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Trump Says New Tariffs This Week Will Target All Countries; Trump Says, Not Joking About Running for a Third Term; Investigating Probe Fire at New Mexico GOP Headquarters. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 31, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Bracing for liberation day, the countdown is on for the president's massive tariff plan coming this week to hit every nation, not just those who singled out so far. The stock market already reacting.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, an arson investigation is underway after a fire at a state Republican headquarters.

And overnight, a once in a generation phenomenon for the first time since the Bush administration, all four number one seeds advance to the men's Final 4. What could possibly go wrong?

Sara is out today. I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: This could be the start of another rocky week on Wall Street. Global markets are on edge as President Trump prepares a major escalation in his trade war. And it's more than a few countries that he is targeting now. It's essentially the whole world. The president has threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs for more than six weeks now, and just last week he also promised a new 25 percent hike on all cars and car parts imported into the United States beginning Wednesday.

He has labeled this liberation day claiming it will free Americans from a dependence on foreign goods, but offering this vague clarity last night on what's coming and to where.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: How many countries will be in that initial tranche?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: You'd start with all countries. So, let's see what happens. There are many countries. I haven't heard a rumor about 15 countries, 10 or 15 countries.

REPORTER: So, you're starting with all countries?

TRUMP: Well, essentially, all of the countries that we're talking about, we'd be talking about all countries. Not a cutoff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Markets have been reacting since February when he first directed the Commerce Department to look into reciprocal tariffs and markets are bracing once again. Today, stock futures down across the board. Many economists have warned that Trump's tariffs will cause the price of pretty much everything to go up and will lead to Americans losing jobs.

The president this weekend said he, quote, couldn't care less if car prices go up because he believes it will lead to more people buying U.S.-made cars.

CNN's Kevin Liptak starting us off from the White House this morning. Kevin, what is the White House saying about this rollout this week?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Essentially, they're saying, wait and see, in part because the precise details of this plan that the president has been previewing for the last six weeks have not exactly been hammered out. The contours of these reciprocal tariffs are still the focus of some intense behind the scenes work two days before the president plans to announce them.

You know, the president just last night said that these tariffs could potentially be more generous than many people are expecting. But at the very same time, he has promised this dollar-for-dollar tariff plan that just last night, again, he said would affect essentially every country that does business with the United States.

And now the debate right now seems to be whether to apply these as individual rates on individual countries, essentially putting in place one tariff on imported goods that those countries place on American goods, or does the president go with some kind of universal tariff, perhaps as much as 20 percent on all U.S. trading partners. This is something that he promised to do a as a candidate.

What that would do is raise a lot of revenue for the United States that would, in part, offset some of these tax cuts that the president wants to put into place. We actually heard an eye-popping figure on that revenue just yesterday from one of the president's most hawkish trade advisers, Peter Navarro.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER NAVARRO, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR ON TRADE AND MANUFACTURING: We're going to raise about a hundred billion dollars with the auto sheriffs alone. What we're going to do is in the new tax bill that has to pass, it absolutely has to pass. We're going to provide tax benefits, tax credits, to the people who buy American cars. This is a genius thing that President Trump promised on the campaign trail. So, that's going to happen.

In addition, the other tariffs are going to raise about $600 billion a year, about $6 trillion over a ten-year period, and we're going to have tax cuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LIPTAK: So, $6 trillion, that's an enormous figure.

[07:05:01]

He didn't provide the exact math behind it. No matter what the president decides to do on Wednesday, most economists agree that those costs will be passed along to consumers

BOLDUAN: And also saying they're at the $6 trillion, that's over a period of ten years. So, that's saying the American people need to hold on for ten years to feel that.

It's good to see you, Kevin. Thank you so much for starting us off. John?

BERMAN: All right. Also, this morning, President Trump is stirring up controversy over something he said about his future plans for the White House, namely that he might not leave it after his current second term is up. The president told NBC News, quote, I'm not joking about pursuing a third term, but that it's far too early to think about it. And he added there are methods which you could do it. But are there?

So, this has to do with the 22nd and 12th amendments. Let's start with fan favor 22 at reason. In part, no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.

With us now, Elie Honing, CNN, senior legal analyst and drafter of the Constitution. Elie, nice to see you this morning.

The key word in that 22nd amendment that people who think there's a chance, they look at the word, elected. No person shall be elected to the presidency more than twice. What does that mean?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Right, John. So, welcome to this game of constitutional twister. So, people do focus on that word, elected.

Now, people who believe that this -- the 22nd Amendment means you cannot serve as president the third time point to the 12th Amendment. And the 12th Amendment tells us that anyone who's ineligible to be president cannot run for vice president, right? Because the end run around the 22nd Amendment is, okay, let's take Donald Trump for example. He can't be reelected president, but he could maybe run for vice president. Whoever runs for president could then resign and then Donald Trump could become president without being elected.

Again, though, you have to look back at the 12th Amendment, which says, anyone who can't serve as president cannot even run for vice president. So that's the common response to this 22nd Amendment argument.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, it is the 22nd and 12th, which might be in conflict. And there are people who say the 12th Amendment doesn't necessarily mean that you can't enter the race. It's something the Supreme Court would have to decide. And it's literally the scenario that President Trump was asked about yesterday. He was asked, could you be J.D. Vance's running mate in, you know, 2028 and then Vance drop out? And his response was, basically, that's one way and there are others. What other ways, Elie?

HONIG: Well, the most direct way would be to actually amend the Constitution, which we can do. We've done it 27 times, not since 1992, I should note. So, it's been 33 years since we've amended the Constitution. But it happens the way that would have to happen, and it's obviously not plausible in our current political environment, but you would need two thirds of a vote of the House of Representatives, two thirds of a vote of the Senate, and then three quarters of the states would have to ratify the amendment.

There's a close to 0.0 percent chance that any of those three scenarios would happen, but, in theory, the Constitution is a living, breathing, evolving document. It could be amended if there was enough political will. It's not there but it's, in theory, possible.

BERMAN: Yes. Again, what's most interesting about this, this comes up from time to time. People say, hey, could Barack Obama be someone's vice president? What's different this time is that you have a president not ruling it out. That's the first time that I can remember this happening.

Elie Honig, great to see you this morning. Thanks very much. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Coming up still for us, the race continues to locate survivors caught in the rubble after that massive earthquake in Southeast Asia. More than 1,700 people are confirmed dead so far in Myanmar. And officials fear that that normal number could still soar.

And President Trump says he is very angry with Vladimir Putin over ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine, Trump now even threatening to impose secondary tariffs or sanctions on Russia.

And a suspect caught on surveillance video smashing the windshield of a Tesla cybertruck and the note they left behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: This morning, a fire at the Republican Party State Headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico is under investigation. Party officials say that they believe it is a deliberate act of arson. They found the words they say that said ICE equals KKK spray painted on the building.

CNN's Josh Campbell is joining us now with much more on this. And, Josh, FBI, ATF, they are also now involved. What's the latest you're learning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. A serious incident the feds now involved as well as you mentioned, working with local officials to investigate this fire that happened early yesterday morning. First responders were dispatched around 6:00 A.M. The fire department, they said in a statement that the fire was brought under control within about five minutes of people there arriving. They said the structure suffered some damage to the front entryway and smoke damage throughout the building. They thankfully report that no injuries occurred to either any civilians or to any firefighters.

Now, in addition to the visible destruction there, the Republican Party said that the words ICE equals KKK were spray painted on the side of the building. That had obviously an apparent reference to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Now, the New Mexico Republican Party chairwoman came out very forcefully after condemning what she believed was an intentional attack. Have a listen.

[07:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY BARELA, CHAIRWOMAN, REPUBLICAN PARTY OF NEW MEXICO: We can stop the violence by saying this is not the way to fix our political system, or to represent every single one of the people that we are trying to fix the United States for, the state of New Mexico for. We can continue to argue and agree to disagree and work together on issues, to fix things rather than attack each other like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, Albuquerque's Democratic mayor issued a statement saying that we do not yet know the full details of the fire early this morning at the Republican Party headquarters. But he said, let me be clear, arson is a violent and cowardly act that has no place in our city. He said that politically motivated crimes of any kind are unacceptable, said he is grateful to the fire department for their swift response.

But, of course, this comes after we've been reporting on this wave of incidents at Tesla facilities, suspected arsons, vehicles set ablaze, buildings that have been vandalized. The FBI as well as the Department of Justice have made clear that they are treating those incidents as acts of domestic terrorism, which could result in serious federal charges.

This recent incident in New Mexico, still in the early stages of the investigation, but, again, we know that the FBI, ATF now working with officials to try to identify any possible perpetrators.

BOLDUAN: All right, Josh, much more to learn on this one. Thank you so much for your reporting this morning.

Still ahead for us, Elon Musk is taking his show on the road handing out million dollar checks over the weekend in Wisconsin. Why a State Supreme Court election there is now one of his top priorities.

And Dawn Staley and the South Carolina Gamecocks survive and upset scare and secure their spot in the Final 4 for a fifth consecutive season. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, they're number one, they're one. They're all number ones, the entire men's Final 4 made up of number one seeds. This is kind of rare.

Let's get to CNN's Coy Wire. Coy, you are number one.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Ah, no, that's you, baby. I'm 1 in 0.79. Hey, listen, only one other time in Final 4 hits, you have all four teams been number one seeds. That was in 2008. It was on the exact same dates as this year. It's April 5th and 7th, and it was in the exact same place, San Antonio. Two seed Michigan State facing top overall seed Auburn and Johni Broome, can't spell Broome without the boom, John, unstoppable force. Look at mom and dad loving it.

But then there was a scary moment for the star in the second half. He falls awkwardly, his left leg, his right arm, compromising position. Mom's in tears now and Broome would leave the game, but his Tigers held it down. About six minutes later, John, he's back in the arena like Maximus, crowd goes wild and with his very first shot back, big man three, bam. Are you not to entertained? Broome finishes with 25 points, 14 rebounds.

Auburn wins 70-64. They're on to just their second Final 4 in school history. They've got Sara Sidner's Florida next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRUCE PEARL, AUBURN TIGERS HEAD COACH: We've been a historic program in Michigan State, a team that gets the Elite 8 and never loses, okay? We got this guy right here, number four, best player in the country. He was absolutely the man on the inside. And it's about everybody, we all share. And how about the best fans in all college basketball? You know where we're going, Tracy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to the Final 4.

PEARL: To the Final 4, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: San Antonio, here they come.

Now, Houston spanked the ball right out of the Volunteers, leaving them with nothing but tears, a defensive master class by the Cougs. They held Tennessee to just 15 points in the first half, John, fewest allowed in any Elite 8 game half all times. Any hopes of a Tennessee comeback in the second were stomped by Emanuel Sharp, hitting a pair of triples with less than a minute apart. Houston wins 69-50. They've got Duke in the Final four.

How about Dawn Staley, South Carolina headed to their fifth straight Final 4. The defending champs went down to the wire with Duke. They're hanging onto a two-point lead, John, with less than ten seconds ago, and the Blue Devil's three point attempt fell short. So, 54-50 win for South Carolina. They are going on to the Final 4, which is in Tampa this year.

Now, the UCLA Bruins, this year's top overall seat, have advanced to their first Final 4 in school history. They beat Mighty LSU, the 2023 champs, 72-65. There are two more games today to determine the other half of that Final 4, Texas TCU and USC versus Yukon.

Let's check out that CNN Anchor Bracket Challenge, John. Jessica Dean, who this, beating everybody with 106 points, some bald dude has 96, John, 82, well done, sir, and predicting an Auburn-Duke final, still fighting. Kate Bolduan, 76, has Duke winning it all. So, look out. And I'm going to pick on Sara because she's not here. You have to scroll all the way down to the bottom, 56. But she does have her Gators winning it all. And if they do, she does not care where she finishes on that bracket, Berman.

BERMAN: I got to say Jessica Dean is like just annihilating everyone.

BOLDUAN: I know.

BERMAN: Yes.

WIRE: Don't come from my job.

BERMAN: There's no hope for any of us.

BOLDUAN: There's no hope for any of us. But I would like to say I did autocorrect on this and you actually did research. So, I think I should get some extra points.

BERMAN: Yes. You're waiting based on --

WIRE: I love that she calls it auto pick, yes. Auto Pick, we knew what you meant though.

BOLDUAN: It's definitely an autocorrect when it comes to me.

BERMAN: All right, Coy. Coy Wire, you, in fact, are number one with the Gladiator reference. Well done, my friend.

WIRE: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. This morning, car prices for Americans set to skyrocket as new tariffs going to effect. President Trump's response, quote, I couldn't care less.

And 170 million people under severe weather threats and at least six states under tornado watches as deadly storms tear across the country.

[07:24:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:29:44] BOLDUAN: President Trump has been threatening this day was coming for six weeks, and this week, liberation day, as he has deemed, it will arrive. Widespread reciprocal tariffs set to be announced, and that is on top of the new round of tariffs that he says he's also imposing this week on the auto industry.

The looming tariffs on imported cars and car parts could not only mean higher prices, but it could also mean layoffs.

[07:30:09]