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Mattel Plans To Raise Prices On Toys, Including Barbie Dolls; Trump, Canadian PM Carney To Meet At White House Amid Trade Tensions; Vatican To Deactivate Mobile Phone Signals Before Vote. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 06, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. New this morning higher prices coming soon for Barbie. Mattel is warning it will need to raise prices on American toys because of the president's tariffs.

President Trump has suggested a sort of doll austerity plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think a beautiful baby girl needs -- that's 11 years old needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls. Because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: And CNN's Matt Egan is with us now. And it's not just Barbies; we're talking about Hot Wheels, monster trucks.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, that's right, John.

Look, I hope my kids are not watching because even though they're young they know that higher prices means fewer toys.

Now this is coming from Mattel, America's biggest toy company. This is the company behind, yes, Barbie, but also Hot Wheels and Fisher-Price as well.

And so the problem is that Mattel -- they import a lot of their toys from China where the U.S. has these unthinkably high tariffs. They also import toys from other countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia. And so that's why Mattel said last night they're taking a number of steps to try to navigate through this trade war.

One thing they do -- they are doing is they say they're going to raise prices where necessary. They're also trying to rethink they're supply chain -- reduce the reliance on China. Like other companies, Mattel says that they are abandoning their 2025 financial guidance because they just don't have enough visibility right now. They're also saying that they don't really know where U.S. consumer spending is going to be the rest of this year nor the holiday season. Now we're already seeing some evidence of toy prices increasing. This comes from Telsey Advisory Group. They found that there was a 43 percent --

BERMAN: What?

EGAN: -- spike in the price of a Barbie sold at Target during the course of one week in mid-April. And we can expect to see toy prices continue to go up for as long as these tariffs remain in place.

Now elsewhere in the trade war last night we also heard from another automaker, Ford Motor. They're detailing the impact -- the cost of the tariffs. They think that this year alone tariffs are going to cost them $1.5 billion. Now that's a bit less than General Motors because Ford makes more of its cars here in the United States.

The good news is Ford says they are not expecting widespread price increases this year because of tariffs. The bad news is Ford, like these other companies - they're abandoning their guidance. They just don't know enough about the situation.

BERMAN: Yeah, look, that's a lot of money. And it comes after the Ford CEO last week was sort of talking down here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL the impact of the tariffs on --

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- Ford. That is a big impact.

I also love the idea that your children are concerned with inflationary monetary policy.

EGAN: Very, very.

BERMAN: That aside, Matt, there is a way and people write about this from time to time. There is a huge weapon that other countries have to use with the U.S. in a trade war if they want to.

EGAN: Yeah, this is coming from a surprising place. This is from one of America's biggest allies, Japan. In recent days one of the officials in Japan suggested that maybe Japan could sell its vast holdings of U.S. debt as sort of a card in the trade war. That would be a big deal because look at this. Japan is America's biggest foreign creditor -- over $1 trillion. And Japan did walk back this comment.

But it does expose this ugly truth that the U.S. does rely on other countries to finance its mountain of debt, including other countries that now have massive tariffs. China is the number two biggest foreign creditor. Canada and the U.K. are also big owners of U.S. debt.

I talked to Ernie Tedeschi over at Yale Budget Lab and he told me it would send shockwaves around world financial markets if one of the most reliable buyers of treasuries is no longer reliably in the market for it.

I would note though that this is the kind of thing that would shoot them in the foot, right, because their own investments would lose value. They would have turbulence in their own market and their own economy as well. So that's probably one weapon that's not going to be fired in this trade war but it's pretty telling we're even talking about it.

BERMAN: Yeah. Look, it's sort of a beyond a break last moment but it is --

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: -- I suppose out there.

Matt Egan, thank you --

EGAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- very much for that -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So this morning President Trump will welcome the prime minister of Canada to the White House -- a neighborly visit that in any other era would be less of a headline. But when the American president continues to say that he wants to make Canada the 51st state this face-to-face takes on a whole new level of meaning.

This now is the first meeting of the leaders since Trump launched his trade war -- Canada being one of his first targets -- and also since Trump's anti-Canada rhetoric helped launch Prime Minister Mark Carney to victory in Canada's recent election.

And around this relationship there's a lot of fact-checking that is needed. So let's bring in CNN's Daniel Dale ahead of this Oval Office meet to walk through it.

Let's walk through some of the more recent statements that President Trump has made around all of this.

You highlight something that he posted in March on social media saying that Canada is one of the highest tariffing nations anywhere in the world.

What are the facts around that?

[07:35:00]

DANIEL DALE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The facts are that Canada is a low tariff country. The last international data we have from 2022 -- the World Bank published them -- Canada was 102nd on a list of 137 countries -- average tariffs. One of the countries it had lower average tariffs than, the United States.

Now, President Trump often makes this claim in the context of Canada's agricultural tariffs. He highlights Canada's high dairy tariffs. He does not mention that those high dairy tariffs only kick in after a certain quantity of tariff-free U.S. exports to Canada -- a certain quantity negotiated in his own USMCA -- are hit and that the U.S. is not even close to hitting those maximum quantities.

He also does not mention that the U.S. Department of Agriculture itself says on its website that almost all U.S. agricultural exports to Canada are tariff-free and barrier-free.

So the milk stuff, the dairy stuff -- that exists but again, there are exemptions. And number two, those are the exception, not the rule.

BOLDUAN: And Daniel, over the weekend President Trump took a shot at Canada's military spending. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Canada?

KRISTEN WELKER, MODERATOR, NBC "MEET THE PRESS": Um-hum.

TRUMP: They spend less money on military than practically any nation in the world. They pay NATO less than any nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What are the facts around this one?

DALE: This is not even close to true. Now, there is a kernel of truth and presidents from both parties have long chided Canada for not spending more on its military. You hear that from some Canadian officials as well.

But Canada is low on the NATO list. It's not last. So in terms of spending as a percentage of GDP Canada is fifth-lowest in NATO, not lower than any nation.

And in terms of absolute military spending -- so not factoring in the size of each country's economy -- Canada is actually eighth highest in NATO. So absolute spending, eighth highest. And again, if you look at the world list there's a thinktank based in Sweden that tracks international military spending. Canada is the 16th-highest absolute military spender in the world.

So the president used the word "practically" here but practically or not, Canada is not even close to the world's lowest military spender.

BOLDUAN: And Daniel, the president has continued to say that the United States is a massive trade deficit with Canada. So I think he talked about in the ballpark of, like, $200 billion.

What are you seeing? What's the truth in this as they walk not this meeting to sensibly talk about this?

DALE: He says the number 200 billion almost every time he talks about Canada. It is wildly overstated.

So the United States' goods and services trade deficit with Canada in 2024 was about -- it was under $40 billion -- under $40 billion. So he's -- it's almost about $36 billion, I'm sorry. So he's multiplying it by several times. Now if you only talk about trade in goods and ignore the services trade at which the United States excels, he's still grossly exaggerating it. It's about $71 billion in that case.

Almost all of President Trump's trade deficit figures with countries around the world are grossly inflated, and this one is no exception.

BOLDUAN: Daniel, thank you so much. Stick close. We'll need you probably after this meeting wraps as well. Thank you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Joining us now CNN political commentators Karen Finney and David Urban.

David, first to you. The expectations here are fraught with this underlying fight because this prime minister got the role that he's in because of Trump's tariffs and because of Trump calling Canada the 51st state.

How is this going to go down, and how should this be handled because they are an ally and neighbor?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Yeah. Look, Sara, I agree the Canadians to our north have been great military allies for many years and they're a huge trading partner with the United States. But I think again that President Trump is looking to level the playing field. I'm not quite sure I agree with all of Daniel Dale's numbers.

And look, it's a place where I think that if you loved Prime Minister Trudeau you're going to -- if you liked Trudeau, you're going to love Carney, right, in terms of his policies and being extremely liberal.

So I think that the current president, President Trump, loves to troll the very progressive leadership of the Canadian government in hopes that they will be forced to come to the negotiating table a little more quickly.

SIDNER: But David, in trolling them, he actually made a huge shift. The country was going conservative. He helped cause the huge shift.

I mean, what do you make of that? Was this a good idea in the first place to level --

URBAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- this kind of --

URBAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- criticism?

URBAN: Yeah. So listen, I think it's a fair -- I think the criticism is far. I think obviously Mr. Poilievre is probably not so pleased. I'm sure he'd have loved to have been the prime minister rather than seeing Carney in there. And look, it's up to the Canadian people to determine who their prime

minister is, not Donald Trump. I'm not quite sure Donald Trump's trolling tilted the scales in one way or the other in a -- in a national election in Canada.

SIDNER: The polling said it did.

URBAN: But --

SIDNER: Yeah. The polling said it did. The polling said it did have an effect.

URBAN: Well, yeah, some would think but I'm not sure.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER AND SPOKESPERSON, HILLARY CLINTON 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN (via Webex by Cisco): It certainly galvanized the left in that country.

SIDNER: OK. Go ahead, Karen.

[07:40:00]

FINNEY: I'm sorry. I was just going to say -- I mean, I think what we saw is that it galvanized -- as we're seeing, frankly, around the world, it's galvanizing Europe against the United States in the -- with the threat of the tariffs, and it galvanized the left, it appears, in Canada.

But I think the most important thing is -- I mean, look, both men can come out of this meeting declaring a win. Trump's going to declare a win no matter what. Like, we could write that script right here.

But I hope that it's a win for the United States and that what happens is we get some agreements that lower the burden that we're -- you know, we've been hearing from our border governors who are trying to -- who -- in states that rely on Canada and trade. And let's hope that we get a deal that lowers the burden and that eases the pain that these tariffs are causing.

SIDNER: Yeah. We're going to be hearing from the governor of New Mexico --

URBAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- who will be in the House to talk about what is happening in her state when it comes to that.

But David, go ahead and finish.

URBAN: And Sara, I would just -- I would just -- I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say yeah, it's no surprise that people like Canadians and other state -- and other nation states that have been having a pretty good deal at the United States' expense are squealing a bit now that they're being squeezed to try level the playing field.

So listen, I am for -- I am not a free trader. I'm a fair trader. If we want to have level reciprocal tariffs, I think that's fair. I think that's acceptable.

But a lot of countries have just been taking advantage of the United States for years and years, and so now that they're trying -- not that the president is trying to level the playing field, of course, they're squealing because things are not going in their favor. So whether -- you know, there is pain because it's -- you know, re-shifting the paradigm to something that's more level than it used to be for the past 40-50 years.

SIDNER: All right. Let me ask you and move on to the secretary of education who -- the Trump administration now disqualifying Harvard from future research grants.

What do you make of this? Secretary of Education Linda McMahon saying, "At its best, the university should fulfill the highest ideals of our nation and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gate. But Harvard has betrayed its ideal."

What do you make of this, Karen --

URBAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- when you -- when you're looking at them taking away millions and millions of dollars from Harvard?

FINNEY: Well, it's going to hurt Americans, period, full stop. I mean, the kind of -- the research that is going on at our universities and institutions are critical, whether it's cancer research, whether it is research about disease -- other diseases. So, I mean, this is really cutting off our nose to spite -- to spite our face. I mean, there --

You know, look, the president is trying to enact an ideological agenda around things that what he considers woke, which is incredibly offensive. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is a core value of this country. It has been part of our American story from the beginning. But this is part of him imposing an ideological agenda.

But most importantly, and what I think we can't lose focus on, is this is an important fight and Harvard is in it.

But thematically, I think what's important and what I hope Democrats focus on is that this is not what people elected him to do. I mean, we were just talking about tariffs, which are causing a lot of economic pain. He was elected to lower inflation and lower costs. That was the number one issue in this election.

So there are voters increasingly -- Americans increasingly seeing we'll get troops to Greenland, and we're threatening this one and that one. And yet they are saying wait a second -- we are seeing him put all this energy and effort into his revenge agenda going after Harvard or going after people he thinks who have wronged him, but he's not lowering costs.

And I think we have to keep our eyes on the prize when it comes to what's really going on here, which is all these other things. They're not actually doing the job that he said he was going to do. SIDNER: I'm going to have to leave it there, David. I know you have a lot to say about that.

URBAN: Yeah, yeah. Well, let me just -- let me just real quickly --

SIDNER: Just quickly.

URBAN: -- real quickly. So I applaud what President Trump's is doing to Harvard.

FINNEY: (INAUDIBLE) around trade, David.

URBAN: Listen, Harvard is a hedge fund that's teaching some kids, OK? They have billions of dollars, Sara -- billions of dollars of endowment. They are misusing U.S. taxpayers' dollars. They need to be held accountable.

FINNEY: No, they're not, David. They're not -- let's not --

URBAN: They have bloated bureaucracy.

Karen, look at -- look at --

FINNEY: Let's not -- David, it' a private institution.

URBAN: -- Bill Ackman. Look at all these Harvard alumni who are up in -- up in arms. It is -- it is -- and they have billions and billions. It is not fair --

FINNEY: It's a private institution and you don't get to tell them how to run it.

URBAN: Yeah, but they get --

I mean, like, Karen, Karen, hold on. Let me finish. They get billions of taxpayer dollars --

FINNEY: David, David.

URBAN: -- which if you're looking -- if you're looking to reallocate money for higher education -- talk about higher education -- there are plenty of state schools, community colleges, and places across America that would be much better suited to get those taxpayer dollars than some filthy-rich Ivy League institution that has billions in endowments -- billions.

[07:45:11]

Let's talk about taking their tax -- their subsidies away -- you know, their tax-exempt status away and see how much they kowtow to these -- the left or the right.

They need to play it down the middle, Karen. Most universities are just out of touch with reality and out of touch with what America needs to be doing to educate our kids. STEM -- yeah, STEM education --

FINNEY: (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: All right. I will just say a lot of folks in the Trump administration graduated from Harvard.

We are going to leave it there, David Urban and Karen Finney. We could talk for days about this. But John Berman is on his feet, and he is exhausted. We will leave it there -- John

BERMAN: All right, breaking news.

The Vatican just released new images of staff taking -- oh, staff, I should say, taking an oath of secrecy ahead of the opening of tomorrow's conclave to elect the next pope. All 103 cardinals with voting rights -- they are now in Rome.

So, too, is CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. Getting much closer, Ben. What happens next?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John, we are 26 hours and 45 minutes away from the beginning of that conclave. And as you saw, they've already had the staff who are going to be involved in the conclave, not the 133 cardinal electors, doing this oath of secrecy. They're not allowed to share any details about what they see or hear during the conclave, which will begin tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. local time. That's 10:30 Eastern time.

Now, what we know already is that tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. -- that's 9:00 a.m. your time -- that the mobile phone signal around the Vatican will be shut down except for St. Peter's Square. Already, signal jammers have been installed around the Sistine Chapel where that conclave will take place to avoid any sort of electronic eavesdropping of the events inside the conclave.

Now, tomorrow morning at 10:00 local time the cardinals are going to hold a mass before which they have to surrender all their electronic devices -- phones, tablets, computers, everything. And they won't get them back until that conclave ends.

Now as far as how long the conclave will go, nobody knows at this point. Keep it in mind that it just took two days back in 2013 to elect Pope Francis. However, about 800 years ago one of the conclaves went on for 1,006 days. So we'll probably land somewhere in between -- hopefully, on the shorter end in terms of duration -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah. A thousand years ago they didn't have the signal jammers to go along with the frescoes inside the Sistine Chapel.

Ben Wedeman, great to see you there. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: Next hour, day two of jury selection begins in the trial of Sean Combs. We have details from inside court and why Combs told the judge on day one "I'm a little nervous." That story and more.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:55] BERMAN: Yeah, so no team has ever missed 45 3-pointers in the playoffs and won. In fact, no team has ever missed 45 3-pointers in the playoffs at all. It's hard to do. You think you might try something different after the first 37 misses or so. Anyway, the Celtics lost to the Knicks.

CNN's Coy Wire is here with that. It's all fine, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That was beautiful.

BERMAN: It's all fine.

WIRE: Your boys' -- your boys' shot chart looked like a Jackson Pollack painting, Berman. They were just spraying chaos everywhere. They're breaking records and backboards, probably, with all those bricks. I am sorry, my friend, but we've got to do this highlight.

Those New York Knicks -- they were incredible. They came back from 20 down in Boston, but they go on this 31-11 run tying the game at 86 in the fourth.

And while Boston was colder than a polar bear's toenails from beyond the arc, Jalen Brunson, Clutch Player of the Year, made some huge threes down the stretch. He and OG Anunoby leading New York with 29 points apiece. And Mikal Bridges instrumental in OT, delivering a crucial three, a blocked shot, and the steal, sealing a deal.

The Knicks pull off the stunner in overtime on the road 108-105 over the defending champs, taking a 1-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Semis.

Joker and SGA, the two MVP favorites, facing off in game one. The Nuggets down 14 just before the half and Denver's Aaron Gordon throws down the thunder on seven-foot-one Chet Holmgren.

OKC's Shai Gilgeous Alexander was phenomenal -- 33 points -- but they just couldn't hold off the three-time MVP Jokic. Eighteen points in the fourth, finishing with 42 of them.

And here's the moment. Final seconds, John. Denver down one but Aaron Gordon silences the crowd and rattles in the game-winning three.

Jokic also snagged 22 rebounds. Just the fourth player ever to go 40, 20, and five in a playoff game.

The top-seeded Thunder toppled by the Nuggets 121-199.

And here's Gordon.

[07:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON GORDON, FORWARD, DENVER NUGGETS: I worked on my jumper a lot -- a lot, you know, throughout the years. You guys have seen a maturation of it. So it's nice to have it all culminate in a game-winner. When I shot it did, I know it was in? I knew it wasn't a miss, you know.

REPORTER: You sure?

GORDON: Yeah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. The Maple Leafs built a big lead over the Panthers in game one. Matthew Nehs putting Toronto up 5-3 in the third. His teammates call him a pit bull with nice hands, John. With the defending champion Panthers, they made it interesting -- 5-4 after Bennett scored.

So it all came down to a backup. Toronto goalie Joseph Woll, who stepped in for Stolarz who left the game with getting an elbow to the head -- Woll made 17 saves securing the 5-4 win for Toronto.

We have more playoff action tonight, John. And for your Celtics, just imagine. Maybe next time they'll make those 45 3-pointers and you guys will be sitting pretty.

BERMAN: Just make one of them.

WIRE: Look at those Knicks jerseys, baby.

BERMAN: I know.

BOLDUAN: Can you see them?

BERMAN: Yeah. Everyone here. Everyone here. So much love in this studio.

All right, Coy Wire. Thank you very much for that.

WIRE: You got it.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: I mean, the silent trolling of the crew is the absolute best as long as it's against John.

BERMAN: Yes.

WIRE: Save Berman. Someone save Berman. Her's our pit bull with nice hands. Help that man out.

BOLDUAN: Oh, Berman is a pit bull -- yeah -- yes. We're going to go with that today because I don't feel like being mean all the time. Thanks, Coy.

All right, so now this. Next hour, day two of jury selection begins in the federal criminal trial of disgraced music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs. Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges that include sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.

Now during yesterday's opening day of jury selection most prospective jurors said that they had at least some knowledge of the case. Several said they had seen that 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. And one juror was dismissed after calling that video "damning."

And joining me now defense attorney Misty Marris for what we learned yesterday, what will come today.

On that video it was fascinating. The judge said to the attorneys that jurors are not going to be disqualified for having seen it. The way he said it is, "We're not going to be able to have a jury that has not seen any of this footage."

What do you think of this?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah, you're right, Kate, because there -- this case just permeates everything. Everyone knows something about it.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

MARRIS: And that video was seen by so many people that it would be almost impossible to eliminate everybody and still be able to seat 12 individuals and six alternates.

So here was the key. The key was did you know about the case? Did you read about the case? Did you see this video? But can you put whatever you saw in the media aside?

And remember, there's 60-some civil cases out there. That's not really going to be part of the criminal trial. It's much more narrow.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MARRIS: So there is a lot that jurors will have to put aside any preconceived notions and come into that courtroom without bias, and that's what they were trying to weed out yesterday.

BOLDUAN: Trying to weed that out.

The group of jurors that have not been struck so far, they range in age from 30 to 75. Most college-educated with careers that really run the gamut -- scientists, professional moves, grocery store deli clerks, two women who say that they themselves have been -- are survivors of sexual assault.

What do you think of this group so far?

MARRIS: So far, there's 19 jurors who are deemed qualified. So those are individuals who aren't being eliminated for cause, meaning there was no bias that could keep them from deliberating and being neutral when they go into the courtroom.

So this pool is interesting because there are some people who are a little controversial. For instance, there was a woman who works at HBO and the defense objected to her on the jury because HBO produced a documentary "THE FALL OF DIDDY." BOLDUAN: Interesting.

MARRIS: The judge said it's OK for her to remain.

The two sexual assault survivors. They said that they could put any preconceived notions aside and be unbiased when they came in.

So this is all what happens during this qualification phase and the goal is to get 45 qualified jurors. But that's when the real gamesmanship begins.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MARRIS: That's when you have what's called preemptory challenges. The defense gets 10, the prosecution gets six. That's where you can eliminate jurors from that pool without saying why.

BOLDUAN: Just because, yeah.

MARRIS: Just because. And you want people on that jury that you think -- your best guess -- are going to lean towards your case.

BOLDUAN: So there's something of a mystery that came about yesterday, which was the perspective jurors -- they were given this large binder of names of celebrities. Like, Michael B. Jordan, Michelle Williams. Kanye West was in there. Mike Myers might have been in there.

Not clear at this point any of their involvement even in the trial, but the list was so long that the judge called it -- compared it to an appendix to The Lord of the Rings.

What is this?

MARRIS: It's a people and places list, Kate.