discuss trump administration efforts to dismantle usaid and the future of u.s. foreign aid programs. then, south carolina republican congressman ralph norman talks about the house gop strategy to address president trump's legislative agenda. also, can't last min -- kent lassman on regulation reform efforts in congress and the trump administration. c-span's washington journal. join the conversation live at 7:00 eastern tuesday morning on c-span, c-span now, or online at c-span.org. >> c-span. democracy unfiltered. we are supported by these television companies and more, including cox. >> we connection is needed most, cox is there to help, bringing affordable internet to fans in

need, new tech to boys and girls club's, and support to veterans, whenever and wherever it matters most, we be there. >> cox supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> president trump signed an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on aluminum and steel imports. from the oval office, this is 35 minutes. pres. trump: thank you, everybody. we have a lot of big signings, one in particular i will save until the end. we can go over these officially and see how we do. -- individually and see how we do. >> we have 56 sub cabinet level appointments. this includes, most notably, seven ambassador appointments. those will be the first ambassadors, i believe, that you have transmitted to the senate. pres. trump: they are very good.

ok. >> thank you, sir. second, we have active designations. we are designating doug collins to be the active leader of both the office of special counsel and the office of government ethics. impiety you know doug, everybody, i think. -- pres. trump: you know doug, everybody, i think. he was in charge of the impeachment hearings that i won conclusively. >> next, the federal executive institute was a program set up during the johnson administration to train senior-level government bureaucrats, as you have it in a fight repeatedly the last few years, the senior levels -- as you have identified repeatedly the last few years, the senior levels are not adequately using

taxpayer dollars, so we recommend zeroing out that program effectively. pres. trump: we are actually getting rid of a few programs that are just a waste, just really a waste. >> thank you, sir. next we have an executive order related to the foreign corrupt practices act. as you have identified, the way that this act has been enforced over the years has been devastating to american business opportunities and business competitiveness abroad. we are essentially ordering the department of justice to use its prosecutorial discretion in a way to ameliorate the negative effects of the foreign corrupt practices act to allow americans to do business abroad, and to allow our foreign partners to do business with americans without fearing unjust prosecution. pres. trump: for those of you that know this, it sounds good on paper, but impracticality it is a disaster. it means that if an american goes over to a foreign country and starts doing business over

there legally, legitimately, or otherwise, it is almost a guaranteed investigation, indictment, and nobody wants to do business with the americans because of it. nobody wants to do business. they say we can deal with china, they can do whatever they want. we can deal with russia, with anybody, and we have a normal life. you deal with america, the fbi gets over there. they don't investigate death hamburgers on the street in new york and los angeles. -- death and murders on the street in new york and los angeles. it made it hard to make deals. they want to deal with the americans, but they do not want to be under investigation every time they speak to america and every time an american makes a phone call to somebody in a different country. it is a disaster for this country. i guess it was a jimmy carter concept, and it sounds so good, but it was so bad.

it hurts the country, and many deals are unable to be made because of it. nobody wants to do business because they don't want to feel like every time they pick up a phone they are going to jail. we will sign this, and it takes courage to sign it because you only get bad publicity when you sign it. it sounds so nice, they title it so lovely, but it is an absolutely horror show for americans. we are signing it because it is what we have to do to make it good. pres. trump: thank you. that's an important one. that's going to mean a lot more business for america. >> thank you, sir. next is an executive order regulating the use of paper straws. as you have consistently identified, nobody really likes paper straws. pres. trump: number one trending, can you believe it? it was number one trending for

three days or something. >> the environmental impact of plastic straws versus paper straws is in clear -- is entirely unclear. it has cost the government a ton of money and left consumers across the country wildly dissatisfied with their straws. we are asking aspects of the federal government to look at their existing procurement processes, and we are asking your domestic policy council to look holistically at this issue. to address it, it is really something that affects ordinary americans in their day-to-day lives. pres. trump: i had paper straws many times. on occasion they break, they explode. if something is hot, they don't last very long, like a number of minutes, sometimes a number of seconds. it is a ridiculous situation. we are going back to plastic straws. i think it is ok.

and i don't think that plastic is going to affect a shark very much as they are munching their way through the ocean. [laughter] >> thank you, sir. next we have a full and unconditional pardon for the governor of the state of illinois. pres. trump: is my honor to do it. i watched him. he was set up by a lot of bad people, some of the same people that i had to deal with. he was not quite as successful, but he had something going on. i believe he was on the apprentice for a little while. he was a very nice person. he had a fantastic wife. she fought like hell to get him out. he was given a sentence of like, 18 years. it was a terrible injustice. they were after him. they go after a lot of people. these are bad people on the other side. i think he is just a very fine

person. this should not happen, and it should not have happened to him. let him have a normal life and let him go out and do what he has to do . i am signing this. this is a full pardon. problem go of it -- rod blagojevich. >> sir -- the ambassador of serbia? pres. trump: no, but i would. he is cleaner than anybody in the room. [laughter] >> thank you, sir. next, in 2018, you imposed duties tariffs on imports of steel at a 25% rate. since that time, a large number of exclusions and exceptions to that tariff rule have been of limited -- have been implemented because of the damage to the united states steel industry that those exclusions have imposed, this order would

reimpose that rate on imports of steel, and it is presented for your signature now. pres. trump: ok. do you understand what that means? it is a big deal. this is the beginning of making america rich again. mr. secretary, do you have anything to say? as you know, howard as the secretary of commerce, doing a fantastic job. what do you have to say about it? sec. lutnick: when you proposed the tariffs, you added 100 20,000 jobs. since that time, it has been picked away and excluded away, and we have lost 107,000 jobs. these are not just general jobs, these are steelworkers in america, and now you are going to bring those 120,000 jobs back

to america. you are the president who is standing up for the american steelworker, and i am tremendously impressed and delighted to stand next to you. pres. trump: let me just make a statement. essentially this is another way of saying we are doing a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. they failed american trade policies have led our once incredible united states steel and aluminum industries, once incredible, not now, but they are not bad. i save them because of my first term, totally safe then. -- saved them. we took in a little money and a lot of jobs. -- a lot of money and a lot of jobs. but we were being pummeled by both friend info alike.

our nation requires steel and aluminum to be made in america, not foreign lands. we need to protect our future resurgence of u.s. manufacturing and production, the likes of which has not been seen for many decades. it is time for our great industries to come back to america. we want them back to america. this is the first of many. you know what i mean by that. we are going to be doing others on other subjects, topics. protecting our steel and aluminum industries is a must, and today i am simple playing are tariffs on steel and aluminum so everybody can understand exactly what it means. -- simla flying our tariffs on steel and aluminum so everybody -- simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminum so everybody can understand exactly what it means. there is no tariff, zero, so if it is made in the united states, there is no tariff. all you have to do is make it in the united states. we don't need it from another

country. as an example, canada, if we make it in the united states, we do not need it to be made in canada. that is why canada should be our 51st state. we will bring back industries, bring back our jobs, and make american industry grade again. we are putting on a 25% tariff without exception on all aluminum and all steel. it is going to mean a lot of businesses are going to be opening in the united states. we are going to be meeting over the next four week period, maybe on a weekly basis, and maybe we will do a couple of them at different times and maybe together, but we will be talking about other subjects like cars. we will be talking about drugs and pharmaceuticals. we will be discussing chips. and we are going to be doing some other things in addition to that, all which will bring in a lot of jobs into our country. cars is going to be a very big

one, and a very important one, and america is going to be stronger than ever before. are you finished with everything? >> we have aluminum still to sign. with respect to aluminum, similarly to steel, since 2018, a large number of exceptions and exemptions have been added into the law. this illuminates those and increases the alva lauren tariff rate from 25% to 40%. pres. trump: mostly the last part is the most important. basically this is aluminum, the same thing, no exceptions. friendly, it may go higher. we are going to be talking about things over the next three weeks that i think will be amazing for our country, amazing for our jobs. it will bring us to a new level of prosperity.

i think, frankly, our allies and enemies all over the world expected this. they really expected it for years. they expected it to sometime during the biden administration, but they did not do anything. as you know, i put tariffs on china. we took in hundreds of billions of dollars on those tariffs, and biden was not able to get them out. he tried to, but it was too much money. he could not do it. we are going to be doing a very concise -- it's going to be good. i don't think, if done properly, and we are going to try and do that, we don't want it to hurt other countries, but they have been taking advantage of us for years and years and years, and they have charged us tariffs. most of them have charged us -- almost every one, i would say, without exception, they have charged us and we have not charged them. it is time to be reciprocal. we hear that word a lot,

reciprocal. they charge us, we charge them. if they are at 25%, we are at 25%. if they are at 10%, we are at 10%, and if they are much higher than 25%, that is where we are too. that has to do with everything, not just steel and aluminum, but we will be discussing that over the next couple of weeks. but we will be looking at chips and cars, and we are going to be looking at pharmaceuticals, maybe a couple other things also in addition. >> the steelworkers have said they support this move. what would you say to american consumers -- pres. trump: that they support this? because they want to save their businesses. u.s. steel will now be a valuable company. anyone that makes steel will be great. anyone that works in or makes steel will be happy. >> what do you say to consumers worried about prices? pres. trump: ultimately you will

have a price reduction because these companies will move to the u.s. and make their steel and aluminum in the u.s.. ultimately it will be cheaper but we will also have jobs, more jobs. we are looking at numbers and we will be coming up with a number but we have -- we make some of the finest cars in the world and some companies prohibit us from selling those cars. they send cars to us and we don't do that. we charge nothing or 2.5% and they will be charging 100% or much more if you look at some of them so i think those days are over but we will be announcing other things such as cars. we have some other things we will be doing but the biggest thing is reciprocal. we want tariffs to be fair. if they charge us, we charge

them. we will be doing reciprocal over the next two days. maybe. reporter: the australian prime minister said you are considering an exemption for australia on steel. is that correct? pres. trump: i spoke to him, a very fine man, and he has a surplus. i mean, we have a surplus with australia, one of a very few, because they make lots of airplanes. we have a surplus. it's one of the only countries with which we do and i told him that is something we will give consideration to. reporter: would you consider that for the u.k.? pres. trump: we have a huge deficit with the u.k., big difference. reporter: argentina -- pres. trump: we have a deficit with argentina. almost with every country, but australia, because of the airplanes -- they buy a lot of airplanes -- there's a surplus.

reporter: if other countries retaliate -- pres. trump: i don't mind. reporter: what is your plan? last term -- pres. trump: the farmers are going to be helped greatly. the farmers are going to be helped greatly because they are not going to be dumping everything into our country. this will be a great bill with -- for farmers and in terms of retaliation, is reciprocal so if they raise a little bit then we raise it so i don't think it helps for them to retaliate but they also cannot really retaliate because we are the piggy bank. >> what was your reaction? >> i look at the hostages that came in and they are emaciated. it looks like something out of

the 1930's so it's an absolute and it looks like it was a concentration camp. essentially it was. it looks like they came out of the holocaust and what a sad thing. one of them was a young man, little bit heavier and now he's not even recognizable, not even recognizable. i think one of the reasons they are doing this is because they are probably sending the best. what you see is probably the

best because they want to send people that look at least healthy and that is not healthy. these people are really hurting mentally and physically and i think hamas is looking at that and saying, well, it's not going to get much better than that, because they are probably sending their best as a representative and they have more to send out and they probably feel that they cannot do that because it's not going to make them look very good. reporter: [inaudible] pres. trump: i would say this and i will let it be because it's israel's decisions but as far as i'm concerned, if all the hostages are concerned -- are returned by 12:00, i would say cancel it and all bets are off.

they better be returned by 12:00 saturday and if they are not returned, all of them, not in drips and drabs, all of them, saturday at 12:00, and after that i would say i think a lot of them are dead. i think a lot of the hostages are dead. i think it's a great human tragedy. how people can be that mean. and the one guy was laughing when the hostages -- he thought his family was alive and found out it was dead and his captor started laughing because he thought it was so funny.

israel can override it. for myself, saturday at 12:00, if they are not here, all hell will break out. >> you said palestinians would not return to gaza if the u.s. were to develop it. pres. trump: we have spoken to a lot of palestinians and they would love to leave gaza. they were positive about providing land and if we could build a nice place for people to build -- to live safely, everybody in gaza would do it. they have been persecuted and spit on and treated like trash

and they would love to get out of gaza but until now they never had an alternative and now they have an alternative and as far as hamas is concerned, you are seeing the real hamas now with the hostages. who are you from where? >> the wall street journal. pres. trump: that's what i thought. reporter: the jordanian leaders seeing you -- pres. trump: yes. reporter: how will you convince them to do otherwise? pres. trump: i think they will take and i think other countries will also. they have good hearts. they are all going to leave when they have a place that's a better alternative. it's a hell hole right now. you will see that they will all want to leave. >> are american hostages still

being held by hamas right now? pres. trump: who knows, are they alive, not alive, but i saw the condition. when i saw the condition of the last ones that came out, and the women too, everybody -- one woman had her hand blown off because she was trying to stop a bullet being fired at her, ok? what kind of situation is that? i just think it is time to either release everybody -- they are not going to be alive right now. based on what i saw over the last two days, they are not going to be alive for long. saturday at 12:00, and after that, it's going to be a different ballgame. reporter: when you say all hills is -- all hell is going to break loose, are you talking about retaliation? pres. trump: you will find out and they will find out too. hamas will find out what i mean. these are sick people and they will find out what i mean saturday at 12:00.

reporter: but no involvement -- reporter: are palestinians going to be relocated -- pres. trump: right now -- i assume they want to remain there. they are there. it's never been like what we are talking about with the gaza strip. no plans. reporter: regarding the consumer financial protection bureau, senator elizabeth warren has said it is giving corporations the green light to -- pres. trump: pocahontas, the faker. you know, that was set up to destroy people. she set that up as her little personal agency to go around and destroy people and she's a fake just like she said she was an indian and she was not an indian. you have more indian blood in you than she has. she went to college based on the fact that she was an indian. she got jobs based on the fact that she was an indian. she was a fake.

that was set up to destroy some very good people and it worked. i mean, it worked. a lot of great people -- i tell you, before i heard the term, people would come up to me in the midwest and areas and say, sir, i'm being destroyed by them. they use it to destroy people. she's a nasty woman. she's a really nasty woman despite her phony beer commercial. no. we did the right thing. it was important to get rid of it. and it was also a waste. number one, it was a bag group of people running it, but it was also -- a bad group of people running it, but it was also a waste. that was a vicious group of people. they destroyed a lot of people. reporter: you confirm your goal is to totally eliminate the agency? pres. trump: yes, because we are trying to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. didn't i hear somebody made 38 million dollars or something

running a little agency? what was her name and what did she do and what was that all about, all the money she made? does anybody know? brian, go ahead. reporter: good to see you. the latest cbs polling has your approval ratings at an all-time high despite these controversial orders and things you are doing. what are your thoughts on how you have connected to mainstream america? pres. trump: i have high approval ratings because i am using common sense whether it's getting men out of women's sports -- i mean, have you seen what goes on with the boxers and weightlifters and swimmers? it is ridiculous.

it is terrible. steve, say a couple words about it. >> since you issued your executive orders, border crossings are down approximately 95%. the cartels have never seen a claim down like this before in american history. there are people working in border patrol since the 1980's who have never seen anything like this because you mobilized the entire u.s. military. they are acting -- they are erecting physical miles of border barriers. they are not doing the

humanitarian processing, quote-unquote, biden was doing. they are interdicting drugs and criminals and the military as -- military is repatriating illegal immigrants and those doing trafficking are being prosecuted for felony offenses and will be doing hard time in jail. there's never been a lockdown like what you implemented since he took office. reporter: what's your thought on d.o.g.e. wednesday having a subcommittee hearing on fraud? pres. trump: i want to add what steve said. we want people to come to our country but come in legally. they have to come through -- they have to go through a process and we have to know they haven't killed people and they are out on the loose and we are looking for that individual. this was all that and by

biden and a group of bad and stupid people. some are bad, some are stupid, some are both, but i will tell you, what they have done to this country, but we are cleaning it up. hard to believe that it will be better than ever before but we have a lot of people we have to get out. we are searching now for a lot of them. i think tom homan and christie are doing an unbelievable job, kristi noem. they are doing an unbelievable job taking out massive numbers of people. and you notice every country is excepting those people back. remember everyone said no, they will not accept them? they are taking them back. they have to. every single country is. taking want them or not. i don't imagine they do but they are taking them back. reporter: on gaza, have you talked with fox news about the billions paid to jordan and egypt every year? would you withhold aid to these countries of they don't agree to taken palestinians? pres. trump: maybe. sure. why not?

if they don't agree i would conceivably withhold aid, yeah. mr. miller: are you going -- reporter: are you going to talk to prime minister netanyahu about this saturday deadline? pres. trump: sure. it is just my deadline. they may change it but i have seen too many people come out. they look like holocaust victims from many years ago. i have never seen anything like it. i didn't think this could happen in this world today. you think we have a civilized world. it's not. these are bad people we're are dealing with so that would be my suggestion. and he can open it up or not open it up but that would be my -- do you have anything to say about that? you are commerce but you have a lot to say from the standpoint of your faith and religion. mr. lutnick: it's amazing that, for years, nothing, and then you come in, and you immediately start to move the needle to have

hostages coming out. you sent steven witkoff, who is doing an incredible job for you. you are changing the middle east and supporting israel and i could not be more impressed with the outcomes you have driven. and choosing this saturday to save people's lives or just be done with it is the right choice. pres. trump: it's time to come up with a date. every week, two people, three people? no. i don't think you can do that anymore. these are seriously endangered people. these are endangered people.. i don't think they are going to last very long. you know, the people that came out yesterday, they would not last very long. pres. trump: would you rule out any u.s. involvement in whatever happens -- reporter: would you rule out any u.s. involvement in whatever happens? pres. trump: we will see. reporter: did you talk to president zelenskyy? pres. trump: yes. we are dealing with him and i

think they both want to make a deal that we will have to see. it's got to be done. would have never happened if i were president. this would have never happened. millions of people are dead. reporter: what would zelinski have to give up? pres. trump: we will talk about that later. reporter: the buyout program for federal workers? pres. trump: i don't know how you can lose a case like that. i got elected on making government better, more efficient, and smaller. and that's what we are doing. and i think it was a very generous buyout, actually. also if people don't show up to work we have a right to fire them. they have an option. they can show up to work or not. if they don't show up -- because then the next step is have you worked before? have you worked during this time you were supposed to be working? you will find many of those people have not done their jobs. many of them have had other

jobs. if they did, that's a big problem. reporter: if the buyouts are blocked in court will you instead pursue layoffs and federal departments? pres. trump: this is free will. this is a buyout where people were offered a good deal. many people have taken that. you know, many of those people, and we talk about reporting to work. i happen to be a believer that you have to go to work. i don't think you can work from a home. nobody is going to work from home. they are going to be going out, play tennis, play golf. they are not working. it's a rare person that's going to work. you might work 10% of the time, maybe 20%. i don't think you are going to work a lot more than that. they have an obligation to work into an obligation not to have a second job when they are supposed to be working for the federal government. you are going to find that a lot of these people have second jobs instead of working.

they will be collecting a federal government check and working two jobs. and that is big trouble for them. reporter: you have said a lot about south africa it is hosting the g20 summit this year. do you plan on attending? pres. trump: we will see what happens but the south african situation is very dangerous and bad for a lot of people. there's tremendously bad things going on, including the confiscation of property and worse, much worse than that. you know what i'm talking about. and we are not making any payment until we find out what's going on in south africa. yes. reporter: keith kellogg is going to ukraine this week? pres. trump: yes. he's an excellent guy and he's spending time doing various things. we have numerous people working on numerous different problems. you know, when i left office, it wasn't long ago, a little more

than four years ago, we had no wars. we didn't have problems. now the whole world is blowing up but we will put out the fires. reporter: are you trying to set up a meeting with him? pres. trump: i cannot tell you what i am talking about but we are talking as a group also. i think he would like to make a deal but it takes two to tango. reporter: you cannot give us any more clarity on whether you personally have spoken to him? pres. trump: i don't want to talk about it, now. it's not going to help you to know. we are much further away. remember, we have an ocean separating. they don't. europe should be paying what we are paying and europe has d one it more in the form of a loan. we just give it. biden gives it because he's not a very smart individual.

we have people over today that are making a deal that as we give money we get minerals and oil and all sorts of things. why are we doing this? we are in it for maybe $350 billion and europe is in it for $100 billion. in theory, they get that money back, in theory, interest on their money they get. it's a different ballgame. biden is the one starting -- the one that started this. every time zelinski came here he came away with $60 billion to $100 billion. he's one of the greatest salesman who ever lived by the way. reporter: could you discuss your disagreement with the kennedy center? pres. trump: we took over the kennedy center. we didn't like what they were showing in various other things. some board members will be replaced. we will have a new group of people going in. i have rick, who has some experience in that world.

he's very good. he's going to be handling on a temporary basis. we are going to get some great professionals. i'm going to be chairman of it and make sure it's good and not woke. there's no more woke in this country. this woke has cost us a fortune and cost us our reputation but it's coming back very rapidly. thank you very much, everybody. the penny is gone. reporter: what about the dime? pres. trump: what about anything? good luck. the penny is gone. the penny cost this government a lot. thank you very much. >> c-span's washington journal, our live forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics and public policy, from washington to across the country. coming up tuesday morning,

california democratic congressman jim costa on the recent actions by the trump administration and the role of democrats in the 119th congress. a former u.s. id -- usaid official discuss trump administration efforts to dismantle programs. ralph norman talks about the house gop strategy to advance president trump's legislative agenda. also, kent lassman on reform efforts in congress and the trump administration. c-span's washington journal. join the conversation live at 7:00 eastern tuesday morning on c-span, c-span now or c-span.org. >> on tuesday, the chair