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Donald Trump Announces New Auto Tariffs In Trade War Escalation; The Atlantic Publishes Messages Detailing Attack Plans; Gaza Students Strive To Keep Learning Amid Conflict; Gaza Students Strive to Keep Learning Amid Conflict; El Salvador Agrees to Keep Taking in U.S. Deported Migrants; Court Maintains Temporary Block on Controversial Deportations; Bolivia Declares National Emergency Amid Deadly Rain, Floods; China's Glaciers Have Shrunk 26 Percent Since 1960 as Per UNESCO; Rare Shark Spotted Off Rio's Famous Ipanema Beach. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:27]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Donald Trump announces new tariffs on car imports to the U.S., a move that will likely raise prices and widen the global trade war.

Explosive new Signal messages released by The Atlantic reveal the timing targets and weapons planned to strike Houthis in Yemen were shared in an unsecured group chat, still the White House Calls the Signal controversy a witch hunt.

And despite utter devastation to their schools, Gaza's children are yearning to learn even amid war.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. U.S. President Donald Trump escalates his global trade war with the announcement of new 25 percent tariffs on all foreign made cars. They're set to take effect in one week on April 3rd, and are aimed at boosting American auto manufacturing. But experts warn the cost of new cars could rise by thousands of dollars for U.S. consumers, the tariffs will apply not just to imported cars, but also to car parts, with some exceptions, no later than May 3rd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is something that people have wanted to do, presidents have wanted to do for a long time. A lot of them didn't understand it. It wasn't a priority for them, but foreign countries understood it very well, and they've really ripped us off at levels that nobody's seen before. But that's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: European and Canadian officials criticized the new tariffs. The E.U. Commission, President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe will wait to announce any retaliatory actions.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says, "Canada must minimize the pain for Canadians, maximize the pain for Americans. President Trump likes telling people you're fired. I didn't think he meant auto workers in the U.S. when he said that."

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout reports on how these new auto tariffs will impact U.S. allies in Asia, home to some of the biggest car makers in the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The potential impacts could be huge, with the Japanese prime minister saying, now that, "All options are on the table." After U.S. President Donald Trump announced these new auto tariffs of 25 percent to be applied on all imports, targeting the world's biggest auto suppliers, including key allies here in the Asia Pacific region, Japan and South Korea.

Now, these new auto tariffs will kick into gear next week with collection beginning on April the third. It will apply to cars. It will apply to trucks.

As for auto parts, and that includes stuff like engines, electronic components, transmissions, that will be subject to an up to one month reprieve. We've been monitoring investor activity and reaction ever since the news broke, and shares in South Korea and Japan have been skidding this day, and it comes as a surprise to many.

Just a couple of days ago, Hyundai, the South Korean auto making giant, announced plans to invest 20 billion U.S. dollars in the United States. And earlier this month, Honda, the Japanese auto giant, said that it was planning to move the production of the Civic from Mexico to the U.S. state of Indiana to reportedly avoid potential tariffs.

Now, we did hear from the Japanese Prime Minister earlier today. He addressed the tariffs in a session of parliament that we have. A quote from him here. Let's bring it up to you. This is what you heard from Shigeru Ishiba, who said this, "Japan is a country that is making the largest amount of investment in the United States, so we wonder if it makes sense for Washington to apply uniform tariffs to all countries is a point we've been making, and we will continue to do so."

Analysts say that these tariffs will deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy and to the South Korean economy as well. We heard this from a senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations who posted this on the social media platform known as X in regards to the auto sector, this is what we heard from Brad Setser saying this. "Imports from Korea have been growing strongly, and now top $35 billion or two percent of GDP, so Korea is more exposed relative to the size of its economy, than either Germany or Japan."

Last year in 2024, the United States imported some $474 billion worth of auto products. And if we bring up the list of top global suppliers, let's bring it up on the screen right now. You will see the following nations. You will see Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Germany, every nation on this list is a close ally of the United States, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[02:05:18]

CHURCH: Well, despite another day of denials and deflections from President Trump and his administration on the Signal gate scandal, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg is bringing the receipts.

The magazine published text messages from the group chat on a commercial open source app, laying out plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen. They include the type of aircraft, drones and missiles and what time they would strike. The Pentagon acknowledges Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the details while the operation was underway.

Hegseth on a tour of Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines continues to push back now splitting hairs over semantics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Nobody is texting war plans. There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): Whether it's considered, "classified or just highly sensitive," it was too detailed, whether you call it a war plan or not, it's just too detailed to pretend it wasn't a big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Multiple current and former defense officials tell CNN, discussion of the timing, targets or weapon systems to be used in an attack is always classified because of the potential risk to U.S. service members.

CNN's Alayna Treene has more from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, this is day three of this story. Of course, on Wednesday, new details were released by the editor at the heart of this, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was inadvertently added to that Signal exchange, publishing in full the details and really the exact messages that he was able to receive from this Signal chain. But look, the White House is sticking hard to its strategy here of

trying to downplay the seriousness of what was discussed on that group chat, try and deny some of the most egregious parts of what was shared, and also disparage Jeffrey Goldberg.

Now, one thing that was very notable I found on Wednesday was how the president answered questions from reporters on this. One, he was asked about whether he believed the information that was shared was classified. He kind of brushed it off and said he doesn't know, and directed others to answer that question.

He also argued that Hegseth, his defense secretary, was not involved in this at all, and of course, we know that Hegseth was actually the one to share the most sensitive information, including the times at which they were planning on taking out -- carrying out these attacks, and also the type of weapons they planned to use. Listen to what the president said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you still believe nothing classified was shared?

TRUMP: Well, that's what I've heard. I don't know. I'm not sure, you have to ask the various people involved. I really don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senate Republicans have asked, said that they have formally asked the administration for an inspector general report on that Signal issue. Will you agree to that?

TRUMP: It doesn't bother me, I don't know. You know, I want to find if there's any mistake or if a Signal doesn't work. It could be that Signal is not very good.

Well, yes. Mike Waltz, I guess he said he claimed responsibility. I would imagine. Mike did, he took responsibility for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Should Secretary Hegseth consider his position over the Signal?

TRUMP: Hegseth is doing a great job. He had nothing to do with this.

TREENE: Now, something that I picked up on here are a few things. One, it doesn't seem like the president has a full grasp of how Signal actually works. He kind of refers to it almost as if it's a switch for it or a phone call that this reporter was able to stumble into. That's one part of this.

But the other is as well. It doesn't seem like he has a full understanding of what actually happened on this exchange. We know from the Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday, she said that the president had reviewed the message exchanges in full. But then he, again, as you heard him say there, said that he doesn't believe that Hegseth was involved at all.

He also seemed to be way less emphatic on Wednesday of his support of his National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, saying he was really the only one involved with this that he took full responsibility. Again, all of this kind of separate from the rhetoric we've been

hearing from some of the secretaries who were in that chat, including the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, who have been much more forceful in how they are trying to downplay this story.

All to say it's very clear that there are still many questions that need to be answered. The president on Wednesday said, he isn't opposed to there being a review conducted of this, of some sort of investigation. We know that those on Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats alike, want to investigate this.

So, as much as the White House perhaps wants us to move on from the story. We heard Leavitt and others say that repeatedly today that they wanted to focus on other things. This story isn't going anywhere. And I think there are going to be a lot more questions that, you know, this White House is discussing behind the scenes.

[02:10:13]

Alayna Treene, from the White House.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He's also a professor and author. Good to have you with us.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, more bombshells published Wednesday by the journalists mistakenly added to that national security group chat. The White House struggling to contain the fallout from what's now being called Signal gate.

So, it turns out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did share information providing advance warning of a U.S. attack and the weapons involved. Can President Trump spin his way out of this blunder as he's done before?

SABATO: No, he can't. With MAGA, of course, his base will believe whatever he says. But for everybody else, it's perfectly obvious that, first of all, it was a fiasco of the making of the Defense Secretary and the National Security Advisor and others.

And second, the recognition is they have simply lied about what was in the text. I think for some reason they thought the journalist would not release the text, but once they said there was nothing classified in there, what was to stop him? Nothing.

CHURCH: Indeed. And President Trump calls this a witch hunt and is trying to distance himself from the debacle. He's defending his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying he's doing a great job and had nothing to do with it despite clearly sharing when the first bombs will drop, times of missile strikes and weapons involved.

Trump's also defending his National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who, of course, added the journalist. But if this fallout continues, will one or both of them need to go?

SABATO: You would think that at least one would, there's got to be a scapegoat there. I laughed when I heard Trump call this another witch hunt. How many witch hunts have there been? Everything's a witch hunt whenever he's caught doing something wrong, or his key people are caught doing something wrong, there's been a population explosion among witches, I guess, but it doesn't sell anymore.

And former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is calling for an investigation into what he says is a, "Serious breach of national security," adding that when highly classified attack plans are compromised, it endangers lives, the military mission and our national security.

And he says, someone should be fired for the breach. How likely is it that we will see a thorough investigation and any accountability here do you think?

SABATO: Well, I have a glimmer of hope, and I do, because some Republicans, for once in Congress, are speaking up, and they're actually siding with Democrats and saying that this was a fiasco and that it has to be looked into.

Because a good argument has been made that this couldn't have been just a one off. This couldn't have been the only time they've used Signal. They all seem to be familiar with it and rather chummy about it.

So, the odds are there have been other Signal gatherings and other opportunities for hackers from foreign powers or maybe others to find out what's going on before it happens. And that was the real danger here, that someone could have been hacking, could have learned the plans and notified the Houthis before the attacks were made, and it could have cost the lines of some of our service people.

CHURCH: And Larry, Trump intelligence officials, Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe clumsily evaded questions at a hearing Tuesday and Wednesday, making most critics wonder why they were even included in the group chat and where was the military representation. What was -- what's going on here? Why was this group of 18 people discussing this anyway?

SABATO: Well, we still don't know why these people were included, and other people weren't wholly apart from the fact that the journalist was there and had no business being there. Wasn't his fault. He didn't believe it at first. He thought it was a spoof, that someone was trying to trap him into doing something that would embarrass him, and that was a perfectly reasonable guess. Who would have believed that they would be on this kind of chat?

So, I think as you look at this from top to bottom, it is a complete embarrassment for the Trump administration, and early enough in the term, so that it's going to set the terms of some of the future scandals that undoubtedly will arise.

All administrations have a certain number of them. But this one is especially embarrassing because it's about such an important and sensitive subject.

CHURCH: And that does take me to my next question. I want to ask you what the political fallout from such a stunning security breach would be, or will this all be forgotten by next week, with another distraction, perhaps?

[02:15:06]

SABATO: Well, already we're seeing shiny objects trotted out by the Trump White House, whether it's tariffs on cars or Trump's proposal out of nowhere to not only give the pardons and commutations to the January 6th insurrectionist, but also to give them compensation for the suffering they went through in beating up about 140 cops. Really incredible.

But those are the things that attract media attention, and they attract the public's attention, and that will give less attention to this embarrassment called Signal gate.

CHURCH: Larry Sabato, many thanks. Appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: European leaders will soon gather to discuss security in Ukraine and whether they will someday need to put boots on the ground. Details on the meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, still to come.

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[02:20:23]

CHURCH: No country should have to go through this, those words from the Ukrainian president after what authorities call a massive drone attack on a residential area of Kharkiv. Emergency personnel say at least nine people were injured, including a 12-year-old girl.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Paris right now for a meeting of the so called Coalition of the Willing, a group of Western nations that have pledged to help defend Ukraine against Russia.

Heads of state will begin arriving at the Elysee Palace next hour, the French president lashed out at the Kremlin on Wednesday after it demanded some sanctions be eased before agreeing to halt the fighting in the Black Sea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): I want to make this clear tonight, Russia should not have a right to review the support that we will provide and that we provide to Ukraine, nor shall it dictate the conditions of this sustainable peace because the sovereignty of Ukraine and because the security of all Europeans are at stake.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: President Zelenskyy says sanctions against Moscow must stay in place as long as Russia is occupying Ukrainian territory, and he called on the U.S. to help secure a Black Sea agreement without the Kremlin's conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACRON (through translator): We expect the American side to secure the unconditionality of silence in the sea. This is not the time to reduce pressure on Russia or to weaken our unity for peace. We need more strong joint steps to ensure that there will be peace, just peace, durable peace.

Sanctions must remain in force on Russia, it must be increased as long as Russian occupation continues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: We will have a live report on the summit in Paris next hour.

The search for four missing American soldiers is ongoing in Lithuania, after their armored vehicle was found submerged in water. Officials say these soldiers were from the first brigade, third infantry division, they had been conducting scheduled tactical training on Tuesday near Lithuania's border with Belarus.

Their vehicle, an M88 armored vehicle like the one seen here, was found in a training area. The U.S. Army, Lithuanian Armed Forces and other agencies are taking part in the search.

Gaza's education system is in tatters after repeated Israeli strikes on schools across the Enclave, but some students are not giving up on learning, even in the middle of the war, that story just ahead.

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[02:27:44]

CHURCH: Israel's prime minister doubles down on a threat that the IDF will continue to hold territory in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu made the statement during the sometimes chaotic session in the Knesset on Wednesday, his defense minister had suggested earlier that Israel may permanently hold on to parts of Gaza as a security measure. Mr. Netanyahu said that's on the table if Hamas doesn't release the remaining Israeli hostages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The more Hamas continues in its refusal to release our hostages, the more powerful the repression we exert will be.

And I say to you, members of the Knesset, and I say to Hamas as well, this includes seizing territory, and it includes other things that I'm not going to specify here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Mr. Netanyahu spoke as a Palestinian pushback against Hamas appears to be picking up steam. Large crowds held rallies in northern Gaza for a second straight day, Wednesday, protesting against both Hamas and Israel's war.

The demonstrations appear to be the largest against the militant group since the conflict began. Some protesters told CNN their message to Hamas is enough, is enough, and it's time to give others a chance to rule.

And to Israel's military to stop the bloodshed. Hamas claims the protests don't reflect the general position of the Palestinian people.

One of the silent victims of Israel's relentless war is Gaza's education system. Officials say more than 120 schools and universities have been obliterated by Israeli strikes, and well over 600,000 children have already missed out on at least one year of education.

But as CNN's Paula Hancocks reports, some students are still looking for ways to keep learning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Learning to write the letter D dull in Arabic and what's left of the chalkboard. Basic Education that Gaza's young have been denied for so long. This was last December when the war was raging, where rubble was their playground and a building that looked ready to collapse their place of learning.

[02:30:00]

Many children were initially too scared to come, the teacher says, because of the destruction all around. 13-year-old Farah Zakzuk (ph) was one of the students grieving for lost relatives, but determined to learn.

My school had everything she says -- chairs, pencils, notebooks, and chalkboards. Now, we sit on rubble. If we find a notebook among the ruins, we try to use it.

During the two-month ceasefire, Farah (ph) walked on the ruins of her school in Khan Younis, a seventh grader who used to be top of her class.

I feel no ceasefire, she says. There's destruction everywhere. It's the same as war.

What had changed is she had space to realize how much she had lost, no home and no school. I feel my heart is ripped apart like I'm in pieces, she says. I don't know how else to describe it. And now, a devastating return to war threatens the limited education spaces that had been created.

PHILIPPE LAZARINI, COMMISSIONER-GENERAL, UNRWA: It's as important as providing lifesaving assistance. And the more we wait, the more we take the risk to sacrifice an entire generation.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Pre-conflict, just under half of Gaza's school-age children attended UNRWA schools. Israel has since banned the U.N. Agency's presence in Gaza, accusing it of ties to Hamas, which the U.N. denies.

More than 95 percent of educational facilities in Gaza have been partially or completely destroyed since October 7th, 2023, according to a U.N. report released last November, including many that have been turned into shelters. Israel's military claimed many were used by Hamas as command and control centers, making them legitimate targets, an accusation Hamas denies.

Sisters Manar (ph) and Rawan (ph) should have been close to graduating from university by now, one as an architect, the other as a pharmacist. But will force them to continue their studies remotely, almost impossible given the scant electricity and internet. They were displaced multiple times.

We're forced to come up to the fourth floor even though the building may collapse, says Manar (ph). We have to get internet connection from an eSIM Card, so we can download our lectures.

Almost half of Gaza's population is under the age of 18. For them, education is a lifeline, a hope for a better future that has been taken away from them.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": El Salvador will continue to accept deported migrants from the U.S. accused of belonging to violent Venezuelan gangs. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement on Wednesday as she toured the mega prison where those migrants are being held. She didn't directly answer whether migrants would remain there or be sent to Venezuela, or whether there's any process to bring them back to the U.S. amid continuing legal challenges to their removal.

Noem simply said, and I'm quoting here, "We're going to let the courts play out." But for now, the Trump administration can't use a centuries old wartime law to justify those deportations. Appeals judges maintained a lower court's temporary block on how the White House has been using the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants believed to be members of a Venezuelan gang.

President Trump is so dissatisfied with James Boasberg, the judge who issued the original orders, he even called for his impeachment. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the latest ruling to the U.S. supreme court.

And still to come, new data shows the world's glaciers are melting faster than ever, with China seeing significant loss. We'll tell you what the country is doing to buy more time. Back in just a moment.

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[02:38:48]

CHURCH: The president of Bolivia has declared a national emergency after torrential rain and severe floods killed at least 51 people. Officials say more than 100,000 people have been displaced and more than 378,000 families have been affected by the disaster. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to help distribute aid.

Global warming has caused China's glaciers to shrink by 26 percent since 1960, according to new data from UNESCO analyzed by Reuters. The U.N. organization notes that worldwide, the last three years have seen the largest loss of glacial mass on record. To combat this, China is using technology, including artificial snow systems, to delay the melting. But UNESCO warns as glaciers shrink, access to fresh water will become more limited, increasing competition around the world for water resources.

One of the world's great sites temporarily got a new attraction on Sunday. A diver of Rio de Janeiro's famous Ipanema Beach ran into a shortfin mako shark last week.

[02:40:00]

It's the first time this rare endangered shark has been spotted in an urban part of Brazil, boosting hopes for a rebound in marine biodiversity. Experts say swimmers at the famous beach have nothing to worry about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICARDO GOMES, HEAD OF SEA URBAN INSTITUTE (through translator): There is zero risk. The people must be happy and hopeful that we're finding an animal like this that controls and manages the balance of marine biodiversity. This shark is a guardian of the ocean's health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A mako shark was featured in Ernest Hemingway's classic novel, "The Old Man and the Sea,"

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN newsroom." Do stick around.

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[02:45:00]

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