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Market Open as Investors Wait for Tariffs; Sen. Ed Markey (D- MA) is Interviewed about Tariffs; Read's Murder Retrial Begins; TikTok Running Out of Time. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:32:45]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking moments ago, the opening bell on Wall Street. Stocks starting the day, as we see, starting down. They've been - as investors are waiting - have been waiting for a day that they have been preparing for six weeks now. Liberation day in the six weeks since President Trump set this arbitrary deadline to impose sweeping global tariffs. It is still not clear in these six weeks what's coming and which countries will be impacted. Hence, the uncertainty that is impacting the markets.

Matt, tell us more.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, well, look, Wall Street is very much on edge and very much in the dark about what's going to happen next in this trade war. So, you see markets opening I would say modestly lower. All things considered, these losses could be even steeper. This comes after a very turbulent day yesterday. We saw the Dow swing in about 1,000-point range. It ended up being the worst quarter for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq since 2022.

This is a chart of the Nasdaq for the last six months. And look at this. I mean it's really gone almost straight down the last few weeks, trading well below both Inauguration Day and Election Day.

Now, look, investors, obviously, should not be shocked that President Trump is aggressively using tariffs, right? You and I have talked about tariffs for months.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EGAN: He promised to use tariffs. I think that investors and CEOs are a little bit alarmed by just how aggressively he's using tariffs. And this week, really tomorrow, is shaping up to be the biggest for this trade war so far. We're expecting a whole lot of announcements tomorrow. Liberation day.

BOLDUAN: But, honestly, who knows?

EGAN: Right.

BOLDUAN: But, who knows, because he's imposed, he's taken back, he's given exemptions, he's - I mean -

EGAN: Yes, I - the only thing I feel reasonably good about is that something tariff related is going to be announced tomorrow from the Rose Garden.

BOLDUAN: Something's coming.

EGAN: From the Rose Garden.

BOLDUAN: Something's coming.

EGAN: But look, the liberation day, that's the big thing. But also, expanded tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Tariffs on any country that buys oil from Venezuela. That's supposed to be coming tomorrow. And then also the auto tariffs are supposed to kick in on Thursday.

The big thing that investors are craving, really desperate for clarity on are these liberation day tariffs, right? And we just don't know. We don't know how high tariffs are going on which countries, on what products, for how long. In fact, CNN's Kevin Liptak reported that even Trump's advisers are in the dark about what those tariffs are going to look like, which is pretty incredible when you think about it.

[09:35:07]

But one thing that has been floated is potentially a 20 percent tariff on most U.S. imports. Now, that would be massive.

I just talked to Mark Zandi over at Moody's, and he told me that would be a worst case scenario. If you have 20 percent tariffs on most U.S. imports and other countries retaliate, he said, that's the kind of thing that you could get a serious recession out of. You could have millions of jobs lost. And he also said, that's why he doesn't think that's actually going to happen, because the economic damage would be so severe. And Zandi pointed out that, look, the president has a history of making threats and then walking them back. And so, we just have to wait and see what those announcements are. And until we get clarity, I think we're going to see markets continue to bounce around.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Thank you, Matt.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Senator, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): Great to be with you.

BERMAN: Do you know what tariffs the president is going to announce tomorrow? And do you think the president knows what new tariffs he's going to announce tomorrow? MARKEY: I think the president is making it up as he's going along. I

don't think he knows. But when he calls it liberation day, it could be obliteration day if he doesn't act in a way that invokes the law of unintended consequences. So, just for New England, just for Massachusetts, it would be $1 billion in higher oil prices for the state of Massachusetts. That's what our governor said yesterday.

So, if he wants to target protecting the auto industry, he should say that. But to have an all-out war with Canada, with every country in the world who was a major trading partner, that could have catastrophic economic consequences for our country, for our economy, and for workers all across our nation.

BERMAN: Do you think that they may be floating the idea of these 20 percent worldwide tariffs so that they cannot do it and take a position and the markets will say, oh, at least he didn't do the worst case scenario, more moderate?

MARKEY: Again, I think he's making it up. If he is planning on just faking out the Europeans or the Canadians, they should know what it is that they're going to be forced to negotiate on. I think right now their - the administration is flying blind, but so isn't all the other countries in the world that will be impacted by this. And again, we're going to have workers all across our nation who are wondering whether or not they are going to become collateral damage in terms of their employment if their industries are then hit by Canada, hit by European nations, because of this - this thoughtless or unguided tariff mission that they're - that the president is taking our nation on.

BERMAN: Senator, Harvard University, of course, is central to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The president and the White House threatening to withhold some $9 billion in funding because it's not satisfied with the efforts that Harvard has taken to fight anti- Semitism.

Are you satisfied yourself with the efforts that Harvard has taken to fight anti-Semitism?

MARKEY: Look, anti-Semitism is wrong. Anti-Semitism must be fought. Anti-Semitism is something that we cannot tolerate in our nation. But authoritarianism is not the answer to anti-Semitism.

Harvard University has hundreds, thousands of scientists working on finding the cure for Alzheimer's, for cancer, for diabetes, for Parkinson's disease. If the plan of this administration is to just absolutely wipe out the research that we are doing all across our country, especially at our universities that have drawn the smartest young people in our country and around the world to find the cure for these diseases and do so in an authoritarian way that it is going to ultimately wind up very bad for our country. It is going to be a return to McCarthyism in the 1930s. We know that Roy Cohn was the mentor for Donald Trump, as he was for McCarthy, as he was for Nixon. And all we're seeing right now is just Roy Cohn once again insinuating himself into the brain of a very powerful person in our country, now Donald Trump, and it's going to turn out very poorly for our nation. BERMAN: You have been outspoken in your opposition to the TikTok ban

that was passed by both houses of Congress, sizable majorities in both houses of Congress, and signed into law by President Biden.

[09:40:04]

You were opposed to it. President Trump delayed that ban. That delay is about to expire in a few days. If no deal is reached, as is required by the language of the law, do you feel that legally the ban on TikTok must go into place?

MARKEY: Well, I feel that there should be an extension of the time which it will take in order to negotiate a resolution of this issue. I have a piece of legislation which would extend the time for negotiation out to October. One hundred and seventy million people are on TikTok. Seven million businesses in our nation are dependent almost exclusively upon TikTok for their revenue stream. So, we need to find the time to balance, yes, the national security issues, but at the same time ensure that TikTok is allowed to be out there as a huge economic engine within our society.

We can find that balance. If we need more time, my legislation can pass, or the president, although I doubt its legality, could extend even further the time it's going to take in order to find a negotiated settlement to this issue.

BERMAN: Yes, and that last point was what I was getting at there. Without new legislation, not certain that there is the legal avenue to extend it, but we'll see.

Senator Ed Markey from the commonwealth, thank you so much for being with us this morning,

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, John.

We're giving you a live look right now as a high-profile murder retrial is getting underway. The judge speaking to the court there. Karen Reed is facing a jury again over the death of her police officer boyfriend in a case that divided a town and had the nation talking. That story, ahead.

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[09:46:11]

SIDNER: In Massachusetts this hour, jury selection begins in the murder retrial of Karen Reed. Let's go to some live pictures from the courtroom where the judge has been speaking to the court. Reed, of course, as you well know, is accused of striking her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, with her vehicle in 2022 and leaving him to die. The first case ended in a mistrial. That happened just last year, and there was a hung jury. Reed has pleaded not guilty.

CNN's Jean Casarez is with me now. This case really divided a town, but the entire nation was sort of

wrapped up in like - what happened here. And everyone has their side in this case. But the most important thing is that the jury is going to see all of this all over again. It is a bit of a made for TV scenario with everyone kind of taking sides.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Its' true. And a life was lost.

SIDNER: Yes.

CASAREZ: I mean, the former Boston police officer, he was current at the time, but - but he's deceased.

But what you're saying right there are the polarization of the two sides. And now you have to pick a jury. And the judge has said, that's Judge Beverly Cannon. She's talking right now. Those are the introductory remarks that she's giving to the potential jurors. Almost 300 every day are going to be brought in because they know it's going to be tough to get a jury. She says, it's going to take a very long time to get a jury. But after these remarks, they have a jury questionnaire they have to fill out. And it's everything. But it's, you know, what do you know about this case?

SIDNER: Right.

CASAREZ: And they want people to write down a narrative of what they know. Can you be fair and impartial? Have you heard so much that you can't be on this jury? But here's the thing. There's so much polarization on both sides because people have their opinions already, right? And you've heard about a stealth juror, someone that wants so much to be on a case.

SIDNER: So, they don't -

CASAREZ: And it's for all the wrong reasons.

SIDNER: They don't reveal everything so that they can get onto the jury. It's -

CASAREZ: That's right. That's right.

But the facts are, they merge at one point and then they -

SIDNER: Diverge.

CASAREZ: They diverge.

SIDNER: Yes.

CASAREZ: But they both - they were out partying that night with friends. They go to a home for an after party. And that's where the facts diverge because Karen Reed says that her boyfriend got out of the car and she said on a brand new documentary that's on Max right now, you need to watch it, she speaks on the documentary. She said, this is me testifying. And she said, I watched him go in the house. And Hank Brennan, brand new special prosecutor that's going to be on board. He represented Whitey Bulger. He was his lead attorney. He stood up in court last week and he said, your honor, we'd never heard that before, that she watched him go into the house. So, we've got more things we're going to want to put into this case because everyone in the home said he never went in the house. So, the question is, did she hit him with her car or was there a terrible fight that happened with all of his friends in the house that were all police officers but their families, their wives, their children, and that he was killed at the hand of a fellow police officer and then a dog named Chloe mauled him on his arm to finish him off. And then they threw him out in the - in the front lawn. And it's terrible because his family has to endure this a second time.

SIDNER: Right. Right. It's excruciating for the family to have to endure this a second time. But everyone is going to be talking about this.

Thank you so much, Jean Casarez. We will certainly have you back as this case goes on.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, TikTok is up against a new deadline this weekend. Why President Trump says he is pretty certain a deal will be reached.

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[09:54:10]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, I was just talking about it with Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts. I was.

SIDNER: You were.

BERMAN: And it wasn't funny. It's very serious.

BOLDUAN: Right. Sara.

SIDNER: Sorry.

BERMAN: TikTok could be banned in the United States if it does not find a buyer within the next few days.

CNN's Clare Duffy is here to explain it to all of us.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, look, what we know is that both President Trump and Vice President Vance have said there is likely to be a deal by this April 5th deadline. We know there are a number of interested parties who have said they are willing to acquire TikTok, but we don't know whether this deal that they've promised is going to be signed, sealed and delivered by Saturday, or if they're just going to be outlining a deal that they hope to make.

We also know that ByteDance and the Chinese government have given little public indication that they are willing to make a deal here, which is essential to this process. And Trump is now offering to sweeten the deal by potentially lowering tariffs on imports from China as part of a TikTok sale.

[09:55:03]

Here's what he said on that yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One point in tariffs with China, a big country, would be probably worth more than all of TikTok, as valuable as TikTok is. It's big stuff. So there's a great example. That's a great question, actually. I'm a very flexible person. I could use that for that. Like, maybe I'll take a couple of points off if I get approvals for something. I haven't done it. Maybe I'll do it. Maybe I won't. But it's a very good question.

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DUFFY: And, look, on one hand, he sounds very certain that this deal is going to happen. But on the other, you have to wonder if he is still looking for leverage in the form of a potential tariff deal. How close are we really to this deal happening by Saturday?

BERMAN: And could it go dark very quickly?

DUFFY: It could, although Trump has said he could extend the deadline if the deal is not reached. And I think that's likely to happen because he has proven that he cares a lot about this platform remaining.

SIDNER: Four days left. We will see what happens. A lot of people rely on it for their businesses as well.

BERMAN: Clare, thanks so much.

SIDNER: Thank you, Clare.

BOLDUAN: And thank you all so much for joining us today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

BERMAN: No emotion.

SIDNER: So lovely.

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