Remarks #2 transcript, Jun 17, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Well, thank you very much. We had some great meetings in France with a group of people that used to be the G–8. Now it's the G–7. I don't know if that was a good deal or not, but it's a G–7.

And we have a G–2 coming up, and then we have a G–20 coming up. You know what the G–2 is, I think—most of you. But we had, in particular, some very good conversations with Prime Minister Modi, India. And we're doing trade deals. We're doing a lot of things. Lot of things are happening between the United States and India.

The United States is doing the best we've ever done. We have over $19.2 trillion coming in, and we're building factories. We're building everything. And Prime Minister's building a lot in the United States. He's spending a lot of money in the United States. So we appreciate that. Jobs.

But I just want to say he's been my friend for a long time now, and we've always had a great relationship. And it's great to be with you.

Thank you very much. Great to be with you.

Thank you.

Mr. President, it's a pleasure to meet you here in Évian. We had an extremely productive meeting in Washington last year——

Right.

——and since then, we have given new speed and new energy to our relations, and we are working together on a number of areas.

Good.

And we're also happy that our teams have also been working in close coordination and engagement, and they have been working towards achievement of the targets that we had set for ourselves last year.

Mr. President, I commend you for your leadership on the progress that has been made in the efforts to restore peace in West Asia.

Thanks to your efforts, Mr. President, a new hope for peace and stability in the region has been rekindled, and I'm confident that this will lead to a longstanding peace in the region.

Mr. President, you and I agree that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is vital for the global economy. India has consistently emphasized the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation, and we should work together and place a particular emphasis on that.

Mr. President, you are aware, across the world, Indian seafarers in hundreds of thousands are working, and they're performing their duties across global maritime trade routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, and their safety is of utmost importance to us.

Mr. President, you made tremendous efforts towards reaching this understanding and this agreement, and I'm confident that the issue of seafarers will receive the highest priority during the implementation of this agreement.

Mr. President, once again, I deeply appreciate and I deeply commend your efforts in ensuring the restoration of peace and making efforts towards restoration of peace and stability in West Asia.

Thank you——

Thank you.

——very much.

Thank you. Thank you.

We're good friends, thank you.

Any questions?

Thank you, Mr. President. We've just heard the Prime Minister praise your efforts—you know, the peace efforts in the Middle East.

Thank you.

Do you think you can carry the momentum from the Iran deal over to securing an end to the war in Ukraine? And can you tell us about your conversations with President Zelenskyy here at the G–7?

Well, I had very good talks with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin. And we'd like to see that one end. I ended eight wars and, to be honest with you, I thought this would have been one of the easier ones, but they're not liking each other too much, and that makes it much more difficult. But we're working. I had two good conversations with President Zelenskyy and with President Putin.

Will you let them build U.S. missiles in Europe?

Will you let Ukraine or Europe manufacture missiles—American missiles in Europe?

They would like to be able to do that. We'll take a look at it. They have asked about it.

Steve [Steve A. Holland, Reuters]. Steve.

How close are you to a U.S.-India trade deal?

Very close. We've been there for a little while. And he's a very tough negotiator. He's one of the toughest, actually.

So you look at this man. I'll give you a lesson. He's the most beautiful-looking man. He looks so nice. [ Laughter ] He's like an angel. But actually, he's as tough as—he's a killer. I don't want to—he's a killer. He's as tough as they come. But he looks so good. So he gets you by surprise. [ Laughter ]

And there's few people like this. People say, "He's such a nice man." I said, "No, he's very—he's very tough." He's tough trader. And he loves the Indian people, but he also loves the U.S.A. And we had "Howdy, Modi" in Houston. Remember?

Yes. And "Namaste"——

The stadium was full.

"Namaste, Trump."

Right? Remember that?

He did "Namaste, Trump" in India.

That was great. And we'll be going to India sometime in the future.

When will you go to India? President Trump, when will you go to India? And how do you see Quad as well? This is a grouping that was started under your first term, and this is a grouping that all the four countries are looking forward to.

Well, we had a great visit last time in India. We opened up that new stadium, and I think there were 3-, 400,000 people. It seated, like, about 150,000. And there were 250,000 outside. And there were 100,000 on the grass. That was—I don't know if that record's ever been broken, but we had a great—I had a great time in India.

President Trump, are you expecting India to play—play any role in West Asia? I'm—[ inaudible ].

Say it.

Do you expect India to play any role in West Asia?

Yes, I do. I do. I think India plays a big role in everything. As long as he's the leader, India is going to play a big role.

President Trump, you said many times that India has a great friend in United States——

Yes.

in Washington, DC——

They do.

in White House, until the time you are President. But some of your decisions recently caused trouble, concern in India. How would you like to assure people of India, the leader of India?

Well, I'll tell you, as long as I'm President, we have a great—they have a great friend in the White House. And I don't know where there might have been trouble, but I don't think so.

I can tell you: Everyone here, they love India. They have tremendous respect for this man. Tremendous respect.

Go ahead. Wait.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Are there going to be sanctions that are going to be reimposed on Russia now that the focus is once again being shifted——

Yes.

to the Ukraine-Russia war?

We are looking at that. We're seeing how far the price of oil comes down. It's really tumbling. It's, I guess, $74, $75 right now. So it's down. It's soon going to be at the number that it was 4 months ago. It's pretty amazing.

And, on top of that, we will have an Iran without a nuclear weapon, which I can tell you the Prime Minister feels very strongly about that too.

What did you hear from European or G–7 leaders on Iran.

They were, to a leader—and we had G–7, plus many others came, as you know. To a leader, they were thrilled. They could not have been happier.

Well, this gentleman came. And it's—that's a big—that's a big get. He came. And they are—they could not even believe that it happened. It happened quickly, but it really didn't happen quickly. It happened—it's been happening for a long time. It's been happening from my first term, when a very evil man named Soleimani was killed. That's when it started.

And nobody else did this but Trump. You know, you look at our present. Forty-seven years, Iran took advantage of the world—the Middle East, but the world. Nobody did anything.

The Obama deal was one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. My deal is a wall to a nuclear—you're not going to have it. It's a wall to a nuclear weapon.

On minesweepers, do you want the Europeans to send minesweeper boats? Did you talk about that?

We don't need them, but if they want to send them, I think it's good.

Has anyone committed to helping out with demining?

Yes. All of them. All of them.

Which nations?

The ones that have that kind of equipment have. But every one of them have committed to being involved in some form.

And at this point, do you feel that Vladimir Putin is more responsible for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine?

Well, I don't want to comment on that, because I'm trying to get it settled. And that doesn't make it easy.

Mr. President, you're on the cusp of making history with the possible peace in the Iran conflict.

I like this guy. [ Laughter ] Who is he? Do you know who that is? I like him.

I'm—[ inaudible ]—sir.

Your reporters are much nicer than my reporters.

Go ahead.

I'm Shubhendu—[ inaudible ]. But there is also tragic loss of lives of Indian sailors recently, sir, in American strikes. Any words of condolences for the grieving families?

Yes, I do. I heard about that. It's a rough profession. There's no question about it. And we worked together on it. This has been happening throughout time, but we worked together on it. Yes, certainly. We love all of those people, and they're great people.

Yes, please.

How long—how long do you expect Bill Pulte to be acting DNI? What—what's——

Well, as long as it takes to get everybody else approved. I mean, they were doing a rush act, and we didn't get anything for it.

Look, he's a very legitimate guy. He's very smart. He's a brilliant guy. Look at the job he did at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. I mean, it's worth probably a trillion dollars right now until we put him there.

But, all of a sudden, it was like a rush act by the Democrats. And they said they were going to approve FISA, and I said: "But we want FISA approved, but we want the SAVE America Act approved"—voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail-in ballots—with exceptions, like for the military, sick—you're sick, you're traveling, disabled. Very, you know, open and generous.

We also want no men playing in women's sports, and we want no transgender mutilization of our children. None. Those are 5 things that are 99 percent to—I mean, that's all we want. It's not a lot. The SAVE America Act. And that can be passed any way they want to pass it, but I'm not going to sign FISA unless it's done. And this was, like, a rush act. And it was a rush act by the Democrats.

All of a sudden, they want to get—and why are they afraid of this guy? I mean, they're so afraid of him, they'll do anything not to have Pulte go in there. He's a very capable guy, and they're worried about that.

Yes, ma'am. Please.

You said—you said the deal—the Iran deal, the text is still being finalized. How confident are you that this Friday signing will happen?

You're talking about this one? On the deal?

Iran, yes.

You know, deals are amazing. I've done them all my life. I've gone into deals that were a hundred percent, and they don't happen. I've gone into deals that there is no chance of getting them done, and it happens, and they happen easily. So you never know with deals, do you?

But you're going to find out pretty soon. I think it will be done. They want to sign. They want to get back to a normal life. You know, we hit them very hard.

Don't forget, you know, people talk about when this started. This didn't start 3, 4 months ago. This started years ago, when I took out Soleimani. That was a big event. There are those that say it was the biggest event in the Middle East in 50 years. So we took him out, and they became a much different country.

And then we terminated—I terminated the JCPOA—that's Barack Hussein Obama's horrible deal that gave them a nuclear weapon. And I terminated it, and I stopped it. And then I stopped it a second time with the B–2 bombers. And these are all major events in the history of the world, in my opinion, because it prevented them from having a nuclear weapon. And now we're going to do it again, and we're going to see how it works out.

So this is a memorandum of understanding, but it's a very strong one. This isn't just like a two-paragraph—this is a long, you know, pretty detailed memorandum that goes into a regular contract. I would think they would do it. If they don't, then that's—you know, that's okay. We'll have to start the process again.

And we don't lose. We have the greatest military in the world. We had the greatest blockade. The naval blockade was 100-percent effective. And, again, they have no navy. They have no air force. All bombed out.

I don't want to say the leaders, but first level of leader, gone; second level of leaders, gone; some of the third level of leaders, gone. And they want to make a deal. [ Inaudible ]

They are——

They are so ready to make a deal.

Yes.

But you know what?

President Trump—President Trump, President Trump, the defense relationship between India and the United States. Sorry, I'm screaming. I won't——

That's okay.

Can you speak to the defense relationship between India and the United States?

I think it's a great relationship. I can tell you this: Without having a contract—we don't have a contract; you'd have to write contract—but if they were attacked, we would be there to help them.

How is that? Is that a good statement? Okay? Come here, man.

If anybody attacks that man, we're going to be there. Now, if there's a new leader, I'm not sure about it. Okay? [ Laughter ] If there's a new leader, I don't know about that. But if they're attacked and he's the leader, we're going to be there to help.

And we have——

And I will—I will say this, and everybody says it—I had a great meeting 3 weeks ago with President Xi of China. We have the strongest military in the world by far. And I built it in my first term, and we're using it in my second term. And they gave some of it away stupidly in Afghanistan, as you know, and they spent a lot on Ukraine—$350 billion. But we have the most powerful military in the world.

You saw that with Venezuela, which was 48—think of it, 48 minutes. And now our relationship with Venezuela is great. We paid for the cost of the war 40 times, taking millions of barrels out. Venezuela is benefiting. We're benefiting. Venezuela's benefiting.

And then we go to Iran, and really, in the first week, militarily, we defeated Iran. Nobody thought that could be done.

Yes, please.

Mr. President, do you want Israel to halt its military campaign——

No, I——

in Lebanon?

——want Israel to be able to protect themselves, but I do want them to use good judgment.

President Trump, can we expect highly skilled Indian professionals to be getting more opportunities in the United States under your Presidency?

What does that mean? What?

Well——

Highly skilled professionals to get more opportunities here in the U.S.

Oh, yes. Sure. I mean, always.

Yes?

We've always had tremendous relationships in terms of employment with India. Very talented people.

We've seen Europe—we've seen European leaders interact very warmly with you at the summit. Do you think that they're coming around to your worldview?

Well, I think they think I was right. I'm sort of always right. You know, when you get right to it, I think they think I was right. They feel good.

Now, all of a sudden, they're—they all want to be involved. They—there's no reason to have them, because it's pretty much over, but they all want to be involved. He'd be involved if I wanted, but we don't want to waste his time or his people.

No, the European leaders—the meeting we had today was, you know, just the leaders. I don't even say "the European"—the leaders that we had—met with, in addition to the seven—we had quite a few come in. They all were willing to get involved.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

On AI—on AI——

AI——

Oh, we had a—we had a great meeting on AI. We had all the top people here, and it was a great meeting. And as you know, we're building tremendous numbers of plants, but AI—we're building the biggest—the biggest in the world. We're number one in AI by a lot, and it was a very productive meeting.

How's it going with Anthropic? The negotiations with Anthropic—how are they going?

He was here. Going fine. I think it's going fine. Howard, right? I think it's—I think it's——

Energy cooperation. Energy cooperation.

Energy cooperation. How do you see energy cooperation? India is diversifying, buying more energy from across the world, including the United States—[ inaudible ]. How do you see India buying energy from you?

India can do anything they want with us. We have the best relationship. We cannot be closer than we are.

Would you say that's right? I don't think we can be any closer. [ Laughter ]

Both him and I and our nations, but it really starts with the two of us. We cannot be closer.

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

President Trump—Mr. President, how do you got any more thoughts——

President Trump, are you very happy about the—[ inaudible ]?

[ Inaudible ] Very happy. Very happy.