00:00Tommy Piggott is the Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State.
00:04So, Piggott, thank you so much for being with Deutsche Welle.
00:06Thanks for having me on.
00:07100 days of Donald Trump, many Americans are really worried.
00:11Empty shelves are expected due to Donald Trump's China, tariff politics,
00:16and even the sales of McDonald's are dropping to a low,
00:20which we haven't seen since COVID. Is this a good start?
00:23Look, I think I would reject a lot of what you were saying there.
00:26I think a much different frame is how Americans are viewing this.
00:28We're seeing a president that's putting America first,
00:31but also making sure that we're securing a lot of different trade deals across the world,
00:36making sure that we're having a robust manufacturing center,
00:39making sure we're working with our allies and partners to advance our common interests.
00:43Americans are seeing that President Trump made a lot of promises,
00:46and he's already delivered on them, coming to the border, the economy, foreign policy.
00:49So, I think when we look at the economy, we look at the accomplishments of the last 100 days,
00:53the one word to describe it truly is historic.
00:56It's been a historic 100 days, and the next 100 days are going to be just as good,
00:59and President Trump's going to keep on keeping his promises.
01:01But looking at the polls, Donald Trump is not doing that well.
01:05Even many Republicans are starting to get worried.
01:09If this massive, a tariff kind of war, some people call it like that,
01:15is really heading in the right direction.
01:17What do you tell those people are really worried about the future of the economy of this country?
01:23Well, I think I tell them to look at the dialogue that's happening.
01:26The fact that we already have countries coming to the table
01:28to really get that fair and reciprocal trading relationship.
01:31And when we have that fair and reciprocal trading relationship,
01:34that of course helps the American worker, that helps the American consumer,
01:37but it also makes bilateral relationships with different countries a lot stronger.
01:41It makes it stronger in the long term,
01:43because fairness and reciprocity are what leads to economic prosperity in a lot of ways.
01:47So, I would say, look at all the countries that are coming to the table.
01:50Look at the fact that we have inflation down from when President Trump took office.
01:54Look at the fact that we're seeing all this dialogue happening.
01:57And that's really what President Trump promised to do.
01:58It's what he is doing, and the American people see that.
02:01But did you expect these turbulences?
02:04I mean, you're talking about inflation, but the dollar is down.
02:06I mean, I get so much more money for my euro now.
02:09So, the dollar is as weak as it hasn't been for a long time.
02:13Well, look again, I think, look at all the countries coming to the table.
02:16This is about making sure that we have a revitalized manufacturing center,
02:20making sure we're having investment coming to the United States.
02:22And there are already examples of investment coming into the United States.
02:25Making sure we are lowering those prices, and we're seeing that with inflation.
02:28Making sure, again, that the American worker is put first.
02:31Speaking from an American perspective, you're seeing a wide array of people from
02:34traditionally different sides of the aisle coming together to support these tariffs
02:37because of the initiative it has to put the American worker first.
02:41So, we're seeing that dialogue, we're seeing that fairness, that reciprocity.
02:44And again, that's what leads to a long-term economic success,
02:47peace through strength, as President Trump likes to say,
02:49but also stronger bilateral relationships based on fairness, based on reciprocity,
02:54based on mutual interest to really pursue our common interests.
02:58Another big promise, of course, was migration, immigration.
03:02Donald Trump talked a lot about it during his campaign.
03:05And now, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas bared the Trump administration from
03:12deporting Venezuelans.
03:13How big is this, like, of a backlash for the Trump deportation policies?
03:19Well, I'm not going to comment on pending litigation, ongoing litigation.
03:23But what I can say is that illegal border crossings are down 95 percent compared to last year.
03:28Ninety-five percent.
03:29That is a huge promise made, promise kept to use a very popular political term.
03:33But it's not just a political term. It's based in reality.
03:36We are seeing those decreases in illegal border crossings.
03:39And we're also seeing enthusiasm from countries across the Western Hemisphere,
03:42but really across the world, to partner with us to stop illegal immigration.
03:46Because illegal immigration doesn't just hurt the United States.
03:49It hurts every country that's dealing with it,
03:51especially when you add in the element of transnational crime, the cartels.
03:54Strong efforts we've taken here at the State Department to designate certain cartels
03:58as foreign terrorist organizations, making sure we're combating the flow of fentanyl.
04:01We're seeing partnerships with countries around the world, again, because they recognize as well
04:06that we need to end illegal immigration. We need to combat transnational crime.
04:09So we're seeing those partnerships and we're seeing that success with illegal border crossings
04:13down 95 percent, 95 percent compared to this time last year.
04:16But does this mean that you have deported four-year-old kids with cancer?
04:24Well, look, when it comes to that case that you're speaking of specifically,
04:27the mother was here illegally, the secretary spoke to this, and the children go with the parents.
04:31I mean, that's not a controversial phenomenon that children should be with their parents when
04:35it comes to if the mother's here illegally. And I think, again, going back to the general point here,
04:40illegal border crossings are down 95 percent. And I think what's important to stress is the mutual
04:44benefit we're seeing here. The only group that benefits from illegal immigration that we saw over
04:48the past four years were the transnational criminal enterprises. The migrants, the illegal immigrants,
04:53did not benefit. We saw a huge amount of horrifying stories for people that were making that route to
04:58the border. The Americans don't benefit because of the flow of fentanyl. Countries don't benefit
05:02that are seeing these transnational gangs go from country to country on their way to the United
05:06States. This is about mutual benefit. We're seeing that mutual benefit. We're seeing those illegal
05:10border crossings go down. That's a major success story for this administration.
05:14Another big promise was, of course, to end the war in Ukraine on day one. This didn't happen for many
05:19reasons, but now we have this very crucial mineral deal. Would you agree that with this deal, Donald
05:25Trump has tied himself closer to Ukraine than to Russia? Well, it's about the mutual prosperity of
05:30the United States and Ukraine. I mean, that's a clear point of this initiative. And it's also
05:35important to note that 50 percent of the funds from this deal are going to go towards future
05:39projects to have that reconstruction in Ukraine. I mean, this is about mutual prosperity, mutual benefit.
05:44I keep on using those terms because it really is a hallmark of this administration to pursue
05:48those common interests, put America first. But in doing so, so many different people benefit,
05:53including in those bilateral relationships. So we are seeing this first-of-its-kind historic
05:58critical minerals deal that's going to lead to prosperity in the long term for the people of
06:02Ukraine, for the people of the United States. It really is historic. And the fact that it comes
06:05in this 100 days, again, shows the success of President Trump, his new approach, his approach to
06:10being the best dealmaker that he is, but also the peacemaker that he is, and the foreign policy that
06:14he's pursuing. What do you think Donald Trump or his administration is going to do if
06:18Vladimir Putin keeps bombarding Ukraine? Will they send more weapons or military aid to Ukraine?
06:25So I don't want to speculate or preview what may happen. I don't want to speculate what might
06:28happen down the road. That's ultimately up to the President. President Trump has spoken about this,
06:32about how he hasn't been happy with certain actions that have been taken, and has himself put forward
06:36different options that may happen. Again, I don't want to preview or speculate on those. But what is
06:40clear is that President Trump is a peacemaker. His North Star is the pursuit of peace. That's why we've seen the
06:45engagement from the highest levels of this administration in pursuing that peace. That's
06:49why we've seen this critical minerals deal pursued for first showing that getting to that peace, but
06:54also the economic partnership that we want to see, the investments, the mutual prosperity we want to
06:58see. So President Trump's a peacemaker. He's going to continue pursuing that peace. He has been pursuing
07:03that peace. And that's really one of the guiding principles of his foreign policy.
07:07As I have you, we have to talk about Waltz. He kind of got canned, left, whatever. He's no longer
07:15the national security advisor to Donald Trump. Why? Well, I think, first of all, taking a step
07:21back, what we're seeing is President Trump building his team. We're seeing National Security Advisor
07:24Waltz go into the United Nations. That's an incredibly important post. We're also seeing Secretary Rubio
07:29again being part of this team. And I think it's a testament to the team that President Trump has put
07:33together. A testament to the partnership that we've seen and the foreign policy accomplishments
07:37we've seen. The last hundred days truly have been historic. There have been so many accomplishments
07:41and we're building on that progress going forward. President Trump, of course, being the visionary
07:45here with that foreign policy. So when we're looking at this team, President Trump has that team in
07:50place. We're seeing maybe people go to different positions, but it's a testament to the accomplishments
07:53we have seen and the accomplishments we hopefully will see in the next hundred days.
07:57But Walt's reposting has something to do with SignalGate, no?
08:02Well, again, what I can say is that this is about reshuffling those positions and that's a testament
08:05again to the accomplishments of this administration. The partnership that President Trump has with
08:10Secretary Rubio, for example, I can speak to that here at the State Department. The partnership that they
08:14have, the communication they have, the accomplishments that they have together and will hopefully continue
08:19seeing the next hundred days. But Marco Rubio is now wearing four hats. How can a foreign minister
08:25like be the national security advisor to the president, who is normally really close to the
08:29president? How does this work out? Flying around the world and being close to Donald Trump?
08:34Well, again, it's a testament to that partnership that they have, the communication they've had,
08:37the accomplishments we've seen. I think that's a big story here. And we're looking at this recent
08:42announcement. The fact that we have a foreign policy that has been so successful under President
08:46Trump and Secretary Rubio and will continue hopefully being successful over these next hundred days and
08:50beyond. Mr. Pickett, thank you so much. Thank you very much.
Comments