The end of the war, possible meeting with Putin and criticism of Zelensky: Highlights of Trump's press conference

Donald Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. For more than thirty minutes, the president answered questions from reporters at his Florida residence. Among other things, he expressed optimism about the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine, anticipated that new tariffs could be coming, commented on Elon Musk's role in the White House and slipped the possibility of Ukraine holding elections in order to reach peace in Europe.

The Republican president appeared before reporters in his trademark dark blue blazer, which he paired with a slightly lighter tie. Although he touched on a wide range of topics, his most resonant answers concerned Ukraine and Russia.

A U.S. delegation is currently negotiating in Saudi Arabia to end the war. Marco Rubio, Mike Waltz and Steve Witkoff are the most high-profile officials involved in the negotiations.

Trump tough on Zelensky: Suggested possibility of elections in Ukraine

The president criticized the Ukrainian leadership for not pushing for peace negotiations sooner. "They had a seat at the table for three years. When they are worried about not being seated, they could have made a deal long ago," he said.

He then went after President Volodymir Zelensky: "The leader in Ukraine is down at 4% approval ratings. Wouldn't the people of Ukraine need to have an election? Ukraine is being wiped out," he continued, referring to the state of the cities in the midst of the war.

"You should have never started it — you could have made a deal. I like him personally, but it is the leadership that allowed the war to go on," he added. 

"I have the power to end this war"

The Republican also gave more details about the ongoing negotiations to end the war that began in February 2022.

"I want to see peace. Look, you know why I want it? Because I don't want all these people killed anymore. I'm looking at people that are being killed — and they're Russian and Ukrainian people, but they're people... and I think I have the power to end this war," he remarked.

In particular, he said he was "much more confident" in achieving a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. He even slipped a possible face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin before the end of February.

For his part, Zelenski stated hours earlier that Ukrainian diplomats were not invited to the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. "We were not invited to the US-Russia meeting in Saudi Arabia. It was a surprise for us and we learned about it from the media," he said.

More tariffs on cars and semiconductors?

On another note, the president was asked about the tariffs on cars imported from abroad that he had threatened. Trump responded that he would "probably" announce them on April 2 and that they would be around 25%.

He also said semiconductors and pharmaceuticals could face a higher tariff should manufacturers not relocate to the United States.

"But we want to give them time to come in. Because as you know when they come into the United States and they have their plant or factory here, there is no tariff. So we want to give them a little bit of a chance," he added.

"Elon to me is a patriot"

Reporters asked Trump about his working relationship with Musk and the possible conflict of interest, as the mogul is part of the federal government.

"Elon is, to me, a patriot. So, you know, you could call him an employee, you could call him a consultant, you could call him whatever you want. But he’s a patriot, I mean took at the kind of things," the president assured, highlighting the work of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Trump was also asked about DOGE and SpaceX employees working at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Defense, given that the federal government has contracts with Musk's companies. 

"I told Elon, any conflicts he can’t have anything to do with that. So anything to do with possibly even space, we won’t let Elon partake in that," Trump replied.