Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Critical Ukraine Talks; President Trump Escalates Trade War With Canada; Interview With Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN). Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:42]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Tariff-ied. President Trump taking a rattled market and shaking it up even more, threatening new, larger tariffs on Canada that go in effect in just a few hours. The White House will face questions from reporters in just moments.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: No room for error. Congress facing a key vote, as it races to fund the government before a Friday deadline. But despite having control of the House, Senate, and White House, Republican holdouts could upend the speaker's plans.

And a work in progress, that is how Ukrainian officials are describing talks aimed at ending the war in Russia. But a key player, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is not in the meetings.

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

SANCHEZ: We're standing by for breaking news at the top of this hour, the White House set to face questions from reporters, as President Donald Trump threatens a sharp escalation in his back-and-forth trade war with Canada.

Trump is now vowing to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum in response to the province of Ontario slapping a retaliatory surcharge on electricity sent to three U.S. states.

Here is what Rob Ford, Ontario's premier -- Doug Ford, rather, had to say about that just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG FORD, PREMIER OF ONTARIO, CANADA: There was an unprovoked attack on Canada, on families, on jobs, on businesses. For what reason? The market is speaking loud and clear. Consumer confidence is down. The market's tumbling. There's going to be plants closed in the U.S. Assembly plants will shut down because they won't have the aluminum, or they will be paying twice, three times as much.

This is -- this is absolute chaos created by one person. And that's Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: In the crossfire, financial markets, with Wall Street tumbling again after yesterday, when it suffered its worst day of the year.

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

Alayna, what is President Trump saying in this new threat to Canada?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, he made a lot of news, Boris, in that post this morning.

As you mentioned, he said that he wants to increase tears another 25 percent on steel and aluminum coming into the United States from Canada, bringing that to 50 percent. He said those tariffs will go into effect tomorrow morning.

But then he also said that he would shortly be declaring a national emergency on electricity within the threatened areas, the different states that the Ontario premier threatened with that, and then also said that there will be a financial price for this so big, referring to the electricity, that it will be read about in history books for many years to come.

All to say, Boris, for those, the global markets, the global trading partners, those who are looking for less volatility, more stability today, some reassurance from the president, we are not seeing that. We are seeing much more ramped-up threats to Canada and more tariffs here.

Now, I think what everyone is watching for is, one, this press briefing, of course, that is going to start shortly behind me, but then also to hear from the president himself directly. He's going to be speaking to the Business Roundtable at 5:00 p.m.

Noteworthy, it's after the markets close. We also did not hear from the president directly yesterday while the markets were open on some of this. But, again, I think a key concern is just where are we going to see some of that stabilization.

Already, before the president had made comments arguing -- or, I should say, not ruling out a recession, we saw some volatility in the market. But, as you mentioned, on Monday, we saw markets have their worst day of the entire year, really erasing all of the gains that we saw the president have since he was elected into office last fall, so a lot of questions about, what does this look like moving forward?

When will this kind of tit for tat tariffs on Canada and Mexico, when will that stabilize? When will they see more from the president himself to reassure those that we won't have a recession and that he is paying attention to some of this -- these downward moves in the market, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Alayna live for us at the White House.

Thank you so much, Alayna.

Let's bring in Ben Bergman. He's a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

Ben, thank you so much for being with us.,

The Volatility Index on Wall Street surged yesterday and today. I can't imagine that investors are now feeling good about this new threat for an additional tariff on steel and aluminum from Canada.

[13:05:07]

BEN BERGMAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, BUSINESS INSIDER: Not at all.

I'm in Las Vegas for a gathering of A.I. investors and executives, and it feels like President Trump is playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy. Usually, I wake up and check my 401(k) account. I have been scared to do it for the last couple days, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. It seems to be getting worse.

SANCHEZ: I do wonder. This is all obviously from Doug Ford's surcharge on electricity going to three U.S. states. He has floated the idea of potentially cutting off electricity to those states altogether.

I wonder how far this can go. What might Canada do next?

BERGMAN: This is the sort of thing that you study in economics class in college and high school, a trade war. I never thought we'd be seeing this in real life play out day to day.

I mean, how many Americans knew that we imported electricity from Canada? And there's a lot of levers. But, remember, Canada is much more dependent on U.S. exports than we are on Canadian goods. So, as bad as this is for us, it's worse for Canada.

SANCHEZ: So, we understand that Trump is going to be speaking to some top business executives during this forum later today. Is there anything he could say, anything he could share with them that might actually alleviate their concerns?

BERGMAN: I think what these business leaders would want to hear is a clear plan, and not this turning on and off, because this is the worst thing for business leaders to try to forecast, when there's so much uncertainty.

And you have seen that in the corporate earnings reports this week, such as Delta Air Lines saying that they're forecasting perhaps a recession and reduced consumer demand, and so their stock dropped about 15 percent. So, this is the worst case for business leaders that had been expecting a soft landing, but now could be a recession later this year.

SANCHEZ: So, that question of a soft landing and a potential recession, the number of job openings grew across several major sectors in January.

But then, two weeks ago, we saw jobless claims spike, some 242,000 jobs. What does the job market look like overall? How might it be impacted by this trade war?

BERGMAN: Well, I think a lot of people see this as the calm before the storm, because, just with DOGE, you have so many government jobs, and then the threat of a recession now.

I mean, usually the U.S. economy is an aircraft carrier that takes a long time, and there's only so much the president can do. Rarely has the economy been so directly tied to the president, and the president not seeming to care that much about plunging the U.S. economy into a recession for what he sees as greater good later on.

SANCHEZ: Ben Bergman, thank you so much for the analysis. Appreciate your time -- Brianna.

KEILAR: And to Capitol Hill, where House Speaker Mike Johnson says he now has the votes to pass a stopgap bill to fund the federal government through September and prevent a government shutdown.

With Republicans' razor-thin majority and House Democrats preparing to vote in lockstep against the plan, President Trump has been working the phones trying to persuade GOP holdouts. Vice President J.D. Vance also huddled with Republicans this morning on Capitol Hill to rally support.

A source in the room telling us Vance warned Republican members that, if there's a shutdown, Republicans will be blamed.

With us now is Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee. He is one of the House Republicans who is currently a no on the funding bill.

Or, at least, sir, you were. I wonder, have you gotten a call from the president or spoken to the vice president? Are you still a no?

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Yes, ma'am.

I have spoken to the president, and I'm still undecided. My main concerns, as they always have been, is that this additional monies, any monies that we get is going to go to the Pentagon. And, of course, if we shut the government down, it's going to stop all the cost savings that have been going in that we're trying to get through DOGE.

So it's -- I guess I'm sort of between a rock and a hard place on that. But I -- but, honestly, this is the very first time since I have been in Congress and some of the old-timers like Chip Roy have been in Congress that we have -- that we have actually seen a reduction in the size of government.

And it's several billion dollars. Although, in Washington terms, that's very little, I will tell you, in Tennessee, that's a whole heck of a lot.

KEILAR: Yes. Did you tell the president that? I mean, can you give us a little insight as to the concerns you voiced?

BURCHETT: Yes, I -- one thing I have learned that, if you have private conversations with the president, if you want to continue to have them, you don't talk too much about them.

But I will tell you this. The president is concerned about the spending. He's worried about the economy. He is -- he's concerned at the misconception that we're going to cut Medicaid and Medicare and things like that, and that's the furthest thing from the truth.

This is an actual reduction in the size of government. It's what people have demanded across the aisle, across this country. And that's why President Trump won with a mandate. And that was one of the mandates, because the size of government is just out of control.

[13:10:08]

KEILAR: So, let me ask you, because you -- as you mentioned in this, you have been consistent on this. You have concerns about the level of defense spending, which does increase in this stopgap funding bill.

You're also aware, and we have reported on it, a Secretary Hegseth memo from a few weeks ago where he's calling for 8 percent cuts to the Pentagon budget each year for five years in a row, which is a lot.

BURCHETT: Yes.

KEILAR: So, are you worried that you would vote for an increase, but then that decrease in Pentagon spending might not actually come, some of the expectations in the budget process might not actually come? What are you worried about here?

BURCHETT: Well, one of the things that I'm worried about is people up here that tell me the truth.

And, generally, they have all lied to me, all of our past leadership. But, in this case, Donald J. Trump has never lied to me. And I have given him that opportunity several times in the last couple of weeks, to be honest with you, Brianna. And if he does -- I don't think he will. I think he shares those same concerns, because he knows a reduction in spending and moving away from a more government-based economy to a capitalist-based economy will -- will increase the productivity -- productivity of this country.

And it will force us out of any so-called recessions at that time. And I believe he understands that and he gets it.

KEILAR: What do -- you say you're worried people are lying to you. What are you worried they're lying to you...

BURCHETT: No, they have in the past. I mean -- sure. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Brianna.

KEILAR: No, no, no, go ahead.

BURCHETT: No, I -- yes, I mean, in the past, I have been told we're going to do this the next time, we're going to do this the next time. And guess what, Brianna? It's the next time.

And I'm giving President Trump his one chance here. I think some -- your station reported last night that, in 37 times, I have not voted for one of these crazy things. And, this time, I am, because it is actual reduction in the size of government, something I never thought I would say in my lifetime in federal politics.

But it is an actual reduction. And President Trump has delivered on that promise. Although it's minute by Washington standards, it is a start, and it's where we need to go. And he is concerned, as I am, about the waste, abuse and fraud in the Pentagon.

And I believe, when he -- when Elon Musk goes in there, he is going to find a lot of that. And I think it's -- and a lot of people are going to be very uncomfortable, and they should be.

KEILAR: So, I just want to be clear. So you're saying you are voting -- you are voting yes for the C.R.?

BURCHETT: No, I did not say I was.

KEILAR: OK.

BURCHETT: I'm just telling you, those are the type of things that are weighing inside my mind...

KEILAR: OK.

BURCHETT: ... over -- over where we're at. So I'm not -- no, I'm not -- I'm not committing to you and the good folks at CNN that I'm going to vote for this thing.

KEILAR: OK, so, then, when you're talking about...

BURCHETT: Because I still have a problem with kicking the can -- go ahead.

KEILAR: Yes, kicking the -- kicking the can down the road.

So -- and, to that point, even if you do ultimately get these decreases in Pentagon -- in the Pentagon budget, I mean, ultimately, are you concerned about the message it would send to vote for an increase before a decrease?

BURCHETT: Yes, ma'am.

But -- and I realize Washington phony politics, and they say, oh, we reduced the rate of growth. But it's still growing. That not a trick I'm going to fall for. And I don't think America's going to fall for it either, because, as I have stated, when DOGE gets ahold of the Pentagon, I believe it's going to -- they're going to squeal like a stuck pig.

And they should because they have been -- they're war pimps. All they do is -- their business is war, and it's very good. Young men are dying and old men are making decisions. And you're seeing stock portfolios of people on both sides of the aisle in this building that just go up considerably every time there's a war anywhere in the world, because our arms dealers are selling them that. And it makes me a very unpopular person and probably will get me

primaried. It makes me unpopular with my colleagues. But, daggone it, that's the truth, and people ought to start paying attention.

KEILAR: Well, let's...

BURCHETT: It's all public record. You can go on Unusual Whales' Web site and you can follow every transaction that we that members make.

KEILAR: Let's talk about some of the proposed cuts through DOGE and what we're hearing from Elon Musk. I know you're watching the clock there.

But he's talking about eliminating...

BURCHETT: No, we're good. We're good. Go ahead.

KEILAR: ... $500 billion, $600 billion, $700 billion a year in waste, fraud and abuse from entitlements.

BURCHETT: Yes.

KEILAR: Entitle -- and those are comments that are getting a lot of attention.

So I think we need to be clear here, entitlements, of course, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. But how do you hit that number? It's him zeroing in on waste, fraud and abuse. How do you hit that number without actually cutting benefits, because there's no estimate of waste, fraud and abuse that would come close to that number he's highlighting?

BURCHETT: Well, nobody thought we were giving $10 million a year to Madagascar for circumcisions either, but, daggone it, we are.

[13:15:06]

And so I think if you start looking at the percentages of money that's going out and the fraud that they have already uncovered in this short amount of time -- we're not even 100 days into the Trump presidency. And President Trump promised us he would root that out.

And Elon Musk, all of a sudden, the Democrats don't like him anymore because he's an evil billionaire. And, of course, they have George Soros to contribute to their folks on their side of the aisle. He's not evil.

But the truth is that Musk has come up with an incredible -- his people have -- have come up with an incredible amount of waste.

KEILAR: Let's just stay focused on this, sir. Can we focus on this? Also, let's keep clear. I don't believe even -- I don't believe the circumcisions are Madagascar, even the alleged circumcisions. I just want to be clear. I think it's a country that begins with M, but that's not it.

BURCHETT: OK.

KEILAR: So, this number -- so this number is -- it's very big. So -- and the sensitivities around tackling entitlement cuts. But any experts...

BURCHETT: Ma'am, but you have to ask yourself, why are these people so opposed to finding waste, abuse and fraud in these departments?

KEILAR: I'm not done -- I'm -- that's not the question. I didn't finish -- I didn't finish my question.

BURCHETT: Because the money -- ma'am, the money would get back to the people in need.

KEILAR: The issue is the cuts to the benefits versus waste, fraud and abuse. That's -- I think there -- there seems to be a lot of support, right, for waste, fraud and abuse.

The issue is that, if you talk to folks who can actually know the amount of waste, fraud and abuse that you could tackle, they say you can't get that number of the cuts that he's talking about. They say you can't balance the budget, which is obviously something Republicans really want to do, without being honest about cutting these entitlements.

And yet it seems something that Republicans are reticent to speak honestly about that that's what would have to be done.

BURCHETT: You know, my daddy was an old educator, and he used to tell me they always invite the people in to fix the problem that created the problem.

You're asking the people that created the problem, did they make a mistake? And, of course, they're going to tell you, no, we didn't make a mistake. This is crazy.

Well, nobody imagined any of these millions and billions of dollars that are going out. Do you realize, I mean, we're giving $40 million a week to the Taliban right now currently? But you...

KEILAR: No, I think these are people -- I think these are people who actually...

BURCHETT: No, ma'am.

KEILAR: ... are interested in reducing -- some of these estimates, they are people who are interested in being fiscally conservative.

BURCHETT: Then why don't they embrace the idea of exposing these things? Why do they want to demonize Trump and they want to demonize Elon Musk? It's ridiculous, ma'am. Why don't they embrace...

KEILAR: Oh, no, they don't. No, they're not. I'm just talking about...

BURCHETT: Ma'am, every -- every day, have you all ever had any in the last, I don't know, three weeks, an article on...

KEILAR: These are folks -- I'm just talking about the math. I'm talking about the math on waste, fraud and abuse.

BURCHETT: Ma'am, well, look at the math.

If Elon Musk says that he thinks he could find a trillion dollars worth of waste, abuse, and fraud, why don't we let him try to see if he can find it? What does that hurt? Everybody's trying to be critical. They're attacking the message carrier.

And the problem is, is that this money, you're going to see it going to politicians and -- I mean, going out to these NGOs and all these organizations that are -- they claim they're doing a good job and it's coming right back to Washington, and possibly both parties.

And I think that's what a lot of these people are afraid of. They're going to get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. And some of these people need to be in handcuffs, because Medicaid and Medicare should be a sacred, sacred group of people, and we should not be stealing from any group that is trying to help that community.

And that is what has happened. We just had a meeting just now in Oversight. There are seven -- somebody said, well, it's just so infantile, it's so small. And then it turned out, I asked, what is the percentage? And they said, 7 to 8 percent, 150 -- over $150 billion that is being misdirected or stolen or whatever through fraudulent or human error.

KEILAR: I'm just trying to have a conversation.

BURCHETT: Why don't you embrace that? Why don't you all at CNN want to cut that stuff?

KEILAR: I'm trying to do a little math with you. I'm just -- I'm trying to do some math with you, talking about math that people who...

BURCHETT: Ma'am, you didn't -- you all do not support one cut. At CNN, you all do not support one daggone cut in any of this stuff.

You're trying to use the lowest denominator. You're trying to scare the most people to drive the train against Trump. And it's not working. The American people are not buying it. And you all have made a huge error in this, because there is unbelievable waste, abuse and fraud.

KEILAR: We're looking at -- I'm looking at the numbers.

BURCHETT: No, ma'am, you're not looking -- no, ma'am, you all are not.

KEILAR: I'm looking at the numbers that DOGE has put out themselves. They say they're cutting contracts that have already ended. They say they're cutting a big amount. It turns out it's actually a smaller amount.

That's just math, Congressman. And we're going to continue to keep looking at the math.

BURCHETT: Ma'am, are you saying that there's no -- are you saying there's not -- are you saying there's not -- well, look at the math. Are you saying there's not billions of dollars of waste, abuse, and fraud in federal government? Are you trying to say that? Because everybody out there knows it.

[13:20:02]

KEILAR: I don't need to tell you that. There's CBO estimates that -- that's what we're trying to discuss, is the actual number.

BURCHETT: And that's why Trump is in the White House, and that's why Kamala Harris is on a book tour.

KEILAR: We're trying to have -- at least I'm trying to have an honest conversation with you about the numbers and CBO estimates and the numbers that experts on this topic expect there to be.

Congressman Tim Burchett, thanks for joining us.

BURCHETT: Ma'am, and unnamed experts.

Thank you all so much for having me.

KEILAR: Great to have you, sir.

Stay with CNN. The White House taking questions, as President Trump threatens more tariffs on Canada, sending the markets -- you see it here -- into another sell-off.

And take two on talks. Ukrainian and U.S. officials are meeting after that explosive Oval Office conversation between President Trump and Zelenskyy. What concessions the U.S. may be looking for from Ukraine to end the war with Russia.

And then later: how the DOGE cuts in Washington are being felt in Asheville, North Carolina, as the city is recovering from Hurricane Helene.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:26]

SANCHEZ: Right now, an urgent meeting is under way in Saudi Arabia. Top U.S. and Ukrainian officials are searching for a pathway to end the war with Russia after more than three years of bloodshed.

The U.S. delegation says they want to hear what concessions Ukraine may be willing to make. Ukraine's presidential chief of staff calls the talks a work in progress.

CNN's Nic Robertson is monitoring developments live for us from London. Nic, have officials come to a consensus that they have made public on

anything?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think that we can say that the consensus is that they're off to a start. They have both described it as work in progress and going well so far, or indicating it is going well so far. There's consensus on that, but, of course, it's still ongoing.

And the fact that it's ongoing seems to indicate, of course, that there's a much better and stronger dialogue than there was in the White House in that tempestuous meeting, that big bust-up two weeks ago. But where this is going to land, of course, what the U.S. delegation is looking for is to hear what concessions Ukraine is willing to make.

And Ukrainians, for their part, going into the meeting the chief of staff to the president said that this was important to get started, the process. And I think that's indicative of the fact how the Ukrainians see this. They want a fair and just peace. They see this as the beginning step.

But, of course, most important in the short term is that they restore the military support, the intelligence support from the United States. So, of course, that's what they're communicating. But I think it's also worth kind of reflecting on this as well.

While they have been in these hours of discussions there in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, the Ukrainians are also speaking, speaking war to the Russians. The Russians claim that they shot down 343 Ukrainian drones over Russia, 91 of them in the Moscow district.

The Russians claim that three people were killed, six people were injured. If the Russian figures are correct, that's the biggest Ukrainian attack, it would appear, on Russia. So there's a signal being sent to the Russians there that the war is still on.

And, look, the Russians, for their part, sent missiles into the east of Ukraine today, according to the Ukrainians and two children were killed in that strike. So the war's going on. So the messaging at the table is very important with the U.S. interlocutors to restore the sense that the Ukrainians want peace.

But there's a message to the Russians that they want to -- that the war continues, that there is loss involved in this for the Russians and they can keep this up. And, of course, what we have heard from Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, is that, well, maybe this drone attack on -- massive drone attack on Moscow and on Russia is actually going to be detrimental to the process.

So, yes, there's -- there are two lots of talking going on here at the moment.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson live for us from London, thank you so much for the update.

We want to take you straight to the White House now, where Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is taking questions let's listen.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... killed Americans.

We have a zero tolerance policy for siding with terrorists, period.

Peter Doocy.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

So, you said that the Dow dropping and dropping and dropping is a period of transition. You're sure nobody here at the White House shorted the Dow?

(LAUGHTER)

LEAVITT: No, I don't think so.

QUESTION: OK.

But is there any concern here that it's going to be harder to ask certain federal workers to retire if they look at their retirement accounts and they're getting rocked every day?

LEAVITT: Well, I'm glad you brought up workers, because that's exactly who President Trump is looking out for with his America first trade policy and his America first economic agenda.

And if you look at -- there's great indication to be optimistic about where the economy stands. And the American people, investors, CEOs, small business owners, but, most importantly, workers, should bet on President Trump, because his tariff policies, what he envisions is reciprocity, fair trade practices, where American workers are put first, and are no longer ripped off by foreign countries all over this world.

QUESTION: President Trump says he's going to buy a Tesla today. Did he buy it? And when is the last time he drove a car?

LEAVITT: That's a very good question. I have heard the president remark that he misses being able to drive, that luxury of driving his own vehicle, although The Beast is nice.

But he is going to be viewing a Tesla that is making its way to the White House complex now, I can confirm. Perhaps the press pool today will have an opportunity to witness this very exciting moment later this afternoon. But Tesla -- a Tesla is on its way here now. And we will see if the president likes it.