Remarks transcript, Sep 4, 2026 (Donald Trump)

——up to the House.

It's also going to be a little bit involved with Congress because I understand Congress has something to do with that one. So we're putting it in front of Congress right away. It should be no problem.

How soon would you like to see it?

It should be no problem. And they're——

How soon?

——working very hard at getting the farm bill approved too.

So what was your—what is your message to communities who say they don't like data centers and they're—they're worried AI could become dangerous?

Well, I look at data centers very, very carefully. I mean, being formerly in the real estate business, I was really good at real estate, and I can tell you, if I were running a state or a town, if I was a mayor or a Governor, I would want as many data centers as I can because they throw off tremendous amounts of money. The—they don't take any energy because, you know, the new ones that I approved, they all create their own energy. They're—we're giving them the right to build their own power plants, so they don't have to use the grid.

They're actually taking their excess energy—and they're building some incredible plants along with the building. So, they're building their own generation plant, and the excess is going back into the grid, so we're actually making money on that. It's going to bring energy costs down.

The—the data centers, you want to build them in the right location, but if you want to get rich as a State or as a town and if you want to pay lower taxes, if you want to create tremendous wealth, if you want your house to be more valuable and everything else, you're going to want a data center. If you want to go through poverty, crime, and squalor, I would say don't approve data centers. You know, it's—you have your choice.

So I'm all for people approving them or not. But if you look at places that have really gotten wealthy and rich and lower taxes and—they—that's where properly approved data centers have—have been allowed to go up.

Now, if they don't approve them, there's a lot of places that want them, both in this country and, in particular, in China. All over the world they want them.

So I don't like seeing where that opportunity would be squandered. And the people that squandered are going to come back in 5 years and say, "Wow, we made a big mistake because that place is located in a different location, and everybody has gotten rich."

So I think if you want success, you have to go with the data center. You want them to be proper. You want to check them for sound and for—you know, all the different things.

But, again, they create their own electricity, so you're not going to have a problem there. The water is going to be—they do them in so many different ways, including desalinization and everything else. These data centers are making a fortune for people that live relatively near them.

Doesn't mean you want to be right in their backyard, but for people that live in the area of data centers, they've been an unbelievable success.

Do you have any concerns about AI—do you have any concerns about AI veering out of control and launching cyberattacks?

No, we watch it very carefully. We're leading China in AI, and whoever wins AI, wins. That's the power. This is bigger than the Internet. This is a revolution. You know, we've had a few of them over the last 200 years, but this is a revolution.

And I've seen some results that are incredible, medically. You know, we're coming up with things, medically, that no—we wouldn't have maybe in 100 years.

Whoever wins with AI, wins.

Mr. President, on——

And it's really—right now it's really between China and us.

Thank you very much, everybody.

On China, Mr. President. On China, has President Xi done enough——

President Xi is coming in 2 weeks. What do you hope to accomplish?

Well, President Xi is coming on September 24. We look forward to it. He's a great gentleman. We get along great. We have a very good trading relationship. And you know, they're a competitor and all of that, but we have a very good relationship with President Xi.

He's coming with his beautiful wife. She's a beautiful woman and a great woman, respected all over the world. They're coming together. And we have a beautiful heliport, should he want to use a helicopter. It just opened. The—in fact, if you want to go outside and check it out, it's beautiful. Just was completed—under budget, ahead of schedule, and beautiful.

But he is coming on September 24, and we're going to have a state dinner, and we're going to—we do great things with China. We've been doing very well with China.

China took advantage of us for years. For years. I don't blame them. You know, we had people that were not smart sitting behind this desk, but we've done very well with China, and China and I have a very good relation—he and I have a very good relationship.

Thank you. Thank you.