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Quest Means Business
White House Grapples With Whiplash Legal Rulings; Musk Leaves White House Amid Praise From Donald Trump; Wildfires Ravage Parts Of Manitoba And Saskatchewan; U.S. Beef Prices Rise As Demand Outpaces Supply; E.L.F. Beauty CEO Speaks To CNN About Tariffs, Prices; Paebbl Uses Carbon Capture To Make Sustainable Concrete; Women's Matches Again Excluded From Coveted Night Slots. Aired 4-5 pm ET
Aired May 30, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:15]
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: The closing bell is ringing on Wall Street and a quiet end to the week. As you can see, Dow Jones slightly in
the negative and a pretty tumultuous day really reflecting the uncertainty that we've seen around the tariff scenarios that are playing out.
Well, those are the markets and these are the main events.
President Trump said China has violated its trade agreements with the United States.
The Pfizer CEO on how new technologies are changing the fight against cancer.
And the director of the French Open response to criticism over putting only men's singles matches in primetime.
Live from Dubai. It is Friday, May the 30th. I'm Eleni Giokos, I am in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening and welcome to the show.
Tonight the U.S. President is celebrating the court decision that will keep his tariffs in place for now. A short time ago, he held a news conference
with Elon Musk as the Tesla CEO leaves his government role. Donald Trump told reporters it was a great moment when an appeals court on Thursday
paused another court order blocking those tariffs and warned of grave consequences if his ability to impose duties was taken away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have to be able to use tariffs to fight people that use tariffs on us. I mean, if we
didn't have that power of tariffs, we wouldn't -- we would economically be destroyed as a country because they will destroy us. Other countries will
destroy us with unchecked tariffs.
We can check them when we have the use. They tried to take that power away from us. And if you take that power away, we are not going to have a
country. We won't have an economically viable country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, earlier in the day, President Trump accused China of violating the terms of their economic agreement. More specifically, White
House officials tell CNN that China hasn't lifted restrictions on rare earth exports.
I want to break this down. We've got Jim Sciutto. He is in Washington for us. And, of course, you can see President Trump's social media posts really
lengthy, frankly, expressing his frustration at China.
We had this Oval Office briefing as well. Big focus on tariffs and basically big risk in terms of his policy with the courts. That seems to
now be on pause. So what's the sense, Jim, what are you hearing?
JIM SCIUTTO CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen. A few points. One is that among the various parties that the U.S. is
currently negotiating with, ranging from China to close U.S. allies, the E.U. et cetera., they perceive weakness, it seems, from this court ruling
here that there has been a reset, in effect, that Trump has less power to impose these sweeping tariffs than he perceived.
And that changes those negotiations, whether they say so or not, because the pressure changes, or at least that's their perception of the amount of
pressure that the U.S. can apply via tariffs.
With China, what's notable here is a couple of things. One, it seems that what has set Trump off with this Truth Social post is that China has not
yet lifted restrictions on rare earths exports from China to the U.S. Of course, many U.S. companies, particularly those, for instance, that need
batteries, say, for electric vehicles, magnets and other high tech products need those rare earths and Trump seems to have been set off by China not
lifting those restrictions and that was one of the sparks for that post today.
But bigger picture, China also seems to perceive that it can withstand more pain than the U.S. in an extended trade war. China will certainly suffer
economic pain and is going through its own economic troubles. But the perception is that China believes it could take more pain than the U.S.,
and therefore feels that it could dig in, dig in their heels a little bit on some of these issues, and perhaps wait out President Trump and wait out
further concessions from his side.
GIOKOS: Yes, and it is a really good point, because, frankly, China controls the majority of processing of rare earths on a global scale, and
it feels like it has leverage. There is so much undercurrent here. But, you know, it was meant to be a truce, a trade truce. Now it seems like we might
be going into some other confrontation.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Listen, the truce was just a truce because it didn't have a lasting agreement attached to it. Perhaps a pathway to an agreement. But
now trump is saying that China is not abiding by that pathway. So the question will be, does trump impose new penalties or pressure? Does he
attempt to raise tariffs back to that punitive, you know, level in the mid- hundreds a hundred and forty-five percent, all of these things are on the table.
[16:05:04]
And you and I, as we've watched this, Eleni, we have seen massive swings from President Trump. Tariffs go way up, then they come down. You have
short term pauses and sometimes those pauses are rescinded or they're extended. There is just so much uncertainty, and not just from China, but
from U.S. allies currently negotiating with the U.S., it makes it hard.
I was speaking to one of the European negotiators yesterday, it becomes hard to make a deal, right, because you don't know what the baselines are.
GIOKOS: And that's a really good point, and frankly, the markets don't like uncertainty. It spooks everybody and it is reflected in what we've been
seeing lately.
Jim Sciutto, so good to have you with us.
SCIUTTO: Yes. Thank you.
GIOKOS: Thanks so much for taking the time.
Well, it was a show of unity in the Oval Office a short time ago. Mr. Trump's sendoff for Elon Musk, the President presented him with a
ceremonial key and hinted that Musk could be back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And Elon is really not leaving. He is going to be back and forth. I think, I have a feeling. It is his baby, and I think he is going to be
doing a lot of things. But Elon's service to America has been without comparison in modern history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: And during his time as a Special Government Employee, Elon Musk oversaw major cuts to the federal workforce under his leadership at DOGE.
More than 120,000 federal workers were laid off or targeted for layoffs in President Trump's first 100 days, and thousands more took buyout offers.
Federal grants and programs have been slashed and then at times reinstated after court challenges. Hadas Gold is in New York for us and monitored the
Oval Office briefing very closely.
You know, we were going to be talking about the legacy of Elon Musk and the impact that he has had in the U.S. government, but it was really telling
when President Trump said, well, he is not really leaving. He is not really going anywhere.
And I wonder what the influence of Elon Musk is going to be in the medium to long term -- Hadas.
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, I definitely think that the relationship between the two will continue for President Donald Trump. This
is the richest man in the world. He owns a very powerful social media platform, and I don't think he wants to anger Elon Musk or alienate him.
And for Elon Musk, it is the same thing. He still wants the President -- to support President Donald Trump, support his agenda and also Elon Musk's
businesses -- he still have a lot of business with the federal government. He really wants deregulation of a lot of industries. He still has really
big contracts, especially with NASA and SpaceX, so he doesn't want to ruin the relationship there.
And Elon Musk himself said that he expects to continue to provide advice when the President would like it, and expects to remain a friend and
advisor, and he is adamant this is not the end of DOGE. He likened DOGE to Buddhism and said Buddhism continued even stronger without the Buddha. He
said that in other interviews as well.
But it is very clear that Elon Musk is shifting, and, you know, this big ceremony today in the Oval Office, and he has been very public saying that
he is now going to be full force back at his companies who need him, to be quite honest.
I mean, we've seen what's happened to Tesla shares and Tesla sales and Tesla's I mean, brand reputation has taken a huge hit. An AXIOS/Harris poll
from just the other week in May showed that Tesla and SpaceX, his brand reputation has just cratered over the past year.
SpaceX didn't have the best launch this week. You know, it accomplished some things, but they're on a tight deadline with what NASA wants them to
do to help get astronauts back to the moon and X, even the social media platform had a big data center outage this week.
So Elon Musk is saying he is back 24/7 at his companies, and that is music to the ears of the Tesla shareholders. I saw a note from Dan Ives at
Wedbush who is saying, you know, while Trump mentioned that Musk may be back and forth, they believe that Musk's days in politics is essentially
over, an experiment that clearly morphed into brand damage, he says, for Tesla and took on a life of its own, essentially saying Elon Musk got
burned by his foreign politics.
And Musk himself has said that maybe he spent too much time in politics. So it is a big question about whether Elon Musk is completely turned off from
politics, or whether we will see him start wading his way back in, even though what he said that he is going to take a step back.
GIOKOS: Exactly. I mean, he was saying, this is not the end. You know, we will still kind of, you know, talk and engage.
But, you know, the optics are really fascinating because I think that from the moment that Elon Musk was involved in government, everyone was
questioning how long it would last and whether you can have such big egos working together in one room.
We also know that Elon Musk was very critical of the big, beautiful bill in terms of the tax cuts and the spending.
GOLD: Yes.
GIOKOS: But that was totally different in this Oval Office. You had a totally different energy.
GOLD: Yes, I mean, there was a lot of predictions in the early days. It is like, how long can you have these two egos working together and being nice
with one another? Walter Isaacson, who, you know, profiled Elon Musk in that big biography, said that one of the big frustrations this week, he
said this week on CNBC, one of the big frustrations for Elon Musk is that he doesn't own the federal government. He can't control it like one of his
companies.
But I think both of these figures, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, are very smart, and they understand that they need one another. This is a sort of
simpatico relationship where I can help you, you can help me, and it is not in any of their interest to burn each other right now.
[16:10:13]
But you are hearing Elon Musk draw some lines in the sand on how he disagrees with some of the Trump administration's policies, and he said in
an interview with CBS News, you know, he is kind of in a hard place because he doesn't agree with everything the Trump administration does, but he
doesn't necessarily want to come out so hard against them.
One thing we are hearing from him, though very clearly, is a criticism in this Republican domestic policy spending bill, and the fact that it removes
these tax credits not only for electric vehicles, but also tax credits on battery storage and solar technology, those are both very important,
obviously, aspects to Tesla's businesses, and he has been reposting criticism of this and kind of veiled criticism on the fact that the
subsidies for oil and gas still remained in this bill, while things that he really cares about, like solar and electric energy, those were cut out.
GIOKOS: Yes, one thing that Elon Musk was saying is that, you know, he still believes that DOGE and the Trump administration can cut trillions of
dollars off the budgets. And interestingly, President Trump was going sort of through a stock take of what had been achieved through DOGE. What do you
think the monetary and the sort of quantitative impacts of Elon Musk will be?
GOLD: You know, obviously they've made quite a bit of cuts. I mean, an entire agency with thousands of jobs essentially disappeared. USAID is now
gone. And what was interesting is to hear them go from saying that they were going to cut $1 trillion, to now talking more about how they're
changing the sort of attitude of Washington, and they're changing how Washington will work.
And Elon Musk, in some of his interviews, was even saying, focusing more on how they're just sort of updating the technology of the federal government,
focusing on more of the computer elements of it. This is a much different sort of tone than what they took at the beginning of this administration.
And I think it shows that Elon Musk learned that it is a lot harder to bend Washington to your will, as it is when you own the company like he does.
GIOKOS: Yes, Hadas Gold, good to have you with us. Thanks so much.
Well, Musk has been taking jabs at some of the President's agenda as he exits. Speaking to CBS in an interview on Sunday, the billionaire took aim
at Mr. Trump's so-called big beautiful bill, saying it would undermine the work he had done with DOGE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELON MUSK, CEO, TESLA: I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly which increases the budget deficit, not to decrease it and
undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.
I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it can be both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: All right, Gillian Tett is a columnist and editorial board member at "The Financial Times," and she joins us now live.
Great to see you, Gillian. You obviously were watching that Oval Office briefing -- I think we've lost Gillian. Oh, we've lost Gillian,
unfortunately, we are going to try and get her back online. A lot to get through today.
All right, we are going to a short break. Two provinces in Canada have declared a State of Emergency. We will be bringing you that update in just
a bit. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:1 5:55]
GIOKOS: Wildfires in Western Canada have forced thousands of people to evacuate from their homes. Two provinces have declared states of emergency
as many of the fires burn out of control, and they've created a smoke plume that's covering an area twice the size of the U.S. state of Texas.
The smoke could affect air quality in parts of the Northern U.S. this weekend.
Paula Newton is in Ottawa for us.
And Paula, we are seeing these images, dry weather, unpredictable winds. It just means it is very difficult to contain these active fires.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and that seems to be the problem here, Eleni.
The updates that we've had in the last hour are not good, mainly because, as you point out, the gusty winds, the hot temperatures and lack of rain
really doing firefighters, absolutely no favors here.
Listen, local officials are describing the situation as grave. They are also saying that this is going to get worse in the next few days before it
gets better.
At this hour, there are still quite a few hundreds of people across the western regions that are waiting for evacuation. They have evacuated more
than 15,000 people already. But right now, those evacuations still ongoing.
And as you mentioned, the fact that the Midwestern United States now really looking at air quality reports through the weekend that are not good from
all of this smoke that includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan, it could go beyond that.
Eleni, I just want to point out that this is the beginning of the wildfire season in Canada. And again, another record breaking year. It is only the
end of May. They have shattered records already in some western regions for heat and for wind, and for lack of rain and that really spells quite a
challenge for firefighters and for federal officials and also local officials trying to contain these fires.
There are upwards of two dozen fires already out of control in those areas. They are getting help from the military and also a bit of help from the
United States, but this unfortunately foretells quite a season to come. There was a lack of snowfall and this will make it very difficult for a lot
of communities, many isolated, many people stranded, wondering what can keep them safe and how long once they are safe, how long they are going to
be away from their communities.
There is one community, Flin Flon, Manitoba right now that is in danger. They had favorable winds there and now again the wind gusts changed and
that community seems to be in danger. Thankfully, everyone except for the firefighters on the ground are out of that community, a community of 5,000.
But again, really difficult and challenging conditions ahead here in Canada.
GIOKOS: Yes, a herculean task for firefighters and of course, authorities on the ground to try and contain this. I mean, really scary pictures there.
Paula Newton, thanks so much for that update.
All right, I want to return to one of our top stories, Elon Musk making his departure from the White House.
Gillian Tett is a columnist and editorial board member at "The Financial Times," and she is back with us.
Gillian, great to have you with us.
I am certain you were watching that briefing in the Oval Office and, you know, really interesting. We've been discussing the optics of a unified
front between Elon Musk and President Trump, basically looking at what they've achieved through DOGE. How are you characterizing what you heard
today?
GILLIAN TETT, EDITORIAL BOARD CHAIR AND US EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "THE FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, what's become very clear is there is no magic wand to fix the
government debt and the deficit. Elon Musk came in very much in a blur of distraction and drama and took away a lot of attention from the really
messy details about the American debt, and the trouble now is that the Republican administration is going to be faced with the fact that the debt
keeps rising, there is no more distraction through DOGE right now, and I suspect increasingly hard questions are going to be asked about just how
sustainable the trajectory is that the America now finds itself on.
GIOKOS: Yes, I mean, and frankly, the briefing also included a lot of information about tariffs. What we are seeing, the relationship with China
that President Trump wants to get on a call with President Xi, as this confrontation seems to now be changing trajectory.
[16:20:01]
There is a lot that went on there, and it was almost as if, you know, it was a stock take of where the U.S. economy is right now, because he started
off the briefing with the fact that the U.S. trade deficit has now dropped once again showing -- and he is saying, well, listen, the tariffs scenario
has worked.
TETT: Yes, I mean basically the trade deficit has dropped as the White House is pointing out. And yes, inflation has come down a bit and earnings
have gone up a bit. However, if you look at other measures like industrial production, you're seeing really signs of softening spreading across the
U.S. economy right now, and what you're seeing is this incredible dance going on in that these threats, confrontation, essentially trying to bully
their way across the markets and the rest of the world.
And then when you get a country like China that stands up to America, or you get signs that the market is starting to really seriously wobble on the
back of potentially weakening growth, then they pull back on the White House.
So they're doing this kind of dance and the question really is what is the hit to long term business and consumer confidence of all of this
uncertainty and chaos? Because the question you have to ask yourself right now is who would invest in a climate where no one quite knows what is going
to happen next? And yes, certainly Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to put together on a togetherness show, but as people know, there is a lot of
splits around the White House right now.
GIOKOS: Yes, absolutely, and we just don't know how much of that uncertainty is being priced in right now.
The big, beautiful bill, Elon Musk says it can either be big or it can be beautiful, but it cannot be both. And you recently wrote that there is a
ticking time bomb that is hidden within the bill and I want to be specific. It is Section 899 in this 100-page bill. What did you uncover?
TETT: Well, it is actually a thousand pages plus bill. And any bill that big is going to create all kinds of -- a thousand pages or more and any
bill that big is going to have some very nasty footnotes and details and ticking time bombs as I wrote.
One of them, and I should stress, that's just one of the bombs in the bill, there are others which we are going to be reporting on soon, one of them is
the fact that they are looking at essentially imposing what might be called revenge taxes against foreign jurisdictions they don't like. So they're
warning that if the White House decides that another country has got, "unfair taxes," which could be a digital service tax or any of the taxes,
the OECD has actually encouraged many countries to adopt, then the White House might decide to impose taxes in retaliation on investments that non-
Americans might make, be they companies or investment companies, or investors in general.
And that's potentially very destabilizing for capital markets, because so many other asset managers around the world have been buying American assets
like Treasury bonds, assuming that they were not going to be taxed inside America. If they suddenly have a tax imposed on them, the question is, how
will they respond? And once again, this whole measure is swathed in uncertainty because no one knows who might be captured in this net, what
level of tax they might face. All we know is it could be a negotiating ploy in Donald Trump's attempt to cut trade deals.
GIOKOS: Gillian Tett, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for your insights, and I hope you have a great weekend.
All right, drug giant, Pfizer today reporting new results for a drug for an aggressive form of colorectal cancer, showing it doubled survival time for
people on medicine in a clinical trial.
The company's CEO, Albert Bourla, sat down with CNN medical correspondent, Meg Tirrell to discuss the company's investment in cancer research and its
relationship with the Trump administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALBERT BOURLA, CEO, PFIZER: We invest where there is a real unmet medical need, and right now, cancer, it is probably the biggest scare of every
family, and it is the word that when you hear, you get petrified.
We have significant advancements in the way that we understand cancer and we can treat it. I believe that with these new technologies, cancer will
become in not long distant future, a chronic disease.
So people can live with their cancer as they live with diabetes, as they will live with their high cholesterol. They can live with their cancer for
many years, with very good quality of life and of course the end stage, it is cancer cures which we are not losing sight of it.
MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What technology do you think gives us the best chance at a cancer cure?
BOURLA: There are so many and probably will be combination of different technologies so that we can have maximum effect.
TIRRELL: I want to ask you also. There has been a partnership between the pharmaceutical industry and the federal government in many ways, and the
funding provided by NIH to academic research centers. That leads to new discoveries that then can get picked up by pharmaceutical companies and
biotech companies and carried along into testing and that's how we get new drugs.
[16:25:15]
Are you concerned about the 40 percent proposed budget cut to NIH in terms of the pipeline of new ideas that come to science and to create new
medicines?
BOURLA: Yes, I am concerned and I am concerned also because at the same time, other countries like China are advancing their funding into the
academia, into their national institutes. So if we break any link of this chain of this large ecosystem, that's not good for us. I am against it. And
we are in discussions with the administration about many, many, many things, that's not the only one.
And there are many things that we agree with them, and there are clearly things that we disagree.
TIRRELL: What are those?
BOURLA: The vaccines. We've discussed about the position of Secretary Kennedy and you know, some of the directives that they are issuing.
Clearly, we have very big gap and there is a very big disagreement.
And my approach is that, of course, we express our disagreement, but I don't want to exhaust our communication only on the things that we
disagree. Because when you speak with them, including Secretary Kennedy, I have found several topics that we are in surprisingly alignment together,
and we are working to address those things as we agree to disagree on the things that divide us.
TIRRELL: What are the things that you agree on?
BOURLA: They are speaking about fixing the pill penalty. This is an area that it is extremely important for science because when you have
exclusivity, only nine years for small molecules and 13 years for large molecules, then everybody will not do small molecules.
So I think the President ordered it and the Secretary agrees that that needs to be fixed.
TIRRELL: Does the administration's approach to vaccines change the way you think about investing in vaccines generally, and mRNA specifically?
BOURLA: We are taking some tactical moves. But, science is proven and science is very definite. Those things that they will do that will reduce
maybe vaccination rates will come back and bite us.
The diseases will start rocketing and that will not take long time. So which means that immediately they will have to reverse it, either them or
the new administration, and they will go back to what every country in the world is doing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: Coming up, President Trump's trade war is raising the stakes for the beef industry, which is already struggling with supply shortages and
rising prices.
The CEO of Omaha Steaks will join me right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:09]
GIOKOS: Hello, I'm Eleni Giokos and there's more Quest Means Business in a moment when we'll take a look at how President Trump's trade war will
impact the beef industry. The CEO of Omaha Steaks joins me live.
The European startup Paebbl uses carbon capture to make concrete. It says there's been a surge of American scientists applying for jobs. Before that,
the headlines this hour.
President Trump is crediting Elon Musk with making a colossal change in how the U.S. government is run. Mr. Trump praised the Tesla CEO during an Oval
Office farewell today. Musk says that over time, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, will deliver a trillion dollars' worth of
spending cuts to the federal government. Parts of Western Canada are under state of emergency due to hundreds of wildfires, most of which are burning
out of control.
About 17,000 people in the province of Manitoba are under evacuation orders. The premier says it's the largest evacuation the region has seen in
recent memory.
A former assistant to Sean "Diddy" Combs told a jury that she was young and naive when she worked for the music mogul. The woman is testifying under
the pseudonym Mia in his sex trafficking trial. She told the court she endured years of abuse because she felt trapped and needed a job. Combs has
pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering, conspiracy and sex trafficking.
President Trump has been voicing optimism on negotiations with U.S. trading partners, but it seems ordinary Americans don't share his confidence.
Consumer sentiment for the month of May remained near record lows. The mood largely tied to Mr. Trump's trade war. The Michigan survey did show a
slight uptick later in the month as the president announced a temporary pause on some tariffs on goods from China.
Tariffs are predicted to push up the price of food in the United States, and it comes at a difficult moment for the beef industry, which is already
dealing with price pressures as producers struggle to meet rising demand. Ground beef prices have risen more than 10% in the past year.
Nate Rempe is the CEO of Omaha Steaks. The century-old company says it's the largest direct-to-consumer marketer of premium beef in the U.S. And he
joins me now from Omaha, Nebraska. Great to have you with us, Nate.
There is so much concern about tariffs and what that's going to do to the experience for the consumer and the price increases and so forth. I want
you to break it down for us. How does that affect you? And are you sitting in a situation right now where you're going to have to pass on these costs
and these increases to the consumers?
NATE REMPE, CEO, OMAHA STEAKS: Hi, Eleni. Thanks for having me. You know, it's an interesting question. We are actually in the center of beef
country.
Now, the beef market is interesting. At the grocery store, you know, the average customer is eating, the average American is eating around 60 pounds
of beef a year, and 35 to 40 pounds of that is ground beef.
Now, most Americans think ground beef is all sourced from the USA, but in fact, 8 to 20% is imported. And even if it says a product of the USA, it
still likely contains imported beef. So, that's having an effect on price.
But being in beef country, Omaha Steaks sourcing all of its beef from the United States and being very vertically integrated, we've had good success
managing our costs and taking advantage of all of that localization we see in the business here.
[16:35:00]
GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean, it's really interesting that meat is back, especially with a younger generation. Everyone's looking for sort of the protein to
satisfy their protein needs. Tell me about the supply and demand scenario in the United States. And what are you anticipating, despite the fact that
we're going to see a cost increase?
REMPE: Yeah, I think supply and demand, I mean, basic economics is exactly what's causing most of the price pressure. We're going to see about 4
million head of cattle less come to market this year than in 2022. And that's because of the demand, likely, you know, heifer retention, which is
a terminology we use in the industry that really describes whether or not a female animal is going to be retained to produce more calves or it's going
to be harvested for product.
It's really been leaning to the harvesting side, which causes pressure on the herd and lowers those numbers. So, we're sort of on the back of that
now. We do see some light at the end of the tunnel, but what America is feeling at the grocery store is really that price pressure coming from
supply and demand.
GIOKOS: OK, so I've got -- I've got some steak with me. I bought it from home. It's from Australia, actually, because you don't export to the United
Arab Emirates where I am right now.
So, this is, you know, Australian meat. So -- and you guys are competing with that in some way, because a lot of this type of meat is important to
you, as you said, 80 to 20% in the U.S. is imported. Where are the opportunities, do you think? Are you thinking of exporting? Do you think
that with the tariffs and the trade confrontation that we're seeing, that it's going to give American grown beef a leg up?
REMPE: Well, what you have there, the Australian beef is very, very likely grass fed, grass finished. And what Omaha Steaks believe is that what
Americans want is really grass fed, grain finished, that rich, satiable taste that I think everybody thinks about when they have a steak.
And so grass-fed beef in America, about 85% of it comes from overseas, largely Australia, South America. And that's just not our jam. You know,
where we live is in that great, rich steak. We just don't think that that's -- that's really what America wants.
And so we're leaning in hard to American bred, American born, American harvested. And that -- that -- really that steak that has made Omaha Steaks
famous, that we first started selling more than 100 years ago, that filet mignon that is rich and delicious. That's what we're leaning into. And
that's our namesake. And that's who we are. And we think that's going to be a strong play for us long term.
GIOKOS: All right. I think I have to come visit you. It sounds good to have you with us.
REMPE: You're welcome to. You're welcome. Thank you, Eleni. Have a great day.
GIOKOS: All right. You too, Nate Rempe, there for us.
All right. Well, President Trump is accusing China of violating an agreement with the U.S. to dial back tariffs for 90 days. It's a cause for
concern for companies like E.l.f. Beauty, which makes about 75% of its products in China. The CEO of the cosmetics company spoke to CNN earlier
about its decision to raise prices by a dollar to offset Trump's tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARANG AMIN, CEO, E.L.F. BEAUTY: Our mission is to make the best of beauty accessible to every eye, lip and face. We're known for our prestige,
quality cosmetics and incredible prices. And we've always been very transparent with our community and we take a very long-term view.
So, what we did announce last week was to our entire community via social is we're facing a lot of cost pressures with the tariffs, a lot of
uncertainty. We're going to absorb most of those costs. We're going to take our prices up a dollar.
And for perspective, our average prices are about six dollars and 50 cents relative to legacy mass cosmetics brands close to 10 dollars and prestige
brands over 20 dollars. So, we have an incredible value, but we want to be transparent to our community that we do have to take some pricing as part
of our plan to mitigate this. And the overwhelming response is positive.
People love the transparency. They love the fact that we're only taking prices up a dollar. We're not taking up all the way to what the various
scenarios of tariffs can be. And again, we're taking a very long-term view and we have a very balanced plan. Pricing, supply chain optimization and
continued business diversification. The fastest growing part of our businesses are international business.
It was up 60% this past year and which is not subject to tariffs. So, I think like most companies, we're trying to navigate the uncertainty. And
the best you know how to do that is stay true to our mission and our values and -- and keep an eye on the world.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think everyone appreciates transparency, cosmetics and otherwise. A question that is an important one because it is
suggested by the president himself is why can't you -- I -- you either eat the tariff as the president suggests? Or can't you move your production in
large part to the United States, which the president suggests is a simple solution to the tariff problem? I mean, what would that mean for E.L.F.?
[16:40:07]
AMIN: Well, I would say we have a major competitive advantage in our supply chain. We spent 20 years honing what we believe is the best supply chain in
the world, in our space, where we have the best combination of quality, cost and speed. So, it's not as simple as just moving it.
Now, having said that, we have a rapidly growing global business and we have been optimizing that supply chain. So, we do have production in the
U.S., in Europe, in Thailand, other markets.
And we're going to continue to with our acquisition of road. We also now have production facilities in Italy and South Korea. But it's not as simple
as just moving something that you've worked 20 years, particularly with our team in China, our key strategic suppliers. No one has that same level of
quality and cost.
And so, we want to be thoughtful with how we do that optimization. It's not as simple as just switching factories overnight. It just doesn't work that
way. So that's, I think, the challenge a lot of businesses face, that we are continually optimizing. And it doesn't have anything to do with
tariffs. It has to do with having a great global supply chain that can service the global consumer demand that we see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: Well, this is just into CNN. PBS is suing Donald Trump and other administration officials over the president's efforts to cut funding for
the public broadcaster. The President signed an executive order earlier this month seeking to end its funding, calling the broadcaster biased.
PBS alleges the order violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. The broadcaster's radio counterpart, NPR,
filed a similar suit a few days ago.
Now, as the U.S. government cuts back on scientific research, some Americans are looking for opportunities elsewhere. I'll be speaking to the
co-founder of a clean concrete maker in Europe about how changes in the United States are affecting her business.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:45:12]
GIOKOS: Returning to one of our top stories, U.S. President Donald Trump thanked Elon Musk for his work at DOGE. As the billionaire wraps up his
work for the government, the Department of Government Efficiency made deep cuts to government spending. And that includes cancelling more than a
billion dollars in research grants at the National Science Foundation. That number comes from the foundation's own data.
A European company that works on carbon capture says more U.S. scientists are now reaching out for help. Paebbl makes sustainable concrete at its
factory in Rotterdam using atmospheric carbon.
Marta Sjogren is the co-founder and CEO of Paebbl and she joins me now from Spain. Really good to have you with us. I mean, what a story. You have
great scientific minds that are now applying for work in Europe and, you know, trying to exit, essentially. Tell me about the surge in applications.
MARTA SJOGREN, CO FOUNDER PAEBBL: Thank you for having me on the show. Yes, so we're -- we're seeing a lot more applications coming from the U.S. This
includes postdocs, professors and even former White House representatives working or White House researchers working on de-carbonization.
GIOKOS: That's incredible. You know, the United States, of course, has unraveled a lot of its institutions through DOGE, but importantly also has
now, you know, pulled out of the Paris Agreement. You're doing the exact opposite in Europe.
You're focusing on carbon capture, trying to create green concrete and so forth. I'm wondering what you're seeing in terms of trend and the
importance on focusing on the future, on the environmental side of things.
SJOGREN: Well, really this to us is about resilient industry. We need to become a lot more efficient when it comes to the use of energy and even
materials all around the world. The global supply chains are becoming increasingly more complex, and the environmental footprint on urbanization
around the world is costing us a lot more.
In Europe, we have the ETS, the European Trading System of CO2 Emissions, which is sort of a budget for how much CO2 we can emit per -- per annum.
And this is decreasing every year for obvious reasons. And we at Paebbl are trying to help create a more resilient industry by utilizing CO2 as an
input in concrete.
GIOKOS: Yeah, and I mean, concrete, as we know, and the cement industry is actually very carbon intensive. There's a huge impact on the environment.
Here you're taking CO2, you sequester carbon, you pump that into rock, you create the slurry, you're able to create the concrete. Would you be able to
scale this business in the United States? And is it something that you're looking to do?
SJOGREN: Absolutely. We're -- in terms of possibilities, we're absolutely able to scale the business anywhere around the world. Our technology is
agnostic of geography, can be scaled just about anywhere. The question is where the policies are tilted in the right direction and supportive of
industrial efforts such as ours that help build resilient industry.
Right now, Europe is at the forefront of this, and we believe that various other countries are moving forward. Currently, however, we don't have
visibility on how the U.S. is moving in this direction. It seems like it's pulling back, which is, of course, unfortunate for the world as a whole.
And we hope to be able to expand to the U.S. also sometime in the future when things are more stable.
GIOKOS: And you're saying the regulatory environment needs to be aligned with what you do.
SJOGREN: That is correct. We need to make sure that we have a stable regulatory environment in which we know that investing CapEx and building
real industry is supported by the governments in the countries where we're at. Right now, Europe is very committed to industrial decarbonization and a
more resilient future industry. And that's why our focus right now is on Europe.
Also, in terms of industrialization in the U.S., there is a lot more happening. But right now, politically, it's quite unstable, and therefore
we are limiting our efforts for the time being.
GIOKOS: So, in terms of diminishing the carbon footprint through your efforts, the numbers make sense. But is it going to be -- is it -- does it
cost more to create concrete using carbon capture versus the traditional methodology?
[16:50:00]
SJOGREN: Of course, today, this is one of the most mature, stable industries in -- in the world. It's a commodity that we're coming into.
Right now, our technology is more expensive.
However, we envisage that in as little as five years, three to five years, we might actually be competitive with other alternative cementitious
materials. And therefore, bring the overall CO2 footprint as well as the cost of concrete down. That's certainly the long-term ambition. We need to
get to scale, though, to be comparing apples with apples.
GIOKOS: Right. Marta Sjogren, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for that insight.
Well, top seeded Aryna Sabalenka advances to the fourth round of the French Open, and she's hoping to win the tournament for the first time. We'll get
you up to date on all the latest action right after the short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Turning to the French Open, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz is on the court right now in pursuit of the second straight Roland-Garros title. The
world's top female player, Aryna Sabalenka, won her match earlier in the day. Tournament organizers are facing questions over how these matches have
been scheduled. No woman has played the night match in Paris since 2023. It's a trend that's raising questions of inequality.
We've got Patrick Snell, who's in Atlanta, who's looking at the schedule. And why are women matches not being scheduled in the evening?
PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, that's the question we all want answering, isn't it? Because it's happening time and time again. And it is
-- it's good that it's front and center. It's good that this is getting attention. Because Ons Jabeur is one of the most high-profile women's
players in the world. Her voice definitely carries weight.
And she's been front and center once again on this occasion, criticizing tournament organizers this week in the French capital. Ons Jabeur is a two-
time quarterfinalist at Roland-Garros. She did lose, I will say, in the first round this year.
But her criticism is based on the French Open not featuring women's matches in the primetime night sessions with none per Reuters, and as you
mentioned, featured out there on the Turbo Two in just under two years. The last one, last occasion, was a fourth-round matchup between Sabalenka and
Sloane Stephens in June of 2023.
Now, Jabeur is a five-time WTA Tour winner, taking to social media Friday, saying in part, the game is not asking to be seen. It's already shining. No
one's denying the greatness in men's tennis, the fierce battles, the legacies, the magic under pressure. But honoring one side of the sport
shouldn't mean ignoring the other. The women's game has been writing its own legacy loudly, brilliantly, and for far too long without full
recognition.
[16:55:08]
Really powerful words there from Ons Jabeur on social media. So, important to hear then from tournament director, famed former French player Amelie
Mauresmo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMELIE MAURESMO, ROLAND-GARROS TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: For me, the message that I always said and I will repeat. As I said, the conditions did not
change from having one unique match in the evening. So, for me, the message is not changing and it has never been that the girls are not worthy to play
at night. It's never been this. We are talking about potential match length. And in this perspective, it is hard. It is hard to say that the two
sets can go really fast when the three sets, you have three sets minimum.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNELL: Amelie Mauresmo there. Now, these are the facts, though. The first six night sessions at this year's Roland-Garros have all been men's singles
matches. And another very high-profile player as well. Polish star Iga Swiatek. She's the three-time defending champion at Roland-Garros. Also
vocal in wanting equal treatment for women over scheduling.
And let's spin it forward a bit to Saturday. Men's top -- top star in the world, Novak Djokovic. He's got his next match. Here's another nighttime
session for the record. It's against Filip Misolic of Austria.
Playing at the same time, though, as thousands packing into the Parc des Princes. Literally, literally next door there because PSG, the team there,
are in the Champions League final against Inter Milan. So, thousands of fans will be who can't get to that game in Munich will be packing in to
watch their beloved team at the Parc des Princes. The viewing party, all the screens up there. They'll be hoping their team can go on to win the
European Cup, as it was now the Champions League for the first time.
So, you've got Djokovic in action potentially as that huge match is going on. But once again, it's a hot topic of debate. We do get this topic, I
will say, over the last few years. It keeps rearing its very important head. But something has to be done about it, clearly. No question. I'll
send it back to you.
GIOKOS: Absolutely. So, here's your money on PSG, Inter Milan.
SNELL: Oh, now you've got me. I'm going for --
(CROSSTALK)
GIOKOS: -- ask you that.
SNELL: -- as my beloved Man United is not featuring in the final. We weren't even in the tournament this season. I'm going to go for PSG to win
it for the first time. I think they've got it. They've got a wonderful team, Nucleus, there. We'll see.
GIOKOS: So, I've got to go, Patrick. I'm getting shouted at.
SNELL: Thank you so much.
GIOKOS: I'm overtime.
SNELL: Bye, Eleni.
GIOKOS: Patrick Snell. That is it for Quest Means Business. I'm Eleni Giokos. Have a great weekend. The LEAD with Jake Tapper is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
