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nicole: at bdo i feel like a true individual, people value me for me, they care about what i want, my needs, my career path, i matter here. ♪ ♪ narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. announcer: and now, bbc news. little while, so i will ask him that question. all right? i will asking that question. yeah. >> you are watching "the context" on bbc news. we are listening to president trump. he speaking to the press in the oval office. let's go back to that. pres. trump: what is going to do is it's going to bring pharmaceuticals back to our country, much more important than the money. it's going to bring pharmaceuticals back to our country. it's going to bring chips back to our country. it's going to bring automobiles.

we will see a lot more automobile manufacturing in our country. you know, when i did this, when i announced this, during the campaign, they were going to bill beef largest truck ramp in the world in mexico, it was under construction, it had just started. when they thought i was going to win the election, actually, if months before the election, china was building, it was going to be the largest in the world. they immediately stopped construction. you can see the foundations there. they immediately stopped, when they heard i was doing it. this plant would have taken up more than almost their whole state bill, and it would have been very disruptive. when they heard me speak, and they said, wow, he gets in, we will lose our shirts, so they stopped building. that is the impact of te

ariffs. the most beautiful words, religion, love, they've got a problem, the fake news, when i say other things are important, god is more important, but these are the words. but i would say it is number four or five. and i tell you what, i think reciprocal tariffs, two words, reciprocal makes tariffs really fair. >> it would be all -- pres. trump: exemptions, you don't need to. with receptacle, you don't need to -- with reciprocal, you don't need to. >> do you have an update on the tiktok negotiations? pres. trump: we have a lot of people. well, 90 days from about two weeks ago. and i'm sure it's going to be extended, but let's see. we have a lot of people interested in tiktok. and i hope to be able to make a deal. i think it would be good. you know, it is very popular.

we will have to probably get approval from china to do it, but we have a lot of people that are interested. i think china will be interested. so i look forward to that, but we have a lot of people that are interested, and it's got quite a few. >> government workers arrived today at the irs. do you expect to close the irs? pres. trump: no. but i think that the internal revenue service will be looked at, like everybody else. just about everybody will be looked at. they are doing a hell of a job. it's an amazing job they are doing. and, i call it the force of super geniuses, but it is building in. you know, they go and talk to some of the people about certain deals, and the people get all tongue-tied. they don't talk, because these people get it. they are very smart people.

we know smart people. >> mr. president, i know that during the campaign, it was huge as far as bringing back manufacturing. have you talked to any ceo's since the terrace were announced? pres. trump: they are in love with a come as you know, if it's, u.s. steel is through the roof. they are all through the roof. that's why i did not want u.s. steel to make a deal with japan or anyone else. i think maybe more than anyone else, the steel companies and aluminum companies, they are in love with what is happening. and this will eventually be the car companies, the chip companies. we have to have chips made in this country. most are made in taiwan, a little bit in south korea, but almost all of it is made in taiwan. we want those companies to come to our country, all due respect. they took the business away. taiwan took our chip business away. we had intel, we have these

great companies that did so well, and it was taken from us, and we want our business back. we want it back in the united states. if they don't bring it back, we are not going to be very happy. >> pharmaceuticals as welcome in china, that's national security to bring that back. pres. trump: china and other places, we want to get the pharmaceutical and drug business back in the united states where it should be, right? . >> sir, on, right? are you concerned that companies that are most effected, like, trading to china? pres. trump: i'm not concerned about anything. i'm doing what is fair. this should have been on a long time ago. i would have done it, but covid hit. i would have done this years ago, the most successful economy in history, then covid hit. this is going to be the thing that i was most waiting to do, but it was awfully hard to do this with italy, france, and spain, all of those people were

dying, and then we put tariffs on them? i have a big heart. >> putin said he really wants peace. do you believe him? 5 yeah. i do. i believe he wants peace. president putin, when i spoke to him, i think he would tell me if he did not. i would like to see peace. >> do you trust putin? pres. trump: yeah. i believe he would like to see something happen. i trust him on this subject. i think he would like to see something happen. i think it could've have happened a long time ago. i think by then, number one, it should not have started, but it did. now all those cities are knocked down, like demolition sites. all of those beautiful, golden towers are knocked down. there's nothing that's going to replace them. most importantly, they lost millions of people, a lot of soldiers. when they knocked down those cities, and they are all lying down on their side, lying down

in ashes, crumbled up concrete, they literally look like a world-class demolition site. and many of them, almost all of them, but many of them, and this should have been done by biden years ago. this should have never been allowed to happen. i know he's a friend of yours. he's a friend of cnn. that's why nobody watches cnn anymore, because they have no credibility. who else? >> if you find a buyer in the united states for tiktok, do you think xi jinping will allow the sale of it? pres. trump: i got to know tiktok, because during the election, i ended up with a 6% higher -- 36% higher than my opponent with youth, ok? that had never happened before. that has always been a democrat thing. they became a trump thing. tiktok, i think joe rogan was a part of it, some of the great people that i did interviews with were a part of it, but i think that tiktok was a come i

think it was a big part. look, as you know, we were up 36% with youth. i think it is amazing very fair. i think of you as tiktok is different than it was before the election, and they view it as a positive, not a negative. i think it would be to china's advantage of the deal be made. >> how much money do you think will be raised in, i mean, on an annual -- in tariffs on an annual basis? pres. trump: that is an interesting question. i think it will be a staggering amount. it will be external -- i call it the external revenue service. i think it's going to be a staggering amount. >> the number $1 trillion is floated in meetings with senators. pres. trump: i don't know, but already the senate is saying, they are looking at some of the numbers, and they are saying,

whoa. look, i say america first. i say make america great again. that's what we are doing. i think it's the most important thing i've signed. i've signed some really important thanks. right to trial was so important. a lot of things. space force, tax cuts come of this to be one of the most important things. >> do you think president putin will attend the summit in saudi arabia? pres. trump: eventually, i guess. not quite yet. they are having a meeting in munich tomorrow. russia is going to be there with our people. ukraine is also invited, by the way. i'm not sure exactly who's going to be there. but high-level people from russia, from ukraine, and from the united states. >> would you like to have him back? pres. trump: i would love to have him back. it's not a question of liking russia or not liking russia.

i said what are you guys doing? all you talk about is russia. they should be sitting at the table. i think putin would love to be back. obama and a couple of other people made a mistake, and they got russia out. it's very possible that if that were the g8, you would not have had the problem with ukraine. and if i was president, you definitely would not have had a problem with ukraine. russia would have never attacked ukraine. but you ask the question, the g8, it used to be the g8, and i was arguing with trudeau and with numerous other people. i actually, prime minister ab , great man from japan, i think it would have been very helpful, and it still would be helpful to have russia be a part of that mix. if they were come i don't think they would've had a problem. >> they kicked him out, of

course, because they illegally annexed crimea. how would you have responded? pres. trump: they invaded crimea during obama. they took -- now they are looking to take the whole thing. then they took a big chunk of land and people, as you know, their english. now they are trying to take the whole thing during biden. the only one that did not give them anything was trump. they did not take anything with trump, nothing, not two inches of property of land. but crimea was obama, and then bush gave them a lot. you remember. and then this is sort of the standard little phrase, biden is giving them everything, because this is a war that should not have been had. and the only one who did not give them anything is trump. >> there's nervousness in wall street about the impacts. pres. trump: there hasn't been very much.

i think it will make the united states stronger, and in many ways to make and make other countries stronger, too. you know, other countries want to have a strong united states, they want to have a strong america, and i think it's going to make us very, very strong. much stronger. and there is a lot of work we are doing on the military already, contracts to be built that are very substantial, building the greatest equipment. we have the greatest military equipment in the world. we are building it. at some points come up when things settle down, i'm going to meet with china, i'm going to meet with russia in particular, those two, and i'm going to say, there's no reason for us to be spending almost $1 trillion on military. there's no reason for you to be spending $400 billion. we will be close to $1 trillion. and i'm going to say, we can spend this on other things. we will spend this on military. and i'm going to be meeting with china.

you know, we were trying to de-escalate nuclear, and i was in a position where russia had agreed and china had agreed, we were going to start. then we had a rigged election, so that never took place, but this one was too big to reg. . we won by so much of it was too big to rig. >> will you meet in the united states or in china? pres. trump: i tell people all the time, who's going to have the first meeting? i said this to putin, to president xi, i say to everybody, it never bothered me, you know, i'm willing to say, i will go first. it does not matter. it is the end result that counts. so he does not make any difference. >> on global defense spending -- pres. trump: as soon and things settle down, i'm going to have a conference, primarily with china and russia, because those are the two that really are out there. we will have them spend a lot less money, we will spend a lot less money, and i know they are going to do it. they agreed to it.

we were talking about de-nuking, de-denuclearize, de-nuking, and president putin and i agreed we were going to do it in a big way. there's no reason for us to build brand-new nuclear weapons. we already have so many. you could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over, and here we are building new nuclear weapons, they are building nuclear weapons, and china is building nuclear weapons, and china is trying to catch up, because, you know, they are very substantially behind them about within five or six years, they will be even. and we are all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully, much more productive. hopefully that will never be a time when we need those weapons. if there's ever a time when we need nuclear weapons like the kind of weapons that we are building and that russia has and that china has, to a lesser extent, but will have, that's going to be a very sad day. that will be probably the end. >> conversations, one giant

summit with you, xi jinping, and president putin. pres. trump: yeah. i could see that. when things calm down a little bit here when i left, we had no middle east problems. we had no russia going into ukraine. they never would have done it. would have done it. i came back, and it's like the whole world was blowing up. one of the first meetings i want to have is with president putin, president xi of china, and we want to cut military spending in half. i think they will do it. >> defense spending, defense contractors, and the like, are you willing to go after that spending? pres. trump: we have to go waste, fraud, and abuse, yeah. and. >> we are doing>> it your conversations on defense spending, do you want to do that as a trilateral, or would you use the existing bodies that already includes russia and

china, the g20? pres. trump: i don't need bodies, i don't need anything. it's all about people, is about relationships and people, and i've had a good relationship with president putin could have had a good relationship with president xi. it's about people. and i think when things straightened out, which i hope will be in the not-too-distant future, the meeting i want to have first is a meeting with china and a meeting with russia on slowing down, stopping, and reducing nuclear weapons in particular, and also on not having to spend the kind of money we are all spending on weapons, military weapons generally. >> would you have those meetings separately with each of those leaders, or would you try to bring them all together? pres. trump: you start off typically -- that was what was happening, dealing with president putin. we have really understanding what we were going to nuclear

-- denuclearize, what a beautiful term. he liked the idea, and so did i. china was very open to it, then covid hit, and then we had a rigged election. now there's no rigged election. now we have an election that was too big to rig. my whole thing was too big to rig. >> on tariffs, would you do a study on impacts they would have on prices in the u.s.? pres. trump: no. there's nothing to study. the united states is going to become a very strong economic country. >> india is part of brics. pres. trump: brics was put there for a bad purpose. most of the people don't want to talk about it. they are afraid to talk about

it. i told them, if they want to play games with the dollar, then they are going to be hit with a 100% tariff. the day they mentioned they want to do it. and they will come back and say, we beg you, we beg you not to do this. brics is dead since i mentioned that. brics died the minute i mentioned that. and i remember when obama and biden in particular, i guess he said that, oh, they have us over a barrel. they don't have us over a barrel. we have them over a barrel. if brics wants to play games, those countries don't want to trade with us, if any country gives the rate, it will be 100% tariff at least. what do you think will happen? they don't want to admit they were a member of brcs. >> i saw the robert f

kennedy junior get nominated -- i solve that robert f. kennedy, jr.'s nomination went through. mitch mcconnell spoke against it. what you say about that? pres. trump: i feel sorry for mitch. he wanted to go to the end and wanted to stay leader. he is not mentally able. he was not able 10 years ago. mitch mcconnell never really had it. he had an ability to raise money because of his position as leader, which anybody could do. you could do it even, and that is saying a lot. the fact is, he raised money, to give a lot of money to senators, so we had a little loyalty based on the fact that as leader, you can raise a little money. senators would call me and say, he wants to give me $25 million, can i take it? i would say, take the money. so he engendered a certain amount of, i don't even call it loyalty, he, you know, was able to get votes. but i was the one that got him

to drop out of the leadership position, so he can't love me, but he's not voting against then, he's voting against me. he endorsed me. you know that mitch endorsed me, right? you think that was easy? >> he had polio, obviously. pres. trump: i don't know anything about "he had polio." i have no idea if he had polio. all i can tell you about him is he should not have been leader. he knows that. he voted against bobby. votes against almost everything now. he's a very bitter guy. we have a very strong party, and he is almost not even really a very powerful member. he's lost his power. and it has affected his vote. it's one of those things. in the meantime, bobby did great. and i think he will do phenomenal, just phenomenally in that position for it and everybody else, likewise, did

well, not only well, they did more votes than anybody thought. tulsi, look at how she did. she did great. marco got 99 votes. and i have to tell you, marco rubio has done a fantastic job. he has been a great secretary of state. they are all doing great, but we are going to have a swearing in today, and maybe we are going to have a second one, because i hear we have a couple of them coming up. and the man behind me is doing a fantastic job, secretary of commerce. and i think you will see something very big come from today's signing. it will be a very big signing. ok? >> when you meet with the head of that company? pres. trump: who knows who will be here? a lot of the steel companies are coming. i think the steel companies, they love what is happening to them. we say this, if i do not do the tariffs on my first day, you would not have one steel company

here. that would not be a steel company alive in the united states. and right now, they are going to be thriving. they are doing very well, but they are going to be thriving. people are going to want to buy those steel companies like crazy. >> you think you will mediate talks between steel and u.s. steel? pres. trump: i don't know. i think u.s. steel has all the power. the terrorists have given u.s. steel steel a new lease on life, ok. thank you. christian: so there you have it. another 15-minute, impromptu -- it's quite incredible, actually, when you think about it, how much access we are currently getting to president trump, a marked difference to the interaction we got from the previous administration. donald trump announced he signed this memorandum ordering reciprocal tariffs, ordering his

trade advisors to calculate new tariff levels for all countries. that includes new allies with no opt out. we saw they are charging vastly more than we charge them for those days are over. it was a full throated example, this, of america first, as they have announced they will renegotiate the c.h.i.p.s. act, to call back chip manufacturing from taiwan, pressure on china to sell tiktok. they are also talking about bringing back pharmaceuticals that are manufactured overseas as well. let's bring in ritika gupta, who was watching for us. some lines also about vladimir putin. after yesterday, when he gave away some of the negotiated positions on u.k. come us here he is offering positions on the g7, the g8, and people are saying,

well, what is vladimir putin giving and return? ritika: well, christian, that has been a question that has on a lot of people's minds, watching the call that he had with the president of russia and also this idea that ukraine needs to be involved in some of those talks. christian: yeah. as one of the correspondence in that room said, he was kicked out of the g8 because they had illegally annexed crimea. let's talk about these tariffs. how are these tariffs going to work? they will not go into action straightaway. they are suspended pending what? what are they going to be looking at? ritika: well, that is actually what is giving markets a little bit of reprieve, that they will not be enacted immediately, as he had previously sent them and they won't be implemented. this gives country some time to

perhaps, you know, avert some of these measures. you see stocks in the green, the dollar holding onto losses. you saw president trump in the oval office talking about those reciprocal tariffs on countries that taxed u.s. goods. what we learned from that is they will be customized for each country, christian, a lot of difficult calculations, but he wants to level the playing field and match those tariffs. what is interesting that we learned as it will also include non-tariff barriers that impact trade some of the ones that he sided with countries that he says impose unfair subsidies, regulations, exchange rates, and some of those measures, christian. in a preview call with the trade advisor, peter navarro, he also said that essentially, countries would be able to negotiate themselves out of these tariffs, and, again, unlike those previous reports saying that the tariffs are being enacted immediately, they are now not looking to going to place until

april 1, which gives countries a little bit of time to maybe make some concessions. we know trump has established himself as a very hard-line when it comes to tariffs, but there's also some flexibility there, as we saw with mexico and canada, and the pausing of those tariffs , with a security border agreements they made. christian: yeah. ritika gupta in new york. thank you very much. we will get more into donald trump and the next hour, hour and a half. narrator: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... bdo, accountants and advisors, funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ usa today calls it "arguably the best bargain in streaming" that's because the free pbs app let's you watch

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