Louis Vuitton Workshop-Rochambeau
Alvarado, Texas
4:59 P.M. CDT
Q Hello, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Hello. How are you? Okay. She’s good.
Q Do you have a special relationship with Mr. Arnault?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I do. And he was so nice to me. And I said, “I’d love you to open up something in Texas or someplace in the U.S.” And he’s a great gentleman, a great businessman. And he’s really an artist. To me, Bernard is an artist. And what he’s done is incredible, not only here, but in terms of the branding — the world of brands. And it’s an honor to have him in Texas. And he’s going to be very happy.
Q Thank you. Tomorrow, there will be tariffs on European products. Why do you want to tax French wines and French cheese? And why won’t you tax Mr. Arnault’s handbags or champagne? For example —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I can’t tax him because he moved to the United States. So he was —
Q Did you discuss it?
THE PRESIDENT: He was way ahead. I actually did discuss it. He has no tariffs whatsoever because he’s in the United States. So we’re very happy about that. Very happy.
Q What about the wines and the cheese? Why —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s a different story, but —
Q Sure.
THE PRESIDENT: But they owe us a lot of money. Thank you very much.
Q Do you have confidence in Mick Mulvaney, Mr. President?
Q Did you watch Mick Mulvaney’s press conference, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t. I wasn’t able to see it.
Q Are you aware that he suggested that there was some sort of a quid pro quo involved in Ukraine?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t. I heard he — somebody said he did a very nice job.
Q Do you know when Rick Perry is going to leave?
THE PRESIDENT: You know what I’ve been focused on today, very much? All of this, and also, if you look, Turkey and the great thing that happened in Syria.
I don’t know. But Mick is a good man. I don’t know. I have not heard anything about that.
Q Do you still have confidence in Mick?
THE PRESIDENT: I have a lot of confidence.
Q About Syria, Mr. Trump, are you very satisfied with the ceasefire? Is it the end of the crisis?
THE PRESIDENT: I think this is beautiful. I really think this is beautiful. I think the plant is incredible, and a great company. Thank you very much.
Q Mr. President, did Rick Perry offer his resignation to you, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: I know Rick has been with me three years. He’s right here. He’s with us, right here. And he’s been outstanding. And we already have his replacement. Rick has a done a fantastic job in energy. But it was time. Yeah, three years is a long time. And he’ll be leaving toward the end of the year — at the end of the year.
But his — in fact, I was going to announce it tonight at the rally in Texas.
Q Who are you looking at?
THE PRESIDENT: We have the man that we’re going to — it’s a man, in this case, we’re going to be putting in Rick’s place. We’ll be announcing it very shortly. Okay?
How are you? How are you? Good job, you do.
Q About the ceasefire, Mr. Trump, it’s a big deal. How did you manage to get it? Is it the end of the crisis?
THE PRESIDENT: This is a great deal. This is a great deal for Texas and for our country. And to have this incredible company and brand in Texas is an honor for all us.
Q No, but I mean with Syria. What you got today —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re very happy. And I want to thank President Erdoğan of Turkey. I want to thank all of the leaders of the Kurds. Many people came into store for this. And it was unconventional, but they saw that was not working out, what they were doing. And we’re very happy with the way that worked out. Very, very successful.
And now, over the next number of days, things are going to happen that are going to be very positive. There’s a lot of goodwill going on right now in Turkey with the Kurds and with everybody involved. Many, many people are involved. But I want to thank Mike Pence. I want to thank Mike Pompeo. They did a fantastic job. All of my representatives who went over there two days ago, late in the evening, and got there — and not easy to do, and little bit dangerous to do, also — they did a fantastic job.
Q And do you think it’s solved? It’s over?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I do. I think it’ll all work out now. I think they needed an unconventional touch. And I am very unconventional, right?
Q Were you surprised by Rick Perry’s announcement — decision?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I knew six months ago. He told me at the end of the year he’d like to go. And he’s got some ideas for doing something else. He’s a terrific guy. He’s here with us now. Here’s here. He’s right here.
Q Can we talk to him?
Q So what happened on the plane today? Did he just formalize it and hand you the letter?
THE PRESIDENT: With what? Rick?
Q Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Rick and I have been talking for six months. In fact, I thought he might go a little bit sooner. But he’s got some very big plans. He’s going to be very successful. We have his successor. We’ll announce it pretty soon.
Q Is it Governor Abbott?
THE PRESIDENT: He’d be a good one.
Q Is it the Governor of Alaska?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ll tell you, he would be a — they would be both be very good. No, it’s not. But they both would be very good.
Q Do you have any comment, sir, for Fort Worth, on the death of Atatiana Jefferson, the woman who was found killed in her home? You just came from Fort Worth.
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think it was terrible. I think it was a terrible thing.
Q You have very low unemployment rate in the U.S., and we have a very high unemployment rate in France. How come? What’s the recipe for —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, maybe we have a better President than you do. (Laughter.)
Q Are you any closer to sending Anne Sacoolas back to the UK?
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.
END
5:03 P.M. CDT