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Netanyahu Spoke Three Times with Trump Recently; Many in Europe Uneasy About Return of America First Policies; United National Climate Change Conference Gets Underway. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired November 11, 2024 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Marc Stewart there live for us. Let's turn to Paula Hancocks who's joining us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, we have heard in the last day or so that Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently spoken three times to Donald Trump since the election.

Bring us up to date on what was discussed and how Donald Trump's presidency could already be shaping events or influencing events in the Middle East.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christina, three conversations within several days is really quite remarkable and it really speaks to how close the relationship was between these two men during the first Trump presidency and it really shows what we can expect over the next few years.

I think Benjamin Netanyahu was, if not the first, one of the first to congratulate President-elect Trump and during these phone calls he has said to the Israeli cabinet that they were very good and very important conversations. He also said that he and President-elect Trump see eye to eye when it comes to Iran, when it comes to the dangers that he believes Iran poses not just to Israel but elsewhere.

And so this is really key because at this point we are still waiting for some kind of a response from Tehran after a couple of weeks ago, just last month, Israel fired upon the country in retaliation for a previous attack trying to take out some of its air defense systems.

Now what we have seen in the past year or so and certainly in recent months with the U.S. President Joe Biden is an assumption that Joe Biden has had some influence on Netanyahu in trying to restrict the extent of the response against Iran. Now it's not clear going forward whether President-elect Trump would ask for these kind of restrictions or ask for Israel to hold back when it comes to dealing with Iran.

For example, we know that the U.S. President was not keen, Joe Biden was not keen on Israel taking out parts of the nuclear program or when it comes to the energy supply, no oil fields. Did President Biden want to see targeted? It's very uncertain whether that will be the same case with President-elect Trump.

So certainly there is going to be some concern in Tehran. They've had the official statement that really makes no difference who the President is in the U.S. because the policies don't change. But there certainly will be concern at a time when we're seeing these very direct attacks between Israel and Iran on each other's territory that there is an incoming U.S. President who appears to be very much in the pro-Israel camp.

And just the fact that they've spoken three times in such a short period of time shows that there is a personal relationship there as well. So certainly Tehran will be concerned.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Nic Robertson is here in the studio with us. Thank you, Paula. Also, you know, many calls between European leaders and Donald Trump as well. The key one often being the German Chancellor because he's got the most powerful economy.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And that's part of his problem at the moment because it's not as powerful as it has been, and it's hurting at the moment. And he's got his own political problems and will be likely calling, well, he's calling for a vote of confidence in the government, which could lead to elections even potentially before the end of the year, before you'd get a new U.S. President.

Look, I think the picture that Europe presents at the moment is one where leaders want to have a strong relationship with the United States. They've had that in the past. Even through the Trump presidency before, it was strained. I think they expect it to be strained again.

And the message is we can work with you, whether it's on, you know, defense spend, the strength of NATO, the message that we collectively, Europe and the United States sends to President Putin in Russia.

But I think the other part of the picture is, and this, you know, in a way sort of mirrors where President-elect Donald Trump is in the U.S., that he's not only won the election, he's won the popular vote, he's going to have huge influence. Republican Party is going to have huge influence and sway in Congress.

He looks at Europe and it's not such a strong place. You know, when his go-to method of getting what he wants is tariffs, the German economy is one place where that's weak, where Trump enables the sort of right-wing flavor of populist politics. That's another area where Europe's leaders, like Olaf Schultz, like President Macron in France, are weak.

[04:35:00]

This is not a Europe that is at its strongest moment. And therefore, this is a Europe that's more likely, whatever it says, is going to try to align and get along with Trump and not confront him, because they're just not as strong as they were politically and economically. And I think that's where Europe is at the moment with President-elect Trump.

MACFARLANE: So given that there's this sort of continental power vacuum in place at the moment, obviously, France hobbled politically, Germany hobbled politically. Where do you expect Donald Trump will look to leadership within Europe?

ROBERTSON: Well, he knows that he can look to the U.K., for example. This would be the position that U.K. diplomats would take, that there's a government here with a big majority that's going to be in power during the same period that Trump will be in office. They're going to play on the fact that the U.K. is really the only sort of global partner that can have the same sort of military reach and project its power. No other partner in Europe can do that. So they'll play on that and the special relationship.

But I don't think Trump is very likely to look at the U.K. as having the heft of the whole of Europe. I think this is a moment where Trump can see that the policies that he wants, not only, again, is it an opportunity at home to push them through, but internationally, that there will be less opposition.

MACFARLANE: Nic, thank you very much.

Well, for more, let's turn to Berlin. We're joined by Matthew Kamitschnig, the chief Europe correspondent for Politico.

Matthew, thank you for joining us. We're just hearing from Nic there that Trump will be looking with the current sort of vacuum in Europe for opportunities. Where do you think the greatest anxiety within Europe lies right now for what and where Trump will push next?

MATTHEW KAMITSCHNIG, CHIEF EUROPE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: I think there's no question that at the moment, the greatest anxiety revolves around the question of Ukraine and whether the United States is going to continue to offer military and financial support to Ukraine once Trump comes to office. Because if that doesn't happen, it would be virtually impossible for the Europeans to step in to the breach, particularly because they just don't have the weaponry that Ukraine needs, ammunition, etc. So it would be virtually impossible to replace the United States in that role.

FOSTER: The other big fear, we've talked a lot about Ukraine already today, but the other big fear surely is tariffs. Nic was just talking about how weak the European economy is right now. They export a huge amount to the United States.

And he's talking about putting big tariffs on any country outside America, not just China.

KAMITSCHNIG: That's right. And I think that's a particularly potent fear in Germany where I am right now, because of the large export sector, because of the large car industry, for example. The United States is Germany's largest trading partner overall. Still, it's its largest export market.

So if the United States were to impose 20 percent tariffs on all imports, that would be a massive disaster for the Germans, where the economy is already stagnating. It was in recession last year, barely missed recession so far this year.

But there's no sign of any kind of upward potential at the moment in the German economy. So these kinds of tariffs would have a debilitating effect on the German economy.

I think connected with that, though, is this security question. We've seen that already come up in the past few days with comments from future Trump administration officials, including J.D. Vance, with the suggestion that if the Europeans don't do what the Trump administration wants, there could be implications for the security guarantee that the United States provides to Europe through NATO. Trump's -- Vance, rather, specifically said that the U.S. would need to rethink its NATO support if the European Union tried to regulate X -- Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, in a way that was negative to him. So this is the kind of threat that I think many people fear is going to be constantly hanging over them in Europe if we don't do Trump's bidding.

MACFARLANE: And we know, Matthew, that Donald Trump is nothing if not transactional. How much do you read, I mean, in terms of that as a threat, how do you think what sort of response we're going to see from Europe? Because we have in just the last few days seen the U.K. announced this week it will increase its defense spending to 2.5 GDP. Are other European allies in a position to move in that way as well? What sort of response are we going to see from European allies?

[04:40:03]

KAMITSCHNIG: Well, I think that they're going to have to kind of get religion quickly if they really want to, you know, keep the United States on their side, because Trump has made it clear that he's not kidding about this.

He is transactional, but he's also made quite clear that he can follow through with his threats, which he tried to do in Germany at the end of his first term, for example, where he decided to withdraw 12,000 troops from Germany, 12,000 of about 50,000 at the time. That didn't happen because Biden reversed the decision.

But Trump is very clear in that he's willing to follow through on his threats, and he seems to have, you know, particular interest in Germany, which he has constantly complained has been a freeloader. So I think that you will see these countries kind of, you know, get religion as it were and try to do more on these fronts, but they're going to have to also sell it to their domestic audiences.

They're going to have to convince their populations that this is necessary and explain to them why it is necessary, in particular because of the security threat that they would face from Russia and elsewhere if the United States isn't there acting as a pillar of European security. So they really have a lot at stake here.

But overall, the shift is that NATO looks like it could be shifting away from a kind of values-based alliance, which it has been since its founding 75 years ago or so, to a more transactional arrangement where if you're not paying up, you might not get the security support that you're going to need.

MACFARLANE: All right, Matthew, we appreciate your comments and your thoughts. Thank you. FOSTER: The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP29, is now officially underway in Azerbaijan. Donald Trump's re-election is already dominating the conversation, of course. Trump has called climate change a hoax. And during his first term, he withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord.

MACFARLANE: Well, President Biden reversed that move. Trump has vowed to do it again. And as our chief climate correspondent puts it, Trump's staunch denial of climate change could ironically undermine his economic priorities.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump promised a healthier economy and fix the border crisis and unite Americans. Well, climate change is the hole in every one of those buckets. So much harder to repair an economy in a place like Asheville after these unnatural disasters or these wildfires we're seeing around Los Angeles.

More immigrants coming from droughts and fires and other disasters in Central America. So you can't deny it anymore. But the only one that seems to be the loudest about this was just elected leader of the free world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Now in Angola, a vital piece of infrastructure is reshaping the face of trade in Southern Africa.

FOSTER: The Libido Port and Rail Project is set to become a key trade route connecting Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the rest of the world. CNN's Eleni Giokos takes a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Located along Angola's 1,600 kilometers of coastline, the Atlantic Port of Lobito is the nation's second largest port. Operating around the clock, it's seen as a gateway to the West.

DAVID REEKMANS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AFRICA GLOBAL LOGISTICS, LOBITO TERMINAL: This port is currently doing less than 30,000 containers a year, which is not much at all. And we are making an investment of over $150 million, which really proves that we believe in the future of that terminal.

GIOKOS (voice-over): Last year, Africa Global Logistics secured a concession to revitalize and manage the port.

REEKMANS: The volumes from March 24 to June 24 are already 20 percent higher than the volumes from the same period last year.

GIOKOS (voice-over): But this port is just a fraction of the greater Lobito economic corridor.

REEKMANS: The railway is coming straight into the terminal and ends a few hundred meters from the vessels that are coming to Libido.

GIOKOS (voice-over): The 1,300 kilometers of rail traverses Angola to connect with the 400 kilometer railway in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is one of the world's largest copper and cobalt reserves. There are plans to extend the line onto Ndola in Zambia. The Lobito Atlantic Railway is investing $250 million to improve efficiency of the rail within Angola and add 1,500 wagons to its fleet.

[04:45:00]

FRANCISCO FRANCA, CEO, LOBITO ATLANTIC RAILWAY: Lobito Corridor is much more efficient. So it takes six days to 35 days. So it's 30 days difference.

GIOKOS (voice-over): As these projects get underway, the companies are setting high expectations.

FRANCA: Today we do 20,000 tons per year. We want to reach 5 million services around the railway. That's the economic development, you know, small business, medium business, large business. So everyone will benefit from this corridor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Just ahead, how the royal family commemorated fallen trips during Remembrance Day ceremonies.

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FOSTER: In the coming hours, U.S. President Joe Biden will observe his final Veterans Day whilst in office. The president will begin the day by hosting veterans, military members, and others at the White House before the annual wreath-laying at Arlington Cemetery.

MACFARLANE: He'll be joined by First Lady Jill Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The president will also be asked to speak at the National Veterans Day observance ceremony.

Meantime, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in France for Armistice Day ceremonies. Starmer is the first British Prime Minister to attend Armistice Day commemorations in Paris since Winston Churchill in 1944.

FOSTER: He'll join French President Emmanuel Macron as well as British and French veterans for the ceremonies and lay wreaths at war memorials near the Champs-Elysees and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Also, some key meetings between two key European leaders.

MACFARLANE: Well, the British royals, including Catherine, Princess of Wales, paid their respects to fallen soldiers at the Remembrance Day service in London on Sunday. This was Catherine's second appearance of the weekend as she slowly eases her way back into official duties after receiving treatment for cancer earlier this year.

FOSTER: King Charles and Prince William participated in the Remembrance Day ceremonies as they looked on.

[04:50:00]

The Princess and the Duchess, they laid wreaths and flowers at the war memorial with eight former Prime Ministers attending as well as current Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

I thought, as I watched it, spoke to the chaos of British politics. You can have so many British Prime Ministers of a similar age all standing together.

MACFARLANE: I suppose that's one takeaway, isn't it?

Now, a British celebrity chef is in hot water after his children's book drew criticism for offending Indigenous Australians. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: A children's book by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is no longer for sale after receiving a backlash for offending Indigenous Australians. Australia's First Nations education body criticized "Billy and the Epic Escape" for using tropes and stereotypes about Indigenous Australians. That's according to The Guardian.

MACFARLANE: Oliver, who's currently in Australia promoting his latest cookbook, responded by saying, I am devastated to have caused offence and apologize wholeheartedly. It was never my intention to misinterpret this deeply painful issue.

[04:55:00]

I mean, I'm not entirely sure why TV chef is wading into that sort of territory in the first place.

FOSTER: Yes, and, you know, he's a well-known author. Surely some editors were overseeing. I mean, it's pretty obvious to you and I who are aware of the issues. But, you know, you don't write about something you don't know about.

MACFARLANE: Yes, it's a bizarre turn, I'd say. Anyway, clearly got his comeuppance with that.

Now, a group of hikers in Hawaii came to the rescue of a stranded baby goat. The young animal was stuck on the side of the cliff face for four days. There it is.

FOSTER: Local media report that after seeing its predicament on social media, several locals decided to try to mount a rescue operation using apples and a drone as a distraction. The group managed to lure the goat to safety. Bala, as it's been named, is now safely at an animal sanctuary.

Hundreds of musicians gathering there in Mexico City on Sunday in an effort to break the world record for the largest mariachi concert. Local media said the performance drew more than 1,000 artists, which is higher than the 2013 record, Chrissie, held in Guadalajara, where 700 mariachis performed.

MACFARLANE: Massive concert was held on the final day of the First World Mariachi Congress. Did you know such a thing exists?

FOSTER: I do now.

MACFARLANE: Which aims to preserve the iconic music genre deeply rooted in Mexican culture. I mean, it is a celebration of Mexican culture. So I kind of love it, actually.

FOSTER: What's going on there?

MACFARLANE: Imagine if you're a tourist spotting in for the day and you're greeted by that. It's pretty cool, isn't it?

And that is good notes for us to end this show. Thanks for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Christina Macfarlane.

FOSTER: You are!

MACFARLANE: It's Monday.

FOSTER: It is Monday all day.

MACFARLANE: Only Monday.

FOSTER: I'm Max Foster, I think.

MACFARLANE: CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next. Do stay tuned.

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