00:02We had a great visit, great visits.
00:05This is an extraordinary forum.
00:08ASEAN is the primary way in which the United States engages in Southeast Asia diplomatically.
00:14The United States is a country that has deep ties in this region.
00:17We are a Pacific nation.
00:19We have U.S. citizens that live in the Pacific, obviously in Hawaii and in other territories.
00:23And we have strong relationships with many of our partner nation states here in the region.
00:29And that includes, for example, the United States is the single largest source of foreign
00:33direct investment.
00:35So we're very happy to have come here today.
00:36We're very warmly received, very positively received.
00:38We had very good meetings, some real deliverables, and new action items we'll be able to work
00:44on together in the years to come.
00:45Sir, a question on tariffs.
00:46Are you afraid that the tariffs will alienate ASEAN and backfire against the U.S.?
00:51No.
00:52I'm not concerned about that.
00:53It's not going to happen because these tariffs are being applied on a global scale.
00:56These are not aimed at one country or one region.
00:59It's all around the world.
01:00And it's very simple, okay?
01:01For 20 or 30 years, the United States has built up enormous trade deficits with multiple
01:06countries around the world in every region, in Europe, with Canada, with Mexico, and in
01:11this region as well.
01:12And that had to be addressed.
01:14And so that's what the president is doing.
01:15Now obviously those tariffs that he's announced will take effect on the 1st of August because
01:20markets need certainty.
01:22But there is always the possibility that before August 1st or at some point after August 1st,
01:27we will reach arrangements with individual countries that changes those numbers in a positive
01:32way.
01:33But that takes some time to work on.
01:35So that could happen.
01:36But by and large, this is not aimed at any one country.
01:39This is globalized.
01:40It applies to virtually every country in the world because the trade deficit the U.S. was
01:45running with too many countries is simply unsustainable.
01:48We had to address it.
01:49We had to address it.
01:50But there it is.
01:51And there you go.
