Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and an Exchange With Reporters

President Trump. Well, thank you very much. We have Prime Minister Lee, a highly respected man. Singapore, doing well, continues to do well. You never even see a downturn in Singapore, so—I guess you don't agree with that. [Laughter] But I would say, looking from the outside, you never see a downturn.

I just want to congratulate you on having done a fantastic job. The relationship that we've had over the years has been very good, but it's never been closer than now. And we'll be spending a lot of time.

One of the things we'll be doing in a short period time is signing, together, a very large contract where Singapore is buying billions of dollars' worth of airplanes from Boeing that will be made in our country. So that's jobs. And you're also buying the best plane, by the way. So that's very good.

So I just want to thank Prime Minister Lee. Thank you very much.

Prime Minister Lee. Well, thank you very much. Very happy to be here with you and to be here at a time when our relations are prospering. And we look forward to taking them forward, deepening them, and strengthening them for many years to come, and starting with this administration.

President Trump. That's very good. I think it will never be stronger.

Prime Minister Lee. Thank you.

President Trump. And I'll be going over to that part of the world in 2 weeks and stopping in numerous countries, including, as you know, Japan——

Prime Minister Lee. Yes.

President Trump. ——South Korea, China. We're going to be stopping in Vietnam and probably the Philippines also. So it will be a very busy 10 or 11 days.

Prime Minister Lee. A very important trip. We look forward to meeting you and to hearing your message.

President Trump. Very good. Thank you.

Prime Minister Lee. Thank you.

President Trump. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[At this point, many reporters began asking questions at once.]

Q. Mr. President, do you regret that Myeshia Johnson—[inaudible]—your phone call?

Q. Mr. Prime Minister, did you address—[inaudible]—trade in your conversations?

Q. President Trump, do you regret that Myeshia Johnson——

Federal Reserve System Board of Governors Q. Any closer on Fed Chair?

President Trump. Very close, thanks.

Q. Okay, let me know.

President Trump. Very, very close.