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U.S. & World Markets Tumble As Trump Triples Down On Trade Wars; How Tariffs Are Impacting U.S. Consumers And Business Owners; Education Council Wants Answers On Student Visa Revocations; RFK Jr Promotes Measles Vaccine After Second Child Dies In TX. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired April 07, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:34:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The global market fallout to President Trump's global trade war reaches its third consecutive trading day.

Right now, the market -- we're taking a look at it, if we could put it up there. You see, there was that blip, that green blip, which was a rumor. That was trading on a rumor there. Now the market is down over 450 points.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: That has been the one high in a lot of lows on this roller coaster. The market got pretty close to bear territory. At least the S&P did.

And Trump has claimed that he is actually going to install more tariffs on China as retaliation for their threat of tariffs on the United States for his installation of tariffs on China. It's a lot of back and forth.

CNN Business editor-at-large and anchor of "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS," Richard Quest, has been monitoring the market meltdown and the global reaction to the chaos.

Richard, what do you make of this back and forth with China, specifically Trump tripling down on this trade war?

[13:34:59]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE & CNN ANCHOR, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": It's exactly what was to be expected. This is what happens. This is classic tit for tat. It starts with the U.S. with its 20 percent generals on tariffs for China. They retaliated. Then you get the next 34 percent. They've retaliated.

Now Trump has upped the ante by saying, if you don't take away your retaliation, I will go even more.

But if you are China, you're going to say -- which is a very large economy, you're going to say, no, I'm sorry, you do what you've got to do. Mr. President, in the United States, we have our people that we have to look after.

So what I'm seeing is entirely justifiably the classic tit for tat of a trade war.

And what will be next will be the European Union's response. And the E.U. has already said it's going to respond for the steel and aluminum tariffs. Now they're going to start looking at what to do for this general 20

percent tariff that's been the retaliatory or the reciprocal tariff, if you will, that they're going to introduce.

This is -- this is what's expected. And by the way, that little green blip that you can see on your screen, that shows just how volatile the market is. Any bit of news, they'll jump.

KEILAR: Yes. Even if it's not real news. Right?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: If it's just something they're hoping to hear. I guess we're going to see who has the higher threshold for pain in this. But it does feel a bit of a gamble here, Richard. Who's hurting the most?

QUEST: Well, I think who's hurting the most, well, we won't know that in terms of big picture. But in -- in terms of you and me and everybody else, it's going to be the consumer. They're going to be hurting most, and they're going to be hurting sooner rather than later.

And this is where I need your assistance, if I may ask for it. We are putting together a basket of goods that we can follow over the next few weeks and months. And they are the things that you buy the most.

You know, you can throw in an iPhone or a set of tires, but the things that you will buy over the course of a six month period. What would it be? Clothes, clothes, vegetables? At Richard Quest. We' like to see what people think is the sort of view.

By the way, listen, I, you know, my email, if you're really desperate, Richard.Quest@CNN.com. Richard.Quest@CNN.com. No, I'm not giving away the crown jewels. If you couldn't work out that by now, then you really shouldn't be watching.

But @Richard Quest. I'm curious to see the sort of things that you buy. Don't anticipate whether they're imported or otherwise. We'll do that.

The sort of things you regularly buy that will go into a basket of goods over the course of, say, a three-to-six-month period. Vegetables, fruits. That's what. That's what I need from you.

SANCHEZ: Cheese. A lot of cheese.

KEILAR: A lot of cheese.

SANCHEZ: Every weekend. KEILAR: Little kids shoes. I swear they grow out of them so fast. You

know, that's one for me.

Richard, we are coming up with a list for you, my friend.

QUEST: Bring it on.

KEILAR: So are our viewers.

QUEST: Bring it on.

KEILAR: All right. Lots of emails. You are giving away the crown jewels, though. But that's OK, Richard. We love you.

Richard Quest, thank you so much.

So let's get more perspective on how these tariffs are impacting American consumers and business owners.

Tom Maoli is a New Jersey car dealership owner. He's known President Trump, formally as Donald Trump, for over a decade. He helped on his 2016 campaign. He also helped raise money for him.

And so, first, can you just talk to us a little bit, Tom, about what you were doing? I said, New Jersey. You're also own a dealership -- dealerships in New Jersey as well as New York.

Are you raising prices across your six car dealerships? And by how much? How are you handling this?

TOM MAOLI, OWNER, CELEBRITY MOTOR CAR COMPANY: Well, ultimately, the consumer is going to have to pay. It's going to get passed on to the consumer. The consumer is going to pay the price here.

Manufacturers are trying very hard to hold back because we really don't -- we don't know the extent of these tariffs right now. It's in the beginning stages.

The only thing I can say is, you know, if I had a chance to sit down with the president right now and I would actually tell him to please reconsider your position.

Maybe you do this with a carrot and not a stick. Offer tax incentives and, you know, interest free loans from the government to get manufacturers to open up plants, which they will do.

You know, I understand what he's trying to do. He's trying to level out the trade balance. And he's a smart guy. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's brilliant.

But I think, you know, right now that, you know, we have a country that is was on the verge of recovery from the Biden administration. We were coming out of an inflationary period. Everybody felt like, you know, we're -- we're going to get this train back on track.

And now I think they're a little scared. You know, the stock market's crashing. Their 401s are down. And you know consumer confidence is a real thing.

KEILAR: Yes, we may stay in an inflationary period. Lots of questions about the impact of these tariffs. And I definitely want to hear what you want to say to the president.

But I do just want to be very clear, as you say, that this is going to be passed on to the consumer. And also, as we're expecting these auto parts tariffs to go into effect in early May, I understand you're saying there's some uncertainty. We don't know as we await for those to actually hit.

[13:40:02]

I mean, how much are we talking about passing on to the consumer when it comes to buying a car?

MAOLI: Well, listen, it could be $8,000, $10,000. You know, when you finance that over, you know, it's about $30, $1,000 to finance. You're talking about another $300 increase in a car payment for a consumer who has already been beaten up.

You know, they go to the supermarket, you know, prices are up, you know, all across the board since Covid. And I think that consumers really, really stressed. And I think this -- this has to be considered you know?

So not only is it going to affect new car sales and the prices of new cars, it's going to affect your repairs, breaks, oil changes, all of those parts are going up 25 percent, and that needs to be passed along to the consumer.

And it's not just the foreign automakers. Everybody thinks it's Toyota and Honda. And -- and you know, the Kia that people that are manufacturing that are from outside the country.

This is affecting the domestic automakers. And 50 percent of the parts that go into a domestic automobile, ford, Chrysler, G.M. are coming from China, Japan, Canada, Mexico. They come from all over the world. It's affecting everyone.

KEILAR: OK, so that is a very difficult picture that you are painting there as someone who is selling cars and dealerships that are repairing cars, for sure.

As I mentioned, you support Trump. You voted for him three times. You worked on his first term transition. You do have this message for him about the tariffs.

I also have a question for you, though, which is, he campaigned on tariffs and it sounds like perhaps this method is not what you expected. What did you think he was saying? What kind of approach did you think he was going to take when he talked about it?

MAOLI: Listen, I think that everyone knows he campaigned on tariffs. Tariffs we're a part of his first presidential, you know, stint when he was when he was the president the first time. And I think that, you know, everyone knew everyone voted him in. We

want these economic policies. His economic policies are right on spot. I just think he has to pull back a little bit here. I think I think he has to soften the blow for the consumers and, you know, the American people.

And I think he just -- you know, listen, ultimately, he will get this done. This will get all sorted out.

But right now, there's a lot of pain and it's costing the consumers a lot of money in an economic time when they're just trying to recover from pre Covid and the Biden administration's crazy inflationary period. He knows that.

You know and -- and I think that, you know, if he pulls back a little bit and gets -- he's got everyone to the table already. If he pulls back a little bit, we can sort this out.

I don't think the consumers can afford a $10,000 increase on automobiles across the board, not just foreign, including domestic.

KEILAR: Yes, it's an important reminder that you make there about the domestic cars.

Tom, thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate your time.

MAOLI: Great to see you.

KEILAR: Universities are demanding answers after dozens of international students have their visas revoked, adding to anxiety on campus. We'll have that story just ahead.

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[13:46:11]

SANCHEZ: So an organization, representing more than 1,600 colleges and universities, is seeking answers amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Hundreds of international students have had their visas revoked, leaving many others fearful of being detained and then kicked out of the country.

KEILAR: Yes. CNN's Gloria Pazmino is with us on this story.

And, Gloria, we know this educational organization sent a letter to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and to Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security. What are they expecting to learn?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, Boris, they're asking for some clarity. This is after weeks and weeks of reports that student visas are being revoked.

Now, one thing that is consistent when you talk to experts in this space is that they say that whatever protocol existed to notify universities and students about these visa revocations has completely gone out the window.

We've heard of cases where universities were not notified about visas -- visas being revoked until after the fact. And same for the students.

Now that creates a really difficult situation because universities have an interest in helping their international students navigate their visa requirements and making sure that they are helping them to retain that status.

That student is enrolled in that university. They're going through a program. So the university is invested in making sure that they can accomplish that.

So this lack of information that we're seeing in the last several weeks is really causing a lot of difficulty on that front.

Here's part of what this letter said. It was sent by the Education Council. And they represent about 1,600 colleges.

They said, "We seek clarity amidst reports that student visas are being revoked and records are being terminated in the Student Exchange Visitor Information System without additional information being shared with the institution those students attend."

What they're saying here is we need to know exactly how this is happening, because we're not able to provide any sort of guidance or help to our international students without having information before the fact.

Now, as you said, hundreds of student visas have been revoked so far. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he planned on revoking at least 300 visas.

And we know of dozens, including at least six student visas that were revoked at Harvard University over the weekend -- five at Harvard, I should say, and six current and six former international students at UCLA.

So we're seeing a pattern here where almost every day we're learning from a different institution where they are having to deal with this visa revocation issue.

KEILAR: All right. We know you'll keep an eye on that.

Gloria, thank you for the report.

KEILAR: And when we come back, another child has died from the measles in Texas. How HHS Secretary Kennedy is responding as he visits the epicenter of the outbreak, next.

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[13:52:29]

KEILAR: On the same day he attended the funeral of the second child to die in the Texas measles outbreak, Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr posted, quote, "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine."

Public health officials have been urging the Health and Human Services secretary to push the measles vaccine harder, as the U.S. experiences a surge in a disease that was once eradicated here.

SANCHEZ: According to a CNN tally, there have been at least 631 confirmed cases nationwide. Most of them are part of an outbreak in western Texas.

Secretary Kennedy identified the child, who died as an 8-year-old girl, in a post, showing him with her family. State health officials say the child was not vaccinated and had no underlying conditions.

Joining us now to discuss is CNN medical analyst, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine.

Dr. Reiner, thank you so much for being with us.

What do you make of the news that a second school-aged child died from measles?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: There's a lot of measles in Texas and a lot of unvaccinated people, not just in Texas, but around -- around the country.

In 1960, right before the vaccine was -- was rolled out in the United States, about 500, mostly kids, would die every year. About 50,000 people, again, mostly children, would be hospitalized.

So, you know, the notion that measles is just an annoying rash that goes -- goes away pretty quickly and it's really nothing to worry about is just - it's just a fallacy.

So, you know, we've seen now, nationwide, as you said, over 600 people, mostly children, almost all, about 98 percent, unvaccinated, acquired this -- this virus.

This virus was deemed eradicated from the United States in 2000, but our vaccination rates have dropped. And the more people become infected, the more people will get sick.

And about 70 people have been hospitalized during this outbreak. And when you have people getting sick with this virus, some people, mostly children, will sadly die.

KEILAR: And I wonder what you think, as we mentioned, he did call the MMR vaccine the most effective way to prevent the measles, which I suspect is music to your ears.

But then just a few hours later, he also posted praise for some local doctors using unapproved treatments for measles. What do you think of those messages together?

[13:55:06] REINER: First of all, he did, and I'm happy to hear him say that the most effective means of preventing the spread of the virus is via the vaccine. But then he stopped short of the next sentence, which would make sense, which would be to unequivocally urge parents to vaccinate their kids.

It's interesting. Earlier in the day, his Senate sponsor, Dr. Bill Cassidy, said that, explicitly. And what he tweeted was, "Everyone should be vaccinated. There is no treatment for measles."

Which contradicts what RFK Jr would go on to say later in the evening when he promoted steroids and antibiotics.

No benefit to getting measles. RFK Jr has falsely promoted the concept that immunity from measles is much better from the virus than the vaccine, and has wrongly proposed this notion that the immunity from the vaccine wanes.

And top -- top health officials should say so, unequivocally, before another child dies. And that's sadly what Secretary Kennedy failed to do. He failed to unequivocally tell people, if your children are unvaccinated, get them vaccinated.

SANCHEZ: Doctor, I wonder what you think the future of this outbreak looks like, given where it's concentrated and how it's grown.

REINER: Well, we're seeing it now spread around the United States. There was a report last week that a small outbreak in Kansas shared the same genetic features as the outbreak in -- in Texas.

You know -- you know, several years ago, any sporadic outbreak was typically a person who had acquired -- an unvaccinated person who had acquired measles abroad and then traveled to the United States and then developed the clinical features of the disease after arriving here.

But now the spread here is person to person, because so many people in this country have been vaccinated their children.

A few years ago, about 95 percent of children entering kindergarten were up to date with their MMR vaccine, had received two doses of the vaccine. Just two years later, that had dropped almost 3 percent. And you need about a 95 percent vaccination rate to have so-called herd -- herd immunity.

The other thing that's important for people to remember is that all children less than 1-year-of-age are unprotected for and quite vulnerable to this -- to this virus.

So the immunity acquired by vaccinating the community protects the most vulnerable, which are kids less than one year.

And there are tons of people in the United States now who are unvaccinated. And we'll see -- this is just the tip of the iceberg now. Well see a major outbreak all around the country of -- of measles. Some parts of the country are better protected. You know, places like

the northeast, much better vaccine rates than in other parts of the state. But we'll see this number get much larger as the days and weeks and months go forward.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Jonathan Reiner, appreciate your expertise. Thanks for being with us.

REINER: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: Happening now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is at the White House meeting with President Donald Trump. And soon, they will answer reporters' questions in the Oval Office. Well bring that to you when it happens. Stay with CNN.

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