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00:04Okay, there's a serious group of people here.
00:07If you're into the world of finance like I am,
00:09I love finance.
00:11There's a who's who with us today.
00:14It's amazing that you don't know some of these people.
00:17But anybody in finance knows every one of them.
00:20And I want to thank them for being here today.
00:23We're delighted to welcome some of our nation's
00:25brightest minds in finance, crypto, and technology
00:28ahead of the first-ever meeting of the CFTC's
00:32Innovation Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C.
00:35This is a group of very smart people that are on a
00:38committee to recommend what we do.
00:41Right, Paul?
00:41They're going to be telling us a little bit.
00:43But I think Paul knows maybe more than anybody.
00:45He's doing a great job.
00:47We're all happy with Paul, I think, right?
00:49He's been absolutely fantastic.
00:53Crypto markets and the prediction markets and
00:56conventional finance to decentralize finance.
00:59The people in this room are ensuring that the future of
01:02commercial markets is pioneered and perfected.
01:05Right here in the USA, we're fighting a lot of other
01:08countries to control these markets and to have these
01:12markets and to profit and all the jobs and everything
01:15else created.
01:16And we're doing well.
01:17We're leading in every aspect, including AI, and we're
01:20leading by a lot.
01:21And we want to keep it that way.
01:23I want to thank the chairman of the Commodity Futures
01:25Training Commission, Mike Salik, for his tremendous
01:29leadership.
01:30And come here.
01:33Thank you, Mike.
01:35I didn't recognize you from so close.
01:39And thanks as well to a very special man, a man that
01:42everybody respected for a long time.
01:45He's a man I wanted to do this job, head of the SEC.
01:48Chairman Paul Atkins, who's also doing an outstanding job and
01:53everything else he touches.
01:54He's doing a lot of things for the country.
01:56So I want to thank you very much.
01:58Great job.
01:59Thank you very much, Paul.
02:01We're also pleased to be joined by the Executive Director of
02:05the President's Council of Advisors with the digital
02:09asset.
02:10All of the digital assets are all put into one.
02:13Patrick Witt and many of the top industry leaders, including
02:16Coinbase.
02:18Where's Brian?
02:19Brian Armstrong, CEO.
02:21He's one of the greats.
02:22Where is he?
02:23Where are you?
02:24Oh, you look well.
02:24You look much younger.
02:27You look good.
02:28And CEO of International and Intercontinental Exchange, Jeff
02:34Sprecher, one of the things, a little thing called the New York
02:36Stock Exchange.
02:37He owns a thing called the New York Stock Exchange.
02:39Quite a nice asset, right?
02:41Yes, it is.
02:42CEO of NASDAQ, Adina Friedman.
02:45Thank you very much, Adina.
02:46Great job you're doing.
02:48CEO of Robinhood, Vlad Tenev.
02:50Thank you, Vlad.
02:52Nice to see you.
02:53And CEO of Kraken, Arjun Sethi.
02:56And thank you very much, wherever you are.
02:59Thank you, Fred.
02:59Thank you very much.
03:00Great group of people.
03:01We also have some others here that we wanted them.
03:07Where's Mike, co-founder of CEO of CTO and president of BitGo, which is a big deal in
03:14the world of that thing, that little thing that's happening out there.
03:18And Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple.
03:22Brad?
03:22Thank you, sir.
03:23Thank you very much, Brad.
03:26Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink Labs.
03:30Thank you, Brad.
03:31Thank you very much.
03:32Good, Sergey.
03:33Good job.
03:34Arjun, you're here.
03:35Arjun?
03:37I'm still here.
03:38You're here?
03:39You haven't left?
03:40I am.
03:41Peter Smith is here.
03:43And Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have tremendous people, tremendous investors, brilliant people.
03:50Chris Dixon is here.
03:52And I think I've sort of got anybody I didn't mention, by the way, pretty much got the whole
03:56group.
03:56Good.
03:57They gave me four sets of lists.
03:59And that's always a little complex.
04:02You never want to say one more than three times.
04:05Under the crooked Joe Biden administration, the spirit of innovation that built America
04:10was under serious attack like never before.
04:15And nowhere was that more true than crypto and other new financial technologies where
04:20we were going to be taken to the cleaners by China and other countries.
04:24The radical left tried to crush these developments with crippling regulations, brutal restrictions,
04:31weaponization.
04:32They used weaponization, political weaponization, and constant targeting that drove innovation overseas.
04:38And they wanted to drive it out.
04:40And at the end of the toward the end of the campaign, if you remember, they decided they
04:46liked it very much because there were over 100 million people that were liking Trump
04:50a lot more because I was in favor of it.
04:52They were against it.
04:53And they became very much in favor of it.
04:55But by that time, it was too late.
04:58And besides, those days are all over.
05:01That was a terrible period of time for a lot of very good, very honorable financial people.
05:06On day one, we fired Joe Biden's rogue SEC chair, Gary Gensler.
05:10I think we like Paul better.
05:11Do we agree?
05:12We like Paul better?
05:12Thank you very much.
05:13Number one, he's smarter.
05:18He's also smarter, by the way.
05:20But we fired him.
05:21We got him the hell out of here.
05:22We terminated the so-called Operation Choke Point 2-0, which is what the name of their operation
05:28was, weaponization.
05:30And we ended the war on crypto once and for all.
05:33And it's been booming, it's been doing big, and nobody's been able to break in.
05:38China would like to break in.
05:39They're still trying, but they have been able to.
05:41I signed a historic executive order banning any attempt to create a central bank digital
05:46currency.
05:47We launched Project Crypto to modernize rules so that our financial markets can move into
05:52blockchain technology.
05:54I established a United States strategic Bitcoin reserve, making Bitcoin a permanent asset
05:59of the United States Treasury, which has turned out incredibly well.
06:03I also created the United States digital asset stockpile to hold custody of all other digital
06:09assets.
06:10And that's exactly what it's done.
06:12It's been amazing.
06:13One year ago, this summer, I signed landmark legislation known as the Genius Act.
06:18I named it after myself.
06:20I didn't want anyone to...
06:21I didn't want to use my name, so I just called it the Genius Act, paving the way for widespread
06:27adoption of dollar-backed stablecoins.
06:30And that's worked out very well.
06:32Every single American benefits enormously from our country's status as the financial center
06:38of the world.
06:38And we want to keep it that way.
06:39We're leading by leaps and bounds.
06:42We've gained so much in the last 16 months like nobody can believe, actually.
06:47Not only that, but we have more money being invested in the United States than any country
06:52at any time in history.
06:54Money is coming in by the trillions.
06:57Our nation's economic dominance drives trillions of dollars in investments, creates millions of
07:02jobs, and expands access credit and capital so that every citizen has a chance to achieve
07:08what we now hear a lot about, the American dream.
07:12Young people are looking for the American dream.
07:14They weren't thinking about that two years ago.
07:16New financial technologies are extending this American dominance into the 21st century,
07:21and that's why we're focused on creating a clear regulatory framework for pioneers
07:26and builders, like the people that are with me here, so that they can do business
07:31with confidence on American soil.
07:33They don't have to go to other countries to do their business.
07:37We're ensuring that America remains the undisputed leader, not only in Bitcoin and crypto, but
07:42also technologies like prediction markets, artificial intelligence, and much more.
07:49And we're leading in every single one.
07:50And I will tell you, the AI, the artificial intelligence, we're way ahead of number two.
07:55Number two is China.
07:57And I never want to underestimate China, but right now we're way ahead.
08:01President Xi's coming on September 24th.
08:03We look forward to it.
08:04We'll probably be talking about AI and a lot of other things.
08:07But we're doing tremendously well, largely because of people and some other friends of ours that
08:13are on the board.
08:15And they'll be here in two weeks, I understand.
08:17In May, Chairman Selig authorized the first-ever True Bitcoin perpetual futures contract on
08:24a CFTC-registered exchange, first time.
08:28I understand that Mike is also working to bring hyperliquid into the United States in
08:34a fully compliant and legal fashion.
08:37He's working very hard on that.
08:39We would really like to see interest rates come down.
08:42You know, in the old days with interest rates, many of you are too young to know this, but
08:46when we announced good numbers, interest rates would go down.
08:49And the theory was because the asset value became so good, it became so prime.
08:54But now when we announce good numbers, which we're doing all the time, they keep driving
08:57the interest rates up because they're so afraid of inflation.
09:01And they shouldn't be.
09:03They should allow interest rates to go down.
09:05When you announce good numbers, you shouldn't drive them up.
09:09They keep thinking that we'll drive them up to stop inflation because success and growth
09:14does not cause inflation.
09:16Other things cause inflation.
09:17We inherited the number one inflation ever in the history of our country from Biden.
09:22And it lifted prices and everything else, and we're getting them all down.
09:26But interest rates should be allowed to fall with the success of our country, not rise because
09:30of the success.
09:32But we're also on the very beginning of a revolution in fictional and financial.
09:38You take a look at some of the things that are being done on a financial basis and the
09:44financial technology that's the potential to create more jobs, opportunity, and wealth
09:49for all Americans.
09:50And that's what it's doing.
09:51It's creating jobs and great wealth.
09:53And I think that can't be better seen by the stock market.
09:56So we've had 80, in a short period of time, a year and a half, we've had 80 days where
10:02the stock market hit all-time highs.
10:05I haven't looked today.
10:06I don't know.
10:06Maybe I shouldn't look.
10:07I don't want to look.
10:08But I hear it's good.
10:10But we've had 80 days, Jeff, where the stock market has hit an all-time high.
10:15And nobody's ever seen anything like that.
10:18And I think bringing it down to another level, and maybe a higher level from the standpoint
10:22of importance, 401Ks have hit record highs on almost 40% of the time that I've been president
10:31of the United States.
10:32And that affects tens of millions of people.
10:36The 401Ks are at record numbers.
10:38So two years ago, our country was dead, and now our country is the hottest country anywhere
10:43in the world.
10:43There's nobody close.
10:44No other country is close, and every country will admit it.
10:47So now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act, a fair version
10:52of the Clarity Act.
10:54And this landmark structure legislation, it's a very, very powerful structured legislation
11:01which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else, will open the door
11:05to the next wave of innovations and innovators.
11:09So I'd like to ask Chairman Selig to say a few words and a little bit of details about
11:14what we're doing.
11:14And then we'll follow it up with Chairman Atkins and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Intercontinental
11:20Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher, Robin Hood CEO, Vlad Teneff, and Kraken CEO Arjan.
11:27And so we have that all set, and let's get going.
11:30And you know what?
11:31If you want to speak for a very short period of time, that's okay, too.
11:40Thank you, Mr. President.
11:41It's an honor to be here with you in this exceptional group of business leaders.
11:44Thanks to your leadership, the era of political lawfare, debanking, and regulation by enforcement
11:50is over.
11:52Innovators like the people in this room are welcomed to the White House, not railroaded
11:56to the Big House.
11:57And the new frontier of finance is being built right here in the United States of America.
12:02From day one, this president has been clear.
12:05America will not fall behind and allow other countries to take its place as the greatest
12:10country on Earth to build a new technology, operate a business, and invest for the future.
12:15The world will run on the backbone of American technology.
12:19Under President Trump's leadership, we've codified the Genius Act, established a strategic
12:24Bitcoin reserve, drawn a clear line in the sand between crypto securities and commodities,
12:29launched the first U.S. crypto perpetual, and protected the rights of software developers.
12:34We've exiled Gary Gensler, defeated the anti-crypto army, and made the United States the crypto
12:41capital of the world.
12:43I'm proud to be working with Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce as well to make
12:47America the compute capital of the world.
12:49This may be the most important commodity of our day, some call it digital oil, and America
12:55needs to dominate these markets to win the AI race.
12:58We've also protected federally regulated prediction markets from rogue state attorneys generals
13:02like Letitia James, who seek to nullify federal law and drive these markets offshore to unregulated
13:08and foreign venues.
13:11American dominance in the technologies that will define the future remains unmatched.
13:16We are truly in a golden age of American innovation.
13:19Now, the United States has a choice.
13:21We can either write the rules that define the next generation of financial markets, or we
13:25can let other countries write them for us.
13:27With Congress advancing the Clarity Act towards the finish line, we stand ready to implement the
13:32bill once the President sign it.
13:34But we'll use every tool available to move the President's pro-innovation agenda forward
13:38in the meantime.
13:40Tomorrow at the inaugural meeting of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee, I look forward
13:44to sharing more details on our regulatory path forward, a path forward that provides greater
13:49certainty for innovators while reinforcing confidence in our markets for decades to come.
13:54This President has assembled an extraordinary team of entrepreneurs, builders, investors, and business
14:00leaders advising in government, like David Sachs, of course, and Patrick Witt.
14:05This real-world experience has already brought valuable perspectives into policymaking, and
14:10it will continue to pay dividends for the American people.
14:13Innovation depends on regulatory clarity.
14:16Clear rules create confidence.
14:18Confidence attracts investment.
14:20And investment creates jobs, strengthens our markets, and keeps the world's best talent
14:24building here in America.
14:25Mr. President, thank you again for your leadership and for making American innovation great again.
14:31The work we're doing now to shape the future of our great nation will do measures for decades
14:37to come.
14:37Now I'm honored to introduce the most pro-innovation, pro-free market SEC Chairman in America's history,
14:44and it's not Gary Gensler, of course, it's Paul Atkins.
14:47So, Mr. Chairman, please.
14:54Well, thank you, Mike, and thank you, Mr. President, for having us here today.
15:00From day one, you've made our nation's financial dominance and innovation job one.
15:05We at the SEC are delivering on your agenda.
15:08We're making IPOs great again, to continue on your theme, by cutting red tape that discourages
15:13companies from going public.
15:15Under your leadership, Mr. President, the IPO market is booming.
15:19Since Inauguration Day, 583 companies have gone public, and that's up 75 percent compared
15:27to the final year and a half of the Biden administration.
15:30And those companies have raised an impressive $208 billion, and that's nearly four times
15:36the amount raised during the final year and a half of the previous administration.
15:41So that's just not incremental progress.
15:44That is a turnaround.
15:46You've committed to making the United States the crypto capital of the world, and yesterday
15:51the SEC, I'm proud to say, took another significant step to deliver on that.
15:56Our proposal, the crypto assets rule, would provide crypto entrepreneurs like those here
16:02in this room and job creators the certainty to raise capital in the United States using
16:08digital assets.
16:09This action is consonant with our belief that the most important priority is for Congress
16:15to send the Clarity Act to your desk for your signature.
16:19And the SEC is doing everything we can to support that work.
16:23So thank you again, Mr. President, for leading this nation to ensure that we continue to have
16:28the strongest markets in the world, to reshore innovation, and to welcome, yes, a whole new
16:35generation of investors through the Trump accounts.
16:38So under your leadership, we will make sure that the greatest advances of the technological
16:44frontier are right here in America.
16:46Thank you very much.
16:55Well, this morning, I was thinking back to the 2024 campaign where the president, I think,
16:59very astutely recognized there was millions of voters in the United States who felt disenfranchised
17:04by the prior administration.
17:06And he made a commitment at that time to make America the crypto capital of the world, and
17:10within weeks of taking office, delivered on that promise.
17:13And it started first with this executive order, which came out ordering the agencies and his
17:18administration to take steps in this direction.
17:21He there, shortly thereafter, appointed two of the most competent and pro-innovation regulators
17:27anywhere in the world, Chair Selig and Chair Atkins, and of course, fired Gary Gensler.
17:31There was that big applause line at the Bitcoin conference, which was powerful.
17:36And of course, the Genius Act was another milestone just in the past year, along with the Strategic
17:40Bitcoin Reserve, et cetera.
17:42And just this week, I have to commend Chair Atkins for publishing this new rule that allows
17:47crypto projects to raise capital in the US for the first time.
17:51There's clarity on that.
17:52And Chair Selig, we're excited to attend the advisory committee meeting tomorrow to make
17:58progress there.
17:59So an incredible amount of progress has been made.
18:03And I think what's most important next, of course, is this September 15th vote that we
18:07have with the Clarity Act, this would make all of the progress that this administration
18:11has made durable into the future so it could survive for decades and decades to come.
18:16And make no mistake, there are folks out there who would they want to see this legislation
18:20not happen, right?
18:21Maybe some of the big banks don't want the competition from crypto companies.
18:25Other banks are leaning in and have endorsed it, which I think is really powerful.
18:28And so if we all come together, I think we can get this bill over the finish line and hopefully
18:33get more than 60 votes come September 15th.
18:37And it's very bipartisan, I would say, so you could say that.
18:40Very much.
18:40That is true.
18:41A lot of Democrat support.
18:43There's hundreds of pages of changes that have come in from the Democrat side as well.
18:47It's a true bipartisan compromise.
18:49And yeah, it's a great piece of, it's a great work product.
18:52So up next, I think, is Jeff Sprecher.
18:54That's right.
18:58Mr. President, I just wanted to tell you that your trade policies of fair trade to bring
19:06back jobs and businesses from overseas, your energy dominance policies to fuel the next
19:12generation of technology in the United States, your big, beautiful bill that created incentives
19:20for investments has led to the records that you're hearing about in our stock markets, the
19:27record number of IPOs.
19:29And as you know from working with my wife who works on private businesses, there's a record
19:34number of business formations in this country right now.
19:38So we're here to talk about how to evolve regulation so that we don't impede that progress.
19:45But one of the things I can tell you about the New York Stock Exchange is that it was formed
19:49at the time of our country.
19:51And so it, for 250 years, has been subject to every single financial services regulation
19:58that has ever passed in the United States, bar none.
20:01And so one of the things that I'm so thankful that you've done is put two really strong chairs
20:08in these seats and ask them to go through past legislation, regulation, and figure out what
20:14we can get rid of that no longer serves the interests of this country.
20:17And for that, I really appreciate that on behalf of the New York Stock Exchange.
20:21Thank you very much.
20:22Thank you, Mr. President.
20:30Mr. President, thank you for bringing us together and for your work to ensure the next generation
20:36of Americans has a stake in the country's economic success through the Trump accounts and many
20:43other things.
20:44Thank you also to Chair Selig, Chair Atkins, your administration, for the work underway to
20:52strengthen American capital markets and expand opportunity for all Americans.
20:57If I had to sum up Robin Hood in one word, it would be ownership.
21:02Broad ownership is essential to a free, stable, and prosperous society.
21:07And that belief has shaped pretty much every product we've built, from commission-free investing
21:12to 24-hour trading, and now outside the United States to tokenization, which we're using to
21:19expand ownership of American assets to people in more than 120 countries.
21:25Yet, this innovation is reaching investors abroad before investors here, back home.
21:32And the opportunity goes far beyond public markets.
21:35Tokenization will open up markets that have long been out of reach, including private companies.
21:41Today too much economic value is being created before ordinary investors get a chance to participate.
21:50Expanding ownership also requires protecting investors.
21:53Innovation and investor protection aren't opposing goals.
21:58America became the world's capital markets capital by doing both.
22:03And the chairs here understand that.
22:08American companies are building this technology.
22:11American markets are powering it.
22:13American assets are also at the center of it.
22:15American investors should not be the last to benefit.
22:19We look forward to continue to work together to expand ownership, build the next generation
22:23of capital markets, and ensure America leads the way.
22:28Great job.
22:30Arjun.
22:35Arjun.
22:37Hello, everyone.
22:39I was thinking about what I was going to say today.
22:41Most of the time, I don't speak too much.
22:43But the first time I met the president, he said, what does your company do?
22:48And I said, we were a startup.
22:51We move at warp speed.
22:52And the first thing he said is, why not at Trump speed?
22:56So we started acting in that way.
22:58Look, our mission at Kraken isn't about Kraken.
23:03Brian created Coinbase.
23:06Vlad here.
23:07We have ICE, NASDAQ.
23:08They created the world markets.
23:10And all we're trying to do is make sure that everyone in America has the ability to be
23:16able to succeed in the same way that we did.
23:18And that's essentially how we think about it.
23:20So our motto at Kraken has been, fix money, we fix the world.
23:24Thank you, Mr. President.
23:25Thank you very much, Ray.
23:31And if you have any questions, or if anybody else of this very distinguished, would somebody
23:35like to say something?
23:37My male models who happen to be genius, they're brilliant and they look good, right?
23:42But anybody, would you like to say something?
23:44Go ahead, please.
23:45I just want to thank you, Mr. President, for all of your leadership.
23:50America should lead in crypto and win in markets like prediction markets.
23:55And with your leadership and your administration, you're helping America lead here and become
24:01the crypto capital of the world.
24:02So thank you very much.
24:08I just want to thank you, Mr. President, as well as Chairman Atkins and Chairman Selig for
24:13the great work that they're doing.
24:21Yeah, I just want to say that what Chairman Selig and Chairman Atkins are doing and the
24:26President has enabled with his leadership is actually working.
24:29So if you look at stablecoin usage and adoption, it's increasing the usage and distribution of
24:35the U.S. dollar at higher and higher levels than our industry has ever seen, specifically
24:40because of the Genius Act and the movement of more and more treasuries into stablecoins
24:45and therefore into more and more hands across the world.
24:48And now the tokenization of equities, thanks to Chairman Selig and Chairman Atkins' great
24:53work and collaboration and actual work together rather than working against each other as before,
24:58is going to distribute U.S. equities globally and increase the distribution of those.
25:02So, you know, we power a lot of these applications and companies so we know what the numbers actually
25:09are and they're massively increasing because we have regulators and leadership that enables
25:14the success and distribution of these U.S.-based assets.
25:17So there's actually a very real and tangible outcome that's really now benefiting the U.S.
25:23and adoption of U.S. issued assets and the U.S. dollar.
25:27So, I just want to mention that it really is working and hitting all-time highs.
25:32So thank you very much.
25:37So, if you have any questions, we have a meeting next week with the AI people.
25:41The top people are coming in.
25:43So we can talk about that, but we're leading by a lot with AI.
25:46We want to keep it that way.
25:48We want to regulate, but we want to have a regulation where they can continue to lead,
25:53not regulation that's going to stifle a very important industry.
25:56I think maybe bigger than the internet, bigger than anything anyone's seen.
26:00And we're helping in that regard, especially with regard to allowing them to produce their
26:04own electricity, which everyone thought was crazy that it would never be approved.
26:08We're getting them fast two- and three-week approvals.
26:11They're building some of the greatest electric plants anywhere in the world because our grid
26:15is old and tired and weak.
26:17And they're actually giving the excess electricity into the grid, but they're building power plants
26:22that nobody's ever seen anything like.
26:23We're not using the power from the grid.
26:26We're using brand new power.
26:28So it's a great thing.
26:28Because that misconception has been out there that we're taking electricity, we're actually
26:33creating electricity.
26:34And that's something I was proud of because that was my idea.
26:37Nobody believed it.
26:38Actually, it went along for two, three weeks.
26:40I said, how come these guys aren't submitting?
26:41Well, they thought that you were just kidding.
26:44Because that's the way it's been in this country.
26:46Nobody would ever say a thing like that.
26:48But no, they're building power plants, the likes of which all different fuels, all different
26:52ways.
26:52But the likes of which we've never seen the people that are in the power business and we're
26:58seeing things that we've never seen before because a very high level of intelligence is
27:02doing it.
27:03So it's been great.
27:04Okay.
27:04Any questions?
27:05Yeah, please.
27:06Mr. President, does the administration have any plans to accumulate considerable amounts
27:10of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?
27:12Well, it's been talked about.
27:13I think I'd probably rely on Paul and the whole group for that.
27:17He'll make a decision.
27:18You guys will make a decision.
27:20And you'll let me know.
27:21But certainly it's been talked about.
27:23It's taken a lot of pressure off the dollar.
27:26It's been very, very good for the dollar.
27:29And I think if you came in with recommendations, two of you, if you came in with some recommendations,
27:33I would certainly listen.
27:35It seems to be a pretty big subject.
27:37Yes, please.
27:38Hi, President Trump.
27:38I have two quick questions.
27:40Go ahead.
27:40Don't get around here much.
27:41So my first question is, we're talking about AI and crypto a lot.
27:44You've won overwhelmingly with working class Americans in 2024, tens of millions of working
27:48Americans.
27:49Many of them, they say, we love President Trump, but we're still cautious about AI and crypto.
27:54Yeah.
27:54So what do you say to those who are still reticent to embrace this?
27:58So I think it's a great question.
28:00And I think it's going to create a lot of jobs.
28:02It's going to create success.
28:02It's going to create tremendous innovation medically.
28:06I mean, they're coming up with already, amazingly, they came up with something today that I looked
28:10at it having to do, I won't go into the details, but having to do it with a pretty unstoppable
28:15disease.
28:15And all of a sudden, they're coming up with answers that they never thought were possible
28:19and things that they never even would have thought about.
28:22So I think it's really creating jobs.
28:24And I can tell you one thing.
28:26If you look at our construction jobs right now, because we're building more plants, factories,
28:30things that really have something to do with the AI, but also car factories, car plants,
28:36they're moving into our country.
28:38Honda just announced, Toyota just announced they're moving their operations from Mexico,
28:42from Canada, from other places.
28:44We, by the way, probably have a deal with Canada.
28:46You probably saw that we, very major tariffs were going on to Canada today.
28:52We delayed it for three days because I think we have a deal with the prime minister and
28:55good deal for everybody.
28:57So that's good.
28:58But the construction jobs are enormous.
29:00We're building the biggest plants anywhere in the world.
29:02And I can say if I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state and I
29:07had a chance
29:07to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it because
29:13the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous.
29:18And if you don't take it, you're going to be left behind because there are plenty of
29:21places that want it.
29:22So I would say that maybe you can use a little public relations help.
29:26But if I were a governor or mayor, I would want that plant in my community.
29:31And many of them are designed in a very beautiful way.
29:33It's really very positive.
29:34Okay.
29:35A little off topic.
29:36So you mentioned Joe Biden and some of the past leadership, and it's been about 69 days
29:41since we've seen Mitch McConnell.
29:42Sometimes when you look at Congress, it looks like the cast of the room.
29:45But I read a Cindy Adams column in the New York Post recently, and she talked about how
29:50we need term limits and someone needs to hold Congress accountable.
29:53Maybe you should be the person to do it.
29:55Would you support term limits for Congress or some type of cognitive testing?
29:59Because maybe if we had that the last four years, we wouldn't have ended up in some
30:02of these messages.
30:02So term limits are very popular with the public.
30:05I've seen it both ways.
30:06I've seen where people go in, and they get termed out, and they're very talented, and
30:11they're at the height of their career, you know, politicians.
30:14And you end up with total rookies in there, nothing gets done.
30:18And I've seen it the other way, where people are there too long.
30:20We see that all the time.
30:21I see both.
30:22I always like to say that a term limit is an election.
30:25You know, the public's pretty smart.
30:27You see that last night.
30:28We had some great success last night.
30:29The Republican Party had tremendous success last night.
30:32But I like to say that term limits should be elections.
30:36But I'm okay with term limits.
30:37Remember the people that have to pass term limits are the people that are going to be
30:40voting on them to get out of office.
30:42So it's a little bit tough.
30:44That's not the easiest vote to get, is it, huh?
30:46But I'm okay with it one way or the other.
30:48I do think elections really turn people out.
30:51I'm going to ask you about Canada, but first, the Treasury Secretary says that we could see
30:55the most impactful sanctions on Iran this week.
30:58When will they come, and what else could be sanctioned on Iran?
31:01Well, we have things that we could sanction.
31:04We have very draconian sanctions, and we'll see what happens.
31:09Right now the strait is open.
31:11A lot of boats are coming through.
31:13People aren't reporting that, and that may slow down a little bit at some point.
31:17But right now a lot of boats are coming through.
31:19The naval blockade has been extremely effective.
31:23Zero, I mean, literally while it's up, and that's been for quite a while, you know, except
31:27for a couple of little pauses where we opened it purposely at, with a deal.
31:32But the deal didn't terminate, you know, the deal didn't turn out to be what they said.
31:35You know, when they tell us one thing and they do another.
31:38But the blockade has been 100% successful.
31:41No boats have gotten into Iran, but they are getting in for other places.
31:45But we'll see.
31:46We're going to see what happens.
31:47It'll either be extremely good and oil prices are going to drop like a rock, or we'll continue
31:53to do exactly what we're doing.
31:55You know, they were talking about $350 a barrel, and it's today $84, $85.
32:02And we are getting a lot of oil out.
32:04But the other thing that's happened is people have found other alternatives, which they never
32:09thought about.
32:10Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and other places.
32:13In addition, a lot of pipelines.
32:15Record numbers of pipelines are being built.
32:18So, I think the harm most rates are not going to be quite as important as it was in the
32:22past.
32:22Now, on Canada, again, you said that there's a deal, an agreement in place.
32:26Are you willing to lower tariffs on steel and aluminum?
32:28Well, we're looking at that.
32:30Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:32Well, we're getting zero for our farmers.
32:33You know, farmers have been hurt very badly by Canada, and they won't be paying any tariffs
32:38anymore.
32:38And we may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are, because
32:43Canada was paying a higher tariff.
32:45Canada was paying us a higher tariff.
32:47So, we are, look, we have a very nice relationship with leadership right now.
32:52And we'll see.
32:53But we did a three-day pause.
32:54It was supposed to be a 50% straight across the board tariff.
32:57That was going into effect at seven o'clock this morning.
33:00And I delayed it at the request of Canada for three days so we can iron out the details.
33:06But it's going to be a wonderful deal, hopefully a wonderful deal for everybody.
33:10Mr. President, earlier today you said North Korea has something like 57 weapons.
33:15They've been expanding their nuclear system.
33:16Is your goal in trying to re-engage with Chairman Kim still denuclearization?
33:22And what makes you think you can be successful now when you weren't?
33:24Well, I don't want to talk about that, but I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong-un,
33:29as you know, you've seen.
33:31He didn't like Biden.
33:33He didn't like Obama.
33:34He didn't like anybody, but he likes me.
33:37And I like, you know, I just got along with him very good.
33:39We had great meetings.
33:40We speak.
33:42And I think our nation and I think other nations, frankly, whether it's Japan or South Korea,
33:48they're a lot safer if I'm president than if somebody else is president.
33:51Now, I didn't like the fact that we're doing these massive military exercises really against North Korea.
33:57It was, you know, an exercise against North Korea.
34:00When I'm friendly with him, when we have, I don't see anything happening for certainly two and a half years.
34:06It's not going to happen with me, but I don't see anything happening.
34:10And I was not happy when South Korea said, no, they're not interested in helping us with the Harmos Strait.
34:16And yet they get 60 percent of the royal from the Harmos Strait.
34:19I said, would you like to help us?
34:21He said, no, thank you.
34:22I said, that's nice.
34:23Please.
34:24He made us a lot of money.
34:25I didn't like that.
34:26So I felt that to do a massive, we were doing a massive war exercise.
34:30I thought that was very insulting to somebody that, frankly, has been, during my term at least, very well behaved.
34:39Yeah.
34:41On the bond market, has the administration done enough to stabilize the bond market after yesterday?
34:46Well, I think it is, but I mean, it's very sad.
34:50Every time we do great, we announce great numbers, the interest rates go up.
34:53And they go up because they want to stop inflation.
34:55They should go down because the country's strong.
34:59You know, I see countries like Switzerland, where they're the number one lowest interest rates, a half a percent.
35:04And we pay three and a half percent.
35:06And yet, if we stop doing business, for instance, I have the absolute right to cut off all business with
35:11a country like Switzerland.
35:12And so why are they prime if I can cut off the business and they are no longer functional?
35:18And yet they're considered to be like an elite country.
35:21And I don't want to single them out because there's 60 countries like that.
35:25They live off the United States.
35:27So why are we paying higher interest rates than them?
35:29You know, in the old days, we used to pay the lowest interest rate, no matter how we were doing,
35:33because we sort of generate for the whole world.
35:36And I want to see it where interest rate.
35:39And I have to tell you, we have a wonderful chairman.
35:41I think he's doing a great job.
35:43The problem is he has a board and it's a political board, people put in by Obama, Biden and me.
35:49And there are quite a few members still left, as you understand.
35:53And so they vote to raise interest rates.
35:56I don't know if they're doing it because they think they're doing a good thing or because they like the
35:59politics of it.
36:00But my point is years ago, 25 years ago, when the country announced good numbers, interest rates went down because
36:08we had a stronger country.
36:09Now, when we announced good numbers, the better they are, the worse it is for interest rates.
36:15So we could be we could have a GDP of 10 times.
36:18You know, they say, oh, it's going to be three times or four point one.
36:22We could have a GDP of 10, 12, 15 times if they just leave us alone.
36:28Let us let the rates go down.
36:30We should pay the lowest interest rates.
36:32You know, every point of interest is six hundred billion dollars.
36:36Think of that.
36:37Every point of interest is six hundred billion.
36:41Two points means we make a fortune.
36:44But we keep driving it up.
36:46It's a very unfair system.
36:48And I've said it now for a long time.
36:51When our country does well, interest rates should go down.
36:55I mean, every time I hear our country is doing well, I say, oh, it's too bad because they lift
36:59up interest rates.
37:00They should drop interest rates because it means we have a strong country and it's all based on credit, meaning
37:06good credit.
37:06And we have the best credit and we pay off the debt very easily, very quickly.
37:11But if somebody is paying a half a point, we should be paying a half a point, not somebody else.
37:16Right now, I think it's Switzerland has the lowest again.
37:19And I don't want to single them out.
37:20But if you take our business away from Switzerland, they have problems.
37:24So why are they paying a half a point?
37:26And we're paying much more than that.
37:30Does that make sense to anybody?
37:32I mean, it seems pretty simple to me, but it's a killer.
37:36You know, I almost like to hear bad numbers.
37:38I'm saying, I hope we have bad numbers today.
37:40Interest rates will go down.
37:41It doesn't make sense.
37:43When our business is good, we should lower interest rates.
37:46And then you want to build America, you're going to see a building like you've never seen.
37:50We're doing great, even despite the fact of what's happening with interest rates.
37:54Should Americans be concerned about this volatility in the bond market?
37:58No, I don't think so, because like I said, our country is doing so well despite interest rates.
38:03We have interest rates that are artificial.
38:06They're actually artificially high.
38:08They raise them for no reason.
38:09And you can't go out to the market when you have a Fed that's raising interest.
38:14You can't say, I want to pay three points less than what the Fed says you're supposed to be paying.
38:18So, no, I don't think so at all.
38:20I think we have a very powerful country and we're powering through these ridiculous interest rates.
38:25They're ridiculous.
38:27Look, when our country is strong, interest rates should go down.
38:32When our country is weak, frankly, they should go up.
38:36But this country is strong.
38:37They've never had, there's never been in history the kind of money coming into a country as we have right
38:43now.
38:45Trillions and trillions of dollars are being invested in plants, factories, everything.
38:50Everything you can think of.
38:51We're the hottest country in the world.
38:53We are by far, and you know, I said it a hundred times, the king of Saudi Arabia, but many,
38:58many people.
38:59They said two years ago, three years ago, your country was dead.
39:02Now you have the hottest country in the world.
39:05That's what we have.
39:05We have the hottest country in the world.
39:07And these people are helping us a lot.
39:09Thank you very much, everybody.
39:10Come on to the Oval Office.
39:12We're going to take them into the Oval Office.
39:14We're going to show them a real office, okay?
39:16Their offices are nice, but this is nice.
39:18Did you watch Valley Frank?
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