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Trump Departs for Beijing: Trade, Security, and Global Stability Headline High-Stakes Summit Agenda (Video)

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SouthFloridaReporter.com
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WASHINGTON — Standing before the spinning rotors of Marine One on a humid Tuesday afternoon, President Donald J. Trump delivered a sweeping, seventy-minute press conference that touched on every corner of his administration’s “America First” agenda. As he prepares to depart for a landmark summit in Beijing, the President painted a picture of a nation undergoing a physical and economic “renaissance,” while simultaneously warning of “crooked” systems and “very dangerous” international actors.

The following is a comprehensive transcript and analysis of the President’s Q&A session on the South Lawn, covering everything from the resurfacing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the “Venezuela model” of energy dominance and the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.

The Mission to China: “The Deal of All Deals”

Reporter: Mr. President, you’re heading to China. What is your primary goal for this meeting with President Xi, especially given the current tension over semiconductors and the NVIDIA situation?

President Trump: Well, we’re going to have a very big meeting. I have a great relationship with President Xi, as you know. But they’ve been taking advantage of our country for a long time. Not on my watch, and certainly not now. We’re going there to talk about trade, we’re going to talk about fentanyl—which is a disaster, it’s coming in from certain places, and they know what to do about it—and we’re going to talk about AI.

Faith Based Events

We have the best technology in the world. I just approved some things for NVIDIA because, look, you want to sell. We want to be the leaders. But we have to have a fair deal. Right now, the hand we’re playing is much stronger than people think. Some people say our allies are unhappy. I don’t care if they’re unhappy if they’re not paying their bills. We’re going to Beijing to get the deal of all deals. It’s going to be about chips, it’s going to be about cars, and it’s going to be about making sure they respect our borders and our intellectual property.

The Domestic Front: CPI and the “Energy Tax”

Reporter: The Labor Department just released the CPI numbers. Inflation is up 3.8% over the last year, and energy costs are through the roof—up nearly 18%. How do you tell Americans things are getting better?

President Trump: Look at the numbers. The numbers are actually very good when you look at what we inherited. We have $18 trillion coming in. Plants are being built all over the country. Thousands of plants. No country has ever seen anything like it. Now, the CPI—the “Consumer Price Index,” for those who don’t know—it rose a bit because of energy. Why did energy go up? Because we’re cleaning up the mess in the Middle East.

But I’ll tell you what’s going to happen. We’re going to have so much energy, we’re going to be a dominant force. Gasoline is up a little, but we’re drilling like nobody’s ever seen before. The “Energy Tax,” which is what I call inflation, is going to disappear once we have the Middle East under control and we implement the Venezuela model. We are going to bring drug prices down too. I used tariffs to get “most favored nation” status for drugs. No one thought it was possible. Your drug prices are going to fall at numbers never seen before.

Foreign Policy: The “Venezuela Model” and Iran

Reporter: You mentioned the “Venezuela model” for Iran. Can you explain what you mean by that? And what is the status of the “nuclear threat” you’ve discussed?

President Trump: It’s very simple. We have a situation in Iran that is very dangerous. We’ve done an amazing job militarily—wiping out the nuclear threat. People don’t realize how close they were, and we stopped it. It’s been really amazing. Now, the “Venezuela model” is about control. You look at what’s happening in Venezuela, you look at Cuba—these are places that have been run into the ground by very bad people.

In Iran, we’re looking at their oil. They have a lot of oil, but they don’t know how to use it for the benefit of the world. We’re going to make sure that oil doesn’t fund terror. We’re seizing the initiative. Whether it’s Venezuela or Iran, we’re saying: if you want to be part of the civilized world, you stop the nukes, you stop the terror, and you let us help you manage those resources properly. Cuba is the same thing. We’re tired of the same old “failed state” story 90 miles off our coast. We’re going to have a very different relationship with Havana very soon.

NATO and the “Allied Strain”

Reporter: Analysts say your treatment of NATO allies is weakening your hand in Beijing. They say you’ve alienated the partners who act as “force multipliers.” Your response?

President Trump: “Force multipliers.” That’s a beautiful phrase. Who told you that? A professor at some college? Let me tell you about force multipliers. A force multiplier is when you have a country that actually pays its 2%. We have many countries in NATO that were laughing at us. They were living off the American taxpayer. I said, “No more.” If they feel “alienated” because I asked them to pay their bills, then they aren’t very good allies, are they?

I’m heading to China with the strongest hand because I’m not carrying the weight of twenty countries that don’t want to help themselves. We’re doing bilateral deals now. If France wants a deal, we talk to France. If Germany wants a deal, we talk to Germany. But the “alliance structure” you’re talking about was a one-way street. I’m making it a two-way street. That’s how you get respect in Beijing. They see that I’m not a patsy for a bunch of countries that don’t contribute.

Physical Renovations: The Reflecting Pool and The Ballroom

Reporter: You’ve been criticized for spending time on “pet projects” like the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool while there are crises abroad. Why the “American flag blue” coating?

President Trump: Because the pool was disgusting! It was filthy. I had a friend from Germany come in—a very successful man—and he said, “Donald, the water is dark, it’s dirty, it looks like a swamp.” And I said, “You’re right.” We had the Department of Interior look at it. The pipes were the wrong size—can you believe it? Millions of gallons wasted.

So, I got one of my best pool builders from the old days. He wanted to do a turquoise, like the Bahamas, but I said no. We’re doing “American flag blue.” It’s going to be beautiful. It’s going to be clean. It costs less than $2 million. They quoted $20 million before. I’m getting it done for two. And the ballroom—the East Wing was a mess. We’re building a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. A $250 million project that will be the finest in the world. We need a place to entertain kings and queens and presidents. Right now, we’re using tents. It’s embarrassing. Our country should be about beauty and greatness.

The 2026 Midterms and “Honest Elections”

Reporter: Finally, sir, you’ve said you might not accept the results of the 2026 midterms unless they are “honest.” What is your definition of an honest election?

President Trump: An honest election is one where they don’t cheat! We have states that are so crooked. I won in 2024—I won in a landslide, I won the “counties,” I won everything—but I still believe there was cheating in certain places. For 2026, the Republicans should nationalize the voting. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places where they are notoriously crooked.

If the elections are honest, I’ll accept them in a heartbeat. But if they’re not, then something else has to happen. We shouldn’t even have to have an election if you think about how much we’ve accomplished. But we do it because of the Constitution, even though the “fake news” calls me a dictator for saying it. I’m not a dictator; I just want things to be right. We’re going to watch those midterms very closely.

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