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CNN This Morning
China Vows Retaliation; Deadly Storms Tear Across the Plains and South; Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) is Interviewed about Tariffs; Amazon Makes Offer for TikTok. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired April 03, 2025 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELIZABETH IRVING (singing): You see, by the dawn's early light.
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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Fans in Canada booing the U.S. national anthem. This was just hours after President Trump imposed new tariffs on Canada and many other countries.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING, because it's half past the hour and I want you to know what's happening here right now.
Stocks - stocks pointing downward. Sharply lower. Open today. U.S. futures all in the red right now as a global trade war escalates.
Also, things might get a little awkward this morning for the secretary of state, Marco Rubio. He's in Belgium, and is the first Trump cabinet member to meet face to face with NATO allies since those tariffs went into effect. But the main focus today is supposed to be security priorities and Ukraine.
And we're still watching those severe storms affecting millions of people overnight. And the threat isn't over yet. In Arkansas, multiple tornadoes were reported. In Tennessee, tornado warning for the city of Nashville that forced guests at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel to head to the basements. The storms in that state also left one person dead. A tornado watch in parts of Tennessee will remain in effect until the end of this hour.
And as we wake up this morning, Asia rolls out its response to President Trump's sweeping tariffs. More specifically, China vowing to take countermeasures. They're calling the whole thing a bullying from the United States. But what about the people in China? What are we hearing from them?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): China has been engaged in this trade war with the U.S. for quite some time now. So, tariffs are something we've grown accustomed to.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I will probably reduce my purchases of American products.
[06:35:02]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The focus now should be on how to boost domestic demand to counter these measures.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): But sometimes confrontation can be more effective than unity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining us now with more reaction, CNN's Marc Stewart in Beijing.
So, Marc, can you talk about what China might have working in its favor in this moment? How might they approach retaliation?
MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you what's interesting, Audie. We heard from an analyst today, and I think he raised the big question in all of this, who is going to fold first? Who's going to make this first move in this back and forth between the United States and China, but also the rest of the world? Because, look, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, they want to appear strong, not only on the world stage, but in front of their individual nations.
Now, China has vowed, as you mentioned, has vowed for retaliation. At this point, though, it has not laid out a concrete plan. In fact, today, when we heard the ministry of foreign affairs, a lot of talk about diplomacy, about having discussion. Perhaps China is waiting until these tariffs go into effect on April 9th before it unleashes its response, its retaliation. Because, as we talked about yesterday, it has a big toolbox. There are a lot of things it can do to hurt the United States. So, that's where things stand.
But you also asked, what does China have going in its favor? It is still known as the world's factory. American companies still depend on China for manufacturing. And as much as the president, President Trump, and perhaps American companies want to do manufacturing elsewhere, China makes things at such a rapid pace, these factories are so nimble, nowhere else in the world can do it. So, China has that working in its favor, Audie.
CORNISH: At the same time, their economy is vulnerable, right? So, this is a little different than Trump won that first round of tariffs all those years ago. So, what do you see in this moment for them, the sort of balancing?
STEWART: Right. China's economy is a bit shaky right now. People aren't spending money. There's still this housing crisis. But none of this is really a surprise to China. They knew that under Trump 2.0 this could be coming. So, it really has diversified itself, not depending on the United States so much for an import/export business. It's doing a lot of work, a lot of trade in other places that maybe it didn't do so much before, like southeast Asia, like Europe, Africa, Latin America.
One thing which is interesting, we've heard a lot about the EV race between China and the United States with electric vehicles. The number one brand in the world right now is BYD. It's outpaced Tesla. BYD is pretty much locked out of the U.S. market, but it's still having all of the success because China has looked elsewhere to sell it.
So, China has planned ahead, and it has a plan of action despite this very shaky economy that we see every day living here in Beijing.
CORNISH: One more thing. Japan's prime minister, his country was hit by 24 percent tariffs. But I know that Japan, South Korea, they were talking about kind of aligning themselves closer with China to deal with this. So, is this having the effect of, like, creating more power for China in a part of the world where the U.S. was trying to make kind of inroads?
STEWART: Right. We've heard some chatter, but I think the feeling, at least here in Asia, is that it's just that, its' chatter. Because if we look at specifically this relationship with China and South Korea and Japan, it's still very tense. And South Korea and Japan are still, despite everything, really strong U.S. allies with a lot of military interests. So, I'm not sure we're going to see a united front there.
But it is interesting. I was messaging with a source of mine who did point out, we may see some strange alliances form, economic alliances, that maybe we didn't see in the past. But I'm not so sure China's going to be a big part of that bigger equation.
CORNISH: OK, Marc, this is great context for us. Marc Stewart in Beijing.
After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk more about those devastating storms that are moving through parts of the south right now. We're on the ground here with a look at the damage.
Plus, auto tariffs went into effect last night. I'm going to speak with an Ohio congressman, Greg Landsman, about that and more.
And the group chat is back.
Stay with us.
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CORNISH: Millions of Americans overnight dealing with the threat of deadly storms.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
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CORNISH: All right, so, for example, that was in Indiana. But CNN is tracking multiple tornadoes across that state, as well as Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas.
And take a look at guests at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort. There they are sheltering in the basement following a tornado warning that came at 3:00 a.m. this morning. At least three people have actually been killed in that state. That happened overnight.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is crazy. This wind today is something else. I hope everybody's safe.
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CORNISH: So, what's happening here is winds are reducing visibility to basically zero. That did not stop one Arkansas woman from reuniting with her cat on live TV.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what's next for y'all tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's next is I'm going to try to pick up the pieces. There's my cat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here. Come on, Derek (ph), lets - have you seen her since the storm?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's her name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her name is Skyler (ph).
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CORNISH: We've got Ryan Young live on the ground for us in Lake City, Arkansas.
Good morning, Ryan.
One thing about tornadoes and tornado warnings, it feels so arbitrary. The warnings come so quickly. What are you seeing at this hour?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. We started our night in Kentucky. We drove here. And now we're in Lake
City. And the only reason why we found this damage, we actually followed our nose. As my producer and I were driving, we could smell the smell of gas. And one of the reasons why is, look at these cars that have been turned over here. They've been shredded by this storm and just tossed like - almost like toy cars.
And if you look back that way, you can see this house here that has been left completely shredded by this. We know from the mayor who talked to CNN earlier, at least five homes have been damaged in this area. If you look behind me, it appears to be someone's chimney here. Not sure if it's from this house, because, as I look across the street, I can see another home damaged. And even this way, you can see more shredded debris. And as we drove through the city, you know, like we talked about before, tornadoes kind of hit in pockets. So, this hit in a particular pocket. And that's what we're standing in right now.
There's still lightning activity around here. We can still smell that pungent odor of gasoline that spread throughout this area. We have seen some emergency crews in this area, but have not figured out yet whether or not any people have been injured.
But when you see the power of this storm and what it was able to do to these cars, you understand that the people near here were going through a terrifying moment. In fact, watch some of this video that we got from somebody who was filming it as it was crossing the open field. You can see how large this storm was, the power of it.
One of the things that stood out to me in this video, in the background, you can actually hear a child beginning to cry because they were, of course, scared. You would be terrified about this.
The pressure in the area all night was building. And, of course, then the storm dropped.
So, as we talk to authorities, we'll figure out exactly what happened here a little later on.
CORNISH: Ryan Young in Lake City, Arkansas, thank you for sharing this reporting.
President Trump's 25 percent tariff on imported cars is now in effect. That started just a few hours ago. So, one car dealership owner describes the change this way.
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DAVE KELLEHER, OWNER, DAVID AUTO GROUP: A 25 percent tariff. That $86,000 car becomes a $103,000 car overnight.
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CORNISH: But one Republican senator believes the higher prices will actually help American car companies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): You're talking about the, like, mainstream cars, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, a Ford, a Chevy. If one car goes up in price because there's a tariff, that person will just buy the other one that doesn't have a tariff, which is your American-made automobile. And places like Ohio benefit because your neighbor is employed as a result of that car being made in the United States.
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CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about this, Democratic Congressman Greg Landsman from Ohio.
Welcome to the program.
REP. GREG LANDSMAN (D-OH): Good morning.
CORNISH: So, I want to start with that argument, that there are some kinds of benefits here. How do you hear that?
LANDSMAN: Well, sure. I mean, you know, the - a strategic tariff has made sense. And it usually is accompanied by some investment in American manufacturing and American workers. You're not seeing that at the moment. What you're seeing is just chaos. And there's no plan. There's no real strategy. There's no sidecar investments in American manufacturing or workers. And so, ultimately, what you get is what I think JP Morgan said was the largest tax increase on the American people since 1965 or '68.
CORNISH: Right. And also alluding to the fact that tariffs are taxes that importers pay. And as we hear, may pass on to the consumer.
I was looking into your district. Fifteen percent of Cincinnati's economy, in particular, is exports.
LANDSMAN: Yes.
CORNISH: You are sending things out into the world and now you're facing retaliatory tariffs. What are you bracing for? And are you hearing from small businesses?
LANDSMAN: Yes, I - we hear from small businesses and - and some of our larger companies that this is going to be a huge problem for them. That, you know, it's the uncertainty, but it's also just the cost of - of doing business.
CORNISH: Are they demanding that you do something about it? We've been hearing so much pressure on Democrats to step up, do more.
LANDSMAN: Yes.
CORNISH: Are you hearing that?
LANDSMAN: Yes, I think, everyone expects their leaders to act. I hear more - I know that this is part of the - the - the narrative in the media. And certainly I do hear some of that back home. But what I really hear is, why are congressional Republicans not
stopping this? I mean, why - why are they ceding more and more of their constitutional authority and responsibilities to the executive branch while the chaos continues, prices continue to go up. They're essentially burning down the government. They're creating unemployment.
[06:50:00]
And they're tanking the economy.
CORNISH: To that point, you did have a handful of Senate Republicans kind of cast a vote against tariffs in a way. But for Democrats, what is the conversation here? Do you think there are some Republicans on - on - in the House who might end up being those crossover votes in a scenario where you can speak up against tariffs?
LANDSMAN: I think privately you have a lot of people that see this for what it is, which is chaos. And the markets are responding accordingly. And -
CORNISH: So, this privately thing, I think, throws people off.
LANDSMAN: Yes. Well, it's very frustrating because they see - they see what we're seeing. And - and sometimes they'll say publicly, we don't like it, but crossing Trump is a bridge too far for most of these folks. And so, ultimately, voters will have to decide, do they want to continue with this chaos and, quite frankly, a ton of corruption, or do they want to go -
CORNISH: Corruption in?
LANDSMAN: Well, you have, you know, the - the - the world's richest man, having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on all these people, and - and he's in a position to crush his competition, pick his regulators and - and get more and more contracts. And - and I think you'll see, with the tariffs, a lot of very questionable activities in terms of saying, well, if you give me money, we'll give you a waiver. I mean, it's just -
CORNISH: So, you're going to be keeping an eye on, who gets exempted, who's lobbying was effective.
LANDSMAN: Yes. And everyone should. That's not the way our democracy works. And moreover, the role money plays in politics on both sides, but what you're seeing really, you know, in - in - in - in a very dangerous way with Trump and congressional Republicans, people hate. They want this money out of government. And we have to clean it up. Ultimately, we're going to have to fix this economy and clean up government.
CORNISH: I want to follow up on one thing because you mentioned Elon Musk. As we see reporting here and there about whether there are kind of - especially with the election this past week in Wisconsin, maybe some Republicans saying, should he be here? Should he be the face of this? Don't Democrats need a boogeyman? I mean, would you guys want him to go?
LANDSMAN: I think we have to be focused on the results of these actions of the chaos, right? The - the prices are going to go up. You're already seeing that. The economy is - is tanking. You're seeing that. And people are very worried about Social Security and healthcare.
So, we - I think Democrats have to focus on, look at the results. Let's - just stay away from the rhetoric. And - and - and don't be, you know, fooled by what you're - not fooled, but, like, don't get caught up in the TV stuff. But the results are going to be what matters most. And that's what voters rejected, I believe, in Wisconsin. They don't like what they're seeing. It's hurting them. It's hurting their families. It's hurting their communities. They don't like it.
CORNISH: All right, Congressman, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for joining us on CNN THIS MORNING.
For you all it's 6:50 and I want to give you your morning roundup. Some of the stories you need to know to get your day going.
We're looking at rescue crews who have pulled out a man from a collapsed hotel. Hed been trapped for 125 hours after last week's earthquake in Myanmar. The ruling military government there announced a temporary ceasefire in its fight against opposition group because of all of the recovery efforts. The death toll this morning is now more than 3,000.
And you got Russia calling up more than 160,000 men to join the army. It's one of the largest roundups of conscription to date for Russia in several years. Recently, Moscow had been relying on assistance from North Korean soldiers in its war on Ukraine.
And the FDA delays full approval of a Covid vaccine made by Novavax. A source says it was on track to be cleared. That was until Tuesday afternoon. And now the agency wants more data on it. The Health and Human Services Department says the review process is based on safety and not politics.
American Airlines passengers had to be evacuated from a plane after there was a burning smell and a light smoke in the cabin this week. People had to climb on the wing of the plane, then jump off. The airline blamed a maintenance issue. Another plane flying that same route experienced some problems the next day.
Now there is a new suitor in the dance to own TikTok.
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JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": The deadline for TikTok to find a U.S. owner is almost here. And Amazon just made a last minute offer to buy the app. You know you're rich when you can make a $200 billion impulse buy, you know? It's like a 2:00 a.m. Jeff Bezos is like, and add a $200 billion company to the cart. And I'm going to get this waffle maker too. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The White House is actually weighing several offers, including Amazon, mobile technology firm AppLovin, Oracle and Microsoft.
[06:55:00]
So, want to bring it back to the group chat because a lot of people care about TikTok. And when they saw its leader kind of pulling closer to the Trump administration, there was a sense that maybe it wasn't in trouble because of Trump's position.
MARGARET TALEV, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Yes. And this Amazon revelation shows you how much is at stake here. And Amazon, interestingly, tried to have its own kind of like in-house TikTok that didn't totally work.
CORNISH: Everyone did.
TALEV: You can imagine the effort to amplify sales through TikTok. So, you can see the various theoretical business advantages to being able to control, right, TikTok.
CORNISH: Well, not theoretical. Yes, I mean the TikTok lobbying effort, if you remember those commercials, I know you all saw them, they were almost exclusively featuring TikTok shop owners, people who make their business that way.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: I think you guys got a critical point. The algorithm is the - is the key, right? And whether or not Chinese leaders are willing to hand over or share or whatever - and whether or not U.S. officials on the national security side are willing to share, just remember what this was all about and why it got to this point, which Trump initially supported in his first term. How this gets over the finish line - this is fascinating. And there's clearly momentum behind it at this moment. And Trump clearly wants it. But how do they close it, like, there are some really, really huge dynamics here.
CORNISH: Yes, how do you close the deal?
Stephen, what do you think when you see all this?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: That's a good point about, does it get done? The president does have quite a lot of leeway in the legislation that required the divesting of TikTok. But think about it this way. X is owned by Elon Musk, who has been one of the closest associates of the president in this new second term. Now we have the potential that another tech chief who has been, some would say cozying up to Trump for his own competitive advantage, could end up running TikTok, another massive social platform.
CORNISH: Another major platform.
COLLINSON: This raises all sorts of questions about conflicts of interest and who controls the means by which Americans express their political views.
TALEV: Yes.
CORNISH: Yes, I wouldn't have thought of that. But, of course, Jeff Bezos has sort of not meddled, but has stepped in at "The Post" and brings his ideology with him and talks about how it should run.
TALEV: Yes.
CORNISH: So, why wouldn't he want a TikTok.
TALEV: Well, I think he's right. And I think the Elon Musk experiment the last two and a half, three months of the beginning of Trump 2.0 and Elon Musk's role in it gives you a sense of what's at stake when one massive company with access to all of your data also has a hand in the governance of your daily life. The - the regulations that affect you, the - the strength of agencies. Up until now, the conversation about TikTok has been, should a Chinese company or a company with ties to the Chinese government, is that a threat to your individual rights as Americans, ultimately? As this moves to the U.S., if all of the buyers - potential buyers are massive tech giants, it will be a different question. But it's still a question of, do you want some massive force to control all - everything about your life.
CORNISH: Who has your shopping data, your medical information, and possibly your Whole Foods purchases all under one roof?
TALEV: Yes. This is a conversation you wouldn't have had at this level 10 or 20 years ago -
CORNISH: Yes.
TALEV: As tech and social media take hold and there are these massive, you know, these massive companies and a handful of really powerful billionaires. It really changes the - the way I think the conversation will go about how much one individual or one massive company should be able to - to have access to your data.
CORNISH: OK, we've covered a lot this hour, but now I want to hear what you're keeping an eye on. That thing that you think people are missing or just something that's happening ahead in the day.
Phil Mattingly.
MATTINGLY: Capitol Hill. And this is not original. And I - I will grant you that. And I don't think we have the time to give a deep dive on the reconciliation process.
CORNISH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: But what I would say in the wake of yesterday is, there was a reason top Trump administration officials were splitting time between the White House and The Hill over the course of the last three or four days, while they were trying to figure out the tariff stuff.
The tariffs, if they are going to work, and, obviously, there are a lot of economic questions about that, they can only work if the tax bill that Republicans are working on right now gets through. Those are the incentives. That's what they believe - their theory of the case is, those incentives are what drive companies back here. If it does not work, everything falls apart.
CORNISH: I'm glad you're bringing this up.
MATTINGLY: Watch Capitol Hill.
CORNISH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Republicans are working on it right now.
CORNISH: OK.
Margaret.
MATTINGLY: CNN.
TALEV: The price -
MATTINGLY: Oh.
CORNISH: Yes, oh.
TALEV: The price of coffee. I will be watching the price of coffee. We're all talking about the price of cars in light of the new tariffs. But there's a very real possibility that the price of the coffee you buy every day, because coffee's not grown in the United States -
CORNISH: Yes, we talked about it this week.
TALEV: Is going to increase extremely. The association of - the National Coffee Association, I'm going to get that wrong, tried to make the case that the price of coffee for consumers could go up, up to 50 percent.
CORNISH: OK.
TALEV: Anyway, keep watching.
CORNISH: Yes.
Stephen, last word to you.
COLLINSON: Alex Ovechkin going for the NHL scoring record. I'll be at the Caps game tomorrow night.
[07:00:01]
CORNISH: You're a hockey fan, Stephen.
COLLINSON: I am indeed. Married a Canadian.
CORNISH: Are you - for real?
COLLINSON: I didn't have a choice.
CORNISH: Did you play?
COLLINSON: Yes, I did once when I came - 20 years ago.
CORNISH: Taken any punches?
COLLINSON: Gave out a few.
CORNISH: We're going to talk after this. The group chat now is officially changed to a bunch of tiny hockey things. So that clearly I know a lot about it.
MATTINGLY: It sounded right.
CORNISH: Yes, that sounded right.
MATTINGLY: You're good. You're good. You're good.
CORNISH: Thanks to the panel. Thank you for waking up with us. Stay here for the headlines. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.
