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Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Ceasefire Deal With Hezbollah; Trump's Incoming Border Czar Visits Texas-Mexico Border; Trump Says Tariffs Are Retaliation For Immigration, Illicit Drugs; Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) Discusses About The Effect Of Tariffs To Consumers. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired November 26, 2024 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A Ceasefire Deal Reached: The Israeli Security Cabinet approving a U.S.-backed proposal to put hostilities with Hezbollah on ice. We have the breaking details.

Plus, Punishing Tariffs on Day One: President-elect Donald Trump vowing massive hikes on goods from Mexico, Canada and China that could sharply increase costs for Americans.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And Buckle Up: Americans are traveling this Thanksgiving week in record numbers and they're heading out as storms are threatening to cause significant delays. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news at this hour. After months of anticipation, finally a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. We are waiting to hear from President Biden, who's expected to speak at any moment live from the White House Rose Garden.

KEILAR: The Israeli Security Council approving the ceasefire deal earlier this afternoon, pausing the bloodshed after months of intense fighting across Lebanon. Let's go to CNN International Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson, who is live in Jerusalem tracking all of the latest developments.

Nic, tell us more about this deal.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, number one, it's huge. The implications are big for Israel. They're big for Lebanon. This war between the two countries or between Israel and Hezbollah has been going on for more than 13 months, since Hamas' brutal attack October the 7th.

But it really spiked in September, where Israel upped the ante and decided to take the fight to Hezbollah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is claiming it a victory, pointing out just how much they've decimated Hezbollah, including killing its iconic, charismatic leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

But he's also saying very clearly, if Hezbollah violates the terms of this ceasefire, then Israel will strike back. Quite how and what the mechanism is for Israel striking back is not entirely clear at this time. What is clear, 60-day ceasefire, Hezbollah pulls back about 30 miles north of the Israeli border, north of the Litani River, the IDF pull their troops back into Israel, the U.N. and the Lebanese army go in to fill that sort of military vacuum, and the Prime Minister saying that now he can focus on Iran as being the next big threat, that he can get - allow the troops time to recuperate and resupply.

And he said one of the reasons he was able to do this right now was because Hezbollah had separated its war from its stated aim of supporting Hamas' war in Gaza. That incidentally is something that Hamas - that Hezbollah has actually said a decision they'd taken prior to the escalation by Israel back in September.

SANCHEZ: And Nic, right up until this Security Cabinet was meeting to vote on this deal, there was still exchanges between Israel and Hezbollah, notably some 20 strikes in the area of Beirut this morning. What is the situation now?

ROBERTSON: Now, the strikes for all intents and purposes have ended. We haven't heard of any more taking place. We know that in the north of Israel, in Naharia, where our colleague Jeremy Diamond is, down to the wire there, down to the moment of the ceasefire, there were incoming missiles, Hezbollah missiles incoming there.

The level of strikes and intensity of strikes that Israel took to Hezbollah today was significant. They said at one point this afternoon, 20 strikes in just two minutes. They targeted financial institutions that the IDF said was funneling Iranian money to Hezbollah, even striking in areas right in the center of downtown Beirut. We've talked about this in recent days, but the strikes today were even more in the center of Beirut, in places that hadn't been targeted even during the 2006 war. So both sides really intensifying the fight right to the last minutes.

KEILAR: Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that.

Let's bring in now Barak Ravid. He is a CNN Political and Foreign Policy Analyst, also a global affairs correspondent for Axios.

And I just wonder, Barak, if you can talk to us a little bit about how Netanyahu sees this moment, because it was noteworthy as he spoke to his nation and the world, he was emphasizing the strides that Israel has made in the war in Gaza and also in Lebanon. And he seemed to also be emphasizing the Iran threat.

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How is he seeing this moment as he took this audience?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, first, just a small technical correction. The Israeli Security Cabinet still hasn't approved the deal. The cabinet is still sitting, and I'm telling you from a source there just like 30 seconds ago, that the vote hasn't taken place yet. So this is why President Biden still hasn't spoken. The meeting is still ongoing. I think it's a matter of minutes until they will approve it, but, you know, technically they haven't.

For Netanyahu, this is a significant moment because his base, his political base is against this deal. And to be honest, there are two main reasons I think that he decided to go for this deal. One of them he talked about in his speech earlier tonight is that the IDF is exhausted, okay? That's the honest truth.

And the IDF asked for the ceasefire, A, because they think they managed to achieve all of their goals in Lebanon. And second, because they need a break. That's the honest truth. And the second thing is because Netanyahu looks at President Trump, President-elect Trump and he knows that he wants this deal. And he knows that if he doesn't take the deal now, he might get to January 20th with a war in Lebanon, something Donald Trump does not want.

SANCHEZ: That perspective is fascinating. What is it about the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu that has shaped this decision by the Israeli prime minister? What is his outlook for the region moving forward? Because notably in his speech, even though he said at one point that he wasn't going to expand on his thinking on Iran, he did say that he would do anything to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Give us that perspective of how he sees the relationship with Trump moving forward in the context of Iran.

RAVID: So I think that Netanyahu's relationship with Donald Trump, and we know that, are not great, okay? They ended - in the previous term, it ended very badly. And Donald Trump hasn't fundamentally changed his mind about Netanyahu. They managed to bury the hatchet during the campaign because it suited both of them politically, but Netanyahu is very careful with Donald Trump and he doesn't want to start on a - you know, to start with a crisis. He wants to try and decrease as much as possible the friction points with Donald Trump ahead of January 20th.

Part of this is, as you said, in order to try and get Trump to focus more on Iran. And I think in order to do that, he needs to take the Lebanon issue off the table and this is why he's pushing for this ceasefire deal.

KEILAR: And what does this mean, Barak, for getting folks back home? We have to remember how many people are displaced, what this would mean for the long-term, and how important that is politically.

RAVID: Well, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border that have been displaced over the last year of war between Israel and Hezbollah, which started, by the way, on October 8th, when Hezbollah decided to join Hamas. And since - and Israel then pulled out 10s of thousands of its civilians fearing a Hezbollah invasion like the Hamas invasion on October 7th.

And when Israel started retaliating, then Lebanese civilians started leaving Southern Lebanon. And I think that in any case, even though there will be a ceasefire tomorrow morning, it will take a few weeks, maybe a few months until all those civilians will go back to their homes, mainly because on both sides of the border, I think people want to see that this thing holds and it will take a few weeks or again, maybe a few months until they all go back. And on the other hand, on both sides of the border, the houses are - have been destroyed.

So even people who want to go back might not have a place to go back to. So the rehabilitation, reconstruction of those two areas will take a long time.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, it is going to be a fascinating process to watch. Barak Ravid, thank you so much for giving us that breaking news that the Israeli Security Cabinet is still working out on approving this ceasefire deal. Hopefully, we'll hear from President Biden soon after. Appreciate your reporting, Barak.

Still to come, President-elect Donald Trump pledging tariffs on the country's three largest trading partners the day he is inaugurated. We're going to tell you what could get more expensive.

KEILAR: Plus, Trump's incoming border czar is in Texas. He's visiting one key area for illegal crossings.

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How the state could provide the Trump administration a blueprint to tackle border security.

And later, retailers are bracing for record spending this holiday season, but you might not see as many sales and deals as you usually do. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: Donald Trump's incoming borders czar visiting the southern border, getting a firsthand look at one of the main focal points for illegal border crossings in Eagle Pass, Texas. Tom Homan spoke with Texas National Guard and public safety troops and toured alongside Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials.

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This marks a significant shift in the level of cooperation expected between Texas and federal officials. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is live for us at the White House.

And Priscilla, this shows the stark pivot happening even before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The stark pivot, but also an indicator of what the Trump-White House relationship is going to be with the state of Texas, as well as those states that cooperate the way that they want them to. And what I mean by that is by talking with sources, they tell me that Trump's team wants to see the type of cooperation along the U.S. southern border with Texas and the types of operations that the state has done. For example, using their state resources to assist along the border in the incoming administration.

Now, just to provide some context here, it's not unusual for states to help federal agents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Of course, their authorities are limited. But what this has been is something much further. Of course, this has been Operation Lone Star. Texas governor launched that in 2021 as an affront to the Biden administration. It included, for example, bussing migrants to Democratic-led cities, blocking off a portion of the border to federal agents, and putting up those buoys along the Rio Grande.

That led to lawsuits from the Justice Department, but it also fed into the tension and the feud between the Biden White House and Texas. But now that's all going to change under president - well, under President Donald Trump. That is going to be in a relationship that is leaned on to try to do that mass deportation pledge that Trump has repeatedly talked about. Tom Holman, clearly there alongside Abbott, he's going to be the incoming border czar.

But I'm also told by sources that Texas Border Czar, Michael Banks, is also being considered to lead U.S. Customs and Border Protection. So just these personnel moves alone tell you just how close this relationship is expected to be, which is a pivot from where it has been over the last three years. Now, of course, this may run into some controversy. Of course, we have seen that in states before where resources have been ushered in to help with border security, because it may take away from other priorities in the state.

But certainly the sources that I have talked to say that part of the plan for the incoming Trump administration is to do a lot more of that to free up federal personnel so that they can work on interior enforcement. So Tom Homan being along the Texas-Mexico border today is telling, of course, he's the incoming border czar. He will be at the White House in the coming year.

So certainly this is giving us a roadmap into how they plan to work together with Texas in next year and in the years to come. And of course, sources tell me that they are looking at everything they're doing as that blueprint to then also request the same from other states along the border. Boris, Brianna?

KEILAR: Priscilla Alvarez at the White House, thank you for the report.

And, you know, you could end up paying a lot more for all kinds of things: cars, gas, produce, what you put on your table, if President- elect Trump follows through on his promise to slap tariffs on imported goods.

Trump announced that his new plan on social media, vowing to charge Mexico and Canada a huge 25 percent tariff on all products and also threatening to raise tariffs on China by another 10 percent.

SANCHEZ: Trump says the goal is to force action on illegal immigration and stop the flow of crime and drugs into the U.S. And he says this will begin on his first day back in office. CNN's Matt Egan is here to break this all down and the implications, too.

Matt, what does this mean for folks at home and how is this going to impact everyone's wallets? MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Boris and Brianna, Tariff Man is back and as promised, the sequel could be even bigger than the original. Trump has held up tariffs as a sort of magical negotiating tool that can be used to solve almost any problem. And he's been willing to threaten to impose them against friends and foe alike. I think the trillion dollar question though is whether or not this looming trade war could undermine the war on inflation.

And I think the truth is it's just too early to say because there's so many unknowns at this point. I mean, will Trump actually impose these tariffs or will he back down if he gets some concessions? If he does impose them, how long will they be in place for? Days, weeks, months, years and then how do businesses react? Do they pass along the cost to consumers?

That's what they've done in the past and there's no reason I think they'd do it differently. But the answer to those questions is going to go a long way here. I think at a minimum we can say that the threatened tariffs, they have the potential to cause chaos for businesses, invite retaliation from other countries and yes, raise prices for consumers.

And it's really important to stress that what Trump is proposing is much bigger in size and scope than what he did during the first term.

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These are not targeted tariffs. These would be sweeping across the board tariffs. Just look at Canada. I mean, the U.S. imports hundreds - I would say almost $400 billion of goods last year alone from Canada, including minerals, cement, wood and oil. Oil that's used to make gasoline. That's why GasBuddy has warned that if these tariffs go into place, drivers in the Midwest, in the Rockies, they could see gas prices go up by $0.25 to $0.75 a gallon. That would be inflationary.

We know Americans are fed up with high grocery prices, but we import significant amounts of food from Mexico, including 89 percent of the avocados that are imported into the U.S., they come from Mexico, 91 percent of tomatoes. So you could see prices for food go even higher.

One last point here is it is a very indifferent - it is a very different environment from when Trump imposed tariffs during the first administration, right? Inflation is not back to normal yet, and he's not just promising big tariffs. He's promising sweeping deportations, which of course could also be inflationary. Boris and Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes, sometimes the sequel's bad though, Matt. I'm thinking "Teen Wolf 2." I'm thinking ...

SANCHEZ: Whoa, "Teen Wolf 2"?

KEILAR: Yes, I am. Boris, I went there.

SANCHEZ: It's a classic.

KEILAR: "Godfather Part III," do not - don't argue ... SANCHEZ: "Godfather II" was better than the first one.

KEILAR: ... three - three.

SANCHEZ: Three was not great, no.

KEILAR: Three, I'm just saying - I'm just saying. So, I mean, Matt, what are businesses and companies doing to get ahead of these proposed tariffs in case the sequel is worse for them than the original?

EGAN: Well, on sequels, my four-year-old would argue that "Home Alone 2" was almost as good as "Home Alone 1," so there's that. But look, businesses, they're scrambling.

KEILAR: Great taste.

EGAN: They're scrambling to get out of the way of these tariffs. I think it's a great time to be a lawyer or a lobbyist who advises corporations on trade issues right now. And we are hearing from some companies who are warning that yes, they're going to raise prices. I mean, just today, the footwear industry pleaded with the president- elect to rethink these tariffs, warning that even though he says the prices won't go up, they will.

The trade group that represents Nike, Crocs and others said that these tariffs would directly increase costs for retailers and consumers, leading to higher prices on everyday essentials like shoes. Because remember, these tariffs, they're basically taxes on imports. And so U.S. companies, they pay the tariff to Treasury, and then they have to decide, do they eat the cost of the tariff or do they pass along the cost to consumers? And more often than not, they pass along the cost.

We've already heard for Target, Wal-Mart, a number of different retailers, AutoZone, Columbia Sportswear, they've all said that tariffs could raise prices. So listen, this is going to be an ongoing story for the next weeks and months to come as we all try to make sense of these tariff threats.

KEILAR: All right. Matt Egan, thank you so much. We do appreciate the report.

And for more on Trump's pledge to implement his tariffs plan, let's talk with Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us.

Your reaction to ...

REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D-VA): My pleasure.

KEILAR: ... yes, thanks for being on. And just what's your reaction to these tariffs that Trump's proposing?

CONNOLLY: You know, the emphasis in the tariffs is a very crude weapon, it's not sophisticated. And as your report indicated, neither is it targeted. What Donald Trump is proposing as the alpha disruptor is to disrupt the largest trade market in the world. Remember that just these three countries every year traverse $1.5 trillion worth of goods and services. It's an integrated economy.

And there is no question that, first of all, he's going to violate his own treaty. He renegotiated NAFTA and called his renegotiation the greatest trade agreement in the history of the world. He is now going to abrogate that treaty on day one with 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The threat of retaliation is real. I can't imagine the newly installed Mexican president or the much-buffeted premier of Canada stepping aside and acting like, well, it's the American prerogative. And so we're in for serious tariff wars, and it will add, it absolutely will add to the cost of goods and services here in America. It is estimated that the average family will pay a thousand dollars a year more than they're paying now if he imposes these tariffs on January 20th.

KEILAR: Well, I mean, that's the thing, the well-known secret about much of the food on our table, especially in the U.S., is that it's brought to us by undocumented labor. The majority of workers in the meatpacking industry are undocumented. I think almost a half of farm workers are.

Do you think that we're looking at deportations that will affect that labor force, coupled with a labor supply that could be cut off by stricter measures at the border, coupled with the food costs being affected by these tariffs?

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CONNOLLY: I do. Look, all of us want a secured border and all of us want the ideal that people who want to come to the United States do so legally. There's no disagreement about that. However, we need farm workers. We need auto workers. We are seeing our labor force under a lot of constraint because we're not growing as a population. The only way America grows is with immigration.

And so when you threaten mass deportation, millions of people in concentration camps, apparently, who would then be deported somewhere, you are injecting a real chilling effect on people to come to America whose labor we need, whose energy we need, whose contributions to a social safety net we need. And so this is going to be a balancing act, and crude weapons like tariffs and threats of mass deportation, I feel are going to be counterproductive.

KEILAR: If I can play devil's advocate too, though, I mean, some of this is about - this is about immigration. This is about fentanyl. That's what he's saying. This is about drugs coming over the border, precursor chemicals coming over the border. We know that China recently started cooperating with the U.S. a bit on that, and that came after Biden met with Xi, a little bit of soft power there. This is clearly a hard power attack that Trump is taking, but do you think that China could do more to cooperate? Do you think that Trump taking this stance might actually work to kind of rattle China?

CONNOLLY: It's hard to predict. China is the world's second largest economy, and soon probably going to eclipse us as number one. We depend on Chinese imports for all kinds of things here in the United States, consumer goods and technology. And so protecting our markets makes sense up to a point. But if you get into a tit for tat, China is not some small banana republic.

And if Xi Jinping decides to retaliate with the threat of tariffs, our economy is going to suffer. And so as I go back to what I said originally, tariffs are crude weapons. They're not very effective. The threat of them might be, and we'll see, but I think Donald Trump is really playing Russian roulette here with the U.S. economy.

KEILAR: And Congress, I wanted to end - or Congressman, I wanted to end on a personal note because I, as so many people saw, that you are battling - you are a fighter for sure, but you're battling esophageal cancer. You just came out publicly and told folks about this a few weeks ago. I was saddened to see that, and I was wondering how you're doing and what you want people to know.

CONNOLLY: I'm doing okay. The treatment is rough, but it means that it's getting at the cancer. We feel that a couple more treatments, we're going to see either remission or the disappearance of cancer cells entirely. The outpouring of support, Brianna, including yours has been phenomenal. And I might say, I've heard from almost as many Republican colleagues in Congress as I have Democrats. It's been heartwarming. It is an example, I think, of the fact that we are a human institution and we can rise above our political differences when there's a member in need.

I am blessed with a wonderful family. I'm blessed with wonderful constituents and we're going to see this through and beat it.

KEILAR: We hope so, sir. We know so you are a fighter, and it's great to hear that your colleagues across the aisle are touching base with you. That's wonderful.

Congressman Gerry Connolly, thank you.

CONNOLLY: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: And just ahead, Thanksgiving travel is expected to set a new record. You're looking at live pictures here of Washington Reagan airport. We are going to be seeing 18 million people traveling by plane at Reagan and other airports alone. We'll go live there ahead.

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