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U.S. President And Canadian PM Hold Call On Tariffs; White House Delays U.S. Tariffs On Cars From Mexico, Canada By One Month; CIA Director: U.S. Has Paused Intelligence Support To Ukraine. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired March 05, 2025 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:46]
MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Max Foster. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
The trade war between the U.S. and Canada entering a new phase tonight as world leaders and global car companies jostle to make a deal with the White House.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held what the Canadians described as a constructive phone call a few hours ago, with President Trump saying it ended in a somewhat friendlier manner.
But Mr. Trump added he's not convinced enough is being done to stop fentanyl, that drug trafficking across the border. Meanwhile, there are signs that some compromises are being made behind the scenes. A short time ago, the White House confirmed that President Trump is planning exemptions for certain industries.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We spoke with the Big Three auto dealers. We are going to give a one month exemption on any autos coming through USMCA. Reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2nd. But at the request of the companies associated with USMCA, the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Kevin has been analyzing this for us because this was about to escalate in quite an alarming way, wasn't it? This bounce back of tariffs, but its being watered down a bit, it seems.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It's being watered down somewhat, although not entirely. And you know, I think it's a good example for all of the talk that Trump has about tariffs, he's also willing to be talked out of certain components of the plans that he's put in place and this seems to come about over the last 24 hours. Of course, yesterday, Trump putting in those 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, but also in his own telling talking to the chief executives of some of the top American automakers who essentially argued to him that they were being put at a disadvantage because foreign automakers from places like Germany, South Korea, wouldn't necessarily be affected by these tariffs and seem to resonate with president.
I think what also resonated with the president was the stock market, the Dow Jones industrial average tanking more than 600 points yesterday, only about ten minutes after the markets closed, you saw the American Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, come out and say that there could be some potential easements in this tariff plan. And that is exactly what happened today.
The press secretary coming out to say that these American automakers would have a one month reprieve from these tariffs, essentially telling them that they had a month to relocate their production inside the United States, which is, you know, practically impossible. But, you know, they will only have this month. And in her telling, that was because Trump is promising this second wave of tariffs, these reciprocal tariffs, which would even out the playing field with these other foreign automakers.
So it is quite complicated. But I think, you know, bottom line, it does show that Trump is aware of the effects that these tariffs will have on corporations, on consumers, and is willing to consider arguments against them when they're made to him directly. One person who was not able to convince the president of a reprieve is Justin Trudeau, who the president spoke with earlier today about 50 minutes on the phone.
He sent somewhat of a confusing message afterwards, saying that the call ended in a somewhat friendly manner, and he put the word somewhat in quotes. I don't know what that means exactly, but also suggesting that because Trudeau couldn't explain exactly when Canada's general elections would be, that Trudeau could somehow be using the tariffs to stay in power. So, something of a conspiracy -- conspiratorial approach from the president there.
It's possible these two men speak later today. It's possible they could come up with some sort of plan to keep the tariffs or lower the tariffs on Canada. But certainly no love lost between the White House and Ottawa. On this situation, we heard Peter Navarro, the trade adviser, complaining that Trudeau was calling the president by his first name, Donald. In his press conference yesterday, suggesting that it conveyed a lack of respect.
FOSTER: Interesting, Kevin. Thank you, as Kevin mentioned, after two straight days of sell offs, the Dow is solidly higher.
[15:05:03]
Investors optimistic with the news that president Trump is hitting pause on some of those auto tariffs for the next month, under pressure from the car industry.
CNN's Paula Newton is in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.
And I want to bring in -- bring in a chart, Paula, because obviously, President Trump is talking about all this fentanyl crossing over from Canada to the U.S. Justin Trudeau says it's not all that much. We wanted to know what the figures were and take a look at that. Just 43 pounds coming across the northern border in terms of the amount seized by U.S. officials last year, and obviously a huge amount more on the southern border.
So we're just looking at the facts here about the basis for a lot of these tariffs.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Remember, those are U.S. statistics. And so, Canada, the amount of fentanyl which any amount is too much is literally what I could have carried in my hands across the border. More so, Justin Trudeau said that that has fallen even more that in January, in fact, because that they have stepped up security at the border -- at the border, that that's now gone to just a third of a pound of fentanyl that has come across the northern border.
So Justin Trudeau is not holding back. You recall yesterday in that speech basically calling the whole fentanyl issue the border security issue bogus and saying that while they certainly are putting money and resources towards it, that this was really about trying to collapse the American economy and -- pardon me, the Canadian economy and making sure that Canada was subsumed into the United States and became the 51st state, putting all of that to one side and really just trying to take away from what Kevin explained there has gone on in the last few hours.
Look, there is this 30 day reprieve for automobiles. Already, Doug Ford, Ontario premier, largest economy in Canada, Ontario has the largest automobile manufacturing in it, as well as saying, look, 30- day reprieve on cars, trucks not good enough. And to, you know, quote him. He said, we are going to stand solid on our retaliatory tariffs and we want all the tariffs removed.
I mean, look, Max, I think whether its friends or foe of the United States, they are beginning to get the picture. It doesn't matter which facts you pull out or how much negotiating you do, the Trump administration has a plan, and they will stick to that plan.
And to be clear, even this 30-day reprieve, despite what the markets have done today, they are betting that the president will back away from these tariffs altogether in the next few weeks. I can tell you that is not something that Canada is counting on.
FOSTER: Does Prime Minister Trudeau know when the election is?
NEWTON: Okay, let's do some facts and some history as well. We are in a constitutional monarchy, as are many countries around the world. I will not list them here, Max, although I'm sure you're interested on the -- you know better than me, likely.
So what happens is the liberal party of Canada is having their -- is electing their new leader on Sunday. At that point in time, whoever wins that race will likely be the next prime minister of Canada. And that will happen in a matter of days. There is a little bit of a transition. It could be days, maybe, if
something you know was going on in terms of a national security issue, it could go to weeks, but likely in a matter of days.
What happens with the election? That depends on the prime minister of Canada and her -- his majesty's loyal opposition. And when they decide there should be an election, the prime minister, whoever that is next, goes to the governor general and says, I need to dissolve parliament and we need to hold an election.
Canadian election must be held before October, late October in 2025, but everybody expects it to happen in the next few weeks.
So the president is right on one issue. No, Justin Trudeau does not know when the election is going to be. No one does.
FOSTER: Paula, our clarity correspondent.
Now in the last hour, French President Emmanuel Macron called for massive defense spending and military modernization in Europe, all of it in an effort to deter what he calls the Russian threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Obedient Russia has become a threat for France and for Europe. I regret that very deeply, and I am absolutely convinced that in the long term, peace will come to our continent with a peaceful Russia. But the situation is, as I describe it, and we have to face it. So it would be very dangerous and a folly simply to be a bystander.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, that comes after another dramatic day in Washington with more diplomatic setbacks for Ukraine. The U.S. has now paused both intelligence support and weapons shipments as the fallout lingers after last Friday's intense Oval Office meeting.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe suggests this pause may be short lived, though.
[15:10:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN RATCLIFFE, CIA DIRECTOR: President Trump said as he asked for a pause, in this case, as -- as everyone saw play out, President Trump had a real question about whether President Zelenskyy was committed to the peace process, and he said, lets pause. I want to give you a chance to think about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, for Mr. Macron, the next step is an emergency summit with E.U. leaders and President Zelenskyy in Brussels.
Nic Robertson is there for us tonight.
As you watched that press conference unfold, you sort of imagine a European army air defense force being developed in the wake of everything that's happened. I mean, how did you read it?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, there's a lot of sort of mechanics that have to happen here. And this is one of the disadvantages for the European Union trying to respond to President Trump, who can make a decision and turn on a dime, and unexpectedly, for the European Union, perhaps taking a tougher line on the lack of support that he has now giving Ukraine and the support that he is giving for conversations with President Putin.
So the European Union is responding to that. What we heard from President Macron was, was sort of a passionate explain, if you will, to the French people very much as we saw Keir Starmer doing in the U.K. over the weekend, explaining why they need -- the countries need to spend more on defense, shake up their current sort of spending plans, maybe take from one pile to two to put in the defense pile.
What will happen here on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron will be here with the other 26 European Union leaders, and they've been given a plan by the European commission president that says this is how I propose we raise the money for increasing the defense spend of the European nations. And the -- and it has several parts to it. And one part would be potentially a 150 billion euro loan. Another part of it could be, Ursula von der Leyen had laid out a 650 billion euros accumulated from all the 27 nations, spending another 1.5 percent of their GDP on defense spending.
It sounds complicated, it sounds cumbersome. And again, this is the difficulty of the E.U. trying to respond. They have processes so the leaders will get to decide and then tell the European commission if this is the way forward, if this is what they want them to do. And only after that the European commission goes away, figures out that all the sort of details in raising that money.
And it's only after that that the countries get to discuss or get into the detail of what spending that money would look like on precisely what and who would build it and how it would be done. So that passionate push by the French president there, it's all about preparing France for these tough decisions. But it's going to be across all 27 E.U. nations, Max.
FOSTER: Yeah, seismic. Nic, thank you.
Well, still to come, Catholics around the world mark the holy day of Ash Wednesday, but without Pope Francis leading the ceremony. We'll have the latest, though, on his condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:16:27]
FOSTER: At nearly 100 minutes, U.S. President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress was record setting in length. The wide ranging speech reflected the head spinning pace set by the administration in its first 40-plus days. U.S. friends and foes alike may be feeling dizzy by all of the developments coming out of Washington, but Mr. Trump says this is just the beginning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Joined by Thomas Gift, the director of the Center on U.S. politics at University College London.
He's not wrong to say he's done a lot more in this first period of any presidency, right?
THOMAS GIFT, DIRECTOR, CENTRE ON U.S. POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, it's so great to be with you. Max, thanks so much for having me.
I think you're absolutely right. We really haven't seen this level of activity for an incoming president ever before in modern history. Whether you look at the executive actions, whether you look at sort of other executive orders Donald Trump has taken, it is unprecedented. In large part, I think he's following the advice of his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who used to say, flood the zone with so many things, so many policy agenda items that Democrats, critics can't really keep up. And that's really the dizzying pace that we've seen from Donald Trump.
FOSTER: Combined with that, looking at his book and his way of negotiation, he throws his, you know, what? He really -- you know, more than he wants out there. And then he steps back a bit. And we actually saw that today, didn't we, with the Canadian tariffs.
GIFT: Absolutely. This is the art of the deal.
FOSTER: Yeah.
GIFT: It's what he always talks about. You know, Trump has threatened these tariffs. Now he's actually imposing them on Canada with some exemptions.
He says that it's about fentanyl. But really it's not about fentanyl. Only about 1 percent of fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada. Also deaths are actually down over the last couple of years. It's really about renegotiating. I think the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, which is set to be negotiated, renegotiated.
FOSTER: He's already done that, hasn't he, in the last presidency.
GIFT: That's right. He actually brokered it. FOSTER: In terms of the markets, obviously, that was very important
because the markets were tanking for a couple of days ahead of any sort of idea of a global trade war. But he effectively managed that by negotiating with the car companies, effectively about lessening the tariffs. So they became less freaked out. And that's going to be very important to him.
GIFT: Absolutely. I think it's really tough for Wall Street right now, because the last thing they want is unpredictability. Markets don't like uncertainty. And that's exactly what Trump is getting him.
He's trying to signal that yes, I'm just trying to take a tough negotiating stance. But some of these things he actually follows through on and I think on tariffs especially, it's been one issue on which he has been so ideologically consistent, dating back 10, 20, even 30 years, when he was saying that China was essentially eating America's lunch.
FOSTER: And he -- quite a personal attack on Justin Trudeau today, really, if you look at his truth social post and this idea that he didn't really know when the election was, which he doesn't because the system doesn't work like that, but suggesting he may be saying clinging on to power. I mean, this was a similar narrative he used with Zelenskyy, wasn't it, who he ultimately called a dictator?
GIFT: Exactly. He called Zelenskyy a dictator explicitly. He's implicitly suggesting that Justin Trudeau is a dictator.
FOSTER: So what is his thinking there? I mean, I know you don't know his thinking, but looking back on how he's treated similar situations, what's he doing there?
GIFT: It's really tough to psychoanalyze Donald Trump on any of this stuff. But the one thing I think that we can say for sure is that Donald Trump doesn't treat American allies like any other president before.
[15:20:04]
He talks about Putin in a way that's favorable. He talks about Trudeau. He talks about Keir Starmer here in the U.K. in ways that are unfavorable. Zelenskyy, certainly.
And so, it's really tough to know what's going on. You think that this is a negotiating strategy, but it may just be Donald Trump being mean and being petty. That's also part of his personality.
FOSTER: I just want to ask you something that the Chinese embassy came up with this quite worrying statement about the tariff war. He said, if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war, or any other type of war, we're ready to fight until the end. And it was that idea that they were bringing in any other type of war and actually, Hegseth defense secretary responded that saying the U.S. is prepared to go to war with China.
I mean, they are just words and we -- you know, there's no suggestion that there's going to be a World War III, but this is the sort of language that really freaks out ordinary people around the world.
GIFT: You're right. It's unsettling and there's a reason for it. You know, Donald Trump always has to ratchet up the language to 100. He's doing the exact same thing with China.
And one time or another, you know, he's playing with fire. He's going to get hurt. The last thing the United States wants to do is engage in a prolonged trade war with China, much less an actual hot war with China. So let's hope that he dials this back a bit.
FOSTER: China's also playing a bit of a game, isn't it, because they're trying to show that they're this stable, organized, strategic country and Americas very chaotic right now.
So in terms of the language coming from China as well, I mean, they're both playing this language game, but its just the idea that it could escalate at some point with a random comment from Donald Trump, which, you know, the Chinese really take offense to.
GIFT: All this havoc that Donald Trump is wreaking at home, really benefits one individual, Vladimir Putin, and to an extent, Xi Jinping in China.
So, absolutely. And when you think about the trade war with China, because it's not a democracy, it doesn't have to be responsive to elections. It can take a much longer time horizon when it comes to these tariffs. So I think if Donald Trump expects to get into a prolonged battle on that front, he may end up losing because Americans are eventually going to say enough is enough with these higher prices.
FOSTER: Where are the Democrats? I mean, we're having them on air, but their messages just don't seem to be cutting through. Where is the opposition in America?
GIFT: Well, we saw Representative Al Green be very vocal at the speech last night saying that Donald Trump doesn't have a band aid. It is absolutely the case that Democrats are trying to figure out exactly how they want to confront Donald Trump.
There's the true resistance, basically confronting Donald Trump on every single agenda item. There is a moderate wing that think that they can work with Donald Trump on some issues in the Congress, but that progressive wing versus sort of the more centrist wing. It's been fractured within the Democratic Party for some time, and we're really seeing that.
FOSTER: It's a big failure, isn't it?
GIFT: I think that it is so far. Now, it's just 40 or so days into the Trump administration. Maybe once the Democrats anoint a real leader who can lead the party, it's going to change.
But right now, I think Democrats are struggling exactly to seize on. Is it the fact that Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland? Is it the fact that he wants to seize the Panama Canal? Is it deportation? Is it DOGE so much things happening that Democrats are basically at a loss at what to do?
FOSTER: Okay. Thomas Gift, thank you very much for joining us.
Well, President Donald Trump's biggest campaign promises was lowering the cost of groceries at home. But whilst inflation did cool off, those bills are not going down.
CNN's Danny Freeman met voters in Pennsylvania who are counting the cost.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In many ways, Sprankle's Neighborhood Market was just like any other local grocery store, until the president came to town.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They caused inflation at a number that nobody can believe. We've never seen numbers like this.
FREEMAN: A month before Election Day, President Trump visited the family owned grocery store in rural Kittanning, Pennsylvania, to drive home a critical campaign promise.
TRUMP: When I win, I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.
FREEMAN: Yet, despite the promise, and the visit --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now it's $7.99.
FREEMAN: -- prices have stayed stubbornly high.
RYAN SPRANKLE, OWNER, SPRANKLE'S NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET: Professionally, it was the wildest 37 minutes of my life.
FREEMAN: Ryan Sprankle, now clean shaven, is the owner of the store. He proudly gave Trump the tour back in September. And Ryan voted for Trump, in large part because he said prices would come down.
FREEMAN: Are you concerned that that hasn't happened yet?
SPRANKLE: I'll be -- I'll be honest, yes. No matter who's trying to get your vote, you know, I think there's always a certain amount of overpromising.
FREEMAN: While the Republican acknowledges prices have remained high, he says they have stopped going up so rapidly.
SPRANKLE: The fact that a lot of the big companies prices have stabilized and aren't increasing at the rates that they've been increasing at, give me hope that, you know, at least it's got somebody's attention.
FREEMAN: New data from the Commerce Department appears to back up what Ryan's seeing. Inflation did, in fact, cool slightly in January, compared to December. One of the Federal Reserve's go-to inflation gauges rose 2.5 percent last month compared to the year before, slowing from December's 2.6 percent annual rate.
[15:25:09]
But that doesn't mean American shoppers are feeling relief yet.
JENNY KLINE, PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENT: I think it's going to take some time for that to happen.
FREEMAN: But Jenny Kline, an independent who voted for Trump, says she has complete faith in the president.
KLINE: It didn't get this way in six months, you know. It will take a while for the prices to come down. And I'm willing to give him the time because I feel he'll be able to do it.
BRIAN MCGRATH, PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRAT: A lot of these areas around western Pennsylvania, I'm sure, and West Virginia, are kind of like depressed. We haven't seen a lot of growth here. We hope that maybe by having the Republicans in, there might be some potential growth.
FREEMAN: Brian McGrath is a registered Democrat who voted for Trump. While he feels some parts of the new administration have gone overboard this past month, he's still willing to give President Trump time to bring prices down.
MCGRATH: We'll have to wait and see. All I can say is, two years from now we'll have another, what is that, midterm election. And if people aren't happy, then they're going to go the opposite way.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the decaf one.
FREEMAN: At nearby Esperari (ph) Coffee, prices are front of mind.
JOLENE MCILWAIN, PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRAT: And here in the coffee shop, you hear people talking about, are we going to be able to afford to get a car loan? Are we going to be able to afford to buy eggs?
FREEMAN: Democrat Jolene Mcilwain didn't vote for Trump but understands the desire here for something different.
MCILWAIN: I think people are going to hold out hope, but also be highly critical of - no matter which party because we've seen under both kinds of administrations, we've seen difficulty.
SPRANKLE: There's a lot riding on the next four years.
FREEMAN: Yes.
SPRANKLE: Because, let's face it, people made a choice in 2016. People made another choice in 2020. And now the next four years, I think, will really go a long way to determine, was everybody's decision that they made the right decision?
(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Well, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Donald Trump's requested freeze of billions of dollars of foreign aid, as well. The implications of this ruling is just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:26]
FOSTER: In a setback for U.S. President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court has rejected his administration's efforts to block foreign aid spending. In the narrow ruling, the justices didn't say when the $57 billion approved by Congress needs to be released.
CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has the latest from Washington for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This is a technical decision. It does not answer the larger constitutional questions about Trump's efforts to reshape the government. But this 5- 4 split tells us a lot about the sharp partisan divides inside the court.
Now, here, the case was about billions of dollars in foreign aid that had been approved by Congress. Then, the Trump administration came in and froze that aid. Groups that rely on that funding to do their work sued, saying that the Trump administration had usurped the power of Congress.
Now, a lower court judge said these funds have to continue to be disbursed, and the Trump administration went all the way to the high court to try to get a pause on that, to keep those funds frozen. But here, the court declined to intervene on behalf of the Trump administration. And this is the second time that the Trump administration has asked for relief from the high court in response to the dozens of challenges it has faced over Trump's executive action and his efforts to reshape and reform the federal government.
But look, this was a 5-4 decision, and it was notable that four conservative justices took the time to write an opinion criticizing the majority and expressing outrage that now a district court judge will be able to potentially compel the administration to disperse these funds. Now, the Supreme Court did not say when this money needs to be sent out. They're leaving that again to the lower court.
But eventually, the larger question here, the constitutional controversy about whether the executive, whether the White House can make some of the moves that they've made in this case or in others with DOGE and efforts to fire federal employees, those questions will eventually make it to the Supreme Court through one of these cases.
And look, the fact that four conservative justices took such a hard line on this technical issue, that does suggest that the Trump administration may ultimately prevail when it comes down to the question of whether Trump actually has the power to do what he has done over the past six weeks.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Meanwhile, the United States has rejected a plan by Arab leaders to rebuild Gaza once the war is over. Washington says the strip is uninhabitable and residents need to be relocated.
Mr. Trump briefly mentioned the Middle East conflict during his speech to Congress on Tuesday.
Here's CNN's Paula Hancocks' read on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump gave a very brief mention of a region that he has been talking about and dealing with significantly over the past six weeks. President Trump called the Middle East a rough neighborhood, also saying, we are bringing back our hostages from Gaza. Now that's all he mentioned about the hostages. Bearing in mind the realities on the ground, that ceasefire hostage deal is very much on hold at this point. Israel wanting to extend phase one of a three phase deal that had been agreed upon to try and secure more hostage releases.
Hamas, wanting to go back to the agreed deal so that Israel has to pull its military out of Gaza. And also, there's a permanent ceasefire.
The reality on the ground in Gaza is that no humanitarian aid has gone in since Sunday, as Israel has halted that until Hamas agreed to its demands.
Now, what the U.S. president did was to look to the Abraham Accords. These are the accords and deals that he secured in his first term, which normalized relations between Israel and a number of Arab nations, including the UAE. He called that one of the most groundbreaking peace agreements in generations, saying that he wants to build on that foundation.
Now, President Trump has made no secret of the fact he would like to see normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has said that will only happen when there is the creation of a Palestinian state, something which the Israeli prime minister has repeatedly rejected.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now, coming up, we're going to look at the increasingly important role that King Charles is playing on the global stage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:37:56]
FOSTER: Donald Trump has wasted no time in shaking the foundations of global foreign policy. I don't need to remind you of that. And in the face of this uncertainty, the U.K. is turning to a powerful figure of its own. And that is King Charles.
In recent days, the king has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Both leaders have had recent duels with President Trump, but the U.K. is keeping the U.S. on side, too. The king through Prime Minister Keir Starmer inviting Trump to the U.K. for a second state visit.
Bonnie Greer, a British American broadcaster, author, playwright, watching it all play out.
It does feel like a show.
BONNIE GREER, BROADCASTER, AUTHOR AND PLAYWRIGHT: Because that's what it is. I mean, it's fabulous. The British make the best theater on earth. After all, you created the best playwright ever. Shakespeare.
Totally, totally relevant. And the king, who is a man of the theater, he's been involved in the theater and interested in it since he was very young. This is perfect for him.
FOSTER: And when Keir Starmer to denigrate it -- I mean, he's doing something sincere. Yes, but he also understands what the theater is and how.
And Keir Starmer does as well. The way he brought out the letter from the king and from his pocket and presented it to Donald Trump, who was clearly taken aback. I mean, I don't expect you to understand what's going through Donald Trump's mind, but why was he so flattered.
GREER: Let's talk about that. Donald Trump loves royalty because he imagines himself to be that. He's even done various poses in the guise of.
FOSTER: Well, let's have a look at a tweet that the White House put out. We can bring it up. It's coming, I'm told. There it is.
What do you think?
GREER: Oh, it's perfect for him. That's his inner life. And so he doesn't actually understand why people don't really see that. But a real monarch who does.
And also remember, Trump, as we've discovered, likes pulling out letters from famous people at or over the brandy. I think after supper to show, oh, look who so and so sent me a letter for him. So they give him a letter from the king.
[15:40:03]
It's all wonderful because the king is making his contribution.
FOSTER: And it is unprecedented. And no other U.S. president has been invited twice.
GREER: Well, no, the U.S. president in our lifetime has been president twice out of succession.
FOSTER: You know King Charles and you know how he operates. You've seen how experienced years of diplomacy. These two men have very different views on key issues like climate change. How is King Charles going to handle that?
GREER: Well, first of all, and I can't predict. But first of all, the king is in the position of being of the president, being in awe of him. He already knows how to speak to him. So he will talk to him and bring him around. He'll take him to supper and all of this when he's at Windsor, which is also brilliant, because instead of going to Buckingham Palace, where -- which is London, and there'll be a lot of people like me protesting. Other than that, he's taking him to Windsor, where there won't be anybody.
FOSTER: He saw it as a great compliment because you don't normally have them at Windsor. But the reality is the palace is being refurbished, I'm told. That's why. Why it was at Windsor.
GREER: But it's also smart because you can't have the kind of crowds and things at Windsor.
FOSTER: And it's true history, Windsor Castle.
GREER: It's 1,000 years old and it's the official residence of the king, although it's not his favorite residence, it's not London when it all plays out.
FOSTER: When I've seen King Charles with other heads of state, what he does is he focuses on the common ground. It's a very simple strategy, but he will simply avoid issues where they don't agree, right, because his job is to separate from politics. And that's the beauty of a monarchy, really. Whether or not you like it, it does allow the head of state to have a separate relationship from people like President Trump than the prime minister.
GREER: Well, as you as you know, the king is head of state, hereditary head of state, and he's the person, the monarch is the person who can go in both rooms, unless there's a war.
But he can go in both rooms, sit down and talk and stay in that neutral position, which he probably will do in relation to Canada now, because he's also king of Canada.
So it's all -- he's playing out, what he's been brought up to do. He's also acting in the name of his ancestor Charles II, 17th century, was exactly the same kind of monarch who understood about diplomacy and understood about theater.
FOSTER: These are images the palace put out from Sandringham of the visit of President Zelenskyy to King Charles's country estate. They went out of their way to show smiling pictures, embracing him. This was a couple of days after that absolute disaster in the Oval Office. GREER: Well, we all know Charles. I mean, all of my life, and --
FOSTER: You've been to Sandringham, I'm sure.
GREER: Yes. And not literally, but -- but this man, we know who he is. We know how he feels. We know where he's coming from. We've always known in terms of the way the world works in diplomacy.
So it's perfect. This is not a surprise to anybody. It certainly shouldn't be a surprise to President Zelenskyy.
FOSTER: Within the letter wasn't just one invitation, it was -- Charles also suggested that if Donald Trump is in Scotland at his golf course, he could pop over to Dumfries house.
GREER: Of course.
FOSTER: Which is Charles's mansion. And if that wasn't suitable, he could go over to Balmoral, which is much grander, probably a bit more Trump.
But, you know, it's extraordinary to see King Charles, who never clears his diary for anyone, literally clearing his diary, opening up three homes for President Trump.
GREER: He understands absolutely that Trump likes this kind of reach out from the big people, from a king especially. This is a wonderful thing for him. And the king is giving, showing his role what he can do for this country. He's probably saved us from tariffs.
And along with the prime minister, who remember, used to be a prosecutor, so he knows how to be to put his case, he keeps the glasses on. Trump has already said, I like your accent. It's beautiful. It's fabulous.
FOSTER: Show time.
GREER: It's totally show time. And it's not over yet.
FOSTER: But people do say that Donald Trump sees a lot of -- you know, he considers optics and he does think like a producer.
GREER: He loves it. He loves it. He already told Starmer, the prime minister, I love your accent. Like the prime minister has an accent and he probably likes Charles's accent as if he has an accent. It's all perfect.
And I think the two together will be able to make some inroads in things that are.
FOSTER: Going to be fascinating. It's certainly waiting for the day. We'll have you back for that.
GREER: Thank you.
FOSTER: Bonnie Greer. Now, still to come, authorities continue the investigation into the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife. While the cause of the death is still unknown, there are a few new things we've learned.
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[15:47:19]
FOSTER: Catholics around the world are marking the holy day of Ash Wednesday. The Vatican, the faithful took part in the first day of lent observations. Cardinal Angelo de Donatis delivered the homily provided by Pope Francis. This is the first time that the 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized during the service since he was elected pope.
Now, the pope remains in stable condition whilst being treated for double pneumonia. However, the Vatican says his overall clinical treatment remains complex.
Our Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb has the latest for you.
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, it's the 20th day that Pope Francis has had in hospital battling pneumonia in both of his lungs. And during that time, we've had good days and bad days.
Today, certainly, a good day for Francis. No respiratory crises. We're told he spent most of the day in an armchair. He did some work and he called the parish priest in Gaza. He's still obviously on high flow oxygen, and he will be using a ventilator, oxygen therapy tonight. On Wednesday, which he's been doing most nights because, of course, the pope has been struggling to breathe. And this device helps him with that.
Now, today has been Ash Wednesday, which is one of the most important days in the Catholic Church's calendar. It marks the beginning of Lent, which is the run up to Easter. Now, Francis, we're told, took part in an Ash Wednesday service in the hospital. He received the ashes. He received the Eucharist. Of course, he didn't take part in the main Vatican event, which actually took place outside of St. Peter's on the Aventine Hill in Rome.
But the pope taking part in that service as another encouraging sign. Of course, the pope's condition remains complex. We're told by the Vatican the prognosis is still reserved. It's still soon to tell. A lot of nervousness and anxiety in Rome and the Vatican, amongst senior church officials, people gathering behind me for a prayer service tonight, which they've been doing every night in recent days to pray for the health of the pope.
We are expecting a further update from the Vatican on Thursday morning -- Max.
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FOSTER: Back to Christopher for that.
Now we are learning a little bit more about the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa. New Mexico authorities say it was not due to a gas leak. The gas company confirmed there were significant or no significant findings in terms of leaks or carbon monoxide.
CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Los Angeles.
But this does create even more mystery, doesn't it, Veronica?
[15:50:01]
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really is confounding, Max. The gas company said they found a minuscule leak on one of the gas stove tops in the kitchen, but not enough to be anywhere near lethal. They also found some code violations with the water heater and the fireplaces, but those did not at all contribute to the deaths of Hackman or his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
And so all of this information is going to be given to the medical investigator who is conducting the autopsy, which will be good information for them. But now we can rule out the gas leak, authorities say. We are also understanding that both bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning. So that's been ruled out.
There were no obvious signs of trauma on the body externally, and no foul play is expected. Authorities say when they arrived, the house had not appeared to be ransacked.
And on top of that, Gene Hackman's pacemaker, the last data that was seen or collected, rather, was nine days prior to their bodies being discovered. So it seems, as things get factored out in the cause of death, just more questions arise -- Max.
FOSTER: One of the, you know, unusual parts of this story as well, apart from the tragedy, is the -- the dog that was found there. You know, if you look on social, there's been a lot of focus about the dog, but that has actually become a bit of a story today as well.
MIRACLE: Yeah, certainly. There was some confusion about which dog died because there are three dogs on that property. Two of them were found roaming around, and the dog that was dead was found in a crate and that it had died. But I guess when deputies first arrived, they had misidentified the breed of which dog had died. They had said the German shepherd had died, and in fact it was one of the kelpie mixes, which, you know, deputies have acknowledged they misidentified the breed. I think that's perfectly reasonable.
However, this case is under global scrutiny. And so any time the department puts out any information, it is being heavily scrutinized. And so any kind of what appears to be missteps seem to be getting a lot of attention -- Max.
FOSTER: Yeah, it wasn't a priority for them. And they're not experts.
Veronica, thank you so much for that.
Coldplay fans will know they sing about ruling the world.
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FOSTER: But soon, they could be signing up for a deal to sing about the world cup. The president of FIFA says for the first time ever, there will be a half time show during the 2026 World Cup Final, he adds. Coldplay will help decide which musical acts it should perform. You may recall that Coldplay performed at the Super Bowl back in 2016 with Bruno Mars and Beyonce.
"WORLD SPORT's" Patrick Snell is in Atlanta.
Why do they get to decide?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Max.
Yeah, football purists like me still trying to wrap my head around this one. I've been to two World Cup Finals in my time and hope to get to a third before too long.
But look, Max, 104 matches in total on the slate for next year's World Cup in Canada, Mexico and here in the United States. We're going to have eight of them alone here in Atlanta, including a semifinal. So is this kind of the Super Bowl-ification of the World Cup Final, I wonder?
The excitement is mounting over here in the ATL. I can tell you that firsthand, no question. But why does this matter?
It is so historical, Max, because I mean never, never, never before. And I mean never in the history of the tournament going back all the way to the very first edition back in 1930 as the Beano half time show. But all that set to change in New Jersey in 2026.
All right. Let's dig a little bit deeper. The official rules of football stating that half time breaks should not exceed 15 minutes. It's unclear whether it's going to be changed to accommodate the performance. I imagine it's just going to have to be right because you look at the duration of typical half time shows at the Super Bowl.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino taking to Instagram earlier with this: This will be an historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world.
And, Max, a further word on Coldplay, could they select themselves? Infantino didn't say Coldplay would be performing in 2026, but did say its members would be helping, putting together a list of artists contenders, if you like.
And, Max, a closing thought from me. Taylor Swift has never before done a Super Bowl half time show, just leaving it out there.
Back to you. FOSTER: Well, it's a great opportunity, isn't it, to get in front of
Americans. I guess if they have an American artist. But, you know, I don't know. There's a lot of traditionalists in football.
How do you think they're going to receive the idea of this, you know, ultimate commercialization effectively?
SNELL: I thought we were just chatting in the office, actually, as I mentioned, the football purists amongst us, and we were thinking we were looking at it from a players point of view. The fans will no question make their thoughts very clear.
But from a player's point of view, imagine the two World Cup finals I've been to over the years, and both occasions the matches were very evenly poised, at half time, the matches were level in those respective finals, tight tense games.
[15:55:07]
Imagine from the players. Imagine the head coach trying to give a team talk with the noise coming through, the cacophony of noise coming through from the stadium.
Also, the other thing, Max, players are used to those 15 minutes, aren't they? If it goes to 25 or even 30, they're going to have to rethink their warm up routines. How are they going to stay warm and in the zone, both mentally and physically.
And also football -- the beautiful game of football is not like the stop start American football, right? So players are running constantly for 45 minutes plus the stoppage time. There's a whole factor of things to weigh up here, and were going to be doing just that over the coming weeks and months -- Max.
FOSTER: You'll be talking about the ads as well, Patrick, I'm sure.
SNELL: Okay. Yeah.
FOSTER: Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.
Richard is up next with "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS".
