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Trump Imposes New Tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China; Canada and Mexico Announce Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S.; China to Take "Countermeasures" Over Trump's New Tariffs; Investigators Look for Clues About Cause of Deadly Tragedy; Hamas Releases 3 Hostages From Gaza, Including Israeli-American; New DNC Chair Promises to Examine 2024 Election; Charity Helps Undocumented Migrant Families Cope; Ukraine, Russia Trade Blame Over Strike on Boarding School. Aired 5-6 am ET
Aired February 02, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:00:32]
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber, this is CNN Newsroom.
The first shots fired in a trade war. China, Mexico and Canada respond to Donald Trump's new tariffs. Look at how they're threatening to respond and how the tariffs will affect the bottom line for millions of Americans. One newspaper calls it the dumbest trade war in history.
Plus, investigators are hard at work after two deadly plane crashes in two days. We'll have new details from both scenes.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin this hour with Donald Trump ramping up his dispute with America's biggest trading partners imposing new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is slamming the move, warning it'll only raise prices for American families. Trump slapped a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada and a 10% duty on Chinese imports.
He signed the orders at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday, fulfilling a promise he made on the campaign trail, but he admitted that it will have an impact on the American people.
The White House warns those tariffs could go up if Mexico, Canada or China fight back, but that's already happening. Canada's Prime Minister and Mexico's President have now announced retaliatory tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the U.S. trade action with 25% tariffs against a $155 billion worth of American goods. This will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days' time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Some of the top imports from Canada to the U.S. include oil, minerals, cement, wood and paper products. Mexico is America's largest trade partner, exporting $467 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, things like fruits, vegetables, steel, beer and alcohol. Mexico's President, Claudia Sheinbaum, says she will implement a plan that includes tariff and non-tariff measures against the U.S., but she didn't elaborate on what that would involve.
Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): When we negotiate with other nations, when we talk with other nations, always with our heads held high, never bowing our heads, we are equal with all the nations of the world. Mexico is free, independent and a sovereign country and that is in the way which we defend Mexicans and our homeland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: And officials in China are promising countermeasures with these new U.S. tariffs. CNN's Marc Stewart has more now on how Beijing is responding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that China will file a complaint with the World Trade Organization saying this 10% tariff seriously violates the rules, but beyond that it's not very clear. Right now we are in the midst of the Chinese New Year, so the government has not had its typical question-and-answer session with reporters. So as far as the specific countermeasures, we may not know until perhaps mid to later this week. It's something we're going to keep a watch on.
But I did talk to one expert who suggests that what China can do is perhaps limited in the sense that it's already dealing with trade issues with Europe concerning electric vehicles and solar panels, essentially flooding some European markets with cheap items in a way to attract business for Chinese companies. That's been a big point of contention right now between China and Europe and taking up a lot of energy there.
In addition, the Chinese economy right now, it's kind of shaky. People aren't spending as much money as they did in the past. There are remnants of a housing crisis. So that too may limit exactly what kind of punishments China will do. Typically when we look at this U.S.- China relationship, it's very much tit-for-tat. You do something to hurt me, I'm going to do something to hurt you back.
But it's not clear if China has that leverage. In fact, it's quite possible that it just may try to leverage its supply chain and not institute any kind of tariffs as we traditionally have seen.
[05:05:06]
But none of this really is a surprise to China. This is something that President Trump talked about during the campaign, this possibility of tariffs. China also knows just how fragile the world landscape is.
China has depended on the U.S. very much as a large export market. But in recent months, we have seen it expand its export reach, not just depending on the United States, but looking at places such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa, even Russia in an attempt to spread its business.
Also, it's important to note that the United States said it's instituting these tariffs because it's not satisfied with how China has been responding to the fentanyl crisis. China did respond to that, saying it has shown its support to the U.S., but the fentanyl crisis is very much an American problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Many corporations and business groups are furious over the new tariffs imposed by President Trump, but one fuel manufacturing leader says he's hopeful the U.S. can come to a solution with its neighbors before customers feel the sting of rising prices.
CNN's Matt Egan breaks down how these tariffs could affect consumers amid what the Wall Street Journal is calling, the dumbest trade war in history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: It is really important to stress that these tariffs represent a far more aggressive use of Trump's favorite economic weapon than anything he did during the first term, right? We're talking about hitting around $1.4 trillion of imports with tariffs. That is more than triple what was done during the first term.
They create leverage. He feels that they're necessary to try to reach a deal on legal immigration and the flow of drugs into the U.S. But Mary Lovely, she's a researcher at Peterson Institute, she told me that this is a huge gamble.
She said it's a recipe for slowing down the economy and increasing inflation. She told me that she's very confident that these tariffs will increase consumer prices, maybe not overnight, but most noticeably at the grocery store. Because when you look at U.S. imports of food, we do import a lot from Mexico and from Canada.
Mexico was the number one source of agricultural goods coming into the US, including number one for fruit and vegetable. Mexico and Canada were also one and two when you look at grains that are imported into the U.S. So there is the potential that these tariffs could increase prices at the grocery store. We know that is a major frustration for consumers. That's just one example though. That's just food.
There's also car prices that could go up because the auto industry is very closely linked together in North America. Energy too. The U.S. imports a lot of oil from Mexico and from Canada. That's why analysts have said that a 25% tariff would likely increase gas prices, especially in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes.
And so look, that's why we are starting to hear increasing concern from people in the business community, from trade experts, from economists. You mentioned that "Wall Street Journal" scathing op-ed that was published in today's paper. The title was, "The Dumbest Trade War in History."
The journal argued that, OK, tariffs on China is one thing, but to hit our closest neighbors with tariffs, they say, makes no sense. If these tariffs go into effect, and if prices start to go significantly higher, I think we're going to hear even more criticism from the business community because this is something that would create real risk to the economy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: I spoke to Ryan Patel from the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University about the potential consequences for businesses and supply chains if these tariffs aren't just a negotiating tactic. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: The challenges for businesses, if you think about it, isn't really the immediate impact, but how do they pivot? They must evolve and then obviously pass down to the consumer. So if you think about the short-term impact, I think about maybe if this goes on for the next one to three months, it's really businesses trying to do their best job to delay the price increases, right? That's what they're trying to do to keep those margins. But after that, Kim, it is going to be passed on. All those strategies are going to be passed on to the consumer, and they're going to start to feel it.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and supply chains are so interconnected. So if, you know, the -- it costs the grocery store, let's say, 25% more to import an avocado and then 10% more to transport it to the store, because gas costs more. I mean, that adds up, right?
PATEL: Yeah, I think this is where, if you look at the numbers, right, you think, you know, the U.S. -- you know, is being easier on the energy costs because they know that, you know, up to 10%, I think, as of right now, if they did it more, the consumer would feel it right away.
[05:10:03]
So if you think about the less flexible supply chains that you mentioned that could be easily impact quicker, like examples like electronics, clothing, some produce and the raw materials, we'll see those a lot more faster for the consumer to feeling that. And I think, again, compounding with the energy costs is why I think the way President Trump was laying out his plan, to me, it's kind of a wait and see approach. He didn't use all of it right away. And there's -- I mean, if you think of logic, the question becomes, what is it you're trying to gain in these bilateral deals? And what places is he looking for to help what industries?
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, that is the question. In the meantime, though, we do have this, you know, basically a trade war on the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board called it "The Dumbest Trade War in History," because of course, the nations affected are also responding with tariffs. So everyone is hurt here on all sides.
I want to play a clip from the head of the World Trade Organization talking to CNN last weekend about Trump's threat of tariffs before they came in. So here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: Actually, I've been saying to members here at Davos, let's chill. Let's not get too over excited. And to our members, I've also been saying, look, let's not do any tit for tat. It's not when you hear something from one member, we immediately apply counter tariffs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: But of course, right away now we are seeing tit for tat tariffs. So her message to chill out, not exactly resonating here.
PATEL: Yeah, and I think I mean, it is -- it's kind of hard where we think of the global economy has evolved and how we define value. It's not just tariffs, we think about security, it's tied into it. So it's not just -- you know, the families, the jobs, the agriculture, the industries, I can go down the list, Kim, that is affected. And to be able to send that strong message is something that seems like the countries are not willing to sacrifice.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: The Trump administration is making its America first policy known on the international stage in other ways as well. Marco Rubio landed in Panama on Saturday's first trip as U.S. Secretary of State. The first leg on his Central American tour could be the most contentious.
President Trump says Panama is overcharging American ships using the waterway. And he says he wants to retake control of the canal, which the U.S. built decades ago. Panama says the canal is theirs.
Rubio will also visit El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. The tour is meant to drive President Trump's policies forward. Some U.S. and aid officials are issuing warnings about the recent U.S. freeze on foreign assistance. And they say that could undermine the president's efforts to fight illegal migration and drug trafficking into the U.S.
A pilot may have made a last-minute attempt to avoid Wednesday's deadly midair collision near Washington. Still ahead, investigators announced a frantic maneuver in the final moments of the flight before the plane and helicopter went down.
Plus, the fighting in Gaza may have stopped, but Israel is carrying out deadly strikes in the West Bank. We'll have the latest just ahead here on CNN Newsroom and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way here to the U.S. for the next phase of indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas. We'll look at where they stand ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Investigators are working to get to the bottom of two back- to-back aviation disasters in the U.S. The midair collision between a passenger plane and a helicopter near Washington on Wednesday and the crash of a medevac jet in Philadelphia less than 48 hours later.
Now, preliminary data shows the pilot of the passenger plane tried to pull up just before the collision. Experts say that would suggest an attempt to avoid the chopper, and the helicopter itself may have been flying above its designated altitude. According to initial data announced by investigators, all 67 people on both aircraft are believed to be dead, and investigators acknowledged the toll on their families.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD INMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MEMBER: I spent several hours with him today. There's more, some new. There's some that have been there for three days. Some that want to give us hugs. Some that are just mad and angry. They're just all hurt, and they still want answers, and we want to give them answers. The most devastating thing I guess today was they watched the news last night. They know their loved ones. They're thinking, is it going to take longer? Am I going to be finding my loved one? How this affected? That's how -- I mean, it's horrible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Investigators in Philadelphia are sifting through debris looking for any clue about what may have caused Friday's crash of a medevac plane there. The jet plowed into a busy commercial and residential area. Danny Freeman reports from the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. An absolutely heartbreaking weekend here in Philadelphia after that terrifying crash back on Friday evening, and there are still so many challenges ahead to finding out exactly what happened here and what went so wrong. The process of just recovering and removing all the debris from that plane crash is expected to take days, if not weeks, after so much destruction in this residential neighborhood behind me here in Philadelphia.
So here's what we know so far. A medevac jet carrying six people took off from northeast Philadelphia airport at around 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening. The plane was headed to Missouri and then ultimately Mexico, where everyone on board that plane was from.
Now on that plane where two pilots, a doctor, a paramedic and a pediatric patient and her mother. That child had been receiving care at Shriners Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. And the girl and her mother, they were heading home to Mexico.
But the NTSB confirmed Saturday the plane was only in the air for just about a minute before it came crashing down. The NTSB also said that plane did not reach out to air traffic control in that minute. All six on board unfortunately killed. And then we learned on Saturday, a seventh person who was in a car on the street was also killed as a result of that crash.
[05:20:01]
At least 19 people were injured, and local officials worry the ultimate casualty number may go up in the coming days.
Now, the NTSB also said Saturday that they have not yet located the cockpit voice recorder. This could be crucial in terms of understanding what happened in the moments before that crash. They said it is likely damaged, but they're actually asking for the public's help who live in this specific area to stay vigilant, saying if people are able to find parts of the plane which may include parts of this cockpit voice recorder, the NTSB says that it's very good at fixing broken recorders like this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRMAN: 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREEMAN: Now, all day Saturday, we saw local, state and federal officials and investigators all over the scene, combing through debris, really searching block by block this entire area, this crash site, so massive, impacting cars, impacting homes, but the main focus and hope of all the local officials here just to keep those casualty numbers down.
Danny Freeman, CNN, Philadelphia. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Israeli strikes in the West Bank area of Jenin have killed five people, including a 16-year-old boy. The Palestinian Health Ministry says three people were killed in one of the strikes and two in another. The Israeli military says it was targeting terrorists.
Israel launched a military operation in Jenin just days after the ceasefire in Gaza. Since then, at least 20 people have been killed, including a two-year-old girl.
The next phase of indirect Israel Hamas ceasefire talks are scheduled to begin next week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington, D.C. a short time ago. He's due to meet with President Trump there on Tuesday, and Egypt says a Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo. Those comes after the latest round of hostage and prisoner releases on Saturday.
CNN Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond shows you how they went.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Keith Siegel's children have waited too long for this moment. For 51 days, their mother was held hostage by Hamas. It took another 433 days for their father, a dual American-Israeli citizen, to come home.
In kibbutz Gezer, friends and family began the day huddled together, watching the news anxiously, waiting for his release.
STEVE BURSNTEIN, RABBI: Excited, scared, anxious, hopeful. Just praying that soon we see Keith coming home.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The moment Keith emerges from the Hamas vehicle, the room goes silent. And then as he steps onto the stage, gasps, followed by a pressure valve release.
(APPLAUSE)
DIAMOND (voice-over): And then come tears, hugs and joy.
LEORA SCHWARTZ, KEITH SIEGEL'S RELATIVE: Relief. I'm so relieved that he's back and feeling that I can breathe again, you know, like relief, big relief and happiness. And yet it's also, you know, we still have to fight for the rest of the hostages.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Ofer Kalderon, a father of four, also finally embracing his children. For the family of Yarden Bibas, the sweetness of reunion also tinged with what his release may mean for the fate of his wife and two children, the youngest Israeli hostages.
Hamas has said they were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israeli officials will only say that they are gravely concerned about their fate.
In the wake of these chaotic scenes from Thursday's hostage release, Saturday unfolding seamlessly after Israel demanded an orderly handover. Israel now responding in kind, releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners within an hour of the hostages return.
Emotional and cheerful crowds in Ramallah welcomed 40 prisoners arriving in a Red Cross bus, nearly half of whom had been serving life sentences. And in Gaza, over 100 freed Palestinians, including several minors, arrived back in Khan Yunis. All were detained during the war in Gaza, where Israeli troops have carried out mass detentions.
[05:25:01]
Saturday's exchange also clearing the way for 50 sick and wounded Palestinian civilians to be evacuated to Egypt via the Rafah crossing. It is the first time patients have been evacuated through the crossing since May.
For May Khadr Samour (ph), a moment of relief. Her son, Muttasim (ph), has been battling a life-threatening immune disorder since October. Gaza's decimated health care system cannot save him.
Thank God today our pleas have finally succeeded after a long and painful struggle, she says. I pray that his journey leads to successful treatment.
That same day, Muttasim and others arrive in Egypt. Life-saving treatment now finally within reach.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: All right, when we come back, the swift reaction from America's top trading partners after President Trump issues steep new tariffs.
Plus, fear of deportation has spread among undocumented migrant families in the U.S. What one charity is doing to help. We'll have that and more after the break. Please stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN Newsroom.
Mexico, Canada and China are hitting back at the U.S. after President Donald Trump imposed aggressive new tariffs on all three countries. Several corporations and business groups are lashing out, warning Trump that his tariffs will actually make things more expensive for Americans. He placed a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico and most goods from Canada.
Energy imports from Canada will face a 10% tariff. Trump's new tariff for Chinese imports is also set at 10%. And Canada and Mexico have now announced retaliatory tariffs. And China is also vowing to take countermeasures. [05:30:07]
In their first big move since the bruising presidential election loss in November, Democrats have chosen a new leader for the Democratic National Committee. Ken Martin spent 14 years as the leader of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party and eight years as the Vice Chair of the DNC. He beat out a crowded field of contenders for his new role. Martin says he's ready to get to work and take his fight to Donald Trump.
Craig Snyder is the former Director of the "Haley Voters for Harris" and the CEO of Ikon Global Consulting. He's also the author of the newly released political thriller "Guile." And he joins me now from Philadelphia.
Thanks so much for being here with us. So just to start off, your thoughts on the president's new tariffs. I mean, he's doing what he promised and he claims if prices go up, Americans will understand. I mean, will they?
CRAIG SNYDER, FORMER DIRECTOR, HALEY VOTERS FOR HARRIS: Well, that remains to be seen. But what is clear is that prices will go up. It's been estimated that the average cost of a new car in the United States will go up by $3,000. It's a very significant increase. Gasoline will go up, particularly in the Midwest. Food will go up everywhere in the country.
You know, it's a real test of the loyalty of particularly the sort of the newcomers to the Trump coalition as to whether or not they'll stay even as prices go up. At the same time, this has the potential to really destabilize the Mexican economy. And there's almost nothing you could say about how to promote, as opposed to stop, immigration at the southern border. Then let's destabilize the Mexican economy, that that could be rocket fuel to the immigration problem rather than a solution to it.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, it's fairly ironic, certainly a political gamble there. And we'll have to see how Democrats react to this. Certainly, many of them want to prioritize economic issues now over social issues. They're kind of at a crossroads. To start with, a new chair for the DNC, as I mentioned earlier. What do you think about what their choice says about the direction of the party?
SNYDER: Well, both the choice of Martin for chair and David Hogg, the young activist for vice chair, I think indicate that at least the institutional Democrats, the people who got to vote on this, are in the camp that says that the reason why they lost was that the party didn't go far enough to the left, rather than an increasing number of democratic, you know, regulars who feel the opposite, who feel that the party lost because it went too far to the left. So there is a real, you know, struggle that's going on inside the party.
It wasn't so much reflected in yesterday's institutional vote, but at a broader level, there's a real struggle for the future and how to respond to this catastrophic loss that occurred back in November. BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I want to dig into that. You know, the new chair has to wrestle with that question. And he said that of how to challenge Trump, and he promised to take the gloves off.
But the recurring word I'm hearing from both Democratic politicians and Democratic voters I talked to is exhaustion. Now, Democratic politicians, they're kind of caught in this no-win. They don't want to rush to the microphones after every perceived outrage, but they don't want to leave a void, which is what seems to be happening. They seem kind of rudderless and leaderless right now. As Tommy Vietor said on a podcast a few days ago, it's the Trump show all day, every day.
SNYDER: Well, I think that's right. To a certain extent, it's inevitable. The presidency is the bully pulpit. It's the biggest megaphone in the world. And when you've just lost power in the way that the Democrats have, you're not going to coalesce very quickly around an individual leader or a particularly strong voice. There have to be multiple voices.
But I think more than that is you have this disagreement over what the right way is to attract voters, what the right way is to sort of fix the mistakes that were made in the last election cycle. And you also have a real disagreement about the way to be in resistance or in opposition to Trump, with some folks like Senator Fetterman of my state in Pennsylvania saying we have to find as much common ground as we possibly can, and then we'll disagree where we have to, whereas you have a lot of other folks who are saying we have to disagree on almost everything. We have to take a kind of a scorched earth approach and try to deny Trump wins across the board.
I think the rubber is going to meet the road on all of that as we watch what happens in the very closely divided House of Representatives. Will Speaker Johnson be able to rely on any Democratic votes to get things done, like raise the debt ceiling and pass appropriations? Those tests are coming up very soon, and the Democratic Party is going to have to make up its mind.
[05:35:09]
BRUNHUBER: Yeah. Well, and I'll add Senator Klobuchar to that list of people who have kind of said, listen, we have to -- we have to find common ground but stand our ground on certain issues.
They face that tough choice about what to do, as you say, and they have a lot of work to do to recapture the, you know, popular sentiment. I mean, according to a Quinnipiac poll that was out a few days ago, Democrats' unfavorability has never been higher since they started measuring it in 2008. I mean, it's at a historic level right now.
SNYDER: Yeah, I think that's -- I think that is correct. The last election came down to a referendum on the Democratic brand, and that brand did not fare very well. Having said that, Trump and his people now have the responsibility of governing, and we're going to see, I think, some very unpopular policies that may well force this sort of sliver of American voters who are swing voters who decide all of our recent elections, while you have a, you know, fairly substantial number that are regularly locked into either the Democratic or the Republican side. These swing voters, I think, may swing again when they see some of the effects of Trump's policies, the tariffs being a very big early test of that.
BRUNHUBER: Yeah, exactly right. We'll see how that shakes out. We'll have to leave it there, but I appreciate getting your analysis of all this. Craig Snyder in Philadelphia, thank you so much.
SNYDER: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump has cited illegal aliens and deadly drugs as the motivation for imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. In a message posted on social media on Saturday, the president said, quote, "Today, I've implemented a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% additional tariff on China. This was done because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our citizens, including fentanyl. We need to protect Americans."
A Trump administration official said, any retaliation would likely result in even higher tariffs. The president admitted there may be adverse consequences for American consumers.
Now, since Donald Trump was sworn in as president, fear has spread among undocumented migrant families in the U.S. CNN's Rosa Flores took a ride with a charity that's helping them deal with uncertainty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What might appear to be a simple case of extreme stockpiling.
SAM: I want to go drop this off.
FLORES (voice-over): Is actually the preamble to an emotional day.
(On camera): Sam, first of all, thank you so much for doing this.
(Voice-over): Sam is not her real name. She asked CNN not to reveal her identity for fear of retaliation.
(On camera): Could you tell us where we're going?
SAM: To an apartment to drop off groceries for a mother and three children. They only have enough groceries for the day. And then after that, it is bare cabinets, empty fridge.
FLORES (voice-over): She volunteers to deliver groceries to undocumented migrant families, many seeking asylum in the Chicago area who have stopped going to work, to school and to the store for fear of deportation. Every delivery costs 80 to 100 dollars. Sam says she has made up to 15 deliveries since Trump took office.
(On camera): So some of these families that you visit haven't left their homes since Trump took office?
SAM: Yes. So since inauguration day? Yeah.
FLORES (voice-over): Sam says her nonprofit has received dozens of requests from migrant families since the ICE enforcement blitz started. Chicago police say more than 100 people have been arrested in the metro area. On this day, Sam's meeting a Venezuelan mom of three teens.
(On camera): So we're pretty close. What's usually your plan?
SAM: So usually I'll notify them on WhatsApp that I'm outside.
FLORES: What touches your heart the most?
SAM: The fact that our society is feeding into this propaganda that it is criminals, and yet what I'm seeing is that it's families.
FLORES (voice-over): Families like hers, she says. Sam's mom is Mexican American. Her dad is indigenous. She says she sees herself in the children of the mothers she serves.
SAM: It is very emotional work. If we're not stepping up, nobody is feeding these families.
FLORES (voice-over): The Venezuelan mom was waiting outside.
(On camera): She doesn't want us to use her real name.
FLORES (voiceover): She arrived in the U.S. 17 months ago seeking asylum.
(On camera): So you've been in your apartment for two weeks. Do you send your children to school?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
FLORES: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Speaking in foreign language.
FLORES: OK, why don't you put your children to school? Because of the fear?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.
SUPERINTENDENT LARRY SNELLING, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: With this level of fear --
FLORES (voice-over): Chicago's police superintendent acknowledged the fear in immigrant communities could impact public safety.
SNELLING: I'm pretty sure that there are some people who have not stepped up and reported a crime that may have been committed against them out of fear.
[05:40:03]
SAM: It's heartbreaking.
FLORES (voice-over): Sam says it's not just undocumented moms who are in fear for their children.
(On camera): What did you tell your son to say to ICE?
SAM: If he was questioned by ICE, I told him to say, I'm an American citizen. Please call my mom.
FLORES (voice-over): She and her 10-year-old son --
SAM: We'll be back in a little bit.
FLORES: -- are both U.S. citizens.
SAM: It breaks my heart.
FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: From rebel leader to transitional president. Just ahead, the latest from Syria as its new president embarks on his first foreign trip since assuming power.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRUNHUBER: In the last hour, Syria's newly appointed transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, arrived in Saudi Arabia. It's his first foreign trip since assuming power. Al-Sharaa is a former member of an al-Qaeda affiliate that spearheaded the rebel takeover that ousted former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. He's promised to hold fair elections and form a government that reflects Syria's diversity. But in late December, al-Sharaa said nationwide elections may not be held in Syria for up to four years.
Ukraine's president is calling for more air defenses following the latest barrage of Russian strikes across his country. Kyiv says Russia fired more than 160 drones and missiles on Saturday, killing 15 people and leaving at least 20 others wounded. The city of Poltava took the worst hit. The presidential building collapsed, and more than 20 people were pulled from the rubble.
Meanwhile, Kyiv and Moscow are trading blame over a deadly strike in the Russian territory currently held by Ukraine. Just a warning, the video you're about to see is graphic.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Get him on a stretcher. Can you stand up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got him. We got him.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRUNHUBER: Ukraine's president says the video shows Russia's strike on a boarding school in the Kursk region on Saturday. Ukraine says four people were killed and at least four others wounded. But Russia claims it was Ukraine that attacked the school. CNN couldn't confirm where and how this video was taken.
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Well, it's been almost three years since the war in Ukraine began, and among the growing number of casualties are U.S. volunteers putting their lives on the line in a war with no direct impact. Some are dying in combat, others have gone missing, and that's taking a devastating emotional toll on their families back home. As CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America isn't sure it wants this war anymore, but some are still fighting it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to move, move, move!
WALSH: This rare footage --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move!
WALSH: -- of American volunteers in combat, who are increasingly dying and missing in action. At least 20 now MIA. Five cases in just the last six months, as they're used to urgently plug holes in Ukraine's defenses.
Fierce fighting has raged around Pokrovsk in the East for months. In the horrific web of bunker defenses there, a three-man American team were pinned down after their mission to blow up a bridge fell apart in September. Only one American survived, call sign Redneck.
"REDNECK," U.S. VOLUNTEER WHO FOUGHT IN UKRAINE: Artillery kicks in bright and early before the sun is even up. Then followed by two helicopters coming in, attacking us with rockets and then a boatload of drones. And the radio is screaming at us: prepare to fight, prepare to fight, prepare to fight!
WALSH: Russian footage shows the intense fight back then. A drone strike hit two of the three Americans. One died of his injuries quickly. But the third, Zachary Ford, seen here, seemed to have been stabilized. Yet another attack was coming.
"REDNECK": We weren't going to make it through another attack. So, he started asking me to kill him so he wouldn't be captured.
I refused, and then he called me over a couple of minutes later, told me he loosened his tourniquet.
WALSH: Ford was quickly dying from the blood loss. "REDNECK": He wanted to see the sun, so I laid him down with his head towards the door, so he could look out and see the sun. And I just held his hand. Was he looked at me and he said, never let it be said that the bastards killed me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In order to pay the tribute to the warriors, defenders of the people of Ukraine.
WALSH: The bodies of other fallen Americans have endured a public distressing fate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was respected and loved by everyone.
WALSH: On a tier in Kyiv, former U.S. Marine Corey Nawrocki, who was killed in Bryansk, Russia, in October alongside another American. Their bodies were posted on social media, and even Corey's mother trolled online, before lengthened negotiations returned their remains to Ukraine Friday.
SANDY NAWROCKI, MOTHER OF DECEASED U.S. VOLUNTEER: Oh, gosh. A whirlwind of emotions. Like relief but sadness. It's almost like a weight has been lifted off my shoulder. Because -- sorry. Because now I don't have to worry about what I think they might be doing to him over there.
WALSH: But pro-Russian trolls didn't just post images of Corey's body.
NAWROCKI: They had posted a picture of my house, my full address. They would post all these nasty comments and, you know, smiley faces and stuff like that.
WALSH: Texan Lauren Guillaume helps identify dead foreigners, often through a gruesome trawl of morgues. She said foreigners are increasingly used in the toughest spots to fill urgent gaps in Ukrainian manpower.
LAUREN GUILLAUME, R.T. WEATHERMAN FOUNDATION: It's increased dramatically in the past six months, and most of that is missing in action cases.
We find that foreign operators do fill the gaps of very difficult, high-risk, high-reward operations.
We think it is a reflection of how the battlefield looks right now.
WALSH: Drones, artillery. Impossible to get the bodies back.
GUILLAUME: Correct.
WALSH (voice-over): One of her first missions was getting Cedric Hamm, a veteran from Texas, home. He died in Sumy region, was sent home with honors in Kyiv. And found through his tattoos.
His mother reads his old text messages.
RAQUEL HAMM, MOTHER OF DECEASED U.S. VOLUNTEER: "I met people whose homes were blown up. I met people whose women were raped in front of them. I think God understands I'm doing a good thing."
And that was my greatest fear, that my son was going to be used as a symbol of hate, because here he was as a foreign fighter, helping Ukraine. And I'm just -- was so overwhelmed with joy that my son was located, that we were not going to have to wonder.
WALSH: What do you remember as being the darkest moment for you?
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HAMM: Knowing he's not going to be around. Pretty much that.
WALSH: I'm so sorry.
HAMM: It's OK. It's just he was super funny and, like, could do anything and everything that I asked him to do. Very good son.
WALSH (voice-over): A war so much of America feels distant to, here so very close to home.
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BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back.
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BRUNHUBER: Top Polish football players gathered in Alabama Saturday to play in the 2025 Senior Bowl. The game's MVP, Jack Bech, used his post-game spotlight to honor his brother who was killed in the Bourbon Street terror attack last month. Here he is.
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JACK BECH, WIDE RECEIVER AND SENIOR BOWL MVP: All the big brother does in life is want to see his little brother succeed. He's been my role model my whole life, the person I looked up to, the person I wanted to be. You know, he was the best big brother I could ever ask for.
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BRUNHUBER: A sobering reminder comes as New Orleans works to heal from the devastating loss on New Year's 14 people were killed and dozens were injured in the deadly vehicle attack.
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The city is now being fortified for the Super Bowl next weekend, as well as upcoming Mardi Gras celebrations. A new steel wedge barrier has been installed around the city's French Quarter, which temporarily blocks vehicle access to Bourbon Street. Additional resources are deployed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
A stunning NBA trade agreement has just altered the league's landscape. Two of basketball's top superstars have been swapped mid- season. The Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers. Luka, a five-time all-star, has become the face of the Mavericks franchise, while Anthony Davis has been the right-hand man to LeBron James since 2019, helping lead the team to an NBA championship that season.
As Luka recovers from a calf injury, ESPN reported the Mavericks' concern over his conditioning. When asked about the trade, Dallas said Davis will bring a defensive mindset that the team needs moving forward.
A streamlined Mercedes set a record for a Grand Prix car after selling at a RM Sotheby's auction Saturday for over 53 million dollars. The bidding took place at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. The streamliner is one of only four complete examples in existence.
Now this vintage classic claimed victory in the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix. It was also driven that same year by Formula One great Stirling Moss. It's the first Mercedes with this iconic body type to become available for private ownership.
All right, we appreciate all of you watching us here on CNN Newsroom. That wraps up my hour. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, CNN This Morning is next. And then for the rest of the world, it's Connecting Africa.
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