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Trump Warns of 100 Percent Tariffs to Russia if No Peace Deal with Ukraine Has Reached Within 50 Days; Humanitarian Conditions Worsens as Israel-Hamas Peace Talks Continues to be Stalled; Wildfire Shuts Down Grand Canyon's North Rim. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired July 15, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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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.

U.S. President Donald Trump is giving Russia an ultimatum on reaching a deal with Ukraine. How he plans to use tariffs to make that happen.

As ceasefire and hostage talks stall in the Middle East, the humanitarian situation could not be more dire. We will talk to an aid expert about the struggle for the most basic necessities.

And China reports slightly better than expected economic growth. We will take a closer look at how the trade war with the U.S. has impacted their economy.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us.

We begin this hour in Washington where U.S. President Donald Trump is turning up the pressure on Russia. During a meeting with NATO Secretary General, the President threatened severe tariffs and sanctions if Vladimir Putin does not agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine in the next 50 days.

He also announced a new plan to get weapons to Kyiv. NATO countries would buy them from the U.S., then transfer them to Ukraine. A U.S. diplomat says the focus would be on defensive weapons including Patriot anti-missile systems.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We want to see it end. And I'm disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there. So based on that, we're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days, it's very simple. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments for us live from London. She joins us now. Good morning to you, Clare.

So what more can you tell us about President Trump's plan to get NATO to buy U.S. weapons for Ukraine and about the sanctions threat that he has made for Russia to end the war?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, I think all of this together clearly is a very significant shift in tone from the U.S. president, the U.S.-NATO deal where non-U.S. NATO members will essentially buy American weapons to then give to Ukraine.

That is significant news for Ukraine coming, of course, at a time of exponential Russian escalation, particularly, of course, in the air war. It opens the door to keep up the flow of American weapons. Don't forget, the Trump administration has not approved a single new aid package for Ukraine.

It's, of course, not even clear at this point whether they're going to use the funds that were made available but not used during the Biden administration. But nevertheless, it means more weapons. It bypasses the unwieldy congressional approval process for more funding, which, of course, has hampered Ukraine's progress in the past.

And it may well appease President Trump's base, which has been vehemently opposed to new aid for Ukraine because, of course, it doesn't use new taxpayer money.

There's also the suggestion of speed here. We talked about the escalation that there is no time to lose for Ukraine. And we've already heard, for example, from the German Defense Minister that they will make a decision on sending new patriot systems to Ukraine within days or weeks.

So, of course, that doesn't mean that they'll be on the ground for several months.

But, look, I think that's broadly good news. I think on the issue of sanctions, that is potentially where we see a sense of unease as the dust settles this morning that there was some expectation, of course, that President Trump would sign on to this bipartisan bill that's gaining support in the Senate for 500 percent secondary tariffs on Russia's trading partners.

That isn't what has happened. We now have this 50-day deadline. And I think that's why, as we see European foreign ministers arriving in Brussels this morning, there is a bit of a different tone from the charm offensive we heard from the NATO secretary general yesterday. Take a listen to the E.U.'s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAJA KALLAS, E.U. FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: It would be good if all those promises that also the Biden administration has given to Ukraine, I mean, the weapon deliveries will continue and they will get all what they have been promised. And, of course, we on our European side, we want to do more. It is also, I mean, good signs that we see from the United States that they have also realized that Russia does not really want peace.

So in order to have peace, we need to support Ukraine and we need to put the pressure on Russia. And I also hope that Americans will move also with their sanctions package or tariffs so that the pressure is on Russia to really stop this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:07]

SEBASTIAN: So I think that's the key thing here, Rosemary, is that sending some more Patriot systems, while absolutely crucial for Ukraine, these are the only systems that can avert the Russian ballistic missiles which have been fired at Ukraine in increasing numbers, that is not in itself going to end the war.

On the flip side, hampering Russia's economy to the extent that these secondary tariffs that are being proposed may well do, that has a higher chance, certainly according to experts that we speak to. So I think that's why you see that sense of unease and why you may see again, as we've seen over the past few months, the European Union going it alone.

Kaja Kallas said that she expects to see the 18th package of E.U. sanctions approved in the next day or so. That could include lowering the oil price cap through a dynamic mechanism which could then hamper Russia's revenues, but by far less a blunt instrument than the secondary tariffs that are being proposed by the U.S. So that is what we are watching at this point, Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian bringing us that live report from London.

Well President Trump's latest announcements are not going over well in Moscow. CNN's chief global affairs correspondent Matthew Chance is in the Russian capital.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Kremlin-controlled television, President Trump's U-turn on Ukraine was breaking news.

Trump's now following in the footsteps of former U.S. President Joe Biden, the anchor says, promising weapons to Ukraine to force Moscow to the negotiating table. But we all know, she adds, that Biden failed.

This is the Russian onslaught President Trump says he's trying to end. But amid this barrage of mass drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, Trump's threat of tariffs and secondary sanctions, if there's no peace deal in 50 days, seems more like a green light than a deterrent to Moscow.

"In 50 days, oh how much can change on the battlefield and in the mood of the U.S. and NATO," posted one prominent Russian lawmaker. "But our mood will not be affected," he warns.

TRUMP: Because Putin really surprised a lot of people, he talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening.

CHANCE (voice-over): But President Trump's most recent mood change against the Kremlin and in favor of providing weapons to Ukraine is being widely criticized in Russia, with hand-picked guests on state television now openly accusing the U.S. President of fueling the conflict.

This man is deceiving you, Ukraine, warns this senior Russian politician. Trump just wants this war to continue, he adds.

After months of being heralded in Russia as a potential peacemaker, a warmonger is how President Trump is now being cast.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: For more on this, let's bring in CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Good to have you with us.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's great to be with you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So as Russia continues to pound Ukraine relentlessly, U.S. President Donald Trump has issued another ultimatum to President Putin, demanding he end the war within 50 days or face secondary tariffs at 100 percent. But Trump has already issued ultimatums to Putin this year in January, March, April and May, but nothing happened. So will Trump follow through this time and is that exactly what Putin is wondering right now?

LEIGHTON: I'm sure Putin is wondering about it, Rosemary, but of course he's going to look at history as his guide and he's going to say those other ultimatums really never resulted in any consequences for him, so why should he worry about this one?

And the other thing to think about when it comes to this particular ultimatum is those 50 days end in September, which is about the end of the summer fighting season. So this gives Putin the opportunity to conduct operations and to continue the military operations that he is currently engaged in in eastern Ukraine, in the Sumy region, in northern Ukraine and really throughout the entire country with the drone and missile strikes.

CHURCH: That is an interesting point. And of course not only did President Trump announce his 50-day ultimatum, he also officially announced his new plan to rearm Ukraine with key American weapons, including Patriot missile systems, paid for by NATO. What's your assessment of this plan?

LEIGHTON: So there are several aspects to this. One good aspect is definitely the fact that the supply chain in essence is shorter.

[03:09:59]

In other words, the distance from the European countries that are going to be providing the actual weapons systems and munitions and Ukraine itself and the front lines in Ukraine. So that part is good because even Secretary of State Rubio has mentioned that these weapons should be delivered fairly quickly to the Ukrainians, some of them within days, and that's a very good thing.

Now, the other part of this, though, is that there's going to be a bit of a backlog once the initial deliveries are actually conducted. That initial backlog will basically consist of Patriot and other systems that are going to be required to be backfilled, and that will require shipping from the States to the European countries such as Germany, France, Norway, and others.

And that's going to make, I think, for a fairly big difference in terms of the ability of both the European nations of NATO and the United States to continue to supply Ukraine over the long term. So this plan may not have all the long-term benefits that we initially thought it might.

CHURCH: And, Colonel, what is your assessment of where things stand on the battlefield right now and how will the weapons plan and indeed the threat of secondary sanctions potentially change the trajectory of this war?

LEIGHTON: So the actual state of play on the battlefield is certainly one that should concern the Ukrainians to some extent. The Russians have amassed about 160,000 or so troops in several areas along the front lines, plus they're continuing their drone warfare, and they're also, of course, engaged in missile attacks that have used new tactics and tried to basically overwhelm Ukrainian air defense systems.

So those 160,000 troops that the Russians have amassed are in areas such as the Sumy region around the town of Pokrovsk in the east and in other areas that are right along that Donbass border region that Putin definitely wants to take over.

But one of the key issues that he's had is actually making progress along that front line. Progress is spotty at best, but the Ukrainians have to be very careful that they're not overwhelmed in certain areas so that they may lose something in one area at the expense of another area. So that is something that they have to be careful with.

But now at this particular point, they should be able to hold most of the territory that they have, but Putin's goal remains the same. His goal is to, in essence, subjugate Ukraine and eliminate it as an independent country.

And in this particular case, the plans that have been laid out do not really address the need to counter ideologically and philosophically Putin's thrust into Ukraine on those grounds. Basically, he's looking at it from his pseudo-historical perspective and that pseudo- historical perspective incorporates Ukraine into Russia and that is something that is unacceptable to both NATO and the United States.

CHURCH: Colonel Cedric Leighton, we always appreciate your military analysis. Many thanks.

LEIGHTON: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Coming up, we will go live to Abu Dhabi for the latest on the diplomatic push for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza as humanitarian conditions worsen.

Plus, we will have much more on President Trump's meeting with the NATO Secretary General and his ultimatum for Russia to end the fighting in Ukraine. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

The U.S. President teased that he may have an update fairly soon on a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. He said, quote, "We're doing pretty well in Gaza." During an Oval Office appearance alongside NATO Secretary General, according to White House officials, led by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, they've been pushing to finalize the ceasefire deal in recent weeks but optimism for a quick resolution has faded.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 58,000 people have now been killed in Gaza since the start of the war and nearly 800 Palestinians were killed while trying to access aid in Gaza between late May and July 7th, that's according to the U.N.

For more on what's happening with the ceasefire negotiations, CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, despite optimism fading, U.S. President Donald Trump is now promising an update very soon. So, where exactly do these diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza stand right now?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, certainly what we're hearing from the U.S. President is a message of optimism. It has been for many months, actually, from the previous administration as well. The optimism has been at the White House and there have been more cautious messages coming from the mediators themselves, for example, from Qatar, saying not to expect a fast result.

And really that is what it appears to be, the fact that the U.S. President believed there would be a deal by last week, which is what he said. He's now saying that he still thinks there will be a deal or something for him to talk about fairly soon.

[03:20:05]

We've heard Steve Witkoff, the Middle East envoy, saying that he's still hopeful. And yet we are seeing these signs that a speedy resolution is not likely at this point.

Now, the two sides are still talking. We know that they are having these indirect talks in Qatar. We know the mediators are trying to bridge some of those gaps that are still there.

And we know that both sides are blaming the other for the fact it has not been agreed at this point. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he has agreed to what he called the Witkoff deal, but Hamas had rejected it, Hamas is saying that they have agreed to the deal itself, but Netanyahu is putting up more amendments, more hurdles to the deal. So really both sides blaming the other.

One of the sticking points we know at this point is the deployment or redeployment of the Israeli military after the ceasefire comes into being, after this 60-day temporary ceasefire starts, where exactly the military will be moving to.

Now, the original proposal we understood that they would move from parts of northern Gaza on day one and then a week later parts of southern Gaza. It's not clear if that is still the latest proposal. We do know, though, as they are still talking, that the IDF has called to evacuate parts of Gaza City and Jabalia in northern Gaza because they are going to be operating significantly in that area, they say.

So even as these talks are ongoing and the U.S. claims that there is progress, we are seeing a mass movement of Palestinians from those areas in northern Gaza, being told they have to go to al-Mawasi, which is an area further south along the coast. So there are some sticking points that are still there. We understand the Israeli military does not want to move, even after a ceasefire, from the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Israel says that is where they have seen Hamas smuggling weapons and rearming in the past. So they do not want to leave from this Philadelphi corridor.

So the talks are still going. The optimism is with the White House, but there aren't expectations of a very speedy resolution at this point. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Our thanks to Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi.

Well joining us now from Amman, Jordan, is Shaina Low, communications adviser to the Norwegian Refugee Council. Thank you so much for being with us.

So this optimism for a new ceasefire deal appears to be fading. What does this delay mean for so many people in Gaza, including children?

SHAINA LOW, COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Well, first of all, it means that Palestinians throughout Gaza are going to continue to experience relentless bombardment, targeting attacks, the decimation of infrastructure, what we have seen over the last 21 months. It also means that there won't be a scaling up of aid, at least not now.

We've heard that the E.U. has come to some type of arrangement with the Israelis, but we have not yet seen a significant increase in aid. So it means that Palestinians will continue to be deprived of basic necessities for their survival, food, access to clean drinking water, medical supplies, medicine, shelter materials. There are over 49,000 tents waiting outside of Gaza to get in.

And the longer that we go without a ceasefire or without the massive, at the very least, the massive scaling up of aid, the longer Palestinians will have to suffer, the longer Palestinians will continue to die from preventable deaths due to lack of medicines, due to lack of equipment, due to lack of shelter and access to clean water.

We're so desperate for a ceasefire. Our colleagues in Gaza are just simply exhausted. And the longer that this goes on, the more unnecessary suffering for civilians is bound to take place.

CHURCH: And how would you describe living conditions and the humanitarian situation in Gaza right now? What have been the main challenges in recent days?

LOW: I'm not sure you can even call them living conditions, the conditions that people are forced to live under. We have hundreds of thousands of people that have been newly redisplaced since March 18, when Israel broke the ceasefire. Those people are arriving at overcrowded displacement sites where there is little space, no materials to provide any type of shelter support.

[03:24:55]

There's a tremendous lack of fuel, which is causing havoc, wreaking havoc across the entire sector, everything from bakeries to hospitals to the communications networks to water desalination plants are reliant on this fuel. And so, until there's a scaling up, without a scaling up of materials, we're going to see people continue to suffer, living under impossible conditions, without access to adequate food, without access to clean water, and without access to really the basic necessities for human survival.

CHURCH: What would you say, Shaina, are the greatest needs right now for most Palestinians? And is there any indication that more humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza will soon be allowed in? I mean, you mentioned at the start there that you weren't seeing anything now, but is there any hope that that could happen in the weeks ahead, perhaps?

LOW: Well, we've heard reports of this, and the E.U. has made this announcement that they've come to an agreement to scale up aid through traditional humanitarian partners. We desperately need that.

We desperately need the U.N. and traditional humanitarian agencies to be allowed in to scale up our work and do our jobs. Too many people are being killed, shot and killed as they make their way to distribution sites where they can receive food, but they're forced to walk through active combat zones. They are forced to risk their lives in order to get a meager amount of food, for sure, food and fuel are the top priorities.

As we see, starvation continues to spread, as malnutrition continues to rise, as people continue to lose access to clean water. Those are for sure some of the most essential things that we need. But we also need critical medical supplies, medicines.

People are still being brought into hospitals that don't have adequate supplies to treat them. Doctors are being forced to work under unimaginable conditions. The situation really in every aspect is catastrophic.

CHURCH: Shaina Low, thank you so much for joining us and for the work you do. I appreciate it.

Still to come, more on the U.S. President's new tactic to put pressure on Russia to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. A NATO official speaks to CNN about what he calls a very smart move. Back in just a moment.

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[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

U.S. President Donald Trump says he is giving Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or he'll impose 100 percent tariffs on Moscow. Buyers of Russia's oil could be slapped with secondary sanctions. Mr. Trump also said NATO countries will buy U.S.-made weapons then transfer them to Ukraine.

Donald Trump is expressing some optimism over efforts to broker a ceasefire deal in Gaza. On Monday, the U.S. President said he believes there could be something to talk about, quote, fairly soon. Negotiations on a ceasefire deal have faltered in Qatar, though talks do continue.

Summer storms are drenching several states in northeastern U.S. As heavy rainfall continues into Tuesday, millions of people remain under flash flood warnings. The weather is also impacting air travel in major metropolitan travel hubs like New York, Washington and Boston.

U.S.-made defensive weapons could be headed to Ukraine within days under the new plan announced by U.S. President Donald Trump. CNN's Kristen Holmes has details from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump seemingly almost doing a 180 on his stance on both Russian President Vladimir Putin and the situation, the war in Ukraine today during his major announcement on Russia. Now, he announced two big things. The first of them being that he was going to, if Putin, Vladimir Putin did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine in the next 50 days, he is going to impose a tariff at 100 percent, now this is a secondary tariff, just to be clear here, this is not just on Russia.

Russia itself doesn't do enough trade for that to be impactful with the U.S., but instead on intermediary countries. These are countries that do business with both Russia and the United States. And the hope there is that if a country like China, which does business with both, is taxed at 100 percent, that might be incentive to try and push Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

One of the things we've heard as to why President Trump is taking these steps now is because he's very frustrated. He doesn't believe that negotiating with President Putin has gone the way he said it was going to. Here's just part of what he said.

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TRUMP: We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia. We're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days.

Tariffs at about 100 percent. They call them secondary tariffs. We want to see it end.

And I'm disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there.

HOLMES: Now, in addition to this, President Trump announced that they were going to be sending weapons to Ukraine, but through NATO countries. And the way that this would work is really President Trump threading the needle here. Remember, one of the things that he ran on was this idea of America first, that he wanted to give less money to Ukraine, give less resources to Ukraine, that he believed that it was a waste and also that he could end the conflict there. Now you see him wanting to ramp up those weapons.

So the way that they're doing this is the announcement comes, they are, these NATO countries, going to buy the weapons from the United States. Then they are going to distribute the weapons to Ukraine. And we're hearing this is going to happen almost immediately, President Trump talking about how some of these countries already had Patriot missile systems, that those systems were going to move over to Ukraine almost immediately, and then the United States would ramp up its production and then take that, send that to the countries as almost a backfill, that send their weapons to Ukraine.

But again, this is a 180 from where we saw President Trump even six months ago. And I think the most telling part of what we saw there was in the meeting that he had with the secretary general of NATO. He said essentially, not Trump, but the secretary general said that Trump had made a decision that the Ukrainians needed to defend himself.

So clearly here we are entering a new chapter of this war in Ukraine. President Trump offering support to try and help these Ukrainians defend themselves. A lot of this, again, falls back on what he has, what we've seen, what we've heard, is frustration for how it's been to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: CNN's Jake Tapper spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte after that announcement at the White House. He told CNN he thinks the U.S. president has come up with a good plan to pressure Russia. Here's part of their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: European allies will buy from the defense industrial base in the U.S. that can be Patriot systems or missiles or ammunition. And then we will make sure that the U.S. will be reimbursed for whatever European allies are buying.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, AND "THE LEAD" ANCHOR: So Trump says Putin has 50 days to make a peace deal or face these punishing trade consequences. Why do you think Trump's giving Putin 50 days? I mean, this war has now been going on for years.

Why not just impose the economic punishments? Now, you may know in the U.S. Senate there's a bill supported by 85 senators to sanction Russia.

RUTTE: Yes, I will have dinner after this with Senators Graham and Blumenthal and others who are working on that bill. But I think what President Trump announced today is a real smart way to move forward because what it basically says to India, to China and to Brazil, so countries still buying from Russia, hey, pick up the phone, call Vladimir Putin and tell him he has got to get serious on peace negotiations.

And if he doesn't, then we will be targeted, of course Russia itself, but also all these countries still buying from Russia. So I think it is a very smart move.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: I spoke earlier with Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudyk and I asked about her reaction to President Trump's threat to apply 100 percent tariffs if the Kremlin fails to end the fighting in Ukraine within 50 days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRA RUDYK, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AND LEADER OF GOLOS PARTY: The main question when we hear those deadlines always is are we going to survive till the end of those deadlines, till the end of those 50 days? Are our families be OK before that time? Are our loved ones not be killed by Russian missiles and drones that Putin constantly is launching?

So it's very personal and very practical thing. Am I going to be around at the end of the 50 days? And, you know, the answer is we don't know. Putin is obviously allowed

to finish his summer campaign. He has not shown any single fact, Rosemary, that he wants to end the war and he may end the war.

There was nothing that confirmed this illusion that Russia wants to end the war but just for some reason cannot. So though we are, of course, very happy that the military support for Ukraine will continue, we are very concerned about why these 50 days deadlines need to be put in and what one hopes that's going to happen during the 50 days.

CHURCH: And President Trump, as you just alluded to, also announced his new plan to rearm your country with more American weapons, including Patriot missile systems, by selling them to NATO nations who would then give those weapons to Ukraine.

[03:40:08]

What's your response to that plan and what impact will it have on your country's war effort, do you think?

RUDYK: It is critical and it's, of course, positive that the United States has agreed that Ukraine can and will receive Patriot missile systems because this is one of the things that will, again, allow us to survive. The question is who and when will pay for them and how long would it take to go through all these parts of the process and when the weapons would arrive to Ukraine.

What we are hopeful is that at some point both U.S. officials and European officials will realize that to pay for the weapons they need the funds that they may not have or it may not be comfortable to take them from some of the programs and will go ahead with confiscating Russian assets and use them for the sake of Ukraine in the way of purchasing the weapons to help us to sustain against Russia's aggression.

That will be a fair, just movement and I want to tell you, Rosemary, that it is $300 billion that are being stored in European deposit funds of Russian money that are being frozen but not have been confiscated. We hope that this decision is pushing everyone towards the final confiscation of the money so there will be enough resources to pay for the U.S. weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Our thanks to Ukrainian Member of Parliament Kira Rudyk speaking with us from Kyiv.

Well, in the wake of the catastrophic flooding in Central Texas, new details are emerging surrounding the tragedy at Camp Mystic. Coming up, the details we are learning so far.

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CHURCH: Flash flood warnings were issued to millions of people across northeastern U.S. on Monday. Slow-moving storms continue to threaten major metropolitan areas and travel hubs and flooding has already been reported in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.

This was the scene inside a New York City subway on Monday. Several trains were suspended, delayed or rerouted after water seeped into the station and surrounded passengers. Multiple water rescues have also been reported in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County and the Weather Service has warned that more rain is expected Tuesday in some areas.

At least 132 people have died amid flash flooding in Central Texas, 27 of those victims were campers and counselors who were killed when raging waters swept through Camp Mystic. As communities in Kerr County begin to grieve and rebuild, we are learning more about what led to the tragic loss of life there.

CNN's Julia Vargas-Jones has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now getting a fuller picture of what happened in the early hours of July 4th at Camp Mystic.

Richard Dick Eastland, the co-director of the camp, did receive a 1:14 a.m. flash flood alert warning of life-threatening conditions. Now, it wasn't until about 2:00 to 2:30 a.m. that Eastland started to evacuate campers into a different part of the camp.

That initial alert, though, it did not order an evacuation. That second, more urgent alert comes in not until 4:03 a.m. And that's the one that says move to higher ground now.

Now, Eastland lost his life trying to save campers from the cabin called Bubble Inn. That's where some of the youngest campers were housed at the time. And a family spokesperson did say that camp leaders acted promptly based on the information they had at the time and that they did not have a sense of the magnitude and the devastation that these floodwaters would bring.

Now, there are many questions about that alert system and if local authorities did everything they could to try and warn people of the magnitude of this disaster. Today at a county commissioner's meeting here in Kerrville, we did speak with the county judge, Rob Kelly, who said he was not authorized to speak to the media but who told me that he did not know the magnitude of this and had he known, he would have acted differently.

Here in Texas, those county judges are responsible for emergency management systems and it raises the question that if the person in charge was not aware of the magnitude of this disaster, what is it that went wrong? This as operations had to be stopped on Sunday because of those heavy rains but now have resumed. But those search and rescue operations are now even more challenging

as those on the ground going through the debris of the river are encountering scenes like this one.

This photo shared from the Unified Cajun Navy with CNN showing an entire vehicle under gravel and debris. A lot more of those have been found, according to a Cajun Navy commander, saying that this is not an uncommon scene here at this point and that the new rains have only made that more difficult as scenes and parts of the river that had already been searched have now to be searched again.

[03:50:09]

Julia Vargas-Jones, CNN, Kerrville, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A wildfire has engulfed the north rim of Arizona's Grand Canyon and the National Park Service is now under scrutiny for letting the fire get out of control and burn the area's historic lodge. Our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam explains how it spread so quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Two large wildfires grew explosively this past weekend despite the best efforts for the firefighting crews on the ground. And unfortunately, this has left the result of the full closure of the north rim of the Grand Canyon through the rest of the 2025 season.

And that is because of this. Some of these historic, very famous lodges, the Grand Canyon Lodge on the north rim, has been left to ash and rubble. Here's a before and after picture of the destruction that was left behind by the fire known as the Dragon Bravo Fire.

Just look at this incredible damage. It is so sad, really breaking the hearts of people from Arizona and all the visitors who had plans to actually go and see this incredible sight.

So what's been happening here? We have had really just difficult, challenging weather conditions on the ground and they're going to be complicated into the day on Tuesday because of a sagging frontal boundary that will help pick up the winds and also create a few showers and thunderstorms, but there's not a lot of moisture in the atmosphere to work with, so it could produce that thunderstorm, but minus the rainfall, so only lightning strikes that could, of course, spark additional wildfires and also complicate the firefighting efforts on the ground here in northern Arizona because of the uptick in winds.

Speaking of winds, this is what we're expecting, anywhere from 15 to 25 mph wind gusts. This is being complicated by the heat on the ground. We have excessive heat alerts and warnings for all of the Grand Canyon.

Just incredible to see this, but it's not just there. It's located over much of the western U.S. with quite a ridge of heat building in across this region, but there is some relief in the extended forecast, and I'll show you what I'm talking about here with this available moisture map.

Notice the uptick in available moisture across the Great Basin, specifically here into northern Arizona where the Grand Canyon is located. I think by Thursday and Friday there will be rainfall in this forecast that will actually produce meaningful precipitation. You can see the surge of, kind of, monsoonal moisture moving into the Grand Canyon, the Great Basin, and that could produce showers and a few thunderstorms, but mainly some much-needed rainfall right across this region to help with the firefighting efforts on the ground.

Back to you.

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CHURCH: A new report shows China's economy is doing better than expected, but for how much longer? We will look at its domestic challenges and the threat of U.S. tariffs back in just a moment.

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[03:55:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.

Less than a month before the deadline for new U.S. tariffs, China is reporting slightly stronger-than-expected economic growth. Its GDP expanded 5.2 percent in the second quarter from the same period a year earlier. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout has the details.

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fresh Chinese economic data is out and it reveals resilience in the face of U.S. tariffs. Now China's second quarter GDP grew 5.2 percent year-on-year. That is down from 5.4 percent growth in the first quarter, but it's still above China's annual target of around 5 percent.

Now analysts say that the trade war may be dragging on sentiment, but it's not the massive shock that many originally feared. Still, China is facing some major economic challenges.

Nick Mauro of the EIU tells CNN this. Quote, "We will need to entangle the difference between what the headline figure says and what companies and households are seeing on the ground. For many, this doesn't 'feel' like an economy growing at five percent," unquote.

Now China is facing a number of economic headwinds, including low consumer spending, low consumer confidence, high youth unemployment, an ongoing property slump, and Larry Hu of the Macquarie Group makes a link between consumer spending and China's lagging property market. He points out this quote, "Falling home prices have led to a negative wealth effect on consumption, as housing accounts for 60-70 percent of household wealth. Consumption will not recover until housing recovers."

Now, in contrast, China's export machine keeps powering ahead. In fact, according to new trade data that was released on Monday, China's year-on-year exports rose 5.8 percent in June, as companies rush to get goods out of China as the trade truce holds. But the clock is ticking, the current pause on higher U.S. tariffs on China expires on August the 12th.

Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

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CHURCH: And thanks for spending part of your day with me and my team. I'm Rosemary Church. "Amanpour" is next, then stay tuned for "Early Start" with M.J. Lee, starting at 5 a.m. in New York, 10 a.m. in London.

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