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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump and Netanyahu to Meet at White House Today; Global Markets on Edge After Trump Tariffs Drive Steep Losses; Bracing for Jolt from Tariffs on Coffee Producing Countries. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 07, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had no problem with the Middle East, everything was done. We had no problem with Iran, we had no problem with anybody. And then you had October 7th.

And that was all because Iran, as you know, was not giving money to anybody because they had no money. Now they have a lot of money. So we'll see what happens.

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NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, of course, Gaza is also likely to be high on that agenda of discussions between the two leaders. As I mentioned, that's ceasefire again. Breaking down, we are continuing to see airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, new evacuation orders for civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli military, according to the Prime Minister, quote, shifts gears, focusing on seizing more territory. Now, the Israeli military has said that it is focusing on targeting Hamas infrastructure, that it is working to pressure Hamas to commit to new ceasefire terms and also, of course, to release the remaining hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza.

We've previously heard, of course, from the U.S. President, Donald Trump, warning that all hell will break loose if Hamas does not immediately return the hostages. So that is, of course, expected to be a key focus.

But we are also seeing the deepening of the humanitarian crisis as well. We're seeing the civilian death toll rising on a daily basis and a continued blockade on aid getting into the Gaza Strip.

So it remains to be seen whether we see any shift in rhetoric from the U.S. President. Important to underscore, of course, that Prime Minister Netanyahu is also facing widespread criticism and protest both at home in Israel and, of course, globally. So certainly a lot of pressure on Netanyahu.

Whether we see this reflected in the meeting between Netanyahu and the U.S. President remains to be seen. Both leaders expected to take part in a joint press conference later today.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Nada Bashir, with what we can expect in that meeting, thank you so much.

A Palestinian-American teen has been shot and killed in the West Bank. Palestinian officials say Israeli soldiers fatally shot the 14-year- old and wounded two others, their ages 14 and 15.

The Israeli military says soldiers opened fire during a counterterrorism operation when they claimed to have seen what they described as three terrorists hurling rocks towards the highway, endangering civilians.

Straight ahead, American coffee drinkers are about to have a rude awakening. The impact they'll soon face from Trump's tariffs in the coffee cup.

Plus, Pope Francis delighting crowds in St. Peter's Square with a surprise appearance, a story, and much more. Stick around.

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TRUMP: I spoke to a lot of leaders, European, Asian, from all over the world. They're dying to make a deal. But I said, we're not going to have deficits with your country. We're not going to do that. Because to me, a deficit is a loss. We're going to have surpluses or at worst, we're going to be breaking even.

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SANDOVAL: That's the U.S. president aboard Air Force One. He's promising surpluses and a rebounding U.S. economy. But this has global markets react in panic to his trade war.

Just look at some of these numbers. Europe markets, they opened sharply down just hours ago. Asian markets, they're closed after what was a dramatic day of trading. You see there, the Hang Seng, Shanghai, and Nikkei, all experiencing some steep losses on Monday.

And what could be a sign of things to come, U.S. futures, they are plunging the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq all down ahead of the market open.

And then there's U.S. coffee shops. They are bracing for impact as foreign coffee producers grapple with these tariffs. It's also going to affect lots of Americans. In fact, the average person drinks three of these cups of coffee a day. I'm two in, and it's only 5:30 a.m. And that's 400 million cups a day nationwide. And when you look at the broader picture, about 73 percent of Americans drink coffee every day. Here's CNN's Julia Vargas Jones with a little bit more about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Small businesses like this coffee shop are set to feel the impacts of the tariffs hard. That's because of all the beans here, none of them are from the United States. We have Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Indonesia.

All of these are countries that will feel impact of tariffs. Brazil and Colombia, some of the top producers of coffee in the world, 10 percent tariff slap in those countries. 18 percent for Nicaragua and 32 percent for Indonesia.

We spoke to one of the owners of this coffee shop here in Los Angeles. This is what he had to say about it.

MATTHEW SCHODORF, OWNER, CAFE DE LECHE: I kind of understand on some level. I don't know if I agree with it, but I understand, like, we're going to raise prices on imports so that we try to guide people towards buying domestic, right? But you can't do that with coffee, you know?

Again, there's a small amount of production in Hawaii, but other than that, you have to get it globally. So you're just, I don't know how to say it politely. I mean, we're just getting screwed.

JONES: And he's not mincing words there. And that's in part because they have been facing this price increase for years now due to weather conditions mostly in Latin America, Brazil, and Colombia, where about 80 percent of the U.S. coffee comes from.

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Now looking forward, they're saying it's really difficult to not pass along the cost to consumers. That's where not just this, but many businesses across the United States will have to do to make do.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

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SANDOVAL: Well still to come here on EARLY START, severe thunderstorms. They are threatening the southern United States after days of rain and flooding. You can see there millions of Americans potentially affected. We'll have the latest on this dangerous weather coming up.

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SANDOVAL: And welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. And here are some of the stories that we're watching today.

President Donald Trump is defending his tariff agenda even as mayhem spreads across global financial markets.

Europe is now following Asia's lead with grave losses. And it appears U.S. stocks are set to continue their downward trend once American trading begins in the coming hours.

And at least 19 people have been killed in storms and flooding across the United States. Nearly 100 reports of severe weather have really been made across the south, including tornadoes, high wind, hail, torrential rain and multiple threats there. Flooding could pose a danger for several days to come as runoff from the storms makes some of the rivers in the area crest.

And Pope Francis made a surprise public appearance on Sunday. He gave the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square an unexpected treat. It's the first time the Holy Father has been seen in public since leaving the hospital two weeks ago, where he was treated for double pneumonia.

Donald Trump claiming that his trade war is already bringing lost industries back to the United States.

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TRUMP: Because of the tariffs, we have $7 trillion already committed to be invested in the United States, building auto plants, building chip companies. And all sorts of companies are coming into our country at levels that we've never seen before. You know, I was elected on this. This was one of the biggest reasons I got elected was exactly because of this.

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SANDOVAL: But experts predicting that the tariffs and the deep market sell offs are highly likely to spark a new recession. Amy Killey has the latest.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tariffs are coming.

AMY KILEY, CNN NEWSOURCE JOURNALIST (voice-over): The Trump administration is doubling down on tariffs as stock markets around the world plunge. Those in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand report early losses today. Tumbles in U.S. stock futures yesterday follow back to back sell offs last week.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: I went back and I looked for drops of 15 percent with a president who was inheriting a bull market. There's only one dude on your screen. It's Donald John Trump.

KILEY (voice-over): Here's the president responding last night when asked about the market volatility.

TRUMP: I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.

KILEY (voice-over): A universal 10 percent tariff on all imports is now in effect after starting on Saturday. This Wednesday, additional duties on products from dozens of countries are set to begin.

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: There is no postponing. They are definitely going to stay in place for days and weeks.

KILEY (voice-over): President Donald Trump says he only wants to make deals with countries that close trade deficits with the U.S. He insists tariffs will be good for Americans in the end and predicts a resurgence of U.S. manufacturing. Experts agree the duties might help certain domestic producers. But most mainstream economists say they will also lead to higher prices.

ENTEN: Basically, at this point, you average all these different companies together who put forecasts out on the chance of a recession. It's about 50-50.

KILEY (voice-over): I'm Amy Kiley reporting.

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SANDOVAL: Well, the tariff rollout has sparked concerns and chaos. But the inclusion of Heard Island and McDonald Islands on that list of countries and territories that have been targeted, it's really instead set off a flood of some humorous memes and plenty of punch lines. You see, that's because the Australian territory located near Antarctica doesn't have a human population.

It's quite literally inhabited by these guys. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had this explanation for why the islands were included in the list.

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LUTNICK: What happens is if you leave anything off the list, the countries that try to basically arbitrage America go through those countries to us. So basically, he said, look, I can't let any part of the world be a place where China or other countries can ship through them.

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SANDOVAL: Secretary Lutnick also denied speculation that the Trump administration may have used artificial intelligence to generate that list of countries to face tariffs.

Well, trading is well underway in Europe and markets there continue their downward spiral as Donald Trump doubles down on his tariff agenda. CNN's Anna Stewart with a look at the week ahead for international business.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think this will come as much of a surprise, but it is going to be another big week for tariffs. EU trade ministers are meeting in Brussels today. And this week, we do expect the EU to respond further to the latest tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, his country specific tariffs are set to take effect for the EU. The rate will be 20 percent. On the data side we get March inflation for the U.S. and China on Thursday.

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And on Friday, an important update on consumer sentiments from the University of Michigan. Anxieties around tariffs led to a big decline last month. Now, this data won't take the latest an update on consumer sentiments from the University of Michigan.

Anxieties around tariffs led to a big decline last month. Now, this data won't take the latest tariffs into account, but it will be crucial into understanding the context of the economy going into it.

Also on Friday, U.S. bank earnings kick off with JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and BlackRock all reporting. It's going to be interesting to hear from Wall Street after the huge sell off last week. Brace yourself. It's going to be another busy week.

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SANDOVAL: And global oil isn't doing very well, either. Oil prices have plunged so far today, with both Brent crude and also U.S. benchmark down more than 3 percent. They are trading at their lowest levels since early 2021, when the world was still grappling with shifting markets because of the COVID pandemic. Now, this comes after OPEC surprised investors last week with a larger oil supply than previously planned.

All right, let's lighten things up a little bit here.

March Madness, it is about to have its own shining moments as the men's and women's tournament crowns their champions. Just ahead, the latest on the national championship matchups.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means goodbye, brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it doesn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't look at her. It does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we want to save this world, creativity is key to survival.

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SANDOVAL: A Minecraft movie, it has shattered box office estimates, grossing $157 million domestically in its opening weekend alone. The movie is an adaptation of the hugely popular video game Minecraft.

This is the first major box office overperformance of 2025 after a historically slow start to the year. The movie is distributed by Warner Bros Discovery, which is the parent company of CNN.

All right, now to U.S. College Basketball's March Madness, where the University of Connecticut dominated the defending women's champion South Carolina on Sunday. Despite a strong start by both teams, UConn's offense was nearly unstoppable throughout the second half. Following an 82-59 victory, the Huskies have now been crowned the NCAA Women's Champions, their commanding performance marking a record 12th, 12th title for the program.

And it is not over yet. Talking about March Madness, of course, in San Antonio, the dream is still alive for Houston as they will try to win the men's championship for the very first time by knocking off two- time winner Florida. CNN's Coy Wire caught up with the head coaches from both teams as they reflect on this hard-fought road to the finals in Texas.

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COY WIRE, CNN WORLD SPORT: If Saturday night's Final Four is any indication of what we're in for for Monday night's national championship game, buckle up. I just sat down with each of the two coaches who've led their teams to this point. The Florida Gators took down top overall seed Auburn in a boxing-like basketball brawl. The team's going blow for blow.

Todd Golden's team is built with a bunch of underdogs, many of whom were overlooked coming up, like their star Walter Clayton Jr. I asked Coach just a bit ago what he'd say is the defining characteristic of the young men on his team.

TODD GOLDEN, HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: It's their resilience, you know. We've been able to put that on display in the NCAA tournament really all year, but obviously we have great talent. We have some special players on the floor, but our mental toughness and our resilience have been a big part of our ability to make it to this national championship.

WIRE: Clayton, my goodness, just going off of you guys. How do you put into words what he means for this team?

GOLDEN: You have to have some really special players to still be alive, you know, one of the last two teams standing. And not that Walter has been an elite leader for us all year and really shown the world, you know, what he's capable of over these last five games in the NCAA tournament, really dating back to the SEC tournament as well. Just a great leader and a great player and someone that his teammates have a lot of respect and belief in and has answered the bell every step along the way for the Florida Gators this year.

WIRE (voice-over): Houston got here by shocking Duke and the world, pulling off one of the most thrilling comebacks the final four has ever seen. And they didn't do it with mega stars. They did it with grit.

Look at them training ahead of this long season, running before the sun's up, averaging about a five-minute mile as a team. Sixty-nine- year-old coach Kelvin Sampson started his head coaching career at Montana State 44 years ago, and he's always had to overcome the odds. And he trains his players to persevere, too.

KELVIN SAMPSON, HEAD COACH, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON: I was going to out- recruit UCLA or Arizona, those schools, but that didn't mean we could not compete them. We couldn't play harder than they did, prepare harder, develop a chip on their shoulder. When you coach at the Montana Techs and the Washington States, you always have a chip on your shoulder. And for me, that chip has never left my shoulder.

WIRE: With that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality, Coach Sampson hopes it will bring his and Houston's first-ever national championship, while the Florida Gators are looking for their first national title in 18 years.

Coy Wire, CNN, San Antonio.

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SANDOVAL: And it's going to be good.

So in keeping with tradition, President Trump is set to host the 2024 World Series champions at the White House today.

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The L.A. Dodgers accepted the invitation in late March. Manager Dave Roberts, he indicated in 2019 that he would decline an invitation to the Trump White House. Well, he now says that it is an honor, and he will be there.

I want to thank you for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Polo Sandoval, filling in for Rahel Solomon.

CNN "THIS MORNING" starts right now. Have a great day.