Trump - CBS 60 Minutes Interview - What Was and Wasn't Included in the Broadcast

This includes the full transcript - including questions and answers that did not appear on "60 minutes"

This past Sunday CBS aired an interview with President Donald J. Trump on 60 Minutes. The condensed edit that aired during the news program was only 28 minutes long with some additional material available on “60 Minutes Overtime.”

The network also published a transcript of the full-length un-edited interview which was 78 minutes long.

I went through both versions and tried to expand upon sections that CBS cut to show how the president’s words were shaped for the broadcast.

In the sections labeled

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The dialog is formatted as a block quote which should include a blue vertical line on the left side of the text.

CBS used voiceovers throughout the interview to transition from one topic to the next. I've formatted that text in italics to differentiate it from the dialog. I did not include the introduction at the start of the program O’Donnell’s statement right before the commercial break.

In some cases it was obvious that producers just wanted to shorten Trump’s long-winded rants due to time constraints. In other instances CBS removed references to their own network.

There were also a few instances of ‘sane washing’ as Trump’s words were shortened and clipped to make his answers more coherent. The network also cut several times Trump made false claims about the 2020 presidential election.

Some sections of the longer interview weren’t not included in the shorter version. I will be publishing those segments in a separate document. This is my attempt to show how the network presented the president’s words.

President Trump sued CBS in July 2025 over what he claimed was a deceptively edited interview with Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes when she was a candidate for president in 2024. The president accused the network of trying to boost the Harris/Walz campaign through creative editing of her responses on the program.

The network slightly edited an answer Harris gave about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “listening to the Biden administration”. CBS also included her longer answer in a teaser for the program on Face the Nation.

The president and the parent company of CBS settled the case for $16 million while the network admitted no wrongdoing. The money will go towards Trump’s future presidential library, and CBS will also release full transcripts of interviews with presidents.

60 Minutes Interview with President Donald J. Trump

Trump was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell at Mar-a-Lago on October 31, 2025.

VOICEOVER - O’Donnell

“We met with the president at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, on the 31st day of the government shutdown.”

O’DONNELL: --(some of that you have already mentioned.) We are now approaching the longest shutdown in American history.

TRUMP: Democrats’ fault.

O’DONNELL: Under your presidency, we’re talking about more than a million federal workers who are not getting a paycheck, including our air traffic controllers. You see there’s traffic snarls out at the airports now. This weekend food aid for more than 42 million Americans is set to expire. What are you doing as president to end the shutdown?

TRUMP: Well, what we’re doing is we keep voting. I mean, the Republicans are voting almost unanimously to end it, and the Democrats keep voting against ending it. You know, they’ve never had this. This has happened like 18 times before. The Democrats always voted for an extension, always saying, “Give us an extension, we’ll work it out.” . . . (EDIT)

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TRUMP: They don’t wanna give us an extension because they used to think it was good for him, but the polls are turning around because-- not turning around. I just saw a poll where they’re down 20-25%. What’s happening is the people understand they’re losing so much, they call it Trump derangement syndrome. They are losing so much that they don’t know what to do.

TELEVISED

TRUMP: They’ve lost their way. They’ve become crazed lunatics. And all they have to do, Norah, is say, “Let’s vote.” (EDIT)

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TRUMP: And you can open the-- the economy could open up during our interview-

Voiceover - O’Donnell

“So Senate Democrats say they will vote to reopen the government if Republicans agree to extend subsidies for over 20 million Americans who use Obamacare for their health insurance.”

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TRUMP: What I can do is I can continue to run a great country. We have the best economy we’ve ever had. I can continue to do that. What they should do-- look, this started a long time ago. I always said-- and you know I’ve been very consistent--

TELEVISED

TRUMP: Obamacare is terrible. It’s bad healthcare at far too high a price. We should fix that. We should fix it. And we can fix it with the Democrats. All they have to do is let the country open and we’ll fix it. (EDIT)

O’DONNELL: But ending the government shutdown --

TRUMP: They have to let the country open, and I’ll sit down with the Democrats, and we’ll fix it. But they have to let the country-- and you know what they have to do--All they have to do is raise five hands. We don’t need all of ‘’em. (EDIT)

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O’DONNELL: So now that we’re in--

TRUMP: If we fix it It’ll be-- one of the greatest achievements. But--

O’DONNELL: But if ending the government shutdown--

TRUMP: --But, you know, people are gonna get an 18-19% increase in Obamacare. It was a faulty program, it should’ve never been approved. But it was approved.

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: But so you’re saying your plan is to tell the Democrats to vote the-- to end the shutdown.

TRUMP: Correct, very simple.

O’DONNELL: And that you will put forward a healthcare plan?

TRUMP: No. We will work on fixing the bad healthcare that we have. Right now, we have terrible healthcare and too expensive for the people, not for the government, for the people.

O’DONNELL: But Mr. President, with all due respect--

TRUMP: The people are paying--

O’DONNELL: --you’ve been talking about fixing the healthcare insurance plan since 2015--

TRUMP: Sure. And you can’t do it because of the Democrats. That’s right.

O’DONNELL: Since 2015, you said you’d fix it.

TRUMP: I’ve been talking about it for a long time. We almost did it. We were one vote short. We woulda had great healthcare. . . (EDIT)

VOICEOVER - O’DONNELL

“That was in 2017, when Senate Republicans failed by one vote for it to partially repeal Obamacare.”

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TRUMP: We were one vote short. And coupla Senators that we currently have made the mistake, and they-- they made a big mistake. John McCain made a mistake, frankly. We were one vote short. We woulda had great healthcare. And I’ve been saying ever since, “We can fix it. It’s too expen--” it’s got two things. It’s too expensive, and it’s lousy healthcare. It’s too expensive for the people. They’re gonna get a very big increase this year. And it’s because--

O’DONNELL: Well, they’re gonna get an increase if they don’t-- if you don’t extend the subsidies.

TRUMP: No, no. But the subsidies is part of it. We’re supposed to spend trillions of dollars to take care of something that-- that is defective. What I’m saying is . . . (EDIT)

TELEVISED

TRUMP: We can make it much less expensive for people and give them much better healthcare.

O’DONNELL: But where is that plan?

TRUMP: --willing to work with the Democrats--

O’DONNELL: But where is that plan?

TRUMP: --on it. The problem is, they want to give money to prisoners, to drug dealers, to all these millions of people that were allowed to come in with an open border from Biden. And nobody can do that. Not--

O’DONNELL: Can I just--

TRUMP: --one Republican would ever do that. . .(EDIT)

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O’DONNELL: Can I just button that up? Because the extension of these Obamacare subsidies, if they are not extended is that’s what the Democrats are pushing for. I know you understand that. Tens of millions of Americans will see their monthly payments double.

TRUMP: No, no. It’s going to double--

O’DONNELL: That’s a lot.

TRUMP: --anyway. It’s gonna double anyway--

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: My understanding is, it’s just the...but can I-- may I just-- my understanding is, if those healthcare subsidies are not expan-- extended, premiums will double for many of the people that are on it. And I was looking into it. Three quarters of these people that will see their healthcare premiums double live in states where you won in the last election. I mean, even here in Florida has the highest number of residents on Obamacare in the country. If those--

TRUMP: And I’m saying we can fix it, Norah. (EDIT)

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O’DONNELL: But if the subsidies are not extended, they’re not gonna be able to afford health insurance--

TRUMP: Look. It was a defective plan put into line by Barack Hussein Obama, who was a lousy president, not nearly as bad as Biden, by the way, who by the way is building a museum that’s, like, four times over budget. It’ll never open, built in a neighborhood that-- you know, it’s just not gonna work. The neighborhood doesn’t even want ‘em.

O’DONNELL: Okay.

TRUMP: And it’s a disaster. The same guy that did his museum, which is a total catastrophe, came up with a bad healthcare plan. And for the sake of one vote, we would have had, you know, it’s so sad thinking back--

O’DONNELL: But how-- I guess the question is-- I hear you.

TRUMP: If we had the vote, that one vote, we would have great healthcare at a much lower cost, and that’s what I want. But I don’t want to give $1.5 trillion to prisoners and drug dealers and-- and the people that-- that came into our country from mental institutions. What they allowed to come into our country, and we’re getting ‘em out, but what they allowed to come into our country, Norah, is horrible. So--

O’DONNELL: I just--

TRUMP: --ready?

O’DONNELL: Okay.

TRUMP: We can make it good.

O’DONNELL: I don’t want to get into a back-- too much of a back and forth on this--

TRUMP: No, but here’s all I have to do. Open up the country. Open up the country.

O’DONNELL: You mean, end the shutdown--

TRUMP: We only need five of the-- of their votes. We only need five votes, and already a couple of Democrats, a few Democrats are already voting. They want to open up. And we’ll fix all of those problems.

O’DONNELL: You’re st--

TRUMP: Those problems are much easier than what I just did with solving all these wars.

O’DONNELL: Last question--

TRUMP: We had-- wait a minute, we had nine wars on our planet. I solved eight of ‘em. I have one to go, Russia-Ukraine. I thought that was gonna be one of the easier ones but it’s not because Putin is tougher than people thought—

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: You have-- you-- you have helped these government shutdowns in the past when it came about--

TRUMP: I did.

O’DONNELL: And you did it by bringing back--

TRUMP: I’m very good at it, but I’m not gonna do it by--

O’DONNELL: You brought members of Congress to--

TRUMP: --I’m not gonna do it by extortion--

O’DONNELL: --to the White House.

TRUMP: I’m not gonna do it by being extorted by the Democrats who have lost their way. The-- there’s something wrong with these people.

O’DONNELL: So then what happens on November 15th--

TRUMP: Schumer-- Schumer is a basket case.

O’DONNELL: --when the troops don’t get a paycheck?

TRUMP: Schumer is a basket case. . . (EDIT)

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TRUMP: He’s gonna be defeated in the next election by a vast number of people.

TELEVISED

TRUMP: And he has nothing to lose. He’s become-- I just left Japan. He’s become a kaz-- kamikaze pilot. (EDIT)

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TRUMP: This guy is, this guy is a kamikaze. He would rather see the country fail than have Trump and the Republicans do well. But the people don’t want that--

O’DONNELL: It’s, I know, I hear you. It sounds like--

TRUMP: So we have a record-setting country right now, and we’re not gonna be extorted by a man who’s grossly incompetent, who-- who is gonna be defeated by any one of five different candidates. We’re not gonna let that happen--

O’DONNELL: It sounds like this is not gonna get solved.

TRUMP: Say it?

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: It sounds like it’s not gonna get solved, the shutdown.

TRUMP: It’s gonna get solved, yeah. Oh, it’s gonna get solved.

O’DONNELL: How?

TRUMP: We’ll get it solved. Eventually, they’re gonna have to vote.

O’DONNELL: You’re saying the Democrats will capitulate?

TRUMP: I think they have to (EDIT)

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TRUMP: I mean, look, I-- I use the word kamikaze, not freely. I don’t like to have to use that word. They are kamikazes, but there are gonna be four or five Democrats that come. We need five. They’re gonna come and vote.

TELEVISED

TRUMP: And if they don’t vote, that’s their problem. Now, I happen to agree to something else. I think we should do the nuclear option. This is a totally different nuclear, by the way. It’s called ending the filibuster.

VOICEOVER - O’DONNELL

“But to do that he would need Senate Majority Leader John Thune to change Senate rules.”

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: Did you see John Thune said today they’re not gonna do that--

TRUMP: I know John doesn’t-- well, John and a few others. But, you know what? The Republicans have to get tougher. If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want. We’re not gonna lose power. The theory is, oh, then we’ll do it, but then when they get into power someday they’ll do it. That’s true. But you know what?

O’DONNELL: So you think John--

TRUMP: We’re here right now. No, I like John Thune. I think he’s terrific, but I disagree with him on this point. . .(EDIT)

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NORAH O’DONNELL: Okay.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t-- I don’t even know-- actually, I don’t even know his attitude on the filibuster, but I think we should do it--

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: He j-- he said today he wasn’t gonna do it.

TRUMP: Well, that’s too bad. . .(EDIT)

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TRUMP: You know, I mean, I think we’re much better off. ‘Cause here’s the problem. The Democrats will do it in the first week in office. The Democrats, and I told that to John. The de-- and I get along with him great. We’ve had a great relationship--

O’DONNELL: Yes.

TRUMP: And I also know there are other Republicans that feel the other way. And I understand that too, but they’re wrong. The Democrats will do it. If they get into power and someday I guess they will. Who knows? It’s hard to believe when they have men in women’s sports, open borders, open everything, a transgender for everyone. The Democrats will do it in their first day in office, and the only reason they didn’t do it is because of Sinema and because of a man named Joe Manchin from West Virginia-

O’DONNELL: Senator Kyrsten Sinema--.

TRUMP: --good man. And they disagreed with it. Now wait. Had they approved it, I think just one of ‘em, had they been able to get those votes, you would have had the nuclear option used. You would have had the filibuster ended, and the Democrats would have used it. So I say to the Republicans that want to be, you know, all like, “Oh, well, we-- you know, we’re above all that,” the Democrats will do it. See, the Republicans have much better policy. We have smart policy. We have great policy. That’s how we win. The Democrats are vicious. They’re vicious. They have horrible policy, but they are the most vicious human beings on Earth. They are people that weaponize government. They do a lotta bad things. But--

(This is where the producers cut up and started moving around entire sections of the interview.)

VOICEOVER - O’DONNELL

“So far the shutdown hasn’t spooked the stock market, which hit record highs this past week.”

TELEVISED

TRUMP: Perfect timing for your show, just hit an all-time high. (EDIT)

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TRUMP: It’s hit an all-time high 48 times during the course of my-- nine-month period. But just yesterday, the stock market hit an all-time high.

TELEVISED

TRUMP: We’re doing really well, and everybody knows it--

O’DONNELL: Can I-- can I ask you--

TRUMP: The smart people know it.

O’DONNELL: Uh-huh. Can I ask you, Mr. President--

TRUMP: The smart people definitely--

O’DONNELL: --on that point, though?

TRUMP: Yeah.

O’DONNELL: When the stock market is doing well, that doesn’t affect everybody. Not everybody’s invested in the stock market--

TRUMP: It does. Oh, it does, it does.

O’DONNELL: But there have been-- grocery prices are up--

TRUMP: Look, 401(k)s. People have 401(k)s. Their 401(k)s are double what they were a year ago.

O’DONNELL: Uh-huh. But for people that don’t have 401(k)s, who are not invested in the stock market--

TRUMP: Sure. But-- but--

O’DONNELL: --they’ve seen their grocery prices go up, inflation--

TRUMP: No, you’re wrong. They went up under Biden. Right now they’re going down. Other than beef, which we’re working on, which we can solve very quickly. (EDIT)

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TRUMP: So the beef-- the ranchers have really taken a drubbing over a 30-year period. Because of what I’ve done, the ranchers have done well. But with that, the beef price went up a little bit. We’re gonna get the beef price down very quickly. It’ll be very nice, just like eggs. When I first took over, eggs were double, triple, quadruple what they were. This was because of Biden. All of these problems were caused by Biden, whether it’s-- the people that came into our country through jails. I mean, they were released from jails. They were lease-- released from mental institutions into our country. These problems are caused by Biden. We had an open border. Now we have a border that’s, as you know, absolutely shut other than--(EDIT)

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O’DONNELL: Hmm.

TRUMP: --of the economy. They can produce things that we don’t want to produce because it’s not really worth our while-- making-- undergarments, makin’ this-- you know, certain things. We don’t want to do that, and we can buy them inexpensively from other places in the world while we can lead the world in AI, and chips, and lots of other things. Within-- two years from now, we’ll have 40% or 50% of the chip market. What’s happening here, the biggest companies are leaving Taiwan. They’re coming into the United States because of tariffs. If we didn’t have tariffs, they wouldn’t be doing it because--

O’DONNELL: In how many years? You think we’ll be producing--

TRUMP: I think in two years, we’ll start opening up plants and we’ll have a very substantial portion of the chip market. Right now we have almost none. We should have had a hundred percent. If we had par-- if we had presidents that knew anything about business or knew what they were doing, because, frankly, they didn’t. We lost 50% of our automobile business. It’s all coming back. We lost a hundred percent of the chip-- you know, it used to be all Intel and other companies. And what happened is other countries came in, and they stole our chip business, and we didn’t charge tariffs. If we would have charged let’s say a 100% tariff, none of those companies would have left. But they all left. Now they’re all coming back, Norah, because the only way they avoid the tariffs is to build in our country. If they build in our country, make their plant and make their product in our country, then it’s a very simple thing. They-- they don’t have any tariff to pay.

O’DONNELL: Uh-huh.

TRUMP: And that’s what they want to do. And so instead of charging somebody a 100% tariff and you can make your product outside, they come in, and they make-- and this is why we have $17 trillion being invested in the United States right now. By the time it-- it-- just to show you how big that is, it’s the biggest in history by many times. No other country’s been any-- seen anything like it.

The Biden administration in four years did less than a trillion. We have 17 trillion-- more than $17 trillion right now, and I’m in my ninth month. By the time we finish up, I think we’re gonna have over $20 trillion invested in the United States or to be invested in the United States--

O’DONNELL: How will that trickle down to the average worker?

TRUMP: Because of jobs, because they’re building plants. W-- we’re bringing back the auto industry into our country. We lost 58% of the automobile manufacturing business to other countries. You know, we used to be the king of automobile and automobile manufacturing, and now we’re not really the king anymore, you know?Within a year and a half, two years, we’re gonna be the king again. We’re gonna-- the-- the-- as an example, I was also in Japan, as you know, and South Korea. We had-- the biggest Japanese companies are investing billions of dollars in building auto plants in the United States.

If I weren’t elected-- if I weren’t elected, we would be losing all of these jobs. We would be losing far more of the auto industry. We would be nowhere in chips. Our country would have been bankrupt, and we would have had a bigger welfare roll. They would have expanded welfare and forgotten about everything else. Now we’re building a country that’s gonna be so strong, I don’t know if you saw the last numbers in terms of employment. They’re all non-government jobs. Not just government. Government jobs are easy. I could-- I could immediately inc-- do anything I want with government jobs.

I’d just say, “We’re gonna add up-- we’re gonna add on a million government jobs,” and you’re gonna say, “Oh, what wonderful numbers.” They don’t mean anything. We are building jobs at a level that nobody’s ever seen before. But when all of these plants that are currently under construction and to be under construction, when they open, we’re gonna have an economy like our country has never seen before, the strongest economy in the world. We’re doing very well. By the way, the stock market just hit—

TELEVISED

O’DONNELL: On the economy. The signature part of your economic plan is tariffs. The Supreme Court is going to hear arguments this week on whether you have the authority to impose these sweeping tariffs without Congressional approval. The lower courts have ruled against you.

TRUMP: Well, no.

O’DONNELL: --the Supreme Court right now.

TRUMP: Very close rulings, yeah.

O’DONNELL: What happens to your economic plan if the Supreme Court invalidates your tariffs?

TRUMP: I think our country will be immeasurably hurt. I think our economy will go to hell. Look, because of tariffs, we have the highest stock market we’ve ever had. Because of tariffs, 401(k)s at the highest level that-- and this is millions and millions of people that we’ve ever had 401(k)s. (EDIT)

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TRUMP: Because of tariffs, I’ve ended six of the eight wars that I’ve ended, and it’ll end up being used also for the last war in a different way. Because of tariffs and the economy, but because of tariffs, we have a great economy. Because of tariffs, our country is wealthy again. Because of tariffs, tremendously good things happened. Because of tariffs, our country is respected again. Because of tariffs, a president--

O’DONNELL: So what if the Supreme--

TRUMP: --wait a minute. Because of tariffs, President Xi allowed us to win every single point. He bought billions and billions of dollars of-- of our soybeans, of our everyth-- it was the money they’re spending. When I came out, did you see what happened with the farmers? They’re having rallies for Trump right now because of tariffs. Because it gives us national security. If we didn’t have tariffs, and remember this. Tariffs are used against us. Let me talk about that lawsuit. That lawsuit against us was instituted and backed by foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years. They don’t want it because they were rippin’ us off for years. And if we lose that lawsuit, they’ll continue to rip us off and you’re not gonna end up with a country.

O’DONNELL: So what if the Supreme--

TELEVISED

TRUMP: I think it’s the most important subject discussed by the Supreme Court in 100 years. (EDIT)

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TRUMP: If they don’t-- if they take away the power of tariffs from us, and it has to be quick and nimble, you can’t have Congress, well, hundreds of people have to look. They can’t even agree to continue a country. You can’t have Congress here. This has to be quick and nimble. As an example--

O’DONNELL: Well, you just-- finish that sentence. You said, “If they take away my power to do tariffs,” what?

TRUMP: It would be a very sad day for the United States of America. We’re making a lot of money. We’re respected again all over the world. We have great national security. Let me give you an example. With China, they were, you know, very strongly threatening us frankly with the rare earths. And then I said, “Well, if you’re gonna play that card, I’m gonna put a 100% tariff on over and above what you’re already paying,” which was 55%, which was very high. A lotta money coming in, tremendous money like we’ve never seen. “I’m gonna put a 100% tariff on everything over and above.” And you know what happened? We got a phone call 20 minutes later. “We’d like to talk.” If they take away the right to tariff, if they-- if-- if we’re forced to use Congress to approve, they can’t approve anything. They would be sitting around for years debating whether or not we should use tariffs. If they take--

O’DONNELL: You want that power. You want that executive power.

TRUMP: You need it to ru-- to protect our country. This is a national secure-- tariffs are national security. If you take away the right to tariff, and remember this.

O’DONNELL: And--

TRUMP: Tariffs have been used against us.

O’DONNELL: Can you just answer that question that tariffs have led to inflation? They have led to an increase in cost of living for most Americans--

TRUMP: They haven’t led to inflation. We have no inflation. We have no inflation. Biden had inflation, and he didn’t have tariffs. He didn’t use tariffs.

O’DONNELL: For the average American--

TRUMP: You know why he didn’t use ‘em? ‘Cause he’s not smart enough to use ‘em.

O’DONNELL: But the companies say they passed on more than 30% of these costs to the American consumer off the tariffs--

TRUMP: Okay, ready, are you ready?

O’DONNELL: Somebody has to pay for it.

TRUMP: Yeah. You have to pay, but we don’t have any inflation. Inflation is the que-- is the real test of paying. Everybody said, “Oh, if you do tariffs, you’re gonna have inflation.” So Biden had the highest inflation in the history of our country by far, okay. No tariffs. I have very modest tariffs compared. Let me tell you. These tariffs ultimately are so good that at some point when they’re used properly, and I use them more properly than anybody’s ever even dreamt possible, think of it. We become rich. We’re taking in trillions of dollars. And I have no inflation. And I have total national security. When I put the 100% tariff on China over and above what they were already paying, which was about 55%, so 155%, they came to the table immediately and they made a deal with us that was a very fair deal. That’s called national security. And then I didn’t make ‘em pay the 100%. That would have been instituted. That would have come to fore on November 1st. Norah, Norah, listen to me--

O’DONNELL: I know our time with you is limited. I hear you.

TRUMP: If I didn’t have the power of tariff, we would be-- we would be like a subject nation. We’d be subject to everyone else. Everybody uses tariffs on us. If I wasn’t allowed to use tariffs on them, we would be a third rate-- we would be a third world nation.