Remarks transcript, Aug 19, 2026 (Donald Trump)

It's hand-carved.

That's pretty great, huh?

Oh, that's good. That looks pretty good. I think we should use this side. We're using the wrong side. We're flipping it. What do you think? What is——

It looks beautiful—you did a great signature.

Isn't that good? I'll tell you what's—that's good.

Come on, Brett. Sign this.

Where would you like me to sign?

Anywhere you want. Better be under my name. No, I'm only—[ laughter ]——

I'll put it under your name. [ Laughter ]

Right over there.

Okay.

Nice. Talented guy.

Jared, come on. Sign—you've got to sign. Clark Construction. Head of Clark.

Come on over here—[ inaudible ].

Come on. Get your long-term person—we have to get your long-term employees.

Dave.

Tell Dave to come over here.

Come on, Dave. Get over here. Come on over here.

Sir.

Go ahead.

That's a fancy—that looks like Don Trump, Jr. [ Laughter ] Just—he gives a line. I say, "You can't do that."

Okay. I'd like to have a couple of the guys in the military. Where are they? What's the best—come on over. Get over here.

What a job you've done. Even though your work has been totally exposed now because of a stupid lawsuit.

These are the military people. They've been unbelievable.

Tell them. That's the strongest structure, I think, ever put up.

Very much so.

That structure is the most powerful because it's needed for—for bad purpose. It's really bad purpose that they have to ever use it. But if you look at that, those are called shear walls, and they're of the greatest strength concrete. And the steel goes in, but that keeps all the steel from twisting and turning.

Normally, you'd never use a thing like that, but for purposes of the drone port and everything else, we needed it.

Come on over here, Todd. Get over here. You think you're going to get away? [ Laughter ] He's been—this guy's fantastic.

Is Dale here?

Dale is around, sir.

Huh?

I can get Dale.

Okay. Well, we'll do it later, then.

So it's very exciting. Very exciting. And I think it will be here for a long time. This will be here long after we're gone. No matter what happens with the world, this is not moving. This will take—this will take any kind of shot. But it's something we really needed badly for the helicopters. But we get a secondary use, and that's—you can have some beautiful events here, including the greeting of people from foreign countries. They'll be very impressed.

Right now they're not impressed when they see—coming in on asphalt, and they're not impressed. It was never very impressive, but they're going to go the opposite.

One of the reasons, by the way: For the last number of years, no tents have been used because tents are very dangerous. Tents are made out of plastic or canvas, and they don't stop even the smallest of ammunition or bullets. Not even the smallest. Ours will stop—you take AK–47s, you take the most powerful, it laughs at it. It laughs at it.

I was saying to one of the military guys, "How does it do with an AK–47?" He goes, "Up"—meaning it can take a lot, including drones.

So I thought this would be a little different kind of a news conference, but I found out—the guys were showing me these. We were going to sign this privately and just put it in. I said, "This is something I think the press should see." And I hope you liked it. It's going to be finished—what do you think? What do you think, Jared? When will——

The week of the 21st, before the state visit.

The 21st. Oh.

Yes, sir.

So we might make it for President Xi.

We will.

That's—that would be great. If we did this by the 21st, he's coming the twenty—that would be nice. It would be nice. Not imperative, but it would be very nice to have it done.

It's pretty amazing to do it that quickly.

Thank you all very much. Go have a good time. I think it's a—it's a great—it's a great story, and these people are a big part of that.

So all these workers, I've watched them from windows, and they are working at 6 in the morning till 12 o'clock in the night. Same thing with the military complex right over here. They're working from—6, 6:30 in the morning is late. If they get at 6:30, that's, like, almost late.

Five.

And they work till 11:30, 12 o'clock every night. That's why you see—that's why you see it going up so fast and so properly.

But I want to give a lot of credit to the construction crews because there's nobody like them. There's nobody like them. Great job. You've done fantastic.

Thank you, everybody, very much. Thank you.

Mr. President, are you exchanging written letters with Kim Jong Un?

Can't tell you that.

And are you hoping for a meeting——

But I get along with him great.

Are you hoping for a meeting this year?

And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.

Are you hoping to see him?

He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons. Should have never allowed it to happen. They should have never allowed it. If I were President, I wouldn't have allowed it. But he's got them. I get along with him very well.

Can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

And I know Kim Jong Un very well, and he's going to be fine. As long as we have a smart President, he's going to be fine. If we have a dumb President, then he's probably not going to be so fine.

Are you expecting to meet with him later this year?

Yes, I will be.

Mr. President, today is about American production. Can you give us any update on your negotiations with Canada for a trade deal and what's going to be in that?

Yes, we had a very good conversation with the Prime Minister last night, and we've come to a deal with Canada. As you know, the 50-percent tariffs across the board were going on against Canada today, and they called yesterday and they gave us the points that we had to have. Very fair deal for both.

The tariffs will be non-existent for our farmers. Our farmers were paying tremendous tariffs into Canada, and those tariffs are going to be totally eviscerated down to zero.

Is the U.S. going to lower tariffs on Canadian autos or lumber? I know those were two sticking points.

We're doing certain things. We're giving—got to give something, and we're doing certain things. They were paying a high number. We're reducing it a little bit. It's good for everybody, but our farmers are going to be thrilled. Our manufacturers are going to be thrilled.

And basically, we have no tariffs going into Canada anymore. They—Canada was charging us tremendous tariffs. We no longer have any tariffs. And what I was able to do is we put—as you know, under the new tariff—I guess you'd call it the new tariff schedules that we came out with—they were going to get a 50-percent tariff on everything, starting today, and we've held it back 3 days.

I—it's all subject to finalization of documents. So, subject to the finalization of documents, we have a deal with Canada, and I think it's a very good deal for both parties. It's great for our farmers. Our farmers will no longer be held up, because they were being hurt very badly by Canada.

Yes.

Do you have an update on Iran, sir?

The Strait—last night we had a lot of boats come through. We have possession, complete control of the Strait—I mean, outside of nuisance value. And there is nuisance value when they shoot a drone every once in a while. But—and not everybody's going to go through, but they come through.

And, over the last couple of weeks, we've had a lot of oil coming out. A lot of oil. It's not going to be perfect, but it's a lot of oil coming out. A lot. In fact, people are amazed.

One of the reasons that oil hasn't gone to, like, the proverbial $300 a barrel—it's at 83, 84, 85, and it will be a lot lower when this is over, because we have plenty of oil. But one of the reasons it never went into 3- and 350 numbers, because we do, we have a lot coming out.

Mr. President——

And people are finding alternatives too. And you know one of the alternatives? Texas. You know another one? Alaska. Louisiana. They're coming to the United States to get oil. And people say, "Oh, you shouldn't say that because it makes it sound"—well, it is what it is. I mean, they're coming to Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska to get oil.

Mr. President, when do you plan to formally reopen talks with Iran?

About what?

Reopen negotiations with Iran.

Maybe at some point. But right now I think the situation is so good. But maybe at some point.

Look, it's very simple. They have to get rid of—completely, they have to get rid of—no nuclear weapons. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. You know why? Because they'd use it, and we're not going to let them use it. So Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't.

Thank you very much. I'm glad you came out. Thank you.