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White House Delays Auto Tariffs on Mexico and Canada for One Month; Trump Describes Trudeau Call as Somewhat Friendly; Trump Says There Will Be a Little Disturbance From Tariffs; Congressional Republicans Push for Answers From Musk Over DOGE. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 05, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Talking tariffs. President Trump and Canada's Prime Minister discussing how to potentially avoid a trade war. We just learned the White House will issue a slight delay for three U.S. companies, but the stakes remain high as do prices. Plus, looking for a reboot on relations, U.S. and Ukrainian officials agreeing to meet in the near future as Washington pauses weapons shipments and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. What this means for the battlefield.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And what led to the death of actor Gene Hackman. Investigators are now saying it was not a gas leak that killed the Hollywood legend. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: This just into CNN. The White House says that after discussions with the big three automakers, it'll make a one-month exception on tariffs on any autos from Mexico and Canada. Meantime, we're learning new details about today's call between President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The prime minister's office says the two leaders spoke for 50 minutes, had a "constructive conversation" and might speak again later today.

President Trump though had a very different take, posting that Canada's efforts on drug trafficking are "not good enough" and saying "the call ended in a somewhat friendly manner." He then blamed Canada's policies for the fentanyl deaths in the United States. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live for us outside the White House.

Jeff, a lot of suspense surrounding this call. Questions about whether there may be a call later on today. What are you hearing about it from sources inside the White House?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, Boris, we know that they talked this morning for a little bit under an hour and that, of course, the trade war was one of the examples. But, the president in a separate series of phone calls that actually is a bit more pressing, really underscoring this whiplash on tariffs, he announced that he is putting a one-month reprieve on U.S. automakers, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis for any goods that they get from Canada and Mexico.

Of course, the Prime Minister of Canada was concerned about that, but he's concerned about all goods and the broader scope of tariffs. So it's a little bit unclear if anything actually developed from that call with the prime minister, but something definitely did with the automakers. And this is the second straight day that the president has spoken with the automakers. Really, the White House has been fielding just a series of calls from business leaders, Republican lawmakers, and others sounding the alarm about what this could do to the economy, and we saw what it's been doing to the stock market. But the White House press secretary explained it like this.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, the president did just put out a statement on his call with the Governor Justin Trudeau, as he calls him, of Canada. And he said that he was not pleased. As you said, he said it's not good enough. He told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that directly. The call ended in a somewhat friendly manner, as the president said, but he's not going to stop standing up for the American people.

So, I think for folks on Wall Street who may be concerned, look at what this president did for you in his first term. Wall Street boomed, stock market boomed, the President expects that to happen again, but most importantly, Main Street is going to boom. And that's why the president has this whole of government economic approach, which includes tax cuts, tariffs, regulation cuts and an energy industry that will bring down costs for American consumers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So the White House press secretary downplaying the exact role that the stock market or the fall in financial markets more broadly had on the president's decision. But there's no question, we know this is a metric the president watches very, very carefully. So that is why we are told a one-month reprieve was indeed put in place. The broader question is why one month? What can companies do over a month to sort of change how they're doing business? That is sort of unclear. But another wave of tariffs, those reciprocal tariffs are scheduled to go into effect in April now.

[14:05:00]

So what we're seeing a pattern really week by week and now month by month of the president threatening tariffs, and then issuing them. And then in this case, at least issuing a temporary reprieve. We'll see what the markets say, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny from the White House, thank you so much. It looks like markets are slightly up today. We'll see where they land before the closing bell. Brianna?

KEILAR: Businesses in America, Canada and Mexico scrambling to figure out how to deal with the new Trump tariffs. And last night, President Trump suggested he might hit other countries with tariffs as well. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it's happening and it will happen rather quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Many Americans are speaking out against the Trump tariffs. Here is what one Pennsylvania voter told CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that he understands how tariffs might be inflationary and I think that he did not spend nearly enough time talking about what we're experiencing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now is Damian Paletta, Washington Bureau Chief for The Wall Street Journal. and Damian, we did just hear Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, announcing this one-month exemption for the big three automakers. But it was really interesting because the news actually broke on our show as Boris was talking to an auto dealer, who -- I think he was glad that it had been put off, but he seemed to be approaching it like a stay of execution. Like OK, great, well, it's still on the calendar. What do you think of this?

DAMIAN PALETTA, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Exactly. We're having this month by month thing now where tariffs are going to go into effect. Then he pumps the brakes, then again, and now there's more tariffs that are supposed to start in April. So he keeps doing this, markets are very unsettled. I think Trump likes having people on edge and uncertain about what he's going to do next, but as we saw this week, the market fell over a thousand points. That is something he watches very closely.

Yesterday, we had Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, come in to try to talk markets back up. Today, they were a little all over the place and now, they're up 300 points just on the Karoline Leavitt statement. So clearly, the market is hanging on every development and this is probably going to continue into the spring and summer.

KEILAR: The UAW praised these tariffs yesterday, right? They have fought to keep auto jobs in the U.S. They say tariffs help undo some of the things that damaged auto workers from these trade deals that they feel certainly were not fair. Do they have a point?

PALETTA: They have a really interesting point. Oh, however, a lot of these cars are made because of the USMCA, the new NAFTA that was passed during the first Trump Administration. These cars are actually made in all three countries. Some parts are made in Mexico, some parts are made in Canada, and some parts are made in the U.S. So, it's not like you can just say, OK, we're going to put a plant in Indiana or Ohio and make the whole car there. That's not how it works. It would take years for that to happen. That is what Trump wants though. He wants companies to invest billions of dollars in these plants. But the point that some of these companies are making is, look, our German competitors don't face these tariffs because they don't make cars in Canada and Mexico. So we're at a big disadvantage. So if you're thinking like a car dealer, buy your car in the next month before prices go up in April.

KEILAR: Yeah. And this fight that they're having, a legal basis for it is over fentanyl. Talk to us a little bit about this because even as Trump is saying, Canada's not doing good enough when it comes to fentanyl, like less than half a pound was seized at the northern border in the month of January. It is minuscule compared to what's happening at the southern border.

PALETTA: That's right. I mean actually, his rationale changes a bit kind of every time he talks about it. Obviously, he's very committed to tariffs for the sake of tariffs, bringing jobs back. The fentanyl thing --

KEILAR: So then, do you think it's just kind of BS that he (ph) says fentanyl?

PALETTA: Well, I think fentanyl gives him kind of almost a legal rationale to impose it. But I think the Canadians are throwing up their hands saying, what else do you want us to do? They said they were going to appoint a fentanyls czar, someone who's just going to be in charge of, as you said, this kind of half pound or whatever. I don't think they know what they need to do. And obviously, Trudeau is kind of on shaky political ground in Canada and President Trump knows that and is trying to make the most of it.

KEILAR: That czar would have to diversify their portfolio. That's what's clear, that he is going to need some other work to do. OK. So then, what does Canada really need to do to make him happy?

PALETTA: I don't think there's anything they can do to make him happy, quite frankly. I think what he wants is American companies to say they're going to build plants. One of the things that he said during the speech Tuesday night was that Honda is actually, instead of putting a plant, like a $4 billion plant in Mexico, they're going to put it in Indiana to make a hybrid Civic. That's exactly the kind of announcement he wants from other companies. That's American jobs. And so by dangling these tariffs out there and threatening them, if he could bring more jobs back to the American people, that's a win for him politically and economically.

KEILAR: There was something, I wonder if it stood out to you, that he said last night in his joint address where he addressed farmers who could be hurt by retaliatory tariffs, tariffs on things that they need, right, in the course of their work. He said to bear with me, right? He seemed to be imploring them. Hang in there. He said there will be a little disturbance.

[14:10:00] In his first term, farmers, we should note, actually got a $28 billion buyout. They got relief from tariffs. Is that going to happen again? Where he essentially like buys off the damage?

PALETTA: It's interesting that he already knows that storm is coming and yes, I believe because the other countries are smart, particularly China, they know how to retaliate on tariffs and they will go right after the farmers, especially in red states on the products that U.S. farmers export. So he knows it is coming. I would expect yes to see billions of dollars potentially flowing from the federal government into these farmers to keep them satisfied while he gets these tariffs sorted out because it's likely going to be something politically, that's a real headache for Republicans.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly is. All right, Damian, always great to have your insights. Thanks so much.

PALETTA: Sure.

KEILAR: Boris?

SANCHEZ: This just in. The Trump Administration is planning to cut more than 70,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. That's according to an internal memo obtained by CNN. It says the cuts are in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE, and they'll move aggressively to restructure the VA and resize the workforce. We're finding this out as Elon Musk is on Capitol Hill, attending a Senate Republican lunch. Later today, he is set to meet with House Republicans amid the growing concerns over mass layoffs of federal employees and budget cuts, and the impacts they're going to have.

CNN's Manu Raju is live for us on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are you hearing from lawmakers?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. There's meetings happening right now. In fact, some Senators are beginning to spill out after meeting for about an hour with Elon Musk behind closed doors, about everything that he has been undertaking with DOGE, those cuts that have been happening across federal agencies, the court cases that have been stopping some of those cuts, questions about the legality of it, the federal firings that have been pushed by Elon Musk and the impacts that it is having on a number of these Senators' states.

These concerns have been about, not just about what Elon Musk is doing, but how he is doing it. One of the big questions and complaints coming in to this meeting is about the process, ensuring that they understand what Elon Musk is doing. And I'm told behind closed doors, that is exactly what these Senators discussed with Elon Musk, how to improve their communication. It was -- didn't sound like it was a particularly contentious meeting, but it was one more about just how he's going about pushing ahead on these cuts. And he indicated to Senators, I'm told, that he wants to work more closely with them. He apparently gave out his cell phone number, according to a person familiar with the matter, to these Senators, so they can reach out to him with any concerns that may be -- that they may have.

So, it shows you that he's trying to at least work the inside game a bit, winning over members of Congress who may be concerned about the process, but it's unclear how much of the substance they got into in this closed door meeting. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Manu, when it comes to President Trump's address last night, we saw a variety of reactions from Democratic lawmakers and some Democrats were reacting to those reactions today, and they spoke with you. Some of them were disappointed.

RAJU: Yeah, because last night, the Democratic leaders had hoped that their members would constrain themselves to an extent. They would -- they did agree overall that they would not applaud Donald Trump. They didn't really stand for him at all, which is a bit of a breach of protocol in a chain -- in these kind of speeches. But the other things that members did, they held up signs in protest. They yelled out -- a lot of Democrats yelling out, you liar or you're lying, or saying things to that nature, which typically has not done -- and has been done pretty frequently in last night's address. And of course, that moment with Al Green, the Congressman from Texas, who stood for several minutes yelling at Donald Trump, ultimately was escorted out of the Chamber.

Now, House Republicans are trying to move to censure and Al Green as soon as today. And I asked Democrats about these antics, is that the message that they wanted to send to the American public? And some top Senate Democrats said it was not.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, (D-CT): I wouldn't have necessarily done all the things that were done, but I understand the emotion. He's offering showmanship and bluster and bullying. We need to provide real solutions and avoid taking the bait.

SEN. DICK DURBIN, (D-IL): That wasn't any conscious strategy. In terms of responding to that speech, I think there are better ways to do it. Stick with the basics.

SEN. CORY BOOKER, (D-NJ): Look, I believe firmly that that should be a room of decorum. Now that said, I've never seen a speech before where a president trolls, heckles, demeans and degrades people actually sitting in front of him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And a vote to censure Al Green could happen as soon as this afternoon. Democrats are going to try to kill that measure. It could happen in -- later in this afternoon. Whether they have the votes to do that, remains to be seen, as Democrat -- Republicans are eager to punish him for that outburst. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we'll see what happens. Manu Raju live for us on Capitol Hill, thank you so much. Still to come, the Trump Administration is halting its intelligence sharing with Ukraine. How the move could impact Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russia. Plus the latest on the investigation into Gene Hackman's death, how one theory is being ruled out as a possible cause. And later, we're following a massive and deadly storm as it moves across the eastern United States.

[14:15:00]

That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central." Don't go anywhere.

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KEILAR: At this hour, the U.S. appears to have paused at least partially, crucial intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This is according to statements from top administration officials, and the extent of this freeze, it is unclear. It does though follow President Trump's decision to halt military assistance to Ukraine after his fiery clash with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week here in Washington, in the Oval Office.

[14:20:00]

Here's what CIA Director John Ratcliffe said about this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN RATCLIFFE, DIRECTOR, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: President Trump said, is he asked for a pause. In this case, as everyone saw play out, President Trump had a real question about whether President Zelenskyy was committed to the peace process. And he said, let's pause, I want to give you a chance to think about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN Chief International Security Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, is in Kyiv following all of these developments from there. Nick, tell us what these pauses mean for Ukraine.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I've got to tell you in short, Brianna, every morning the situation seemed to get slightly worse for Ukrainians. There had been a feeling 24 hours ago when the first reports of U.S. military aid being stopped, but intelligent sharing might continue. This morning, that was crushed.

But also remember too, the hope had been that given the positive tone in which President Trump spoke of President Zelenskyy in the letter that he had sent to him, that parts of which he sort of paraphrased or read out during that speech suggesting as Trump had demanded that they wanted to sign the rare earth minerals deal at a time convenient to the White House, that they wanted to commit to peace, and indeed how Zelenskyy had in previous messages during the day on social media and in a video, talked about how the Oval Office meeting, which many Ukrainians think frankly was a public dropping of their president, how Zelenskyy had expressed how that was regrettable, that perhaps that had been enough to calm things, to get the relationship back on track.

Now, we are hearing from his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, here in Kyiv, there is potentially a meeting between the American and Ukrainian teams coming forwards. But the idea that this morning, key security members of Trump's cabinet have gone forwards and said in differing ways, well, look, the information, intelligent sharing, that is paused to see whether or not things will improve, Ratcliffe suggesting he thinks it may be restored soon. And then Mike Waltz, the National Security Adviser, going a little further and suggesting the pause might be sustained until they have greater clarity that Kyiv signs up to specific peace talks.

The big question here is the White House have not been specific about what kind of peace they want Ukraine to sign up to. Is this a general feeling that President Trump has about Zelenskyy's intentions? Is it them signing on to whatever peace the U.S. negotiates with Russia? Ukraine isn't involved in at this point, it seemed, or is it this European peace plan that appears to be increasingly taking shape at pace, potentially in Brussels tomorrow where Zelenskyy will be, and maybe even Macron, the French president announced in a meeting next week in Paris.

A lot of questions to be answered, but all of this leaving frankly, Ukrainians with existential questions about their survival over the next weeks. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah, understandably so. And Zelenskyy's Chief of Staff says that American and Ukrainian officials have agreed to meet here in the near future, Nick. I know you have some new reporting on who would actually provide those key security forces in the event of a ceasefire. What have you learned?

PATON WALSH: Yeah, look, this whole European arrangement is, I think, it's fair to say in flux. But I've been speaking to one European official well plugged into these negotiations and at this point, it seems like the British, the French, and the Turkish are likely to provide the bulk of forces for any European reassurance force that ends up being involved on boots on the ground if there's a ceasefire inside of Ukraine. Now, they've suggested too that Eastern European nations, some of whom are frankly, quite strident in their rhetoric against Russia, don't want to contribute their forces and leave their borders with Russia potentially under manned. That's a key sign of how threatened the Europeans feel here.

The same official said, look, frankly, it is high risk and very much nearly impossible to try any of this without both the psychological and logistical support of the United States being behind that particular idea. Macron just now in a lengthy speech, laid out the case why France and Europe has to stand up to Russia. He says its aggression knows no boundaries. We'll hear more of that tomorrow in Brussels, where Zelenskyy meets more European leaders again, for the second time in just five days, and a sense I think that Europe is trying to step up, but knows fully well it needs the U.S. to be behind this, or frankly, they're quite unsure what confidence that gives Moscow.

KEILAR: Yeah. Nick Paton Walsh live for us in Kyiv. Thank you for the report. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get some analysis now from Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer. He's with the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford. Ambassador, thank you so much for being with us. The U.S. pausing intelligence sharing, what do you make of that decision?

STEVEN PIFER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Well, I think both the pause in sending military assistance to Ukraine and the pause in intelligence sharing are going to be very detrimental for Ukraine. And I was a bit concerned today when I saw that the National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, he said this pause would continue until negotiations are set. Now, if he means negotiations are set, does he mean the Russians have to agree? Because if that's the case, he's given Moscow a huge incentive not to agree to negotiations to drag out these pauses. So, I hope that was a misstatement on his part.

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SANCHEZ: Do you think this move might further erode trust between the United States and European allies?

PIFER: I think the European allies are probably scratching their heads as they see this reduction, at least for now, in American support for Ukraine. Last night when he spoke to Congress, president Trump said he'd seen strong signals that Russia is interested in peace. Well, the Russian military continues to pursue its attacks on Ukraine, attacks on Ukrainian cities, and whenever Vladimir Putin talks about terms, he talks inflexibly about Russian terms. So I'm trying to figure out what are the strong signals that we're seeing, because right now, it looks like we're putting all the pressure on Kyiv when President Zelenskyy has indicated he's prepared to show some flexibility, but we're not doing anything to push the more recalcitrant party, which is Moscow.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of the idea that Prime Minister Starmer of the U.K. and French President Emmanuel Macron might accompany Zelenskyy back to the United States to help sign off on that minerals deal. Do you think it would bolster his standing when he faces Trump again?

PIFER: I think that could help because bear in mind, last week, before the, what I would call the White House ambush on Friday of President Zelenskyy, both Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron were in Washington. They met with President Trump and they seemed to have good meetings. So, maybe they can help patch up relations between Trump and Zelenskyy and help get us back towards a more workable relationship because I continue to believe that U.S. military support and intelligence support is important for Ukraine.

And that's also an important signal to Moscow. If Moscow thinks that support is going to go away, why wouldn't the Russians calculate that the battlefield position that they're fighting becomes easier?

SANCHEZ: To your point about what Russia might offer up as a part of this negotiation, at least one Russian official has floated the idea that Iran's nuclear program might be part of the conversation. I wonder what you make of that.

PIFER: I think the Russians have made a number of suggestions as to things that they might do, but it seems to me that if the United States wants to talk to Iran, they've had channels. The State Department would know how to do this. I don't think it's a situation where we really need Moscow as an intermediary, particularly when Moscow has clearly broken with those countries that wanted to persuade Iran not to acquire nuclear weapon and is now standing very closely with Iran. So, I'm not sure that that's an offer that really is necessary for the U.S.

SANCHEZ: Former Ambassador Steven Pifer, we appreciate you spending your time with us this afternoon.

PIFER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, New Mexico officials ruling out one potential cause of death for Oscar winning actor, Gene Hackman and his wife. But does that get us closer to the truth of what happened? The latest details on the investigation into their deaths when we come back.

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