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Trump Marks 100 Days In Office With Rally In Michigan; Trump Signs Executive Order To Ease Some Auto Tariffs; Canada's Prime Minister Vows Canada Will Never Yield To The U.S.; Spain Ramps Up Investigations Into Huge Power Outage; Scientists Experiment With Growing Food In Space. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired April 30, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: One hundred days that shook the world, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thank the autoworkers for your support. That was great.

(CHEERS)

TRUMP: But I'm thrilled to be back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: One hundred days of Donald Trump now promising a lot more of the chaos and turmoil which is tanking both the U.S. economy and his poll numbers.

Also, the art of no deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It only deepens the crisis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: A message from officials in Beijing warning the U.S. president they will not kneel to bullying. There will be no concessions.

And learning from the past with a warning for the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I Look at Belarus. Russia is preparing something there this summer using military drills as cover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Ukrainian president says neighboring countries could be the next target of a Russian invasion.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Donald Trump celebrated his first 100 days back in office in his happy place -- on stage at a political rally with supporters in the state of Michigan. And amid the grievance and name-calling, he talked about a booming U.S. economy, made even more dubious promises of even greater prosperity to come.

Banners were hanging inside the arena claiming 100 days of greatness and the golden age, but that is in very stark contrast to reality. Wall Street has had the worst first 100 days on record of any presidency since Gerald Ford in 1974. Consumer Confidence plummeting to levels not seen since the height of the COVID pandemic. Job openings falling to a six-month low. Economists predicting the weakest GDP growth since 2022.

And the president claimed his sweeping tariffs had produced major economic wins for the U.S., with many countries lining up to make new trade deals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're coming from all over the world to see your president. They want to make a deal. They want to make a deal. And you know, we'll make deals, but we don't have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The White House, though, not naming those countries. And despite promises of no concessions, no walking back tariffs, the president did just that Tuesday with exemptions for U.S. carmakers. An executive order which will reimburse manufacturers for double or triple tariffs on imports related to the auto industry.

More details now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny traveling with the U.S. president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: With his first 100 days now behind him, President Trump wrapped a rally in Macomb County, Michigan, on Tuesday night, waxing nostalgic about the last decade of his public life. Far more than talking about the challenges ahead. But he said that his administration so far in this first 100 days has been the most successful and busy in history.

TRUMP: We're here tonight in the heartland of our nation to celebrate the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country. And that's according to many, many people. This is the best. They say 100 days start of any president in history and everyone is saying it. We're just -- we've just gotten started. You haven't even seen anything yet.

ZELENY: But that belies, of course, the challenges that remain for the president. His buzzer agenda, his tax agenda, and so much more. The president spent very little time dwelling on the economic anxieties that are so clearly coursing through the American country. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe that the policies of the Trump administration have worsened the economy. That was clear as we spent time talking to voters here in Michigan that they want to hear more from President Trump on the economy.

There is no doubt that tariff policies and how that is ultimately resolved, including the trade war with China, will go a large degree to determining how successful the Trump administration will be. But for now, at least, the president, basking in the glow of his supporters as they filed out of this rally. The next 100 days begin on Wednesday in Washington with so much more and so many challenges to accomplish.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Warren, Michigan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: And during an interview with ABC News, President Trump said China deserves the historically high 145 percent tariffs, which is now in effect. And he believes U.S. consumers might not be hit with higher prices because, in his words, Beijing is likely to eat those costs. But a video posted on social media by Chinese officials declared Beijing will not kneel down to bullies.

Live now to Tokyo and CNN's Hanako Montgomery.

Good to have you with us. So what will be the impact of this executive order sort of sparing us automakers, you know, double or even triple tariffs on parts, on elements related to the auto industry in the U.S.?

[00:05:05]

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. It's good to see you, too. I mean, this new executive order is creating a lot of confusion for auto manufacturers around the world. And it's really the latest abrupt shift in an ever-changing tariff policy.

So as far as we know about this new executive order, it doesn't actually cancel any of the existing auto tariffs. But there is some new fine print. So companies that produce or assemble cars in the United States could now be eligible for some reimbursements. Specifically, they could be eligible for a 3.75 percent reimbursement of the value of a domestically produced car. And then, in the second year or from next year, that reimbursement cap would drop down to about 2.5 percent, and thereafter the reimbursements would disappear entirely.

So again, John, there's still some confusion about how these reimbursements would be paid, who could actually be eligible. But according to the U.S. President Donald Trump, these reimbursements are meant to help U.S. auto manufacturers as the country is in a transition period right now of moving auto manufacturing from competitors like China and Japan back to the United States.

Here are some comments that the U.S. president made at a rally in Michigan on Tuesday about this new tariff policy change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We don't want them building them in Japan. We want them to build them here. We want China to build them in here. So I want to just let you know you're going to be very proud of this country very soon. And with my China tariffs, we're ending the greatest job theft in the history of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MONTGOMERY: Now, John, there hasn't been an official response from Japan or China as of yet from Trump's latest comments. But as we speak right now, Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, is on his way to Washington, D.C., to engage in a second round of tariff negotiations.

Now, Japan hasn't outlined what they want specifically from these talks. But according to a presser that Akazawa participated in on Wednesday morning, Japan just simply cannot absorb the additional costs of this 25 percent tariff on the auto manufacturing industry. This is a huge, huge cost for a country where about 3 percent of its GDP comes from the auto manufacturing industry.

And in fact, according to some talks that Akazawa engaged in with different Japanese car companies, according to one top executive, that company was losing about $1 million U.S. every hour because of these new tariffs. So really, again, just highlighting how difficult it is for Japan, and of course also for China, which is still facing that 145 percent tariff on all exports it sends to the U.S., as you just described there, John.

VAUSE: Hanako, thank you. Hanako Montgomery there in Tokyo. Appreciate it.

Joining us now is Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan.

Welcome back.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Happy to be here, John.

VAUSE: OK, so right now almost every U.S. economic indicator is blinking red. The stock market had its worst first 100 days of any presidential term in more than 50 years. And it could get worse. A Global Fund Manager survey found the largest number of global investors on record, intending to decrease holdings of U.S. stocks. The U.S. dollar index, it's down.

Consumer confidence is also down. It's at its lowest level in five years. And then there's the fear index on Wall Street hitting record highs. Despite all of that here's the president speaking at a political rally on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We're going to have something that you won't even believe, we will end inflation, slash prices. We've already ended inflation. Raise wages and give you the greatest economy in the history of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Forget the greatest economy in the history of the world, at this point, can the damage be undone? I ask you this question a few weeks ago. Back then you said, yes, but the window is closing. Has it closed?

WOLFERS: It hasn't closed. Look, John, you ran through the economic indicators. I want to break them up slightly differently, which is, there's financial prices. That's what you were just talking about. These are all forward looking bets by very sophisticated players on Wall Street. They're all looking very bad. So that's to say sophisticated players expect bad things. But notice that's a forward looking statement.

Then there's surveys. And you ask people how they're feeling, what they think is going to happen and so on. Consumer Confidence is through the floor. Business confidence is through the floor. Everyday Americans are pretty much prepping for a recession right now. But then there's actually the real economic data. How many people have jobs, how much we're producing, things like that.

Now, the thing is, those data are only available through March and tariff Armageddon starts in April. So what that means is we haven't actually had any confirmation in the data yet that any of this pessimism will translate into a hard or difficult reality. We might expect it, but we should be open to the possibility that economies surprise us all the time.

VAUSE: Well, what is surprising is that administration officials have announced there is one trade deal locked in, but they won't say which country.

[00:10:04]

Three others are imminent while negotiations continue with 17 countries in all. At this rate, it will take years to get these agreements just with those 17 countries. Keep in mind, 180 countries and territories, including penguins, were hit by tariffs. So this is going to be a very long time before we get to any of these trade deals.

WOLFERS: The truth is most countries haven't had substantial tariffs on the United States in decades. As a result, most countries are walking in and they're saying, hey, you know what, we already don't tariff you. Why don't we write down an agreement where I say something that was already true six weeks ago, which is I don't tariff you, and in return, you'll get rid of this nonsense high tariffs on us? That's how I expect things to go going forward. So there's not actually a lot to be negotiated in order to get us back to where we were six weeks ago. VAUSE: Well, officials in Beijing say China is not among the 17

countries, despite claims by the U.S. president to the contrary. And they had this message for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: History has proven compromise won't earn you mercy. Kneeling only invites more bullying. China won't kneel down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Despite that, President Trump believes U.S. consumers are unlikely to pay for the 145 percent tariff he's imposed on Chinese imports. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You don't know whether or not China is going to eat it.

TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS: That's mathematics.

TRUMP: China probably will eat those tariffs. But at 145, they basically can't do much business with the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That statement, earlier statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, doesn't sound like China is willing to eat the tariffs. And besides that, is there any Chinese made goods in the world which has a profit margin of 145 percent or more?

WOLFERS: Let's put this in more concrete terms. What do we import from China? Yes, I know there's toys and toasters and things like that, but actually the biggest sources of imports are equipment. And so what that means is every factory in the world can import goods from China without a 145 percent markup on it, except America.

What do you reckon that's going to do to American competitiveness if everyone else can get the equipment they need reasonably cheaply and you can't? So the battle for American business is not with Beijing. It's with Washington.

VAUSE: Well, the day began with word that Amazon would actually break down the cost of each item to include the cost of those tariffs. But then a very unhappy president, here's a CNN report, actually called the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and bada bing, bada boom, problem solved. Here's the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How did your call with Jeff Bezos go?

TRUMP: Jeff Bezos is very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly and did the right thing. He's a good guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Bezos simply denied the story was true. He walked it back. So firstly, what do you make of that back down by Bezos? And if tariffs are so star-spangled awesome, then why would the president be angry?

WOLFERS: I do wonder about that. Like Bezos, Amazon was offering to advertise this policy on every one of its pages. If they're proud of their policy, they should be really proud of it. They should be like, terrific. You thought you were going to get this little product for 10 bucks, but now you're going to get it for 22.

There's also an old tradition in the Republican Party that they used to think that it was best when taxes were made as visible as possible, so that people could understand what they were paying. This is one of the reasons Republicans have often been against forms of tax simplification. One of the reasons why every store you go in in the United States that charges you sales tax, it's actually a separate line item on the receipt.

That's because Republicans wanted you to understand the costs you were paying. But all of a sudden, for this tax, they really wish it was a hidden tax. And they don't want you to be so aware of it. That might tell you something about what they think of their own policies.

VAUSE: It might indeed.

Justin, thanks for being with us as always. Good to see you.

WOLFERS: A pleasure, mate.

VAUSE: Ukraine has come under renewed attack by Russian drones, increasing a sense of pessimism over any potential ceasefire. At least one person was killed in what Ukrainian authorities describe as a massive Russian drone attack on the city of Dnipro on Tuesday. And in Kharkiv, at least 30 civilians were wounded in Russian strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv and Washington will soon discuss new sanctions to try and pressure Moscow to end the war. And President Zelenskyy is also warning of potential new attacks in the coming months by Russian forces now based in neighboring Belarus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENSKYY: Look at Belarus. Russia is preparing something there this summer, using military drills as cover. And that's usually how they start a new attack. But where will it go? I don't know, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland. God bless no. But we all need to be -- we all need to be ready.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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VAUSE: President Trump's envoy to Ukraine has flatly rejected a Russian proposed three-day ceasefire, calling it absurd. The Trump administration has warned it will walk away from peace talks as broker if progress is not made soon. The Kremlin's proposed ceasefire would begin the same day as Russia's World War II victory day celebrations on May 9th and the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. The U.S. and Ukraine are demanding a longer truce that Moscow has so far refused to accept.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Our proposal, which was voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is the start of direct negotiations without preconditions. A ceasefire in this situation is seen as a precondition that will be used to further support the Kyiv regime and strengthen its military capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, Canada's new prime minister says the country will never yield to Donald Trump's threats. Then, hours later, he did take a call from the U.S. president. We'll have details on that, as well as the Liberal Party's election win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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VAUSE: In Israel a hot mic moment has left the families of the last hostages being held in Gaza enraged. Here's what Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister, actually said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through text translation): We have of course an important task, not only to win but also bring home the hostages. Until today we have returned 196 of our hostages, 147 of whom were alive. There are up to 24 living. Up to 24 living.

SARA NETANYAHU, WIFE OF BENJAMIN NETANYAHU (through text translation): Fewer.

B. NETANYAHU (through text translation): I say up to, and the rest are, I'm sorry to say, not alive, and we will return them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: You can see her correcting the prime minister there, saying fewer when he mentioned 24, which is the number of hostages which Israeli officials have insisted in recent weeks are still alive. But some now believe the government may have a lot more information than they're making public.

The group representing the hostages' family slammed Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, demanding full disclosure on the status of their loved ones.

The U.S. president has congratulated Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his Liberal Party's election triumph. According to a readout from Canada, the two leaders stressed the importance of their countries' working together as independent nations and agreed to meet in person soon. No mention of Donald Trump's taunts about making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

Meantime, the CBC projects Canada's Liberal Party has fallen just short of a parliamentary majority. More details now from CNN's Paula Newton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Who is ready? Who is ready? Who is ready to stand up for Canada with me?

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A rallying cry for Canadian sovereignty, as Mark Carney declared victory in the country's federal elections.

CARNEY: We are once again, we are once again at one of those hinge moments of history. Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration is over. We are over the shock of the American betrayal. But we should never forget the lessons.

NEWTON: The Liberal Party leader issuing a stunning rebuke to President Trump as he promised his country would never yield to the United States.

CARNEY: As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never.

CARNEY: Never. But these are not, these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never -- that will never, ever happen.

NEWTON: The 60-year-old former central banker also sending a message of unity to the millions that did not vote for him.

CARNEY: And my message to every Canadian is this. No matter where you live, no matter what language you speak, no matter how you voted, I will always do my best to represent everyone who calls Canada home.

PIERRE POILIEVRE, CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER: So I would like to congratulate Prime Minister Carney.

NEWTON: Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat early Tuesday, saying Carney had won enough seats to form a razor-thin minority government.

Throughout his campaign, Carney rode a wave of anti-Trump sentiment since winning his party's leadership contest in a landslide after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down last month.

CARNEY: We are fighting unjustified U.S. tariffs.

NEWTON: Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada and continued threats to annex the country as the 51st state only helped him ride that wave to victory.

Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A manhunt is underway in Sweden for the suspect in the shooting deaths of three people north of Stockholm Tuesday. Witnesses told local media they heard what sounded like gunshots at a hair salon. Police believe the suspect fled the scene on an electric scooter. Right now, the motive is unclear, but authorities say there's no indication it was terrorism or a hate crime. European parliament says Sweden is currently battling a wave of gang violence.

Still ahead on CNN, electricity is on again in Spain and Portugal. Now authorities are trying to figure out what caused Monday's massive power outage. More in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:29:33]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated the first 100 days of his second term with a rally in the battleground state of Michigan. He claims the economy is booming, but the latest numbers show stocks, Consumer Confidence and job openings all on the decline.

Ukraine's president says Kyiv is preparing to speak with the U.S. about slapping new sanctions on Moscow. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says those sanctions would aim to put pressure on Russia to engage in diplomacy to try and end the war.

[00:30:06]

The U.S. is threatening to walk away as mediator for those diplomatic efforts if progress is not made soon.

And families of hostages held in Gaza are demanding full disclosure after the Israeli prime minister's wife was overheard saying fewer than 24 hostages remain alive in Gaza.

It appeared to indicate the Israeli government may have a lot more information about some of the 24 hostages and those who are alive, and those who have died.

With electricity restored across Spain and Portugal, now comes the hard part: trying to find out the cause of the power outage, which left millions in the dark.

Spain's government has created an investigation commission, while Spain's top criminal court is looking at the possibility of a cyberattack.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has the very latest reporting in from London. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After the darkness comes the light and celebrations for what used to seem so trivial.

In Spain, as trains started running Tuesday, loved ones were reunited, like Lara (ph), who finally made it to Valencia after a night on the train station floor in Madrid.

"There was no electricity, no cell phone connection. You couldn't even speak with your family," she says. "Until they managed to open the station, we thought we were going to sleep in the street. Then at least we could go inside, sit down. The military came and gave us these blankets, but it was bad until 2 a.m."

They were the lucky ones, with Spanish authorities having to rescue passengers this morning, stranded on trains overnight.

In Portugal, traffic was back to normal, as power to the traffic lights was restored.

But just a few hours earlier, tens of millions of people in the Iberian Peninsula and parts of France were left without power in one of the biggest blackouts in recent European history.

Residents directing traffic themselves, helping the elderly and stocking up on supplies, not knowing how long the blackout could go on for.

Still, no answers for the big question: how did this happen in the first place? Spain's prime minister and king convened the country's cabinet Tuesday, promising answers.

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): What people should be clear about is that the Spanish government is going to get to the bottom of this matter and that the necessary reforms and measures are going to be taken to ensure that this does not happen again. And we are obviously going to hold all private operators accountable.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Multiple agencies were quick to reject the idea of it being caused by a cyberattack, but without answers, experts say questions are likely to remain for weeks.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: After revoking visas of more than 1,500 international students and recent graduates, CNN has learned the Trump White House has restored at least 500 of the 1,500.

But some of those international students remain in limbo. At least two students who were abroad when their visas were revoked are not sure if they can reenter the United States. Still to come, extraterrestrial agriculture. That's a big word to say.

As astronauts plan to someday visit Mars, scientists are now exploring how to keep those crews fed by growing food in space.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:38:05]

VAUSE: Eating out in space can get pretty expensive. Thousands of dollars, apparently, for every meal.

Now, as crews prepare for longer missions away from Earth, scientists are looking to cut down on the cost of food by having astronauts grow it themselves.

CNN's Nick Valencia has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Europe's first returnable commercial spacecraft, Phoenix 1, launched on-board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket last week.

One purpose of the mission: to test whether astronauts could grow all of their own food in space.

As the momentum for space exploration grows, the attention now turns to the astronauts, with Mars on the horizon for some time in the 2030s. A round-trip mission will last about 18 months.

DR. RODRIGO LEDESMA-AMARO, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON: This project is about how we can produce the food we need if we want to travel in space, if we want to colonize other planets.

It's really difficult to -- to bring everything we need from Earth. Just think that an astronaut consumes between half a kilo and 1.5 kilograms of food per day, and every kilogram we ship to space can be 20,000 U.S. dollars.

So, imagine every meal can be something like $10,000.

VALENCIA (voice-over): NASA, the European Space Agency, and other partner countries have long been working aboard the space station to learn how to live in space and growing some food.

Now the Imperial College, with the help of the Bezos Earth Fund, are investigating how to create food that both astronauts and people on Earth can produce sustainably, using bio foundries, with cells acting as mini factories.

The plan is to use microbes and microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast, enabling space crews to grow their own food, fuel and even medicine.

LEDESMA-AMARO: If we bring a tiny little cell out in space, that cells can then grow and produce everything we need.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The team hopes the mission will reveal whether the cells can produce the variety of products they seek, from vitamins to dairy products to biodiesel. And that's just the start.

[00:35:08]

LEDESMA-AMARO: But down the line, when we have the moon base, we need these kind of bioreactors to be able to really sustain permanent settlement of human civilization in this environment.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The team hopes to provide space crews with the taste of home while out in space, and maybe make some space pizzas.

Nick Valencia, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: I thought they just had Tang.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause, back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, please stay with us. WORLD SPORT starts next after a very short break.

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