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Interview With Canadian Parliament Member Jagmeet Singh; Hamas Postponing Next Hostage Release; Interview With New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin; New Trump Trade Battle. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 10, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:41]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: New tariffs cracking down on metal imports, President Donald Trump announcing a 25 percent hike on all steel and aluminum coming into the United States. We're going to break down the winners and losers and what it means for you.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, a fork in the road or a legal dead end? One hour from now, the fate of the administration's so-called buyout offer to two million federal workers is in the hands of a federal judge, and we're following the latest.

And Hamas announces that it is postponing the next hostage release that is set for this weekend. They're accusing Israel of failing to abide by the terms of the cease-fire deal. How Israel is now responding to the move.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: President Donald Trump is firing another shot in his expanding trade war. Today, he's set to announce more tariffs, this time focusing on steel and aluminum imports. Notably, this 25 percent is going to hit Canada and Mexico especially hard.

They're two of the largest steel exporters to the United States. And this comes on the same day that China's retaliatory taxes on nearly $14 billion in U.S. exports will go into effect. This could be just another round of many in this trade fight. Keep in mind the president says he is going to announce reciprocal tariffs later this week aiming to match other countries' tariffs on U.S. goods dollar for dollar.

Let's take you now to the White House with CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, walk us through this new round of tariffs.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right.

Well, I will start with the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum, Boris, really just the latest escalation of the president, his administration's overhaul of U.S. trade policy. And you're exactly right. These tariffs are expected to hit Canada and Mexico hardest, in addition to some other countries.

I just want to walk you through it. The biggest source of U.S. exporters of steel or imports into the United States are Canada, Brazil and Mexico, followed by South Korea and Vietnam. That's according to government data and data from the American Iron and Steel Institute.

But the other thing to keep in mind as well is that Canada, by and large, is the biggest exporter of aluminum to the United States. I mentioned that because, of course, we know that this comes just after the president hit pause on implementing 25 percent tariffs on both Canada and Mexico while they try to work out some sort of agreement.

Now they're going to be seeing this different round of tariffs targeting steel and aluminum. Now, I also want to hit what you mentioned about the reciprocal tariffs. We know that the president said this weekend that he is planning on implementing any sort of tariffs on other countries what they have on us.

They -- he wants to implement that, kind of like an eye for an eye. I want you to listen to how he said it when he was talking to reporters on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will be announcing probably Tuesday or Wednesday at a news conference reciprocal tariffs. And, very simply, it's, if they charge us, we charge them. That's all.

QUESTION: When is it going into effect, sir?

TRUMP: Almost immediately. If they are charging us 130 percent, and we're charging them nothing, it's not going to stay that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Boris, as always, the devil is in the details.

I think a lot of questions are, of course, what exactly this will look like in practice and on paper. We're going to be seeing this in a little bit of a while. What I can say is, the president did argue, without naming names, that he may be open to some exemptions on the reciprocal tariffs, if he's happy with the trade agreements that the United States has with those trading partners.

And then the other thing, of course, is would there be -- the big question is, will there be any sort of exemptions or exceptions when it comes to the steel and aluminum tariffs? I'd remind you that, during his first administration, the president, Donald Trump, had implemented a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

However, then he did have an exemption for Canada, so really a lot of questions over whether any sort of countries can work out some sort of deal, just like we saw Canada and Mexico do with those blanket tariffs earlier this month -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thank you so much for the update.

[13:05:00]

We want to dig deeper now on these tariffs and their impact with Roben Farzad. He's a business journalist and host of NPR's "Full Disclosure."

Roben, thanks so much for being with us this afternoon.

On these 25 percent tariffs, why do you think Trump is specifically targeting steel and aluminum and how are consumers going to feel the impact of this?

ROBEN FARZAD, HOST, "FULL DISCLOSURE": I think, for starters, this is about punching China in the nose, the great big panda.

If you look at what China has done over the past 30 or 40 years in terms of ramping up steel production, where the United States was dominant, say, in the middle of the 20th century and big steel and Pittsburgh and all the various things that came out of that, including Detroit and the various industries that could take that for granted, that industry has been in kind of an inexorable decline for a long time.

China, meanwhile, has been able to bring on all sorts of steel mills, all sorts of more modern steel mills. It can take inputs. It can recycle, scrap. And it is now a behemoth. And it's become problematic because China has a difficult economy right now, and it cannot afford to stop those steel mills.

So, you see dumping all across the global trade balance. And that's ending up in the United States and irritating domestic manufacturers.

SANCHEZ: So, in a -- the point of view of consumers, what does this mean for, like, new construction projects, for automobiles? Are things going to get more expensive for folks?

FARZAD: Yes. Yes.

Look, the market for steel, which, again, used to be dominated by Pittsburgh, it's no longer that. As your correspondent said, it's very fluid and fungible. We have the Koreans, the Mexicans, the Canadians, the Vietnamese all along the value chain passing this stuff along.

And if there's any shiver in the system, any idea that, wow, a big price hike is going through -- already, car prices are at a record high. They saw significant inflation coming out of the supply chain shock of the pandemic. And it stands to reason that you could see $1,000 or $2,000 of those car prices go up even more.

This is something that you really don't want in an inflationary environment. Having said that, the goal is to get foreign players to build steel mills here in the United States, to colocate here. And that could be a stretch.

But, again, with Trump, we don't know if it's bark or bite in this case, if this is an opening negotiating tactic or it's -- you can't negotiate it.

SANCHEZ: Sometimes, it is hard to tell.

Roben, about these reciprocal tariffs, these dollar-for-dollar tariffs, how do you see that playing out?

FARZAD: It's very good pungent politically, right? I mean, his numbers are great right down. And it's saying, if you hit us, we're going to hit you back.

But this is becoming confusing. There's so much that has come out, a rapid fire, kind of staccato succession of news and tariffs and inputs and maybe we will carve out things. If you saw how it played out the first time around in practice, there were carve-outs. In practice, for example, U.S. farmers were hurt, but the administration, the first Trump administration, came back and tried to make them whole.

I think, at the very outset, as you're seeing with D.C., this is shock and awe. This is about a shot across the bow to China, which, again, China for the first time since its ascension to the World Trade Organization in the early '90s, it is suffering a deep economic malaise. And it doesn't have the choice to kind of shut these plants down and negotiate with the United States.

So it is hitting them where it's going to hurt them.

SANCHEZ: Roben Farzad, very much appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us.

FARZAD: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Brianna.

KEILAR: Here in the next hour, a critical hearing on President Trump's buyout plan for nearly two million federal employees.

A federal judge, George O'Toole, the Clinton appointee who paused last Thursday's deadline for workers to accept the resignation package, will be deciding whether to keep the freeze on Trump's so-called fork in the road buyouts. The White House says at least 65,000 employees have taken them so far.

The administration e-mailed the federal work force after Thursday's deadline was halted, telling employees that the cutoff date to accept the buyout would be extended to the end of the day today.

With us now is New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. He's one of 21 Democratic attorneys general challenging this Trump buyout plan.

A.G., thanks for being with us.

You say it's unlawfully pressuring employees to resign. People are familiar with buyouts being used in private industry. We have seen them used. And, certainly, supporters of Trump's plan will reference President Bill Clinton's buyout program from the early '90s. How do you see this one differently? How do you make the legal case for that? MATTHEW PLATKIN (D), NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, look, there

are legal protections for civil servants that this administration has clearly not paid any attention to.

And, yes, you see buyouts in a lot of industries, but there are rules and contracts in place for how those will be enforced. These people were essentially harassed in order to give up their jobs. And the American public should understand that this will mean, if a natural disaster hits, fewer people to respond with FEMA, if you're a veteran, fewer people at the veterans organization to make sure that we can provide health care and other services to people who serve this country.

And, by the way, I'm in a state with Atlantic City. If people think that this administration will honor the deal, I got some businessmen and contractors in Atlantic City who would like to talk about their experience with the president.

[13:10:06]

KEILAR: The buyouts, of course, the Clinton era buyouts, were approved by Congress. How significant is that detail?

PLATKIN: Well, it's very significant because this administration has essentially thumbed its nose at any form of legal process.

They haven't even tried, despite having a majority in Congress, to do anything over the first few weeks through proper legal channels. And this is bigger than just this one case. Take the funding case where they froze $3 trillion in federal spending without even attempting to go through the proper legal process for doing so, just because the president woke up one day and decided that people didn't need health care or educational services or that law enforcement could be fired on a whim.

That's not the way the rule of law works. That's not the way the Constitution works. And we're going to stand up for it.

KEILAR: So, while this is being figured out, what happens to -- and the White House says it's like 65,000 people at this point who have opted in to the buyout. They have signed up for it.

PLATKIN: Well, the judge has put that on hold for now, and we will see how the court case plays out.

But, again, having spoken to some of these people, they received e- mails upon e-mails upon e-mails essentially saying, take this deal now or you're out. Take this deal now or, as they see, we're shutting down agencies, again, another act that they're taking unlawfully.

And I just would remind them, both Elon and President Trump don't have a great track record here of following through on deals that they have promised people, especially when they haven't even bothered to do things through the proper legal process, as you noted they did previously. KEILAR: Will those workers have more recourse, considering this is

not -- this is the government. Whether you think Trump or Musk are doing this illegally, they're doing this on behalf of the federal government.

PLATKIN: Well, people have rights in this country. Those rights didn't change on January 20.

And I assume, as they have been, they will continue to press their rights and ensure that the law is followed. And as attorneys general, we took an oath to protect the residents of our state, for me, 9.5 million people, and to uphold the Constitution.

And that's what we have been doing. And I urge this administration -- you saw what J.D. Vance said yesterday. They're going to pick and choose, apparently, what court orders they want to follow. Maybe they should go back, relearn the basics, and start following the law, and they will stop having courts telling them so frequently that they're in violation.

KEILAR: Let me ask you about that, because he said judges are not allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.

You clearly have taken that as a sign that they are not -- I mean, you tell me. Are you taking that as a sign that they're not going to respect what they see as illegitimate control over executive power? How do you see what he said?

PLATKIN: Well, you have to take it, given the way he said it, and the fact that there's now been a day of questions and he hasn't bothered to clarify.

Look, J.D. Vance and I went to school at about the same time. I think I'm the only one of us who paid any attention in law school, because it's very clear that the courts under our Constitution get to decide what the law is. And the administration cannot unilaterally disregard valid court orders.

There's a process for that. They don't like what a judge does, they can appeal it. They brag about how they have remade the federal judiciary. And I'd urge them to stop saber-rattling and pretending that they have more power than they do in order to try to get the American public to accept blatant harms and injuries to them, because that's what this is about.

They want to do illegal things to the American people, and they don't want to bother with legal process that they have to follow.

KEILAR: You said they can't disregard the courts. Do you think they will?

PLATKIN: I hope not.

Look, we just minutes ago got an order in the federal funding case where a judge said that they have to follow his order and was not satisfied with their degree of compliance, again, putting trillions of dollars, health care spending, education spending, law enforcement at risk, because the president on a whim decided he didn't like it.

So what the vice president said yesterday, he knows it's not right. He knows it. He learned it in the first day of law school. And I'd encourage him to stop pretending that this administration doesn't have to do what every administration before it and every administration that's going to come after it has to do, which is follow the law.

They want to put forth a policy agenda, god bless them, duly elected. I have never challenged that. What they cannot do is violate the law, violate the Constitution and hurt our residents. And when the people responsible for holding an administration in check, the courts, say that what you have done is illegal, they don't get to just wave their hand and say, oh, well, we're not going to follow that because we don't like it.

[13:15:02]

KEILAR: New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

PLATKIN: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: So, we're also following some breaking news. Hamas says it is delaying its next release of Israeli hostages. Why the group claims Israel broke the terms of the cease-fire agreement. How Israel is responding. We're live from Tel Aviv.

Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We are following breaking news out of the Middle East, where Hamas has just announced that the next hostage release scheduled for Saturday is going to be postponed. A spokesman for the group says that Israel has broken terms of the cease-fire deal.

[13:20:03]

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following this from Tel Aviv for us.

Jeremy, how is Israel responding?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Brianna, this is a very serious threat from Hamas coming at a very delicate moment in this cease-fire agreement, and, in particular, a very sensitive moment in Israel.

Following the images that we saw over the weekend of those three emaciated hostages following 16 months in captivity, we have seen a renewed sense of urgency in Israel to extend this cease-fire and get all of the hostages back. And now into that mix Hamas is injecting this threat to delay the release of the next three Israeli hostages, which was scheduled for this coming Saturday.

Hamas saying that they are doing so because they accuse Israel of violating terms of the cease-fire agreement by previously delaying the return of Palestinians to Northern Gaza, and also accusing Israel of not allowing in certain relief supplies.

In particular, we know they have accused Israel of not allowing in enough tents and prefabricated mobile homes, which they say was supposed to be part of this agreement. Israel hasn't responded to that specific claim, but we do know, of course, that Israel has previously accused Hamas of violating the agreement themselves.

And now the Israeli prime minister is currently in a security consultation about this very issue, but also, of course, about the cease-fire agreement at large, and is moving up a planned security cabinet meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow evening to tomorrow morning, showing the seriousness with which they are taking this statement from Hamas.

In addition to that, the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, has ordered the Israeli military to be at -- quote -- "the highest level of alert for any possible scenario in Gaza." He says that Hamas' claim that they will delay the release of these hostages would be a -- quote -- "complete violation" of the cease-fire agreement.

Meanwhile, we're also hearing from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which says that it is urgently requesting the assistance of the mediating countries involved in this -- in particular, that would be Qatar and Egypt -- and also making clear the time is of the essence, that all of the hostages must be urgently released from Gaza, so a very delicate moment in this cease-fire agreement.

The question is whether Hamas will follow through on that threat on Saturday. It's important to note that we are just Monday right now. There are several days for discussions to happen with the mediators, with Israel to see if this can be resolved before then.

But, as of now, Hamas is saying that they will not release three hostages on Saturday, they will delay that indefinitely, until Israel remedies the violations of the cease-fire agreement that Hamas is claiming -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jeremy Diamond, live from Tel Aviv, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: At any moment, President Donald Trump could slap a 25 percent tariff on all steel and aluminum entering the United States. The president vowed to officially announce it today, and this is a move that would have a major impact on Canada, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the steel imported by American businesses.

Canada is also the leading supplier of aluminum to the United States.

Let's discuss with Jagmeet Singh. He's a member of the Canadian Parliament and is currently running for prime minister.

Sir, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

I want to start with this argument from President Trump that, without the United States, Canada is not a viable country. What's your response? JAGMEET SINGH, CANADIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: That's just not true. It's

not true at all.

And if you think about it, what we just -- what you just listed out in terms of facts, the United States relies significantly on aluminum. The aluminum that we supply is not something that can be made in the United States. And so putting tariffs on steel and aluminum doesn't just hurt Canadians and Canadian jobs.

It also hurts Americans, because those businesses that buy that steel and aluminum from America -- from Canada will have to pay more for it. But they're not going to just eat that cost. They're going to pass that on to the consumer. And Donald Trump promised to lower prices. His policies are going to increase prices. It's going to hurt Americans.

It's going to hurt Canadians.

SANCHEZ: One of Trump's gripes with Canada seems to be on defense spending. He says that Canadians incorrectly assume the United States will intervene and protect them militarily if you are attacked.

How do you read that? Do you think that Canada needs to take steps to secure its own defense?

SINGH: Well, independent of Donald Trump, we absolutely do need to make some more investments in our armed forces.

And I'm prepared to do that. I think we need to better equip our men and women that serve. We need to make sure they have got adequate housing. We need to invest more in the equipment. And so there's going to be some investments that we need to make.

But let us be clear. Donald Trump has told people what this is all about. He wants Canada's resources. He wants Canada's natural essential minerals. He wants Canada's water. And he's not going to be able to get that. We are going to fight back and defend our country.

[13:25:00]

SANCHEZ: He has touted the benefits for Canadians of joining the United States, as he sees it, including lower taxes.

Do you see any benefits to Canada becoming the 51st state? And I wonder what you have heard from constituents.

SINGH: No, not at all.

And I want to put it in this term. If you're in Canada and you have to get heart surgery, the only thing you have to pay for maybe is parking at the hospital. You don't go bankrupt with illnesses in Canada. We believe in taking care of one another. And it's that principle of taking care of one another that builds up our health care system.

We have got to improve it, but it's not something you have to worry about in terms of cost. It doesn't -- you don't go bankrupt if you get sick in Canada.

SANCHEZ: And as far as your view that Trump is wrong in his assessment that there are Canadians that want to join the United States, have you heard from any constituents saying that?

SINGH: No, the loud, loud response is anger. We believe in being good neighbors.

And so for folks out there, and for Donald Trump specifically, we are known as we're being polite.We're proud of being polite, but don't take our kindness for weakness. We are proud of the country that we have built. Canadians have reacted in anger. They feel insulted that our good neighbor would take shots and attack us.

We have been great neighbors together. And so, no, we do not want any part of the 51st state, hell no. We want to defend our country, build what we have, be good neighbors. But if we have an unreliable partner, then we're prepared to diversify our economy. There's lots of countries we can work with.

We would have loved to continue to have a strong relationship, but we can't be vulnerable to the whims of a president who wants to attack one of his closest allies.

SANCHEZ: As I noted a moment ago, you are in the running for prime minister as Justin Trudeau announced that he plans to soon step down.

What do you think of the relationship that he's maintained, that he's kept with Donald Trump, and how would you approach it differently?

SINGH: Well, sadly, as I mentioned, I believe in being good (AUDIO GAP) one of the third largest political parties in Canada, and I will be running for prime minister.

I believe that we want to -- I believe in being good neighbors and having good relationships. But I believe very firmly Donald Trump only understands force. He's acted as a bully in many circumstances, and now he's acting as an economic bully.

The only language that bullies understand is the language of strength. So we have to show that we're ready to fight back. We might be smaller, we might be up against a larger opponent, but it's going to hurt both of us. It's a bad thing to do. It's going to hurt Americans. It's going to hurt Canadians. We need to show that it's a wrong thing to do, and also show that we're ready to fight back and defend what we have.

SANCHEZ: What does that fighting entail? How do you see that fighting moving forward? Is it reciprocal tariffs?

SINGH: Yes, the first step is going to be dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs. Impose a tariff on us, we will impose a tariff back on you.

Again, no one wins in these trade wars. But this is not a fight that we wanted to pick. We were happy to continue to have a strong relationship. Donald Trump has picked this fight, so we're going to fight back. We just announced today what I would do is put in place a 100 percent tariff on Tesla, directly targeting Elon Musk, because Elon Musk is proudly touting this idea of the 51st state, so let's hit back at Elon Musk.

I have also said we should shut down the supply of critical minerals, another move that directly targets Elon Musk and his Tesla company. The batteries that he needs require these critical minerals. We have got tools and we should be ready to use them. It's not something that we wanted to do, but if Donald Trump wants to bring this fight, know that we are ready. I'm putting Donald Trump on notice.

SANCHEZ: Canadian M.P. Jagmeet Singh, I appreciate you joining us and sharing your perspective.

SINGH: Thank you so much, sir.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

Coming up: Slashing spending, but at what cost? Today, employees of the nation's top consumer watchdog were ordered to stop working altogether. Does that mean that Americans are more susceptible to fraud?

Plus, top doctors are sounding the alarm after the U.S. National Institutes of Health cut payments affecting research.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We're back after a quick break.

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