Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks Moving Forward; Bukele Says Returning Deported Man to U.S. is "Preposterous"; Trump's Efforts to Broker Ceasefire Appear Stalled; Global Markets Seesaw Amid Tariff Uncertainty; Elephants from Instinctive "Alert Circle" after Minor Quake. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired April 15, 2025 - 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: These are live pictures from the Israel-Gaza border. Hamas saying, it is studying a new ceasefire proposal

where Israel is offering hundreds of Palestinians to be released in exchange for 10 hostages. It's 04:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, and it's 05:00 p.m.

here in Abu Dhabi.

I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World". Also coming up on the show, just a few steps away from his final citizenship interview, a Palestinian

student was taken by ICE agents. A man mistakenly deported to El Salvador seems to have no way back home to the United States.

The Salvadoran President saying he will not return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. President Trump again blames President Zelenskyy for the war in

Ukraine, this time following the deadliest Russian strike in Ukraine this year. Right, 30 minutes to go before the start of trade in New York.

Let's check in on those market futures, and it's pretty much a mixed bag right now. You've got the DOW and the S&P slipping into negative territory

after a boost yesterday, a lot of talk about what we'll see with the tariffs and potential exemptions. Again, the word from the White House on

the exemptions being temporary, spooking the market somewhat.

The NASDAQ slightly in positive territory. Right now, Hamas says it is studying a ceasefire proposal put forward by the Israelis. The deal calls

for the return of 10 Israeli hostages in exchange for aid into the enclave and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. What does not -- what

is not included is any guarantee for a permanent end to the war.

We've got CNN Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us with the latest. Jeremy, good to see you. So, the deal also calling for a complete disarmament of

Gaza, which has long been a red line for Hamas. What is the group saying this morning about the proposal on the table?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed, a senior Hamas official confirming that Hamas is studying this latest proposal from

Israel. And first, let's lay out what this actually talks about. It would involve Hamas releasing 10 living hostages in exchange for hundreds of

Palestinian prisoners and a 45-day truce in Gaza.

According to this Hamas official, under this proposal, Israel and Hamas would then negotiate a permanent ceasefire during those 45 days. And it's

important to note, of course, that the last ceasefire agreement called for something similar, but ultimately, those negotiations never fully

materialized in a serious way.

This proposal would also, as you just noted, call for the disarmament of Hamas. And indeed, a senior Hamas official is saying that, that is

something that Hamas will not agree to. And so, while it's clear that there is some real momentum here, some real forward discussion about a specific

proposal that is now on the table, it's also clear that there are still some major gaps.

And so there's no sense right now of any kind of imminent agreement between Israel and Hamas, if this proposal does materialize, though, or some

version of it, you would see Edan Alexander, the Israeli soldier who has been held captive by Hamas, who is also a U.S. citizen, released first as

part of this agreement, and the 9 other Israeli hostages would be released in two stages, in addition to the bodies of 16 Israeli hostages.

What this would also unlock, of course, is enormous amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza once again, which Israel has blocked from going into the Gaza

Strip for over a month now. Absolutely nothing has been getting into Gaza since March 2, no food, no medical supplies, no water, no electricity.

And humanitarian officials are warning that Gaza is rapidly approaching a crisis point, and we are already starting to see as the food situation in

Gaza is indeed deteriorating, and some people are starting to go on just having one meal a day inside of Gaza, an entirely man-made disaster that is

happening and rapidly unfolding in the Gaza Strip.

But these negotiations, of course, could temporarily at least put a halt to all of that. We will see if there is any more progress in the days ahead.

GIOKOS: Yeah, definitely a sense of cautious optimism on that front. But I also want to talk about talks with Iran, and we're seeing some developments

there. So, what is on the table? What is being proposed right now?

DIAMOND: Well, one of the key questions has been, how far is President Trump going to go in these negotiations? How far will he seek to push Iran

and what will be acceptable to him?

[09:05:00]

And then, separately from that, does that line up with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vision for a successful diplomatic agreement

with Iran? Netanyahu has talked about this in the concept of in terms of Iran fully dismantling its nuclear program, even a civilian nuclear program

that it would have.

But what here -- It's interesting to hear what Steve Witkoff, President Trump's Special Envoy who has been involved in these negotiations. This is

what, how he describes what the administration is talking to the Iranians about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program, and then ultimately verification on

weaponization, that includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there, and it includes the trigger for a bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so, he is talking there about verification of Iran's nuclear enrichment, verification of the kinds of missiles that would be capable of

carrying a nuclear weapon, but he is not talking about full dismantlement of their system. In fact, if you're verifying these measures, then that

suggests that something indeed still exists from that nuclear program.

That is very much at odds, of course, with what the Israeli Prime Minister has been seeking. And it also seems to be at odds with what some members of

the Trump Administration have suggested. And as recently as this week, Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, talked about dismantling Iran's nuclear

program through these negotiations.

So certainly, some dissonance there. And of course, the question will be, what will the Israelis do? I mean, if they get the sense that the Trump

Administration is heading for a deal that would allow Iran to continue enriching uranium at lower levels, that is not something that the Israeli

government has expressed a willingness to entertain.

And we know, of course, that they have been considering military options as it relates to those programs, they wanted to do it in concert with the

United States. But what happens if the United States goes in a different direction that remains to be seen.

GIOKOS: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. To another case involving a Palestinian student at Columbia University who now faces

deportation from the United States. You're looking at video that was obtained by CNN, showing Mohsen Mahdawi being taken away in handcuffs

outside an immigration office in Vermont.

Now he's lived in the U.S. for a decade and was about to have his final citizenship interview. Mahdawi co-founded Colombia's Palestinian student

union with Mahmoud Khalil, who is also fighting deportation. Both cases are raising concerns among both Arab and Jewish groups in the United States.

Someone to now speak to Tamara Gayer who is the co-leader of the Israelis for Peace group in New York.

Tamara, great to have you with us, and thank you so much for taking the time. I know that you've met Mahdawi in November. You were forging

relationships. I want you to tell me about that meeting, what was discussed and what your perspective is on what we're seeing now in terms of him

facing deportation on the cusp of going for his final citizenship interview?

TAMARA GAYER, CO-LEADER OF ISRAELIS FOR PEACE NYC: OK, wonderful. First of all, thank you so much for having me here. I think it's so important that

you're discussing this issue. As far as we're concerned. First of all, we want to make it incredibly clear that silencing activists, regardless of

what their opinion is, by arrest and deportation, is really a symptom of an unhealthy government and regime.

The U.S. has very, very strong, ample protections for all sorts of types of speech, and it also has a lot of measures that can be taken against hate

speech and deportation is really not the first crayon in the box that should be reached for and it is scary for anyone who wants to speak out and

criticize, regardless of identity or nationality. So, in terms of our meeting with Mohsen.

GIOKOS: So --

GAYER: Mohsen was one of the leaders.

GIOKOS: Yeah, go ahead. Sorry.

GAYER: Specifically, about him. Yes, we did meet in November. We started to have conversations with him, because he really felt that the political

encampment, which he was one of the founders, needed to gain more nuance and more partners. And the only solutions, as you can see, there is a very

widely circulated video from 60 minutes about a year ago where he very, very clearly outlines that the only solutions are solutions that take both

-- into account.

[09:10:00]

Everyone's humanity and everyone's right for self-definition into account, while very clearly seeking the necessary justice for the Palestinian people

their right to self-define and for them to have a safe and secure and peaceful home, to place to call home, just like Israelis deserve the same

thing.

GIOKOS: So, in the meantime, the Trump Administration says that it wants to take decisive action against antisemitism. Do you believe this is the right

course of action to target protesters on campus and framing it in a very different perspective?

GAYER: First of all, it is, as I said at the beginning, absolutely not the right action, even when there are which we want to recognize that there are

some antisemitic statements within the larger context of this protest, although we do not think necessarily that the protest itself is

antisemitic, criticizing neither the U.S. nor Israel for policies are not antisemitic.

In fact, you see hundreds of thousands of citizens of Israel on the ground criticizing their own government for this war and policies. And latest

studies show that the vast majority of people want to end this war and want to see all the hostages return. So, we think, as I said originally, that

this is not only a scare tactic, but is really leading us down the road to very, very dark days.

This is not the way that you deal with speech, with things that you don't like to hear or want to hear, and even if you disagree, even if some of

these things veer into hate speech, the U.S. has ample tools to deal with them which have nothing to do with deportation.

GIOKOS: So, it's not just your organization. In fact, there are other multiple Jewish groups that raise the alarm against these deportations. Are

you building a coalition of sorts to send a message to Washington? What is the plan?

GAYER: Well, in general, first of all, I organize with two groups. I am one of the co leaders for Israelis for peace, but I am also the lead organizer

for friends of standing together New York City, standing together is the largest Jewish and Palestinian co organized movement within Israel.

And both of these organizations really take their cues from the work of activists in the ground, because we believe they really present the

solutions to this problem, which are non-violent and create a sustainable future for everyone.

But to answer your question specifically, yes, we are creating coalitions, both within Jewish spaces and non-Jewish spaces, because we think that this

is not only an identity issue, but this is really a threat to all Americans, regardless of what the issue is, because it sets a really scary

precedent.

GIOKOS: Tamara Gayer, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for taking the time today. Harvard is now the first major American University

to publicly fight back against U.S. President Donald Trump's demands for policy changes on campus, but the school's defiance could prove costly.

On Monday, the Trump Administration announced it would freeze more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard for its refusal to comply with the list of

demands, the university received on Friday, among them eliminating Harvard's Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs and allowing the federal

government to audit hiring and admissions. His one Harvard law professors take on what's happening right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MANUEL CRESPO, HARVARD UNIVERSITY LAW PROFESSOR: It's a transparent effort to change what is taught, what we able -- what we say in our

classrooms, what we teach our students, to make sure that the only things that are actually said on university campuses are things that the Trump

Administration wants to hear and wants to be said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Well, in a statement, Harvard's President described President Trump's desire changes as violation of the university's constitutional

rights. Today, U.S. Justice Department officials are set to face a judge once again over a Maryland father who was wrongfully reported.

And the Trump Administration admits it mistakenly sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a mega prison in El Salvador last month despite his protected status,

and last week, the Supreme Court endorsed a lower court judge's directive to facilitate his return. But during an Oval Office meeting Monday,

President Nayib Bukele made it clear Garcia isn't going anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAYIB BUKELE, PRESIDENT OF EL SALVADOR: Can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? I don't have the power to

return him to the United States.

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him.

[09:15:00]

That's not up to us if they wanted to return him, we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Well, CNN's Alayna Treene has the latest on the deportation dispute from the White House.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Trump Administration Attorneys will be back in court today in front of a Maryland judge, the same one who

initially ruled that the Maryland man, Abrego Garcia, should not have been sent to El Salvador. All of this, of course, coming as we heard not only

President Donald Trump, but some of his top advisers yesterday argue that they didn't have the power to return him to the United States.

Now, really, we've seen the administration kind of inch closer to this line of defense in recent days, but yesterday really marked in the clearest way

that they have no intention of trying to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the U.S. Essentially, their argument is that the judge in this

case overstepped their bounds.

And even the Supreme Court does not have the power, even though they had that 9-0 ruling saying that the Trump Administration must facilitate the

return of Abrego Garcia, back to the U.S. Their argument is that they don't have the power to do so. They are reading that law differently.

They're also arguing that the courts have no say in the foreign policy decisions made by President Donald Trump. Now one thing that was very

striking, of course, from that Oval Office meeting is it wasn't only President Trump and his top officials who were saying that they don't have

the power to return him, but we heard a similar argument from El Salvador and President Nayib Bukele.

He essentially said that trying to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. would be like smuggling in a terrorist. Of course, it is up to them, and the

courts have said that they should facilitate the return of this man. I think the key point in all this, of course, is that the courts have pointed

to the fact that Trump Administration attorneys were the ones who said that he was mistakenly sent there in the first place.

But one thing that I think cannot get lost in all of this is something else we heard President Donald Trump say yesterday, which was essentially that

not only does he want to ramp up the number of deportations of undocumented migrants, particularly those who have allegedly committed violent crimes to

El Salvador.

But he also suggested that perhaps they could do the same with U.S. citizens, what the president described as homegrown criminals. Take a

listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We always have to obey the laws, but we also have homegrown criminals that push people into

subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they not looking. That are absolute monsters. I would like to

include them in the group of people to get them out of the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, as you heard him say, there, the argument really is that if you can send violent immigrants, undocumented immigrants, to El Salvador, why

not do the same with U.S. citizens? I think of course, there are major legal questions of whether or not that's even possible, but President

Donald Trump said yesterday that his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, would be looking into it.

But I think the bottom line here is that there is no question that the president and his administration are planning on leaning into the strategy

of sending even more people to these mega prisons in El Salvador. When I asked Stephen Miller, the President's Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

about this yesterday, he someone, of course, has really shaped the immigration policy of this White House. He told me that there is no upper

limit for how many people they plan to send.

GIOKOS: Well, still to come the U.S. President ridicules Kyiv's request to buy more military defense weapons just a day after Russia's deadliest

single attack on Ukrainian civilians since 2023. We'll bring you that story and more right after this. Stick with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

GIOKOS: U.S. President Trump continues to send mixed messages about who he thinks started the war. On Monday, he appeared to blame Russia's President,

but added that former U.S. President Joe Biden and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy could have stopped it. He also ridiculed Mr. Zelenskyy's latest

request for more weapons from the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you spoken the President Zelenskyy, sir, about his offer to purchase more Patriot missile batteries?

TRUMP: He's always looking to purchase missiles. You know he's against. Listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war,

right? You don't start a war against somebody that's 20 times your size, and then hope that people give you some missiles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: President Trump's remarks come as Russia intensifies its deadly attacks on Ukraine. CNN's Fred Pleitgen takes a closer look at some of the

devastation in Sumy following a deadly Russian attack there over the weekend. A warning that some of these images may be difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sumy, Ukraine Palm Sunday, shortly after 10:00 a.m. As folks were heading

to mass, two missiles struck, killing and wounding scores. We live in the city center, this eye witness says there is no military base. There are no

soldiers here. It is simply a genocide. It is genocide.

After the explosions, mass carnage, first responders trying to help any survivors. Ukrainian officials said preliminary information indicates

Russia used a missile with a warhead pack with cluster munitions, weapons designed to harm people in a wide area. Ukraine's President livid. Only

filthy scoundrels can act like this he said.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Today, many state leaders, diplomats, regular people with big hearts, expressed their sympathy towards

Ukraine. They condemned the Russian attack.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But while many world leaders denounced the attack from President Donald Trump, a muted response.

TRUMP: I think it was terrible, and I was told they made a mistake. But I think it's a horrible thing. I think the whole war is a horrible thing.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): As mourners gathered in Sumy laying flowers for the many victims, Moscow claims its army does not go after civilians and was

instead targeting a high-level military meeting. There was another meeting of Ukrainian military leaders with their Western colleagues, the Foreign

Minister says, who were either masquerading as mercenaries or, I don't know who.

There are NATO service men there, and they are in direct control. All this as the fighting on the front lines remains as brutal as ever. Russia

claiming its forces continue to make steady progress, while President Trump's diplomatic efforts to broker a ceasefire appear to have hit a road

block.

Unclear if any progress was made when Trump envoy Steve Witkoff met Russian Leader Vladimir Putin on Friday, the Kremlin down playing expectations. The

whole journey consists of small steps to recreate an atmosphere of at least minimal trust, the Kremlin spokesman says to strengthen this mutual trust,

but the Ukrainians say they are losing faith in the Trump Administration.

ZELENSKYY: I believe, sadly, Russian narratives are prevailing in the U.S. How is it possible to witness our losses and our suffering, to understand

what the Russians are doing and to still believe that they are not the aggressors, that they did not start this war.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): And there are few signs the war could end soon. Just hours after the attack in Sumy drone struck the port town Odessa, wounding

several people and causing major damage to scores buildings. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:25:00]

GIOKOS: Let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now. U.S. President Donald Trump is urging the government

agency in charge of regulating TV and radio stations to punish CBS. The network's flagship current events program 60 minutes aired a show focused

on Ukraine and Greenland, which apparently angered the president.

Jury selection is scheduled to get underway today in the sex crimes retrial of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. An appeal Scott overturned

the guilty verdict in Weinstein's 2020 trial, when he was convicted of rape and sexual assault, and the judges ruled that he didn't receive a fair

trial.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg is expected back in federal court in Washington today to testify in a landmark antitrust case against Meta. The

U.S. Federal Trade Commission has accused Meta of creating an illegal monopoly that could result in the company being forced to sell Instagram

and WhatsApp.

Ahead on "Connect the World", just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street. We'll take a closer look at the U.S. stock markets as they

deal with a new reality and the near daily changes of the Trump tariffs, a lot of volatility. We'll check in on those numbers just after this. Stay

with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". These are your headlines. Hamas says it will not agree

to laying down its arms after receiving the latest ceasefire proposal from Israel. The deal calls for the disarmament of Gaza, which has long been a

red line for Hamas.

It also does not guarantee a permanent end to the war. The Trump Administration has cut Harvard University off from $2.2 billion in federal

funds. That's after the school refused to comply with its list of demands. The move comes after the administration launched investigations into

universities across the country, citing concerns with antisemitism or racial references.

[09:30:00]

Right. We're a few minutes to go, a few seconds to go before the opening bell in New York. And of course, one thing that has defined the markets is

volatility. And there it is. All right, markets perform pretty well yesterday, despite all the tariff news and frankly, the uncertainty that's

been injected into the market.

One thing that boosted things yesterday, specifically the tech sector, was because President Donald Trump said there could be exemptions, temporary

exemptions, on some of the products coming through from China, and that offered the market a little bit of reprieve. The DOW JONES flat right now,

with a bit of a positive bias.

Futures were slightly lower earlier, but you can see that they're posting a little bit of recovery right now, down NASDAQ and S&P flat, but looking

green. And that is what we're hoping for. That bill will see this continuing, perhaps unlikely, given we just don't know what's to come,

specifically on the tariff front, and that has been really motivating and pushing and defining market direction of late.

And today's trading follows days of volatility spark by the Trump tariffs. I want to delve more into the markets and what may come next with Bill Lee,

Chief Economist at the Milken Institute and Former Head of North America economics at Citigroup. Sir, great to have you with us.

You know many people and many analysts are defining what we've been seeing as a roller coaster ride and a lot of whiplash for the markets. And I think

many are wondering, what do we need to price in right now? What are the impacts of the tariffs going to be not only on company's multinationals,

but also the economy itself? How are you weighing things up and looking through the current noise?

WILLIAM LEE, CHIEF ECONOMIST AT THE MILKEN INSTITUTE: Well, maybe, I think it's a mistake that many analysts are focusing in on the tariffs themselves

as a source of market volatility. I actually think that the issue is much broader, and that is that President Trump was elected on the Make America

Great agenda, which includes reducing government to free resources for the private sector, lowering taxes, fewer regulations, and protecting investors

that choose to invest in the United States with a tariff barrier.

And the tariffs are just a small part of that Make America Great package, and I think the objective of the package has been to restructure not just

the United States' domestic economy, to make it more productive and to rebuild manufacturing, but it's also to restructure the global trading

system.

All this restructuring has caused a lot of uncertainty, and to me, the source of volatility is coming from a nagging sense that President Trump is

using up a lot of political capital to try to get the tariff programs in place. And that, I think, is jeopardizing the possibility of the rest of

the package, which is much more important, fewer taxes, smaller government and fewer regulations. Those are the issues I think that are facing the

markets right now. And --

GIOKOS: Yeah, I guess what would you -- Yeah, it's really interesting, because I think what you're describing as well sort of the restructuring of

the economy, bringing industrialization back to the United States. All of that takes time. So, you're looking at a longer-term perspective, which is

important.

But then I wonder, do you believe that market participants are overreacting to the news? And then let me ask you this, why then are U.S. bond yield

spiking so extensively, which is showing that, I guess, the you know, the U.S. bonds were always a place of safe haven where people would flock their

cash. That's not happening. So, what does that tell you? Is this just an overreaction in your mind?

LEE: That's a great question. I think in my experience of the many years I've been on Wall Street, and also as being an economist with the Federal

Reserve and International Monetary Fund, markets always overreact. You have to assume that. But I think your question is really right on point about

the bond market.

It seems to be acting differently and with the dollar. And for me, from what I can see, a lot of investors have leverage positions where they

borrowed a lot of money, and they're now subject to margin calls, as the stock markets have really taken a big hit lately. When you hit a margin

call, you sell the most liquid assets you have.

Treasuries are the single most liquid assets in the world, and people are selling that. People are also selling dollar assets as much as they can,

because the dollar represents a huge liquid market. So, to me, these are investor adjustments to the margin calls and the leverage positions.

And I think Secretary Treasury Bessent was absolutely right to say that that's the major force that's in play, because if you look at the bond

markets now, they've calmed down. It was just that brief moment of raising liquidity that causes disruption.

GIOKOS: Yeah, OK, they come down for now, because we just don't know what will happen next on the tariff front. And I think that's what most analysts

are cautioning against. Economists are saying the same thing. They just don't know what the short-term implications are.

[09:35:00]

And I know that you looking at the long term, because you're seeing a restructuring in terms of trade and World Trade and so forth. But for

people in the United States, here's their reality. Their savings have been depleted. They're worried about future prospects. I mean, they cannot

handle this type of risk for the greater good. So, then what is your take, buy, sell, hold? What do you think people should be doing right now?

LEE: Well, for those who are younger and have a longer investment horizon, right now, stocks are down to the point where there are enormous bargains

out there, and President Trump actually has advised people, if you have some cash, go shopping and buy up some assets that are that are going for

cheap.

For those who are older and, on their retirement, they're the ones who already have adjusted the portfolios to be more fixed income in bonds, and

I think they should hold tight, because this adjustment period should blow over as soon as we see that the restructuring is taking place.

President Trump has got a short time table, but by the time the midterm elections come, he's got to put in place most of this agenda and policy

package, and that's why the rush to do things, and it's caused some communications problems, and that has been also a source of a lot of the

uncertainty.

GIOKOS: So, what's your analysis on President Trump's tariffs against China, and then you've got retaliation coming through, and then every day,

the numbers increasing, and now you've got some exemptions on things that are really important for the U.S. economy. How do you think that's going to

end?

LEE: Eleni, that's really the heart of the problem. The issue with China, the bilateral imbalances and also the single source supply chains, are

things that President Trump is trying to restructure. And I think the message that China has always been we need to sit down and negotiate the

21st century trade agreement that is going to create a framework of trade for the United States and China that will be a model for the rest of the

world.

Right now, the WTO trade system was set up under World War two conditions where the U.S. is the only healthy economy. Now we have countries in the

Middle East, Europe and South America that are rising into the middle class. We need a new framework for trade, and that is what China and the

U.S. has to negotiate. It started with the first Trump Administration, and I hope that will continue.

GIOKOS: Bill Lee, great to have you with us. Thank you, sir. Right. moving to sports and Aston Villa faces an uphill battle as they host Paris Saint-

Germain in the UEFA Champions League quarter final. Second leg, we have a preview for you just ahead. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: They say an elephant never forgets, and while that may be an exaggeration in scientific terms, a group of elephants reacted in a pretty

remarkable way after an earthquake in San Diego. Now you're looking at the moment the quake hit, and you can see the elephants instantly reacting.

Look at this.

[09:40:00]

Now forming what is called an alert circle, which is instinct to response to danger. The elephants circle up to protect their herd, particularly

young calves, and they stayed out there for about four minutes before going back to normal. Though they did keep close to one another.

And thankfully, there was no damage reported from the earthquake, but absolutely beautiful sight and amazing to see these instincts. Right, the

Ohio State University football team celebrated its college championship with a visit to the White House, but everything did not go according to the

game plan.

The team presented President Donald Trump with a Jersey as well as a helmet, but it was Vice President JD Vance who fumbled on the plane he was

trying to lift the championship trophy when he dropped the base of it. And he went on social media later to say he didn't want anyone to get the

trophy after Ohio State, so he decided to break it.

There we go. Well in Europe, Aston Villa is trailing PSG, three to one as they prepare to host the UEFA Champions League quarter final, second leg.

Aston Villa's coach is holding on to hope they can make a huge comeback. But is this possible? The only person who can answer this question, we've

got Amanda Davies with us with a preview. What are we expecting, Amanda?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: I'm not sure I'm the only one. It might be the villa take that approach of the elephants and all circle in and protect

each other in their head, but no, this is where the Champions League really get serious. It's the second leg of the quarter finals. So, in two days'

time, we will have just four teams left in the hunt, and you've got two fascinating match ups this evening.

But you have to say two match ups that are very one sided, lopsided after the first leg. It's Paris Saint-Germain looking for their second straight

semifinal, very much, with the advantage against Aston Villa playing in this competition for the first time since 1983 and then it's Barcelona, the

La Liga leaders, who are four-nil up against their German counter parts at Dortmund.

But we've got a look ahead what is to come in just a couple of minutes in "World Sport". So, hope people can join me then.

GIOKOS: Fantastic. All right. We'll catch you after the short break. Amanda, and I'll be back at the top of the hour with a second hour of

"Connect the World". Stay with CNN. See you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

END