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Dow Dives 1,000 Plus Points As Trump's Trade Wars Ramp Up; House Set To Vote Tomorrow On Bill To Fund Govt. Through September; Dems Weigh Whether To Kill Bill that Would Avoid Govt Shutdown; Johnson Confident House Will Pass Spending Bill To Avoid Shutdown; GOP More Successful In Getting White House To Reverse Course On Some Federal Cuts; Democrats Strike Out; Rubio Arrives In Saudi Arabia Ahead Of Ukraine War Talk. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 10, 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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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Trade War Worries: As China enacts its own tariffs and President Trump refuses to rule out the possibility of a recession happening this year, Wall Street and Main Street both concerned about what that means for the U.S. economy.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Diplomatic Do-Over: Top officials from the Trump White House meeting with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia seeing if they can strike a deal to end the war.

And Reaching Out to Elon Musk: Republicans have had some success persuading the billionaire to reverse some DOGE decisions, Democrats not so much. New CNN reporting this hour you don't want to miss.

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

SANCHEZ: One hour to go before the bell closes on Wall Street and right now stocks don't look great. They're plunging. Wall Street continuing a huge sell-off driven by concerns about President Donald Trump's on again, off again, on again, off again trade war after he recently refused to rule out a recession happening this year. Let's get right to CNN's Jeff Zeleny who's at the White House for us.

Jeff, how is the administration responding to these numbers? Trump saying he doesn't watch the stock market, right?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris that is going to be tested anew again this week. President Trump has repeatedly said he does not follow the ups and downs of the stock market, a comment that, of course, flies in the face of what we've known from him historically, but if that is to be believed that is going to be attested, there is no question about it because the market in this fresh week is having a fresh wave of anxieties because of the comments over the weekend not ruling out the potential of a recession as well as those new tariffs being imposed from China on to ag (ph) products here. The new tariffs being imposed from Canada on to energy products, all coming as this - really this on again off again, like you said, the trade war has been playing out in real time.

So, for at least now even with new aluminum and steel Tariffs on the horizon, and new April tariffs also on the horizon, what the market is clearly looking for is a sense of certainty and that has not been a really - the through line for any of these policies. We are potentially expecting to hear from the President later this hour as he signs executive orders if he decides and the White House decides to open that up to Cameras and to take questions.

But there is no doubt about it. The White House is being officially silent about the market, but watching it very carefully. But again, the President says he does not base his policies on the market, that will be tested and tried one more time in a bigger way this week, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny live for us at the White House. Thank you so much, Jeff. Brianna?

KEILAR: So, what are the numbers telling us right now when it comes to the impact of Trump's trade war and the likelihood of recession? CNN's Matt Egan is with us now.

Matt, what are you learning?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Brianna, it's way too early to know whether or not there's going to be a recession, but confidence in the economy has clearly been shaken on Wall Street. There's two big concerns here. It's one, this slowdown in the economy and, two, all of this uncertainty and, frankly, chaos over the President's trade war.

You see the Dow is basically at session lows right now down almost 1,100 points, two and a half percent. Believe it or not, the selling is even more severe on a percentage basis in the broader markets with the S&P 500 down about 3 percent and the NASDAQ plunging more than 4 percent.

The NASDAQ is on track for its worst day since September of 2022. And we're seeing even steeper losses in those magnificent seven stocks. Those are the high-flying tech names that basically were unstoppable last year. But look at this, they're all down today.

The best performer is Microsoft and that one's down almost four percent. NVIDIA down 6 percent, Facebook, Tesla plunging 15 percent. That's just today. We've also seen the VIX volatility. That's the fear index. That is skyrocketing, 20 percent today. Investors are - they're taking their money out of these riskier names and they're plowing them into safer areas like government debt and health care stocks.

And again, a lot of this has to do with uncertainty over the President's trade war. I talked to a former New York fed president, Bill Dudley, today and he warned that these tariffs and the uncertainty over how high the tariffs are going is having a real impact. Take a listen.

BILL DUDLEY, FORMER PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK: Tariffs have two effects. One, they push up prices. And two, they push down growth. The Trump administration is making things worse by this sort of on again off again approach.

[15:05:07]

So, the uncertainty level is higher than it needs to be.

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EGAN: And the uncertainty is obviously spilling over into financial markets. I talked to market veteran, Ed Yardeni, a few moments ago. And he told me the stock market is losing confidence in Trump 2.0 policies. Now, I know the stock market, of course, is not the real economy. Sometimes what's bad for Wall Street isn't bad for Main Street. But look if this market sell-off continues, at some point there could be a real economic impact, right, because people are going to be looking at their 401K plans, their college savings plans, their retirement accounts and noticing that they've lost significant value and that could cause consumer confidence, which has already been going down, to go even lower and obviously at some point that could cause people to stop spending quite aggressively And look consumer spending is the biggest driver of this economy.

So that's where this market trouble could really spill over into the real economy. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. It's a good point. Matt Egan, thank you for that. Boris?

SANCHEZ: On Capitol Hill the government is facing a potential shutdown in just a matter of days unless lawmakers in Congress can agree on a spending plan. A big test comes tomorrow when the house hopes to vote on a Republican measure to keep Washington open through September. Republicans, though, have an ultra slim majority and they can't afford to lose many votes.

That leaves Democrats weighing their options on a measure they do not like. They could potentially break ranks and back the bill to keep the government operating or block it altogether and risk being blamed for a potentially devastating shutdown. Let's get the latest on Capitol Hill from CNN's Manu Raju.

Manu, what are you hearing from Republicans on where they stand with this bill?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Republican leaders are confident that the bill will pass the house despite the narrowest of majorities here. And if this does come along party lines, that means that Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote. And that one vote has already announced. He's a no. That's Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

Several other Republicans are undecided two of them, Tim Burchett of Tennessee. Also, Tony Gonzales of Texas, both of them indicating they are not sure whether they'll ultimately get to yes. But there's confidence because Donald Trump himself is lobbying members to fall in line, so Republican leaders believe they will get the votes. Meaning, the question is how Democrats will approach it. Now, the Democratic leaders in the House are urging their members, Hakeem Jeffries and his leadership team want their members to vote against this plan, concerned about the spending cuts to domestic programs in particular. The fact that does not reign in Elon Musk, does not reign in Donald Trump, does not do anything about the funding freezes therein.

The question to them will be what will happen on the Senate side of the Capitol assuming it passes the House. And that's what I just caught up with Speaker Johnson himself. I asked him what if Democrats in the Senate would they have the power to block this plan? What if they do block it, what is Plan B?

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RAJU: If the CR does not pass the House or Senate, what is the Plan B?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The CR will pass (INAUDIBLE) ...

RAJU: If one of it gets blocked?

JOHNSON: I don't think it's going to get blocked (INAUDIBLE) ...

RAJU: What makes you so confident that it'll pass.

JOHNSON: Because no one wants to shut the government down and we are governing, doing the responsible thing as Republicans. It's going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing and I don't think they're going to shut the government down.

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RAJU: But there is a lot of opposition amongst top Senate Democrats over this plan because of those cuts to domestic programs, it does boost defense spending. They wanted some other issues, other provisions in the plan that were not included in dealing with forcing the government. The administration to actually spend the congressionally appropriated dollars.

So, what will Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader do? He has not revealed his hand yet. But, Boris, by the middle of this week, the House - if it does pass this bill by Tuesday - it's going to - it's expected to leave town actually be on recess. That would mean the Senate would actually only have one plan to avert a government shutdown, the Republican plan that is emerging here in the House, does Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats, do they block that plan because they're concerned about its provisions or do they let it go forward and allow the government to be funded? That's something that would cause a lot of concern Among their base and a lot of concern among their supporters who want a lot more in the Democrats.

First piece of leverage to fight the Trump administration over all these funding issues that have emerged in the early weeks of this administration. So, some big choices for Democrats assuming Speaker Johnson is correct that they have the votes on the GOP side to get the stopgap bill through the House. Boris? SANCHEZ: Manu Raju live for us on Capitol Hill. Thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: We have some new reporting today as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency/federal programs and employees. We're learning that even though Republicans and Democrats alike have pushed back on some of the cuts Republican lawmakers have been more successful in getting the White House to reverse course. CNN's Annie Grayer is live for us now with more on this.

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Annie, tell us what you're seeing.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Republicans are leveraging their personal relationships with President Donald Trump and Elon Musk to directly make their case for certain federal programs that they want turned back on or federal workers that they want rehired. And in my reporting, I found several instances where they have had success.

And Democrats meanwhile have a number of programs as you can imagine that they would want to make the case for. But, they don't have the same in with the Trump White House or the DOGE team unlike Republican senators and the Speaker of the House, Democrats don't have Elon Musk's phone number and that's creating a huge concern here on Capitol Hill about the process with which some programs are getting a second look and some aren't.

I mean, I've talked to a number of Republicans who acknowledge that the process of how funding is being allocated right now through - and the DOGE cuts is super opaque and unclear and there needs to be more streamlined process, but until that happens, it's really occurring on an ad hoc case-by-case basis where Republicans are having to make their case for individual federal programs And this is leaving Democrats essentially in the dark because they are not having that same in with the key stakeholders making the big decisions about where federal funding is going right now.

KEILAR: All right. Annie Grayer, thank you for that reporting. We do appreciate it.

And still to come, Secretary of State Rubio arriving in Saudi Arabia for talks with Ukraine that could mark a turning point in its war with Russia. We'll have details on these talks between us and Ukrainian officials.

Plus, authorities in the Dominican Republic are urgently searching for a missing U.S. college student who disappeared on vacation there. What they're learning from a young man believed to be the last person to see her.

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[15:16:06] SANCHEZ: We are now at a potential crossroads in Russia's war on Ukraine. U.S. and Ukrainian officials are gathering in Saudi Arabia ahead of high stakes talks scheduled for tomorrow. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arriving there just this afternoon. Ukraine is trying to repair its relationship with the White House following the disastrous Oval Office showdown between president Trump and Zelenskyy last month. Trump has said he wants the war with Russia to end as soon as possible and going into these meetings U.S. Officials say that they believe, in their eyes, Kyiv ready to move forward. CNN's Alex Marquardt is live for us in Saudi Arabia.

Alex, how is Secretary Rubio setting the stage for these talks tomorrow?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, he is making it clear that it is on the Ukrainians to tell him and Mike Waltz, the National Security Adviser, how they want to proceed. These are discussions that are not only about the future of Ukraine, this peace deal, potential peace deal with Russia, but also about the relationship as a whole, of course, hitting a major hiccup two weeks ago in the oval office that shouting match between president Zelenskyy, Trump and the Vice President J.D. Vance.

On his way here, Secretary Rubio telling reporters that he is in listening mode. He wants commitments from the Ukrainians that would make clear that they are interested in negotiating a peace deal. He says that he wants - they're not going to talk in such a granular level as to pull out maps and draw lines, but he wants to hear about concessions about potentially difficult decisions that they might have to make in order to get to peace that could not only be giving up territory but also potential membership in NATO as well as future elections.

We've heard president Trump called president Zelenskyy a dictator. So, in Secretary Rubio's words, he wants to hear about what concessions are in the realm of the possible.

During this rough patch, Boris, in in the past two weeks, we've also seen the U.S. shut off, halt, put a pause on military and intelligence aid that Rubio says that they're still offering intelligence that allows Ukraine to defend themselves. But tomorrow's meeting Rubio says is going to be key in terms of getting that tap, if you will, getting turned back on.

So, the U.S. is kind of taking a different two different approaches when it comes to Ukraine and Russia essentially forcing Ukraine to the table by cutting off that assistance. Meanwhile, they've taken a softer approach with Russia having that meeting three weeks ago bringing them back into the international fold, making concessions like no U.S. Troops in Ukraine. No NATO membership for Ukraine.

But the ultimate goal here, Boris, despite these two different approaches is eventually for the U.S. to get Ukraine and Russia to the same table. Right now, the U.S. is trying to figure out what each side is demanding and will need before they can proceed, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alex Marquardt live for us in Saudi Arabia. Thank you so much. Alex. Brianna?

KEILAR: For more on this We're joined now by retired Army General Wesley Clark, who is the former supreme allied commander of NATO?

Sir, when you hear Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the U.S. wants to hear what concessions Ukraine might be willing to make, things like perhaps no NATO membership. What do you think about that? What does that signal to you about these negotiations and what they mean long term?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, it seems to me that the negotiations are lopsided right now and that we haven't heard anything about any Russian concessions and the Russians continue to escalate their demands. But we've had a lot of pressure on Ukraine. And even in terms of the pressures, when you cut off intelligence and cut off weapons, so that's an immediate impact. When you say you might impose greater sanctions, that's no impact on Russia.

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So, there's a real asymmetry in the pressures and the incentives. And the Unites States has already said it doesn't see a NATO membership. Of course, the United States could block NATO membership, even if Ukraine wanted it. And it doesn't see a U.S. force on the ground and we haven't really heard anything about U.S. security backstopping for the European peacekeepers, and Russia says they don't want any Europeans in there.

So, it's just really murky right now. But from my conversations with people in Ukraine and in Europe, they're afraid. They see a major turn in U.S. policy. They're asking, how can the United States be neutral between an aggressor that stomps on human rights and all the principles of Western democracy and a country that's been attacked that's simply fighting for our values, how could you be neutral in that and just a mediator and not care about the outcome.

KEILAR: I think there - in their - that fear that you have is one that there are many folks who share, right? And it is that as Ukraine starts giving away concessions, they're not just Ukraine's concessions, right? They're something that Ukraine itself won't be the only one ultimately to pay for, that this could ultimately be the U.S. having to pay down the road for these concessions.

That does not appear to be how President Trump sees it in these negotiations. What do you think about that difference in approach and view of what is at stake here?

CLARK: Well, I think President Trump sees a real opportunity to bring Russia back into the international community. He would like to sort of pole vault over the problem of Ukraine just to make it go away, bring Russia back in and deal with superpowers. And so you have China, you have Russia, maybe India, and you have the United States. And they each would have their sphere of influence.

And a lot of the old rules of the road would be gone. I mean, you know, we're in a multipolar world. Maybe the United States can't really use its allies, can't support its allies, can't defend its allies. A lot of the people associated with Trump have taken the position that America is a declining power. It's weak. We've got to cut our ties, cut our responsibilities.

I think the economy belied that at least before this current over the last couple of months in a setback. But we're growing twice as fast as the Europeans. We're growing as fast as China. Russia doesn't have anything. We've got great technologies. We should be really proud of what America has. And the American system of alliances basically kept the world away from major war for 80 years. It's a pretty frightening prospect to think about giving that up and going back to a 19th century system of balance of power, where there's secret diplomacy and powerful leaders talk to one another and sign agreements and war begins.

This is how the First World War began. And we thought we would learn from it. We didn't. We tried to form a League of Nations and have a concept of collective security in the 1930s, didn't work. U.S. didn't want a part of it. We paid the price with World War II. We thought we learned our lessons. But we've got a new generation of Americans. We've got a new generation of American leadership. And they may not see the value of collective security. They may think that it's really all about America first.

I just - I've been with this for a long time. Brianna, I studied it. I've worked it. I've done negotiations. I've worked with our European, and Asian and South American allies and friends in the Middle East. And look, this is a really scary departure for America to cast off our allies. And that seems to be the approach that President Trump and - I understand, it's great if you can bring Russia back in and, you know, the lions will lie down with the lambs.

But if you look at Russia's values and how they operate in business, if you look at the way President Putin has dealt with the media with his political challenges, with other people falling out of buildings and being poisoned and so forth is - those are kind of values - those aren't American values. And the reason we've stayed with our alliances for 80 years is those people basically share our values. So, we're going off into uncharted territory and people are rightly concerned, I think.

KEILAR: Yes. General Clark, thank you so much. We really appreciate your insights.

CLARK: Thank you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come, an update on the Menendez brothers' case, what the L.A. County district attorney is now asking a judge to do.

Plus, a search is underway in the Dominican Republic as authorities are scouring the island for a missing U.S. college student. What surveillance video reveals about her disappearance?

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[15:29:44] KEILAR: Turning back to our breaking news this hour and a rough day on Wall Street. Let's take a look there. The Dow down 850 - more than 850 points here. Analysts say this sell-off is being driven by concerns about the impact of President Trump's tariffs and his refusal to dismiss the possibility of a recession.

[15:30:04]

SANCHEZ: A bounce back for the Dow. It was down about 1,100 points not long ago.

Let's discuss with Roben Farzad.