Mamdani and Trump White House Meeting Set for Friday
The mayor elect said he plans to talk about affordability with the President, who has vigorously denounced him as a communist.
This article originally appeared in The City.
By Katie Honan
November 21, 2025
NYC LOCAL NEWS - Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani plans to address affordability concerns in his Friday White House sitdown with President Donald Trump, his first meeting with the man who labeled him “my little communist mayor” and threatened to deport him and pull federal funding to New York City.
Mamdani said his team asked for the meeting to discuss his priorities, including public safety, the economy and affordability — which he says drove many New Yorkers to vote for Trump last year.
“I know that for tens of thousands of New Yorkers, this meeting is between two very different candidates they voted for, for the same reason,” he told reporters Thursday at City Hall Park. “They wanted a leader who would take on the cost of living crisis that makes it impossible for working people to afford living in the city.”
Trump poked at Mamdani Wednesday in a Truth Social post about the meeting.
“Communist Mayor of New York City, Zohran ‘Kwame’ Mamdani, has asked for a meeting,” he wrote. “We have agreed that this meeting will take place at the Oval Office on Friday, November 21st.”
Trump criticized Mamdani throughout the mayoral campaign, particularly in its final days, when he endorsed independent candidate former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
In a Nov. 3 post to Truth Social, Trump said the city would, “be a Complete and Total Economic and Social Disaster should Mamdani win.”
"I would much rather see a Democrat, who has had a Record of Success, WIN, than a Communist with no experience and a Record of COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE.”
Mamdani has also criticized Trump, saying in his election-night victory speech that, “if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the same city that gave rise to him.”
He later called Trump a “despot” and said the city must dismantle “the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.”
Mamdani told reporters that he hoped for a productive meeting and was undeterred by any name-calling from the president.
“It’s not about myself, it’s not about a relationship with an individual,” he said. “It’s about a relationship between New York City and the White House, the President, the federal administration — it’s for the people that I look to represent.”
Mamdani didn’t directly address whether he will discuss Immigrations and Customs Enforcement activity across the city, which White House border czar Tom Homan promised this week to increase.
“We’re going to do operations in New York City,” Homan said on Fox News.
Homan didn’t provide more details on when enforcement will ramp up, but cited “public-safety threats hitting the streets every day” due to the city’s sanctuary policies.
Mamdani said ICE enforcement was all tied in with his affordability agenda.
“Affordability was the core of our campaign, and also it was affordability based on a value of protecting each and every New Yorker, “ he said.
“That means protecting them from price-gouging in their lives. It also means protecting them from ICE agents.”
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