US President Donald Trump has delivered a wide-ranging press conference alongside Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House.
- On tariffs, Trump indicates that tariffs on pharmaceuticals will be coming shortly as the US needs to reshore pharma production. He namechecks Ireland as a pharma producer and says: “All I have to do is impose a tariff… The higher the tariff, the faster they come,” referring to companies relocating their manufacturing to the US.
- He says, “its going to be like we have on cars… We have, as you know, a 25% tariff on cars [steel and aluminum],” adding “that category fits right now [for pharma].” Asked about his timeline for implementation, he says: “not too distant future”. Trump declines to offer any information on potential semiconductor tariffs.
- When asked to clarify comments yesterday when he suggested a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy was a “mistake”, Trump reiterates that the mistake was on the behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and former President Joe Biden for allowing the war to start.
- He again blames Zelenskyy for starting the war, “you don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope some people give you some missiles.” Trump adds that there are, “some proposals on stopping the Ukraine war very soon.”
- Trump says Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon and notes the talks in Oman on Saturday. He acknowledges that Tehran could be stringing the US along by delaying talks.