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March Retail Sales; Very Few Trump Voters Regret their Choice; John Murphy is Interviewed about Tariffs on Pharmaceuticals; New Warrant in Arson Investigation; FAA Tests Detection Equipment. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired April 16, 2025 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[08:34:23]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some breaking - breaking news in moments ago. There's new data on the strength of the American consumer retail sales numbers, just in and better than expected.
What to do with this? Zain Asher is going to make sense of it for us.
What do you take - what does the report say? What do you take from it?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR AND BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: These numbers, Kate, really strong. Retail sales for March coming in at 1.4 percent. That is certainly stronger than expected. We had pretty much a flat February. The numbers actually surged in March.
And what that indicates, I mean, this is really important because this is the first sort of hard piece of data that we've gotten that really indicates just how much the announcement of these tariffs is actually affecting consumer spending and consumer behavior.
[08:35:02]
This is what economists are referring to as front loading.
BOLDUAN: Because I was going to say -
ASHER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Do you take this as confidence or this is - this is fear. Like -
ASHER: You know, I would say that it's -
BOLDUAN: Panic buying, right?
ASHER: Yes, it's good news, but it's precarious good news.
BOLDUAN: Right.
ASHER: So it's front loading. People rushing out and saying, gosh, I know that the prices are going to rise. Let me go out and buy that washing machine, OK. Let me go out and get that car.
What's going to be interesting is what happens after this, right?
BOLDUAN: OK.
ASHER: So, April - I would anticipate the numbers for April will also be higher as well because April is, of course, when we got the announcement of the 145 percent tariffs on China.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: This is still going back to March, when Donald Trump announced steel and aluminum tariffs as well.
I think that if these tariffs go into effect, and I'm talking about the exemptions expiring, inventory runs down, we are going to see the numbers drastically fall over the summer. That's when we're in trouble, right? You've got to remember that consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of GDP. This is a consumer-led economy.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: If people stop spending, and I'm talking about over the summer, June, July, August, what does that mean for businesses? What does that mean for layoffs?
BOLDUAN: Also assuming that this - that, well, that this trade war, not just -
ASHER: Right.
BOLDUAN: You know, the new floor that he might be creating with the across the board tariffs.
ASHER: Right.
BOLDUAN: But, like, if this trade war reaches into June and July, I mean -
ASHER: That's a problem.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: That's when the U.S. economy is in trouble because, not only would people have frontloaded their spending and spent what they were going to spend later in the year, they would have spent it earlier in the year.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: But on top of that, with the higher prices, with certain goods not being available, people might not spend as much. And again, that is when the U.S. economy is going to show signs of trouble.
BOLDUAN: Yes, so this is, you know, one - another important piece of data - ASHER: Right.
BOLDUAN: That everyone will take into account.
ASHER: Yes.
BOLDUAN: What - where are we with - yes, where are we looking right now for the open?
ASHER: So - OK, so the Dow futures pretty much flat, as you can see. S&P futures down a little bit. The Nasdaq futures, that's where we're seeing some drama. And that is because of Nvidia. It has absolutely nothing to do with the retail sales numbers. This is about Nvidia, because the Trump administration is essentially placing restrictions on what sort of chips Nvidia can actually sell to China.
BOLDUAN: This is - this huge though. I mean -
ASHER: This is huge. This is part of the non-tariff side of this trade war.
BOLDUAN: Right.
ASHER: And that is heating up.
What's interesting is that this was actually placed into restrictions under the Biden administration. Donald Trump is now clamping down on Nvidia. This is part of making sure that China does not win in this AI race.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: So - yes.
BOLDUAN: This is - last night I had a fascinating conversation with some really smart Wall Street guys and Richard Quest on Erin Burnett's show. And they - what they said is like this is like the bipolar nature of the market. We're just going to continue to see this unless -
ASHER: Yes. Yes.
BOLDUAN: Unless the U.S. and China start talking.
ASHER: Yes. And what I'm concerned about is how China ends up retaliating to this. They've already limited rare earth minerals exports.
BOLDUAN: Well, they're - what - what they're doing - what they're doing with Boeing -
ASHER: Right.
BOLDUAN: That's a huge -
ASHER: Right. BOLDUAN: That's - that is a sign.
ASHER: So, it's not just about the 145 percent. It's not just about the headline numbers in terms of these tariffs. It's about how they retaliate in other ways in this trade war too.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
ASHER: So that's why - that's why we're seeing the Nasdaq down. And also the S&P 500 is certainly tech sensitive. So, that's why we're seeing that go lower as well. But the Dow futures, pretty much flat.
BOLDUAN: One thing I just - I completely underappreciate is that Boeing is America's largest exporter.
ASHER: Right.
BOLDUAN: Full stop.
ASHER: I know.
BOLDUAN: Just like and - and China clearly knew that.
ASHER: Right. And having -
BOLDUAN: And the decision that they're doing.
ASHER: Chinese airlines not being able to buy Boeing now, crucial.
BOLDUAN: Stand by to stand by again.
Zain, ending with just rainbows and butterflies.
ASHER: I always bring you good news, darling.
BOLDUAN: I led you there. I led you there. I led you there. That was totally me. That was totally me.
All right, let's go to the guys.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.
BERMAN: Thank you. Thank you so much.
BOLDUAN: Would you like to take it now.
BERMAN: So, talking about the tariffs. Obviously over the last several weeks we've seen Donald Trump, the president, losing support among voters writ large over the tariffs. His numbers on the economy are going south. He's hemorrhaging support among independents on the economy.
But what about Trump voters? How do they feel about all this? One man can answer that question. He just happens to be the one man standing beside me right now. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.
Let's talk about Trump voters and how they feel. Do they regret their vote?
ENTEN: I mean, this is the big question, right? I hear all these stories, all these articles, all the Trump voters, they regret what they did back in 2024. I'm here to tell you, uh-uh, very few of them regret what they did back in 2024. What are we talking about? Trump voters looking back at 2024. We got a new poll out. The poll was conducted this month. What percentage would change their vote to a different candidate? We're talking just 2 percent, just 2 percent. That's not even a wide spot on the road.
And then there's this additional 1 percent who say they would rather not vote. We're talking overall under 5 percent might or would have changed their vote, Donald Trump voters back in 2024. And then you ask, OK, the same question to Kamala Harris voters. And it turns out the numbers are rather similar. So, if there was a repeat, if folks got to be able to redo their vote that they had back in 2024, would the result be any different? I doubt it would be. I doubt it would be or it would still be extremely close.
The bottom line is, for all this talk of Trump voters regretting their vote, in the numbers, it really just doesn't show up, John.
BERMAN: So - so the stickiness with Trump voters and President Trump, in this presidency, how does it compare to his first presidency?
[08:40:00]
ENTEN: Yes, OK, so, you know, I was interested in sort of an historical analogy here, sort of, does this look similar or different from back in 2017 looking at 2016? Well, in February of 2017, 4 percent - 4 percent of Trump voters say they'd shift their vote. That's actually slightly more than the 3 percent this time around. So, you know, you look back, you say, OK, there's these Trump voters who really regret their vote. Historically speaking, they really don't regret their vote. And if anything, the number this time around is actually smaller than it was the first time around. And it's certainly smaller than the number we saw coming out of 2020, of course, after the events of January 6th.
So, the bottom line is this, if there's some idea out there that Trump voters are going around, man, I wish I had voted for Kamala Harris instead of Donald Trump, the numbers say that is a fanciful universe. It really, for the most part, does not exist.
BERMAN: What about the Republican brand in general? Any evidence that people are, you know, leaving that brand faster than they're leaving the Democrats?
ENTEN: Yes, exactly. You know, yesterday we spoke about Trump's approval rating, right? But it's very important to note, nothing cannot be nothing. That is, when you put two folks together or two folks against each other, the results might look different than just looking at one of them. And on this particular measure, which I think is so important, because what we saw in 2024 was Republicans getting a rare lead on party identification. It was a one-point lead, according to Gallup. Look at where it was in an average of Gallup polls so far this year, plus two points for Republicans.
If anything, the Republican brand has actually perhaps gotten a smidgen stronger, though these are within the margin of error. Very different from 2017, when Democrats held a five-point advantage.
And I'll finally note, this looks very much like the generic ballot trend which, in 2025, looks an awful bit like November of 2024, when Republicans, of course, won and held the House.
BERMAN: We will see if these trends continue, but they are very interesting at this moment.
Harry Enten, thank you so much.
ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.
BERMAN: Kate.
BOLDUAN: So today filings are set to be published on the investigation that the Trump administration is launching into possible new tariffs on everything from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals, all in the name of national security, and all setting the stage for another chapter in the president's trade war. Tariffs on pharmaceuticals, I want to focus in on, because this could have a huge impact. The drug industry warns that tariffs could not only increase the price of lifesaving medications, but also make worse already existing and stubborn drug shortages.
Here's why this matters so much. Most of the drugs that Americans use, medications, are produced at least partly overseas, more than half coming from China, India and Europe. One FDA analysis showed that 72 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients are made outside the U.S., 13 percent of those coming from China. One person sounding the alarm about the threat that new tariffs could pose to patients across the country joins us now. John Murphy is the CEO of the Association of Accessible Medicines, which represents key generic drug manufacturers.
Thank you so much for coming in.
So, they've got this investigation into possible new tariffs. Let's assume they conclude - it concludes with additional tariffs being announced on pharmaceuticals. From your perspective, that is going to mean what for generic medications?
JOHN MURPHY, CEO, ASSOCIATION FOR ACCESSIBLE MEDICINES: Yes, Kate, thanks for having me. So, it really is going to put additional pressure on a supply chain that's already very stressed in the United States. So, you know, it's important for us just to understand, in the U.S. market we basically have two different avenues for prescription medicines. We have the branded medicines market, the innovative side of the market, which is only 10 percent of daily prescriptions, but 80 percent of the spend on prescription medicines. The generic and biosimilars market, 10 percent of - or about 18 percent, sorry, of our spend on prescription medicines, 90 percent of prescriptions. And so, you can see, they're not even comparable, but we're treating them, from a tariff perspective, as if it's one market.
And we really have to think about, during this investigation, the backbone of the American medical system is generic drugs, 90 percent of that. How do we shore up the infrastructure to create resiliency in the supply chain and - and think about, how do we - how do we incentivize more domestic investment? How do we incentivize more resiliency in the market? And we just don't think we can do that with tariffs alone. We need a mobilization in the United States to support that underpinning of American society, because that is the national security priority, right? We need to have access to these medicines on a daily basis. And, you know, our concern is that tariffs, without differentiating the two markets, and without thinking about the infrastructure necessary to really create that mobilization here, it's going to have really bad side effects for patients.
BOLDUAN: Would you support tariff - the - the generics, and I'm going to call them name brands, being - facing two different tariff structures? Is that what you're pushing for?
MURPHY: I - I think really we need to just understand that the two markets are very different.
BOLDUAN: For sure.
MURPHY: And so when we're approaching this investigation for commerce, you know, what we've said in the generic market space is, we actually need to think about domestic production of generics in the context of industrial policy here in the United States, right.
[08:45:11]
Generic volume over the past five years has grown significantly in the United States as the aging population has created more demand for medicines. The overall value of sales for generic medicines over the past five years decreased $6.4 billion.
BOLDUAN: So when -
MURPHY: So, the margins are so tight, we have to think about, how do we increase that.
BOLDUAN: The margins are always tight. That's why - yes.
MURPHY: Yes.
BOLDUAN: I mean the margins are always tight with generics. That's why people can prefer them because we can afford them.
What - how much are prices, do you think, going to go up on generics?
MURPHY: So, I do think you're going to see a pockets of price increases where they can. But - but this is what's important, it's really hard to raise prices on generic medicines in the United States because there are effectively three purchasers - BOLDUAN: That's right.
MURPHY: In the hospital market and three purchasers in the retail market, and they demand very onerous terms to provide access to patients. They will just prefer more expensive brand name drugs if they can't get the margins that they want. So, it's going to push margins down.
What I really think we may see is, is more pockets of shortages in the United States for some of these critical medicines, if we don't have a more thorough regulatory reform, reimbursement reform and industrial policy paired with any potential outcome of this investigation.
BOLDUAN: The obvious question - and this applies across industries, but the motivation behind a lot of these moves for the president is to move production back onshore. The motivation behind it when it comes specifically to pharmaceuticals, a lot of people agree with, which is, it's crucial for the United States to reduce its reliance on other countries for critical medications.
I mean I was looking in - previously when it - when it comes to amoxicillin, I mean in - just like, it's all produced overseas. It's a critical antibiotic, of course. The president wants to - wants tariffs to drive that move back onshore. Is that a bad thing?
MURPHY: It - so the policy underlying this of creating resiliency and health care security is not a bad thing. How we go about -
BOLDUAN: Can you do it in a matter of months?
MURPHY: No. No, you can't. And - and I'll tell you, there is a lot of infrastructure in the United States that make generic medicines right now. And they're not looking at this 232 investigation. They're looking at, how do I expand capacity when I have to build new plants here in the face of other reciprocal tariffs that could apply in the next 90 days, because we - a lot of the production capacity machines are also produced overseas. And so they want to import that to expand capacity.
It's a little bit of a chicken and egg problem, right? I think that's why we've talked about, do we want to start mobilizing our health care infrastructure to say, we want to create the environment to sustain the market, and we want to - we want to, you know, think about how we reimburse for medicines, think about how we prioritize the generic market. The government can think about its own purchasing practices, right? The government buys a lot of pharmaceuticals. How is it prioritizing where it's buying those medicines because we can't just think about this as we import medicines, but we also - we make a lot of medicines here. How do we support expanding that capacity, not just through the 232 investigation, but all these other reciprocal tariffs that you all were just talking about in the last segment. Those apply to those companies, right?
And so, you know, it's - it's a long-term strategy. Many other countries have prioritized that as well, right? They've - they've put in place different strategies to incentivize that production. There's no reason we can't do that here. And we would really be interested in working with the administration on that because it is important for health care security that patients have access to medicines. We're already seeing those shortages, as you mentioned. Almost none of those shortages that we see here exist in Europe. Almost none of those shortages we see here exist in Canada. And that's because the economics are just different for generic medicines in those countries.
BOLDUAN: What I'm hearing is that it's obviously, one, critical to get this right, and, two, that it is nuanced. The chicken and the egg of needing to expand production, not being able to expand production because you can't get the equipment to expand the production, that is a fascinating element that should be considered.
John Murphy, thanks for coming in.
MURPHY: Thanks so much, Kate.
BOLDUAN: John Berman.
BERMAN: Yes, learned a lot in that discussion.
All right, new information this morning in the arson attack at the home of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. The suspect allegedly targeted the governor over his views on the war in Gaza. That is according to a search warrant obtained by news site "PennLive." The 38-year-old is now charged with attempted homicide, aggravative arson and other crimes. His family says he was acting erratically in the days before the Sunday attack.
Let's get right to CNN's Danny Freeman, because motive had been a question here and new details emerging, Danny.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thats right, John. I said yesterday that motive was really still the biggest outstanding question here. What drove 38-year-old Cody Balmer to allegedly set fire to the governor's residence behind me over the weekend? Well, last night, this alarming report potentially shed some more light on that question.
According to the local news outlet "PennLive," there are actually several search warrants that were filed in this case that the public has not seen yet.
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One of those search warrants, according to this report, apparently says that Balmer actually called 911 himself the morning of the fire after he set fire to the mansion allegedly. He confessed, according to that warrant, and also said he set the fire because Governor Josh Shapiro needs to know that Balmer, quote, "will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people." Balmer reportedly also told 911 operators, Shapiro needed to, quote, "stop having my friends killed," and that, quote, "our people have been put through too much by that monster."
Now, CNN has not independently seen that search warrant yet. The courts themselves did not release this yesterday. But our understanding is that we are hoping to be able to get a chance to see it later this morning.
Now, John, there are a few important things to note at this point. First, the warrant also reportedly said that it seemed like Baler may have been reading off of a script when he said these remarks. That's according to "PennLive." Second, law enforcement officials from day one have emphasized that they are still investigating before they can definitively say if Governor Josh Shapiro's Jewish faith or his political views played a primary role in this attack.
And finally, notably, the Dauphin County DA has not added any hate related charges to these crimes, though he did tell CNN back on Monday that he was actively looking into whether Shapiro's religion or his perceived views on the Middle East motivated this attack.
Again, family members also telling us that Balmer had mental health challenges in the days leading up to the attack. A lot more questions, John, coming out overnight and into this morning. We're hoping to get some of those answers for you later today.
BERMAN: Yes, important new information, but also important caveats there.
Danny Freeman, thanks, as always, for your excellent reporting.
All right, a suspect is in custody this morning after a shooting at a high school ended in multiple injuries.
And a toddler who went missing was rescued seven miles from home, all thanks to a rancher's dog.
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BOLDUAN: So, a suspect is now in custody in Dallas after a shooting at a high school there. Four students were injured in this. Three of them shot. And this all happened Tuesday. Police say another student was grazed by a bullet. The victims range in age from 15 years old to 18 years old. Now, police have not released any information about the suspect. The school district, though, says classes are canceled for the school for the rest of the week.
And an investigation is now underway after two U.S. service members assigned to the joint task force at the southern border were killed in an accident involving their vehicle. A third service member is also in critical condition. Now, the military says this happened in New Mexico, but there is very little else detailed about what actually has happened right now. Their names have not yet been released. We do know they were among the thousands of troops who have been deployed to the southern border in recent months.
And in Arizona, a little boy disappeared from his home on Monday. A dog named Buford then helped rescue that little two-year-old. He was missing for 16 hours. A man says that he saw the boy on his ranch seven miles from where he went missing, and that dog, that rancher's dog, had actually found the child and led him to safety.
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SCOTTY DUNTON, OWNER OF DOG THAT FOUND MISSING BOY: The little boy, when I finally got him calmed down and got him in the house, and gave him some water and food and stuff, and he calmed down. And I asked him, I said, did you walk all night? And he said, no. He said, I laid up under a tree. And I said, well, did my dog find you? And he goes, yep.
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BOLDUAN: I mean, amazing. Two years old. The sheriff's office says a helicopter spotted two mountain lions in the terrain that the boy had trekked across, and they thanked little Buford for, of course, helping bring that boy home. Wow.
John.
BERMAN: Buford would have fought them off. No doubt about that.
BOLDUAN: That's exactly the takeaway from this one, JB.
BERMAN: All right, this morning, the FAA is testing new drone detection equipment over New Jersey. This comes after the serious of - series of so-called mysterious drone sightings across the state last year.
CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean joins us now.
Pete, in "Hamilton" they say everything's legal in New Jersey. So, what's going on here with this new equipment?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I got to say, I went to Seaside Heights during the peak of this drone panic there in Jersey, and it seemed like everybody wanted to talk to me about this. These tests are really a big deal now because they're focused on detecting drones over critical infrastructure, which was a really big concern during the drone panic over New Jersey at the very end of last year. That episode really fed conspiracy theory after conspiracy theory, amplified by major podcasters like Joe Rogan and even then President- elect Trump said the Biden administration knew more than it was leading on.
Turns out, nearly all of those sightings were simply normal air traffic. Also, stars and planets, like Jupiter, which can be seen pretty bright on a clear night. Remember, there are about a million drones registered to fly legally in U.S. airspace. But even still, the FAA sees drones operating illegally near airports all the time. About 161 reports just last month. So, detecting drones near airports has been a big concern. But now the FAA wants to expand detection technology to places that are not airports.
And these ten days of tests are taking place over the ferry terminal in Cape May, New Jersey, which is key to tourism and the economy at the popular vacation spot. Summer travel about to kick off. I want you to listen now to what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
said about these tests. He says a little bit of criticism here for the previous administration, and this is all about transparency in the second Trump administration.
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Listen.
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SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I was living in New Jersey. And I can tell you, the public was deeply worried about the lack of clear information.
