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White House Says, Amazon's Plan to Display Tariff Costs for Consumers is Hostile and Political; CNN Poll Shows Americans Frustrated 100 Days into Trump Term; Carney Wins Canadian Election, Vows to Never Yield to Trump Threats. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 29, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, taking on Amazon. The White House slamming the company for reportedly making it clear how you will bear the brunt of President Trump's escalating tariffs.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Canada will, quote, never yield. That's the message from the elected Canadian prime minister to President Trump. What Mark Carney is now saying about how he will take on the U.S. after his election win.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin this hour with breaking news, the White House delivering a stunning rebuke of Amazon, accusing it of a hostile and political act. The reason, Amazon will reportedly soon show how much you are paying for President Trump's tariffs on anything you order. That jaw-dropping attack coming just minutes ago over at a White House briefing.

Amazon, of course, has donated large sums of money to the president's political funds, even shelling out $40 million for rights to a Melania Trump-produced documentary. And there's also breaking news this morning on the president's auto tariffs. We'll get to both of those stories very, very soon.

CNN's Alayna Trina is joining us now from the White House, along with our Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich, who's a in New York. Vanessa, what are you learning about this?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, in a full act of transparency reports are that Amazon is going to start posting the tariff price of what things are going to be costing everyday Americans. These are new reports. CNN reached out to Amazon to confirm that ourselves. But this exchange played out in the White House briefing room this morning when the secretary -- the White House press secretary was asked about this and what it meant for President Trump's tariff policies. Take a listen to this exchange.

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REPORTER: It was reported this morning that Amazon will soon display a little number next to the price of each product that shows how much the Trump tariffs are adding to the cost of each product. So, isn't that a perfect, crystal clear demonstration that it's the American consumer and not China, who is going to have to pay for these policies?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I will take this since I just got off the phone with the president about Amazon's announcement. This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. Why didn't Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years? And I would also add that it's not a surprise, because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: So, what the press secretary was saying there about why the Biden administration and Amazon did not post inflation prices, well, that happened because of COVID. What's happening now is self- imposed economic policy. And you have other companies doing this as well. Temu, this is a Chinese-owned brand, they're known for their affordable prices, Wolf, they're already posting what the tariff price increases would be. Amazon and Temu, both places that Americans shop at a lot, it is in the best interest of these companies to be transparent so that shoppers know exactly what they're paying for and then exactly what the tariff increase price is.

American consumers, it has been reported by economists that they're going to be pulling back on spending, so they're going to have a lot of choices of where to spend, these companies trying to put it out there for consumers to know exactly what is the president's policy and what are the prices. Wolf?

BLITZER: And, Alayna, you're over at the White House. The treasury secretary, Bessent, seems to confirm that the White House will ease off its auto tariffs for us carmakers. Tell us about that.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. It really looks like they're trying to soften the impact, Wolf, on some of the tariffs that automakers are facing, particularly, of course, foreign automakers who have already been imposed or hit with a 25 percent tariff on cars and parts coming into United States.

Essentially, what we've heard about this executive order that Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said the president is expected to sign today is that they wouldn't be charged on some of the other tariffs that could be impacting cars as well, such as steel and aluminum tariffs.

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Listen to what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: President Trump has had meetings with both domestic and, excuse me, foreign auto producers, and he's committed to bringing back auto production to the U.S. So, we want to give the automakers a path to do that quickly, efficiently, and create as many jobs as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, essentially, as you heard it there, Wolf, they're trying to frame this as a way to try and support and motivate different automakers to bring their manufacturing to the United States. You also heard Bessent suggest that they would be looking into expensing for factories for different manufacturers who want to begin building in the United States, all to say this is, of course, something we're seeing the stock market respond in support too. And we also know the president is going to be in Michigan later today. You can expect him to tout this while they're really the heart of the automaker industry here in the United States.

BLITIZER: Yes, good point. Alayna Treene, thank you. Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks to you as well. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. As President Trump marks his 100 days into a second term, there's new CNN polling that shows one of the biggest challenges is Americans' grim view of where the country and the economy are heading.

BLITZER: Our Senior Political Analyst Mark Preston is here with us in The Situation Room. Mark, how are American attitudes reflected in this latest new CNN polling?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, Wolf, it's real interesting a hundred days in right now, and we've asked people, you know, what are your feelings about the rest of President Trump's term seeing that we've gotten through the first 100 days? You look at these numbers right here, very disturbing right now for Trump, because they're not good. It's 57 percent say that they are pessimistic or afraid. Only 43 percent say they're enthusiastic. Although I'd still say 43 percent is pretty good given the economic situation we are in right now.

Let us zero in on this one poll number right there on afraid. Let's look at this number right here, folks who are afraid of the rest of his second term. Can you imagine that? Back in December, it was 29 percent. Right now, that has grown to 41 percent. You know why that's grown? That's grown because Donald Trump has efficiently gone right into the federal government and has dissected it with real speed and efficiency.

So, overall, now, Wolf, when we are talking about the economy, and Pamela, where are people right now? Well, of course, they're not that happy, 66 percent. Two thirds of Americans right now are not happy about it. 34 percent are enthusiastic and optimistic. But this is what concerns me the most, is this number right here is a recession likely in the next year, seven in ten, nearly seven in ten people think that a recession could actually happen. My big concern is we should not will our self into a recession, which very well could happen.

BLITZER: All right. Mark Preston, thank you very much, very important numbers, indeed.

BROWN: Yes, because we know sometimes it you're feeling toward the economy impacts how you're spending and that kind of thing, and so it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy at the least.

I want to bring in someone who worked in the first Trump administration. Joining us now is Donald Trump's former national security adviser and former U.N. ambassador, John Bolton. Ambassador, thanks for your time.

So, you just saw the new CNN polling, 57 percent of Americans are pessimistic or even afraid about the rest of Trump's presidency, but, overall, 86 percent of Republicans still approve of his presidency. How do you explain that broad support from your party?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: Well, I think, obviously, the vast majority of Republicans voted for Trump and it's only six months past the election, they're still giving him time. I think that number will come down substantially. And I think there are a lot of Republicans who are particularly concerned about the economy. And it really isn't a question just of what the individual decisions are, although that will be reflected in consumer spending, but in what businesses is trying to do in the midst of all this uncertainty.

And I think the overwhelming report you get back from businesses large and small is that until the situation clarifies, they're withholding, making new capital commitments, new products new innovations, new hiring. And the more people who put those decisions on pause, the more likely you are to get a recession or a decline in the economy and that will really bring Trump's numbers down.

BROWN: So, you've obviously been very critical of your former boss. Is there anything President Trump has done though in his first 100 days this time around, that you support?

BOLTON: Well, I think he has, again, effectively closed the border with Mexico to illegal immigrants. It was closed at the end of his first term but opened again in the Biden administration because they essentially told the world we were, that they were reversing Trump's policies. It turns out deterrence works. If you're a potential illegal immigrant from South America or Central America or anywhere in the world, frankly, and you're told you're going to get to the Rio Grande River and not be able to get in, sensible people will just stay home.

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They could have left it that way. And I think that's something Trump can point to. It's been much less successful on virtually every other front though.

BROWN: Well, let's talk about one of President Trump's priorities, and that has been to broker the end of Russia's war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is unilaterally declaring this three- day ceasefire. Both Ukraine and the US, as you know, were calling for a longer truce. Do you think Putin is really interested in peace here? BOLTON: I think he's interested in peace on his terms, and I think that the momentum on the battlefield, he believes, although slow is going in his direction. I don't think he feels that Trump is a problem for him. I think he's got to be careful in that regard. But Trump has given him major concessions already. And if Putin doesn't mess that up, he's headed for substantial gains in Ukraine.

It's a huge tragedy, I think Trump's reversal effectively of American policy on Ukraine will go down as a real mark of shame.

BROWN: Why do you think that he has made these concessions to Putin and he has, overall, when you look at the rhetoric, been so much harsher on Zelenskyy than Putin?

BOLTON: Well, I think it's actually very straightforward. It has nothing to do with policy. It has nothing to do with American national security. It has to do with the way Trump looks at the world. He himself has said publicly that he thinks if he has good personal relations with a foreign head of state, then the United States has good relations with that country. He thinks he and Vladimir Putin are friends.

Now, I will say, I don't think that's how Putin views Trump, but that's how Trump views Putin. On the other extreme, he's never had a good relationship with the Volodymyr Zelenskyy dating back to the famous, perfect telephone call in the summer of 2019. And I don't think he likes Zelenskyy and he thinks Ukraine tried to defeat him in the 2016 and 2020 elections. And so he wants to have good relations with his friend and he doesn't much care about Zelenskyy.

I think it all points in that direction. This is personal for Trump. This has nothing to do with a careful analysis of the pros and cons for America of supporting the Ukraine side and the war, which we've been doing since Russia's unprovoked invasion in February of 2022.

BROWN: And Trump has conceded that, look, maybe Vladimir Putin is sort of dragging him along. Do you think that that indicates that this could be a turning point, that acknowledgement?

BOLTON: No, I don't think so. I think he's stating the obvious. He does every once in a while. But it also has been said by Trump and by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others that if progress isn't made in the ceasefire effort, that Trump might walk away from it. He obviously has failed to bring peace in 24 hours, as he said during the campaign, he's failed to bring it in the first a hundred days, he's really not even close to it at this point. And he has plenty of other problems to occupy his attention. I think he could well turn away because he just doesn't like dwelling on something that looks and, in fact, is failure on his administration's part.

BROWN: He also has Iran. The administration is engaged with talks with Iran over its nuclear program with the fourth round of talks expected this weekend. Do you believe the Iranians are negotiating in good faith here?

BOLTON: Certainly not. The Iranians desperately need time. They have seen in the past year-and-a-half since Hamas attacked Israel on October the 7th, 2023, they've seen Hamas pounded, they've seen their terrorist proxy, Hezbollah pounded. They've seen their ally, Assad, to see his regime fall in Syria. The Houthis are being pounded today in Yemen by the United States. The Shia militia in Iraq have been hit. Iran itself has seen its ballistic missile production facilities essentially destroyed by Israel. They're scared that Israel is about to destroy their nuclear program. They'd be happy to talk to Trump for as long as possible to avoid facing what Israel may be prepared to do.

There is zero evidence and there never has been evidence for the past 25 years that Iran has made any strategic decision other than to acquire deliverable nuclear weapons. That was their objective 25 years ago. It's their objective today.

BROWN: I quickly want to ask you before we go about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. You know that there are now at least two instances of him using the commercial app, Signal, to discuss sensitive military info. Trump tells The Atlantic that he believes Hegseth will get it together. Do you believe Hegseth should still be on the job?

BOLTON: No, I think he should resign for his own safety sake, if nothing else. This is a critical time for the American military.

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We understand the Trump administration will rightly propose enormous budget increases for defense. We need it. We need a secretary who can get the job done, not somebody who spends his time on Signal chat groups.

BROWN: And just as someone who is a national security expert, the fact that it was happening on his personal cell phone, how much does that concern you knowing that foreign adversaries often target top level national security officials to get into their phones and put in spyware?

BOLTON: Yes. I almost never used my personal phone when I was a national security adviser. I mean, the breaches of security at risk in this conduct are enormous. And I think that's one reason why he shouldn't be in the job.

BROWN: Ambassador John Bolton, thank you very much.

BOLTON: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: And still ahead, Canada says it will, quote, never yield. That's the message from newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney as he takes direct aim at President Trump.

BLITZER: And then later, it's game time. House Speaker Mike Johnson says he's ready to work on President Trump's big, beautiful bill. But where will lawmakers find $1.5 trillion to trim from the nation's budget?

You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowing to take on President Trump and his threat to annex Canada. Carney addressed Trump head on in his victory speech after winning the election. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country, never.

When I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Carney's Liberal Party was running a distant second in poll before Trump began saying he wanted to annex Canada and before Justin Trudeau stepped down as prime minister. But the liberals likely will have to govern without a majority in Canada's parliament, and that will require Carney to build a coalition with opposition parties.

Joining us now, Pamela, is Jean Charest.

BROWN: Yes. He's a former deputy prime minister of Canada under the Conservative Party and the former Premier of Quebec. Thank you for being here.

So, how much of this vote was about Canadians sending a clear message to President Trump?

JEAN CHAREST, FORMER QUEBEC PREMIER: It was the main issue in the election campaign and Trump was front and center. And so when Canadians went to the ballot yesterday, this was very much the ballot question, not the only one. There's the whole question of the future of the country, which Trump -- President Trump has also contributed to, by shedding light on the fact that Canada has to change its economy, we have to modernize our economy, we have to change the way our federal system works, we have to look at our position in the world. So, at that, also part of the mandate that Prime Minister Carney now has.

But, quite clearly, he's resolved the issue of who's going to govern. It's a minority government. The lifespan of a minority government is somewhere between 18 months and 2 years. He'll have to work with his opposition parties. And that will be factored into the negotiations with the American administration because this means that Mark Carney's going to have to deal with the opposition parties that will have their own priorities. It'll make things maybe a little more complicated, but actually probably better in terms of getting a Canadian consensus.

BLITZER: You said recently, Premier, that Canada's relationship with the United States must be one of equals without subordination. How do you achieve that with an American president who publicly and frequently says he wants to annex Canada, make it the U.S.'s 51st state?

CHAREST: We've noticed, Wolf, that President Trump hasn't followed on that statement, and it's still intriguing for us on why he insists on returning to saying that when, in fact, we are an independent, sovereign nation. We're friends, by the way. It's not as over we're a hostile neighbor. It's exactly the contract.

I mean, there are no two countries in the world that have historically a better relationship than we do. We're friends, we're allies. So why does he say that? I'm not sure why. But also we noticed that he is not followed very much on this. There's not a lot of other people coming behind him saying, boy, I think this is a good idea.

And where I think it does create an effect is that for Canadians, this has the impact of mobilizing Canadians behind the Prime Minister and creating a backlash against the American administration, which is unnecessary, frankly. We should get down to the business now of negotiating a trade agreement that's in everyone's interest, including the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

BROWN: But just to follow up on that, do you take him seriously? Do you take him at his word when he says he wants to make Canada the 51st state?

CHAREST: We do. We do. You know, what we hear -- I'll tell you what we hear. Because, you know, in life, there's things we say and there's things that people hear. What we hear it's as though President Trump is saying, you do not exist. And that's very disturbing for Canadians. It explains why tourism is going down. It explains why there's this backlash.

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All of this is unnecessary.

So, the sooner we can get down to the business of negotiating a trade agreement and working out the broader relationship on -- there's real security issues. There's issues of sovereignty in the north. And, you know, we -- for example, you know, President Trump about the 2 percent spending of GDP within NATO on defense is right. We don't -- you know, we're not saying that he's wrong on everything. These are issues on which we are committed in working together with our American neighbor. We have a defense agreement called NORAD that's unique in the world. These are the things that really count and that we should be focusing on to build our relationship.

BLITZER: Canada, as you know, Premier, is a major supplier of both oil and electricity to the U.S. The premier of Ontario already threatened to cut his supply of electricity to the northeast here in the United States before he walked it back. Is this one area where Canada has some leverage over the United States?

CHAREST: Well, let's return to the language that President Trump has used about who has cards and where they are. And one of the mistakes would be to view the relationship as just being one of the bigger country, ten times bigger and smaller, when, in fact, from a strategic perspective on energy, oil, gas, hydroelectricity, uranium, strategic minerals, potash, which is the main fertilizer used for Canadian -- American farmers, and we supply 80 percent of it. These are all strategic minerals or things that the Americans need to be able to make their economy function better.

So, this is -- you know, Canadians have cards to play, but, frankly, what we do want is a cooperative relationship so that we can do things together, build things together. And then probably if we were to get that right, Wolf, if we had a North American solid trade relationship, we would be in a pretty solid position to face the rest of the world. Then that includes China, it includes every other country in the world that deals or trades with North America.

BROWN: Just, you know, Carney had said before the election last night that the relationship between the United States and Canada, as we've known it, is over. Do you think that he can repair that relationship and bring back what was once the, you know, close alliance and friendship between the two countries?

CHAREST: Well, the Prime Minister quite clearly said that the relationship has changed forever. I think that's what you have to understand from this. We're never going to return to what it was before because of the change in approach by our American neighbor. And, by the way, as we think this through, even when the administration will be at the end of its mandate, we assume the relationship will have changed.

And in that respect, this means that Canadians have to have a very hard look at themselves on how we operate our economy to be more efficient, more effective, more competitive, how we get big projects done, how we operate our federal system of government, what position we have in the world. I mean, that is a part of what Prime Minister Carney is saying when he says our relationship has changed forever in the United States. It means we have to look around us and the rest of the world on how we renew our presence and make it count for ourselves and count for the rest of the international community.

BLITZER: Jean Charest, thank you so much for joining us.

CHAREST: Thank you, Wolf. Bye-bye.

BROWN: Up next new CNN reporting on the deal the Trump administration made with El Salvador to send migrants to their mega prison,

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