During a conversation aboard Air Force One, President Donald Trump made a bold claim about his weekend interactions with the “biggest” tech leaders in the world. According to Trump, these influential figures fully supported his controversial tariffs. However, when pressed for details, he was unable to name a single one of the supposed leaders.
The discussion occurred as Trump was returning to Washington after a weekend spent golfing in Florida. While the stock market continued to suffer amid his tariff policies, the President confidently asserted that his actions were receiving backing from top tech executives.
In response to a question from a reporter about whether he was open to zero tariffs between the U.S. and Europe, Trump focused his comments on the trade imbalance with the continent. He accused Europe of benefiting unfairly from trade with the U.S., stating, “Europe has made a fortune with us… Europe has treated us very, very badly.”
Trump emphasized that European nations do not import U.S. products at the same rate as America imports European goods, claiming, “They don’t take our cars, they don’t take our food products, they don’t take anything.” He argued that this disparity was one reason behind his decision to impose tariffs on European goods, adding, “They are coming to the table. They want to talk, but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”
The conversation then shifted to Trump’s discussions with tech industry leaders about the tariffs. When asked whether he had spoken to anyone over the weekend about the issue, Trump replied, “Yeah, I talked to… the biggest in the world. I talked to the biggest of them, all, many of them, but I’ve talked to… uh, I would say four or five that are considered the biggest.” He went on to state that these leaders were supportive of his policies, saying, “And you know what they said? We don’t blame you.”
However, when pressed for the names of these “biggest” tech leaders, Trump remained vague. “I don’t want to say… I’ll put it out. You know, I don’t know if that was a confidential call or not, but we had five or six. I’ve spoken to many countries,” he explained, offering no specifics. The lack of details raised questions about the legitimacy of his claims.
Despite the lack of named sources, Trump continued to assert that his approach was resonating internationally. “Every country is calling it being very solicitous of us, very, very nice… and we have to be able to justify we… this is not sustainable,” he said, emphasizing that the U.S. couldn’t continue losing money on trade while also bearing the cost of NATO defense.
Trump also touched on the issue of TikTok, confirming reports that a deal with the Chinese-owned app was nearly finalized before it fell apart due to tariffs. “It was largely true the reports and we had a deal pretty much with TikTok, not a deal, but pretty close. And then China changed the deal because of tariffs,” he said. “If I gave a little cut in tariffs, it approved that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs.”
Watch the exchange below:
