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President Trump Writes a Letter to House Speaker Pelosi to Protest Impeachment in Strongest Terms; Former Trump Campaign Aide Sentenced to 45 Days in Jail; Former Pakistani Leader Pervez Musharraf Gets Death Penalty. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired December 17, 2019 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:14]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: An hour to the closing bell on Wall Street and the markets, they are up and we've got
some records. We had a bit of a strong push and a weakening off during the course of the session, but all of them are up. Perhaps the NASDAQ more
flat than the others. That's the way the markets are looking. And these are the reasons why.
Boeing's decision to pause production of the 737 MAX ripples across the supply chain hitting stocks from EasyJet to GE.
The Boris bounce comes to an abrupt end. The British Prime Minister stokes fear of a no-deal Brexit.
And a busy week on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are preparing to pass a trade deal, avert a government shutdown, oh, yes and impeach the U.S. President.
We are live in the world's financial capital, New York City on a fairly dreadful day. The weather is absolutely awful. It is Tuesday. It's
December the 17th. I'm Richard Quest, and yes, I mean business.
Good evening tonight Boeing reaches its breaking point. Production of the 737 MAX has been or will be in January halted as the worst crisis in the
company's 103-year history has no clear end in sight. The shares are down some seven percent since U.S. regulators said the MAX would remain grounded
into the New Year.
Boeing was building 42 of the planes each month, hoping it would win approval to resume flying in 2019. The 737 MAX crashed twice you'll recall
killing 346 people and it opened a Pandora's box of questions about systemic problems at Boeing and the company's cozy relationship with
regulators.
Rene Marsh, our aviation correspondent follows the subject for us in Washington. She joins me now. The decision to halt production might have
been inevitable, Rene, but what's the significance?
RENE MARSH, AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, it might have been inevitable, and really, at the end of the day, Richard,
this was forced. This is not something Boeing wanted to do. But why is it significant? I mean, we're talking about a giant here in manufacturing, a
giant in the aviation industry and now they are talking about pausing the production of a highly popular aircraft.
So it will certainly have ripple effects. We know that this has cost Boeing. This will cost the airlines. And it will eventually cost the
suppliers. We don't know fully what that picture looks like is yet, but that is this significance here. Major manufacturers stopping the line on
an aircraft. Go ahead, Richard.
QUEST: What's the latest thinking, Rene, about when? Because they've got the software in place. It is being tested. It's now being used by pilots
et cetera. When do they think it's likely that the plane will fly?
MARSH: Well, you know, the problem is that Boeing does not know. Boeing had been in a nice way suggesting when they'd like to see the plane flying
once again.
But what we have seen over the last several weeks is the F.A.A. taking a very, very strong stance and pushing back on what the F.A.A. administrator
described as pressure from Boeing saying we will be on our timeline.
Here's what we know. We know what will not happen and what will not happen is that Boeing's 737 MAX plane will not be clear to fly this year. We do
know that this will extend into the early part of 2020. We know that airlines have decided that they will not add this plane to their schedule
until April.
So at the very least, we're looking at potentially April timeframe, but I hate to give any timelines because if you've been covering this story, you
know, that every time a time frame has been set that has been delayed, it's been pushed back.
So the short answer is, it really is unclear, but it's looking like sometime in 2020 -- Richard.
QUEST: Rene, thank you. Rene Marsh is in Washington. The markets and how they are trading and we had some records -- intraday yesterday, and if you
look now we're up 51 and on the triple stack, all the other markets are strongly up or they had been up over the course of the session, too.
This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We'll be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:07:41]
QUEST: Welcome back. It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Now, the British pound is giving up its post-election gains or at least some of them sliding more
than one percent against the dollar, and the reason Boris Johnson apparently will make it illegal to extend the Brexit transition period.
The U.K. has at the moment until December 2020 to hand out a treaty with the E.U., and there was a clause in that treaty that requires them to
request an extension, if I am correct, by the middle of the year.
However, now some want to tie this down even further and they want to put in prospect of a no deal back on the table. Hadas Gold is with me. Look,
the treaty has middle of the year or something like it? Where, you know, you've got to ask an extension -- you have to ask for an extension early
on. Why does the British government feel the need to take that off the table?
HADAS GOLD, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, there's a few possible reasons as to why Boris Johnson wants to lock this down into law that that you cannot
extend the transition beyond 2020, as you're right, by its July deadline by which they would have to ask for an extension.
Part of this, I think is both domestic politics and also politics you're thinking about negotiating with the E.U. and with other countries.
Domestically, it is part of his pledge and his promise after winning this election that they are going to keep their promises to the people who voted
for them to get Brexit done. I think that's a part of it.
And I think it's also a way that he is hoping to sharpen minds when it comes to negotiating to try and really get this locked down. Because as
you know, trade deals can take years to hammer out. So trying to get this done in one year is going to be a tall order.
But I do think this is a little bit of chest beating, trying to show people that he is not messing around by enshrining it to law. And, of course,
with his majority, he could also change that law later in the year if they do wish to and then extend later on. But I do think this is a bit of
political posturing here.
QUEST: Right. I mean, if no-deal Brexit is back on the table, he would arguably say that country knew that I would be in favor of a no deal. They
still voted for me. Therefore, I can take that election result. It has a mandate not only for Brexit, but if necessary, no-deal Brexit. What would
be the argument against that?
[15:10:05]
GOLD: Well, there has -- it has been interesting because he is trying to push against this idea that now they have this commanding majority, he is
somehow going to look for a softer Brexit. That doesn't seem to be the case with how he is acting now.
Of course, there still has to be a lot of negotiations to be had. Things could be changing in the next year. But it's very clear that the cliff
edge is back. And if you thought that this election, this commanding majority for the Conservatives somehow got rid of this uncertainty around
Brexit, it's definitely not the case, we still have the cliff edge.
Now, that cliff edge is now December of next year. It's a year from now, and it's something that businesses honestly as we're seeing with how the
pound is reacting, how the market is reacting, it is something businesses definitely don't like.
QUEST: Except, I can also imagine that the government, the British government would be using the next year as a way to make the country no
Brexit proof in this. You've now got a year to prepare in the event that you don't get a satisfactory trade deal.
GOLD: Right. Yes, I mean, they do have a year to prepare, obviously, I think everybody would want a good trade deal in place. But I do think that
these kind of, these pronouncements that we're seeing from Boris Johnson, it's a part of a posturing to put themselves in the strongest position when
they go to the negotiating table with the E.U., with other countries.
And also, of course, domestic politics is something that Boris Johnson is thinking of this entire time. And this is something that businesses are
also still being told by their advisers to prepare for that no-deal Brexit, prepare for that possibility of going back to the WTO rules by December
2020.
QUEST: Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Good to see you. Now, the FTSE 100 got a small again, that was partly due to the falling pound,
of course, makes it better for you British companies, it makes them more competitive on their exports.
Speaking to me early on "The Express," Stephen King is the senior economic adviser at HSBC, one of the grand thinkers in British economics and he said
that the British economy is still in a very tricky position.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN KING, SENIOR ECONOMIC ADVISER, HSBC: Well, certainly the growth numbers over the last couple of quarters have been really quite
disappointing, which is probably a lot of uncertainty pre-election and maybe some of that will begin to fade now.
But at the same time, unemployment is very, very low. But one thing to bear in mind about the unemployment numbers in the U.K., is that they're
associated with very low wage increases. There is something unusual that is happening, low unemployment, but equally, very low wage gains.
QUEST: The United States motors on -- the analogies are many -- you know, the cleanest dirty shirt in the laundry, et cetera, et cetera. What are
you worried about in the U.S.? Some of you will say that the deficit is waiting to bite.
KING: I think there are a number of things to worry about in the U.S. One of which, of course, is the trade situation vis-a-vis China and other
countries even as to the potential short term trade you're coming through. The levels of tension between the U.S. and China, I think, in the kind of
structural sense are actually pretty high. It's not very good news for world trade, nor is it good news for investments.
Another feature of the U.S. currently is that the equity market is very, very elevated on some valuation measures, which might suggest there's room
for some kind of correction over the course of the next year or so. And the third factor, which normally is quite good news is the fact that
unemployment is so incredibly low.
And when it is very, very low, the chances of maintaining reasonable growth are probably lower than they have been at other stages of the economic
cycle.
There's a whole series of kind of end cycle indicators that might leave the Federal Reserve a little bit nervous. One reason, why I think it chose to
cut rates during the course of this last year.
QUEST: Do you think we're at the end of the cycle? I mean, as long as I can remember, somebody who's been -- since it almost started 10 years ago,
somebody is saying, well, we're at the end of the cycle.
KING: I remember the words that Alan Greenspan mentioned back in the late 1990s, someone asked him the same question. He said, we're probably closer
to the end than to the beginning. I think that's how I'd put it, that we've had a very, very long economic upswing, longest in the entire post
war period. Basically starting from a very weak position after the global financial crisis.
But when you have that kind of a long upswing, when you've had unemployment drop into these kinds of levels, I think you're probably thinking about the
end of the cycle rather than the beginning of the cycle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Boeing says it will pause production of the 737 MAX as it works to lift worldwide grounding. We were talking about it a second or two with
Rene Marsh.
But the story, we need to get in a bit more detailed about it, because it says much more than just about Boeing itself. The ripple effects of the
company are going to be felt far and wide.
For example, there are suppliers who are all over the shop who are going to be badly affected. Take for example, Spirit. Spirit makes large parts of
the fuselage. They made the 737 fuselage and Boeing provides 79 percent of Spirit's revenues.
In France, you have Safran. Saran makes the wheel and the brakes and various parts of the avionics and also the seats that go inside the
aircraft.
[15:15:05]
QUEST: And then you've got U.K.'s Senior airframe manufacturer, and that of course is airframe, more of that. And finally, you have GE and they are
dealing with the engines. These are just some of those who are going to be involved in terms of the whole thing.
If you look at the way in which these various different suppliers can be affected, along with the airlines that fly these planes or contracted for
them. Now they're all counting on 737 MAXes. Already, there are 400 planes in storage, and out of service and the stocks themselves of those
suppliers, take a look.
You've got EasyJet down 3.86 percent. General Electric is down. Spirit is down. Boeing is only up because it's been beaten up elsewhere.
Congressman Rick Larsen is a Democrat from Washington State where Boeing employs 70,000 people. He joins us from Capitol Hill. Congressman, thank
you, sir. I appreciate it. Let me just start our discussion by saying, the preface to our discussion is the plane will not fly until it is safe.
So we don't need to go through that. What I want to know is, do you think Boeing has made the right decision to close the line temporarily?
REP. RICK LARSEN (D-WA): Let me tell you, there's one more preface: 346 people died in two separate accidents in the 737 MAX and that is why safety
is the most important thing we have to be thinking about.
I think that the decision that Boeing made is one that Boeing probably had to make. As you noted, 400-plus airplanes have been built and they are
sitting on taxiways and airfields around the country right now, around the United States and they are running out of places to put them.
As well, there's no money coming in because they're not selling these airplanes, and so I think they probably felt they were in a position to
have to make this decision, and it is a real body blow for the workers at Boeing and for our region in the Pacific Northwest.
QUEST: So for your understanding, I mean, the F.A.A. is now looking at -- the software patch has been done, but the F.A.A. is now looking at the
human factor. Can ordinary every day, even obviously, average pilots fly this? Do you see an undergrounding in the near future?
LARSEN: Well, I don't get into the prediction game on the return to service or the undergrounding decision. Safety has to be the only
timeline.
My understanding right now is Boeing, it has either done or near done with the software fix, but then they have to get the training module approved as
well.
The F.A.A. itself then has to test all this out and our F.A.A. administrator, Steve Dickson, himself, a pilot has said that he won't make
a decision until he himself actually flies the 737 MAX with the new software fix and after himself looking at the training. So it's still -- I
would not say it's imminent or make a prediction about the future right now.
QUEST: On a political front about all of this, how much of this is the F.A.A. now being better than better? Because they've, you know -- to some
extent, I'm listening to the F.A.A., and I listened to these statements about we will not let this plane fly until it was safe. Well, guess what?
A, you did and B, your own evidence showed that it was more likely to crash.
LARSEN: Yes, I'm on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I am the Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee and we opened
our own investigation on Capitol Hill in March of this year and have been digging through thousands of documents from Boeing and thousands of
documents from the F.A.A. and finding the information that you yourself are just paraphrasing.
The issue that we face here in the United States though is the F.A.A. is the regulator. The F.A.A. has responsibility to make that decision about
ungrounding or return to service. So what do we do to ensure the F.A.A. is doing its job? It's one reason why we established an independent over the
shoulder looking group, the Technical Advisory Board to look at the F.A.A.'s work and to check off on the F.A.A.'s work.
QUEST: And I read that report, and it was an interesting report, but the thing that struck me about it -- that report -- was that there is a now
breakdown of trust between global regulators.
Now, as you know, sir, in the past that J.A.A. in Europe, or I.A.T.A. in Europe would certify, the F.A.A. would accept and vice versa. That's not
going to be the case with the recertification.
So how far can you go? What needs to happen to rebuild global regulator trust?
[15:20:06]
LARSEN: Yes, you know, the Joint Authorities Technical Review report talked about this lack of trust, this growing lack of trust among the
regulators around the world, and I think that you hit on a good point.
We want the regulators to work in tandem. In this case, on the 737 MAX. They may be working in parallel, but not necessarily holding hands moving
forward, but perhaps working in parallel. But the F.A.A. is working very hard with Canadians and Brazilians and the Europeans and the Japanese and
the Chinese and everybody else to try to line up the return to service decision as closely as possible, but the F.A.A. will make its own decision
as well.
QUEST: Okay. Sir, it would be highly remiss of me if I didn't have somebody from the House on the program and didn't ask about impeachment.
Yes, you could see I was going to --
LARSEN: Yes, I understand.
QUEST: Yes, you knew. Yes, you knew it was coming.
LARSEN: I knew it was coming.
QUEST: How will you vote tomorrow?
LARSEN: I came out for impeachment in July of this year, and I'll be supporting the two Impeachment Articles on abuse of power and obstruction
of Congress. I think they're justified. The facts bear that out. And so, I'll be voting yes, on the two Articles of Impeachment.
QUEST: And to the viewers watching around the world who would say, well, this is all fair enough. But the reality is, he ain't going to be removed
from office. So how much of this is pure politics?
LARSEN: I think to the viewers around the world, I would hope that you would understand that we take an oath of office to the Constitution. And
we don't -- this is not a political decision for most of us. It's certainly not for me, it's about what I think the Constitution requires me
to do in this case.
I don't know that most of the viewers around the world will want to understand that, but that's how I view it as one Member of Congress, and
most Members of Congress see it that way as well.
QUEST: Sir, let's talk Boeing again in the future, and on a more happier circumstances. Good to have you, sir. Have a good Happy Holidays to you.
LARSEN: Thank you, Richard. Happy Holidays.
QUEST: Now, as we continue, the billions of dollars withdrawn from Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, just as it was being accused of fueling the
nation's opioid crisis. We'll have that in just a moment. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS live from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Court documents revealing that the Sackler family withdrew more than $10 billion from Purdue Pharma between
2008 and 2018.
Now, you'll remember, Purdue Pharma makes OxyContin. OxyContin is at the center of the opioid crisis in the U.S. and around the world. The
withdrawals of money escalated after the company was accused of fueling America's opioid epidemic.
In 2007, Purdue was fined $600 million for misleading physicians and consumers about the prescription drug, OxyContin. And the company says the
report shows extreme transparency. Does it? Jean Casarez is with me. Does it?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think to a degree and to a point because this is an audit. Remember, they're in the middle of their
bankruptcy litigation right now and this is an audit that Purdue -- I was in the courtroom when they went to the judge and they said, Your Honor, we
want an audit. We want to show this transparency to show financially exactly what happened in the years, so the creditors can see this.
Because everyone wants a settlement. They do. But the issue is how much? And the fact is that between 2008 and 2018, they took out $10.8 billion and
they say paid taxes and invested in some of their international businesses.
[15:25:18]
QUEST: Because when you hear they took out $10.8 billion. I immediately think buying yachts, planes and a shopping spree at Saks. But it's not, is
it?
CASAREZ: I think you'd have to do more in-depth knowledge. I don't think -- the audit did not definitively show exactly why it went into other
businesses.
But the fact is the timeline, because it was right at this point, just as you're saying, they had pleaded guilty to Federal charges of mismanagement
in regard to marketing and victims were coming out and victims were filing suits. That means compensation.
QUEST: We've got -- we had some cases so far where juries and judges have found and some money has been paid, several hundreds of millions have been
paid, but how much more out there is waiting to be resolved?
CASAREZ: A lot. And that's one of the issues here because the bankruptcy court, all of the cases all around the country would be consolidated in the
bankruptcy court. And people want to sue the Sacklers and all the individual states, those cases have been stayed, because in fact, a judge
may say that against personal suits against the Sacklers have to go into bankruptcy court, because there's only one pot of money.
QUEST: I am not trying to be unduly sympathetic to the Sacklers in this, but is there a moment, when the Sacklers can say it's over. That no more -
- we settled this, that and the other. No one else can sue us. It's done.
CASAREZ: Well, and they hold the cards because yes, they could. They could say that. Now, this is what they're offering and at least 25 states
have bought into it, $3 billion out of their personal funds, the sale of all of their businesses -- national, international -- and the proceeds go
into the states, communities and municipalities in this country. That's what they're offering.
They also are developing a drug for those that are addicted to opioids. They say they won't take any profit and it'll be $4 billion into economy
for these victims.
QUEST: Thank you very much.
CASAREZ: You're welcome. Thank you.
QUEST: Thank you. In a moment, President Trump likely to become the third U.S. President ever impeached on Wednesday. It's only happening to him if
he is unpopular. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
QUEST, HOST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest, a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a moment. We'll be on Capitol Hill as President Trump makes a last-
ditch appeal to Democrats. And they're preparing to impeach him, that vote is tomorrow.
And we're counting the cost of Christmas. Always, it's that time of the year. Wild swings is in swan prices, and the rising cost of gold. The 12
days of Christmas is the most expensive yet. Before that, this is CNN, and here on this network, the facts always come first.
A short time ago, President Trump sent a fiery letter to house Speaker Nancy Pelosi slamming the house Democrats' pursuit of an impeachment
inquiry. In his six-page letter, he called the process an unconstitutional abuse of power by Democratic lawmakers. It comes only a day before the
full house is set to vote.
Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates has been sentenced to 45 days in jail. He was one of significant 2016 campaign adviser who flipped on
President Trump during the Mueller investigation. Gates admitted that he helped campaign Chairman Paul Manafort conceal $75 million in foreign bank
accounts. That came from their lobbying work in Ukraine.
A former Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in absentia for high treason. He was convicted of violating the constitution
by unlawfully declaring emergency ruling in 2007. Musharraf is the first ex-Army chief to face treason charges in a country where the military
retains considerable power.
Pope Francis has abolished the practice of pontifical secrets when it comes to sexual abuse. He outlined several changes to canonical law today,
including allowing church officials to share documents related to civil abuse with civil authorities.
Italy's top football league is at the center of a new controversy over an anti-racism campaign that depicts three monkeys beneath a banner saying no
to racism. Black players in Italy have been subject to racist abuse during games, including monkey chants and the use of these images has been widely
criticized.
It's a high stakes week in the U.S. Congress, lawmakers tomorrow will aim to tackle a string of pivotal votes. The house has passed a sweeping $1.4
trillion spending deal that funds the government through next year, and it avoids a shutdown during the election. On Wednesday of course, the
impeachment vote on President Trump.
Thursday, it moves to ratify the signature USMCA trade proposal. Moments ago in the Oval Office, President Trump railed against impeachment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Other presidents in the future, once they do something about this, other presidents are going to
have to live with this, and every time they do something, that's a little bit unpopular, a little bit strong, even if they're a 100 percent right
because I've done a great job.
When you look at the kind of jobs we've created, when you look at the economy that we've created, when you look at rebuilding the military,
taking care of the vets, you just take a look at what we've done with choice, veteran's choice, with accountability in the vets. With what we've
done to protect our Second Amendment and so many other things, nobody has done as much as I've done in the first three years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: So, Lauren Fox is with me from Capitol Hill. Let's ignore the hyperbole and bluster in all of that. Let's concentrate, if we may,
assuming he's going to get a -- tomorrow, he will be impeached. But I want to focus, Lauren, on that first bit of which he says other presidents in
the future who become unpopular will face the same. He's right, isn't he? When you get a partisan vote like this on impeachment.
LAUREN FOX, CNN POLITICS CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, you know, this is a very rare moment up here on Capitol Hill, Richard. This is not something
that happens every time a president does something that the other party disagrees with, right? I mean, obviously, the president -- before President
Trump, President Obama was not impeached, President Bush was not impeached.
Of course, if you reach back into the late 1990s, President Bill Clinton did face an impeachment in the House of Representatives and a Senate trial.
But this is a big moment, and you can tell that by the fact that we're focusing on the fact that there's a rules committee hearing ongoing right
now where they're discussing the outlines for how this floor debate tomorrow will work.
[15:35:00]
And I'll tell you, Richard, that this is expected to be a very party line vote. You might have a couple of Democrats who vote --
QUEST: Right --
FOX: Against these two articles of impeachment tomorrow. But this is not just a moment that is going to be recreated every time a future president
does something that the other party disagrees with.
QUEST: OK, but this idea -- I mean, he will be impeached and the impeachment will fail if you like of the trial here, he'll be acquitted in
the Senate and it will leave everybody saying, well, what was all that about?
FOX: Well, I think that when you talk to Democrats on Capitol Hill, and you make that point, you say, you know, once this goes to the Senate, he's
expected to be acquitted there, not going to be removing him from office. The bar is just too high, two-thirds of the Senate, the votes aren't there.
Democrats will tell you, this was still a moment that we felt like we had to take --
QUEST: Right --
FOX: A vote for the constitution. That's the argument that they're making, whether or not this adds to any kind of future outcome, I think
it's very uncertain at this point, Richard, but I will tell you, that no one expects the president to be removed after the Senate trial. Especially
after what Majority leader Mitch McConnell said --
QUEST: Right --
FOX: Just a few moments ago, where he basically said, I'm not supposed to be an impartial juror, this is a political moment.
QUEST: Good to see you, Lauren, we'll talk more about this when we -- when we have a moment or two, we can talk about the other impeachments. Thank
you, thank you very much. Now research shows that President Trump's USMCA trade agreement will boost America's tourism industry.
U.S. has seen a slowdown in travel from Canada and Mexico in recent years. Strong evidence shows trade and travel are closely linked. International
Trade Commission estimates the deal will raise $1.7 billion and create 15,000 jobs for the travel industry. Roger Dow is with me, he's the
president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, joins me from Washington.
Excellent to see you, Roger, as always --
ROGER DOW, PRESIDENT & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, U.S. TRAVEL ASSOCIATION: With pleasure, Richard --
QUEST: Thank you, thank you. You are -- you must be pleased obviously because to a large extent, the travel and taking travel at its widest
definition, also including business travel. These two neighbors are the easiest in some senses and the lowest -- the lowest fruit to pick in terms
of the travel market.
DOW: Yes, when you look at it, 40 million people, legitimate travelers go across the board in each area, and billions of dollars every day. So, it's
a monster, and you know, travel is -- business travel is trade, and you don't get anything done unless you're there face-to-face.
QUEST: How do you hope to capitalize on this now because the United States unlike many other markets has seen -- if not going into reversal, although
there have been some indications of a -- of a reversal. Certainly, a slow- down in growth of trade -- of traveling -- international travel.
DOW: Yes, one of the things -- you know, well, Richard, is the world is growing very rapidly in travel, up almost 5 percent, and we're up like 2.5
percent. So, we're slipping and losing trade share of trade, so what's going to happen is, this is very positive, forget Canadian travelers,
Mexican travelers coming and doing business in the United States. So, we feel very good about USMCA.
QUEST: And how do you hope to -- well, how do you hope to address, Roger, the other parts of the world? I agree China may be somewhat of a unique
circumstance because of the Chinese government sort of puts a downer on it that people were in trouble. But elsewhere, how are you going to get U.S.
tourism back to trend of the rest of the world?
DOW: Well, one of the great things we have is something called Brand USA which you know about. But --
QUEST: Yes --
DOW: It promotes America, and just about an hour ago, the House of Representatives passed the extension and re-authorization of Brand USA
through 2027. Expect that to be done hopefully this week by the Senate. So, that's a huge plus, let us tell the American story.
Get out of the politics, talk about the great places to come, and get people come to America. China is down about 5 percent --
QUEST: Yes --
DOW: This part of the year.
QUEST: I mean, it's not surprising, bearing in mind the trade tensions and everything else that's taking place -- raised that. What do you say -- and
I've asked -- and you and I have talked about this, and I was at WTM this year talking to people who were on the very large U.S. stance. The view
is, maybe erroneously, the U.S. has portrayed itself as unwelcoming in terms of its policies, its trade policies, it's -- whatever. How do you --
how do you combat that?
DOW: What we do is the whole voice of the travel industry, Brand USA, every destination saying we're welcome, we're open for business. And we've
talked to the president and said to the president, we've got to get the word out, that we don't want the bad guys, we want all the good guys
because they spend a lot of money here.
QUEST: Has that got through, do you think?
DOW: A little bit. He can do a lot more and a lot more -- fortunately, when you look at travel, politics and place are separated. We will travel
to places around the world that we may not agree with their politics, but we want to see the Great Wall of China.
[15:40:00]
We want to go see the Red Square Moscow. We want to see the Statue of Liberty. So, travel usually, politics doesn't kick in much with travel.
It's all about cost, the dollar and things like that.
QUEST: I know you're happy, I know you're satisfied with the visa requirements now. Visa waiver has been extended, there's mobile passport,
automatic passport control, global entry has been -- probably needs a bit more investment in it, frankly, because the lines of those machines are
really getting quite long. But are you satisfied that enough is being done to make the point of entry as easy as it possibly can be whilst respecting
safely.
DOW: I think we're doing a good job, I think we can do a better job. Biometric, there's just no way that we can handle another 20 million, 30
million visitors which will happen in a few years. So, we've got to get more biometrics, we've got to do a better job. Good progress, but we can
do better.
QUEST: Good to see you, sir --
DOW: Always a pleasure --
QUEST: Congratulations on your re-authorization, thank you, we look forward --
DOW: Thank you, thank you, Richard --
QUEST: To many -- thank you. Now --
DOW: Thank you, Richard --
QUEST: As QUEST MEANS BUSINESS continues, I'll meet one entrepreneur working to close the loop on plastic recycling. CNN's call to earth
initiative is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: "CALL TO EARTH", CNN's new global mission to help protect and manage our environment in a sustainable way. Faced with the climate change
crisis and the unrelenting growth of humanity, now, we can draw inspiration from extraordinary people who dedicate themselves to finding the urgent
solutions we need.
Answering the call to action on behalf of us all, and just 25 years old, the Canadian entrepreneur Miranda Wang was made a Rolex laureate this year,
winning at the prestigious enterprise award for her discovery that certain hungry bacteria can be used to answer our plastic problem.
[15:45:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIRANDA WANG, ENTREPRENEUR: The messages we're getting are very clear. By 2050, if we continue at this rate, there'll be more plastic than fish in
the oceans by weight. What Bioselection is doing is creating a market- driven solution to this huge problem. My name is Miranda Wang and I'm the co-founder and CEO of Bioselection.
We turn currently unrecyclable plastics into high-grade chemicals, and then from there, we build up to the materials and products that we all love and
depend on every day. Ninety one percent of plastics we produce are mostly going to landfills or being incinerated where they contribute to global
warming.
And we work with these material recovery facilities like green waste recovery to take the plastics that currently are not recyclable or don't
have downstream markets. We take this material and we're working on creating new markets for them. The solution we've developed targets one-
third of all plastics that's produced every year.
We've proven out the process from beginning to end where we take plastics that are not recyclable today, like film plastics and flexible packaging.
And we've been able to turn them into virgin grade chemicals. That's something nobody has done before. Recently, we've started learning about
the 3D printing space.
And one of the things that really excites us is that, it's really also a new space, it's evolving. It actually needs new materials for advanced
manufacturing, as engineering or performance grade plastics. So, these will be materials that will go into building a car or a rocket ship. So
many people reach out to me every day, saying that we have so much pollution here in Haiti and Indonesia, and we just feel it's a sense of
hopelessness.
How are we going to clean all this up? And one of the things that I see our technology being able to do is enable people to go out and pick up those
plastics and bring them back to a recycling facility in exchange for money.
When you can incentivize humans to go out and interact with a problem and turn it around into an opportunity, that's when people start seeing the
potential behind the solution, and not just the limitation of the problem in front of them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And you can log on to cnn.com-slash-call to earth where you'll learn more, and here, you can read featured articles, take interactive
quizzes and learn about the people who are inspiring change. Let us know what you're doing to answer the call. Tweet using the hashtag call to
earth. This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:50:00]
QUEST: Christmas, well, it's just a tart more expensive this year. Now, the 36 years, most of PNC bankers calculated the CPI, the Christmas price
index. How much it cost to buy the 12 gifts from the iconic Christmas song, 12 days of Christmas, you know, the song that I'm talking about.
(SINGING)
On the 12 day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. Well, we now know that two turtle doves down 20 percent, they are cheaper than previous
years. Biggest drop so far. The best bargain, a three French hens, most affordable bird of the year -- four -- partridge in the pear tree.
And then you've got four calling birds, they remained unchanged. No difference on that, the one where we need to look at, of course, is five
gold rings. On the next day of Christmas my true love gave to me -- the total cost of buying everything including those five golden rings --
$38,993. That's if you buy the lot because there's loads of them that haven't received any form of pay increases.
Those eight maids, a milking are unchanged. Add it all up, repetitions and all, $170,000 to buy the lot. Now, not everyone is getting in the
Christmas spirit. Amazon for instance is raising the stakes in its feud with FedEx, banning third-party service using ground delivery to ship prime
packages this season.
It's the latest skirmish in a long-running battle between the two companies. Clare Sebastian is with me, this is not very festival
Christmasing.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, very festive, Richard, just a couple of days to go, really. These are some of the busiest
shipping days of the year. Now, FedEx says that this affects a very small number of shippers, and that may well be true. This is only third-party
sellers who do fulfillment themselves. Who don't use fulfillment by Amazon, and they can still use FedEx Express if they want, and they can
still use FedEx ground for nonprime.
So, it's a little bit of a niche area. But FedEx also says these are the highest-demand shipping days in history. And I think this will be some
disruption for some of the customers and it could mean some price rises if they have to pass it on --
QUEST: What's the problem with FedEx?
SEBASTIAN: So, Amazon says, according to this e-mail that's been widely reported first by the "Wall Street Journal", that there's a problem that
they -- that the performance hasn't been -- it's not been quick enough. It's actually -- we know Amazon is very sensitive to the speed of shipping.
This is why they are spending, Richard, $35 billion a year to lay down the gauntlet to the competition to do one-day --
QUEST: Sure --
SEBASTIAN: Shipping, and to keep the loyalty that they have inherent in Prime.
QUEST: The other day, I'm at home, I've run out of coffee pods, I go online, I buy my coffee pods, delivered same day --
SEBASTIAN: Yes --
QUEST: From Amazon.
SEBASTIAN: They have reset your expectations.
QUEST: They have. But I can't help wondering, Clare, whether or not the amount that's involved, I could just go to the shop.
SEBASTIAN: True, but you don't have to. And that's you know, we see in retail that to get you into -- the story is more of an investment of brick-
and-mortar retailers. But this is the point of this story, Richard, is that Amazon is not just a retailer, Amazon is a logistics company.
According to Morgan Stanley, they now ship about half of their -- all of their packages in the U.S. themselves. And by 2022, they're going to ship
more packages a year according to Morgan Stanley than FedEx or UPS, second only to USPS. So, this is a giant business in itself, and I think the big
question is, does it raise anti-trust questions. They now have the power to freeze FedEx out of their logistics network to an extent, while at the
same time ramping up their own logistics.
QUEST: There's a lot of talk about now about how Amazon is in everything.
SEBASTIAN: Yes --
QUEST: And not just obviously in Amazon and everything, they own Whole Foods, there and this -- there and that, and they've -- Amazon web
services. And they seem to be the logistics behind many other companies as well. Therefore, the tentacles of Amazon --
SEBASTIAN: Yes --
QUEST: Go deep into the business world, very deep.
SEBASTIAN: Deep indeed --
QUEST: Probably deeper than any company in the country.
SEBASTIAN: Deep into society, I would say, Richard. They're not only are in everything, but they're changing everything as they go into it. So,
within logistics they are, you know, basically throwing down the gauntlet to everyone else. They are saying when they should bring us the new
standard, everyone else has to catch up.
And that has reset the standard, and I think that's why you see FedEx which reports earnings after the bell by the way today --
QUEST: Right --
SEBASTIAN: Down a little bit on the stock today.
QUEST: We can't decide whether these are French hens or calling birds --
SEBASTIAN: And there's only two of them --
QUEST: Or turtle doves -- sorry?
SEBASTIAN: There's only two of them --
QUEST: There's only two of them --
[15:55:00]
And I think we probably needed more than two of them.
SEBASTIAN: For French hens --
QUEST: For French hens, yes, we did. So -- but there had to behave as turtle doves -- oh, wait, Amazon wouldn't deliver. Have a good Christmas,
right. Market check -- let's fly over to the board and see. All right, market check. We have got as the French hens and turtle doves will show,
strong day on the market.
Up 38 points, not really worth talking about too much. The Dow is at a record, Goldman Sachs for some reason, best themselves, best of the day.
Meanwhile, Walgreen's lowest of the day. But as you know, it is small movements, the market hasn't moved. But it is at a record with good
economic data. We will have our profitable moment after five calling birds, three and two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment, yes, we're still some away from Christmas and the end of the year. But this is the last chance that I'll
be with you. I'm on assignment for the rest of this week, and then at special programs for Christmas and then the new year, and before you know
it, it's all over.
But it gives me a chance to actually just reflect on what a year it's been. Whether it's been Brexit and the U.K. election or it's been Donald Trump
beating up on the Fed Chair Jay Powell or Christine Lagarde going from the IMF across to the ECB or slow down and speed up or China and trade.
Whatever it is, it's been a very busy year that you and I have been together. And I hope that we've managed to make if not sense of it, at
least, put it into some sort of perspective for you. Because that's what we aim to do here each day. We try to come together at the end of a day
and say well, look, this has happened and we think it's important for these reasons.
Do we always get it right? Of course not. But thankfully, you let us know when we get it wrong, and thankfully, it wouldn't be the same if you
weren't there to help, encourage and enjoy. And so, my promise and pledge to you as I wish you and your families, the very best of the season --
whatever you're celebrating, whatever it might be.
I hope it is well, and I promise you that this time and forwards, you will be there, I will be here, and together we'll make some sense of what's
happening in the financial world. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight, I am Richard Quest in New York, with the Dow at a record, whatever
you're up to in the hours -- in the year ahead, I hope it is profitable. Five gold rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
END
