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CNN This Morning

Trump Pauses Tariffs On Canada And Mexico For 30 Days; Netanyahu In Washington To Meet With President Trump; China Imposes Retaliatory Tariffs On U.S. Imports. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired February 04, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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


[05:00:36]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, February 4th.

Right now on CNN THIS MORNING:

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we don't keep winning and keep doing well, we won't be the pot of gold. And then tariffs won't be so good for us.

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HUNT: Trading tariffs. China announcing they'll retaliate after President Trump's tariffs go into effect.

Plus --

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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals.

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HUNT: An unprecedented offer El Salvador says it will take deportees and convicted criminals of any nationality, including American citizens. And then.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Our decisions and the courage of our soldiers have redrawn the map. But I believe that working closely with President Trump, we can redraw it even further.

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HUNT: The Israeli prime minister heading to the Oval Office as Israel and Hamas prepare to resume ceasefire negotiations.

(MUSIC)

HUNT: All right, 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the Washington Monument in our nations capital on this Tuesday morning.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

The Trump administration is putting those massive tariffs on Mexico and Canada on hold after striking last-second deals.

President Trump touting a call with Mexico's president after she agreed to move troops to the southern border.

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TRUMP: The call with Mexico went very well in the sense that they're very strong now on the border. They're going to put soldiers there. We're going to have a big negotiation with Mexico. I'll be involved, too. And President Sheinbaum will be involved to see whether or not we can work something out on the tariffs.

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HUNT: It is worth noting that Mexico agreed to send 10,000 troops to the border, the same number they sent when the Biden administration requested border assistance back in April of 2021.

After two calls with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, the Trump White House also announced a 30 day pause on tariffs against Canadian goods. In exchange for Canada agreeing to put troops on the northern border and to name a fentanyl czar. Similar terms to their already announced border plans back in December.

The Trump White House, now touting both deals as major breakthroughs, quote, Canada is bending the knee just like Mexico, end quote, the president's press secretary tells CNN.

But some Canadian lawmakers are disputing that characterization.

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CHARLIE ANGUS, CANADIAN PARLIAMENT: I think with Donald, it's so important that he looks like he's won something. So, yeah, we'll make concessions on something that, you know, he can write a press release about. But on key areas, Canadians would, I think, would hunt our leaders down if they bowed and kissed the ring to the man from Mar-a- Lago.

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HUNT: The Trump administration also claiming victory because of this offer from El Salvador. While meeting with El Salvador's president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announcing that country would take any migrants of any nationality deported from the U.S., including those convicted of crimes. The agreement comes with this offer for U.S. prisoners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUBIO: He has offered to house in his jails dangerous American criminals in custody in our country, including those of U.S. citizenship and legal residence. No country has ever made an offer of friendship such as this.

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HUNT: Quite an offer of friendship. El Salvador's president confirming that arrangement, saying they are willing to take U.S. convicted criminals into their super prison in exchange for a fee.

Joining us now to discuss, Margaret Talev, senior contributor at "Axios".

Margaret, good morning.

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: And good morning. We did not officially coordinate all.

HUNT: We did not. But yeah, great minds.

Each day seems to bring something new and different from the Trump administration. Let's start with this. El Salvador thing, because it is really unlike anything we've seen before. What is the bottom line like? What is going on?

TALEV: Well, you could call it an act of friendship, but you could also call it an act of finance they said for the appropriate fee. But the bottom line is legal experts are coming right out of the gates saying the United States does not. It would be unconstitutional to deport an American from America.

[05:05:02]

So, it's not clear that the U.S. wants to take up this offer or is taking any steps to take up this offer. I think you would see a tremendous amount of immediate sort of pushback and like, I don't, but there are also other concerns about it, like there are concerns about human rights, the way these prisoners are treated. But the bottom line is that El Salvador understands what you heard the Canadian official talking about, that what the U.S. president wants in his early weeks back in office is to show, to be able to show his American constituents a series of wins or other countries reacting to him in a way.

And this certainly does show that. It's El Salvador seeming to say, how can we help you? How can we help solve your problems? And maybe that buys El Salvador some insurance against the idea that that migration out of so many Central American countries is a part of what's caused Trump's taken aggressive stance.

HUNT: Yeah. Let's kind of expand out and talk about what we saw in terms of the tariffs, which obviously we all woke up on Monday morning. Trump's trade war in full force, market futures are down, 25 percent Tariffs on Canada and Mexico, deadline of a day.

TALEV: And then it's over.

HUNT: And then it's done right. I mean, it's like these headlines are now the opposite. Trump delays imposing tariffs on Mexico Canada at the 11th hour. I mean, we were sitting down here to the opposite headlines yesterday.

Obviously this is a continuation of the way Donald Trump uses tariffs as threats, right, like art of the deal, et cetera. Is there a point where it starts to look like the boy who cried wolf, though?

TALEV: I don't know, I think were like, literally a couple of days into this Trump.

HUNT: We keep forgetting that, it's been a long two weeks.

TALEV: It's a long, long two minutes. Voters have heard already the idea that tariffs, if imposed to their fullest threatened extent and if lasting over a period of time, would have a significant impact on the price of goods coming to the United States, and on the ability of U.S. makers of goods to export to the countries that will do retaliatory tariffs. And now you've seen China immediately do the retaliatory tariffs to the U.S. tariffs on China were a couple hours in. This could all change by noon.

HUNT: I was going to say.

TALEV: Right.

HUNT: We already dated this conversation.

TALEV: But -- but if they are, if they last 24 hours or 36 hours and they come with a promise in that period of time, a commitment to push assets up to the border, whether that's a substantive, real change in policy or whether its kind of window dressing that allows the U.S. president a PR win. Either way, if it staves off the escalation of those tariffs, then -- then it doesn't mean that the price of goods for anyone is going to skyrocket.

Like I think about this in many different ways, though, you're seeing in Europe a real concern that that tariffs could impact, you know, the auto sector or the luxury goods sector. A lot of Americans who can afford it, like German cars or Louis Vuitton bags or what have you. And so ultimately that would affect the American consumer as well.

And then on the other end, with when it comes to China, in addition to seeing some impact on U.S. companies that have business in the international space, like Google is now going to be under investigation by China in retaliation for the U.S. tariffs increases on China. But in addition to that, like, why is America flooded with cheap Chinese goods? Because Americans like cheap stuff.

And if you look in your closet or your drawers and you start looking at where everything you have was made, you may or may not be surprised to see how much of it was made in China. It's because Americans want the cheap goods. So if the cheap goods were no longer available, Americans would be upset. For President Trump, he really needs to balance these things. He hates the idea of trade deficits or looking weak. He wants to be able to use the threat of these things to force some concessions around key messaging on things like immigration or fentanyl or what have you. But at the same time, like for him to be able to continue to do the kind of stuff he's doing that everyone is freaking out about with Elon Musk, with the Justice Department, with USAID, he needs to be able to hold enough American confidence that he's going to reduce their price of goods and improve the way they perceive the economy, and that is a really delicate balance with tariffs.

And so, I think everyone can understand what could happen, but we don't know what will happen yet.

HUNT: Right. Trump does a lot of things. I don't know if delicate is one of the things. Scalpel-like precision.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: Margaret Talev, thanks very much for starting us off this morning. I really appreciate it.

All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump welcoming the first foreign leader to the White House today, Israel's prime minister visiting amid growing uncertainty about the next stage of the fragile ceasefire with Hamas.

[05:10:08]

Plus, a grim recovery mission, crews begin pulling the wreckage of the American Airlines jet from the Potomac River.

And a special government employee. How much power does Elon Musk really have inside the White House?

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TRUMP: Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we'll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won't.

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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C., to meet with President Donald Trump. His trip coming just days before Israel is set to send a working level delegation back to Doha to discuss the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.

[05:15:02]

The current ceasefire agreement has been in place for just over two weeks. It's set to expire on March 1st.

Netanyahu has made it clear he sees the second phase of negotiations beginning not in Doha but in Washington.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I'm leaving for a very important meeting with President Trump in Washington. The fact that this would be President Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since his inauguration is telling. I think it's a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance. It's also a testimony to the strength of our personal friendship.

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HUNT: Joining me now is Joel Rubin, executive director of the Jewish Electorate Institute, former deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs in the Obama administration.

Joel, good morning. Good to see you.

JOEL RUBIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE JEWISH ELECTORATE INSTITUTE: Good morning. You, too.

HUNT: Always remarkable to see how Netanyahu sets up the things he decides to say, the language he chooses to speak. There's a lot of layers to him saying there and acknowledging his personal friendship with Donald Trump. Not something we heard him talk about when Joe Biden was still in the Oval Office.

But what did you hear in how he framed that there? And what do you think it means? Big picture for what were seeing unfold in Gaza?

RUBIN: Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu clearly is all smiles getting this first invitation. This is something he's going to parade. Around Israel and say he is the leader, and that will be useful for him in dealing with his coalition with the far right members of his coalition, also pushing back on the opposition. But while it's all smiles up front, there are a lot of serious issues that the two men are going to have to discuss, and the ceasefire is sort of the front page issue, but they both have other things in mind.

Netanyahu is always focused on Iran. President Trump is looking at Saudi Arabia. He wants his Nobel Prize. He wants to see if there's a big deal out there. And so those are going to be the hard issues they're discussing behind the scenes, while ceasefire dominates the headlines.

HUNT: And when you talk about Saudi Arabia, you're talking about normalization, right?

RUBIN: That's right.

HUNT: Between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Can you dig in a little bit more there? I mean, we know that President Trump obviously prides himself on the art of the deal. You've seen him out there threatening Mexico, Canada and quickly walking back the threats after he got some concessions. How does the way he plays this kind of thing play out in the relationship with Israel and Netanyahu?

RUBIN: So for President Trump, his favorite success from his first term was the Abraham Accords, which expanded Israel's peace with multiple Arab countries. Saudi Arabia was always the sort of the big -- the big one.

HUNT: The white whale.

RUBIN: The white whale. It continued to be so for President Biden, who tried to get there as well. But Saudi Arabia has an ask, which is if we want peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia, there needs to be a pathway for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, including a two state solution. That is a major ask.

So it's going to come to a head at some point for president Trump. This is how he gets his Nobel Peace Prize if he negotiates that for Prime Minister Netanyahu, going that route may collapse his coalition. Although, of course, if President Trump is supporting it and this is the angle that's intriguing, that may very well give him political backing inside of Israel for moving forward, but he's going to have to --

HUNT: To move forward with a two-state solution.

RUBIN: To move forward on some kind of Saudi normalization. And that meaning, yes, towards peace with the Palestinians. But again, for the Israelis, until the ceasefire is done. And this is also and this has been the issue throughout the past year and a half until the cease fire is completed, we're not going to get there.

So all of these come together. And I think that the prime minister will probably have some asks on Iran to of president Trump.

HUNT: And of course, we're going to see the two leaders later on today at a joint press conference.

RUBIN: Right.

HUNT: So get ready for that show. Joel Rubin, thank you very much for being here this morning, I appreciate it.

RUBIN: Thanks, Kasie.

HUNT: All right. Ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China. But is President Trump signaling he is ready to make a deal?

Plus, the NFL all in on DEI.

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[05:23:14]

HUNT: All right. Twenty-two minutes past the hour.

Here's your "Morning Roundup".

Crews continuing their wreckage recovery operation in the Potomac River this morning. On Monday, they were able to retrieve a jet engine from last weeks deadly collision between an Army chopper and an American Airlines passenger plane.

Fifty-five of the 67 victims have been recovered and identified. The remaining victims are believed to be within the wreckage.

Thousands of protesters taking to the streets across Los Angeles for a day without immigrants, angry about the Trump administrations ICE raids and deportations, police ordered protesters to disperse last night and arrested several people who didn;t comply.

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ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: I believe that our diversity efforts have led to making the NFL better, which attracted better talent. We think we're better when we get different perspectives, people with different backgrounds.

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HUNT: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, bucking a trend and insisting he's proud of his leagues diversity efforts and won't be rolling them back like many other businesses have.

Goodell, emphasizing Monday that the NFL's policies are, quote, well within the law.

All right. Let's turn now to this new overnight. Beijing slapping retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. imports this morning after President Trump's 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports went into effect. These new tariffs from China apply to U.S. crude oil, agricultural machinery and liquefied natural gas.

Chinese officials are also vowing to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization, while Trump is signaling to Beijing that he's in deal-making mode.

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TRUMP: We'll have some good meetings with China. We have meetings planned. And we'll see what happens. But that was just an opening salvo. If we can't make a deal with China, then the tariffs will be very, very substantial.

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HUNT: CNN's Marc Stewart joins us live now from Beijing.

Marc, good morning. Good evening.

President Trump said he's all about making a deal as you heard him say there. Where is China in all this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me start by saying this, Kasie. None of this is a surprise to China. This tariff threat is something that had been looming throughout the campaign and in recent weeks. And in recent years, China has been expanding where it exports well beyond the United States.

But as far as where China stands, I think it is safe to say that it does have room for diplomacy because very early on in this administration, we have seen China reach out to President Trump and talk about themes of mutual benefit, about win-win opportunities for both nations. It knew this was coming. Trade has been this long contentious issue between these two nations.

So it will act accordingly, hence these tariffs. It's interesting. If you look at the list of tariffs, you mentioned these fuel sources, for example, pickup trucks are also on the list, something that are not very popular here in China. These are very symbolic. Fuel comes from so many other sources for China.

What's not on the list? High end chips, pharmaceuticals. So in many ways, if we're talking about this deal-making, this negotiation, China is trying to stand strong not only against the United States and on the world stage, but also for its own population.

In fact, we've been looking at some of the remarks on social media once these tariffs were announced, these retaliatory tariffs against the United States. And we're seeing themes of support. I mean, people are just putting on these social media platforms the phrase support or nice job or nicely done.

So it's important for China to win the PR war, if you will, on its home soil, as well as the rest of the world.

Now, how is the United States going to receive all of this? I mean, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have had a cordial relationship, but I think it will become much more clear when we have that phone call, that expected phone call in the hours ahead -- Kasie.

HUNT: Yep. Saving face, of course. Always important. And we will learn more as the day progresses.

Marc Stewart, very grateful to have you. Thank you very much for being here.

All right. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, Elon Musk declared a, quote, special government employee, end quote. So how much power does that title carry for the world's richest man?

Plus, Super Bowl week kicking off in New Orleans, security, though, is top of mind.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The NFL was unshaken standing with the city of New Orleans after January 1. The soul and the spirit of New Orleans was unshaken as well.

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