President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke with the press about a wide variety of topics, including the war between Russia and Ukraine, federal layoffs, and useful ways to utilize tariff revenue.
President Trump discussed the burgeoning tariff revenue pouring into the U.S. due to his new trade policies. “We’re going to be taking some money from all of the tariff money that we’ve taken, and we’re going to distribute it to our farmers until the tariffs kick in to their benefit – which, ultimately, the farmers are going to be making a fortune,” he said.
During his first term in the White House, President Trump provided tens of billions of dollars to American farmers. According to Politico, the president directed more than $32 billion just in 2020 alone to farm aid, amid the devastating effects of a sluggish economy struggling to come back to life amid the Covid pandemic.
Questions about tariffs – and other topics – were fielded on Thursday during a bilateral press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which President Trump asked the Turkish leader to stop buying Russian oil and gas to further stymie the European country’s economy amid ongoing warfare.
“Right now, he’s very neutral,” Trump said of Erdogan’s stance on the war between Russia and Ukraine. “…But he’s somebody that, if he got involved, the best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia.”
President Trump also spoke about the ongoing Middle East tensions between Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Israel. He said they were working on a peace deal in that area, and noted that “I think we’re going to be in a pretty good position – there are a lot of people that want that done,” he said.
The president also said that Hamas currently holds about 20 living hostages, “and probably 38 or so dead hostages,” who are mostly men and young boys.
“I think we’re close to getting some kind of a deal done,” President Trump said.
