Return to Transcripts main page
Quest Means Business
U.S. Markets Fall As Trump Threatens New Tariffs On China; 19 Dead Or Missing After Blast At Tennessee Explosive Plant; Thousands In Gaza Head North As Ceasefire Begins; Shutdown Enters 10th Day, Endangering National Parks; France's Emmanuel Macron Reappoints Sebastien Lecornu As Prime Minister; NBA Returns To China For First Time Since 2019. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 10, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:16]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Well, there is applause there. But boy, it was a brutal day across the markets. The DOW and S&P, both down sharply. The
NASDAQ lost more than three percent. Behind those losses, one of today's main events. President Trump threatens a "massive increase" in tariffs on
China after Beijing restricted the export once again, of rare earths.
Thousands of Palestinians began moving towards Gaza City after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from some areas in Gaza.
And the NBA is returning to China, ending a six-year hiatus sparked by a single tweet.
Live from Washington, D.C., it is Friday, October 10th. I am Jim Sciutto, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening to you.
A really rough day for U.S. markets as President Trump threatens new tariffs on China. The truce seems to be over.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, the President criticized Chinese president, President Xi over his country's efforts to control the export of
rare earth minerals. Trump suggested there would be no reason to meet with his Chinese counterpart, as he was scheduled to do in a couple of weeks,
and he is threatening retaliation -- significant retaliation. The Dow dropped heavily as soon as that post went public. It is now closed down
almost 900 points.
The U.S. President's threats came a day after China dramatically expanded its controls over rare earth exports. The rules put out by the Chinese
Commerce Ministry targeted the supply chain for military equipment and semiconductors. China produces, remember, more than 90 percent of the
world's processed rare earths, and it looks like Beijing wants more leverage in its ongoing trade talks with Washington, and on rare earths, he
has a lot of leverage.
Anna Cooban joins me now from London.
I mean, this has been a pressure point that China has been able to apply, applied earlier in the year. It is applying it again. Do we know why now?
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: Well, Jim, some people are speculating that China is sort of tightening the screws on this really
valuable export as a ploy for them to have leverage in trade talks with the U.S.
We saw Trump there threaten to nix a meeting with President Xi Jinping that was scheduled to be held later this month. Others are saying that this is
just simply another act of retaliation from China. We saw last month the U.S. add more Chinese companies to a list of U.S. export controls, and this
was just something to be expected.
But Jim, to give you a sense of why Trump is so incandescent at these export controls, we have to understand why these rare earths are so
important. They are these materials found in everyday products, electronics, fighter jets, semiconductor chips, which we know are so vital
to the A.I. industry and China has a huge dominance in this area.
You mentioned that statistic there, 90 percent of processed rare earths come from China and these export controls go beyond simply barring or
restricting what can be sent outside of China. They also include controls over technologies that are used in the processing of these rare earths, but
also controls over what companies that buy these rare earths can then do with them, whether they are used in military or semiconductor technologies.
China has added five of these rare earths to a list that brings the total number of restricted rare earths to around 12 out of 17 possible rare
earths, so that gives you a sense of the scale of these new restrictions, and Trump said in his post, he is not happy with the fact that China is, in
his words, holding the world captive by monopolizing these really important materials.
SCIUTTO: Anna Cooban, thanks so much.
Well, the Trump administration has started firing federal workers in response to the ongoing government shutdown in this country. The White
House Budget chief posted on X that the reductions in force has begun. He did not indicate how many people exactly are losing their jobs, but a White
House official said the number is substantial. That official also blamed Democrats for putting workers in this position.
Jeff Zeleny is in Washington.
One thing to make clear from the start is that federal workers, many of them, need to be furloughed, they don't need to be fired, so these moves
are not actually necessary.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They are not necessary at all. But I mean, this is just one of the points that the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought has said what would happen, that they would use this government shutdown as a way to
continue really what did not get finished earlier in the year with DOGE, you know, the reorganization of government.
So it is unclear how many federal workers we are talking about here. The White House says it is in the thousands. We are hearing already from the
Education Department, the Energy Department, Homeland Security. It is unclear how extensive they are, but the point is, The White House wanted
this announced today because it is another pressure point for Democrats in this blame game over the shutdown. Which side is to blame?
[16:05:22]
The White House is trying to get a few more Democratic senators, particularly the Virginia Democratic senators and Maryland Democratic
senators, who have a large part of the federal workforce to vote with Republicans to fund the government and reopen it, but Democrats are
hunkered down and this is about health care, in their view.
So it is going to go into its third week next week.
SCIUTTO: When I've heard D.C. area Democratic politicians who have a lot of these federal workers in their district talk about this, they say that when
they speak to federal workers, they are actually saying, hey, don't rush to make a deal. Hold the line. In other words, it doesn't seem like they are
getting pressure from those workers to give in.
ZELENY: I mean, we will see. I mean, that was before the layoffs. So when people are effectively fired from their jobs, does that change the
calculation at all? We shall see.
But there also is a requirement for the government to give notice, 30 days' notice to these officials. So all of these firings and layoffs will be
challenged in court, added to the long list of legal challenges. The bottom line is, a couple of days to think about.
Today, a lot of the civilian workforce stopped getting paid, but its next Wednesday, that's when members of the military, 1.3 million active duty
military members, do not get their paychecks. Does that kind of unstick this stalemate? We will see.
SCIUTTO: Or do they pass separate legislation to pay them? I know there have been a couple proposals to do that.
Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.
Authorities in Tennessee say that 19 people are dead or missing after just a massive blast at an explosives plant. The blast can be heard in a video
from the area. Residents nearby say they could feel the explosion.
Aerials show the extent of the damage. It is significant -- the local sheriff started getting emotional when discussing the number of victims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS DAVIS, SHERIFF, HUMPHREYS COUNTY, TENNESSEE: So at this time we have been able to confirm that we do have 19 souls who that we are looking for,
so excuse me, I ask you to keep in mind those families.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Ryan Young is following all of the latest from Atlanta.
Listen, I mean, you look at the pictures of this. This was a big explosion. It is a plant that processes quite powerful explosives used in military
explosives. Tell us what we know at this point, how this happened.
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable. Before we get there, though, when you see the see the emotion from the sheriff, it is
raw. For hours, we were waiting for the news conference to happen. I've been told by people who are close to the scene that family members started
arriving because Jim, as you know, in a small community like that, only 80 people work in this facility.
So if 19 souls are missing right now, it is a good chance that a lot of people in this community know each other, know who works there, and
especially with the connection to the military, folks know what is going on.
When you look at these pictures from above, and when you hear the sound, the repercussions from that explosion that happened around 7:45 A.M., it is
about an hour away from Nashville, you can see the rumbling. People from as far as 11 miles away felt this explosion. In fact, I was checking in with
one of our local affiliates and the radar, the weather radar actually picked up this explosion at one point. So you just know how powerful the
blast is.
When you look at the aerials from above, you can see some of the cars on fire. This place has just been eviscerated.
We talked to the mayor about an hour-and-a-half ago, and as you can imagine, his heart is torn for the people of his community. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR JIM BATES, HICKMAN COUNTY, TENNESSEE: It is unknown at this time what caused this blast. You know, it is going to be an investigation. It is
probably going to go on for days.
You know, this facility, they do manufacture not only military, but demolition explosives. You know, for road work and things like that as
well. They are not -- they are not just strictly military.
But, I will say this, you know, this investigation is going to go on for some time, I am sure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Jim, unfortunately, I think the mayor is underselling how long this investigation can take. You and I both have covered a lot when it comes to
law enforcement. When you have a massive explosion like this, the idea of trying to collect someone's body or even what is left of them in an
explosion like this, it is very hard. It is a very tedious thing.
We know the FBI is on the way. The TBI is there on scene, and the ATF as well. So they will be able to try to figure out in terms of the bomb making
material, what exactly happened here. But this complex was huge. In fact, we had a side by side photo at one point showing you on Google Earth what
the facility looked like.
[16:10:10]
And now with the what's left of the facility, you can see that bottom area where the parking lot was, that is just all just gone.
And so as we continue to look at these pictures, you realize just how devastating this is. We do have a crew on the way to the scene, but
everyone who has gone to the cameras and talked about this explosion not only talks about how powerful this was, but how shaken to the core by what
they've been able to witness so far. This looks like a wasteland at this point -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yes, it does. A lot of folks lost their lives.
Ryan Young, thanks so much.
YOUNG: Thank you.
SCIUTTO: We do have this breaking news just into CNN that is that French President Emmanuel Macron has now reappointed Sebastien Lecornu to serve
once again as Prime Minister. Lecornu, you'll remember, resigned just days ago after less than a month on the job. President Macron had summoned the
leaders of mainstream parties earlier. He has been trying to win their support for his new Prime Minister, with lawmakers unwilling to approve the
budget that he has been pushing and that budget includes cuts.
Coming up, the Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to a Venezuelan opposition figure. Some in The White House, surprisingly, aren't happy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Welcome back.
A U.S. official tells CNN that U.S. forces have begun arriving in Israel as part of their new mission to help oversee the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Israel says its own troops have begun their initial withdrawal from parts of Gaza. Up to 200 U.S. troops are expected to help oversee the ceasefire
plan, as well as coordinate aid deliveries. That's, of course, crucial. The need is enormous there.
The clock is now ticking for Hamas to release all of the remaining hostages. Israel has already published a list of 250 Palestinian prisoners
that it will release, all of those prisoners had been serving life sentences.
President Trump has said he may visit Israel himself early next week. Israeli Police are now outlining security measures to be in place if he
does indeed visit.
As those Israeli forces withdraw, thousands of Palestinians are moving from the south of Gaza, back up to Gaza City. They have been displaced multiple
times already. UNICEF says children were wearing "wall-to-wall smiles" while warning that there could be irreversible damage due to the trauma and
malnutrition so many of them faced.
[16:15:10]
You're looking now at scenes as many Palestinians return to, well, the devastation of war.
Strikes were reported on Gaza City in the morning as Israeli soldiers withdrew from some areas. One Gaza resident says there is simply nothing
left to come home to.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAMAN RADWAN, KHAN YOUNIS RESIDENT (through translator): The situation is tragic. There are no houses, there are no streets, no cars able to enter.
We went on foot and came back on foot. There was no life at all. There is destruction, total destruction.
For those who are going back, what are they supposed to find? Either they find their houses destroyed or find no signs of the house at all, all the
windows and doors are gone.
There is nothing. There is no life. But the people would like to go back, as they think it is better if they build a tent on the ruins than staying
far away from their land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv with the latest.
Jeremy, what is the latest on plans for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, as well as the return of the remains of the hostages,
who, sadly, are no longer alive?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, the Israeli Cabinet voted in the early hours of this morning, Jim, to authorize this ceasefire and to
greenlight the deal that will secure the release of all the hostages. In the ten hours after that, we saw the Israeli military withdrawing from
parts of Gaza City to this new line of control that had been agreed upon based on this agreement, and once that was done, the Israeli military said
that the ceasefire was officially in place and that the 72-hour clock for Hamas to release the hostages had indeed begun, which means that as late as
Monday at noon, local time is when those hostages could be released, but it could happen sooner. It could happen this weekend according to Israeli
officials. We simply don't yet know the specific timing of that.
What we do expect, though, is that all 20 hostages will be released, but there is a question mark around the bodies of the 28 other hostages who are
still being held in Gaza, and we don't know if some of them might be released, but certainly it seems that all of them will not. And that's
because Israeli intelligence and Hamas has also indicated this to the mediators that Hamas does not know the location of all 28 of those bodies.
Some of them may still be under the rubble of buildings that have been destroyed in Israeli airstrikes or by other means, and so we know that
there is going to be a process that will likely take some days, perhaps weeks. Who knows exactly how long in order to locate some of those bodies.
The Red Cross is set to assist with that process as well, and today, in fact, the Israeli Prime Minister, for the first time seemed to acknowledge
that the bodies of some of those hostages might not immediately return -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Well, some families will at least get those reunions they've been waiting for, for so long.
Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.
President Trump is expected to convene world leaders in Egypt next week. This, according to two administration officials. They say a number of Arab
and European leaders will attend, including those from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany. It is not clear if Israel's Prime Minister will join.
President Trump is expected to take part in a signing ceremony for the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Let's get more on this now with Ambassador Alon Pinkas, former Israeli Consul General for New York. He joins us from Tel Aviv.
Alon, good to have you.
You and I have spoken a number of times throughout this long war, since the events of October, the horrible events of October 7th. What do you believe
the key was to get to this ceasefire deal?
ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL FOR NEW YORK: Well, the key was undoubtedly, Jim, Donald Trump, and the reasons Trump reengaged with this
intensity are two. First, I think he grew disillusioned and fatigued with Mr. Netanyahu, Prime Minister Netanyahu. He felt that since March, since
the ceasefire was violated, and then again in June, when the U.S. assisted Israel in the war with Iran that Mr. Netanyahu was reneging or not
fulfilling or not keeping his promises to the President to end the war, and the President was under his own types of pressure from the Saudis, the
Qataris, the Emiratis, but also, inside the MAGA-verse, the MAGA world.
The second thing, I think, the second impetus, the second point that led to this was the Israeli failed attack in Qatar on September 9th. That really
tested Mr. Trump's patience, and that led him to fully engage in this.
Look, Jim, a day before the meeting at The White House on Fox News, Mr. Netanyahu was bragging and boasting that the war will go on, that we will
not relent, that Hamas will be destroyed, and he even said that he won't apologize to Qatar.
[16:20:17]
Twenty-four hours later, he is doing both -- he is doing the exact opposite, of course, of both. So something happened and that that something
is Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: Yes. No question.
So this is a key step, no question, but the steps meant to follow in what is a multi-phase framework are arguably the more difficult questions.
Right? Future administration of Gaza, disarmament of Hamas. Israel's ability to continue striking militarily inside Gaza, even if they withdraw
many of their forces. Do you see the pathway for those issues to be solved as well, or do you fear that this phase might be the last phase?
PINKAS: Unfortunately, and excuse me for being too blunt or too pessimistic or depressing to our viewers here. I think there won't be a next phase. I
think this will falter. It is too intractable, too complex, too ambiguous.
I mean, look, the plan that President Trump put on the table is the only game in town. It is the only plan that has some viability. On the other
side, it lacks clarity. It is very ambiguous. Some of the steps are just not implementable, making the entire plan the entire framework unviable.
You just mentioned I think the most important thing, at least in looking at the timetable ahead of us, a Hamas disarmament. Where will they disarm? How
will they disarm? Who will they give their weapons to? Then comes the hard part of that interim provisional Arab force that is supposed to extend some
kind of governance capabilities. I just don't see that happening. Netanyahu doesn't want this to happen.
So there is very little goodwill and trust here.
SCIUTTO: Does Netanyahu politically survive the next election following this? I mean, he has got pressure from -- you know, he has always had
pressures from his right not to make any sort of deal, though, at least in the short term, he has got to back step from more -- a backstop rather for
more moderate politicians. But, what do you believe his political future is?
PINKAS: Not good. But then again, I have to admit I never thought for a moment that he would survive October 7th, 2023, and here we are, you and I,
Jim, having this discussion.
Now, a reminder to our viewers, between 2019 and 2022, Israel held five election campaigns. Netanyahu failed to win in four of them. In the fifth,
in 2022, there was a statistical tie or a parliamentary deadlock, but he was afforded the possibility of forming a government because of the extreme
right wing that went on board with him.
I think the level of anger, dissatisfaction and criticism, not to mention animosity toward him in the last two years is such that he will not get any
credit for the release of the hostages. For better or for worse, Donald Trump is getting that credit, and once that issue is removed, excuse the
word removed, because this is the world to the families, once that issue is removed from the public discourse, a lot of anger is going to be directed
at him. I don't see him implementing the next phases.
Israel is isolated internationally to the point of being on the verge of being a pariah state. Even Trump lost his patience, visibly and noticeably.
I don't know when the elections will be held.
According to the polls and that's the only thing we can rely on, polls taken, you know, in the middle of a war when there is no election date, he
can't win in any scenario. But I think it is premature to actually assess anyone's chances. We don't know when the elections are going to take place
and against what background or political context.
SCIUTTO: Before we go, in my most recent visits to Israel, including since October 7th, a number of times, it struck me that exhaustion describes both
the Israeli public, but also Palestinians that I speak to, but also a lack of hope in a path to a better future, right?
Now, granted, that was in the midst of the war and at least for now, the war will stop. Do you see any appetite or really hope for a longer lasting
peace? An ability, a pathway for Israelis and Palestinians to live peacefully as neighbors?
[16:25:07]
PINKAS: I do. I do, but for that you need fundamental components or two ingredients.
You need new leadership on both sides. I can't speak for the Palestinians, but in Israel, you definitely need a new government, a different
government, and you need to start thinking in terms of a final status agreement with the Palestinians, bearing in mind, and not for one second
forgetting that the modalities or the sequencing of previous ideas, even a two-state solution are not going to work this time.
There needs to be, in other words, and we don't have time to develop this, obviously, there needs to be thinking out of the box and goodwill between
Israel and the Palestinians. There are models that would enable that. But, you know, at this point, your impressions of visiting Israel are exactly
riding on the money and precise.
There is dejection, there is resignation, there is hopelessness, there is anger, there is fear. People are not thinking in terms of a Palestinian-
Israeli coexistence. They are just thinking about hostages and what am I going to do tomorrow? And what happens if there is a siren?
This has been going on for two years, and, you know, on the Palestinian side, it is conceivably and arguably even worse if you're living in Gaza.
And so, yes, I do see a path. Demographically and politically, there has to be a partition here. There has to be a separation, a disassociation. How to
go about it? It just new leadership and new ideas. It is not that big of a deal, by the way, but apparently it is.
SCIUTTO: Let us hope, my friend. Alon Pinkas, thanks so much for joining.
PINKAS: Thank you, Jim. Always a pleasure.
SCIUTTO: Well, back here in the U.S., tourists are feeling the effect of the U.S. government shutdown. We are going to explain how National Parks
are being affected by the ongoing deadlock here in Washington.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:17]
SCIUTTO: Hello, I'm Jim Sciutto. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment when we'll discuss how U.S. National Parks are under threat as the
government shutdown enters its 10th day with no real end in sight.
And the NBA is back in China after a messy breakup six years ago. We're going to look at how the league got back in Beijing's good graces.
Before that, though, the headlines this hour, President Trump is threatening to retaliate against China over Beijing's new restrictions on
the export of rare earths. The U.S. president says he no longer sees any reason to be with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping this month, this after
China tightened its controls on rare earth exports.
A U.S. official says that U.S. troops have begun arriving in Israel to help monitor the implementation of Gaza's cease fire deal. Thousands of
Palestinians, many of them on foot, are heading back to the enclaves North under terms of the agreement, Hamas is expected to hand over its remaining
hostages by Monday.
At least 19 people are dead or missing following an enormous blast at an explosives plant in the state of Tennessee. Authorities called the blast
devastating, but were able to secure the area. The company employs about 80 people in a remote location, about an hour southwest of Nashville.
Returning now to our top story, U.S. markets fell sharply after President Trump threatened new tariffs on China, the Dow down nearly 900 points, the
NASDAQ fell 3.5 percent. The fall is in response to a lengthy post by the U.S. president on Truth Social in which he criticized China over its new
export controls for rare earth minerals.
Peter Tuchman is a senior floor trader at TradeMas, and he joins us now. Peter, listen, you've watched lots of ups and downs in the market through
the years. I mean, this is the biggest since April when Trump first began this trade war with Liberation Day. Do you see this dip as lasting?
PETER TUCHMAN, SENIOR FLOOR TRADER, TRADEMAS: You know, look, it's hard to really analyze whether it is. We've been waiting, look, there's been a lot
of anticipation by all different sort of the different tranches within the marketplace, whether they're traders or investors. At the, you know, this
rally almost with a lot of irrational enthusiasm. How long could it last? Right?
We've lasted hitting record highs. We've had 33 record highs this year so far, right? And it seemed like there was nothing that could be thrown at
the market that would sort of disrupt this amazing rally that we've had.
However, I say it time and time again, we're really only one tweet away from crazy town. So, you know, it turned out that the shutting the
government down did not sort of dislocate the rally at all. So, it's sort of on my opinion that, you know, Mr. Trump said, OK, well, let's, let's see
what we can do.
And no disrespect to the to the big guy, but you know, this clearly hark back to February, March and April, when, you know -- I mean, this could
even go even further back to Trump 1.0 which was back when in Davos, the first time around, when he spoke about China and tariffs, the first time in
the market, sold off 1400 points quite aggressively. The market was waiting for a reason to sell off. This happened to be the set the stage. It was
almost like a perfect storm on a Friday, you know, going into a weekend where, you know, and it worked, you know, the market look, is this
sustainable?
You know what? Look, the market's trading at really frothy valuations. Is this the beginning of something long term? It's almost impossible for me to
say.
We know from history will tell us that Mr. Trump on Monday would come back in and say, you know what? You know, we had a chat over the weekend, and
I'm going to change my mind, or we could negotiate this down from the aggressive narrative that he had on his -- on his tweet today. You know,
anything can change, right? We could -- this could all be just a memory to us on Monday or Tuesday, or it could be the beginning of something more
aggressive.
SCIUTTO: Yes. I mean, you've, you've accurately described the world we live in today. Let me ask you this, though, because there's been a lot of
concern prior to this about whether the market was reaching, you know, irrational exuberance levels, thinking of Greenspan's comment years ago,
and whether it looks a lot like the .com bubble, you know, pre 2000.
I spoke with Art Hogan yesterday, and he said, no, the valuations still don't quite match those. But what do you hear? What do you hear on the
trading floor?
TUCHMAN: You know what look I mean, I work with, I'm sure you've heard of Dan Ives. I work with Dan Dan Ives really closely, analyst for Wedbush, who
is sort of one of the fathers of the whole A.I. revolution. And we're firm believers that this doesn't have any harking back to '95, '98, '99 in any
kind of a bubble at all.
[16:35:18]
This is an in dust -- this is an A.I. revolution. We're in the second inning. You know, of a nine-inning game that's probably going to go into
extra innings.
The amount of investment by all the mag seven players, plus Oracle, Microsoft, Google, Meta, into the hundreds of billions of dollars that are
going into this, the CAPEX expenditure across the way. I know some people who are sort of forever bears. And you know, the ones who sort of are, you
know, want, want to find a way to break down this rally, are just saying this is either a bubble or it's not sustainable, you know, or any number of
reasons why this isn't what it really is.
I'm a firm believer it is what we see it is, that it's a revolution in A.I., it's the real deal. If you go back a couple of days ago, the CEO of
soft bank, right, actually said that NVIDIA at these levels, right? Nvidia in 2023 was $108 stock. In '24 it was a $900 stock. It went to 1200 split
10 for one, is trading at 180 post split. He feels that NVIDIA at these levels is still undervalued based on the demand for data centers and chips
and everything going into the future.
So, I don't think that any of that that you mentioned is legit. I think it's real. I think this, whether this is a one off sell day, you know, we
know that when you mentioned the word China and you mentioned word tariffs, the market, you know, it's almost like PTSD in a way that the market, you
know, can engage the way it did today.
We sold off aggressively. We closed that virtually at the lows. The only problem with closing at the lows on a Friday is that very often you will
see a ratchet down on Monday morning, a gap down on Monday morning, and a continuation of the sell off.
Normally, when you see this kind of a market action today, and you see the market rally into the close, where people are sort of trying to buy that
dip, which we did not see, then that sort of sets the stage for a little bit more of a bullish Monday.
But right now, you know closing at the lows the way we did, maybe the sell off is not over.
SCIUTTO: Peter Tuchman, we'll be watching Monday. Thanks so much.
TUCHMAN: Always a pleasure. Thank you.
SCIUTTO: Well, with winter approaching, Russian airstrikes have left many Ukrainians without power or heat. That, by the way, is almost certainly the
deliberate intention of these latest strikes. We're going to take a look next on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:40:43]
SCIUTTO: With the U.S. government shutdown now in its 10th day, we are beginning to see the effects in a number of places, from the suspended
release of key economic data to problems keeping U.S. national parks open. While many parks do remain open, some visitor centers and bathrooms, that's
crucial, are not and having fewer park rangers on duty is leading to concerns over safety as well as vandalism.
The National Parks Conservation Association, the main advocacy group for the parks, says they should be closed while the shutdown continues.
Joining me now is John Garder, the NPCA Senior Director of Budget and Appropriations, thanks so much for taking the time.
JOHN GARDER, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS, NPCA: Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: So, Arizona is saying it cannot fund its parks. New York is keeping some open. For instance, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Colorado
and Utah, they're saying the national parks will remain open. How are some states keeping the open and others not? Is it just a matter of choice at
this point, or are they finding state funds?
GARDER: They are using state funds. It's a chaotic situation that makes it very hard for visitors to know what exactly is going to be open. And some
parks are partially open.
And in some cases, as you note, the states are stepping in. That's a lot of money for the states. They are using their money that they're essentially
giving to the Park Service to partially operate their parks. But that's not a sustainable situation. There are nonprofits stepping in as well, but you
can only do that for so long.
SCIUTTO: And your group's position is that, as much as folks don't want the gates closed, that it makes sense to keep them closed if you don't have the
proper staff and facilities available.
GARDER: That's right. And that was a very tough decision to come to, but we came to it during the last shutdown under the first Trump administration,
because we saw the danger that was happening to visitors, the threat to their safety and the threat to these amazing historic and natural resources
that people come to see.
We saw Joshua trees being cut down. We saw off road vehicles driving in very sensitive desert habitat. We saw spray paint and other vandalism to
historic sites.
You know, when you leave parks partially open with skeleton crews of staff, there's no way you can protect resources the way you're supposed to, or the
safety
of dangers.
SCIUTTO: Such a shame that people take advantage that way. This does go beyond the shutdown, because since the Trump administration took office for
the second term, the NPS has lost 24 percent of its permanent staff or so.
So, you're seeing effects that that go beyond and cuts that go beyond the result of the shutdown.
GARDER: That's right, yes, this is a really, really terrible situation. So, the Park Service was already losing staff prior to this January. They had
15 years ago, close to 20,000 staff because of insufficient funding from Congress. They were whittled down to more like a little over 16,000 by the
time the administration came in.
Now, because they've been pressuring people to leave some firings, pressuring people to resign early, they're down to just a little over
12,000 people to operate the entire National Park Service, all of the national parks, it's a really slim number of people, more than 25 percent
at this point.
And what that means is that they are unable to care for those resources I've been talking about the way that they need to be curbing invasive
species, you know, studying that iconic wildlife that people come to see at the larger parks. All of that work is much of that work is not getting
done, especially as they're trying to create this facade by front loading visitor services so that visitors don't feel the pain.
But the problem is, in the long run, visitors are going to feel the pain when they see that our parks aren't being taken care of.
And I'd like to add that this morning, finally, the administration has been threatening for a week that they are going to do mass firings during the
federal workers during the shutdown, and now this morning, they announced that they are going to do that. There are indications that that will
include the Park Service. They've already been cut so much.
And so, what does this mean for them, if they're going to lose even more employees, and when our parks finally do reopen, because they're being
operated with so few people right now, it's going to be a real mess.
[16:45:11]
And this is -- this is threatening the institutional knowledge of all these professionals, and will likely mean decades of recovery on the park
service.
SCIUTTO: I get it, yes. And as we noted earlier, the permanent firings are not necessary. This is, in effect, taking that opportunity to continue the
work of DOGE earlier.
There are, John, before we go, folks in Washington who fear that this shutdown can go on for some time, perhaps even weeks. What would that mean
for the parks -- the national parks?
GARDER: Yes, thank you for asking that. For one thing, we haven't talked about the economic impact, right? Each day in October, they're losing a
million dollars in fee revenue. Parks are already underfunded, so that has a huge impact for them.
$80 million in visitor spending each day in October. That's at risk and those surrounding communities that depend on all that visitor spending, $56
billion annual economic activity from our parks.
So, certainly, that would worry a lot of Gateway businesses, and, of course, a lot of people who want to go visit our parks.
And then, also it means when you've got those skeleton crews out there, when they're not there to care for our parks, but people are still being
invited in, in some cases, that's a very dangerous situation, and we were seeing that play out today in Yosemite. People have been out there climbing
without permits, going up the iconic Half Dome, cutting each other in line. It creates a very, very dangerous situation. People are flying drones,
which is terrible for wildlife.
You could call it the Wild West, and we're afraid that it's going to become more and more like that.
SCIUTTO: Yes, let's hope not. They're a great resource. John Garder, thanks so much for joining.
Back now to our breaking news. French President Emmanuel Macron has now reappointed Sebastien Lecornu to serve once again as prime minister.
Lecornu resigned just a few days ago, after he was on the job less than a month. President Macron had summoned the leaders of mainstream parties
earlier to try to work out some sort of deal. He's been trying to win their support, not just for his new prime minister, but also for a budget with
lots of cuts that he's trying to push through.
Carsten Nickel is managing director at the advisory firm, Teneo, and he joins me now. Carsten, listen, I mean, Lecornu, his first time around
lasted a month. Now he's back. How long? I mean, is this a lasting plan for the French government to keep it stable?
CARSTEN NICKEL, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TENEO: Well, whether it's a lasting plan, that's really a long-term question and long-term questions, of
course, in French politics these days are difficult to answer.
Look, the goal is to make it first of all to Monday, which is the deadline for presenting a first draft for the budget, so that France can have a 2026
in place before the end of the year. What happens beyond that is a different is a different question.
I think Macron has seen that political parties in parliament are not too keen. At least the centrist party is not too keen on early elections. And
he's basically telling them, well, then you know, you're giving my prime minister a second attempt.
SCIUTTO: Can he get this budget passed?
NICKEL: Yes, I think it looks as if he's going to be able to get a budget passed, but what we're going to see is that the big trade-off is that the
cuts that you were referring to earlier are going to be slimmer, less brutal, if you like, than what had been discussed in the past.
And the prime victim here is pension reform. Pension Reform, of course, this flagship project of Emmanuel Macron, something that's extremely
unpopular among centrist political parties, and it looks as if Macron has to continue climbing down on this basically.
SCIUTTO: I mean, beyond that, it's not particularly popular in the French public, is it? I mean, could we expect protests once again if the budget
were to make it through?
NICKEL: Yes, we have. I mean, we have seen, obviously, major protests against the pension reform in the past. That was the reason why the
government, Emmanuel Macron government, basically, back in the day, pushed this through without a specific vote in Parliament, as a tweak in the
French constitution that allows you to do that that made the reform even less popular.
I think what we're going to see is a budget that might go as far as putting that pension reform on hold, perhaps until the next presidential election
in 2027 in order to make sure that there is political support in Parliament. And you were referring to protests in the street to prevent the
repetition of those protests.
SCIUTTO: So, the big question is, and that, of course, is part of macron's fear, right is that he might not be able -- he and his party might not be
able, to hold off the far right in the next election. How big a concern is that?
[16:50:00]
NICKEL: Yes, that's the big concern that's looming over everything right now in French politics. That is also the reason why centrist political
parties were really not joking and were intimidated, really, by macron's threat of going to early elections.
So, in the short term, it gives him even a little bit of a leeway you could say, as he's trying to push centrist parties into at least tolerating
government that manages to get a budget on the road.
But you're absolutely right. The big specter hanging over French politics is really that standoff, not just between the far right on the one hand and
the far left on the other side. So, this is hyper polarized scenario. That's really the big fear of centrist political forces in the run up to
2027.
SCIUTTO: Carsten Nickel, thanks so much.
We also have our Melissa Bell joining us now from Paris. And Melissa, you've been covering the on, again, off again, government under Macron and
premiership of Lecornu. What does this look like in the coming days in Paris?
MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, already, a lot of reaction from some of the opposition parties about this. Remember that
this is the very man who resigned on Monday morning, urged to say on to find a solution by President Macron. The speculation had been that he might
name him again.
The difference this time, of course, is that he gathered together President Macron, that is the leaders of all the main political parties here in
France, apart from the far left and the far right, Jim, in the hope that some kind of consensus could be reached.
And as you were just hearing there, it sounds like a number of compromises will be made specifically to the left when it comes to pension reform in
order that they can cobble together this government. We've had a tweet now from Sebastien Lecornu, now the sixth Prime Minister to be appointed sits
at the second term of President Macron starts. That gives you an idea of how unstable the last few months have been.
Of course, the last month even more, Jim, out of a sense of duty, he said the urgency in what appears also to have focused the minds of a lot of the
political classes is the need to pass this budget for 2026 they're simply running out of time.
So, we'll see whether early next week, he manages to do that without being toppled by Parliament, as a couple of his predecessors were. This is a
budget for 2026 remember, that needs to be smaller than previous ones have been, simply because of the size of France's debt.
So, he's got a lot on his shoulders. Once again. And we'll see whether this time he manages to do it, Jim.
SCIUTTO: We will watch. Melissa Bell in Paris. Thanks so much.
Still to come, the NBA has now returned to China after six years out. Ivan Watson was courtside in Macau for a preseason game. We're going to take a
look at how this all came about. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:55:12]
SCIUTTO: So, the wait is finally over for professional basketball fans in China. The NBA has returned with two preseason games between the Brooklyn
Nets and the Phoenix Suns. The league has been absebt in China since 2019 due to the political fallout from a social media post.
Don Riddell joins me now. This has been a long time coming. Chinese government is very sensitive to criticism of its positions. So, what
happened and how do we get to where we are today?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Jim, you know, come back stories are always great in sport. This one is a little bit different. Let's be honest.
Yes, it's been six years since that infamous tweet from the Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey, which was supportive of the pro-democracy
demonstrators in Hong Kong, and that one tweet really derailed the relationship between the NBA and China.
There was so much fallout as a result of that, and that was pretty costly for business, when you think about the NBA and how it regards the highly
lucrative market in China. It's a country of 1.4 billion people. At that point, they estimated that a third of the country consumed NBA content.
They said there were 300 million basketball players in China, and things kind of went sideways for a few years.
But they've managed to get themselves back on track thanks to a new strategic partnership between the Chinese Basketball Association and the
NBA and also a new relationship with Alibaba and the chairman of that company, Joe Tsai owns the Brooklyn Nets, so that's why the Nets were one
of the teams that were there today.
So, they're hoping that they're all back on track, because during this time, remember that a lot of games were no longer shown in China. They've
managed to get those back. Now the teams are actually going there as well.
But are they going to better keep this relationship going? As you know, it's always a very, very delicate dance between managing corporate values
and Chinese sensitivities. The NBA and the players and the teams may well be walking on eggshells again.
And then, of course, you've been following the news today with, the rare earths exporting and talk of new tariffs on China and Donald Trump and Xi
seemingly falling out again. How is that going to color this kind of new relationship between the NBA and China?
Interesting times as always, but for now, it's a win for basketball in China and the NBA, they played this friendly game earlier today, and
there'll be another one again in Macau at the weekend.
SCIUTTO: Well, basketball fans will hope it lasts. Don Riddell, thanks so much.
Let's take a final check on the markets. Just big losses on Wall Street, President Trump threatened China with a massive increase in tariffs. This
after Beijing restricted rare earth exports to the U.S. Responding, the Dow fell 878 points, the snp5 closed 2.7 percent lower. The NASDAQ down 3.5
percent.
Today marks the biggest one day drop on Wall Street since Liberation Day back in April.
That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Jim Sciutto. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now and after that, I'm going to be back for "THE BRIEF."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
