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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Chinese Coffee Chain Luckin Opens First U.S. Locations; U.S. And European Union Reach Framework For Trade Deal; Trump Makes Unfounded Accusations About Beyonce And Harris. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired July 28, 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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[05:32:02]
MJ LEE, CNN ANCHOR: More than 150 million people will feel the effects of a heat dome and that includes cities across Florida. In fact, on Sunday, Tampa reached 100 degrees for the first time in recorded history. The weather service in Tampa Bay said it expects recorded heat and high humidity again today.
Sweltering heat over 100 degrees is expected through Wednesday in the Northeast, including New York and Boston.
And portions of the Midwest and Northeast in the U.S. are under flood and storm threats. Officials say there is a slight risk of excessive rain in the Midwest and Northeast.
And parts of eastern Missouri that flooded over the weekend could see more flooding on Monday. On Sunday, flash floods prompted officials to declare a state of emergency in the city of Elsberry, Missouri. The National Weather Service says a temporary lull between the storms kept conditions just below the catastrophic criteria, but additional storms are expected to threaten the area.
Heat remains the deadliest form of extreme weather in the U.S., but new research shows that the extreme heat could also be taking a different toll on our bodies by making us age faster.
Jacqueline Howard explains.
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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: People might not even realize that this happening in their bodies, but a new study finds that being in extreme heat for extended periods of time can age ourselves.
The study -- it included more than 3,600 adults over than age 56 and it found that people who experienced at least 140 days of extreme heat each year aged up to 14 months faster than those living in places with fewer than 10 extreme heat days a year. And extreme heat was measured as greater than 90 degrees Fahrenheit, so that's more than about 32 degrees Celsius.
These soaring temperatures can cause a deterioration in our cells and tissues, and that's how it appears to be linked to increased biological aging.
Now, your chronological age refers to how long you've been alive based on your birthday, but your biological age -- that measures how well your cells and tissues function. So the difference between the two explains why sometimes someone's age doesn't always match their health and their vitality.
So for people living in areas with extreme heat there are things you can do. Be mindful of spending too much time outdoors in the high heat. Try to stay in air conditioning or keep your windows open for a nice breeze. Avoid exercising outdoors during the hottest parts of the day. Save your workouts for the cooler parts of the day.
And for people with certain chronic diseases, you may be already taking medications that could help slow aging, like metformin that's prescribed for diabetes or GLP-1 medications.
[05:35:00]
And then for all of us it's important to exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, don't smoke, limit alcohol. These are all important steps we can all take to stay in good health as we age.
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LEE: Thanks to Jacqueline Howard for that report.
U.S. President Donald Trump has locked in a new trade deal with the EU. What he is saying about that agreement -- that's ahead.
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[05:40:08]
LEE: Envoys from the U.S. and China will hold their third round of trade talks today as we wait to see how much longer the truce between the world's two largest economies can hold. The American delegation led by Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent will be meeting in Stockholm with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and his team.
The 90-day pause in the country's trade war will expire on August 12 if the two sides fail to strike a deal or agree to an extension.
China is expected to enter the talks with fresh confidence after delivery better-than-expected growth in the second quarter. And the U.S., of course, has sealed a flurry of recent trade deals.
And despite the ongoing trade war, Chinese chains are still coming to America looking to cash in on the lucrative U.S. market. And one of the latest brands is Luckin Coffee, which is ready to go head-to-head with Starbucks and other popular U.S. chains.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: America's latest coffee chain isn't from America.
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's from where I live. Luckin Coffee is from China.
YURKEVICH: Luckin just opened its first two locations right here in New York City. They are huge in China.
STEWART: Here in China, Luckin overtook Starbucks back in 2019. Right now it has about 22,000 stores across the country. You could understand why it has its eye on the U.S.
YURKEVICH: How did you hear about Luckin?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually heard about it from TikTok. Apparently, it's China's number one coffee chain so we really wanted to try it. It's actually really good.
STEWART: Here in China, Luckin is known for its cheap prices. This is a specialty latte with oat milk. It only cost about $1.25 U.S. dollars.
Do you think they'll be successful in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If they are cheaper as they are in China now, I think they will. Coffee is coffee.
YURKEVICH: All right. We got some cold brews here. Ice drinks start at about $4.50 and go up from there.
Luckin isn't the only Chinese beverage company to come to the U.S. HEYTEA, a really popular tea brand in China, has been here in the United States since 2023.
STEWART: HEYTEA is very popular among young people here in China. It's very sweet but there's also a fresh taste to it.
YURKEVICH: The Chinese-owned company Pop Mart did $1.8 billion in sales last year and about 23 percent of that came from outside of China, primarily because of these guys.
STEWART: Even before the Labubu craze, Pop Mart was popular here in China. This is its theme park in Beijing.
While there's a lot of hype about some of these Chinese brands coming to the U.S., here in China American brands like McDonald's have been part of life here for years.
YURKEVICH: Chinese companies are moving to the United States at the same time that we're in a trade war with China, but U.S. consumers don't seem to care. They just want a good cup of coffee or their chance to get their hands on the ever elusive Labubu.
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LEE: Vanessa Yurkevich and Marc Stewart reporting from opposite sides of the world. Thanks for that.
President Trump says Beyonce needs to be prosecuted for something that did not actually happen, and she's not the only star he's going after. Those details just ahead.
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[05:47:55]
LEE: Welcome back. I'm MJ Lee. Here are some of the stories we're watching today.
U.S. President Donald Trump is due to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the coming hours. And although he sealed a trade deal with the U.K. last month, President Trump says this meeting will be a celebration of that agreement.
Thai and Cambodian leaders are meeting in the Malaysia's capital for peace talks. This comes days after deadly fighting broke out along the disputed border region between the two countries. At least 35 people have been killed and 200,000 have been displaced in the conflict.
And legendary American song satirist Tom Lehrer has passed away at the age of 97. Lehrer was famous for poking fun at cultural traditions and current events in his mid-century tracks. He would later largely give up performing to teach math at Harvard. Lehrer also gave up his copyright, meaning anyone can use his lyrics without paying fees.
And more on our top story. The U.S. and the European Union dodging the risk of a bigger trade war by reaching a framework for a deal. President Trump announced a 15 percent across-the-board levy on imports from the EU after prolonged negotiations with America's largest trading partner. The deal includes an additional $600 billion of EU investments in the U.S. The EU will also increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment.
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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we -- you know, this just didn't start today. We had a meeting -- I wasn't sure. I said 50-50. I think you probably --
URSULA VON DER LEYEN, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Yeah.
TRUMP: -- felt the same thing. But this started months ago -- this negotiation -- so we knew pretty much what we were getting into, and we were able to make a deal that's very satisfactory to both sides. So it's very -- it's a tremendously -- it's a very powerful deal.
VON DER LEYEN: It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
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[05:50:05] LEE: Beyonce, Oprah, and Kamala Harris. All of them were mentioned by the president in a social media post filled with accusations, and all are now targets of online threats fueled by Trump and his supporters.
CNN's Brian Stelter breaks it down for us.
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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: An incredible weekend. She closed out her "Cowboy Carter" tour with a sold out performance in Las Vegas, gaining lots of positive headlines and, of course, many viral videos from the show.
But then there was also this headline about Beyonce, not exactly a positive one. In some ways, an absurd one. This is a fact check from CNN's Daniel Dale of a totally made up claim from President Trump about Beyonce.
"Trump calls to prosecute Beyonce based on a nonexistent $11 million payment." And nonexistent is the key word here.
The president seemingly telling everyone how he wants his Justice Department to behave, pointing to prominent celebrities, all liberals, and saying they should be prosecuted. The only thing Trump is missing is any actual crime. There's no evidence of a crime here.
But he's calling out Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey, and Al Sharpton for their support of his rival last year, then-Vice President Kamala Harris. This is the continuation of a narrative that Trump has pushed for months. The difference now is that he's actually using the word "prosecute."
So let's take a look at the Beyonce case in a little more detail. Now this is from Daniel Dale's fact check over the weekend. He says that the Trump claim is that Democrats "admit to paying, probably illegally, $11 million to singer Beyonce for an endorsement from Harris."
Now, the actual little nugget of truth here is that Beyonce's production company was paid $165,000 from the Harris campaign for the work putting on a rally last fall. So a small amount of money that was conflated by right-wing message boards and memes last fall into a $10 million payment. That idea of a $10 million payment was made up and how Trump has inflated it even further to $11 million.
Again, that small payment to the production company -- that's not unusual. But for Trump's followers this post is a little bit of a verbal form of his vow to gain retribution against his perceived enemies.
In another example over the weekend Trump railed against American TV networks saying, "Networks aren't allowed to be political pawns for the Democrat Party. It has become so outrageous that, in my opinion, their licenses could, and should, be revoked!"
Now, TV station licensing has always been a nonpartisan, apolitical affair in the United States. Now even if Trump's loyalists who oversee licensing wanted to revoke licenses from NBC or ABC, or CBS, it would take a very long time and it would get tied up in the courts.
But even though Trump isn't getting what he wants in these cases -- he's not getting Beyonce behind bars or NBC off the airwaves -- it is still concerning to free speech and free press advocates to know that those are the ideas that he is sharing with his followers potentially softens the ground for more autocratic actions in the future.
Brian Stelter, CNN.
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LEE: Ahead, beers, pizzas, and medals as England's footballers bask in the glory of yet another European championship.
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[05:57:42]
LEE: Those are English football fans screaming and jumping for joy after the women's national team captured their second-straight European Championship. The victory over Spain was incredibly hard- fought at first going into extra time and then going down right to the wire.
The winner would be determined by a penalty shootout. And the Lionesses defeated their Spanish rivals 3-1 to avenge their loss to Spain in the 2023 World Cup final. But for La Roja, the defending world champions, the loss was pure heartbreak.
And Tadej Pogacar cemented his status as one of cycling's greatest after winning his fourth Tour de France title on Sunday. After an exciting final stage of the three-week-long race, Pogacar safely crossed the finish line on the Champs-Elysees in Paris securing the iconic yellow jersey for the second consecutive year.
And there was a new grand marshal at NASCAR's Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis on Sunday, and he brought quite an appetite to the racetrack.
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COOKIE MONSTER, GRAND MARSHALL, BRICKYARD 400: Both drivers look delicious. Well, let's see here. Nom, nom, nom -- nomy, nom, nom. Nom, nom, nom, nom, nom. It's a tie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't tell who was who.
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LEE: While on duty, Cookie Monster helped launch the event, calling all drivers to start their engines. His appearance is the first in the "Sesame Street Road Trip Across America" campaign. While on tour, characters from the program are set to pop up at family-friendly events like town festivals or Major League sports games. On top of that, Bubba Wallace was the big winner at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway while Sunday's Brickyard 400 marked his third career NASCAR cup. The victory also makes Wallace the first Black driver ever to win at Indy.
Key West, Florida has wrapped up its annual celebration of literary icon Ernest Hemingway. It includes three days of celebrations, fishing contests, and a short story competition.
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And the main event, a look-alike contest where a new Papa Hemingway has been crowed. Tim Stockwell beat more than 100 other look-alikes to win the top prize. The Hemingway Look-Alike Society says it uses the event to raise money for its scholarship program as a way to honor the writer's generous spirit.
And thank you so much for joining us here on EARLY START today. I'm MJ Lee in Washington, D.C. And "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.
