JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

THE MAP ROOM, THE WHITE HOUSE

FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2019

 

EO&E…

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much. Please. We had a spectacular morning. And it's an honour being with the Prime Minister and Mrs. Morrison. Thank you very much. Australia is a fantastic country and a brilliant ally. We just spent a lot of time together with our representatives, and they, they get along very well. And we're doing a lot of deals. And we talked military; we talked trade; we talked about everything you can talk about. And we came to the same conclusion, I think, in every case. But I just want to say, it's an honour having both of you here. Thank you very much. You have a truly great country, and I don't think we've ever had a better relationship than we have right now. And tonight we're going to have something very special in the Rose Garden. And based on all of that money we spend on all of that weather-predicting equipment, they're saying, no chance of rain. Let's see if that's right. If it is, we'll run right back into this room. But we're going to have a fantastic evening. And, First Lady, thank you very much. You worked very hard on this. So it's not going to rain. It's going to be a beautiful evening. And great job, really great job, honey. Thank you. Please. Scott?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Trump. We thank you all so very much for the incredibly warm and generous welcome that Jenny and I and our delegation have had here in Washington and this great home of the American presidency and indeed your home. One of the many things that the President and I share in common is a passion for jobs. And the job performance here in the United States, the jobs that are being created in Australia, the jobs that change people's lives, you know, when people get a job, they've got choices. And Australia and the United States, we're committed to creating jobs. And whether it's in trade or it's whether it’s in looking at the future and where those jobs are going to come from, we want our people to have those economic opportunities. I commend the President on the great work he's done in creating jobs here in the United States, and we're doing the same thing in Australia. And we want to keep creating jobs, and this partnership is a big part of that. And that's why we're pleased to come together here. We share objectives in so many areas. We share common values. We share beliefs. We've shared a wonderful century together and now we're going to have another great century together of mateship. So thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for the opportunity for the discussions we've had today. We are very much looking forward to the state dinner this evening. And, Mrs. Trump, you're doing something special there tonight. We don't know if it's the first ever, but as the President said, perhaps the first ever. And that's just another great innovation which is part of this wonderful visit. So thank you very much.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, thank you very much, Scott. It's a great honour. Go ahead, please?

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, you've been negotiating with the Chinese and there seems to be a possibility in terms of a China trade deal, that they might actually offer some agricultural purchases. Is that going to be enough for you, sir...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: No.

 

JOURNALIST: ... in order to get a deal done? What do you need to see at this point to get that deal past the finish line?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We're looking for a complete deal. I'm not looking for a partial deal. China has been starting to buy our agricultural product, if you noticed, over the last week, and actually some very big purchases. But that's not what I'm looking for. We're looking for the big deal. We've taken it to this level. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars of tariffs. China has devalued their currency and they are putting a lot of money into their economy. And they have a very bad economy right now. And I don't want them to have a bad economy. But it's the worst in, they say, 57 years. Two weeks ago it was the worst in 22 years, now it's 57 years, and it's only going to get worse. Their supply chain is being broken up very badly. And companies are leaving because they can't pay the 25, soon to go to 30 per cent tariff. And we have 30 per cent very shortly on $250 billion. We have another tariff that is a slightly smaller number, as you know, on other, on about $300 billion worth of goods and products. So they would like to do something. As you know, we are talking a little bit this week. Talking a lot next week. And then top people are going to be speaking the week following. But I'm not looking for a partial deal. I'm looking for a complete deal.

 

JOURNALIST:  Do you feel you need that deal before the election, sir?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, I don't think I need it before the election. I think people know that we are doing a great job. I have rebuilt the military. We've, Scott and I were talking about that. We've spent $1.5 trillion. When I came in, our military was depleted. Frankly, we didn't have ammunition, OK? But our military was in very bad shape. We have rebuilt the military. We have got one of the strongest economies. Mike Pence actually got some, who is right here, our great Vice President. He was talking yesterday and he called me, says, boy, these numbers, these consumer numbers are incredible. The retail numbers that came out two days ago that really weren't really reported were, really, I mean, just incredible numbers. You know that very well. That's your world. And some other numbers. We're doing very well. Our economy is very strong. And China is being affected very badly. We are not. We are not being affected. In fact, we are taking in many billions of dollars. And China is eating that. You know, China is eating the tariffs because of the devaluation. Now that doesn't happen with all countries. China is China. And they know what they're doing as well as anybody. My relationship with President Xi is a very amazing one. A very good one. But we have right now a little spat. But I think we are doing very well. Our country is doing well. You look at so many different things, look at all of the regulation-cutting that allows us to do what we did. Look at what happens three days ago, where you have an attack like that and it takes out a big chunk out of all oil, and the price goes up $4, $5. And now it's heading down rapidly. That tells you that would have happened years ago, it would have gone up $50. It would have doubled. And this was a blip. So it has been really amazing what we have been able to do. I think the voters understand that. I don't think it has any impact on the election. Now if something happened I think that would probably be a positive for the election, but that's OK. I do think signing USMCA on a bipartisan basis with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and everybody else, very bipartisan, I think that's very important for our country. I would certainly be willing to say that's a bipartisan deal. But I think that's very important for manufacturers, for our farmers, even for unions. They want that deal done. And so hopefully that's going to be put up to a vote very soon. There will be very little cajoling of the Democrats because most Democrats want it, too. But the USMCA is ready to be voted on. It is finished. Mexico has taken their final votes. Canada is willing to do that any time we want them to. They are all set to go. And we need that for all of the, we need that for our country. It's a great deal. It's a great deal. Thank you.

 

JOURNALIST:  And for the Prime Minister. Sir, your economy is to some degree caught in the cross currents between the United States and China. What did you say to the President about what your ideal outcome is here for a China trade agreement between the United States China?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Thank you. Look, obviously, we're keen to see the United States and China be able to come to an agreement. But what is always necessary is that deals have got to be fair, deals have got to be good deals. Deals have got to be sustainable deals. And I think one of the things we've seen, Australia has benefited greatly from the economic growth of China. We have a comprehensive strategic partnership with China and a free trade agreement with China. And they have grown and they have become, you know, a substantive economy in the world. And once you sort of get into that level, then you need to be able to be playing under the same rules as those other developed nations. And I think this is, you know, the new generation of deals I think we will see China do, which the President has been working on. And he has been working on it for some time. And we wish him well in that process. There are some real serious issues that have to be addressed in that deal. Things like intellectual property. That's a big issue and it needs to be addressed. So we look forward to them achieving it. And that providing, I think, the broader certainty and stability to the global economy, which all nations will benefit from.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And we can do, Scott, a very big deal with China. And it could go very quickly, as you know. But it wouldn't be the appropriate deal. We have to do it right. And it's a very complicated deal, with intellectual property protection. We have to do that, and other things. I could leave lots out and have a deal very quickly but we want to do it right. Please?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: Sure. Andrew?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: I assume Andrew is a nice person?

 

JOURNALIST:  Thank you, Mr. President, the best. Thank you very much for hosting us. Also on China and tariffs, what do you say to Australian businesses and to Australian people who say that your trade war with President Xi threatens their prosperity? And to the Prime Minister, a linked question. Do you think that Australians are going to be collateral damage in President Trump's tariff war with China?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well first of all, you know, I look at numbers, I love numbers, and the numbers of Australia are doing incredibly well. You're doing unbelievably well. When we have a deal with China or not, but when we have a deal with China, cause they want to make it perhaps more than I want to make it, cause I actually love all that billions of dollars that's pouring into our Treasury, billions and billions of dollars. We've never seen that before from China, it's always been the other way. But when, and I'm taking care of our farmers out of that. We're helping our farmers, our farmers were targeted and they were targeted for $16 billion and I made that up to them. We paid them the $16 billion and had tens of billions of dollars left over. So I will say, though, that Australia's doing very well. If we do end up doing a deal, Australia will do even better and we were discussing that. But Australia will be one of the big beneficiaries of a deal. And in the meantime, as you know, I did tariff relief with respect to a certain product in particular coming out of Australia and that's something that we wouldn't do for anybody else. This has been a truly great ally and we work very well together. But your, your numbers are absolutely fantastic, your economy is strong like ours and I think we're two real examples of two countries doing extremely well. Some countries aren't doing so well. Europe is not doing well, Asia is not doing, large parts of Asia are not doing well, China's not doing well. Please?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Thanks Mr. President, Australia's in its 29th year of consecutive economic growth, which is an extraordinary national achievement and we will continue to grow, as our most recent, as our most recent national accounts demonstrated. Australia is also very used to dealing with a complex and changing world and that's why we've diversified our trade base and have been doing that for many years. I mean six years ago, when our Government came to office, only about 27 per cent of our trade was covered by agreements around the world. That figure is now 70 per cent and we're going to take that to 90 per cent and that's important and that's opening up opportunities. So there are, there are ebbs and flows that go in the, in the global economy and Australia has built up a resilience through the broad-based nature in which we're taking our economy to the world. I mean Australia has never got rich selling things to itself and we've always had an outward looking perspective when it comes to engaging our economic opportunities. And a big part of what we've been discussing here is some new opportunities, whether it's in the [inaudible], the critical minerals, frontier technologies, space. You know, this is where jobs are going to be in the future, as well. And so we will deal with those ebbs and flows as they come but the President's right, the arrangement they will come to, and I'm confident they will, with China will be one that will set, you know, a new bar in terms of how China's economy then deals with a lot of these complicated issues in the future with developed economies like Australia. So we look on with interest and I think ultimately when we arrive at that point, it's going to put global trade on a stronger footing.

 

PRESIDENT:  And Australia's really been so focused on the economy. They do minerals, they have incredible wealth in minerals and coal and other things, and they are really at the leading edge of coal technology. It's clean coal, we call it, clean coal, but it's also great for the workers. And things that would happen to, ‘cause it was very dangerous years ago and very bad for a lot of people and you've rectified that 100 percent. It's incredible. I looked, I looked at your statistics the other day and coal miners are very, very safe in Australia. It's incredible what you've done. In fact, we're looking at what you've done but ...

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  We can do a deal on that.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We'll do a deal, we'll make a deal. Yeah, go ahead, please.

 

JOURNALIST:  Thank you. In the midst of these escalating tensions with Iran, you've now named a new National Security Advisor, Robert O'Brien.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yes.

 

JOURNALIST:  What is he recommending to you in terms of dealing with the latest strikes on Saudi Arabia and the response? And then secondly, you announced new sanctions on Iran. Secretary Mnuchin said that this affects the last available funds for that regime. Have we now exhausted sanctions in regards to Iran?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, these are the strongest sanctions ever put on a country. We are at a level of sanction that is far greater than ever before with respect to Iran. Today we did Central Bank, as you know. And we'll see. We'll see. They're having a lot of problems, not only with us. They're having problems within their own country. And I think they have a lot of self-made problems. We are by far the strongest military in the world. Going into Iran would be a very easy decision. As I said before, it would be very easy, the easiest thing. Most people thought I would go in within two seconds, but plenty of time, plenty of time. In the meantime, they have a lot of problems within Iran. Iran could be a great country. It could be a rich country. But they are choosing to go a different way. There will be a point at which they'll be very sorry for that choice. But I think I'm showing great restraint. A lot of people respect it. Some people don't. Some people say, "Oh, you should go in immediately." And other people are so thrilled at what I'm doing. And I don't do it for anybody. I do it for what's good for the United States, what's good for our allies. And it's working out really very well. As far as Robert is concerned, he's, Robert, maybe you could stand up. Robert O'Brien has done a fantastic job for us with hostage negotiations. I think we can say that there has never been anybody that's done better than you and I as a combination. We've brought many people home. And we brought them home quickly. Speed is a very important thing, I find, with hostages. It's, it's really something. I had dinner the other night with the Warmbier family, an incredible family, the whole family and some of Otto's friends, in addition to the family. We had 25 people over on Saturday night. And we did that dinner in Otto, really in Otto's honour. And it was a beautiful thing. It was a beautiful thing. The first lady and I, it was very, it was very touching and really very beautiful. We talked about Otto. And I will tell you that people should have moved faster. And Robert and I were talking about that. They should have moved faster. He was there for a long time. You've got to move fast. With hostages, you have to move fast. All of a sudden, it gets very hard for the other side to do anything. And sometimes it's just too late. In the case of Otto, it was very late. We got him home, but he was in a horrible, horrible condition. What happened to him was actually incredible, just horrible. But you have to move fast. Robert and I have been really successful. And the reason I know him so well I actually worked hard on hostages, I think you would say. I think most Presidents wouldn't do that, but I do. These are great, I guess in almost all cases, American lives. We help other people also. We've also helped other countries with their hostage situation where we have some strength that they don't. But these are great people, and we get them home. We got them home from North Korea, as you know. And we got them home from a lot of different locations. Egypt, we get them home. We get them home from many different locations, Turkey. President Erdogan was very good, and we got a hostage home, our great pastor, who everyone in this room knows and loves. But we've had tremendous success. And what surprised me, I didn't know too many people knew Robert. And when it came time to pick somebody for the position - it's a very critical time - I had so many people. I shouldn't say this in front of Robert. He'll be embarrassed. But I had so many people that called me and they - they recommended Robert O'Brien. So I think he's going to do a great job. And he was here, I can tell you this. He started about 12 minutes after he was chosen. He sat in with us. And he's very much involved now in what we're doing.

 

JOURNALIST:  One quick follow-up on that in regards to Iran. If sanctions don't work and they continue their malign activity, are there any other measures outside of a military option that can be taken, that (inaudible)?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I don't want to talk about that, but I will say I think the sanctions work, and the military would work. But that's a very severe form of winning. But we win. Nobody can beat us militarily. Nobody can even come close. What we've done for our military in the last three years is incredible. All made in the USA, by the way, and it's, it's really incredible. Our nuclear was getting very tired. They hadn't spent the money on it and now we have it in, as we would say, tippy top shape, tippy top. It's - we have new and we have renovated and it's incredible. And we all should pray that we never have to use it. We should never have to use it. And our military itself is in phenomenal shape. And we have a great gentleman, as you know, going to be taking over Joint Chief of Staff. Joe Dunford has been fantastic, he's a great, great man and a friend of mine. But General Milley is going to be taking over and it's going to be, we're going to have a little bit of a celebration, both for Joe and for, more for everybody. And, you know, as you know, our Secretary of Defense has just come in, Mark Esper, and he's been here for a short period of time but he's got tremendous energy. He's got it. He knows, he knows that that's what he's been doing for a long period of time, from the day he graduated or maybe, I should say, from the day he started at West Point, where he was a top, top scholar, et cetera. So we have a, we have an incredible people and Steve Mnuchin's here. We did the sanctions today and I think they're probably, Steve, the strongest that have ever been put on a country. We, we will certainly never do that to Australia, I promise you.

 

JOURNALIST:  And one for the Prime Minister, if I may? Mr. Prime Minister, you have been very tough on Huawei, even under pressure. You've been very consistent with the ban, even though you've said you have a good working relationship with China and they're important for your economy. Do you plan to continue to support the United States and the tough stance on China? And can you give any more specifics about what you've told the President you would do to help in his measures to reach a fair trade deal?

 

PRIME MINISTER:  Well first of all, I mean, we have a, the most perfect of relationships with the United States and goes back a century and more, as the President was reminding us on the lawn this morning. We have a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. This is the part of the world in which we live and managing that relationships is important to Australia's national interests. One thing I can always assure you and I think the President can say the same, we will always, both of us, act in the national interests of our countries. We will always put our countries interests first and that means engaging countries in our own region, not just economically but in a people to people level as well. We have a lot of operations we do together right across the world militarily and we'll continue to do those, but the focus I think at the end of the day has to be what's best for our people and that means a stable, secure region and the presence of the United States in the Indo-Pacific, where they have been for a very long time, is a stabilising force in the region. And what does that mean? It means that countries can trade with each other, economies can develop, people come out of poverty. The United States has had a positive presence in our region and that's why we always work together, because we share objectives. It isn't a matter of the United States saying to us we need you to do this or Australia saying to the United States we need you to do this. It's about us having shared objectives and looking through the world through a similar lens. And so that just naturally brings us together to focus on the things that promote prosperity. As I started out in my remarks today, we love jobs, the President and I, we love jobs and we like the jobs here and we like jobs everywhere. And when people have jobs, well, they tend to focus a bit more on the things that are going on in their lives every day and making sure they can live peacefully with each other.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And one of the things, important, I think, is during our meeting, we discussed, I said what percentage of our, of your military do you buy from the United States? And it's, the answer was we work it together or it's about 100 per cent - it's close to 100 per cent. And we make the best equipment, he understands that, but it's a real relationship. They buy 100 per cent of their military and it's a massive purchase. And it's gotten bigger- I guess you said the biggest purchase since World War II.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yeah, we'll be at two per cent of GDP next year and that comes up from what was the lowest level of defence spending as a share of the economy since prior to the Second World War. So that's a $200 billion investment and a lot of that, that's being built in Australia but it's also being built in partnership with the United States and other allies. So it's a -- it's an important part of what we're doing. But I think -- I think David Crowe from Australia was next?

 

JOURNALIST:  Thank you very much. David Crowe from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Further on the questions on Iran. Mr. President, you've, you've praised the Australian commitment today to deal with Iran in the Persian Gulf and in your talks today with Mr. Morrison, did you discuss further military action? In ordered to keep the pressure on Iran. What might those military actions be and what could Australia contribute to that?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  So we did ...

 

JOURNALIST:  And Mr. Morrison on that-

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah … Hold it one second, you'll, you'll get a second crack, you'll get a - you'll get a shot at your Prime Minister. I'm sure you're looking forward to it. We didn't discuss too much Iran. We discussed more trade, more China. We discussed Afghanistan. Where Australia's helping us and we're slowly reducing in Afghanistan, as people know. We've been very effective in Afghanistan and if we wanted to do a certain method of war, we would win that very quickly, but many, many, really, tens of millions of people would be killed. And we think it's unnecessary. But they've been, Australia's been of great help to us in Afghanistan. But we're reducing in Afghanistan. We're reducing in Syria, where we had, you know, we've taken over 100 per cent of the caliphate. We have 100 per cent. When I came in, it was smaller but it was a mess, it was all over and now it's, it's in a position and I won't repeat what I said before with the prisoners but we have thousands of ISIS fighters from our work in capturing 100 per cent of the caliphate and we're asking the countries from where they came, whether it's Germany or France or other countries, to take those people back, put them on trial, do what they have to do with them. But the United States will not keep thousands and thousands of people for the next possibly 50 years or whatever it may be. It's going to be up to those countries. We did them a big favour. We went in, we took them down. The ISIS fighters, in the end, weren't very good fighters against the United States. But we have thousands of them and we want them to be taken over by Germany, France and all of those countries from where they came. OK?

 

JOURNALIST:  Thank you. And Mr. Morrison, on the same issue of Iran, are you open to further military action against Iran or is the Australia commitment solely contained to a freedom of navigation patrol exercise?

 

PRIME MINISTER: MORRISON: Well as the President said, I mean there are no further activities planned or requested for assistance from Australia so the question to that extent is moot. And I want to commend the President, who's demonstrating, as he said in the earlier press conference in the Oval Office, you know, restraint. There are other measures that he and the Secretary have announced today and they are pursuing those, those channels. So the calibrated, I think very measured response that the United States is taking has been a matter for them and obviously at any time when issues are raised with us as an ally, we consider them on their merits at the time in Australia's national interests. So I think that's where that's heading.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well thank you very much and Jennifer, thank you very much, First Lady, thank you, and I hope you're going to be able to see tonight - to the media-  because really it's going to be a beautiful evening in honour of Australia and the Morrisons. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you.

 

    

 

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much everybody.  It’s a great honour to have the Prime Minister of Australia.  And congratulations and thank you very much, Mrs. Morrison.  Thank you very much for being here.  We appreciate it.  This was a lovely ceremony.  I hope you liked it.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Absolutely.

 

MRS. MORRISON:  We absolutely loved it.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It was in honour of you and Australia.

 

MRS. MORRISON:  Thank you.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Okay?  Thank you very much. So we have a lot of things to talk about.  We’re talking trade.  We’re talking military.  We’ve been great allies for a long time.  There’s no better partnership. And we’ve developed, on a personal basis, a tremendous friendship, and that helps. that helps a lot. But we'll be meeting after this and having some very serious discussions about many things. I do want to, if I may, intercede for just a second. We have just sanctioned the Iranian national bank. That is their central banking system, and it's going to be at the highest level of sanctions. So that just took place, and a couple of other things. We have our Secretary of Treasury here, Steve Mnuchin. If you want to say just a word, Steve, before we begin?

 

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Mr. President, as you instructed me, we are continuing the maximum pressure campaign. This is the last remaining source of funds, so both the Central Bank of Iran as well as the National Development Fund, which is their sovereign wealth fund, will be cut off from our banking system. So this will mean no more funds going to the IRGC or to fund terror. And this is on top of our oil sanctions and our financial institutions' sanctions. Thank you, Mr. President.

 

JOURNALIST:  How big are the sanctions, Mr. Secretary, Mr. President?

 

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  This is very big. We've now cut off all source of funds to Iran.

 

JOURNALIST:  It goes all the way up to the very top?

 

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  That does.

 

JOURNALIST:  The President?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Right to the top.

 

JOURNALIST:  Supreme Leader?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Right to the top. OK, yes, right to the top. Thank you very much, Steve.

 

 SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Thank you, Mr. President.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Appreciate it. So we're dealing with many nations, we're dealing with some of the neighbours to Saudi Arabia, and of course we're dealing with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is very much involved from the standpoint of what we're doing and what they're doing. And we're working together with others. We're also working on the cost of this whole endeavour. And Saudi Arabia's been very generous. We want to see if it works out. And if it works out, that's great, and if it doesn't work out, that's great. In the end, it always works out. That's the way it is, it always works out. So you'll be seeing certain things happening but a very major factor is what we did. These are the highest sanctions ever imposed on a country. We've never done it to this level. And it's too bad what's happening with Iran. It's going to hell, doing poorly. They're practically broke. They are broke. And they could, they could solve the problem very easily. All they have to do is stop with the terror. They have been the number one - as you know, Scott, very well -number one country worldwide of terror, between sponsoring it and doing it themselves. And we can't have it. They have a tremendous potential, they have an incredible potential. I can- think I can speak on behalf of Australia, too, in the sense they would like to see them do very well. We were discussing it before, the prime minister and myself, we want to see them to do well, but it looks to me like with what's happening, maybe they want to keep going at it. And when they go at it with us, there's no way they win - no way they win in any way or in any capacity. So we wanted to let you know about that and that's the way it is. And thank you all very much. We're going to spend a lot of time with Australia today. Today is our - a very special day for the United States because we're honouring a great ally and a great friend. Thank you. Thank you. Scott, would you like to say something?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  It's a tremendous honour for Australians, for Jenny and I to be here with the President and Mrs. Trump. It's a very gracious invitation, but it's an invitation that recognises not just, you know, the great relationship the President and I have been able to forge so early but this goes back a long way, this relationship. As the President often says, we've been in a lot of battles. And those battles -- of course, there's happened in the fields of conflict but we're battling continuously for a prosperous and a free world.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And we've never lost.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  We've been doing great and we're going to keep doing great because we're going to keep this  partnership together. And it's a partnership where we both carry our own weight. As I said outside, we look to America but we don't leave it to America.

 

JOURNALIST:  Prime Minister, the President said he spoke for Australia on Iran. Does he?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Well, he was saying that we both would like to see a prosperous Iran. We'd like to see the people of Iran -- we'd like to see the people right across the world to be able to benefit from prosperous economies doing well. That's what we want. This is why Australia and the United States have always worked so closely together, is because that's what we want for our own people, that's what we want for everyone.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: We’ve been speaking a lot about this subject the two of us. I think we have very similar views on the subject.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you want to address this whistleblower story, sir? Do you want to address this whistle blower story?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  What story?

 

JOURNALIST: The whistle blower, when it was...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  A ridiculous story. It's a partisan whistleblower that shouldn't even have information. I've had conversations with many leaders; they're always appropriate. I think Scott can tell you that, always appropriate, at the highest level always appropriate. And anything I do, I fight for this country. I fight so strongly for this country. It's just another political hack job. That's all it is.

 

JOURNALIST: On that point, did you discuss Joe Biden, his son or his family with the leader...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It doesn't matter what I discussed. But I will say this, somebody ought to look into Joe Biden's statement, 'cause it was disgraceful, where he talked about billions of dollars that he's not giving to a certain country unless a certain prosecutor's taken off the case. So somebody ought to look into that. And you wouldn't because he's a Democrat and the fake news doesn't look into things like that. It's a disgrace. But I had a, I had a great conversation with numerous people. I don't even know exactly who you're talking about. But I had a great conversation with numerous people, numerous leaders. And I always look for the conversation that's going to help the United States the most. That's very important.

 

JOURNALIST: Do you know the identity...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I don't know the identity of the whistleblower. I just hear it's a partisan person, meaning it comes out from another party. But I don't have any idea. But I can say that it was a totally appropriate conversation, it was actually a beautiful conversation. And this is no different than, you know, the press has had a very bad week with Justice Kavanaugh and all of those ridiculous charges and all of the mistakes made at the New York Times and other places. You've had a very bad week, and this will be better than all of them. This is another one. So keep, so keep, so keep playing it up, because you're going to look really bad when it falls. You know, I guess I'm about... I guess I'm about 22 and 0 and I'll keep it that way.

 

JOURNALIST: Did you mention Joe Biden during the conversation?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I don't want to talk about any conversation other than to say, great conversation, totally appropriate conversation, couldn't have been better. And keep asking questions and build it up as big as possible so you can have a bigger downfall.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr President will you be asking Australia to do more when it comes to China?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Say it -- what?

 

JOURNALIST: Will you be asking Australia to do more when it comes to China?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, we're talking about China all the time. And Scott has very strong opinions on China. And I think I'd let him, maybe, express those opinions. Maybe you'd do it right now? You're not going to get a better audience than this.

 

PRIME MINISTER:  We have a comprehensive, strategic partnership with China. We work well with China. But as we've spoken many times, we need to ensure that, as countries develop and realise their potential, well, they come onto a whole new level. And that means there can't be special rules around that. And we have a great relationship with China. China's growth has been great for Australia. But we need to make sure that we all compete on the same playing field. And this something that United States and Australia have been very consistent on, that we need to move into this new world where economies are changing. China is a big economy -- not as big as the United States, but it's a big economy. And that means we've all got to get on the same page with how the rules work. And that's what we're working to achieve.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I will say this. We're making a lot of progress with China. They're having a very bad year, worst year in 57 years. The tariffs are coming in to us. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars of tariffs. They're devaluing their currency, which means the tariffs are not costing us probably anything, but certainly not very much. They're also adding a lot of money into their economy. They're pouring money into their economy. But we're taking in many billions of dollars. At some point in the not-too-distant future, it'll be over $100 billion. We've never taken in 100 cents from China. It was always the other way around. With that, they've lost over 3 million jobs there. Supply chain is crashing. And they have a lot of problems. And I can tell you they want to make a deal. That I can tell you. They want to make a deal. So we’ll see what happens.

 

JOURNALIST:  Are you prepared for military action against Iran, Mr. President?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Always prepared. There's never been a country more prepared. There has never been a country more prepared. Look, I spent, I spent $1.5 trillion, and we're spending another $738 billion now. But I've spent $1.5 trillion rebuilding our military. We have the finest ships, the finest planes, the finest everything. And, actually, Scott, and Australia, they've purchased a lot of great stuff from the United States, some of the best military equipment that you have. We have the greatest missiles in the world, rockets in the world, jet fighters in the world, planes in the world, ships. And we have under construction a number of the most powerful submarines ever built. And they're getting very close to completion. We have the largest ship in the world right now, the President Gerald Ford, the aircraft carrier. It's the largest ship ever built. And just flew over it yesterday, actually. It's massive and beautiful. We have the greatest - and I have to say this. When I got here, Scott, it was a different world. It was a different world. We were very depleted. And I actually saw one of the related networks today saying how strongly and good and how well we've done with ISIS. I defeated the Caliphate. When I came, the Caliphate was all over the place. I defeated the Caliphate, ISIS. And now we have thousands of prisoners of war, ISIS fighters that are prisoners of war. And we're asking the countries from which they came, Scott, from Europe. We're asking them to take back these prisoners of war. And they can try them, do what they want. So far they've refused. And at some point I'm going to have to say, "I'm sorry, but you either take them back or we're going to let them go at your border." But they came out from Germany. They came out from France. We captured them. We did everyone a big favour. We've taken over the Caliphate 100 percent. If you remember, I was thinking about getting out when it was at 96 per cent, 97 per cent, but they were all over the place. And we did it. We did it in record time. It was a total Caliphate victory. And now I want the countries to take back the captured ISIS fighters. And if they don't take them back, we're going to probably put them at the border and then they'll have to capture them again.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Because the United States is not going to have thousands and thousands of people that we've captured stationed at Guantanamo Bay, held captive at Guantanamo Bay for the next 50 years, and us spending billions and billions of dollars. We've done Europe a tremendous favour. They mostly come out of Europe. And we've done them a tremendous favour. And the United States is not going to pay the cost of thousands and thousands of ISIS fighter prisoners in Guantanamo Bay or someplace else. We won't do it. So they have to make their decision otherwise we're releasing them at the border. Go ahead, next.

 

JOURNALIST: Your national security team on Iran today, and what do you expect to hear from them?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yes, I have a great new person. You know Robert O'Brien. A lot of people wanted Robert very badly. He was, look, I had 10, 12 people I thought were fantastic for the job. I think Robert...

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  He's a good friend of Australia too.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  He is a great friend of Australia. Scott was telling me, he was very happy with the choice. Robert is going to be outstanding. He just picked a deputy who was in the administration. You all know him. You know who the deputy is. I guess they have to announce that separately. But he is fantastic. And essentially he is already on the job. But, you know, he did a tremendous job as hostage negotiator. We are, we have a tremendous record. Nobody comes close to our record with hostages.

 

JOURNALIST: Are you going to be discussing options for Iran today with your team?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Sure. But also with Secretary of Defence, Secretary of State. We're discussing with everybody. And, you know, the early move today was the Central Bank of Iran. OK?

 

JOURNALIST:  ... military conflict? And would you support that, Mr. Prime Minister, a military strike?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It's always possible.

 

JOURNALIST: Would you expect Australia to join any military action?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  We haven't discussed that. We'll be discussing that later. But we haven't discussed that yet.

 

JOURNALIST: Would you consider 50 per cent tariff or even 100 per cent tariff on China, as some have suggested?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I'm not going to get into that. Right now China is paying 30 per cent on $250 billion. That starts in another couple of weeks. As you know, President Xi called through his top people and they have a 70th anniversary. A very important day for them. And it happens to be October 1st, which is the exact date of the increase in the tariff. And they asked us out of respect, would I delay the tariff a little bit. I said, how about if I move it forward? Let me move it forward a little bit, because they didn't want it to fall on the same day. It's exactly October 1st. So I said, let me move it up a couple of weeks. They said, no, no, no, could you, so out of respect for President Xi, who I do have great respect for, I moved it back two weeks. But right now it's 25 per cent. It goes up to 30 percent on October 15th.

 

JOURNALIST:  ... have you read the complaint?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  No, I haven't. It's, I just tell you, it is, everybody has read it. They laugh at it. And it's a...

 

JOURNALIST: You haven't read it?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  It's another media disaster. The media has lost so much credibility in this country. Our media has become the laughing stock of the world. When you look at what they did to Justice Kavanaugh and so many other things last week. I think this is one of the worst weeks in the history of the fake news media. You have been wrong on so many things and this one will be I wouldn't say it will top the list because I think you can't do worse than some of the stories you missed over the last week or two, but the media of our country is laughed at all over the world now. You are a joke. OK, what else?

 

JOURNALIST: ... when you talk about the conversation that you...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Which conversation?

 

JOURNALIST: Well, we're trying to figure out what conversation...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, figure it out. You are supposed to be the media, figure it out. It was...

 

JOURNALIST: ... July 25th, it was some...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Which conversation?

 

JOURNALIST: July 25th with the President of...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I really don't know. I don't know.

 

JOURNALIST: ... Mr. Trump, can you talk about the exciting new space program to the moon, sir, what was that...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  So we're doing a great program. We have Vice President Pence is very much involved. And we have a tremendous space program. If you look at our facilities, they were virtually closed up. There was crabgrass growing on the runways. And now they're vital and, you know, we're doing, we're going to Mars. We're stopping at the moon. The moon is actually a launching pad. That's why we're stopping at the moon. I said, hey, we've already done the moon. That's not so exciting. They said, no, sir, it's a launching pad for Mars. So we'll be doing the moon but we'll really be doing Mars and we'll be, we're making tremendous progress. In addition, rich people like to send up rocket ships. So between Bezos and Elon Musk and others, we're leasing them our launch facilities, which you can't get. There are no launch facilities like this. This is big stuff. So we're leasing, in Texas and Florida, we're leasing them our facilities so they can send up whatever they want to send up. We're, it's OK with us. And they've actually done very well. They've said they've had great success. But rich people in this country, I don't know about your country, but they like building rocket ships and sending them up and it's OK with us.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Say it?

 

JOURNALIST: Will an Australian astronaut be on board?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I'll let it - I think Scott and I would rather take a pass. So, I don't know, would you like to be on there? I think -- I think, I'm not sure, but I know him pretty well. I think he and I will take a pass...

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yeah.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: but there are a lot of people that want to go up. And I have great respect for the astronauts, that's it. That's an incredible...

 

JOURNALIST:... minerals from Australia. And how important is that industry?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Say it again?

 

JOURNALIST: Do you want to buy more critical minerals from Australia? And how important is that industry?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah. Well, Australia's mineral industry is massive. It's far, far bigger than that. I mean, very few - very few countries have anything approaching what Australia has in terms of mineral wealth. And you've really taken advantage of it, and you've done it in a very environmentally sensitive way.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  That's true.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I know that's very important to you. It's very important to Scott. We talk about it a lot because that business can get out of control a little bit, from the standpoint of environment. And you have really approached it in an environmentally sensitive way. Coal is, as an example, you're the leader of safety in coal-digging. And we've actually studied it because we're doing a lot of coal, and you have very little, you almost have no -- you know, you used to have a thing, black lung disease. And in Australia, you almost don't have it anymore. You've got all of the dust down and, you know, they're very -- they become wet mines, basically.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  It's a, it's a very technologically advanced industry.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Incredible.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  That's right. All our resources industry are, from the robotics that's involved in the production, and all the way through. But that critical mineral space, these are the things we're going to be talking about because Australia has a wonderful partnership with the United States, not just militarily and not just strategically, but also economically. And that's going to be a big part of this conversation we have today.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And environmentally, I have to say, and environmentally, the things that they've done environmentally, with digging - digging is a - you know, when you talk minerals, it's about digging. And what you've been able to do with the environment, having to do with taking minerals out of the ground, including -- and, you know, I would say, even especially, because you're leading on coal. I will tell you, I sent a whole crew over because your record is so good, in terms of illnesses from digging, better than anybody in the world. So we're going to catch you on that, OK?

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, have you invited the President to Australia? And have you introduced him to the term "bubble" yet?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Oh. We'll talk about that over dinner tonight, I'm sure. He has another term for it, I hear, in Washington, I understand. But, no, we have talked about whether if his schedule and Mrs. Trump, permits whether they take in the Presidents Cup later in the year, which is going to be a great tournament, a tremendous tournament. The President knows a lot more about golf than I do, and he certainly swings a club way better than I do. But he's got a busy year coming up. Next year, he's going to do great there and if he has the opportunity, if Mrs. Trump has the opportunity, it's going to be a great spectacle, down in Australia, to see.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Interestingly, the PGA tour invited me to go. And I would love to do it. We'll have to see what the schedule is, but I would love to do it. It's a very exciting tournament, nothing more exciting. And having it in Australia, where you have so many great golfers -- Greg Norman...

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yeah.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  ... is a friend of mine, and a great friend of yours, I know. And I think he's going to be here tonight?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yeah, he is. Yeah.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  The First Lady has done an incredible job tonight we're going to have it - for either the first time or certainly one of the few times, in the Rose Garden. And it's going to be - I watched, yesterday, the rehearsal and she was out there, and it's going to be incredible. Tonight's going to be a beautiful night. And the only thing that can dampen it would be rain, and we're not expecting any rain. But if it rains, we head over to the State Room and we'll be just fine. But we're really expecting- I hope you're going to be able to see it, tonight, for a little while. Probably you will. Well, we'll sort of make sure that you do. It's beautiful.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, how critical is it that you build coalition to address Iran? Iran and it’s provocations. And does that start today?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I always like a coalition. Sometimes you find that people have made a lot of money - that you'd want in the coalition, they've made a lot of money with Iran which is, you know - when President Obama made that deal, not only was it a bad deal but the United States didn't partake in a business sense. And other countries - Germany, France, Russia, many other countries - made a lot of money with Iran. And we didn't make money with Iran, which - that was just one of the many bad parts about the deal. Everyone else is making money, and we're not. So we'll see what - we'll see what happens. Look, the United States is in a class by itself. We have the most powerful military in the world, by far. There's nobody close. As you know, we've spent tremendous and hopefully, and we pray to God, we never have to use it, but we've totally renovated and bought new nuclear. And the rest of our military is all brand-new. The nuclear, now, is at a level that it's never been before. And I can only tell you because I know, I know the problems of nuclear, I know the damages that, I know what happens. And I want to tell you, we all hope and Scott hopes we all pray that we never have to use nuclear. But there's nobody that has anywhere close to what we have.

 

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well UNGA is going to be very exciting, we look forward to it, we'll be there. You'll be there?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yeah, I'll be there later in the week.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And for you, it's a much longer trip.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  It is a bit, yeah.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  But we look forward to it. We have a big message for UNGA -- we have a big message and I very much I haven't been back to New York in a long time. I see that our part time mayor will be now going back to New York so they'll be able to work a little bit harder. But he dropped out of the presidential race a little while ago. Too bad, he had tremendous potential. He only had one real asset. You know what it was? Height. Other than, other than that, he had nothing going. OK, what else?

 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given that President Trump has indicated that he will be discussing military action in Iran, what’s Australia’s attitude?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Well I think the United States has taken a very measured and calibrated approach to date and the thing about our partnership is we always listened to whatever requests are made and Australia always considers them in our national interests and we have good conversations about these things. But the thing is the both of us, we never get ahead of ourselves on these things. We just you know, you take this one step at a time and we keep talking to each other, that's what we've always done wherever we've worked together and we're going to keep doing that. We've got such an open line of communication. I appreciate the fact the President and I talk about these things even when we're not together and we're going to keep doing that and we'll just take these things one step at a time.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  You know, the easiest thing for me to do, and maybe it's even a natural instinct, maybe I have to hold myself back, I remember during the debates and when I was running against Hillary and the Democrats and the media, I view them all the same, I view that partnership very much the same but when I was running, everybody said oh, he's going to get into war, he's going to get into war, he's going to blow everybody up, he's going to get into war. Well the easiest thing I could do, in fact, I could do it while you're here, would say go ahead, fellas, go do it. And that would be a very bad day for Iran. That's the easiest thing I could do, it's so easy, and for all of those that say oh, they should do it, it shows weakness, it just actually, in my opinion, it shows strength because the easiest thing I could do, OK, go ahead, knock out 15 different major things in Iran. I could do that and, all set to go, it's all set to go. But I'm not looking to do that if I can. I think I've changed a lot of minds. People are very surprised at and many people are extremely happy, many people are thrilled and many people are saying oh, I wish you'd hit the hell out of them. Well let's see what happens but it will take place in one minute. I could do it right here in front of you and that would be it and then you'd have a nice, big story to report. And I think it shows far more strength to do it the way we're doing it. And again, whether it's next week or two weeks or three weeks, doesn't make any difference. Whether it's now or in three weeks, doesn't make any difference. But I think the strong person's approach and the thing that does show strength would be showing a little bit of restraint. Much easier to do it the other way. It's much easier and Iran knows if they misbehave, they're on borrowed time. They're not doing well. I'd like to see them do great, I'd love to see them do great but they're not doing well, they're doing very poorly. They're doing far worse than they've ever done before. They're having riots in their streets, they're having a lot of problems in Iran right now. They could solve it very quickly. But the easiest thing for me to do is say OK, let's go, let's just do it. Very easy for me to do. But it is interesting because when I was campaigning, everybody here thought that I was going to be like, it would be one day. But what I have done is I've defeated ISIS, I've rebuilt our military to a level that it's never been before, spent a lot of money. The budgets are not so hard to fix for me but when you're spending $1.5 trillion so far, now another $738 million -- billion on the military, but think of it, $1.5 trillion and we have the greatest in the world. But I think restraint is a good thing, I think it's a good thing.

 

JOURNALIST: Peace in Afghanistan, peace in Afghanistan, another process ...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah, well we were thinking about having a meeting. I didn't like the idea that they couldn't produce a ceasefire. I wasn't in favor of that. I said no, if they can't produce a ceasefire, why are we bothering? And they thought that it was a sign of strength that killed 12 people, wound others, badly wound some others and one of those 12 people was a young man, young soldier from Puerto Rico, from our country. And when I heard that, I said I don't want to deal with them anymore. We have hit -- in Afghanistan, we have hit the Taliban harder than they've ever been hit in the entire 19 years of war. They have been hit harder. It's come back to me through absolutely impeccable sources that they're saying, "Wow, we made a mistake with this guy; we made a big" they made a mistake. I was totally willing to have a meeting. I'll meet with anybody. I think meetings are good. I think meetings are good. There's no such thing as, "Oh, gee, we shouldn't." I really believe meetings are good. Worst that happens, it doesn't work out. That's OK. Even then, you get to know your opposition. Don't forget. I'm looking at them like they're looking at me. You get to know your opposition. You can see if they're real. Sometimes you develop a relationship, like we do. But sometimes you develop and many times you won't. But you get to know your opposition. I think the best thing that's happened to this country is the fact that, at least for three years, the fact that I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong-un. I think that's a positive. His country has tremendous potential. He knows that. But our country has been playing around for 50 years and getting nothing. And we have a relationship. There's never been a relationship with them. We'll see what happens. It might work out; it might not work out. I'm not saying it will. But in the meantime he hasn't been testing any nuclear. You've had no nuclear tests since, since, for a long time. And he has been doing some short-range missiles, but so does every other country do short-range missiles. Every country is doing them. They're pretty standard fare. But, no, I will tell you that we've never had a country so strong. We're just a couple of points away from a new stock market all-time high. And I think we've done it over 112 times. There's a certain number, whatever it may be. I don't want to be specific because, if I give you the wrong number, we'll have breaking news. It will be on every newspaper that I said -- I said 112 and it was actually 111, and it will be breaking news. They'll give me a Pinocchio.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President...

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  But let me just say let me just say the country has never been in this position. We have the strongest military we've ever had. And now we've rebuilt it. After the $738 billion we really have a built we have a rebuilt military. It's a great thing. And some of our friends are doing the same thing. I can tell you Australia's military is unbelievable. I saw the order that they put in for some of our most sophisticated equipment. And I said that's really great what you're doing. They've really upped it. And I want to congratulate you. I mean, you have really done a job on your military.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  We have, up to 2 per cent of GDP next year. So we're in the middle of a $200 billion upgrade.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: Great.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON: The biggest increase in our defence as a share of GDP since the Second World War.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Yeah.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, you prosecuted wikileaks continuously during the election campaign. Is it right that the United States is prosecuting its Australian founder Julian Assange?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, you know, that's a question I haven't heard in a long time. I'll leave that for you to determine.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, your reaction...

 

JOURNALIST:... from you on your opinion on China? Is it just a trade issue for you or do you see China as a strategic threat to the United States?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, obviously China is a threat to the world in a sense because they're building a military faster than anybody. And frankly, they're using U.S. money. Presidents before me have allowed China to take out $500 billion a year. And it's really more than that. They've allowed China to steal our intellectual property and property rights. And I'm not doing that. And we actually are very close to having a deal. You know, we were very close. We had intellectual property -- all of the tough things were negotiated. And then, at the last moment, Scott, they said "We cannot agree to this." I said, "That's all right; we're charging you 25 per cent tariffs, and then it's going up." And it will continue to go up. And frankly, we're making so many hundreds of -- the numbers that we're taking in to our Treasury. And you see it. Because sometimes you'll see -- look at the good reports. Look at the great reports that came out two days ago on retailing, on consumers, numbers that nobody believes. Well, I think a lot of it, we're taking hundreds of millions, potentially, over a short period of time. Hundreds of billions of dollars worth of money is coming in from China that never came in before. So China wants to make a deal. I think we want to make a deal. We'll see what happens. But I view China in many different ways. But right now I'm thinking about trade. But, you know, trade equals military because, if we allow China to take $500 billion out of the hide of the United States, that money goes into military and other things.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, your reaction to Justin Trudeau? Can he survive this controversy?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Well, I was hoping I wouldn't be asked that question. It had to be you that asks it. You had to ask me that question, right? Justin. I'm surprised. And I was more surprised when I saw the number of times. And, you know, I've always had a good relationship with Justin. I just don't know what to tell you. I was surprised by it, actually.

 

JOURNALIST: Mr. President, the last Australian Prime Minister to receive an official state visit was described by the then-president as "a man of steel." How do you describe our Prime Minister?

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  I would say a man of titanium. You know, titanium is much tougher than steel. He's a man of titanium. Believe me, I have to deal with this guy. He's not easy. You might think he is a nice guy, OK? He is a man of real, real strength and a great guy. And his wife is lovely. And I want to thank you and I want to thank Melania for the work. And I hope you're going to be able to see it, because Melania has, she has worked very hard for Australia.

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  Yes, she has.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  And you've done a fantastic, it's so beautiful and it will be so different. And we look up to the skies and we're just going to hope that it's not going rain. And if it is, that's OK, too, because that will work out also. It always works out. Thank you all very much. Thank you.

 

JOURNALIST: (Inaudible)

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP: There is nothing. It's nothing. What?

 

JOURNALIST: What does Mr. Morrison think of his first time in the White House?

 

PRIME MINISTER MORRISON:  It's a great honour to be here, a tremendous honour to be here.

 

PRESIDENT TRUMP:  Thank you very much, everybody.

 

PRIME MINISTER: Well he got me, Dame Mary, my great, great aunt would be very, very proud.

 

Mr. President, First Lady Mrs. Trump, thank you so much Mrs. Trump for the amazing night you've created for us here.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, Jenny and I are truly grateful for this wonderful honour and the hospitality that you Mr. President the First Lady have extended to us and to our country.

 

As we join you here tonight, in the home, your home, and that of the American Presidency.

 

This of course was once the home of President Teddy Roosevelt who I've always greatly admired. He was also a New Yorker, he was also unconventional.

 

He was no captive of the establishment. He was also accomplished. Indeed some might say a maverick. He was his own man. He was a do-er and above all he was inspired by the great character of the American people. There is nothing he believed his nation could not do.

 

And this is the heart of American greatness. Mr. President, your belief in America and its people echoes this great spirit of that great president.

 

And it's backed up by your life's experience and the passion and work of your Presidency.

 

And Mrs. Trump, your kindness, warmth, and quiet grace in the welcome to Jenny and I and especially here tonight has been very special. And as Jen has said, very sweet.

 

General Washington once said it is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones. But the same is true of the friendship of nations.

 

Australia will never be accused of a indifference in our friendship to the United States.

 

And tonight Mr. President we are reminded that the United States feels the same way especially under your leadership.

 

I've noticed tonight the Marines who are on duty tonight, and I thank you for your service. But not just to the United States but to our alliance as well.

 

In 1943 the US Marine 1st Division was engaged in the first ever large scale U.S. offensive against the Japanese at Guadalcanal. At the same time Australian forces were in New Guinea also locked in the fiercest of some battles against the Japanese.

 

We both prevailed each doing our bit. Each carrying our own weight.

 

When the US Marine 1st Division arrived in Melbourne after six months of heavy fighting they were welcomed with a rendition of the Australian fake anthem Waltzing Matilda.

 

More than 75 years later the first division still plays Waltzing Matilda whenever they ship out.

 

It's true Mr President, we have been in a lot of battles. But we have also stood together to realise the dividend of peace. Prosperity that comes from our embrace of enterprise and free markets and the rule of law. Our great immigration societies, education, liberal democracy and a commitment to the fulfilment of human potential.

 

This has been importantly included in our work together to expand the frontiers of science, technologies, and exploration.

 

To reach into space as we first did together 50 years ago.

 

When you launched, and we kept Apollo 11 in contact through the honeysuckle project, with earth and we beamed those most famous of images of all time to an enthralled and inspired humanity.

 

Events that no doubt inspired a young Andy Thomas from Adelaide who's with us here tonight to launch into space on the Endeavour. Almost 30 years later. And now we hope to do this again under the vision of your Presidency, Mr President.

 

Our generation and our times call this great republic and our great Commonwealth to live up to the calling of young free nations to continually point the way to freedom.

 

In Australia we are reminded of this friendship by the great spire with the eagle atop that looks out across our nation's capital in Canberra.

 

And earlier today we gifted a bronze statue of Les 'Bull' Alan, an Australian soldier carrying a wounded Marine off the battlefield on steep slopes in New Guinea in 1943 for is gallantry he was awarded the US Silver Star and the Military Medal whilst fighting alongside US troops.

 

Mr President we would be honoured if you would permit Australia as a gift to erect a life-sized memorial of this image here in Washington, at a place of your choosing, as a constant reminder of our dedication to our American friends and the bonds we have formed.

 

But for now ladies and gentlemen please join me in a toast.

 

To 100 years of mateship, and to 100 more.

 

To the people of these United States to the President and his magnificent First Lady.

 

And may God bless America.