a.m. on c-span's washington journal and on c-span 3. >> president trump talked about afghanistan, china, the economy, israel and other issues in morris town, new jersey, as he was headed back to the white house. this is almost 40 minutes.

president trump: we had a lot of meetings yesterday on afghanistan and the economy which is doing very well. we have the strongest economy by far in the world. the tariffs have cost nothing in my opinion or certainly very little. we have import prices from and through july, all the way through july and they're down 1.8% so that the import prices have actually gone down. china is eating the tariffs because of monetary manipulation and also, they're pouring a lot of money in their country because they don't want to lose jobs. they're losing, as you probably know because they reported it but lost over two million jobs in a short period of time and want to make a deal and we'll see what happens but they definitely want to make a deal. i'd like to see hong kong worked out in a humanitarian fashion and hope president depmbings i can do it. he has the ability from personal knowledge.

he has the ability to do it if he wants to. i'd like to see that worked out in a humanitarian fashion. i think it would be very good for the trade deal we're talking about. other than that, if you have any questions. >> what's the status on afghanistan? president trump: we're looking at afghanistan and talking to afghanistan, both the government and also talking to the taliban, having very good discussions. we'll see what happens. we really have got it down to probably 13,000 people. and we'll be bringing it down a little more and decide whether or not we'll be staying longer or not. we're having very does discussions -- very good discussions with the taliban and the government >> what's the argument for staying? president trump: we've been there 19 years and we're like a police force and that's about it, frankly. i think it's very important

that we continue intelligence there in all cases because it is somewhat of a nest for hitting us. if you look what happened with the world trade, it essentially came out of afghanistan. most of the people i think may not have come from afghanistan originally but that's where they were taught. so there's a big argument to be made and i buy that argument. it's very tough when someone says well, this is a big breeding ground and it is a breeding ground and we have things under control very well with the small force. we probably can make it a little smaller and then we'll decide. it will depend on the taliban and the afghan government but there is a case to be made and the case also is that we're going to be leaving very significant intelligence behind for just the reasons i stated. [inaudible question] president trump: i can't comment on that, maggie. i can't. i think president xi has this

in mind because he probably would have acted faster. i think he has at least something in mind having to do with trade because it's something he could do fairly easily and could be unfortunately very ruthless. so i do think it plays on his mind and do think he is thinking about what i've had to say. it would have an impact on trade, no question about it. [inaudible question] president trump: greenland got released somehow. something we talked about. denmark essentially owns it. we're goodal lies with denmark. we protect denmark like we protect large portions of the world. so the concept came up and i said certainly, strategically it's interesting and we'd be interested but we'll talk to them a little bit. it's not number one on the burner, i can tell you that. >> you make any exchange of any kind? president trump: a lot of things can be done.

essentially it's a large real estate deal. a lot of things can be done. it's hurting denmark very badly because they're losing $700 million a year carrying it. they carry it at a great loss. strategically for the united states it would be nice and we're a big ally of denmark and help denmark and protect denmark and we will. in fact, i'm supposed to stop -- i'm thinking of going there. i'm not necessarily definitely going there but we're going to poland and then may be going to denmark, not for this reason at all. but we're looking at it. item not number one on the burner. reporter: mr. president, back to afghanistan, two questions on that. first of all -- [inaudible] at a wedding and can you -- [inaudible] president trump: i'm not trusting anybody. it's a horrible situation that's going on in afghanistan.

it has been for many years. russia tried to do something and at the time they were the soviet union and now they're russia. they spent all their wealth on trying to do something in that land. there have been many, many great nations in that land. it's a difficult territory. there are a lot of very good people there. they're good fighters. we have it under control as far as what we're doing. but a lot of bad things happen in kabul and a lot of bad things are happening in afghanistan. and some very positive things. look, we're there for one reason. we don't want that to be a laboratory. it can't be a laboratory for terror and we've stopped that and have a very, very good view. some things will be announced over what's happened and who was taken out, lot of people were taken out that were very bad, isis and kiggede.

reporter: lindsey graham said to withdraw and would be the biggest -- [inaudible] -- president trump: it means lindsey is a tough man. what else. to awei, is america going -- sell be [inaudible] president trump: huawei is a company we won't do business at all and it was reported, i'm surprised said we were open to doing business but we're not open to doing business with them. i don't know who gave the report. they have sections of huawei like furniture and other things you can do but when you cut out sections it gets very complicated, what's being sold and what's coming in. at this moment it looks like we're not doing business. i don't want to do his at all because it is a national

security threat. and i believe the media has covered it differently than that. so we're looking to not do business with huawei and talking about not doing any business because again, the rest of it is not national security but it's very difficult to determine what's coming in and not coming in. item still huawei. we'll be making a decision over that in the not too distant future. it's a also opposite of what's been reported this morning. reporter: how was your meeting this morning, did you meet with other folks? president trump: a very good meeting with tim cook. have a lot of respect with tim cook and he was talking to me about trafes, one of the things he made a good case is that samsung is the number one reporter and they're not paying tariffs because they're based in south korea, and it's tough r apple to pay tariffs, if

they're competing with one who is not. and i asked how good a competitor and they said very good competitor. and samsung is not paying because they're based in south korea and i thought he made a compelling argument so i'm thinking about it. reporter: there's reporting on cnn that -- president trump: i hope not. i love larry kudlow and has done a fantastic job. he's been going through health problems, as you know. i watched him this morning. he's terrific. i think he's a fantastic guy but haven't heard that at all. >> are you doing any planning or will you direct your association the possibility of recession? president trump: i don't see a recession. the world is in a recession right now and that's too big after statement but if you look at china, they're doing very poorly. they've had the worst year they've had in 27 years because of what i've done and they want

to come to the negotiating table. they're leaving. the companies are leaving and laying off millions of people because they don't want to pay 25% and why they want to come to the table. i don't think there is another reason other than president xi who likes me very much but they're losing millions of jobs in chearn and we're not paying for the tariffs, china is playing for the tariffs for the 100th time. tariffs work very well but it may be if i do things with other countries p. but in the case of china, china is eating the tariffs. at least so far. reporter: the economic mists are saying you should prepare for a recession. president trump: i'm prepared for everything. i don't think we're having a recession, we're doing

extremely well. our consumers are rich and i gave a tremendous tax cut and they're loaded with money. i saw the world smart markets numbers that were through the roof and better than most economists and they say, phil, e're not having a recession. the rest of the world is not doing as well as we are. if you look at germany and the european union and the u.k. a lot of countries are not doing well. cheap is doing poorly, parts of asia is doing poorly. we're doing better than any country or area in the world. we're doing great. our consumer is very strong and looks like it will be for a long time. if you analyze the curve it means two years later maybe you'll go in. that's a lot of time, two years. i don't think so.

interest rates are low and think i could be helped out by the fed but the fed doesn't ike helping me too much. frankly we have money pouring into the country because they want the security of the united states. we have billions pouring in and never had anything like this because they want to come into the united states. that's a great thing and we can loan that money out. mortgage rates are at an all time low and borrowing costs re at an all time low. i told secretary mnuchin it's a fine time to refinance some of our bonds. the money is pouring into the u.s. like never before and no other country has experienced. even china, money is pouring in. our economy is very good. reporter: what if it slows down? president trump: i'll be

prepared for it. we can do a lot of things. if it slows down i have to take on china and other countries. you have other countries that are just as bad as china who treated us. you look what's happening with the european union. they have barriers and tariffs. i'm not mentioning all the countries because you'd be surprised. we're treated badly, a lot of hem by our allies. what that normalizes we have a rocket ship and we'll be better than before. if i wanted to make a bad deal an settle on china the market would go up but that's not the right thing to do. china would like to make a deal but i'm not ready. reporter: are the iranian oil tankers altered? president trump: no update other than iran wants to talk. also, china wants to talk but iran would like to talk. they don't know quite how to get there. look, they're very proud people but their economy is crashing.

inflation through the roof and they're doing badly and not selling oil. we put sanctions on and it's like a trickle and they very much want to make a deal but don't know how to call. they're proud people and i understand that. they haven't taken our ships and they better not. iran wants to get there. they have a great potential. north korea has tremendous potential. iran has potential but we could do something very fast but they don't know how to begin because they're proud people and their

country is a disaster and they've got to do something so let's see what happens. [inaudible question] president trump: congress is working on that and they have bipartisanship committees working on background checks and various other things. we'll see. i don't want people to forget this is a mental health problem. i don't want them to forget this, it's a mental health problem. i said in new hampshire we had a good meeting. it's the people that pull the trigger, not the gun that pulls the trigger. we have a big mental health problem and congress is working on various things and i'll be looking at it. e're very much involved. [inaudible question] >> would you support banning high-powered magazines? president trump: we'll look at a lot of things but congress is

meeting in a bipartisanship way and see what happens. a lot of things are happening on the gun level. a lot of things are happening. you have to remember, also, it's a big mental -- i was talking about mental institutions. they closed like 92% of the around this utions country for years for budgetary reasons. they have to be in institutions for help, not a form of prison but for help. and i think it's something we have to really look at. the whole concept of mental institutions. i remember growing up we had mental institutions and then they were closed in new york i'm talking about. many were closed and those people were put on the streets. and i said that's not a good

thing and the mental institutions have to be looked at. i believe the concept also of voter identification has to be looked at. you can't have great security for the voter. people that vote, you can't have that national security unless you're going to have voter identification. it's something people have to look at very strongly. [inaudible question] president trump: i did. we had a lot of meetings and the golf was the least of it. i played two days. the golf was the least of it. i don't care -- look, i like golf, it's fine, it's so unimportant to me. usually i'll play with senators and people where i can help. golf is not important from that standpoint other than it's a little form of exercise and that's not so bad. >> any answer on the sale of -- [inaudible] president trump: i approved the deal. has to be approved by the senate. i approved the deal, it's $8

billion. it's a lot of money, a lot of jobs. we know they'll use these f-16's responsibly but we approved the deal. a lot of money. it's a great aircraft and we really believe or perhaps wouldn't have done it. they're going to use it very responsibly but it's tremendous number of jobs and $8 billion. [inaudible question] president trump: i said unrelated, i wanted to bring that out while i'm here with you. voter idea laws -- voter identification. when people show up to vote because if you look, judicial watch made a settlement with him california, i guess, or los angeles, where they found over a million names that was very problematic. a problem. you look at that settlement.

there were people over 100 years old that were voting but we know they're not around any long per. you have a lot of voter fraud and the easiest way is voter identification. we have to go and think about that. i hope republicans and democrats can both sit down and work something out on voter i.d. >> on voter fraud, you didn't mind any actual part? president trump: we let the commission -- the commission was having a tremendous problem legally getting papers from various states like california. they were absolutely hard lining and didn't want to give this commission. it was a quick commission headed up by vice president pence to look at voter fraud. the problem the commission had is we had to have a vast amount of lawyers i didn't want to bother with because california and the other states were giving up no information whatsoever and the reason they weren't giving up information is because they were guilty of it and they know they're guilty

of it. many people voted that shouldn't have been voted. and many people did many times. we need voter identification and we need voter i. depmplet. >> i know it's not a property but green land, when you go to denmark is that something you'll want to talk about? president trump: maybe. denmark is not set in stone going there but if i did i certainly would talk about it but not top on the list. [inaudible question] president trump: we haven't gotten there yet. first we have to find out if they have any interest. they're losing almost $700 million carrying it. it's a him tremendous amount of money. we'll see what happens. [inaudible question] president trump: fox is a lot different than it used to be, i can tell you that. juan williams, then they have the wonderful woman that gave

hillary clinton the questions. that was a terrible thing. then all of a sudden she's working for fox. what is she doing working for fox? fox has changed and my worse polls have always been from fox. something is going on at fox right now and i'm not happy with it. i don't know what's happening with fox but when they have a juan williams who never said a positive thing and yet when i show up at the fox building, sir, can i have a picture with you? and he was 100% nice. you never asked me for a picture. >> i have not. [inaudible question] president trump: they have to run it the way they want to run it but fox is different, no question about it. i think they're making a big mistake because fox was treated very badly by the democrats. very, very badly having to do with debates and other things. i think fox is making a big

mistake. i call the shots on the really big debates. we're probably planning on three of them. i'm not happy with fox. i'm happy with sean hannity and lou dobbs and tucker and laura and jesse waters and jeannine. we have a lot of great people, even greg gutfeld and wasn't good two years ago an now sees all i've done. would you rather have a great president or a nice guy. i don't know. i think i'm a nice guy. no one has done in 2 1/2 years what i've done and i say that a lot and very few people can challenge it. in the first 2 1/2 years nobody has done what i've done, tax cuts, regulation cuts, the military, the vets, choice. nobody's done vets. >> would you clarify what you meant you're not doing business with huawei and you're not extending their license for 90 days? president trump: we don't want

to do business with huawei for national security reasons? >> not even a temporary -- [inaudible] president trump: we're making a decision tomorrow it. could be temporary, maybe not. [inaudible question] president trump: i don't believe it. every place i go, we have lines outside. we have even phony stuff with that. you guys were in new hampshire and maggie was there. they had the room packed. there were thousands of people outside and then i see some phony websites, guys put up, that place was packed. and "the new york times" saw that and there was a massive flag behind and even the seats behind the flag where you had no view because those people came down to be on the floor. but all the people, any empty seat you had people come down to be on the field because it was far away and you had a big

flag. we had i think 17,000 people outside that couldn't get in. the fire marshals closed it at a certain level. the arena announced, i don't now the people at the arena, i 's performance. and they're not allowed for fire reasons to have any more people and that was an amazing evening and you saw the enthusiasm. but we had a lot of people sitting behind that massive american flag that couldn't see so they moved over and moved down and came down to the floor as the speech started but maggie was very fair and she was there and saw the beginning of that speech. everything was fact. then they tend to come down. they do it all the time. >> mitt romney came to the rally before the election and was packed. [inaudible question] president trump: whether can i

tell you? do i think i'm going to win? yes. do i have more enthusiasm now than i had before the 2016 election, yes [i think you people do, too, and some of you have reported it. i think there is more enthusiasm for president trump then there was for mr. trump. what i said i was going to do, i did. the tax cut, the regulation cut, the biggest in history. that is one of the reasons our jobs are so good, because of the regulation cuts. [inaudible question] president trump:i just don't want to comment on that. [inaudible question [ president trump: i can speak to him any time. i cannot comment whether i spoke to him. i can tell you this, we're having very substantive talks with china and with others but with china.

[inaudible question] president trump: i cannot believe it. i have never seen 2 million people. when you talk about crowd sizes, those are serious crowds. the hong kong crowds. when they said 2 million people in the streets, that really what i 2 million people on the streets. [inaudible question] president trump:i think it would be very hard to deal if they do. if it is another tiananmen square, i think it's a hard thing to do if there is iolence. i'm president but that's a little beyond me. i think there would be tremendous political sentiment not to do something. i hope, because i think we will end up doing a very good deal. i think china needs a deal much more than we do. i do believe that if this weren't part of the deal, possibly something would have happened already, a long time ago. >> do you support the principles of the

protesters? president trump: i will tell you what i support. i support liberty, i support democracy. i understand what's going on very well over there. i would love to see it work out in a humane fashion. i think they have a great chance of doing it. i put out and i told you that i really believe, i have a confidence in the talents of president xi. i think if he met with the protesters within a short period of time they would work something out that is good for everybody. he is a talented man. aside from everything, he is a talented man. he is very smart, very talented, and i know him well. probably as well as anybody. i believe if you sat down with them -- you know, that is not his deal, sitting down with people. he does not do that. but i think may be the world

changes. i really believe president xi sat down with representatives of the protesters, and they do have representatives, pretty good representatives, pretty strong representatives, i have been seeing them. if he sat down with them i think it would work out. it does put pressure on the trade deal. if they do something negative, it puts pressure. that deal i could signed by myself so i don't have to go to congress. i respect congress, i respect the views of congress, and i respect the views of the people of our country. i think it would be harder for me to sign a deal if he did something violent in hong kong. >> do you support spending $4 illion in foreign aid? president trump: are you talking about the recision? yeah. support many of those things. we will support -- those

things. we give billions of dollars to countries that don't even like us and i have been cutting that a lot. we give billions and billions of dollars to countries that don't like us, don't like is even a little bit, and i have been cutting that. we put a package of 4 billion additional dollars in. in some cases i could see it both ways. in some cases these are countries that we should not be giving into. >> president trump: i don't think so. if i thought it would, i would probably do it. you know, i cut back $1.3 billion a year to pakistan. when i cut it back i have a better relationship with, as you know, the president. we have a great relationship. the prime minister. we have a great relationship with pakistan now. we had a really good meeting. what happened, i cut back $1.3 billion. we have a better relationship now. i also cut it back on the

palestinians because they speak badly about our country. we were paying 500 million dollars a year, now we are paying nothing. i think we will get further because i could see opening that up again. i think we will do much better the way i am doing it. we are trying to negotiate a peace deal. everybody said that is the deal that is totally impossible. they talk about a deal between the palestinians and the israelis as the toughest deal you could possibly do, no matter what deal you are talking about. i stopped payment on $500 million a year, but i think they will make a deal. one of the reasons they would want to make a deal is because of that. >> president trump: uh, i probably will wait, but we may put pieces of it. we have some very talented people.

as you know, our great ambassador and others. we have very talented people. hat is probably the toughest deal of all. peace between the israelis and the palestinians, because there have been decades of hate. it's tough to make a deal when there is that much hate. i think i have helped it by saying, look, until there is a deal we will not pay you any. other people should have been that long before me. when you talk about rescission, that is not part of rescission. we have a lot of things like that in rescission. >> you are headed back to washington after a week off. do you have any comments on the cabinet? president trump: there were always be people changing. you will be three years. they are under a lot of pressure. i think we have a great cabinet. i think our cabinet is terrific.

some of them will leave for a period of time, they may come back. the relationship i have with the cabinet is good. it is our most three years now, if you can believe it. at a certain point in time people tend to leave. i have not said whether or not i would nafta is one of the worst deals ever made in the history of trade deals. if you look at nafta, and you take a look at what it has done to our country, thousands of factories closed, millions of jobs, it has been a one-way street. the usmca is a great deal. the unions levick, the farmers love it, everybody wants it. it's up to nancy pelosi. she will get overwhelming bipartisan support. i view that as a bipartisan deal. i would imagine she would put it up. it is an easy thing to do. it would be bipartisan. it is good for the democrats and republicans. everybody wants it. the unions like it.

the unions hated nafta but they love the usmca. the farmers love it. especially the american farmers. our farmers love it more than the other two sides. they love it. a lot of good things going. we have to see that for it to be up for a vote. t is political season, so they ave to put it up for a ote. >> president trump: at some point, if she wanted to. i really haven't. i have been talking to a lot of people. i am very happy with mike pence. i think mike pence has been an outstanding v.p. i think he has been incredible in terms of the love that a lot of people, especially if you look at the evangelicals and so many others, they really have a great respect for our vice president, and so do i, and so o most people.

i would not be thinking about that. a lot of people -- a lot of people, and amazingly, and they have brought a lot of different names up. at some point i will let you know. that is standard. everybody thought that president obama was going to change biden. they all thought and a second term he would change him. everybody thought it. he did not do that. i am very happy with mike pence. thank you. thank you. >> can you be clear on your position on background checks? president trump: congress is looking at a very strongly, bipartisan. i put in certain parameters, which you somewhat know about. i am very concerned with the second amendment, more so than most presidents would be. people don't realize we have strong background checks now. you go in to buy a gun and you have to sign up. there are a lot of background checks that have been approved over the years.

congress is meeting, bipartisan. a lot of people want to see something happen. big mental problem and a lot of background checks right now. >> you are not willing to support universal background checks? president trump: i am not saying anything. congress will report back to me with ideas. they will come from democrats and republicans. i will look at it strongly. we already have a lot of background checks. thank you. say it. >> president trump: i have. i spoke to him a week ago. i have had a great relationship with the nra, and i will always have a great relationship. we have two supreme court justices, great once. who would have thought that was going to happen long prior to three years. we have two. equally importantly, we will ave, within another 90 days,

179 federal judges. and i say, thank you very much, president obama. because he was unable to get them filled. so, president obama did not do his job and i inherited 138 empty positions. and honestly, from his standpoint and the standpoint of where he is coming from, that should not have happened. and we did do one other thing. i saw last night where some people were talking about criminal justice reform, very liberal democrats, i'm the one that got it done. and i saw that and i said, isn't this a shame. you do something -- and i have had very conservative people wanting it and very liberal people wanting it. but if you take a look at, uh, if you take a look at that reform package, without donald trump it does not happen. i don't need the credit. i get enough credit, but they never even mentioned my

name. these were people baking me to do it, calling me, begging me like you have never seen. now that criminal justice is done, beautiful package, wonderful, they don't even mention my name. so stupid. so stupid. thank you. thank you. >> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with policy issues that impact you.

coming up, miriam smith from the victims memorial foundation on the hong kong pro democracy protest against china. also, voting machine security with university of michigan computer science and engineering professor jay alex holderman and pbs host talks about his international conservation work and television series. be sure to watch c-span's "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern this morning. join the discussion. >> today senator kirsten gillibrand speaks at "the washington post" live 2020 candidates forum. watch live at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. tuesday vice president pence chairs the sixth public meeting of the national space council in chantilly, on c-span 2. watch both events online at c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. .

theonight on over both communicators," daniel castro, vice president of the information technology and innovation foundation on data privacy and if enough is being done to protect americans from harm. >> one thing we could do is make it so it's illegal to use social security numbers for identification purposes outside social security. this is something the social security numbers were never intended to do. it even says on the card this is not for identification purposes. that something that can be done that could be a requirement that no bank, you can't open an account using a social security number, you have to prove your identity through other means. watch "the communicators" tonight on c-span two. ♪ ♪