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Key Negotiators to Discuss Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Egypt; Trump Falsely Claims Cuba Virtually has No Autism. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired October 08, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL 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.

Key negotiators are set to arrive in Egypt with hopes of securing a deal to end the war in Gaza more than two years into the conflict.

The U.S. and Canada signal progress on trade negotiations as President Trump promises to treat Canada fairly.

Plus, National Guard troops arrive in Illinois despite objections from the state's leaders.

And later, Donald Trump says Cuba has virtually no autism. CNN visits a school in Cuba for autistic children where educators are baffled by the U.S. President's comments.

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

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us.

And we begin in Egypt where key negotiators from the U.S., Israel and Qatar are expected to arrive in the coming hours to join the Gaza ceasefire talks. Among them, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Ron Dermer, a key ally of the Israeli Prime Minister is also expected to join.

But Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues as a source tells CNN, Israel and Hamas delegations have made progress in the discussions. And on the second anniversary of the attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to secure the eternity of Israel, calling it a war for our very existence and our future.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joins us live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula.

So with these key negotiators from the U.S., Israel and Qatar set to arrive in Egypt very soon, expectations are high of course. So what are you hearing about what's likely to come out of these critical negotiations?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, this will be day three of these talks in Sharm el-Sheikh and I think what we can read into the situation at this point is the fact that the senior players are coming into town. These are the individuals that have the mandate, they have the power to say yes or no. They can make the significant decisions to move the process forward.

So in that respect, it does appear as though this is making progress. It appears as though the fact that the heavy hitters are coming in at this point of these talks would show that some progress has been made, as an official told CNN's Jeremy Diamond as well.

Now what we have also heard is from the Qatari side, we heard a press conference from the spokesperson of the foreign ministry and he said that the Prime Minister was going to be part of these talks and it comes at, quote, "a critical stage of the talks." He did also point out that many details do still need to be discussed, pointing out this is a 20-point plan and the implementation on pretty much all of those points will have to be explored and explained.

Now we've had more clarification as well on Tuesday about exactly what Hamas wants at this point. They issued a statement, we also saw an interview with Egyptian state media with the main negotiator that Khalil al-Hayya that Israel actually targeted last month in Qatar and he was saying that the main things that they wanted at this point was that they were going to hold responsible and serious discussions, that they wanted to see the permanent ceasefire, Israeli military withdrawing completely, unrestricted humanitarian aid going into the Gaza Strip.

But what we also heard from state media in Egypt was the fact that they're looking for guarantees from the United States, specifically from the U.S. President Donald Trump, that Israel will not restart the war once all the hostages have been released.

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As part of this 20 point plan, there was initially a plan that within 72-hours of Israel agreeing to this plan that all the hostages would be released, which would mean Hamas loses all of its leverage and that is certainly coming to bear as one of the key concerns that they have. Rosemary.

CHURCH: Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi with that report, I appreciate it.

Well, today we could find out whether the French government has any hope of escaping its political crisis. The French President has asked the outgoing Prime Minister to hold one final round of talks with opposition parties in hopes of a breakthrough. Sebastien Lecornu is expected to meet with the socialists in less than an hour and later the Greens. Now this comes as Emmanuel Macron faces growing calls to step down or hold snap elections.

CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Paris. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Last-ditch negotiations are underway here in Paris as Sebastien Lecornu tries one last time to cobble together a functioning government. This at the request of President Macron, who asked him after he'd resigned on Monday to give that government one last chance. He has to convince those parties who'd agreed to work with him originally about the composition of the government and he has until Wednesday evening to do so.

He tweeted himself, Sebastien Lecornu, about these negotiations saying that the urgency here was to try and deal with the budget. The French government has until the middle of October to get before Parliament budgetary proposals that need to involve budget cuts if France is to avoid its looming debt crisis. All of this putting extra pressure on the shoulders of a man who's giving these last-ditch talks a try.

Should Sebastien Lecornu fail in convincing his partners, those parties with which he had hoped to work to do so, then we understand that the French President will be taking his responsibilities. What he means by that is far from clear. Essentially three options before him, either dissolving Parliament once again, but polls show that a snap parliamentary election would see the far right do even better than the last time Parliament was dissolved in June of 2024.

He could also try and name another Prime Minister but at this stage he's seen five prime ministers come and go since the start of his second term and there are fears that once again this might not work and once again waste time.

The third option, which had seemed very unlikely because the French President had said all along that he would not be resigning and would be sticking it till the presidential election of 2027, would be that he calls a snap an early presidential election.

The trouble with that, polls also suggest that the far-right would do very well with the latest polls suggesting they would get up to 35 percent of the vote.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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CHURCH: The effects of the U.S. government shutdown are starting to show with Republican and Democratic lawmakers still no closer to a deal now a week into their standoff.

Major airports across the country are experiencing delays due to staffing issues and shortages of air traffic controllers. Officials say they're seeing more sick outs and have had to close some control towers due to the shortages.

Another hot button issue is whether furloughed federal employees will be paid for the time they did not work during the shutdown. Axios reports a White House draft memo suggests there have been conversations about employees not receiving back pay.

CNN has not reviewed that memo and it's not clear how seriously the idea was being considered. President Trump says most of those employees will be taken care of.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: For the most part we're going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don't deserve to be taken care of and we'll take care of them in a different way.

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CHURCH: After months of back-and-forth, the U.S. and Canada appear to be making progress toward a trade deal. President Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday. One Canadian minister said the meeting was positive, substantive and more detailed than previous talks and added that both leaders had directed their negotiators to quickly land deals, particularly regarding steel, aluminum and energy.

CNN's Paula Newton has the latest from Washington.

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PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Mark Carney really set expectations low going into these meetings. He did not have any illusions that he was going to come out of the Oval Office with a trade deal, but he did come up with some frank discussion. In fact the lunch and the cabinet level meetings went on longer than expected.

I want you to listen to Prime Minister Carney right now.

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: There are areas where we compete and it's in those areas where we have to come to an agreement that works, but there are more areas where we are stronger together and that's what we're focused on and we're going to get the right deal. Right deal for America, right deal obviously from my perspective for Canada.

NEWTON: That is an admission that the new trade deal between the United States and Canada will not be like the old one in terms of the conditions that President Trump will set on these.

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Having said that, the Prime Minister definitely has the President's attention. They have a good relationship and I want you to listen now to President Trump talking about a potential trade deal. Listen.

TRUMP: I think they're going to be very happy. We have a lot of things that we're working on that people don't talk about. They talk about, you know, competitiveness, he's a very competitive person and they talk about things that we don't necessarily agree on, but I think they're going to walk away very happy, I think so. NEWTON: So happy is clearly in the eye of the beholder. I mean look no

one in Canada is under any illusions that the deal that they have right now with Mexico, the United States and Canada, that they can resuscitate that. But in terms of getting those sectoral tariffs lifted, steel, aluminum, all kinds of energy, it is important that even in the next few weeks they might come up with some kind of a deal on that, that's according to cabinet officials.

And perhaps it will lead to more productive talks on a wider deal not as favorable to Canada as others have been, but at least a more comprehensive deal in the months to come.

Paul Newton, CNN, Washington.

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CHURCH: Let's bring in Justin Wolfers, a Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Good to have you with us.

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROF. OF ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Good to see you, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So President Trump hosted Canada's Prime Minister at the White House on Tuesday with Mark Carney seeking relief from U.S. tariffs. How did he go?

WOLFERS: Oh goodness gracious, didn't they look cozy together. Look, we're in a funny moment. You can't say well and you can't say badly, you can say at least it didn't go terribly.

I don't think there's a lot of news to report. The President managed to insult the Canadians fewer times than normal. That's probably enough that Carney can keep visiting the White House.

Carney wants to try and get that relationship back on track and it looked a little bit closer to what it normally looks like when two world leaders get together. So congratulations to the President for retaining his personality.

CHURCH: And Justin, of course, unlike most other nations, Canada hasn't struck a trade deal with President Trump yet and that's of course adding pressure on Prime Minister Carney to win at least some tariff relief. How likely is it that a trade deal might come out of this meeting given Carney will be sticking around in D.C. today?

WOLFERS: I've got a little secret for you in fact, Rosemary. A lot of people aren't aware of this. Turns out the U.S. and Canada already have a trade deal, it was called NAFTA.

Then President Trump ripped it up and he gave it a new name and it's actually still in force. Just the Americans don't always want to live up to it. So actually, the U.S. posture towards Canada is very confused and very confusing right now.

So on the one hand, they say for goods that meet USMCA, which is the post NAFTA, NAFTA-like deal, for goods that meet those conditions, then you're getting the NAFTA tariff, which is zero. And that's 80 percent, maybe even 90 percent of Canadian trade. But then the President, of course, also wants to remind everyone that he hates Canada.

So he's imposed a tariff of 35 percent on everything Canadian, except that 90 percent. So that turns out to be 35 percent on only 10 percent. So it's really tough if you're in one of those industries.

And then just in case you thought it was all a little too simple with tariffs that are on and tariffs that are off, there's also industry- specific tariffs. And that's really what's bugging the Canadians right now. Steel, aluminum, there's also going to be a bit of stuff on lumber as well.

And the President's got a whole lot more of these because he thinks these are essential to national security. The Canadians would rather not get caught up with that. The President likes to talk about tariffs, so he's not made any concessions so far.

CHURCH: Do you think there's a possibility that he may bring down that 35 percent tariff? Of course, there are exemptions there, as you mentioned.

WOLFERS: Yes, so the 35 percent tariff doesn't really actually matter that much. So a moment ago, I said that 80 percent of the goods coming out of Canada are what they call USMCA-compliant, which is they meet the rules to be under the old free trade agreement. You might be saying to yourself, what are the other 20 percent?

And the fact is that prior to Trump, most tariffs on Canada were so low, often people just didn't bother to get certified. Now that they're 35 percent, they're going off, they're getting certified. And so when I say 80 percent of goods are USMCA-compliant, that might very soon become 90 percent.

So if almost everything's excluded from the 35 percent tariff, the 35 percent tariff becomes a whole lot less important yet again. Let me tell you, for Canada, this is their most important trading relationship. Canadians understand all of this.

For everyone else, it sounded like I just gave you an essay with lots of numbers and you couldn't possibly remember them all, and I suspect this is how it plays in Washington.

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So the Canadians understand the reality, things aren't too bad right now. In fact, they're better off than a lot of other trading partners, while the Americans still get to look tough and posture about it all.

CHURCH: Interesting. And so where does all this leave U.S.-Canadian relations, do you think, and what might it mean for Mexico?

WOLFERS: So for folks who are watching very closely, they sort of came out of this meeting, and as I said, they didn't insult each other very much, which is regarded as a good thing now, apparently. And so that would suggest U.S.-Canada relations are in a much better place than they were a couple of weeks ago.

Now, realize there's a deep question, why are they? And I don't have a better explanation than that President Trump was in a different mood today. And if that's the case, he could be in yet a different mood several weeks' time. So the fact that things are in a better place today doesn't really tell us that much about the future.

Look, whichever way Trump goes, Carney understands that he has an economy that he needs to guide, and he needs to make sure that he has close friends, both in the region and around the world, and that President Trump has shown himself to be an unreliable trading partner. So the Canadians are looking elsewhere. They're looking to much closer relations with Mexico, with Europe, and indeed, much of the rest of the world.

CHURCH: Justin Wolfers, it's always a pleasure to chat with you. Many thanks.

WOLFERS: Pleasure, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Texas National Guard troops are on the ground in Illinois, but Chicago's Mayor does not want them there. Find out when the case against the Trump administration goes to court. That's just ahead.

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CHURCH: Chicago's Mayor is lashing out at the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to Illinois. Mayor Brandon Johnson calls the deployment illegal and dangerous, and he's suing to stop it. The troops are part of the Trump administration's effort to protect federal immigration agents amid growing protests.

CNN's Omar Jimenez reports.

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now that the Texas National Guard is here in Illinois, the question is, what will their deployment actually look like? We've been here throughout the day monitoring outside this Army Reserve Training Center, and really some of the new things that popped up are this fencing, for example. Of course, as more people started to get curious as to what their operations actually looked like, we have seen in these nighttime hours uniforms, military personnel coming in and out of what appear to be barracks or some form of structures here on the front.

But again, this fencing was put up hours after the Texas National Guard was seen here initially in the first place. Now, when we talk about the scope of what their deployment is actually going to look like, one of the main concerns comes down to how community-facing will they be. Some of the folks in many of Chicago's communities, we are just

outside Chicago, but in Chicago's communities, many people have already had what at this point have become high-profile run-ins with federal immigration enforcement. Remember previously when the at least in part trying to bolster the federal response to what we have seen on the immigration front in the city of Chicago.

We got some hints from Gregory Bovino, who has sort of helped lead the immigration response for the Trump administration in various jurisdictions, including L.A., and we have seen his operational control here in Chicago as well. He said at the very least, if these National Guard troops are sent out to protect federal property and personnel, as has been laid out in the White House memo to this point, then it also frees up federal agents to do other types of work.

And then hanging over all of this is this lawsuit that the federal judge did not immediately deny troops being deployed here. Instead, gave the Trump administration two days to respond with oral arguments over this set for Thursday.

So the beginning of a new chapter in this back and forth between the Trump administration and local officials here in the Chicago and Illinois area. But what exactly that next chapter looks like is yet to be seen.

Omar Jimenez, CNN, Elwood, Illinois.

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CHURCH: Still to come, President Trump's false claim that there's no autism in Cuba surprised health workers on the island. We will hear from them next.

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

A number of key negotiators are expected to arrive in Egypt today for the Gaza ceasefire talks. A source tells CNN that Israel and Hamas have progress, but according to Egyptian state-affiliated media, Hamas has asked for clarity on implementation of the 20-point plan.

National Guard troops from Texas are now on the ground in Illinois. The Trump administration says they will help protect federal property and agents from protesters. But Chicago's mayor says their deployment is illegal and dangerous and he is suing to stop it.

The U.S. government shutdown is now into its second week and it's causing flight delays at major airports across the country. They're facing shortages of air traffic controllers. Some are working through the shutdown without pay, others are not turning up to work, some control towers have been forced to temporarily close.

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Five people have been arrested in Ecuador after protesters attacked a convoy carrying President Daniel Noboa. Officials say they will face terrorism and attempted murder charges, video released by the Ecuadorian presidency shows hundreds of people on the road around the convoy with some throwing rocks. President Noboa was not harmed, but the country's energy minister claims it was an assassination attempt and says signs of bullet damage were found on the President's vehicle.

Last month, a presidential motorcade was attacked by crowds in another province. Protesters argue the government is violently repressing dissent over President Noboa's new policy on diesel fuel subsidies and an indigenous activist group says the government is carrying out brutal crackdowns on protesters.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump linked autism to acetaminophen use during pregnancy, despite decades of evidence that it's safe. He also falsely claimed that autism is not present in Cuba because people don't use Tylenol. CNN's Patrick Oppmann visited a school for children with autism in Havana to find out more.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music class at the school for Cuban children is an opportunity to make some noise and have some fun. The more than 50 children here face a unique challenge on top of all the other challenges of life in Cuba. They've all been diagnosed with autism.

Music therapy is one of the treatments the school offers the kids who range from ages 6 to 18. Immediately, our camera sparks their curiosity and music class becomes dance class.

For more than 20 years, Cuba's government has operated specialized schools for children on the autism spectrum. In addition to their lessons, kids here learn life skills like how to set a table before mealtime.

We teach them to eat, to bathe, she says. We help them with socialization, communication, and how to behave, which is an area that's one of the most challenging for them.

There are 10 schools like this across the island, educators here say, and that there is autism in Cuba is no secret, which is why they tell us they were caught off guard by U.S. President Donald Trump last month.

TRUMP: There are parts of the I mean, there's a rumor, and I don't know if it's so or not, that Cuba, they don't have Tylenol because they don't have the money for Tylenol, and they have virtually no autism. Okay, tell me about that one. And there are other parts of the world where they don't have Tylenol, where they don't have autism, that tells you a lot. OPPMANN (voice-over): Both of Trump's claims that there is next to no

autism, and no Tylenol in Cuba are contradicted by the facts on the ground.

OPPMANN: We've already shown you that yes, autism exists in Cuba, and as well for decades, Cubans had readily accessible them in locally- produced version of Tylenol. But that medicine like many others is becoming harder and harder to find, as Cuba endures the worst economic crisis in years. And so Cubans are increasingly having to find medicines like Tylenol on the black market rather than in government pharmacies.

OPPMANN (voice-over): Cuban psychologists studying autism say they're unaware of any link between Tylenol and the condition. The same conclusion reached by many other scientists around the world.

There are many factors behind someone being diagnosed with autism. It's very unique, it has to do with genetics. There are some factors that are hereditary, others no.

Autism is part of life in Cuba. And it's also true that people with autism face the same shortages that everyone else here does, which the Cuban government maintains are primarily the result of increased U.S. economic sanctions.

This school has been hit hard by daily power cuts and plummeting salaries for state employees.

We do lack things, she says. To say we do not lack things, materials and tools isn't true, we need them. The human resources we have, which is the most important.

Despite Trump's misinformed comments, Cubans studying autism tell us they would welcome closer collaboration with the U.S. to further understand a global health issue that transcends both borders and politics.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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CHURCH: The price of gold reached a record high on Tuesday, while some are betting it could go higher. That's next.

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CHURCH: The French Prime Minister is speaking now in Paris. Sebastien Lecornu has been meeting with opposition parties in a last-ditch effort to form a ruling coalition and stabilize the country. Now, this comes two days after he resigned, but the French president urged him to hold a final round of talks. We are monitoring Prime Minister Lecornu's address and will of course bring you the headlines as soon as we have them.

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Well this is your Business Breakout. We have been watching the markets across Asia, where stocks in Japan and Hong Kong were lower in trading today, the Shanghai composite was closed.

And these are the business headlines.

Tesla has unveiled new cheaper versions of the company's two main cars, the Model 3 and the Model Y. The roughly $5,000 price cuts aim to create a more affordable starting tier for buyers. This comes after the expiration of the $7,500 E.V. tax credit for U.S. consumers.

Shares of Trilogy Metals, a Vancouver-based mining company, are seeing a more than 200 percent rise in value. The price closed at $6.50 Tuesday, the surge comes after the U.S. government announced it would acquire a 10 percent stake in the company. Donald Trump signed an executive order to allow construction of roads in Alaska's Ambler Mining District, where Trilogy is a key developer.

Well for the first time ever, gold prices hit $4,000 an ounce on Tuesday. The record rise was driven by strong investment demand, as well as expectations for more interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

High gold prices are usually an ominous sign for the markets and the economy and I spoke with economics professor Justin Wolfers earlier this hour and I asked him if that's the case at present. Take a listen.

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WOLFERS: So one answer coming out of Wall Street is what they're calling the debasement trade. If you think that American commerce can't be trusted, the American monetary system is under threat because the Fed is under attack, then what you want is to store your money somewhere a little more reliable. There's a school of thought then that maybe if you don't trust U.S. dollars, what you do is trust gold.

Let me just add a little parenthetic note. I've often been confused by this. As far as I can tell, gold is just a shiny rock.

And there's no reason necessarily to believe shiny rocks are a particularly great store of value, I know they have been in the past. People like to smash them down and make rings out of them. But it's a funny way of thinking about money, isn't it?

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CHURCH: Well, the Trump administration has ordered FBI employees to search for papers or digital records related to the disappearance of famed pilot Amelia Earhart. Two law enforcement sources told CNN that FBI workers in Washington and New York have until Wednesday to respond to the request. President Trump announced last month he plans to declassify and release all government records related to the aviator. Earhart was trying to become the first woman to fly around the world in 1937 when her plane went missing over the Pacific Ocean. She was declared lost at sea after a 16-day search.

I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "Marketplace Middle East" is coming up next, stay with us.

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