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Escalating Trade War; Putin Says, Kyiv Has Opened Pandora's Box; Controversial Detention. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 23, 2026 - 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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WILL RIPLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Will Ripley in Hong Kong, and you are in the CNN Newsroom.

A trade war between the U.S. and Canada is escalating. Retaliatory tariffs are already being enforced by President Donald Trump, and now Canada's prime minister is promising the same.

Vladimir Putin says Ukraine has opened a Pandora's Box as Kyiv targets its oil refineries and logistic centers.

And ICE is the subject of another controversial detention, a five- year-old boy clinging to his father while being taken into custody.

Good to be with you on this Sunday. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. has launched an outright trade attack on his nation, which he described essentially as war, and he's vowing a strong and equal response. Talks between the two nations collapsed late Friday, prompting President Donald Trump's new 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods going into immediate effect.

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MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Well, we believed earlier this week that we were moving towards a mutually beneficial agreement. In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal. In short, they asked too much, and they offered too little.

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RIPLEY: So, now Canada is promising to match the Trump tariffs, quote, dollar for dollar, starting September 8th. Those measures will cover U.S. steel, dairy, agricultural equipment, and other items. Prime Minister Carney also says Canada will never give the U.S. exclusive access to its critical minerals.

U.S. President Donald Trump stayed silent for more than 25 hours on Canada's decision to walk out of talks, but he did make a middle-of- the-night social media post within the last couple of hours saying, quote, Canada wants the benefits of being a state without being one. He's also accusing Canada of imposing massive amounts of tariffs on U.S. farmers.

CNN's Julia Benbrook tells us about this trade war between these neighboring nations.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The big takeaway here is there is no deal. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, as well as top trade officials from both countries, had been in direct contact over the last week after Trump had placed a three- day delay on those tariffs.

Both sides had expressed some optimism that they would be able to reach an agreement before that new deadline. In fact, just hours before everything fell through, Trump said that talks with Canada were moving along and that the United States and Canada should be able to come to a deal. There is now, though, a 50 percent tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, and Canada has vowed to match that tariff dollar for dollar starting September 8th.

Both sides are looking to place blame on the other, and both say that some changes, some disagreements at the end of these talks are really what unraveled it all. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said that there were some new demands and some walk-backs on other commitments by Canada. And in an interview with Fox News, he said that as of right now, there are no plans for more talks to start up. Take a listen.

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JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: We don't have new talks planned with the Canadians. We're moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation. Remember, as President Trump has introduced a trade policy to re-shore American production and protect American jobs, two countries have retaliated against the United States, the People's Republic of China and Canada.

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BENBROOK: For his part, Carney said that there was not an agreement between the two countries because the United States failed to meet Canada's objectives and that some last-minute changes put into question the reliability of any sort of a deal. All of this injects more uncertainty when it comes to the relationship between these two countries, and there's no sense right now of when the two sides could come back to the table.

Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.

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RIPLEY: Russia and Ukraine are stepping up their air campaigns as the frontlines remain locked in a slow-moving deadly stalemate. A Ukrainian official says Russian drones hit a railway station in the Odessa region. That was on Saturday. Video shows crews clearing broken windows and debris. It comes after a brutal Russian double-tap strike on a shopping center that happened a day earlier, and it killed at least 16 people.

Meanwhile, Russian officials say a wave of Ukrainian drones hit a retail warehouse and an industrial facility, killing at least six people. In a new interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Kyiv had opened a Pandora's box by hitting economic targets in Russia.

Joining us now to break this all down is CNN's Sebastian Shukla in Berlin. I mean, that double-tap strike in particular, you know, on a shopping center, and then you get the first responders in there, and then they deliberately hit the same location, it's really got to be terrifying for people on the ground, as if this war hasn't been terrifying enough.

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, absolutely. That double tap strike which happened on Friday afternoon, Will, is particularly callous, and I think shows a real danger here of a potentially widening of the scope of this conflict rather than just both sides targeting military or industrial facilities, because that mall was almost certainly only a civilian target.

We hear often from President Zelenskyy nightly addressing the Ukrainian people saying that he will always vow to respond in the harshest possible way. What is slightly rarer is what we've heard from President Putin in an interview that was published last night. We don't know when exactly it was filmed, but he has gone on the record now on doubling down and saying that Ukraine has opened a Pandora's Box when it comes to this war.

Take a listen to a little bit more about what he had to say.

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VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: We have stepped up our attacks on Ukrainian defense industry enterprises, including those in Kyiv, and have begun to respond to the enemy's actions against our civilian, industrial, and logistic facilities. The Kyiv regime has set out to damage our economy. What has it done? It has opened Pandora's Box itself.

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SHUKLA: I think, Will, what we're hearing there from the Russian president is a dangerous bellicose rhetoric. And if you combine it with what President Zelenskyy has been saying after that mall attack, as well as through the other days as well, it's really quite a dangerous situation for this war to potentially spiral even further out of control.

The Russians really do have an upper hand over the Ukrainians right now. They are exploiting the fact that Kyiv is running low on Patriot missiles in order to take out Russian ballistic weapons, which is the only air defense system capable of doing so. But also, President Putin, in that interview, alluded to the fact that he's not ready yet to talk about peace. In fact, he almost certainly ruled it all out. I'll read you a little bit more about what he had to say. He called the proposals reaching Russia as exotic and unacceptable. We are always ready for dialogue on peace, but only on the basis of realities on the ground.

Will, as you well know, President Putin has always demanded absolutely maximalist terms for Ukraine's surrender, which would culminate in a capitulation, effectively, and that has always been unacceptable, not only for Kyiv, but for European allies too. We know that the Ukrainian president transmitted a new set of proposals or suggestions to Washington, D.C.

Is this the answer that President Putin was giving to that latest bunch of proposals? We don't know. It's not totally clear. But added all together, I think we're just seeing here a very dangerous moment for this war, and one where it shows once again, as we head towards a Duma election in mid-September, that President Putin is not thinking about peace. In fact, he's thinking about war. Will?

RIPLEY: It sounds like the people in Ukraine desperately need more air defense, not less. And then we're hearing reports of these jet- powered drones and just all of this terror being unleashed on everyday people. Sebastian, thank you very much for the update. Obviously, we're going to stay on top of it, as we have. It's just an incredible situation there.

And the other war that seems to never be ending here, Iran, and the top brass there. They are issuing new threats against the U.S. and its regional allies ahead of new sanctions. Tehran's security chief reportedly vowed to neutralize the economic war with Washington, and also threatened to halt oil flow out of the Strait of Hormuz.

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He also warned Tehran would target the interests of countries helping the U.S.

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MOHSEN REZAEL, SECRETARY OF IRAN'S SUPREME NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: If President Trump decides to take further action, our response, our retaliation will be seismic.

Any country that takes part in imposing economic restrictions on us will be regarded as an enemy. Of course, we will first negotiate with them. We will hold talks and tell them to step aside and distance themselves from the United States. But if they do not act, we will strike. We will target that country's interests.

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RIPLEY: Tehran's top negotiator also weighed in, saying, in part, The United States put the security of every single one of its allies at such risk through bullying and pure disregard for their interests for the sake of Israel, that they briefly saw their entire existence on the line. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to increase, but that critical waterway still remains largely closed. It's only at 20 percent of the seven-day pre-war average. The number of ships crossing was up 27 percent over the past week, with 103 vessels entering per day on average. Iran has given the green light for China, India, Pakistan, and Iraq to enter.

Let's bring in Danny Citrinowicz. He served in the Israel Defense Intelligence, including as head of the Iran branch in the Research and Analysis division, and he is now a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, and he joins us live from Israel. It's good to see you.

So, tell me, what are the options left for Trump with traffic in the Strait of Hormuz being severely limited? Does the Trump administration have an endgame that you can see?

DANNY CITRINOWICZ, SENIOR FELLOW, INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY STUDIES: Well, I think it's kind of the basic question that we need to ask ourselves, was it the endgame? Trump is relying heavily on the economical pressure because he doesn't want to return back to kinetic war. But the problem is that it's not sustainable. At the end of the day, without offering to the Iranians, the Iranians will retaliate, and the status quo is not stable.

So, in the end of the day, even if President Trump trying to not to decide to return back to some sort of a kinetic war, the Iranian will pushing towards that because the Iranian won't accept the fact that they are not exporting oil and the rest of the world or the, the, the, the countries in the Gulf are exporting oil.

So, the bottom line of thing is that the status quo now is -- it's not sustainable for the foreseeable future even if U.S. has operational achievements in taking out more tankers. At the end of the day, they cannot hold it forever. The Iranians will retaliate because any try to undermine their control over the straits will be answered by them.

So, we are in front, I think before an escalation. This is not a sustainable status quo. This is what will happen, I think, in the near future based on the Iranian threats.

RIPLEY: Danny, how's the Israeli government monitoring what's become a war of attrition? Does Israel want a return to bombing of Iran?

CITRINOWICZ: Well, Israel doesn't want one thing. They don't want to see return back of Iran and the U.S. to the agreement that they had, the MOU, the memorandum of understanding. That's obvious. For Israel, any agreement with the Iranian regime is a bad agreement because any agreement will strengthen the same regime that Israelis seek to topple. So, definitely, they are not interested in that.

Israel would like to return back to war when Israel will attack the energy facilities of Iran, transforming it to become a failed state. This is our defense minister said that just a couple of weeks ago. So, obviously, this is what Israel is aspiring for, but most importantly is not returning back to an agreement between Iran and the U.S. because it will be very hard to attack President Trump doing so. It will have significant implications toward the future. You won't see any other president returning back to this Iranian adventure. This is what Israel is hoping and trying to do behind the scene.

RIPLEY: So, what is it going to take to get Netanyahu and Trump to find common ground on Iran and figure out how this war ultimately ends?

CITRINOWICZ: Again, it's another important question. You know, both countries were aligned on the 20th of February when the war started, but definitely now they see different tracks. Again, Israel against any interaction with Islamic Republic of Iran. I think President Trump, despite his declaration, also will seek, at the end of the day, some sort of diplomatic solution. And as I said, Israel is against any diplomatic solution with Iran.

So, it will be very hard for yes, Netanyahu and Trump to be aligned. I have to emphasize one other important thing, that we see a lot of clashes in the relations between Israel and the U.S. in recent weeks, on Gaza, on Lebanon, now in Syria and regarding Turkey. Obviously, there is a problem in the relations between Trump and Netanyahu. Trump is not endorsing Netanyahu before the Israeli elections.

So, things are happening behind the scene. And I think that this also have implications on the country's ability to find a common ground on the Iranian issue.

RIPLEY: So, you're saying Iran believes -- I'm sorry, Israel believes that Iran needs to be weakened militarily, right?

[03:15:05]

Is that what you're saying?

CITRINOWICZ: Definitely. And I think for Israel, it's more than that. Yes, we cannot topple the regime, but we can transform Iran to become a failed state that won't pose a strategic threat to the state of Israel.

The way to do that by the Israeli calculations is attacking the energy facilities in Iran. This is something that definitely Trump has no interest right now. As mentioned, he's not interested in returning back to kinetic war. I'm not saying he's not going to do that. It is definitely -- it's very hard to predict what President Trump will do. But this is, for now, he's trying to find a way to push Iran back to negotiations weaker using the economical pressure. For Israel, it's all about kinetics and continuing the economical pressure.

The thing is, what is the endgame? As we discussed at the beginning, I think that Trump still looking for a diplomatic solution because, as I mentioned, this is not a stable situation. I think the Iranians will try to escalate before the midterm election. They feel that President Trump will find himself in -- against a wall in a way that he will find it very hard to retaliate because of the economical implication of that. So, what we have today in the Gulf, this is something that definitely won't continue as it is. And, again, Israel is hoping for returning back to escalation. I think from the U.S. side the preparation or the hoping for renewed negotiation when Iran become weaker. Unfortunately, I don't think that Iran will capitulate.

RIPLEY: All right. Danny Citrinowicz, 9:11 A.M. on a Sunday morning there in Israel, I really appreciate you getting up and giving us your expertise and your perspective as always. Thank you.

CITRINOWICZ: Thank you very much.

RIPLEY: This is CNN Newsroom live from Hong Kong. A Texas lawmaker is calling for the release of a five-year-old boy in ICE custody. We are following that story and the phone call that his mother made to him in detention.

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RIPLEY: A U.S. congressman is calling for the release of a five-year- old boy who was detained by ICE alongside his father in Texas. Video obtained by CNN shows the young boy crying and clinging to his dad as federal agents take him into custody.

Here's CNN's Rafael Romo.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A spokesperson for the family told CNN the father and son, who are both undocumented, said they were on their way to a soccer match in Austin, Texas, when they were pulled over. In a video that has gone viral, the five-year-old boy, identified by his family as Liam Tadeo, appears to be crying as he tried to hold the hand of his handcuffed father being escorted to an unmarked vehicle.

According to family spokesperson Sara Garcia, Liam was getting ready to start kindergarten this week in Austin. She also said that both the father, Victor Martinez Nieto, and his son are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

The case is drawing comparisons with another detention that also impacted a five-year-old boy in suburban Minneapolis in January. Liam Conejo Ramos was wearing a blue knit bunny hat when a masked federal agent held the handle of the boy's Spider-Man backpack before he and his father were transported on a plane to the Dilley Detention Center in Texas, the same facility where the other boy is now being held.

In an interview with CNN affiliate, Univision, the mother of the boy detained with his father Sunday in Austin and who asked not to be identified said she remembered that Minneapolis case after her own son was detained. Univision was at her home when she spoke with her son, who remains at the Dilley Detention Center.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

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ROMO: Texas Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat, spoke about Liam's case in a video posted on his Facebook account.

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REP. GREG CASAR (D-TX): His name, just like the name of the little boy from Minnesota, is Liam, and Liam should be starting kindergarten this week, but instead, he's sitting in a trailer prison right now in Dilley, Texas.

I'm calling for the immediate release of Liam, the immediate release of all of these kids, and for the closure of the Dilley trailer prison.

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ROMO: In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Victor Martinez Nieto, whom it called an illegal alien from Mexico, was arrested last Sunday during a vehicle stop in Austin, Texas, and had illegally entered the country around March 2022 near Laredo, Texas.

The statement goes on to say that on November 15, 2025, ICE arrested Martinez Nieto in Hutto, Texas. He accepted voluntary departure and was removed from the country on February 12, 2026. Martinez Nieto illegally reentered the country at an unknown time and place after being removed. Martinez Nieto and his son will remain together in ICE custody pending removal.

DHS also said that the Dilley Detention Center is retrofitted for families and that children held there have access to teachers, classrooms, and books.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

RIPLEY: Crews are battling a major wildfire at a nature reserve in Serbia. Strong winds and sandy terrain are keeping the situation critical right now. Emergency responders from the European Union were on their way to help with firefighting efforts as of Saturday.

The Balkan country asked for backup. They've been struggling for weeks with this wildfire, in addition to others burning in the southwest.

Five years after this small Sicilian town recorded Europe's highest ever temperature, people there say the record heat doesn't feel so exceptional anymore. Longer, more frequent heat waves are reshaping daily life in Floridia, from empty public squares to age-old traditions now under threat, as CNN's Salma Abdelaziz tells us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's hot in the summer in Sicily, but the town of Floridia on the southeastern part of the island has the breathtaking claim to fame, reaching Europe's highest ever temperature five years ago of 48.8 Celsius or nearly 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

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UGO TOMASELLO, FLORIDIA RESIDENT: It was so hot that the town was deserted. I began struggling to breathe as I was walking, and I said, I could die in the street and there would be no one to pick me up.

ABDELAZIZ: A white-hot record set in August of 2021 and certified by the World Meteorological Organization. Many residents say they thought it was an isolated event, but brutally hot summers have become the norm.

PEIRO CORRENTI, FLORIDIA RESIDENT: When it's this hot, you stay indoors where it's comfortable.

ABDELAZIZ: Residents say that many of the popular piazzas in Floridia are often empty during the hottest parts of the day, and the heat lingers into the evening, disrupting the tradition of families sitting outside to catch the breeze and chat at the end of the day. Some people say it feels like a new kind of lockdown.

LUIGI PASOTTI, SICILIAN AGORMETEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION SERVICE: Many people are actually discouraged from leaving their homes, even in the evenings at times, because there is no relief from the heat, and this is also disrupting social life to some extent. We are witnessing a decline in social interaction that makes this period resemble the COVID-19 lockdown.

ABDELAZIZ: One beekeeper in Floridia says staying indoors is not an option. The extreme heat is not just a threat to him. It can melt hives and wipe out entire bee colonies. During the town's record- breaking heat wave, he says thousands of hives were destroyed, and he worries when temperatures soar that it could happen again.

FRANCESCO PAPPALARDO, BEEKEEPER: The heat outside is intense. Some bee families may collapse, one or more of them, or it may even happen to the whole bee yard, as it's happened to me in previous years.

ABDELAZIZ: Floridia may have hit a temperature that was one for the record books, but just ask the bees, it's a milestone that can't afford to be repeated.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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RIPLEY: And Salma's back at the top of the hour with more news, but that does it for me live from Hong Kong. Seasons is next.

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