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Today, Trump to Announce New 25 Percent Tariffs on Steel, Aluminum Imports; Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Shut D.C. H.Q. This Week; Eagles Beat Chiefs in Dominant Super Bowl LIX Performance. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 10, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A penny banned is a penny earned. The president orders them stopped, pennies, as we are standing by for an announcement on sweeping new tariffs.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The president is also moving a big step closer to eliminating another government agency. Staff at the nation's consumer watchdog ordered to stay home, just after Elon Musk tweets CFPB RIP.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And a Super Bowl blowout, the Eagles soar to become champions. No three-peat for the Kansas City Chiefs, who barely got past the 50 yard line for most of the game.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: A penny for your thoughts. Maybe not ever again. The president just ordered the mint to stop making them. And, yes, there are questions of whether it has the authority to do that. He definitely has the authority to impose tariffs, new ones this morning on steel and aluminum.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Everybody, steel.

REPORTER: Including Canada and Mexico?

TRUMP: Yes. Any steel coming into the United States is going to have a 25 percent tariff.

REPORTER: What about aluminum?

TRUMP: Aluminum too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, this will hit Canada and Mexico hard, two of the largest steel exporters to the United States. This is the week after the president retreated on other tariffs against them. He also says he will launch new reciprocal tariffs to match what other countries have on U.S. goods dollar for dollar.

Let's get to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House for this new tariff Monday. Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's exactly right. I mean, this is just the latest escalation, John, in Donald Trump's escalating, you know, threat of tariffs and bringing the United States closer into a trade war with many of its trading partners.

Now, as you said, and as you heard the president say there on Air Force One yesterday when he was flying to New Orleans for the Super Bowl, he said that he planned on Monday to announce 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum goods going into the United States. And as you mentioned as well, this is really going to hit our trading partners very hard, especially the ones, of course, that are involved in giving steel to United States.

The largest sources of U.S. steel in imports are Canada, Brazil, Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam. But, you know, there's no question that as for aluminum, Canada is actually the biggest trading partner with the United States on that.

So, as you mentioned, going to be hitting both our neighbors, north and south, very hard just after the president had walked away and kind of said he was going to put a one month hold on the other sweeping tariffs that he had initially posed on those countries.

I also just want to talk about what he tried to do during his first term, because we know that the president, when he was in office in his first administration, he put 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum, .Ut then we also learned that he later had some exceptions and exemptions for certain countries. Canada, Mexico, Brazil, all of them had some, yes, duty free exemptions during that policy.

So, I think the key question to look for today is what exactly are the details in this policy and could there be exceptions? Or is he going to move forward with kind of the blanket rhetoric around tariffs that we know he's been using so far during this term?

One other thing to keep in mind as well, as this all comes after he to have some big investment with Nippon Steel last week. That was after he had met with U.S. Steel at the White House. We know that Nippon still had originally had this deal. You know, multibillion deal to try and buy U.S. Steel, something that President Biden actually blocked. The president last week said he said there's going to be a big investment in U.S. Steel from Nippon. Still waiting on those details as well. John?

BERMAN: So, a lot of us went to sleep late last night after the Super Bowl and woke up early to the news of this new war on pennies. What's going on with that, Alayna?

TREENE: That's right. We saw the president post overnight about this, saying he was going to be directing the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies. I want to read for you what he wrote. He said, quote, for far too long the United States has minted pennies, which literally cost us more than two cents.

[07:05:00]

This is so wasteful. He said in that post, he went on to say, I have instructed my secretary of the United States Treasury to stop producing new pennies.

Now, the move is really the latest in what we've seen has been a rapid fire effort by the Trump administration to try and find areas to cut funding, to cut money. And this is one that the president now says he argues is one that he wants to target.

Now, this was not I want to note not something that the president talked about throughout his time on the campaign trail, but we do know that Elon Musk, who's running, you know, the Department of Government Efficiency, they had actually brought this up last month in a post on X, highlighting the cost to produce pennies. So, all of this kind of tied to that broader effort of them trying to find waste, abuse and fraud in the government. And now the president is saying this is one area that he wants to move forward with. John?

BERMAN: Right. Alayna Treen, I did not know that pennies cost more than three cents to make. But likewise, I didn't know that nickels cost more than 13 cents to make. So if you're going after an inefficient coin, man, the nickel. Sara?

SIDNER: Five cents. All right, it's deadline day again. The Trump administration has given federal workers until the end of today to decide if they'll accept a so-called buyout offer. A federal judge, though, paused the program last week. In just hours, the same judge will hold a hearing on whether the program is even legal.

The court's decision could have a serious implications for the president's plan to gut and reshape the government, plans led by billionaire Elon Musk and his government efficiency team.

CNN's Rene Marsh is joining us now. This court hearing is going to happen today. What are we expecting?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Sara, we're talking about 2 million federal workers who received this offer. So far, we know that 65,000 roughly have accepted. So, that's around 3 percent of the federal workforce.

The Trump administration's buyout offer is a part of, as you mentioned, the president and the Department of Government Efficiencies plan to thin out the workforce. And today, this federal judge in Boston could rule if the program is even legal.

Now, this hearing comes again after this same judge in Boston put this program on hold. It was just hours before the deadline for these federal workers to accept the deal last week. And the judge paused it because he wanted to take more time to review the details of the program and determine if it is legal.

It is worth noting that Congress has not appropriated funds beyond March 14th. And this buyout offer promises federal workers that they would be paid through the end of September if they agreed to resign now. So, that is one of the many problems with this deal that the labor unions and several Democratic attorneys general have pointed out.

I do want to point out that Vice President J.D. Vance is already pushing back on this federal judge, saying in a tweet, if a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that's also illegal. Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.

So, they see that this judge has no place in making a determination on the president's buyout plan. But again, these labor unions saying that this plan is -- the legality of it is questionable. Sara?

SIDNER: And J.D. Vance's comments there have a lot of people wondering whether or not they're going to follow what the court actually rules ultimately, that a big controversy as well this morning.

Thank you so much, Rene Marsh, for that great reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, Elon Musk has turned his focus to the nation's top consumer watchdog. Why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is shutting down essentially this week.

Plus, new cases of bird flu forcing New York to take action. The new concerns and message today from the state's top health official.

And the world's largest coffee chain offering you a free cup today. What this promotion has to do with what Starbucks hopes is a big reboot.

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[07:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Then I'm going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. He's going to find the same thing. Then I'm going to go to the military. Let's check the military. We're going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse. And, you know, the people elected me on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That is what Donald Trump is tasking Elon Musk to do. And today, he is turning that effort to target the country's top consumer watchdog. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is essentially shutting down today after every worker at the CFPB was ordered over the weekend to stay home.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich has much more on this. A lot of questions about exactly what they're being told to do and why, but what is the latest on this?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, essentially, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau does exactly what its name entails. It protects everyday Americans against fraud, against junk fees, against trying to prevent another subprime mortgage crisis from happening.

But just yesterday, employees got an email saying, stay home this week. Do not show up to the office. It's going to be closed. This is on the heels of an email that came Saturday saying essentially stop doing all work.

[07:15:04]

So, employees are left wondering what is going on. Do I have a job? Is this just temporary?

But this is really part of Elon Musk and DOGE at the direction of President Trump's efforts to dismantle what they're saying are organizations and government bureaus that do not run effectively, in their mind. But what it does is it takes the big consumer watchdog player out of the game, essentially.

And just you saw this forecast said by Elon Musk on Friday, he tweeted a little bit of an RIP to this Consumer -- you see right there, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau signaling that this was coming.

How does this affect everyday Americans? Well, by the numbers, there are nearly 200 million people and their accounts that can be protected by this bureau. $363 million has been recovered for veterans, people that were taken advantage of under the Military Lending Act, and about $6.1 billion. That's how much Americans are saving every year because this bureau has stopped overdraft fees for everyday Americans.

Now, lawsuits have been filed by employees against Russell Vought, who is the director now of this bureau -- excuse me, of this bureau. And sometimes these cases move pretty quickly. So, we could see as soon as the next couple days that this dismantling of this organization is actually going to be put on pause.

But for the people who work there, a lot of questions for the American consumer, a lot of questions, who's protecting me at the end of the day?

BOLDUAN: Also, this -- the CFPB has been a target for criticism by Republican lawmakers really since its inception in the aftermath of the housing crisis. The efforts to dismantle the agency previously have not worked. This time, though, it seems that they -- I mean this is seems to be exactly what they're going to be doing.

YURKEVICH: It's what they're trying to do. And we know that there are Democratic lawmakers who have written a letter saying we cannot do this. So, clearly, they're sensing that this could potentially happen. This could work this time. But the big question is, when will this all happen? Is this happening this week? Is it not happening this week? Where does this go? But for consumers, it's a big question mark. How are they being protected if this organization does not exist anymore?

BOLDUAN: We say it with every single one of these moves. Let's see what happens today.

Vanessa, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: This morning, a group of cities across the U.S. banding together to sue the Trump administration over the new immigration policies.

And, quote, the only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift. That was from the president of the United States. The question this morning, will Travis Kelce respond?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: So, this morning the score was 40-22, but that makes it seem closer than it was. Boy, that music's loud. This was a blowout beat down. At one point, my wife asked me if the Chiefs were even trying.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the Super Bowl champs. There will be no three-peat.

CNN's Coy Wire is in New Orleans, where, Coy, I have to say, except for one blown call by the refs right at the beginning, this was almost never endowed.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. And the Eagles were darn near perfect. As you mentioned, we thought we were going to see that Chiefs' peat, first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls. Instead, we got a dominant performance by the Eagles and especially that Eagles defense.

The stars, the celebs were out in New Orleans, and so was the president, President Donald Trump, the first sitting president ever to attend a Super Bowl. Taylor Swift, of course, in the house cheering for her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. But Kelce, Mahomes and the entire Chiefs offense team, they ran into a buzz saw, that is the Eagles' defense. Mahomes was sacked six times on the night. There you can see the video. We got a rack in, President Trump, first sitting U.S. president to attend. And there's Ms. Taylor Swift. But, yes, they absolutely got dominated by this Eagles defense.

Mahomes was sacked six times, John, running for his life all night. And he threw two interceptions. And in the second quarter, it was rookie Cooper DeJean on his birthday picking off the Patrick Mahomes, taking a 38 yards for a touchdown, streaking to the end zone in his birthday suit in the Super Bowl.

And, John, then it was Zach Bond getting a pick. He played four seasons in New Orleans in that stadium. And last year, he was a back up there, said he'd cry at times thinking maybe I just don't have it anymore. But there he was, his first season in Philly, came in all pro. Now, a short while later after this, Eagles Quarterback Jalen Hurts, he continued his takeover. Touchdown to A.J. Brown, made it 24-0. Hurts threw two T.D.s, led the team in rushing, scored another touchdown on the ground. His 72 yards rushing in this Super Bowl is a record for a quarterback. The Eagles absolutely slaying the Chiefs, 40-22. Hurts is your Super Bowl MVP. Here's the guys after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: It's been a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows. And I've always stayed true to it in the end and having this vision of just being the best that I can be. And that evolving over time into this desire and this flame inside to win.

COOPER DEJEAN, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES CORNERBACK: It's crazy that we're world champs. Best birthday ever. Best birthday ever. I think everybody in my family would agree to. I'm just happy they're going to be here to be a part of it.

HURT: Defense played (INAUDIBLE). They played how they played all year, you know, and I truly believe offense wins game with defense wins championships.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: And that defense certainly won it for him last night.

The Chiefs only had 23 yards of offense in the first half, while the Eagles, they had 24 points.

[07:25:00]

Mahomes now falls to 3-2 in Super Bowls. It was just a struggle for that Chiefs offense from the start. Mahomes obviously upset after his performance and the team's. Here's what he had to say after that tough loss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: Credit to the Eagles, man. They played better than us from start to finish. We didn't start how we wanted to. Obviously, the turnovers hurt and, I mean, I just got to --I take all the blame for that. I mean, just those early turnovers swing the momentum of the game and then they capitalized on them and they scored -- I mean, they scored on the one and then they got a touchdown immediately after. So, that's 14 points that I kind of gave them. And it's hard to come back from that in the Super Bowl. And so just didn't play to my standard and I have to be better next time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: I can imagine the streets of Philadelphia, John, are probably rocking still and they might not stop for quite some time until whenever that parade may be. Incredible performance for Jalen Hurts. Saquon Barkley's birthday yesterday as well, his first birthday, his first Super Bowl on his birthday, great storylines all around and an incredible job by New Orleans hosting this Super Bowl 59. It was an awesome time here with the Cajun Creole Cuisine, the music and huge win for Philly.

BERMAN: It was a win for Coy Wire. I don't think anyone won more the last week than you did in New Orleans. Thank you for being there. Get home safely. Sara?

SIDNER: I think I see tired eyes in that Coy Wire. I think he's been out every night, potentially.

All right, you know what else was pretty fantastic? Kendrick Lamar, a satirical Uncle Sam he had on stage, Serena Williams doing the Crip walk, and a red, white, and blue flag made out of humans. Kendrick Lamar won as big as the Eagles with his performance, the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the Super Bowl, by the way. And he didn't disappoint, except perhaps for one person, that would be rapper Drake, when Kendrick performed the diss track, Not Like Us.

Okay, Serena. Okay, so it's lost on no one that has been watching this back and forth with Drake and Kendrick that there were a lot of messages there, some not so subtle. Tennis phenom Serena Williams, by the way, dated Drake. She's on stage. You saw her there Crip walking on Drake's proverbial grave. All right, everybody is excited about that performance. And of course, Eagle fans are going nuts today.

All right, thousands of low income families are now left in limbo after the administration tried to cut funding to Head Start programs. We take a look at the critical work that is now being endangered, and we will speak to someone who knows that firsthand.

Also, new concerns this morning about bird flu, a strain found in cows now that could make it easier to spread to human beings. Those stories, ahead.

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