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One World with Zain Asher
U.S. Threatens To "Move On" From Peace Efforts; Growing Number Of Israeli Reservists Call For End To Conflict; U.S. Supreme Court To Hear Birthright Citizenship Case In May; Some Children Left To Navigate U.S. Immigration Court On Their Own; China Places Export Restrictions On Rare Earth Minerals; Small Businesses Could Be hit Hard By Tariffs; Trump Takes Questions After Swearing in Dr. Oz As CMS Chief; Aired 12:00-1:00p ET
Aired April 18, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:17]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's a matter of days and not months. The Trump administration says that time is running out for a peace plan in
Ukraine.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: The second hour of One World starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We need to figure out here now with a matter of days whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it's
not, then I think we're just going to move on from our perspective. The president feels very strongly about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: It's now or never, Marco Rubio says. The U.S. will walk away from talks if an agreement isn't made soon.
ASHER: And also ahead, an act of defiance. CNN speaks with Israeli reservists who are refusing to serve.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Together.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seventy--four.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: That'll be us one day. They say friends forever, and they mean it. See the reunion that was 74 years in the making.
ASHER: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of ONE WORLD.
The Trump administration's patience is clearly wearing thin when it comes to bringing peace to Ukraine. That's the sentiment expressed by U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio today. He's now threatening to abandon peace efforts if there's not progress soon. His remarks came after a meeting in
Paris with Ukrainian and European leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: If it's not possible, if we're so far apart that this is not going to happen, then I think the president's probably at a point where he's
going to say, well, we're done. You know, we'll do what we can, on the margins. We'll be ready to help whenever you're ready to have peace. But
we're not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: It's not clear what would happen next if the U.S. walks away from negotiations. The U.S. officials says that the next few days will be
critical in terms of figuring out where talks go from here.
Our U.S. security correspondent, Kylie Atwood, joins us from Washington with a closer look. And to add to confusion, Kylie, you have the vice
president saying that he remains optimistic about a resolution to the war.
Is there any statement that we've heard from the White House in response?
KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Not yet. We haven't heard from the White House beyond what we have continually heard, of course, from
President Trump that he wants to bring an end to the Ukraine war quickly.
But it's clear that their patience is growing thin from those comments that the Secretary of State made.
Just after meeting, we should note with Europeans and Ukrainians over what to do next to try and bring a close to the Ukraine war, the Secretary of
State shared with the Ukrainians and the Europeans the general framework that the U.S. has laid out for a peace plan.
We're also told from the State Department that in a phone call with the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, Rubio also shared that same plan. So
essentially, what is occurring now is the Trump administration is trying to make it clear that they're not just giving this plan out and waiting, they
really want to see action from both sides towards conversations that could lead to an end of this war within days, according to the Secretary of
State.
The open question, of course, is what the United States is going to do if that doesn't come to fruition. If there isn't an effective engagement from
both sides in the coming days, what does U.S. engagement with regard to Ukraine and Russia actually look like? Are they going to normalize
relations with Russia, you know, take off some sanctions, potentially build business deals between the two countries? Are they going to potentially
give Ukraine more support to continue fending off Russia's invasion? We really don't know.
[12:05:09]
And so what we're watching for here is what happens over the course of the next few days and what the administration does if this doesn't actually
come to fruition.
GOLODRYGA: Or maybe they misread the Kremlin's calculations here, assuming that offering them more carrots and not more sticks at this point would
bring them closer and further along in the negotiation process which clearly has not played out.
Kylie Atwood, thank you.
ASHER: All right. Let's stay on this with chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt. He's in Washington for us.
So, Alex, where does this leave Ukraine? How does Ukraine interpret these comments by Senator Rubio?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, you could understand if the Ukrainians were nervous about hearing Rubio saying, we're
going to move on and that if nothing happens the next few days that, that will be done because it sounds like the U.S. could just abandon their
efforts altogether, move on to other priorities which Rubio said there are many.
So I think Kylie hit the nail on the head right there. If these ceasefire talks, these peace talks don't really go anywhere, what's the next American
move? And I was speaking with the U.S. official earlier today who said that essentially the U.S. would move on from the negotiations to the next phase
which would be involving significant policy discussions and decisions.
So we have heard the president, for example, talking about putting more sanctions and tariffs on the Russians, shifting, as you said, Bianna, from
the carrot to the stick approach because there have been a number of concessions that the Americans have already given to the Russians, meeting
with them repeatedly at a senior level, talking about no NATO membership for Ukraine and no American troops in Ukraine.
But is the US ready to punish them more to get to some kind of peace deal or to impose consequences for invading Ukraine?
But certainly if I were President Zelenskyy and if I were sitting in Kyiv, I would be quite nervous because we have heard the Trump administration
erring on the side of the Russian talking points.
And actually yesterday, President Zelenskyy accused Steve Witkoff, who has become the primary intermediary with the Russians, of adopting the Russian
narrative and saying that that's really troubling. And that's something that we hear behind the scenes as well.
And, of course, there was that blow-up in the Oval Office between President JD Vance and President Zelenskyy. We've heard President Zelenskyy very
afraid that the Americans are taking more of the Russian position than their own.
But really, we have to keep such a close eye on what's going to happen over the next few days because if the Americans do pull back, we don't know what
that next move is going to be. We know that that Keith Kellogg, the Special Envoy for Ukraine, has talked about a hundred-day timeframe. Those hundred
days are running out by the end of this month.
And the Trump administration is not showing much patience and not showing much appetite for continuing with these conversations. And if they cut
these conversations short, it is Ukraine who stands to lose more than Russia.
ASHER: All right. Alex Marquardt, live for us there. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Let's bring in Nigel Gould-Davies. He's a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Nigel, good to see you.
So you heard our conversation there with Kylie and with Alex. And you heard those comments from the Secretary of State, not only saying that they would
just move along, but that also the U.S. would remain there on the margins to help.
How are Ukrainians supposed to interpret that? Again, is this related specifically to a 30-day ceasefire attempt? Or is this, generally speaking,
how the U.S. is going to approach any sort of assistance as this war continues well over three years now?
NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES, SENIOR FELLOW FOR RUSSIA AND EURASIA, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Yes, indeed. I think one way to think
about these most recent remarks by Secretary Rubio is that they indicate that in effect, the last three months, there's been a remedial education
calls for the White House in the basic realities of the Russia-Ukraine war.
So even before he took office, President Trump was saying he wanted to end the war in day one, and then within nine to 100 days. And now we're hearing
exact opposite side.
It seems to be, at least a tacit admission, that everything the Trump administration has tried to do to end the war has failed. And indeed, in
many respects, it's made the situation worse.
The question is what the United States does next and what moving on means in fact. And certainly if you're sitting in Kyiv, there are reasons to
worry about what that might mean.
But if it means that the United States will now abandon its failed attempt to end the war, which has in essence in taking the Russian view of this,
the Russian side of this, rather than anyone else's side of this, then I think you know, Ukraine could be mildly optimistic that at least the White
House will stop doing damage to Ukraine's and Europe's interests.
[12:10:22]
Nigel, it's interesting because over the past few months, we've seen just how much a Trump administration has parroted Russian talking points. And
now, here you have a juncture whereby rather than trying to do more to get Russia to negotiate better, doing more to crack down on the Russians, doing
more to get Russia to concede, they're instead showing that they're willing to throw in the towel here. What do you make of that?
GOULD-DAVIES: Yes. They've certainly, as you said, emboldened Russia, offered Russia carrots rather than sticks, and indeed applied sticks rather
than carrots to Ukraine. And recall, in particular, the suspension of military aid and intelligence support for a time. All that has failed.
The logical conclusion, indeed the obvious conclusion, for the White House to draw, is that ending the war requires pressuring Russia, not Ukraine,
Russia much harder.
Now the interesting thing here, of course, is that President Trump has, on occasion, hit it at this. He's talked about trying to force down the oil
price. He's talked about the prospect of much more severe sanctions.
Those of us who could understand the realities of war have always been very clear, that an end to the war requires Russia to abandon the initial goals
of its invasion, is to say the political and military subordination of Ukraine.
Now the Trump administration has in it power the ability to do that, if it really wanted to impose a full court press on the Russian economy and at
the same time enough support for Ukraine. It has the ability to do that.
It's talked a little bit about that. It hasn't yet done anything in that direction. So let's see if the White House draws the obvious conclusion. If
it really wants to end the war, pressure Russia.
GOLODRYGA: But, Nigel, just judging by the past, one doesn't have to be a betting man or woman to assume that the president doesn't want to go down
that path because it puts him in a box with Vladimir Putin and whatever leverage the United States may indeed have over Russia. That's not
something that he wants to address.
Inadvertently, perhaps oil prices have gone down now because of the tariff chaos, but everything that he's threatened he has yet to do against Russia.
So if he takes a back seat now and says over to you, Europe, yes, they may be able to financially support Ukraine. But what, if any, leverage do they
have over Putin?
GOULD-DAVIES: Well, that's a very interesting question because it draws our attention to how the transatlantic relationship has evolved in the past few
weeks.
And recall that Europe was very alarmed when the Trump administration took office at some of the openly hostile rhetoric directed at Europe. There was
this sense, not only that America was reversing its position on Russia and Ukraine, but also calling into question 80 years of commitments to Europe.
And yet, in the past few days, we've seen Americans and Europeans meeting again in Paris, a very important moment.
And in addition to that, it's clear that whatever else the White House thinks about Europe, as a whole, it retains still warm and fairly strong
relations with the most important individual European countries.
So Prime Minister Starmer in the U.K., President Macron's regularly on the phone to President Trump, Prime Minister Meloni in Italy. And we are about
to see, in Germany, a new Chancellor met the most Atlanticist senior politician in Germany.
So if you put that together and the fact that Americans and Europeans at senior level, including even Steve Witkoff, who's been the most pro-Russian
in his public remarks, there is the sense of some fluidity that could play to the benefit of Europe.
Europe has been rather deft, I would say, and subtle to quote the, it seems at the moment, who have pulled America back from a full breach of the
Atlantic Alliance. And that might, in turn, provide the foundations for influencing America to take a more constructive and rational view of the
Russian-Ukraine war.
ASHER: We know that if America pulls back, the potential ramifications of the vacuum left by the Americans will be really troubling on the
battlefield for Ukraine.
[12:15:07]
Nigel Gould-Davies, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. A growing number of Israeli reservists are publicly condemning the decision to resume fighting in the Gaza Strip.
GOLODRYGA: And across the country, seven out of 10 people say they want to end the war and bring all of the hostages home according to local media.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OR GOREN, IDF RESERVIST AND COMBAT PHYSICIAN: Thank you. Thank you so much.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doctor Or Goren spent months deploying to Gaza as a combat physician in the Israeli
military, treating and evacuating wounded soldiers.
Now he's part of a growing number of reservists who believe the war is no longer serving its stated goals, destroying Hamas and returning the
hostages.
GOREN: No, I don't believe it anymore. And it's a year and a half. The -- Gaza is demolished. Hundreds, tens of thousands of people killed. The
houses there are destructed, the infrastructure is -- is destructed. But Hamas still rules the place, still shoots rockets. And so, where are we
heading?
DIAMOND (voice-over): Goren is one of thousands of reservists who have signed public letters calling on the Israeli government to end the war and
strike a hostage deal.
The first letter, from Air Force reservists and retirees, quickly spawned others, from reserve combat physicians and paratroopers, to sailors and
military intelligence officers, all echoing this message, "At this time, the war mainly serves political and personal interests and not security
interests. The continuation of the war will lead to the death of abductees, IDF soldiers, and innocent civilians, and to the attrition of reservists."
The Israeli military, which heavily depends on reservists to bolster its regular forces, moving swiftly to quash the dissent, firing dozens of
reservists who signed the letters.
The Israeli prime minister slamming the signatories as a small group of bad apples, accusing them of refusing to serve for political reasons.
GOREN: The pilots' letter did not say they will stop serving. There was nothing illegal about it. We are the backbone of this society. How can you
silence us?
DIAMOND (voice-over): The outrage in Israel is mounting. Seven in 10 Israelis say they want a deal to end the war and get the hostages out,
according to Israel's Channel 12.
And now, between rising political opposition and the burden of multiple tours on reservists and their families, as many as 40 percent of reservists
no longer showing up when called to duty.
Even among those who support the war, like Maytal Bernstein Hadari (ph), 18 months of war is taking its toll. Her husband has spent more than 300 days
deployed, forcing her to scale back her speech therapy practice as she raises her four kids.
During this latest fifth deployment, my entire body hurt, she says. For 300 days, he wasn't home and I needed to carry on my small shoulders what we
usually hold together.
But while others say enough is enough, Maytal (ph) wants Israel to keep fighting.
The limit, she says, is when we win.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come here. A democratic lawmaker is trying to spot a movement in the U.S. comparing America to 1930s Germany. Why he's
asking voters to step up?
And also head.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a nursery school where the lesson is, how to fight your deportation proceedings.
WENDY YOUNG, PRESIDENT, KIDS IN NEED OF DEFENSE: That's exactly right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Why migrant children are learning how to navigate America's confusing immigration system all alone.
ASHER: And later how small businesses with very complex supply chains are handling the tariffs? We hear from the founder of an electric motorbike
company. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:32]
GOLODRYGA: While the U.S. Congress is in recess, lawmakers are holding town halls with voters across the country.
ASHER: Yes. During one of those meetings, longtime democratic Congressman, Jim Clyburn, emphasized that Democrats are limited in what they can do in
the minority in Congress, urging voters to speak out and help tip the balance of power.
He also asked the crowd to pray for the U.S., which he fears is sliding into autocracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): All we can do is share with you what we're doing and ask for your prayers that this country will not allow itself to go the
way of determining in the 1930s when people stood by.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. is now headed to the Supreme Court when the president says he
is, quote, so happy about it. Trump signed an executive order barring it, but that order was met with lawsuits and sweeping injunctions stopping
implementation of that order.
ASHER: Yes. While the White House might be feeling good about SCOTUS hearing birthright arguments, recent polling actually suggests that voters
feel otherwise.
CNN's Harry Enten joins us live now to break it all down. See, Harry, the problem with it being Friday, my friend, is that you have to wait another
three days before you see us again.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I know. It's so --
ASHER: That's the issue there.
GOLODRYGA: That's why he doesn't even look happy.
ENTEN: It's the bad and the good.
ASHER: You're like miserable. Thank God it's Friday and you're miserable about that.
ENTEN: No, I'm miserable. I'm a sick person who just enjoys working so much because I enjoy the people that I work with. So it's saying goodness or
God, it's Friday for most of us, but for the insane people like myself, I'm a little sad. I'm a little sad.
Anyway, let's get into some numbers here. All right. And then we'll talk on the other side of the break.
ASHER: Let's actually work. Let's actually work, shall w?
ENTEN: Yes. Let's do some work and we'll talk while some fun on the other side of the break.
You're talking about ending birthright citizenship. And this to me is so interesting, right? Because Trump does pretty well on immigration as a
whole. But when it comes to ending birthright citizenship for children born immigrants here legally, look at this, 56 percent opposed. The clear
majority versus just 41 percent who supported it.
I've looked at a ton of polls on the subject, and every single one conducted within the last few months, the opposition wins. There's not a
single poll at this point that supports Donald Trump's position.
It is a political loser for him. And indeed, I might argue it's an idea that would have done much better in the past.
What am I talking about? You see this 41 percent who support this idea of ending birthright citizenship for children born immigrants here illegally.
Take a look at the trend line over time. Again, you see the 41 percent here. If he did it 15 years ago in 2010, it was 47 percent who supported
it.
Back in 1992, over 50 percent of Americans supported the idea of ending birthright citizenship for children who were born immigrants here
illegally.
So the bottom line is Trump's position has become more and more unpopular, less and less popular despite the fact that he believes it's a good thing
for him.
I say, uh-uh, that is not what the polling says. Now, of course, we see the support for his position being low, but maybe it energizes his base. This,
I think, was a real shocker to me. Motivates to vote. Makes you very motivated to vote. Ending birthright citizenship.
Get this. Just 31 percent of Republicans say it's very motivating for them to vote. Democrats take the cake on this one 51 percent. So no matter what
way you slice the cake, Zain and Bianna, this does not work out well for Republicans. Donald Trump would be smart to drop this issue. He'd be smart
to focus on immigration at large, not ending birthright citizenship. Because I said at the beginning, it's a political loser.
[12:25:15]
But I will end by saying every time I'm with you two, it's a winner for me.
ASHER: Oh, look at that. Harry, this is why we love you, my friend.
GOLODRYGA: You were waiting to button it up that way. There you go.
ENTEN: Button it up. That's what I do on Fridays. I button it up. And I also take the jacket off.
ASHER: And he's literally buttoning up there.
ENTEN: There we go. I'm ready to party. It's a Friday. Let's get out of here. Your guys are off the clock in about 35 minutes.
ASHER: I've got 30 minutes. Then my weekend starts, honey.
ENTEN: Perfect. Perfect. We'll hit -- we'll hit the clubs and the bars together.
ASHER: And I'll see you in makeup on Monday morning at literally 5:00 A.M.
GOLODRYGA: Those are images we want to see. You two hitting the clubs and the bars together.
ENTEN: You know, I got my -- I got my Diet Coke right over here. Trust me, I don't drink the alcohol at work. Just the Diet Coke. It powers me through
the damn little over-caffeinated.
ASHER: Thank you for clearing that up, Harry.
ENTEN: No problem. I want to make sure that our audience stays clean just like I do.
GOLODRYGA: This is a family show, Harry Enten.
ASHER: Harry, we love you.
ENTEN: Love you too.
ASHER: Have a nice weekend, my friend.
GOLODRYGA: Have a good weekend.
ENTEN: TGIF.
GOLODRYGA: TGIF. See? We made you smile. Bye, Harry.
ASHER: For once.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Well, Donald Trump's immigration crackdown could hit the youngest and most vulnerable in the immigration system, the hardest.
ASHER: Right. Cutbacks in federal funding might leave infants and children facing court proceedings all alone without any representation whatsoever.
Our Priscilla Alvarez has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVELYN FLORES, MANAGING PARALEGAL CHILDREN'S PROGRAM, AMICA CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS (through translation): They had to cross the border of
Mexico and the United States.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This story time starts at the U.S. southern border. It's a tale for children who crossed into the
United States alone and are in government custody.
Fulanito, a cartoon cat, is supposed to represent them. The lesson, almost impossible to imagine for a child, how to navigate the U.S. immigration
system alone.
FLORES (through translation): A very important right that Fulanito has now that he is in the United States is the right to go to immigration court.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Evelyn Flores of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights gives this presentation to kids in custody weekly. And she's not
alone. Legal service providers serve a critical role for unaccompanied kids, whether preparing for court or getting ready for school.
Now, those lessons are taking on added significance amid concerns that children will be stripped of the very legal services they need.
ALVAREZ: This image that you share in your storytelling could be all a child has to get through their immigration proceedings.
FLORES: Yes.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): The termination of a federal contract for legal services has left organizations like Amica scrambling, and the thousands of
children they and others serve potentially facing deportation proceedings alone.
Without attorneys, advocates say, kids don't stand a chance.
SCOTT BASSETT, MANAGING ATTORNEY, CHILDREN'S PROGRAM, AMICA CENTER FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS: The system is just too complicated for a child to succeed
alone without an attorney.
To ask a 12-year-old to do that without the support of an adult, much less one trained in the complicated world of immigration law, it's just not
feasible. It can't happen.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): A child's deportation proceedings start shortly after they cross into the United States, similar to an adult.
YOUNG: I was in a court last summer where a 3-year-old was in proceedings. He played with his toy car in the aisle of the courtroom until he was
called, and then a young woman picked him up and brought him to the front of the courtroom.
I knew that child knew something dramatic was about to happen. He started crying. He was inconsolable at that point.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Under U.S. law, immigrants don't have a right to counsel at the government's expense, not even children, leaving them to
depend on volunteer lawyers or NGOs.
YOUNG: Federal support is everything. Without those monies, we would probably see more like 90 percent of these kids going through proceedings
without counsel.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): In March, the Trump administration cut off federally funded legal services for 26,000 unaccompanied children in the United
States, prompting lawsuits.
A federal judge has since ordered the administration to temporarily restore funding, but to date, that hasn't happened.
The uncertainty has led to staff layoffs and disrupted legal services for kids.
As the administration cracks down on immigration, experts argue that taking away attorneys will only hurt efforts to get migrant kids to court.
BASSETT: The dinosaur and the unicorn --
ALVAREZ: OK.
BASSETT: -- are huge hits.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Organizations who work with migrant children often have to get creative to get the kids to open up. Children often color as
they share why they fled their home countries and get acquainted with attorneys.
BASSETT: They get thrown off the walls --
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Or they play with stress balls. One group in Michigan even has toy court sets for one-on-one legal screenings with kids.
YOUNG: We'll have toddlers running all over the place, and my staff is explaining to them using toys, crayons, chalkboards, what their rights are
in the immigration system. And it's both -- something that's both very poignant, it's very joyful, but there's also a tremendous sense of gravity
to it.
[12:30:07]
ALVAREZ: It's a nursery school where the lesson is how to fight your deportation proceedings.
YOUNG: That's exactly right.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come, China controls most of the world's production of rare earth minerals. How is it using that dominant to
retaliate against America's tariffs?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
China has a powerful card to play in its fight against Donald Trump's trade wars, rare earths. Rare earths are a group of minerals used to power
everything, from iPhones to electric vehicles.
ASHER: Yes. The U.S. and other countries have been dependent on China's supply of these processed metals for decades.
And Beijing is now using that control to retaliate against Donald Trump's tariffs. Here's Ivan Watson with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a computer mall in Hong Kong. It sells everything from security cameras to desktop computers and phones.
And almost all of this technology is made with critically important elements called Rare Earths.
THOMAS KRUEMMER, EDITOR, RARE EARTH OBSERVER: Everything I can switch on and off but would not really work without rare earths.
WATSON (voice-over): Take a smartphone, for example.
WATSON: Rare earths are in vital components in your average iPhone. They're in the microphone, which is actually a tiny little part of the device right
here. They're in the motor that vibrates the phone. And you'll also find rare earths in the screens themselves.
WATSON (voice-over): And guess which country has cornered the market on rare earths? China.
According to the International Energy Agency, China refines more than 90 percent of the world's rare earths.
[12:35:00]
On April 4th, after the Trump administration began piling tariffs on Chinese goods, Beijing announced export controls on 7 of 17 rare earth
materials, saying the measures are needed to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as
nonproliferation.
GRACELIN BASKARAN, DIRECTOR, CRITICAL MINERALS SECURITY PROGRAM, CSIS: China's export controls on April 4th were retaliation at one of America's
greatest vulnerabilities.
WATSON (voice-over): Rare earths aren't just used in consumer technology.
The Pentagon says, around 900 pounds of the stuff are used in the F-35 Lightning II Stealth Fighter.
In 2010, the U.S. government Accountability Office warned, Chinese rare earths were being used in Abrams' tanks and U.S. Navy ships.
BASKARAN: So, we are entirely beholden to China. I mean, they're weaponizing it in a trade war is what is happening, right? So, we're using
tariffs, they are using minerals.
WATSON (voice-over): In this executive order this week, President Trump wrote, U.S. dependence on China for rare earths and other critical
materials raises the potential for risks to national security, defense readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity and resilience.
The U.S. has only one rare earth mine operating in California. Since 2020, the Pentagon invested more than $400 million trying to establish domestic
rare earth supply chains.
But experts say it will take years and huge investment for the U.S. to catch up with China's rare earth monopoly.
In the meantime --
JIM KENNEDY, PRESIDENT, THREE CONSULTING: If China literally cuts you off, you got six months of inventory and you just turn the lights out and go
home.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Well, U.S. markets are closed today after a turbulent week driven in part by a damning assessment of what Donald Trump's tariffs will
do to the economy.
Now, the comments came from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday. He says the tariffs put America in uncharted territory warning
that they could hamper growth and fuel inflation.
ASHER: All right. And that could hit small businesses hard. Some are having to make really tough decisions on whether to pass on increased cost to
consumers or completely reimagine their supply chains.
Time now for The Exchange. Joining me to discuss the effects of these tariffs on his company is Taras Kravchuk, founder of EV Motorbike Startup
Tarform. Taras, thank you so much for being with us.
So your company Tarform actually imports EV batteries from China, which we know are now subject to 145 percent tariffs. CBP published a list of
temporary exemptions just a week ago and EV batteries were not on that list.
Just talk to us a bit more about how these tariffs are affecting startups like yours.
TARAS KRAVTCHOUK, FOUNDER AND HEAD OF DESIGN, TARFORM: So we build electric vehicles at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Just 10 minutes from here. And the last
two weeks, we've been scrambling trying to understand, how does this affect small businesses like us? And our vehicles are made out of hundreds of
components all over the world.
And trying to figure out what is it that we have to do short term and long term. But needless to say, it's definitely been a challenge and trying to
see what components will rise in cost.
Do we have to figure out new supply chain strategies to the next three to six months? And trying to -- trying to figure out every day.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And your company, Taras, by the way, I do have to say I'm not full disclosure, a big motorcycle fan, but looking at your website and
looking at your bicycles, they are a thing of beauty. I mean, they are stunning.
I was telling --
KRAVTCHOUK: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: -- Zain that it's just that they're gorgeous. So anybody who wants to take a look, we invite them to visit your website.
But it's interesting that this is a president despite his predecessors and despite so many, both Democrats and Republicans, really saying the focus
needs to be on renewables. This is a president who has called the EV market as a whole, a hoax.
I'm wondering how you're responding to the possibility that he may be restricting or moving back, taking away some of the tax credits and
incentives that his predecessor had put in place just for what you're doing to invest more in the EV business.
KRAVTCHOUK: I think everyone agrees that we need to move away from petroleum based fuels and internal combustion engines to other forms of
clean technology.
And I think electrical vehicles play a huge part in this and Tesla obviously led this revolution. So we're trying to do the best we can to
follow in the footsteps, but obviously make it better.
A couple of years ago, there were more incentives from the government side to help smaller manufacturers, such as us, to accelerate the transition to
renewable energy.
Today it feels like the environment is slightly different. People are talking less about clean technology, about electric vehicles. So I hope
this momentum is not going to slow down significantly.
[12:40:08]
But ultimately, I think the consumer is going to be driving this change because they are asking for more sustainable ways to move around.
GOLODRYGA: Look at the motorcycles.
ASHER: Gorgeous. I know. These machines are a thing of beauty, as you say, Bianna. No.
Just another question for you, Taras. You know, it would be one thing if we knew these tariffs were really here to stay permanently, but it almost
feels as though every single week we get a new headline from the administration. One minute, there's new tariffs. The next minute, these
tariffs are being paused. The next minute, there's exemptions. And the next minute, it's, oh no, these exemptions are any temporary. And then the next
minute, we're going to actually launch an investigation into semiconductors and impose new tariffs on that.
With that kind of chaotic environment, just talk to us about how, as a founder, you begin to even plan in that kind of environment.
KRAVTCHOUK: I think running a startup, any startup, in general, is already a highly chaotic environment. This just adds to the endless list of
challenges that we have to go through.
A couple of weeks ago, we were solving completely different problems, everything from just getting parts into our warehouse, trying to figure out
how do we build this thing, how do we raise capital.
So this definitely added a whole new list of things we need to plan for and address. And I think moving forward, adaptability is key.
We have no idea what tomorrow's going to look like or in six months, but if any company, us and other startups, if there's something they can do, it's
try to be as adaptable and resilient as possible.
GOLODRYGA: Before this interview, Zain had sent me an article featuring your company, and it was from 2020, I believe. And in that piece, a 2018
industry survey was cited, noting that 70 percent of millennial riders were interested in electric motorcycles.
And here's what I thought was interesting. Women account for 20 percent of motorcycle riders, and they make up 40 percent of EV vehicle owners.
ASHER: You're going to be one of them, Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: Listen, looking at those, my mind may be changed.
KRAVTCHOUK: I have the bike downstairs.
GOLODRYGA: I'll have to talk to my husband. Exactly.
But have you noticed a change in consumer behavior over the last, even few months? I mean, how are you factoring in how this is going to impact your
business, given that you don't have this momentum starting from the administration on down?
KRAVTCHOUK: Yes. We're trying to figure out, as I said, and there is increasing demand from the consumer side. They want to have more
sustainable vehicles and, more importantly, lightweight urban transportation in cities like New York, Los Angeles.
And we're right in the phase of scaling up. So we're beyond sort of prototyping and concept. We're trying to figure out how do we bring more of
these vehicles to the market, which obviously means focusing on reducing our cost of goods.
And it's one of our primary things to solve is, how do we increase our production? How do we reduce our costs? And for now, that plan is somewhat
unclear.
ASHER: Taras, I think I'm going to take you off in that offer. I'm going for a ride. Just staring out.
GOLODRYGA: Just give her a helmet and she -- you can even leave the show early.
ASHER: I might do that. We'll see.
KRAVTCHOUK: Yes. Anytime.
ASHER: All right. Taras Kravtchouk, live for us. Appreciate it.
GOLODRYGA: Thanks, Taras.
KRAVTCHOUK: Thanks so much.
GOLODRYGA: And still to come for us, Trump is standing by his promises to pull funding from certain institutions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We received notice from the federal government that our grant had been terminated. And part of the reasoning was that we no
longer align with the White House policies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Ahead, what could be lost by the government's cuts to this Boston Museum?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:27]
ASHER: All right. Let's go right live to the White House now where President Donald Trump is taking questions after swearing in Dr. Mehmet Oz
as the new administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The U.S. will have to figure out whether a deal can be done between Russia and Ukraine in a matter of days or you will just move
on.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, very sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many days is that?
TRUMP: No specific number of days, but quickly, we want to get it done. We're talking about here people dying. We're talking about over there,
people are dying also, like on average 2,500 young people, soldiers. They're not from America. They're not from anywhere else other than Ukraine
and Russia. But we want to save these lives.
So it's 2,500 a week of being killed in battle. It's a vicious battle with the best equipment, the best everything, and it is brutal. 2,500 young
people a week.
Some of them not so young, actually. They're getting older. They're getting older by the month. But 2,500 a week and we're going to get it stopped,
ideally.
Now, if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible
people, and we're going to just take a pass, but hopefully, we won't have to do that.
And Marco is right in saying, we're getting -- we want to see it end. Think of it, every day a lot of people are being killed, as we talk about, you
know, as they play games.
So we're not going to -- we're not going to take that and we will -- we'll see. I think we have a good chance of solving the problem, however.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you prepared to walk away completely from these efforts and these talks?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that, but we want to see it end. We want to see it end. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is Vladimir Putin stalling your interest, Mr. President?
TRUMP: I hope not. Let you know about that soon if he is, but I hope not. He's got a big force out there, big force. It's a war that should have
never happened. It would have never happened if I was president. And it didn't happen for four years. That's a war that should have never happened.
October 7th, Israel would have never happened. Iran was broke. And now we'll see what happens with Iran.
We have a lot of them out there. We have a lot of things that we're working on right now that shouldn't have happened. None of them.
Ukraine would have never happened with Russia. October 7th would have never happened, so you wouldn't have had all the problems in the Middle East. The
Afghanistan embarrassment, probably the most embarrassing day of the history of our country would have never happened.
Inflation would have never happened. By the way, prices are down. Groceries are down. Eggs, which they -- you hit me so hard. I'll never forget the
first day, first week in office, they were screaming at me about eggs. I said, what's going on with eggs? They were doubling and tripling.
I said, I just got here. They were up like double, triple, and you couldn't get any. They said, you won't have eggs for Easter? Well, you can have all
the eggs you want.
I'll tell you, Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, did a great job. And the egg prices are down 87 percent. But nobody talks about that. You
can have all the eggs you watched. We have too many eggs, in fact, of anything. The prices are getting too low.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President --
TRUMP: So I just want to let you know, prices are down. Gasoline yesterday at -- in three states hit $1.98 a gallon. And it looks like it's at a level
that I haven't seen since my days, my four years. So it's about two -- I'd say maybe -- I think we're going to average. We're going to be averaging
$2.25 very soon.
[12:50:09]
So I just want to let you know though, because I keep hearing about prices and inflation. Prices are coming down, not going up. Only the fake news
says they're going up.
The only thing that's even our interest rates, and we had a Fed chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down to.
He should -- he should bring them down.
Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what do you need to see from both sides in order to keep negotiations going? What do you want to see from Russia
and Ukraine?
TRUMP: I have to see -- my whole life has been one big negotiation, and I know when people are playing us, and I know when they're not. And I have to
see an enthusiasm to want to end it.
And I think I see that enthusiasm. I think I see it from both sides.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think Russia's playing you?
TRUMP: But you're going to know soon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think Russia's playing you?
TRUMP: No. Nobody's playing me. I'm trying to help. You know, this was Biden's work, by the way. By me getting involved, you know, they'll say,
oh, it's Trump. This is not Trump's work. This is Biden. This is a war that should have never happened. OK? Think of it.
Those cities are crushed and crashed and all those beautiful steeples, the most beautiful in the world, actually they're considered the most beautiful
in the world. Most of them are now smashed to smithereens, as they say, lying on the ground in a million pieces. Those towns are crushed, the whole
-- it's so horrible.
And millions of people are dead far more than you think. That's one thing you're going to get out of this war. You're going to find out that your
estimates are far lower than -- it's far worse than people think. Nobody's playing anybody.
We are going to see if we can get it done. I think we have a really good chance of getting it done. And it's coming to a head right now.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do -- if you want to support Ukraine militarily - -
TRUMP: Say it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you do decide to move on or take it past, Mr. President, would you then continue to support Ukraine militarily?
TRUMP: Well, I'm not going to say that because I think we're going to get it done.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a group of Venezuelan men down in Texas who have been alerted that they are soon going to be deported under the Alien
Enemies Act. Have you authorized that operation? And where are we going to go?
TRUMP: I don't know about the group you're talking about. But if they're bad people, I would certainly authorize it. Yes.
You know, I won an election in a landslide. We won all seven swing states. We won by millions of votes. We won 2,750 districts to 505 districts. 2,750
or 5 -- that's why -- the map, when you look at it, is all red.
And one of the biggest reasons -- I think the biggest single reason, actually, I'd like to say it's because of this, because I think they're
going to come up with things that are incredible.
But probably the biggest reason was because of the border, because of illegal immigration, and the people of this country want those people out.
Because what Biden did, and I don't know if he did it. I'm not even sure he knows what the hell he was doing. But what his people did, representing
him, was allow millions and millions of people from jails, from prisons all over the world, people from mental institutions and insane (INAUDIBLE),
gang members, drug dealers, pouring into our place.
And you know what? Our people voted for me to get them out. They want them out. They want them out. And we've done a hell of a job.
And by the way, Ecuador and various places, but El Salvador. We've been helped by a lot of other states where they're helping us, actually, because
you couldn't -- look, what this man was thinking, where they allowed open borders and people to come in, if you look at Venezuela, their crime is
down by 72 percent. You know why? They took all their criminals off the street. They took all their prisoners from jail. They took murders.
Eleven thousand and eighty-eight murderers were released into our country. Bad things are going to happen. Bad things. And we're getting them out. And
that's why I was elected.
A judge wasn't elected to do that. I was elected to do that. And we're doing it in record fashion. We have the safest border, the most secure
border we've ever had.
See the declaration of independence? You should all read that before you leave. That's the real deal. You should all read it before you leave. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, photos of emerged of Senator Van Hollen sipping what appears to be margaritas with the Abrego Garcia down in El
Salvador. Do you encourage other Democrats to fly down El Salvador to meet with this illegal alien who's an accused wife beater?
TRUMP: I like this guy. See now, this is -- this is the kind of reporter we like. There aren't enough of them. We got to get some more of them. But no,
I appreciate that question.
No. Look, he's a fake. I know -- I know them all. They're all fake. And they have no interest in that prisoner. That prisoner's record is
unbelievably bad. If you would go into the room, you might -- if you would, Karoline, maybe go into the room and see if you can find that little slip I
wrote some things down. I don't know why you'd want to keep them.
[12:55:07]
But I just -- we got a little biography of him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you help set up that --
TRUMP: Not a very -- not a very innocent guy. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the IRS -- on the --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE : Mr. President, in spirit -- in the spirit of Easter Sunday --
TRUMP: While we're on the subject, right? So you're talking about Abrego Garcia. Is that the one? Yes.
Is an illegal alien MS-13 gang member and foreign terrorist. This comes out of the State Department and very legitimate sources.
I mean, I assume I'm reading. I'm just giving you what they handed to me. But this was supposed to be certified stuff.
In 2019, Garcia was issued a deportation order. Two separate judges affirm Garcia was a member of MS-13, which is a gang that may be even worse than
Tren de Aragua. It may be worse. They kill people with knives because it's more painful.
Very famous for the knifing and killing of two young 16-year-old girls walking to school one day. And they sliced them up into little pieces and
kill them. That's MS-13.
And two separate judges affirmed, affirmed, Garcia was a member of MS-13. When Garcia was originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls
of money pouring out and an MS-13 gang symbol that he was driving with two other known violent MS-13 gang members, two of the most violent members
that we know of in the MS-13 gang of thugs.
In 2022, Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, who was found to be transporting seven people from Texas to Maryland. And he had no
driver's license. He was driving violently.
In 2020 and 2021, Garcia's wife filed for a protective order from him and said he was violent and abusive and really scary, including allegations
that he punched and scratched her on the eye, left her bleeding after throwing her laptop on the floor at her, ripped her shirt, and ripped off
her shorts. He then grabbed her arm, leaving very severe marks.
Garcia's wife also wrote in court. At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I just don't want to be close. I have multiple photos and videos
how violent he can be and all of the bruises that he's left on me.
She just didn't want to -- couldn't get anywhere near her.
This is the man that the Democrats are wanting us to fly back from El Salvador to be a happily ensconced member of the USA family. Isn't it a
shame?
And by the way, I've been hit pretty hard by fake shows, fake news, MSDNC in particular, where they talk about how evil I am.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: All right. We just heard on a multiple number of topics there from the president, also doubling down on his characterization of Kilmar
Abrego Garcia, the man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, saying that he is, as the State Department has been saying, a member of MS-13,
though we don't have real tangible proof of that.
Also weighing in on the war in Ukraine in response to some of Secretary of State Rubio's comments, saying that the U.S. will pass or move on from
their role in mediating some sort of peace, if a resolution isn't agreed upon soon.
Let's go straight to Kevin Liptak joining us from the White House.
The president seems to be walking that narrow tight line and tight rope, Kevin, really going up to the edge on taking this battle with the judiciary
to unchartered territory.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And I think at this point, it has become clear that neither President Trump nor his
administration plan to do anything to try and get Abrego Garcia back to the United States, despite that judge's order that they facilitate his return
from El Salvador.
You know, we just saw the White House posting on social media a few hours ago, saying that he would never return to the United States. And so I think
it's becoming very explicit that they are heading for this clash with the judiciary.
And you hear President Trump there trying to make the argument that this is not someone who should have been in the United States, listing off all of
these alleged crimes that he may or may not have committed, skirting the issue of whether his deportation should have happened.
And his own administration and his own administration's lawyers have said that it was erroneous, that it was in air, that it was a mistake that it
shouldn't have happened. They have not sort of raised this possibility that they bring him back and deport him through the proper channels. And I think
you can really see them digging in there going forward.
It was also notable what he said about Ukraine, responding to what Rubio said. He was asked about a number of days until he and his words were going
to take a pass and he wasn't able to provide that specific number of days before the U.S. ends potentially of this mediating role to try and bring to
the work to the end. But clearly, he's very frustrated that this hasn't happened yet.
ASHER: All right. Kevin Liptak, live for us there. Thank you.
All right. That does it for us. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks so much for watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
END
