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Asian Markets Plunge From Trump Tariffs; China Retaliates on U.S. Tariffs; Trump Defiant on His Tariffs; U.S. Markets Brace for Volatile Week; Hamas Fires Rockets Into Southern Israel; Russia-U.S. Talks to Resume; Pope Francis Surprise Crowd at Vatican Square; U.S. Coffee Drinkers Face Pricier Cup of Coffee; Commerce Secretary On Why Island Of Penguins Hit With Tariffs; Officials: Dozens Killed In DRC Capital Flooding; The Rapid Rise Of Quantum Computing. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 07, 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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BEN HUNTE, CNN HOST: Hello wherever you are in the world you are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta and it is so good to have you with me. Coming up on the show, Asian markets are tanking as we start the new week rattled by Trump's sweeping tariffs. We'll have a live report.
Americans will likely bear the brunt of price hikes including that cup of coffee to get you started in the morning. We'll look at how some are bracing for the impact.
And deadly flooding in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Torrential rains submerged cars and homes and many are without power.
Global markets are picking up right where they left off on Friday deeply in the red. While U.S. President Donald Trump defends his tariffs, Asian markets are plunging. Let's take a look at these numbers. All of them down. Hong Kong's Hang Seng the worst of all, down more than 12 percent. U.S. stock futures not faring much better. The Dow, Nasdaq, S&P 500 futures all down ahead of the new trade in week.
And despite the turmoil Mr. Trump has defended his tariff moves to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. Have a listen.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will be taking in over a trillion dollars over the next short period of time with the tariffs that I've already instituted, they are already in place. Now what's going to happen with the market I can't tell you, but I can tell you our country has gotten a lot stronger and eventually it'll be a country like no other. It'll be the most dominant country economically in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNTE: And while the Trump administration is downplaying this market volatility there may be more uncertainty ahead. Larger U.S. tariffs are scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday. That's when the U.S. will place a 54 percent tariff on all goods imported from China.
Well you know we need to dig into this some more so CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is joining us live from Hong Kong. Hey, Kristie, thanks for being with me. The tariff fallout is continuing in Asia. Tell me what is the latest market reaction?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Ben. We've been monitoring the Asian market reaction for the last couple of hours now. We are now nearing the end of the Asian trading day this Monday and it has been a sea of red as investors here across Asia along with investors around the world continue to reject U.S. President Donald Trump and his sweeping tariff policy.
Let's bring up the latest dynamic data for you and as you can see on the screen there here in Hong Kong the Hang Seng down more than 12 percent. The Nikkei, the main market in Tokyo is closing right now. It's down 6.53 percent. The Seoul KOSPI losing five and a quarter. The S&P ASX 200 in Australia losing four and two-tenths of one percent. And the Shanghai Composite down seven and a quarter of one percent. Very deep losses across the board.
And from Asia we've also been monitoring US futures, the Dow, the S&P, the Nasdaq and they're all pointing to a lower open when Wall Street opens up in just a couple hours from now. Last week that was the moment when U.S. President Donald Trump upended global trade norms and announced at least 10 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports. That unleashed global market turmoil which persists to this day and experts say given the policy uncertainty it will continue to linger. Take a listen to this.
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ROBERT BROOKS, ECONOMETRICS PROFESSOR, MONASH UNIVERSITY: And I don't think that policy certainty is going to come for at least a little while so I think we are in for an uncertain period.
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STOUT: You know without that policy certainty, Asian governments have been scrambling to formulate a response. Earlier today, we heard from the Japanese Prime Minister.
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He said that his government will continue to ask the Trump administration to lower tariffs against Japan. The South Korean acting president is considering talks. We've heard a far more forceful and stronger response though from China which is striking back with 34 percent retaliatory reciprocal tariffs that will kick in later this week on Thursday on April the 10th.
We also heard a defiant tone being struck by Chinese state-run media over the weekend with one commentary from the "People's Daily" saying something very interesting saying that as Donald Trump brushes off retaliatory tariffs and vows to stay the course this is actually a strategic moment from China. According to the "People's Daily" saying this on Sunday, "As a responsible global power we should turn pressure into motivation and see the U.S. impact as a strategic opportunity."
The "People's Daily" also added that China has not closed the door on talks with the U.S. President. Ben, back to you.
HUNTE: These are some wild times but you're staying on top of it. Kristie Lu Stout, thank you so much as always.
STOUT: Thank you.
HUNTE: The White House is conducting a media blitz to downplay the market chaos. Trump administration officials are also sending mixed messages about whether the tariffs will be temporary. CNN's Betsy Klein has all of the details.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: There's a real lack of clarity from President Trump and his economic advisors about whether these tariffs are indeed permanent or if there could be some room for negotiation here. His top economic lieutenants fanning out on cable and network news on Sunday really downplaying concerns about market volatility and framing these tariffs as a necessary economic reset.
President Trump for his part views himself as a dealmaker and we have seen him use tariffs and the threat of tariffs in the past as a negotiation tactic. But right now we are witnessing a reconfiguration of the global economic order. Markets are spiraling. The Dow futures already posting significant losses. When markets closed on Friday the Dow posted its biggest back-to-back losses since March of 2020 right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economists are ratcheting up concerns about the possibility of a recession and Goldman Sachs analysts have concluded that all of President Trump's economic policies together won't be enough to offset the damage brought by these tariffs. Now the president's top advisors say that these planned reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on Wednesday in addition to the 10 percent blanket tariffs already in effect. But pressed for clarity on whether the president was open to making any deals really offering mixed messages.
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AJKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Are these tariffs here to stay as Howard Lutnick and President Trump seem to be suggesting?
BROOKE ROLLINS, U.S AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: Listen we've got 50 countries that are burning the phone lines into the White House.
MARGARET BERNNAN, HOST, FACE THE NATION, CBS NEWS: Is the president considering postponing implementation to negotiate?
HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: There's no postponing. They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks. KRISTEN WELKER, HOST, MEET THE PRESS, NBC NEWS: Is President Trump
willing to negotiate or are these tariffs permanent?
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Well I think that's going to be a decision for President Trump.
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR COUNSELOR: This is not a negotiation. This is a national emergency based on a trade deficit that's gotten out of control because of cheating. We're always listening -- we're always willing to listen. That's what Donald Trump does best.
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KLEIN: Now speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, President Trump said that he had been fielding calls all weekend from tech executives and other world leaders. He said they were being quote "very nice" but no deals were made. He also made clear that to get a deal with China they are going to have to solve their surplus. He also said he wanted to solve the deficit with the European Union and if they're open to that he said he is open to talking. Asked about market volatility the president really downplayed those concerns saying that the country has gotten stronger. Betsy Klein, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
HUNTE: Let's dig deeper with Michelle Singletary. She's a personal finance columnist for "The Washington Post" and the author of "What To Do With Your Money When Crisis Hits: A Survival Guide." Thank you so much for being with me Michelle. How are you doing?
MICHELLE SINGLETARY, PERSONAL FINANCE COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: I'm well. I was going to say I'm doing okay but I'm not okay.
HUNTE: I don't want you to lie on my show. I don't want you to lie on my show. We need truth on this show. Tell me, let's get into it. Have you been surprised by President Trump's moves so far? I'm guessing yes.
SINGLETARY: You know -- actually no.
HUNTE: Oh.
SINGLETARY: He did telegraph this when he was running that he was going to do all of this so I'm not surprised. I am surprised at the level and speed at which it is happening like many other folks. So, I'm not surprised but pretty ticked off like a lot of investors right now.
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HUNTE: Oh yes. I mean, I've been seeing them 401K's, I'm like, should not have logged in, should not have logged in. What is the number one concern that people have been contacting you about recently?
SINGLETARY: You know lots of people are obviously worried about this -- how far it has dipped in such a short period of time. I mean most investors understand that the market is going to kind of go like this, right? But when it goes like this then like that, you just (inaudible), wait a minute. I didn't sign on for this. I don't want this kind of roller coaster ride.
And they just, you know -- and I've been hearing from young people and people near retirement or in retirement. In fact, I was at church this morning and my 24-year-old (ph) daughter text me, says mom, you said I should get into the market. Do you mean right now with what's happening? And all I said was, yes ma'am. That's all I said because she's got plenty of time at 24 for the market to rebound.
HUNTE: That's interesting. I like that point. I mean, I'm 32 so I'm kind of taking good vibes from that even though I'm very scared right now. I appreciate it. You wrote a book about what to do with your money when crisis hits. So, advise me like I'm your daughter. Tell me what can I do?
SINGLETARY: Well first of all, if he was my daughter, I would say make sure you don't have any debt. So I wouldn't be advising her to invest right now if she had debt which she doesn't because she's my child. And so, you know, I wrote that book during the pandemic. And when I wrote that book at the beginning it says it's not a matter of if the economy will tank but when.
So even back then I knew that it was going to come again. We've recovered from the pandemic and we knew that something was going to come. We didn't know it was going to be this something, but you know, that's how the economy rolls and so the best thing is to have a good command of your budget, not carry debt if you can. And then when you hit these kinds of roller coasters in the market, you can ride that ride.
I don't like roller coasters, but you're on it, you know there's going to be some dives, and then it's going to, you know, come into a landing and you're going to be okay. You're going to get off that ride. Now, having said that I know people every time, it's like girl, I don't know what you're talking about. I need this money right now.
HUNTE: For real.
SINGLETARY: But even in retirement you have, you know, 20 or maybe even 30 years so you need some of your money and growth, but you do need to have some money that is not subject to these wild swings. So, you know, money in CDs, or money markets, or treasuries, bonds, high yield bonds. So you want to have some safety money, safer money I should say --
HUNTE: Okay.
SINGLETARY: -- in equities, and all in equities.
HUNTE: I like that. I like that. I mean, I'm buying a place in Atlanta so I've had to pull out my money from the market so I'm kind of just observing right now, just looking at all of this madness. But, yeah, imagine if I hadn't. Gosh. Crazy. How does, what's happening right now compared to other times of economic uncertainty that you've covered? You talk about a pandemic there and that you knew that something was going to happen, but this is kind of like a man-made thing. Isn't really just the markets reacting to nothing.
SINGLETARY: Yeah. You hit the nail on the head. You know, during the housing crisis there was an underlying issue with the economy something really bad, right? During the pandemic, there was something that was out of our control and so we were trying to get all of those cases under control. This is purely man-made. This is a policy that is idiotic and scary, unnecessary.
And really, it just -- it really makes me upset that there's such little concern for the regular person out there all across, not just the U.S. but the world. And people look to the U.S. for stability and this is creating instability at a time that not necessary. My goodness, we all came through a global pandemic and at least in the U.S. without a recession. And we were just breathing like thank you, and now we're like, what the what?
HUNTE: Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. And yeah, hopefully, speak to you again soon.
SINGLKETARY: Oh thank you for having me.
HUNTE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now in Washington ahead of his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in the coming hours. The visit comes as the Trump administration slaps 17 percent tariffs on Israel. That topic along with Israel- Turkey relations, Gaza, and efforts to return the hostages will all be on the agenda when the two leaders sit down for discussions. They will later hold a joint news conference and that will be the second one between the two world leaders this year.
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At least one rocket hit the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Sunday after Hamas launched its largest barrage of rockets since Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza last month. The Israeli military says five of 10 rockets were intercepted. In Ashkelon, damage could be seen on the streets and at least one man there was being treated for minor injuries.
The armed wing of Hamas says the attack was in response to massacres committed against civilians. Israel says it has since struck the rocket launcher used by Hamas and plans to intensify its operations against the military group in response.
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is calling her guilty verdict a political decision telling supporters she will fight her conviction.
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HUNTE: Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right National Rally Party told supporters she would fight being banned from running for office after being convicted of embezzlement. Demonstrators gathered in support in Paris on Sunday. However, the large-scale protests that they had hoped for didn't actually happen. The next presidential election in France takes place in 2027, but with a legal appeal expected to be decided next year, the status of Le Pen and her party is far from settled.
Talks between the U.S. and Russia could resume as early as next week, that's according to Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. The statement followed his recent trip to Washington, the first by a top Kremlin official since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Dmitriev met with the Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff for high-level talks regarding a peace deal in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's president says all he can do is wait to hear more from Washington.
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VOLODOMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translation): Ukraine has accepted the American proposal, the proposal of a full unconditional ceasefire. Putin has rejected it. We are waiting for the U.S. reaction. So far, there has been none.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Pope Francis gave the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square an unexpected treat on Sunday when he made a very brief appearance. It is the first time the pontiff has come out in public since he left hospital two weeks ago. After five weeks of treatment for double pneumonia, doctors said the Pope would be lying low while he recovers. So it came as a big surprise when he was wheeled into the square to do the "light of the gathered faithful." The Vatican says his health is improving and treatment continues.
Okay, just ahead. American coffee drinkers are about to have quite a rude awakening. The impact they'll soon face from Donald Trump's tariffs, coming up next.
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HUNTE: Welcome back okay let's take another look at the markets which are in turmoil from U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war. Asia markets are all down. Hang Seng Shanghai and Nikkei experiencing steep losses. Earlier in the day, trading in South Korea was halted for five minutes when a circuit breaker to stop panic selling was triggered. U.S. futures are also plunging. The Dow, the S&P, and Nasdaq all down ahead of the market open.
All of this market chaos has been triggered by Donald Trump's universal 10 percent tariffs that took effect on Saturday. There is also dread about Wednesday when Trump says he'll implement even larger tariffs U.S. businesses like coffee shops are bracing for impact as foreign
coffee producers grapple with these tariffs, but ultimately the pain will hurt American consumers and a lot of them. That's because Americans drink lots of coffee. The average person drinks three cups a day. That's 400 million cups a day nationwide. And 73 percent of Americans drink coffee every single day. CNN's Julia Vargas-Jones has more on the jolt from coffee tariffs
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Small businesses like this coffee shop are set to feel the impacts of the tariffs hard. That's because of all the beans here, none of them are from the United States. We have Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Indonesia. All of these are countries that will feel impact of tariffs. Brazil and Colombia, some of the top producers of coffee in the world, 10 percent tariff slap in those countries.
Eighteen percent for Nicaragua and 32 percent for Indonesia. We spoke to one of the owners of this coffee shop here in Los Angeles. This is what he had to say about it.
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MATTHEW SCHODORF, OWNER, CAFE DE LECHE: I kind of understand on some level. I don't know if I agree with it but I understand like we're going to raise prices on imports so that we try to guide people towards buying domestic, right? You can't do that with coffee, you know. Again, there's a small amount of production in Hawaii, but other than that, you have to get it globally. So you just -- I don't know how to say it politely. We're just getting screwed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: And he's not mincing words there and that's in part because they have been facing this price increase for years now due to weather conditions mostly in Latin America, Brazil and Colombia where about 80 percent of the U.S. coffee comes from. Now, looking forward, they're saying it's really difficult to not pass along the cost to consumers that's -- but not just this, but many businesses across the United States will have to do to make do. Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
HUNTE: The Trump administration's sweeping tariff rollout has sparked concern and chaos but the inclusion of Heard Island and McDonald Islands on the list of countries and territories targeted has instead set off a flood of hilarious memes and punchlines. And that's all because the Australian territory located near Antarctica doesn't have a human population.
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It's actually solely inhabited by penguins. And while some have speculated about the reason behind the move, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had this explanation for why the islands were even included.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: If you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us.
Any country like we had tariffs, the president put tariffs on China right in 2018. And then what China started doing is they started going through other countries to America.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Lutnick also denied speculation that the Trump administration may have used artificial intelligence to generate the list of countries to face tariffs. What is going on?
Still to come, deadly flooding sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo. We'll show you the damage the severe weather is causing in the country's capital.
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HUNTE: Severe weather in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the season's first major storm of the year has turned deadly. Health officials in the capital of Kinshasa say about 30 people have died as a result of the flooding in the area. You can see here that the rising waters have washed away cars and filled entire streets. Even homes have been swept away, while others are without power and access to clean water.
Kinshasa's governor says the city's water infrastructure has been affected, but access will be reinstated within the coming days.
Heads or tails? The simple feat of tossing a coin gives you a seemingly random outcome, but some researchers say even tiny factors can influence the outcome of a coin toss, generating truly random numbers has perplexed computer scientists for years now.
And now, quantum computing may provide the answer to all of those issues, and many of the other world's problems -- as Anna Stewart explains.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When is a random number, truly random? Contrary to the name, computer generated random numbers are not truly random because they rely on predictable algorithms. Mathematicians and computer scientists have been searching for a way to create a truly random number.
And now the Quantum computing company, Quantinuum, claims it has successfully produced a number certified as being truly random.
How can quantum computers do what conventional computers can't? Well, it's based on something called super position. Our computers process information in the form of bits, which can either be one or zero. Quantum computers use quantum bits or qubits, which can embody zero and one to varying degrees at the same time.
Think of it like flipping a coin, classical bit. So, the flipped coin, heads or tails. Qubits are the coin as it's flipping, which has a probability of being heads or tails. This qubit property is known as superposition. It allows quantum computers to solve complex problems in minutes that would take conventional computers thousands or millions of years to solve.
It's a capability that many are racing to utilize. In recent months, Google, Microsoft and Amazon presented new quantum computing chips. In December, China unveiled its newest quantum computer with a 504-qubit chip, beating the previous 500-qubit threshold.
While quantum computers have high potential, they are very prone to error. Since the delicate qubits can be jostled by even a subatomic particle, they require highly controlled environments.
NATALIA ARES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: One of the most important challenges that we have in quantum computing is error mitigation and scalability, being able to make chips that are big enough to perform relevant computation.
STEWART: A research team at Oxford is addressing the scalability problem. They recently demonstrated the first instance of distributed quantum computing. This process links small quantum devices together, allowing computations to be distributed across a network.
DOUGAL MAIN, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS GRADUATE STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD: The advantage of this is that you can then preserve the reduced complexity of the smaller quantum processor while still being able to get these processors to act together to form one single, fully connected quantum computer.
STEWART: It's a step toward practical, large scale quantum computing, which most experts believe will still take years, and could eventually reinvent various industries and scientific research, solving problems in medicine, battery chemistry, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. But for now, at least, it can create a legitimate random number.
Anna Stewart, CNN.
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HUNTE: The usually friendly and playful sea lions have begun attacking people off the coast of California. Surfers and swimmers have been left shaken by the attacks. Experts say the violent behavior is due to the sea lions being poisoned by the ocean that they live in an algal bloom, sometimes referred to as red tide, is introducing toxins into their food supply, causing a hyper aggressive fight or flight response.
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The Marine Mammal Care Center in Los Angeles has received more than 2,000 calls to its hotline for sick animals in the last five weeks alone.
Okay, that's all we've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. It's been a real three hours. Some heavy news in there.
I will see you at the weekend. "WORLD SPORT" is next. Have a good week. See you in a bit.
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