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China Tariffs On U.S. Now 125 Percent, U.S. Tariffs On China 145 Percent; Small Plane Crashes On Busy F.L. Street, Erupts In Flames. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired April 11, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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[13:00:05]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: China raising the stakes against President Trump's tariffs by imposing its own hike. And there appears to be no signs of upcoming negotiations between the White House and Beijing. Plus, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Not quite yet, but if you're planning to buy one of the biggest staples of the holiday season, you may want to start thinking about it now because the trade war could become the biggest Grinch this year.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, an immigration judge will decide whether Columbia grad student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil can be released from custody. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez along Brianna Keilar in our nation's capital.

And happening right now, we're tracking new fallout after China's counterpunch just hours after President Trump called China's leader Xi Jinping a friend, China is calling President Trump's policies a joke and retaliating again. Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods are now at 125 percent. U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are 145 percent, meaning American consumers and businesses are likely in for more pain. Yale's budget lab is estimating that Trump's tariffs are going to cost at the average household, 4,700 extra dollars a year.

KEILAR: That is a lot. And consumers are already historically unhappy. New data on a key economic marker finds consumer sentiment fell 11 percent this month. It's now at its second lowest reading on record in 73 years. And all of this is not helping the market volatility.

Right now we're looking at the Dow up a little over 400 points. But you can see it's been back and forth this morning into this afternoon as Wall Street's chaotic week is soon going to close. We're standing by for the White House to begin its press briefing. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is there in the briefing room.

And Jeff, I know you have some new reporting on President Trump's strategy when it comes to China. JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the question is which country is going to blink first in this ongoing trade war between the United States and China? U.S. officials were urging China to have back channel convers, the president Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump as well, and to not retaliate. That, of course, did not happen. We saw the 125 percent tariff added just this morning really ends a volatile week, a week of uncertainty, no question about it. But that consumer sentiment number is one that the White House certainly has its eye on.

That's a metric of how people are feeling, how people are sort of viewing the prices of everyday goods. So going into what is going to be an extended three month period of dealing with other countries to really lift the pause on the sweeping tariff plan, the question is what happens with China that is hanging over all of this? But the White House certainly is answering those questions as well. The president is heading to Walter Reed. He's just arrived there a short time ago for his first physical since being in office the second time.

So those are among some of the topics here to be discussed later on at the White House briefing. Boris, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, keep us posted on when the press secretary starts engaging with reporters. We'll come back to you.

For more on the fallout from this worsening trade war, let's bring in Douglas Holtz-Eakin. He was the chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. He's also the president of the American Action Forum.

Doug, always great to see you. What does this --

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, W.H. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS UNDER PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: -- Chinese escalation of 125 percent on U.S. goods mean for the U.S. economy?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, it's just more bad news. And you know, as you reported, we saw incredibly poor consumer sentiment numbers this morning. In that survey, by the way, consumers expected inflation to be 6.7 percent, the highest we've seen since 1981.

[13:05:07]

So people are expecting costs to go up. Retaliation by China adds to those upward pressures that money has to come from somewhere. It'll come out of other purchases by households. That's going to slow the growth in the economy. And businesses are comparably concerned about the outlook. So the fallout of this trade war has been very significant already, although it has not yet shown up in rising unemployment.

Some of the other things you'd want to watch pretty carefully. KEILAR: The spokesman for China's Commerce Ministry, Douglas, said that the U.S. is risking turning itself into a joke by using tariffs as a bullying and coercion tactic. How are other countries, do you think, viewing the U.S. because obviously it is very problematic for America if they are seen in all of this as the bad guy and China is seen as being more reasonable?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Well, there is a real concern because the White House has yet to articulate what, for example, they want China to do in order to lower the tariffs. And they've encouraged, you know, 70 odd countries to negotiate with the White House. But to what end? What is it that the White House wants from each of those 70 countries in order to get tariffs to go back down?

So if you're just imposing tariffs and you provide no signal as to what the negotiation is about, you look like a bully. You're inflicting pain for no apparent reason. And I think there needs to be a real clear articulation of the strategy because right now we're getting nothing but bad news out of these tariffs and there's no pathway to getting some benefits to the other end.

SANCHEZ: The Chinese economy obviously relies heavily on manufacturing. Last year they had a $1.1 trillion trade surplus with the United States. How much pain do you think their economy can endure given that the biggest market for them, the biggest market in the world, is the United States?

HOLTZ-EAKIN: This is a significant blow to the China economy, there's no question about it. And we're going to see it slow -- sharply. Now, as you and I both know, the Chinese Communist Party has a tight grip on the country. Its ability to withstand that pain comes at the expense of its citizens, but it will withstand the pain. I'm worried about the fact that people have lost sight that the second largest manufacturer in the world is the United States and that we do more manufacturing than Japan and Germany combined.

And this whole thing is predicated on the notion that somehow the U.S. doesn't have any manufacturing anymore. And that's just not true. What we're doing now is taking the established manufacturing giants in the world, China and the United States, and pitting them one against the other. And as I said before, to what end? We both are going to see higher inflation.

We're both going to see slower economic growth. And I'm not sure what we'll see in terms of benefits for the economy.

KEILAR: The U.S. China piece, and of course it is so big, perhaps it should eclipse the 10 percent tariffs that are still in place across --

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.

KEILAR: -- other countries but they are. And you have the European Union's economy commissioner calling it a blow to the global economy. To what end there, is that clear to you? HOLTZ-EAKIN: No. And I think that it's easy to lose perspective. I mean, you know, it's been the longest five-day week in recent economic history. So -- but when the president proposed a 10 percent universal tariff on the campaign trail, there was essentially universal condemnation of the idea. And most economists saying, oh my goodness, that's a terrible idea.

That's an enormous tariff. We don't want to see that. But we have that and we have a lot on top of it. We've got steel and aluminum in cars, China, Mexico, Canada. So the fact that he paused the reciprocal tariffs doesn't mean that he's eased up.

This is a tremendous imposition of tariffs. And the U.S. tariff rates are now extraordinarily high. And what will we get for that? It's far from obvious. I don't know what he wants to accomplish.

KEILAR: Maybe whatever he does accomplish in a deal, then he can herald as a success, which we've seen as a strategy of the president. So.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.

KEILAR: But that's difficult for other countries as they try to figure out what they're doing --

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Yes.

KEILAR: -- as you point out. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, thank you so much for being with us.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: Thank you.

KEILAR: In addition to the trade war, President Trump is also getting a reality check on his pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine. The president's top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, is in Russia right now. He met a short time ago with President Vladimir Putin as you're seeing in these pictures.

SANCHEZ: You know, the talks are happening as Russia's military steps up attacks in Ukraine after Putin rejected President Trump's proposal for a full and immediate cease fire. CNN Senior International correspondent Fred Pleitgen is following the story for us.

Fred, walk us through the details regarding today's meeting.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: First of all, the meeting is happening in St. Petersburg for the first time and not in Moscow.

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One of the reasons for that, Boris, is that Vladimir Putin visited Russia's naval command there and actually touted Russia's naval weapons that they have, the modern weapons that the Russians are developing, nuclear weapons also. But then, as far as the meeting itself is concerned, one of the interesting things about it is that the Russians really are making almost everything about it public, except with the two Steve Witkoff and Russian leader Vladimir Putin themselves are speaking about in front of -- behind closed doors.

You have had several updates coming from the Kremlin press secretary about how long this meeting has been going on. It's been several hours now. But also some of the topics that are being discussed. And of course, the Russians are saying that one of the main ones is the war in Ukraine and how to end the war in Ukraine, but then also how to improve bilateral relations between the Russians and the United States, where the Russians obviously believe that they seem to be on a good way to trying to do that.

At the same time, one of the things that we are seeing or may be seeing, is some frustration on the part of the Trump administration. Of course, they have been really trying to help the Russians get back on track with their relations with the United States. But at the same time, very little progress is actually being achieved as far as a cease fire is concerned. And President Trump went on Truth Social and he said, look, the Russians need to move. Many people are dying, thousands each week in a senseless war, as he put it.

And that certainly seems to be one of the messages that Steve Witkoff might have for the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, that now is the time to move forward and really sign onto a ceasefire. The Ukrainians, of course, are saying, look, it was a month ago that the Ukrainians signed up to an unconditional cease fire. If the Russians did so as well, the Russians still haven't done that, guys.

SANCHEZ: Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much for the update from Berlin.

We're also monitoring some breaking news this afternoon out of Florida. First responders rushing to the scene of a fiery plane crash along a busy street in Boca Raton. Officials say a small twin engine Cessna 310 crash just outside the city's airport.

KEILAR: The FAA says there were three people on board. It's unclear at this point if anyone on the ground was hurt. CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo is with us on this. She's a former inspector general for the Department of Transportation.

Mary, this was a small plane. Flight trackers show it made repeated loops around the airport just after takeoff. What does that tell you?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: The plane had control problems. You know, there have been similar accidents, although with big planes in the past. And they -- in those planes, they had lost hydraulics. And that's not the key here. But the point is, when you had this problem, all you could do is make turns.

And so the fact that this plane made, I counted them on the public flight radar sites, and it looks like it made nine circles before it finally lost control and crash. It wasn't a long flight. It took off around 10:12, and by 10:22, it was over. But we do have some important information that will help the investigators because the pilot was able to transmit that help was needed. They were already rolling the emergency equipment, at least that's what the news reports say. And there will be some information that the pilot did transmit to air traffic control when asking for the emergency equipment. So this one may not remain a mystery for long, but certainly frightening with those nine circles over heavily populated areas.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no question about that. Now that you've given us kind of an indication of how investigators might start, how exactly do they piece together all the variables at play here to paint a picture of what might have happened?

SCHIAVO: Well, and that's why I mentioned, fortunately the pilot was able to communicate and get some information because as you can see from the wreckage, you know, and on these small plane crashes, sometimes you -- sometimes you literally, and big ones, too, you literally have to try to put the plane back together with the small pieces. I mean, literally, I've done that, you know, with the investigators on hangar floors. And it's difficult because you don't have. Usually have a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. Some planes, in rare cases can be retrofitted with these things.

But the 310 is an unpressurized plane and doesn't typically have that, so the communications become very important. And also the fact that the flight radar shows that it could make the circles. It never gained a lot of altitude, but could make those circles. And that does suggest a trim and control problem or an aileron or rudder problem, some kind of a control surface problem. But like I said, because he was able to get a mayday or she, I don't know who the pilot was, was able to get a mayday out, there might be additional information that was transmitted to the controllers to air traffic control.

But otherwise the clues might be literally on the flight path, on the communications, et cetera. Because there's just not much of that plane left to try to do an accident reconstruction on. Very difficult.

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KEILAR: Mary, we always look forward to speaking with you, but we've been talking to you a little too much lately. As you've noticed, there have been a number of these incidents, and it feels like they're happening --

SCHIAVO: Yes.

KEILAR: -- very frequently.

SCHIAVO: Indeed. Yes.

KEILAR: This -- you know, this is the conversation. People are having something else. What do you say to them after this helicopter crash in the Hudson yesterday claimed the lives of this family and the pilot? I mean, what do you say to that after the year we've had?

SCHIAVO: Well, statistically, the -- for commercial aircraft, for commercial flights, the statistics are up this year. But that is, you know, in part, you know, when the FAA looks at statistics, statistics only show what's happening right now versus over time. So we had a wonderful stretch, almost two decades where we did not have a commercial passenger service crash of a U.S. carrier in this country.

However, foreign carriers carrying Americans crashed, we had the Boeing disasters, et cetera. But statistically, that means for the U.S., those two decades were really great for air safety statistics. And that's what the FAA bases them on, accidents, incidents and pilot deviations. And this year already is looking bad. So these statistics this year are not going to be good, even though, you know, these accidents have been caused by widely variant causes.

But the statistics are going to be rough this year.

SANCHEZ: Important to put them in perspective. Mary Schiavo, always appreciate your expertise.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Happening this hour, attorneys for the man mistakenly deported to El Salvador are back in court demanding to hear what steps are being taken for his return after the Supreme Court issued their ruling. And in Louisiana, an immigration judge will decide whether a Palestinian activist and Columbia grad student should remain detained for deportation.

KEILAR: And later, the Menendez brothers, convicted of killing their parents back in 1989, could soon learn whether they'll get a resentencing hearing. You're watching CNN News Central. We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Let's go now to the White House press briefing underway.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The Americans across the country have a voice in this room. So thank you again for being here. Thanks for the question.

The president' point about his trade and tariff agenda is to bolster our manufacturing industries here in our country, to bring down the cost of living here in our country and to ensure that we are maintaining critical supply chains here in America. We cannot be dependent on countries like China if we want this country to be strong and wealthy. So the president wants to restore wealth to America by shoring up these jobs here at home, which will result in good paying jobs and higher wages for the American public. And so Americans should trust in that process. He effectively implemented tariffs in his first term while driving down the cost of living in this country and that's what he's focused on doing again.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As a follow up question, could I just ask, are there any specific ideas that the administration has as to what that revenue, specific tariff revenue --

LEAVITT: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- will be used for?

LEAVITT: Yes. To the heart of your question, the president has spoke about the trillions of dollars that he expects in revenue from tariffs and how we can use it to pay down our debt and to ensure that we are no longer faced with a triple -- crippling national debt in the trillions that is going to bankrupt our nation for future generations. So that money coming back home will make America in the green rather than in the red, which any small business owner across the country I believe can appreciate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

LEAVITT: Thank you.

Kelly (ph).

KELLY: Tomorrow there will be negotiations between the United States and Iran (inaudible). What are the president's chief goals for that? And is he satisfied with how Iran is responding to this? They don't want direct face to face negotiations. Instead sort of old school shuttle diplomacy where they're in separate rooms and messages are passed back and forth.

So is the president comfortable with the arrangement there? And what is the chief objective?

LEAVITT: Well, I have spoken to both the president and also his national security team who will be engaged in these discussions. These will be direct talks with the Iranians, and I want to make that very clear. I also spoke to the president just last night about his goal when it comes to Iran, and he has reiterated repeatedly to all of you publicly and also privately to his team here at the White House, his ultimate goal and the ultimate objective is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon. The president believes in diplomacy, direct talks, talking directly in the same room in order to achieve that goal. But he's made it very clear to the Iranians and his national security team will as well, that all options are on the table and Iran has a choice to make.

You can agree to President Trump's demand or there will be all hell to pay. And that's how the president feels. He feels very strongly about it.

KELLY: And can you update us on Mr. Witkoff in Russia and what's happening with direct communications with Vladimir Putin?

LEAVITT: I can confirm that Mr. Witkoff is in Russia to have direct communications with the Kremlin and with Vladimir Putin. This is another step in the negotiating process towards a cease fire and an ultimate peace deal in Russia and Ukraine. As these negotiations are ongoing, I obviously will not get ahead of the president or his team. But I think the president has been quite clear that he's been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict and he wants to see this fighting and he wants the war to end. We believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal to a peace deal, and we're going to use that leverage, and the president is determined to see this through.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks, Karoline. President Trump has said China wants to make a deal on tariffs. The president says he has a great relationship with Chinese President Xi. He's willing to speak with him directly. Why doesn't the president just pick up the phone and get this ball going?

[13:25:00]

LEAVITT: All of the things the president just said are true. The president -- as I said from the podium just a few days ago when I was up here would be gracious if China intends to make a deal with the United States. If China to retaliate, it's not good for China. The United States of America is the strongest, best economy in the world, as evidenced by the more than 75 countries who have called the administration immediately to cut good deals. So, the president wants to do what's right for the American people.

He wants to see fair trade practices around the globe, and that's his intention and his goal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So is he waiting for China to make the first move here?

LEAVITT: I'm not going to comment on communications that are happening or may not be happening or either way. We'll leave it to our national security team to get these discussions underway. And as always, in the effort of transparency, we will provide updates moving forward. But the president has made it very clear he's open to a deal with China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is he optimistic that China is going to make a deal or wants to make a deal if they're not talking? Where does that optimism come from?

LEAVITT: He's optimistic.

Sean (ph).

SEAN: Why would any of our allies work with us to isolate China in a trade war if we're treating friend and foe alike?

LEAVITT: You'll have to talk to our allies who are reaching out to us. The phones are ringing off of the hooks. They've made it very clear they need the United States of America. They need our markets, they need our consumer base. You saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office with the President saying that he was going to bring down all of their monetary tariffs and their non-monetary tariff trade barriers as well.

We've heard from South Korea, we've heard from Japan. The president has spoken to Vietnam. We have Italy coming to the White House next week. There's a reason for that, Sean, and it's because they need the United States of America and our business model and our markets to survive. And the president is using that leverage to our advantage. Michael (ph).

MICHAEL: Hey, thank you, Karoline.

Two part question on China. Beijing says it will simply ignore any further tariff escalations from the U.S. Does President Trump see this as China backing down? And as a follow up to that, what do you say to people like shark tank's Kevin O'Leary who say you guys simply haven't tariffed China enough?

LEAVITT: Look, the tariff rate on China remains where it was yesterday at the 145 percent level. The president made it very clear when the United States is punched, he will punch back harder. And he hopes to make a deal that benefits the American worker and our companies that have been ripped off for far too long. And he's finally taking bold and courageous action to do that.

You know, taking on China is in the terms of trade and tariffs is something that both Democrats and Republican alike have spoken about for decades. President Trump is finally doing it.

MICHAEL: Karoline, real quick, president of El Salvador is coming to the White House on Monday. Does President Trump want him to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia with him?

LEAVITT: The Supreme Court made their ruling last night very clear that it's the administration's responsibility to facilitate the return, not to effectuate the return. I believe the Department of Justice just filed another brief in the lower court. I would defer you to that for any updates.

But as you mentioned, President Bukele will be here at the White House on Monday to talk about the cooperation that is at an all-time high. And we very much appreciate President Bukele and El Salvador's cooperation and the repatriation of El Salvadorian gang members who the previous administration allowed to infiltrate our country.

Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, Karoline.

The president spoke quite highly of the great relationship that he has with the Turkish president. We know that the president might be heading off to the Middle East very soon. Is he planning to meet with the Turkish president either here in the White House or in Turkey? Any plans?

LEAVITT: We don't have any details about the president's overseas trip other than to say he was surely going to Saudi Arabia. There could be more countries as part of that trip. We're working on the details. And as I've said repeatedly, we will provide the details of that trip as soon as possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)?

LEAVITT: I'm sorry. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A trip to Turkey or his invitation to the Turkish president is under consideration?

LEAVITT: I'm not going to comment on the details of the trip, but once they're confirmed, I will certainly let you all know.

Yes. Stephen (ph).

STEPHEN: Thank you, Karoline. I'd like to ask you about presidential health and also about tariffs. On presidential health, are there plans for the president's position to come here and take our questions? And also, President Trump repeatedly makes remarks about the former president's help. Is he considering using his executive powers to bring any greater transparency there?

LEAVITT: As I have said, the president is undergoing his long scheduled physical. It's a yearly physical that every president receives, and we will provide an update on that by the president's physician as soon as we possibly can.

STEPHEN: And about the former president and transparency regarding his health, are there --

LEAVITT: Well, I can tell you there was certainly a lack of transparency from the former president, from the entire former administration. And frankly, a lot of people in this room when it came to the health and the competence of the former president of the United States, Joe Biden, there was one of the greatest cover-ups and frankly, political scandals this nation has ever seen. It's been unraveled in some recent books that are being written by journalists who engaged in that cover up and scandal, which is quite ironic. But this president is clearly committed to transparency. You in this room see him and hear from him on a daily basis.

You in this room know from covering him, it's hard to keep up with him. He is a machine working around the clock.