Thank, you very much thank you. I'm. Honored to be joined by. Prime Minister Lupin, of Sweden. At. Our, first meeting in the White House Sweden. Is one of our oldest, and closest. Partners, and. Was among the first European, nations to offer the United States an, unsolicited. Treaty. A friendship, a treaty. Signed believe, it or not in, 1783. That's, a long time ago, my. Daughter Ivanka had, a wonderful time watching American. And Swedish athletes. Compete, in the. Recent, Men's Curling final, at, the Olympics. That. Was something, I was a little upset with that wasn't. Expected, but that's okay we'll take it right all. Of the athletes should be immensely, proud of the great job. They did the, Prime Minister and I have just concluded a series of very productive meetings the relationship. Between. The United States and, Sweden is one base two ensured values, including. Respect for individual, rights the rule of law and human dignity, these. Common, principles, are the foundation, of our partnership, and we have had a great partnership for many, years we. Look forward to exploring further opportunities. To increase our security and, our, cooperation in, every other way and we encourage nations, around the world to share responsibility. For our. Common, defense. We. Appreciate, Sweden's, leadership, on the United, Nations Security Council and, look, very much forward to working together in, the coming months the United, States is also grateful to Sweden for advocating. For. Americans, detained in, North Korea I. Particularly. Want to thank the Swedish, government for, its assistance in securing the release of, American, College, student, otto, warmbier. Last. Year terrible, tragic, event we. Continue, to pray for Otto's, parents, Fred and Cindy two terrific, people. Over. The tragic, death of their son and we remain determined to, achieve a, D, nuclearization. Of the. Korean. Peninsula. And there's been a lot of news on that today hopefully it's positive, hopefully. It will lead to a very positive result. In. Economic matters, we are striving for a relationship. Grounded, in fairness and reciprocity. The. United States is one of the largest investors, in Sweden and the. Swedish investments. In the United States, support, over 200 thousand American, jobs, earlier. This afternoon I. Heard from several Swedish. Business. Executives, some of the greatest in the world where, are you folks please. Some. Of the great executives. In, the, world people, I've known for, a long time and certainly know of and. They're investing, tremendous, amounts of money in the United States and supporting. Also. Vocational. Training for American workers, we're, grateful for those investments. And we are committed to working with. Sweden to pursue even greater economic, cooperation. We're. Also continuing, to pursue bilateral. Agreements, to advance, mutual. Prosperity, I'm. Pleased that Sweden, intends. To, procure. The Patriot, air and missile defense system, finest, in the world in a, deal worth over, three billion dollars, this, system, will increase stability and security in the, Baltic Sea region a, strong. And balanced, economic relationship. Strengthen. Security, and prosperity. In both of our countries and. This. Is just the beginning, we have a lot of things that we're working on and we're working on, them. Really, very hard. Mr.. Prime minister I want to thank you again for joining us and I want, to thank your great staff who we met with and your, great business leaders it, was a very. Interesting and productive meeting the, longstanding, friendship between, our people anchored, in our shared beliefs, and values has greatly enriched. Both of our countries, and. This is just the beginning our relationship, has never been better an, honor, to have you here thank you. Thank, you mr. president for a warm, and generous welcome. It is a true pleasure to be here at, White House. This. Year Sweden, and the United States celebrates, 200 years of diplomatic relations, and, this. Meeting. I'm. Reaffirms. The strength, of our, relations, the. History is shown that. Our two nations share, fundamental. Values, and interests. Such as democracy. And human rights we also share a strong, partnership, that, continues, to evolve. Today.
We Have discussed, how, to further, strengthen, our country's. Prosperity and. Security, as. For, Prosperity, Sween is one of the largest per capita investors. In the United States and my country, may not be big but we support, directly. And indirectly, almost. 1 million jobs in, the United States and some. Key, executives. Of the companies, that provides, these jobs are also here with me at. This visit at. The same time the United States is our most, important. Foreign, employer and many, US companies play, a vital. Role in providing, investment. And creating, jobs in Sweden. President. Trump and I have discussed how our nations can support, jobs, and growth it's, a crucial issue, for. Sweden that means embracing. New. Sustainable. Technologies, which permit, our economy. To grow at, the same time reducing, emissions and also, how we can secure. Good jobs in a labor, market, constantly. Changing, due to, automation and. Digitalization. Sweden. And the United States are two, of the most innovative, economies. In the world and we see great opportunities. Ahead. Swedish. Prosperity, is built on cooperation. Competitiveness. And free trade and. I'm convinced, that increased. Terrorists, will hurt us all in the long run and as a sweet I of, course support, the efforts. Of the European, Union to, achieve trade, with fewer, obstacles. And as few as possible. Turning. To security, the president and I have discussed some key regional, and global security, challenge. Such as the, situation, on the Korean Peninsula. But, also the the developments. In in Sweden's, neighborhood, we. Have also addressed the constructive. Cooperation between, Sweden, and the United States in the, United, Nations Security, Council I. Would. Like to underline that the transatlantic, link, is strong, and it, remains, crucial. To, responding. To global, security challenges. Sweden. Is a military. Non-aligned. Country, but. We build security, in partnership, with others and we greatly value our, broad, security. And defense cooperation with, the United States and. One. Important, example, that is our joint efforts, to to, fight in combat, terrorism, Sweden. And the United States stands, shoulder-to-shoulder. In the global coalition against, Isis, and also. In the resolute, support mission in. Afghanistan. And these, vital, military efforts, must go hand in hand with strong. Political diplomatic. And, also civilian, support, to, create sustainable. Results, so. In conclusions, as, we, celebrate, 200, years of diplomatic, relations, we are also planning, for. Shared prosperity and. Security. For many, many years to come and once again I thank you mr. president for constructive. And, successful. Meeting and for, the very warm welcome, that, both my delegation and I received, thank, you so much. John. Thank, You mr. president you, spoke about North, Korea in the Oval Office so I'd like to turn to trade if, I could my understanding, is that the Prime Minister came. To you with a message from the European, Union Commission president saying you put tariffs on steel and aluminum will slap you back with punitive tariffs, on bourbon. And jeans and the motorcycles, that you talk about from, Wisconsin, are, you still planning on going ahead with, these tariffs there are some people in your party who, have suggested it's not a good idea and and Prime Minister Levine what's, your perspective on tariffs. And what message did you convey, to the president, from, Sweden and from the European, Union thank you. Well. The United States has, been taken, advantage of by other, countries both, friendly, and not, so friendly, for many many decades and. We. Have a trade, deficit. Of 800. Billion, dollars. A year and. That's. Not going to happen with me we. Have been mistreated, by many. Sometimes. Fairly, but there, are really, very few instances where that's taken place and I don't blame the. Countries I blame our, leadership, for allowing. It to happen. When, I was with President Xi and China as an example, we. Lose 500. Billion dollars a year on trade we, have a deficit, of approximately. 500. Billion, dollars a year with China and.
We're Doing things with China which are very strong but they understand, it but. I was with him and I said to him in public I said look I'm not blaming you I blame our people, for not doing. A better job for allowing, this to happen but it's like that with many countries. Other than smaller, the European, Union has been. Particularly. Tough. On the United States. They. Make it almost impossible for, us to do business with them and yet. They send their cars and everything else back into the United States and. They. Can do whatever they'd like but if they do that then. We, put. A big tax of 25% on, their cars and believe me they won't be doing it very long. The. European Union has not treated us well. And, it's, been, a very very unfair trade situation I'm, here to protect and one of the reasons I was elected as I'm protecting, our workers I'm protecting, our companies, and I'm, not gonna let that happen so we're. Doing tariffs, on steel we, cannot lose our steel industry, it's a fraction. Of what it once was and we. Can't lose our aluminum, industry, also. A fraction. Of what, it once was and. Our. Country's doing well the massive, tax cuts and all of the deregulation. Has really kicked us into gear, but. I have to work on trade deals we're working on NAFTA right now and if. We're able to make a deal with, Canada, and Mexico in, NAFTA then. There will be no reason to do the tariffs with Canada, and Mexico, but. Again other countries, we. Won't have that choice and, unless. They can do something for us as an example if the European, Union. Takes off some of the horrible barriers, that make it impossible for, our product, to go into there then. We can start talking otherwise we're gonna leave it the way it is so, the fact is we've been mistreated, as a country, for many years and, it's. Just not going to happen any longer how do you avoid this escalating, how do you avoid this escalating, into a trade war well it's we'll have to see you know when we're behind on every single country, trade. Wars aren't so bad do. You understand what I mean by that when, we're down by 30 billion 40 billion 60 billion a hundred, billion, the. Trade war hurts them doesn't, hurt us so. We'll see what happens you, know you can also, take. It in some cases we lose on trade plus we give them military. Where. We're. Subsidizing. Them, tremendously. So not only do we lose on trade we lose on military. So. And hence we have these massive deficit, numbers in our country, we're. Going to straighten it out and we'll, do it in a in. A very loving way you'll. Be a loving, loving way they'll, like us better and they, will respect us much more because. Even they say right now they say we can't believe we've gotten away I mean. Two countries, have said we cannot believe to be honest with you. We've, gotten away with this so long now one of them made. That statement before I got elected he said. I can't, believe I made that Sabin before I got, elected but, it's one of those things we have to straighten it out we. Really, have no choice mr.. Prime minister how forceful, was your message to. The President, on what, the consequences. Will be if, he goes ahead with tariffs, first. Trade. Is a European, Union mandate, so we're a member of the European. Union it's European, mandate to - to. Handle the trade issues, but. As a, member of, the European Union I. Think. It's important. For us to try to find, a way to cooperate between, the European Union and the United States I fully. Understand, and respect the president's, view that we have to, look. After his. Own country the country that you're leading I understand, that fully that's, my primarily task, as well.
But, For me leading a small country, depending. On on open trade we. The. Best way for us is to, do, that with others, because. Our, export, equals, to 50 percent of our GDP, so. For us it is, crucially. Important that we have this open and free trade today. Also I believe that the the supply chains are very very complicated, to, see I know that for, example when we when, we sell our fighter aircraft, which is a very good aircraft, the. Content, is perhaps, 50 percent American. So. We. Want, this to be to, be resolved. Incorporation. And when it comes to steel, yes. We have an overcapacity, in, the world that's that's. Obviously. But. At the same time it is China that is producing, about 50 percent of the steel in the world so. And. European, Union perhaps. 10 percent and unless, than that so. To, summarize, I think it. Was a pity. Again, it's a European Union mandate but it was a pity also, that the TTIP negotiations, ended. Because. Perhaps. With, negotiations, and talks we. Can come into situation. With the European, Union and the United States can cooperate I think that would be a very good, solution. Just, maybe, a little bit further if. You talk, China I've, watched where the, reporters. Have been writing, 2%, of our steel comes from China well that's not right, they. Transship. All, through, other countries and you'll. See that a country, that doesn't even have a steel mill is sending us 3% steel, for. Our country and many. Countries are doing it but, it comes from China so China, doesn't send us 2% they. Send us a much much higher level, than that but. It's called transshipping, so. It doesn't look good when it all comes out of China so they send it through other countries and it, comes to us and it's. Putting our steel mills out of business our. Aluminum mills are. Going out of business and, we, need steel and we, need aluminum, and, you know there's a theory that if. A country doesn't have. Steel. It. Doesn't have a country, and. It's, true so this is more than just pure economics, this is about defense, this. Is about the country itself but, again remember this we lose 800, billion dollars, a year in. Trade and I think I was elected at least partially, on this issue and I've, been saying it for 25 years our country has been taken advantage of by everybody. By. Everybody almost everybody, and. We. Cannot let that happen any longer not for our companies, and not most, importantly, for our workers, so. We're not going to let it happen, please. Okay. Tina. TT news. Agencies. Thank. You for hosting us, you. Mentioned, that sweetness helped, the United States with North Korea. How. Do you see your collaborate. In the future to create a future a peaceful. Korean Peninsula, how do you see sweaters roll, there, how, do you both view the collaboration, and, as. A follow-up, to that as I may mr.. President I know that you've followed the development in Sweden, closely, especially. When it comes to immigration. Politics. Now. That you spent some time with our prime minister how do you view, Sweden. In general what is your take and and also, on our immigration, politics thank. You you have a wonderful prime minister I have to say we've gotten to know each other. Certainly, you have a problem with the immigration, it's caused problems in Sweden I was one of the first ones to say it I took. A little heat but, that was okay because I proved to be right but.
You Do have a problem and I. Know, the problem will slowly, disappear. Hopefully, rapidly, disappear. But. As far as our relationship with. Sweden it's going to be only stronger, only better both. In a military, sense in a training sense an economic. Sense you know Sweden, is a I think, the largest the. Eighth largest investor. In the United States and they, like me very much because the market is up almost 40%, since, election, day so. I've made a lot of these business, geniuses, look even better so. They like Trump but but, you know it's been out very substantially, but I believe, Sweden, is about the eighth largest, investor. In the. United States and that's quite an achievement. We've. Been working on North Korea Sweden has somewhat. Of a relationship with North Korea we've been working with North, Korea as I said Otto, was, really, brought, home unfortunately, in very poor condition, but Otto, was brought home largely. With. The help of Sweden they're, terrific, terrific. People, people. From Sweden the Swedish people, are fantastic, people had many friends in New, York in Washington from. Sweden, and they. Are fantastic people. Thank. You mr.. Prime minister how do you view Sweden. And North Korea and the u.s. we. Have to find a dialogue. I know it's, not it's not easy, but that's the, way it has to be very dangerous situation. And we need all to be very concerned, about the. Development, of nuclear, weapon. But. We must. Look at the the the peninsula, the region, the world and this has to do with with world peace or. Something. Else so, the key actors is obviously. The two countries South and North Korea as well as the United States and another, big. Countries they're the key actors we've said that we can provide, we, can we can. Be. A channel, or. Do. Whatever we can to, see, that the dialogue is, smooth, not, being, naive it's not it's, not up to us to solve this problem but, we can definitely with, our long presence, on, the peninsula both, in South and North we. Have an, embassy in Pyongyang for, example we've had that since 1973. So. With that relation, with North Korea I believe that they trust us we. Are a non-aligned, country, and I know a military, non-aligned, country and I think we can we can if. If, the, president decides of the the key actors decide if they want us to. Help out we'll be there, they. Really have been terrific, really. Terrific. Sager. And jetty Daily Caller please. Thank. You mr. president since. It's my first time before you I thought you might indulge me with two questions first.
Sir Do you believe in North Korea's recent, willingness, to talk is sincere. Or is, it an effort to buy time for their nuclear program and to what do you owe this, recent, openness. To talk me. Know. I think that. Nobody. Got that I think. That, they. Are sincere but, I think they're sincere, also, because. The. Sanctions, and what, we're doing with respect to. North. Korea including you. Know the great help that we've been given from China and they can do more but, I think they've done more than certainly they've ever done for our country before so, China. Has been a big help I think that's been. A factor but. The sanctions have been very very strong and, very. Biting. And. We don't want that to happen so I really believe they are sincere I hope this and Co we're gonna soon find out. You. Would like to see some change in the people around you does, that include include, your attorney general Jeff Sessions or either of your yeah no, I don't I don't really talk about that I just said that the. White House has tremendous, energy it has tremendous spirit it. Is a great place to be working, many. Many people want every single job you know I read where oh gee maybe people don't want to work for Trump but believe. Me everybody. Wants to work in the White House they, all want a piece of that Oval Office they want a piece of the West Wing and, not. Only in terms of it looks great on their resume it's just a great place to work it's got tremendous energy. It's tough I like. Conflict, I like having two people with different points of view and I certainly have that and then, I make a decision but. I like watching it I like seeing it and I think it's the best way to go I like different points of view but. The White House has a tremendous. Energy and we have tremendous talent, yeah, there'll be people, I'm not gonna be specific. But there'll be people that change they always change sometimes. They want to go out and do something else but. They all want to be in the White House so many people want to come in I have a choice of anybody, I could take any position in the White House and. I'll have a choice of the 10 top people having. To do with that position, everybody. Wants to be there and they. Love this White House because we have energy, like. Rarely, before okay, thank you very much sir, mr., prime minister last. Year you criticized the president for drawing a link between immigrant, crime and the. Recent arrivals of refugees, this. Week one of our own flagship, papers in The New York Times actually profiled. A link between Hand, Grenade violence, and immigrant gangs in your country do, you stand by your criticism. Of the president, first. Sweden. We have our share of domestic. Challenges, no doubt about that so and. We inherited. A legislation. That was not sustainable, legislation. On migration. Which. Meant. That in. 2015. We. Received, one hundred and sixty three thousand. Refugees. Seeking. Refuge. Be, remind were a country of ten million inhabitants, so, that was a lot 70 percent of them came from September, to December which, meant it was a dramatic increase, we. Changed, the legislation, so now we've decreased, the number of refugees entering, Sweden and we're also putting pressure on the other European, Union countries to, take their share of the responsibility this. Is not a responsibility, for one. Two three or four countries it, is a shared responsibility we. Were working with that now within the European Union. So. And. We we of course we also have, problems. With crime organized, crime in Sweden shootings, but. It's not like you have these no-go, zones. We. We have we. Have dealt with it I'm dealing with it every day, allocating. More resources to, the police more. Policemen trained. More. Resources, to the security, police, tougher, law on crime tougher, law on terrorism. Supporting. Terrorism so we do a lot to combat that and we can also see some results. Now in you know three major cities decreased. Shootings, because we're attacking the, organized, crime very tough and we'll keep on doing that because there, is no space in Sweden, for organized crime because. They they they. Decrease. Freedom, for for ordinary people at the same time. Sweden. Have a high growth. Unemployment. Is. Going down, employment. Is going up we. Have high investment. Rates. We're. Allocating resources. To. The welfare we have a strong, strong economy, with it with the surplus a huge surplus, that we're now using to. Develop, our society, with. For example the the welfare that we that we want so, the pictures we need to be it's. Two pictures yes we have our share of domestic. Problems and challenges no, doubt about that we're, dealing with them and we, also have. Good a good, foundation, for, dealing with them not, least with. The strong economy, and the, shrinking. Unemployment. Okay. So it's chaos Swedish radio. This. Is an election year for both, of our countries and, I want to ask you mr. Trump what, do you think Sweden, should learn from, how the Russian.
Influence, Campaign, affected. The, presidential. Election in the US. The. Russians had no impact, on our, votes, whatsoever. But certainly. There was meddling, and probably. There was meddling from other countries, and maybe other individuals, and I. Think you have to be. Really. Watching, very closely you, don't want your, system. Of votes to be compromised. In any way and we won't, allow that to happen we're doing a very very deep study and we're, coming out with some I think very strong, suggestions. On the, 18 election, I think we're gonna do very well in the 18 election, although historically, those. In the White House have. A little bit of a dip, but, I think we're going to do well because the economy, is so good and because we're protecting our job like our, jobs are being protected finally. Like, with what we're doing with the tariffs but the. Big thing would be the tax cut and the regulations, cuts, also. The judges I mean we have outstanding, judges. Judge Gorsuch. In the Supreme Court and many many judges, going. On to the bench all over the country so I think we're gonna do very well and. I, think it'll be a tremendous surprise, to people how well it's the. Economy is so good jobs are so good, black. Unemployment Hispanic. Unemployment. At, all-time, lows, I mean we're really we're, really doing well so based on that I guess we should do pretty well and I hope so but you, have to be very vigilant and. One, of the things we're learning is it's always good it's, old-fashioned. But it's always good to have a paper, backup. System, of voting it's, called paper, not. Highly. Complex, computers. Paper and. A lot of states are doing that they go into a paper back, up and I, think that's a great idea but we're studying, it very closely various, agencies, including. Homeland. Security, are. Studying. It very carefully. Worried. About thrush and trying to meddle. In the midterm no because will counteract. Whatever, they do will counteract it very strongly and we are having strong backup systems and we've been working actually, we. Haven't been given credit for this but we've actually been working very, hard, on the 18 election, and the, 20 election coming up thank you very much. Are. You guys on the same page when, it comes to evaluating the threat, from Russia, when it comes to meddling in elections, you think well. We both, agree. Upon that the election in a country should be the result of the election, and the country should be decided, but nobody else but the voters in, that country and that is. Also our clear stance and that is why our, intelligence. Agencies now, also increasing. Their own capacity. To detect, encounter. Whether. It's hacker attacks, or or. Financing. Or producing. Or spreading, propaganda, whatever. It is we. Are increasing, our capacity to handle that we are cooperating with other European, Union countries some of our agencies are also cooperating, with with American, counterparts. And this, will continue to do and so any, foreign. Power, that that believes. That they can interfere with, our election. We will find out and we will call them out very clearly, loud. First. Time that you two meet, just the two of you word, did, you find most common, ground of word you differ most on political, issues, we. We. First. We we. We. Now. First we we. We. I mean we we both come from outside politics, into. Politics I've, spent I have. 30 years in industry. As. A welder, but. Also it's a trade unionist, but trade, union leader, spending. 75, 80 percent, of my time cooperating. With, the company leaders with the employees organization, in, an effort to strengthen, our industry, so, that's a perhaps, a similar. Background not similar, because. It's. Different but but become from outside policies, but of course also. Friends differ from time to time the.
Paris Agreement the, important, of Paris agreement we stand, by that we think it's very important, that we implement, and fulfill. The Paris agreement because. Of the the climate issue and. On that we might if our tariffs, as well but. Having said that still, we know that, the relationship is, so good yes, so we can take it that we differ as well because. The values are there and we cooperate, very, very good on economic, issues making. Sure that we create jobs and. Growth and also. On security, issues both when it comes to combating, terrorism but, also, when. It comes to to defend. Ourselves just. Finally. Follow up for mr. Trump do you think the trade. Is worth Sweden, and u.s. difference. Right now I think, we have very good relationships, on trade, we. Have had and. We. Are constantly, in touch we have on. The military great cooperation, including. Design of, various. Components of aircraft etc, and we are we were discussing, that we have some of the great makers. Of these components, in the room with us today now we have a very good relationship on, trade and we always will have Swedes. A great country its small but. It's. Very sharp I will tell you they are very sharp, thank you very much everybody I appreciate it thank you.
2018-03-10