US President Donald Trump will meet with New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office Friday, the president and Mamdani’s spokesperson confirmed. Trump repeatedly threatened to withhold federal funding from the city of 8 million people during the democratic socialist’s mayoral campaign.Mamdani and Trump have been critical of each other, with Trump having backed Mamdani’s opponent, Andrew Cuomo.
The mayor-elect, for his part, has been critical of the Trump administration’s policies, including its crackdown on immigration and US political and military support for Israel’s Gaza campaign.
Mamdani told reporters earlier this week that his team had reached out to the White House to arrange a meeting.During the mayoral election campaign, Trump threatened to withhold billions of dollars in federal funding from the city if Mamdani won.
The US federal government is providing $7.4 billion to New York City in fiscal year 2026, or about 6.4 percent of the city’s total spending, according to a New York State Comptroller report.
Since Mamdani’s rise, Trump has incorrectly labelled him as a “communist”.
Mamdani made countering the 79-year-old president’s actions in the city, especially on immigration, a centrepiece of his successful campaign.
While Trump frequently touts the record-breaking gains on Wall Street during his presidency, Mamdani’s view on the economy extends beyond the bullish financial markets in downtown Manhattan to a worsening affordability crisis facing a city of more than 8 million people.
As the first mayoral candidate to surpass the one-million-vote mark in New York since 1969, Mamdani campaigned on pledges of affordable housing and childcare, as well as free rides on city buses and a pilot programme of five city-run grocery stores.
