Remarks transcript, Jun 4, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Yes, go ahead.

Last night, huge night for the city of New York: The Knicks won game one——

Yes.

——of the NBA finals. There's been a lot of speculation. Have you decided whether or not you want to attend a game at Madison Square Garden?

Well, I've been a Knick fan for a long time, and I'm also a Jim Dolan fan. He's a nice guy. Okay? He's been a long time wanting to win, and he's a competitive guy, and he's got a team that's amazing. You know, they—I don't think they've lost a playoff game.

Twelve straight wins.

Can you imagine that? And it was not looking good. I saw the beginning of the game, and it wasn't looking good. I missed the middle——

That's right.

——because I talk to generals all night long now. But I watched that end of the game, and they were dominant. Really amazing. And Wemby is a great player. He's going to be a great player, and he is already a great player. I say: "How do you guard this guy? He's 7-foot-5, and he's got a great shot." Right? But they find a way to do it. They're really great. They're a great team.

And I'm happy for Jim because Jim has really been fighting hard to, you know, produce such a team. So you never know.

The answer is yes. He's invited me, and I'm going. I'll be——

Which game? Have you decided, sir?

Say it?

Game three? Game four? Are you excited for it?

Monday?

It could be Monday. Yes, Monday.

You mentioned you're meeting with the automakers——

Mr. President—[ inaudible ]—New York.

Maybe I'll do both. [ Laughter ]

You mentioned your meeting with the automakers yesterday. Can you tell us a little bit about that—more about that? In particular, did you discuss trade, tariffs, USMCA?

I did. We—had a great meeting with the auto. I mean, most of them were here. They were really talking about the fix-your-own-car kind of a thing, right? But they're doing very well since I'm in office, because I got rid of a lot of environmental restrictions that—

In fact, you might just tell them a little bit about that, Lee. We made it so much easier for them to build a car. They can build a less expensive car that's much better. And they were so choked up with environmental nonsense that in order to save four ounces of gasoline, you had to spend thousands and thousands of dollars.

Lee, do you want to go into that, please?

President Trump, we sent to Congress congressional—three Biden EPA waivers to California that Congress passed, President Trump signed last year, getting rid of the electric vehicle mandate that a whole bunch of other States had signed on to. Just a couple months ago, President Trump announced here at the White House the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States to repeal the 2009 endangerment finding. All the greenhouse gas emission standards of light, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles were following the law. And what that means for cost of living: just on that act alone, $2,400 more affordable per vehicle for Americans.

The victories come out every single day. President Trump gave us very clear guidance. He wanted us to act at Trump speed to get this done as fast as possible. And what you see now all across America is billions upon billions of investments all across this country with new factories being built. They believe in America. They're investing in America with the American jobs that come—come up with it.

And by the way, consumer choice—we got rid of that climate participation trophy for that annoying start-stop feature in cars to make your car die at every stop site—stop sign and red light.

So, yes, the gift—the gifts, the receipts, the wins, they keep coming. And we're just getting started.

Did they ask you for any tariff changes on auto imports?

No, they didn't do that.

And what do you——

They're making so much money now because—you know, I did something else that, I don't know, doesn't—because we have no tax on tips and no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime, right? So that's really been big. That's turned out to be much bigger than anyone knew. If you look at the people, they're saving from $5- to $7-, $8,000 even on average because of that. So it's been good.

But I did something else that nobody talks about. If you buy a car and you borrow money, you're allowed to deduct the interest for income tax purposes. Never happened before. And deductions were always meant for rich people. They weren't meant for middle class people or other people wanting to buy a car. So now you're allowed to get a deduction of your interest payment.

That's a tremendous thing. I mean, it's a trade—but what's the key? Only if the car is made in America.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.

Wait. Todd Blanche. Have you commented yet on Todd Blanche and your nomination of him?

It's great. Todd is great.

Why now? Why now?

Todd is great. It's moving—very well. Todd is very popular. He's doing great.

Will you nominate him soon?

Soon. They're doing the paperwork.