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Connect the World
CNN International: Blinken Expects Ceasefire-Hostage Talks to Resume Soon; Trump Vows to Spend More on Health Care "Than Any Other Nation"; CNN Crew Held Captive by Militia in War-Torn Sudan; Washington Post: Growing Tensions Within the BRICS Bloc; Why Trump 2.0 Could Make the World Poorer. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired October 24, 2024 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Beirut where Israeli air strikes destroyed at least six buildings in what is being
described as the most violent attack since the start of the war. It is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the
World".
Also happening over the next two hours, a dire crisis in Northern Gaza, as health officials warn the region is at breaking point, with food and other
supplies running perilously low. Meanwhile, leaders from the global south meet for the final day of the BRICS Summit. And Kamala Harris in a CNN Town
Hall painting Donald Trump as a threat to the United States.
Welcome to the show, and I want to check in on how the U.S. markets will be opening in about 30 minutes from now. I want to check in on those DOW
futures, as you can see, pointing to a negative start with driving the DOW Jones down right now is IBM earnings, and that pre market stock is putting
a bit of a strain on that.
And S&P 500 is in positive territory after three days of losses. Tesla driving that stock market up. And of course, it's all about those earnings
which are going to be driving U.S. equities over the next few days. Right now, we start with the U.S. Secretary of State making a new push for a
cease fire and hostage deal in Gaza.
Speaking just hours ago in Doha, Antony Blinken announcing he expects negotiators will meet again in the coming days. This diplomacy happening as
Israel inflicts what Lebanese state media are calling the most violent attacks on Beirut suburbs since the war began. Overnight air strikes
destroying at least six buildings.
And in Northern Gaza, health officials warning people in the area are reaching a breaking point with food, fuel and medicine running out. Israel
says a large number of people have left the area, and many of them forced to flee yet again. We've got Matthew Chance in Jerusalem, and Jennifer
Hansler is at the U.S. State Department covering all angles for us today.
Of course, the Lebanese Government calling the strikes, Matthew, the most violence since the war began. What is the latest on the ground?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest in terms of the Israeli air strikes in Lebanon is that they're continuing,
that there are these five buildings that have been struck over the course of the past several hours in a suburb of Southern Beirut.
In the hours before the strikes took place, the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli military, issued warnings for people in the area to leave, saying
they were going to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure and Hezbollah personnel in that area of Southern Beirut, and advising people to leave as
soon as possible, which obviously many people did.
It's all part of a much broader campaign that's been taking place and intensifying, especially over the course of the past several weeks, as
Israel attempts to degrade as much as possible Hezbollah infrastructure and Hezbollah personnel. But you know, the militia, which is backed by Iran and
very close to the Islamic Republic, continues to fire rockets across the border into Northern Israel.
And that's caused chaos and panic in that part of the country as well, and a number of injuries over the course of the past 12, sorry, 24 hours. And
so yes, that aspect of the conflict continues to heat up with no sign of either side backing down.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and really important point there. And frankly, Israel has multiple fronts on the go right now in Gaza, as well as Lebanon. Jennifer,
important point now Antony Blinken is in Doha, important meetings trying to find a diplomatic solution. Could you give me a sense of whether he's
making any headway on the U.S. stance right now, calling for a cease fire and some kind of diplomatic means to an end?
JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Eleni, it does seem like he's made perhaps a bit of progress in announcing that negotiators are
expected to gather once again in the coming days. Now, the top U.S. Diplomat would not give any details on who these negotiators are at what
level that is.
You'll recall that it's been weeks and weeks since the last high-level gathering, and he said part of this is to determine whether Hamas is ready
to engage. He said he hopes that they will be able to make that determination in these coming days. Now, there are a lot of questions that
still remain following the killing of Hamas Leader Sinwar, who is the decision maker here.
[09:05:00]
These are questions that were expected to come up in all of his gatherings, both in Israel today and Qatar, and as he meets with further Arab Leaders
tomorrow in England. Now, Eleni, he said that he still believes that Hamas was the impediment in all of these stalled negotiations thus far to get to
a cease fire and hostage deal.
And he thinks that now that Sinwar is gone, this could create an opening for those efforts to move forward. But of course, Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu also threw up a number of obstacles throughout the months and months of negotiations here. He met with Netanyahu earlier this
week.
And there's no indication that the prime minister is at this point prepared to end the war. Blinken today reiterated that Israel should take advantage
of this opportunity following Sinwar's killing and the achievement of its strategic goals in Gaza, to let this war come to an end, to bring the
hostages home and to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians there, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and of course, what we've been seeing, Matthew is the deteriorating situation in Gaza, specifically in the north, all while we're
seeing, as we say the multiple fronts on the go. We're worried about what the Israeli response is going to be to Iran.
We don't know what that's going to look like and whether we're going to see an escalation. But the reality is what's going on in Gaza, as all these
diplomatic talks are going on right now, that residents are describing harrowing realities.
CHANCE: Yeah, I mean a terrible humanitarian situation that has continued to deepen inside the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north of the Gaza
Strip, in the refugee camp of Jabalia, where for the past week or so. Israeli force has really been stepping up their military activity.
Hundreds of people have been killed, according to the Hamas health authorities. As the Israeli Defense Forces say they're striking at
resurgent Hamas elements inside that area, which they already said they've cleared twice before, but now, kind of more, thousands of people are being
ordered to evacuate for these strikes to take place.
And of course, many people are being caught up in the cross fire. And it all calls into question, the extent to which the Israeli government is
listening to what the United States Administration, the Biden Administration, Secretary of State Antony Blinken have to say.
It seems that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, is increasingly immune to the warnings and to the appeals of the Biden
Administration in these last few weeks of the presidential campaign. And is stepping up its campaign in Lebanon in Gaza.
And of course, preparing itself, as we've been discussing, for a potential strike against Iran as well, which carried out a missile strike on Israel
at the beginning of October, after Israel killed the Leader of Hezbollah, and also the one of the Hamas main leaders in Iran as well.
And so, you know, look it -- there is no sign at the moment, despite the idea that there's a window of opportunity that may have opened after the
death of Hamas Leader, there's no sign that that is has, in fact, happened in fact, the situation seems to be deteriorating.
GIOKOS: All right. Matthew Chance as well as Jennifer Hansler, thank you so much for that update. Now fresh off appearing in a CNN Town Hall on
Wednesday, Kamala Harris travels to Georgia today as she continues a blitz of battle ground states that could determine the outcome of the U.S.
Presidential Race.
Harris will pair up with an all-out force in democratic politics, Barack Obama. Thursday's rally outside Atlanta will be her first campaign
appearance with the former president. It comes a day after Harris took the stage so low at the CNN, Q&A in Pennsylvania.
Making her case to undecided voters and repeatedly calling rival Donald Trump unfit and unstable. And for the first time, Harris said she agrees
with those who are describing Trump as a fascist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN'S ANDERSON COOPER 360: Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. They also care about our democracy and not having a
President of United States who admires dictators and as a fascist, he's going to sit there unstable, unhinged, plotting his revenge, plotting his
retribution, creating an enemies list.
I'm going to tell you my list will be a list of how I address and continue to address the issues that you all are raising this afternoon and evening.
It will be --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: CNN's Chief U.S. National Affairs Correspondent Jeff Zeleny is live in Washington for us, and we saw VP Harris there swinging at Donald Trump.
I guess the question here is, she's taken her messaging to voters. Did she succeed in defining what kind of president she would be?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look she certainly is continuing to differentiate herself from Donald Trump in every
way.
[09:10:00]
At the same time, also saying that her presidency, if she was elected, would not be a continuation of the Biden presidency. That of course, is a
finer line to walk. She is the Vice President of the United States. Of course, his record is her record. But one question hanging over this entire
race is one of the central questions is, who is the candidate of change?
Is that Donald Trump would bring more change, or would Kamala Harris bring more change? So, she is trying to really do that on a couple front saying
she would not simply enact the policies of Joe Biden. She comes at this with much different life experience. She's basically saying, look at me, I
am not Joe Biden, but it was the sharp contrast with Donald Trump.
Is really what her closing argument has become here, really trying to shake the U.S. electorate, if you will, to remind them of what Donald Trump was
like in office, and trying to, you know, show a way forward. The ultimate question of, if she succeeded, of course, is going to be decided by voters
at the -- in the voting booth that. More than 25 million Americans have already voted early, and they've registered their verdict.
GIOKOS: All right. Jeff Zeleny, good to have you on. Thank you so much. Overnight, Donald Trump posted on social media that Kamala Harris called
him Hitler. She did not, as you heard, she agreed with Trump's Former Chief of Staff, John Kelly, who has been quoted as saying Trump is a fascist.
Trump also lashed out at Kelly, calling him a total degenerate. The retired Marine General told the "The New York Times" he heard Trump speak
positively about Adolf Hitler and disparage U.S. veterans as losers and suckers after Wednesday's late-night rally in Georgia. Today, Trump heads
west to Arizona and Nevada.
I want to go now to CNN's Alayna Treene, and she's following the campaign, the Trump campaign for us. Alayna, great to see you. Look, there was
definitely some energy at that Georgia rally overnight. What were they chanting at one point? Shed some light on that.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: It was an odd moment, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah.
TREENE: So, first of all, just say it was in this rally was in a massive arena. He had many high-profile Republicans and allies speaking there,
people including Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., Charlie Kirk, the Head of Turning Point Action, which actually was putting on that rally.
But you also heard from people like Tucker Carlson. And before Donald Trump took the stage, Carlson actually told this anecdote that I had not heard
yet on the campaign trail, which was essentially that if Donald Trump were to win in November, it would be like dad is coming home.
Those are his words. And he was saying that essentially, when dad comes home and his children are misbehaving, the dad, he was referring to, Donald
Trump like a dad. Donald Trump loves all his children. At that point, he was talking about the media and Democrats, and said that he would be,
quote, pissed at them and would have to give them a vigorous spanking.
Odd language, very odd rhetoric, but essentially, what he was trying to argue, I think, was that Donald Trump will come in and talk to all voters,
whether they are Democrats or not, and he'll still, quote, unquote, love them, but he will be angry with them, and they will -- he will need to take
action to, you know, counteract their misbehaving.
All in all, it was a weird moment, Eleni, but I will say that it did seem to stick with the crowd in the room. They kind of went wild at Tucker
Carlson's anecdote there. And then, when Trump took the stage, they began chanting, daddy's home and daddy dawn. And again, this is something I
hadn't heard yet. Unclear if this is going to stick moving forward, but it definitely seemed to have a moment in the room last night.
GIOKOS: I can tell you. I mean, clearly it resonates in a big way. The question is, are we going to hear more of that in Arizona and Nevada, do
you think?
TREENE: I'm not sure. We'll see. You know, this is, again, something that Carlson said. This didn't come from Donald Trump. I don't know if he was
expecting to hear, you know, Daddy's home chance, but we'll see what he says in Arizona. I do want to talk about that as well, though, because you
know him going to the West Coast days, really, I'm told from Donald Trump senior advisers.
He's really going to be trying to make inroads with Latino voters, specifically on that those two trips today. And of course, that is a
demographic that his campaign is really aggressively targeting in this final stretch. They recognize that Harris isn't performing. They argue with
Latino voters as well as they think she could have been.
And they think there's room to try and maybe siphon some of those voters away from her, or to turn out low propensity Latino voters and bring them
on to Donald Trump's side. And that comes really as they recognize Trump's team that this is going to be an incredibly close election.
It very well could be won on the margins, and that's why they're really going after key demographics to see what they can do, any kind of numbers
or any sort of tools they can pull out at this stage, which is 12 days to go, they are going to do. So, I think that's going to be what a lot of that
rhetoric today will be focused on.
[09:15:00]
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right, Alayna Treene, great to have you on. Thank you. And still to come, Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Middle East is
on the brink of a full-scale war. The latest on the BRICS summit is coming up next. Plus, Turkey says it's targeting terrorists beyond its borders
with air strikes in Iraq and Syria. We'll take a closer look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning the Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war. Putin made those comments speaking at the
BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia. Putin will also meet with U.N. Secretary General, Antonio Guterres is expected to press the Russian President to end
the war in Ukraine.
Now earlier, Guterres addressed the summit and called for peace in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan. CNN's Marc Stewart is following this live from
Beijing. Marc, always good to have you on. Look, this is an expanded BRICS summit meeting. It was, certainly was a show of force. Give me a sense of
the messaging that these leaders are sending to the world meeting in Russia right now.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right Eleni, so much symbolism at a time when many parts of the world, especially the west, are trying to isolate
Vladimir Putin for his orchestration of the war in Ukraine. He is getting a tremendous amount of validation by all of these world leaders meeting with
him on his home turf in Ukraine.
The symbol -- the symbolism of this cannot be understated. Let's talk about what's been happening today, because it's been a very packed agenda. Among
the big items was this address by U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to the BRICS conference. His mere presence there, though, is also drawing
some controversy.
The Ukrainian government is less than thrilled that he is in Russia as this war rages. In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine, just a few
days ago, went to social media to show its dissatisfaction. Let me reach you a posting on acts that, again, was just posted a few days ago the
ministry there saying, the U.N. Secretary General declined Ukraine's invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland.
He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan for more criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only
damages the U.N.'s reputation. Now, broadly speaking, the U.N., an official from the U.N. during a press event, said that the president is there for
Guterres to come to the summit because he was at the BRICS summit in South Africa.
[09:20:00]
And if we look at other global meetings where there are a lot of important member states participating, such as the G7 and the G20 it would not be
unusual for the secretary general to attend. As far as his speech, he did address the war in Ukraine and the violence in the Middle East. But thus
far in this conference, the remarks have been very general. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U. N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: We need peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire. We need peace in Lebanon with an immediate cessation
of hostilities moving to the full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution, 1701. We need peace in Ukraine, a just peace in line with U.N.
Charter international law and General Assembly resolutions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: So, a very brief call for peace, although it symbolically, did occur on Russian soil. In addition, another of themes have been portrayed
during this three-day event, including the fact that Vladimir Putin and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping really are trying to introduce this alternative
world view, something different than the United States and its allies, which they feel is dominating the global discussion.
But Putin has, let me use his exact words here. He has touted BRICS as, quote, a new world order. But Eleni, he does make a point of denying that
it's an anti-Western alliance.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and it's really interesting. I mean, it's strengthening the global south in what way, politically or economically is the big question.
All right. Marc Stewart, thank you so much. Well, Turkey's military has carried out apparent retaliatory air strikes in Iraq and Syria in response
to Wednesday's deadly attack in an aerospace company near Ankara.
Turkey's Defense Minister said it struck, quote, terrorist targets in the region, adding that a large number of terrorists were killed. The Turkish
Interior Minister says the man and woman who attacked the aerospace company on Wednesday were members of the Kurdish PKK group, and he says they were
later killed by Turkish security forces.
No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack that left five people dead. Now, earlier this month, a CNN crew was held captive in the
north Darfur region of war-torn Sudan. They arrived to report on the world's worst humanitarian crisis, but wound up becoming part of the story.
Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward's team was supposed to meet a group deemed a neutral party in Sudan civil war, but instead, they were
detained by heavily armed militia for 48 hours. CNN's Richard Quest spoke to Ward about the conditions leading up to the terrifying ordeal and how
they got through it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Thank God you and the team are safe, but it's a risk you all took, because this is the forgotten war. I mean, God help me
for saying in those terms. But you know what I mean, this is the forgotten war that is just getting worse.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's no question, Richard, that the conflict in Sudan has been overshadowed by Ukraine, by
Gaza.
But when you talk to the U.N. when you talk to aid workers, they will say, by the numbers alone, Sudan is the world's worst humanitarian crisis. And
Darfur in particular, all eyes are on it at the moment. There was a genocide that was perpetrated there between 2003, 2005.
We have seen vicious war crimes taking place that are really heightening fears that you could see the worst being realized once again in Darfur. On
top of that, you have huge displacement, heavy fighting, the spread of disease, and in August, a famine declared in the Zamzam displaced peoples
camp outside of the besieged City of Al Fashir and Tawila.
The town that we were trying to get to is just a few hours away from Al Fashir, from Tawila, almost no international journalists have been able to
get in on the ground, the two main warring factions simply not giving permissions to journalists. And so that has made it next to impossible to
effectively report on this crisis, Richard.
QUEST: So, you and the team are held for two days. I've heard the -- your description. I've read your description of you under trees, and you were
not harmed. But the very fact of detail being detained is a horror in itself. How are you all?
WARD: We're all fine. It was absolutely a stressful ordeal. All of us, I think, were very much fixated on our families back home and how stressful
this must be for them.
[09:25:00]
And it weighs on you, not having information, not knowing when you might be able to get out, when you might be able to cuddle your kids again, as the
only woman, I was very mindful of restricting my food and water intake because there was no private place where I could relieve myself.
At the end of the day, we got out. After two days, we came back home. We're safe and we're with our families. And as journalists, it is so cringe
inducing, honestly, Richard, to become the story, but we felt it was really important to share our experience, because it does touch on the broader
themes and challenges of covering this conflict, but also, of the complexity of the situation in Darfur.
QUEST: Right.
WARD: The difficulty of getting aid in, the difficulty of human rights organizations getting in. And getting the stories out of the people of
Darfur that deserve to be told and that the world needs to hear.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Well, the militia leaders eventually announced they were releasing our colleagues, claiming they thought there was spies. Ward said, after
hearing the news, there was a wave of relief. And then came smiles and handshakes and this photo that she described as awkward, posing on a mat
that had been their makeshift prison.
You can read Clarissa Ward's entire report about being held captive in Sudan on cnn.com. Right, I want to get you up to speed on some other
stories that are on our radar right now. A supplier to McDonald's restaurants has removed some of its onions from the market as a precaution
amid a deadly outbreak of E. coli.
Investigators are searching for the source of the infection, which appears to be linked to McDonald's quarter pounders. Taylor Farms says it took
action, even though it has found no trace of the bacteria in its onions. 33,000 machinists at Boeing will remain on strike after the union rejected
an offer to end their walkout.
64 percent of members voted against us, which had an immediate raise and increased wages over the next four years. The strike began in September and
is costing Boeing an estimated $1 billion per month. "The Los Angeles Times" Editorial Chief has resigned after the newspaper's owner blocked
plans to endorse Kamala Harris.
Mariel Garza says the paper's billionaire owner told the editorial board not to endorse a candidate for president, as it has traditionally done
every election since 2008. And still to come on CNN warnings of what might happen if Donald Trump is elected president and goes through with his
economic plans. Why, experts say he could Make the World poorer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos, and you're watching "Connect the World". Now, some of the most powerful people in the world are in Russia
this week at the BRICS summit, where Vladimir Putin is hosting Chinese Leader Xi Jinping, among others. A primary objective of the summit for some
BRICS nations is to shift the global balance of power away from the U.S. and the led west.
But as "The Washington Post" Columnist Ishaan Tharoor writes, BRICS leaders have very diverse viewpoints and interests, and there are many issues that
divide them, like the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. And he writes, countries like Brazil and India are not interested in subscribing to an anti-Western
alliance.
All right, we are going to be joined by Ishaan Tharoor in just a moment. We are working to connect him, and then we can get some analysis on this very
important meeting. And as you can see, we're seeing some images of the group photo and this again, showing the powerful global south coming
together to have these important conversations on economic and island alliances, as well as politics that we're seeing coming through in the
region.
All right, moving on now, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are campaigning in the crucial swing states today, where they're pushing to win over undecided
voters in the race to Election Day. On Wednesday night, Harris took a message straight to undecided voters at CNN Town Hall in Pennsylvania.
She repeated her warnings about the threat her rival Donald Trump, poses to democracy and also dug deeper into her major policy plans. CNN, Julia
Benbrook has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Vice President Kamala Harris spoke directly to voters during a CNN Town Hall moderated by Anderson
Cooper, Wednesday night, part of her strategy in these final weeks was on full display as she presented herself as a candidate who can bring change,
a new generation of leadership.
BENBROOK (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris taking questions from voters in the key battle ground state of Pennsylvania.
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is close, but there are undecided voters who clearly, by being here, have
an open mind, want to talk in a way that is about grounded in issues, in fact --
BENBROOK (voice-over): Tackling the top issues like the economy, immigration and abortion rights.
HARRIS: You know, this is probably one of the most fundamental freedoms that we as Americans could imagine, which is the freedom to literally make
decisions about your own body.
BENBROOK (voice-over): Sharpening her message to voters.
HARRIS: The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And I think that the American people deserve to have a
president who is grounded in what is common sense, what is practical and what is in the best interest of the people, not themselves.
BENBROOK (voice-over): And taking her opponent, Former President Donald Trump head on.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN'S ANDERSON COOPER 360: You quoted General Milley calling Donald Trump a fascist. You yourself have not used that word to
describe him. Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?
HARRIS: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BENBROOK (on camera): Polls show there's no clear leader in this race. In Pennsylvania, where this town hall took place, is one of three blue wall
states that flipped for Trump in 2016 and then swung back for Democrats in 2020. Reporting in Pennsylvania, I'm Julia Benbrook.
GIOKOS: All right, back to our story that we've been covering over the past few days, the BRICS summit in Russia, where Vladimir Putin is hosting many
leaders from the Global South, taking family photos, showing this alliance is growing economically as well as politically.
Joining us now is Ishaan Tharoor, joining us with more on this. And of course, the column that he recently wrote, I want to talk about overall
what BRICS stands for. And I think the numbers really tell an incredible story. The member states themselves really account for a large chunk of the
world population, nearly half.
They make up 30 percent of the global economy. And Vladimir Putin said other countries are looking to join, but he has warned of decreased
effectiveness in the current balance changes. I want you to perhaps give us a sense or characterize what you've seen this week.
All right, we -- we seem to be having an issue with your sound. All right, we're going to go to a very short break. We're going to try and get that
line back up. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:35:00]
GIOKOS: Welcome back. Now economic experts in Washington, a warning of what could happen across the globe if American voters put Donald Trump back in
the White House. The Republican presidential nominee says he wants to slap tariffs of up to 20 percent on all goods imported into the United States
and triple that figure on imports from China.
But researchers say his plan will drive up inflation in the United States as well as other nations. And they also claim it could start trade wars,
drain people savings and hurt economic growth worldwide. Hanna Ziady writes for CNN Business, and she joins us now. Hanna, really good to see you.
I mean, there's a saying that we have. We say, when the U.S. catches a cold or sneezes. When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold. And I think I
really want you to sort of define this for us, because you've written this fantastic article about how Trump 2.0 would make the world poor, and it
basically speaks of this domino effect, that of this Trump economic policy.
HANNA ZIADY, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: Eleni, absolutely right. As you point out, the United States is the world's biggest economy. What it does
matters a lot to the world. It's a very powerful economy, and it could, in a worst-case scenario. Trump's proposals of these across-the-board tariffs
spark worldwide trade wars.
So, the International Monetary Fund says that in such a scenario, such an extreme scenario, of kind of trade tariffs across the board, we could see
global GDP cut by 7 percent and of course, you know, other countries are not just going to retaliate against the U.S.'s duties and impose duties of
their own on American imports.
But they'll also impose their own tariffs on the goods that America is putting duties on because they don't want the goods that would have gone to
the United States to now flood their own markets. We've seen that with electric vehicles in Europe. We saw it in 2018 when Trump put tariffs on
steel and aluminum imports.
The European Union not only taxed American exports like Harley Davidsons and denim jeans, but they also put tariffs on steel because they were
worried about this influx of imports. So, you can kind of get into this spiral of trade measures and really then nobody comes out unscathed, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Yeah, that's true. I mean, its protectionist policies, and we know what those means on global scale. Aside from tariffs, what else are we
seeing in terms of Trump's economic policy that is worrying people that are looking at the numbers. And I guess the question is, how they juxtaposing
that about Kamala Harris's potential policies?
ZIADY: Right. So, we know tariffs for sure, tax cuts domestically and deregulation. So, Trump likes to say, drill baby drills. So that includes
oil and gas deregulation. He wants to cut corporate taxes. All of that is potentially inflationary, certainly, tax cuts and tariffs. He's a little
bit hazy on some of the other details.
He has mentioned cracking down on immigration into the United States, including illegal immigration, and that could exacerbate worker shortages,
which would also push up inflation. And then he's made some comments that worry economists about interfering with the independents of the Federal
Reserve.
And that stresses economists out, because central bank independence is so vital to keeping inflation in check.
[09:40:00]
And that, in turn, has implications for interest rates and the way that financial assets are priced. Look, in all my conversations with economists,
the word that comes out very strongly is uncertainty, instability. Expect height and uncertainty if Donald Trump returns to the White House.
By contrast, Kamala Harris, look, she said less about her economic plans. I think there's an expectation we'd see more continuity, but we did have a
letter this week from 23 Nobel Prize winning economists saying that Harris plans are vastly superior to Trump's, and would allow for more investment,
more job opportunities create a more equitable U.S. economy.
We know that Harris wants to extend some of the tax cuts for low- and middle-income Americans. She wants to enhance child care and health care
benefits. The flip side to this is that both Trump and Harris' policies, according to some are could potentially add trillions to America's rapidly
rising mountain of debt.
So that number is approaching $36 trillion, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which is a public policy organization in Washington, said
that both candidate's proposals will literally add trillions to the debt, but the Trumps would be worse than Harris's. Of course, Trump and Harris
have both pushed back against that analysis.
But I think you know, under Harris, perhaps we see more continuity. Under Trump, we see a lot more uncertainty.
GIOKOS: Well, I tell you, the U.S. debt burden is another conversation for another day, but a really important one. And as you say, uncertainty is not
good for the business world or markets. Hanna Ziady, great to have you with us. Thank you.
ZIADY: Thank you.
GIOKOS: Well, we've seen Trump and Kamala Harris focusing their time in the battleground states this week. Pennsylvania will be key to reaching the
total number of electoral college votes needed to win the presidency. CNN's John King explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and you know this, all of us know this from past elections,
but it's Jake Tapper birth place it matters the most. So where are we right now? Let's just tap down in here. We're in Delaware County. Joe Biden won
63 percent of the vote here.
Right that these suburbs, when I started doing this, used to be Republican or Republican leaning. They are safe blue territory now. But watch this
number on election night, right in the first election in the suburbs, post the Dobbs decision, does Donald Trump improve his standing in the suburbs?
Let's say Donald Trump doesn't have to improve his standing in the suburbs a lot. Look at 2016, 37.2 you say, oh, John, that's just a point. That's
just a point, yeah, but a point here and a point or two there makes a difference. Donald Trump needs to improve his standing in the suburbs to
have a chance to win the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Vice President Harris, the flip side, if you're going to lose a little bit in urban areas, maybe black man goes down a little bit. Maybe Latino man
goes down a little bit. Can you boost it in the suburbs in the first post row election? This place and this race are a defining challenge.
So where does that matter? When you come out to this map, it all matters. Because as we know, as we come to the race for 270 and we can get into this
more throughout the night and the next 12 days, here's where they are right now. 226 safe we believe for Harris, 219, safe for Trump.
Well, of all the yellow states, the battle grounds, this Pennsylvania is the biggest prize, 19 electoral votes. If Harris can do that, and that
Michigan and that Wisconsin just hold the blue wall. She is most likely the next President of United States. So, this is the biggest prize. If Donald
Trump gets this, it makes her math a lot more complicated, his math a lot easier.
So, Pennsylvania is the biggest prize, which is why she agreed to do the town hall here, which is why both campaigns are spending more money here
than any other state. There are other ways to get there, but if you're trying to get to 270 getting that 19 is huge.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Right. "World Sport" is coming up next, right after this break. And I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "Connect the World". Stay
with CNN.
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[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
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