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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Announces New Auto Tariffs in Trade War Escalation; International Boycott of U.S. Products Grows on Social Media; The Atlantic Publishes Messages Detailing Attack Plans; Interview with Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL): Democrats Demand Firings, Full-Scale Investigation. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired March 27, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is ramping up his America First agenda with the announcement of new 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made cars. The tariffs are set to take effect one week from today in a move that the White House says will, quote, protect and strengthen the U.S. automotive sector. Now, tariffs on imported car parts are planned as well, starting by early May. But experts warn that these tariffs will make vehicles far more expensive for U.S. consumers.

Meanwhile, Trump is sending his vice president, J.D. Vance, and the second lady on a visit to Greenland this week that's being seen as controversial by many. President has repeatedly said that he wants the U.S. to take control of the autonomous Danish territory. And it's policies like these and the growing trade war with U.S. allies and foes alike that have led many people around the world to boycott American products, often sharing and organizing their efforts on social media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA Boycott, Supermarket Edition, and we're on to Cathedral City Cheese. That is British-made but Canadian-owned, so win-win. And then Pilgrim's Choice, good old Ireland, is responsible for these ones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Instead of Coke, I've bought No Sugar Cola, made in Australia from at least 99 percent Australian ingredients. And I bought it from Aldi, so some of the profits will go to Germany.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to be spending my money at the moment on USA brands, whether it be the clothes that I wear, the food that I buy in the shop, but most importantly, the makeup that I buy for my makeup kit as a professional makeup artist here in the U.K. I just really want to support U.K.-based brands, and European as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right let's bring in Mads Mouritzen, founder of a European group organizing boycotts of American products. He joins me live this hour from Copenhagen, Denmark. Mads, great to have you this morning, appreciate you being here.

As you know, Vice President J.D. Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance are set to arrive in Greenland tomorrow. As a Dane, how do you feel about this visit and this renewed attention on Greenland?

MADS MOURITZEN, FOUNDER, BOYKOT VARER FRA USA: Well, I'm not just surprised, I'm really, really, I think it's an extreme level of provocation from the administration, and it's an escalation of a very bad situation.

SOLOMON: Tell me a little bit about this Facebook group. It now has 90,000 members. This is a group that pledges to boycott American products.

What made you start it, and are you surprised by how big it's gotten?

MOURITZEN: Well, I'm a little surprised, but people in the Nordic country and all over Europe, Canada, Australia, all over the world, we're really, really mad, and we find -- we need to react in some ways. So I'm not that surprised, actually. We're counting 200,000 members in the Nordic country groups, and I mean, in Canada, there's millions, and so I'm not really that surprised, but of course, it's a lot of people.

We have to remember the Facebook group is just the tip of the iceberg. Fifty percent of Danes are set to boycott American products.

SOLOMON: Wow, 50 percent. I mean, that's massive. You mentioned the group is on Facebook. Facebook, obviously, Meta, obviously, an American company, but talk to us about how you yourself have boycotted American products. What does that look like in your life?

MOURITZEN: Well, mainly, I'm signing out of all the streaming services and all technical platforms. So I'm changing away from Google, Google Maps.

[07:35:00]

We have signed out from Airbnb, and so it's kind of all the web services is what we're pointing at and that we're kind of disregarding and discarding.

And then, obviously, the more symbolic things like Coca-Cola and products that are obviously American.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, Coca-Cola is a great example. I mean, what do you say, Mads, to those who say, look, these American companies, these are not necessarily a reflection of any administration, let alone this administration, and they themselves can find themselves on the losing end of Trump policies when it comes to tariffs. Is it fair to target these companies when they have nothing to do with the policies coming out of the White House?

MOURITZEN: Well, I think the whole thing is not fair. I think what the American administration is doing is not fair, and I think it's really, really unnecessary. We don't understand why they do it, but we have to answer back with what we can and what we have and what we can do.

And we know that we're not having a major financial impact because boycotts tend to not have that. But we have a very big impact on the American brand, and that is actually what we're doing. And, of course, you see Elon Musk helping very well along damaging the American brand.

But we're going that way, one could say.

SOLOMON: Yes, and to be clear, I thought it was interesting. You said in your comments to our producers that this is not necessarily toward Americans, that a lot of Danes have friends in America, that a lot of Danes visit America, that this is not about Americans themselves. This is about the policies coming out of the White House.

MOURITZEN: Exactly. You have to remember, we're really surprised of what happened. A few months ago, America was a very, very dear and close friend and ally.

And now we're sitting back and we're listening to, you know, a level of hate and disrespect from the American administration. But most of us have been to the United States many times. Most of us have friends and some even have family in the USA.

So we're just really, really hoping that we, as soon as possible, can normalize the situation and get back to where we were and be friends as we used to be. But it feels very difficult listening to what the American administration is saying about Europe right now. It seems very disturbing.

SOLOMON: To that end, Mads, what do you wish you could say to Trump or Vance about the sentiment in Denmark right now about some of the tough talk we've seen? And do you think Danes are taking this tough talk as a as a serious, credible threat?

MOURITZEN: Oh, this is very serious. This is a threat of a very, very high level. And we're talking -- people are very scared of the war with the USA in Greenland right now. A physical annexation of Greenland. That's what people are scared of. And and we're going to stand against it. We're not going to accept it.

And if I could talk to Trump, I'm not going to. But if I could, I would say, why don't you just sit down and we talk about it? What is it that you want? And can we find some way to negotiate this instead of this really, really weird behavior? This is -- it's a way to react. You know, why does he talk like that? Why? Why all this? Why all this show off? It's it's it's really vulgar. It's vulgar. That's what I think.

SOLOMON: OK, well, we'll leave it here. But we certainly appreciate your insights and perspective this morning. That's Mads Mouritzen. Thank you.

MOURITZEN: Thank you very much and good day to you.

SOLOMON: Likewise. All right, coming up on EARLY START, growing fallout from Signal Gate.

I will speak with Democratic Congressman Jonathan Jackson about the defense secretary's role when we come back.

[07:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon. And here are some of the stories we are watching for you today.

President Trump has announced new 25 percent tariffs on all imported cars taking effect one week from now. And a 25 percent tariff on car parts, with some exceptions, to come no later than May 3rd. Canada, the EU, Japan and South Korea all weighing now how to respond.

In South Carolina, two wildfires nearly doubled in size on Wednesday, but firefighters were able to keep the fires away from homes and other structures. Millions of trees blown down when Hurricane Helene hit in September are providing fuel for the fires, while also hindering the progress of fire crews.

And it will be cheaper for families to visit Walt Disney World this summer, some tickets for children will be discounted 50 percent. The offer only applies to trips lasting three days or longer. The deal, which is for kids nine years old and younger, go on sale today and will be valid for visits from May 27th through September 20th.

OK, now to one of our top stories this morning. Trump administration officials are doubling down on their assertion that no classified information was shared in a single -- Signal chat about plans for an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

[07:45:00]

The Atlantic magazine has published new text from the chat showing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussing which aircraft would be used and the timing of the operation. President Trump says that he's not sure if classified information was disclosed, deflecting instead about potential problems with the app.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think Signal could be defective, to be honest with you. And I think that's what we have to -- because you use Signal and we use Signal and everybody uses Signal, but it could be a defective platform and we're going to have to find that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Now, some Republicans admit that mistakes were made, including accidentally adding a journalist to the chat. Others want a more forceful response.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Obviously, someone made a mistake. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist. Nothing against journalists, but you ain't supposed to be on that thing.

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): I can't see any rationale for the kind of conversation that took place over Signal for not taking place in a more secure manner than that. I think that's hard to explain.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I'm worried about everybody and how they have handled this Signal controversy. Does it concern me? Hell, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right, joining me now from Washington is Democratic Congressman Jonathan Jackson, who is also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, appreciate you being here this morning. You have called for Secretary Hegseth to resign, but do you believe he will?

REP. JONATHAN JACKSON (D-IL): I don't think so, but I think he should out of a sense of duty and loyalty to the country, out of a sense of compassion for others. The man is in over his head and this is another demonstration. And in six months from now, it's going to be even worse.

He had to circumvent the law. He had to circumvent the protocols in order to have this sort of fiasco. Everyone in the military and intelligence understands the SCIF process when you deal with sensitive, compartmented information facilities.

He travels with a SCIF. There are protocols and there are also lines of communications that the military has access to. He willingly, long term, went around that. So this just wasn't careless. This was reckless and it could endanger future military personnel's lives.

SOLOMON: Congressman, when you say that in months, it will be worse. Do you believe that this this behavior will continue or what are your expectations here?

JACKSON: Oh, absolutely. He came in -- he said all this rampage that he's going on, talking about that diversity is the dumbest thing he's heard in military history.

And then he comes back and does the dumbest thing, the biggest blunder that we've seen in military history. He's turned diversity, which in the amicus brief, the persons in the military, the generals had said when they went before the Supreme Court for students for fair admission, they said diversity is our strength. It's a pluralistic society. We have to embrace multiculturalism.

He is an example, not of diversity, equity, inclusion. He's an example of definitely didn't earn it. So he's in way over his head.

SOLOMON: And I want to connect the dots for people watching. I mean, you have connected in your statement the security breach that many have claimed is a massive security breach to the administration's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Connect that dot for us.

How are they connected, in your opinion?

JACKSON: Well, first of all, he so disrespectfully, so ungraciously removed General Brown. If General Brown was in there, we certainly wouldn't have this issue. Sometimes the nearest exit is the door behind you.

And so what he's done is he's taken an attack on diversity. He's taken an attack on Jackie Robinson. He's desecrated his grave just because he was black.

He's taken an attack on the highest ranking female in the military, saying that this is a culture of wokeness. No, the military was working fine -- if you realize -- before he got there. So the connection is it's a highly esteemed institution.

The United States Supreme Court gave a carve out in the students for fair admission and said you can't have race conscious programs in the nation's oldest public university, Harvard, founded 1636. You can't have race conscious programs in the oldest public university system, University of North Carolina, founded 1789. But they did say you can have race conscious diversity. You can have affirmative action programs in the United States Military Academy. So they were given an exception. Colin Powell is a diversity candidate.

Sometimes people need the opportunity to get to the starting block and they can rise. And so what he's done is just totally breaking towards the cohesion of the military fabric. That's why I think it's time for him to resign.

He's going against the grain. This country was founded by the British, the Dutch, the Germans. I mean, the Germans are in the northern part, the Nordic countries.

You've got Native Americans, you've got people from Southeast Asia, you've got African-Americans, indigenous Americans that were here. So it's a multicultural society. He is now taking down -- he's re- erecting the names of Confederate soldiers.

[07:50:00]

How is that making African-American soldiers build unison with their comrades? We've already been through this part of our history. We're trying to go forward and unfortunately he doesn't.

SOLOMON: You know, we've heard throughout the show and since yesterday, really, Trump continued to brush off this incident. Some lawmakers, some GOP lawmakers, in fact, though, are acknowledging this was a serious breach. As I said, Congressman Don Bacon, he told Politico, the White House is in denial that this was not classified or sensitive data.

Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, he is seeking an expedited inspector's general investigation.

Congressman, do you believe, one, that the administration and the Pentagon will comply with that request? And two, do you have faith that that will accomplish the accountability that you and Democrats are hoping for?

JACKSON: I don't believe they will comply because their strategy has been a page out of Roger Stone's book to deny and delay and simply go forward. But I think it would get us to the truth of the matter if someone is looking for the truth in this administration. But to put 18 people on this group text, I was asking myself, where is the adult on the line? Like, who is the adult? It took a lot of engineering to use this private companies app, Signal.

Who is Signal? It's a nonprofit corporation that we use in some of our group chats. It has disappearing information. That's against the law.

These records are supposed to be recorded according to federal law. He knows that. So it took a lot of effort to go and use this private server and put it on private phones. And that's why he just needs to stop.

And I could even have some sort of understanding if he said I made a huge mistake. Please forgive me. No one was hurt. Let's go forward together. But to deny now to start lying, that is that is unacceptable behavior for the secretary of defense.

SOLOMON: Yes, I think that was Congressman Bacon's point was essentially it was a breach to sort of fess up and own it.

Let me ask how you and your fellow Democrats are planning to -- to accomplish the accountability that you and others are calling for. What's the plan?

JACKSON: Well, this administration right now is not willing to have any accountability. He's overriding the will of federal judges. There's talk of articles of impeachment.

People need to realize that the train is already off the track, that we're already now going into very much lawless behavior. There are protocols. There are some things that need to be fixed in the United States government. Of course, it's a work in progress, but everything in here has not been broken. We're trying to act like Social Security was broken. Armed services were broken.

This like we've got an arsonist that's now running the government. And this right here, I think the secretary of defense ought to be speaking up more forcefully for the veterans. You know, we love our soldiers when they go to war, but they become veterans when they come home.

They deserve that same level of care and consideration and compassion. Veterans are dying at the rate of 22 persons a day because of suicide. Those services are being cut. Veterans are making up a third of our federal workforce. They're getting their jobs dismantled. We've heard nothing from him. So there are bigger issues to deal with. I'm really embarrassed to even have this conversation right now because this is the United States of America's armed services. This is one of the most prestigious bodies of government in the entire world.

We spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined. And we're talking about this sort of lapse as if we are a banana republic that can't run the United States military. It was running fine before Mr. Hegseth got there. And now he wants to deny and lie. It's time for him to resign.

SOLOMON: OK, well, Congressman Jackson, we will leave it here. But we so appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

JACKSON: Thank you.

SOLOMON: All right still ahead for us. Baseball is back. It is opening day for the major leagues. Our own Coy Wire will tell us who to look out for this season when we come back.

[07:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back. It is opening day for Major League Baseball. Twenty eight teams will suit up and get their season underway. Our Coy Wire has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Break out the peanuts and cracker jacks, Rahel, happy opening day. 14 games today starting a new season of hopes and dreams for fans cheering on their favorite teams. And in most of the teams, they're going to be chasing the defending champs.

The Los Angeles Dodgers stacked once again. Heavy favorites to win it all again. Superstars Mookie Betts, Freddy Freeman, and of course, Showtime -- Shohei Ohtani. Nobody can hit and pitch like the generational talent, Japanese sensation.

And he is expected to be on the mound again at some point this season, though he seems surreal. His coach, Dave Roberts, recently revealed he is indeed human after all.

DAVE ROBERTS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS MANAGER: Shohei puts his pants on just like we all do one leg at a time. But if there's ever a superhero, I think Shohei just seems like a superhero. And in the biggest of games or the biggest of moments, he seems to always deliver.

WIRE: All right, the Braves, Yankees, Mets and for our Philly girl Rahel, the Philadelphia Phillies are the next heaviest favorites to win this year's World Series. A star studded lineup with Bryce Harper, Trey Turner, Kyle Schwarber and a potential Cy Young winner in Zach Wheeler. Look out for the boys from the city of brotherly love. Now, we may all know about the superstars we'll see, but there are

loads of newcomers who are just finding out their ML dreams are finally coming true. Check out the moment twenty nine year old catcher J.C. Escarra was going to the big leagues as a New York Yankee. Listen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is difficult to have to do because I know you put yourself in a really good position.