Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

President Trump and France's President Macron Hold News Conference at White House. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired February 24, 2025 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PRES. EMMANUEL MACRON, FRANCE (through interpreter): ... earlier before, and you mentioned that one of those gentlemen was able to visit you here, one of the veterans. This is part of history, which puts us in the world that we are in today. And as the President just said, there are many challenges in this world. And over the past few days, we have one main objective, which is the geopolitical situation.

Mr. President, I really wish to thank you for making changes to your schedule to meet with us so quickly. I think we've made very substantive steps forward during our discussions, and this is a major step in what we're experiencing today.

We had a video conference with all of the G7 leaders, which was an opportunity for us to discuss this matter three days after the Russian war in Ukraine and to express our support for President Zelenskyy to the Ukrainian people, but also to speak with and share about our desire for a lasting peace. This is what we have spoken about very forcefully over the last few weeks. We thought that this war was only going to last a few weeks when it broke out in 2022, we admire greatly the courage of the Ukrainian people.

And Mr. President, I wish to thank you for this. You mentioned that there are responsibilities on Europe's side, and indeed, we have invested 128 billion in aid to Ukraine and the Ukrainians. Ukraine has been able to hold the front of our collective security. It's fought over these past few years for its independence and for its sovereignty but also for our collective security, because I think that no one in this room wants to live in a world that it's the law of the strongest and international borders can be violated from one day to the next by anyone.

Over the past few hours, and as you mentioned this, Mr. President, we've been able to see a few things take shape. First of all, allow me to commend you on your decision to work with President Zelenskyy and to conclude this agreement that's so important for the U.S. and Ukraine on rare earths, critical minerals, but also having substantive conversations with President Zelenskyy during this key phase of achieving this deal, which is a major commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and I think that's very commendable.

We also have a shared desire to build peace. We will have this responsibility. This is 10 years after the war started in Crimea, and then we saw the events in the Donbas region, and along the northern part of the country. We want to save lives. We want to bring prisoners back and bring back families and children, because there's also humanitarian tragedy affecting the Ukrainian people.

We had lengthy discussions with the President, and we spoke about our desire to bring an end to conflicts, to have a truce that is measurable, verifiable and that enables negotiation of a lasting peace. What we will discuss, not only Ukraine's reconstruction, its territories, but also the security guarantees. Meaning, maintaining peace over the long-term.

As I said to the President, we've experienced peace accords that were only ceasefires without ensuring security guarantees, Minsk I and II. And we want to make sure this doesn't happen again. And I know that the President has expressed the desire to be a player for peace in the region.

I've spoken with some 30 European leaders and allies in recent days. We want to bring together these allies - allies, rather, and share the same vision. This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty and allow Ukraine to negotiate with other stakeholders regarding the issues it affects - that affects it, rather.

But it is also a country in which we need to shoulder our responsibilities so that we ensure security and stability for Ukraine and for the entire region. And for us Europeans, this is an existential issue.

[15:05:00]

We also spoke about these issues at length with the President.

We've worked with President Zelenskyy and gotten to some of the details of the various phases of the negotiation. And we've also been able to speak about some of this work with our British partners to talk about deployments of peace forces on Ukrainian soil, which are part of these security guarantees. Other countries are ready to join in this effort.

Solidarity and support from the U.S. will be crucial to this. And I thank you, Mr. President, for beginning to work with us on this issue. And the agreement that you are preparing to sign with Ukraine and with all these discussions we've had are very solid guarantees that we are understood, that we have the same wish, peace as soon as possible, lasting, solid peace for everyone.

And the renewal of an international situation where we are all able to shoulder our responsibilities, Europeans shouldering their responsibilities alongside their American allies who will shoulder their own responsibilities. I also wanted to be very clear, Mr. President, about Europe's commitment. We have committed to building a lasting peace. As Europeans, we have committed to being stakeholders and - in these security guarantees.

And we are also well aware that Europeans need to do more for security in Europe, for defense in Europe, and to more fairly share the security burden that your country has been carrying for so many years. Mr. President, you know how much friendship I show towards you and I have towards you since your first term. Europe is very clear-eyed about this. We know what we need to do as Europeans, given the threats surrounding us and the responsibilities that we must shoulder. We spoke about the Versailles agenda, which allowed the Europeans to take a historic step and increase their investments. Europeans are ready to do even more and to go even farther. And several leaders said that to me before I came here to meet you.

Mr. President, dear Donald, you spoke about this peace through strength. We fully share that because we must recognize the sacrifices made by the Ukrainian people and what we owe to them.

The President and I also spoke about economic matters and our desire to see more prosperity in the United States and in Europe. We had discussions, which will be carried on by our teams, our ministers and secretaries to flesh out some of those ideas. But the idea is to have fair competition and no bias within competition between our industries.

Now, the American and European economies are extremely intertwined. Some 1.5 billion in trade - trillion, rather, in goods and services. And I know you've spoken about wanting to look at the balance of payments. We also have a trade deficit and I know that we need to look - not only at goods, but also digital items and goods which you export. And we want to make a sincere commitment towards fair competition where we have smooth trade and more investments.

You already invest a great deal in France, and France is the fifth most - the largest investor in the United States. And I would like to recognize here all of the American investors who announced investments, some $120 billion that were announced at the AI Summit.

This is our wish. We want to have more prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. We have a shared agenda in that regard.

We also spoke about the Middle East, among other subjects. And here, again, we have the same desire. We don't want to see Iran obtain nuclear weapons. We don't want or rather we want an approach with partners in the region that we can trust. Given Iran's nuclear activities, we want to limit its ballistic capabilities and avoid any type of regional destabilization.

[15:10:01]

With respect to Syria and Iraq, we also share the same desire. We don't want to see Islamic terrorist groups resume any of their activities, because for some time, our armies have very bravely been engaged in the Gulf, as you have led and contributions have been significant and helped stability in the region.

And I say this with great sincerity, France was affected by a terrorist attack in 2015, which was linked to the terrorist activity in Syria. And we are in that region, at your side, to work for more security. Ladies and gentlemen, we had extremely productive discussions this morning during the conference. And we spoke with our ministers, and counselors and advisors. And I wish to say, after speaking with President Trump, I fully believe that there is a path forward. We share the same beliefs. We know what work needs to be done. And in the weeks to come, we will work on that. Our teams will come together in various formats to make sure that we have this solid, lasting peace with great strength.

Mr. President, thank you so much for welcoming me here today. Thank you so much for these productive discussions and for your commitment. Thank you, dear Donald.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you so much. Thank you, Emmanuel. Thank you.

MACRON: (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: (INAUDIBLE) great job.

MACRON: Thank you. Thank you, (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Okay. Thank you very much. Brian, would you like to ask a question? Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Welcome, President Macron.

I just want to touch upon, real quickly, the Harvard poll that came out that had - thank you very much - the Harvard poll that came out ...

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... had you up nine-plus points. And all of your agenda that you ran on, you're accomplishing that. You've got the support of the American people, including stopping the war in Ukraine. If you can comment on the latest Harvard poll, I'd appreciate that.

TRUMP: Well, I was honored by it. It was a big poll, and it's usually a poll that leans on the other side of things - the other side of the world, so to speak. But the Harvard poll is a respected poll, and it has us not only leading, but leading by a lot and leading on every single issue that we've talked about.

And as I said, we've become the party of common sense. And I think that's a very important element now - common sense - because what's happening in the world and even in this country, some of the things that took place, many of them are now canceled and the rest are being canceled as we speak. But we've moved very rapidly and, I think, very effectively. So, I was honored by that poll. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President ... UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President ...

TRUMP: Go ahead, please. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you said before that you would like to see Russia (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Yes, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... are there any conditions that you want (INAUDIBLE) and your meeting in Saudi Arabia - with your meeting in Saudi Arabia with Putin, will that happen regardless of any progress on the Ukrainian side?

TRUMP: Yes, I think the meeting in Saudi Arabia was a fantastic one. We met with the Crown Prince. It was fantastic. A young guy - he's young, but with great imagination and tremendously respected all over the world. And he goes right to the king, and the king is incredible. Gotten to be friends with both of them very much and they want to see this ended. And they're going all out to make sure that it is ended.

I think Russia, likewise - I've spoken to President Putin. And my people are dealing with him constantly, and his people in particular, and they want to do something. I mean, that's what I do. I do deals. My whole life is deals. That's all I know is deals. And I know when somebody wants to make it, and when somebody doesn't.

I will say this, before I came here, there was no communication with Russia whatsoever. And Russia wasn't answering calls. They were not talking to anybody. They wouldn't talk to anybody. And people sort of accepted that as being - that they want to go forward and just keep going without stop.

But when I got here, one of the first calls I made was to President Putin. And we were treated with great respect. And they want to end this war, so that's a big thing. Because I didn't know if I could say that, but it's a big thing. They want to do it. And the group in the front row that I introduced, they're very - all very active in it. And we're working on deals right now, transactions right now.

And, in particular, the big one is to get the war stopped, whether it's ceasefire or direct to an agreement. I'd like to go directly to an agreement, but ceasefire will always happen a little bit quicker. And every day, you're saving thousands or at least hundreds, but thousands, in some cases, lives, so we want to see if we can get that done very quickly.

[15:15:03]

Yes, for the president, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. (INAUDIBLE) correspondent based in Paris.

Question for both of you, actually. Mr. Macron, you were one of the last Western leaders to speak to Putin before Ukraine's invasion. What advice, what recommendation could you make to President Trump and to make sure that this time you can get strong enough guarantees, sorry, from Putin to get a peace deal that lasts this time?

And Mister - President Trump, what makes you think you can trust Putin? Thank you.

MACRON: Look, I want to (INAUDIBLE) we have friendly and trustful discussion, but my experience with President Putin is the following. Number one, I always think it's good to have discussion with other leaders and especially when you disagree. I stopped my discussion with President Putin after Bucha and the war crimes because I considered that - I mean, we had nothing to get from him at the time. Now there is a chance - there is a big change because there is a new U.S. administration, so this is a new context. So, there is good reason for President Trump to reengage with President Putin.

But my experience is the following, and I shared it with President Trump and the team. In 2014, our predecessors negotiated peace with President Putin. But because of the lack of guarantees, and especially security guarantees, President Putin violated this peace. And I had several discussions, especially beginning of 2022. Several times, seven hours with President Putin, 15 days before launching of the attack. He denied everything, but we didn't have security guarantees.

So, this is why being strong and having deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure it will be respected. And I insisted on that, and this is why I believe that the U.S. has the capacity to do so. And this is why I think we should never say, I will never send any boot on the ground because you give a blank check to violate any type of commitment.

So, I think it's good to have discussion. I think it's useful to have negotiation. I think it's super important to go to the peace. But my strong point was to say, let's try to get something first which is - which can be assessed, checked and verified. And let's be sure that we build sufficient guarantees in the short run and this is where we are ready to be engaged, as for France. A lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged. But we do need this American backup because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees, and this is our collective deterrence capacity. And I have the feeling that the President has this capacity.

TRUMP: I think it's very much to the benefit of Russia to make a deal. And I feel that we will do that. It is what it is. Again, it's a war that should have never been started. It's a war that would not have been started if I were President. But it did start, and it's at a terrible level where cities are burned down and shot down to the ground. It looks like demolition sites, a whole big pile of demolition sites and we got to get it stopped. Too many people, too much agony. The whole culture is destroyed when you rip down some of those ancient - really ancient or near-ancient buildings, it's so sad to see.

But I think it's very much to the benefit of - there's tremendous distrust on both sides. That's why it's good that I'm coming in now. But I think it's to the very much benefit of Russia to make a deal and to go on with - leading Russia in a very positive way, that's what you have to do. But I really believe that he wants to make a deal. May be wrong, but I believe he wants to make a deal.

Yes, go ahead, please.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Mr. President. Next week, there's a key deadline for your Canada and Mexico tariffs (INAUDIBLE) believe those countries have done enough on the border to stop those from taking effect?

And for President Macron, I'm wondering if you believe that this critical minerals deal with Ukraine represents a de facto security guarantee by the United States, since the U.S. would have an interest in protecting those reserves in Ukraine. Thank you.

[15:20:00]

TRUMP: We're on time with the tariffs, and it seems like that's moving along very rapidly. We've been mistreated very badly by many countries, not just Canada and Mexico. We've been taken advantage of. We were led by, in some cases, fools, because anybody that would sign documents like they signed, where they were able to take advantage of the American people, like - has happened over the last long period of time, except for a little four-year period that took place four years ago.

But anybody that would agree to allow this to happen to our country should be ashamed of themselves. No, the tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule. This is an abuse that took place for many, many years. And I'm not even blaming the other countries that did this. I blame our leadership for allowing it to happen. I mean, you know, who can blame them if they made these great deals with the United States, took advantage of the United States on manufacturing, on just about everything. Every aspect that you can imagine they took advantage of.

I look at some of these agreements, I'd read them at night, and I'd say, who would ever sign a thing like this? So, the tariffs will go forward, yes. And we're going to make up a lot of territory. We're going to - all we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity. We want to have the same.

So, if somebody charges us, we charge them. It's very simple. But it'll be very good for our country. Our country will be extremely liquid and rich again. Plus, we're doing other things, as you know. We're finding tremendous waste, fraud and abuse at levels that nobody thought possible. You're seeing what's going on. And that was also part of the Harvard poll.

Do you agree with what President Trump is doing with Elon and others that are looking for the waste, fraud and abuse?

And the numbers were staggering. It was like 70 percent to 2 percent. Everybody wants to find out. They don't like it. And, you know, the radical left, or whoever it may be, starts screaming about the Constitution. But it has nothing to do with the Constitution. It has to do with fairness to this country. It has to do with being ripped off.

And when you read the things that all of these billions - and I mean many billions, hundreds of billions of dollars has - have been spent on - that's all you have to do is stand up here and read them. I could stand up all day and read the kind of things where we're spending all of this money.

The good news is that when you think of how rich a nation we can be when we get rid of this - you know, sometimes you'll buy a company and you'll see it was really well run. It's - they accounted for every penny. Well, not much you can do there. You got yourself a bad deal. This one is the exact opposite. Tremendous fraud, tremendous waste and when you think of what it is - you know, Elon uses the expression caring.

If we had people that cared - just cared a little bit when they did contracts, when they negotiated with outside vendors for - on behalf of the United States. That's what I'm doing now. I'm negotiating for the people of the United States. So, we're doing a great job of it, I will say. We found - it'll be hundreds of billions of dollars of waste and fraud and abuse. Thank you. Please.

MACRON: Look, I think this discussion is a very important one. First, because it's important for the U.S. and it will be a good occasion for, first, a very important meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.

Second, I think it's - there is a lot of economic upside for - on both sides.

And third, de facto, there is a recognition of Ukrainian sovereignty, a recognition of the Ukrainian interests. And this is de facto a very important alignment of interests.

Now, the security guarantees will be negotiated in due time in a full- fledged package of a peace security. But this peace, as it is now written and negotiated, and as this meeting is scheduled, is an important step forward - full-fledged peace agreement.

TRUMP: Okay. Please, go ahead. (INAUDIBLE) the president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, President Macron, to make a deal with Putin, so, when you do a deal - it's a win-win deal, what are you giving to him and what is he going to give you to America? And I was impressed by the way you referred to Notre Dame and that you were impressed by the reconstruction of Notre Dame. A lot of Americans have sent money to Paris to participate to the reconstruction of Notre Dame. As the President of the United States, are you going to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine?

(through interpreter): And Mr. President Macron, what, for you, is the main area of progress in your meeting with President Trump? Can you confirm that there is an agreement to send European peacekeeping troops?

[15:25:03]

Will France participate in that? How many troops? What would they be doing? Would this represent a great danger to send French and European troops to Ukraine?

TRUMP: Well, I guess it's a little strange question because you ask whether or not we're going to, on behalf of the United States, contribute to Ukraine. I mean, we're in there for about $350 billion. I think that's a pretty big contribution.

I do appreciate the first part of your question, however, because I think they've done an incredible job with the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I think the President has done - I know he headed it up, and I know how hard he worked. And it took a period of time, but really not a long period of time, considering what that was - so delicate, so beautiful. And I was there, and I saw the work.

And I'm very good at construction. I know good construction. I know bad construction. They did a beautiful job. And this man has to be given a lot of credit for that. It's an incredible cathedral. Most people thought it couldn't be saved. And if it was, it would have to be built in a different form. And we didn't want to see a different form. We wanted to see the same form that you built. So, I just want to congratulate you. That was an amazing job. I don't think you've gotten enough credit for it. Someday you will. Someday you will.

MACRON: Thank you, Donald. Merci beaucoup.

(through interpreter): Thank you very much. To go back to your question, today's discussion showed several areas of progress. First, we have been working a great deal with President Zelenskyy to have a proposal that's acceptable to Ukraine. President Trump has confirmed that he will be meeting with President Zelenskyy very soon to finalize the agreement on critical minerals and rare earths, and to speak together about that matter. That's a very important step forward.

The second thing is that during our discussions, we were able to go into some of the details about the proposal that we have just made to have a truce, a peace and be able to measure that, and then structure our discussions on that basis. France and several other European countries, along with Ukraine, are hard at work to build this lasting peace with very specific points, including security guarantees, the territories that belong to Ukraine, the issue of reconstruction, the economy and critical minerals. We've been able to go into the details of those proposals.

The third area of progress, which really marked a turning point, is the fact that we were able to talk about the details of the security guarantees. And the President has shown this over the past few days, and he said so a moment ago. We want peace. He wants peace. We want peace swiftly, but we don't want an agreement that is weak.

The fact that there are Europeans that are ready to engage, to provide for these security guarantees. And now there's a clear American message that the U.S., as an ally, is ready to provide that solidarity for that approach. That's a turning point, in my view. And that is one of the great areas of progress that we've made during this trip and during this discussion.

When it comes to troops, in the past, a year ago specifically, we saw a reason to talk about sending troops for strategic regions. Today, when we talk about troops, we're talking about sending them in after we've negotiated a lasting peace. And once we have that solid, lasting peace that's part of an agreement signed by Ukraine, signed by Russia and for which we will provide the guarantees, then at that point - and recently, France has worked with the U.K. to provide its contributions. We've worked on plans. We've worked with our militaries, not to go to the front lines, not to go into occupied territories, but as a show of support, to show that we have a negotiated peace signed by both sides, and that is a peace we will preserve.

So these would be peaceful deployments of troops, not for combat. These would be deployments of an assurance force. They would be limited, but they show solidarity. I've also spoken with all of our allies, and there are European and non-European allies who are ready and willing to take part in that effort. Countries have helped Ukraine maintain its military capabilities in terms of the number of soldiers it has, equipment, whereas others have provided logistical support on the ground.

[15:30:02]

The question is whether or in what form the U.S. will contribute ...