that happened to be our class period. my son is a freshman who had been in that building earlier that day for two classes. >> the band was one of six nationwide selected for the concert. good luck to them. thanks for joining us, here's shep. shg it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 at the white house. president trump is set to hold a news sfrans during this news hour, it comings as he blasts democrats over immigration deshgs nies there's any chaos in his administration. still, the president says more people may be on the way out. and he's pushing for new import taxes as fellow republicans object. >> we think the proper approach is a surge skal approach to not have unintended consequences. >> shepard: can the house speaker get the president to agree? there's word today that north korea is offering to hold talks with the united states and stop testing nukes. of course we do not yet know whether the dictator kim jong-un is serious. president trump called it a positive development.

let's get to it. >> announcer: now shepherd smith reporting live from the fox newsdesk. >> shepard: first, this tuesday afternoon, a live look at the white house. president trump stoet hold a news conference, start time one-half hour from now, we will bring it to you live. the. said there may be progress in talks between north and south korea. >> president trump: we have come a long way, at least rhetorically, with north kree a it would be a great thing for the world, for north korea, for the pence ta. >> shepard: after north korean officials said the dictator kim jong-un is willing to talk about the nuclear program and put testing on hold during possible negotiations with the united states. the president called it a positive step, said we'll see what happens. the director of national intelligence is still skeptical about trying to negotiate with the north. more on the comments ahead. first, the chief white house correspondent, john roberts, live on the north lawn.

good afternoon. we hope to hear from the president when he meets with the swedish prime minister in the east roochl of the white house for a joint press conference. i remember in hanoi in november, my phone rang sitting outside the presidential palace waiting for president trump to arrive, it was trump on the phone. among the things we spoke about was north korea and his approach to it. the president saying everyone thinks i'm trying to start a war. what i'm trying to do is prevent a war. so this could be the opening that the president has been looking for. the fact that north korea says that it will get together with south korean officials, this is kim jong-un, in south korea on the south korean side of the border crossing there. in late may. then potentially sit down with the united states for talks about denuclearization of the

clee an peninsula. hear's the president a short time ago. >> president trump: i'd like to be optimistic. but i think this has gone further than anyone has taken it before. no one is has been this position. this should have been handled by many different administrations. this is not the right time handle it. but these are the cards we were dealt, we ee handling it properly. as i said, hopefully we'll go in the very, very peaceful, beautiful path we're prepared to go, which ever path is necessary. i think we're having very good dialogue and you're going to certainly find out pretty soon what is happening. we have made progress. there's no question about it. >> we have made progress, no question about it. the president saying part of what made this possible was north koreas participation in the olympics. the president took some credit for making the olympics a success in pyeongchang, south korea. unlike the vice president who

was critical of north korea and participation in the olympics, the president had nice things to say. listen here. >> president trump: i thought north korea was terrific. they came out, they went into the olympics, they went in with good spirit, they did well. let's see if we can carry it over. we may carry it over, it may not. it's a very tenuous situation. very interesting to see what happens. >> very interesting to see what happens. now, again, the north is not agreed to the parameter for talks or even to have talks. just saying it's interested in doing it. but, shep, in late may when we see kim jong unl sit down with south korea, could be the opening that everyone is looking for the really ratchet down tensions on the korean peninsula. >> shepard: the president is at odds with members of his own party over plans for tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. paul ryan said the taxes are too broad and could lead to

retaliation from other countries. >> we're encouraging the administration to focus on what is clearly a legitimate problem and to be more surgical to go after the true abusers without collateral damage. >> shepard: speaker ryan is xwerntd consequences of a trade par. war. more reaction from lawmakers ahead. president trump is not backing down on his plan for tariffs, 25% on steel and 10% aluminum and does not expect there will be a trade war. some u.s. allies have threatened to put taxes on american products if the president goes through with his plan. john roberts back at the white house. what's the latest john? >> the president is probably hearing about it with the swedish prime minister, we hope to ask him about this at the press offense. the. ure ryan commission -- you are a pea an commission phoned vice president levin ahead of the meeting with the president,

to say if the president goes ahead with the tariffs on steel the eu is prepared to retaliate, with punitive penalties on american goods manufactured in some key republican drebts distributes. -- districts. this would be motorcycles, jeans, and bourbon among other things. there you're targeting wisconsin with motorcycles, kentucky with bourbon and jeans made several places across the united states. the president is holding out an opening for canned da and mexico -- canada and mexico. if they can come up with a better deal on nafta, maybe they might be excluded from these tariffs. listen to the treasury secretary earlier on capitol hill. >> to the extent we're successful in renegotiating nafta, those tariffs won't apply the mexico and canada. we look forward to the president releasing the specific details and working with other people. we're not looking to get into trade wars, we are looking to make sure that u.s. companies can compete fairly around the

world. >> not looking to get into trade wars, but don't forget what the president tweeted last week, trade wars are easy to win. but tariffs on their goods and penalize them for their trade practices, and eventually you'll win that battle. but he's getting a lot of disagreement on that, shep, from people in his own party. >> shepard: john, president trump warning of a possible staff shakeup inside the white house. this is from the president himself. he tweeted this morning, the new fake news narrative is that there's chaos in the white house. wrong. people will always come and go and i want strong dialogue before making a final decision. i still have some people that i want to change, always seeking perfection he said parenthetically. there is no chaos, only great energy. john ronts back at the white house, john roberts, the reports differ. >> the what, shep? >> shepard: the reports have been contrary to that particular narrative. >> yeah. you know, well, hope hicks is the latest one to leave.

talk about whether general mcmaster might be on the way out. people here at the white house saying he's not leaving this month or next month. but there is a lot of churn in this white house, no question about that. perhaps more than any other white houses in the past. i want to go back to yesterday, sam nunn berg, former aid to the trump campaign, less than two months before he was fired by the president for raciallytinged posts on his facebook page. he had what a lot of people are saying was a meltdown yesterday, talking about his time talking to investigators, special counsel's office, he was going to refuse to abide by subpoena sent to him to appear before a grand jury and produce a lot of e-mails. his testimony was all over the place yesterday. not his testimony, but his interviews were all over the place yesterday. there was collusion, there wasn't collusion, mierl has got something on. trump, president trump might

have done something during the election but i don't know for sure. not sure where it's going but the latest word from nunberg is that he will comply with the s subpoena and appear before the grand jury. something else, not a big deal, the office of special counsel, not mueller, sent a report to the white house saying kellyanne conway last year in interviews violated the hatch act which separates the political wing -- separates the government wing of the white house from doing political activities. the report, the osc said the first interview, kellyanne conway did, she advocated against one senate candidate and gave implied endorsement of another candidate. in the second interview advocated for the defeat of one candidate and election of another candidate. talking about the alabama senate race. both insfanss constituted prohibited political activity under the hatch act and occurred after conway received significant training on hatch

act prohibitions. the white house, kellyanne conway did not advocate for or against a candidate, she expressed the president's opinion that he had people in the house and senate that support his agenda. kellyanne's comments showing she complied with the hatch act from hogan gibley white house deputy press secretary. alley ann conway was, quote, counselled by the white house when she made a comment about i vank a trump's clothing line. i think if she gets any comments from the president, it will be merely a slap on the cyst. >> shepard: great to see you. rex tillerson pushing countries to keep the pressure on north korea despite signs of what the president called possible progress. as i mentioned, word that kim

jong-un is open to talking to the united states and open to halting his nuclear testing program while the talks are under way. chiefs were on capitol hill where they told kwon gres they're skeptical about the apparent offer. >> i've seen nothing to take me down a path to think he's about ready to make hard right turn. but that possibility is there. >> we saw the news this morning relative to north korea, hope springs eternal, but we need to learn a lot more relative to the talks and we will. >> shepard: so far it's just talk. one of the intelligence chiefs said he would advise president trump to proceed with caution, that the united states should engage in talks with north korea. talks north korea, that's new and very different. rich is live at the state department. you wonder how real it is. the signs on the ground seem to be otherwise, don't they? >> right, shep. this is what the united states and the state department are trying to assess, the sincerity.

doesn't seem like the u.s. will take promise of a discussion of denuclearization. it moves it along. but, again, as the sincerity is concerned they're not sure get. mike penls said in a statement, quote, all options are on the table and our posture will not change until we see credible, ver viable, and concrete stems toward deknew clee arization. officials say the u.s. has had talks with north korea, usually to have north korea go back on the agreements. others in the administration are saying they're going to continue that maximum pressure campaign. getting allies, some adversaries, to isolate north korea diplomatically in an attempt to draw kim jong-un to the negotiation table for sincere, actual negotiations. it's unclear if this is that. south korean government delivered this offer, first time

that kim jong-un had met with officials from south korea. the south korean president has made better relations with north korea a priority. he ran on that, part of that was the olympic issue that you saw there, where south korea and north korea got together in the opening ceremonies and for a joint hockey team. >> shepard: what do the north koreans say they want out of this? >> north korea honestly, it's unclear, specifically what they want. they say they want security. it's unclear what they want. we do know in previous statements they wanted the u.s. out of the korean peninsula. >> shepard: rich live at the state department, thank you. more ahead from the president's tariff plan and criticism from members of his own party. the thoughts of his donor base. their objections and where they say they want the president to go from here. that's coming up from the fox newsdesk as we wait for president trump's news conference scheduled about 15 minutes from now. we will have interest for you in its entirety without commercial

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>> we have a negative impact. mcconnell spoke on behalf of fellow gop senators a short time ago. >> many of our members are discussing with the administration just how broad, how sweeping this might be. and there's a high level of concern about interfering with what appears to be an economy that's taking off in every respect. >> o'connell said there's concerns this could 34e tas ta size into a full-blown trade war, conversations between the republicans and the white house take place. >> shepard: the top democrat said he thinks the president is right to go after china. >> that's absolutely right, we have heard that from chuck schumer and other democrats, praising president trump for wanting to step up on behalf of american workers.

but they're essentially saying his proposal on new tariffs need work. >> i think china has taken terrible advantage of america over the last decade or two and don't play fair. the trouble, we don't know what the details will be, so i don't want to make any final comment. it seems initially it's not well targeted. >> congress does not appear to have power to stop the president. he was legally required to notify congress but after that, it is believed he's pretty much halls the power to do what he wants. >> shepard: mike emanuel at the rotunda, thank you. why is president trump breaking with republicans on those import taxes? why do republican leaders and the president differ on strategy? well, some strategists say it's part of a bigger plan to set himself up in some key battle ground states ahead of the 2020 election. people would stare.

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now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. planned trar riffs are not just about policy, it's politics accord torg some analysts. they say he's concentrating on michigan, pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, all of which he won in 2016. he needs to carry those states again should he have a second determine in 2020. jesse burns, associate editor at "the hill." this is politics, and this is supposed to resonate in those places? >> well, yeah, those are the blue wall states, the states for years, sometimes decades, were reliably blue, now trump is stoking support. manufacturing bases, trying to say, look, i'm the same candidate that ran in 2016, looking forward to the american worker, putting america first and trying to stoke the same

things again a couple of years away from re-election. >> shepard: does he have concerns the people who live in knows states, like the ones everywhere else, may see higher costs on products if a trade war begins? >> that is one of the concerns that we're seeing from republicans. of course the republican party is largely free trade party, orthodoxy for years has been to push back on such steve tariffs that trump is advocating. in areas like wisconsin, we see harly davidson, paul ryan's home state, is based there. one of the resources that the european union is starting to impose tariffs on if trump goes through with these steel import tariffs. we will be impacted, and the republicans are giving a general consumer, to see higher prices. >> shepard: corporationles have a voice in this, often it goes through the speaker's office. are we hearing any echos of corporate america in there? >> yeah, we're definitely seeing some corporations come out, pushing back on this, of course,

trade groups, afl-cio and labor unions coming out in support of this, trying to rally their workers across the country in support of this. but of course there's executives, trump has a lot of business ties, many of the people in his administration, gary cone, former goldman-sachs executive, now at the top xikive advisor, getting into the president's ear and say, look, this is what is going to have huge ramifications if you go through with it. of course there are other voices in the administration, wilbur ross, who for the last few years has been encouraging trump to pursue this aggressive strategy. there's mixed signals even from the administration itself. >> shepard: interesting to hear he's almost as if he's attacking canada after the russians attacked us and he didn't mention it. the word that his own warner used was warfare on the part of the russians. has there been any condemnation fgts russians, any attempt to

stop the russians in future meddling? >> well, yeah, i think that we're seeing this russia probe escalating at the same time trump is trying to voice and flex his control over one thing, trade in this case. there's huge issues that he is unilaterally making announcements on or trying to voice support working with democrats in congress while this escalating russia probe is downgoing. we haven't seen any indication from the administration they're going to pursue those sanctions, congress passed last year. >> shepard: do we know why not? >> we don't have any real indication from the administration. full-throated reasoning why. they have worked with state officials across the country on making sure that they have provided safeguards for the upcoming elections. but we have seen some concern on capitol hill after the secretary rogers' testimony last week, two weeks ago, saying trump himself

hasn't directed him to necessarily make added protections. there's definitely different pulses going on. >> shepard: jesse burns associate editor at "the hill." >> thank you, shep. >> shepard: we expect the president to speak at a news conference with the swedish prime minister, a few minutes from now. you heard all that's on john roberts' plate and that from jesse burns. we'll bring that when it happens. reporters waiting to ask questions on a range of topics, including the recent developments involving north korea. but first. >> that is not good. >> shepard: no, that is definitely not good. not good at all. this is bismarck, north dakota. a garbage truck sliding sideways after a snowstorm. and in the northeast, in like a lion, march is not about to be nice. folks all up and down the eastern see board, 40 million people in the line of a crazy

nor easter that's set to slam the region in just, like, tomorrow. amtrak is already cancelling trains for tomorrow in preparation for the big storm. amtrak already going down. it's so nice today, the sun is out, feels like a spring day in mississippi. and yet tomorrow they'll just beat us up. >> that's often what happens, shep, you see the warm air pool out in front of it, but it is on the way, winter storm warnings from philadelphia up to new york, through boston, portland, maine. everything inland is where you see the heaviest snowfall as this system overnight tonight, really the brunt of it coming tomorrow. the future radar. pay attention to this, it will be important. we do see air slightly warmer here, right along the coast. that rain-snow line makes a big difference in so much snow you see f you're further inland eat getting up to a foot or more, 15, 18 inches. but right along the snow line, a couple of innings, then within a couple of miles it quickly, quickly ramps up. that's something we will pay

attention to. the brunt of this, coming late tomorrow into the overnight hours for thursday, early thursday morning. it does begin to clear off. how much snow are we talking about, the darker areas, some of those spots getting up to 12 inches, 15 inches or more along the coast. a little bit less, the model isn't exactly coming into the line together, some a couple of inches, half a foot of snow. but that's something we will be watching. more shepard smith recording after the break.

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it turns out russia was jovd. the missing wreckage from world war ii found off the coast of australia, paul allen led an expedition to find the uss lexington. japanese torpedos sank the ship 76 years ago during more than 2 -- killing more than 200 sielors a tree limb nearly fell on an emergency crew in new york, during last week's nor easter. they're releasing the dash cam video, a power line caught the branch n one was hurt.

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press white house reporter zeke miller. yesterday was a fascinating day of twists and turns with a round of cable news interviews that really was, seen by many as a bit bizarre. what's your take on that. >> they said he was ultimately, going to cooperate with special counsel robert muler. it was reminiscent of president trump's call-ins with the cable news stations and throughout the campaign and before hand when he was a reality television star, dominating the news cycle. maybe not following through on some of those results. but there's an element that you can see how he, how the president and sam nunn berg worked together, there was common yaments there with the press. >> shepard: thening i found interesting, nunberg had been with him since 2011-2012. and was one of the people who was sort of intimately involved

with the process leading up to the announcement that we he would run for president. is that reveltry of anything? >> it could be. but that doesn't seem to be what the special counsel is interested in from that subpoena, that sam nunn berke released -- mueller was looking for correspondent looking in november of 2015. and the fall of 2015, after nunberg had already, his relationship with the campaign as far as we know had been severed. he was in contact with people in the trump orbit, steve bannon, others with close contacts with the president. and others and had their own -- who had activities that have come under scrutiny by the special counsel. he might not have had a ton of interaction with the president about that, but he had a lot of interaction with other people of interest. >> shepard: he did. that will be questioning for the special counsel robert mueller as the investigation into russian meddling does continue. good afternoon from fox news in

new york, shepard smith on the fox news channel on satellite and cable. joined by our local station is a cross the country as we wait for a news conference to begin in the east room at the white house. our chief white house correspondent is live at the white house. what are we expecting today? >> good afternoon, two- minute warning about 30 or 40 seconds ago. i see that the staff is gathered here and starting to file in to the east room, the president and the prime minister of sweden are probably just a couple of minutes away. two of the big topics that we will be talking to the president about, north korea, what looks like it might be a breakthrough in terms of north korea wants to talk about denuclearization. and trade as well. the prime minister came with a message from the european commission president, if you impose tariffs from steel we'll slap you back on things like motorcycles. i expect that maybe one of the

reasons why the president and the prime minister are late they've been having a discussion about trade and potential implications about the 10% tariffs on aluminum, 25% on steel may come as soon as lapt they are week. >> john roberts, we'll let you get in position as the swedish delegation comes into the room and we expect the leaders to arrive in a minute. zeke miller as johnnd at rest get ready, are the press corps anticipating any changes in the president's position today with this push from the european union? we don't expect to see any. there is still uncertainty in the final plan, whether there will be business exemption although no countrywide exemptions they say, canada, mexico and the eu look for. their argument if you want to target china target china, don't target every producer of steel and aluminum that sends exports

to the united states. the president, there's been no indication he's backing off of that. people in the white house and around are trying to maintain that. >> shepard: zeke miller and john roberts now in the room. the news conference set to begin live without interruption. >> president trump: thank you very much. thank you. i'm honored to be joined by prime minister lofven of sweden at our first meeting in the white house. sweden is one of our oldest and closest partners. among the first european nations to offer unsoliciteded feety of friendship, in 1783. that's a long time ago. my daughter, ivanka, had a wonderful time watching american and swedish athletes compete in the mean's curling final at the olympics.

the american's kurming final. that was something, wasn't expected but that's okay, we'll take it. [laughing] all of the athletes should be immensely proud of the great job they did. the prime minister and i have just concluded a series of producty meetings. the relationship between the unls united states and sweden is one based on shared values, including respect for individual rights, the rule of law, and human dignity. these common principles are the foundation of our partnership and we have had a great partnership for many years. we look forward to exploring further opportunities to increase our security, and our cooperation in every other way and we encourage nations around the world to share responsibility for our common defense. we appreciate swee again's leadership on the yjs security council and look forward to working together in the coming months. the united states is grateful to sweden for advocating for

americans detained in north korea. i particularly want to thank the swedish government for assistance in securing the release of american college student otto warmbier last year. terrible, tragic event. we pray for otto's parents, two terrific people, over the tragic death of their son. we remain determined on achieve a denuclearization of the korean peninsula in. and there's been a lot of news on that. hope from you it's positive. hopefully it will lead to a very positive result. economic matters, we're striving for relationship grounded in fairness and reciprocity. the united states is one of the largest investors in sweden and the swedish investments in the united states support over 200,000 american jobs. earlier this afternoon, i heard from several swedish business executives, some of the greatest

in the world, where are you folks? please, some of the great executives in the world. people i've known for a long time and certainly know of. they're investing tremendous amounts of money in the united states in supporting also vocational training for american workers. we're grateful for those investments and committed to working with sweden to pursue greater economic cooperation. we're also continuing to pursue bilateral agreements to advance mutual prosperity. i'm pleased sweden intends to procure the patriot air and missile defense system, finest in the world, in a deal worth over $3 billion. the system will increase stability and security in the baltic sea region. a strong and balanced economic relationship strengthens security and prosperity in both of our countries. and this is just the beginning.

we have a lot of things that we're working on and we're working on them really very hard. mr. prime ministerings watt to thank you for joining us. and i want to thank your great staff who we met with. and your great business leaders. it was a very interesting and productive meeting. the long-standing friendship between our people anchored in our shared beliefs and values has greatly enriched both of our countries. and this is just the beginning. our relationship has never been bretter. -- never been better. an honor to have you here. >> thank you very much. thank you mr. president, for a warm and generous welcome. it is a true pleasure to be here at the white house. this year sweden and the united states celebrate 200 years as diplomatic relations. this meeting, i'm -- reaffirms the strength of our relations. the history has shown that our two nations share fundamental

values and interests such as democracy and human rights. we also share a strong partnership that continues to evolve. today we have discussed how to further strengthen our country's prosperity, and security. as for prosperity, sweden is one of the largest per capita investors in the united states. my country may not be big but we support directly and indirectly almost one million jobs in the united states. some key executives of the companies that provide these jobs are also here with me at this visit. at the same time, the united states is our most important foreign employer and many u.s. companies play a vital role in providing investment and creating jobs in sweden. president trump and i have discussed how our nations can support jobs and growth, it's a crucial issue for sweden.

that means embracing new, sustainable technologies which permit our economy to grow at the same time reducing emissions. and also how we can secure good jobs in the labor market constantly changing due to automation and digitalization. sweden and the united states are two of the most innovative economies in the world. we see great opportunities ahead. swedish prosperity is built on cooperation, competitiveness, and free trade. and i'm con vinced that increased tariffs will hurt us all in the long run. as a swede i support the efforts of the european union to achieve trade with fewer obstacles, as few as possible. turning to security, the president and i have discussed some key regional and global security challenges such as the situation on the korean

peninsula, but also the developments in sweden's neighborhood. we also addressed the constructive cooperation between sweden and the united states in the united nations security council. i would like to underline that the tranls atlantic link is strong. and it remains crucial to responding to global security challenges. sweden is a military nonalied country but we build security in partnership with others and greatly value our broad security and defense cooperation with the united states. and one important example of that is our joint efforts to fight and combat terrorism. swee between and the united states stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the global collision against isis and also in the resolute support mission in afghanistan. these vital military efforts must go hand in hand with strong political, diplomatic, and also civilian support to create

sustainable results. so in conclusion, as we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations we're also planning for shares prosperity and security for many, many years to come. once again, i lank you, mr. president, mr. constructive and successful meeting. i thank you. and for the warm welcome that both my dell xwags and i received -- delegation received and i. >> president trump: thank you very much. john? >> thank you mr. president. you spoke about north korea in the oval office. so i'd like to turn to trade. if i could. my understanding is that the prime minister came to you with a message from the european union commission president saying if you put tariffs on steel and aluminum num we'll slap you back with tariffs on bourbon and jeans and moattor cycles from wisconsin. are you still planning on going ahead with these tariffs?

there are some people in your party who have suggestled it's not a good idea. prime minister lofven what message did you convey to the president from sweden and the european union? thank you. >> president trump: well, the united states has been taken advantage of by other countries, friend hi and not so friendly for many decades. we have a trade deficit of $800 billion a year. and that's not going to happen with me. we have been mistreated by many, sometimes fairly, but there are really very few instances where that's taken place. i don't blame the countries. i blame our leadership for allowing it to happen. when i was with president ji in china, we lose $500 billion a year on trade. we have deficit of approximately $500 billion a year with china.

and we're doing things with china which are very strong. but they understand it. i was with him, and i said to him in public, i'm not blaming you, i blame our people for not doing a better job, for allowing this to happen. it's like that with many countries other than small -- the european union has been particularly tough on the united states. they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them. and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the united states. and they can do whatever they'd like. but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25% on their cars. and they won't be doing it very long. . european union has not treated us well. and it's been a very, very unfair trade situation. i'm here to protect, one of the reasons i was elected, i'm protecting our workers, protecting our companies, and i'm not going to let that happen. so we're doing tariffs on steel.

we cannot lose our steel industry. it's a fraction of what it once was. and we can't lose our aluminum industry, also a fraction of what it once was. and our country is doing well, the massive tax cuts and all of the deregulation has really kicked us into gear. but i have to work on trade deals. we're working on nafta right now f we're able to make a deal with canada and mexico in nafta, then there will be no reason to do the tariffs with canada and mexico. again, other countries, we won't have that choice. unless they can do something for us. as an example, if the european union takes off some of the horrible barriers that make it impossible for our product to go into there, then we can start talking. otherwise we're going to leave it the way it is. we've been mistreated as country for many years. and it's just not going to happen any longer.

>> how do you avoid the escalating into a trade war? >> president trump: we will have to see. when we're behind on every single country trade wars aren't so bad. you understand what i mean by that? when we're down by $30 million, $40 billion, $60 billion, $100 bill u.n. the trade war hurts them, not us. we'll see what happens. you can also take it, in some kiess we lose on trade and we give them military where we're subsidizing them tremendously. so not only do we lose on trade, we lose on military. so, hence we have these massive deficit numbers in our country. we're going to straighten it out. and we'll do it in a loving way a loving, loving way. they'll like us better and respect us more. even they say, right now, they say we can't believe we've gotten away. i mean two countries have said we cannot believe, to be honest, we've gotten away with this so

long. one of them made that statement before i got elected. he said, i can't believe i made that statement before i got elected. but it's one of those things. we have to straighten it out. we really have no choice. >> mr. prime minister how forceful was your message to the president on what the consequences will be if he goes ahead with tariffs? >> first, trade is european union mandate. we are a member of the european union, it is a european mandate to handle trade issues. as a member of the european union, i think it is important for us to try to find a way to cooperate between the european union and the united states. i fully understand and respect the president's view that they have to look after his own country, the country that you are leading, i understand that fully. that's my primary task as well.

but for me, leading a small country, depending on open trade, the best way for us is to do that with others. because our export equals to 50% of our gdp. so for us, it is crucially e important that we have this open and free trade. today, also, i believe the supply dhans are very, very complicated to see. i know that -- splay chains. when we sellure fighter aircraft, a good aircraft, the content is perhaps 50% american. so we want this to be resolved in cooperation. when it comes to steel, yes we have an overcapacity in the world, that's obvious. but at the same time it is china that is producing about 50% of the steel in the world. european union perhaps 10%, less

than that. to summarize, i think it was a pity, again, it's a european mandate, european union mandate, that it stopped. i think that would be a good solution to cooperate. >> president trump: to add a little bit further, if you talk china, i've watched where the reporters have been writing 2% of our steel comes from china. well, that's not right. they transship through other countries, and you'll see that a country that doesn't have a steel mill is sending us 3% steel for our country. many countries are doing it. but it comes from china. so china doesn't send us 2%, they send us a much, much higher level than that.

but it's called transshipping. it doesn't look good when it comes out of china, they send it through other countries and it comes to us. and it's putting our steel mills out of business. our aluminum mills are going out of business. we need steel and we need aluminum. there's a theory that if a country doesn't have steel it doesn't have a country. and it's true. so this is more than just pure economics. this is about defense, this is about the country itself. but, again, remember this, we lose $800 billion a year in trade. i think i was elected at least partially on this issue. and i've been saying it for 25 years. our country has been taken advantage of by everybody. by everybody. almost everybody. and we cannot let that happen any longer. not for our companies and not most importantly for our workers. so we're not going to let it happen. please.

>> okay, tina, t.t. news agency. >> so, mr. president, thank you for hosting us. you mentioned that sweden has helped the united states with north korea. how do you see your collaboration in the future to create a future of peace on the korean peninsula, how do you see sweden's role there, how do you both view the collaboration? as a followup if i may, mr. president, i know that you followed the development in sweden closely, especially when it comes to immigration politics. now that you have spent time with our prime minister how do you view sweden in general, what is your take, and also on our immigration politics. >> president trump: i think you have a wonderful prime minister, we have gotten to know each other. certainly you have a problem with the immigration, it's caused problems in sweden, i was one of the first ones to say it. took a little heat but that was okay. because i proved to be right.

you do have a problem. and i know the problem will slowly disappear, hopefully rapidly disappear. but as far as our relationship with sweden, it's going to be only stronger, only better, in a military sense and trading sense, economic sense. you know, sweden is i think the largest, the eighth largest investor in the united states. and they like me very much. the market is up almost 40% since election day. so i've made lot of these business geniuses look even better. so they like trump. but it's been up very substantially. i believe sweden business the eighth largest investor in the united states. and that's quite an achievement. >> what about north kree? >> president trump: we've been working on north korea, sweden has somewhat of a kreelationship with north korea. we've been working with north korea. otto was really brought home, unfortunately in poor condition, but otto was brought home

largely with the help of sweden. they're terrific, terrific people. swedish people are fantastic. i have many friends in new york, washington, from sweden. and they are fantastic people. thank you. >> mr. prime minister, how do you view sweden and north korea and the u.s.? >> we have to find a dialogue. it's not easy. but that's the way it has to be. it is very dangerous situation and we need all to be very concerned about the development of nuclear weapons. but we must look at the peninsula, the region, the world. and this has to do request world peace or something else. the key acters are the countries, north and south korea, the united states, big countries. they are the key actors. we have said that we request kree provide, we can be a

channel, or do whatever we can to see that the dialogue is smooth. not being naive, it's not up to us to solve this problem. but we can definitely, with our long press edges on the peninsula, both in south and north, we have an embassy in pyongyang for example, since 1973. with that relation with north korea, i believe that they trust us. we're an underlying country, military nonalying country, and i think if the president decides the key actors decide if they want to us help out, we will be there. >> president trump: they have been terrific, really terrific. sager andretti, daily caller please. >> thank you mr. president. since my first time before you, i thought you might indulge me with two questions. first, sir, do you believe that

north korea's recent willingness to talk is singe sear or is it an effort to buy time for the nuclear program and to what do you owe this recent openness to talk? fpt me. . >> president trump: me. no. nobody got that. [chuckling] i think they are sincere but they're sincere also because the sanctions and what we're doing with respect to north korea, including, you know, the great help we've been given with china, they can do more. i think they have done more than certainly they've ever done for our country before. so china has been a big help. i think that's been a factor. but the sanctions have been very, very strong. very biting. and we don't want that to happen. i believe they are sincere. we'll soon find out. >> you said you would like to see some change in the people around you. is that including your attorney

general jeff sessions or either of your cabinet secretaries? >> president trump: i don't want to talk about that. i said that the white house has tremendous energy. it has tremendous spirit. it is a great place to be working. many, many people want every single job. i read where oh, gee, people don't want to work for trump. believe me, everybody wants to work in the white house. they all want a piece of that oval office, they want a piece of the west wing. not only in terms of it looks great on their resume, it's just a great place to work. it has tremendous energy. it's tough. i like conflict, i like having two people with different points of view and i have that. and then i make a decision. but i like watching interest, i like seeing it, it's the best way to go. i like different points of view. but the white house has a tremendous energy. we have tremendous talent. stwll be people, i'm not going to be specific, but there will be people that change. they always change. sometimes they want to go out and do something else.