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Inside Politics

Trump Touts "Biggest Deal Ever Made" As U.S. and E.U. Sketch Trade Framework; Vice President JD Vance Hits The Road To Sell The Republicans' Big New Tax Law; Judge Blocks Trump-Backed Medicaid Cuts to Planned Parenthood; Roy Cooper Announced Senate Run for 2026. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 28, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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MANU RAJU, ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump calls it the biggest trade deal ever. But what does the United States new agreement mean with the European Union mean for you, the American consumer? CNN's Matt Egan is here to break it all down.

So, Matt, investors seem very happy about this agreement, but give us a gut check.

MATT EGAN, SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Manu, Wall Street is relieved that disaster has been averted here. A transatlantic trade war would have been very destructive to the world economy. And so that is why we are seeing a positive reaction from U.S. markets. The S and P 500 on track for its sixth record close in a row. And the Dow is flirting with the record close as well.

Now, we should stress though, that a lot of the details here are still murky. This is not a legally binding agreement. And we only just got a fact sheet from the White House last hour.

Now, one thing that is clear, though, is the tariff rate. The U.S. tariff on E.U. imports stands at 15 percent as part of this framework agreement, and that is significantly lower than the 30 percent that the president had threatened would kick in starting on Friday.

But let's make no mistake here. This is not a cut to tariffs. This is actually an increase. It's an increase from the current level of 10 percent. And it is a massive increase from the 2024 tariff rate of 1.2 percent. And economists stress that at the end of the day, it's Americans, not Europeans, are going to pay the cost of these tariffs in the form higher prices.

And look, this is no small matter. The E.U. is the biggest source of U.S. imports, totaling more than $600 billion last year alone. Everything from pharmaceuticals and cars and car parts to aircraft, alcohol and machinery, all of them facing higher tariffs.

Now, as far as what else is in this agreement, the White House says that the E.U. has agreed to buy $750 billion of U.S. energy by 2028. $600 billion of addition E.U. companies into the U.S. in a win for European consumers and U.S. businesses. 0 percent tariff on U.S. exports to the EU.

[12:35:00]

And one thing that's notable here is that the 15 percent tariff rate that does extend to autos imported from the E.U. that is something that may not sit very well with Detroit automakers, who face a higher tariff of 25 percent on cars that are made in Mexico and in Canada.

Manu, I think the bottom line here is disaster does appear to have been averted. But this is another example of a trade agreement that is cementing in place higher, not lower, tariffs.

RAJU: Yes, no question about it. And, Matt, we are just days from Trump's August 1 deadline. What can we expect this week?

EGAN: Yes, Manu, we are days away from this self-imposed August 1st trade deadline. The President today said the countries that don't reach a deal with the U.S. they face a tariff likely of between 15 and 20 percent. That's higher than the current rate of 10 percent.

And a number of countries have already received letters from the President warning of even higher tariffs, including South Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and Mexico at more than 30 percent apiece and Brazil at 50 percent.

So the White House is stressing failure to reach a deal is going to lead to higher tariffs. But what's notable is even countries that have reached an agreement with the U.S. they also face higher tariffs than they did before we walked through the EU.

But we know that the trade framework reach with Japan, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, the U.K. And China, all of them have higher tariffs than they did before the President took office. So, Manu, that really does feel like the one common thread here is deal or no deal, U.S. imports are getting more expensive, not less expensive.

RAJU: Yes. All right, Matt Egan with the latest. Thank you for that. And we're back here around the table. You know, the markets, of course, are cheering this news of this E.U. deal, but still the tariffs are historically higher --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

RAJU: -- on the E.U. than they have been in the past. But it's the way that Trump is, you know, he sets the bar really high and then the deal comes in here, which is still higher than it was historically.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yes, I mean, I think at the bottom line, this is still a tax on goods. These are taxes that are growing up for American consumers, and it's also going to cause them to pay not just the price of goods to go up, but therefore the taxes they pay on top of that to go up. So at the end of the day, this could be more painful for the average American consumer. And we'll see if the White House pays a price for that. RAJU: And this is a huge economic week just some of the days ahead

with the consumer confidence report comes out tomorrow, then we're going to wait for the Federal Reserve rate decision that could come on was expected on Wednesday.

Of course, Trump has been demanding and hammering Jay Powell, the Fed chairman, to cut rates, to push ahead on that. We'll see what happens there. We'll learn about where things stand on inflation by the end of the week and then the tariff deadline on Friday, which the whole world is waiting for.

ELI STOKOLS, WHITE HOSUE AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: And I guess if he doesn't get deals, he's just going to send countries letters and set the tariffs where he wants and maybe there'll be some negotiations that can occur after that. I think one thing that other countries can look at in the E.U. deal as a template potentially to get Trump to yes, the promises that Matt laid out, the 750 billion on energy and the 600 billion in private investment.

Ursula von der Ley and the European Commission president can't guarantee the investment herself. They've spoken to businesses in Europe. They think that's about the ballpark. But that is something. It's a nice number that Trump can hold up there. We don't know if it's going to materialize or if those investments are actually going to come in.

But as a negotiating tactic, as something that the president can hold up here at the end and say, this is part of our deal, this is what we're getting. This is why I went through all this. That seems to have helped grease the skids a little bit to get to an ultimate deal with the E.U. Maybe other countries will come up with numbers and presentations that the president can also lean on.

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE: I mean, all of this, everything you said is right. But I think all when you just boil this down, are goods going to come down? Is this going to impact inflation? That's what I think the average American actually cares about. That's arguably why President Trump is President Trump for a second term. And every time that doesn't happen when these, when as you say to some of these tariffs are being passed on to consumers and you really start seeing that which, you know, we're expecting to come soon, I will have to see how the public reacts.

STOKOLS: Yes, absolutely.

RAJU: And Trump said today, I would say it would be somewhere in the 15 to 20 percent range when he was asked by reporters about this. So what is it, 15, 20 percent? Is it more? Is it less? We negotiate further. All big questions in the days ahead.

All right. As President Trump keeps trying to shift focus to anything other than the Epstein files, his vice president, J.D. Vance has an idea. Could it also help Vance down the road and see say 2028.

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[12:44:20]

RAJU: Vice President J.D. Vance is on the road today selling the president's signature domestic policy legislation, the so called One Big Beautiful Bill. Now, after June polling showed a very skeptical American public, could the president's big bill reshape not only the midterms but also the slowly building race to succeed Trump?

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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We think this is a great bill for the American people. We think it's great for the incredible American workers that I see smiling up at me right now. When you help people, when you give people a tax cut, when you lower taxes on overtime, I believe the people reward you with their votes. That's what it's all about.

If you go to Washington, you make some promises and you keep those promises, that's how you earn people's trust. That's how you earn people's vote.

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[12:45:07]

RAJU: Excellent reporters are back in your home state, Jackie, of Ohio, what do you make of the way J.D. Vance has positioned himself as the clear heir apparent to Trump?

KUCINICH: So when we wrote a story about this, somebody wrote a story about this last week. And one of the interesting things to watch, not only how J.D. Vance, because he's been kind of subtle about it. Right. He's not -- hasn't been talking the deal about running for president. His allies aren't really as vocal. You have to ask them about it.

But Democrats, the potential 2028 Democrats, have really come after him. Someone like a Gavin Newsom, someone like a Pete Buttigieg, even Ro Khanna, who has taken up residence in New Hampshire. It really has been interesting to watch the -- those potential hopefuls come at J.D. Vance.

RAJU: They see him the same way.

KUCINICH: Yes. They see him as the heir apparent and as someone who is in that kind of jumpsuit --

RAJU: Yes.

KUCINICH: -- for that -- for to inherit that out.

RAJU: He's been the defender of Trump on pretty much every single issue. You obviously see a lot of his tweets. You see what he's doing now on the road to try to sell this bill that has gotten a really poor public approval rating so far. Can help turn the tide of public opinion? That's the question. But then how do his potential 2028 GOP rivals see him? This is Secretary of State Marco Rubio over the weekend. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have your sights set outside of the State Department?

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I think J.D. Vance would be a great nominee. And if, you know, I think if he decides he wants to do that. And so, you know, and I think he's doing a great job as vice president. He's a close friend, and I hope he intends to do it. I know it's kind of early. You know, you never know what the future holds. You never rule things out or anything because you just don't know. Things change very quickly.

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RAJU: This is what he said about himself. You didn't catch that. You never know what the future holds. He never ruled things out because you just don't know. Things change really quickly for Marco Rubio. Things have changed.

STOKOLS: I feel like he's kind of putting that pressure, though, that comes with the speculation on J.D. Vance, Marco Ruby. I mean, in Donald Trump's orbit, nobody wants to be seen as jockeying to be the heir apparent. Obviously, Marco Rubio doesn't want that. Vance is not doing that by everything that we have reported, he's not pushing for, he's not talking about it, just as you said.

But you can tell from Marco saying, well, J.D. be great that, you know, if anybody's going to have to deal with that speculation, let it be him.

RAJU: There are others also in the orbit. There's Brian Kemp of Georgia, viewed as a potential someone who could be looking at 2028 as well. But he's also in a bit of a row with Trump allies over the critical Senate seat --

MITCHELL: Yes.

RAJU: -- in Georgia where Democrat Jon Ossoff is the incumbent senator. There's a bill, there's an emerging Republican primary there, and there are signs that Trump and Kemp are not in the same page there.

MITCHELL: They wanted to find a Trump slash Kemp candidate who had the backing of both, and they so far have not been able to do that. Now, President Trump so far has kind of taken a wait and see approach. Brian Kemp appears to be pushing for Derek Dooley, whose dad was a famous coach at the University of Georgia.

But he's pretty much a political unknown. And that has a lot of people frustrated. We've been talking about it a lot on our Politically Georgia podcast, how frustrated people are that Brian Kemp doesn't seem to be willing to back a MAGA candidate like Representative Mike Collins, who got in the race today.

RAJU: Got in the race today. MITCHELL: We broke that story at the AJC. But there's also

Representative Buddy Carter who said, hey, bring it on, Mike Collins. I'm not going to go anywhere. And Buddy Carter has really been trying to become that MAGA candidate. He's the one behind the bills to, you know, take Iceland and give Donald Trump the Nobel Peace Prize. He's introduced the Gulf of America, I think might have also been his bill.

You know, so he's been trying really hard, but you've got these candidates in the mix, and it doesn't seem like the ones likely to get President Trump's endorsement is necessarily the candidate that Brian Kemp is back.

RAJU: That is going to be a fascinating dynamic because we know that Kemp and Trump, they were on the opposite sides of the governor's right in the past. And it didn't work out so well for Trump when Trump defeated David Perdue. I mean, camp defeated David Perdue in that race. So we'll see what happens in the Senate race and if they ultimately are on the opposite sides.

All right, up next, he's never lost an election, so could he be the closer Senate Democrats have been dreaming of? Stay with us.

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[12:53:54]

RAJU: Topping our political radar, a significant win for abortion rights today a federal judge blocked a key part of President Trump's domestic policy legislation that would deprive Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding.

The ruling lays out how the law likely violated the Constitution by targeting the group's health centers for providing abortions.

Plus, its official former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is in and he wants GOP Senator Thom Tillis seat.

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ROY COOPER, FORMER NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR: I never really wanted to go to Washington. I just wanted to serve the people of North Carolina right here where I've lived all my life. But these are not ordinary times. Politicians in D.C. are running up our debt, ripping away our health care, disrespecting our veterans, cutting health for the poor, and even putting Medicare and Social Security at risk.

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RAJU: That in his own campaign message, hitting what is sure to be a hot issue in a marquee race with the majority on the line, health care.

And Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley is expected to soon launch his campaign with President Trump's backing.

[12:55:05] And a quote, unconditional donation agreement is signed. The Pentagon giving an update on the luxury jet that Qatar is giving to the Defense Department for free. Trump faced a firestorm from both Democrats and several influential Republicans when he accepted the jet, planning to use it as the Air Force One after upgrades that of course could be very poor pricey. It's currently parked in San Antonio for that renovation.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics, CNN News Central starts after a very quick break.

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