Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor-elect, walked out of their meeting Friday afternoon with an unlikely alliance, agreeing to work together on housing, food prices and cost-of-living concerns that have defined their political appeals to working-class voters.

“We agreed a lot more than I would have thought,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office, sometimes jumping in to shield Mr Mamdani from aggressive questioning from the press.

The sit-down, which many had anticipated would be contentious, given months of intense rhetoric in which Mr Trump branded Mr Mamdani a “communist lunatic” – instead produced camaraderie, warm words and concrete pledges of co-operation between the Republican president and the self-described democratic socialist who secured a commanding electoral victory earlier at the beginning of November with over 50 per cent of the vote.

“I feel very confident that he can do a very good job,” Mr Trump said to the press after the meeting, offering praise for his ideological opposite. “The better he does, the happier I am. I will say there’s no difference in party. There’s no difference in anything, and we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true, having a strong and very safe New York.”

The US president congratulated Mr Mamdani on his mayoral victory, describing it as “an incredible race against smart people” – and the two politicians shook hands.

Trump said he had already seen signs the young politician might surprise conservative and liberal observers alike.

For Mr Mamdani, the meeting represented vindication of his strategy to focus the discussion on economic issues rather than ideological divides. He described the meeting as “productive” and “focused on a place of shared admiration and love, which is New York City”.

“We spoke about rent, we spoke about groceries, we spoke about utilities, we spoke about the different ways in which people are being pushed out,” Mr Mamdani told reporters after emerging from the Oval Office.

Trump said: “We had some interesting conversation, and some of his ideas really are the same ideas that I have.” He pointed to their agreement on lowering crime and building housing.

The meeting marked the first face-to-face discussion between the combative Republican president and the defiant democratic socialist.

For Mr Mamdani, a leftwing state assembly member until his shock primary victory, the sit-down presented an early test of his ability to negotiate with a president who controls vast federal resources that the city depends upon. Mr Mamdani’s team made the first move in reaching out for a meeting, all while Mr Trump earlier threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mr Mamdani took office, though he has since suggested a more conciliatory posture, telling Fox News: “I’m so torn, because I would like to see the new mayor do well, because I love New York.”

The administration has deployed multiple pressure tactics before the meeting. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have signalled plans to escalate operations in New York City, while a number of rightwing congressional Republicans suggested investigating whether Mamdani’s citizenship is valid, despite his naturalisation in 2018 after immigrating from Uganda as a child.

Mr Mamdani’s team spent Thursday preparing for the encounter through calls with Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and the civil rights leader Al Sharpton to strategise the approach. He also spoke with Robert Wolf, the former chief executive of UBS Americas and a known ally of Barack Obama.

When asked on Thursday whether he feared receiving hostile treatment similar to the contentious Oval Office meeting between Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, earlier this year – where Mr Trump accused Zelenskiy of “gambling with World War three” – Mamdani brushed aside concerns. “I’ll stand up for New Yorkers every single day,” he said.

The incoming mayor had framed the meeting as an opportunity to advance his central campaign platform: making New York more affordable. His promises include free public buses, government-run grocery stores, rent freezes for more than 1m stabilised units, and the city’s first universal childcare program.

“I view this meeting as an opportunity for me to make my case,” Mr Mamdani said on Thursday. “It behoves me to ensure that I leave no stone unturned in looking to make this city more affordable.”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, similarly said Mr Trump’s willingness to meet was evidence of his openness to dialogue across political divides.

“President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and to try to do what’s right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states, or blue cities,” Mr Leavitt said.

But the underlying tensions were not subtle. Mr Trump got directly involved in the mayoral election, dismissing the candidate from his own party, Curtis Sliwa, as a lightweight and instead endorsing Andrew Cuomo, the Independent, formerly Democratic governor, while branding Mamdani a “little communist”. The Trump administration also yanked federal aid for critical infrastructure projects – including the Gateway Tunnel between New York and New Jersey and the Second Avenue subway line – during budget negotiations.

Among New York voters, Trump garnered only 27 per cent approval compared with 70 per cent disapproval in CNN’s exit polling from the mayoral election. However, 10 per cent of Trump’s 2024 voters also cast ballots for Mamdani, suggesting there is indeed overlap in their populist economic messaging, despite their vast ideological differences. – Guardian

US president Donald Trump said he had a “very productive meeting” with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“We’ve just had a great ... very productive meeting. We have one thing in common. We want this city of ours that we love to do very well,” Mr Trump said in the Oval Office.

“The better he does, the happier I am... And we’re going to be helping him to make everybody’s dream come true,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump earlier predicted he would “get along fine” with incoming Mr Mamdani

The meeting was the first in-person talks between political opposites who have clashed over everything from immigration to economic policy.

A democratic socialist and little-known state lawmaker who won New York’s mayoral race earlier this month, Mr Mamdani requested the sit-down with Mr Trump, at the White House, to discuss cost-of-living issues and public safety.

The Republican president has issued threats to strip federal funding from the biggest US city, while the mayor-elect has regularly criticised a range of Mr Trump’s policies, including plans to ramp up federal immigration enforcement efforts in New York City, where four in ten residents are foreign-born. The 79-year-old president, a former New York resident, has labelled Mr Mamdani (34) as a “radical left lunatic,” a communist and “Jew hater,” without offering evidence for those assertions.

Mr Trump tempered his language on Friday as the meeting drew near, saying he expected it to be “quite civil” and commending Mr Mamdani for a “successful run”.

“I was hitting him a little hard,” Mr Trump told The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox News. “I think we’ll get along fine. Look, we’re looking for the same thing: we want to make New York strong.” Mr Mamdani posted a grinning selfie on social media, taken in the seat of a plane bound for Washington.

Mr Trump’s Oval Office meetings have been wildly unpredictable, including respectful encounters with opponents and ambushes of guests, such as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mr Mamdani, who will be sworn in as mayor on January 1st, said at a press conference on Thursday he had “many disagreements with the president”.

“I intend to make it clear to president Trump that I will work with him on any agenda that benefits New Yorkers,” he told reporters outside New York’s City Hall. “If an agenda hurts New Yorkers, I will also be the first to say so.”

Uganda-born Mr Mamdani will be the first Muslim and first South Asian mayor in the city that is home to Wall Street. His energetic, social media-savvy campaign provoked debate about the best path for Democrats.

Out of power in Washington and divided ideologically, Democrats are mainly unified by their opposition to Mr Trump, who is constitutionally prohibited from seeking another term in 2028. Mr Mamdani vowed to focus on affordability issues, including the cost of housing, groceries, childcare and buses in a city of 8.5 million people. New Yorkers pay nearly double the average rent nationwide.

Inflation has been a big issue for Americans, and it’s one on which they give Mr Trump low marks. Just 26 per cent of Americans say Mr Trump is doing a good job at managing the cost of living, said a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week. The US federal government is providing $7.4 billion to New York City in fiscal year 2026, or about 6.4 per cent of the city’s total spending, said a New York state Comptroller report. It was not clear what legal authority Mr Trump could claim for withholding any funding mandated by Congress.

The two leaders traded barbs after the election. “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him,” Mr Mamdani told supporters in his victory speech, which called for Mr Trump to “turn the volume up”.

Mr Trump said he was puzzled by Mr Mamdani’s speech after excerpts were replayed to him during the Fox News interview on Friday morning. “I don’t know exactly what he means by ‘turning the volume up’. He has to be careful when he says that to me,” Mr Trump said. “He was very nice in calling, as you know, and we’re going to have a meeting.”

For Mr Mamdani, a left-wing state assembly member until his shock primary victory, the sit-down presents an early test of his ability to negotiate with a president who controls vast federal resources that the city depends upon. Mr Mamdani’s team made the first move in reaching out for a meeting, all while Mr Trump earlier threatened to withhold federal funding from New York if Mr Mamdani took office, though he has since suggested a more conciliatory posture, telling Fox News: “I’m so torn, because I would like to see the new mayor do well, because I love New York.”

The administration has deployed multiple pressure tactics before the meeting. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have signalled plans to escalate operations in New York City, while a number of right-wing Congressional Republicans suggested investigating whether Mamdani’s citizenship is valid, despite his naturalisation in 2018 after immigrating from Uganda as a child.

Mr Mamdani’s team spent Thursday preparing for the encounter through calls with Kathy Hochul, New York’s governor, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, and civil rights leader Al Sharpton to strategise the approach. He also spoke with Robert Wolf, the former chief executive of UBS Americas and a known ally of Barack Obama.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on who else will be present for the meeting.

The incoming mayor has framed the meeting as an opportunity to advance his central campaign platform: making New York more affordable. His promises include free public buses, government-run grocery stores, rent freezes for over one million stabilised units, and the city’s first universal childcare programme.

“I view this meeting as an opportunity for me to make my case,” Mr Mamdani said on Thursday. “It behoves me to ensure that I leave no stone unturned in looking to make this city more affordable.”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, similarly said Mr Trump’s willingness to meet is evidence of his openness to dialogue across political divides.

“President Trump is willing to meet with anyone and talk to anyone and to try to do what’s right on behalf of the American people, whether they live in blue states or red states, or blue cities,” Leavitt said.

But the underlying tensions are not subtle. Mr Trump got directly involved in the mayoral election, dismissing the candidate from his own party, Curtis Sliwa, as a lightweight and instead endorsing Andrew Cuomo, the Independent, formerly Democratic governor, while branding Mr Mamdani a “little communist”. The Trump administration also yanked federal aid for critical infrastructure projects – including the Gateway Tunnel between New York and New Jersey and the Second Avenue subway line – during budget negotiations. = Guardian/Reuters