we believe in a a jewish state in the homeland of the people jump ahead to the abraham accords, for the first time it articulated this the middle east both arabs and jews belong to the same land and have to find a way to live together. so i believe in a jewish state and a jewish homeland that doesn't disavow or diminish the aspirations of the palestinian people for a homeland of their own. so i still, it's not going to happen, probably not in my lifetime. but the prospects of finding peace between israelis and palestinians that ultimately leads to a state where they can live in security, stability and peace. host: brad schneider with us until the top of the hour. phone lines as usual, republicans, democrat, independents, we'll put those numbers on the screen as they're call in -- calling in, congressman. what do you think --

[applause] pres. trump: thank you very much. thank you very much. it's a great honor to be with the prime minister. we had a picture taken a little while ago. it was so nice, i thought i'd present it to you on stage. here's the picture. i wish i was as handsome as him but i'm not. [applause] [applause] pres. trump: remember that day. thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. i'm delighted to welcome the

japanese prime minister to the white house for the first time. it's a great honor to have you here, japan is a great country. thank you very much. japan is strong and proud. it's a nation that's home to one of the great civilizations in the history of the world. for nearly 80 years the american and japanese people have enjoyed a friendship like few others. great friendship. across the vast ocean. found ourselves united by bonds of history, commerce, culture, mutual admiration, and great respect. after our meeting today i'm confident that the cherished alliances between our two countries and others also will continue to flourish long and into the future. the military cooperation between the united states and japan is one of our closest security partnerships. and it's one of the closest we have anywhere in the world. our service members work together every day to defend our common interests.

japan is committed to double its defense spend big 2027, compared to my first term. they've invested a lot of money because of my first term. we worked on that very hard. with shinzo. the great shinzo abe. and we look forward to seeing even more so shinzo and i worked very long and hard and those numbers are very reflective after my first term and now they're going up very substantially based on our conversations today. in addition to being vital for our shared security, japan is one of the top purchasers of u.s. military exports and equipment and i'm pleased to say that this week my administration approved nearly $1 billion in foreign military sales to tokyo. the united states is totally committed to the security of japan. we will extend the full strength of american deterrence capabilities in defense of our

friend and ally. 100%. in the years to come the prime minister and i will be working closely together to maintain peace and security and i also say peace through strength. and all over the indo-pacific and to that end, we also remain committed to the effort i began in my first term to ensure safety and stability on the korean peninsula. prime minister ishiba and i spoke long and hard about a vital economic relationship between our two countries that continuance of that relationship. the united states and japan trade over $300 billion in goods and services each year. japan has invested nearly $800 billion and that's going to go up very, very substantially not coming months, more than any other country. and they're going to have some competition. we have a lot of people coming in and nevadaing in the united states. i think our -- the feeling

throughout the world has never been stronger about this country. as a result of our victory in 2024, the presidential election, the japanese investment in technology giant softbank announced plans to invest between $100 billion and $200 billion. we have many other companies investing that number, higher than that number. some a little bit less. but we have trillions of dollars of investment pouring into our country now that you didn't have just a short while ago. today our teams discussed how our two nations can do even more to stay on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence, along with the quantum computing semiconductors and other critical technologies. and they are coming out, the problem with technology that kind, it's obsolete in about two days. we have to start all other again. doesn't last long. we have to cooperate even more closely to combat the chinese economic aggression which is quite aggressive. i'm also pleased to announce

that japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean american liquefied natural gas in record numbers. it'll be record numbers. with our secretary of the interior, we were talk, i think doug is here. hello, doug, please stand up, doug. doug burghum everybody. we're talking about the oil and gas pipeline through alaska, the closest way for japan by far, we're talking about a joint venture of some type between japan and us having to do with alaskan oil and gas. that's very exciting. they're excited about it. i made clear that the united states will be conducting with all trade -- conducting trade with all countries based on the principles of fairness and reciprocity. chronic trade deficits not only undermine our economy, they

really do, and we're going to get rid of the trade -- we have a trade deficit with japan of over $100 billion. we're going to work that out and i think very quickly, frankly, we can do it on just oil and gas. we can work it out. we intend to do it very quickly. we both understand that. as america welcomes new northern investment we also want to ensure that companies build their products and factories here in america, not simply by the assets that we have and japan is going to be opening up auto plant, new auto plants have been built as we speak, they're just being start. toyota is one. nissan will be doing something very exciting about u.s. steel, they'll be looking at an investment rather than a purchase. like the idea of u.s. steel is a very important company to us, they was greatest company in the world for 15 year many years ago, 80 years ago.

and we didn't want to see that leave. it wouldn't actually leave. but the concept, psychologically, not good. so they've agreed to invest heavily in u.s. steel, as opposed to own it that. sounds very exciting. we're going to neat with nissan next week, the head of nissan, great company, and they'll work out the detai tails. i'll help. i'll be there to mediate and arbitrate. i had the privilege of working closely with the great prime minister, shinzo abe, the longest-serving prime minister in japan's history. likewise, i expect that this prime minister is going to be a great one. i've got ton know him. for not long. but i can see what they have. he's got -- he's got the qualities of greatness. he's going to do a fantastic job for japan and for the japanese people. and i'd like now to invite the prime minister to say a few

words and then we'll take some questions. mr. prime minister, thank you. thank you very much. [applause] >> mr. president trump, i would like to sincerely thank you for inviting me to the white house today. immediately following your inauguration. i also thank you for your very warm hospitality. i have come to washington, d.c., with the hope of having a face-to-face meeting and deepening our mutual understanding at this early date with president trump who is now leading the united states. the most important country for japan's diplomacy and security. and aligning our perspectives and visions that japan and the united states should pursue. what should we do to advance the national interests of both of

our countries in synergy and to realize peace and prosperity in the indo-pacific? i am convinced that the answer lies in further strengthening the strong and unwavering japan-u.s. alliance to achieve a free and open done pacific. president and i concurred to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the alliance and to work closely in addressing strategic challenges that both countries are facing in this region. i conveyed to the president that japan, as an ally of the united states, is ready to share responsibilities and to play its own role. i also reiterated japan's unwavering commitment to fundamentally reinforcing its defense capabilities and reconfirmed the unwavering

commitment by the united states to the defense of japan. we reaffirmed that article 5 of the japan-u.s. treaty of mutual cooperation and security applies to the islands with half of the world's population in approximately 60% of the world's g.d.p., the indo-pacific serves as the engine of growth and vitality for japan, the united states and the world. president and i also contoured -- concurred that the united states and japan will make further efforts in a wide range of areas working hand in command together to realize a free and open indo-pacific. in this context we also concurred to further advance cooperation of the multilayered networks of the likeminded countries including the trilateral -- trilateral

corporation with korea and the philippines. we also discussed cooperation to bring about growth and prosperity, economic cooperation, including on economic security is important from the perspective of strengthening alliance corporation. japan is the closest economic partner of the united states and has been the world's largest investor in the united states for five consecutive years. also, with the inauguration of president trump, the momentum for japanese companies to invest in the united states is growing even stronger. today, i conveyed my willingness to cooperate together, to elevate japan's investment in the united states, to an unprecedented amount of $1 trillion. president trump and myself also concurred to elevate the japan-u.s. partnership to an

even higher level through improving business environment and increasing bilateral investment and employment, strengthening each other's industries, leading the world in developing advanced technology such as a.i. and leading edge semiconductors and strongly promoting efforts to harness the energy of the growing market in the done pacific region. we also confirmed that we will cooperate to strengthen energy security between the two countries including increasing exports of united states liquefied natural gas to japan in a mutually beneficial manner regarding -- manner. regarding foreign exchange as in the first trump administration, close discussions will continue between japanese and the u.s. finance ministers who are experts in this field.

we also held candid discussions on challenges the indo-pacific region is facing. we confirmed that we are resolved not to alou unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion and to force such attempts in the east and south china seas to ensure a free an open indo-pacific. we also reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the taiwan strait. regarding north korea, we affirmed the need to address its nuclear and missile program which poses a serious threat to japan. the u.s. and beyond. and that japan and the u.s. will work together toward the complete denuclearization of north korea. as the abductees and their families continue to age, i conveyed my strong sense of urgency and can determination directly to president trump and gained his renewed strong

support for the immediate resolution of the abductions issue. while this was my first face-to-face meeting with president trump, we were able to openly and frankly exchange views and are meet -- and our meeting turned out to be very productive and meaningful. as a result of today's meeting which marked a new departure for the japan-u.s. relations, we are issues a japan-u.s. joint leader statement. this document will serve as a compass for further cooperation between our two countries. on the basis of these deliverables, i look forward to working together with president trump, who i respect immensely, to usher in a new golden age of japan-u.s. relations. i look forward to welcoming you

to japan. and i am very excited about that prospect. thank you, mr. president. [applause] pres. trump: any questions, please? peter. reporter: president trump, elon musk said today i love donald trump as much as a straight man can love another man. pres. trump: i think she'll be ok with it somehow. reporter: democratic lawmakers are really upset that elon's engineers have access to treasury and other systems. they are used to disburse millions each year and have

access to citizen's social security numbers. why does doge need all that? pres. trump: they don't but they get it very easily. our security is not very good. if you look at what's just taken place with respect to investments made at another agency that people talked about for years and nobody did anything about it. it's obscene. dangerous. bad. costly. virtually every investment made is a con job. there's nothing of value to anybody unless there's a kickback scheme going on which is possible. and we're going to be doing more and more of that. we'll be looking at the department of education. we'll be looking at even our military. we're going to be looking at tremendous amounts of money, peter, being spent on things that bear no relationship to anything and have no value. we're talking about trillions of dollars. it will be in the end, trillions of dollars being absolutely wasted and perhaps illegally. i would say certainly in many

cases illegally. but perhaps illegally overall. and i'm very proud of the job that this group of yuck people, generally young people, but very smart people are doing. they're doing it at my insistence. it would be easier not to do it. we have to take some of these things apart to find the corruption. we found tremendous corruption. reporter: we saw democratic lawmakers trying to get into the department of education earlier today. pres. trump: i see the same ones. maxine waters, a lowlife. all these people. they don't love our country. they don't love our country. we want great education. so they rank 40 countries in education. we're ranked dead last. dead last. but, the good news is, we're number one in one category you know what that is? cost per pew till. -- pupil. we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world. look at norway, denmark, sweden, various countries all up and

down. finland. china does very well in education. and then you look at us. we spend much more money than they do per pupil or any other way but we spend much more money than they do yet we're ranked this year biden's last year, congratulations, joe, we're ranked dead last. so what i want to see is education number one, i like choice. we all like choice. but beyond choice, i want to see it go back to the states. where great states that do so well have no debt. they're operated brilliantly. they'll be as good as norway or den bark or sweden or any of the other highly ranked countries. you'll have, probably 35 to 38 states will be right at the top. and the rest will come along. they'll have to come along competitively. and we'll be spending a lot less money. and we'll have great education. reporter: talking about the cutting effort, one of the doge engineers was fired for some inappropriate posts.

the vice president says bring him back. what do you say? pres. trump: i don't know, but if the vice president said that, i'm with the vice president. thank you, peter. reporter: thank you so much, mr. president. how long do you want japan's military to -- strong do you want japan's military to be? and do you hope that their increased military spending will deter china and north korea? pres. trump: i want our military to be the strongest, i don't mind spending so much money on the military, because we build it here. all made in the u.s.a. i rebuilt our military during my first term. did a great job. we left some of it behind in afghanistan, stupidly. there was no reason for that. but it was still as much as it was, it was billions and billions of dollars. but it was a small part of it. but we're going to have the strongest military by far. we have great people.

i want to congratulate pete hegseth for having gone through the gauntlet. he went through a lot. he got through. he'll be tremendous, i have no doubt he's going to be a tremendous leader. other of the leaders sitting here in their own fields, going to do something, very, very great. we expect great things. i expect the strongest military by far in the world, for a stronger than china. for a stronger than anybody. that's the way it is. thank you very much. would you like to ask a question? please. go ahead. reporter: my question, let me ask two quick questions. first, this is the first meeting between mr. president and our prim minister so what kind of impression do you have on him? and number two, do you have an idea, or do you have a plan to

impose tariffs against japan so far? pres. trump: i think he's going to be a great prime minister. i think he's a very strong man. very, very strong. i have great respect for him. aye known him for a long time through reputation. shinzo abe thought the world of him. i think he's going to do a fantastic job as prime minister. very strong personality i wish he wasn't so strong. i wish he was a little weaker than that. but that's what i got. i have to get strong guys all the time. he's going to be a great prime minister. i also in terms of tariff, we're going to have tariffs. mostly reciprocal tariffs. probably going to be meeting on that monday or tuesday. have an announcement, probably a news conference. but probably reciprocal tariffs where a country pays so much, charges us so much. and we do the same. so very reciprocal because i think that's the only fair way to do it. that way nobody's hurt.

they charge us, we charge them. it's the same thing. i seem to be going -- as opposed to a flat fee tariff. please, go ahead. why don't you go ahead. >> this is ota, i have a question for prime minister ishiba. this is your first summit meeting. what was your impression of president trump? were you able to build a good relationship of trust and confidence? in northeast asia there are many challenges. china, north korea, so forth. with president trump what did you appeal to him and what kind of understanding were you able to obtain on economic field? there is the accusation of u.s. steel, buying nippon steel and

import of l.n.g. what were the communication discussions with president trump for the $1 trillion of investment from japan, what was his reaction? what about your communication on tariff front? >> this is the first time i met with president trump in person. so this was the first time meeting face-to-face. but for many, many years, i have watched him on television, so it was quite -- i was so excited to see such a celebrity on television, to see in person. on television, he is frightening and he has the very strong personality. but when i met with him, actually, he was very sincere. and very powerful. and with strong will.

for the united states as for the whole world. i was able to feel that. this is not for publishing or trying to suck up to him. for world peace and regional stability that both of our countries need to play a role. and make our efforts and responsibility, increase our defense expenditures. it is not what they are tissue it is not that we are told by the united states to do so. japan, on our own, on our own decision, on our own responsibility, we need to increase our defense expenditures. but of course we need to communicate and consult with the united states. but the responsibility is with japan and the decision with japan. now on the tariffs, that if it

is mutually beneficial, tariffs need to be set. and for japan, as mr. president introduced to us, an unprecedented investment will be made from japan to the united states. in so -- and so many jobs will be created. so $1 trillion is the target. and this will be to the benefit of the united states but also to the benefit of japan as well. investment is mutually beneficial. so be it with u.s. steel, as mr. president says, it is not acquisition. it is investment. so the japanese technology will be provided and the better quality products will be manufactured in the united states and the u.s. steel will

make products which contribute not only to the united states and japan but also to the whole world. it is not one-sided. it will be reciprocal. it will be mutually beneficial. and i believe we were able to share on this and that is the biggest result that i have seen today. pres. trump: thank you very much. go ahead, please. reporter: i wanted to ask you about that u.s. steel deal. is this a restructuring of the deal that's happening? and will you approve. pres. trump: they're doing it as an investment, no longer a purchase. i didn't want it purchased. but investment, i love. and they're going to do a big investment. subject to getting the deal done. and i'm ok with that, sure. reporter: and mr. prime minister, what was your argument to the president relating to u.s. steel?

and one more on car riffs. you said on tariffs you'd like them to be reciprocal. what was the reception from the japanese prime minister when you said that? pres. trump: we didn't discuss tariffs today, we discuss maryland other things including the pipeline in alaska which i think is going to be maybe the most exciting thing we've done. we discussed that at length. the pipeline. it seemed to be of great interest to them. it's -- we have potentially more oil and gas than in saudi arabia, just alaska. we have the most of any country in the world. it's a big asset for the united states. we haven't used it. we go to vrenz way land a other places to take oil and gas. we have more than anybody. it's an amazing phenomena that took place over the last four years, nobody understands it, including the people who were in charge of out -- of it, they have no clue what they were doing. they were surprised too. they were saying why didn't them

l.n.g. japan wanted to buy l.n.g. and biden wouldn't sell it. i'm trying to figure that one out. maybe it was the environment. he might answer that question, he's curious about that himself i think. thank you very much. if you want to answer that. about l.n.g. that the united states wouldn't sell you l.n.g. >> that was really unfortunate thing but the current administration, i'm sorry, the previous administration was not allowing the l.n.g. to be exported to us. i believe that president trump, on the day of his inauguration, allowed us to resume this importing. i think this is something that is really wonderful for us.

and as the country of japan, we are interested in importing not just l.n.g. but also bioethanol, ammonia and other resources at a stable price, a reasonable price, from the united states. and we also want to improve the trade deficit that the u.s. has toward japan. so if we are able to buy those at a stable and reasonable price i think it would be a wonderful situation and for that, i am very appreciative to president trump and we also look forward to l.n.g. and hope that it's a success. pres. trump: you mentioned ethanol, iowa will be very happy, we'll be able to provide it, our farmers, who i like, and

they like me, i think they're going to be very, very happy. we opened the sale of l.n.g. immediately actually, did it a few days ago. right now not only china, everybody wants to buy it. we have more than anybody. they're all buying it. japan in particular we're very happy that they're going to start immediately and we can supply it to the world but we're supplying it to japan, they're going to always be right up in front of the line. go ahead, please. reporter: mr. prime minister i have a question for you as well but mr. president i'll start with you. to follow up on what peter has asked, have you directed elon musk to review pentagon spending? pres. trump: yes, i have. pentagon, education. we're going to go through everything. it was so bad what we went through with this horrible situation we just went through. i guess 97% of the people have been dismissed. it was very, very unfortunate. you're not going to find anything like that. you're going to find a lot.

and i've instruct him go check out education. to check out the pentagon which is the military. and you know, sadly you'll find some things that are pretty bad. i don't think proportionately you'll see anything like we just saw. reporter: the f.b.i. turned over a list to the justice department. of those who worked on the january 6 rioters cases, are you planning to fire the f.b.i. agents to worked on those informations? pres. trump: no but i'll fire some of them, some of them were corrupt. i have no doubt about that. i got to know a lot about that business, that world. we had some corrupt agents. those people are gone or will be gone and it'll be done quickly and very surgically. did you have a question the prime minister? reporter: are those the ones that worked on january 6? pres. trump: i don't know. we're going to bring back the reputation of the f.b.i. cash patel is going to do a great job. we're going to bring back the

reputation of the f.b.i. which has been hurt very badly. it's been devastated over the last four years. reporter: you have just been meeting for the first time with president trump. the last administration famously did not have hardly, if at all, contact with north korea. president trump certainly did the last time he was in office. would you like to see him resume that contact and in-person meeting he had with north korean leader kim jong un? >> that is something that the united states needs to determine on its own. and it's not something that we should request. having said that, for example, in vietnam or singapore, the president of the united

states -- president was able to meet with kim jong un. i think that's a positive development. so now that president trump is in power again, if we are able to move toward resolving issues with the north korea, i think it would be a great and of course for us, that includes not only denuclearization but also resolving the abductee issue. and so the -- not only the victims of the abductees but also their families too are aging. so our time is limited. so if the president of the united states if president trump is able to resolve this issue, we do understand that it's a japan issue first and foremost. having said that, we would love to continue to cooperate with them. pres. trump: it's actually a good question. we will have relations with

north korea and with kim jong un. i got along with him very well, as you know. i think i stopped a war. i wouldn't have won that particular election you would have ended up in a very bad situation. but i did. we had a food relationship. and i think it's a very big asset for everybody that i do get along with him. i like -- i mean, i get along with him. he gets along with me. that's a good thing, not a bad thing. i can tell you that japan likes the idea. because their relationship is not very good with him. and if i can have a relationship with not only him but other people throughout the world where there seem to be difficulties, i think that's a tremendous asset for the world, not just the united states. go ahead. reporter: i have a question for you and for the prime minister as well. mr. president, i wonder what you make of criticism from democrats that staff cuts are an unlawful power grab? is there anything you've told

elon musk he cannot touch? pres. trump: we haven't discussed that much. i'll tell him to go here, go there. he does it. got a very capable group of people. very, very capable. they know what they're doing. they'll ask questions. and they'll see immediately as somebody gets tongue tied that they're either crooked or don't know what they're doing. we have very smart people going in. i've instructed him, go into education, go into military. go into other things as we go along. they're finding massive amounts of fraud, abuse, waste. all these things. so -- but i will pick out a target. and i sago. in there would be areas that we won't. but i think everything is -- we're a government. we have to be open. and as an open government, i don't know, i guess you could say maybe some high intelligence or something, and i'll do that myself if i have to. but generally speaking, i'll just say, go. but he will be look at education pretty quickly. he will be looking at

militarytoo. reporter: both the federal spending is social security, medicare, programs like that. would you like to see him look at those as well? pres. trump: they don't have to be looked at by him. social security will not be touched. it'll only be strengthened. we have illegal immigrants on social security. and we're going to find out who they are and take them out. we have illegal immigrants in other, medicare. we have -- we've had a lot of bad people, a lot of people that shouldn't be on that were put on through california, they come a lot of them come out of california. we're not going to stand for that. we're going to strengthen our social security, etc. we're not going to touch it other than to make it stronger. but we have people that shouldn't be on. those people we have to weed out. most of them, or many of them so far have been illegal immigrants. they shouldn't even be in the country. do you have a question for the prime minister? reporter: mr. prime minister, the president's affinity for tariffs is well known.

if the u.s. places tariffs on japanese imports would japan retall case? -- retaliate? >> i am unable to respond to a theoretical question. that's the official answer that we have. [laughter] pres. trump: that's a very good answer. very good answer. wow. that's very good. he knows what he's doing. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you. >> mr. president! mr. president! pres. trump: thank you, everybody. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> the final biden era jobs report was released by the bureau of labor statistics showing the u.s. economy added 143,000 jobs last month, fewer than economists expected. at the unemployment -- and the unemployment rate dipped to 4% if 4.1%. economists were prompting the rate would stay at 4.% and 170,000 jobs would be added. >> saturdays, watch american history tv's new series first 100 days. we'll explore the early months of presidential administrations with historians and authors and through the c-span a archives. we'll look at accomplishments and setbacks and examine how events impacted presidential terms and the nation. up to present day. this saturday, we'll look at the first 100 days of andrew jackson's presidency. andrew jackson was elected president in 1828 in a rematch with john quincy adams from the

1824 election. mr. jackson came to office with a vision for the country but his agenda was stalled by controversy. early issues during his term included states' rights, payment of national debt, tariffs, and treatment of native americans. watch american history tv's new series "first 100 days," saturday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv. on c-span2. >> sunday night on c-span's "q&a," ex-convict, award-winning poet and yale law school graduate reginald dwayne betts is our guess. he wrote the afterword for a new edition of dr. king's "letter from birmingham jail" and talks about the book and president trump: they were under no illusion sending me to prison would help.

but i can get something out of it if i tried. and this is a testament that i got something out of it and came home to a world where it might feel overwhelming and it is absolutely hard to make a way when you have hurt somebody in the past. but i came to a world that is radically changed and shifted and created more and more opportunities for people to reflect on the ways in which they changed and to be welcomed back. sunday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on sunday. listen to c-span now app. >> house minority leader hakeem jeffries discussed tax policy during his wkl