exchanges rather than mediation because at the end of the day we have constant exchanges with president trump, i share his goals, sometimes we say we don't agree on methods, but i want to get there. i want to have an agreement. and i think there has been a true change. this morning president rouhani showed himself to be open to this meeting happening and president trump has been saying for weeks that he's been demanding, he's been tough, has put forward sanctions but i'm ready to have a meeting to make a deal i think we're making progress. i want this meeting to happen and i want there to be an agreement between the united states and iran and france will play the role it is meant to play together with the united kingdom, germany and all of the other signatory powers and the permanent members of the security council >> iran is a one tree that is not the same country that it was two and a half years ago when i came into office iran was the number one state of terror throughout the world. there were 18 sites of confliction in my first week when i spoke with the folks at

the pentagon, including lots of generals and lots of other military experts 18 sites of confliction, meaning 18 sites of big problems every one of them was backed by iran or in some cases actually using iranian soldiers, but at a minimum iranian wealth, much of it given in the ridiculous deal where they were given $150 billion plus $1.8 billion in cash and they used that money for some bad purposes. with that being said, i think that iran is a country of tremendous potential we are not looking for leadership change. we're not looking for that kind of change. this country has been through that many times before that doesn't work. we're looking for no nuclear weapons, no ballistic missiles and a longer period of time. very simple. we can have it done in a very short period of time and i really believe that iran can be a great nation i'd like to see that happen, but

they can't have nuclear weapons. thank you. [ inaudible question ] >> excuse me. [ inaudible question ] >> if the circumstances were correct or right i would certainly agree to that, but in the meantime they have to be good players, you understand what that means, and they can't do what they were saying they're going to do because if they do that they will be met with a violent force. so for it to be good, president macron told me he came in and told me long before he came in what was appening. i didn't think it was appropriate to meet yesterday too soon and things have to be worked out first, but president macron told me exactly what was happening, who was coming, what time they were coming, where they were going to meet and after the meeting he told me exactly what happened. and i think he had a very

positive meeting prime minister abe of japan, also a large purchaser of oil from iran, he was also very much involved and, you know, look, he knows everybody there so he was a very positive force, but i have to tell you the president has done an excellent job and we are going to see how it all turns out. maybe it will, maybe it doesn't. i say it all the time about everything, maybe it works and maybe it doesn't, but i will tell you what, we made a ridiculous deal, we gave them $150 billion, gave them $1.8 billion and we got nothing we got nothing by the way, that agreement was so short term that it expires in a very short period of time with a country you don't make a deal that short countries last for long times and you don't do short-term deals, especially when you are paying that kind of money. so i have good feelings about iran, i have good feelings that it will work -- i know many iranians living in new york city, i have many friends from

iran, they are incredible people incredible people. so the last thing i'd like to see is a big problem, but we have to do what we have to do. okay go ahead, please no no you. you first. go ahead no no go ahead yes. yes. >>. >> reporter: truth president macron, did you seek president trump's permission before you invited foreign minister zarif or did you simply inform him that he was coming? >> thanks for this very precise question to be very clear and we are part of the jcpoa we decided to remain in this deal so we are very much interested by the situation as a sovereign country. that's why we want the different parties to move. on the other side as president trump made it very clear over the summer, we never spoke on behalf of other countries.

we just tried some solutions and to see if we can find an agreement with these different countries. so we took an initiative this summer to make a proposal, a technical one. i got the reaction from iran through president zarif's visit on friday morning in person. after the discussion we had at the g7 dinner on saturday evening i felt that it was very clear about where we can go together so the day after i decided to invite as friends minister zarif. so i informed before making it i informed president trump that it was my idea, not to involve the united states, not to say this is on behalf of you, of everybody, but to say as friends i think it would be a good idea to ask him to go back and try to negotiate something separately

so i did it on my own. i informed before making it president trump. he was informed at each minute about the solution -- the situation, sorry, and the idea for me was in case of -- move and important move and appropriate solutions perhaps to have meetings between ministers, not at president trump's level because president trump's level is president rouhani so this is my -- this is a french initiative, but made by a clear information of the u.s. president before, information as well of the three europeans and each time i informed president trump in order to monitor the situation and to appreciate something that something more was adapted. >> i have to say the jcpoa was

an idea, should not have been entered into a lot of things could have happened that would have been much different they are allowed to test ballistic missiles you are not allowed to go to various sites to check, and some of those sites are the most obvious sites for the creation of the making of nuclear weapons and those things have to be changed and or the things have to be changed. i will tell you i have very good feelings about it. i think that we're going to do something. it may not be immediately, but i think ultimately we're going to do something as i said, iran is a much different country than it was two and a half years ago, and we can get that back and i'd encourage it i actually had friends years ago, many years ago, they were in the real estate business and they were in iran and they were building houses and building housing and building office buildings and apartment houses and they did very well

they made a lot of money to this day they are not exactly the youngest developers anymore, but they were young when they went over there, they made a lot of money and they loved the people and they loved what was going on, and it's a country with tremendous potential. i also say that, by the way, with respect to north korea. kim jong-un, who i have gotten to know extremely well, first lady has gotten to know kim jong-un and i think she would agree with me, he is a man with a country that has tremendous potential. you are in between china, russia and south korea, people want to get to south korea, they've got to get there somehow and if they're going to do anything other than essentially fly, they want to go through so railroads and everything else so many things want to happen there. i think that north korea has tremendous economic potential and i think that kim jong-un sees that.

he would be the leader and i think he sees the tremendous potential that it's got. with respect to iran, same thing. iran is incredible people and incredible country potentially location, that's a little rough neighborhood, but eventually it's going to be a beautiful neighborhood i think that it's going to be -- i think it's going to work out and i really believe that those countries that went into the original deal that more and more are agreeing with what i did, but i think those countries are going to be saying thank you some day -- i hope they're going to be saying -- including france, including the president, because i think we did the right thing. i know we did the right thing. if for no other reason it's just too short. it's almost expiring, if you think about it and somebody said, well, you will go and make an extension. no no they're great negotiators. look at what they did to get the deal look at what they did to john kerry and to president obama look what happened

where they're bringing plane loads of cash. plane loads, big planes, 757s, boeing 757s coming in loaded up with cash. what kind of a deal is that? so i think a lot of good things are going to happen and i just want to say this because i've spoken a lot with the president this last two and a half days. we've never had a better relationship we had a lunch that lasted for quite a while that many of you got to see, it was the two of us, no staff, no anything. he wasn't trying to impress his people, i wasn't trying to impress his people, we were just trying to impress each other and i will tell you what, it was the best period of time we have ever had and we accomplished a lot. i don't mean just, gee, wiz, wasn't that nice he is a very capable man, he is doing a great job for france he did an incredible job for the g7 and i just want to thank you and you go ahead to your news conference and -- very special

this was a very special, very unified two and a half days and i want to thank you for it thank you. >> thank you [ applause ] >> thank you i will leave the floor to president trump and i will wait for the end of your own press conference -- [ speaking foreign language >> translator: i don't want to give anything away, but we saw your wife, the first lady, drink a glass of french wine yesterday, so can you perhaps give up on your threats to put sanctions on french wine because if we've understood correctly, you have arrived at an agreement on taxing digital firms. could you confirm that there has

been an agreement between you and france on taxing digital firms. >> i can confirm that the first lady loved your french wine. okay all right? she loved your french wine so thank you very much that's fine. >> thank you >> thank you i will wait for the end of this press conference to have a press conference of the presidency i will leave the floor thank you. >> good job. >> she's worse than you are. i can't believe it jonathan come on up let's go >> reporter: mr. president, can i just ask a question since i didn't get to ask you one directly on china, you have recently been saying that china wants to make a deal but that you are not necessarily ready for a deal.

>> all right we'll start now. please sit down. thank you. thank you. please sit down. thank you very much. >> reporter: you've recently been saying that china wants a deal but you are not necessarily ready for a deal and you like the tariff revenue that is coming in. are you now ready to make a deal >> only if it's a fair deal and a good deal for the united states otherwise i will not make a deal we have billions and billions coming in and i think we're going to get this. i do i believe it more strongly now than i would have believed it a while ago. we're going to get there and we're going to have a really -- we're going to have a fair deal. but remember this, when you say fair, china has been taking out of this country $500 plus billion a year for many, many years. many, many years it was time to stop. as a private person i used to talk about t it's one of the reasons i'm president, and we're in a great position, our country is doing well, our unemployment numbers are the lowest they've been in over 50 years, our

unemployment numbers for african-american, asian, for hispanic are the best they've ever been, historic numbers. we're in a very strong position. our consumers are strong walmart just announced numbers that were -- i mean, mind-boggling numbers. it's a great poll right there. that's the ultimate poll how a retailer is doing and how a certain company is doing so we're doing very well and i think that -- i think we're going to make a deal with china and i think we're probably eventually going to make a deal with iran, too. >> reporter: but why are you optimistic they will change their behavior >> it's not a question of behavior i think they want to make a deal and should make a deal and if they don't make a deal it will be very bad for china. i appreciate the fact that they came out last night, very late last night and said they want to make a deal, want it to be under calm circumstances it was a little different kind of a statement i thought it was a beautiful statement. i thought it indicated a lot go ahead here we go

>> reporter: i actually have a question for you on next year's g7 summit. can i just clarify something you said you mentioned earlier today -- >> done question, go ahead. >> reporter: let me do the clarification and the question i'm trying to understand what specifically you heard from china and on next year's g7 you alluded today, dropped several hints about miami, about doral and hosting next year's g7 at your property. what reassurances, if any, can you give the american people that you are not looking to profit off the presidency? >> well, i will tell you what, i've spent -- and i think i will in a combination of loss and opportunity probably it will cost me anywhere from 3 to $5 billion to be president and the only thing i care about is this country. i couldn't care less, otherwise i wouldn't have done it. people have asked me what do you think it costs between opportunity, not doing -- i used to get a lot of am unto make speeches, now i give speeches all the time do you know what i get

zippo. and that's good. the deals i'm making are great deals for the country and that's to me much more important. doral happens to be within miami, it's a city, it's a wonderful place, it's a very, very successful area of florida. it's very importantly only five minutes from the airport the airport is right next door it's a big international airport, one of the biggest in the world. everybody that's coming, all of these people with all of their big entourages come. it's set up -- and, by the way, my people looked at 12 sites, all good, but some were two hours from an airport, some were four hours -- i mean, they were so far away. some didn't allow this or they didn't allow that. with doral we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows, they each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent rooms

it's like such a natural we wouldn't have to do the work that they did here and they've done a beautiful job they've really done a beautiful job. what we have also is miami and we have many hundreds of acres so that in terms of parking, in terms of all of the things that you need, the ball rooms are among the biggest in florida and the best it's brand-new and they want -- my people wanted it. from my standpoint, i'm not going to make any money. in my opinion i'm not going to make any money i don't want to make money i don't care about making money. if i wanted to make money i wouldn't worry about 3 billion to 5 billion at some point i'm going to detail that and we will show but i think it's just a great place to be. i think having it in miami is fantastic. really fantastic having it at that particular place because of the way it's set up, each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow and the bungalows when i say they have a lot of units in them. so i think it just works out

well when my people came back they took tours, went to different places, i won't mention places but you will have a list because they're going to give a presentation on it fairly soon they went to places all over the country and came back and said this is where we would like it could be we had military people doing it, secret service people doing it, people who really understand what it's about. it's not about me, it's about getting the right location i think it's very important. jonathan. >> reporter: -- trying to boost your own brand. >> no, not at all. jonathan. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. president macron said he'd like to see talks between you and president rouhani within weeks does that sound realistic to you? >> it does. >> reporter: could you see yourself in talks with the iranian within weeks >> i don't know the gentleman. i think i know him a little bit just by watching over the last number of years what's happened. i will tell you one thing, he is a great negotiator i think he's going to want to meet i think iran wants to get this situation straightened out now, is that based on fact or based on gut that's based on gut. but they want to get this

situation straightened out, jonathan they're really hurting badly their inflation, as you know, because i saw you reporting on it, their inflation is through the roof their economy is tanked entirely the sanctions are absolutely hurting them horribly. i don't want to see that i don't want to see that they're great people i don't want to see that but we can't let them have a nuclear weapon can't let it happen. so i think that there is a really good chance that we would meet jeff, please >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. another follow-up from what the president of france said he said that there might be a need for compensation to iran. would you given all the criticism you have made of the jcpoa and the money that they've got be open to giving iran compensation if it met some of the criteria that you may have. >> no, what he's talking in terms of compensation is they are out of money and they meet -- may need a short-term letter of credit or loan

no, we're not paying we don't pay but they may need some money to get them over a very rough patch and if they do need money, certainly -- and it would be secured by oil, which to me is great security, and they have a lot of oil, but it's secured by oil. so we are really talking about a letter of credit type facility. >> reporter: from the u.s. or from -- >> it would be from numerous countries. it would be numerous countries and it comes back. it would be -- it would expire it would be paid back immediately and very quickly yes, go ahead, please. go ahead, yes. >> reporter: thank you very much, mr. president. i'm with a japanese newspaper. >> good. just left your prime minister, abe. good man great man. >> reporter: okay. now the u.s. and japan have an agreement in principle which you said, it is a tremendous trade deal for the united states >> and for japan.

>> reporter: yes so are you still considering imposing section 232 tariffs on japan's auto exports to the united states on national security grounds >> not at this moment, no. not at this moment well, it's one of the reasons we made the deal. but, no, not at this moment. it's something i could do at a later date if i wanted to, but we are not looking at that we just want to be treated fairly you know, japan has had a tremendous trade surplus with the united states for many, many years, long before i came here and i will tell you something, we're transforming our country we're taking these horrible one-sided foolish very dumb, stupid if you'd like to use that word because it's so descriptive, we're taking these trade deals that are so bad and we're making good solid deals out of them. that's transforming our country. that will be transformative and very exciting, i think, for our country. very, very exciting. please, go ahead go ahead

>> reporter: thank you, mr. president. >> well, i didn't actually say you, i said the woman behind you. why don't we do her first, you've been asking a lot of questions all day long >> reporter: thanks, mr. president. yamiche a cinder. >> can't say i don't give you access. >> reporter: yamiche alcindor with pbs news hour why do you think it's appropriate to invite russia to the g7 given that they've meddled in the 2016 election and if you are worried if russia does come to the g7 it might hurt you politically because it's only going to be a couple months before the 2020 election. >> i don't care politically. i really don't a lot of people don't understand this i ran one election and i won, happened to be for president i don't care politically i'm going to run another election, i think i'm quinning based on polls that i see, whether it's winning or not i have to do the right things. i don't do things for political reasons. is it good, probably not, maybe it is. a lot of people say having russia which is a power, having them inside the room is better

than having them outside the room by the way, there were numerous people during the g7 that felt that way and we didn't take a vote or anything, but we did discuss it my inclination is to say, yes, they should be in. they were -- really it was president obama -- i'm not blaming him, but a lot of bad things happened with president putin and president obama. one of the things that happened was, as you know, what happened in -- with a very big area, a very, very big and important area in the middle east where the red line was drawn and then president obama decided that he was not going to do anything about it you can't draw red lines in the sand you just can't do it and the other was in ukraine, having to do with a certain section of ukraine that you know very well where it was sort of taken away from president obama. not taken away from president trump, taken away from president obama. president obama was not happy that this happened because it was embarrassing to him, right

it was very embarrassing to him and he wanted russia to be out of the -- what was called the g8 and that was his determination he was outsmarted by putin he was outsmarted. president putin outsmarted president obama. i can understand how president obama would feel, he wasn't happy and they are not in for that reason. now, i'm only thinking about the world and i'm thinking about this country in terms of the g7, whether it's g7, g8. i think it would be better to have russia inside the tent than outside the tent do we live either way? yes, we live either way. is it politically popular for me to say that? possibly not i think a lot of people would agree with me, frankly, but possibly not i do nothing for politics. i know a lot of you -- you are going to smile at that i do nothing for politics. i do what's right and people like what i do and -- but i just do what's right. if i wanted to go strictly by

politics i would probably poll that and possibly i'd say, oh, gee, i don't want russia in, but i really think it's good for security of the world, it's good for the economics of the world remember, they're building a big pipeline in europe, going right up to germany. i said to angela who i had a great relationship but i said, you know, you pay russia billions of dollars and then we defend you from russia how does that work >> reporter: -- misleading statement that russia outsmarted president obama when other countries have said that the reason why russia was kicked out was clearly because they annexed crimea why do you keep repeating what someone would keep saying is a clear lie. >> i know you like president obama but it was annexed during president obama's term if it was annexed during my term i would say, sorry, folks, i made a mistake president obama was helping ukraine. crimea was annexed during his term now, it's a very big area, very

important area russia has its submarine, that's where they do their submarine work and that's where they dock large and powerful submarines, but not as powerful as ours and not as large as ours, but they have their submarines and president obama was pure and simply outsmarted. they took crimea during his term that was not a good thing. it could have been stopped it could have been stopped with the right whatever it could have been stopped but president obama was unable to stop it and it's too bad. go ahead >> reporter: as the g7 host next year you are allowed to invite other countries to come, guest countries, even though they are not necessarily part of the overall group. would you consider inviting vladimir putin under those circumstances? >> i don't know that he would accept those are tough circumstances. he was a part of g8 and all of a sudden he's not out -- or he is not in so i think, john, actually

that's a pretty tough thing for him. you know, he is a proud person would i invite him i would certainly invite him whether or not he could come psychologically, i think that's a tough thing more him to do you have a g8, now it's a g7 and you invite the person that was thrown out really by president obama and really because he got outsmarted president obama, pure and simple -- and don't forget, it was not just crimea, it was the red line in the sand and obama said never violate the red line in the sand and then they went ahead and they killed many children with gas. it was terrible. and he did nothing about it. i did. but i was there years later. i did something about it, but i was there late go ahead >> reporter: thank you, sir. can you help us understand the timeline on the china calls. were you referring to the statement by the -- >> we've had many calls. secretary mnuchin is here and you've had many calls over the

last 24 hours, but certainly over the last 48 hours we've had many calls, not just one. this isn't one and these are high-level calls they want to make a deal and, by the way, i think a deal is going to be made, but they want to make a deal. >> reporter: so the chinese are saying that there weren't any -- >> the chinese are not saying that excuse me, let me explain something. the vice-chairman of china -- do you get higher than that other than president xi? the vice president, the vice-chairman -- it's like the vice president -- the vice-chairman made the statement that he wants to make a deal he wants it all to happen. that says it there i don't have to talk about -- you know, you folks who are reporting before, well, we can't find any phone call. he released a statement. i didn't release it. he released a statement. >> reporter: but there were phone calls, sir >> numerous calls. [ inaudible question ] >> and not only with steve,

there were calls with other people, too. just so you understand, china wants to make a deal now, whether or not we make a deal, it's got to be a great deal for us. you know -- and i tell this to president xi who i really respect, i really do, i have great respect and i like him, too. he is a tough guy, but i have a lot of feeling for president xi. very outstanding in so many ways but i told him very strongly, i said, look, you're starting up here and you're making $500 billion a year and stealing our intellectual property. we're down on the floor, lower than the floor you can't make a 50/50 deal. this has to be a deal that's better for us and if it's not better let's not do business together i don't want to do business. forget about tariffs for a second we are taking it tremendous amounts of money forget that. i don't want to do business. now, when i raise and he raises, i raise and he -- we can never catch up we have to balance our trading relationship at least to an

extent and they were unwilling to do that and we will never have a deal if that happens but it's going to happen because they have to have a deal and as far as phone calls are concerned, secretary of the treasury and other people have been receiving many calls. not receiving, back and forth, many calls china wants to make a deal and if we can, we will make a deal we'll see. go ahead >> reporter: mr. president, if i could ask you about your china strategy president macron talked a little bit about instability and the worry in the markets and around the globe about instability. one of the things that that comes from, as you talk -- >> you are talking about global economic instability i don't consider it instability. >> reporter: one of the things it comes from is the back and forth and the changing of statements from yourself. >> sorry it's the way i negotiate. >> reporter: my question is is that a strategy? is it a strategy to call president xi an enemy one day and then say that relations are very good the next day.

>> the way i negotiate it's done very well for me over the years and it's doing even better for the country. and i do think -- and i do think that -- look, here is the story, i have people say, oh, just make a deal make a deal. they don't have the guts and they don't have the wisdom to know that you can't continue to go on where a country is taking $500 billion not million. $500 billion with a "b" out every single year. $500 billion you just can't do that somebody had to do this. this should have been done by president obama. it should have been done and by sleepy joe. it should have been done by other people it should have been done by bush it should have been done by clinton. double bush. it should have been done i'm doing it let me tell you something else, north korea should have been done a long time ago i'm doing it i'm doing a lot of things that i

shouldn't have to be doing please go ahead, please >> reporter: sky news. president trump, you have met our new prime minister boris johnson yesterday. >> yes. >> reporter: you said he was the right man for the job on brexit. >> i believe that. >> reporter: do you think theresa may was the wrong woman and do you think that boris johnson can actually get a deal with the eu before october 31st? >> well, theresa was unable to do the deal. i gave her my ideas as to doing the deal very early on and you possibly know what they are, but i would have done that she chose to do it her way and that didn't work out so well i think she's a very, very good person and a good woman and i really believe that boris johnson will be a great prime minister you know, we like each other and

we had a great two and a half days i've been waiting for him to be prime minister for about six years. i told him, what took you so long i think he's going to be a great prime minister and especially after spending a lot of intense time with him over the last couple days. he's really -- he's very smart, he's very strong and he's very enthusiastic do you know what else, he loves your country he really loves your country that came out maybe more than anything else. yeah, please >> reporter: vicki young, bbc news president trump, boris johnson is very keen on a trade deal with the u.s.a., you sound keen on it, too some of his critics, though, worry that you're going to do over the uk in that deal to protect american interests. >> no, i love the uk i own great property in the uk i love the uk. i have no idea how my property is doing because i don't care, but i own turnberry and i own aberdeen and i own in ireland as you know great stuff. i will be honest with you, i

think -- i think that -- i think he's going to just do a great job as prime minister. you know, it takes a lot it's so many different elements to being a great prime minister and you needed him i just think his time is right this is the right time for boris. this is the right time for boris. yeah, please, go ahead go ahead, right here say who you are with, please. >> reporter: i'm from itv in the uk as well you've obviously had a good few days with president macron, who you appear to be doing business with. >> right. >> reporter: to use your favorite expression. after brexit who do you think will be your more important relationship, president macron, france and the eu, or boris johnson, prime minister of the united kingdom >> i think we're going to have just -- look, france is a great nation, it's being run -- a lot of things are happening, you know, it's not easy what he's doing, he's changing certain

ways it's a very hard thing to do i won't get into it, i'm going to let him sell his ideas, but a lot of people don't disagree with his ideas, but it's a very hard thing to do if you are a great citizen of france, you love your country but you want to do the way you've been doing it for a long time, but maybe that's not working or maybe they have to do what he has to do i think he's going to do a fantastic job but it's very tough for him. i know how tough it has been for him. he's having a hard time and nobody would have an easy time boris is different, it's a different kind of a deal boris has to try and do something with brexit. it's very tough. i deal with the eu the eu is -- that's a very, very strong group of people they have their ideas and they're not easy to deal with i will tell you. we're very close to making a deal, by the way, with the eu. i have to say this, we made a great deal with japan and we are very close to maybe making a deal with the eu because they don't want tariffs it's very simple they don't want to tax cars,

mercedes benz, bmw, they don't need a 20% or 25% tax. but we're very close i think we're going to make a deal with the eu without having to go that route i may have to go that route, but maybe not. we're going to have a deal, a really fair deal, but the eu is another one. we've been losing $180 billion a year for many years. that's a lot of money. how much can you take out of the piggy bank, right? >> reporter: but which alliance will be more important, the eu or britain >> both. i don't want to say which. look, i think that -- i think that the -- i think -- we have been with -- i guess i would start off by saying england, i asked boris where is england what's happening with england, they don't use it too much anymore. we talked about it, it was very interesting. but the united kingdom is a great, incredible place, it's an incredible nation and it's, you know, been one of our tremendous allies another one happens to be australia. he was here also, scott.

he is fantastic. in fact, we're honoring him and australia at the white house in a very short period of time. but i think that -- excuse me? >> reporter: will you visit australia? >> at some point i will, yeah. also germany angela asked me to visit germany, we are going to be doing that, too. so i just think they're very different and they're going to be going at it for a little while, but ultimately probably it works out they may have to get out, they may not make a deal. the european union is very tough to make deals with very, very tough just ask theresa may >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i'm with the associated press. i was hoping you could clarify last year you left the summit in canada feuding with the summit host, this year things seem to be a little bit different, you are talking about unity, a hug with president macron on the stage. what is different? and also as president macron said he's passing you the baton of leading this multi-lateral institution. you ran on the platform of america first.

what is your -- now that you have a mandate from the international community what are you going to do with it? >> we actually had a very good meeting. i had it out with one or two people where we disagreed in terms of concept, but we actually had a pretty good meeting last year. i would say that this was a big step above in terms of unity, in terms of agreement we have already great agreement on a lot of very important subjects, but last year was good also i mean, last year was good also. i think last year might have been a little bit underrated. >> reporter: in terms of the g7 presidency, what do you want to do with it what's your agenda >> we are going to do something hopefully special. we're going to build on what we have now we built on something really good, we're going to be going in with some great unity. we really did. if there was any word for this particular meeting of seven very important countries, it was unity. i think most important of all we got along great. we got along good. go ahead >> reporter: thank you very

much, mr. president. i'm with the shanghai media group. you just mentioned that the chinese vice premiere said china is willing to resolve this issue through calm negotiations. >> i didn't say it, he did. >> reporter: yes. >> yeah. >> reporter: will the u.s. negotiate in the same manner >> yes. >> reporter: so the other -- the other question -- >> that was an easy answer. >> reporter: so the u.s. will negotiate in the same manner -- >> absolutely. great respect for china. great respect for the leadership of china absolutely >> reporter: and also the other question is that you say you definitely will invite putin to join next year's summit -- >> i haven't said that but i think that having president putin in what was the g8, was a member of the g8 and i heard he was a good member of the g8, having him in i think is more of an advantage i think it's a positive for the world. i think it's a positive for russia i think it's a big positive for

russia and it's something the group is discussing they are discussing it >> reporter: but just a few hours ago -- >> people feel very much like me, many people. >> reporter: just a few hours ago the russian foreign minister is saying that it's not their foreign policy pursuit to return to g8. what's your reaction to that >> well, you know, we'll see i know one thing, if they were invited back, i think they'd be there. if they weren't, that's okay, too. i just think they would be better inside than outside i mean, as i said before, i really do. i think they would be an asset i think it would be a good thing. you know, some of the things we were going in the room and yesterday in particular we were discussing four or five matters and russia was literally involved in all of those four or five matters a few of the people looked up and said, you know, why aren't they here talking to us about it what are we going to do now, go home, take it easy for a day, although i don't do that, i don't take it easy we're going to go home and start calling them at the end of the week and say -- it could have

been in the room we had numerous things that we were discussing, numerous, we had a lot of things that we were discussing and it would have been very easy if russia was in the room if he was in the room we could have are involved those things, now they are just in limbo i have to say with all of that very little in limbo, but somebody will speak to him about some things and frankly they are not very complicated but it would have been easier if they were in the room josh, go ahead josh >> reporter: mr. president, there was a significant talk at the summit about climate change. i know in the past you've harbored some skepticism of the science in climate change. what do you think the world should be doing about climate change and do you still harbor that skepticism? >> i feel that the united states has tremendous wealth. the wealth is under its feet i've made that wealth come alive. we will soon be one of the -- we will soon be exporting -- in fact, we're actually doing it now, exporting, but we are now the number one energy producer

in the world and soon it will be by far with a couple of pipelines that have not been able to get approved for many, many years, it will have a huge impact i was able to get anwar in alaska, it could be the largest site in the world for oil and gas. i was able to get anwar approved ronald reagan wasn't able to do it nobody was able to do it they've been trying to do it since before ronald reagan, i got it approved. we are the number one energy producer in the world, soon it will be by far the number one. it's tremendous wealth and l & g is being sought after all over europe and all over the world and we have more of it than anybody else i'm not going to lose that wealth i'm not going to lose it on dreams, on wind mills, which frankly aren't working too well. i'm not going to lose it so, josh, in a nutshell, i want the cleanest water on earth. i want the cleanest air on earth. and that's what we're doing. and i'm an environmentalist.

a lot of people don't understand that i have done more environmental impact statements probably than anybody that's -- i can say definitely because i have done many, many, many of them, more than anybody that's ever been president or vice president or anything even close to president. i think i know more about the environment than most people i want clean air, i want clean water, i want a wealthy country, i want a spectacular country with jobs, with pensions, with so many things and that's what we're getting. so i want to be very careful at the same time -- at the same time -- at the same time -- you weren't called -- at the same time it's very important to me -- very important to me, we have to maintain this incredible -- this incredible place that we've all built we've become a much richer country and that's a good thing, not a bad thing, because that great wealth allows us to take care of people we can take care of people that we couldn't have taken care of

in the past because of the great wealth we can't let that wealth be taken away clean air, clean water thank you very much, everybody i appreciate it. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. all right. well, that was president trump wrapping up what was more than an hour-long -- it started off as a joint press conference with french president emanuel macron, it finished with president trump taking questions solo. this, of course, as the g7 summit that took place throughout the weekend is wrapping up as well. quite a number of headlines coming out of that event just right now. probably the most noteworthy for investors some pretty optimistic comments about u.s./china trade talks. saying -- the president saying that there have been, quote, many calls over the past 24 to 48 hours means officials, saying that a deal between the two countries needs to be fair, it needs to be a good one, otherwise there won't be a deal,

but that he does believe that a deal will be made. also talking about iran, saying that a possible meeting with iran's rouhani could happen, quote, soon if the circumstances were the right ones. commenting on brexit, the possibility of a trade deal with the uk and close to a deal with the eu a number of other topics covered there as well. so we're just going to kick it over eamon javers for the biggest highlights of this event. >> reporter: i think the most revealing thing was the president talking about his own mindset. he was asked whether or not he is contributing to global instability by on one one hand calling president xi of china an enemy on friday and today calling him a great leader in the world. the president said, do you know what, that's just how i negotiate. that's always been how i've negotiated and it's worked very well for me in life. i think the president gave us a real insight there into his approach to this he's sort of a push/pull

negotiator, he's going to pile on the rhetoric when he feels it will be effective, he's going to dial back on the rhetoric when he feels he needs to do that he's clearly doing that today, dialing back the president there backing off a little bit initially his statement from earlier today that there had been a call between the chinese senior leadership and u.s. senior leadership on trade. instead referencing a statement by the chinese vice premiere who said that he wanted negotiations to continue on a calm basis going forward and the chinese were going to participate in those negotiations toward getting a deal the president seeming to suggest that that was what he was referring to when he said there had been calls between the united states and china. and then later in the conversation saying, again, that there had been a number of calls back and forth so muddying the water there. seems like he's pointing at that statement from the vice premiere as the basis for his understanding that the chinese want to be serious about negotiating again. i thought that was very

revealing of sort of his own sort of process that he brings to this, which markets have been, you know, whiplashed in following, the president acknowledging this is just how he does business, he's always done it this way and it's always worked for him so far. >> eamon, i think it's important to point out this statement from the vice premiere didn't really say anything that they haven't said in the past, i don't believe, just saying they're willing to resolve the trade dispute through calm negotiations, he went on to say they oppose the escalation of the conflict, again, that was reported by a state newspaper. i mean, if that's what the president is citing as progress, it wouldn't appear to actually be any progress. >> reporter: no, and it's certainly not a phone call to u.s. leadership. it was a statement that leo made in china to a conference not something that was any kind of direct communication. look, in diplomacy sometimes you seize on to a statement by the other side and say that it has significance where yesterday you didn't say it will significance because you're anxious to make progress this president seems more

anxious to make progress today than he was on friday. >> absolutely, eamon thanks for bringing us the laterest from this event we're going to bring in tobias levcovich as well as krish man ammani both have been sitting here patiently listening to the president's comments tobias, i will start with you. was there anything that you heard today that would materially affect or change the way you're thinking about the markets? >> not really. i'm going to be very french and say [ speaking foreign language more things change the more they stay the same. the president is reacting to a market off 600 points on friday because of the escalation on frayed issues and the market has been part of the gauge for the president to respond to. so i think if you're trying to seize on the comments he made the day before where he was trying to seize in on terminology to diplomatically kind of negotiate your way out or navigate your way out, i think he gave the president a little bit room to maneuver.

but we've been dealing with this trade conflict back and forth, market reacts and then there's reaction from the president, et cetera i'm not really changing my views because it's too hard to do so on a day to day basis. >> in terms of president trump and how he outlines today, how he negotiates, let's take a listen to how he explained that. >> the way i negotiate, it's done very well for me over the years and it's doing even better for the country. and i do think -- and i do think that -- look, here is the story, i have people say, oh, just make a deal make a deal. they don't have the guts and they don't have the wisdom to know that you can't continue to go on where a country is taking 500 billion, not million, 500 billion with a "b" out every single year. $500 billion you just can't do that >> it would seem the consensus

has been building that, yes, something has needed to be done with china, but when you do see this ratchets up of tariffs, when you do see all of the rhetoric, all of these big headlines including today that have been moving the markets by triple digits one way or the fo a whole lot has changed, what's an investor to do? how do you manage the risk >> so i think the trade deal is critically important for the markets. finding a path out where we don't make bad situations worse is critically important. but i think what we should not forget is what happened on friday from chairman powell. he effectively threw in the towel. that is his comments on friday were materially different -- >> what do you mean? >> they will do more things than a mid-cycle adjustment that they were talking about after the july meeting i think the likelihood of them cutting rates in september or october is meaningfully higher as a result. if we reach stability with

respect to the trade issues, not solving, just stability, i think those two cuts and the underlying stabilization in the economy probably gets us higher. >> tobias, you've loved the industrials or used to cover them for a long time how should we be viewing them in light of what seems to be softening in the global economy? >> it's partially the global economy and partially the domestic conditions. tightening up meant nine months later we would have a slowdown and that had nothing to do with the trade issues that had to do with the sharp sell-off in the fourth quarter businesses are cutting their capital spending programs domestically over 700 companies published showing there has been some not crazy weakening but modest weakening expectations not a surprise in the business community, earnings growth has been weak. those are kind of associated it doesn't help to have this kind of global issue not resolved, just kind of sitting

there and weighing on people's mindsets i agree, the one thing i would be concerned about if you look historically when the fed is in a great cutting cycle, it is not good for equities. if you go back and look at fed fund rates over time against the equity market they're coming at the same time. one shouldn't be encouraging and getting excited about a long -- kind of a long set of rate cutting. >> that is, indeed, true, however in an environment where consumption is rock solid and incomes are growing that's probably good for the markets rather than bad for the markets. normally when they are cutting rates in an aggressive way we have fallen off the cliff from a growth perspective we haven't gotten there and still talking about 2% growth for 2019 and i think with rates as low as they are that probably is good enough >> tobias, what happens to the dollar from here

>> the that are will weaken. when we look at budget deficits as a percent of gdp, the dollar weakens with a two year lag. good reason to argue the dollar will weaken. with interest rate differentials it's generating more interest than the dollar why people keep buying our bonds rates coming down, there's a point where rate lowering doesn't encourage people, it makes them worried and that's part of what's happening in europe. >> anything occurred over the last few days comments from the president, back and forth on friday, powell, your mind would lead a ceo to say we're going to allocate more capital in terms of investment or in terms of going to productive use or continuing to wait. >> far from it it's taking away from business confidence and investment and going to slow this economy down further. i think from that standpoint,

it's critical that we reach some sort of outcome where things are not getting far worse. i think remember as long as we stick to tariffs we foe what impact of that is going to be in the economy. it's when we go beyond that we're dealing with situations that can make things far worse the trace back today was in response to those -- >> what's beyond that? what do you mean boycotts or -- >> in terms of saying while you can't invest in china anymore, you have to pull things back. >> i see. >> the things he was talking about friday, making things far worse than what needs to be done >> thank you for joining us today. >> thank you >> thank you >> let's bring in former chairman of morgan stanley asia, steven roech, joins us on the phone right now. stephen, thanks for being with us to get your thoughts on what has been really i would argue a schizophrenic couple of days in

terms of this developing u.s./china trade situation, when the president comes out and says it needs to be a fair good deal, otherwise we won't get there, but he's the most or more optimistic we get there, your thought is what? >> well, zschizophrenic is a great word i hate to say this, but i think at this point in time, having gone through this back and forth on the on again/off again trade deal, the president and his advisors have really lost their credibility in assessing the state of play of this trade conflict i mean, just today, is a case in point where the president is congratulating himself for receiving a call from somebody he calls the vice chairman of china, when we know he's the vice premier he doesn't even understand who the discussion is at the other end of the phone and then the

chinese have come back and -- as well as favorite network fox news and said there's no break through in this phone call the attorneys have not changed their view of course they would like a deal of course president trump would like a deal, but to convey the impression that we're closer today than we were friday when the president called xi jinping an enemy of the american people, threatened american businesses with having any relationships with china, when he said he increased tariffs on everything china sold us and threw out all sorts of anger driven responses to china's retaliation to his latest tariff initiative, just sort of indicates again that the president is almost become unhinged in dealing with china on a day-to-day basis. >> yeah. >> stephen, we talk about what

the potential tariff impact could peen to u.s. consumers and u.s. businesses, but you see these widespread higher tariffs, higher priced tariffs take effect how is that going to impact the chinese economy we do know, right, that so much of the strategic initiatives that china has launched in the last couple of years, the investments its made, cultivated this middle class does hinge on the export part of the economy what happens with the tariffs to china? >> first of all, i mean the u.s. needs chinese command for its product. china is the third largest and rapidly growing export market. the idea that we're not hurt by china's retaliation on our tariffs is just factually incorrect. china gets hurt also by the tariffs we impose on them, their

economy slowed, further downside risk to china right now, but the chinese economy is still growing around 6% at this point in time, which is triple the rate of growth in our economy. but obviously it's -- the u.s. administration rch chets up tariffs -- ratchets up tariffs and there will be further negative impacts on the chinese economy as well. >> yeah. i guess that sort of gets to the thought, the question that i've been mulling over the last couple days when you look at the currency moves, look at the trade dynamics, the economic growth that has been weakening out of china and certainly there have been questions about how i guess credible that data has been over the years as well, when you look at these protests in hong kong, what happens to the world if china actually does begin to contract or that growth decelerates much more dramatically than we're even seeing now >> well, china's been the

largest engine of global growth over the last ten years, by imf metrics china accounted for about a third of the global growth since the end of the financial crisis if you take that away, and just eliminate that from the global growth calculus, the world economy would be on the cusp of recession right now. chinese resilience has made a huge difference for an anemic post-crisis recovery i think china has a lot of policy space i would caution you from thinking that there's going to be an implosion of chinese economic growth. they have ample opportunity to adjust fiscal policy, infrastructure spending, monetary policy, they just made a modest adjustment last week with their new lending rate and

reform policy. options they have you can't rule out them using >> stephen roach, thank you for joining us today the dow up 202 points. that's going to do it for us on "squawk alley. we're going to get over to scott wapner and "the half". >> thanks so much. front and center this hour, the twists and turns of tweets and trade. how should you navigate all of this volatility? 12 noon. this is "the halftime report." >> trump, tariffs and the traders' take, your next move on how to play all the market ji ragss right now. netflix down almost 20% in the past two months an the rest of the f.a.n.g.s. going nowhere. lyft getting a lift from the street the stock getting a big upgrade. it's the call of the day investment committee is ready to go the "halftime report" starts right now.