good dialogue. i think you was very positive dialogue, and you have heard that before them about whether you look at the clinton administration, bush administration, obama administration, it never worked out. that was the time to have settled this problem, not now, but we are going to do something now. one way or the other, we have to do something. we cannot let that situation fester. we cannot let it happen. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: we will see what happens. i don't want to talk about it. we will see what happens. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: sweden will always be helpful. sweden has been helpful in the past. they were very helpful recently with respect to something else. they are a great friend and a very competent friend. >> [indiscernible] pres. trump: excuse me? >> [indiscernible] sweden has an embassy in pyongyang. pres. trump: i know that. we all know that. thank you for pointing that out, but we all know that. thank you very much. we will see you later. >> all right. let's go. keep moving. let's go. >> another handshake, please.

[camera shutters clicking] >> [indiscernible] >> [indiscernible] announcer: ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states and the prime minister of sweden. [camera shutters clicking]

pres. trump: thank you very much. thank you. i am honored to be joined by prime minister lofven of sweden at our first meeting in the white house. sweden is one of our oldest and closest partners and was among the first european nations to offer the united states and unsolicited treaty of friendship, a treaty signed, believe it or not, in 1783. my daughter ivanka had a wonderful time watching american and swedish athletes compete in the recent men's curling file at the olympics. [laughter] pm lofven: that was something, huh? pres. trump: that wasn't expected, but we will take it, right? all the athletes should be proud of the great job they did.

the prime minister and i have just concluded a series of meetings. the relationship between the united states and sweden is based on shared values, including individual rights, the rule of law, and individual dignity. principles are the foundation of our partnership and we have had a great partnership for many years. we look forward to further increaseties to security and cooperation in every way. we encourage nations around the world to share responsibility for our common defense. we appreciate sweden's leadership and the united nations security council and look forward to working together in the coming months. the united states is also grateful for sweden advocating for americans detained in north

korea. i particularly want to thank the swedish government for its assistance in securing the release of american college student otto warmbier last year. we continue to pray for otto over the tragic death of their over thetto's parents tragic death of their son. there has been a lot of news on that today. hopefully it is positive and hopefully it will lead to a positive result. in economic matters, we are striving for a relationship grounded in fairness and reciprocity. the united states is one of the largest investors in sweden, and the swedish investments in the united states support over 200,000 american jobs. earlier this afternoon, i heard from several swedish business executives, some of the greatest in the world. where are you, folks, please, some of the greatest executives in the world, people i have known for a long time and know of, and they are investing tremendous amounts of money in the united states and supporting vocational training for american workers. we are grateful for those

investments and are committed to working with sweden for even greater economic cooperation. we are also continuing to pursue bilateral agreements to advance mutual prosperity. i am pleased that sweden intends to procure the patriot air and missile defense system in a deal worth over $3 billion. the system will increase stability in the baltic sea region.

pm lofven: thank you. thank you mr. president for a warm and generous welcome. it is a true pleasure to be here at the white house. this year, sweden and the united states celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations. at this meeting, i have reaffirmed in the strength of our relations. history has shown our two nations share fundamental values and interests such as the marker

-- democracy and human rights. we also share a strong partnership that continues to evolve. to date, we've discussed how to further strengthen our country's prosperity's and securities. is one of the largest per capita investors in the united states. my cut you may not be big but we support directly and indirect lee almost one million jobs in the united states. some key executives of the companies that provide these jobs are also here with me at this visit. at the same time, the united states is our most important employer, foreign employer. many u.s. companies play a vital role in providing investment and creating jobs in sweden. president trump and i have discussed how are our nations can support jobs and growth. it is a crucial issue for sweden.

that means embracing new and sustainable technologies which permit our economy to grow and at the same time reduce emissions. also, how we can secure good jobs in a labor market constantly changing due to automation and digitalization. than the united states are two of the most innovative economies in the world, and we ahead.at opportunities swedish austerity is built on cooperation, competitiveness, and free trade. that increased tariffs will hurt us all on the long run. as a swede, i support the efforts of the european union to achieve trade with his few obstacles as possible. turning to security, the president and i have discussed some key regional and global challenges such as the situation on the korean peninsula. we have also discussed developments in sweden's neighborhood. we also addressed the

constructive cooperation between sweden and the united states and the united nations security council. i would like to undermine dependent transatlantic link is strong. remains crucial to responding to global security challenges. sweden is an military nonaligned securitybut we build in partnership with others and we greatly value our broad security and defense cooperation with the united states. one important example of our joint efforts is to fight and combat terrorism. sweden and the united states stand shoulder to shoulder in the global coalition against isis and also in the resolute support mission in afghanistan. these military efforts must go hand-in-hand with strong diplomatic, and civilian support to create

sustainable results. in conclusion, as we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations we are also planning for shared prosperity and security from many, many years to come. once again i thank you, mr. i thank you for a constructive and successful meeting and for the very warm welcome that both my delegation and i received. to i very much. pres. trump: thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. president. you spoke about north korea in the oval office, so i would like to turn to trade. my understanding is the prime minister came to you with the european commission president saying if you put tariffs on steel and aluminum, we will slap you back with tariffs on bourbon, jeans, and the motorcycles you talk about from wisconsin. are you still planning on going ahead with these tariffs? some in your party have suggested this is not a good idea. and prime minister lofven, what message did you can fade to the to theyou convey

president from sweden and the european union? pres. trump: well, the united states has been taken advantage of by other countries, both friendly and not so friendly, for many, many decades. we have a trade deficit of $800 billion per year. that is not going to happen with me. we have been mistreated by many. sometimes fairly, but there are really very few instances where that has taken place, and i don't blame the countries. i blame our leadership for allowing it to happen. when i was with president xi in china, we lose $500 billion a year in trade with china. we are doing things with china which are very strong, that they understand it.

i was with him and i said to him in public, look him i am not blaming you. i blame our people for allowing this to happen, but it is like that with many countries. the european union has been particularly tough on the united states. they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them, and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the united states. they can do whatever they would like, but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25% on their cars and they will not be doing it for long. the european union has not treated us well, and it has been a very unfair trade situation. i am here to protect. one of the reasons i was elected is because i'm protecting our workers and our companies. so we are doing tariffs on

steel. we cannot lose our steel industry. it is a fraction of what it once was. and we can't lose our aluminum industry, also a fraction of what it once was. how country is doing well. the massive tax cuts and all the deregulation have kicked us into gear but i have to work on trade deals. we are working on nafta right now. if we are able to make a deal with canada and mexico in nafta, then there will be no reason to do the tariffs with canada and mexico come a but then again with other countries we will not have that choice, unless they can do something for us. as an example, if the european union takes off some of the horrible carriers that makes it impossible for our product to go in there, then we can start talking. otherwise, we will leave it the way it is. the fact of the matter is we have been mistreated as a country for many years, and it will not happen any longer. >> how do you avoid this escalating into a trade war? pres. trump: we will see. when we are behind every other country, trade wars are not so bad.

do you understand what i mean by that? by billions,own the trade war hurts them. not us. so we will see what happens. you can also, in some cases, where we are subsidizing them tremendously. so not only do we lose on trade, but we lose on military. hence, we have these massive deficit numbers in our country. we're going to straighten it out and we will do it in a very loving way. it will be a very loving, loving way. they will like is better, and they will respect us much more. they say right now, we cannot believe we've gotten away. two countries have said, we cannot leave it to be honest with you. we've gotten away with it for so long. them may have said that before i got elected. he said, i cannot believe i made that statement. but it is one of those things.

we have to straighten it out. we really have no choice. >> mr. prime minister, how forceful was your message to the president on what the consequences would be if he goes ahead with tariffs? pres. lofven: first, trade is a european union mandate. we are a member of the european union. the european union is mandated to handle trade issues, but as a member of the european union i think it is important for us to try to find a way to cooperate between the european union and united states. i fully understand and respect the president's view. i understand it holy. that is my primary tax as well. us is becauseor

our export equals 50% of our gdp. for us, it is crucially important that we have this and free trade. the supply chains today are very complicated. for example, when we used to have our private aircraft, the content is perhaps 50% american. resolved. this to be when it comes to steal, yes. we have an overcapacity in the world. that is obvious. it is the same time, china that is producing about 50% of the steel in the world. the european union, preps 10% and less than that. wasto summarize i think it a pity. european mandate

but also a pity that the negotiation ended because perhaps with negotiations and talks we can come into a situation with the european union and the united states cooperating. i think that would be very good. pres. trump: just to add further, if you talk china, i would watch where the reporters have been writing 2% of our steel comes from china. that is not right. they ship through other countries. you will see that a country that does not even have a steel mill is sending us 3% of steel for our country. many countries are doing it. but it comes from china. so china doesn't just send 2%, they send us a much higher level than that. but it is called trans shipping. it does not look good when it all comes out of china so they send it through other countries and it comes to us.

it is putting our steel mills out of business. mills are going out of business. we need steel and aluminum. --re is it theory that if it there is a theory that if a country does not have steel, does not have a country. it is true. this is more than just pure economics. it is about country itself. inember, $800 billion a year trade. i think it was elected at least partially on this issue. i've been saying it for 25 years. our country is been taken advantage of by everybody. i everybody. i almost everybody. we cannot let that happen any longer. companies, and most importantly not for our workers. so we're not going to let it happen. please. >> so, mr. president, thank you

for hosting us. you mentioned that sweden helped the united states with north korea. how do you see your collaboration in the future to create a future peaceful korean and in select? how do you see sweden relevant there? follow-up, mr. president, i know you've followed the development and sweden especially when it comes to immigration politics. now that you have spent some time with our prime minister, how do you view sweden in general and what is your take on our immigration politics. president trump: you have a wonderful prime minister i have to say. we've gotten to know each other. certainly you have a problem with immigration. i was one of the first people to sit. i took a little heat but that was ok because i was proven to be right. but you do have a problem and i know the problem will slowly disappear. hopefully rapidly disappear.

as far as our relationship with sweden, it will be only stronger and better both militarily and economic and in trade. you know, sweden is i think the eighth largest investor in the united states. 40%market is up almost since election day. i have made a lot of these business changes look even better. so they like trump. so you know, it has been a very substantially. -- we did thethe is about the eighth largest investor in the united states and that is quite a large achievement. we north korea. sweden has somewhat of a relationship with north korea. we have been working with north korea as i said. like i said, otto was brought home a very work condition. he was brought home with the help of sweden. terrific people. people are fantastic

people. i have many friends in new york, in washington, from sweden. in, they are fantastic people. thank you. do you view sweden and north korea in the united states are smart cards with to find a dialogue. it is not easy. and that is the way it has to be. >> it is not easy. that is what has to be. we have to be very careful about the development of nuclear weapons. the region, the world, this has ordo with world these something else. so the key actors are obviously the two, north and south korea along with the united states and other big countries. they are the key actors. we said we can provide, be a channel or do whatever we can to see that the dialogue is smooth. not being naive, it is not up to us to solve this problem but we

can definitely, with our long presence on the peninsula both in south and north, we have an pyongyang and. -- i believe they trust us. we are in a nonaligned country. we have military nonaligned country. if the president, the key actors decide they want us to help out, we will be there. pres. trump: they really happen terrific. really terrific. daily call. mr. president. beforet is my first time you i think you might and ultra two questions. do believe in north korea's willingness? is it sincere or an effort to buy time for their military program? to what do you owe this openness

to talk? pres. trump: me. no. i think that -- nobody got that. i think they are sincere but i think they are sincere also because the sanctions and what we are doing with respect to north korea, including the great help we have been even from china. they can do more but i think they have done more than certainly they have ever done for our country before. so china has been a big help. i think that has been a factor. at the sanctions have been very, very strong. and very biting. and we don't want that to happen. so i really believe they are sincere. i hope they are sincere. we will soon find out. >> you would like to see some change and people around you. does that include your attorney general jeff sessions? tos. trump: i don't want talk about that. i just said the white house has

tremendous energy, tremendous spirit, it is a great place to be working. many, many people want every single job. read, og maybe people don't want to work for trump but believe me, everybody wants to work for trump. they all want up these of the oval office, they all want a piece of the west wing. not only in terms of a looks great on their resume but it looks great on their resume. it is tough. i like conflict. i like people with two different points of view, i like that. then i make a decision. i like watching it, like seeing it. i think it is the way to go. i like different points of view. the white house has tremendous energy and talent. there will be people, i will not be specific, but there will be people that change. sometimes they want to go out and do something else. but they all want to be in the white house. summary people want to come in. i have my choice of anybody. i can have so many people in the white house.

i have any job, i have my choice of 10-12 people. they all want to be there. we have inergy like rarely before. thank you very much. minister, last year you criticize the president for drying the link between immigrant crime and the recent arrivals of refugees. flagship one of our papers found a link between hand grenades and immigrant gangs in your country. do you stand by your criticism of the president? have our and sweden we share of domestic challenges no doubt about that. we inherited a legislation that was not sustainable on migration. in 2015, wethat received 163,000 refugees seeking refuge. bear in mind, we are a country

of 10 million inhabitants. so that was a lot. from novemberme to december so was a dramatic increase. we change legislation to we decreased the number of refugees entering a sweden. we have put pressure on the other european union countries to take their fair share of responsibilities. one-fourot for countries. it is everybody's responsibilities and we're working with countries within the european union. also have problems with organized crime in sweden. shootings. but it does not like you have these no-go zones. and dealealt with it with it every day. allocate more resources to the police. more police have been trained. law on crime. tempora law on terrorism. we do a lot to combat that. now andee some results

our three major cities. a decrease in shootings because we are attacking the organized crime. very tough. will keep on doing that because there isand sweden for organized crime because they decrease freedom for ordinary people. at the same time, sweden has a high growth. unemployment is going down. employment is going up. we have high investment rates. we are allocating resources. we have a strong, strong economy with the huge surplus we're not ,sing to develop our society for example the welfare that we want. the picture of sweden needs to is two pictures. yes, we have our share of the mess to and challenges no doubt. what we are dealing with them. we also have good foundation for dealing with them, not least

with a strong economy and shrinking unemployment. ok, right here. >> thank you. this is an election year for both of our countries. i want to ask you, mr. trump, what do you think sweden should learn from how the russian affected thataign u.s. presidential election? pres. trump: the russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever but certainly there was meddling and probably there was meddling from other countries and may be individuals. i think you have to be really watching very closely. you do not want your system of votes to be compromised in any way. we will not allow that to happen. we are doing a very, very deep study and coming out with strong 2018stions on the

election. i think we will do very well in the 2018 election although historically those in the white house have a little bit of a depth. but we're going to do well because the economy is so good and because we are protecting our jobs finally. but the big thing would be the tax cut and regulations cuts. also, the judges. i mean, we have outstanding judges. judge gorsuch in the supreme court and many judges going onto the bench all over the country. i think we will do very well. i think it will be a tremendous surprise to us for how well. the economy is so good and jobs are so good. black unemployment and hispanic unemployment are at all-time lows. i mean, we are really, really doing good. so based on that we should be doing well. a you have to be very vigilant. one of the things we are learning, it is not in fashion, but it is always good to have a

paper backup system of voting. it is called paper, not highly complex computers. april. and, a lot of to doing that. they are going to a paper backup. i think that is a good idea. we are studying it closely. very say agencies, including homeland security are studying it very carefully. reporter: are you worried about russia trying to meddle in our midterm elections? wesident trump: no, because will contract with ever do. we'll counteracted very strongly. we have not been living -- getting credited for this but we've been working very hard on -- 2018 election coming up. thank you very much. reporter: are you on the same page when it comes to evaluating the threat between meddling in the elections? prime minister: we both agree the election in the country elsed be decided by nobody

-- by nobody else but the voters in that country. that is our clear stance. that is why our intelligent agencies have increased their capacity to detect and counter whether it is tech attacks or finance or producing or spreading propaganda. whatever it is. we are increasing our capacity to handle it. we are cooperating with other european union countries. some of our agencies are even working with american counterparts. we will continue to do this. any foreign power that believes they can interfere with our election, we will find out and we will call them out very clearly. loud. you tor: first time with meeting, just the two of you. where did you find common ground and where did you differ must on political issues? pres. trump: may be almost

everything? prime minister: we -- i mean, we both come from outside politics into politics. i spent 30 years in industry as a welder but also a trade union leader. spending 75% or we should do 80% of my time corporate with company leaders, with the employers and an effort to strengthen our industry. that is perhaps a similar background. not similar because it is different, but we come from outside politics. but also, different from time to time. the paris agreement is important. the paris agreement, we stand by it and think it is very important to implement and fulfill the paris agreement because of the climate issue and because we might differ from tariffs as well. but having said that we know the relationship is good. do ford take that as we

as well, because the values are there and we cooperate very well on economic issues and making sure we create jobs and growth and also on security issues when it comes to combating terrorism but also when it comes to defend ourselves. reporter: a follow-up for mr. trump. do you think the trade is where sweden and the u.s. differ must right now? president trump: i think we have relationships on trade. we are constantly in touch. in the military we have great operation including the design of various components of aircraft. we were discussing that we have some of the great makers of these components in the room with us today. with a very good relationship on trading and we always will. sweden is a great country. at a small but it is very sharp. i will tell you. they are very sharp. thank you very much, everybody.

i appreciated. thank you. --[indiscernible] questions chatter] announcer: here's a look at our live coverage for wednesday. the houses and at 10:00 a.m. and they debate a measure that would delay implementation of a measure on air pollution. the senate looks at a nine: 30ion bill at a.m. on cspan2. on c-span3, the c-span intelligence community looks at the security clearance process for government employees.

that is at 9:30 a.m. eastern. 2:00 p.m. the president's council of economic advisers testify about the administration's domestic >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service why america's -- bytelevision companies america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring you coverage of congress, the white house, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the .ountry c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. on this morning's washington journal, florida congresswoman val demings on election and school security. and chad