President Trump holds press conference with French President

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President Trump holds press conference with French President
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And the President of the French Republic.
Well, thank you very much, everyone.
Great honor to be here with my friend.
I'm delighted to welcome President Macron back to
the White House.
We've been together quite often, but not that often
in the White House.
We honored the President, First Lady of France, not
so long ago.
It was a beautiful evening, and we will not
soon forget it.
That was a beautiful day and evening, and many
fond memories.
I also want to thank Emmanuel for hosting me in
Paris last December after a historic election win,
to witness the reopening of the spectacular
Notre-Dame Cathedral, where you did an
outstanding job in bringing it back together.
That was a sad day watching that burn.
And five years later, you had it up, and it was,
they say, more beautiful than it was before.
So I think that's a great achievement.
That is not easy.
France is America's oldest ally.
Our cherished partnership has been a force for
freedom, prosperity, and peace from the very
beginning.
We're now working on some very interesting
developments.
One in particular, as you know, the war between
Russia and Ukraine.
In the American Revolution, French support
helped us to seize our destiny as an independent
nation.
In the First and Second World Wars, our citizens
shed blood together on the battlefields of Europe.
And I'll never forget joining President Macron
six years ago on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
That was some day.
The purpose of our meeting today is to end
another battle, a really horrible one, a war,
something that we haven't seen since the Second
World War, that is ravaging European soil,
the deadliest and most destructive conflict that
one can imagine.
I've seen the pictures.
I've seen the satellite photos and lots of other
photos, and it's a horrible thing that's
happening.
Thousands of people are dying a week.
This very day is the third anniversary of the
invasion of Ukraine, which would never have
happened if I was President.
That was not going to happen.
The horrors of this gruesome and bloody war
can scarcely be overestimated.
Hundreds of thousands of people, Russians and
Ukrainians in particular, have needlessly died.
An entire generation of Ukrainians and Russian men
has been decimated.
One-thousand-year-old cities have been turned
into rubble.
Those beautiful spires that you used to see there
— they were most beautiful in the world,
they say — are lying in heaps of rubble, blasted
to smithereens.
It's time to end this bloodletting and restore
peace, and I think we're going to do it.
We've had some great conversations, including
with Russia.
Since my return to the White House, we've made
more progress toward that goal in one month than
occurred in the past three years.
And I've spoken with both President Putin and
President Zelensky.
And again, a lot of — a lot of good things toward
peace are happening.
Moving it, I think, pretty quickly.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
National Security Advisor Michael Walsh, and
Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff conducted
successful talks in Saudi Arabia with the
delegation from Russia.
And I'd like to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
and the King and Mohammed.
Great people.
They're really working hard to get this done.
Our focus is on achieving a ceasefire as soon as
possible and, ultimately, a permanent peace.
My meeting with President Macron today was another
important step forward in that — in that sphere
because he's been very much involved right from
the beginning in trying to get it over with, and
we're going to get it done.
I believe that Emmanuel agrees with me on many of
the most important issues.
Chief, among them is this is the right time — maybe
the only time.
You know, that's a very interesting and horrible
situation, and it could evolve into a Third World War.
We're not going to let that happen.
It should have never started, but it did.
And what a mess.
What a horrible, bloody mess.
I'm also pleased that President Macron agrees
that the cost and burden of securing the peace must
be borne by the nations of Europe, not alone by the
United States.
And Europe must take that central role in ensuring
long-term security of Ukraine, which they want to do.
And that's not a very big step.
A big step is what's going to happen over the next
few weeks.
The United States has put up far more aid for Ukraine
than any other nation — hundreds of billions of
dollars.
We've spent more than $300 billion, and Europe has
spent about $100 — $100 billion.
That's a big difference.
And at some point, we should equalize.
But hopefully, we won't have to worry about that.
We have other things happening that maybe take
that out of the realm of necessity.
And while we've given vast amounts of military aid
and money in the form of grants, much of Europe's
contribution has been economic relief,
structured as loans, for which they'll be repaid.
Like the Europeans, I believe that taxpayers and
the United States also deserve to recoup the
colossal amounts of money that we've sent.
The previous administration never even
thought of that.
They didn't think of a lot of things, like why did
they let it start in the first place.
That is why we must have an agreement with Ukraine
on critical minerals and rare earths and various
other things as security.
And I think that that's happening.
I think we've made a lot of progress.
I had a report just given to me before walking in
that we've made, Emmanuel, a great deal of progress
toward getting that.
I've been elected by the American people to restore
common sense to Washington and, indeed, to the world.
And I believe strongly that it's in the best
interest of the United States, the best interest
in Europe, the best interest of Ukraine, and,
indeed, the best interest of Russia to stop the
killing now and bring the world to peace.
My administration is making a decisive break
with the foreign policy values of the past
administration and, frankly, the past.
I ran against a very foolish foreign policy
establishment, and their recklessness has led to
the death of many, many people.
Under our administration, we're forging a new path
that promotes peace around the world.
And when I left office for the first
administration, first term, we had no wars, we
had no problems.
We didn't have October 7th with Israel.
We didn't have Russia and Ukraine going at it.
We didn't have the problems in other parts of
the Middle East.
We didn't have inflation.
It's a whole different world.
And you know what else?
We didn't have millions of people pouring through our
borders, many of them criminals released from
other nations and put right into our land.
Murderers, drug dealers, gangs.
We didn't have any of that.
It's a different time, but now we have it and we're
fixing it.
We'll fix it all up and get it done as quickly as
possible.
And we've made a great deal of progress.
People are saying it was the best month for a
President in our country's history.
I hope that's right, but I feel it's right.
We've done a lot of things in a very short period of
time, four weeks.
As I've said before, it's my hope that my greatest
legacy, however, will be as a peacemaker and a
unifier.
I want to bring peace, not war.
I thank President Macron for joining us today in
this urgent work we're doing.
We have some wonderful people up front right here
that have worked so hard.
Steve Whitcock, thank you very much.
And Michael Walz, thank you.
Scott, thank you very much.
And J.D., thank you.
They've really done a job.
They work very hard.
It's like it's a real passion to get this war
ended.
And I'd like to now invite Emmanuel to say a few
words, and then we'll take questions.
And again, Emmanuel, it's a great honor to have you
with us at the White House.
Thank you very much.
Please.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, dear Donald.
Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,
mesdames et messieurs, je vais dire quelque chose.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be saying a few words in
French.
Thank you very much, Mr. President, dear
Donald, for your hospitality and for this
visit.
As you mentioned, we have had the opportunity to
meet over the past few years.
Since your first term, we've been able to discuss
matters in Paris and also here at the White House.
And it has always been a great joy to do that, and
I would like to commend you.
And thank you, Mr. President, for extending
this friendship to France and taking part in the
ceremony at Notre Dame that you mentioned before.
It was a great honor for the French people to reopen
the cathedral to the rest of the world.
And your presence was a testament to that
friendship.
As the President said, this friendship dates back
to the Revolutionary War, since the beginning of the
United States.
And whenever we've needed to, we've been able to
come together and be on the right side.
We've been able to be united to defend peace and
sovereignty, namely in the two world wars that marked
the 20th century, from Lafayette to Pershing and
to the many Americans who landed on Omaha Beach.
And we spoke earlier before, and you mentioned
that one of those gentlemen was able to visit
you here, one of the veterans.
This is part of history, which puts us in the world
that we are in today.
And as the President just said, there are many
challenges in this world.
And over the past few days, we have one main objective,
which is the geopolitical situation.
Mr. President, I really wish to thank you for making
changes to your schedule to meet with us so quickly.
I think we've made very substantive steps forward
during our discussions, and this is a major step in what
we're experiencing today.
We had a video conference with all of the G7 leaders,
which was an opportunity for us to discuss this matter
three days after the Russian war in Ukraine, and to
express our support for President Zelensky to the
Ukrainian people, but also to speak and share about
our desire for a lasting peace.
This is what we have spoken about very forcibly over
the past few weeks.
We thought that this war was only going to last a few
weeks when it broke out in 2022.
We admire greatly the courage of the Ukrainian
people.
And, Mr. President, I wish to thank you for this.
You mentioned that there are responsibilities on
Europe's side, and indeed, we have invested $128
billion in aid to Ukraine and the Ukrainians.
Ukraine has been able to hold the front of our
collective security.
It's fought over these past few years for its
independence and for its sovereignty, but also for
our collective security, because I think that no
one in this room wants to live in a world where it's
the law of the strongest and international borders
can be violated from one day to the next by anyone.
Over the past few hours, and as you mentioned this,
Mr. President, we've been able to see a few things
take shape.
First of all, allow me to commend you on your
decision to work with President Zelensky and to
conclude this agreement that's so important for
the U.S.
and Ukraine on rare earths, critical minerals, but
also having substantive conversations with
President Zelensky during this key phase of
achieving this deal, which is a major commitment to
Ukraine's sovereignty.
And I think that's very commendable.
We also have a shared desire to build peace.
We will have this responsibility.
This is 10 years after the war started in Crimea, and
then we saw the events in the Donbas region and
along the northern part of the country.
We want to save lives.
We want to bring prisoners back and bring back
families and children, because there's also a
humanitarian tragedy affecting the Ukrainian people.
We had lengthy discussions with the President, and we
spoke about our desire to bring an end to conflicts,
to have a truce that is measurable, verifiable, and
that enables negotiation of a lasting peace.
What we will discuss is not only Ukraine's
reconstruction, its territories, but also the
security guarantees, meaning maintaining peace
over the long term.
As I said to the President, we've experienced peace
accords that were only ceasefires without ensuring
security guarantees, Minsk I and II.
And we want to make sure this doesn't happen again.
And I know that the President has expressed the
desire to be a player for peace in the region.
I've spoken with some 30 European leaders and allies
in recent days.
We want to bring together these allies and share the
same vision.
This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine.
It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees.
This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty and
allow Ukraine to negotiate with other stakeholders
regarding the issues it affects.
That affects it, rather.
But it is also a country in which we need to shoulder
our responsibilities so that we ensure security and
stability for Ukraine and for the entire region.
And for us Europeans, this is an existential issue.
We also spoke about these issues at length with the
President.
We've worked with President Zelensky and gotten to some
of the details of the various phases of the
negotiation.
And we've also been able to speak about some of this
work with our British partners to talk about
deployments of peace forces on Ukrainian soil,
which are part of these security guarantees.
Other countries are ready to join in this effort.
Solidarity and support from the U.S.
will be crucial to this.
And I thank you, Mr. President,
for beginning to work with us on this issue.
And the agreement that you are preparing to sign with
Ukraine and with all these discussions we've had are
very solid guarantees that we are understood,
that we have the same wish, peace as soon as possible.
Lasting, solid peace for everyone.
And the renewal of an international situation where
we are all able to shoulder our responsibilities,
Europeans shouldering their responsibilities alongside
their American allies who will shoulder their own
responsibilities.
I also wanted to be very clear, Mr. President,
about Europe's commitment.
We have committed to building a lasting peace.
As Europeans, we have committed to being
stakeholders in these security guarantees.
And we are also well aware that Europeans need to do
more for security in Europe, for defense in Europe,
and to more fairly share the security burden that your
country has been carrying for so many years.
Mr. President, you know how much friendship I show
towards you and I have towards you since
your first term.
Europe is very clear-eyed about this.
We know what we need to do as Europeans,
given the threats surrounding us and the
responsibilities that we must shoulder.
We spoke about the Versailles agenda,
which allowed the Europeans to take a historic step
and increase their investments.
Europeans are ready to do even more and to go even farther.
And several leaders said that to me before I came
here to meet you.
Mr. President, dear Donald, you spoke about this
peace through strength.
We fully share that, because we must recognize
the sacrifices made by the Ukrainian people and what
we owe to them.
The President and I also spoke about economic
matters and our desire to see more prosperity in the
United States and in Europe.
We had discussions, which will be carried on by our
teams, our ministers and secretaries to flesh out
some of those ideas.
But the idea is to have fair competition and no
bias within competition between our industries.
Now, the American and European economies are
extremely intertwined.
Some $1.5 billion in trade — a trillion, rather —
in goods and services.
And I know you've spoken about wanting to look at
the balance of payments.
We also have a trade deficit, and I know that we
need to look not only at goods, but also digital
items and goods which you export.
And we want to make a sincere commitment towards
fair competition where we have smooth trade and
more investments.
You already invest a great deal in France, and France
is the fifth largest investor in the United States.
And I would like to recognize here all of the
American investors who announced investments —
some $120 billion that were announced at the AI Summit.
This is our wish.
We want to have more prosperity on both sides of
the Atlantic.
We have a shared agenda in that regard.
We also spoke about the Middle East, among other
subjects, and here, again, we have the same desire.
We don't want to see Iran obtain nuclear weapons.
We don't want — or, rather, we want an approach
with partners in the region that we can trust.
Given Iran's nuclear activities, we want to
limit its ballistic capabilities and avoid any
type of regional destabilization.
With respect to Syria and Iraq, we also share
the same desire.
We don't want to see Islamic terrorist groups
resume any of their activities because, for
some time, our armies have very bravely been engaged
in the Gulf, as you have led, and contributions
have been significant and helped stability
in the region.
And I say this with great sincerity.
France was affected by a terrorist attack in 2015,
which was linked to the terrorist activity in Syria.
And we are in that region, at your side, to work
for more security.
Ladies and gentlemen, we had extremely productive
discussions this morning during the conference, and
we spoke with our ministers and counselors
and advisors.
And I wish to say, after speaking with President
Trump, I fully believe that there is a path forward.
We share the same beliefs.
We know what work needs to be done.
And in the weeks to come, we will work on that.
Our teams will come together in various
formats to make sure that we have this solid,
lasting peace.
With great strength, Mr. President, thank you so
much for welcoming me here today.
Thank you so much for these productive discussions
and for your commitment.
Thank you, dear Donald.
Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Brian, would you like to ask a question?
Go ahead.
Welcome.
I just want to touch upon the Harvard poll that
came out that had, thank you very much, the Harvard
poll that came out had you up nine-plus points.
And all of your agenda that you ran on, you're
accomplishing that.
You've got the support of the American people,
including stopping the war in Ukraine.
If you can comment on the latest Harvard poll,
I'd appreciate that.
Well, I was honored by it.
It was a big poll, and it's usually a poll that
leans on the other side of things, the other side of
the world, so to speak.
But the Harvard poll is a respected poll, and it has
us not only leading, but leading by a lot and
leading on every single issue that we've talked
about.
And as I said, we've become the party of common
sense, and I think that's a very important element
now, common sense, because what's happening in the
world and even in this country, some of the things
that took place, many of them are now canceled and
the rest are being canceled as we speak.
But we've moved very rapidly and, I think, very
effectively.
So I was honored by that poll.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
Go ahead.
Please.
Go ahead.
Mr. President, you said before that you would like
to see Russia.
Yes.
Go ahead.
When you're meeting in Saudi Arabia with President
Putin, would you like to see any progress on the
Ukrainian side?
Yeah, I think the meeting in Saudi Arabia was a
fantastic one.
We met with the Crown Prince, who is a fantastic
young guy.
He's young, but with great imagination and
tremendously respected all over the world.
He goes right to the king, and the king is
incredible.
I'm happy to be friends with both of them very
much.
And I want to see this ended.
And they're going all out to make sure that it is
ended.
I think Russia, likewise.
I've spoken to President Putin, and my people are
dealing with him constantly and his people,
in particular.
And they want to do something.
I mean, that's what I do.
I do deals.
My whole life is deals.
That's all I know is deals.
And I know when somebody wants to make it and when
somebody doesn't, I will say this before I came
here, there was no communication with Russia
whatsoever.
And Russia wasn't answering calls.
They were not talking to anybody.
They wouldn't talk to anybody.
And people sort of accepted that as being that
they want to go forward and just keep going without
stop.
But when I got here, one of the first calls I made
was to President Putin, and we were treated with
great respect.
And they want to end this war.
So that's a big thing.
Because I didn't know if I could say that, but it's a
big thing.
They want to do it.
And the group in the front row that I
introduced, they're all very active in it.
And we're working on deals right now,
transactions right now.
And, in particular, the big one is to get the war
stopped, whether it's ceasefire or direct to an
agreement.
I'd like to go directly to an agreement, but
ceasefire will always happen a little bit
quicker.
And every day, you're saving thousands, or at
least hundreds, but thousands, in some cases,
lives.
So we want to see if we can get that done very
quickly.
Yes, for the President, please.
The Press Thank you.
I'm a correspondent based in Paris.
Question for both of you, actually.
Mr. Macron, you were one of the last Western
leaders to speak to Putin before Ukraine's invasion.
What advice, what recommendation could you
make to President Trump to make sure that this
time, you can get strong enough guarantees, sorry,
from Putin to get a peace deal that lasts this
time?
And, Mr. President Trump, what makes you think you
can trust Putin in those negotiations?
Thank you.
President Macron Look, I will never give any
advice to President Trump.
We have friendly and trustful discussion.
But my experience with President Putin is the
following.
Number one, I always think it's good to have
discussion with other leaders, and especially
when you disagree.
I stopped my discussion with President Putin after
Bouchard and the war crimes because I considered
that, I mean, we had nothing to get from him
at the time.
Now, this is a chance.
There is a big change because there is a new
U.S.
administration.
So this is a new context.
So there is good reason for President Trump to
reengage with President Putin.
But my experience is the following, and I shared it
with President Trump and the team.
In 2014, our predecessors negotiated peace with
President Putin.
But because of the lack of guarantees, and
especially security guarantees, President
Putin violated this peace.
And I had several discussions, especially
the beginning of 2022, several times, seven
hours with President Putin, 15 days before
launching of the attack.
He denied everything.
But we didn't have security guarantees.
So this is why being strong and having
deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure
it will be respected.
And I insisted on that, and this is why I believe
that the U.S.
has the capacity to do so.
And this is why I think we should never say, I will
never send an inbuilt on the ground because you
give a blank check to violate any type of
commitment.
So I think it's good to have discussion.
I think it's useful to have negotiation.
I think it's super important to go to the
peace.
But my strong point was to say, let's try to get
something first which is, which can be assessed,
checked and verified.
And let's be sure that we build sufficient
guarantees in the short run.
And this is where we are ready to be engaged.
As for France, a lot of my European colleagues are
ready to be engaged.
But we do need this American backup because
this is part of the credibility of the
security guarantees.
And this is our collective deterrence capacity.
And I have the fullings of the President to add to
this capacity.
The President of Russia to make a deal.
And I feel that we will do that.
It is what it is.
Again, it's a war that should have never been
started.
It's a war that would not have been started if I
were President.
But it did start.
And it's at a terrible level where cities are
burned down and shot down to the ground.
It looks like demolition sites, a whole big pile of
demolition sites.
And we got to get it stopped.
Too many people, too much agony.
The whole culture is destroyed when you rip
down some of those ancient, really ancient or
near-ancient buildings.
It's so sad to see.
But I think it's very much to the benefit of this
tremendous distrust on both sides.
That's why it's good that I'm coming in now.
But I think it's to the very much benefit of
Russia to make a deal and to go on with leading
Russia in a very positive way.
That's what you have to do.
But I really believe that he wants to make a deal.
I may be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.
Yeah, go ahead, please.
The Press Next week, there's a key deadline for
your Canada and Mexico tariffs.
Do you believe those countries have done enough
on the border to stop those from taking effect?
And for President Macron, I'm wondering if you
believe that this critical minerals deal with Ukraine
represents a de facto security guarantee by the
United States, since the U.S.
would have an interest in protecting those reserves
in Ukraine.
Thank you.
President Trump We're on time with the tariffs,
and it seems like that's moving along very rapidly.
We've been mistreated very badly by many countries,
not just Canada and Mexico.
We've been taken advantage of.
We were led by, in some cases, fools, because
anybody that would sign documents like they signed
where they were able to take advantage of the
American people, like has happened over the last
long period of time, except for a little four-year
period that took place four years ago.
But anybody that would agree to allow this to
happen to our country should be ashamed of
themselves.
No, the tariffs are going forward on time, on
schedule.
This is an abuse that took place for many, many
years.
And I'm not even blaming the other countries that
did this.
I blame our leadership for allowing it to happen.
I mean, you know, who can blame them if they made
these great deals with the United States, took
advantage of the United States on manufacturing,
on just about everything?
Every aspect that you can imagine they took
advantage of.
I look at some of these agreements, I'd read them
at night, and I'd say, who would ever sign a thing
like this?
So the tariffs will go forward.
Yes.
And we're going to make up a lot of territory.
We're going to.
All we want is reciprocal.
We want reciprocity.
We want to have the same.
So if somebody charges us, we charge them.
It's very simple.
But it'll be very good for our country.
Our country will be extremely liquid and rich
again.
Plus, we're doing other things, as you know.
We're finding tremendous waste, fraud, and abuse at
levels that nobody thought possible.
You're seeing what's going on.
And that was also part of the Harvard poll.
Do you agree with what President Trump is doing
with Elon and others that are looking for the waste,
fraud, and abuse?
And the numbers were staggering.
It was like 70 percent to 2 percent.
Everybody wants to find out.
They don't like it.
And, you know, the radical left or whoever it may be
starts screaming about the Constitution.
But it has nothing to do with the Constitution.
It has to do with fairness to this country.
It has to do with being ripped off.
And when you read the things that all of these
billions and I mean many billions, hundreds of
billions of dollars have been spent on, that's all
you have to do is stand up here and read them.
I could stand up all day and read the kind of
things where we're spending all of this money.
The good news is that when you think of how rich a
nation we can be when we get rid of this, you know,
sometimes you'll buy a company and you'll see it
was really well run.
They accounted for every penny.
Well, not much you can do there.
You got yourself a bad deal.
This one is the exact opposite.
Tremendous fraud, tremendous waste.
And when you think of what it is, you know, Elon uses
the expression caring.
If we had people that cared, just cared a little
bit when they did contracts, when they
negotiated with outside vendors for on behalf of
the United States.
That's what I'm doing now.
I'm negotiating for the people of the United States.
So we're doing a great job of it.
I will say we found it'll be hundreds of billions of
dollars of waste and fraud and abuse.
Thank you.
Please.
Look, I think this discussion is a very
important one first because it's important for
the U.S.
and it will be a good occasion for a first very
important meeting between President Trump and
President Zelensky.
Second, I think it's there is a lot of economic
upside for on both sides.
And third, the fact is there is a recognition of
Ukrainian sovereignty, a recognition of the
Ukrainian interests.
And this is, de facto, a very important alignment
of interest.
Now, the security guarantees will be
negotiated in due time in a full-fledged package of
peace security.
But this peace, as it is now written and negotiated
and as this meeting is scheduled, is an important
step forward.
Full-fledged peace agreement.
President Trump, President Macron, to make a deal
with Putin.
So when you do a deal, it's a win-win deal.
What are you giving to him and what is he going to
give you to America?
And I was impressed by the way you referred to
Notre Dame and that you were impressed by the
reconstruction of Notre Dame.
A lot of Americans have sent money to Paris to
participate to the reconstruction of Notre Dame.
As the President of the United States, are you
going to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine?
And Mr. President Macron?
President Macron, what for you is the main area of
progress in your meeting with President Trump?
Can you confirm that there is an agreement to send
European peacekeeping troops?
Will France participate in that?
How many troops?
What would they be doing?
Would this represent a great danger to send French
and European troops to Ukraine?
President Trump Well, I guess it's a little
strange question because you ask whether or not
we're going to, on behalf of the United States,
contribute to Ukraine.
I mean, we're in there for about $350 billion.
I think that's a pretty big contribution.
I do appreciate the first part of your question,
however, because I think they've done an incredible
job with the Cathedral of Notre Dame.
I think the President has done.
I know he headed it up, and I know how hard he
worked, and it took a period of time, but
really not a long period of time, considering what
that was so delicate, so beautiful.
And I was there, and I saw the work.
And I'm very good at construction.
I know good construction.
I know bad construction.
They did a beautiful job, and this man has to be
given a lot of credit for that.
It's an incredible cathedral.
Most people thought it couldn't be saved.
And if it was, it would have to be built in a
different form.
And we didn't want to see a different form.
We wanted to see the same form that you built.
So I just want to congratulate you.
That was an amazing job.
I don't think you've gotten enough credit for it.
Someday you will.
President Macron, thank you very much.
To go back to your question, today's
discussion showed several areas of progress.
First, we have been working a great deal with
President Zelensky to have a proposal that's
acceptable to Ukraine.
President Trump has confirmed that he will be
meeting with President Zelensky very soon to
finalize the agreement on critical minerals and rare
earths, and to speak together about that matter.
That's a very important step forward.
The second thing is that, during our discussions, we
were able to go into some of the details about the
proposal that we have just made to have a truce, a
peace, and be able to measure that, and then
structure our discussions on that basis.
France and several other European countries, along
with Ukraine, are hard at work to build this lasting
peace with very specific points, including security
guarantees, the territories that belong to Ukraine,
the issue of reconstruction, the economy,
and critical minerals.
We've been able to go into the details of
those proposals.
The third area of progress, which really mark a
turning point, is the fact that we were able to talk
about the details of the security guarantees.
And the President has shown this over the past
few days, and he said so a moment ago, we want peace.
He wants peace.
We want peace swiftly, but we don't want an agreement
that is weak.
The fact that there are Europeans that are ready to
engage, to provide for these security guarantees, and
now there's a clear American message that the
U.S., as an ally, is ready to provide that solidarity
for that approach.
That's a turning point, in my view, and that is one of
the great areas of progress that we've made
during this trip and during this discussion.
When it comes to troops, in the past, a year ago
specifically, we saw a reason to talk about
sending troops for strategic regions.
Today, when we talk about troops, we're talking about
sending them in after we've negotiated a lasting peace.
And once we have that solid, lasting peace that's part
of an agreement signed by Ukraine, signed by Russia,
and for which we will provide the guarantees,
then at that point — and recently, France has worked
with the U.K.
to provide its contributions.
We've worked on plans.
We've worked with our militaries not to go to the
front lines, not to go into occupied territories, but
as a show of support to show that we have a
negotiated peace signed by both sides, and that is a
peace we will preserve.
So these would be peaceful deployments of troops,
not for combat.
These would be deployments of an assurance force.
They would be limited, but they show solidarity.
I've also spoken with all of our allies, and there are
European and non-European allies who are ready and
willing to take part in that effort.
Countries have helped Ukraine maintain its military
capabilities in terms of the number of soldiers it has,
equipment, whereas others have provided logistical
support on the ground.
The question is whether or in what form the U.S.
will contribute.
And during our discussions, and during the discussions
with Russia, we've understood that this would be
acceptable to Russia, and that's a very important area
of progress.
And that means that in this context, the Europeans will
shoulder their part of the burden, their share of the
burden.
We have a strong alliance that we've built over the
decades.
We have our solidarity, and we have deterrence
capacities.
What does it mean?
Would it be dangerous?
If there is an agreement signed by Ukraine and
Russia, thanks to the efforts of President Trump,
and if we provide the guarantees and Russia
violates the agreement, then it would be in conflict
with everyone who is engaged in the peace process.
And that is a change.
That was something we did not see in the past.
That's not what we saw in 2014.
So that is the real change that we're marking.
We have this deterrence capacity on the American
side.
We have the capacity for engagement on the European
side, and that's something we're going to continue
working on together.
It's not dangerous, but it's credible.
It's less dangerous than things that could happen in
the long term.
And I think this is what we need to do to ensure
security.
And I say this very clearly.
We're also talking about security for Europeans.
I've been saying this for weeks now.
If we do not guarantee the security of this territory
within Europe, then how can we guarantee our own
security for one and all?
We live just 1,500 kilometers from Ukraine,
and the Germans and Polish are even closer.
So our collective security is important.
We need to answer this call for Europeans to be more
engaged, and Americans will be there still in
solidarity.
Europeans are working for their collective security.
But I really think this was a turning point today in
our discussions.
The President.
Thank you very much.
Great job.
And it's been wonderful being with you.
Say hello to your beautiful wife, and we will
see you again soon.
We'll be speaking often.
We'll get this thing worked out.
We're going to get it done.
So important and great job.
Thank you.
