Karoline Leavitt holds a press gaggle outside the White House.
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NewsTranscript
00:00A couple of things I want to point out great economic news this morning despite all of
00:13the naysayers in the media and also all of the so-called experts the CPI index report
00:19came out this morning and inflation is down in fact core inflation is down to the lowest
00:25level it has been in four years.
00:27This is just in 52 days of President Trump taking office.
00:30We saw airline fares fell.
00:32We saw the cost of gasoline is down as well.
00:36We also saw a $1 billion investment this morning from GE Aerospace.
00:41We saw Asahi the Japanese beer company announced that they're going to move manufacturing and
00:46investments to the great state of Wisconsin in response to President Trump's 25% tariff
00:51on steel and aluminum which you all know went into effect last night.
00:54So this is all good news for the American people and it also shows that you can effectively
00:59utilize tariffs to bolster your industries here at home while driving down the cost of
01:04living for the American public through deregulation and through energy and we know President Trump
01:09is intent on passing his big tax cuts later this year.
01:13We're calling on Congress to do it.
01:14We also had a big win on Capitol Hill last night as I talked to you all in the briefing
01:18yesterday.
01:19The President strongly supported the continuing resolution.
01:23He continues to support the continuing resolution.
01:26Now the ball is in Senate Democrats court.
01:28Do they want to shut down the government or do they want to keep it open and funded for
01:31the American people who need this government to continue moving, to continue building on
01:35the momentum President Trump has created?
01:38It's up to them.
01:39We'll see what they do.
01:40We hope that everybody on the Senate side will help to pass this bill so we can continue
01:44doing the business of the American people.
01:46I'll take a couple questions.
01:47Is it a sense that the market and business leaders are not understanding what the President
01:52is trying to do or that they don't like what the President is doing?
01:56How do you explain the stock market?
01:58Well I think I talked about this yesterday and I think the President has also addressed
02:03the stock market yesterday.
02:05It's a snapshot of a moment in time and we expect there will be good days and there will
02:10be bad days but ultimately Wall Street and Main Street are going to benefit from this
02:14President's policies as they did in his first term.
02:17On the Canada Department of Education, with layoffs of 50%, can you confirm that critical
02:22services won't be cut, for instance, reassuring American families who have kids with disabilities
02:27that their programs will not be cut?
02:29Yes.
02:30The Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, who's doing a tremendous job by the way, has
02:34assured the American people of that and these cuts are a promise made and a promise kept.
02:40There is no reason that we should be spending more than most developed countries in the
02:45world and our education system is failing.
02:47If you look at our nation's report card, eighth graders are not reading at the rate
02:51that they should.
02:52Fourth graders are not learning math at the rate that they should.
02:56And so we have a problem with our education system.
02:58Nobody disagrees with that.
03:00But a lot of people seem to disagree with actually doing something about it and changing
03:03the status quo.
03:04So the President wants to return education back to the states, empower those closest
03:09to the people to make these very important decisions for our children's lives and this
03:14is a first step in that process.
03:16Caroline, it seems that President Trump has put the onus on Russia to engage in the ceasefire.
03:24If that ceasefire is broken, is there any type of enforcement mechanism in place that
03:28President Trump would enforce on Russia if they break that ceasefire?
03:30Well that's obviously a grand hypothetical question that I won't comment on because we're
03:35not there yet.
03:37The current state of play is that the Ukrainians have agreed to a ceasefire, the Ukrainians
03:42have agreed to the peace plan that was put on the table yesterday in Saudi Arabia by
03:46the Secretary of State and our National Security Advisor, whom I just spoke with before coming
03:51out here and he informed me that he has had a call today with his Russian counterpart
03:55and the President's team continues to be engaged.
03:58As you all know, Mr. Whitkoff is traveling to Moscow later this week and we urge the
04:02Russians to sign on to this plan.
04:04This is the closest we have been to peace in this war.
04:07We are at the 10th yard line and the President is expecting the Russians to help us run this
04:11into the end zone.
04:12Would President Trump call President Putin and encourage him to engage in the ceasefire?
04:16I don't have a readout on the President's calls but as the President always does, if
04:20that call happens, he will let you guys know.
04:22Caroline, on the chip sack, the President has called for a full repeal on it, but it
04:28creates a position that the Senate GOP is looking for more reform on that.
04:33Is this going to be an all or nothing as far as the President is concerned?
04:37I think the President's made his position on that quite clear.
04:40The NATO Secretary General will be here tomorrow.
04:42Yes.
04:43What is the President hoping to get out of that meeting?
04:44What are his thoughts of the NATO Secretary General?
04:47Yes, he will be here tomorrow and I suspect the President will provide guidance on that
04:52meeting after it takes place, but I'm quite confident, as he always does when it comes
04:57to NATO, he will urge the NATO Secretary, the President's belief that NATO countries
05:03need to pay their fair share for their own defense.
05:05We have been spending billions and billions of dollars on NATO, which the President agrees
05:10with so long as other countries are paying their fair share.
05:12Is 5% still his commitment, like what he expects from the European countries, 5% of GDP for
05:18defense?
05:19Last time I spoke with him, that was his commitment.
05:23Does the President have any response to the ICC arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, the former
05:28Philippine President?
05:30I have not spoken to him about that, but I can and get back to you.
05:33Well, separate question then.
05:34There's this March 13th deadline for departments to submit their agency reduction plans.
05:40Can you give us an update on that?
05:42Is there any foot-dragging from any places within the federal government?
05:47And when do you expect these cuts to go into place?
05:49Everybody is working together as one team.
05:51This is a goal that every cabinet secretary across the board agrees with.
05:54We have to reduce our workforce.
05:56We have to make our bureaucracy more efficient.
05:59And then when the March 13th deadline hits, we can talk about that.
06:03On the economy, you mentioned yesterday that this is a transition period.
06:07How does the White House measure this in terms of when can you not blame it on former President
06:12Biden and when does it fully become President Trump's responsibility?
06:15Well, we've only been here for 52 days, but certainly the President is working hard every
06:19day to, again, bring down the cost of living, which we see is already happening.
06:22You see the cost of X going down, cost of gasoline is going down because of the massive
06:27deregulatory efforts of this President and also the fact that we are delivering on his
06:33promise to drill, baby, drill already.
06:36You saw this past weekend the National Economic Advisory put out a report that because of
06:41the regulations we've already slashed in just 52 days, we've saved American taxpayers $180
06:47billion.
06:48That comes out to about $2,000 per American household.
06:51That's in 52 days.
06:52So the President is working diligently and he's working hard on this every single day.
06:57And we need Congress to also help.
06:59We need Congress to pass a tax cuts, which the President campaigned on in the vast majority
07:04of the American people support.
07:06And as you all know, the President met with business leaders last night at the business
07:09roundtable and he said to them in the room, you know, some of you may be Democrats, but
07:14that's fine.
07:15But we need to get Senate Democrats and House Democrats on board with this tax bill because
07:19America, working America supports tax cuts.
07:23The American people, CEOs, small business owners and workers all want more money in
07:27their pockets.
07:29And we expect all people on Capitol Hill, Republican or Democrat, to get on board with
07:34that because it's a wildly popular issue.