he's doing a great job. everybody tells me that too. so we appreciate it. please? >> thank you. so google and apple have announced that they are jointly enabling contact tracing on their mobile phone operating systems. i was wondering if this is something that you would consider or -- >> -- a lot of other things. we will look at it certainly. we know they have done that. it is highly -- very new, new technology. it is very interesting, but a lot of people worry about it in terms of a person's freedom. we will take a look at that, a very strong look at it. we will let you know pretty soon. >> i have another question. >> yes, please. >> can you explain why it is appropriate in the middle of a pandemic to be talking about cutting or eliminating funding to the world health organization? >> well, we're going to talk about the who next week in great detail. i didn't want to do it today, good friday. i didn't want to do it before easter. i also didn't want to do it before we have all the facts.

but over the years, many years, we've been paying them from 300 to 500 and even more, million dollars a year, china has been paying them less than 40, over the years. so we're paying them more than ten times more than china and they are very very china centric as i said, china centric. china always seems to get the better of the argument, and i don't like that. i really don't like that. i don't think that's appropriate. i don't think it's fair to the american people. and you know, i'd tell that to president xi. i'd tell that to the doctor. i spoke to him one time. i think he's a very nice man. i liked him, but we will be talking about that next week in great detail, we're looking at it very very closely. we want to make sure money's properly spent. but again, why is the united states paying 500 million

dollars a year, that's a lot. okay, that's a lot. why is china paying last year, this year 42 million dollars? but generally under 40 so it niece the 30s -- so it's in the 30s. we're at 500, 452, 400, 401, different amounts, different years and they are at 40, 38, 36, 35, 32, 31. but you have to ask yourself that question, and then the answer always turns out to be in the china's favor. isn't that interesting? we have world health and world trade. we have the world trade organization and until i came along we were losing cases, so many cases, it was ridiculous. we were always using these cases, i mean almost every case and now we're winning cases. we just won 7 billion dollars because they know i'm not going

to put up with it. china has been unbelievably taken advantage of us and other countries. you know, for instance, they're considered a developing nation. i said well then make us a developing nation too. they get big advantages because they are a developing nation. india, a developing nation. the united states is the big developed nation. well, we have plenty of development to do. okay? and now we're winning cases because they know that if we're not treated fairly, i'm going to pull out. you've never heard this before because nobody ever talked about the world trade organization, but the world trade organization has treated us very unfairly, but they know i'm not going to put up with it because all of these countries are taking advantage of the united states. now, in the courts, and the court system, we're not approving new judges over the last year -- we're not going to approve. bob lighthizer is working very hard on that. but we had always a minority position, meaning numbers of judges. so we'd have a minority number

of judges. i said how do you win a minority number of judges? but all of a sudden we're winning. the reason we're winning is they know if they don't treat us properly, and we won 7 billion dollars just this very recently, and the money is pouring in. we've won other cases too. we've won a lot of cases. but you know, from covering it, i know you know, that the united states was taken advantage of by the world trade organization, and by the way, speaking of china, if you look at the history of china, it was only since they went into the world trade organization that they became a rocket ship with their economy. they were flat lined for years and years, frankly for many many decades. it was only when they came in to the world trade organization that they became a rocket ship because they took advantage of all those -- i'm not even blaming them. i'm saying how stupid were the people that stood here and allowed it to happen. but we don't allow that to happen. and if they don't treat us

fairly, we will leave. but now we're starting to win cases. how about somebody new for a change? go ahead. >> as many schools and school districts are closing across the country, florida governor ron desantis has not ruled out opening up schools in may, saying that many kids are not vulnerable to this disease. do you agree with that assessment, and do you believe -- would you recommend that schools open up to those states -- >> i have a lot of confidence in ron desantis, a lot of faith in ron desantis to make the right decision. he's doing a great job as governor. ron desantis, i had read where he's thinking about opening up the schools earlier than that date, the end of the month. i'd have to look at the numbers. but again, you know, i like to allow governors to make decisions without overruling them because from a constitutional stand point, that's the way it should be done. if i disagreed, i would overrule

a governor. and i have that right to do it. but i'd rather have them -- you can call it federalist, you can call it the constitution, but i call it the constitution, i would rather have them make their decisions. he's made a lot of good decisions. he hasn't said he's going to. he's thinking about it. i will take a look at it. >> if you allow children back in the schools, wouldn't that pose a threat to spreading the virus even further to some of those vulnerable -- >> i think the answer is obvious. would you want to talk about that, maybe? tony? >> yeah, i mean, if you have a situation in which you don't have a real good control over an outbreak, and you allow children to gather together, they likely will get infected, and if they get infected, the likelihood that they will bring the infection home, so that's really a risk. i don't know the situation at all in any detail, and i'm not

specifically speaking about florida. i'm just speaking generically about what happens when you have infections in the community and you have congregation of people, such as in classrooms, that that's a risk. >> has anyone under 25 die dr. fauci in the country? the governor has said no within under 25 has died. i guess you can clarify people under 25 can die as a result of this. >> maybe in florida -- >> in the country? >> i don't want to have to answer for a particular state. yes, people under 25 have died of coronavirus disease in the united states of america. >> if you reopen the country in may, and there's a new outbreak or a spike in infections, are you open to the idea of shutting the country down again? >> depending on the outbreak, yeah. that's happened as you know in a couple of countries. i'm watching other countries in

many cases, they're ahead of us from the standpoint that it attacked them before us, it hit them first. and i'm watching what's happening with respect to certain other countries, some of them obvious. some of them less obvious and what they are doing and the success that they are having. and that's going to play a large part of the role. we're also setting up a council, a very very great doctors and business people, we're going to be announcing it on tuesday, of some great people. >> second task force? >> this is beyond economic. this is really -- i call it the opening our country task force or opening our country council so we don't get it confused with mike's task force which has done so great. we're going to have the great business leaders, great doctors. we're going to have a great group of people. we'll probably do it by teleconference because we don't really want them travelling in for their own purposes. i don't think it would look good also, but we don't want them

traveling in. so we will do teleconference. we did one the other day with the banks, and it was very successful, the teleconference itself. we will be announcing names on tuesday, who is on that. that will play a role. but ultimately i will have to make that decision. then i will have to make a decision do we close a little area that's a hot spot? i do say this, jim, i want to get it open as soon as possible. this country was meant to be open, vibrant, not where people are staying -- >> [inaudible]. >> i would love to open it. i have not determined anything. the facts will determine what i do. but we do want to get the country open, so important. i will have a task force. i will have a council. it is going to be announced on tuesday with names that i have a lot of respect for, a lot of great names, different businesses, different people. >> bipartisan? >> bipartisan? i didn't even ask. honestly i think it is bipartisan. the one thing i didn't ask are

you republican or democrat? hard to believe but i didn't ask. i want their views on what they think. also very important different parts of the country. you go to the midwest, it is different than perhaps the east coast or the west coast. now, the west coast, those numbers are really pretty amazing on the west coast, very interesting. we're going to be announcing that in a very short while, probably tuesday. >> government officials in latin america and caribbean nations, cayman islands, bahamas have been saying that u.s. authorities are blocking the shipment of ppe in certain cases. i'm wondering if you could speak to that. >> we have a tremendous force out there, naval force, and we're blocking the shipment of drugs. so maybe what they are doing is stopping ships that they want to look -- we don't want drugs in our country, and especially with the over 160 miles of wall. it is getting very hard to get

through the border. they used to drive right through the border like they owned it and in a certain way they did. they could drive -- they had human trafficking. all of a sudden they have a powerful wall up and they are not driving through that wall. that wall is stuff, and it is also loaded up with equipment, ka cameras, sensors, everything you can think of. on top of that, we have drones flying back and forth over it. it is a very powerful barrier between mexico and the united states. a lot of people, though, what they're doing now is they are trying to come into the waterways, whether it's the gulf or the ocean itself. what we're doing is we're being very tough. we're being tough because of drugs and also human trafficking. the human trafficking is mostly females. it is mostly females. it is horrible. what we're seeing is horrible. we have a human trafficking problem worldwide, the likes of which, you know, you think of it as an ancient thing. it is not ancient.

it is bigger now than it's ever been before. over the last ten years because of the internet. the internet made human trafficking to the extent that it is now, which is massive, the internet made it so big, so we are -- we have a big naval force that's stopping, so maybe when you mentioned that, pain their ships are getting caught -- maybe their ships are getting caught. we are stopping a lot of ships and finding a lot of drugs. yeah, please? >> thank you sir. on small business, treasury secretary mnuchin speaking with the democrats in congress -- >> the new -- >> yeah, the new 250 billion dollars. are you willing to give into the democratic demands for, you know, additional money for hospitals, states and cities in that interim round -- >> i would rather have that be in phase four. i think it is fine. i think it should be in phase

four, and i think we should have infrastructure and a payroll tax moratorium because that's something that over a period of time the workers get, you know, sort of semi-immediately, over that period of time. it starts immediately, but it is over a period of time. and there are a lot of people i'm one of them that would have liked to have seen the payroll tax cut as a permanent cut, but we should do the double-edged, meaning business, employee, payroll tax cut, so we're talking about that. and i'm certainly okay with helping the states and helping the hospitals. i think -- look the hospitals need help. you have seen what they have gone through. the states need help. some states in particular need help, need big help. i'm willing to look at that very strongly, but looking at it in phase four. the 251 is actually -- the plan is working out well. the banks are getting started with the distribution. they are taking thousands and thousands of applications. the numbers aren't even

believable, the number of applications. they are swamped with bank of america and wells fargo and i guess citi bank is just now kicking in. and also, what nobody's talking about, the commercial banks, the community banks, everyone's talking commercial banks. the community banks are doing tremendous volumes and are probably doing them faster from what i understand. i heard community banks frankly are the easiest ones in terms of getting the money out. the money is getting out. the applications are far beyond what we ever anticipated. that's why we're going -- this is money that goes essentially to the workers. we want the businesses to hold on to their workers. once they lose the workers, they are never opening again. it is not going to happen. in the back? >> i'm from the "wall street journal." i'm wondering if you could expand a little bit on the form that mexico would take, the reimbursement, what form would that take? add it to the tab of the wall, you mentioned? i have a second question, if i

may. >> there's no real cost because we're agreeing to produce a little bit less. it is staying in the ground. you have it for another day. it is actually cheaper than storing it where you take it out and deliver it to massive well, like the strategic reserves, our national strategic reserves where it has to be brought there, and that's, you know, an expensive process in itself. but oil is getting to a point where i mean there are some areas, some people would say the water is more valuable than the oil. you never thought you were going to see that. you never thought having covered -- i know you cover it, you never thought you would see oil at $20 a barrel, but how about $10 a barrel. that you never thought you would see. we are looking at it very strongly. there's no real cost. i was helping -- i want to help mexico. we have a great relationship with mexico, great relationship with the president. i really like him a lot. he's been terrific to us on the border because he stopped -- you don't see the caravans coming up anymore. you don't see all the problems -- when i took office, it was unbelievable what was going on, and they are really --

they have been helping us a lot. and we've been helping them a lot, you know. they make product for us. they sell it to us. it's fine, a good relationship. sometimes it is a great relationship. so he could not have done any more than that. i think there was political reasons for that for him. that other nations don't have, they don't have that. the nations that we're talking about, the 22 other nations that we're talking about, they just don't have that problem. so it doesn't cost us anything, and yet it's very valuable. we will be reimbursed in the future, maybe in the near future, maybe in the more distant future, but we'll be reimbursed by mexico in a certain way, and it will be fine. but we get mexico over the hump. now with all of that being said, that doesn't mean the deal is going to happen anyway because they have a lot of different states. this was one of the stumbling blocks. okay? go ahead. >> china and some other countries have been particularly

active, seen as maybe taking advantage of the u.s. during this process, d urg this period, south china sea -- [inaudible], what's your message to some of these adversaries? >> look, the way i view it is this, china has taken advantage of the united states for 30 years. okay? i mentioned the world trade organization. china has taken advantage of us through that and using rules that are unfair to the united states, and they should have never been allowed -- this should have never been allowed to happen. when china joined and was allowed to join under those circumstances, the world trade organization, that was a very bad day for the united states because they had rules and regulations that were far different and far easier than our rules and regulations. plus, they took advantage of them down to the last -- and you know china, and you study china, and you know what i mean. they took advantage of them like

very few people would even think to take advantage of them. again, they are considered, right, a developing nation. we are not considered a developing nation. they are given advantages. okay. for many years, china has ripped off the united states. then i came along. right now as you know, china is paying 25 %. we have taken in billions and billions of dollars in tariffs from china. i know a lot of people kept saying oh no we're paying. we're not paying. countries are different. not every country is china. china would devalue their currency and also pour out money and they essentially were paying most of those tariffs, not us. we have taken in tens of billions of dollars. they targeted our farmers, but we took in so much money that i was able to give back -- one year it was 12 billion. one year it was 16 billion. i was able to give back our farmers the money that they were -- china bought 12 billion and 16 billion, one year 12, one

year 16. i was able to give them back the 12 and then give them back the 16, the farmers. they weren't targeted. they are all in business. now we're doing it because they got targeted in a different way. now i am going to be very interested to see. we signed a deal with china. under that deal they are supposed to buy substantially in excess of 200 billion dollars from us, that's not only farm product, it is manufacturing product, it is a lot of different things. they are going to buy a lot. i just want to see if they live up to that deal. i know president xi. i would say he would live up to the deal. remember this, i never took off the tariff. it's still 25%. that's a big -- 25% of 250 billion dollars. so for the first time, and you saw also -- now again, i'm going before the virus hit, because that's sort of like -- that's like let's start all over again. okay? i can't tell you that yet because that chapter hasn't been written yet. but go up a few weeks ago, the

deficit with the united states and china was coming way down. nobody's ever seen that before. but the deficit has come way down. so now we start a new chapter. i can only tell you if a smart person is standing where i'm standing, we're going to do very well with china. i have to also say this, i think our relationship and having the relationship i have with china is a good thing, but for the first time, we're benefitting instead of being the sucker that taken advantage for years. i said to them, representatives of china, at the top level, you know who i'm talking about, i say how did this ever happen? they looked at me and they said but nobody ever called us. we didn't have a deal. it's not like we had a bad deal. we had worse. we didn't have any deal at all.

so they just took advantage. think of it 5shg00 billion dollars a year definite. -- 500 billion dollars a year deficit. people say you mean 500 million. i said no, 500 billion dollars a year deficit with china. for a long time. it was 200, it was 300, 400, 556 billion, 507, 500 billion dollars plus a year deficit with china. now i'm charging them tariffs. and you know, it's very interesting. a lot of people that don't want to do that, they all agreed, because china has taken advantage of this country like nobody as ever taken -- we have built china with the money we gave them. now, i give them a lot of credit. okay? i give them a lot of credit. they did it. you know what? we made it a hell of a lot

easier. we gave them a fortune. go ahead. >> [inaudible]. i would like to ask a question for one of the reporters that couldn't be here because of social distancing. >> go ahead, a little louder. >> i was wondering the you had been tested for antibodies? >> have i been tested? not that i know of. i have had some tests. they tell me no. >> has anybody else on the task force been tested for antibodies? >> we don't have the tests. >> that will come out. they have just developed those tests. >> okay, good to know. this question is for brooklyn news week. [inaudible]. according to sources, boeing executives are still planning layoffs. should boeing or any companies accept federal aid to stay in business during this pandemic being penalized for laying off

workers after doing so? >> the aid hasn't been given yet. but they will be asking -- they haven't asked yet. i think they probably will. now, at the same time, they do have to run a company. you know, this isn't a great time to sell airplanes. let's not kid ourselves. okay? if you are a business person, boeing makes airplanes. they had a big problem with one, but they make the greatest airplanes. they make the best airplanes in the world. they had the problem with one. they got it too complex. it becomes so complex you have to be number one in your class at mit to be able to fly it, mistake. every two years they want to make it more and more. they had great success with the boeing 738. then all of a sudden they do the max, and they say let's make it more complicated. let's put on different engines, let's do this and that. it was not a very good decision, bad decision, horrible decision, number one human lives and

number two horrible is what's happened to the company. here's a company from a business standpoint that was probably the greatest company in the world, in my opinion. i think it amounts to 1% of gdp. some people say it is a half. i think it is 1. here's one of the greatest companies anywhere in the world -- maybe the greatest and boom. on top of what happened there with with two planes, they say they have it fixed, that's good. in fact, somebody said they gave me something -- i said you should say it that way. they said sir, this is now the safest airplane in the air. i said that's what you should say. that's a very good statement. it's the safest airplane in the air. that's a very good statement. you should use it. i said by the way you're changing the name? whether you do or not, you should use that. a boeing person said to me it is the safest airplane in the air. that's a great thing. we know they are going to need

help. does that mean they are going to need help and they should keep people they don't need? that business is a very cyclical business, like many businesses frankly. that determination hasn't been made. they have not spoken to us yet. i think they will be. maybe they won't need help. look, boeing made so much money -- who would have thought they could have made all those planes that are parked all over the place, in many cases i guess payments not made, but who would have thought they could do that and they're still a solvent company, okay? i mean what a tragic thing happened in numerous ways, but also economically. so when they see us making sure that boeing is strong again is very very powerful and very important, and we will do whatever necessary is to do. >> quick one and then a longer one. >> should we keep this going, everybody? keep it going for a while?

you're not going to criticize me that the conference was too long? if i leave it short, it was too short. if i stay too long, they say it was too long. some day we're going to get it just right. should we continue? >> at least answer my question. >> okay, at least your question. [laughter] >> have you had a chance to speak with boris johnson? >> no, i have not. i have called to wish him well to his group. i don't want to be calling him now. i want him to get better. he's a great guy, a real friend of mine. he has a great feeling for our country, obviously for his country, he loves it. he's a tremendous guy. i think he's probably right now -- i think he might be 100% popularity right now. you know, they talk about approval polls, right? ever heard that term? i'm sure you never heard that.

i hear it all the time. his approval rating must be about 300%. he's a great guy. he was a great guy before, and i think people see what he has been through. they say a big turn, let's see what happens. let's hope. >> where do you see the use of something like immunities, once we get antibody testing, whether this would be a useful way -- >> i see a lot of different things. we're going to be very careful for who comes into the country. look, my opposition party wants to have open borders. this is a case where i'm very glad that my position is i don't want open borders. i want very strong borders. that includes not only on our southern border with mexico and you could also say our northern border with canada. but we want to have strong borders. and i think this is maybe of the

learning points. we learned something about borders. we need borders. the country needs borders to be a great country. and this is -- i think this is a great point. do you have something else? >> ordinary americans who are currently stuck at home, if they are tested for antibodies, they had the disease and therefore shouldn't be infected again, some sort of documentation that would allow them to go back to work safely? >> you mean once they get better? if they have the disease, and they're better, and they have the immunity now, they have -- supposedly according to what i'm hearing, it could be for a long period -- it could be for a lifetime. it could also be for a year or two. i'm hearing tony. nobody has told me yet if it is for a year, for two years or if it is for a lifetime. like chickenpox, they say if you have it, you have immunity they say for a lifetime. i hope that's true. but nobody's actually told me with certainty maybe because they don't know yet -- >> don't know yet >> you don't know yet.

this is new. this came upon us. nobody knew. they do know you have it for a period of time. and it's strong for a period of time. they don't know -- hence the antibodies that we're making. i saw somebody was really sick, and he got better, a relatively young person, 35, and physically fit, you know, and he got better. he made it, barely, but he made it. the first thing that he did when he was better was i want to give whatever i can give to help other people because nobody should go through it. it is a tough thing. so we don't know yet how long -- if you would like to add anything to that, but we don't know yet -- is it a year? it will be a year, but is it more than a year? and only time is going to tell. okay? thank you. >> one more question. >> will you have governors, mayors, members of congress on the open the country council you talked about? >> yeah, i think so. i think we will put some

governors -- i have gained great respect for governors both republican and democrat. i have become friends with some of the democrat governors that i wouldn't have had the privilege of getting to know. governor murphy of new jersey is a very liberal guy. i'm not. but we've had a great relationship. john bell as you know, i call him john bell, john bell edwards, people call him john bell, sort of a cool name, from louisiana, i have a very good relationship with him. gavin newsom, honestly, i think -- we're fighting right now. i want automobiles to be made cheaper and safer and stronger, but you save 3, 4,000 dollars per -- and environmental equal or better maybe, and we're fighting on that. we're fighting on a lot of different things. we fight on the border. he wants open borders. i want people to come into our country legally. but i've gotten very friendly

with gavin newsom. he's done a very good job. he's been sort of a friend of mine for a long time, don't get to see him much, but governor cuomo of new york, we talk all the time. i tell you, literally the last call just before walking in here. i've really developed a lot of good friendships with the governors, including governors i think mike dewine, republican, but i think he's done a great job in ohio. i want to put on both parties. i want to have some governors. i'm not going to have all of the governors, but i would like to put some representative governors on the council. i have asked a couple of them. so far everybody has said yes. i think everybody would like to be on the council. it is a very important council. go ahead in the back. >> thank you, mr. president. two questions, if i may. do you have a message to those pastors who are still planning to have easter services, defying

the guidelines? >> you are going to have to say it louder. to those -- >> to those pastors who are still planning to have easter services, in person? >> oh, pastors. i didn't understand your word. you have a very nice voice, but it is a little bit low and you are far back. i have had talks with the pastors and most of the pastors agree, it is a very complex subject, let's face it, if for obvious reasons, i don't have to go into it, most of the pastors agree that they are better off doing what they are doing which is distancing. they feel that let's get this over with, and they want to get back to church so badly. i mean, can you imagine? easter sunday, i'm going to be watching pastor robert jeffers who has been a great guy, i tell you, he's been a great guy. i will be watching on a laptop. now a laptop is not the same as being in his church or being in another church. it is not.

no matter what you say, but i've done this for three weeks, and i've had tremendous -- i let people know who it is. they have had the biggest audiences they have ever had. they have millions of people are watching. people are liking what they are hearing. i will be with on easter pastor -- i don't know if he knows it yet, but he will soon, i think he will in about two minutes. pastor robert jeffers, and he's a terrific guy, a terrific man. i have gotten to know him very well. he's a man of great compassion. he loves our country. i'm going to be with him on easter, meaning i'm going to be with him watching on a laptop. doesn't sound good, but it's, you know, it's one of those things. it cannot be church -- i'm not going to get into it. it cannot be church -- most pastors and most people of faith, people that we listen to and respect and admire franklin graham is a person i have great respect for, most people will -- who has done an incredible job

in new york on central park where they put up samaritan's purse, he's done an incredible job. the son of late great billy graham, his family is incredible. he's incredible. franklin graham, the job he's doing on -- i mean, he loves to do it. he has such a passion. and that's why he's so good at it. he does it with incredible love. and he will tell you, we're all saying we've got to get our country cured. i know there are some pastors and ministers and others that want to get together. i would -- and i have great respect for them. two of them i know. but i would say, first, i'm a christian, heal our country. let's get healed before we do this. and there's time to do that. we will do it for hopefully the rest of our lives. please? >> thank you. the mercy and the comfort seem to be underutilized in los angeles and new york. is there any consideration

either to sending the medical units into the cities to help the hospitals there or to move in the hospitals -- >> yes, so the mercy and the comfort were sent when projections were much higher, and i say, tony backed it up. deborah made the statement. they said you are not going to need these many rooms, but we wanted to be prepared. i mean, we had the ships. they did an incredible job. the comfort was supposed to be in maintenance for a period of four weeks, and they had it done in three and a half, four days, and it came up. we had it there. if there was a disaster from the standpoint of you needed -- i will tell you the javits center, andrew will tell you, we were ready to go. it is incredible the job they did. but they are using less beds -- this is a good thing, not a bad thing. they are using less beds. javits has been pretty busy over the last few days.

the death numbers are horrific, but you go back now and you are finding they are going to start to come down very substantially based on the fact that the number of beds are much much less, much much less. so the mercy and the comfort were there in case they needed them. los angeles where you have the one and new york where you have the other, they just don't -- fortunately we haven't hit numbers where they would have -- they would have been used. they were always going to be sort of overflow because they are on the edges, you know, they are not as convenient as certain places, be but the people were ready, willing and able, they were ready to go, they were going to do a great job, but fortunately, we don't need -- just like we didn't need as many ventilators when they were asking in new york for 40,000 ventilators, i had experts, these people, i listen to them, they said you will never need that many, and they were right. new york now has -- and i've

dealt really well with mayor de blasio. we got them a lot of ventilators. we never felt they needed the numbers they were talking about. we were right about that. with all of that being said, we have a lot of ventilators ready to go. we have almost 10,000 in the stockpile. that 10,000 can move rapidly. we can be within 24 hours almost anywhere. and hopefully we're not going to have to be, but it is just -- itit e it's really -- this has been a great military operation. it hasn't all been military, because we're dealing with great companies. we have companies that are making masks, and we're all set up on the masks too. i just told you we have an order coming in soon, 500 million masks, 500 million. we have companies, you know, 3m, gm, but 3m doing a great job. i spoke to the ceo the other day. we settled it out. we had a dispute with them. and it's now all settled. and i think they're trying to show the country something,

maybe me, but the country something. so we've done, you know, i think -- i'm not talking about -- this country, our country, the people that are doing it, the army corps of engineers, fema, people sitting right here, people we have in the back that are watching every word that we're saying, they've done a fantastic job. they really have done a fantastic job. please? >> thank you, mr. president. i wanted to ask you a question about testing. you mentioned the possibility of testing entire american public -- >> what do we have? 350 million people? >> that's not what i'm getting at. what i'm getting at is priorities. dr. birx has mentioned how there have been priorities in certain regional parts of the country. i wanted to ask you specifically about one industry in particular. and that's food processing plants. is there a priority to get testing at food processing plants all across the country?

>> you're asking that because of what happened -- it's a fair question too -- what happened in denver because in denver, i've never seen -- i said what's going on? we're looking at this graph where everything is looking beautiful and it's coming down and then you have this one spike. i said what happened to denver? and many people, very quickly, and by the way, they were on it like so fast you wouldn't believe it. they knew every aspect. they had people go in not only testing, who did you see? where were you? how many people did you meet? were you out to dinner in somebody else's home? where were you? where did this number of people come from? they are totally on it. this just happened. i just saw it this morning. i'm looking at everything smooth, going down, topping out, then you have this one spike in denver. it is like where did this come from? >> so we'll be looking at that, and we don't want cases like that happening. this kind of thing can happen.

this is very complex. it is a very brilliant enemy. you know, it is a brilliant enemy. they develop drugs like the antibiotics. you see it. antibiotics used to solve every problem. now one of the biggest problems the world has is the germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can't keep up with it. they are constantly trying to come up with new. people go to a hospital, they go for a heart operation, that's no problem, but they end up dying from problems, you know, the problems i'm talking about. there's a whole genius to it. we're fighting not only is it hidden but it is very smart. okay? it is invisible. it's hidden, but it's very smart. you see that in a case like denver. you know, i think we're doing well. they're on denver like you wouldn't believe. i came in this morning, it was a flurry. i said what's going on? they said denver. i said what happened to denver because denver was doing pretty

well. they've got that under control, but yeah, that would be a case where you do some big testing. >> we've learned that more than 16 million americans filed for unemployment over the past three week. it is good friday. it is payday. we're seeing troubling paralyzing lines at food banks around the country. what do you say to those americans in need right at this moment? >> number one, i love them. number two, we're working really hard. it wasn't their fault, what happened. sometimes they don't do a good job, and they lose their job. that's one thing. this is a case where we take the strongest economy in the history of the world, which is what we had. more people working in the united states than ever before. i mean, look at the numbers, just short of 160 million people. so we have the greatest economy we have ever had. by the way, black unemployment, hispanic unemployment, asian unemployment, the best numbers we have ever had in virtually

every way, and then you get hit like this, and it's traumatic. people that had great jobs, that went out to dinner and they didn't have any problems, taking their family, making good salaries, all of a sudden, you use the term cold turkey. it is cold turkey. they go from that to having no money and waiting for their checks which are being processed very rapidly. they have go out and look for money. it is a terrible thing. all i say is we love them. we're working so hard and they're going to be back. and i hope they will be back even stronger than before. >> let me ask you about that. you chose not to do a national stay at home order. now that you say you want to reopen parts of the economy. what authority do you have to do that? isn't it ultimately up to the states to do that? >> no, it is really -- the states can do things if they want. i can override it if i want. but the national stay at home, just so you understand, 95% of the country is stay at home.

as an example, i was speaking with the great governor of texas, greg abbott the other day, he has a stay at home. a lot of people didn't even know it. but he had a stay at home. some people reported texas wasn't -- he actually had a very strong stay at home. 95 to 96 percent, south carolina as you know has it, which at one point a week ago they didn't have, south carolina, another great governor, mcmaster. no, 95% of the country is covered. now, the states that aren't, and again, constitutionally from a federalist standpoint, if i thought there was a problem, if i saw a state with a problem, i would absolutely demand it, but they're doing great. and the states that aren't are states that have not had a big problem. >> what authority do you have to reopen right now? the same way that the states shut it down -- >> i have great authority if i want to use it. i would rather have the states use it. this is so shocking -- a lot of

people are saying wow, he's really very reasoned, isn't he? a lot of people are shocked. i have absolute authority to use it. but so far our relationship with governors and the job they are doing, i haven't had to do it. would i do it if i saw a state out of control and they didn't have the stay at home policy? i would do it in a heart beat. >> there's obviously a lot of interest in how you are going to make that decision. what -- >> it's a very big decision. i don't know that i've had a bigger decision than that when you think; right? somebody said it is totally up to the president. i saw this morning. it is totally up -- and it is. i don't know that i've had a bigger decision, but i am going to surround myself with the greatest minds, not only the greatest minds, but the greatest minds in numerous different businesses including the business of politics and reason, and we're going to make a decision. hopefully it is going to be the right decision. i will say this, i want to get it open as soon as i can. we have to get our country open.

>> what metrics will you use to make that decision >> the metrics right here, that's my metrics. that's all i can do. i can listen to 35 people. at the end, i've got to make a decision. and i didn't think of it until yesterday. i said, you know, this is a big decision. but i want to be guided. i'm going to be guided by them. i'm going to be guided by our vice president. i'm going to make a decision based on a lot of different opinions. some will maybe disagree and some -- i would love to see it where they don't disagree. will there be risks? there will always be a risk that something could flare up. look what's happening where countries are trying to get open and there's a flare up -- but i would like the flare up to be localized so we can control it from a local standpoint without having to close. there's always a risk. this is genius that we're fighting. we're fighting this hidden enemy which is genius. okay? it is genius. the way it's attacked so many

countries and so many different angles, i mean, you take a look at what's going on, and the greatest doctors in the world i think they are close by the way but they haven't figured it out yet. look at what it's done to some people. i mean some people it's grabbed and it's a horrible, horrible a way to go. you want to know the truth. it is a horrible -- and other people it hardly has an effect on, we talked about it, sniffles. they don't even know they had anything. and some people -- i looked at new york this morning, and i look at what's happening and e the -- and the amount of people that are dying, violently dying. it is a very tough adversary, but we're going to win, and we're going to win it very decisively. i am going to have to make a decision, and i only hope to god that it's the right decision. but i would say without

question, it's the biggest decision i've ever had to make. >> could i follow up with the doctors, if i may? the models as i understand them, are based on social distancing continuing through may. is that correct? and if you were to open the economy on may 1st, or sometime during that month, would that impact the model in terms of the deaths -- [inaudible]. >> do you want to answer that? >> so the model, ihme model does state that it is through may. every model -- we've had these model discussions, haven't we, for weeks now. so the models are informed by the data. you can see how much that model has shifted on the amazing work of the american people. so i think that's what we're evaluating right now. remember, when i talked

yesterday, i've been in public health a long time. i have never -- except for ebola where we worked very closely with the communities about specific issues, we've never taken a country wide or a global wide approach to mitigation. this is unprecedented. i will tell you there is nothing in the literature about specifically what to expect, and i think that's why the models continue to modify themselves, based on what actually has happened with social distancing and hand washing and all of the pieces that the american people are doing, the decreasing, the closing of the bars, the closing of the restaurants, no communal eating, that was thought to be a very big issue, in many of the other cultures that went through this virus. the models continue to evolve based on the impact. and so therefore, it makes it very difficult to interpret each component of social distancing and which ones are absolutely critical. now, there's away to do that in

multivaried analysis potentially. i want everybody to understand there are states that are tested. there are states that are doing contact tracing. i think sometimes we get -- you know, we look at what new york is doing and detroit, and we forget there's a utah and a new mexico and a north and south dakota and a whole series of states that are doing testing and contact tracing and have been testing at rates higher than that per capita rate that we all have discussed. so we're looking at that. what did they do? where are the most vulnerabilities? where are the outbreaks most likely to occur? that's why i have been talking about nursing homes because we do believe that there's a relationship between age and seriousness of disease. not to say that there can't be young people with serious disease, but proportionally, it's a smaller piece with serious disease. and so when you have that kind of spectrum where the older and the more complicated, the higher the severity, you get the impression there may be more

asymptomatic in younger age groups. that's where the antibody tests comes in. when you put all these pieces together, you are trying to understand where would be the first signal? so we have surveillance out there right now with the cdc's influenza-like illness. i hope you are all tracking that. it is showing these small changes. i think we can believe in that as a surveillance tool married with the syndrome piece, giving us the insight about where to test and where to proactively test, nursing homes and other vulnerable groups because that has been the signal in a series of the states that have very very low prevalence and incidents of disease. that's the kind of factors we're putting all together, to really define the best way forward. we have superb road maps. i hope you have seen them. there's been about six different road maps to opening, and again, there's no literature that you

can cite and say well we did this 20 years ago and what really worked. there isn't that. there's brilliant public health people giving us their insight. >> because those are the molls you have been using -- are the models you have been using, if you start opening up the economy again -- [inaudible]. >> looked a how much it changed with mitigation. -- look at how much it changed with mitigation. we looking at that state by state. we're looking at the impact of that model and what that model predicted based on the type of contact tracing, less mitigation, more contact tracing. are you getting what i'm talking about? okay. so there are states that didn't stay at home orders but were doing contact tracing from outbreaks. so we're looking at them and what they have done and looking at what's happening in the big

metro areas, and we're integrating that data together to make a plan going forward. so i can't tell you because look at how much the model has changed in just a week. remember, just a week ago, it was 80,000. now it's 60,000. so -- and the curve, i'm sure you are watching it. the curves are getting much broader confidence intervals. there is still the dotted line, but the confidence intervals around the dotted line are getting bigger. when you see that, you know the model has a bit of instability. that's why tony and i base a lot of our decision and discussion on cases, and what physically is happening in that county and that state, at the same time, not ignoring the models, but integrating the models is one piece of our thought process. do you want to come up here and say what you think about models? >> dr. birx -- >> i just wanted to say that you talked about couldn't it lead to death, meaning you open up, could it lead to death? you are right. but you know what? staying at home leads to death

also. and it's very traumatic for this country. but staying at home if you look at numbers, that leads to a different kind of death, perhaps, but it leads to death also. so it's a very big decision. the biggest decision i will make. we will do a couple more. >> thank you, mr. president. you said you talked to governor cuomo before you came out here. at the news conference today he said he was asking you to use the defense production act to require companies to make more tests, to streamline testing. is that something that you would consider because you considered it with ventilators -- >> you know, the other side seems to keep using that. i have used it. i have enacted it, you do know. i've used it some people thought viciously, just ask a couple of companies, if you want, you can look up the names, and i'm surprised that he would have said that.

we actually have great tests. we have others under development. you don't need full testing as the doctors have been talking about, ad nauseam. so i would be surprised that he would have said that, meaning it that way. if he did, i'd have a much different type answer. go ahead. >> did you talk about it? >> we did talk about testing. one of the things i did was i put the two doctors in charge of that call. i said, you know what, andrew? i have two very talented people standing here. we're getting ready to go on. let me have them talk to you. they talked to him really at length. i think by the time they finished, he understood what he was -- what we were saying. he understood it very clearly. okay? >> one more question, please. you've talked a lot this week about holding the world's health organization responsible for its response to the coronavirus. i'm curious if you have given any more thought to holding china financially responsible

for the part that it played and the economic toll that it's taking on the american people. >> yeah. i understand the question very well. look, nobody has done to china or treated china as strongly as i have. i will use the word strongly. as you know, you have reported on it, billions and billions of dollars is flowing into our treasury because of what i have done with china. i think it's a very sad thing that happened. and i think if people knew including the world health organization and i do believe they knew, but they didn't want to tell the world, and we're going to get to the bottom of it. and we'll have reports on all of this, and we are not happy about it, but i wanted to leave the world health for later. and i can tell you that we're constantly in touch with china. we are talking to china. we've expressed how we felt. we're not happy about it. we're not happy about it at all.

okay. one or two more. yeah? >> mr. president, we hear from a lot of people who see these briefings as sort of happy talk briefings. and -- >> no happy talk today. >> -- you and some of the officials paint a rosy picture of what is happening around the do we have enough masks, do we have enough test, no, do we have enough ppe, no. >> why would you say no. the answer is yes, who said no to that. >> who said no, you ask if we have enough masks, yes, you don't say that. you said do we have enough masks, yes, do have enough test, he asked, plus were developing new test. do we have enough ventilators, yes, do we have enough hospital beds, yes, we have 20000 hospital beds, we have enough hospital beds. go ahead jim, let's go. >> you watch the coverage --

>> a lot of it is fake news. >> the doctors and the medical -- >> the governors who reported. >> they always say that otherwise you will not put them on. the governors have said last night, they had a group of governors, 14 governors and they said it's been unbelievable what has happen, we've been totally responsive, ventilators, everyone has the ventilators and were getting calls from foreign countries pain you have all the ventilators, can we get some, we will try to help some of these countries. these people have done an incredible job, this is not happy talk, maybe it's happy talk for you but not for me. were talking about death, were talking about the greatest economy in the world, one day it we have to close it off, we did the right thing because maybe it would've been 2 million people dying instead of the final number which could be 60 or 70

could be 75, thousands of people have died. there is nothing happy about it, this is sad talk, these are the saddest news conferences that i've ever had, i do not like doing them. you know why because i'm talking about death, i'm talking about taking the greatest economy ever created and we have the greatest numbers we've ever had in a most every aspect of economics from employment to companies, look at the airlines having the best year end now we have to save them. there is no happy talk, this is the real deal, i have to make the biggest decision of my life and i've only started thinking about that, i made a lot of big decisions over my life you understand that, this is by far the biggest decision of my life because i have to say, okay, let's go. >> when you have hospital ministry or. >> you have many doctors that they unbelievable job, i watched this morning and i watched a

certain network and it was not fox and you had doctors that were saying we've done an incredible job, you just read off no, no, no, we have ventilators, we have equipment, we have beds, how about beds, governor cuomo just told me a little while ago that he has plenty of beds in their having her time filling javits center, we built 2900 beds, so that is not a fair question -- >> when you talk about reusing ppe you obviously don't -- >> excuse me, we have masks, we have everything and we were trying to get ready for the surge and a lot of people said it will never happen, deborah said it, you will never need that many beds. they said we needed 40000 ventilators, 40000 like building a car, 40000 ventilators. i felt it too, you will never need that many, guess what we have and be of the world in

terms of ventilators, germany would like some, france would like some, we will help countries out, spain needs him desperately, italy needs them desperately, mexico needs him desperately, he asked me last night would be possible to get 10000 ventilators and within a short period of time i'll be able to help out mexico, just the opposite of your question, it is not no, no, no, it's yes, yes, yes. we are in great shape. what is happening now is the numbers are horrible but take a look at the number of beds, we have beds available all over new york, new york been the epicenter. new york has experienced something that has been absolutely horrific. i saw those people being buried yesterday, fortunately we have the beds and you can speak to mary de blasio and governor cuomo, people