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Quest Means Business

Investigation Into Deadly Collision Intensifying; Sources: FBI Agents Who Worked On January 6 And Trump Investigations Expected To Be Fired; White House: President Trump To Enact 25 Percent Tariffs On Canada And Mexico, 10 Percent On China On Saturday; Trump Signs New Executive Orders; City Of London Marks Five Years Since Brexit; Lord Mayor Of London Aims To "Unleash Growth". Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 31, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:05]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Dow is off very sharply. The closing bell being

rung by Armand Hammer, Church & Dwight. They make cleaning products. Look at their different hats, different types of hammer. Here we go.

As the trading comes to a close. Come along, sir, do the business. One, two, three. Oh, they had their own hammer for their own day and for good

reason. Just look at the way the market fell so sharply. I will explain what happened there and why we are down there because those are the markets

and it is all related to the main headlines of the day. We will tell you about it.

Also will tell you, US investigators set to brief us over the next couple of hours on the latest information about the plane crash in Washington, DC.

The White House says tariffs are coming, that's the way the market is down, Mexico, Canada and China all in the first round.

And political shockwaves in Germany. A Conservative leader breaks a long held taboo and cooperates with the far right.

Tonight, live in London on Friday, January the 31st, last day. I am Richard Quest and I mean business.

Good evening.

We begin today with the grim news that officials say 41 bodies have now been recovered from the plane crash that happened a couple of days ago. As

crews resumed their recovery efforts in the Potomac River, all 67 people on board the two aircraft are believed to be dead.

Investigators have been making progress. The flight data recorder and the voice recorders, the so-called black boxes, they have been recovered from

the jet. And bearing in mind that the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, their headquarters, where the labs are and where the boxes

are being taken, is just a mile or two away from the scene that you're looking at on your screen now.

Danny Freeman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Surveillance video obtained by CNN showing the final moments before the two aircraft collide, the type

of evidence investigators are sure to examine carefully as they work to determine what happened.

J. TODD INMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD MEMBER: We take everything serious, every potential scenario, so it is helpful as we see

all of these different new pieces of evidence, whether it be eyewitness or video in this case, those things help give us a lot more details.

FREEMAN (voice over): In the video, we can see the Black Hawk helicopter flying seemingly as normal, straight into the descending passenger jet.

Neither aircraft appeared to try to avoid the other, a sign they may not have seen each other until it was too late, this despite the helicopter

pilots confirming to air traffic controllers it saw the plane seconds before the crash.

INMAN: Right now, it is too early to speculate on what exactly occurred, but you've got a lot of different moving parts, so we are in the early

stages.

FREEMAN (voice over): Now, the altitude of the Black Hawk helicopter is coming under increased scrutiny. Flight tracking data from the company

FlightRadar24 appeared to show the helicopter was flying a hundred feet above the maximum allowed altitude and veering off the prescribed route

along the east side of the Potomac River.

On Friday, CNN learned the Federal Aviation Administration will indefinitely shut down the low altitude helicopter corridor used by the

Black Hawk on Wednesday night.

Lawmakers are looking to see if permanent changes are needed around one of the busiest runways in the country.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): What the video shows is that they were flying at the same altitude at a moment when that shouldn't have happened. That

somewhere in the process of what is now established as these two routes, which I think will raise a lot of questions for lawmakers to discuss, how

are those two routes and even the level of separation that is expected, how could how -- how are we even doing that?

FREEMAN (voice over): Investigators now have their hands on the airliner's two black boxes, the devices crucial to understanding what may have

happened in the final moments of that flight.

Meanwhile, recovery efforts continued on the cold and rainy Potomac River Friday. DC officials determined to recover every victim under the water

whatever it takes.

JOHN CONNELLY, SR., WASHINGTON, DC FIRE AND EMS CHIEF: Yes, we expect to recover all of the bodies. That's why our teams are still working. We are

going to have to work with the salvage company to do some of that work.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: So that report there, and we will talk more about this in just a moment. But I need to give you the breaking news from Washington, DC.

Another example of President Trump's stated ambition for political retribution, and as he describes it, ending the so-called politicization of

the Justice Department.

At this hour, President Trump is signing orders to fire dozens of FBI agents and people who were involved and worked on the January the 6th

Capitol attack.

[16:05:10]

The president is known to have said many, many times, as indeed have people who are joining his administration, that the investigators and those

responsible within the investigation would be fired or reassigned.

Now, interim leaders have apparently spent the time drawing up lists of people who have earned disfavor with President Trump for their actions.

You'll remember, of course, there are a variety of other people that have also been removed from office who, in some shape or form, were involved in

the prosecutors, the FBI agents. We've had career prosecutors at the Justice Department and so forth.

Evan Perez is with me, our senior US justice correspondent.

I mean, he is doing what he said he was going to do, but these are lifelong -- these are career, as I understand it, and please feel free to tell me I

am wrong -- these are career civil servants, investigators, FBI long standings.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Richard. These are career agents and analysts, people who really don't have a choice on the

cases that they are assigned to do, and so that's one of the issues here and we are understanding that there are dozens of people who could be

affected by this. And by the end of today, Friday, we expect that they will be notified of their removal from their jobs.

Now, there are a number of people here who will be affected who were working on January 6th cases, people who were investigating the violence

that you just showed there on screen from the attack on the US Capitol back on January 6th, 2021.

And then there are also agents and analysts who are working on the investigation of Donald Trump and his alleged mishandling of classified

documents. And, of course, the search, the extraordinary search that happened a couple of years ago at his home in Mar-a-Lago.

So those are the people who really have been at the center of Donald Trump's ire, so to speak, and his focus, which he believes were acting

improperly. And as I pointed out, you know, these are agents and analysts who really didn't have a choice. It is not like they chose to do these

investigations. They were ordered to do them.

And in the case of the Mar-a-Lago search, obviously they were carrying out a search that was ordered by a judge, and so the agents, of course, have

the possibility that they could file a lawsuit against the government --

QUEST: Can I just jump in on --

PEREZ: Yes, yes. Go ahead.

QUEST: Yes, I just want to jump in because when we get the names and we get the people, do you believe it will be -- I mean, I know you've just sort of

answered that, but i want to just reaffirm it with you if I may.

PEREZ: Yes.

QUEST: These won't be the decision makers.

PEREZ: No.

QUEST: Or will they? Or -- I mean, isn't it blatantly unfair to basically fire people who damned if they do. I mean, if they said I am not doing the

investigation, they'd have been fired. And if they said Hobson's choice.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. That's actually the problem with this, as you pointed out. You know, the people who were decision makers, Merrick

Garland, some of the leadership, you know, they're gone, and so we will see what happens with them.

You know, Donald Trump has also promised retribution in some way for those people. There are also the career lawyers who -- this began, this purge

began with them last week. Within really minutes of the new leadership taking over at the Justice Department, they were sending e-mails to people

telling them that they were being reassigned, basically because they touched in any way these Trump cases.

QUEST: I have one more tricky one. As we see this retribution roll out, does it make the Biden's pardons more understandable, if not exactly

terribly acceptable, i.e. pardon all the January 6th Committee lot? Pardon his own family because as the former president said, you know, even if

you've done nothing wrong, it can ruin your reputation and most definitely destroy your finances.

PEREZ: Destroy your finances. Right. Imagine this. Right? You get fired or you get some kind of punishment, and then you file a lawsuit that costs a

lot of money to do, to fight the US government. And so that's what you're in for.

And so yes, I think that's what the argument is for those pardons, which was that if you didn't do that, then they would be certainly facing a lot

of problems with the current administration.

QUEST: Thank you, Evan, grateful for that.

PEREZ: Thank you.

QUEST: We will talk more about it. Thank you. Just to clarify, let me clarify to you, if I may, when I said he had signed something, we are not

sure, actually, he signed a document, per se. We just know that this is in process.

[16:10:09]

So if anybody is sort of expecting that right now, we don't think that has actually been happening. And if it has, we will certainly show it to you

later on.

I want to return to our other big story tonight, the midair collision in Washington, DC and the video that we showed you earlier. It shows that the

crash, but it shows it from a more advantageous angle, in a sense and I want to watch it. Just watch it. And it is troubling to watch, but it is

what we need to understand because the plane in this case was flying towards Reagan International Airport and the collision basically happened.

So let's just understand this a bit more. The core point to understand here is that in Washington, around this area, there has to be a ceiling feet, a

ceiling of 200 feet.

So this helicopter here should not be beyond 200 feet. The reality is actually, let me just redo that and make it a little bit more -- this

should not be more than 200 feet.

The reality is here, it is plus a hundred feet where it is supposed to be.

Now the significance of that is the helicopter is higher than where it is supposed to be. Remember, it is all designed like this. Planes coming in to

land, helicopter there. You would go like that. That's how it is supposed to work and has worked for years.

It doesn't matter what level, as long as you're at 200 feet, the flight path to Reagan takes you over any traffic. But if you are above, then of

course you can see exactly what happens and that is what has happened here.

It is the happenstance of seconds and dozens of feet. If one had been in just -- if that helicopter had been a bit further left, a bit further

right, but it wasn't.

David Soucie is a CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector.

This is a good example of an accident waiting to happen. Everybody knows 200 feet, plane would go over it on the flight path, but if there is any

error there, you end up with this.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes.

QUEST: With that in mind, David, is it -- I mean, what do you make of something as relative mistake -- relatively small having such a

catastrophic outcome?

SOUCIE: You know, Richard, I've given this so much thought and is that a person made a mistake? Is it that? Is it that? How could it be that? It has

gone on for years and years and years without this happening, so what happened?

We have to look at the system. What changed that was not there before? Was it the night vision goggles? You know, with night vision, you only see

about 70 degrees. You don't see all the way out. You can't see that and it is restricted up and down as well. Maybe that's what happened.

Maybe when the pilot didn't have the experience there, it was a training flight. They were looking out the air -- when they said, we have the

aircraft in sight. Clearly, they didn't have the right aircraft in sight. If they did, they wouldn't have run into it.

QUEST: Right.. Well, there was a plane. When you look at the wider shot, there is actually a departing aircraft to the right of it.

SOUCIE: Right.

QUEST: And looking at where the helicopter is, you would see -- that could have been the plane that they are referring to. But even if all that is

right, there are so many things, for example, an air traffic controller that may have been overworked or at least distracted, therefore didn't

notice and a collision avoidance system that might not have sounded loud enough.

The helicopter may not have had -- I mean -- there is a name for it and I can't think and you'll tell me what it is called. The Swiss Cheese theory

of holes.

SOUCIE: Yes, the Swiss Cheese model. That's right. And what that is, Richard, is it -- the idea that a Swiss Cheese has holes in it, and those

are supposed to indicate where safety failures can go through. So they have -- the more layers of Swiss Cheese that you have is less likely those holes

will line up.

So for an accident to happen, all of those holes in the Swiss Cheese have to line up just perfectly so that that one vulnerability goes all the way

through. In this case, I don't think it was one thing, Richard. I think it was a lot of different things.

I am not sure the Swiss Cheese model is a good example here, because there were so many things that happened. Think about this.

How that air traffic control system works: If you take a layered birthday cake and you turn it upside down, that's how air traffic is managed. You

get your section. That's where the helicopters operate; a little bit bigger one, that's where the commercial airplanes operate; a little bit bigger

one, that's where the airplanes might fly through to go to a different airport.

[16:15:09]

All of these different levels have different rules and operating requirements. And that's why when this helicopter drifted into that second

layer of the birthday cake, it didn't -- it wasn't equipped. It had UHF frequencies, not VHF. It had different things going on.

QUEST: And also, it is highly unusual, I mean, to have traffic crossing each other at these sort of altitudes. I mean, if you think of the average

airport, yes, and they have a couple of helicopter movements, but essentially the last three or four, well, the last 10 miles, there is

almost never anything going underneath you.

SOUCIE: Yes, and you and I, we've both flown out of that airport a lot of times at night. I am sure you have. When I was based with the FAA, I took

hundreds and hundreds of flights and sitting in the jump seat, watching pilots navigate how to get in and out of that airport and those last minute

changes to change over to three-three or whatever is going on. It is a lot of workload. There is a lot going on, and I think its a high risk

environment.

Now, that doesn't mean that it is unsafe. People need to understand the difference between risk and safety, if they don't -- the idea is you

identify a risk and you mitigate it, and that's what happens. It happens all the time at that airport.

In this case, the risk was an anomaly.

QUEST: I am grateful to you, sir. Thank you very much. Very much, thank you.

SOUCIE: Thank you, Richard.

QUEST: Now, let's take a look at the Dow Jones Industrials and let me show you how the events of the day have been reflected in the markets.

Bring up the Dow and you will see a sizable fall in the Dow. It happened at ten past one or thereabouts. Why? I hear you ask.

Very simple. Just at that time, the White House said President Trump will adopt tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China, tomorrow and the press

secretary confirmed the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I was just with the president in the Oval Office and I can confirm that tomorrow, the February

1st deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago, continues. The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25

percent tariff on Mexico, 25 percent tariff on Canada, and a 10 percent tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed

to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans.

These are promises made and promises kept by the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, so we know that the Dow fell at just about that time. But if you look at the Dow 30, you will see that this is definitely tariff

related, because Chevron is the biggest loser, down 4.5 percent. That's about 50 or 60 points off the Dow.

That, of course, is the question of whether it is Canadian oil. We don't know whether Canadian oil is going to be tariffed yet, but that is that.

All of those companies, Caterpillar, 3M, Nike, major industrials, which will all be affected, P&G if there are general tariffs against Canada.

Interestingly, the tech stocks are perhaps not the ones least affected just at the moment because the China aspect is something different.

Jeff Zeleny is at the White House.

Jeff, help me understand. For a president that is so obsessed by markets, what's the thinking that he is happy to have tariffs? Market disruption? Is

it that there will be a bounce back upon recovery?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That is the central question, and you could about set your watch to it.

I was in the briefing room today when the press secretary was making those comments about the president's commitment to instill those tariffs

tomorrow. And you could just see in real time the market's reaction to that.

It is unclear because the president has long judged his economic success, his economic agenda with the stock market. Of course, there are vast

differences, but this is certainly going to be a challenge for him. But even as we stand here right now, the president is in the Oval Office

signing unrelated executive orders.

He was just asked about these tariffs, and we don't have the video of this yet, it will be fed in later, but we do know from reporters in the Oval

Office that the president insists this is not a negotiating tool. He was asked that directly. Is this a negotiating tool? He says, no, it is not. He

said, we've been treated very poorly by all three countries. Of course, Mexico, Canada and China.

But the question here is, now this is on his watch. Now, he would own this. And the tariffs of course, are passed back to consumers. Inflation already

has ticked up a bit. So not much explanation here about what the broader thinking here in this is.

And we know that the Treasury Secretary who was just in his -- finishing his first couple of days on the job here, this is something that he was

mentioning during his confirmation hearings, much lower tariffs, about two percent or so. So this is at odds with what he wants as well.

[16:20:16]

QUEST: Right. So the Commerce Secretary designate or nominee, Howard Lutnick, in his confirmation hearings, he said that the Canada-Mexico ones

were different in a sense than the others because they were not just predicated on trade, but there was this element of immigration and fentanyl

as well.

I sort of get the feeling they choose their argument depending on the audience that is most convenient.

ZELENY: I think your feeling is pretty right, Richard. You've been watching this for a long time. That is certainly what it seemed. And the question

is, I think we should just see what comes tomorrow, because we have already seen the president delay this once. We will see if he will delay it again.

There was a Reuters report earlier today suggesting there may be a month long delay. The White House said that is not the case. The president has

said it is not the case. So we must take them at their word that these tariffs will go into effect tomorrow.

But the fallout is already starting, so perhaps they are waiting for a market recovery on Monday, perhaps not. So we will have to follow this in

real time here. But we know that he is -- he takes great stock in the market and we can see what it is doing.

QUEST: I think you and I will be talking a great deal in the days, weeks and months ahead. Thank you, sir.

Jeff Zeleny, delighted.

Now, President Trump says oil tariffs will be introduced on the 18th of February. The Canadian Energy minister is with me after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Germany's Parliament has rejected a draft law on tightening immigration policy. It was a bill that was put forward by Friedrich Merz,

the leader of the opposition, CDU Conservatives, and it was done with the support of the far right, AFD Party and that was the controversial part,

because that's the first time that the CDU had sought support and received it from the AFD.

Now the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has weighed in. She issued a rare public criticism against Merz and her own party, because this was a

long held political taboo, working with the far right.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in the German Capital on how this is all shaping up.

[16:25:01]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a pretty big blow for German Conservative political hopeful, Friedrich Merz, as a

motion that he tabled in German Parliament seeking to severely restrict migration into this country was rejected by German Parliament after what

was a long and very controversial debate in the Bundestag.

Now Friedrich Merz made an impassioned plea for other parties to vote in favor of his motion, saying that in the end, all of these were common sense

measures that other parties could support.

FRIEDRICH MERZ, MEMBER OF THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG (through translator): Are you serious that in view of the fact that groups of parents are now coming

together all over Germany of children who have been victimized by asylum seekers of the most serious criminal offenses, are you serious that we

cannot make a decision on this today, in the center of the German Bundestag? You can't be serious.

PLEITGEN: In the end, however, that was not enough to convince especially Merz's political rivals in German Parliament, first and foremost, of

course, the Social Democrats around German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But of course, the Green Party, which is in a coalition with Scholz as well.

Now, on the face of it, the measures that were promoted by Merz don't appear to be very controversial and certainly are things that other

political parties have talked about in the past as well.

One of them is making it a goal of German migration policy to curb migration into Germany, rather than to manage migration, which is the

wording now. It also wants to give more authority to the German federal police to stop illegal border crossings into Germany, and it also wants to

make sure that asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected are not allowed to bring further family members into Germany as well.

All of this has become a big ticket issue here in this country after a string of attacks by mostly rejected asylum seekers, often leading to the

deaths of German citizens and the Green Party and the Social Democrats had said that they do want to tighten restrictions and allow fewer people into

the country, but the big issue for them was that votes from the right wing alternative for Germany, AFD, were necessary to push the measure through.

In fact, the Parliamentary Whip of the Social Democrats said that Merz was doing a deal with the devil.

ROLF MUTZENICH, CHAIRMAN, BUNDESTAG'S SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (through translator): It is not too late. This sin will forever be with you. But the

door to hell, yes, I am saying the door to hell, we can still close together. You must put the firewall up again. Put up the firewall again.

PLEITGEN: All of this, of course, is a big issue and a controversial issue here in the society as well, with polls indicating that a majority of

Germans do want tighter restrictions on migration into this country.

At the same time, though, there were also protests against these measures in front of the headquarters of the conservative party, the one party that

says it came out a winner in all of this is the Alternative for Germany, the right-wing party, which says that they were the ones who remained

strong in all of this.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: We've got a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS coming up in just a moment.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:22]

QUEST: Donald Trump's been speaking in the Oval Office. Let's listen to what he have to say.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And Mexico can do tonight to forestall your implementation of tariffs tomorrow.

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, not right now. No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not a negotiating tool?

TRUMP: No, it's not. No, it's a pure economic. We have big deficits with -- as you know, with all three of them. And in one case, they're sending

massive amounts of fentanyl, killing hundreds of thousands of people a year with the fentanyl. And in the other two cases, they're making it possible

for this poison to get in. Number one and number two, we have big deficits, and

it's something we're doing and we'll possibly very substantially increase it.

We're not -- we'll see how it is. But it's a lot of money coming to the United States. As you know, we have about a $200 billion deficit with a

candidate getting close to $200 billion. It's -- they've treated us very unfairly. And I say, why should we be subsidizing Canada? They, you know,

it's wonderful. I have so many friends in Canada. It's great place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there a concession they're looking for, sir?

TRUMP: No, we're not looking for a concession. And we'll just see what happens. We'll see what happens. So, with Mexico, it's the same thing. We

have a $2 percent0 billion deficit and we have a lot of people coming into the border and now we've largely stopped that, but we've stopped that

ourselves. I think they've done a fantastic job. You've seen the numbers have dropped almost zero.

But we've suffered under the past administration. For years and years, we've suffered with millions of criminals coming into our country,

criminals, people from jails, from all over the world. They come through Mexico, and they come through Canada too. A lot of them come through

Canada. And a lot of fentanyl comes through Canada. And China makes the fentanyl. You know, China makes the fentanyl, gives it to Mexico, puts it

through Canada, puts it through different places, mostly Mexico, but also a lot through Canada. And so, all three haven't treated us very well.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I ask you about your meeting with NVIDIA? What did you talk about and do you think you need to ban more of the chips that

they're selling to China?

TRUMP: Well, he's a great gentleman and I hadn't met him. He's the biggest in the world in terms of chips and I can't say what's going to happen with

it. We had a meeting. It was good meeting, but eventually we're going to put tariffs on chips. We're going to put tariffs on oil and gas. That'll

happen fairly soon. I think around the 18th of February and we're going to put a lot of tariffs on steel.

We already have tariffs on steel and we've saved our steel industry but that was relatively small compared to what it'll be, but we're going to be

putting tariffs on steel and aluminum and ultimately copper. Copper will take a little bit longer and that'll happen pretty quickly. It'll mean

it'll be a great boost for our steel industry. It'll make our steel industry very strong. If I didn't put the tariffs on years ago and steel,

which actually Biden left because there was so much money that they couldn't do anything about it.

I think we would have lost. We wouldn't have one steel mill in this country if I didn't do that. We saved the steel industry. So, it was an honor to do

it. And I think the people that love me most of the whole world, the people that make steel, but we're going to be putting sometime this month, next

month, we're going to be putting tariffs on steel and aluminum, and we'll give you an announcement as to what the exact date is. But it'll be a

tremendous amount of money for our country, tremendous amount.

[16:35:00]

These are big numbers, and in addition to that -- and you see the power of the tariff. I mean, the tariff is good and nobody can compete with us

because we have by far the biggest piggy bank. And so, that'll take place very quickly. But also, we'll be doing pharmaceuticals

to bring our industry back. We want to bring pharmaceuticals back to the country and the way you bring it back to the country is by putting up a

wall and the wall is a tariff wall.

We were the richest country in the world. We were at our riches from 1870 to 1913 and that's when we had -- we were a tariff country. And then they

went to an income tax concept and, you know, how did that work out? It's fine. I mean, it's OK but would have been very much better. So, we'll be

doing pharmaceuticals, importantly, and drugs, medicines, et cetera. All forms of medicine and pharmaceuticals.

And we'll be doing very importantly steel and we'll also be doing chips and things associated with chips.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, what do you plan on talking with the Japanese Prime Minister about next Friday, when you all meet?

TRUMP: Well, he's coming in, yes, next week. I don't know. He asked for a meeting and I -- and I have great respect for Japan. I like Japan. Prime

Minister Abe was a very close friend of mine. What happened to him was so sad, one of the saddest days. But they're coming in to speak to me and I

look forward to it.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, on the crash, do you have any concerns that your commentary about things you have described as common sense or

your observations could in any way interfere with a thorough investigation of the crash?

TRUMP: No, I think they'll do an investigation. It'll probably come out the way I said it. I like to put it up front. I'm so tired of listening to

things happen to our country and then people say, we'll do an investigation and three years later they come out with a report that nobody looks at,

especially, not in all cases can you do that, but in this case, you had a helicopter that was, the Black Hawk, was too high.

It was above the 200 limit by double. It shouldn't have been there. And there were some other mistakes made too and I pointed them out also and I

was right on all of it, but they'll still do an investigation just to check it out. But I think that's what your question --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As commander-in-chief, are you at all concerned about opining about the Army and the conduct of that aircraft when you are

commander-in-chief and these are the people who report to you?

TRUMP: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there's an investigation ongoing?

TRUMP: This was all caused by bad rules, regulations, and other things by Biden, the Biden administration.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What tells you that, sir?

TRUMP: And when you look at the way they ran things, in fact, if you look, we hired -- one of the first things I told them to do, I said, get talented

people in those -- in those beautiful towers overlooking runways. You better get them in there fast because we don't have people there that are

qualified. And you knew that because planes were landing very, very late. They were circling all over the place. We had people that didn't know what

the hell they were doing. And if you look --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, there are planes in the air everywhere --

TRUMP: Excuse me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And there are other air traffic. Pardon me, sir.

TRUMP: They -- we have to have the best people, the smartest people, the sharpest people as control tower experts. And that's what they have to be.

They have to be experts and they have to be very smart. And we didn't have our best. And if you read the quote that I read yesterday at the news

conference, it talked about people that were psychologically injured were OK, and people that had lots of problems were OK. I'd read it again if

you'd like me to, but I don't think I have to waste your time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that mean you're concerned though, sir, with planes in the air all around the country, people relying on that as safety?

Are you suggesting there's an ongoing risk?

TRUMP: No, I think there's very little risk, but I think that we have to make sure that this never happens again. Very, very little risk. And we're

taking actions that this can't happen again. The helicopter, as you know, was out of its zone. It shouldn't have been out of its zone. It was at the

same height as the airplane. Now, the airplane was coming down on its track. It was perfect. It was in perfect shape coming down and something

was in its way.

You can't let that happen and it won't be happening again. And this was all because of weak rules in the Biden administration and we're just not going

to let that kind of thing happen again. And again, I could wait and I could, you know, give a report in two years like they always do, and sometimes it's obvious. In this case, to me, it

was very obvious and I think I've been proven to be very correct. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what do you expect from your meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu next week?

TRUMP: I expect a lot of good things. From all meetings, I expect good things. Marco Rubio, as you know, is going to make a tour of various

countries in South America. He's going to be meeting in Panama where Panama's treated us very badly. They gave him, rather them rather foolishly

a thing called the Panama Canal.

QUEST: We're just going to pause there from the President -- from President Trump. We'll hear later what he did have to say.

[16:40:03]

But I want to focus at the moment on what the President was saying about tariffs, very substantial tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China. He talked about

a $200 billion trade deficit a year with Canada. He said, no oil and gas just yet, but oil and gas on February the 18th, along with steel and

aluminum and copper. With me is Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada's Energy and Natural Resources minister. The Minister joins me now. you were listening

there, sir.

There doesn't seem any way around this, he says -- the U.S. President says it's not a negotiating tool or tactic. So, Canada is going to be facing

tariffs pretty much as of tomorrow. What is the view from Ottawa?

JONATHAN WILKINSON, CANADA'S ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER: Well, obviously it is disappointing to hear the President say some of those

things, and we obviously are going to be following very closely what happens tomorrow. But it -- to be honest with, you, you know, makes very

little sense to folks like me as to why the President is targeting a country that with whom, you know, we are so integrated from an economic

perspective, for mutual benefit that we can actually do so much more together in terms of countering the threat that is posed by China and

Russia.

And, you know, countries that historically have been very much best friends. I find it very, very strange, but certainly, you know, Canada as a

sovereign nation, if, in fact, there is an aggressive action, which this would be an aggressive action against Canada and Canadians. The Canadian

government would have to respond. Canadians would expect the Canadian government to respond and to try to target goods that are exported from the

United States to Canada.

We don't want to be here. I mean, at the end of the day, I'd rather be having a conversation about how we actually strengthen the work that we're

doing together, not going down this kind of tit for tat. Lose, lose proposition.

QUEST: So, so you are ready? I mean, I'm not asking you to forecast yet, by percent:00 tomorrow if this comes up, but I'm just sort of getting more of

a general approach, Minister. The government is ready to respond and retaliate if required.

WILKINSON: We are ready to respond if that is required. I think Canadians would expect no less, and to be honest if Americans were being targeted in

this way by another country, I think Americans would expect their government to respond in the same way. But, you know, as I've been saying,

when I'm in Washington and I will be there again next week, there are so many things that we can do together to help, to address some of the things

the President campaigned on.

But in a manner that will be beneficial for both countries, including in areas like critical minerals where the option for the United States is

China and Canada can do so much more in terms of supplying the needs for defense, for semiconductors, batteries, and a range of other things. So, I

would much rather turn this into a positive conversation. Having this fight between countries that have been historic allies just seems a very odd

thing for me.

QUEST: In terms of the resources, it looks as though you might be safe for a moment in terms of oil -- on oil and gas, although I wouldn't necessarily

put any money on it, if you know what I mean, since there is a date that's been put forward of the 18th of February. It's almost impossible for -- I

mean, people are sort of saying, there's never a good time to have this. But the political situation in Canada is spectacularly difficult.

In the same way, by the way, in Europe where tariffs may come, Germany is having an election. You're having an election later this year. You've got a

change of Prime Minister and leadership coming up. How do you navigate that and remain focused whilst domestic politics is so significant too?

WILKINSON: Well, the government is the government. It is stable. You know, we are going through a leadership race, but the Prime Minister remains the

Prime Minister until that race is over. Some of us have been in these positions for a long time. I've been the Energy and Resources Minister

almost for four years. I am pretty familiar with the portfolio and what Canada can offer to the United States and others around the world.

I think, you know, Canadians are looking to the government to continue to represent their interests, and when the new prime minister is in place in

March, they will do the same thing.

QUEST: If you look at other new markets for you, particularly resource related. And, you know, the whole business of the question of the free

trade deal with the -- with the U.K. and this deal with that person, that deal. Obviously, Canada is having to think about how to grow other markets.

I mean, just because you don't want to be at the whim of this, do you?

[16:45:06]

WILKINSON: Well, certainly. And that conversation -- I mean, diversification is always a conversation that people in Canada and in other

countries talk about. We do have trading relationships with a range of other countries but given the totally unexpected behavior of the United

States right now, that has really accelerated. And so, some of the work we've been doing to build liquid natural gas facilities, for example, will

enable us to export natural gas without flowing through the United States.

We just finished the trans mountain pipeline, which will allow us to actually flow oil to other countries. We will certainly have to look at

whether we need to expand that kind of capacity to be able to ensure that if, in fact, the United States decides that it no longer wants to be the

primary market for Canada. And in terms of critical minerals. I mean, there are many countries around the world that would like to have access to

Canada's critical minerals.

We have worked preferentially with the United States, including with the Defense Department for the past while. But if the United States has decided

that it wants to buy its critical minerals from China, you know, it's free to do so, but we will find markets for those kinds of things. I would also

say, you know, people should just understand. Americans should understand that the effect of tariffs on Canada is actually going to just mean higher

prices in the United States.

That will be true of cars, where parts go back and forth across the border six or seven times before you have a finished vehicle. It will be true of

food, because most of the potash comes from the fertilizer comes from Canada. It will be true of energy going forward, if, in fact, there's a

tariff applied later in February where you'll see higher prices at the pumps. So, it's bad news for American consumers. It's bad news for Canada

but it's also bad news for the United States.

QUEST: And I'm grateful to you, Minister. Putting you on the spot like that with the President, obviously, just having spoken. But you're a politician

and that's what -- I guess that comes with the territory as well. So along with tariffs. Minister, thank you. You're going to have a -- you're going

to have a busy weekend ahead of you. Thank you, sir. I'm grateful.

QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS and there we go. You have the President speaking. You hear the relevant Minister responding. Where else can you see

all of this? As we continue tonight, you and I, five years ago, many in London were worried when the U.K. left the E.U. The new Lord Mayor is going

to meet to tell me how he wants to unleash growth, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: It's five years to the day since the U.K. left the European Union.

[16:50:02]

And arguably, nowhere has felt the impact of Brexit. Excuse me. Quite like London's financial center. The city. It's home to the institutions like the

Bank of England and the stock exchange, and even though many banks have moved out to Canary Wharf and elsewhere, it's still the beating heart of

the financial industry. And so, leaders have been dealing with fewer jobs big corporations, IPOs, elsewhere.

The new Lord Mayor wants to ease financial rules to make it more competitive against the E.U. The Lord Mayor Alastair King. He took over the

800-year-old office in November. The 696th Lord Mayor of London welcomed with his traditional parade, traveled in a state -- in a stagecoach that dates back centuries, and carried a 600-year-

old scepter. It was a gift from Henry V to the City of London.

The Lord Mayor joins me now. I'll just say this. By the way, the -- it's not the mayor of London. It is the Lord Mayor of the square mile. But it's

crucial. It's important because it's the financial industry.

ALASTAIR KING, LORD MAYOR, CITY OF LONDON: That's correct. I'm become -- I become the Global Ambassador for the United Kingdom's financial,

professional, legal and Maritime Services.

QUEST: So, post-Brexit is talk of the city's death exaggerated?

KING: Hugely exaggerated. The time of the Brexit referendum, we had percent2 percent,000 people working in the square mile in the financial

district. We're now at the most recent count up to 678,000. So, there's been a significant increase.

QUEST: The IPO market in London, which you're not responsible for, obviously. But that has really suffered quite badly as well elsewhere.

KING: Elsewhere. And I think if you look at the comparative analysis between London and New York, actually, New York has lost more as a

percentage of de-equitization compared to London. But it's still -- it's a global phenomenon.

QUEST: So, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, talks about growth, talks about increasing the attractiveness and arguably looking to a new deal of some

sort with the E.U. Do you favor that?

KING: I think we like the idea of trade integration. I mean, I think it's a good thing in collaboration with our European partners. But we like

collaboration with the global centers around the world. There are some incredible economies over in the Far East and Middle East that we need to

be so growing with as well.

QUEST: Getting a trade deal with the United States will not be easy with the new president, but it could arguably be as a counterpoint. I mean, I

know you're going to tell me it's not a zero-sum game, but you may end up playing -- London may end up playing against the E.U. in favor of the U.S.

KING: But I think that some of the activities going on in America at the moment may actually play to London's advantage, in the sense that if there

-- if American industries are going to pull back from some of the green aspirations, that gives us an enormous opportunity here in London to take

on some of the -- some of those opportunities. So, I mean, as you say, it's not actually a zero-sum game. Certainly, under first Trump administration,

the City of London did very well.

QUEST: Does the U.K. -- I'm thinking about the comments over the weekend -- during the week from a senior formatorium piece, I'm going to say, you

know, the work ethic. The work ethic is lacking. People need to get -- reminded me of on your bike, of Norman Tebbit. But does Britain need to

become more competitive? Does it have a competitive issue that it needs to say, adopt much of say, for example, the Draghi report?

KING: I think that the financial and professional services industry in London and also around the country, is an extremely impressive organization

-- set of organizations. We do have some competitiveness issues but goodness me, it's -- we're still world leaders in relation insurance,

foreign exchange, legal services. We're absolutely top of our game in that respect.

QUEST: So, as banks decide -- the big fear was that lots of people would move their trading desks and there was an element of that. Amsterdam and

Frankfurt and so. But do you think that they've discovered actually the sheer heft, certainly on forex, arguably Euro bond, arguably, Euro clearing

has to be done over there -- because the Europeans simply don't want London to have it.

KING: My -- I have my own businesses. I mean, we are not doing the mail team beforehand, hopefully afterwards. And I'm -- have my own fund

management business and, you know, London is still the center of the markets where I'm -- well, my team are trading. So, yes, London still has

an enormous advantage in that respect.

QUEST: My Lord Mayor, I'm grateful to see you, sir. I need to come and visit in your parlor. Do you have a parlor?

KING: I do have a parlor and I would love to see you there.

QUEST: We need to do QUEST MEANS BUSINESS from the Mayor's parlor. There you go. Nothing like inviting yourself. I've invited myself.

KING: We'd be delighted to have you.

QUEST: My Lord Mayor, I'm grateful to you. Thank you.

KING: Thank you, Richard.

QUEST: I need to show you how the major indices closed towards the end of the day. The Dow was off 300 and nearly 40 points. The S&P shed. And

interestingly, it was the Dow that was off the most, unusual, but not really in a tariff environment.

[16:55:08]

Why? Because all the big Dow components stand to suffer. Chevron, Nike to end the whole lot of them. We'll take a profitable moment after the break.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment. Tariffs, they are coming. We now know that over the weekend, probably tomorrow, 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and

Canada and possibly oil and gas tariffs by middle of February. This is now the new reality that we are facing, and we were pleased tonight to be able

to bring you the Canadian Minister immediately afterwards. I cannot tell you how this is going to play out.

The President says it's not just a negotiating strategy. Most people who speak to say, ah, it's just a negotiation. It doesn't matter if the tariff

comes in and there's a tit for tat, then the damage is done, and the process has begun. I will tell you this. I've been covering business for

the best part of 40 odd years, and I've never seen tariffs used like this before. And in fact, the very idea of tariffs, which was always thought of

as a necessary evil in specific circumstances, never on a broad scale.

We simply don't know how this is going to play out, but I do know one thing. I'll be with you on Monday to talk through it all, because that's

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, oh, it's profitable. I'm back in New York

on Monday.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: This hour, thousands of Costco workers are set to go on strike in just hours if a deal is not made between the company and

their union. What are they asking for? What is Costco saying in response? How could it all impact you? Plus, the White House confirming this

afternoon that the U.S. is set to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico tomorrow, both countries say they are prepared to quickly respond.

Is this going to turn into an all-out trade war? And if so, how will that affect you? And leading this hour, we're expecting an update from

investigators in just minutes on the horrific, deadly collision between a passenger plane and a helicopter over the Potomac River right near Reagan

National Airport. Recovery crews are continuing to search for victims in the dark, murky, icy water of the Potomac today.

But the weather is complicating those efforts. Officials this afternoon said efforts to remove the pieces of the plane from the water should start

no later than tomorrow. CNN's Pete Muntean has all of the latest details.

[17:00:03]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is the best view yet of the worst aviation disaster in decades.

END