This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 2, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, HOST OF "YOUR WORLD": Well, Starbucks is adding a major caffeine boost to its java plans in China, the coffee seller planning to triple its work force and the number of stores there.
Donald Trump is no fan of that country. What does he make of the move and so much else been going on in the news of late?
Mr. Trump, very good to have you.
DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TRUMP HOTELS & CASINO RESORTS: Hello, Neil.
CAVUTO: What do you make of this? Everyone seems to trip over themselves even now to expand their presence in China. What do you think of that?
TRUMP: Well, I have a lot of Starbucks. And I have one in Trump Tower on 57th and Fifth. That is the one I prefer, to be honest with you.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But who can blame them.
Look, when you say no fan, I am a fan. I am a fan of the leadership of China because they are doing an amazing job representing their people against the United States and some other countries. And, frankly, if we had that same brainpower, this country would be doing a lot better than it's doing right now.
CAVUTO: But I also think a lot of times, Donald, that China reads desperation into wanting to be there. I don’t know what the case is with Starbucks. They certainly don’t need this. They’re giants everywhere.
But maybe they feel that we have to be at that table and we have to be providing the coffee at that table, so, we are in, no matter what.
TRUMP: Well, the strange thing is they have to be at our table even more, because if you look at the business, it’s 10-1 what we do vs. what they do in terms of the advantage is -- in terms of negotiation, it is all our advantage. We have at all the cards.
And it is amazing that our leaders can’t extract something from them, because they really extract from us. So when you see what they are doing with their currency, when you see what they are doing with lots of different things and when you see our companies going over there and having to give up their intellectual property rights and all sorts of other things, and, by the way, pay massive taxes in order to do business in China, and then you wonder how they come in here and we do nothing, it really amazes me.
The fact is we do have the cards. And we just don't have the people that know how to play.
CAVUTO: All right, but your argument, as much as it's been with OPEC, is that they are smart, the other side. We are pretty much dumb. Right?
TRUMP: Well, we don’t have people that know what they are doing, to be honest. And we should be doing tremendously well.
Our jobs are being taken. They are making our products. Lots of different things are happening. And you read about six months ago where they taxing our trucks that we are now selling. They’re taxing at a rate of 22 percent, which is a tremendous tax, by the way, our trucks when we build trucks and send them into China. Nobody knows that. That wasn't even a front-page step, but it should be a front -- it should be a huge front-page story.
But they're taxing products that we make to put in there. A friend of mine sells luxury goods, someone that you know very well. And I won't -- I between not reveal his name. He will go crazy, maybe, and maybe not.
But he called me the other day to complain how they are taxing luxury goods being sold in China. Now, we don't do that to them. And then they talk about fair trade. But that is not fair trade. That is stupid trade.
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Well, but we are going tit for tat on this stuff with the precious materials, and the kind of stuff that is in laptops and TV screens and the like. So we’re fighting China over that and many worry about a trade war that could ensure that will hurt both countries.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Well, it would help us much more than them, I will tell you.
A trade war with China would be a good thing, because they do much more trade in terms of the numbers. You are talking 10-1. One of the great things that I sort of get a kick out of, only because I cannot believe we are so stupid, is they are a huge importer. They take a lot of our coal.
They talk all about the carbon footprint and about global warming, and all of the other things that they have to say that are good sound bites. In the meantime, they take our coal, and we are not allowed to use coal anymore, and it is impossible to do the new coal-fired plants, if you look at what is happening. They are closing them all over this country. We have plenty of coal to take care of us for 1,000 years. But China uses coal. They don’t talk about it, but they use huge amounts of coal and we don't. So, it is a very sad situation, actually.
CAVUTO: I read with some interest how you’re expanding I think a country club in Miami. And I had a real estate person on last week, I think it was, Donald, who was saying that Florida could be turning, rounding the bend. What was to many people ground zero in the real estate crash could be coming out.
What do you think of that? Obvious, when you commit capital and expand with another country club in that neck of the woods, that that gets people’s attention. What is going on?
TRUMP: Well, it is Doral in Miami, right smack in the middle of Miami. It’s 800 acres right in the middle. And it’s a great location, a great property.
And I think I will be able to turn that into the number one -- really the number one club in the country because of its location being so good. It has got -- it’s the home of the Blue Monster, the great golf course that the PGA Tour plays every year.
CAVUTO: But you waited on this.
TRUMP: I did. I waited.
CAVUTO: Obviously, you didn’t see it as a favorable environment maybe a year ago as you do today. What has changed?
TRUMP: Well, I waited. And obviously the pricing I felt was right, but I also look at that and we just bought a beautiful place in North Carolina called The Point, which is magnificent.
And I love land and I think land and I think that real estate is a great hedge against inflation. And you are going to have tremendous inflation. When you have $16 trillion in debt, you will end up with tremendous inflation. There is not much they can do about it at this point. They have got to start cutting expenses rapidly, but I don’t see that happening in Congress.
So I view real estate as a great hedge against inflation, better than gold and better than anything.
CAVUTO: So you are confident the real estate market is rounding the bend, but you do it a lot of times you with golf clubs. How many do you have in total right now?
TRUMP: Fifteen. But it is also not just golf. It is great land. You are talking about income-producing land.
CAVUTO: Right.
TRUMP: In Washington, we have 650 acres on the Potomac River, one of the greatest pieces of land in the country.
In Los Angeles, I have 600 acres on the Pacific Ocean. So, it is golf. And that is great. And I love the golf. And they do wonderfully and all. But it is also land. You are buying tremendous pieces of land.
CAVUTO: But always golf. I have never seen you expand to bocce ball. And I don't know why.
TRUMP: Well, bocce ball doesn't take much land.
What I like about golf is you're talking huge swathes of land.
CAVUTO: So couldn't you put a little aside for a little -- a tiny little bocce ball court?
TRUMP: Well, I do. I do, not so much for bocce ball, but for tennis and for clubhouses and for spas.
CAVUTO: But never bocce ball, never bocce ball.
TRUMP: But never bocce ball. I will do one for you, OK? How about Washington? We will put one in -- we will do one for you, Neil.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: That would be a draw. That would be a draw.
Donald Trump, thank you. Continued good luck, success.
TRUMP: Thank you very much, Neil.
CAVUTO: Donald Trump.
Could you imagine that, the Trump bocce ball court? All right.
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