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First Move with Julia Chatterley
The U.S. Jobs Recovery Stalls, the Need for Financial Aid Accelerates; Joe Biden Promotes Mask Wearing during his First 100 Days as President; Warner Brothers Unleashes a Massive Hollywood Shakeup. Aired 9- 10a ET
Aired December 04, 2020 - 09:00 ET
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[09:00:18]
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Live from New York, I'm Julia Chatterley. This is FIRST MOVE and here's your need to know.
Winter woes. The U.S. jobs recovery stalls, the need for financial aid accelerates.
American appeal. Joe Biden promotes mask wearing during his first 100 days as President.
And taking to the Max. Warner Brothers unleashes a massive Hollywood shakeup.
It's Friday. Let's make a move.
Welcome to FIRST MOVE once again and another jam-packed show for you coming up this Friday. We've got the latest on jobs, the latest on jabs, and hopes
for new stimulus juice for the American economy, too.
Let's begin with today's weaker read on payrolls just really stunned by showing the U.S. economy adding just 245,000 jobs last month, that's much
lower than expected. We were expecting gains of around 400,000 jobs. It's actually the weakest month of job gains in seven months.
And remember, some 10 million jobs lost since the spring has still not come back. The U.S. unemployment rate falling slightly too to a reading of 6.7
percent. We'll explain it all, but remember, this snapshot is already outdated as the United States battles the deadliest phase of the COVID
crisis, yet with many parts of the country re-imposing health restrictions that could cost yet more jobs.
For now, U.S. futures still holding on to gains despite this new job shock. The U.S. majors set to open at or near records. Europe, also in the green
this Friday. Germany, saying its factory activities back to pre-pandemic levels and there's actually more good news potentially too from the region.
Reports saying the European Central Bank will boost its bond buying commitments significantly next week by more than $500 billion. So more
stimulus for the European economy.
Fiscal stimulus, meanwhile, in the United States, looking more likely, too. What a difference a week makes. Top leadership in Congress, so the
Republicans and the Democrats are now talking at least. The Democrats openly backing a bipartisan plan for some $900 billion.
I make that now a $400 billion gap between the two parties and the Republican leadership in the Senate and the Democrats, of course. So we
call that progress.
Let's get more on all of this in the drivers. Christine Romans joins us now. Christine, let's talk about the jobs. Much weaker than expected. We've
been worried about this. You know, one of the numbers that leapt out at me, the percentage of people unemployed for more than 27 weeks that's
approaching financial crisis levels.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, way more than a third, I saw that same number too, Julia. That jumped out to me, I
was like, oh my gosh, this means people who lost their job early on here are still out of work in many cases. And that's what risks that permanent
scarring to those families and their ultimate net worth and earnings ability, prosperity and opportunity.
I mean, these are the things that are really important to this country here, and we're really at risk here of having some serious problems.
I also noticed in these numbers, the number of people who left the labor market. Over the past few months, we've seen four million or so people
leave the labor market, predominantly women and baby boomers. That tells you what's happening with the health crisis, with the education crisis
that's going on in America.
And again, once again, what does that mean for the future recovery of that family income of those family finances, of their ability to climb up the
income ladder? All of those things are really worrying here right now.
Where I see where there were jobs, pretty interesting, the lost retail jobs, lost government jobs. That was the Census workers losing their
temporary jobs.
But you saw gains in warehousing, couriers, transportation. You can see the COVID economy that is emerging from this. You also saw gains in business
and information services, losses in retail pretty much steady in bars and restaurants.
Again, that K-shaped recovery, right, Julia, you're seeing that some people, some categories are emerging unscathed and in fact, recovering and
others are falling behind.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we celebrate every job gained, our problem is ...
ROMANS: Exactly.
CHATTERLEY: ... and we tend to focus on this is that we're still down 10 million jobs and this is at the heart of the problem. We've been saying it
for weeks and months, flashing red lights for Congress to do something.
Now it seems a breakthrough, perhaps. You and I were discussing earlier off air, perhaps a deal before Christmas looking ever more likely.
ROMANS: Yes, never has a $400 billion difference been so optimistic, I guess. I mean, that's where we are here.
Look, they've had their battle lines drawn for a long time, and we have -- we have left this this courtship in tears many times, right, because they
have not been able to finally get a deal.
Hopefully, these kinds of numbers, we have been saying this is what's going to happen. This is exactly predictable. The coronavirus surging it is not
contained. The vaccines are not here yet.
And the aid that worked that Congress -- bravo Congress -- that Congress unveiled earlier in the summer that aid worked, now it's expiring. You
know, people need a lifeline. These jobless workers are going to need some help.
[09:05:44]
ROMANS: Many of these jobs are not going to be back right away sometime next year, maybe. Some of them will never be back.
So there's a lot here -- a lot here for Congress to just, you know, extend the lifeline. This is not rocket science. This is an IQ test. This is a
morality test, actually, for Congress to get something done and quickly.
CHATTERLEY: A morality test. It absolutely is. Bridge the gap and do it ASAP.
ROMANS: Amen.
CHATTERLEY: Christine Romans, yes, thank you so much for that. All right, the stimulus battle continues as we were discussing, as the U.S. sees a
record number of people hospitalized for COVID-19. More than 100,000 Americans currently receiving treatment, over 2,700 new deaths reported
yesterday alone.
The University of Washington model now projects almost 540,000 people could die in this country by April 1st.
In a CNN exclusive interview, President-elect Joe Biden announcing he will ask all Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days of his presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: What has to be done is we have to make it clear to the American people that the vaccine is safe
when it occurs, when that is determined. And number two, you have to make sure as he points out, you don't have to close down the economy, like a lot
of folks are talking about now, if in fact you have clear guidance.
It is important that we in fact, the President and the Vice President, we set the pattern by wearing a mask. But beyond that, where the Federal
government has authority, I'm going to issue a standing order that in Federal buildings, you have to be masked. And in transportation, interstate
transportation, you must be masked, in airplanes and buses, et cetera.
And so it's a matter of -- and I think my inclination is on the first day I'm inaugurated to say I'm going to ask the public for 100 days to mask,
just 100 days to mask, not forever, 100 days, and I think we'll see a significant reduction if we do that and then that occurs with vaccinations
and masking to drive down the numbers considerably -- considerably.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: And you can watch Jake Tapper's entire interview with President-elect Biden and the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at 12:00
p.m. Eastern. That's 5:00 p.m. in London, 9:00 p.m. in Abu Dhabi right here on CNN.
And as President-elect Biden prepares to take office, China is calling on the United States, in its words, to stop abusing the concept of national
security.
This, after the U.S. Defense Department added four additional companies, including major chip maker, SMIC, to its blacklisted firms allegedly owned
or controlled by the Chinese military.
David Culver is live in Beijing. These are flagship Chinese companies. It doesn't get bigger and more important to the Chinese economy and to the
government than these companies and Beijing clearly not happy. David, talk us through it.
DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And upon its departure, the Trump administration clearly going at the economics and the technology that
Beijing is so proud of. You're absolutely right, Julia, when you talk about SMIC, in particular, China's top chipmaker and then you've got oil giant,
CNOOC International also being targeted here putting on this Department of Defense list, meaning that American investors could be restricted from
investing in them.
A lot of obstacles now face these companies when it comes to the U.S. market in particular, and this is the Trump administration's continued
effort to put Beijing into this corner of really trying to balance what they consider to be the inequities in the global market.
However Beijing sees this as abuse as you put it, of national security. What's interesting is, of course, the U.S. has alleged that Beijing and
China's actions have been abusing national security in other places including in Hong Kong.
However, here in particular, with this incident of creating this list, it makes things for Beijing even more difficult as they're trying to now
navigate in between the Trump administration and the oncoming Biden administration.
Going forward they say that they're going to stand by their really disagreement with how the Trump administration is doing this by continuing
to push forward with it.
They consider it to be a free market here, but obviously, this is going to cause a lot of issues for those companies in particular. This is not the
first time obviously that the Trump administration has gone after Chinese companies.
[09:10:10]
CULVER: We've seen it with Huawei. We've seen it with Tencent's WeChat. We've seen it with more recently TikTok. So it is continuing now with being
a national security issue as the Trump administration has framed it -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's just a ratcheting up because of existing pressures, if I can get my words out here. You know, it's quite fascinating, David, I
mean, we talked about this yesterday to some degree. When I look at the take from media around the world, they are portraying this as President
Trump seemingly trying to box Biden in on this tougher stance with China before the transition of power.
It was interesting to see President-elect Biden talk about China in the interview with Jake Tapper yesterday. Just listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: My concerns from the beginning, I've spoken about it, and I've met with Xi more times anybody had up until the time we left office that I'm
aware of, is to make it real clear to China, our international rules that if you want to play by, we'll play with you. If you don't, we're not going
to play. Number one.
Number two, it's not about punishing them for the COVID virus. It's about insisting that there be international norms that are established that they
play by.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: I still feel like Joe Biden is boxing in. I think -- I think he's in the box, like he gets it, the change, or the winds of change have
blown here in Congress, both sides of Congress get that things need to change where China is concerned and the playing field needs leveling.
David, do you agree?
CULVER: I think you're spot on with that. No, I mean, you look at this as a bipartisan effort, really to be tough on China. And we've seen that over
the past several months with the way the campaign mode was going.
So to say that they're boxing him in, not necessarily. In fact, some experts have even said, maybe they're giving him some leverage here as he
comes in to have some negotiating room with all the things that President Trump and his administration is doing on the way out that perhaps he could
then use to make other changes.
It's likely that the focus, in fact, under the Biden administration would be more human rights based, rather than financial and economic. But
nonetheless, there are a lot of changes that are still to be made, the Trump administration has that their hands, including, as you mentioned, 24
hours ago, you and I were talking about the house passing that bill that would require companies, any foreign company that doesn't open up their
books to U.S. regulators to be pulled off and delisted from American Stock Exchanges.
So if that goes forward, and it's likely that Trump will sign that into law, then it creates more issues for China. But I think you're right on it
to say that Biden is likely going forward with this, with a tough approach.
It's also interesting to see the national security aspect of all of it because we even heard in an op-ed written in the "Wall Street Journal" by
John Ratcliffe, the current Director of National Intelligence, that they consider China to be the greatest threat right now that's facing freedom
and democracy.
That's how it's been phrased over the past several months, but really that op-ed, Julia is direct and it's alarming and it's something that Beijing is
pushing back against saying, no, it's the U.S. in their opinion that is the greatest threat to global security instability.
However, it looks like from the Trump administration to the Biden one, one thing will be consistent, and that's being tough on China.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, a leveling of the playing field overdue. David Culver, great to have you with us as always. Thank you.
All right Hollywood may never be the same again. Warner Brothers says all its movies will come out next year in cinemas and on the streaming service
HBO Max at the same time.
With so many theaters closed, studios are capitalizing on streaming revenues. Brian Stelter joins me now.
Full credit to CNN Digital here where they said full stream ahead, which is a headline and I loved it. This was -- this is an earthquake, I think for
so many reasons, for Hollywood movie studios, for how you get content out there to viewers, but also for some of the other streaming giants.
Talk us through it. What do you make of this monumental, I think, decision?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is the rare day when Hollywood news is on the front page of the major papers in the U.S.,
and that's because it is a turning point for media, for Hollywood, for the entertainment industry.
We had seen WarnerMedia, which of course, like CNN is owned by AT&T. We had seen WarnerMedia start to make moves in this direction last month with
"Wonder Woman 1984" coming out on Christmas Day, both in theaters and on HBO Max at the same time. But it turns out that was not a one-off. That was
the beginning of this new plan.
All 17 of next year's Warner Brothers movies will be released the same way, online and in theaters at the same time. Some of those movies I personally
can't wait to get back to a theater and see. I want to see in the heights with Lin Manuel Miranda on the biggest screen that I can, but it'll also be
great to have the chance to watch it at home, especially if COVID is not under control in the U.S.
Now, that's how WarnerMedia framed its decision, Julia. They say it's about the pandemic. They say it's about doing what's best for customers in the
short term, but there's no way to unring this bell once it has been rung. There's no way to go back.
I mean, look, that's my view. The official view from the head of WarnerMedia is, let's see where we are in a year. Let's see what happens.
But I don't think many people in Hollywood think this can be undone. This is the new way movies will be released.
[09:15:18]
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I'm so with you. The genie is not being squished back into the bottle in a post pandemic world.
STELTER: No way.
CHATTERLEY: But I agree with you, some cinematic experiences have to be had in cinemas, epics need to be seen in cinemas. But hey, I don't see us going
back.
In terms of content, though, and this point was made quite broadly as well. Oh, boy, does this make HBO Max an alluring prospect if you want to go
somewhere and see great content and see movies that you would have seen at the cinema at the same time. Clearly, if you can't go to a cinema, you can
now do it and stream it.
STELTER: Right. All of these upstarts are fighting the giant. The giant is Netflix, and HBO Max has had a difficult start in its early months. Of
course, it's fueled by a lot of great content from HBO, "The Undoing" being a recent example of a murder mystery that got a lot of attention.
But HBO Max has had a hard time in a crowded marketplace. This is a massive differentiator. And I think when the history books are written, folks will
look back at the streaming wars and the streaming Olympics and say, it was this moment when Warner Brothers, they went all in on streaming by
releasing all these movies on the platform for no extra cost.
It is a dramatic statement about the future of the company, which says everything and everyone is about streaming. Julia, I suppose that means we
are a part of the streaming future.
But you know, every media company is doing this. I say that about CNN and WarnerMedia, but it is Disney. It's NBC Universal. Every company is doing
this. Discovery a couple of days ago announced their streaming platform. Every company is making these bets and trying to one up the other with even
more dramatic content moves.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. And your point because of course, Warner Brothers and CNN are part of WarnerMedia, I will just make that point, of course, as you
quite rightly pointed out, it's says something very quickly, Brian about leadership as well, about being willing to go out there and disrupt some of
the big disruptors, to your point about Netflix. It is bold.
STELTER: That's an interesting point. Jason Kilar is the relatively new CEO of WarnerMedia. He comes from the technology world. He comes from Hulu and
other startups that have a technology mindset.
That kind of mindset is disrupted by nature, and this move is incredibly disruptive. The movie theater chains are furious right now. Their stocks
are suffering right now. AMC already speaking out against WarnerMedia in this move.
But perhaps it does take an outsider once in a while to come in and say, we have to rethink this entire game, and I think that's what's happened in the
last 24 hours.
You know that some filmmakers don't like it, others love it. And most importantly, I think consumers are going to view this differently now as a
result.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, like it, love it, get on with it. No choice now.
STELTER: Right.
CHATTERLEY: Brian Stelter, great to have you on. Thank you so much.
All right, still to come here on FIRST MOVE, hackers target the vaccine supply chain. IBM's cybersecurity unit raising the alarm. We've got its
head coming to talk to us after the break.
And catch of the day, Brexit negotiations go to the wire with no resolution on the deadlock over fishing rights. CNN meets the British fishermen at the
heart of this battle. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:21:12]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE live from New York where U.S. stocks are set to rise to fresh records despite today's weak read on jobs numbers.
Investors seemingly more focused on the economic rebound hopes that will come as vaccines begin to arrive.
Also driving this I think too, new signs of stimulus talk progress, adding to the positive sentiment. That said, today's jobs numbers were a real
worry. A much weaker than expected 245,000 jobs added to the economy last month, a continuation of the slowdown in jobs growth we've seen since late
summer, the weakest month of gains, in fact, since May of this year.
What about elsewhere in the world? Well, oil would be a major beneficiary from the economic strengthening that could come with both the science and
the stimulus or financial aid, as we call it on this show. Crude is on track to rise for its fifth straight week.
News that OPEC Plus is taking a go slow approach to raising production, also lending a bit of support, I think here, too.
All right, IBM has warned that hackers are targeting the vaccine cold supply chain. The company says attacks were made on groups critical to the
vaccines' distribution. U.S. Intelligence officials confirmed the threat on Thursday.
Joining us now is Wendi Whitmore, Vice President of IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence. Wendi, fantastic to have you on the show. What more can you
tell us about what you identified here in terms of hacker threat?
WENDI WHITMORE, VICE PRESIDENT, IBM X-FORCE THREAT INTELLIGENCE: Yes, great to be here. So what we identified was a very real targeted threat conducted
by a group of attackers that are sophisticated and patient and disciplined, really interested in conducting espionage against the supply chain as it
relates to storage of the COVID-19 vaccine, and in particular, that cold chain storage.
CHATTERLEY: Who exactly was being targeted? And I believe this has been happening since September. That's how far this dates back.
WHITMORE: Right. So and that's a really critical point, Julia, because of the fact that this isn't something that attackers just thought of in the
last couple of weeks, right? This was something that was very concerted and targeted, and they wanted to be in the right place at the right time.
So in particular, with this attack, we saw the attackers impersonate an executive from Haier Biomedical, which is a very critical company within
the cold chain storage supply chain. And ultimately, when they impersonated that employee, then they reached out to a variety of global and
international organizations who are involved in making decisions about which countries are involved in the storage, how it gets moved across
countries, and every kind of ramification that has.
CHATTERLEY: So, it seems that they're looking for some kind of entry point information. You touched upon this at the beginning when you were telling
us what was going on. Is it and are we able to determine motive? Is this sort of fact finding mission trying to understand how these cold supply
chain works?
We know, and we've talked about it on this show in many ways that when you're trying to transport a vaccine at minus 70 colder than Mars, there
are all kinds of problems and challenges with doing it. Is it about fact finding? Or is it perhaps for more nefarious reasons to try and disrupt it?
Can we identify how high the risk is here?
WHITMORE: That's a great question. So make no mistake about it. Regardless of the end motive, this is all related to espionage. So your question
ultimately is whether that is related to nations -- a nation's state objective, meaning, you know, I'm an organization who wants to identify how
I can replicate efficient ways to move the vaccine across large distances at those temperatures, or if I'm economically motivated, and I have an
objective to disrupt those organizations who are doing so and impersonate them.
Ultimately that can lead to a much more destructive more nefarious means. At this point, we can't verify with certainty the motivation but it's
certainly not good.
[09:25:10]
CHATTERLEY: But we can't rule out a potential state sponsored hacker being involved here.
WHITMORE: Certainly the level of sophistication, the level of patience, relates to someone who is very well-funded, which oftentimes is a nation
state actor.
CHATTERLEY: But no idea of location and where this is coming from.
WHITMORE: At this point, this could be coming from any of the top organizations, right, North Korea, Russia, China, we don't know that at
this point. But certainly we're concerned about the level of sophistication and ultimately, the discipline that these attackers used.
CHATTERLEY: Didn't we see similar kind of attempts to this earlier this year, when the whole world was talking about the necessity of PPE supplies,
protective equipment, and we were trying to see those transported around the country? And again, I remember having a conversation about hack
threats.
WHITMORE: Yes, absolutely. So I think, you know, COVID-19 has given attackers across the world a global opportunity, that's once in a lifetime.
So we've seen a number of actions occur over the course of the last nine to 10 months, and ultimately, they've shifted from things like targeted spam
e-mails related to COVID-19 threats to these, what we see are very much more sophisticated and disciplined attacks related.
But you know, make no mistake about it. This is a global once in a lifetime opportunity for these attackers, and they're taking the time to do their
best to take advantage of it.
CHATTERLEY: And one of the big challenges in COVID, too, is we have so many people working from home, just part of dealing with the pandemic and the
crisis that also introduces a whole new set of vulnerabilities when you're talking about this kind of technology and the potential threats.
Wendi, what do people need to be aware of whether they're working in this kind of infrastructure or just working from home? How can we best protect
ourselves and just easy steps to make sure that we're not making ourselves more vulnerable than we should be?
WHITMORE: Yes, so I think every company who thinks that they could not be a target of these types of attacks really needs to realize it, right, this is
a very real and credible attack.
So from that perspective, doing things like ensuring you have multifactor authentication on devices that you're accessing remotely, companies can do
that, as well as individuals. And then all of us really needs to take a second step and a third step to trust but verify.
If that e-mail looks suspicious, if you're not certain, even if it's coming from a partner that you think you trust, pick up the phone and call and get
some sort of other form of authentication that that's actually legitimately coming from them. That will really help stop many of these attacks.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. Wendi, great advice. And congrats to your team once again for catching this and pointing it out, some really essential and great work
being done. Wendi Whitmore, Vice President of IBM's X-Force Threat Intelligence, great to chat with you. Thank you so much for joining us.
All right. The market opens next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:31:12]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. U.S. stocks are up and running on the last trading day of the week, and we've got a higher open for all the
major averages as you can see. The S&P now at fresh records. The Dow back above that 30,000 level, too. All of this despite today's week read on U.S.
employment, just 245,000 jobs were added to the payrolls last month. We were expecting gains of more than 400,000.
The retail and government sectors actually lost jobs in the past month. The jobs slowdown adding fresh urgency to getting U.S. stimulus or financial
aid passed in Congress.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said in an exclusive interview with CNN last night that emergency aid now being discussed is just a downpayment on
what's to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: That would be a good start. It's not enough. It is needed and they should focus on the things that are immediately needed, and what's
immediately needed is relief for people and their unemployment checks, relief for people are going to get thrown out of their apartments after
Christmas because they can't afford to pay the rent anymore, relief on mortgage payments, relief on the all the things that are in the original
bill the House passed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Seth Harris joins us now. He is an economic adviser to the Biden transition team. He was the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor under
President Obama. Seth, fantastic to have you on the show.
We can talk about hopes for financial aid coming from Congress, but I do want to get your take on the jobs numbers that we saw today in the jobs
crisis that's happening in the United States.
SETH HARRIS, ECONOMIC ADVISER TO THE BIDEN TRANSITION TEAM: Well, Julia, it's a very disappointing and troubling jobs report today. In ordinary
times, creating roughly a quarter of a million jobs would be very good news, but we have a 10 million job deficit in the United States right now
compared with where we were in February. And at this rate, it'll take three and a half years to get back to that level.
So, this is much too slow jobs growth. In fact, it's not really new jobs being created. It's people who were thrown out of work going back to their
old jobs, and that's the low hanging fruit of this jobs recovery. Those folks have already gone back.
The hard part is the four million Americans who are permanently unemployed and the millions more who are filing for unemployment benefits because
their businesses are closing or are downsizing and those jobs are also going to be gone for good.
So I'm worried about where the American economy is, and I'm especially worried about American workers who are suffering quite seriously in this
economy.
CHATTERLEY: Twenty million Americans claiming some form of benefits, 12 million of those expected to lose those benefits come the end of December
because they're directly tied to the pandemic.
You raise such an important point, firstly, in that regard, but also the number that leapt out for me and we've already talked about it on the show,
this percentage of people who've been out of work for 27 weeks or more. I mean, that's approaching financial crisis levels at this stage.
These are deep scars in the labor market, and it's tough to find a job when you've been out of the market for that long.
HARRIS: That's precisely correct. There are people who got hit by this huge wave of unemployment and are still struggling to get back to shore and they
are going to need significant help. Some of them are going to need job placement help. Some of them are going to need skills training help. But
right now, what they need is extended and increased unemployment benefits because there are no jobs for them to find.
And there is this grave risk that you mentioned that at the end of this month, 12 million Americans are going to lose their unemployment benefits.
That is catastrophic for their families, but it's also devastating for the businesses and their communities. That's billions and billions of dollars a
week that will be pulled out of the consumer economy and consumption makes up 70 percent of the American economy.
So it's going to be catastrophic if Congress does not extend those unemployment benefits and boost them up for people who are simply not going
to get back to work quickly, and need to get back to something like their full pay that they were receiving before they lost their jobs.
[09:35:28]
CHATTERLEY: How confident are you, Seth, that Congress can reach a deal on this bipartisan $900 billion that seems to be gathering support in D.C. at
this moment?
HARRIS: Well, I would describe myself as cautiously optimistic. It's a good sign that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is talking with Speaker
Pelosi. It's a good sign that there are problem solvers in the middle of both parties trying to come together around a package. It's a good sign
that folks who are not even in that group are senators and Members of the House who are endorsing that package. It's just a matter of what the deal
looks like.
Right now, the best deal for all of America is whatever deal we can get just to get things started. The President-elect is correct that this is a
beginning not an end to support for the American people. But we've got to get started right away.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I mean, the heartbreaking thing is that the best deal is the one that we could have got done, and we could have got a deal done,
admittedly smaller than what the Democrats had hoped several months ago.
Would you describe Joe Biden as a pragmatist? Someone that can go in there and go, look, I know you don't agree, but we've gone from a $2 trillion gap
between the two parties to a -- what -- $400 billion gap in the space of a few days. Is he the catalyst for this?
HARRIS: Well, there's only one President at a time in the United States. We don't even have a shadow President yet, so he is not the one who is going
to cut this deal. But Joe Biden is one of the great legislative deal makers of the modern era in the United States.
So I am confident that if Congress can get this deal done during the lame duck session, and that's what they need to do that Joe Biden will come in
after January 20 and begin discussions about a larger economic recovery package to try not merely to get us back to where we were eight or nine
months ago, but also to grow the American economy, with good quality middle class jobs. That's what we need more than anything else.
It is not just to patch the wound, but to get stronger and to be the leaders in the world that the United States has been for many, many
decades.
CHATTERLEY: You raise such a great point, and I think this has been the most shocking thing or one of the most shocking things for me is that we
can't get back to where we were nine months ago because at that point, coming into this crisis, 40 percent of Americans couldn't cut a $400.00
check in an emergency, and this is the richest nation in the world. That is a terrifying statistic.
Seth, what needs to be done by this administration? What can be done practically by this administration to improve the situation for millions of
Americans? And it's to your point about strategic fundamental changes in how the country operates?
HARRIS: Well, if by this administration, you mean the Biden-Harris administration, they've told us what we need to do.
CHATTERLEY: The next administration, you're right.
HARRIS: Right. This administration, I think, is focused on what their jobs are going to be after January 20th, but what the Biden-Harris
administration is going to do has already been laid out.
They laid out a Build Back Better plan that is focused on exactly the kind of strategic investments that you were talking about, investments in
infrastructure, in manufacturing, using the power of the American purse string, American procurement to bring supply chains back to the United
States, investments in the energy sector, the caring economy, in education, so that American workers cannot just get any job, but can get a good
quality middle class union job that will sustain them, their families and their communities going forward.
That is the strength of America. It is working people and middle class people who spend and build the businesses in their communities. That's
where we need to get. There's a plan ready to go, it's a question of whether or not we can get a deal in Congress to move forward with that
plan, with the kind of good quality job protections that American workers desperately need in order to be able to support their family.
So I am optimistic about that. I have a lot of respect for the President- elect and his really prodigious talent and experience in cutting these kinds of deals in Congress.
Let me just say, it's not going to be exactly what I would want or it may not be exactly what he would want. But that's not what you get out of a
compromise. What you get is progress. And that's what we need in the United States more than anything else.
CHATTERLEY: The critical word there, "compromise." You said it. Seth Harris the former acting U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Obama. Seth,
fantastic to have you on the show. Thank you so much.
And yes, I was already skipping 2020 and moving on to it to next year there, so thank you for the correction.
All right. Up next on FIRST MOVE, DHL Express prepares for an ambitious airlift transporting the coronavirus vaccine. The company CEO walks us
through the logistics of this monumental feat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:43:20]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. DHL gearing up for a massive airlift as the world waits for COVID-19 vaccine deliveries. Some drugs, of
course need to be kept at super cold temperatures like the vaccine produced by Pfizer-BioNTech. But it's a particular worry for hot countries in the
developing nations.
DHL Express CEO, John Pearson told Richard Quest, they can do it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN PEARSON, CEO, DHL EXPRESS: Moving these vaccines is right in our wheelhouse, really. We've had a World Medical Express product, WMX product
that moves products across the world in a time sensitive and temperature sensitive manner for a couple of decades.
The Pfizer product does require a temperature much more extreme than we're used to moving, but the way in which we received the package and the
sophistication of how the dry ice protects the vaccine at that temperature means we can pick it up at origin, we can move it in a normal mode through
to destination.
And destination is not final airport destination, it is the final delivery address as requested by the consignor. So that could be a Ministry of
Health warehouse, it could be a clinic or it could be a hospital.
Now our standard transit time globally is anywhere between one and five days and these packages and the dry ice within them maintains the
temperature for up to 10 days. So there's even a little bit of a buffer in the end of the five-day period for us and that's why we're extremely
confident in our capability.
And I think the last thing I'd say is that the preparation has been pretty intense over the last two months. We've been having frequent and content
rich discussions with all the providers, most of the providers in terms of understanding their requirements and making sure that we're ready to do
that.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: I'm interested in what you say that as far as you're concerned, the delivery point is not
just if you like, to the main airport in the capital or the main city.
But it does get more difficult the further and more remote you go, in this case, I mean, is the AstraZeneca-Oxford and then the COVAX from Germany,
are those vaccines going to be easier in a sense to handle because they don't have the same freezing requirement.
PEARSON: I think anything that has a lower temperature requirement is probably easier to handle. But as I said, the way in which these packages
are assembled with the dry ice keeps the product at the right temperature anyway.
So in terms of remoteness, I mean, we are operating in and out of 220 countries every day. Now, as it stands today, we don't know the final
delivery point. The more remote it is, the more difficult it will be.
But we are going into those places, as I say every day today. But there's no specificity as to the final consignee in each country at this stage.
QUEST: A warm room set up because I imagine at the moment, you know, you're going to be delivering a dozen boxes. But as more countries give approval
and the manufacturing ramps up, what sort of extra airlift do you think you're going to need?
PEARSON: Yes, I mean, that's the $64 million question. I mean, all year, Richard, we've been increasing our aviation assets ever since the PPE surge
in April-May of this year, we've been putting more aircraft on the ground in China and Asia, to provide uplift for PPE, to provide uplift for e-
commerce and provide uplift for all the B2B business that we move. So it's no different in that sense.
We've been scaling up our aviation capacity, and as these moves come through and as the clarity of what we need to move where, we will continue
to move aircraft tails around so that we can meet the demand.
I think it's fair to say and I'll draw another analogy with the e-commerce, there's so much of this stuff going to be around that I think everyone will
have a piece of the pie, and it's about organizations understanding their capability at origin and destination, understanding what they can do, and
putting their hand up for the particular parts of this supply chain requirement that they're best at, and that's what these discussions with
the manufacturers are all about.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: All right, after the break, Brexit is back. The latest on the negotiations and whether the U.K. can hook itself a deal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:18]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to FIRST MOVE. The U.K. facing a critical deadline just four weeks left to secure a trade deal with the European Union. One of
the most contentious obstacles has been fishing rights.
Anna Stewart went to a major British fishing port to find out what's at stake.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER (voice over): Fresh fish straight off the boat, caught in British waters are currently subject to E.U. rules. That could
change in the U.K.'s post Brexit future.
STEWART (on camera): Did you vote in the Brexit referendum?
TONY EARP, DECKHAND: Definitely.
STEWART: What did you vote for?
EARP: To leave. To leave. Definitely to leave.
STEWART: Why?
EARP: For the fishing industry. Why should we supply about 78 percent of the work and then back 20 percent of the catch?
STEWART (voice over): Down the dock, Ike Grantham isn't sure Brexit will make any difference.
IKE GRANTHAM, RELIEF SKIPPER: I voted for leave, but now the government has decided to leave, the country has decided to leave. I'm quite happy with
that. Let's leave. But let's get the best deal out of it we can.
The trouble is, I don't think you're going to get the best deal as a fisherman.
STEWART (voice over): This is Brixham, England's most valuable port and voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. The fishermen here want to see fewer
European boats in their waters. They also want to catch more fish.
Many species are currently restricted under the E.U.'s quota system.
STEWART (on camera): The fishing sector accounts for a tiny fraction of the U.K. economy contributing just 0.028 percent to GDP. And yet, the issue of
fishing rights has become one of the biggest hurdles when it comes to the U.K. and the E.U. reaching a trade agreement.
STEWART (voice over): It's not just about economics, though, sovereignty is an emotive issue. These fishermen are out at sea for days or weeks at a
time, and it can be grueling, dangerous work.
STEWART (on camera): The problem of course with speaking to fishermen while they're actually fishing is they're incredibly busy pulling up a big haul
of fish.
So we're going to try and get hold of them through the wheelhouse with our captain here and see whether we can chat some questions across.
This is Anna Stewart from CNN. Hello.
GERRY PODSCHIES, CAPTAIN OF CARHELMAR: Hello there, yes, Gerry here, skipper of the Carhelmar. I think it's become a symbol of our independence
of taking back control of our territory and the dreaded Common Fisheries Policy.
I've seen the decline of our industry.
STEWART: A symbol you say. It is symbolic of Brexit. Is it going to become symbolic of Brexit's failure to take back control?
PODSCHIES: I've always had my doubts about any sort of deal in Brexit. I thought we were better off with no-deal and getting out, taking all our
chips off the table and then negotiating from a position of strength.
STEWART: You sound Brexit weary like many people across the U.K. Tell me, I see you voted for Brexit, would you do so again?
PODSCHIES: Definitely yes.
STEWART (voice over): The Brexit ship has sailed. The trade negotiations are still in play, and these fishermen, so far removed from the politics of
Westminster and Brussels hope they are not forgotten.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And Anna joins us now from London. Anna, I was kind of mesmerized by you trying to hide your joy in talking over that radio as
well.
But let's talk about this because it clearly is -- and it puts the negotiators in really choppy water here. The French in particular are
incredibly sensitive about this and Emmanuel Macron coming out and saying, look, we're going to veto this if it doesn't work for us and we want to
scrutinize the details and they're not alone.
STEWART: They're certainly not alone, and you've got to remember that this isn't, as I said in that piece, necessarily an economic issue. This is an
issue of sovereignty and it's an emotive issue and that goes for fishermen in the U.K., and also, as you mentioned in France, and Denmark as some of
the other European nations.
It also bears thinking about the fact that if the fishermen I spoke to in this piece got everything they wanted: a bigger share of quotas, more
control over their waters, well, on the flip side, they are highly likely to face costly tariffs and costs if they want to export their fish into
Europe.
And I could tell you that a huge portion of the catch I saw coming into Brixham that day will actually end up on tables over in Europe, in France
in Italy and Spain -- Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes. It is such a great point. And actually, another great point is sovereignty. This is not just about economic issues, it comes down
to something more fundamental whether it's the tangling and wrangling over fisheries, over future competition and what kind of roadmap the U.K. can
set for itself in terms of business and the environment as well.
Anna, what do you make of that aspect? And do you think they will reach a deal because this weekend is critical?
[09:55:04]
STEWART: It really is. And I know we talk about deadlines a lot in Brexit, we have now for some four and a half years and it always comes down to the
wire. Although I have to say that while it does seem to have a little bit of give, sometimes you shoot past that deadline.
We thought talks may wrap up this week, at least with some sort of preliminary deal. But last night, it looked like that was going back into
reverse.
I'll tell you what we've go. The E.U. told us significant divergences remain. The U.K. government saw that as a breakthrough, it is still
possible in the next few days, but that hope is receding.
Is this all talk where they try and bash heads over these finer points, as you said, competition rules: fishing, the last stumbling blocks, but they
haven't got long.
There's an E.U. Summit next week on Thursday. They were hoping to sign off on a deal then. Of course, it's not impossible. They hold an extraordinary
Summit near the end of the year. But they are running out of time within the transition period. It ends on January 31st -- Julia
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the price of not compromising. You were speaking to a fisherman there that was saying we'd be happy with no deal. Just get it
done. Don't compromise. Bold call.
Anna Stewart, thank you so much. Great job there.
All right, that's it for the show. You've been watching FIRST MOVE.
I'm Julia Chatterley. Stay safe. Have a good weekend and we'll see you Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
