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CNN International: Trump to Host Netanyahu for Critical Gaza Talks; U.S. Cuts Deal With Canada and Mexico, Slaps Tariffs on China; El Salvador Offers to House U.S. Criminals and Deportees of Any Nationality in Proposed Deal; USAID Being Folded Into Marco Rubio's State Department; Five People Shot Near a School in Orebro, Sweden; Trump Vows to Impose Tariffs on European Union; Thousands Flee Santorini as Hundreds of Quakes Hit Greek Island; Toddler Evacuated From Gaza for Urgent Medical Care; New Orleans Kicks Off Super Bowl Week Celebrations. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired February 04, 2025 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:10]
AMARA WALKER, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi, everyone, and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Amara Walker. This is "CNN Newsroom". Just ahead, Donald Trump's new tariffs take effect against China, but Xi Jinping is striking back. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet the new U.S. president in Washington, D.C. later today. And the heart rendering story of the toddler from Gaza finally evacuated for urgent medical care.
We begin today with the trade war that wasn't. Donald Trump is pausing long promised tariffs, targeting his two closest neighbors. Trump had conversations with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Monday, and came away agreeing to hold off on those tariffs for at least 30 days. In exchange, both countries promised to boost security along their borders with the U.S. in an effort to keep migrants and drugs from crossing over. Trump hailed both deals as big wins, even though much of what was promised had already been part of previous deals between the North American allies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The call with Mexico went very well in the sense that they're very strong now in the border. They're going to put soldiers there. We're going to have a big negotiation with Mexico. I'll be involved too, and President Sheinbaum will be involved to see whether or not we can work something out on the tariffs.
What I'd like to see, Canada become our 51st state. We give them protection, military protection. We don't need them to build our cars. I'd rather see Detroit or South Carolina or any one of our -- Tennessee, any one of our states build the cars. They could do it very easily. We don't need them for the cars; we don't need them for lumber. We don't need them for anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WALKER: But no such deal was cut with China. And just hours ago, a 10 percent U.S. tariff on many Chinese imports went into effect. China quickly responded by slapping 10 percent to 15 percent tariffs on some U.S. products. Let's go now to Beijing and CNN's Marc Stewart. Hi there, Marc. So both Canada and Mexico are seeing one month pauses in tariffs being implemented. Who knows what happens after that? Do we know or do we expect that perhaps there will be conversations between Trump and Xi Jinping, and that there may be a similar agreement?
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Amara, good to see you. Look, I think that we are all curious about a phone call, a conversation that President Trump talked about yesterday, that he will have with Xi Jinping. It is quite possible it's happening right now. It is nine o'clock in the evening here in Beijing, 8:00 a.m. where you are in Atlanta. So it's quite possible that these discussions could be moving forward.
Yet at the same time, these retaliatory tariffs, in some regards, are not that much of a surprise in the sense that China, as the world's second largest economy, needs to appear strong, not only on the world stage, but also in front of its own people. So, there could be a lot of symbolism behind this, even though perhaps in the end, we would see some kind of trade deal between the United States and China.
Despite this back and forth, this tit for tat as we often see in this U.S.-China relationship, Xi Jinping and President Trump have had a very amicable relationship. In fact, they just talked about two weeks ago, right after the TikTok decision came down. And China talked about having a fresh start, a new start in this relationship with the United States and with President Trump. But this is a complicated relationship.
In fact, if we look back to the first administration, President Trump and Xi Jinping got along early on very well. In fact, Xi Jinping went to Mar-a-Lago. The two men had chocolate cake together. But then, these trade issues surfaced and it's one of many reasons which led to a bigger breakdown between the two nations. So if we look ahead, Amara, this phone call, whenever it takes place, it's going to be crucial, tell us where the compass is going to swing in this kind of conversation.
WALKER: And so, tell us more then about the tariffs coming from both sides and what kind of impact the consumers here in the U.S. and where you are in China, what they will see in terms of products, the price of products rising?
STEWART: Right. Well, let's remember there are already tariffs in place on Chinese goods. And this 10 percent is a supplement. But what's really interesting is to look at the Chinese list, the list of American items that China is targeting.
[08:05:00]
We have a lot of energy sources like liquid natural gas, as well as oil, heating, oil, these are products that China gets from many other places in the world at much larger quantities than the U.S. So, that in many ways is very symbolic. American pickup trucks are on the list. As someone who lives in Beijing, I can tell you, American pickup trucks are not very popular with Chinese consumers. So again, there's some symbolism.
Something else though, very interesting, is that two American companies are being targeted. One in particular is PVH. It has the brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger under its heading. China has put them on a special list saying that this company is not following the rules, and it could face a lot of punishment by the Chinese government regarding its ability to import/export, its ability to invest, its ability to hire workers. It could really have a damaging impact. But big picture, these moves by the Chinese government are more symbolic than of substance, Amara.
WALKER: All right, Marc Stewart with the view from Beijing. Always good to see you, Marc. Thank you.
Well, human rights groups are condemning an unprecedented potential deal between El Salvador and the U.S. The country has offered to house violent criminals from America, including U.S. citizens, and receive deportees of any nationality. U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio unveiled the offer after meeting with the country's president on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: He has agreed to accept for deportation any illegal alien in the United States who is a criminal from any nationality, be they MS-13 or Tren de Aragua, and house them in his jails. And third, he has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residents. No country has ever made an offer of friendship such as this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Well, El Salvador says it will take a fee to house convicted criminals in its mega prison. The country has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon is tracking the story from Bogota, Columbia, and he is joining us now.
Stefano, aside from the fee the country will be paid, I mean, what's in it for El Salvador? Is this all about the money or is it about trying to gain favor with the new administration?
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It definitely is about gaining favor with the new administration. We know that President Bukele of El Salvador has had personal relationships with both Donald Trump and of course, with Elon Musk in the past. He's a big friend of bigtech down in Central America.
But I think here, there is a very important presentation (ph) to make out that despite like outstanding idea of deporting U.S. convicted criminals, American citizens that are serving a sentence in the U.S. and moving them to El Salvador, as Marco Rubio appears to suggest that was on offer late last night. There is one important clarification to point out. Take a listen to one or -- to what one of the professors that we spoke with told me yesterday about this potential deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MNEESHA GELLMAN, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS, EMERSON COLLEGE: People who are alleged gang members, who have not yet been convicted of a criminal violation, have still only if they are undocumented, only violated a civil code, not a criminal code. So the idea of using this alleged category, this very loose and overly flexible category to detain, incarcerate and potentially deport not even to a country of origin, I mean, it really does undermine the credibility of the United States as a rule of law based country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
POZZEBON: And Amara, that distinction is crucial here because under the new State of Emergency Law that Nayib Bukele passed in El Salvador in 2022, there is no distinction between alleged and convicted criminals. The police has the authority to detain any person on the suspicion of being part of a gang, maybe because they have tattoos, maybe because they are seen hanging out in neighbors that are under the control of the gangs.
And that's why human rights organization in El Salvador telling us that they believe that out of the 82,000 people that have been detained in the last two years, several tens of thousands of them are actually innocent. And so, the idea for the United States to handle their gang problem and the problems that these transnational gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 are proving -- are posing to the administration with these same tactics as El Salvador has employed over the last two years, is raising enormous concern, not just for the human rights activists that we're speaking with and opposition people, and of course, the Democratic Party in the United States, but for everyone who is really looking at the rule of law in this side of the world, because it could be a model to be exported in many other countries.
[08:10:17]
We're seeing across Latin America and other countries looking at Nayib Bukele as an example, as a model to follow on how to tackle gang crime and particular levels of violence that are typical of this side of the world, where we're seeing that this potential deal could just give Bukele a badge of honor for him to wear, Amara.
WALKER: All right, Stefano Pozzebon, thank you very much for your reporting there from Columbia. Now, CNN's David Culver and his team were the first major news organization to capture the inside of El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center. The facility houses some of the country's most hardened criminals and here's part of that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, I'm going to go in here.
CULVER (voice-over): Even as I'm stepping through these doors, I don't fully grasp what we're about to walk into. Suddenly, you're hit with the intense gaze of dozens locking onto you. These men described as the worst of the worst, tattooed with reminders of El Salvador's dark past. It's tense and uncomfortable. But here, officials say comfort isn't meant to exist.
CULVER: There's no mattresses, there's no sheets. You've got a toilet over here for them to go to the bathroom. You've got this basin here that they use to bathe themselves. And then you can see there, there's a barrel of water that they can drink from.
CULVER (voice-over): This is a rare look inside El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center known as CECOT.
CULVER: And he says there's always somebody standing here in front of the cells. And then if you look up, there's another corridor with more security personnel, 24x7 light.
CULVER (voice-over): The prison sits like an isolated fortress, nestled in mountainous terrain, about an hour and a half drive from the capital. Even with government officials onboard with us, we are stopped a mile out.
CULVER: Oh, OK. He's going to inspect bags now too. OK, we're clear to get back in.
CULVER (voice-over): Only to hit another checkpoint. Approaching the main gate, our cell signals vanish.
CULVER: They want do a full search on us before we enter.
CULVER (voice-over): Once cleared, we tour the vast campus.
CULVER: It's been equated to seven football stadiums. It's almost (ph) multiple prisons within the prison. You can see off to the distance, there's three different rings as they describe. The far end, you have one that's nine meters high of concrete, and then above that, three meters of electrified fencing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 15,000 volts.
CULVER: 15,000 volts.
CULVER (voice-over): More than a thousand security personnel, guards, police and military are stationed on site.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: And that was CNN's David Culvert reporting. Just a fascinating look inside that prison. Cutting waste and making the government more efficient is perhaps a noble goal. But the drive spearheaded by Elon Musk and the Trump Administration is having massive repercussions in Washington and abroad.
Case in point, the Trump Administration appears to be dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. It is now being folded into the State Department under Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who announced on Monday, he is now Acting Administrator of the humanitarian agency. Now, Rubio says he has reviewed USAID with an eye toward a potential reorganization.
Sources tell CNN that they will likely leave thousands of aid workers out of a job, which is in addition to those who work for companies with USAID contracts. Democrats say Trump cannot unilaterally shutter a federal agency without going through Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM MCGOVERN, (D-MA): I'm sorry that you have to put up with this offensive bullshit coming out of this White House.
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, (D-CT): This is a constitutional crisis that we are in.
REP. ILHAN OMAR, (D-MN): That is how dictators are made.
SEN. BRIAN SCHATZ (D-HI): In the last ten days, Donald Trump has done more to destabilize things across the planet than perhaps any other president in recent memory.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, (D-MD): You don't control the money of the American people, the United States Congress does that. We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Let's take a closer look now at the developments at USAID. Jennifer Hansler joining us now from Washington. Jennifer, good to have you. I mean, this is a major federal agency that's being reshaped at lightning speed. What more do you know at this point about how USAID would function under Marco Rubio?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Amara, Rubio did give some indication of his vision for the agency in a letter to key lawmakers yesterday.
[08:15:00]
He said that the agency could be moved, reorganized, and integrated through certain missions and bureaus and offices under the State Department, and the rest may be abolished. He said he had appointed one of his deputies to lead this reorganization that could include significant reductions in the workforce at AID. And of course, that would come on top of what we're already seeing happening to those who work on AID here in D.C. and abroad. They were already reeling from that foreign aid assistance freeze that was put into place about two weeks ago, and now they are bracing for potentially even more impact.
We could see thousands of jobs lost here. One source I spoke with said they were already hearing about people losing their jobs left and right because of that freeze. And the reason for that, Amara, is not because -- only because they had frozen future projects, but also because they issued these immediate stop work orders on almost every project that was already underway. And they have stopped putting money to these organizations, to these contractors to be able to pay their staff. A source told me that one trade association here in D.C. that represents some of these big contractors were reporting that they had $350 million in unpaid bills from the federal government that had forced them to furlough about 2,000 workers. And people are expecting this to get even worse.
This impacts people who are working both abroad and also here in the United States. And they say there will be major ripple effects both on the economy as well as on national security if aid is shuttered and this industry continues into this free fall, Amara.
WALKER: Jennifer Hansler, thank you for your reporting.
And breaking news into CNN, five people have been shot near a school in central Sweden. Now, we don't know the condition of the people who have been shot, and we don't have any information either about a suspect, but this is happening in a city called Orebro. This is in central or close to southern Sweden. Police say the operation is ongoing. They have urged the public to stay away from the area, but we are looking into these reports of five people being shot near a school there in the city in Sweden. We will, of course, stay on top of this and bring you more as we get it in.
Well, in the next hours, Benjamin Netanyahu will become the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump at the White House since he was re-elected. The Israeli Prime Minister is in Washington, D.C. for key talks over the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza which is set to expire on the 1st of March. Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel is sending a delegation to Doha this weekend to discuss the "Technical details of the next ceasefire phase." Those talks were supposed to have begun no later than Monday.
I want to bring in Larry Sabato. He is the Director of the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia. He's joining me now from Charlottesville. OK, I guess we'll start there then, Larry, with Netanyahu's visit to the White House this afternoon, and we will see Trump and Netanyahu giving a joint news conference later in the day today. Remind us of where their relations stand, because it's really been up and down. I think it ended kind of on a frostier level, and what you'll be watching for today in terms of what they might say regarding the second phase of the ceasefire deal.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER OF POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Yes, and I think you summarized that correctly. It's been a rollercoaster, although you look at the big picture and Netanyahu has been a political ally really of Donald Trump as a candidate and as president. Now, he wasn't at the end of the first term. They had some disagreement.
But during this current phase, Trump has been aligned with Netanyahu, and Netanyahu much preferred Trump over the Democratic nominee and the Democratic Party even though President Biden, a Democrat, was giving Netanyahu just about everything he wanted, maybe not as much or as quickly as Netanyahu wanted, but by and large, Biden was also affiliated and allied with Netanyahu. So, the surface appearance will be very pleasant, very positive. They'll both say everything's going great, but under the surface there are different interests there because Trump has different goals for the Middle East. He wants a solid achievement for his presidency in allying him and the country with Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies. And of course, he wants the war over, completely over. He has said that repeatedly during the campaign and even since he has become president.
Netanyahu, I'm not sure whether he wants the war over or not. He certainly doesn't want to declare the war over, so we'll see what they say publicly. Privately, I think they'll have a frank discussion.
WALKER: Yeah, you're right there, what's the situation beneath the surface because they may not necessarily see eye to eye on how to end this war.
[08:20:00]
Let's talk about USAID because thousands of jobs now are at risk, Larry. And there will be -- there has been and there will be, continue to be immense repercussions now that there's this freeze on almost all foreign assistance. Why are Trump and Musk targeting this agency when it accounts for such a small portion of the federal budget?
SABATO: Number one, Americans have never liked foreign aid, even though foreign aid is a tiny piece of the American budget, generally under 1 percent, well under 1 percent, depending on how you counted it, could be less than one-half of 1 percent. But Americans hate the idea that their money is going to other countries when we have great needs here in the United States, that's what you hear everywhere. You often hear it in both parties. So, that's part of it.
And part of it is Trump and Musk have been looking for right targets to use to further their goal of eliminating big pieces of the federal government and large percentages of the workforce in the federal government. So, they think they found the perfect one. Now, we'll see how it turns out. And Marco Rubio is generally considered more reasonable than some of the others in the Trump Administration, and he wants to bring it in to the State Department. And apparently, that's going to be the compromise.
But this is so disruptive around the world and millions of lives depend on --
WALKER: Yeah.
SABATO: -- the programs that are run and the medications that are delivered by USAID workers.
WALKER: Yeah. They deliver health services, disaster relief, anti- poverty efforts, and they also tackle infectious diseases all around the world. Before we go, I do want to talk about the tariffs, and I just want to get your big picture take. I mean, there is a sense of relief at the 11th hour when it comes to Canada and Mexico, this last- minute deal. What is your take in terms of Trump saying that he has won major concessions from Canada and Mexico, and now he will delay these tariffs? Did he blink first or not? Are they big wins? And what message does this send to China, considering that there perhaps might be a deal between China and the U.S., then?
SABATO: Well, one would think that China has gotten that message and that the negotiations will continue in the coming weeks. But as far as how this looked, of course, the White House claimed a great victory, and Republicans in Congress said this is what happens when you put a big deal maker in the White House. But the truth is the Wall Street Journal, which is not exactly a liberal newspaper, said Trump blinked, that America got very little out of this confrontation.
There were some paper coverings of sending troops to the border by Mexico or Canada appointing a fentanyl czar.
(LAUGH)
SABATO: One wonders what a fentanyl czar is really going to do. And by the way, that got criticism even on conservative networks that almost always backed Trump. So I would not call this a big victory for Trump. I don't think it was much of a victory at all, but he got by it, he got around it. And we'll see what happens with China.
WALKER: Yeah. Remarkable to see that opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, where it's titled "Trump Blinks on North American Tariffs." Larry Sabato, always great to have you. Thank you.
SABATO: Thank you, Amara. Thank you.
WALKER: Still to come, President Trump is not giving up on his designs on the Panama Canal and his claims of China's influence over the waterway. A report on that and China's reaction when we return. Plus, just in case you forgot, Super Bowl week is well underway in New Orleans. It's the Chiefs two-time defending Champs and the Eagles, a preview straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:26:00]
WALKER: China is denying U.S. President Donald Trump's claims that Beijing manages or operates the Panama Canal. China's U.N. Ambassador is calling the accusations totally false. Mr. Trump is vowing to "Take back the Panama Canal" in an escalating diplomatic dispute with the Central American country. CNN's Phil Mattingly investigates the U.S. President's unfounded claims.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump is not giving up his obsession with linking China and the Panama Canal, punctuated by this remarkable moment in his inaugural address.
TRUMP: China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama and we're taking it back. MATTINGLY (voice-over): That drew an immediate public condemnation and rejection from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, and privately sources tell CNN letters to the U.N. Secretary General and the U.N. Security Council lodging protest over their view. Trump went so far as to violate the U.N. Charter with his threat. So what is the truth?
Well, I toured the canal and its operations getting exclusive access, trying to separate fact from fiction.
MATTINGLY: There's no question Beijing's influence in Panama has grown over the course of the last couple of decades. You take a look at this memorial, this monument right near the base of the Panama Canal's Pacific entrance. It underscores 150 years relations between Panama and China. This one, of course, in relation to the building the Panama Railroad, not exactly the Panama Canal.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): It goes without saying monuments celebrating cultural ties, no matter its location, is far from what Trump claimed last month when he wished Merry Christmas to Chinese troops, he said, who were operating here.
MATTINGLY: Well, you can look, there's no actual Chinese soldiers on the ground, no Chinese troops. But Beijing's influence is obviously a number one issue.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Put that in the absurd fiction column.
ILYA ESPINO DE MAROTTA, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR, PANAMA CANAL: This is the Atlantic site, which was very --
MATTINGLY (voice-over): I also checked with Ilya Espino de Marotta, Deputy Administrator of the Canal, the autonomous agency that actually operates the canal, not China.
ESPINO DE MAROTTA: We're very transparent. You can know that this is run a hundred percent by Panamanians.
MATTINGLY: I haven't seen any Chinese soldiers operating.
ESPINO DE MAROTTA: No.
MATTINGLY: I'm not missing anything?
(LAUGH)
ESPINO DE MAROTTA: And you will not, no.
(LAUGH)
MATTINGLY (voice-over): In fact, the Canal Authority says it had 8,549 employees in 2023. 8,541 were Panamanian. Mark another under fiction. But here's an undeniable fact, China's investment and influence here is substantial.
MATTINGLY: Right across the water, you see a port that was built by a subsidiary of a Hong Kong based company. MATTINGLY (voice-over): That's the Port of Balboa, one of the busiest ports in Latin America, and one of two operated by Hong Kong's Hutchison Ports located at each end of the canal. While not state- owned, they are subject to China's national security laws. At the same time, Beijing's nearly sevenfold acceleration in direct investment in the country was readily apparent around the waterway that serves as a fulcrum in U.S. strategic and economic power, a brick-and-mortar window into a reality. Trump's broad concern about China's influence is widely shared.
GEN. LAURA RICHARDSON (RET.), COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: I worry about the -- they look like civilian companies. They are state- owned enterprises that could be used for dual use, and could be quickly changed over to a military capability if they needed that too.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): That warning from the Commander of U.S. Southern Command back in 2022 has been echoed by national security officials and bipartisan lawmakers alike in recent years. But Trump, ironically, was never one of them in his first term because that's exactly when China's rapid push into Panama really accelerated.
[08:30:00]
Panama's President Varela stunned U.S. officials when he cut ties with Taiwan and established formal relations with Beijing in 2017. Just six days before Varela visited with Trump, a meeting where Trump never actually raised China according to two sources in the room, dozens of bilateral agreements between Panama and China followed, then Panama's entrance into China's Belt and Road Initiative, then a push toward a Free Trade Agreement.
And just a few hundred yards from where I stood just a few days before Trump's inauguration is where Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader in history to visit Panama and the canal itself, a trip Trump never made in his first term, nor did he ever have his own ambassador here to represent his administration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Fascinating report, thanks to Phil Mattingly for that.
Still to come, the White House is claiming victory after threatening America's top trading allies with tariffs. But critics say Mexico and Canada didn't agree to anything new. The details are ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALKER: Global markets are bracing for chaos as the world's two largest economies fire the first shots in a trade war. Just minutes after Donald Trump's 10 percent tariffs on Chinese imports went into effect, Beijing announced a series of retaliatory steps, including additional levies on coal and liquefied natural gas imports from the U.S. The U.S. president meanwhile walked back his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada on Monday. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): President Trump backing off a trade war with Mexico and Canada, for now at least.
TRUMP: When you're the pot of gold, the tariffs are -- the tariffs are very good. They're very powerful.
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump reached a last-minute deal with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, agreeing to a month-long delay on 25 percent tariffs on all goods imported to the U.S. Both Mexico and Canada agreed to bolster security at the U.S. border and increase resources to crack down on fentanyl.
[08:35:00]
As he signed executive orders in the Oval Office, we asked Trump if he blinked in striking a deal with Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you blink this morning?
TRUMP: There was no blinking. She's a wonderful woman, but she did agree to 10,000 soldiers on the border. I would say that's a lot.
ZELENY (voice-over): Talks between Trump and Trudeau continued throughout the day. Following an afternoon phone call, the prime minister announced a deal, saying, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a fentanyl czar. We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border. But Mexico accounts for the vast majority of fentanyl, with more than 21,000 pounds crossing the southern U.S. border last year, and only 43 pounds coming in from Canada.
While Trump vowed to press ahead with a long-term plan for tariffs in these countries and beyond, he said there could be short-term economic pain through higher prices or inflation.
TRUMP: Tariffs don't cause inflation, they cause success, cause big success. So, we're going to have great success. There could be some temporary short-term disruption, and people will understand that.
ZELENY (voice-over): Among Americans, that remains an open question. Among Canadians, their resentment was clear as "The Star-Spangled Banner" was met with jeers at a weekend hockey game.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ZELENY (voice-over): Trump remained steadfast in his long-standing belief in tariffs, which the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page blasted as the dumbest trade war in history. Rupert Murdoch, whose media empire includes the newspaper, visited the Oval Office today and was on hand as Trump spoke with reporters.
TRUMP: I'm going to have to talk to him. Not only is it not done, you're going to see, you're going to see, every single one of those countries is dying to make a deal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): President Trump said he was very pleased with the deals reached with both Canada and Mexico. The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, she put it a slightly different way, saying both countries were bending their knee to the U.S. For the next month though, as this trade war still looms and lingers, the question is what is the risk for both countries? It certainly is. Which country blinked? We do know the market reaction watched very carefully here at the White House, and it was not a positive one.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
WALKER: OK, let's dive a little bit deeper now and take a look at what this might mean for consumers. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist for Moody's Analytics, joining me now from Vero Beach, Florida. Mark, it's good to have you. You asked (ph) a lot of questions about hoop blinked first, but a lot of people sitting at home watching and reading the news and seeing this back and forth. OK, now, the tariffs are off at least for 30 days when it comes to Canada and Mexico. China is now retaliating. What do consumers need to watch for as they see this back and forth over tariffs play out?
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Well, right now, nothing. I mean, none of the tariffs have been imposed. Some on China and I assume that'll start flowing through, but so far, it's pretty modest. But, there's a lot of drama, a lot of uncertainty, impossible to know how this is all going to play out. And I think over time, we will probably see more tariffs on more countries, on more products, and that'll start showing up in the form of higher prices for everything from the food that we get from Mexico and Canada to the consumer electronics we get from China and the vehicles we get from all other parts of the world.
So I think consumers should prepare for the likelihood that we will see higher prices for things that face those tariffs.
WALKER: Yeah, experts like you continue to say that tariffs will result in higher prices. But we keep hearing from Trump, who said from the Oval Office there, "Tariffs cause success." Is there -- is there any credence to what he says here?
ZANDI: Well, I'm not a fan of broad-based tariffs like the type we're talking about here. I think it's a lose-lose. It's just a question of how big the loss, it raises prices, raises inflation, and of course, we've been through a very wrenching period globally with high inflation. It's been a real problem, costs jobs. I think that's the lesson from the tariffs that were imposed in President Trump's first term. It really hit the nation's manufacturing base very hard. The farmers and agricultural sector got crushed because they couldn't ship what they used, to Chinese consumers.
And it hurts in the long run and it hurts com competitiveness and productivity. Global trade has a real benefit of increasing competition among companies and makes them innovate more and better, and make better products and service better us consumers. And we lose all of that. Now, that doesn't matter in any given month or given year, but over periods of years, that's a really big deal. So, I think broad-based tariffs don't work.
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WALKER: I want to read you a quote from an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that's quite notable because, as you know, this is a publication that has been friendly to Trump. The headline is "Trump Blinks on Tariffs," and it says none of this means the tariffs are some genius power play as the Trump media, of course, is boasting. The 25 percent border tax could return in a month if Mr. Trump is in the wrong mood, or if he doesn't like something the foreign leaders have said or done.
What do you think, Mark? Do you agree that this relief maybe short- lived?
ZANDI: Yeah, that's one of the more pernicious aspects of what we're going through right now. It's just the uncertainty. I mean, tariffs on which countries, which products, over what period of time? I'll speak to you as a business person -- business person. I run a business and I'm trying to under -- make investment decisions. And what I do is I try to figure out what the revenues of the investment will be and what the cost will be, calculate a return on that compared to the cost of capital, and do the arithmetic. It's all in a spreadsheet, very simple.
But, if I can't fill in the cells in the spreadsheet and do the calculation, which I can't do because of all the uncertainty, I'm not going to make the investment. I'm not going to hire. And I think that's the thing that's going to play out here. It's the -- just the overwhelming uncertainty of all of this. It's just impossible to know how it's going to play out.
WALKER: All right, Mark Zandi, we'll leave it there. Thank you very much.
President Trump has hinted that the European Union could be the next to face tariffs. Listen to what he said at the end of January.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Am I going to impose tariffs on the European Union? Do you want the truthful answer or shall I give you a political answer?
Absolutely. The European Union has treated us so terribly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: E.U. leaders have vowed a firm response if Trump imposes tariffs on the bloc's goods. And as Germany enters its final weeks of its election campaign, the man poised to become the next chancellor and the current leader of the opposition, Friedrich Merz, made it clear that any U.S. measure against the E.U. would be handled at the "European level." Merz spoke to CNN's Fred Pleitgen following his Christian Democratic Party's convention, and he addressed not only the threats of Trump's tariffs, but also vowed stricter immigration policies. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRIEDRICH MERZ, LEADER, CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC UNION: Immediately after the formation of a new government, we have to take some decisions on migration. My personal decision would be to control our borders and to return those who are coming without documents. And the second thing is we have to do something on the economy. The economy in Germany is running pretty bad, and so we have to take decisions.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If you become chancellor, you will be dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump who has already done a lot of wide-ranging decisions, but also threatened tariffs against European nations, of course, Mexico and Canada as well.
MERZ: Yeah.
PLEITGEN: How would you deal with Donald Trump as a president?
MERZ: I'll remind you what happened when he was in his first term, he put in place tariffs against steel and aluminum in America. And the European answer was tariffs against motorcycles, against jeans, and against American whiskey. And the former president of the E.U. Commission went to Washington, had a deal with him, and after six weeks, they gave up all the tariffs. So, the answer has to come from the European level.
PLEITGEN: Defense is obviously another big --
MERZ: Yeah.
PLEITGEN: -- key issue for Donald Trump and the 5 percent goal that he has put forward now. How would you deal with that? I was also very interested in your speech, you also spoke very strongly on the subject of Ukraine as well.
MERZ: Absolutely.
PLEITGEN: I saw.
MERZ: Yeah. I'm very strong in this position. We are on the Ukrainian side because the attack is against all of us. We have to achieve the NATO goals. This is 2 percent of our GDP minimum. This is the lowest level. We are behind that. We have to do that. But my second answer is, don't let us talk about money only. Standardization, simplification and economies of scale have to be put in place as well.
So, we have to get more for the money. And the best would be cooperating with the U.S. and with the U.S. government. We do not yet know what they are really planning to do. I would like to see what they're planning to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Well, thousands of people are evacuating from Santorini as the Greek island continues to be hit by small earthquakes, more than 550 tremors have been recorded in the Ajansi, near the popular tourist destination over the past few days. The strongest a magnitude 4.9, authorities have closed schools and airlines are rescheduling additional flights to help people leave.
[08:45:00]
Still to come, a toddler with a life-threatening illness has been evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical care, an update on Habiba and her fight for life.
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WALKER: A fragile ceasefire in Gaza is giving a Palestinian toddler and her family new hope. The two-year-old with a rare genetic condition was finally given permission to leave Gaza. She is now in Jordan, receiving critical medical care. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has Habiba's story and her journey out of Gaza. And a warning, her report contains disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dennis preparing her baby girl for the big day. Habiba is finally leaving Gaza for lifesaving treatment. This is what the weight has done to the two-year-old. The black and shriveled skin you see is gangrene that has worsened dramatically in a matter of days. We followed Habiba's fight for her life for weeks. After our CNN Report, Jordan heard her cries for help and decided to evacuate her for treatment for a suspected rare genetic condition.
But it took nearly two weeks' time Habiba doesn't have to make it happen. The negotiations with Israel described as difficult by Jordanian officials. Israeli authorities did not respond to CNN's repeated request for comment on the delay in Habiba's evacuation. Over the past week, as her mother helplessly watched Habiba teeter between life and death in intensive care, Rana had to also go through a rollercoaster of emotions.
As they prepared to leave for an evacuation that was later canceled, Rana got crushing news, Israel would not let her leave Gaza with Habiba, forcing this mother to make an impossible choice to let go of Habiba to save her life.
Dear Lord, if this is your will, I'll accept it, she prayed, but it was just too much to accept. Rana has to stay strong. She is Habiba's everything. On Monday, they woke up to good news. Jordan had secured approval for Rana to travel with Habiba. But this time, just as they got ready to go, they were told her son no longer had Israeli permission to leave.
You are a big boy. I know how hard this is for you, Rana says. God will take care of you better than I ever will.
No one can make Habiba smile and forget her pain like her only brother Soheib. He even brings out her cheeky side.
I'm going to go and leave you, Habiba says, but the thought of being left all alone is just terrifying for the 11-year-old.
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I don't know what I'll do without them. Where do I go now? Soheib cries. It's time to go. The ambulance is here. Soheib puts on a brave face for their goodbyes. But soon after they head out, another twist, Soheib is clear to join them. Jordan tried to spare Habiba this harsh long journey by land, but Israel wouldn't approve a Jordanian airlift. Across the border in Jordan, there's no time to waste. The military medevac chopper King Abdullah ordered is here for Habiba, ready for when she crosses into Jordan.
With nightfall, the moment they've been waiting for, medics move fast to get the toddler. Habiba peeks up quietly from under her blanket too young to understand what this is all about. As they head to the chopper, she wants mama. They need to get her fast to the hospital, but they do it gently.
KARADSHEH: It's a quick trip to the hospital. The medical team is here and ready. They're going to be monitoring Habiba every second of this trip.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Habiba stable, but she has just arrived from an exhausting journey out of Intensive Care. For a shattered Rana, it's too early to feel relief. As we get ready to take off, the team comforts Habiba. It's the first time this family is flying, their first time seeing the world outside of besieged Gaza. Habiba's story is one out of thousands of children that become another faceless statistic of this war, trapped in Gaza and deprived of lifesaving medical treatment.
On Monday, Israeli authorities said they approved Habiba's evacuation as an "Exceptional humanitarian gesture." As soon as she arrives at the hospital, medical staff begin what doctors in Gaza couldn't do, a full clinical diagnosis over the next 24 hours.
Doctors here hope they'll be able to save Habiba's right leg and her arms, but they also fear it may be too late. Her journey out of Gaza may be over, but another difficult battle now begins for little Habiba.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Amman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALKER: Can you believe just five days until Super Bowl 59. Pumped up fans already in New Orleans as the NFL hosted an always fun media night at the Caesars Superdome. CNN's Coy Wire has more on the feverish atmosphere in the big easy (ph).
COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: Welcome to opening night for Super Bowl 59 here in New Orleans, a rematch from the Super Bowl two seasons ago between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Can the Eagles be the team to finally take down the two-time defending champs?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JALEN HURTS, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK: You know, you sacrifice a lot, you put a lot in work. Worked really hard to have this opportunity and so to do it and be back, two times out of four years starting is very special. It's something -- the goal is to finish.
SAQUON BARKLEY, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES RUNNING BACK: You just got to take it all in.
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This is part of it. You got to enjoy it. So I'm happy to be here, happy to have conversations with you guys. At the same time, it's a business and you stay locked in. But today, you enjoy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Or will Kansas City become the first team ever to win three Super Bowl titles in a row?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS JONES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Kansas City, we're back in the Super Bowl, baby.
TRAVIS KELCE, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS TIGHT END: The biggest lesson I've learned is don't let the hype get to you. Don't let the magnitude of the game around you get to you. At the end of the day, this is a -- you know, you got here for a reason, that your team got here for a reason. So lean on them and don't let the moment be too big for you.
PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS QUARTERBACK: It kind of brings you closer together, when people are rooting against you, you just kind of -- you become a tighter brotherhood in the locker room and you know that we're doing it the right way and we can bring it -- bring ourselves together, have tee's (ph) Kingdom with us, and go out there and try to win the game against everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Super Bowl week has officially kicked off. We'll be here all week long, bringing you the best sights and sound.
Coy Wire, CNN, New Orleans.
WALKER: Thank you, Coy. And thank you for being with me here on "CNN Newsroom." I'm Amara Walker. "Connect the World" is up next.
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