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Whirlwind Week for Trump With Tariff War, Infighting; New York Declares as Brush Fires Burn on Long Island; Russia Steps Up Attacks Ahead of U.S.-Ukraine Talks Next Week. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 09, 2025 - 03:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: And a very warm welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Paula Newton.
Ahead right here on CNN Newsroom, a plea from the U.S. president to fellow Republicans as Congress considers a bill to keep the government running.
Canadians are reacting to new tariff threats, even as their own leadership is facing change/
And a state of emergency in New York, brush fires threaten communities on Long Island.
Fresh tariff threats and cabinet infighting, it has been a whirlwind week for U.S. President Donald Trump, and now, to add to the list, the president turns his attention to avoiding a government shutdown. Mr. Trump is urging his fellow Republicans to unite around a funding bill that would keep the government afloat until September. Now, the package would buy the administration more time to try and craft a more significant bill later in the year.
This has been quite an event for Donald Trump as he continues to try and persuade those Republicans to go along with this temporary spending bill. What's interesting here is the fact that even Republicans themselves have to be won over. It isn't just about the Democrats.
Now, Mr. Trump -- we will be right back in a moment.
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NEWTON: And welcome, everyone. We apologize for our technical difficulties, but we want to bring you right up to date on the news now.
Fresh tariff threats and cabinet infighting, it has been a whirlwind week for U.S. President Donald Trump. And now to add to the list, the president turns his attention to avoiding a government shutdown. Mr. Trump is urging his fellow Republicans to unite around a funding bill that would keep the government afloat until at least September. Now, the package would buy the administration more time to craft a more significant bill later in the year.
CNN's Julia Benbrook has more.
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: House Speaker Mike Johnson is outlining his plans for a stopgap measure known as a continuing resolution that would keep the government funded until September 30th. But he's up against a fast approaching deadline with a potential government shutdown looming this next week.
President Donald Trump has expressed support for Johnson's plan. He took to social media, posting on Truth Social, saying, quote, the House and Senate have put together, under the circumstances, a very good funding bill. All Republicans should vote, in parentheses, please, in all caps, yes, next week.
But Johnson leads with a very slim majority in the House, and he needs almost every member of his party to get on board if he doesn't have support from Democrats. Here's what Johnson said about the chances of the bill passing.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I believe we'll pass it along party lines, but I think every Democrat should vote for the C.R. It is a fundamental responsibility we have to fund the government, and a clean C.R. with a few minor anomalies, it's not something that they should vote against. So, we'll see what they do.
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BENBROOK: Johnson is describing it as a clean C.R., but it does include some cuts to domestic spending programs that Democrats will likely oppose. And the Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, has already said that he opposes the stopgap measure. Part of the argument against it is that Democrats say it lacks critical language that would be included in a full year negotiated bill and would make it easier for their party to put a check on Trump in court if needed.
This bill is 99 pages long and Johnson is expected to bring it to the House floor for a vote in the coming days, likely on Tuesday. If the House passes it, it puts a lot of pressure on members in the Senate with that government shutdown deadline less than a week away now. In Washington, Julia Benbrook, CNN.
NEWTON: Now all this comes as President Trump threatens to impose new tariffs on Canadian lumber and dairy products, and that could happen quite soon.
CNN's Betsy Klein has more.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it's been a week of tariff whiplash at the Trump White House, and President Trump, for his part, really views tariffs, and particularly the threat of tariffs, as a key negotiating tool, in this case against America's neighbors, Canada and Mexico, who he wants to crack down on the issue of fentanyl.
Starting on Tuesday, the president issued 25 percent tariffs on both Mexico and Canada. And later that evening, as markets were rocked, the president said, there may be a little disturbance, and asked American farmers to bear with him.
And then the president received a direct appeal from American automakers G.M., Ford, and Stellantis, who encouraged him to lift auto tariffs, citing disruption to U.S. car sales. The president on Wednesday lifted those auto tariffs for one month and then a complete reversal by Thursday as the president announced he would pause tariffs on Mexico and Canada for an additional month. By Friday, that reprieve was semi short lived as he announced he was placing 250 percent tariffs on Canadian dairy and lumber products, the president citing fairness.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Canada has been ripping us off for years on tariffs for lumber and for dairy products. 250 percent, nobody ever talks about that, 250 percent tariff, which is taking advantage of our farmers, so that's not going to happen anymore.
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KLEIN: Now taken together, this has fueled major uncertainty for markets and unpredictability for American consumers and businesses. It is also setting up a key test for the leaders of Mexico and Canada who have one month to navigate Trump as their economies depend on U.S. markets.
Betsy Klein, CNN, traveling with the President in West Palm Beach, Florida.
NEWTON: Ron Brownstein is a CNN Senior Political Analyst. He joins us now from Los Angeles. Ron, good to see you. It has been an absolutely exhausting week for so many including you, I'm sure, and really, truly historic in a way.
In terms of Donald Trump, the way he started the week and the way he ended the week, do you believe he did really have reversals on some of the key propositions he had made to Americans?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I mean, certainly, Donald Trump has operated since taking office on the Silicon Valley ethos of move fast and break things. And there are probably a significant number of his voters who like just the sheer volume of activity, you know, basically, you know, voted for him to disrupt things, and he's disrupting things. But when you're moving this fast, and when you're dealing with institutions this big, move fast and break things is a, you know, dangerous kind of approach to governance.
And I think you are seeing anxiety among Republicans, and certainly in polling, anxiety among elements of the public about the sheer amount of change that is happening and the speed at which it's happening. Don't forget Donald Trump did not win a majority of the popular vote. He is leveraging a narrow plurality win into what he is portraying as a mandate to fundamentally reshape the U.S. government at home and to fundamentally reconfigure the U.S.'s role in the world. And that Thomas Jefferson once said, Paula, great innovation should not hang on slender majorities. And certainly that's what's happening now.
NEWTON: Oh, the wise words that seem to fall on deaf ears.
In terms of what this is actually -- what is actually going to matter to Americans, I mean, look, whether you were a consumer or a business person in the United States, regardless of how allies felt about the tariff chaos, Americans weren't feeling very good about it either. I want you to listen now to an interview that the president gave on Fox Business. Listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you give us a sense of whether or not we are going to get clarity for the business community?
TRUMP: Well, I think so. But, you know, the tariffs could go up as time goes by, and they may go up. And, you know, I don't know if it's predictability. I think that --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, that's not clarity?
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NEWTON: So, that's not clarity. She was quite pointed. And, again, this is a very friendly interviewer as far as Donald Trump is concerned, and yet the pushback was there. Why do you believe that that kind of sentiment is in fact making its way into the Oval Office now?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I think -- I actually think that the perpetual instability is a feature, not a bug, and is actually a very revealing insight into the way Trump conceives the power of the presidency. All of these hairpin turns, you know, one day the tariffs are on, one day they're off, one day Musk is rampaging through the government, the next day cabinet officers are pushing back, all of this instability is obviously very hard, not only for business, but local governments, foreign nations, anyone who has to plan.
You know, it's good for? It's good for Donald Trump in that the fact that nothing ever seems to be settled means it is very difficult for anyone to kind of view their position as solid. And everyone feels they have to kind of remain on his good side or he could turn on them on a moment.
NEWTON: Now, we did hear about that apparently explosive cabinet meeting with Elon Musk. The New York Times revealed some absolutely extraordinary details about it, in fact, saying that simmering anger at the billionaire's unchecked power spilled out in a remarkable cabinet room meeting, the president quickly moved to rein in Mr. Musk. And yet, from what we know of that meeting, from what The New York Times reported, Donald Trump seemed to enjoy this -- you know, the fact that he had pitted one end of his cabinet against, you know, the DOGE enforcer.
BROWNSTEIN: Look, as I said, I think Donald Trump believes it maximizes his power and leverage if everyone around him, from his cabinet to his White House staff, to the leaders of foreign nations, feel uncertain about what is coming next and ultimately subject to his whim.
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I think that makes everyone feel that they have to constantly kind of butter him up and remain on his on his good side.
There is, I think, something else revealing about that cabinet meeting, great reporting by Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times. You know, we've talked about this before. Whatever level of pushback we are seeing at the front end of these personnel cuts in the federal government, the political exposure for Trump and the administration is much greater at the back end.
And I think that's what you saw from the cabinet officers. I mean, they recognize, as the transportation secretary was arguing, if you cut air traffic controllers today, you know what? I'm the guy who's going to be out there having to explain why we're having more problems on the ground or even worse in the air with planes.
NEWTON: Ron, we will leave it there for now. Ron Brownstein for us, thanks so much.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
NEWTON: As we just heard from Ron, Mr. Trump clearly believes economic ultimatums are an effective negotiating tool. But Canadians are only becoming more determined to resist them, and they're mocking his threats on social media. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted this viral rant, a send up of a beloved decades old beer commercial. Listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They mistake our modesty for meekness, our kindness for consent, our nation for another star on their flag, and our love of a hot cheesy poutine with their love of a hot cheesy Putin.
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NEWTON: Okay. And then there's this satirical take written by a retired teacher who has since passed away. The disco hit, I Will Survive, with the words changed to mention Mr. Trump's tariff threat and suggestion that Canada should be a U.S. state.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we spent so many nights thinking how you did us wrong. Now we banded all together. Your tariff made us strong. And so you know, you're not so great. There's not a snowball's chance in hell we'll be your 51st state.
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NEWTON: Hamish Telford is an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley and he joins us now from Abbotsford, British Columbia. Thanks so much for being with us.
You know, I don't think many people realize that the fact that Justin Trudeau was in the news so much this week, actually, he's on his way out likely in a matter of days. Can you just kind of bring everyone up to speed? The Liberal Party of Canada will be choosing a new leader, and that new leader will actually be prime minister of Canada within days.
HAMISH TELFORD, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, POLITICAL SCIENCE, UFV: That's correct. Justin Trudeau at the beginning of January announced that he was planning to resign as leader of the Liberal Party. The party set up a leadership race, what Americans might call a primary, to succeed him. They will choose the new leader tomorrow. And then sometime next week there will be the transition to power. The prime minister will tender his resignation to the governor general, the king's representative in Canada. And the new leader will be sworn in as prime minister and choose a new government.
NEWTON: And in terms of choosing that new government, listen, the Liberal Party has not been very popular, shall we say, and that's one of the reasons that Justin Trudeau was kind of forced to resign. Everyone knew he actually didn't want to resign, but here we are. But I want to show viewers something here, since Donald Trump was inaugurated, the Liberal Party of Canada, on the day of his inauguration, had less than a 1 percent chance of winning the last election. Now, they have a 37 percent chance of winning the next election. That doesn't really say anything in terms of predictability, but it says a lot about how Canadians are feeling about Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party right now.
TELFORD: Absolutely. Donald Trump has turned Canadian politics upside down all of last year. The liberals, Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party, was 20 to 25 points behind in the polls. It looked like the opposition Conservative Party would probably win the largest majority government in Canadian history. Even coming into January, that looked to be the case.
Then Justin Trudeau resigned. Donald Trump was sworn in and Donald Trump, of course, has been threatening Canada with 25 percent tariffs. He enacted them last week and then temporarily stopped them at the end of the week, as well as threatening to annex Canada, calling Canada the 51st state, referring to our prime minister as Governor Trudeau. And this has galvanized Canadians in a way that I haven't seen perhaps in my lifetime. Canadian nationalism is running very, very high at the moment, and the Liberal Party has staged this remarkable turnaround, even though they don't actually have a new leader yet.
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NEWTON: There's two that are essentially frontrunners. It's the former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and also Chrystia Freeland. I mean, most people assume that Mark Carney will take this. Is there a reason, though, that you would hedge on that right now?
TELFORD: No, I don't think so. It seems to be a lock for Mr. Carney. By rights, it really should be Chrystia Freeland. She's been in the Trudeau government for ten years. She's been in the trenches, taking it on the chin. She renegotiated the North American free trade agreement with Donald Trump when he was last president. She's done it before. She says she's ready to do it again. But Mr. Carney seems to be everyone's great hope right now, certainly for Liberal Party members. And I think it would be a great shock if he's not elected leader tomorrow night.
NEWTON: And given the fact that he is leader, he's got a little bit of boost from the liberal party, but a lot of what is going to matter is the way he handles these negotiations with Donald Trump. I also want to remind viewers that although Americans and Canadians have gotten along literally for centuries now, there was a war where you can look it up, but right now, in February 2023, 73 percent of Canadians wanted a friendly approach to the United States. This month, 23 percent. Not even one in four Canadians wanted a friendly approach to the United States. You mentioned how extraordinary the nationalism is right now. Do you think it will last? Do you think this is something Canadians will hang on to and that this tough stand, even if it costs them economically, will continue?
TELFORD: I think so. Certainly, as long as Donald Trump continues to threaten us with tariffs and annexations, Canadians are resolved to see this through. And I think Canadians are prepared to absorb a lot of pain. If we get into a trade war with the United States, the United States can do much more damage to Canada than Canada can do to the United States.
NEWTON: Professor Telford, we have to go now, but I'm sure you would agree with me, right? Canadians just want to be boring again. This has been far too exciting, hasn't it, considering the usual tone of Canadian politics?
TELFORD: Absolutely. We like not being noticed, and we would like that again. NEWTON: We'll see if that's possible with this administration.
Professor Hamish Telford, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
TELFORD: You're welcome, Paula.
NEWTON: Now, New York has declared a state of emergency as fire crews work to contain the spread of several brush fires on Long Island. According to the county officials, the blaze in West Hampton was roughly 70 percent contained by Saturday night. Fires are likely to burn through Sunday, though, as high winds threaten to worsen conditions overnight. Towering smoke plumes shut down parts of a major highway and continue to impact air quality in the region.
That's an incredible video. At least two structures have burned down, but no evacuation orders have been issued so far.
Earlier in a conversation with CNN, New York Governor Kathy Hochul assured the public that she is closely monitoring the fire's path.
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GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): I'm also concerned about the air quality. While there are no structures in harm's way at this moment, again, this could shift in a moment. But the air quality is definitely compromised. That's why I'm shipping 100,000 N-95 masks first thing in the morning. And I'm going to continue doing everything we can to put out the fire.
You mentioned the buy of four Black Hawks. Each Black Hawk is able to dump 616 gallons of water. So, that's part of why we've been able to get some control.
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NEWTON: Eight people were injured Saturday when a driver plowed a vehicle into a CarMax dealership just south of Los Angeles. Emergency crews say two people in critical condition were transported to a nearby hospital. Police arrested the driver.
Early reports state the men drove an SUV into the building's lobby before spinning it around and exiting on the opposite side of the dealership. CarMax confirmed the driver was a customer who came in for vehicle appraisal.
And we will be right back with more news in a moment.
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NEWTON: Ukraine's president is denouncing a horrific Russian strike in the run up to Kyiv's talks with the United States this coming week. He says Friday's attack on the city of Dobropillia was designed to inflict as much damage as possible. At least 11 people were killed and 30 others wounded in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as a so-called double tap attack. That means one strike hit civilian targets followed by another a bit later. That goes after first responders. That was part of a larger wave of attacks that killed at least 12 and wounded 20 others in Ukraine.
Now, Mr. Zelenskyy is headed to Saudi Arabia on Monday, where U.S. talks with Ukraine are set to resume next week.
Melissa Bell has more on the diplomacy and the fighting.
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More civilian deaths in Ukraine. 11 people killed as a result of a missile strike in an eastern city of Ukraine. But also other deaths reported across the country and missile and drone strikes. This is Ukrainian forces come, we understand, under increasing pressure in the Kursk region that was captured from Russia last August, leaving them, according to both Ukrainian and Russian bloggers, in their most tenuous position inside the region since they.
That, of course, difficult news for the Ukrainians as they head into what is expected to be a critical week of negotiations between American and Ukrainian officials that will take place in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. President Zelenskyy himself will make the journey on Monday.
At the heart of those negotiations will be this plan initially suggested by the French president, now backed by President Zelenskyy himself.
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The idea is of a partial ceasefire, so a ceasefire that would apply to the air, to the sea, and to attacks on critical infrastructure. So, the actual fighting on the frontlines would not be affected. This partial ceasefire initially offered, suggested by the French president would also involve a prisoner swap and is considered something that might be important to building the trust that would allow for a broader ceasefire deal to be found.
Of course, Europe has also been meeting urgently over the last few days in Brussels latest meeting to try and shore up their support for Ukraine in the wake of the American announcement that they would be freezing their military aid, but also ending their intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Europeans announcing a fresh package, but also looking ahead to what a peacekeeping force might look like inside Ukraine. What we understand for the time being is that force would likely be made up of French, British and Turkish troops who would be charged with monitoring the ceasefire, should one be found.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
NEWTON: NASA delayed the launch of its newest space telescope, SPHEREx, yesterday due to bad weather and engineering complications. Once a new launch date is confirmed, SPHEREx will search for the key ingredients of life in our Milky Way galaxy. Now, the telescope is expected to shed light on the origins of the universe. During the two-year mission, the observatory will scan more than 100 million stars collecting data on nearly 450 million galaxies. It's incredible. Other launch windows remain available through April.
I'm Paula Newton. I want to thank you for your company. There's more CNN newsroom with Lynda Kinkade after a short break.
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