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President Trump Leaves for Five-Day Trip to Asia; President Trump Meets with Qatari Emir while Air Force One Refuels in Qatar; President Trump Announces Cancelation of Trade Negotiations with Canada after Ontario Airs Ad of Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan Criticizing Tariffs; Tropical Storm Threatens Jamaica; Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Criticizes U.S. Military Actions against Alleged Drug Trafficking Boats in Caribbean; High School Artificial Intelligence Security System Misidentifies Bag of Chips as Gun; U.S. Federal Government Shutdown Negatively Affecting Air Travel and Nuclear Weapons Maintenance; Artificial Intelligence Leading Tech Companies to Reduce Hiring of Junior Engineers. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired October 25, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with President Trump embarking on a high- stakes, five-day diplomatic visit to Asia. The major event of the trip is the president's first face to face meeting of his second term with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The key meeting comes at a time of growing tensions between the U.S. and China over Trump's tariff policy. Just moments ago, on Air Force One, it stopped to refuel in Qatar, where President Trump met with the Qatari emir and that country's prime minister. Here is part of the conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHEIKH TAMIM BIN HAMID AL-THANI, EMIR OF QATAR: I'm here because you're in my country, so I want to welcome you, Mr. President. And as soon as I found out that he's coming to refuel, I said, I'm not going to allow him to take off unless I come and say hello to him. So thank you very much, Mr. President. And it's always good to see you.

Well, the Emir is one of the great rulers of the world, not just the Middle East. He's loved, he's beloved and respected by his country. I don't know, what's more important, being beloved or respected? Both. You have a preference? Because you have both. You're one of the few. And the prime minister has been my friend and a friend to the world. And we've done a lot together in the last, especially in the last year. What we've done is incredible, peace in the Middle East. And they were a very big factor in it. So I just want to thank you.

I was thinking, we're landing here. We're going to fuel up. And it's such an honor to have you on the plane. And you don't do this often. I don't think he's ever done this, actually. But it's an honor. We have a great -- he's a great ally. They are a great ally. And these are two great men. And as long as we're together and you have those cameras rolling, I want to just say we express our thanks. And you have a safe Middle East right now, and you're going to keep it that way for a long time, for a very long time.

Thank you very much, everybody. Appreciate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Julia Benbrook is joining us right now. Julia, walk us through what's planned for this trip overall, and other things that the president may have said on the way.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's important to note out there, as we start, that that conversation obviously taking place on Air Force One. It was months ago now that the Trump administration accepted a luxury jet from Qatar that they had the intention of using as Air Force One in the future. But this stopped to refuel, included the meeting with the emir and the prime minister, it's just one of many meetings that will take place.

Trump is traveling all day to go on this diplomatic trip to Asia. I want to pull up some of the highlights of his schedule. We know that he will be making stops in Malaysia, Japan, as well as South Korea and in South Korea, that's where we expect a highly anticipated sit down between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. That is coming at a precarious time for relations between those two countries as both have recently slapped new measures on each other.

Now, we did hear Trump speaking on Air Force One about this expected sit down. He said that he does expect that they will speak about tariffs and trade, deals they've made, deals that have fallen through, as well as another wide range of topics. He does predict that it will be a good meeting, he said, maybe even a great meeting.

He went on to elaborate that he does believe that China will have to make concessions to get to some sort of an agreement, but he also suggested that he is willing to make some concessions as well.

WHITFIELD: And then Canada's prime minister will also be at this Asia summit. Is the president saying anything about the possibility of meeting?

BENBROOK: So he was pressed on this and what it would take for Canada to get back on track. He essentially said there wasn't much that they could do at this time. He does not have plans to meet with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney.

[14:05:00]

And taking a step back here to highlight the tensions in recent days, Trump did say that he is canceling trade negotiations with Canada, and that came after he took issue with the specific ad released by the government of Ontario. And in it, they used audio from a 1987 address delivered by then President Ronald Reagan where he was criticizing tariffs on foreign goods.

The Reagan Foundation did come out and say that they believe that those remarks were misrepresented in the ad. While it did lack context, and it was cut down for timing, the overall theme of the ad was support for free and fair trade. So it's not immediately clear the specifics that they took issue with there.

But Trump really ramped up the stakes. He said this in a social media post. He said "The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement which is fake, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs," adding an all caps, "All trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated!"

Now, in brief remarks on Friday, as Carney traveled for this trip as well, he said that his country is focused on what it can control, and that includes developing new relationships and opportunities. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook in Washington, thanks so much.

All right, President Trump is also signaling that his administration could soon take military action inside Venezuela in a push to stop drugs from entering the U.S. Three U.S. officials tell CNN that the president is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and trafficking routes inside the country. In a sign of potential escalation, the USS Gerald Ford and its strike group are now heading to the Caribbean. The U.S. has already carried out military strikes off the Venezuelan coast on boats that they claim, without proof, were carrying illicit drugs.

CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon is joining us live now from Venezuela's capital. Stefano, what are leaders there saying?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN JOURNALIST: Well, it was interesting, Fred, to listen to Nicolas Maduro last night. He made the reference, almost a reference directly to Trump's base, to the MAGA movement, pointing out that the president of the United States campaigned and reached the presidency both in 2016 and in 2024 as a president for peace. He said Donald Trump made a point in ending the forever wars. Those were the ones, of course, in Iraq and Afghanistan, which Trump campaigned against for a very long time. And it was interesting that Maduro used almost the same language to referencing to what could happen if indeed the U.S. would enter a conflict with Venezuela.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They are inventing a new forever war. They promised to never again get involved in the war, and they were inventing a war that we will avoid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POZZEBON: Now, how would Nicolas Maduro prevent that war, avoid that war, as he said yesterday, remains to be seen, because it seems that his calls have, of course, fallen on deaf ears in Washington. The arrival of the Gerald Ford, which CNN understands will take a few days, we understand that the carrier group will be in position late next week, however, is, of course, a dramatic escalation. It adds a lot of firepower to this situation. It's the largest and the most advanced ship ever to take to the sea, according to the U.S. Navy. And of course, it means that the U.S. is indeed hinting at the potential for conflict. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much in Venezuela.

All right, now, the growing threat in the Caribbean, this one in the weather form. Tropical storm Melissa has just grown into a category one hurricane with 75 mile per hour winds. Because of its slow movement, Melissa has dropped torrential amounts of rain over the Dominican Republic and Haiti. But Jamaica is right in its path now. Locals on the island are currently prepping for the hurricane that could potentially reach category five strength.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE THOMSON, KINGSTON NATIVE: I want it moving slowly. It's not the right thing. It's the worst. No one knows what next. You understand? My God, I have no problem. I may I asked him this morning to turn back this time because no matter what, we cannot manage it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN meteorologist, Chris Warren, joins us on what to expect. Chris?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There are multiple reasons why this is a disaster in the making. First, the steering winds, just not enough to pull this system away from land fast enough that the impacts will be limited. It is meandering around, caught between two areas of high pressure, and not going to see these steering winds till the middle of next week as it eventually will pull it out into the Atlantic.

[14:10:02]

Now where exactly it goes from relationship to Jamaica could still be on the east side or the west side. Computer models show us that, but still, right in the middle is Jamaica. And it's that rainfall, the amount of rain that's happening, and the extent of it. Look at this footprint here, just with one forecast model from here to here. So you can imagine it's shifting this far or this far somewhere in Hispaniola, including Haiti and Jamaica still going to end up potentially with feet of rain. So that is landslides, catastrophic flooding all on the table here.

And then there's the warm waters. So the warm waters is like the fuel for hurricanes. Upper 80s, plenty warm. You need around 80 degrees, upper 80s definitely there. Then on top of that, the warmth is deep into the sea here. So what that means is these storms, when they kind of stall out and they're hanging out in the same spot for a while, it can help stir up the ocean, bring up that cooler water and weaken the storm. That's not going to be the case here, because the heat is so deep in the water.

Then there's the terrain, another huge component. The fact that there are mountains and big hills here gets more lift out of that humid tropical air, getting up to where it cools, condenses, and turns into even more rain. So the terrain is another factor.

And on top of all of that, strong, damaging winds into the future satellite shows us an intense hurricane moving through the Caribbean.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Warren, that is a lot.

All right, still to come, a high school student gets handcuffed when an A.I. security system signals that it spots a gun. But really, it was a bag of Dorito chips.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:20]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. A Maryland high school is facing some tough questions after its artificial intelligence security system mistook a student's empty bag of Doritos for a gun, leading armed police to handcuff and then search the child. Here's how the responding officer explained the false alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So basically, the cameras around the system, they pick up on things that look like guns. I guess just the way you guys are eating chips, Doritos, whatever, it picked it up as a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I'd like to bring in now CNN's Julia Vargas Jones. Julia, I mean, this heavy-handed response sparked a lot of outrage, especially after it turned out it wasn't a gun, but instead, chips.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you imagine, Fred? Yes, look, Baltimore County officials are now calling for a review of how exactly all of that went down. And how does that school, Kenmore High School, actually uses that A.I. software to enforce security on their campus. This group of high schoolers was hanging out outside of high school after football practice, so it's already dark as you can see in that video. And then that student, Taki Allen, he is eating that bag of chips. And this is how he describes everything played out right after he had his hands in that bag of chips.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAKI ALLEN, STUDENT WHOSE DORITOS BAG WAS MISTAKEN FOR A GUN: Twenty minutes later, it was like eight cop cars that came pulling up to us. And I was like, at first, I didn't know where they was going until they started walking towards me with guns, talking about get on the ground. And I was like, what? They made me get on my knees and put my hands behind my back and cuffed me. And then they searched me. And then they figured out I ain't had nothing. Then they went over there to where I was standing, threw the bag of chips on the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now the Baltimore County Police Department says that they were responding to a report of a suspicious person with a weapon, and then they quickly determined, as you can see there, that there was no weapon.

Now, the question here, Fred, is, how is it that that alert got all the way to the police? Clearly, there was a breakdown in communications here. The way that this is supposed to work, that this kind of software is supposed to work, is there will be an alert that goes out to school officials first, and they are the ones that then have to escalate it.

Now, the principal of the school says she didn't realize that this alert had been canceled and continued to escalate it all the way until it got to the hands of police. But obviously, school officials had already looked at a video and seen that was just a bag of chips.

But this is kind of this kind of system is being used more and more widely across schools as they're trying to protect themselves against school shooters. Omnilert is the company that was providing the service for this specific school, and they said that their software is relatively new and it doesn't work perfectly all the time. And they also emphasize that this is the kind of system that needs that human oversight before anything happens.

In a statement to CNN, they did say, quote, "We regret that this incident occurred and we wish to convey our concern to the student and the wider community affected by the events that followed. While the object was later determined not to be a firearm, the process functioned as intended to prioritize safety and awareness through rapid human verification."

Now, if you ask a gun and surveillance experts about this, they'll say that normally there isn't any harm in implementing these kinds of systems in schools if they have the spare money to use towards that. But there is no concrete evidence that these systems actually help prevent school shootings, right? And as we're seeing here, there's still a lot of work to be done on them.

[14:20:02]

WHITFIELD: Sounds like a lot of review to be done as well. All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thanks so much.

All right, still to come here in the CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Growing up, I would always joke that I was adopted because I was so much taller than my family and just looked different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The shocking DNA results that solved a woman's medical mystery and opened up a bigger set of family questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: From missed paychecks to shuttered services, Americans in every corner of the country are feeling the effects of the federal government shutdown.

[14:25:00]

The impacts are showing up in everyday life, at airports, grocery stores, and even classrooms.

Let's start with the skies. You've probably heard about the growing chaos at airports, flight delays and cancellations are piling up as TSA employees and air traffic controllers continue to work without pay. And since the shutdown began, there have been more than 215 air traffic control staffing shortages reported at FAA facilities nationwide. And that's more than four times the number reported this time last year.

And just yesterday, Transportation Secretary warned that if the FAA determines flights cannot operate safely, well, you can expect more delays and cancellations straight ahead.

And it's not just flying that is taking a hit. Transportation projects on the ground could also come to a halt. That's everything from subway repair projects to major roadway construction. Without federal funding, much of that work could be paused indefinitely.

Families are also feeling the strain. Many home buyers, for example, are being left in limbo. According to the National Association of Realtors, more than a third of all home buyers rely on federally backed loans. But with the shutdown, applications for programs like USDA loans have stopped entirely, putting countless deals on hold.

Food assistance programs are on the line as well. In just one week, funding could run out for programs that help nearly 42 million Americans put food on the table. About one in eight Americans rely on SNAP, that's the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps.

And nearly 7 million pregnant women, new moms and young children who usually get help through WIC, Women, Infants, and Children, those programs without government funding, all of those benefits could vanish.

Some education programs that serve some of the nation's neediest preschoolers are also at risk. Head Start programs, serving about 6,500 low income kids are already operating without funding. And the National Head Start Association warns that programs supporting another 59,000 kids could lose funding by next week.

Even the courts are feeling the pinch. The judicial branch ran out of full funding on Monday, which could lead to court closures, delayed cases, and widespread disruptions in the federal system.

And if you're hoping to spend your weekend exploring a national museum or park, well, you might be out of luck. All Smithsonian Museums, including research centers and the National Zoo in the nation's capital, remain closed. The zoo assures that animals are being cared for, but the doors are still shut for the public.

And while many national parks are still partially open, access is limited. About 9,000 park employees have been furloughed, leaving many visitor centers unstaffed, bathrooms unattended, and could mean emergency responses are delayed.

This shutdown is already the second longest in U.S. history, and with no end in sight, we could see even more disruptions in the days ahead. The impacts look different depending on where you live. Check your state's official website for the latest information on how the U.S. government shutdown could be affecting you.

And to zero and even further, nearly a month into the government shutdown, with more than 750,000 federal workers being furloughed, now many of the people in charge of protecting the country's nuclear weapons are off the job. This week, 1,400 employees at the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration received furlough notices, leaving less than 400 people to safeguard the nation's nuclear stockpile. What does it all mean?

Let's discuss right now with international security analyst Jim Walsh. He's also a senior research associate at MIT's security studies program. Jim, always great to see you. So it sounds alarming, even if you don't know the details and what this all means. So, you know, of course, folks are wondering, you know, including me, just how concerning this should be to everyone.

JIM WALSH, SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, MIT SECURITY STUDIES PROGRAM: Well, it is concerning. I mean, the secretary of energy said that if this continues, it does represent an increase in risk. Now, you've heard different commenters say different things. You know, would an enemy attack us at a moment of weakness? You know, does this weaken deterrence? I really don't think that's what this is about. I think it's about something big, though, and that is the accidents or errors that can be made when you're involved in a very complex system like building and dismantling nuclear weapons. And that's a system that's taken. Frederica, a lot of hits this year.

[14:25:00]

You'll remember back in February, DOGE came in. They fired more than 300 workers. Then they said, whoops. Sorry. That was a mistake. They attempted to rehire them. There have been lots of retirements. People got, -- had their budgets cut. Now they're getting furloughed. Then they're not getting paid. Trump said, well, were not going to pay you backpay, at least he floated that proposal.

So I think morale at these agencies, or in particular the nuclear security administration, is low. You have experienced people who are leaving, and you can't make up for that experience by hiring a new worker, can't do that in a year.

So I worry that they're going to be mistakes, especially if they have to shut everything down, pack it all away, then unpack it and start up again after the shutdown. The two in the fro, the disruption, the morale, the lack of staff, that's how you get an accident. Well, it's still a small likelihood, but you know, you get -- what happens is you get sort of one bad thing happening, and that's OK. You can manage that. But then something else you don't expect, maybe it's a weather event, maybe it's a crisis, something else happens. And now it's two things acting, interacting together. And that's when you get big problems.

So I don't think the sky is falling, but this is, you know, building and dismantling nuclear weapons is serious business. And we need to be fully staffed and fully up to deal with those challenges.

WHITFIELD: And it would seem very stressful as well. And you talk about how demoralizing it might be for, you know, a number of staff, those who are furloughed. And then, of course, you know, this is such a specialty, it's not like, you know, transitioning into, you know, the private sector is going to be fluid and easy either. So talk to me about what a lot of people who are especially working for the Department of Energy are thinking and feeling about their options, their future, near and far.

WALSH: Well, what happens when organizations are in disarray is that the folks who can move, which tend to be the very talented people, they will find opportunities to land elsewhere. And some large share of them will simply retire. They're just going to say, I'm not putting up with this anymore. I've had it. And they're gone.

And then if you have someone with 20 years of experience, 30 years of experience, and then you're going to retrain those people, it takes a long time to get that back. They all have to get security clearances. There's all sorts of things that have to happen.

And one thing I would underline about this particular situation we're in again -- well, obviously two things. One, it comes in this context of all this other disruption. That's been happening since February. So this is added on top of that.

And the second thing I would say is we've never done this before. We've had shutdowns. Never have they furloughed the nuclear workers like they are doing right now. And my own view, this is what I tell my spouse anyway, is anytime I do something the first time, I'm probably going to mess it up. So the fact that we've never done this and now we're going to do this about this sensitive thing, that also makes me a little nervous.

WHITFIELD: Oh my. OK, and then I want to ask you about these three Chinese citizens who were reportedly arrested in the country of Georgia for attempting to purchase two kilograms of nuclear material, uranium. What's your reaction to this, how frightened, worried are you and other experts?

WALSH: Well, I think it's puzzling. I'm not prepared to say I'm worried about it. You know, sometimes -- so you'll remember, the Soviet Union crashed. All the Soviet republics were left on their own with all this nuclear material and assets. And in the 90s, in Georgia, in the former Soviet Georgia, they had problems with smuggling and nuclear incidents and civilians stumbling onto things and being exposed to radioactivity. Now, what's curious about this is that it appears in early reporting

to be a Chinese criminal enterprise that is buying uranium. And the reason why I say that's curious is, there really aren't a lot of things you can do with uranium. You can put it in a power plant as fuel, but they're not buying that much uranium. And you can't make a dirty bomb out of it because, ironically, it's not radioactive in the way you want a substance to be for use in a radiological weapon or a dirty bomb.

Really, the main thing you can do is use it for nuclear weapons, right? And so we don't know what the enrichment level of this uranium is. Is it, you know, highly enriched? We don't know what -- why would a -- what would a criminal gang in China do with that? Would they transfer it to a third party? I guess that's the question that comes to my mind.

But I would say we've got to tap the brakes on this one until we get a few more details, because often we get the, you know, in some of these cases, it turns out that it was actually police authorities sort of setting up a trap and there really wasn't much to it all in the end.

[14:35:06]

But I think we'll know, you know, in the coming weeks whether this is serious. But it is certainly curious, Fredricka. It is a curious event.

WHITFIELD: You took the words out of my mouth. I was like, curiouser and curiouser.

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: All right, Jim Walsh, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

WALSH: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:40:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, on his way to Malaysia as part of that big five-day Asia summit, President Trump talking to reporters once again on Air Force One after meeting with Qatari officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: I thought I'd only come back to tell you that you were so well behaved, I couldn't believe it. You were so respectful and well behaved. I appreciate it, OK? He's a great guy, actually. He's a great leader. They helped us a lot, and it was really nice that he came. We were just refueling and he came and said hello. It was very, very nice. Great, great man, actually. Great gentleman too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did it go?

TRUMP: Great. I mean, we talked about peace. We have peace in the Middle East. That's what we have, great peace in the Middle East. He thinks it's enduring. He's never seen anything like it. And he's very happy that I got involved. And he helped and we had a lot of help. We have 59 countries. We have a lot of countries that are signed on. It's just -- this should be an enduring peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What will make the difference?

TRUMP: That everybody agrees. A year ago, it would have been very tough. I think the big thing was when we took out the nuclear power, Iran, when we took out that nuclear capability, which would have happened over the next month to two months, that made a whole big difference in the Middle East. It made it possible to do the deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you talk with them about how the new security arrangement between the U.S. and Qatar will work?

TRUMP: Yes, I talked to them about it. We actually covered a lot of territory. It's working very well. It's all smooth. The U.S. doesn't have to get much involved. They're able to take care of it, very substantial nations. And you know, you have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, you have the three. And then you have many behind them. And even with them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will the --

TRUMP: I mean, if you look, Turkey is involved, Indonesia is involved Jordan, Egypt. I mean, it's an amazing group of -- and many more, many others beside that are a little further away or not as close to the situation. Everybody's on board. It's pretty amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do they confidence that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold?

TRUMP: I think it will hold, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do they believe it will hold?

TRUMP: Well, if it doesn't hold, I mean, if it does hold, that would be Hamas, and Hamas will be not hard to take care of. It will be very quickly. But I hope it holds for Hamas too, because, you know, they gave us their word on something, and they said they took out gang members. I hope that's right. But they gave us their word on something. So I think it's going to. And if it doesn't, then they'll have a very, very big problem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When will the stabilization force be in place or when do you --

TRUMP: Pretty soon. Pretty quickly. So far, it's just -- yes, a period of time. You know, I don't want to give you a -- they're doing it right now. They're actually picking leaders right now. You're going to have peace in the Middle East. This is real peace. It's never happened before, 3,000 years it's never happened. Great respect when he came to the airport, came onto the plane. That's never happened either. And he's a highly respected man.

OK, any other questions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I ask you a bit more --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- peacekeeping troops into Gaza?

TRUMP: Yes, they'll do it at the time they need them.

And by the way, Israel will go in there very easily. You know that, right? So right there you have a country. But you have the Arab countries, everybody. Muslim, Arab, Israeli, everybody's on board. it's been really an amazing thing. It's a great success. It's going to be a long lasting, hopefully everlasting, but long lasting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What will Russia have to do for you to reschedule your meeting with Putin?

TRUMP: I'm going to have to know that we're going to make a deal. I'm not going to be wasting my time. I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing. I thought this would have gone long before peace in the Middle East. I mean, we have Azerbaijan and Armenia, that was very tough. In fact, Putin told me on the phone, he said, boy, that was amazing, because everybody tried to get that done and they couldn't. I got it done. You had others that if you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I've already done, I thought would have been more difficult than Russia and Ukraine. But it didn't work out that way. there's a lot of hatred between the two. Between Zelensky and Putin, there's tremendous hatred.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you discuss purchases of Russian oil with Xi Jinping? Are you worried about the Chinese --

TRUMP: I may be discussing it. But, you know, China's -- I don't know. You probably saw today, China is cutting back very substantially on the purchase of Russia oil, and India's cutting back completely. And we've done sanctions.

Thank you very much, everybody. By the way, very, very respectful. I appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President. Can you talk about what you hope to walk away from with the meeting with --

TRUMP: China?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. What are you hoping to walk --

TRUMP: I think a complete deal. I want our farmers to be taken care of. And he wants things also. And we're going to be talking about fentanyl, of course. You know, fentanyl is killing a lot of people, a lot of people. It comes from China. And we'll be talking about that. [14:45:05]

We'll be talking about a lot of things. I think we have -- I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen this NBA gambling investigation?

TRUMP: Yes, terrible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think about it?

TRUMP: What do I think? I think it's very bad. I think it's terrible.

Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How was your call with the Japanese prime minister?

TRUMP: Very good. She's great. Beautiful. We're going to be seeing her very soon. She's very friendly. She was very friendly with Abe, as you know, Prime Minister Abe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did you guys talk about on the call?

TRUMP: Just look forward to seeing you. I'm going to see her a couple of days. But she was a very, very close ally and friend of Prime Minister Abe. You know, he was one of my favorites. He was a great man.

Thank you very much, everyone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, the president there taking a few opportunities while traveling overseas to Asia. This is maybe his second or even third time talking to reporters while on Air Force One about his hopes during this five-day journey.

All right, up next, how artificial intelligence is holding back new college grads from getting their first jobs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:51]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

Hundreds of thousands of college grads with computer degrees could be without jobs for a while. That's because tech companies are putting the brakes on hiring amid uncertainty over the president's sweeping economic policies and tariffs. Uncertainty in the job market is persisting despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and create better conditions for hiring. The Fed is meeting next week and could deliver another rate cut.

I'm joined now by Lisa Eadicicco. She's a CNN Business Tech Editor. So, Lisa, help break all of this down for us. What kind of job market are new college grads with computer degrees likely facing?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: So there's a lot that goes into hiring decisions for these kinds of roles. But what's happening right now, what we are seeing is lower demand for jobs with traditional computer science degrees as companies are increasingly embracing A.I. And of course, A.I. cant fully replace an engineer yet. But there is concern that as more companies embrace A.I. and as A.I. rapidly advances, it will decrease the need for junior level engineers. And that's really important because it's going to be difficult to get senior leadership and the talent required for those more advanced roles without having a pipeline of junior talent getting their foot in the door.

WHITFIELD: And then so how is this uncertainty about President Trump's economic policies, tariffs, et cetera, how is that impacting hiring?

EADICICCO: So I think what we're seeing is that it's been really difficult for companies to make financial decisions and to plan on a long-term basis because of this economic uncertainty. Earlier this year, we did see that a few major companies either suspended or withdrew their guidance. Now, of course, this was months ago and the situation has changed rapidly since then. But I think it kind of speaks to the broader issue that companies have been dealing with this year when it comes to forecasting and financial planning for the coming year.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then there's that artificial intelligence everybody is trying to get used to. I mean, how is that playing a role potentially and impacting the job market, especially for these college grads?

EADICICCO: So I think there's a reason why this is particularly impactful for entry level tech workers. And there's a few things. For one, I think tech companies are, of course, the first to embrace these tools. They're the ones behind these tools. They're the ones pushing them and championing them. So of course, they're going to set the example and incorporate them into their own jobs.

And two, A.I. has gotten really good at coding. A.I., one of the things that it's really good for is any knowledge based work, work that involves mathematics, crunching code, things like that. So I think that's why we're seeing a lot of these models rapidly evolve. And I think a good way to think about it isn't necessarily that A.I. might replace a single worker, a single entry level worker, for example. But as it makes other engineers more productive, let's say it makes three more people more productive and able to get more work done, maybe that makes a company take a pause and say, hey, maybe we don't need to hire for that junior role that we've been thinking about.

WHITFIELD: All right, a very challenging job market, maybe even more so now. All right. Lisa Eadicicco, thanks so much.

EADICICCO: Of course.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right, more than beads and parade floats, Mardi Gras is a celebration of life. CNN goes behind the scenes of Mardi Gras with the people that keep the traditions alive on the next episode of "New Orleans, Soul of a City."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLAGBOY GIZ, TCHOUPITOULAS MARDI GRAS INDIAN TRIBE: The Mardi Gras Indians is one of the oldest cultures in the city. I'm Flagboy Giz, the flagboy of the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians.

BIG CHIEF SHAKA ZULU, GOLDEN FEATHER NATION: When there's Mardi Gras going on in the French Quarter, there's many thousands of people in the traditional black neighborhoods during our African Carnival traditions. And we're positioning off the beaten path. We don't procession on Bourbon Street. We had to create our own Carnival in our own neighborhoods.

I grew up in New Orleans. I'm from the ninth ward, so I'm 56 years old, and I have never done Mardi Gras in the French quarter. But in our neighborhoods, I think it's a lot more profound. The focus is really on those carnival traditions that's unique to the culture of New Orleans versus just the party that goes on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The new episode of "New Orleans, Soul of a City", airs tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. eastern and pacific, right here on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: All right, hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin with this breaking news --