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Majority of Americans Say Policies have Gone Too Far; Pakistan: "Credible Intelligence" India will Strike Soon; Trump Administration Labels Thousands of International Students as Criminals; Trump Signs an Executive Order to Ease Some Auto Tariffs; U.S. Economic Growth Contracted at 0.3 Percent Annualized Rate in 1Q 2025. Aired 9-9:45a ET
Aired April 30, 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)
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Hello and welcome to "Connect the World". I'm Lynda Kinkade in for Becky Anderson. Good to have you with
us. U.S. market futures live in the screen right now. I can't see them myself but they are sharply down due to that breaking news this hour.
Brand new numbers on the U.S. economy, giving us our first glimpse of the impact of President Donald Trump's sweeping policy changes. The critical
GDP report out in the last half hour shows that economic growth has sharply declined in the first three months of the year, contracting at an
annualized rate of 0.3 percent.
That's the worst quarter the country has seen since 2022. Well likely hear from the president shortly on this as he prepares to convene his cabinet in
just a few hours. Well, that's after touting his record for his first 100 days in office during a rally in Michigan last night, vowing that, quote,
you haven't seen anything yet.
Well, CNN's Matt Egan joins us now live from New York with the latest on all these numbers. Matt, good to have you with us. Just break down these
results for us, the worst since 2022.
MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Lynda, that's right, the U.S. economy is shrinking for the first time in three years. As you noted, Gross Domestic
Product, GDP, it's the broadest measure of economic output, and it did decline. This was a bit of a surprise. Consensus was for really slow but
positive growth, although there were some forecasters out there anticipating an even bigger drop in GDP.
And so why did this happen? Well, it's really clear that this is directly linked to the president's trade war and the supply shock that the tariffs
set off. Right, we had businesses and consumers who were trying to beat the clock on tariffs. Right, they were scrambling, trying to front run those
tariffs and trying to import goods, to try to avoid those import taxes.
And what happens is, when imports increase, especially when they increase as dramatically as they did in the last quarter, that actually subtracts
from GDP. And so that's what we were bracing for, and that is exactly what happened. Another factor here, that was government spending, particularly
federal government spending, declined, that was also a negative to GDP.
So, you put those two together, and you get the first decline since 2022. Now when you dig into the report, there were other factors here that a
little bit more mixed, consumer spending slow, but it was still positive. Business investment was also still positive, although part of that was
driven by, again, trying to beat the clock on tariffs.
There is -- what's known as core GDP. That number held up in the most recent quarter. So, when you put it all together, it does paint the picture
of an economy that is facing almost unprecedented pressure from tariffs. I talked to Economist Greg Daco a few moments ago, and he said, look, he
doesn't think that we can call a recession from this data alone.
But he said, this is a sign that we are on razor thin edge, where the longer tariffs remain in place, the more likely we are headed for an
economic downturn, Lynda.
KINKADE: And speaking of an economic downturn, Matt, we saw those polling numbers out yesterday that show that the majority of Americans fear that a
recession is likely given this latest data. Does that increase the chances?
EGAN: Well, what's notable is obviously that CNN polling that predated this GDP report. And so, you got to wonder how numbers like this are going to
factor into consumer psychology, because this is only going to amplify those concerns, not just among economists, but also consumers.
You see 69 percent of adults in this poll that was taken very recently in mid-April. 69 percent say recession in the U.S. is likely in the next year,
just 30 percent say it's not. Yes, Democrats are more pessimistic than Republicans, but almost 40 percent of Republicans of Trump voters, 40
percent of Trump voters, also think that a recession is likely.
And so, the risk, of course, is that in a consumer led economy where consumer spending is the engine of growth, that numbers like we just got
today are going to only encourage people to hunker down more, and they're going to potentially decide to spend less money, save more.
Maybe that means they're not taking that vacation, they're not buying that car, they're not going out to dinner. And so, there is a risk of a self-
fulfilling prophecy where consumer demand goes down, businesses lay off workers, and that causes more market turmoil, and it can become negative
feedback I do think, though, that we should just stress that it is way too early to say recession is inevitable.
The technical definition of a recession would be back-to-back, two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, but that's just a technical
definition in the United States, officially, recessions are declared by a group of economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and what
they look for is a sustained and widespread drop, in economic activity.
So not just negative GDP, but they would be looking for stuff like a real decline in manufacturing, a loss of jobs, a decline in consumer spending,
and we really don't have those indicators yet. Of course, the question is, what happens next? And a lot of that is going to be decided by how long
tariffs stay high.
And how high tariffs impact the psychology of not just small business owners and CEOs, but of course, consumers as well, Lynda.
KINKADE: Yeah, it is interesting seeing that economic growth contracting even before Trump's trade war was fully ignited in April. But I want to ask
you about the figures we got in last hour on the employment data released by payroll company, ADP.
[09:05:00]
It shows U.S. companies sharply curtail hiring in April, citing an ease. Matt, just tell us what's the takeaway from these numbers?
EGAN: Yeah, so that's the ADP private sector payroll report. And it does underscore this problem when you have massive uncertainty and frankly,
chaos when it comes to policy making out of Washington. Right, a lot of CEOs small business owners that we talk to, they say they just don't know
what to do right now, right?
They don't know if they should be hiring workers or they should be firing them. They don't know they should be increasing wages or cutting them. And
so, a lot of times, they kind of just freeze when there's this much uncertainty, it kind of paralyzes them, and so that's why it's not shocking
to see hiring slow down.
Now the more important government jobs report for April that is due out on Friday. And that's going to be even more important to investors about where
the economy is and whether or not tariffs and trade war chaos end up causing an economic downturn. For now, the government jobs reports have
shown that the U.S. economy, that this jobs market does remain pretty healthy.
The question is whether or not we start to see unemployment tick up in a concerning way because of tariffs. And the answer is, we just don't know
yet. But I think that bad ADP report, that disappointing ADP report that we just got is going to just increase the attention on Fridays, more important
government jobs report, Lynda.
KINKADE: Yeah, disappointing numbers across the board, and as we see markets opening there in the red. Matt Egan, good to have you with us. We
are going to continue this breaking news in just a moment. Right now, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back to "Connect the World". I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us. Well, new numbers today show that some of President
Trump's biggest moves on immigration are proving to be unpopular. CNN's Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston joins us now.
Mark, good to see it has been a while. So, when you look at the overall deportation numbers, they're not as high as what they were under Biden at
this particular stage. But when you look at the polling, Americans don't seem very happy about what's going on. Just take us through the numbers.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure, as we're talking about these numbers and as we're talking about the economy at the same time right
now. We should note that Donald Trump uses immigration as the way to distract people away from bad news. It has been a good issue for him, and
as you note, he has started to lose some support for it.
Let's take a look at these numbers right here. He's lost seven points over the last couple months now. He is now under water when it comes to
immigration, specifically how he has dealt with it, some of his actions, probably some of his rhetoric as well, but we've seen that drop right
there.
[09:10:00]
That is not good again, as we're talking about how Donald Trump uses immigration as one of his top issues, as you noted, but also as an issue to
try to distract away from other negative news.
KINKADE: And talk to us about the political breakdown.
PRESTON: Yeah.
KINKADE: What do Republicans think about Trump's immigration agenda?
PRESTON: -- Just shows you how divided the United States is when it comes to immigration right now. If you look at these numbers right here, it just
tells the whole story. Nearly 9 in 10 Republicans right now are supportive of what Donald Trump is doing when it comes to deportations.
If you look at Democrats now, I mean, that's what less than 2, 1.5 Democrats are supportive of where Donald Trump is right now. The real key
number is, though, look at that one at the bottom 39 percent of Independents. Those are the folks who decide elections here in the United
States.
Democrats tend to vote Democrat. Republicans tend to vote Republican. Independents are the ones who decide the election.
KINKADE: Yeah, exactly. And of course, we listen to that interesting, quite testy interview on ABC that Donald Trump gave.
PRESTON: Yeah.
KINKADE: He was asked about whether he would bring back Abrego Garcia. This is the man the administration admitted that they mistakenly deported to El
Salvador. I just want to play some sound of what Donald Trump had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not saying he's a good guy. It's about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands sir --
TRUMP: He came into our country illegally.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could get him back. There's a phone on this desk.
TRUMP: I could.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could pick it up.
TRUMP: I could.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all the power of the presidency. You could call up the President of El Salvador and say, send him back right now.
TRUMP: And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But the court has ordered you to facilitate that --
TRUMP: I'm not the one making this decision.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're the president.
TRUMP: We have lawyers want to do this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- buck stops --
TRUMP: I -- no, no, no, no, I follow the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: So, Mark, how much empathy is there for this case?
PRESTON: Well, not only their empathy, but I think there is concern. Let's take a look at these numbers right here. It's a majority people think right
now that they oppose what Donald Trump is doing about sending folks down to other countries, in this case, El Salvador, down to that supermax prison.
But really the question is, should the United States try to get this gentleman back. There's a lot of controversy here in the U.S. Take a look
at this as well. There's a healthy majority that says that they, the United States and Donald Trump noting it right there, should try to get this
gentleman back in, into the U.S. We should note though, however.
He is a citizen of El Salvador, and the President of El Salvador is going to do what he wants to do.
KINKADE: Yeah, exactly. We'll see if that support increases and if it potentially changes the course of Trump's policy. Thanks so much for
joining us. Mark Preston, good to have you with us. Thank you.
PRESTON: Thanks. Thanks.
KINKADE: We have more breaking news into CNN this hour. A source telling CNN that Ukraine is expected to sign minerals deal with the United States
on Wednesday. CNN's Clare Sebastian is following the developments, joining us live from London. Clare, what are the details so far?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, Lynda, this has been a roller coaster of a process. What we know at this point, according to a
source, is that the Ukrainian Economy Minister will be in the U.S. to sign the document. That's expected to happen today. You will remember, this is
the minerals deal that was expected to be signed at the end of February before that very public Oval Office spat between Trump and Zelenskyy.
But both sides have been carrying on with talks in the background for most of the period. Since then, there have been significant disagreements around
how this deal should be structured. We obviously haven't seen yet the final document, but Ukraine, for example, had wanted and said a couple of days
ago.
The prime minister said that they had secured a concession whereby past U.S. aid would not be included in the final deal. There was a big concern
around Trump's claims that he wanted to recoup the U.S. The U.S. is investment so far in beefing up the Ukrainian military. So it may be that
they did secure that concession.
So, I think, look, this is something that both sides have really had a motivation to stay engaged in. Ukraine wants the U.S. to remain invested,
literally and figuratively, in its security. Having, you know, some kind of involvement by the U.S. in the Ukrainian economy would give them a vested
interest in protecting Ukraine.
They think in the U.S. wants to show the American taxpayer that it is doing something to try to get a dividend for the investment they've made in
Ukraine so far. And by the way, this is something that Russia has been very opposed to, so a significant milestone, but it is worth noting that this is
a deal that would only really take effect after the war was over.
So, while significant, and while it does sort of cement the relationship between the U.S. and Ukraine, which has been very rocky, it is at this
point something that is contingent on a ceasefire, and that still seems very elusive.
KINKADE: Yeah, very elusive indeed. Clare Duffy, good to have you on the story. We will talk soon. Thank you. Well, turning now to the tensions
between rivals, Pakistan and India. Islamabad is making some pretty serious allegations. Take a listen.
[09:15:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ATTAULLAH TARAR, PAKISTANI INFORMATION MINISTER: Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intense carrying out military action against
Pakistan in the next 24 to 36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident. Indian self-
assumed hubristic role of judge, jury and executioner in the region is reckless and vehemently rejected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, the government did not elaborate further on that intelligence. The recent tensions, of course, began when militants
massacred 26 tourists in the Indian administer disputed region of Kashmir, a week ago. India accuses Pakistan of being involved in the attack, which
Islamabad denies.
And instead, is offering a neutral investigation into the incident the U.S. and China urging the nuclear armed sides to show restraint. Well, Sophia
Saifi is following the developments and joins us from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Good to have you with us, Sophia. So, it's a complicated
story with a complicated history. Just break down what we know so far.
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Lynda. I mean exactly what you displayed by the information minister. This happened very early in the morning,
Pakistan, time 2 o'clock in the morning. Everybody was fast asleep. And then this statement was released as a video statement across all TV
channels in Pakistan.
So, the concerns have now begun to rise within the country. We've been speaking to people in India and Pakistan administer Kashmir. We do know
that communities have not been moved that live close to the border, but people are preparing their bunkers. As you know, we've had similar
incidents that have happened between India and Pakistan.
The most recent one being in 2019, when India responded to a militant attack that took place targeting Indian forces in Indian soldiers on the
Indian side, who then when the Indian Air Force then went and targeted positions within Pakistan, which led to a dogfight and then an eventual de-
escalation.
Now what's happened so far is that the Pakistani government has come out and said last week that they were asking all Indian citizens and diplomats
within the country to leave Pakistan by April 30 as -- and on the Indian side. Before that, India had also said that Indian citizens within Pakistan
should leave by the 29th of April.
Now, that deadline is passed, and what we're anticipating is, as the information administer has said, without really sharing much evidence, that
there is going to be a strike. Pakistan has been on alert. At the same time, India has also suspended the Indus Water Treaty, which had been
around since the 1960s.
And Pakistan's Defense Minister, when this happened last week, came out and said that this would be considered an act of war. There have been tensions
simmering between the borders of both Pakistan and Indian administer Kashmir, there haven't been any injuries or deaths so far.
So that's something that we're continuing to monitor. There are also concerns, as India has often blamed the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba its
prescribed terrorist group by the U.S. government. It's based its headquarters are in Pakistani Punjab. So, there are concerns here within
Pakistan that that's where a potential strike could take place.
But a lot of questions arising, and we're going to have to wait and see how this plays out. There is an important press briefing with the Foreign
Minister of Pakistan, as well as the military spokesperson, that's just going to take place within about 30 minutes from now.
So, we're just going to have to wait and see what they say, because that will be the first statements that they'll be making since the information
minister's incredible statement overnight, Lynda.
KINKADE: All right, Sophia Saifi, we will continue to stay across the story. Thanks so much. Well, have its president is apologizing for a deeply
polarizing atmosphere at the university that's failed to address antisemitism, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias on campus.
His remarks come after a pair of reports commissioned by the University found that a majority of Jewish, Muslim and Arab students are fearful for
their safety.
They feel alienated on campus and uncomfortable expressing their opinions. The findings come at a complicated time for the university as it fights the
Trump Administration's withdrawal of billions of dollars in federal funding. It's a move the White House claims was taken in response to
rampant antisemitism on campus. Here, CNN's Kara Scannell and Kate Bolduan, with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even in their negotiations with the Trump Administration and their public statements, they have acknowledged they do
have a problem of antisemitism on campus.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.
SCANNELL: Their issue is they want to be the ones to fix it. They don't want the federal government to tell them how to do it. But this report will
certainly give the White House a lot to work with, because of how raw it is in Harvard's descriptions through these task force of what their findings
were.
[09:20:00]
And they surveyed students and faculty and staff after October 7, 2023 and really focusing in over the first half of 2024 that's when they conducted
this survey. As you say, it's hundreds of pages. And the overall takeaway seems to be that whether you were a Jewish student or an Arab student,
there was this sense of the climate on campus was hostile and that Harvard wasn't doing enough to address it.
So, hearing that kind of from both of these reports. Alan Garber, the President, kind of sums up some of the issues in this letter that he wrote
accompanying it, in which he did apologize, he says some students reported being pushed by their peers to the periphery of campus life because of who
they are or what they believe, eroding our shared sense of community in the process.
And what these two reports find collectively, is that both Jewish students and Muslim students had felt alienated on campus, that they felt
uncomfortable being there. I mean, in the antisemitism report, there's talks of one student who or some students that had hid their identities,
because they had this feeling that even being known to be Jewish or associated with Jewish was treated as being offensive.
On the other side, you had some Arab and Muslim staff and faculty and students saying that they felt abandoned and silenced from their
perspectives on this and that one student was subjected to dox, where her face and her number, her phone number, was put on a truck around campus,
and she had received death threats according to this.
So, there are some recommendations in here. You know, some of them, interestingly, could be viewed similar to what the White House wants,
although they're certainly different extremes in how they're implemented. But one recommendation is changing, making some changes to the admissions
process, asking questions to protect of students.
Things such as, you know, how do you handle dealing with someone who has a different perspective than you. And looking for students who answers go
more toward bridge building than taking polarizing positions. And also suggesting there should be better oversight of some student organizations.
It seems that they found that some of these were being run without supervision and being one more bias than being one more inclusive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Now thanks to Kara Scannell there. Well CNN has learned the Trump Administration has effectively labeled thousands of international students
as criminals. For many, it's led to the withdrawal of their student visa, leaving them in limbo, unable to go to classes or to work.
Well last year, foreign students contributed more than $40 billion to the U.S. economy. Supporting more than 378,000 U.S. jobs. In a new CNN poll,
just 27 percent of people supported revoking foreign student visas. 58 percent opposed it. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz shared the extraordinary way in
which the Trump Administration singled out these students on Erin Burnett out front.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Through all the court documents, and I've looked through now dozens and dozens court
documents. I've spoken to probably about a dozen attorneys now that are representing many of these students, but it is hard to explain just how
horrific and terrible this has been for foreign students.
1.3 million foreign students became the target of this administration. They took all of their names, put them through a criminal database. And if they
got hits for them, they basically then did without really any kind of investigation, without any kind of work, they essentially sent notices to
them saying that they would basically were losing their status as students in the --
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And this could be, first of all, they didn't have to prove anything.
PROKUPECZ: No --
BURNETT: But it could be like a speeding ticket.
PROKUPECZ: In many cases, it was speeding tickets. In some cases, or people who were actually arrested for shop lifting DUI, things that you know,
college age kids may do. But what happens is almost all of these cases, there were no formal charges, or in some instances, they were even
dismissed, but they're not removed from the NCIC, which is the National Criminal Information Center where all this data is scooped up.
DHS has access to this, and so they ran their names. They didn't not a whole lot of investigative in some cases, it was just within minutes where
they send information back and forth, and then we're told, OK, terminate these students.
BURNETT: And now the students are gone or terminated.
PROKUPECZ: What is so horrible is for the students who left, students who were so scared, because what as this was going on? Remember, it was during
the time when Homeland Security and ICE's officers were out making arrests, out searching for students on college campuses. All of this is happening at
the same time.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: So, the foreign students who got these notices freaked out, and they left because they were afraid, they were going to be detained. And now
what happens? They have no recourse. Since they left the country, they can't get back in. They can't fight and many of them spent years. Years
paying into this education system, years learning in this education system.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Hoping to pay back. They can't.
BURNETT: And is the Trump Administration back tracking on anything --
[09:25:00]
PROKUPECZ: Yeah -- they are.
BURNETT: -- saying some of this can't be undone.
PROKUPECZ: Well, they realized and they were getting really hit hard in the court system, and judges were demanding to know what was going on here, and
today they released a new policy. It all started last week on Friday, they said they were reversing some of this. Today in court, they released more
information. But really, for the first time, we got to see exactly how this worked and how it unfolded.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: And it's just horrific.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Thanks to Shimon there. Well, still to come, we're standing by for the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures tumbling into the red after a
worse than expected report on U.S. economic growth. We'll have a check of the markets, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back to "Connect the World". I'm Lynda Kinkade. Good to have you with us. These are your headlines. New polling released by CNN
today gives a sense of how Americans are feeling about President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown. 52 percent say Trump's actions on
deportations have gone too far.
That's up 7 points since February. 33 percent say they're about right, and 14 percent say they don't go far enough. Factory activity in China
contracted at its fastest pace in 16 months in April, as the Trump tariff started to kick in. A statement says the downturn is due to sharp changes
in the external environment and other factors.
The decline is a setback for Beijing, which has tried to remain defiant during President Trump's trade war. Be patient, this will take a while.
Those words from Donald Trump after brand new, numbers show the U.S. economy had its worst quarter since 2022. The GDP report showing U.S.
economic growth sharply declined in the first three months of the year, contracting at an annualized rate of point 3 percent.
I want to welcome Jared Bernstein is the Former Chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, and he joins us from Washington. Good to have you
with us.
JARED BERNSTEIN, FORMER CHAIR OF THE U.S. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Great to be with you.
KINKADE: Jared, we are awaiting that opening bell, but I want to get your reaction firstly, to a post that Donald Trump just made on social media.
[09:30:00]
He wrote on Truth Social that this is Biden stock market, not Trump's. I didn't take over until January 20. Tariffs will soon start kicking in. And
companies are starting to move into the U.S. in record numbers. Our country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden over hang this will take a
while.
Has nothing to do with tariffs, only that he left us with bad numbers. When the boom begins, it would be like no other. Be patient. What's your
reaction to that? I suspect investors don't want to hear the words, be patient.
BERNSTEIN: That's exactly what I was thinking. And I think there's just a lot of misleading text in what you just read from Donald Trump, especially
if you look at the guts of today's report. A couple of the things we saw were considerably higher prices than we expected.
And let me tell you, consumers are in no mood to be patient about that, but also a real surge in the trade balance and negative trade balance that
shaped many points off of GDP. In fact, it was the second biggest negative spike we've seen in terms of imports in the history of these data.
Now there's some other underlying measures in the report that looks still pretty strong, but there are real warnings in here.
KINKADE: And of course, the markets are just open. We can take a look at the live markets. NASDAQ down 2.21 percent S&P 500 down. 1.49 percent and
the DOW down just under 1 percent. Markets not appreciating this news, right? GDP growth dropping its first contraction since 2022.
And this, again, is before people are really feeling the impact of this tariff trade war, which was virtually launched in April after this first
quarter results right.
BERNSTEIN: Yeah. Look, the markets are probably looking at that price spike, the fact that inflation for consumers came in at an annualized rate
of 3.6 percent, that is an uncomfortable number for consumers for the White House markets. Here's the way I think we should interpret this report.
You know those old movies where the hapless teenagers are walking around the scary woods, and there's a haunted house there, and there's a big sign
saying, danger, don't go there. That's what this report is telling us. It's really telling the White House you still have time. There's still some
underlying strength.
We saw good investment, consumer spending was a little softer, but it wasn't tanking. There's still time for them to dial back the damage that
they're doing. Whether they'll do that or not is anyone's guess.
KINKADE: And speaking of damage already being done, the consumer confidence report that came out yesterday certainly show that consumer confidence is
at its lowest level since 2020, since COVID really. If Americans actually fear a recession, which is what the polling numbers show, a majority of
Americans think there is going to be a recession. Is that enough to cause one?
BERNSTEIN: It certainly doesn't help, and it could actually be enough, if consumers and investors pull back enough that could be recessionary. So,
let's get down to cases here. I've been reading articles about businesses saying I was going to build a new warehouse. Now I'm sitting on my hands to
see what happened, consumers or homeowner.
I was going to invest in that home expansion, which, of course, is jobs for construction workers. I'm now sitting on my hands, waiting to see what
happens consumers saying, I better save precaution early. I better save given the uncertainty that's out there. If enough of that, stacks on top of
each other, sure that could be recessionary.
KINKADE: Yeah, and I just want to go to an interview my colleague Erin Burnett did just moments ago. She interviewed the Ford Motors company CEO
Jim Farley about Trump's auto tariffs, and he was actually projecting some optimism. Just take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM FARLEY, CEO OF FORD: You know, it's tough to tell right now. The reason is because we are seeing double digit sales increases since March and
April, but we ran this employee pricing. I don't know if that is unique to us. There may be a lot of customers going out and buying cars.
You know, before what they fear is the imports increasing prices. That may be a dynamic. We are certainly seeing. Our inventories are shrinking at the
dealership.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: I mean, that is interesting and also notable that Trump has eased some of the tariffs on imported cars to avoid stacking taxes. Does that
signal that you know Trump is realizing that his tariffs have gone too far any time?
BERNSTEIN: Anytime Trump dials back the tariffs, it's a good day for markets, consumers, investors, and pretty much anyone else. The question
is, how far is he dialing back and is he going to dial back his dial back the next day? That is will he reverse course again?
[09:35:00]
Until that uncertainty is resolved, I think we're going to see more difficulty, like we saw in today's report. Listen what we just heard from
Jim Farley was, in my view, evidence of large front running of the tariffs. Lots of people are trying to get ahead of the tariffs and purchase things
now, ahead of potential price increases later.
That may help a bit with growth now, but remember, it's subtracting from growth later. So, I don't take too much solace in all of that front
running.
KINKADE: And just quickly, Jared. If Trump stays the course, where do you see the U.S. economy going from here?
BERNSTEIN: Down shifting. We saw a negative handle on GDP, as we've been discussing. That's the first time we've seen that since early 2022 what I'm
worried about is partially recession if they don't mend their ways, but they still have time as I stress, you know, danger don't go there.
They still have time to reverse course if they don't do so, I think we're going to be down, shifting from a good, solid, healthy economy to something
a lot more sluggish, and if things line up the wrong way, even recessionary.
KINKADE: Yeah, the markets don't like what they're hearing as we can see there. They continue to go down. Jared, we'll have to leave it there for
now, Jared Bernstein, Former Chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers. Thanks so much for your time.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you.
KINKADE: And we are going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Well, "Visionaries" is a CNN series highlighting trail blazers and leaders across sport, tech, business and the arts. Mo Abudu has built a
media empire in Nigeria centered around sharing African stories across the continent and beyond. But the recent time 100 list honoree is not stopping
there. Here's CNN's Larry Madowo with a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If anyone knows how to throw a party, it will be Mo Abudu, from film premiers and red carpets to her own
60th birthday -- last September in Lagos Nigeria, and being named to the 2025, time 100 list of most influential people. Mo has plenty to celebrate
these days.
MO ABUDU, CEO OF EBONYLIFE GROUP: Let's celebrate the greatness of the things that we're doing. For me, it was just about ensuring that we have a
voice. We've got to be heard. Our stories have to be told, the good and the bad.
MADOWO: Right.
ABUDU: Because I was never one to shy away from telling stories that had to be told, if it was about anyone being victimized, or some challenges that
we're facing in our society. It's important to talk about them and to speak to those that are championing the change that's necessary.
MADOWO: You are not just satisfied with this successful TV show "Moments with Mo", you went on to start EbonyLife TV.
ABUDU: I do.
MADOWO: And even then, you're like, OK, I could keep expanding even more. Why is that?
ABUDU: Because I just think it's important to create that ecosystem around where you can be absolutely complete. So, it was great to start the talk
show. Then it was important to start the TV network. And then obviously we had EbonyLife films, you know, sort of doing major theatrical releases.
[09:40:00]
MADOWO (voice-over): In 2014, a year after creating the EbonyLife TV channel, riding on the success of her talk show. Mo and her team began
adding films to the portfolio. Productions including the wedding party and 50 broke Nollywood box office records. It didn't take long for major
Hollywood studios to take notice, Sony, Lionsgate, AMC Networks and then history with Netflix in 2020.
As EbonyLife films became the first African production company to sign a multi project Netflix deal.
ABUDU: What's the next big move? The Netflix comes to town, and they will become Netflix's, you know, major partner across the continent. So that's
happened, and now we're now taking the next rodeo to say what's next. I'm also going to be launching EbonyLife on our own OTT platform, because I
don't believe that there are enough platforms for our content.
We need to also create that ecosystem for ourselves. So, part of what I'm going to be doing, hopefully by June, will be to launch EbonyLife on so
that you can all stream our content around the world. I'm going to be engaging with filmmakers to say, Listen, let's take your films.
We also have a massive library of content as EbonyLife. I'm taking that journey because I think it's important now to do that. Netflix has been
great working with them, but we also need to create our own.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Thanks to Larry Madowo. You can see that interview with Mo Abudu on "Visionaries", which is premiering this weekend. Well, that's it for
this hour of "Connect the World". I'm Lynda Kinkade. I'll be back in about 15 minutes with much more news. Right now, "World Sport" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
END
