Mamdani says he wants to talk affordability with Trump and isn’t worried he’s walking into a trap

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Thursday that he’s “not concerned” his upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump could be a political trap, vowing instead to center the Oval Office sit-down on how they could work to make the city more affordable.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, is set to travel to Washington for a meeting with Trump on Friday, a potentially explosive pairing of polar-opposite politicians who have been at odds for months.

At a news conference outside New York City Hall, Mamdani said he hopes to “share the facts about the affordability crisis in the city” while waving off the idea that the president could use the meeting to embarrass him.

“I have many disagreements with the president and I believe that we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that can make our city affordable for every single New Yorker,” he said.

Mamdani won a stunning victory in New York City’s mayoral race this month with a campaign heavily focused on the city’s affordability crisis, promising to turn the power of government toward helping the working class while also fighting back against a hostile Trump administration.

Trump has railed against Mamdani for months, warning that his hometown would slide into chaos under the young progressive’s leadership and suggested he would withhold federal money from the city if Mamdani won. Trump has also incorrectly called him a communist and has threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda but became a naturalized American citizen in 2018.

The president announced the meeting in a social media post Wednesday night, putting Mamdani’s middle name Kwame in quotation marks while incorrectly referring to him as the “Communist Mayor of New York City.”

Mamdani brushed off the idea that he was walking into an adversarial sit-down with Trump, telling reporters Thursday: “I’m not concerned about this meeting. I view this meeting as an opportunity to make my case, and I’ll make that case to anyone.”

When pressed further, Mamdani said he’d make it clear to the president that he was there as an emissary of the city, not simply a political newcomer.

“For me, it’s not about myself. It’s about a relationship between New York City and the White House, the president, and the federal administration. And I will look to make clear my interest goes beyond any one of an individual but it’s for the people I look to represent,” he said.

When asked if he intended to bring up the president’s threats of stepped-up immigration enforcement in New York, Mamdani tried to pivot back to his affordability argument.

“I think affordability was at the core of our campaign, and also it was affordability based on the value of protecting each and every New Yorker,” he said. “That means protecting them from price gouging in their lives, but it also means protecting them from ICE agents and making it clear that I will look to representing every single person.”

Mamdani will take office as mayor next year, succeeding current Mayor Eric Adams, who has been traveling abroad and posted a picture on X Thursday morning of himself alongside an Uzbek official.