Remarks #2 transcript, Aug 19, 2026 (Donald Trump)

Because that misconception has been out there that we're taking electricity. We're actually creating electricity, and that's something I was proud of because that was my idea.

Nobody believed it. Actually, it went along for 2 or 3 weeks. I said, "How come these guys aren't submitting?" "Well, they thought they were—that you were just kidding," because that's the way it's been in this country; nobody would ever say a thing like that.

But no, they're building power plants the likes of which—all different—fueled all different ways, but the likes of which we've never seen. The people that are in the power business said we're seeing things that we've never seen before, because a very high level of intelligence is doing it. So it's been great.

Okay. Any questions?

Mr. President——

Yes, please.

Mr. President, does the administration have any plans to accumulate sizable amounts of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?

Well, it's been talked about. I think I'd probably rely on Paul and the whole group for that. He'll make a decision. You guys will make a decision, and you'll let me know. But certainly, it's been talked about.

It's taken a lot of pressure off the dollar. It's been very, very good for the dollar. And I think if you came in with recommendations—two of you, if you came in with some recommendations, I would certainly listen.

It seems to be a pretty big subject.

Yes, please.

Hi, President Trump. I have two quick questions.

Go ahead.

Don't get around here much. So my first question is: We're talking about AI and crypto a lot.

Right.

And you won overwhelmingly with working-class Americans in 2024—tens of millions of working-class Americans.

Right.

Many of them, they say, "We love President Trump, but we're still cautious about AI and crypto."

Yes.

What do you say to those who are still reticent to embrace this evolution?

So I think it's going to—it's a great question, and I think it's going to create a lot of jobs. It's going to create success. It's going to create tremendous innovation medically. I mean, they're coming up with—already, amazingly, they came out with something today that I looked at, having to do—I won't go into the details, but having to do it with a pretty unstoppable disease, and all of a sudden, they're coming up with answers that they never thought were possible and things that they never even would have thought about.

So I think it's really creating jobs. And I can tell you one thing: If you look at our construction jobs right now—because we're building more plants, factories, things that really have something to do with the AI, but also car factories, car plants—they're moving into our country.

Honda just announced. Toyota just announced. They're moving their operations from Mexico, from Canada, from other places.

We, by the way, probably have a deal with Canada. You probably saw that. We—very major tariffs were going on to Canada today. We delayed it for 3 days because I think we have a deal with the Prime Minister and—good deal for everybody. So that's good.

But the construction jobs are enormous. We're building the biggest plants anywhere in the world.

And I can say, if I were the mayor of a town or the Governor of a State and I had a chance to get a big plant in—an AI plant or a data center—I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous. And if you don't take it, you're going to be left behind because there are plenty of places that want it.

So I would say that maybe it can use a little public relations help.

But if I were a Governor or mayor, I would want that plant in my community, and many of them are designed in a very beautiful way. It's really very positive.

Okay? Thank you.

And then—a little off topic. So you mentioned Joe Biden and some of the past leadership. And it's been about 69 days since we've seen Mitch McConnell. Sometimes when you look at Congress, it looks like the cast of "Cocoon."

Yes.

But I read a Cindy Adams column in the New York Post—recently, and she talked about how we need term limits and someone needs to hold Congress accountable. Maybe you should be the person to do it. Would you support term limits for Congress or some type of cognitive testing? Because maybe if we had that the last 4 years——

Yes.

we wouldn't have ended up in some of these messes.

So term limits are very popular with the public. I've seen it both ways. I've seen where people go in and they get termed out, and they're very talented and they're at the height of their career—you know, politicians—and you end up with total rookies in there, and nothing gets done.

And I've seen it the other way, where people are there too long. We see that all the time. You know——

I see both.

On both sides of the aisle.

I always like to say that a term limit is an election. [ Laughter ] You know, the public is pretty smart. You see that last night. We had some great success last night. The Republican Party had tremendous success last night. But I like to say that term limits should be elections. But I'm okay with term limits.

Remember, the people that have to pass term limits are the people that are going to be voting on them to get out of office. [ Laughter ] So it's a little bit tough. That's not the easiest vote to get, is it, huh? [ Laughter ] But I'm okay with it, one way or the other. I do think elections really turn people out.

I want to ask you about Canada, but first, the Treasury Secretary says that we could see the most impactful sanctions on Iran this week. When will they come, and what else could be sanctioned on Iran?

Well, we have things that we could sanction. We have very draconian sanctions, and we'll see what happens. Right now the Strait is open. We—a lot of boats are coming through. People aren't reporting that, and that may slow down a little bit at some point, but right now a lot of boats are coming through.

The naval blockade has been extremely effective. Zero. I mean, literally, while it's up—and that's been for quite a while, you know, except for a couple of little pauses where we opened it purposely at—with a deal, but the deal didn't terminate—you know, the deal didn't turn out to be what they said. You know, when they tell us one thing and they do another.

But the blockade has been 100-percent successful. No boats have gotten into Iran, but they are getting in for other places. But we'll see. We're going to see what happens. It will either be extremely good and oil prices are going to drop like a rock, or we'll continue to do exactly what we're doing.

You know, they were talking about $350 a barrel, and it's, today, $84, $85. And we are getting a lot of oil out. But the other thing that's happened is, people have found other alternatives, which they never thought about: Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and other places. In addition, a lot of pipelines—record numbers of pipelines are being built.

So I think the Hormuz Strait is not going to be quite as important as it was in the past.

Now, on Canada, if I could ask you. You said that there's a deal, an agreement in place. Are you willing to lower tariffs on steel and aluminum in or——

Well, we're looking at that.

Well, in order——

Yes, yes, yes.

to get farmers—the tariffs lowered for farmers?

Well, we're getting zero for our farmers. You know, farmers have been hurt very badly by Canada, and they won't be paying any tariffs anymore. And we may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are, because Canada was paying a higher tariff. Canada was paying us a higher tariff.

So we are—look, we have a very nice relationship with leadership right now. And we'll see, but we did a 3-day pause. It was supposed to be a 50 percent, straight across-the-board tariff. That was going into effect at 7 o'clock this morning. And I delayed it at the request of Canada for 3 days so we can iron out the details. But it's going to be a wonderful deal. Hopefully, a wonderful deal for everybody.

Yes.

Mr. President, earlier today you said North Korea has something like 57 nuclear weapons. They've been expanding their nuclear program.

Yes.

Is your goal in—trying to reengage with Chairman Kim still denuclearization? And—and what makes you think you could be successful now when you weren't——

Well, I don't want to talk——

in the first term?

——about that, but I do have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un, as you know. You've seen. He didn't like Biden. He didn't like Obama. He didn't like anybody. But he likes me, and I like—you know, I just got along with him very good.

Do you think you can use that?

We had great meetings. We speak. And I think our Nation, and I think other nations, frankly, whether it's Japan or South Korea—they're a lot safer if I'm President than somebody else if—President.

Now, I didn't like the fact that we're doing these massive military exercises, really, against North Korea—it was a, you know, exercise against North Korea—when I'm friendly with him, when we have—I don't see anything happening for certainly 2½ years. It's not going to happen with me. But I don't see anything happening.

And I was not happy when South Korea said: No, they're not interested in helping us with the Hormuz Strait, and yet they get 60 percent of the oil from the Hormuz Strait.

I said, "Would you like to help us?" He said, "No, thank you." I said, "That's nice. Please. Thank you." He made us a lot of money. I didn't like that. So I felt that to do a massive—we were doing a massive war exercise. I thought that was very insulting to somebody that, frankly, has been—during my term, at least—very well behaved.

Yes.

On the bond market, has the administration done enough to stabilize the bond market after yesterday?

Well, I think it is, but they—it's very sad. Every time we do great, we announce great numbers; the interest rates go up. And they go up because they want to stop inflation. They should go down because the country is strong.

You know, I see countries like Switzerland, where they're the number one lowest interest rates—a half a percent. And we pay three and a half percent. And yet, if we stop doing business—

For instance, I have the absolute right to cut off all business with a country like Switzerland, like anything. So why are they prime if I can cut off the business and they are no longer functional? And yet, they're considered to be, like, an elite country.

And I don't want to single them out because there's 60 countries like that. They live off the United States, so why are we paying higher interest rates than them?

You know, in the old days we used to pay the lowest interest rate no matter how we were doing, because we sort of generate for the whole world.

And I want to see it where interest rate—and—I have to tell you, we have a wonderful Chairman. I think he's doing a great job. The problem is, he has a Board, and it's a political Board. It's people put in by Obama, Biden, and me, and there are quite a few members still left, as you understand. And so they vote to raise interest rates. I don't know if they're doing it because they think they're doing a good thing or because they like the politics of it.

But my point is: Years ago—25 years ago, when the country announced good numbers, interest rates went down because we had a stronger country. Now, when we announce good numbers—the better they are, the worse it is for interest rates. So we could be—we could have a GDP of 10 times. It—you know, they say, "Oh, it's going to be 3 times or 4.1." We could have a GDP of 10, 12, 15 times if they'd just leave us alone. Let us—let the rates go down. We should pay the lowest interest rates.

You know, every point of interest is $600 billion. Think of that. Every point of interest is $600 billion. Two points means we make a fortune. But we keep driving it up.

It's a very unfair system, and I've said it now for a long time. When our country does well, interest rates should go down.

I mean, every time I hear our country is doing well, I say, oh, that's too bad—because they lift up interest rates. They should drop interest rates because it means we have a strong country, and it's all based on credit—meaning good credit—and we have the best credit. And we'd pay off the debt very easily and very quickly.

But if somebody is paying a half a point, we should be paying a half a point, not somebody else.

So right now I think it's Switzerland has the lowest. Again, and I don't want to single them out, but if you take our business away from Switzerland, they have problems. So why are they paying a half a point and we're paying much more than that?

Does that make sense to anybody? I mean, it seems pretty simple to me, but it's a killer. You know, I almost like to hear bad numbers. I'm saying, "I hope we have bad numbers today. Interest rates will go down." It doesn't make sense. When our business is good, we should lower interest rates.

And then you want to build America? You're going to see a building like you've never seen. We're doing great, even despite the fact of what's happening with interest rates.

Should Americans be concerned about this volatility in the bond market?

No, I don't think so, because like I said, our country is doing so well despite interest rates. We have interest rates that are artificially—they're actually artificially high. They raise them for no reason.

And you can't go out to the market when you have a Fed that's raising interest. You can't say, "I want to pay three points less than what the Fed says you're supposed to be paying."

So, no, I don't think so at all. I think we have a very powerful country, and we're powering through these ridiculous interest rates. They're ridiculous.

Look, when our country is strong, interest rates should go down. When our country is weak, frankly, they should go up. But this country is strong. They've never had—there's never been, in history, the kind of money coming into a country as we have right now. Trillions and trillions of dollars are being invested in plants, factories, everything—you can think of. We're the hottest country in the world.

We are by far—and I—you know, I said it a hundred times. The King of Saudi Arabia—many, many people, they said 2 years ago, 3 years ago, "Your country was dead. Now you have the hottest country in the world." That's what we have. We have the hottest country in the world, and these people are helping us a lot.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Come on to the Oval Office. We're going to take them into the Oval—we're going to show them a real office. Okay? [ Laughter ] Their offices are nice, but this is nicer.