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Rubio and Danish Counterpart Meet as Trump Eyes Greenland Takeover; At Least 7 Killed in Deadly Tornado Swarm Across Central U.S.; Temporary Layoffs Start at Auto Plants in U.S., Canada, Mexico; Tariffs Could Mean Steep Price Hikes for New Cars. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 03, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have new details into CNN on a meeting between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Foreign Minister of Denmark at a gathering of NATO allies in Brussels. Rubio's office says the two reaffirmed the strong relationship between the countries. Of course, the elephant in the room was President Trump's insistence on taking control of the Danish territory of Greenland.

The issue apparently not on the agenda at today's meeting, but that did not stop the Danish official from bringing it up when he was speaking with reporters. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: But, of course, I took the opportunity to very strongly object to claims and presidential statements of a vision of acquire Greenland. It has amounted to a situation where it's not within this -- of a vision of acquire Greenland. It has amounted to a situation where it's not within the limits of international law.

It's a matter of situation where it's where I only can describe it as an attack on Danish the sovereignty of the kingdom of Denmark. And I made that very, very clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's get the perspective of a former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford. Rufus, thank you so much for being with us. I wonder what you make of the message there from the foreign minister.

RUFUS GIFFORD, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO DENMARK: Well, Boris, thanks. One, thanks for having me. And two, I actually think the more important statement came from the Danish prime minister, who today was also in Greenland, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Greenlandic prime minister and said the exact same thing.

Boris, this is an extraordinarily depressing chapter in American foreign policy history, as far as I'm concerned. Every Danish and Greenlandic leader at this point, and they've had to say it over and over again, has said that Greenland is not for sale and will not become part of the United States. I don't know how many times the Trump administration needs to hear this before they can stop this truly bizarre policy that they continue to just sort of beat over the heads of the Danes and the Greenlanders. When there is no political will on the part of the Danes or the Greenlanders to actually see that this happens.

SANCHEZ: The view of the administration is that there are geopolitical reasons to be interested in Greenland. There are also mineral resources that are there. They would argue that the current relationship between Greenland and Denmark is an opening for the United States.

The Vice President, J.D. Vance, has accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory. Do you think that's the case specifically when it comes to defense?

GIFFORD: Two things on this, Boris, and they're very important. I actually fully agree with the Trump administration that we need to take the Arctic more seriously and Greenland is extremely important strategically. But we can accomplish everything that we want to accomplish by investing more in Greenland.

For example, we had 17 -- 1, 7 -- military bases on Greenland at the end of World War II. Since then, we have scaled back tremendously. The one base that remains, where you saw the vice president earlier this -- or last week, used to have 5,000 soldiers stationed there. It now has 200.

What we can do is work together, as you should, treat a great ally like Denmark and Greenland, sit across the table from them and work this out. Also, we can't forget that Greenland is a NATO ally.

NATO also acknowledges that the Arctic is increasingly important considering the Russian and Chinese interest in the region. And we can do this. But there is simply no logical reason why the United States of America has got to acquire Greenland in order to achieve these goals.

And I'd say the same thing about the economic pieces you mentioned, minerals and otherwise. The Greenlanders and the Danes would love nothing more than for American investment in Greenland. But again, all we need to do, if J.D. Vance -- if the vice president and his wife wanted to go to Nuuk last week and bring a trade delegation of American business to Nuuk and discuss how we can invest more in Greenland and partner together, they would have been met with the red carpet that they wanted.

But what they have done is thumb the Danes and the Greenlanders in the eye time after time after time. And now you're seeing both the Danes and the Greenlanders put their foot down and call it for what it is, which is, you know, the United States disrespecting them, disrespecting a great ally who has been with us -- and I obviously a firsthand experience here -- every step of the way for the last 80 years.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador, I wonder if you view the remarks and the clear projecting of intent to pursue Greenland from the Trump administration, from Trump himself, as part of a broader pattern of a not decoupling, but of a distancing between the United States and its NATO allies, because as you mentioned, Greenland, because of its relationship with Denmark, theoretically would have protection under the NATO alliance in Article 5.

But that doesn't seem to be the way that this administration is talking about it.

GIFFORD: Yes, Boris, and it's something probably that troubles me the most. And you know, this is -- I could talk about this for a very long time, but the truth of the matter is these countries, NATO countries, have been in lockstep with the United States.

[08:10:04]

They have every single time I asked the Danish prime minister, the Danish foreign minister, to send their young men and women into harm's way. They said yes. And they said yes without hesitation, whether it was in Iraq to counter ISIS, to remove chemical weapons from Syria.

And they said yes without hesitation, because the United States of America is their best ally, which the prime minister reiterated again today in her statements in English, in Greenland, directed to Americans.

And to treat them like this, to treat our European allies with the kind of disdain that the president and the vice president in particular have treated them with, I truly believe is shameful. And I speak out as forcefully as I do, Boris, because I think not only do we need to talk about this to fellow Americans, but we also have to have our European partners understand that there are Americans back home that really do see this as the rhetoric coming from the administration as offensive as it actually is.

SANCHEZ: Ambassador Rufus Gifford, thank you so much for being with us.

GIFFORD: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, deadly tornadoes devastating the central United States as some areas face potentially historic flooding. We'll take you live to a town in Tennessee where tornadoes ripped a neighborhood apart.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Parts of the central U.S. and the South, Mid-South are reeling from the wrath of a deadly tornado swarm. At least seven people are now confirmed dead and officials say that number is expected to go up.

SANCHEZ: Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee, just some of the states hit hard overnight and in certain areas, more tornadoes are expected, followed by torrential rainstorms. CNN's Nick Valencia is live for us on the ground in Selmer, Tennessee. Nick, describe what you're seeing.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris and Brianna, weather here continues to be a factor. You see the rain coming down here. A tornado watch is in effect until this evening.

But the worst part of it, the scariest part for these local residents was last night. You can see what's left behind as the tornado came barreling through here, through this field. And this is what you're looking at here was once a trailer park, about 20 trailers altogether normally. But this is what's left of it.

We know, according to the Tennessee Department of Emergency Management, they say the Department of Health has confirmed at least five people have died in the state, seven altogether as a result of these storms. One of those people perished in that trailer park here.

In fact, we were talking to some people who got here even before first responders. They say they were treating people and they're not entirely sure if those that they were rendering aid to made it. I talked about that trailer park right here.

This is a new apartment complex or what's left of it. You can see the parts of the roof, all of these buildings suffering some damage. This is probably the worst of it.

And we did speak to residents that were inside this building. They didn't have time to get into the bathtub, didn't have time -- there's no basements in here. So some, including a 14-year-old boy, was in his bed when that tornado ripped through here, blowing out windows, flipping cars on their side. It's not entirely clear just how many tornadoes touched down around those areas that were impacted. But just here alone in western Tennessee, there was thirty five tornado warnings.

And there is a lot of anxiety about what tonight could bring under these circumstances. Thousands still without power. As I point out, this car that's just been flipped up on its side, there is that concern as this heavy -- as this rain starts to get a little bit heavier.

But there is a whole lot of gratitude here as well. Everyone that we've spoken to says this is all just stuff. This can be replaced. Most of them have insurance. The renters are relying on those landlords to help fix all this stuff eventually. But they're just grateful to have their lives here considering what happened here overnight about one, two in the morning -- Boris Brianna.

SANCHEZ: I'm glad those folks that you spoke to are OK. Nick Valencia for us in Selmer, Tennessee. Thank you so much.

Still ahead. Twenty five percent tariffs for imported cars are now in effect. We're going to take you live to a dealership with what you need to know before you buy or lease a new vehicle.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: American autoworkers are already feeling the impact of President Trump's tariffs. Stellantis, whose brands include Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, is pausing production at some of its Canadian and Mexican assembly plants, resulting in temporary layoffs of about 900 hourly employees. This is across five different plants in Michigan and Indiana that supply those Mexican and Canadian facilities.

KEILAR: For more on the tariffs, let's turn to CNN's Omar Jimenez, who is live at a dealership there in Southfield, Michigan, which is just outside of Detroit. Omar, tell us what you're hearing.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so right now they are weighing a few different factors. For starters, at the moment, they are working with the supply of cars that they do have. So cars like these, these are pre-tariff cars, essentially.

But though the question becomes when they have to then start ordering new cars, that is when these tariffs are going to put these dealers in a very tough position, likely raising prices for their consumers.

Now, these particular cars are actually used cars. And I'm showing you these because the president here at this auto group brought up a really interesting point that essentially we're going to be looking at two different markets here.

Yes, new cars are going to be more expensive because of the tariffs. But because of that price raise, people are likely going to start turning more to used cars. But with the increased demand there, used cars could then see an increase in price as well.

And as I mentioned, we're sort of in this spot where tariffs are in effect, but they're still working with this pre-tariff group of cars. So consumers, customers have been coming in realizing, oh, my gosh, I should get in now before prices actually go up.

Take a listen to what the president of this auto group told us about what he's seen from customers over the past weeks leading into the institution of these tariffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GLASSMAN, PRESIDENT, GLASSMAN AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: A couple of weeks ago is when it really started to hit. And here's what we're finding. The person that comes in that wants to buy that white car, it has to be white because they love white. They're buying the gray car because that's what's available.

JIMENEZ: Is it the tariffs themselves or is it the uncertainty over what the tariffs will bring?

GLASSMAN: It's both. You've got high interest rates -- historically high interest rates right now. And so you've got customers that are feeling the pain with their household bills. You've got food costs that are high. And now their second largest purchase next to a home is also into play. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:00]

JIMENEZ: And customers we talked to were keenly aware of that. One in particular, she leased a new car yesterday. And not only was she thinking about these tariffs, but she leased a newer car because she figured that one would have less maintenance on it. She told me she was thinking about coming tariffs in May from the Trump administration on auto parts.

And then that president we spoke to, his dad started this dealership back in the late 60s. He's been here for over 40 years. They've been through a lot. Brands closing down recent years, the pandemic, chip shortages, things of that nature. But the way he described it to me is that while he's waiting to see from manufacturers and automakers how much of these tariffs they will absorb, which then will then come down to the dealers. And then, of course, the consumer.

This, to him, is the most disruptive issue they've dealt with in a long time.

KEILAR: All right, Omar Jimenez, thank you for the walk around there and for telling us about what they're facing. We appreciate it.

And we are moments away from the market close. So stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]

KEILAR: All right, it is just before 4 p.m. on the East Coast and the closing bell is about to ring. So let's get a quick check here of the markets.

The Dow down more than -- well, plunging more than 1500 points. S&P 500, NASDAQ also down. Both hit their lowest levels since September.

SANCHEZ: I'm glad you read those numbers. I try to read one of these percentages earlier and I was expressly forbidden by the producer. Fractions are really hard.

All three major indices have been on pace for their worst day since the 2022 inflation crisis. President Trump, though, shrugging it off, saying it's all part of the plan. We'll discuss further on "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt in just moments.

Stay with CNN.

END