Trump threatens US cities with relocation of World Cup matches

President Donald Trump on Tuesday again suggested that he may pull 2026 World Cup matches from US locations he claims are not safe, as his power struggle with Democratic-led cities continues.

"If somebody is doing a bad job, and if I feel there's unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni [Infantino], the head of FIFA, who's phenomenal, and I would say: 'Let's move it to another location.' And he would do that. He wouldn't love to do it, but he'd do it very easily," Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday during a meeting with Argentine President Javier Milei.

Trump was responding to a reporter who asked him about Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat.

"I think she is hurting Boston," Trump said of Wu, whom he described as "radical-left."

"If I thought Boston was doing something that was going to cause safety conditions for the World Cup... we would do that," he said of moving World Cup matches away from the designated host city.

The US hosts the 48-team tournament together with Mexico and Canada. Its 11 host locations are Seattle, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Miami, New York/New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Trump has frequently cited rising crime in cities governed by Democrats, though independent analyses show violent crime has fallen in many of those areas.

Trump has ordered National Guard deployments in several Democratic-led cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, citing rising crime and protests against US immigration raids.

Multiple states and cities have challenged the move in court, arguing it violates their sovereignty and sets a dangerous precedent for the use of domestic military pressure.

The World Cup is run by football's governing body FIFA, and it's not clear whether Trump would have the power to relocate matches.