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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Trump Administration Revokes Visas Or Statuses Of 1,500+ International Students, Recent Graduates, And Universities; Fire Crews Battle To Contain Growing New Jersey Wildfire; Parole Board Recommends Pardon For Country Star Jelly Roll. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 24, 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]
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: -- that they would also follow the United States on this. It is potentially not only tough for Ukraine but very divisive in the relationship between the United States and European allies and partners at the moment. It does seem that this is all heading for a crescendo, diplomatic as well as military.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. I mean, yeah, as you point out, a reversal of U.S. policy of the last decade.
Nic Robertson, thank you -- reporting live in London.
All right. Americans elected Donald Trump with the hope that he would boost the nation's economy, but his tariff policies got -- have got the world on a rollercoaster ride. More on that ahead on EARLY START.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:35:15]
SOLOMON: Welcome back.
Trading begins on Wall Street in just a few short hours after President Trump warned that reciprocal tariffs may be back soon.
Let's take a look at the U.S. futures at today's opening bell, and it is right across the board. It's still early though but let's call it half a percent for the S&P to about three-quarters of one percent for the Nasdaq.
Investors also keeping an eye on the president's attacks on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. In the past week Trump has said that Powell's termination can't come soon enough. He called him a major loser who is too slow to cut interest rates. But then he said he has no intention of firing the Fed chair. Now the president says maybe he'll give him a call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He will hopefully do the right thing, and the right thing is to lower interest rates. So we'll see what happens. I think we're sitting on something that's going to be very good with all the tariff money starting to come in. Our country is going to be doing really well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And while Wall Street seemed to be encouraged Wednesday by the president's softer tone on the Fed chair and on China.
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Investors have told me over the past couple of days that they've really been tracking two storylines. One, what is happening with the trade war, and what is the fate of Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve.
And they've received encouraging news on both fronts both from the treasury secretary and from the president. The president said that he was not going to terminate Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve. Investors were very, very worried about the Fed's independence and, sort of, the independence of the head of the Federal Reserve himself.
And then we heard from the president that he is essentially looking to de-escalate this trade war with China. That was also welcome news on Wall Street. But the Wall Street -- the Dow closed down 400 points of the session high for the day. Maybe investors were enjoying their profits a little bit.
And investors told me that just as much as they heard encouraging news from the president and his cabinet that could change very quickly.
But just look at CNN's fear and greed index. We are in fear territory right now. And I bring that up only because for the past several weeks we've been in extreme fear. We haven't been in the fear space since March 27. But that does not erase the $6.5 trillion in losses that the stock market has seen since February, and the $2.5 trillion in losses that we've seen since the beginning of April when President Trump really ratcheted up this trade war.
And I want to read you something from Greg McBride. He's the chief financial analyst at Bankrate. This is how he kind of summed up how the markets and investors are feeling right now.
He told me that "A softer tone about the Federal Reserve is welcome news to investors and the market has responded to that. Turning down the heat in the trade war with China is nice to hear but it will ultimately need to be followed up by action. Where the rubber meets the road is in the details of an eventual trade agreement. Until then, uncertainty will continue to hang over the economy and financial markets."
(END VIDEOTAPE) SOLOMON: All right, joining me now is Bill Lee, chief economist for the Milken Institute. Bill, great to have you this morning.
Let me pick up where that report left off. Markets encouraged but waiting for a deal.
Is it fair to say that whatever comes next will likely be better than the worst-case scenarios that have been floated these last two weeks, whether it's 145 percent on China, reciprocal tariffs on all trading partners? Directionally, Bill, are we moving in a more positive direction?
WILLIAM LEE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MILKEN INSTITUTE: There's no question that we can't do worse than the worst-case scenarios everyone's been dreaming up because they've been getting worse and worse, right? And I think finally people have come to their senses and realizing that all this tariff frenzy is really an overreaction, and people are overestimating what tariffs can do to the U.S. economy.
I just want to emphasize again to your listeners that the U.S. is a relatively closed economy. Imports are 14 percent of U.S. GDP. Exports are only about 11 percent. So we spend more on housing and food than we do on imports and exports. So I think we should just sit back and get some perspective as to what tariffs will really do to the economy.
People are worried about inflation. Well, most of our inflation is coming from domestically produced stuff like eggs, or insurance costs, or medical costs, or repairing your automobile. These are services that we spend most of our money on and those are not affected by international tariffs.
SOLOMON: Hmm. But then there are things like electronics, obviously. I mean, you think about auto parts. And we'll get to consumer spending in just a moment.
But Bill, how much comfort do you think it gives the markets that there does appear to be a guardrail and that when top American retail CEOs warn the president about the impact of a trade war with China or firing the Federal Reserve chair he does seem to respond, at least in tone?
[05:40:00]
LEE: And that's right. And, in fact, I think it's quite a relief that President Trump has provided some perspective on how he feels about Chair Powell.
I think President Trump recognizes that an independent Federal Reserve -- an independent central bank in general is the best thing for the United States because around the world studies at the IMF and other places where I used to work have shown that countries with an independent Fed or independent central bank can do much better than countries where the banks are beholden to the treasury or the elected officials.
SOLOMON: Yeah. I wanted to get your take on the latest Beige Book data. So this is a report. It's released eight times a year. It comes with sort of anecdotal information from businessowners, economists, and the market participants in the 12 Federal Reserve districts. It's anecdotal obviously Bill, but it -- but it can be insightful.
What were your takeaways from the Beige Book release yesterday?
LEE: The Beige Book reflects, again, a lot of the tariff frenzy that's been reported and is yet another data point in the soft data that shows that the U.S. economy is tottering on the edge of incredible anxiety. Businesses are saying that we're going to have to cut back on investments. Consumers are selectively spending. In fact, they're tending to spend on items where they anticipate cost and price increases.
And I think one of the things that the Beige Book is actually showing us is the effect of all of this frenzy that's been whipped up by the marketplace and amplified by repeated stories of a disaster.
What the Federal Reserve actually does with soft data is that it listens to it and looks at it, but it looks at it as a forecast of where the hard data might come. If the hard data come in like the soft data are showing, yes, absolutely the Fed will do something either to raise interest rates if the -- if the economy goes off the deep end or -- I'm sorry, lower interest rates if they go off the deep end and inflation goes up, then they'll raise interest rates.
But it's not until the hard data show what's going on. And it's not just one data point.
SOLOMON: Right.
LEE: It's going to be a trend.
And so I think the Fed really will react to the soft data once it becomes hard data. And that's the real question: will it become hard data?
SOLOMON: Yeah, and that's also the question -- and what hard data would it show up in first? I mean, we get jobs data or the weekly jobless claims in a few hours. I mean, that's obviously weekly. We get the labor report every month. We get retail sales every month.
Where would you expect it, Bill, to show up first if, in fact, it does translate from the soft data to the hard data, and we actually start to see it in consumer spending trends and labor market trends? Where would -- where would you see it first?
LEE: Great question. In fact, the Fed will always look for the labor market data as the most important from which they're to act to change policy. But labor market data tends to lag everything else.
So for me, I would look to where retail spending is going and where the CPI numbers are. Those will show how much prices will actually go up and whether or not they stay up. Because again, the Fed will not act on one data point of CPI; they'll act on three or four once a trend is established, and that'll take a while.
And the key is when -- even though companies say oh, we're going to be raising prices, we're going to be raising prices, the key question the Fed asks would be are the prices going to stick once you raise them? Because people will say my God, this is way too expensive. I'm going to look for an alternative. Or given that the people only have a certain budget to spend they will have to cut back on other things.
The reason why supply chain disruptions were so inflationary during the Biden administration is because we had a huge injection of fiscal stimulus. People got more money to spend. Right now we're not getting that fiscal stimulus. And I think the price increases that are being threatened may not always hold.
SOLOMON: But Bill, to be fair -- I mean, there were supply chain disruptions, not necessarily because of the Biden administration but because of COVID, and that impacted a lot of places --
LEE: Yeah.
SOLOMON: -- around the world.
LEE: Oh, without a doubt. But again, even though supply disruptions take place and prices go up, they will not stay up if people don't buy that stuff and say look, I just can't afford it. The reason why the prices stayed up and continued to go up is because of the -- of the extra stimulus package that people got.
SOLOMON: Yeah, and that's why -- that's why the hard data is really important.
Bill Lee, appreciate you being here this morning. Thank you.
LEE: Thanks for having me.
SOLOMON: Well, it could be New Jersey's largest wildfire in the past two decades. Why the fire continues to grow despite the efforts of firefighters.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:48:53]
SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, and here are some of the stories we are watching for you this morning.
Massive crowds are arriving at the Vatican to pay tribute to Pope Francis for a second day. His body is lying in state at St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his funeral on Saturday. President Trump is among the world leaders expected to attend. It will be the first foreign trip of his second presidency.
Ukraine says that Russian drones and missiles pounded targets across the country overnight. That includes the capital, Kyiv, where at least nine people were killed and more than 70 wounded. Rescuers are searching for people believed to be trapped under collapsed buildings.
And rail company Norfolk Southern will have to pay the full $600 million settlement for a 2023 train derailment in Ohio. A jury ruled Wednesday that the company that owned the railcar that caused the derailment is not financially liable because Norfolk Southern operated and inspected the train and all the cars.
The Trump administration has now revoked student visas in nearly every corner of the country as part of a vast immigration crackdown, and few universities understand why.
[05:50:05]
By CNN's count, more than 1,500 international students, recent graduates, and universities have had their visas or statuses terminated so far this year. Now that number includes more than 200 colleges and institutions. And the reasons why so many visas are being revoked remain murky, but the U.S. Secretary of State has said that some behavior, including participating in protests, will not be tolerated.
It's unclear if the students whose visas have been terminated must leave the country immediately or if they can stay to continue their education.
President Trump signed on executive order on Wednesday that could make it harder to legally challenge discriminatory practices in employment, housing, education, and finance. It also reduces the government's role in addressing disparities in those areas and significantly changes civil rights enforcement. The National Women's Law Center condemned the order as an effort to roll back rights.
Meantime, Trump will travel to Michigan next week for a rally to mark the first 100 days of is second term. This will be his first visit since he won the battleground state in the November election.
Tesla shares got a big boost on Wednesday, up more than five percent, one day after Elon Musk said that he would be spending less time on Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and more time running his electric vehicle company.
Tesla's profits have plunged 71 percent in the first three months of the year. Sales have been slumping due to strong competition from Chinese carmakers and also because of Musk's work with DOGE and his support of far-right groups that has turned off people from buying Teslas.
A wildfire in New Jersey is expected to grow even as firefighters make progress containing it. The fire has burned more than 1,300 acres. It's now 50 percent contained. Around 5,000 people evacuated their homes. No injuries have been reported but one family business was destroyed in the fire. The company's president says that seeing the reality was worse than he imagined.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB NOSTI, PRESIDENT, LIBERTY DOOR AND AWNING: Complete devastation. I kind of knew it was coming. I got all the word last night. But to wake up and come here and actually see it, it's pretty surreal.
SHAWN DARLING, OWNER, GLADIATOR GYM: And it's just a couple of doors down. That could have been us, easily. Oh yeah, I went to bed last night not knowing if I was going to have a business to come to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Firefighters say that weather conditions improved Wednesday though the fire is expected to burn until rain arrives on Friday. Officials say that it could turn into the state's largest wildfire in 20 years.
All right. Still ahead for us, singer Jelly Roll waiting to hear if his criminal record will be wiped. The details straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL)
[05:57:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JELLY ROLL, RAPPER, SINGER: Singing "Save Me."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Country music star Jelly Roll is seeking a pardon in his home state of Tennessee. The state parole board recommended the pardon after a hearing on Tuesday. The 40-year-old Grammy-nominated singer named Jason DeFord has been convicted on several charges, including drug possession back in 2008 and robbery in 2002.
Jelly Roll says that a pardon would allow him to travel abroad more easily to perform and also to share his message of redemption from crime and imprisonment.
The governor of Tennessee will make the final decision about whether to issue the pardon.
All right, how about this one? Australia's high court has an interesting case on its docket, Katy Perry versus Katy Perry. Katy Perry -- that's Katy spelled with an 'ie' -- is an Australian designer with a fashion label under her name. And she claims that Katy Perry, the pop star, is infringing on her trademark. The designer says that she started her label in 2006 and registered the trademark in 2009 right around the same time Katy Perry, the singer, released this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATY PERRY, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Singing "I Kissed a Girl."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: OK, so that's her debut hit "I Kissed a Girl." Well -- and the trademark case has taken years to make its way through
Australia's legal system. Now, designer Katy won in 2023 but then an appeals court reversed that ruling in favor of popstar Katy in 2024. Now the high court will decide who gets to claim the name Katy Perry- Perrie in Australia.
On her shop's website, Australian Katy Perrie calls this a "David and Goliath case." That's obviously the designer Katy Perrie. So watch that space.
All right, today is NFL Draft Day when college football stars will find out which pro teams they will be playing for. So this year's event is happening outside Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of the Packers. And the first round begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.
Many fans and analysts see Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward going first overall to the Tennessee Titans.
And let's take a little throwback and a little shoutout to our very own Coy Wire. This is draft day in 2002. It looks like he's with his family. And this is when he found out that he was going to be headed to the Buffalo Bills.
Coy says the moment you are drafted is the moment your lifelong dream comes true. He also said in a -- in a story for CNN that he's never won the lottery officially, but this is the closest, essentially, that he's come to winning the lottery.
By the way, Coy and all the World Sport crew -- they're going to have all of the headlines from the draft throughout the day right here on CNN.
I love that. Any opportunity to talk about Coy Wire on this show -- certainly, a friend of show -- we will take.
All right, thanks for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon. We leave you this morning with some beautiful images of New York.
