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Quest Means Business
A.I. Leaders Unite to Urge Slowdown Amid Safety Concerns; European Union to Make Canada Its First Associate Member; Trading African Products in New York; Moeve Breaks Ground on Green Hydrogen Project; Airlines Cutting Flights Due to High Fuel Prices. Bank of England Warns Inflation Could Hit Four Percent; Continental Resources to Develop Oil Region in Venezuela; Differing Views on Artificial Intelligence in the U.S. and China. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 17, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:30]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell is ringing on Wall Street. Well, it is rung!
Can we have the gavel, sir? And a one and a two and a one, two, three four. Oh! Strong gavel from NOMURA. Celebrating a hundred years. And a strong
bullish session, up 317 for the Dow Jones. The market was green throughout the course of the session. Those are the markets, the events you and I will
be talking about over the course of the next hour.
Those of the markets and these are the events: President Trump threatens to hit the E.U. with heavy tariffs if it makes Canada an associate member, and
he sees it as a hostile act.
Energy giant, Continental Resources is set to develop a massive oil patch in Venezuela. The chief executive on tonight's program.
And OpenAI reveals more concerning instances of its A.I. going rogue.
We are still in London and we are most definitely live, on Thursday, September the 17th, I am Richard Quest and I mean business.
Good evening.
A resurgent energy crisis is mounting pressure on economies right around the world. Wherever we look, the evidence is clear. Fuel protests erupting
across almost every continent from the Middle East and Europe to Latin America and Southeast Asia.
And another Central Bank, this time the Bank of England, the latest Central Bank to warn that energy is pushing inflation higher only hours after the
Fed said rising energy costs were driving force behind its first rate hike in three years.
On QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight, we are going to look at the potential solutions to this crisis. You'll hear from the chief executive of
Continental Resources, who is going to discuss a deal with Venezuela that will extract billions of barrels of oil. The CEO of the Spanish energy
giant, Moeve, tells us why he is investing in Europe's largest green hydrogen project. And Etihad's chief exec will discuss the higher fuel
prices and the toll its taking on the industry. Let's begin with new strains on western relations.
"Europe and Canada are stronger together," those are the words of Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, as he pushed for a new transatlantic
partnership. It follows European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and her proposal for associate E.U. membership for Canada.
Mr. Carney is welcoming the idea. He was at the European Parliament, where he spoke about his plan to deepen the ties and he took a veiled swipe at
the Trump administration, saying he is not aiming to create a rival with the U.S. with better manners.
The Prime Minister said instead, he wants to build resilience. And he argued that other nations should find inspiration in the partnership.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: A Canada-E.U. alliance would create a beacon for other democracies. An alliance that is not defined by what we
oppose, but about what we are for: Freedom, solidarity, prosperity, sustainability; an alliance strong enough so that no one can dictate our
choices; alliance open enough that others can join; an alliance principled enough that our strength reinforces international law rather than seeks to
replace it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: President Trump had threatened or has threatened to impose sanctions on both sides -- on both the E.U. and Canada if the alliance is finalized.
Kevin Liptak is at The White House.
Kevin, I listened back again and again and again to what President Trump said when he was asked about this and the telling point is, he says he will
do this if he deems it to be a hostile act and it does -- it is not clear that he has made that judgment yet.
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No. And he said if he thinks that it was a good intention, if he thinks that Canada and the E.U. were
doing this for purposes that he doesn't deem nefarious, that he would be totally fine with it.
[16:05:10]
Now, what the President defines as hostile and what the President defines as a good intention, I am not sure we know explicitly. And in fact, when he
was asked about this last night, he said point blank he hadn't heard about it until a reporter was querying him on it. But it is obviously, I think in
some ways the exact opposite of what the President set out to do with Canada at the beginning of the term, when he was talking about making
Canada the 51st state, about trying to bring Canada into closer relations with the U.S., in part by making it part of the U.S.
He seems to have shoved Canada into the arms of the E.U. in a lot of ways, and so that bullying and that pressure on the prime ministers, whether it
was Justin Trudeau or Mark Carney, in a lot of ways has backfired.
And so if the President starts to view it through that lens, then you could easily see how he would go down the route of trying to put on a new tariffs
or trying to alter the trade relationship with the E.U., but obviously, he is in a pretty precarious political moment, in part because of these
tariffs. They too have backfired in a lot of the border states that rely on trade with Canada, but where they are also facing some pretty tight midterm
elections.
And so it remains to be seen whether the President is willing to take that step before the midterms, but obviously, this is now a very tense moment
with Canada also potentially with the E.U., but he seems to be reserving judgment for now.
QUEST: And Kevin, we are just -- in just a moment or three, I am going to be talking to the president and CEO of Continental Resources, who has
announced an agreement with Venezuela's oil company.
The oil situation and Venezuela, it is still very much central to the Trump administration.
LIPTAK: Yes, absolutely, and particularly at a moment when gas prices are high, when diesel prices are at now record high, the administration
continues to try and point to these deals that it says will dramatically ramp up supply of oil in the United States.
Now, it is going to take years for that to happen. The oil infrastructure in Venezuela has been neglected for a long time and administration
officials will acknowledge that as well. The President has said that perhaps they could use this oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve. That also would require some dramatic changes, since the oil that comes from Venezuela isn't the type that typically goes into the SPR.
But nonetheless, this is a huge priority for the President, and it is something that he is able to point to on the campaign trail as a way to
bring down gas prices, even though it is clear that that is not working at the moment and it is not going to work for several years, but obviously it
is all part and parcel of the President's very intent focus on the Western Hemisphere, whether it is Canada, whether it is Venezuela, it is a focus
that doesn't seem like it is going to be waning anytime soon.
QUEST: Kevin, I am grateful. Thank you.
Now, as you just mentioned, Oklahoma-based Continental Resources has signed this agreement with Venezuela's oil company. The oil and natural gas
company plans to develop a region that spans 509 kilometers in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt. It is estimated that this is where the oil really is in
Venezuela, 30 billion barrels worth of reserves. Continental's founder, Harold Hamm, has been a donor to President Trump.
Doug Lawler is the President and CEO of Continental Resources. Mr. Lawler, you join me tonight from Oklahoma City, and we are delighted that you are
with us.
Let me just clarify the area that you are looking to develop, is this part of the same area that the U.S. has been ceded, if you will, by Venezuela in
this other deal of 35 percent ownership? You know which bit I am talking about? Or is your area something different?
DOUG LAWLER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CONTINENTAL RESOURCES: Yes. Well, good evening. It is great to be with you.
This area actually in Venezuela is a separate area apart from the binational company that the U.S. has announced and entered into with
Venezuela, so this is completely separate what we've entered into.
QUEST: Right. And therefore, I am guessing this arrangement is far more traditional in a way, in that you will be going in there, you will be
developing the field, either being paid a royalty or a fee, but the ownership of the oil will still be Venezuela's.
LAWLER: That's correct. This is a greenfield area. As you noted, it is approximately 510 square kilometers, roughly 125,000 acres. Greenfield
being, there is only a handful of wells that have been drilled in this area just north of the Orinoco River, it has tremendous resources in place, as
you noted, estimated to be greater than 30 billion barrels, and we are very excited about the opportunity to work with the Venezuelan government and
PDVSA to mobilize these resources as quickly as possible.
[16:10:10]
QUEST: How long do you think -- I know this is a -- this is how long is a piece of string question -- how long do you think it will be before you are
producing there in sizable quantity?
LAWLER: Well, we are obviously going to move as quickly as possible, recognizing that the production volumes are needed. There is a capacity
available at present within the infrastructure. But we are a good ways from that, and we know that there is additional investments that are going to be
required, not only in new wells and subsurface activity, seismic activity and investments, but also infrastructure investments at the surface
pipelines and processing facilities that will be necessary.
And just to highlight as well, what we've entered into is a Memorandum of Understanding. We anticipate to formalize a contract in the next few weeks.
The timing is going to largely be dependent upon the assessment of our initial work exploration activity of this greenfield, and evaluating how
quickly we can mobilize the production.
We are motivated to do it just as quickly as possible. We recognize the situation around the globe and we believe that President Trump has done a
very good job and we are highly supportive of his policy to mobilize these resources and the oil from Venezuela.
QUEST: Have you received or are you going to seek any sort of guarantees from the U.S. government against basically future actions on either side,
you know, to sort of cancel contracts, take back natural patronage and nationalization, all the sort of things that have happened before in
Venezuela that you would be the victim of if they happen again?
LAWLER: No, we will not. We definitely seek the support of the U.S. government. We have that. But the U.S. government is not facilitating any
sort of guarantee. You know, oil and gas exploration around the globe, including in the United States has regulation risk and has government risk.
It is something that were very used to dealing with and we just have to be mindful about the capital invested and take into consideration both
subsurface and surface risks as we seek to develop those resources.
QUEST: Final thoughts, sir? The shift from fossil to non-fossil to renewables continues. But I think that most people don't realize, we are
going to need fossil fuel energy for at least the next five decades. For at least the next five decades, there is going to be a sizable contribution
from traditional fuels. Is that your understanding, too?
LAWLER: Absolutely. I actually believe it is beyond five decades. I think it is going to be for a very long period of time and I think it is very
important to note, too, that the energy stack of all sources of energy, we need to add all sources of energy.
It is not about subtraction. It is not about substitution. It is about addition. And that's important for the Western Hemisphere, it is important
for the entire globe mobilizing these resources, getting energy to the people of the world as quickly and as efficiently as possible and that is
what we are focused on here at Continental.
QUEST: And I am very grateful, sir, you found time to talk to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight. Next time, we will talk, I will either be with you in
Oklahoma or maybe even Venezuela. You never know. So thank you for joining us tonight.
LAWLER: I would love that. I'd love that. Thank you.
QUEST: As we continue, thank you, sir.
Now some European governments were apparently caught off guard when Ursula von der Leyen came out with her Canada proposal.
The European Parliament's rapporteur on E.U.-Canada relations will be with us after the break and I think the first question, sir, I will let you know
what it is going to be: What on earth is associate membership and what on earth does it mean? Answer that when QUEST MEANS BUSINESS returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:16:49]
QUEST: Apparently, some European governments were caught off guard by Ursula von der Leyen's proposal to associate membership for Canada.
Three diplomats told POLITICO that E.U. members were not consulted about it before she made the announcement. No such thing -- associate membership
doesn't exist.
Several E.U. countries have encouraged deeper ties with Ottawa, but integrating the Canadian economy raises all sorts of issues -- single
market, taxation, subsidies, you name it.
Tobias Kramer is a member of the European Parliament from Germany. He is also the European Parliament's rapporteur on E.U.-Canada relations, which
is a posh way of saying the liaison, and he reports on it.
He joins me now from saying, well, he was he was about to join me, but unfortunately, we seem to just typical -- absolutely typical. Just as
you're about to go to the chat to talk about these things, the line disappears. We will get him back, and once we do, we will hear what he has,
clearly not.
Now while there, while we wait for that, let's talk about growing concerns in the United States over A.I. safety.
In China, many seem to have a strikingly different view. Beijing is racing to catch up and help shape A.I.'s new rules.
CNN's Mike Valerio takes us inside a Chinese bar where the future of A.I. technology is literally on tap.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Beijing, you can walk into a bar -- come on, walk with me, come inside -- walk into a bar, order a beer and get
unlimited free access to some of China's A.I. models. It is just a small example of how A.I. is quickly embedding itself into the fabric of the
city.
VALERIO (voice over): This is Beijing's AGI Bar where the signature drink is mostly froth, partially an homage to A.I. bubbles and free A.I.
computing power for customers is the new free Wi-Fi.
(MIKE VALERIO speaking in foreign language.)
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
VALERIO: Okay, let's go. Let's see what you're working on.
VALERIO (voice over): Zou Sheng is a customer using the bars two NVIDIA supercomputers and free access to an advanced version of the Chinese A.I.
model, DeepSeek to build this website.
It is part of his business where you speak a few words --
VALERIO (on camera): That's our Tuesday night. That's what we are doing.
VALERIO (voice over): And by the time you've had a pint, his A.I. code creates a song based on me, just speaking.
ZOU SHENG, A.I. DEVELOPER (through translator): This technology has blown my mind. I want to leverage it as much as I possibly can.
VALERIO: You don't think China should slow down?
SHENG: I don't think so.
VALERIO: Tell me why.
SHENG: I think that we don't think so.
VALERIO: Tell me why. Tell me more.
SHENG (through translator): The general consensus is that China still lags behind the U.S. in A.I., whether in foundation models, real world
applications or cutting edge agent technology. So, we are largely in a position of catch up.
VALERIO: Some experts in China, quoted by state media say "slow down pleas from the U.S. are aimed at stopping others from narrowing the technological
gap just as Chinese A.I. models rapidly improve."
Beijing's push to stay competitive or even ahead in A.I. goes all the way to the top. This summer in Shanghai, Chinese Leader, Xi Jinping called for
a new global system to govern A.I. as China focuses not just on the technology, but having a greater say in writing its rules.
[16:20:07]
MISS LI, BEIJING I.T. EMPLOYEE (through translator): I think we should actually accelerate our A.I. efforts and boost our overall competitiveness.
We should encourage everyone to embrace A.I.
SHI HONGHAO, BEIJING TOURIST (through translator): It feels like an unstoppable force, after all, look at me, I am over 50 and I use A.I. too.
VALERIO (on camera): I am curious what you think this kind of bar existing in Beijing says about Beijing in this moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is like a cultural symbol.
VALERIO (voice over): A symbol, the bar's manager says that A.I. is already part of this community, one where the future is on tap, but growing global
concerns on A.I. safety, even potential A.I. warfare between superpowers don't seem to be on top of people's minds here.
VALERIO (on camera): For all the U.S. warnings about where A.I. could be going, here in Beijing, especially at this bar, it hardly seems like last
call.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Let's take a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest.
We have a lot more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS when we will be telling you, King Charles hosts tech leaders in Scotland for a summit on A.I. safety, with
his high-profile guests like the chief exec of NVIDIA.
And one of Spain's biggest energy companies has broken ground on what is going to become Europe's largest green hydrogen project.
Only after the headlines.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he may slap new tariffs on the E.U. if he judges Canada becoming an associate member to be a hostile act.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, told European lawmakers that he is not seeking to form a rival to Washington and Beijing. He said the two should
work together to protect their markets, democracies and the rule of law.
A U.S. federal judge is taking steps to keep The Kennedy Center from being demolished. A judge has ordered the art center to provide 30 days' notice
before any demolition happens.
[16:25:10]
It comes amid talks that Donald Trump might try to tear the center down because his name has been removed from the building.
In the face of growing backlash, the U.S. billionaire, Robert Kraft says Ed Sheeran is donating $2 million to support the humanitarian crisis in the
Middle East. Kraft says the singer had asked him to match that donation, but the specifics are unclear. It follows the outrage at Macklemore being
dropped from Sheeran's tour over the rapper's onstage comments in support of Palestine. Macklemore says he will donate his earnings to Palestinian
causes.
OpenAI says it has found more incidents of concerning behavior with its models. The ChatGPT maker observed six instances in the last six months
where A.I. acted outside of its programed tasks. One frontier model was discovered to have inserted instructions to make up information so it could
hide mistakes from users.
The announcement comes several days after several tech executives, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, called for a slowdown of A.I. development.
Lisa Eadicicco is in New York.
So, this is more evidence of things going wrong.
LISA EADICICCO, CNN BUSINESS TECH EDITOR: Yes, Richard.
So what we are seeing here is more findings from OpenAI about the behavior of its A.I. models during the testing or, excuse me, training and
evaluation process. And in most cases, these were internal research models or unreleased internal models and the company says that it is being more
transparent about these instances because it wants to set an example, I guess, for other A.I. labs to follow, because there is no broad industry
standard right now for how often these companies have to report findings like this, or whether they have to report findings like this at all. So it
is changing its own policies.
The company said that it is going to report these things more frequently. Typically, the way its process would work is that it would wait potentially
until it knows more about the situation or knows more -- has a firmer understanding. But I think what we are seeing here is this sense of urgency
to report these incidents faster so that the public and the rest of the industry has a sense of what is going on here as well.
And as you mentioned, a lot of these incidents -- yes.
QUEST: Lisa, we can cut this cake any which way and backwards, but the reality is these incidents keep happening. The CEOs keep talking. The
regulators are warning.
We even had King Charles today, which I will tell you about in a minute, talking about a potential existential crisis. But what is actually being
done?
EADICICCO: Exactly. That's the question. Nobody -- there is no rule or standard for what needs to be done to actually solve this problem. So
really, what is at the heart of these issues here, these rogue A.I. issues, is what is known as alignment and that is the term used to describe this
idea that A.I. models should act the way that humans act.
If you're trying to accomplish a goal or solve a problem, the implication is that as a human being, you normally wouldn't cheat, you wouldn't be
deceptive, of course people do that anyway. But the point is we want A.I. models to kind of act the way the ideal human being would and what we are
seeing in these cases, as you mentioned, is that in numerous instances, they are not doing that.
And I think that's why transparency is important, but it is about a lot more than just reporting the incidents. It is also about what the companies
are doing, how they're doing their training, how they're doing their testing, how they're securing their models when they're being tested, those
are all questions that are up in the air, of course, because it is up to the discretion of these companies and what they are willing to share.
QUEST: And the President of Microsoft A.I. has been -- he wrote an article, as you have seen, and he has been talking quite a bit about the way in
which the different companies are looking at it and he has been particularly critical of Anthropic and the way in which they do it -- the
way they are doing it.
One has to say when the companies involved are disagreeing amongst themselves, it is very difficult to get any form of consensus that would
enable deregulation.
EADICICCO: Exactly. Because for something like that to work, it really has to be everybody needs to be on board with it and you do have these two
camps of thought here and this is something that you see a lot in the A.I. industry in general, not only when it comes to regulation, but when it
comes to the question of whether models should be open or closed, and what is the better approach.
This industry has just been moving so fast, and the technology has been moving so fast that a lot of these questions simply can't keep up. There is
a lot of new questions that keep arising based on how these findings like this, how the technology is being used.
So yes, I think, you know, this has to be an industry wide thing for it to be effective and it seems like that is going to be a challenge moving
forward because there are a lot of differing opinions among leaders in this space, especially considering they all compete with one another.
[16:30:42]
QUEST: Now, thank you, Lisa. Thank you for bringing us up to date on that.
A.I. safety took on new urgency. It all followed OpenAI revealing that some of its agents had hacked another company. They escaped the test
environment. They were trying to solve a problem, but their solution involved really going further. The whole Hugging Face incident, a company
that hosts, it's the first known incident of an autonomous cyberattack.
The CEO of Anthropic has been warning that A.I. could soon outpace our ability to understand it. Dario Amodei told Anderson Cooper why it's
alarming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARIO AMODEI, CEO, ANTHROPIC: There were these large swarms of agents that cooperated with each other, thousands of them. In fact, you could even see
examples where one agent felt that in the time that it was given, you could almost say it's lifetime, it wasn't -- it realize that it wouldn't be able
to complete its task. So it did some of the task and essentially sacrificed itself for other agents, for the next generation of agents to continue the
same task.
But this task that all the agents were working on together was hacking into another company, was doing something destructive. So you have almost this
collective swarm like a hive of insects.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, Chara Podimata is an assistant professor of operations research and statistics at MIT and is with me now.
This is a real mess. I mean, it's an absolute dog's breakfast of everybody criticizing each other, the regulators, even King Charles today hosting
tech leaders in Scotland for a summit. Listen to what Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang, said at the event, even saying that it's all about
issues, not to be ready, ready to be released. Have a listen to this and then we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: This is no different than, you know, an omelet is not ready to be released or a car is not ready to be released. An
airplane engine not ready to be released. You should properly test it. You have rigorous testing systems. The testing labs should be contained and
products should not be released to the public until it's ready to be used by the public. And that's engineering, good old fashioned engineering.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: There's a lot of shoulds in his answer. It should, it should, it should. The question is, Professor, how? How worried are you?
CHARA PODIMATA, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS RESEARCH AND STATISTICS, MIT: Hello. First of all, thank you for having me here to talk about these
important issues. I think that the how at this point in time, nobody knows exactly. We have a lot of ideas circulating around. One thing that I
personally believe, and I think that others have made the case for, is that this should be an effort that's both internal to the frontier labs, but
also external.
We really need to bring together all the different stakeholders. And that includes the frontier labs. It includes politicians. It includes
policymakers like think tanks. It includes like nonprofits. it includes evaluators that belong to companies that are not inherently tied with the
frontier labs. And also, frankly, we also need the general public to weigh in and give us their opinions and give us their concerns.
QUEST: Right.
PODIMATA: Because I think that all too often we tend to think about these issues, and we tend to ignore the general public until something
sensational or fully dramatic happens, and then we end up just scaring the public instead of just like informing them and getting their opinions into
how we should move forward.
QUEST: Yes, yes. But the difference this time seems to be the speed. We know that regulators can't keep up with what's happening for guardrails and
the like. And the companies themselves. I mean, the king described it as an existential issue. And when we get to this stage, I wonder what we do
because we're not able to keep up with what's happening.
PODIMATA: I do really think that there needs to be a decision, and there needs to be a collective action that is at the level of not just like
individual governments, but also the world as hard as it seems.
[16:35:06]
And we need to be able to bring all these people together and collectively decide how we're going to proceed. Now, I know that this is a tall task,
but I don't -- like, I don't think that any single entity or any government can solve this issue by themselves.
QUEST: You know, this very topic, it leads to questions that border on hyperbole. You know, the, you know, to me saying to you, are we in a
situation where it is reasonable to say that some miscreant actor, state actor or otherwise could create something that will wipe us all out?
PODIMATA: Look, I think it's like we are at a point where we know that people, if they want, they can create agents that potentially can, you
know, attack infrastructure and whatnot. And I know that this is like super important and rogue A.I. in and of itself is important. But I think that,
frankly, it shouldn't consume our entire discussion when it comes to what does it mean to be facing, to be dealing with the A.I. risks.
So, for example, there are many other ways in which we as a society are going to have to grapple with potential A.I. risks. Something that my
research addresses a lot is how does the different models that we use, how do they change the information system that all of us inhabit? And how can
that potentially affects into, you know, our elections, especially in the U.S., we're having a big midterm elections coming up.
So we don't know how the information that people are getting from these models differ based on our gender, based on our other demographics, based
on our other millions of like data that potentially these models have about us.
QUEST: Professor, we do need to talk more about that. I'm inviting you back on the program before the midterms so that we can talk in detail because
it's an important issue about exactly that, because you have done some groundbreaking work showing how A.I. models give different answers
depending on who they think is actually receiving them.
We'll talk about it in a week or so, Professor. You have an invitation to come back. Thank you for joining us tonight.
PODIMATA: Thank you so much.
QUEST: Still to come on this program -- thank you. Breaking ground on Europe's largest green hydrogen project. The chief executive of Murray
about what it means for the continent's energy sector.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:40:19]
QUEST: The E.U. wants to make Canada an associate member, whatever that means. Tobias Kramer is a member of European parliament from Germany. He's
also the European parliament's rapporteur in E.U.-Canada relations. We lost him earlier. He's back now.
Sir, please, what does associate membership involve? Discuss.
TOBIAS CREMER, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER, GERMANY: First of all, thank you so much for the patience and thank you for the invitation. And to your
question, what does associate membership mean? It is something that we are creating right now. It's the first time in history. And basically, if you
want a very short answer, it means how close can you get to the European Union? How close an alliance can you get to the European Union without
being a European country?
And this is what we are trying to do with Canada right now. We are really trying to do something new, something historic, the strongest alliance we
can possibly have, because what we are seeing is that we have the same interest, we have the same values. So we finally want to get moving on
that.
QUEST: Now, you know better than I do, this is a real mess because, first of all, you've already got a free trade agreement or you've got a trade
agreement. You're not going to get the single market and you're not going to have freedom of movement of labor. So the, you know, the freedoms are
not going to be there. Because that would be cherry picking. And as we discovered in Brexit, you can't cherry pick. And the Canadians aren't going
to pay into the European budget, at least not at the moment.
So I ask again, what does it mean other than nice sounding platitudes?
CREMER: No. I'll tell you, it's actually quite substantive. In some ways maybe Britain might in the end become jealous of some of the things that we
are going to do. So first of all, we are really looking to a very, very strong, substantial cooperation when it comes to defense. Canada is already
the first country outside of Europe that is part of SAFE. That's a big program we've put on to start coming to investment in defense, really
creating an industrial base. Canada is part of that.
QUEST: Right.
CREMER: Canada plays into that and as a result can be part of the buildup in defense. You talked about the free trade agreement. It's fantastic. CETA
is one of the most successful free trade agreements that we have. We have an increase of trade over 75 percent. Problem though, it is --has been --
it's not actually fully implemented yet or cannot be because parts of it are still not ratified.
There are still 10 member states that have not ratified CETA as it is. So we can't develop it. We can't include things like digital issues. We can't
include A.I. at the time being.
QUEST: Right. Can I --
CREMER: This is why we are also really trying to move forwards on these things. Yes.
QUEST: But bearing in mind the difficulty that there was with the U.K. at Brexit, are you basically seeing a scenario where under associate
membership -- I mean, Canada could be closer to the E.U. than the U.K.? And if so, should not associate membership be offered to the U.K.?
CREMER: No. In some ways what I try to say is like associate membership means the closest you can come to the E.U. if you aren't a European
country. The U.K. is still a European country. So in principle the U.K. could even rejoin. So it is very much up to the U.K. how close we want to
come together. But the treaties are saying very clearly that a country has to be European to join the European Union.
So what we are trying to do together with Canada is really build a new level of alliance, set a new standard of how we can work together on areas
like defense, on trade, on energy, on A.I., on all of these issues. Also people to people. You mentioned, the freedoms are difficult. What we want
to do, for instance, is include Canada in Erasmus+, give our young people the possibility to study in Canada and vice versa.
So we are really moving far. We are moving fast. We want to get this done as quickly as possible.
QUEST: Right.
CREMER: And I think many other countries will have a look at that.
QUEST: Right.
CREMER: And that might be to the benefit of them all.
QUEST: I'm grateful to you, sir. Thank you.
Ghana is aiming to boost exports to the United States with more entrepreneurs setting their sights on the American market. It's "Africa
Inc." and our series where Adefemi Akinsanya profiles one of the businesses seizing on this opportunity, making its mark at a premier wholesale
marketplace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADEFEMI AKINSANYA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Retailers and buyers gathered at the NY NOW trade show in early August, all hoping to
walk away with a deal.
DOROTHY BELSHAW, CEO, NY NOW: NY NOW is a wholesale business-to-business trade show that focuses on the gift, lifestyle and home industries.
[16:45:07]
The show has a long history of international participation. For the last 10 plus years, Ghana has had a presence in the show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many buyers have you interacted so far?
AKINSANYA (voice-over): Ambrose Nsarkoh, deputy CEO of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, is making the rounds. He's greeting business owners
whose products met the criteria to represent Ghana at the show.
AMBROSE NSARKOH, DEPUTY CEO, GEPA: Our mandate is to help export the non- traditional products of which handicraft is one of them.
ENID DELA AKONKOR, FOUNDER, BLACK PEACOCK: The support we've received has been tremendous. Most of it has been with linking with the organizers of NY
NOW.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): Nsarkoh says the show has been profitable for GEPA. He says export revenues rose from more than $3 billion in 2024 to more than
$5 billion in 2025.
Lilly Eminsang is representing one of those Ghanaian handicraft companies, Tekura Designs. It's a furniture and contemporary decor brand.
LILY EMINSANG, U.S. PARTNER OF TEKURA: I am the U.S. partner for Tekura. What we're looking for is to be able to close deals with small, medium, and
large partners.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): As Eminsang meets with buyers in New York, more than 8,000 kilometers away in Accra, Tekura CEO Audrey Forson checks in
with the artisans who craft the company's products by hand.
AUDREY FORSON, CEO OF TEKURA: What we do is we make craft for export. We make customized furniture, bespoke furniture, and then we also do interior
design.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): The company says it exports to businesses in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
FORSON: So to get products from here, Ghana, to the U.S., for instance, there's a process we go through, and the first stage will be production
planning, and from there you go to quality control. From there you go to export documentation, and then from there you go to your freight
coordination. We send out catalogs of our samples, and they go through, and then they give you appeal, which is a purchase order, and based on that you
now start your production planning.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): And after the products are made, Forson says they are inspected, labeled, and shipped. Sometimes taking up to 10 weeks to
reach the U.S. and four weeks to reach Europe.
FORSON: We've been able to be consistent with our quality for 25 years. We've had amazing milestones working with top-level buyer companies, having
our products on movie sets, so that tells you that we have what it takes. We can do the work.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): But Tekura, which is trying to rebuild its global clientele, hasn't been without challenges.
FORSON: In 2023, we had a fire attack, so we've been set back, or we were set back for a couple of years.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): Despite that setback, the company says it is fully open for business and have opened a warehouse in the U.S. to make buying
easier for their customers.
EMINSANG: Now, with the convenience of the warehouse, partners can now come in and have a feel of the products, and then select what products they're
interested in. Secondly, also they're able to get the product shipped to them within days.
AKINSANYA (voice-over): With companies like Tekura strengthening their presence in the global furniture market, Nsarkoh's hopes might soon be
realized.
NSARKOH: Our success is to see the non-traditional Ghanian products on all the shelves of the U.S. supermarkets, U.S. shops, and all the shops around
the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:17]
QUEST: Moeve, one of Spain's biggest energy companies, has broken ground on what's set to become Europe's largest green hydrogen project. It's in
southern Spain and will produce hydrogen through electrolysis instead of sourcing it from natural gas. The development's implications for the
continent's energy security, the chief executive says green hydrogen is now competitive, but because of natural gas prices.
He's Maarten Wetselaar. He's the CEO of Moeve. He joins me from Seville.
Sir, thank you. Good to have you. But, you know, I always get confused when we're talking about hydrogen because it's an often promised, rarely
delivered and always expensive. So how are you going to get around it this time?
MAARTEN WETSELAAR, CEO, MOEVE: Well, thank you very much for the invitation to the show, Richard. Well, we promised it and we're delivering that. Right
now we're building that the largest plant in Europe's energy industry. So the first two points are dealt with. And we do see quite a lot of momentum
in the industry at the moment when it comes to green hydrogen and not only green hydrogen, but also sustainable biofuels are very promising source of
green molecules to address the two big crises that Europe has in the energy space.
One is the climate crisis and the other one is a crisis of energy security with the conflicts in Ukraine and Hormuz really asking some deep questions
about Europe's energy dependence on the rest of the world. Now, the cost of it is an important topic of course.
QUEST: The interesting thing about that cost, hydrogen has been a higher cost option. And I wonder, the idea and the concept of green hydrogen, can
you make it work?
WETSELAAR: Yes. It's a really good question. And when it comes to the cost, I would say, first of all, the cost of not having energy is a lot higher
than the cost of having expensive energy. As Europe found out in the Ukraine crisis when gas, natural gas and oil went through the roof and
European governments ended up spending 350 billion euros subsidizing imported fossil fuels in order to keep the cost of living under control in
Europe.
If they'd only spent half of that money on building green hydrogen and sustainable biofuels facilities in Europe, we would have a much smaller
problem today. Today, at today's natural gas prices and carbon prices in Europe, our green hydrogen is actually competitive. And what we know will
happen is that in Europe, the carbon price will go up because the continent is committed to fighting climate change.
QUEST: All right.
WETSELAAR: And the cost of green hydrogen will go down as we scale this industry. What will happen to the cost of natural gas? We don't know, but
it's not looking good at the moment.
QUEST: Sir, we will talk more when this project - in fact, in fact, I really think I've got to come down there and actually see it being built.
So at some point you and I will --
WETSELAAR: You're more than welcome.
QUEST: We'll get on the ground there. That's what it's all about. Go and see it for yourself.
Sir, I'm grateful for your time tonight.
WETSELAAR: Thank you so much for having me.
QUEST: Now, Etihad. Airlines are cutting more flights this year in response to higher fuel prices. We've already heard the CEO of Etihad Airways says
those prices keep him up at night, and he's warning that higher fuel costs could hit airfares next year.
[16:55:08]
Antonoaldo Neves spoke to Eleni Giokos about what Etihad and travelers may face.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONOALDO NEVES, GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ETIHAD AIRWAYS: My planes are full. The only thing I can see is if my planes are full today, if my
forward booking curve sales that I have to December to January to October and November are strong and they are. If you ask me if I have any concern
it's jet fuel. But that's on a bottom line perspective. It's more on my profitability, right?
So what I worry about the future is not about the conflict, about geopolitical tension, about customers willing to fly Etihad. What I worry
about the future is at this jet fuel level that we have today, if that takes too long, we may have -- we may see prices going up and that may
impact customers' willingness to fly. It's not happening in the U.S..
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How long can you absorb those costs for?
NEVES: We can't. Right? We can't. Something's got to give one day. And that's happening in the U.S..
GIOKOS: In six months? In one year?
NEVES: Maybe one year is a good number. One year, one year and a half.
GIOKOS: When does your hedge come to an end?
NEVES: So by mid next year.
GIOKOS: By mid next year.
NEVES: Maybe next year, we have a good head position to mid next year. So that's a great point. That's a really, really important point. And that's
what we need to think about, right, as we plan for next year. But the thing that we know for sure is that what we have right now is a constraint on the
refined product.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: And we'll have a "Profitable Moment" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment," I've got a dirty little secret to tell you. We are going to need fossil fuels for at least the next half
century. Well, one of our guests basically admitted, said that to us tonight. It is going to be a requirement for fossil fuels. But what was
interesting about what continental resources said is it's not about taking something off the table. It's about what else you put into it, which is why
tonight you heard about green energy from hydrocarbons.
You heard about the -- what's being done in Spain. You've heard about what's being done in the Middle East. The object of the exercise is to have
as many different ways and means of energy, so that no one bit can tip us over the edge. And that's the way the future is going to be.
And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in London with a very busy show. I'm delighted that you've been with us. Whatever
you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it's profitable. We'll be back with you tomorrow, do it all over again.
END
