Well, thank you very much. It's a great honor to be with a friend of mine, a man who is respected all over the world, actually, but he's in charge of NATO. He's the Secretary General, Mark Rutte. And you joined in a great job. He was not too much involved when they weren't too nice to us in our recent little military skirmish. But he is a man that's respected by everybody. And Mark, maybe you'd like to say a few words.
Absolutely. And a few things I want to share with the media, with you who are being here at present. And it's about the leadership. First of all, about Iran. I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran. This is, first of all, about the nuclear capability Iran was basically getting its hands on. And that would have been a threat to the region. It would have been a threat to the whole world. This is a country which is exporting chaos. It is exporting terrorism. And they were very near to getting their hands on the nuclear capability. You've seen last week in the G7, all the leaders in the G7 applauding the fact that this nuclear capability has been degraded. This is extremely important. I just want to make this clear because sometimes people think, why was this whole Iran thing going on? This is about security, about safety. This is the leader of the free world taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States, for the rest of the world. And this is what you did. I know there have been debates about whether your allies in Europe were with you enough. I just want to say one thing. We say something.
Yeah, but let me say one thing, which is I know you're thinking that, but let me. And I know the about the let's say your irritation about that. But when you look at the numbers, 4 to 5,000 US planes taking off from bases in Europe. In the six weeks this war took place till the ceasefire took place mid-April. In Bucharest at the airport in Romania heading to close. It had to close for commercial traffic because they had to make sure that you were able to send the tanker aircraft up in the air. So this is what I know. There have been isolated cases about which you are really disappointed. But generally speaking your European allies have been very. I really want to make the point 4 to 5,000 US planes taking off from European airbases. So that's about Europe. Now I want to take you if you stay here I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president was able to achieve. And I start with this chart. This chart is about the Trump trillion. The Trump trillion shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying into defense since you took office in 2017.
Trump 45 plus Trump 47. The total of extra spent by the Europeans and the Canadians of 1.2 trillion. When you look at the effect of Trump 47 so the isolated effect of the extra defense spending in 2025 and in 2026 you see almost 140 billion dollars extra spent nominal on defense by the Europeans and the Canadians. And also this year you will again see an increase by about 120 billion which brings the total in two years of over 250 billion dollars. I can assure you this is because of Russia, because of the threat, but I'm also absolutely convinced that you being president of the United States being consistently pushing for something which since Eisenhower has not been achieved which is the Europeans equalizing their defense spending with the United States. This is your evidence. Then when it comes to jobs look here. In total 195,000 jobs being supported by investments. Investments from European companies into the United States, 83,000 jobs supported by that. 112,000 jobs created by the fact that Europeans are massive. About half of all their defense spending when it comes to defense industrial output is spent in the United States. 112,000 jobs. Last year they spent 54 billion dollars on US defense industrial output. There is now a order catalog order backlog of 300 billion. So, 300 billion dollars of defense spending from Europeans buying this in the US over next couple of years, which is already on the order book. Last year 54 billion and total now order book of 300 billion. Totally almost 200,000. These are real jobs. Real people like you. As yesterday when you spoke in Pennsylvania, the people behind you. But I want to say two things more if you allow. First of all, to get all of this done, we have to increase the defense industrial output. There is a big problem. The problem is that both the United States and Europe we are not producing enough. I was struck by the fact that we really planned because of the war in Ukraine and what we do there and for all the other reasons. You have taken leadership here. Last week you signed the defense procurement. You made it possible for companies to work together to be able therefore to ramp up the defense production. You have been very harsh with them a couple of weeks ago. I had one of them over in my office. Yeah, it was really harsh. I had one of them over in my office. He was still trembling. Well, the CEO said, and I said this is good. This is exactly what we need because we need this extra defense output. This is important for Europe. When I pointed at all these jobs, of course, also many jobs being created in Europe and in Canada. But again, almost 200,000 here in the United States supported by all these investments. But it is about defense industrial output and this is also what the Ankara summit has to be about. The whole first day will be about defense industrial production because we can spend as much as we want, but we need the interceptors, the missiles, we need the tanks, we need the artificial intelligence, etc., etc. And this is what you are doing doing that in the US, but also therefore putting all that pressure on the defense industrial base. And finally, you had the G7 last week. I think it was a big success. What you've seen there is that yes, you are president of the United States, but I want to make this point. For me, you are first of all the leader of the free world. In 2 weeks in Ankara, you will have not seven countries, you will have 42 countries, the 32 allies, US and your other 31, but also nine or 10 other countries from the Middle East, from the Indo-Pacific. And they want to hear your lead. You will provide it. I know this. This is what you do on Iran, this is what you do on defense industrial output, on spending, and all of this. You'll be leader of the free world, and now we see it with Ukraine, and the fact that Ukraine stay strong in the fight, that you still provide all the stuff they need, paid for by European and Canadian allies, fair enough, but very important for them to stay in the fight and all the other things the United States is doing. So, I'm really looking forward to that summit. I know that Erdogan, the president of Turkey, looks forward to receiving his good friend Donald J. Trump, but I just wanted to tell this story because, ladies and gentlemen of the American media, this is important. This is your president, but also leader of the free world, taking the leadership role as is necessary.
Thank you very much. Any questions, please?
Mr. President, Mr. President, after all of this, do you you've been so transformative vis-a-vis NATO, and I think that the Secretary General just stated that you transformed NATO, the alliance in a way nobody would have even thought that you could have done. After all that, do you still think that European allies like to join me to the G7, and if so, what can they do to make things better? And to you, Secretary General, can you confirm that all the thousands of flights, as you stated today and yesterday on Fox News, are in compliance with NATO treaty? Thank you.
Well, let me just say he's been a friend of mine. He's great guy, great leader, great Secretary General. Everybody respects him. And I appreciate your nice words, but you really have done a good job. And I think if anybody else were in that position, we wouldn't even be meeting today, to be honest with you, because we were let down. We didn't need help on this at all. We demolished them in literally the first week. But it would have been nice if they would have said, 'We'd like to help.' We didn't even need it, but it would have been nice if they said that. They didn't say it, but as Secretary General, and he's the boss of the whole operation, he was I believe if I would have called him, and I didn't bother doing that, because I was doing individual country sister, take the temperature and see how they were doing, but I think if I would have called him, he probably would have found a way to help if we needed it. I feel, you know, would have been a little bit different. But I was disappointed. I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK. He's now gone. And you know, he had a lot of problems, but we were disappointed with the UK. We were disappointed with Germany and France. We're disappointed with most of. Spain is a horror show. Spain is terrible even from your standpoint. I mean, they don't want to pay anything. They think they're in for a free ride. Spain is not a good group. Not a good group at all. But I have great respect for this man, and so we're going to be discussing what took place, and we'll see what happens. Thank you. Good questions.
Answer to your second question, because I don't have many disagreements with the President of the United States. Here, I have to slightly, because I agree there's reason for disappointment, absolutely. But my argument is this, these are isolated cases. When you look at the overall. Take for example Germany, from day one they delivered on their bilateral commitments. These are bilateral commitments these countries are having with the United States. So this is not strictly speaking NATO. Bilateral commitments, they all did what they promised to do. And this leads to the four to five thousand US planes taking off from Europe. I would argue it would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States. Delivered again. He's right. There are also reason for disappointment. It is a mixed bag.
Well, the big question is are they paying the 5% they agreed six months ago when we were together to pay 5%? And for the most part they're not paying it.
Well, when you look at the numbers. Take for example Germany. So we agreed they get a couple of years together because you cannot spend that in one year because you have an absorption problem. But Germany for example, Germany has doubled it is doubling its defense spending between 2021 and 2029. They will spend over half of 50 billion by 2029 which is staggering, more than the French and the Brits combined even. Take the Dutch, take Poland and the Baltics already there. Countries like Denmark really stepping up. So and the Nordics. So it's a bit of a mixed bag, but most of them are doing it and the alliance is so much stronger because of this man.
Are the Saudis in compliance?
Well, thank you. Thank you, President. GB News. You mentioned our Prime Minister going for out the door and the new guy coming in, Andy Burnham. What do you know about him, Mr. President? And what does he need to do to improve the relationship between...
Yeah, I don't know about who?
The new incoming Prime Minister, Andy Burnham.
I don't know anything. I see that he was I guess the mayor of a town. I hear he's extremely liberal. Extremely. So, that means he probably won't open up the North Sea. And I gave Keir Starmer some pretty good advice. I said, 'Open up the North Sea.' Go to Aberdeen, which was the hottest city in the whole continent. It was the oil city. It was the oil of Europe. And they closed everything. It was terrible. I saw it before my eyes and I couldn't believe it. The North Sea is loaded. I have had every oil company come to see me. 'Sir, could you give us access to the UK? We would do anything to drill in the North Sea.' And they haven't even found what's there. The amazing thing is they buy their oil from Norway, which gets the oil from the North Sea. Think of it. And they pay a big premium. Norway's got now $2 trillion in the bank. And UK is dying. So, they should open up the North Sea. It's an easy one. And then a lot of good things are going to happen. It's among the greatest deals in the world. Peter.
Mr. President Trump, great night for Democratic Socialists candidates last night. In the New York primaries, they swept and knocked out two incumbents. You're from New York. Why do you think it is that now the endorsement of Zephyr Teachout means more than the endorsement of Hakeem Jeffries?
Well, they're going radical left. They're going in really, you know, you talk about the Democrat Socialists. You talk really, it's really communist. That's These people I watched that woman last night. That's not a socialist. I know socialists. That woman is a communist. And you know what they don't say is that I was 16 and 0 last night. But mine were a little more boring, a little more mainstream. They were Republican conservatives. But we were 16 and 0. And if you look over the last 2 and a half years, we're about 347 and just about oh. That's pretty good, but nobody writes that. But he picked three. They won. They beat a guy named Dan Goldman, who's, you know, loser. He was one of my prosecutors, one of my many prosecutors that they used on me. Dan Goldman, not a good prosecutor, fortunately. But he's now looking for a job. I was very surprised to see, you know, because he's pretty liberal guy. When they go more liberal than Dan Goldman, they're really into Never Never Land.
Does this tell you that the Democratic Party's 2028 nominee will likely be or could likely be a Democratic Socialist?
Well, it should make it easier for Republicans. Because most of the nation is composed of sane people. They don't want to. You know, if you look throughout history, go back thousands of years, you've always had socialism and by different names. It's never ever worked. It's not going to work this time, either.
Thank you very much, sir. As a Turk myself...
Whose phone is that?
Don't worry about it.
It's a fire.
It's a fire alarm. As a Turk...
It's a fire.
As a Turk myself, I can tell you with great confidence that your presence in Ankara is eagerly anticipated. What's your message to your great friend Erdogan and the Turkish people? Because you're going to be there in less than...
Good. Well, I like him. He's a friend of mine, and he stayed out of the war. You know, he was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran. Maybe on the Iran side, because he's not a big fan of Israel, as you know. And I asked him to stay out. He stayed out. And you know who else was great was President Xi of China. He could have come in, he gets half of his oil from that area. You know, I could see him wanting to, and I asked him to please stay out, and he did. We did a good job, but he stayed out. Erdogan's a great leader, very strong person, great military, and I asked him to stay out, and he did, and so did President Xi, and frankly so did Putin, if you really look but you could say that Vladimir has some other things to focus on. But they all stayed out. It was pretty amazing. People were surprised.
And I think that Erdogan is Look, he loves Turkey, right? He's doing a great job. He loves Turkey. I love the US, but he loves Turkey and he's doing a great job. He's a respected man, a respected leader, and he's been a friend of mine. Now, I shouldn't say that because guys like Peter would say, 'Oh, he likes Erdogan.' He likes Erdogan. No, Peter won't Peter again. It's some of the others, let's say, but Erdogan is a strong man, but he's been everything I've ever asked him for, he's done.
And prior to that, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, clearly pointed out that allies want to do defense business with you, and Turkey is definitely one of them. They want the F-110 jet engines, and they want the F-35 fighter jets. Are you going to Turkey with a big gift bag?
I think so, yeah. I think so. Look, he's a member of NATO. Some people don't consider him so, but he really is. He's a strong member of NATO. Yeah, I'm going to probably do something that's going to make him very happy.
And Turkey has a huge fighter jet...
Tell him hello. He's a good man.
And Turkey has a huge defense industrial base, 3,000 companies working all over the lines, also in the United States. So, strong...
People don't know how big Turkey is in terms of the military. It's a very strong. They have a lot of our equipment. A very strong military. Because of him. Yeah, please.
What are your expectations, sir, about this meeting in Ankara? What do you think...
Well, except for the fact that it was being held in Turkey by President Erdogan, I don't think I would have gone to it. But I might go. I mean, I wouldn't have gone for, you know, what we went through over the last 2 months with, you know, the various countries. But you probably not would have gone to you, but I would have not gone for most people, but he called me up. He said, 'Please, I have it in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has to be there.' And so, I'm going out of respect to President Erdogan.
What do you want the allies to do more than what they are doing right now? Do you have an ask?
I just want their loyalty. We don't need their money. We don't need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far. But I just want loyalty. You know, we're so loyal to them. We're always fighting for them. We have thousands of troops all over Europe. In Germany, we have 50,000 troops. And then you want a little give us a little nudge. Give us a little kiss. We don't want much. And they say, 'No, we can't do it. We're paying hundreds of millions of dollars for the troops that we have in Germany, the troops that we have in UK, the troops that we have all over Europe.' I will say Poland was very good, you know. I endorsed him. And he won. By the way, many people that I endorsed outside of the United States won. You know that, right? Do you know we had a big win yesterday with Columbia. A favorite place of Marco. Marco loves Columbia. No. I endorsed a man who was, you know, the And he won. But the same thing in Poland. He was number 10. I endorsed him. I didn't like the man that was the president at all. And I endorsed him. He was a fighter, a big fighter, a good fighter. And I endorsed him. He came from 10th place and he won. And they said it was the biggest upset in Europe in 50 years for a major election. And you know what? He's going to be a great president of Poland.
Mr. President, you like...
have many people South America. But we just the other day we endorsed somebody that LT Gray. They call him LT Gray because he's tough. He's another fighter. I like fighters. I got...
Mr. President, you like...
Mr. President, you like winners. Do you think President Zelenskyy is winning right now? He famously said...
doing pretty well. Look, no matter how you look at it, he's doing pretty well. He's holding his own at least. There's a lot of people dying on both sides. But I think he's doing pretty well.
Mr. President, can I ask you...
Look, you have to say he's courageous. He's got great equipment. But he's got great men. He's got fighters.
Mr. President, can I ask you one other question? Have you seen the report into the Minau school attack, sir? And can you tell us something?
At some point, well, to wait for it to be complete. I don't know that they're ever going to solve that problem. And you can ask me, but I don't know that they're ever. They're saying they're going to say it was one of our missiles. Pete, I don't know that they're ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it. Because there were missiles flying all over the place.
Do you want to say something?
And it's horrible what happened. But there were missiles flying all over the place. And somebody said it was our missile. Well, maybe it wasn't our missile. But I've seen nothing to lead me to believe it was. There were plenty of missiles being flown by other people. What do you think, Pete?
Well, Mr. President, we've taken the investigation very seriously. And when the appropriate time is right, whatever that outcome is, that'll be the time to divulge it.
