closest alliance I think of any two countries when it comes to prosperity and security, and I know that together, we will strengthen that even further and on issues like Ukraine."

Please check all quotes against videos/transcripts.

UK State Visit

PM Keir Starmer presented a letter from HRH King Charles to the US President. The letter formally invited President Trump to visit the UK for an "unprecedented" 2nd state visit which will be "even better" than the last time President Trump visited. The President accepted.

Various topics of international importance.

Ukraine

PM STARMER thanked President Trump for creating space for a Ukraine peace deal to take place: "Thank you for changing the conversation to bring about the possibility that now we can have a peace deal, and we want to work with you to make sure that peace deal is enduring, that it lasts, but it's a deal that goes down as a historic deal that nobody breaches, and we'll work with you to make sure that that absolutely happens."

I asked President TRUMP whether he would budge on his refusal to accept Ukraine into NATO: "I could be very nice and say, 'Oh, well, we'll work to it.' Look, it's not going to happen. This is not going to happen. That's what started this whole thing. And Biden said that, and all of a sudden the guns started. That was one of the primary reasons it started. And this was long before President Putin, they never said it was an impossibility. So we can say, 'Oh, gee, well, we'll try', but that's something that's just not going to happen. And then the other question I ask is about the land, when you get your land back? Well, they fought long and hard on the land, and you and I will be discussing that, and we're going to certainly try and get as much as we can back but on the NATO just that's not going

to happen.

TRUMP on the peacekeeping force: "We have to make a deal first. Right now we don't have a deal. We have Russia. We have Ukraine. I think we're very well advanced. I think Russia has been acting very well. Representative Steve Witkoff and Scott and Marco and JD were all involved, every one of us, and a lot more. But I think we're very well advanced on a deal, but we have not made a deal yet. So I don't like to talk about peacekeeping until we have a deal. I like to get things done. I don't want to give it the bad luck side. We don't want to do that. But we've had very good talks with Russia. We've had very good talks, as you know, with Ukraine."

TRUMP on a backstop: "We are a backstop because we'll be over there, we'll be working in the country. We're going to be that's a great thing economically for them, because, you know, when you talk about economic development, we're going to have a lot of people over there, so we'll be working in the country. So I just don't think you're going to have a problem. I think when we have an agreement, you can say whatever you want about security, who's going to do it? Or that's going to be a very pleasant conversation. The hard conversation is, will we have an agreement? And I think the answer is yes. I think Russia will agree. And I think that I really believe Ukraine will agree."

Asked whether he could trust that Putin wouldn't break a peace deal, TRUMP said: I think he'll keep his word. I think, I think he's, I've spoken to him. I've known him for a long time now. We had, we had to go through the Russian hoax together. That was not a good thing. It's not fair. That was a rigged deal and had nothing to do with Russia. Was a rigged deal with inside the country, and they had to put up with that too. They put up with a lot. It wasn't just us. They had to put up with it, with a phony story that was made up. I've known him for a long time now, and I think he will. I don't believe he's going to violate his word. I don't think he'll be back when we make a deal. I think the deal is going to hold now. They're going to have security. You're going to have security, you're going to have soldiers. I know France wants to be there. He's, the President has said he wants to have soldiers there I don't think we're going to even be necessary but I don't think there'll be any problem

with keeping the deal with the security.

STARMER also took a page out of Macron's book and pushed back against President Trump's Ukraine aid figure: "We are not getting all of ours [back]. I mean, quite a bit of ours was gifted. There were some supplements, but mainly it was

gifted."

Asked if the US would come to the UK's defence if Putin attacked British soldiers in Ukraine, TRUMP said: "I've always found about the British, they don't need much help. They can take care of themselves very well. You know what? No, it sounds like it's evasive, but it's not invasive. You know, the British are, have been incredible soldiers, incredible military. And they can take care of themselves, but if they need help, I'll always be with the British. Okay, I'll always be with them, but they don't need help. You look at their career. You have done very well over the years, haven't you?"

They will also discuss Ukraine's territory.

AUKUS

I asked whether the AUKUS trilateral security deal would be discussed, President TRUMP initially said: "What does that mean?" And then: "yeah, well, we'll be discussing that. We've had another great relationship, and you have too with Australia. Yeah, we've had a very good relationship with Australia."

TRADE

President TRUMP discussed tariffs on the EU: "We do have problems with the EU because they've tariff, tariffed us. They do it in the form of a vet tax, which is about 20% and many other taxes. They sue our companies. They sued apple. Got 16 or $17 billion which was, I think, totally a ridiculous decision. And they're suing Google for a lot of money. They're suing a lot of other companies. And we don't like the way they're treating our people. We don't like the way they're treating our companies. They sell us cars. We don't sell them cars. They don't take our cars, they don't take much of our agriculture, and we have a deficit with them of about $350 million so I wouldn't say it's been such a great relationship personally"

STARMER said the UK was in a different position to the EU: "Our trade, obviously, is fair and balanced. And fact, you've got a bit of a surplus. So we're in a different position there. And obviously we contributed hugely in relation to Ukraine, and taken together with Europe, that's about 50%"

We will soon be gathering for the press conference.

Let me know if you need anything!

Fraser

Fraser Jackson

Washington / White House Correspondent

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