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Trump White House; U.S. Trade War; Evangelical Publication Calls for Trump's Removal from Office. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired December 20, 2019 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And protection from politically influential industries won't help workers.

What do you make of that?

PETER NAVARRO, TRUMP TRADE ADVISER: Well, it is "The Wall Street Journal." They never saw a job in America they didn't want to offshore to Mexico or --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Oh, Peter, it's "The Wall Street Journal" and it's really conservative --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: What I love is the main street journal. This is a main street deal. What "The Journal" is complaining about is the idea that this deal is going to establish Detroit as the hub of the universe of auto production in the world, working with Mexico and Canada.

And what drives this deal is the domestic content rule coupled with strong environmental and labor protection. So what we're going to do is regain our auto industry. "The Wall Street Journal" doesn't like that. They like capital to flow around the world and they don't really care where the jobs go.

HARLOW: Let me ask you this because the ITC, like an independent body, the International Trade Commission, says this is going to create 176,000 new jobs over six years, increase GDP by about 0.35 percent. They call it a moderate increase; for comparison's sake, 266,000 jobs added here last month alone.

It did note, Peter, that there will be, they think, a modest price increase in the amount Americans pay for cars made here, for example.

How much more should people be expecting on the consumer cost increase as a result of this?

NAVARRO: Well, let's also point out that it's 75,000 auto jobs. And the old Henry Ford philosophy was to pay workers well so they could afford to buy the cars. The problem we've had in the past 15 years in international trade is

we've been willing to offshore our jobs and wages have been stagnant. In the Trump economy here, we have wages going up and primarily in the lower end of the income stream.

The blue collar workers, the Republican Party under President Trump has become the party of the working class. We have no concerns about people not being able to afford new cars in the Trump economy. They're going to have fat paychecks and good prospects.

HARLOW: You are betting they're willing to stomach a little price increase. You brought up Detroit. I want to ask about U.S. Steel this morning, announcing it's closing its Detroit steel political. That's 1,500 workers that will be out of a job. AK Steel sold for a fraction of its pre-Trump price.

You guys instituted those steel tariffs, 25 percent last year, to try to avoid a scenario like this. And it feels like this is showing that bet by the administration is not paying off.

Does the administration need to change its strategy?

NAVARRO: I think the bet is paying off beautifully. You have to understand the difference between a company like U.S. Steel, which is blast furnace oriented, and Nucor, which is doing very well, which is electric arc furnace, which uses recycled product to -- scrap to make its steel.

U.S. Steel did not adapt with the times. They're paying for it dearly. If you go between -- down deeper into their statements, they're investing heavily in the industry to make the transition essentially to a more modern form of steelmaking.

We are very bullish on the steel and aluminum industries because of the tariffs and if they weren't in place, those industries would be in very bad shape right now. But they're not.

HARLOW: Despite those tariffs, they're still closing this mill and laying off 1,500 workers.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Go ahead.

HARLOW: I want to move on to China because I want to spend time here. People should read more about U.S. Steel.

So I'm sure you saw what Bloomberg is reporting this morning on China and the phase one deal, that Bloomberg Economics has calculated the trade war this year has cost between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent of real GDP.

And even with phase one of the China trade deal signed, when you get that signed, they are predicting it's going to cost the U.S. economy $316 billion by the end of next year.

Are you concerned?

That would be greater than the gains from a phase one deal.

Is that concerning to you?

NAVARRO: So first of all, it's Bloomberg, which is basically a political organization.

HARLOW: Peter, you keep attacking the publications. And I'm just citing economists.

NAVARRO: Sure. So let me say that, first of all, we have the strongest economy in five decades. So apparently the tariffs are working. The China policy is working. And the Trump economy policies are working. So I'm a little puzzled why we have these forecasters keep saying that things are going to go bad when they're going amazingly well now.

So I discount Bloomberg forecasters. Bloomberg forecasters probably said we were going to have a collapse of the economy when Trump got elected.

HARLOW: I don't remember them saying that but --

NAVARRO: A lot of economists did.

HARLOW: You don't buy those numbers?

(CROSSTALK)

[09:35:00]

NAVARRO: Look, Poppy, we've got historically low unemployment, rising productivity and wages. We've got strong economic growth above what everybody forecasts.

HARLOW: I think it matters, though. I think it matters when you have economists from all over the place, saying the trade war hurts and it's going to continue to hurt because a phase one deal, it's a good thing and I'm going to get to that next.

But it doesn't undo all the tariffs that still are there. Peter, you wrote the book "Crouching Tiger." You last week on Fox called China "as slippery as an eel in Vaseline." They have not -- they have not confirmed a lot of the details of this phase one deal yet like the ag purchases.

Can we trust China?

NAVARRO: It's an 86-page deal and will be released shortly and it's a great deal for America. I think when we talk about this idea of a trade war, we're not really in a trade war with China.

What we're in is a long-term battle over competing economic systems. And, remember, before President Trump got here, China was engaged in this economic interaction. What we're trying to do as an administration is hold them accountable and the tariffs have been very successful in that regard.

We've had tariffs on $370 billion worth of Chinese goods and the economy is doing great. We're defending our technologies from China using those tariffs. Now we have a phase one deal.

They would not have come to the table unless those tariffs were in place. So trusting Trump on trade because he's not going to -- we've got deals with Japan.

HARLOW: We're not in a trade war with China?

I want to move on to the ag purchases.

You said we're not in a trade war with China?

Really?

NAVARRO: It's bad terminology. What we are is in a struggle with a state-owned enterprise, state capitalist system, trying to take us apart and we're winning under President Trump.

HARLOW: OK. I want to move on finally to farmers and the Midwest because I think they get overlooked way, way too much. A big part of this phase one deal with China is ag purchases. Robert Lighthizer said we'll see $80 billion to $100 billion in new sales for ag over the next two years.

That's a huge number. Before the trade war even began, the U.S. only sold about $24 billion in ag to China. The Farmers for Free Trade CNN, "Our hope is this is not another empty political promise to farmers."

Is this administration promising American farmers right now, when you have farm bankruptcies up 21 percent from a year ago, that they will see $50 billion in ag purchases from China for the next two years?

Is that a promise?

NAVARRO: I have even better news than that. If you look at the five major deals that the president has done. The Japan deal, tremendous benefits for farmers.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I want to narrow in on this because I really think they deserve a straight answer.

Is that a promise for U.S. farmers?

NAVARRO: It's a deal that's going to be signed by both presidents, China president, President Trump. And I've seen the details of the agricultural purchases that need to be signed. It's a deal and it's a promise from China to buy those once they sign the deal.

HARLOW: OK. Let's hope it's a reality for them. Come back again. We've got a lot more to get to. NAVARRO: Farmers are doing great. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: -- Well -- OK, Peter. They --

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: -- under the new deal.

HARLOW: -- struggling in the Midwest and they are 24 percent increase in farm bankruptcy from a year ago. I think they'd take issue with that statement.

NAVARRO: Well, these deals we put in place, it's going to be a great boon for farmers and they're happy.

HARLOW: I hope it is but it doesn't help those who have already suffered.

NAVARRO: Understood.

HARLOW: Let's hope for better ahead.

NAVARRO: Understood. Thanks.

HARLOW: This morning the president lashing out at a leading Christian magazine after it called for his removal. More on this stunning new battle is next.

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[09:40:00]

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HARLOW: This morning, President Trump is on the attack after a leading evangelical magazine is calling for his removal from office. This is in an op-ed. It's in "Christianity Today."

And the president is tweeting, slamming it, calling it a far left magazine that wants to replace him with "a radical left nonbeliever" who wants to take you and your religion and your guns. That is not what the op-ed said.

This after the typically apolitical publication's editor in chief Mark Galli wrote an op-ed, calling the president "profoundly immoral" and urged evangelicals not to support him in the next election. Galli responded this morning on CNN. Here's what he told "NEW DAY."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GALLI, EDITOR IN CHIEF, CHRISTIANITY TODAY: We rarely comment on politics unless we feel it rises to the level of some national or concern that is really important, and this would be a case. We wrote editorials about Clinton during his impeachment process. We

wrote editorials about Nixon during his. This struck me as rising to that level and a need to comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: John Blake is with me, my CNN colleague, who covers all things religion and politics and the intersection with race.

Let me begin with how significant it is, John, that "Christianity Today" published this op-ed.

[09:45:00]

JOHN BLAKE, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR WRITER/PRODUCER: I tried to think of an analogy. The best I can think of is imagine if "Ebony" magazine called for the removal of Obama. This is a really influential evangelical publication. And to call it far left is kind of like a theological smear.

It's a gross mischaracterization of this magazine. It has a reputation for being very thoughtful. If you read the magazine, which I've read a lot, a lot of the beliefs fall squarely within mainstream circles.

HARLOW: So if we look at the polling among evangelicals, let's pull that up if we could, guys, the president is very popular. Wildly popular among evangelical voters, 75 percent. And that polling was done just this month.

Is this enough to change that significantly?

BLAKE: I don't think this alone will change those numbers significantly. But I think it will potentially change the numbers among the margins of evangelical voters.

When we think of evangelical voters, we always think of white evangelical, typically older people. But there are evangelicals who are younger, who are turning away from the evangelical church. It's going to make a big difference with them.

There are nonwhite evangelicals, believe it or not, who are brown and black, who will say this validates what I long believe about President Trump. And when you have such a tight -- you have such tight margins in our political environment, those little margins and differences can make the difference in the 2020 election.

HARLOW: Now so evangelical faith leader Franklin Graham has defended the president at just about every turn. And then he took to Twitter this morning and wrote that his father, Billy Graham, who founded "Christianity Today" back in 1956, voted for the president in 2016.

What do you make of that and how significant it is, given what the publication has now put out?

BLAKE: I think in a way that what Franklin Graham said about his father voting President Trump, I think that will hurt his father's legacy in a way because, if that is true, it validates some of the criticisms people have long had about Billy Graham and that is, that during the civil rights movement, he did not actively support the civil rights movement.

I've talked to people who were close to Dr. King who said, we, Dr. King, asked for Billy Graham to take stands but he refused to do that with us because he thought that would be too political. So to say now that his father voted for President Trump, I think actually that could turn out to be a stain on Billy Graham's legacy.

HARLOW: It's significant and has a whole lot of people talking and the president responding this morning for sure. John, have a great holiday.

BLAKE: Thanks so much.

HARLOW: We have breaking news just in to CNN. The wife of a U.S. diplomat has just been charged in the death of a young man in Britain. We'll have a live report, next.

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[09:50:00]

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HARLOW: So we're following breaking news out of the United Kingdom. A wife of a U.S. diplomat has been charged with causing the death of a young British man by dangerous driving. Phil Black joins me from London.

We've been following this story and they left shortly after this happened.

What are the charges?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This relates to an accident that happened in August a couple hours northwest of London, outside a U.S. military facility; 19-year-old Harry Dunn was riding a motorbike and was in an accident with Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American diplomat.

Police say she was driving on the wrong side of the road and as a result of that accident, Harry died. In the days after that, Anne Sacoolas left the country, claiming diplomatic immunity. Since then, Harry's family has been desperately trying to seek justice. They even went to the United States and met with President Trump, tried to generate support, taking private legal action.

Meanwhile the police traveled to the U.S. to interview Sacoolas. And she's being charged here with death by dangerous driving. This is the result of prosecutors considering the evidence. And now we wait to see precisely what happens next. They say that extradition proceedings are under way.

HARLOW: That's the question.

Do you have any sense of whether she will be extradited?

BLACK: There's a process that needs to be followed here within the British government. The government will decide whether or not to formally make that request, which then must be examined by the U.S. side.

The British government said they're keen to see justice done in this case. Recently, the family of Harry Dunn met with the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab. He said, in the event there's a decision to charge he would like Anne Sacoolas to do the right thing and come back here herself.

HARLOW: Phil Black, we appreciate the update, this family searching for answers.

Next, President Trump wants an immediate trial in the Senate as lawmakers head home for the holidays. The standoff between Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi could delay that. We are live ahead.

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[09:55:00]

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HARLOW: Good morning, everyone. It's the top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow. Jim Sciutto has a well deserved day off and we begin with impeachment at an impasse.

The president wants a trial in the Senate to begin immediately and end just as quickly. Congress is responding by leaving town for the holiday break without a deal. Mitch McConnell says talks with Chuck Schumer are stuck.

END