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White House, E.U. Release Framework of Trade Deal; Tariffs Driving Up Back-to-school Prices; Trump Ramps Up Rhetoric on Russia- Ukraine Conflict as Kremlin Launches Deadly Drone and Missile Attack; Person Catches the Plague After Lake Tahoe Camping Trip; Union Says at Least 600 CDC Employees to Be Fired; Delta and United Sued for Windowless Window Seats. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 21, 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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[13:34:05]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": The handshake agreement over tariffs between President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month in Scotland has now been formalized and a document explaining how a new trade deal is going to work has just been released. CNN's Matt Egan joins us now with the details. Matt, what are you learning?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, it was nearly a month ago that we got these broad outlines of a trade framework between the U.S. and the E.U. Now we're starting to get some of the fine print, and two things are clear here. One, they are making progress and moving in the right direction. But two, there are still some obstacles here that are going to require action on both sides of the Atlantic to get this deal over the finish line.

Now, a couple things to call out in this joint statement that was put out today, the E.U. plans to eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial goods. That's great news for American manufacturers. Also, good news for farmers and fishermen. The E.U. plans to give preferential market access for seafood and agriculture.

[13:35:00]

I think the bad news for Americans who are in the market for a Volkswagen, an Audi, a BMW or other cars made in European Union is lower U.S. tariffs on E.U. cars, that's on hold until lawmakers in the E.U. do these first two things. So we have to wait and see on that. We care about this because the E.U. is the biggest source of imports into the United States, more than $600 billion of goods last year alone. So bottom line here, Boris, moving in the right direction, but there are still major obstacles ahead.

SANCHEZ: And Matt, it is back-to-school shopping season. A lot of Americans are starting to see the impact of tariffs on some of the items that they have to buy. How much have prices gone up?

EGAN: Yeah, Boris, look, sticker shock is a real thing here. Online prices for apparel and accessories like bags and footwear, up by 9 percent year-over-year in July. That's according to Klaviyo, a firm that examines billions of dollars of transactions every single year. And not only are prices up, but they also found that discounts are down. And Klaviyo executives, they're blaming the trade war. They're saying that this is an obvious consequence of high tariffs.

Now, Harvard Business School also had some interesting findings on this front as well. They found that if you look at prices now versus the pre-tariff trend, they're up in many different categories, including furniture, which is something that a lot of parents have to buy when they're moving their kids into dorms and off-campus apartments, up by 5 percent. Household appliances, another thing that parents have to buy for college kids, up by 6 percent. And look at this, clothing and accessories, 10 percent higher.

I talked to, Lisa Ward, she's a Georgia mother of twin boys, and she told me that she bought sneakers for her boys recently and she couldn't believe how much more expensive they were than last summer. She said, I just wish the prices would come down and make it easier for parents. You want to do right by the kids, but there's only so much you can do. And look, she's not alone.

Bankrate has a survey finding that about 30 percent of back-to-school shoppers are rethinking their shopping habits because of inflation. That's down from three years ago, but it's basically right in line with June of last year. I reached out to the White House. They say that everyday prices for gasoline and eggs are down. They point out that wages are up. But look, Boris, here's an example of a major Trump policy, tariffs that a lot of experts say is actually making things worse when it comes to the cost of living.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Matt Egan, thanks so much for walking us through those numbers. So after massive overnight attacks, President Trump appears to encourage Ukraine to hit Russia in its own territory. Are his self- described "feelings of warmth" toward President Vladimir Putin already cooling? We'll discuss.

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[13:42:09]

SANCHEZ: President Trump is sounding off about the Russia-Ukraine conflict just hours after Moscow launched a series of deadly attacks overnight. They reportedly killed at least nine civilians and also struck an American-owned manufacturing company in Western Ukraine. In Trump's latest Truth Social post, he seemed to open a window for Ukraine to go on the offensive against Russia saying in part, "It is very hard, if not impossible, to win a war without attacking an invader's country. It's like a great team in sports that has a fantastic defense but is not allowed to play offense. There is no chance of winning." Notable there that he referred to Russia as an invader. Let's get to CNN Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman in Southern Ukraine. Ben, tell us about these attacks overnight.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, it was only last Friday that President Trump met President Putin in Alaska. And there were some hopes that somehow things would change. But as President Zelenskyy has actually said today, absolutely nothing has changed. Overnight, Russia fired 574 drones into Russia, 40 missiles according to the president's office. That's the most intense overnight strikes in well over a month, as you said, killing nine people. And one of the targets it struck was in Western Ukraine, normally out of the range of those -- or nor normally not a target for these Russian missiles and drones, was an American-Singaporean com company called Flex.

That company says that 19 of their employees were injured, that six of them remain hospitalized. Now, CNN got in touch with this spokesman for Flex, who said that that company does not produce, supply or support any military equipment. Now, this perhaps may explain why President Trump came out with this uncharacteristically belligerent Truth Social posting about Russia. It was just a few days ago, he was implicitly blaming Ukraine for starting and prolonging this war.

So, as I said, it really feels as if that summit never happened. Those -- that so-called historic meeting in the White House involving President Zelenskyy, Trump, and those European leaders talking about post-peace agreement, security guarantees, possibly a bilateral meeting between President Zelenskyy and President Putin, all of that seems to have never happened when you look at what's actually happening here in Ukraine. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, really stunning observation. Ben Wedeman, live for us in Southern Ukraine. Thank you so much. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour, a case of Bubonic Plague has been reported in California.

[13:45:00]

Officials believe the person was bitten by an infected flea while camping in the South Lake Tahoe area. According to the CDC, an average of seven plague infections are detected each year usually in rural areas. Meanwhile, we're following mass firings at the CDC. According to a union that represents federal workers, at least 600 employees are expected to receive final termination notices, including about 100 people who worked in violence prevention. The cuts come less than two weeks after a gunman attacked CDC offices, firing at least 180 bullets into its Atlanta headquarters and killing a police officer there.

And Delta and United Airlines are being sued by passengers who say they paid more for window seats that ended up not actually having a window. Not really a window seat then, right? The complaints say neither Delta nor United flagged the seats when booking, unlike some of their competitors. The proposed class action suits are seeking millions in damages for more than a million passengers at each carrier.

And next, some military families reportedly say a DOD hiring freeze has left them struggling to find childcare for months, compounding what has long been a chronic problem for military families. Some say they've actually had to quit their jobs or break their budgets. A closer look at this crisis and what's being done to address it, right after this.

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[13:50:42]

KEILAR: This week, on Home Front, the Defense Department's hiring freeze has upended military childcare, America's largest employer- sponsored child care system. According to the military news site, The War Horse, some military spouses have reportedly had to quit their jobs while others are spending a lot more money on childcare. Kayla Corbett joins us now. She's the Founder and CEO of Operation Child Care Project, a non-profit fighting to get military families the childcare that they need.

Kayla, really insightful story in "The War Horse" today that's looking at 10 military families in four states to understand how the freeze continues to affect them. What are you hearing from military families and why is child care really an issue ultimately of national security here?

KAYLA CORBITT, FOUNDER AND CEO, OPERATION CHILD CARE PROJECT: Yeah, thank you for having me. While 10 families were in the story, we are hearing this from hundreds of families nationwide. So not only are they being supplanted from locations, what we're seeing more frequently is that the wait lists are frozen, meaning that they're not moving forward. But they aren't given notice ahead of time, all of these things. So it's not until they arrive that they're finding out, hey, there isn't any care available here and you're going to have to figure that out on the outside.

That really rolls into our national security because the system that exists for military families was not designed for the non-traditional care needs of military families. So frequently, they're piecing together options like this, but also implementing trusted caregivers. So, what we're seeing is as one option is falling apart, the other option that trusted caregiver, which is even harder to supplement with, means that they are not going to be mission ready when they get there.

KEILAR: So, we did reach out to DOD for comment on this. They referred us to a June story on defense.gov where Tim Dill, who at least performing the duties of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at that point said, taking care of military families is a critical part of preserving the finest military in the world. A key part of that task is providing those families with access to quality and affordable child care, which is why the department continues to invest in child development program facilities and infrastructure. They're pointing, Kayla, to the expansion of what's called the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood Program to bridge the gap in locations where accredited care is unavailable. What is that program and is that enough?

CORBITT: So, that program is intended to very much supplement when installation based care is not available. What we are seeing is that, yes, it does take on some of that additional burden, but only if your family needs that eight to five care, because it does rely on already existing licensed, quality-rated centers to fill those gaps. When those are not available, which we know from the civilian community, that is already a desert area, you are now asking military families new to areas to try to insert themselves into those locations.

If care is not available in those locations, there isn't a safety net to grab those military families and ensure that they are still able to make it to work every day.

KEILAR: So in the case of these kinds of programs, right, for addressing these lifestyle issues, whether it is child care or housing, in the military, there's frequently a runway of five, eight, 10 years, when they're doing something new. What more can be done right now though?

CORBITT: At this point in time, what military families really need is accountability and transparency with these programs. These are not new programs. And to be very transparent, the hiring situation is also not new. This has been in Congress every year for the last six to eight years, asking why there are not enough staff within these DOD operated centers. So right now, what families need is very much the transparency. Does this care exist? If it doesn't, what are their options and what are the realistic timelines around those options?

On average, we see families waiting for that MCCYN program about 150 days, which is far too long for families to be without care when their work starts on day one.

[13:55:00]

KEILAR: Yeah, this is really tough for them. Kayla, it is great to speak with you about this. Kayla Corbitt, thank you.

CORBITT: Thank you.

KEILAR: And right now, a parole board is deciding whether Eric Menendez should be released from prison. Tomorrow, they'll do the same for his brother, Lyle. The latest on their bid for freedom ahead.

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