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Trump: "We Have A Deal" With China After Xi Meeting; New Jersey Governor's Race Tightens In Final Days; Day 30: Few Signs Of Progress As Govt. Stays Closed; 42M Americans Who Rely On Food Aid Will Lose It This Weekend; California Voters Decide Tuesday On Democrats' Redistricting Plan. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 30, 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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[12:30:08]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is raving about his trade truce with China. He claims Chinese leader Xi Jinping, quote, "agreed to almost everything" in their meeting in South Korea. Here's what we know about the deal between the world's largest economic superpowers. The U.S. will reduce tariffs on most Chinese goods by 10 percent, while China will crack down on fentanyl, purchase more U.S. soybeans, and pause some restrictions on rare earth mineral exports.

I want to bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto, who once served as chief of staff for the U.S. ambassador to China. Jim, is this agreement as great as both presidents say it is?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, it's not a breakthrough, certainly. It's more a truce and a de-escalation because it didn't address the major driving issues, which Trump himself said had drawn him into this trade war. One, for instance, somehow returning manufacturing jobs to the U.S. from China or stopping what Trump has described as China's cheating on trade.

What Trump gets in return really is a return to the status quo prior to the trade war. China will be buying soybeans again. They bought them before. China will be allowing the U.S. to import rare earths again. They allowed it before, before they restricted that. And in return for that, China gets a fair amount in return, right? Reduction in tariffs.

It gets him to delay expanded technology sanctions on Chinese companies. So really, when you look at this, he calls it a 12. But by his own definition of success prior to the trade war, he's not meeting those marks, right? I mean, it's really looks a lot like where we were before the trade war started.

BASH: Listen to what the Chinese leader said about the meeting or at the meeting, rather.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. XI JINPING, CHINA (through translation): Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye to eye with each other. And it is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then. And in the face of winds, waves, and challenges, you and I, at the helm of China-U.S. relations, should stay the right course and ensure the steady sailing forward of the giant ship of China-U.S. relations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Jim, you know that often quoted Margaret Thatcher, trust but verify. The question is whether or not there's enough trust to verify between these two powers.

SCIUTTO: Listen, to hear those words from the Chinese president sitting across from the U.S. president with a smile on his face, that's a good thing, right? We certainly don't want the U.S. and China at war, in a trade war, certainly a military conflict or in danger of escalation to some sort of military exchange. So that's good.

But remember, as the Chinese president utters those friendly words, he retains an enormous amount of leverage, right? This is punting these issues a year. He can, again, stop buying soybeans. He can, again, reimpose those rare earths restrictions. And he knows that those have political implications in this country as well.

That one-year timing struck me, Dana. You know better than me, Dana. Extends it beyond those midterm elections, right --

BASH: That's right.

SCIUTTO: -- or close to beyond the midterm elections. And those soybean purchases, for instance, they have big political implications in this country because U.S. farmers didn't like them. Xi Jinping does not forget that he retains that leverage.

BASH: Yes, that's very clear.

Jim, thank you so much. Appreciate you putting it all in --

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

BASH: -- perspective for us.

Up next, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker joins us to talk about his state's very important governor's race.

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[12:38:26]

BASH: CNN has launched CNN All Access, so make sure to visit CNN.com/watch or scan the QR code you see on your screen. What's happening now is there is testimony that is continuing from the Virginia teacher who was shot by a six-year-old student. You can watch that on your phone, but stay with us on whatever other platform you're watching us because you want to definitely tune in to this political discussion. Five days from now, New Jersey will vote on their next governor. Democrat Mikie Sherrill is leading in the polls, but those polls have gotten tighter in the campaign's final days. If Republicans can pull up an upset or even come close, it could be a big psychological blow for Democrats who are trying to find their way in this second Trump era.

Joining me now is the senior senator from the great state of New Jersey, Democrat Cory Booker. Thank you so much for being here. Before we get to the New Jersey election, I just want to talk about your day job, which is what's happening or not happening in the United States Senate, and that is the shutdown.

I know you've signed on to Republican Senator Josh Hawley's bipartisan bill to fund SNAP, which is something that's going to run out of money on Saturday. It funds and helps feed 40 million people in this country. You say the Trump administration could tap into emergency funds to keep it afloat.

I had House Speaker Mike Johnson on earlier this hour who insists that that is not constitutional. We'll talk about that in a second, but just kind of the big picture here. Democrats have been consistently voting no on just keeping the government running, opening the government. Are there some Democrats do you, sir, because you voted no, bear some responsibility for endangering people's food aid?

[12:40:17]

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: Well, you know, Donald Trump has said very bluntly that I'm going to cause maximum pain, and so his intention really is to use hunger as a political weapon, hunger of our children, families, disabled. It's really striking to me, especially because we do have the constitutional authority to use the discretionary funds because it's been done before, and that's what really surprises me.

It's a level of cruelty that is marking Republican leadership right now, that they would put children and families at risk during this fight, and really what it's a fight over is exactly that, that there are too many families in America that work full-time jobs, that have to make the tough decision between health care and feeding their families or between paying the rent and having enough money for groceries.

This is an America where Donald Trump continues to pass bills that give billionaires and the wealthiest corporations tax breaks and cuts and guts school lunch programs, cuts, they already cut a billion dollars out of SNAP payments, that it cuts Medicaid.

And so I don't understand this level of cruelty from the Republican Party right now, especially because when I talk to New Jerseyans, and I've been meeting with people from hospital boards to people who run our food banks, many of them Republicans actually, who can't understand why we as a country would cause this much intentional pain to about half of our country that are struggling right now to make it. BASH: Well, I want you to listen to Elizabeth Austin. She's a single mom of two who relies on SNAP. She was on CNN this morning, and she was talking about what happens if and when that money runs out on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH AUSTIN, SNAP RECIPIENT: It won't stretch. It doesn't. So we'll pull from other parts of our budget, and that means my kids will go without. My daughter's birthday is coming up. You know, it means I'll compensate in other areas that I shouldn't have to compensate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So you say that Republicans are being cruel, but it's also true that you just have to vote yes, and four other Democratic senators have to vote yes, and the government will be reopened, and Elizabeth and 800,000 constituents of yours in New Jersey will at least in the short term not go without food.

BOOKER: Well, you see the choice that the Republicans are trying to force here. Choose between New Jersey's health insurance and health coverage or feeding New Jerseyans. This is a cruel choice that they're trying to make.

We're saying that the richest country in the planet Earth has the ability to do both, to lower people's health care costs and to give people the resources they need to eat. This is very personal to me. As you know, I'm the only United States senator that lives in an inner city area where the majority of my community, they're working families, but are on -- you know, we don't mistake wealth with worth, but are -- we're about at the poverty line in my community where I live.

I see families that every day work hard and play by the rules and are getting screwed by a rigged economy, and that is of the Republicans making. Since Donald Trump has been in office, their grocery prices have gone up, their energy prices have gone up, their health care costs have gone up.

And what we're simply saying is this is one of those moments where the majority of Americans, they're Republicans or Independents or Democrats, the majority of Americans are hurting right now under Donald Trump's economy. And I'm not giving my vote away to just see more of them plunged into further pain.

People are about to get the sticker shock. November 1st, most Americans will now know that their health insurance will rise astronomically, and as a result of that, millions will lose health insurance. And what that means is as I've talked to families in New Jersey, I talked to a dad of a special needs daughter who said him and his wife are going to have to give up their health insurance to keep their child covered.

These are real stories of real people, and so don't tell me we as the United States of America have to choose between feeding families and giving families health insurance. We can do both. The Republicans have shown their ability to come up with tens of billions of dollars to give tax breaks to corporations and to the wealthiest. It's about time we started investing in American families.

BASH: I want to ask you about the governor's race in New Jersey. It is a blue state. President Trump is historically unpopular right now, but polls in the Garden State show that it's pretty close. Republican Jack Ciattarelli could win. Why do you think it's been so difficult for Mikie Sherrill in this race?

BOOKER: Well, you know, again, Mikie is extraordinary. She's a veteran, a helicopter pilot in the Armed Forces.

[12:45:06]

She's a former U.S. attorney, one of the more capable people I've ever seen, but she said from the very beginning, I'm going to have to run through the tape. We're going to have to work very, very hard.

What's astonishing to me in New Jersey, where so many people are hurting right now, is that Ciattarelli has said, the Republican candidate has said, I'm 100 percent MAGA. I'm with Donald Trump. Well, I'll tell you, Mikie Sherrill's with the people of New Jersey and fighting back against what Donald Trump is doing to our state, from sacrificing tens of thousands of jobs, by canceling infrastructure projects, or jacking up our health care costs.

And so this is one of those elections where if you are frustrated with this economy and what Donald Trump is doing, if you're frustrated about your health care costs, then put somebody in the governor's seat that's going to fight for New Jerseyans, not somebody that's going to practice the advanced yoga that I see a lot of congressional Republicans doing, which is bending over backwards to give Donald Trump whatever he wants.

BASH: You know, Democrats have spent more than $3 million on the kind of message that we just heard from you, tying Ciattarelli to President Trump. The Democratic mayor of Patterson, who's backing Sherrill, told my colleague Jeff Zeleny that "People, quite frankly, may have voters' remorse. We're banking on that voters' remorse."

Is there too much of a reliance, do you think, on the anti-Trump sentiment to push Mikie Sherrill through the tape, as you put it?

BOOKER: I don't think so. I think that right now I see this with Phil Murphy, our current governor, that as the federal government cuts and guts programs from the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, we have a governor right now in New Jersey that's compassionate, stepping up and saying, you know what, we need to fight to fill the gaps.

We need to push really hard against this president. We need to speak out against the extrajudicial things that he's doing, coming out of unmarked cars and mask agents, running into New Jersey churches, running into New Jersey schools, running into New Jersey hospitals, and arresting, often, American citizens. That this is a state that's going to push back against those things that aren't right.

We'll partner with the president, where he's doing things to lower people's costs or make us safer. But if he's attacking New Jersey values, Jersey is going to push back. And so, yes, I want Mikie Sherrill there because she's a proven fighter. Heck, her service in our military, her decade of honorable service, is enough to show that she's a fighter.

And so, again, I'm tired of the complicity. Congress right now is refusing to do what our framers intended us to do, which is to offer checks and balances to the president of the United States. Could you imagine this? We have been blowing up speedboats in international waters, taking military action.

Clearly, the Constitution states that these kind of war acts have to come through Congress, but we haven't even had a hearing on it yet. In fact, the House of Representatives have been out for five weeks. And so, Congress is not doing its job. No one is providing the check and balance to this president.

I want a governor that stands up and says, I'm fighting for Jersey. This is not about right or left. It's about right or wrong, and I'm going to do what's right for Jersey and that's Mikie Sherrill.

BASH: All right. Let's get real Jersey here. And that is -- earlier this month, the Trump administration suspended funding for the Gateway Tunnel. It's a project that connects New Jersey to New York City, really important, I don't need to tell you.

Both Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli say they want that funding restored. Ciattarelli says his relationship with President Trump makes him better suited to negotiate with the White House. Does he have a point?

BOOKER: Well, first of all, I think you should disclose to your viewers that you are real Jersey yourself. You come from --

BASH: Proudly so.

BOOKER: -- some serious Jersey cred. Let's just say -- let's just out this that you and I are both two Jerseyans talking about this. When I go out and visit with the unions, the hardhats, the people that are building those construction projects, they know how vital that work is.

And there's no BS about these men and women that are doing that work. It's dangerous work. We had a horrific incident recently, and I'm praying for that family. But these folks want to get that job done. And they know that when somebody pauses a project, it sets that project back. It's not a pause. It's pushing a project back. It's endangering jobs.

Businesses who are relying on contracts suddenly are put into crisis because of the money that they've put out. This is not about negotiating who could be a better negotiating. This is about fighting because Donald Trump has consistently shown by taking away New Jersey and state and local tax deduction, by freezing our infrastructure projects, even the bipartisan gun bill that I played a significant role in getting resources for people to do community violence intervention.

That money, that grant money was frozen. So I'm sorry. Somebody that praises Donald Trump, who says I'm 100 percent MAGA, who says I stand by the president, is ill-fitted to actually fight and negotiate for New Jersey.

[12:50:08]

He is complicit in the pain that New Jerseyans are experiencing right now. I want to fight her. That's why I'm fighting for Mikie Sherrill. I'm hoping people will go out and vote.

BASH: Senator Cory Booker from the great state of New Jersey, thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.

And up next, Governor Gavin Newsom is just days away from finding out if his big bet will pay off. Will California's redistricting plan pass? We'll talk about that next.

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BASH: Governor Gavin Newsom says he sees a path out of the wilderness for his party. It starts on Tuesday with wins in New Jersey and New York and Virginia and where I am today, California. Here he is talking this week to our own Elex Michaelson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:55:13]

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: It's a different Democratic party out here. And by the way, let me make this crystal clear. I'm so optimistic about where we're going to be on election night, November 4th. We're going to win in Proposition 50 and the narrative is going to shift.

Democrats are finally now no longer on their back heels. They're on their toes. Again, it's about weakness versus strength. And the challenge the Democrats have had is we've appeared weak and meek. And now we are asserting ourselves. And that's what 50 is also representing, an assertion that we're back on the playing field and we are going to fight fire with fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Elex joins me now here in Los Angeles. He is the host of the new CNN show, "The Story Is," which airs midnight Eastern Time, 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Also with us, our friend Maeve Reston of The Washington Post.

Hi, guys.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR, THE STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON: Hi there.

BASH: Such a great interview. Can we just start on Prop 50, which is what he was talking about, and the new CBS/YouGov poll? I mean, it's like not even close. Yes, people say they're voting yes, 62 percent, no, 38 percent.

There won't be any surprises, right? Like this seems to be in the bag for Democrats?

MAEVE RESTON, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: We don't want to be too predictive, Dana, right?

BASH: OK.

RESTON: But on --

BASH: That was not a nice question.

RESTON: It is a special election. So, you know, who ultimately turns out on Tuesday could play a big role. But it basically feels as though the no side really collapsed over the last couple of weeks. They went dark on television.

And, you know, Newsom very early on framed this as a referendum on Trump and Democrats in this state, as you know, are just dying to do something that they perceive as a check on his power. And so it does look like sort of an easy win. But we'll see what happens after that with this huge redistricting fight ahead.

MICHAELSON: Yes, I mean, that number is essentially the Democrats and Democrat leading independents --

RESTON: Yes, that's right.

MICHAELSON: -- versus the Republicans. And so this is breaking almost entirely along partisan lines.

BASH: Which is interesting, given the fact that, I mean, you both know better than I that when this state formed independent commissions for redistricting, it got even more popular as the years went on. But now it's just, you know, skins and shirts --

MICHAELSON: It was something that the Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was a big champion of, and it was bipartisan in its support. The way that the Yes on 50 team has done this is they inserted the word temporary.

BASH: That's right.

MICHAELSON: They say that's the key to getting this thing over the top, that it's just temporary. We've got to respond to what's happening in Texas. We're not getting rid of it forever. It would come back in 2031.

BASH: Let's hear a little bit more of your interview with Gavin Newsom. You asked the key question looking ahead, 2028. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: For many years, you've said to me and several other people that you had subzero interest in running --

NEWSOM: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- and that how many ways can I say no?

NEWSOM: Yes.

MICHAELSON: So has something changed?

NEWSOM: Yes, everything's changed. Everything changed here in L.A. You were part of it. You saw it with the federalization of the National Guard. I just think we're on the other side of something radically different, not marginally different.

Everything has changed in terms of my mindset, my focus, my energy, my perspective on the world we're living in, Trump and Trumpism, what he represents, and how serious and precious this moment is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Look, if this is -- if he wins, this is a huge moment for his presidential campaign.

BASH: If he wins Prop 50.

MICHAELSON: Prop 50, because you get to the point that that would be one of the first W's on the board for a Democrat in the second Trump administration. And clearly, he's nationalized this race and probably part of the reason he wanted to come on CNN in the first place.

BASH: Well, it's also because of you, Elex.

MICHAELSON: OK.

BASH: Maeve, I also -- we don't have time to play the soundbite, I do want to talk about Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom's very old friend. They knew each other back in the day.

MICHAELSON: Complicated racism (ph).

BASH: OK. That's a whole other segment -- in San Francisco. But she is now not ruling out 2028. Now, that's maybe a smart thing to do for a young woman like her with, you know, many, many years ahead. You've covered her for a long time. What's your take on that?

RESTON: I think that, you know, she -- at this point, it's clear from all of the people in her circle that she's keeping all of her options open. There's a lot of different things that she wants to do. There's absolutely no reason for her to take herself out of the running at this point.

And of course, it would be very complicated because Governor Newsom is -- would be one of the potential top candidates. And they've had this frenemy relationship for years and years and always been in close contention on so many things.

But they now also will have probably the two top donor lists in politics after this initiative coming up. Gavin Newsom has raised tons of money from contributors in all 50 states and has a massive list now, as does Kamala Harris. And so it would be fascinating to see that competition play out again, once again.

MICHAELSON: And they've had the same consultants for years --

BASH: Yes.

MICHAELSON: -- so they know a lot of the good and the bad about each other.

BASH: Yes. It's kind of dangerous in many, many ways.

Elex, thank you. Maeve, thank you.

RESTON: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: And don't forget, you can see Elex every weeknight on CNN, midnight Eastern, 9:00 p.m. Pacific, right here on CNN.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.