Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Impose Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China; Interview With Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers; NTSB Press Conference On Medevac Plane Crash; Trump Signs New Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China; Musk Expressing Interest In Federal Government Payment Process. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired February 01, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:00:48]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Jessica Dean in Washington.
Any minute now, President Trump expected to slap new tariffs on some of America's biggest trading partners in a move that nearly all economists warn would likely lead to higher prices.
Trump has promised 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and 10 percent higher tariffs on goods imported from China. Tariffs, of course, essentially a tax. When a foreign company makes goods to be sold in the United States, a company pays a tariff on them when they reach the United States.
And then that U.S. company sells the goods that pay the tariff to Treasury. Usually, companies pass that extra cost onto the person buying the product -- that's you, the American consumer -- by raising prices.
CNN's Alayna Treene is live in West Palm Beach, Florida now. Alayna, we have been waiting to hear from the White House on more specifics about exactly what products these tariffs will cover. What more are you hearing?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, we are hearing that really any minute now, very imminently, we are going to be getting more details on the specifics, Jessica, of these tariffs. We know the president is set to sign these any moment now, if he hasn't already.
But look, I think no one should be surprised that he is carrying out this directive. This has long been a top priority for Donald Trump, a key pillar of his economic plan, something he touted repeatedly on the campaign trail.
But it's also something that the president believes that he used effectively during his first term.
Now one thing to keep in mind, of course, is the impact this is going to have on American consumers. It's something actually the president even acknowledged yesterday while talking to reporters in the Oval Office.
He said that there could be some sort of short-term temporary disruption, but he believed that people would be patient to see it through.
Now, again, I do want to just share with you that despite all of this, we know that from Capitol Hill to Wall Street, as well as from Ottawa to Mexico City, many people have been hoping that Donald Trump would not follow through on this promise, that he would not continue with that threat. But as we know, this is happening and it's going to be moving forward at any moment now.
Another thing I just want to point out, Jessica, is that this is one of the few things, one of the few real policy beliefs that Donald Trump has held long before he ever sought political office.
Back when he was a real estate developer, he was a big believer in tariffs. And so this is, again something that he genuinely believes is going to help the American people, despite what we have heard from many economists sounding the alarm on how some of the costs from these tariffs will be taken down and carried to consumers directly, Jessica.
DEAN: All right. Alayna Treene keep an eye on that. We will, of course, keep an eye on you as well and come back to you as we get that breaking news. Thank you very much.
And joining us now, Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and former director for the National Economic Forum under President Obama. Of course, we are still awaiting this White House announcement, which we are expecting at any moment.
If you can just help me, I'm listening to this. And here's the thing. The president acknowledges that there could be what he calls short- term problems -- you know, that it would it would hurt a little. And then it's going to be great. And that people will be patient.
But it would seem to me, walking through all of this, that if these do go into effect for everyday items, that the prices are going to be passed on to consumers when they are complaining that prices are already too high.
Help me kind of square that circle.
LAWRENCE SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: This is a "stop or I'll shoot myself in the foot" kind of threat policy. It defies economic logic. It means higher prices for consumers. It means much more expensive inputs for American producers.
[17:04:48]
SUMMERS: Think about the way car manufacturing happens in North America. The car in the process of being produced goes back and forth across the border five times, ten times. Every time, there's going to be some kind of tariff. What that's going to do is make the North American companies and the
North American jobs less competitive relative to what's happening in Europe or China or Japan. There's no real economic logic to this.
Yes, we've got all kinds of issues that are -- we have real justification with respect to Mexico on drug cartels and the like. Whether this is the right thing to do with respect to Mexico, I think there are a lot of questions and doubts that somebody could have.
But Canada? Why of all the countries in the world would we right now be deciding to launch economic war on Canada?
Canada, where the minimum wage, basic wages are higher, where there's more union protection for workers than there is here? I just do not get the logic of these policies.
And make no mistake, this is a regressive tax on American consumers.
DEAN: And so you mentioned Canada. I want to stay with that for a second, because you're right to say that Canada and Mexico, the borders with both of those countries, are very different.
There is a false equivalency that's being kind of held here with what's going on at those two borders.
You know, the government did a study on fentanyl coming in from the northern border. It is a tiny, tiny, tiny percentage versus what's coming in through the southern border. And it seems to me that Canada itself and its government is confused by what exactly it's supposed to be doing to try to reverse or waive off these tariffs.
SUMMERS: It cannot fathom the logic of launching this kind of economic war on traditionally our longest-standing ally.
The Trump administration was on solid ground when it was very critical of the Biden administration for canceling the Keystone Pipeline, which after all, was a way of moving oil from natural gas from Canada to the United States.
That was about more imports. That was about strengthening North America. And that was their policy. Why? Dividing our allies and uniting our enemies could possibly be good strategy, I'm afraid I just cannot, understand.
And it's not just higher prices. This is going to cost us jobs. It's going to cost us jobs because the inputs that go into what we sell to Americans, the inputs that go to what we sell in Europe, what we sell in Asia -- all of that is going to be made more expensive because of these tariffs. And so I just cannot see why this is a strategy that is being pursued.
You know, it's a famous thing that economists disagree about just about everything. Just about all economists agree that raising tariffs to the highest level they've been at for the United States on an across-the-board basis since just after the Second World War. That that's a mistake as a proposition that, I guess 95 percent of economists agree with. And it takes a lot to unite the economics profession.
DEAN: And we can tell everyone, now, just while you were talking there, Trump has announced those new tariffs are in place. So this has happened. Again, 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, 10 percent tariff -- 10 percent additional tariff on China they say for illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans.
Larry, help us understand. There's now not only the threat of rising prices for Americans, but in terms of a trade war. Is this kind of the starting shot? Where -- what does that look like to you.
SUMMERS: It's before you get to what anybody else does, there's higher prices for American consumers and there's higher input costs for American producers making production everywhere else more attractive.
And then how can these countries not respond? And they're going to respond by favoring European products over American products. They're going to respond by favoring Asian products over American products.
[17:09:52]
SUMMERS: That's not going to work to our advantage either.
They're going to expand by welcoming investment from other countries rather than the United States.
This is a -- this was -- this is done with no context. Whether there's legal authority for it or not is something I will leave to the trade lawyers. I think it's very much in doubt when there's no broad economic emergency and when there's no evidence that the goods being tariffed have been heavily subsidized. But I'll leave that to the trade lawyers.
But it seems to me that this is going to make every other country want to separate from us because of the kind of tactics that we are -- that we are engaging in.
So I just do not understand why this kind of economic warfare is good strategy. And if you're going to use economic warfare as a strategy, I don't understand why you're doing it more to Canada and Mexico than to China. And I don't understand why our initial targets of attacks are Canada and Mexico.
This is just a bizarre and, I think, quite dangerous economic strategy for our country.
DEAN: We are told to be on the lookout for a statement from or -- he's going to speak Justin Trudeau here in just a little bit. He said that Canada is ready to retaliate. What might that look like?
SUMMERS: I would imagine that what the Canadians and perhaps what also the Mexicans will do is identify U.S. products that are being exported to Canada and putting substantial penalty on those producers. And I imagine they'll do it in a way that's designed to cause as much economic pain to the United States as they -- as they possibly can. Again, why -- I understand that it's not just a world where everybody
loves each other, where you're -- where it's all just about everybody cooperating.
I understand that the United States has to stand up for itself, that we've got to be tough in defense of our interests. But of all those to be tough with, why exactly are we choosing Canada?
I think that's the question that the president needs to explain to the American people. This has been the country that for a century has stood with us in every conflict that we have been in, that has been on our side when the issues have involved China or have involved, Europe. Why are we choosing to attack them right now?
And if we were able to cause substantial economic pain in Mexico, do they believe that that would reduce immigration flows into our country? I would imagine it would have the opposite effect of increasing the pressures on our border.
I imagine this will encourage the Mexicans to invite Chinese producers to produce in Mexico in order to export to the rest of the world rather than to export to the United States.
So I think that the president owes the country an explanation of why we are pursuing this strategy. I'm not for this -- I'm not at this moment challenging the president's nationalist economic approach.
Even if you took that as a given, why are we launching this attack on our North American allies as the opening major foreign policy move of a new administration?
It's just very, very hard for me to understand.
[17:14:46]
DEAN: All right. Larry Summers, thank you very much. Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.
SUMMERS: Thank you.
DEAN: I want to go back to Alayna Treene now, who is in West Palm Beach. Let's touch base with her now that these tariffs, Alayna, have been signed and we are learning more information. Just to remind everybody -- 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, an additional 10 percent on Chinese products.
This is going to affect fruits, vegetables at the grocery store. It could likely affect car prices, sneakers for a lot of people. These are the kinds of things that could likely be included.
But what more are you learning? Because we still need more details on all of this, especially when they go into effect.
TREENE: That's exactly right, Jessica. And yes, the president has signed these tariffs. And I want to be very clear. It's a 25 percent tariff on all imports, all goods coming from Mexico and Canada. I want to add, though, with Canada, there is one exception. And this
is according to a White House fact sheet that I obtained regarding the details of these tariffs. The one exception on Canada would be on energy and oil.
I am told that there's a 10 percent -- energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10 percent tariff. So still being tariffed but at a lower rate.
Otherwise, though, all goods coming from our northern and southern border will be in effect immediately.
Now also, as you mentioned, a 10 percent tariff on China. Now, another key thing that we didn't really know about until these tariffs were signed is that there is a retaliation clause.
I am told essentially that this could be -- these tariffs could be increased at any time, particularly seeing whether or not if any of these countries decide to retaliate to the president's directive here with their own tariffs and that could potentially bring these prices and these tariffs even higher.
Now, one thing from this fact sheet as well, I do want to read to you just one of these quotes, because this is what really gets at the heart of why the president imposed these specifically on Canada and Mexico.
It says in this fact sheet, quote, this tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country.
Now, Jessica, to be clear, and we know this from what the president has said on this previously, that one of the main reasons he wanted to impose these steep tariffs is because he believes that both Canada and Mexico are not doing enough to crack down on the number of drugs and the number of migrants coming in to the United States.
So that's really at the crux of all of this. That quote that I read you was at the very top of this White House fact sheet.
And I do want to just note, too, to your point of how this could directly impact American consumers. Of course, this is something we have heard from Wall Street and economists warning about, but it's also something that the president acknowledged yesterday.
He said that he believes that perhaps there could be some sort of short-term impact on American consumers. He said he hoped that people would be patient to see it through.
But again, if prices begin to increase and Americans start seeing this directly hitting their wallets, of course, this is going to be a broader concern that the White House will eventually have to look at, Jessica.
DEAN: Right. Yes, I mean, that was the number one concern for American voters. And that question, that key question is, Alayna, will they be patient? And we will just have to wait and see how they react.
TREENE: Yes.
DEAN: Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that breaking news. We appreciate it.
Still ahead, we are also waiting for a press conference from the NTSB after seven people were killed when a medical jet crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood.
[17:18:23]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEAN: The NTSB is giving an update on that deadly plane crash in Philadelphia that happened last night that left seven people dead.
Let's listen in.
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: And then I will return to talk about the crash itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Chairman.
Just a little bit about the flight itself. The flight departed originated at Opa-locka, Florida yesterday afternoon, about 12:00 p.m. The aircraft arrived at northeast Philadelphia airport around 2:15 p.m. in the afternoon.
It was on the ground for a few hours and departed runway 24 at about 6:06 p.m. And it was, like we said, it was dark at the time and instrument conditions.
The aircraft climbed to about 1,500ft above the ground. We were looking at a GPS data on the aircraft. A slight right turn, followed by a slight left turn and then a steep descent towards the ground where it crashed.
The entire flight lasted less than a minute.
HOMENDY: Thank you. So I want to stress this was a high impact crash, and the plane is highly fragmented.
There is a substantial impact on the entire community. The debris field extends four or five blocks. And I do want to stress that this is an active investigation scene. The debris is scattered. It is very dangerous. And so I encourage everyone to stay out of the accident site. It's very dangerous.
[17:24:45]
HOMENDY: You'll see over the next several days, possibly extending into weeks, where we will be collecting that debris, loading it onto a truck and moving it to a secure location so that we can begin to do our evaluation of that debris. Now, I do want to mention we are still looking for the cockpit voice
recorder. We have located the two engines, but for the cockpit voice recorder, we are still looking for it.
It could be intact, but likely it is very -- it is damaged. It may be fragmented. So if there are citizens or business owners or others who find debris, please email the NTSB a witnessatNTSB.gov. That's witnessatNTSB.gov.
Now I'm sure I will get questions about having two major accident investigations at one time. We are a very -- we are a highly-skilled agency. It is not unusual for the NTSB to be investigating two major accidents.
We have tremendous resources at both, and I -- we will get to our findings, our probable cause and our recommendations, and to a final investigative report.
With that, I'm going to take questions. I will ask that you raise your hand, that you identify -- give me your name and your affiliation.
Sir.
BRIAN SHANNON, NBC 10: Brian Shannon, NBC10, Philadelphia.
Are you classifying this as an accident at this point?
HOMENDY: The question is, are we classifying this as an accident? Yes, we are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CBS News, Philadelphia. The -- I see reference to the flight turned left and right before it crashed, a minute after taking off. Does that suggest anything to you guys early on?
HOMENDY: The question is the path, the track of the plane, that it moved a little to the right, moved a little to the left. It doesn't really suggest anything right now. We just wanted to provide that information for you. Certainly we'll evaluate information as we continue on with our investigation.
Right now, our focus is on collecting the perishable evidence, and that is the debris and what we need to take in order to conduct our investigation.
Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mills hayes (ph) with (INAUDIBLE). Are you guys aware of any debris or anything falling from the plane before it went down?
HOMENDY: The question is, are we aware of any debris or anything falling from the plane before it went down. We are not aware of that. However, certainly videos are always welcome by others who have taken them. I've seen -- we've seen a number of them online. But please, if you'd like to send those also to witnessatNTSB.gov.
Here and then here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) Fox 29 Local Philadelphia.
How helpful have neighbors or business owners been in this investigation? Have you talked to a lot of them?
HOMENDY: The question is how helpful have neighbors and business owners been so far in this investigation. So today is our first full day for us as part of this investigation. Certainly our other partners here have been speaking with businesses and residents but not at this time. We may eventually.
Yes. Here and then here.
BRIANNA SMITH, ABC: Brianna smith, ABC.
Earlier today, city leaders mentioned that there was a remote area with debris where something happened with the aircraft. So can you elaborate on that?
HOMENDY: The question is on comment that was made earlier about a remote area and something happening with the aircraft. I haven't seen that comment. So at this time I can't comment on it. But at our next press briefing, we'll evaluate it.
Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jennifer Homendy, Jonathan Kersley (ph) from Channel 9 Australia. You touched on it briefly before. You're dealing with two major accidents now. Two major collisions in the space of a couple of days. How do you deal with that?
HOMENDY: Well, the question is, how do we deal with two major collisions in a span of days. We are a very small federal agency. Most people aren't aware that we only have 436 employees at the NTSB, and that spans all modes of transportation.
[17:29:42]
HOMENDY: For aviation safety, we have a number of investigators because our mandate is to do quite more than the other modes of transportation, where we're doing every civil aviation accident in the United States.
We also do serve as accredited representative for foreign investigations as well.
[17:30:03]
So in this case, we had to have a highly-skilled team focused on certain areas that are at DCA for that plane crash. And then we have a number of other investigators that are not on call for that crash that we can deploy here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just as a follow up to that, too, are you adequately resourced as an organization? Do you need more resources to deal with incidents like we're seeing here in the United States in the last few days?
HOMENDY: The question is, are we adequately resourced as an organization, I will say that over the last few years, Congress has given us more funding in order for us to do conduct our mission.
That has increased pretty significantly over the past couple of years. However, we do need further increases. Because our greatest resource or greatest asset for the NTSB is our workforce. And so, yes, we always need more resources.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you asked the president or would you ask the president for more resources?
HOMENDY: The question is, have we asked the president, I mean, certainly, you know, our budget for more resources. I will say President Trump has been very, very supportive of the National Transportation Safety Board.
I did brief the president this week. And he has indicated his strong support for the NTSB, which we -- we appreciate. And we appreciate the resources we've been given.
And certainly, in our budget request, we will always hope for more. We'll see what comes.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I know you said that you're still looking for the cockpit voice recorder. Can you just talk about how crucial that is in the investigation? And then on top of it, the condition that it's in.
HOMENDY: Yes. So the question is on the cockpit voice recorder. The -- it is -- the question is, how crucial it is, what condition it's in?
The condition could be fragmented, could be damaged. I will say we have an incredible team at our headquarters, our Office of Research and Engineering, who have significant expertise on repairing damaged cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders.
In fact, we're known throughout the world. Other countries send their black boxes to us to fix.
And so hopefully, once we can find it -- that's the biggest question right now -- we can take that back to our lab and evaluate it.
How critical is it? Certainly, it's critical. So we can hear what's happening in the cockpit. However, it doesn't mean that we can't continue our investigation and complete it. We can. It's just a piece of our investigation that gives us more information.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So, question.
HOMENDY: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Any issues or any signs of issues communicating to the control tower before this happened?
HOMENDY: The question is, were the -- was there any sign of an issue or was anything communicated from the flight deck to ATC, the air traffic control tower. No. Nothing was communicated.
In fact, in the -- the recording that that we have, there is an attempt by air traffic controllers to -- to get a response from the flight crew, that they didn't receive.
OK. Thank --
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You want people to literally delay people until a black box?
HOMENDY: No. So the question is on the black box. It's actually orange. So it's an orange box. But it could be damaged and might not be orange. So -- and it could be in pieces.
So that's why we are asking the public, if you see anything, any types of debris, because you may not know what it is, please email us at witness@NTSB.gov.
Thank you very much. We will post on X when our next press conference is. Appreciate it.
DEAN: And again, you're listening to an update from the NTSB on that fatal plane crash in Philadelphia.
They are still looking for that cockpit voice recorder. You heard Jennifer Homendy there saying, if anyone in Philadelphia sees any wreckage to please let them know.
They really want to try to find that so they can begin to piece together exactly what happened. Although, we do know that they are categorizing this as an accident now officially.
[17:35:01]
I want to go back out to Danny Freeman, who's been there in Philadelphia really since this crash happened.
Danny, we got some new details there. But the takeaway seems to be a couple of things we already knew, which is this debris field is huge and that this investigation is very much in the early stages.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jessica. And now we have a better understanding of why the debris field being so huge and why the impact of that plane crash will be so challenging for investigators to recreate and understand exactly what happened here.
That was my main headline as well, that they are still, at this point, searching for the cockpit voice recorder. That's the recorder that's inside of the flight deck that records all of the sounds that are happening in the cockpit throughout the flight.
And certainly, would be incredibly helpful to understand what was happening in those -- I should say, in the entire minute that that flight lasted before it came crashing down here in northeast Philadelphia.
They said that it is likely damaged and could be scattered somewhere here in northeast Philadelphia. They're still out looking for it.
But what I thought was also interesting, Jessica, is that the chair of the NTSB there, Homendy, said that they feel confident that even if they are able to find pieces of this cockpit voice recorder, that they could repair it potentially.
They have experience in repairing it. But again, as you heard, the chair said the challenge first is finding it.
She emphasized that the NTSB was on the scene within 90 minutes of this crash happening. They're going to be out here potentially for days or weeks, just clearing and trying to account for all the debris that is in this neighborhood here in Philadelphia.
And the one last thing, Jessica, that I'll note, because we've been talking so much about not just this investigation, but of course, that investigation at Reagan, the chair of the NTSB said that while they do believe they have adequate staffing, they said they always could use more.
I think we're going to hear a little bit more about that in the coming days and weeks as we continue to discuss aviation safety and these types of investigations in our country -- Jessica?
DEAN: Danny Freeman, live in Philadelphia for us, thank you very much.
Up next, we're going to go back to our other breaking news as President Trump has announced new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. We'll be right back with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:41:36]
DEAN: And we continue to follow breaking news tonight as President Trump signing aggressive new tariffs just moments ago on Mexico Canada and China.
CNN global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar, is joining us now.
Rana, thank you so much for being here with us.
I think we're all trying to still kind of process exactly what this means. There are still a lot of questions around this. Mainly, I think, starting first with timing. How quickly do these go into effect? When might people start to feel any sort of difference on things they're purchasing?
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, the executive order is being signed today. Presumably, the effects begin today. But you're not really going to see that hitting companies, hitting -- certainly hitting people in an inflationary way in their pocketbook for weeks, even months.
Because if you think about, how are tariffs imposed? They're imposed on goods that are coming over the border. Right? And that takes time. Goods have to come in. They have to be shipped. They have to be unloaded. Things are then sold.
And in many cases, you're talking about not finished goods but -- but inputs into other -- other kinds of things. You're talking about energy. You're talking about, in the case of China, lots of different small component parts that might be used in -- in different kinds of equipment.
So it is going to be difficult, I would say, to gauge the effects and the impact right away. I think it's going to take -- take time.
And actually, that's a big deal for the countries that are being hit because the president has put some very nebulous criteria on in terms of what he's -- what kind of, you know, what success looks like for him.
He's saying, we'll know that the tariffs are working when people stop dying of fentanyl overdoses, or we are seeing more fentanyl at the border. That's -- that's a very squishy metric. It's very unprecedented in terms of a way to use tariffs. Let's put it that way.
DEAN: OK. I want to get more into that. But first, I want to do one -- I want to ask you one more thing about the practicality of this, again, for people who are trying to understand what this might mean for them.
What kind of products are we talking about here?
FOROOHAR: So in the case of Canada, you're talking about energy. You're talking about oil. You're talking about certain kinds of agricultural products. Same -- same again for Mexico.
But you're also talking about really complicated supply chains that go into the cars that you drive. I mean, one of the, I think, underappreciated effects of these tariffs is going to be on all kinds of things that you don't necessarily think about being from Mexico or Canada.
I mean, there are very highly integrated automotive supply chains that go across all of those borders.
And so are you going to begin to see the costs of -- of autos go up? Possibly. Are you begin -- going to begin to see the price of certain kinds of food items go up? Yes. In the case of China, our consumer goods is going to go up. Maybe.
It's going to take time. We're really in uncharted territory. But there have been estimates showing that these numbers, the 25 percent on Mexico and Canada, with the exception of 10 percent on Canadian oil, 10 percent on China, that that could be a $20 billion hit to U.S. GDP. That's not nothing.
And I think there's also a huge fear factor here. You know, I'm talking to investors that, frankly, are starting to think, gosh, we really want to diversify away from the U.S. in terms of our portfolio because we just don't know what's going to happen. I think that uncertainty is huge.
[17:45:09]
DEAN: And that's what's so interesting, too, because President Trump, by all accounts, thinks that uncertainty -- and uses that uncertainty -- he believes is a strength, that that's what gives him the edge, which is people don't know what I'm going to do, and thus they'll do what I want them to do.
What you're saying, though, is, for investors, that -- the other side of the coin is it makes them nervous.
FOROOHAR: It absolutely does. You know, you can see the stock markets, since Trump was elected, going up in Germany, going up in the U.K. I mean, these are not particularly healthy, robust economies, I would say. But it shows the desperation of global investors to just get a little bit of a hedge.
I mean, the U.S. is still very robust compared to a lot of countries, but how long is that going to last? What is going to happen?
I mean, these executive orders and these tariffs actually have retaliatory provisions in place so that if Canada and Mexico, as they are already talking about, try and hit the U.S. with tariffs, then our rates go up.
I mean, it's -- it has an uncomfortable feeling of a trade war. And that's not the kind of strategic tariff use that we we're hearing about from the president on the campaign trail.
DEAN: All right, Rana, thank you so much. We really appreciate your analysis there.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
DEAN: Still ahead, a shakeup at the U.S. treasury. Why Elon Musk is eyeing control of the department's payment systems, which are responsible for dispersing Social Security checks, tax refunds, Medicare benefits. We'll talk more about that here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:51:23]
DEAN: The most senior, nonpolitical treasury official, David Lebryk, is leaving the department unexpectedly. That's according to three sources. It's the latest effort -- it's the result of the latest effort of Trump-affiliated officials attempting to stop certain payments being made by the federal government. These are things like Social Security checks, trillions of dollars in
funds being dispersed.
CNN's media analyst, Sara Fischer, is joining us now.
Sara, good to have you.
Look, Elon Musk, we knew it was kind of a package deal, and there was no secret about that, with Trump on the campaign trail.
He's been doing a lot, though. And I want to start first with this treasury thing, because this is pretty unique.
His allies were asking for access to this very sensitive payment system that is responsible for -- for putting out and distributing trillions of dollars of funds.
SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. So instead of going to Congress, repealing the laws that ensure that those payments go through to everyday Americans, things like Medicaid, Social Security, you mentioned a few.
I think, to him, it's probably much faster to just cut the spending where the valve is, right, which happens to be this very small department within the Department of Treasury.
Now, the challenge here, Jessica, is that, of course, you're able to very quickly cut through federal spending by doing that. But the implications of that in the short term and the long term could be disastrous according to economic officials.
So if you think about it, how many people do you know personally that make their spending decisions based off of their Social Security checks, or who make their career decisions based off of whether or not they're going to get a pension or a Medicare or Medicaid payment.
These are the types of things that would impact, not just the U.S. economy, but, in turn, the global economy, which relies on spending here to continue to fuel itself.
Also remember, Jessica, the U.S. is responsible for paying other governments all the time. You come late on those payments, now you're talking about various types of interest, fees and debts.
So it's not just the U.S. economy. It's the global economy. And when you move so quickly, you don't have even the time to process these implications.
DEAN: Totally.
And what is so interesting here, too, is another thing that this department does is, remember, our debt ceiling suspension is now expired and they're taking these "extraordinary measures," is what they call them, to kind of make sure they know exactly when that money is going to run out without lifting it. And they want access to that, too. It's a lot of really sensitive things. And obviously, Elon Musk has an M.O. We know what he did with X. He clearly wants to repeat some of that within the federal government. But -- but are they the same?
FISCHER: Well, from a scale perspective, they're nowhere near the same. Think about it. You have millions of people that are employed by the federal government. You have about 7,500 people that were employed by X before Elon Musk cut it down to about 1,500. So these are not the same thing in terms of the size.
But then also the role in the scope, X was all about innovation. In the government, of course, innovation matters, but balancing getting people paid and making sure that the country moves at the right pace is much different than what you're trying to innovate with the private company.
The last thing ill note, in trying to bring in a lot of Musk allies as a part of DOGE, this Department of Government Efficiency, there's been some concern from within the Treasury Department that CNN has reported and others that they don't all have the necessary security clearances to be able to access this type of information.
Which is what set off a bunch of alarms, prompted some people to leave the department. That is critically important. Because, for so long, the people who have had access to the things like payouts of trillions of dollars are people that we've trusted through background checks, security clearances.
The fact that Musk is coming in, bringing his allies that don't have these types of protocols should be very alarming to a lot of Americans.
DEAN: And institutional knowledge, right?
FISCHER: Right.
DEAN: They really understand how this works.
And I think, as we are in this environment -- and you cover media -- you know, where so much is coming at us, it's stuff like this that is worth paying attention to because while it seems very in the weeds, as you note, it -- it could potentially affect so many people.
[17:55:05]
FISCHER: Absolutely. And by the way, this is not just his M.O. here. You take a look at what's happening.
Elon Musk is trying to influence government elections all around the world, getting involved in the -- Germanys far-right party, trying to endorse that shifting election sentiment there. He's gotten involved in the U.K. prime minister fight.
So this is not just a U.S. thing. This is somebody who has global ambitions to really come in with sweeping power. And one might ask like, why?
I mean, look at him. He's a global innovator who has to deal with many regulations, many investigations. This is somebody who has a lot to benefit from an innovation perspective but also from a personal perspective.
DEAN: There's financial interests as well.
Sara Fischer, as always, thank you so much.
And still ahead, we are expecting an update from the NTSB in just a few minutes on the investigation into the midair plane collision here in Washington that killed 67 people. We're going to bring that to you live.
Plus, we're going to get the first reaction from a top Canadian official to these new tariffs just signed by President Trump. The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, joining us next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)