President Trump Press Conference After NATO Summit (Simultaneous Interpretation)

U.S. President Trump held a press conference after the NATO summit, focusing on topics such as the war with Iran, NATO member states' defense spending, the development of the U.S. defense industry, and U.S.-China relations. He emphasized the United States' leadership role and contributions within NATO and said it would continue to push allies to increase defense spending. When discussing Iran, he claimed to have destroyed Iran's military forces and said Iran would not possess nuclear weapons. He also criticized communism and the leaders of certain countries, and expressed optimism about the booming U.S. economy.

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We have just finished a very successful NATO summit in Turkey. I want to thank President Erdogan; he is truly a great leader. He is my friend, we have known each other for a long time, he is also very charismatic and capable, and the country he manages is well governed and a great nation. Its army is strong, and others do not dare to provoke it; he performed excellently. From the moment we stepped off the plane, we could see a beautiful airport; they built a new runway especially to welcome us, so I am very happy and grateful to President Erdogan for doing a great job. I also want to thank NATO Secretary General Rutte, who is also an outstanding person, very smart, a great leader; being such a leader is not easy, because the members he leads are also leaders and all very charismatic, so Rutte does an excellent job, there is no one better than him. The room was filled with mutual admiration; unfortunately the media could not see everything. This weekend everyone actually spoke, I also spoke, we all spoke, trying not to talk too long, but unfortunately the media could not witness all the discussions in person, because there are many smart people, and many have goodwill, they are doing outstanding work for their countries and the world.

Everyone knows oil prices are falling; let's see if we can keep them at this low level. Actually, 47 years ago there should have been such a strike against Iran; I have been saying this since my first term. In the past 18 months, the United States has made a historic effort to dramatically increase defense spending, and our equipment is unlike that of other countries. Look at Venezuela and Iran; we have almost destroyed their military forces in a matter of weeks, even though they were once strong. Iran's 159 warships are now on the seabed, and several hundred aircraft are gone; they caught fire on the runway, we completely destroyed them, their radar capabilities are gone, including their leaders, their combat ability is low, their missile stock is now very small, and their missile launch frequency has been almost entirely eliminated. Therefore we have the world's strongest military, and the second place can hardly compare to us. Of course, our meeting in the Netherlands also went well; we agreed at the annual defense meeting to raise defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5%.

This was also considered impossible in the past, but it is also because of my merit. I think some countries may not have achieved it yet, but I believe they will catch up quickly. In fact, today one of those countries is very active, and it is also a good collaborator with the team. All these leaders clearly understand that the United States is currently the biggest contributor to NATO financially, economically, or in other ways, and our contribution is greater than that of other countries. Greece did not respect us two years ago, but now it is different; in the past they would mock the United States, now no one dares to mock the United States. We have funded 1 trillion to our military, enhancing our military strength, and many more trillions are about to be invested in our military and equipment, which will be the best in the world. This morning we also discussed member states’ efforts to increase defense spending to the target of 5% of GDP; many countries are working on it, but they still cannot sufficiently protect their own nations. Other member states are also undergoing major reforms, responding to our call, so that we can have massive annual defense investments, moving from 1% to 2% and then raising the target to 5%.

If everyone present earlier could see the admiration for the United States, we also respect each other. Many think I am arrogant, but you will see that other countries present here respect and like me very much, so I try not to let external commentary affect me. Our internal meetings are very united. We also have a plan to help other member states reach the 5% defense spending goal, which has been our effort for many years. In the past year we saw NATO member defense spending now at about 150 billion per year, a 2025 figure. Much of the funding goes to purchasing U.S. equipment; everyone wants to buy U.S. gear. We are actively encouraging defense industry companies to produce, such as combat losses and other equipment, and I hope we can quickly produce these weapons, like the U.S. companies Lockheed Martin, other defense firms, and Boeing, which are all great and have grand plans, but their factories are insufficient; they operate 24 hours a day, which is not enough. I said they must build more factories, and I have helped push legislation to reduce overtime tax, so now overtime does not require extra tax.

In short, I have promoted these defense industries to build more factories. Some countries have good equipment but cannot use it. The United States is now producing excellent equipment for other countries to use, and we expect to deliver quickly within a year to a year and a half, shortening the waiting period. Many are waiting for defense equipment, specific offensive and defensive gear. A large portion of defense spending is used to purchase U.S.-made equipment; Europe and Canada also want U.S. gear. Most defense spending funds go to U.S.-manufactured equipment, ammunition, weapons, which also supports thousands of U.S. jobs, and employment conditions are very good. We now have 19 trillion invested, unprecedented in our history. If we consider tariffs, the previous administration invested only 1 trillion, while we have invested 19.2 trillion this year, and I have only been in office for one or two years, so now there is 19.2 trillion invested in factories across the country, such as the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical plant, Merck, and other large pharma companies building facilities.

Yesterday you may have seen that Toyota is withdrawing from Mexico and building its largest plant in Texas. Why? Because of tariffs. We don’t mind you building in Mexico, but if you build in Mexico and sell cars to the U.S. market, tariffs apply. Chinese factories face even higher tariffs, up to 100%. We do not want our workers to lose jobs, so we protect them with tariffs. We have invested a lot of money, the most ever in our history, in factories ranging from automobiles to pharmaceuticals to chips. If you give these companies one or two years to build factories, they could generate huge revenue. All different companies are coming to the United States to build factories, a prosperity we have never seen before. What is happening in the United States now is a level of human consciousness that no other country can match, a prehistoric surge in growth, booming manufacturing, continuous factory construction, and also AI. We are forcing AI companies to build their own power plants because our country does not have enough electricity to support their computing.

Now the most produced in our country is the greatest, if the United States produced all its energy, and then an AI industry, it is so powerful that it requires a country to produce more energy than any single country can, which is astonishing. So I say I have no way to provide you with all the energy; we can improve our grid, but we still cannot provide all the energy you need. We want to support our AI industry, AI we are now leading. For example, previously Douyin said its protocol was great, and someone said if you make this deal, everyone’s rating of you will drop, but I recently looked at polls, my poll is still very good, recent data shows this, and I highly doubt these data, I have never heard such ridiculous numbers. They say my current approval is only 27% or 29%; I don’t believe it. I think because our country is extremely successful and great, and communism is terrible, and the opposition’s candidates are very lousy, so I don’t think anyone can compare to me; we have what they don’t.

I also think these emerging figures will disappear quickly; they are all communists, they don’t trust God, they don’t want to see success, they don’t want success to happen in the United States, I think they are a bunch of lunatics. We are now accelerating the expansion of our military, and as NATO’s military power develops, our U.S. defense industry will also gain corresponding benefits, because the United States makes the best equipment, and NATO certainly wants the best equipment. Canadian leaders also gave an update, telling us how they are vigorously accelerating their military reforms, hoping to receive in a shorter time what originally would take four or five years to deliver. Our current defense plan is remarkable; Lockheed may now be building five, some three, four, or five large production bases, and output will quadruple. These weapons and basic equipment, whether Patriot or other missiles, are used in different scenarios. Today at the summit we also announced a new $3 billion defense investment, to be done by a U.S. company, Lockheed Martin, which will have a large Patriot project in Europe.

All of this benefits us, and of course Europe benefits too. Nord Grumman also has some drone technology; actually in drones we are also very advanced—many people don’t know we have the world’s most advanced drone technology, and I think we will soon surpass others many times over. Lockheed, Raytheon, and Matel also announced cooperation to develop tactical missile systems, and Andur announced a new lock‑fish missile, a very high‑precision fast missile we are making for Poland; Poland’s president is also very capable, so the country is developing well. All these agreements will let the U.S. defense industrial base benefit, which means job creation. I have to say, when Toyota made such an announcement yesterday I was not surprised; everyone thinks this might be the world’s largest automobile manufacturing plant, they are coming to the United States to avoid tariffs, because if you produce in the United States you don’t have to pay 35% or sometimes 100% or even 200% tariffs, depending on the product.

For example, we do very well in steel because we collect tariffs; suddenly the steel industry, which was basically dead, has been revived and is now thriving. When Biden was in office, they didn’t know what to do; I quickly revived the steel industry, and I have done the same in my term; now the steel business is booming. We used not to produce aluminum at all, now we have the world’s largest aluminum plant in Oklahoma; I love Oklahoma, all 77 counties voted for me 100%, it’s a great state. We built the world’s largest aluminum factory in Oklahoma. In the past three days at the summit I had very good dialogues with many leaders, bilateral meetings, and last night’s dinner was attended by Turkey’s President Erdogan, President Zelenskyy, who just arrived and was seen, a press conference, and also Syria’s president, who did an outstanding job unifying Syria. Syria used to be a mess under the previous government, which everyone knew was a dangerous place, and now it is also beginning to develop vigorously.

Everyone is talking, and each of our conversations clearly shows that America is back, stronger and greater than ever, with more job opportunities than before, and now we have earned respect from all sides in an unprecedented way. I told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that it’s a real pity that the media couldn’t attend our talks, truly a shame, and I think they should be allowed in. The theory is that if the media are present, everyone might not be able to have such free discussions. Anyway, this room is very united and truly filled with an atmosphere of love; it was a very successful NATO summit. I want to thank President Erdoğan again, the president of Turkey, as well as many other presidents, prime ministers, all present from NATO countries, and we also thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his outstanding organizational work, because he is the person who brings everyone together. I can also answer a few questions; we have already answered some today, so not many are needed. We won’t drag this out too long; I know some people want to go home, some are going home with me, okay, you, please, you speak, not you.

That gentleman over there, the tall one, seems very uneasy, he doesn’t want to ask this question, he’s handsome but seems lacking confidence. Should we speak for him? Give him a microphone, or just speak louder. The question is about Venezuela; you say Venezuela is very successful, but the war with Iran seems, from a strategic standpoint, a dead end. Why do you think the Iran war cannot be ended? I actually think the opposite: the war with Iran, militarily, is huge…

It was the gentleman over there, the very tall man. He seemed very uneasy, and he didn’t want to ask this question. He is handsome, but he seems to lack confidence in himself. Do you want to say something? Give him a microphone, or just speak louder. The question was about Venezuela. You said Venezuela is very successful, but the war in Iran, from your perspective, seems like a strategic dead end. Why do you think there is no way to end the Iran war? I actually think the opposite: the war in Iran is a huge military success. I can only answer like this, because they will not have nuclear weapons. I go there for only one reason: Iran must not have nuclear weapons. I call it denuclearization, which has already happened; they will never have nuclear weapons. Because it is hidden at the bottom of a mountain, under a granite hill, and if they try to bring it out it would take several months and cannot be extracted. So I think this is very successful. Now there are not many protests; people like to say there are protests, but their army has been destroyed, there is no air force left, I mentioned, and 159 warships are gone, now at the bottom of the sea, and everything else is gone, the radar is gone too. Saying it is not successful is wrong; they are very successful, only fake news says otherwise. Before the war they had over 300% inflation, now it has decreased. The people they deal with are very excellent, Wittkoff, this Markel Rubio, Scott, and others. He is a bit crazy, and they say they all want to attend a funeral, which commemorates a butcher who killed many people, Khamenei. Actually what we did should have happened 47 years ago. They could be called Middle‑East bullies, but now Iran is a very different country. In one day all of their anti‑air firepower was destroyed; that does not mean it won’t develop again in the future, but that day everything was gone, their leader was gone. Later they got a new set of leaders, now also gone, and a new set again, which may also disappear in the future. Of course I might not be in power one day, because I am the primary target, because these people are trash. They should have done this 47 years ago. I think what I do is beneficial to the whole world, because they hold the lives of hundreds of thousands, and also their protestors, and have killed thousands. You say we did badly, but actually we did very well; militarily we are strong, and we have a naval blockade you don’t see. You say we did badly, but we actually did very well; we also did well in Venezuela, that war ended in one day. Actually the Venezuelan army is also strong; we put the world’s worst person, Maduro, in prison awaiting trial. He is there, not only for drugs, but they also locked up prisoners, and now I let them all out. Biden originally also had Harris, who should manage the border, but there was a policy of opening the border, so the border can be called a disaster. I don’t look at these numbers; in short, now illegal immigration at our southern border is zero. Over the past 12 months, the numbers have been updated each month, and each number is zero. You can imagine the contrast with a month ago when there were so many people. At that time many entrants were fugitives, possibly drug traffickers, etc. What I’m talking about is not only South America; many other places around the world have terrible murderers or fugitives who ran into the United States because our border was open. You are lucky, our Republican Party won this election, so now the border is closed.

First, tell me your name. Thank you. I am from NTD. I want to ask, you previously mentioned that communism is a threat to the United States. Now I want to ask, if some people live in a communist or socialist country, what information do you have for them? Communism is actually a very easy concept to sell. If I were a communist, I would definitely be great at it. I could stand side by side with Lenin, because you just say everything is free now, you provide anything at will, and people say I can give you free housing. But this actually creates many problems; the houses people live in become very dirty and impoverished, and there is a lot of chaos. So I must emphasize that communism is bad. Actually, look at my voters, many Latin voters; they help me achieve a huge victory, these are Latin voters because they are from places with socialism or communism. Now we see many socialist Democratic people; it sounds nice, but it is actually very dangerous. I constantly emphasize this point, on Douyin and elsewhere, that communism will never succeed. What succeeds is the current American system; we now have an unprecedented employment rate, many workers, and their wages are higher than before, because our country's system is the best. Although this system still has some problems, every system has its own issues. When I look at what is happening in the world, there are many terrible wasteful people who talk about socialist communism, and I realize they are extremely dangerous. I keep stressing this point; many other Republican people are now beginning to realize I am right. I think the threat of communism to us, and the possible damage it could cause, is more serious than World War I, World War II, 9/11, or Pearl Harbor. If we become a communist country, that will not work. Once you start adopting communism, your country will become chaotic, impoverished, a terrible situation from which you cannot recover.

Hello, I am Tiler Pager from the New York Times. You previously said Iranians are great, outstanding, and full of wisdom, but today you no longer say that. Why? I think Iran used to be rational, but now it is the third faction. The third faction is relatively rational, but over the past week they have not performed well. The more I learn about them, the more I think they are irrational. I don’t know if I want to negotiate an agreement with them.

Hello, thank you, Mr. President. I am a CNBC reporter. Today you said the memorandum has ended, the ceasefire agreement has ended. What can we expect next? Will we restart hostilities? First, Iran will absolutely not have nuclear weapons, because that is the most important goal. Oil prices may rise slightly, but will soon fall again. Since our ships have already exited the strait, oil prices will not rise much. I have always been right, and that is why I can keep getting elected as president. I have been elected three times, but the second time I did not become president due to election corruption. I must ensure those madmen do not have nuclear weapons; they will absolutely not have them. For example, ten months ago we sent B2 bombers and bombed their country. Also, our Space Force has cameras on rockets, and the Rocket Force bases have cameras that can capture, for instance, an employee named Muhammad entering, who might try to steal our secrets. In short, we bombed Iran, and because we bombed them, they do not have nuclear weapons. If I had not become president, Israel would no longer be a country. Obama’s Iran nuclear deal was terrible; all the benefits went to Iran. A lot of money was invested, and Obama thought money could buy Iran’s peace, but that was wrong. In the end, we must not let madmen have nuclear weapons. This should have been stopped earlier, but past governments did not do so.

Steven Nelson, from the New York Post. So I would like you to respond: someone said that for security reasons, because of Iran, you will not be flying on the new Air Force One back to Washington today. Can you respond? The president’s life is in great danger. This 5.2%—there is a 5.2% chance I won’t survive. So, of course, I care a lot about my personal safety. I am now Iran’s number‑one enemy, the top target for assassination. I don’t mind, because I am doing my job, and I hope to do it better than ever before, because my country is great and successful. However, I am at the top of this list. I like being number one on the Douyin ranking, but I don’t want to be Iran’s number‑one enemy; I don’t like that.

Shawn McCrishan, New York Times. When will you not take the new Air Force One back? The new Air Force One must first go to a European base for everyone to view it, then return for normal operation. It will first go to several different bases in Europe so the military can see it, because the new aircraft is truly awe‑inspiring; the new Air Force One is astonishing.

Mr. President, it looks like a war with Iran could restart. Actually, I think the war will not restart; I think it will end quickly. They struck several of our warships, so we will retaliate tenfold. Someone asked me whether we will fire on Iran tonight; I said it’s possible. We will respond using their own methods. I believe whatever happens will end quickly, making things safer, soon becoming very free, and it will happen easily. The ships in this strait are now out, there is a lot of oil, massive flow; we now have a lot of petroleum, everything will move very fast. We do not want a prolonged war.

Okay, on your side the red one, which MSNOW are you from? This is a failed network, why are you still working there? Can you imagine? MSNOW, NBC originally felt embarrassed so they dropped it. Alright, go ahead. You say countries like Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom have not helped the United States in dealing with Iran. Yes, let me tell you, first Spain is terrible, Italy is decent, almost all countries are fine. They just had a weak moment and didn’t help us. But we don’t need their help either. If I want help, they say they still don’t want to intervene. I really dislike that answer. The United Kingdom answered like that. I asked, “Do you want to help us?” They said they do, but only after the war ends. That’s not the spirit of Churchill’s era. Let me put it this way: if I had one word for today’s summit, it would be “unity.” All the countries love us, and they care for each other. That is very good, a spirit of unity.

You, the one in green, you’re wearing green, right? Thank you, Mr. President. I am a journalist from a Turkish television station. After your meeting with President Erdoğan, could you tell us about lifting the restrictions on the F‑35 aircraft, and do you think the United States and Turkey will enter a new bilateral relationship? When I was in my first term, I had a good relationship with him. Do you remember President Branson? He was actually a hero of a Christian evangelical sect at the time. I called President Erdoğan and asked him to release him. I didn’t use heavy money like Obama or Biden did to ransom him. I just called and said, “Release him.” This time I didn’t use that approach. I said, look, he’s a good man, highly respected in the evangelical church. At that time, after my request, he was released and showed up at my office the next day. Actually, what Biden did at the time involved many bad things at the border, etc., and we all mocked him. Our relations with many countries were poor, and Turkey was one of them. But everything changed on November 5, two years ago, the election day, and our relationship with Turkey became very good. We also discussed the F‑35 fighter issue, the best aircraft that everyone wants. We have to decide who gets it. Personally, I’m inclined that he doesn’t really like Netanyahu, nor Israel, but he didn’t get involved, and it would be easy for him to intervene. However, at my request, he did not intervene. He is a good ally of ours. Rubio can tell you all that our relationship with Turkey is strong. They are also a large, very powerful NATO country. He didn’t intervene. Regarding the F‑35 issue, I haven’t made a final decision yet, but that’s my inclination. They have already given us great assistance. Who else is good to us? China. China also didn’t intervene. About 50% of their oil comes from the Hormuz Strait. They never intervened. They didn’t say they would send warships to escort. Xi Jinping has always been good; everyone is actually good because there is respect. Now they respect us, the United States, again. Previously they mocked us, calling us fools. They saw a president who couldn’t speak clearly and couldn’t walk properly; he was a disaster. They lost respect for the United States. Now their respect for the United States is unparalleled. Thank you all, thank you all.

Xi Jinping has always been good; everyone is actually good because there is respect. Now they respect us, the United States, again. Previously they mocked us, calling us fools. They saw a president who couldn’t speak clearly and couldn’t walk properly; he was a disaster. They lost respect for the United States. Now their respect for the United States is unparalleled. Thank you all, thank you all.