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The Situation Room

UConn Wins NCAA Women's Basketball Championship; Interview With Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL); Trump Threatens More China Tariffs; Interview With Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired April 07, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

LEON PANETTA, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: So there's a lot on the plate here for these two leaders to discuss.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Yes. And, for Israel, it's critical right now.

Most of the Israeli exports to the United States, as you know, Mr. Secretary, are high-tech products, and Israel relies on those expects -- exports a great deal for its economy.

Let's get to this other sensitive issue. The president, as you know, has been pushing to try to get the remaining hostages out of Gaza. Do you think he could convince Prime Minister Netanyahu to sign onto another cease-fire with Hamas in order to try to get that going?

PANETTA: Well, it would make great sense to try to get these final hostages released, as opposed to having them lost in the war in some way.

So I think the world felt and I believe President Trump felt pretty good about the cease-fire that was put into place, and there were hostages released. But now that cease-fire has pretty much fallen apart.

And that, I think, will be the issue, whether or not there's a way to try to restore that cease-fire, get these hostages back, and try to put peace back on the right track.

BLITZER: Let's see if that happens. There's a lot on the agenda at this meeting over at the White House that's coming up.

As we continue to watch, Mr. Secretary, the fallout from President Trump's tariffs, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick laid out the national security case for the tariffs. I want you to listen to what he said. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Well, you have got to realize this is a national security issue. I mean, we don't make medicine in this country anymore. We don't make ships. We don't have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?

All our semiconductors are made overseas, so every button we press when we try to start our car or even use our microwave, these are all semiconductors. They're all made elsewhere. We have got to start to protect ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Mr. Secretary, does that argument make sense to you?

PANETTA: Well, I think it's an effort to try to somehow justify how these tariffs were put into place.

But, look, the reality is, the United States of America has always been the strongest military power on the face of the Earth. We have had a strong defense. We have had strong national security. And, obviously, there are some issues here that could help -- help improve our national security.

But I think the bigger problem I see right now is, frankly, the chaos and uncertainty associated with these tariffs. We don't know whether they're going to negotiate or not negotiate, whether they're going to pause or continue to put tariffs in place.

That creates a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the world. And, very frankly, it's that uncertainty that damages our national security.

BLITZER: And these tariffs, as you know, aren't just hitting random countries. They include major U.S. allies and military partners of the United States.

How much of a strain could all this put on some of these key relationships that the U.S. has worked for decades to strengthen?

PANETTA: Well, we have always had a strong relationship with the countries abroad since World War II.

We have built alliances. We have worked together. We have traded together. And now all of that, very, frankly, has been put at risk. And there's no question that right now it's very difficult to find any country in the world that truly trust the United States of America when it comes to trade.

BLITZER: Yes, even relations with the closest of allies like the United Kingdom and Canada, for that matter, very close allies, those relationships have been seriously strained right now.

Secretary Leon Panetta, thanks so much for joining us.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:38:30] BLITZER: All right, happening now: The Huskies need more room in their trophy case, UConn women's basketball winning a historic 12th national championship.

They were dominant in their 82-59 victory over South Carolina Sunday in Tampa.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: CNN sports analyst and "USA Today" columnist Christine Brennan joins us now.

Christine, let's unpack this historic win that we witnessed with UConn.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: I tell you, this is the most -- the greatest time in women's sports, right, the most competitive, the most parity. We care about our daughters' sports in a way that we didn't generations ago.

And for UConn to do this nine years after they won the last one and the 12th, 12 title for UConn, coach Geno Auriemma, for Paige Bueckers, for Azzi Fudd, who was, of course, the MVP coming back from injuries, Paige Bueckers has had terrible knee injuries, to see UConn rise again to the top, it's not easy to do that when you have the South Carolinas and the Stanfords and the Iowas coming, everyone kind of coming to the -- bubbling to the surface.

So, a remarkable achievement for UConn, and they were so dominant. In many ways, it's unfortunate, because you would hope that the game would be a really close game, women's sports still needing eyeballs, still needing coverage.

But it was -- it really told us the best team in the country, and that was in fact UConn, of course, in this game.

BLITZER: And let's not forget, happening tonight on the men's side, Florida and Houston take the floor for the men's final in San Antonio.

How evenly matched are they?

BRENNAN: I think they're very evenly matched, Wolf.

[11:40:00]

And that Duke victory over Houston, when Duke was ahead by 14 points with 8.5 minutes to go, and Houston came roaring back, we saw that withering defense that Houston has. And defense wins games, as you know well as a huge basketball fan, Wolf. And that's how Houston was able to come back.

So, they are riding this wave of upsetting the favorite, Duke. On the other hand, Florida, from the Southeastern Conference, they had 14 men's teams that did make it to the tournament, the last one standing, the Florida Gators, and they beat the number one seed overall, Auburn, so a match of two titans, the perfect two teams to be in the final.

BLITZER: I watched the every minute of that game, and I watched the women's game as well. And all of these games are really exciting and terrific to watch.

BRENNAN: Yes.

BLITZER: Christine Brennan, thank you very, very much.

BRENNAN: My pleasure. Thank you.

BLITZER: And we will be right back.

BROWN: And, by the way, he had the -- his bracket, he nailed all four for the Final Four.

BLITZER: Well, I had Duke...

BROWN: Duke clearly didn't, but...

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: ... but, unfortunately, didn't happen.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: But, still, you got the four.

BRENNAN: There you go.

BROWN: So you got to give some credit where credit's due. All right.

BLITZER: Yes, I had the Final Four.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And I had Duke going on to win and win, but they didn't do that.

BROWN: Well...

BRENNAN: You and many others.

BLITZER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Fortunately. All right, thanks.

We will be right back.

BRENNAN: Sure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:05]

BROWN: We are following the breaking news of President Trump threatening to slap China with additional tariffs.

Let's go live to CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

So, Kevin, what is the president saying about this potential escalation here?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes.

And it's a major escalation in this tit for tat tariff war between Washington and Beijing. Remember, Pam, last week, President Trump applied that 35 percent reciprocal tariff on China. China retaliated, applying its own 34 percent tariff on the United States.

Now President Trump saying this: "If China does not withdraw its 34 percent increase above their already long-term trading abuses by tomorrow, April the 8th, the United States will impose additional tariffs on China of 50 percent effective April 9."

He goes on to say that: "Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated."

And I just want to break down the math for you here, Pamela, because, remember, President Trump had already applied a 20 percent tariff on China for its role in the fentanyl crisis. He applied that 34 percent reciprocal tariff last week. That goes into effect later this week. Now he's threatening this additional 50 percent retaliatory tariff on China, this tit for tat, back and forth.

That would bring the total tariffs on China by the United States to a 104 percent, which is a huge number, China the world's second largest economy, one of the United States' largest trading partners. This could have a serious effect for American consumers, given the amount of goods that come into the United States.

And I think, just as we have seen today, the market's clearly looking for some kind of off-ramp here, for some kind of easing on the part of the president. This shows that the president is very much committed to this tariff plan, exactly not what the markets were looking for, Pamela.

BROWN: Yes. No, you're absolutely right.

And the White House has been talking about how all these countries from the 50 countries have come and reached out to the president, wanting to negotiate. But the White House is also sending these mixed messages on whether the president is willing to negotiate.

Where do things stand on that front?

LIPTAK: Yes, it seems to be this, that the president is willing to talk to these countries about potential trade deals, but that the bar will be very high for him to lift these tariffs.

That seems to be the combination of what you're hearing from White House advisers today. We do know this morning that the president spoke to the prime minister of Japan, that country looking to ease up some of the tariffs on them, saying that they will be sending a high-level delegation to the United States to talk about trade. The president will also discuss this with the prime minister of

Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, later today. He imposed a 17 percent tariff on Israel last week. But, in a way, that's a cautionary tale. Remember, Netanyahu lifted customs duties on U.S. imports to Israel, but the president went ahead with that tariff anyway, Pam.

BROWN: Yes, exactly. That's absolutely right.

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Pamela, I want to get some more of the breaking news right now.

Joining us, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, what do you make of the president's decision to escalate his trade war once again? Do you see any chance for an off-ramp before this gets a whole lot worse?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): I don't see it coming from the president of the United States.

You talk about a very strange world we live in. I'm, what, a liberal Democrat from Chicago agreeing with headlines from "The Wall Street Journal," the dumbest trade war in history. I'm very concerned, as are my constituents, with extraordinary cost increases, a recession, and the volatility in the markets that create uncertainty and great economic peril for our country.

I think the bigger concern right now is, it's part of a larger issue, where this country, the president thinks that we can stand alone, 4 percent of the world's population. We're going to be less secure financially, and we're going to be more vulnerable in every other way from threats from across the seas.

[11:50:17]

BLITZER: Congressman, if the president doesn't back off his trade war and all these tariffs, how likely is it that the U.S. and indeed the global economy will plunge into a recession?

QUIGLEY: Look, this is the great unknown.

There are economists by the score talking about that threat. And, as you know, perceptions create reality. You have very nervous investors. And if they all understand that this is the threat that's being talked about by experts, you have to ask yourself, should the markets remain open and how much can they fail?

The world's interconnected. And the reality of the situation is, by now upgrading this and escalating the war, it's not going to feed anybody's ability to try to calm investors down at a very risky time.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, President Trump has compared his tariffs to taking medicine.

If this trade war is able to bring at least some American manufacturing jobs back to the United States, will that be worth some short-term disruption to the U.S. economy?

QUIGLEY: Well, certainly, it won't be short-term.

And let's talk about that. No one's going to build factories of this level to this extent. First, we don't make all these things. We don't have all these metal. We don't grow all these products. We don't have the technology and the surface capabilities to do all these things. The world's interconnected.

We are locked in with them and absolutely need these things. But even if it was going to do that, it would take 10, 12, 20 years to do it. And a lot of those investors are going to say, oh, wait a minute. What if Congress forces a change? What if the next administration in 3.5 years changes policy? We're not going to risk all this investment if we could lose it right away.

So it's far more likely that it's going to create that danger. And I do want to say, you have to couple this with the fact that we have told NATO that they're on their own, that we have gotten rid of soft power, USAID. We have abandoned helping Ukraine, I have real, real concerns about that in the future, at a critical time in the war.

We're basically telling them, we're not going to help any of you. We are safer when we have friends, that -- people who will help us in a conflict, who will share intel information with us. When you watch all this happening, you have to ask yourself, does our country have friends anymore? Who are they?

BLITZER: Do you see long-lasting damage to U.S. credibility, Congressman, even if President Trump backs away from his trade war?

QUIGLEY: So, why would they have any faith in us? Why would they have any trust in us? Combine it with everything else that's going on. This is a president that tomorrow could change his mind, go back and forth six months to a year.

Who would have the commitments to trust us in that vein? And, again, when you couple it with the foreign policy issues, the Department of Defense issues, the intel issues, the -- I remember President Biden coming to our caucus and saying, I'm telling these other world leaders that America is back. And he said that the response was: "Yes, but for how long?"

The world is watching our country whipsaw back and forth on broad policy issues. Beyond this president, why would they trust us two years from now, four years from now, when they see such polarization and such volatility? It's a great concern that the -- that President Trump started in his first term and we're living with now.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, there's currently a bipartisan effort in Congress, at least among some lawmakers, to take back congressional control over tariffs. What are you hearing from your Republican colleagues about that?

QUIGLEY: Look, it's the discussions we're having all the time. At what point do they draw the line? You know, these are their constituents who are going to be hurt in every sector of the economy.

And you're right. The Senate did pass a measure that would have the effect of pulling back the tariffs on Canada, passed the Senate. Will Speaker Johnson put it on the floor? I doubt it. But Ranking Member Meeks, a Democrat, has moved forward with a discharge petition, a procedural effort to put that bill on the floor.

Then you will see the answer to your question. How far will they go on the Republican side to be loyal to Trump over loyalty to country, the economy, and their own constituents?

[11:55:00]

BLITZER: We will find out.

Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

QUIGLEY: Yes. Sure. Take care.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: And thank you to everyone for joining us this morning. You can keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN.

We will see you back here tomorrow and every weekday morning for our expanded two-hour SITUATION ROOM at 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

BLITZER: "INSIDE POLITICS," today with Manu Raju, is coming up next right after a short break.