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Trump Suspends His Tariffs on Most Canadian, Mexican Goods; Sep. Jim Banks (R-IN) Talks About His Take on Vote on DOGE Cuts; Trump to Convene Biweekly Cabinet Sessions with Musk on DOGE Cuts; Zelensky, E.U. Leaders Hold Critical Talks on Ukraine War; Ukrainian & U.S. Officials to Meet in Saudi Arabia Next Week. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 06, 2025 - 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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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez, alongside Brianna Keilar in the nation's capital.

And we are tracking very late breaking news. Literally moments ago, President Trump signing executive actions delaying - officially delaying tariffs on not only Mexico, which was announced earlier today after a conversation he had with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, but also Canada, which there was some question about whether or not he would do.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's exactly right. So, this was a deal, of course, the - that was negotiated by Trump during his first term that makes the three North American countries a free trade zone. And so as of right now, he's saying there's going to be a nearly one-month tariff delay on all products from Mexico and Canada.

There was a lot of confusion. And now I feel like we are watching the market to see how it responds. Maybe it's going to take a minute because this just ended but kind of - there you go.

SANCHEZ: Ticking - ticking, yes, it's ticking.

KEILAR: I mean, it's almost like on ...

SANCHEZ: Haven't seen it go down since this came down, yes.

KEILAR: ... cue. Yes. This hasn't been a great day, though. Look at all that red there. So, this is something that the Commerce Secretary had previewed. I think the real question here is going to be - and let's get to CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House on this. Is this like a stay of execution?

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: You know, it's still on the calendar. What is this going to mean here? Tell us what you're hearing. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, we're looking at the market there. The President just insisting a few moments ago in the Oval Office that he has not been looking at the stock market and that is not behind any of these decisions. But that, of course, would take really a loss of history to believe that. Because the reality is, we know this president pays very careful attention to the stock market, but it's not just that.

The White House has been hearing from CEOs across the board. And we do know that the President had a conversation this morning with the Mexican president and that is leading to this reprieve on the tariff. So, we know that the President signed an executive action a short time ago. We will see him do all this a little bit later.

But hearing from pool reporters in the Oval Office right now, the President is talking about this, saying that fentanyl is still one of the leading concerns here. However, he does believe that Mexico has been doing more toward trying to block it. So, at this moment, at least, these tariffs on all types of goods are given a one-month reprieve until April 2nd or so. And then we will see if he actually puts in the next wave of tariffs.

But one thing we really are seeing here, I think we're in the sixth week of the administration or so, so many threats of tariffs, putting these in place and then backing away from them, all of that has certainly given a whiplash from here at the White House directly to Wall Street, as we can see in real time.

SANCHEZ: Jeff, after his cabinet meeting, Trump appeared to be trying to quash some growing blowback to widespread cuts to the federal workforce. He announced before this announcement regarding tariffs on Canada that there would be these biweekly meetings between Elon Musk and some of his cabinet officials. Did he expand on that during this press availability?

ZELENY: He has not yet. We, of course, will keep monitoring that. But Boris, this is very interesting because the President, just a short time ago, announced on Truth Social that Elon Musk was meeting with some members of the cabinet, not a full cabinet meeting. And this was not on the President's schedule. We know many cabinet secretaries are, in fact, doing other things across the country. But at least some cabinet secretaries meeting with Elon Musk.

And this is coming after Elon Musk has been meeting on Capitol Hill with some Senate Republicans, some House Republicans. So, a bit of blowback at all of the public relations fallout from these firings and freezings. So, the President is saying in this meeting, saying that he will have biweekly meetings with the cabinet and Elon Musk so they can sort of be apprised of what is going on. And he made clear the cabinet secretaries are in charge of these agencies, not Elon Musk. So, a bit of a course correction. We will see how the President describes it himself.

But this is a significant development after we have seen Elon Musk in the Oval Office standing in the cabinet room and now a cabinet meeting not on camera. The President and the White House decided to have this meeting today not on camera, where they're talking about how it's not Elon Musk who's in charge. It's these cabinet agencies.

So, a pretty significant development here, again, coming in the context of after Mr. Musk, certainly popular among some Republicans, but getting an earful as well about some of these cuts that constituents have been complaining about to members of Congress.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it's been difficult to pinpoint exactly who should be held responsible for some of the cuts.

[15:05:02]

And the confusion of folks getting fired, and then rehired, and contracts getting canceled that - were actually canceled like 20 years ago, DOGE taking credit for that. Not a lot of it makes sense. Nevertheless, Jeff Zeleny, we appreciate you breaking it down for us.

So, many businesses have been caught in the middle of Trump's tariff whiplash as they negotiate and navigate how to make decisions about the future amid the constant back and forth. Will they need to raise prices or can they hold steady? Should they hire or fire workers? CNN's Natasha Chen is tracking all of this with us. She joins us now live.

Natasha, you actually spoke with distributors about this growing confusion. I imagine that now with this update, they might have to recalibrate their plans even more.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, it was really interesting being here since this morning with these wholesale distributors of vegetables, produce, that get sold to restaurants all across Los Angeles, get sold to supermarkets. This week, they'd already seen the boxes of avocados, tomatoes, jalapenos. They've seen those prices go up already because of the new tariffs.

Now, they get those boxes from importers like Perez & Larios across the street there. And then, we watched them all receive the news about the delay. The sales manager over at Perez & Larios told us about that whiplash experience today.

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JAIME HERRERA, PEREZ & LARIOS, AVOCADO IMPORTER AND DISTRIBUTOR: These tariffs has been like that. You know, we're running nice and smooth. Trump comes out with he's going to raise 25 percent tariffs. We hit the wall, you know, March 4th we're like, what the bleep is going on? And so, now we get another briefing that he's going to postpone until April 2nd. So, we get a briefing to keep going, like, oh, this is good, this is good. We can finish. We can finish. We didn't know, we can come up to a solution.

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CHEN: I can sense a bit of cautious optimism there. He did say that this experience has felt like an early April fool's joke. He has already paid more than $50,000 worth of new tariffs this week on avocados and limes. He is expecting to bring down his prices tomorrow because tomorrow he won't have to pay those tariffs.

Now, he has noticed fewer boxes, fewer pallets being purchased by his clients this week because the prices have been higher and he hopes they come back, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Interesting that he mentions this being an April fool's joke because that's specifically why Trump said he doesn't want to install these tariffs or reciprocal tariffs on April 1st. He's now waiting for April 2nd, so we have another deadline on the horizon. Natasha Chen in Los Angeles for us. Thank you so much. Brianna.

KEILAR: Joining us now to talk about all of this is Republican Senator Jim Banks of Indiana. He is on the Armed Services Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us. And I do want to talk about tariffs here in just a minute, but first let's talk about the Department of Government Efficiency, because I know you were in a meeting where you got a briefing. And also you're, as I mentioned, on the Veterans Affairs Committee as the department is facing some cuts. Do you think that Congress should have a vote on DOJ cuts?

SEN. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Well, we will, and we will vote on cutting spending. But in the meantime, Elon Musk and President Trump are doing exactly what they told the voters that they would do before the election and that's cut waste and abuse out of the federal government. Well over 70 percent of Americans support President Trump in doing just that.

And you look at - you think about working class Americans, Hoosiers sitting at home who work hard, go to work every day, they pay taxes. They don't want to hear about their tax dollars going to fund transgender surgeries and studies on animals and LGBTQ centers and African countries that they've never heard of before. Let's cut out the waste. There's a lot of waste to cut. You'll be surprised by how much government, you will never miss. That's a fact. And President Trump and Elon Musk and DOGE effort, which we - which Republicans and Congress fully support, is just getting started and it's cutting a lot of the waste out of the government.

But we will cut spending when it comes to spending bills and Congress can and should do that to make these cuts permanent. We have a duty to do that as well.

KEILAR: No doubt. I think there's a lot of support for shrinking the size of government and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. But there have been actions here that have actually run counter to that. I think as you're aware with some of these firings of IGs and the like. But in the meantime, you know, with Congress holding the power of the purse, why abdicate that to Elon Musk?

BANKS: It's not an abdication. It's Elon Musk and the President of the United States rooting out waste in the federal government and the public supports that. They want that to happen. The President, the executive branch taking actions that are long overdue to root out waste, to root out bureaucracy, to cut bureaucracy. [15:10:03]

A $37 trillion national debt. This is one way to cut that waste out and get us on a path to fiscal sanity. So, but let me - let's be clear about this. I'm a veteran. I served in the war in Afghanistan. And I want the VA to work for veterans, not work for the bureaucracy. Cut - the VA can work so much more efficiently if you take more bureaucracy away and focus more on veterans and that's what DOGE is doing. Looking for ways to make the VA and all federal agencies more efficient in how they deliver services. Forty-five days into this administration and a lot of good things have happened. There's a lot more to come.

KEILAR: Okay. So far we're not hearing DOGE talking about how to make it actually better for veteran services and benefits at the VA. There are reports of already overburdened benefit staff being canned. I'm hearing, personally, worry among VA employees that mental health professionals are among probationary staff who have been cut. Can you assure Americans that these VA cuts, and we're hearing, you know, the 70,000 on the table here, that that will not affect veteran care and benefits that they receive from the VA?

BANKS: Absolutely. I mean, President Trump is so pro-veteran. He had a great track record for veterans in his first term. I serve on the Veterans Committee in the Senate and we're going to do so much more to make the VA work for our veterans by creating more community care and getting services directly to the veteran instead of more red tape. And that's what DOJ is doing, is cutting red tape, and Congress and the President, we're going to come in and work together to make the VA work better for veterans. We're just getting started. We're on a roll, but we're just getting started.

KEILAR: So far it's not cutting red tape, right? So far it is freezing contracts and it is cutting workers, right, indiscriminately. You have the President saying he's going to convene biweekly cabinet sessions to make things precise, which is his word, right, to make things precise here. So, this internal VA memo that's talking about returning staffing to 2019 levels - zero where - because you voted for it in 2022 when it was signed into law, 2019 predates that.

When millions more veterans became eligible for VA benefits due to the PACT Act, that landmark bill that you voted for that President Biden signed to cover veterans affected by toxic exposures like burn pits, how do you take care of all these new claimants when you're looking at cuts this large?

BANKS: Look, like I said, I'm just not seeing it. I mean, the VA is a large bureaucracy. It can be run so much more efficiently. It's not about bricks and mortar and more government employees. It's about the veteran. Put the veteran first and that's what President Trump is focused on. That's what I'm focused on in the Senate, on the Veterans Affairs Committee. We're going to make sure that the VA works better for our veterans ...

KEILAR: Does it put veterans first to cut people ...

BANKS: ... than has ever worked before. KEILAR: Does it put veterans first to cut people who work on their benefits or who provide them health care?

BANKS: I'm just not convinced that that's happening. I'm not convinced that that's happening.

KEILAR: Are you ...

BANKS: In fact, I'm convinced that bureau ...

KEILAR: ... can I ask you, Senator? Are you talking to your constituents?

BANKS: I hear from my constituents every day. They want the they want the VA to be less bureaucratic and more focused on the veteran. I am a veteran. That's what President Trump is focused on.

KEILAR: I know you are.

BANKS: That's what I'm focused on as well. The talking points of the VA cutting necessary employees who are focused on veterans is bogus. It's not provable. The fact is that DOGE, President Trump, myself, Republicans in the Senate and the Congress, we're going to make sure that this VA works better for veterans than ever before. I guarantee it.

KEILAR: You're aware they cut people from the hotline, right? And then reinstated them. But that there are still a number of key support staff on that hotline who have not been rehired. The silent monitors and other folks. I mean, are you tracking that?

BANKS: I'm tracking that the VA is a large bureaucracy and there are ways to make it more efficient to work better for veterans.

KEILAR: That's direct care ...

BANKS: I can keep repeating that over and over again.

KEILAR: That's a direct care to veterans ...

BANKS: That's a fact. That's a fact.

KEILAR: ... who are utilizing ...

BANKS: There are no signs that the VA is ...

KEILAR: ... that's direct care.

BANKS: ... that - there are no signs that the VA is working less for our veterans today than what it was 45 days ago. President Trump is focused on our veterans, delivering care to our veterans, and we're going to do that and we're going to make it - we're going to do it even more efficiently than ever before.

KEILAR: So, you endorse the cuts to key support staff on the veteran hotline. That's something that ... BANKS: There have not been cuts to key support staff at the VA.

KEILAR: Sir, there have. It's ...

BANKS: The VA is going to work more efficiently ...

KEILAR: It's easy to find.

BANKS: ... and DOGE is going to find ...

KEILAR: Senator, that's just not true.

BANKS: ... is going to recommend and find ways to do that. And Congress - it is true that. The ...

KEILAR: Senator, I'm not ...

BANKS: ... 45 days into this administration, President Trump is focused, I'm focused, Republicans are focused on making the VA work better.

[15:14:59]

I mean, the fact is what President Trump did in his first term to provide more community care and better options to our veterans ...

KEILAR: We're talking about cuts ...

BANKS: ... whether it's at a VA hospital or at a private practice.

KEILAR: Sir, we're talking about cuts to the VA right now.

BANKS: That he did great.

KEILAR: We're talking about cuts to the ...

BANKS: He did historic and great things to the VA ...

KEILAR: Please don't change the subject, Senator.

BANKS: ... in his first term.

KEILAR: Sir, please do not change the subject.

BANKS: He's going to do even more and greater things for the VA in his second term. I'm not changing the subject.

KEILAR: Okay.

BANKS: The - your bogus claims, you can't even - you can't prove that the VA is less equipped to care for veterans today than what it was for 45 days ago. The fact is, President Trump is going to make the VA work better than ever before.

KEILAR: I'll send you the reporting. It's really quite easy. It's pretty basic. I'll send it your way. Senator Banks, thank you so much. BANKS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, deciding the fate of Ukraine, U.S. negotiators planning to meet next week with Ukrainian officials and at stake, the future of Ukraine and potentially an end to its war with Russia. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:20:21]

SANCHEZ: There are some new developments. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff confirming the U.S. is going to be meeting with Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia next week. Listen to this.

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STEVE WITKOFF, SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: President Zelenskyy sent a letter to the President. I think the President thought that it was a really good, positive first step. And from that, we've now - we're now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians. I think the idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well.

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KEILAR: That announcement coming just hours after European leaders held an emergency summit with President Zelenskyy in Brussels, hoping to increase defense spending for the war-torn country. We have CNN's Nick Paton Walsh with us live now from Kyiv.

And Nick, we're also learning that President Zelenskyy will be meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince. So, what more is he saying about these talks with the U.S.?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, the hope is that this will potentially get the relationship back on track. Now, to just stressed that his Monday, March the 10th meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince was something he said he would do when he canceled the first trip prior to the U.S.-Russia summit in Riyadh, I think now about two, three weeks ago, so this is sort of to some degree planned. But the following on meeting with his staff and that Trump cabinet delegation is clearly a sense of advancement here.

The important point to focus on is exactly what it is that the Americans will be asking the Ukrainians to commit to here. We know there is a separate U.S.-Russia track that appears to have borne fruit in the last 24 hours in terms of diplomatic appointments. They always said they wanted to try and increase or restaff the Washington and Moscow embassies.

But exactly how this meeting progresses is vital, because remember, it takes place in a climate of U.S. military and intelligence-sharing assistance to Ukraine being frozen and that causes an existential crisis here, frankly, for Ukrainians on the front line, deep concerns about air defense. It's a matter of life and death every night. And so, we're now seeing a pattern in which, indeed, publicly, the United States is referring to itself as the intermediary between U.S. - between the Ukraine and Russian sides here. And so, ultimately, the question for Zelenskyy is what comes of this meeting, what are the asks from the American side to get this relationship back on track? Zelenskyy has already nearly apologized, already said he will sign the deal, already committed to peace, what are the specifics of that peace, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: And Nick, we're hearing criticism from E.U. leaders directed at the U.S. after that explosive meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump. One member of the French Senate, in particular, blasting Trump during a speech yesterday. Let's listen.

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CLAUDE MALHURET, MEMBER OF THE SENATE OF FRANCE: Europe is at a turning point in its history. The American shield is slipping away, Ukraine risks being abandoned, and Russia is being strengthened. Washington has become the court of Nero: an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.

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SANCHEZ: Does he speak more broadly for the European sentiment toward the United States following last week's disastrous meeting?

WALSH: I think it's a more florid choice of words there, definitely. But there is consternation, I think, across Europe as the sudden change in the Transatlantic Security alliance of 80 years that's occurred in just 45 days of the Trump administration. Europe knows it needs the United States, it has always had as its long-term security guarantor, if it's going to implement the peacekeeping plan that it's trying to talk about, which is essentially something proposed by Trump's Ukraine and Russia envoy, Keith Kellogg, in a paper back in April last year. They think they're playing to the Americans' idea here for a peace.

And so, there are huge questions here, certainly. And I should remind people in the United States that, you know, European politics is a lot staid and more boring at the moment, frankly, than that which you're seeing in Washington at the moment. And also, too, the questions about European security are much more real, imminent, expensive and potentially costly to European lives, specifically Ukrainian lives, in the weeks ahead. Boris?

KEILAR: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much for that report from Kyiv.

Let's bring in CNN Military Analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton.

So, what are you looking for these meetings? Is this like a do-over? Is that even possible?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, do-overs might be a little bit hard to achieve in this environment, Brianna, but I think that's the closest thing that would describe it, the closest term that would describe it. But, you know, what we need to have here is some kind of a situation where there's this initial agreement that then results in other things that happen.

[15:25:07]

Unfortunately, what I think we're seeing is kind of a backwards approach to this.

You know, the Trump administration talks a lot about, you know, following in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan. If Ronald Reagan were doing this, we would be deploying troops in - at least into Poland. There'd be a no-fly zone probably that would be promulgated over Ukraine. And then we would be having discussions with the Russians.

But this lack of a show of force is in direct contradiction to what they're doing in the Middle East, so it's very interesting to watch all of this. But it's - you know, they're clearly pressuring the Ukrainians to move forward on terms that basically Trump and possibly Russia have set.

SANCHEZ: To the point about one of those terms that the U.S. wants Zelenskyy to agree to, it's this mineral deal. It was Zelenskyy's idea originally. But there are a lot of questions about what value the U.S. can actually extract, right? I think we have a map that shows the critical minerals that the U.S. is hoping to obtain.

A lot of them, as you can see, are actually in areas where Russian troops are holding on to Ukrainian territory right now. How far would signing this deal go in actually helping Ukraine long term?

LEIGHTON: That's a really good question, Boris. You know, as you point out, a large portion of the mineral reserves that they're looking for, the rare earths, and lithium and minerals like that, most of those are found in the eastern portion, either directly under recurrent Russian control in the Donbass region or close to the front lines and - close enough that there is some concern as to whether or not those resources can be exploited.

There are portions that - resources that are in the central part of the country and in the western part of the country that could potentially be safer to exploit. But what this means is that there is a certain risk to the U.S. by going forward with something like this. It is probably the best thing that can happen for Ukraine to tie us, tie the Ukrainians to the U.S. and vice versa.

But it is a situation where it won't - probably won't bring out as many financial resources as we think it will, or at least as the Trump administration thinks it will.

SANCHEZ: Really a fascinating conversation. We have to leave it there. Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate the time.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris, anytime. SANCHEZ: Coming up, calls to pardon the man convicted for the murder of George Floyd are gaining support on social media, including from Elon Musk. We have a reaction from George Floyd's brother next.

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