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Wisconsin Vote will Determine Balance of State Supreme Court; Stock Markets Jittery as Trump's "Liberation Day" Nears; 72-Hour "Golden Window" for Finding Trapped Survivors Ends; U.S. Trading Partners Bracing for Trump's Tariffs; Trump: Ukraine Trying to Back Out of Minerals Deal. Aired 9-9:45a ET

Aired April 01, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: This is the scene in Washington where Donald Trump is awaiting the outcome of three regional

elections that could reflect public sentiment on the president's second term. It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It's 02:00 p.m. in London. I'm

Christina Macfarlane, and this is "Connect the World".

Also coming up, the White House says that Donald Trump plans to hold a big event tomorrow where he is expected to announce new tariffs that could have

major economic implications. And Taiwan has condemned China as a troublemaker, accusing Beijing of threatening regional stability after it

launched large scale military drills around Taiwan, calling it a stern warning to pro-independence forces.

And stock market in New York opens in just about 30 minutes from now, and as you can see, all three indices currently down. Uncertainty around the

tariffs continues to drive futures down, of course, as the opening bell rings across these two aisles. We'll be talking to you about what we know

about the U.S. President's plans and how world leaders are planning to react.

Polls though now are coming to us in two U.S. states in elections that could provide some major clues about how Americans view the first few

months of Donald Trump's second presidency. Three major elections are happening today. Two U.S. House seats are up for grabs in special elections

in Florida in districts easily won by President Trump.

A win by Republicans would help them firm up their narrow majority in the House. And there's a high-profile State Supreme Court race in Wisconsin too

that's drawing the attention of the president and Elon Musk. Liberal and conservative candidates are facing off there in a vote that will determine

the court's ideological balance.

And Wisconsin is one of a handful of swing states that often help decide presidential elections. President Trump endorsing the Conservative

candidate and blasting his opponent. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Yeah, there's a big race, and I hope you get out and vote for the Republic. The woman is a

radical left lunatic, and let's see who wins, but the woman will be very bad. And you know, Wisconsin is a big state politically, and the Supreme

Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: We're going to look at the races and break down the numbers with CNN's Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten, who's joining me. Harry, it's a

big day, a big two days, really, if we look forward as well. But let's talk about this race in Wisconsin. It's historic, right?

Not just because of, well, largely because the unprecedented amount of money that has been pouring in. Just talk to us about where this money has

been coming from and why.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I mean, holy cow. When we talk about the money that is being spent in Wisconsin, we're talking -- I had a slide.

You know, I did the slide earlier on domestic and I had 80 plus million dollars being spent. I had to update the slide because it's now 90 plus

million dollars being spent.

It's the most expensive court race ever. I just wish I could get a share of it. And of course, one of the big spenders in this race is Elon Musk. Musk

and his affiliated groups have spent, get this at least $22 million. Oh, my God. But I should point out that the pro liberal candidate spending and the

pro conservative candidate spending is actually about fairly equal.

So, both sides are in this race. They believe it is tantamount to, potentially, let's just say, a referendum on Donald Trump, a referendum on

Elon Musk, and that's why they're going in with historic amounts of spending.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that change. I thought it was, I wasn't reading the numbers right earlier today, the fact that it got up by

10.

ENTEN: Wow.

MACFARLANE: You know, by 10 million, or whatever it was, in that amount of time. Now let's talk about what's at stake in Wisconsin. We know Elon Musk

has been talking about that quite a bit in the last few days. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: If rational does not win, if the Democrats win, they're going to redraw the Wisconsin districts. And

Wisconsin voters will be disenfranchised of two Republican House votes, if the House turns Democrat, that will defeat the reform agenda. And I think

what's the future of America in jeopardy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: So, the future of America, but more specifically, the redistricting and voting rights. These are no doubt important in this race.

But Harry, does the future of civilization really hang on this?

ENTEN: I don't think the future of civilization hand, you know, lays upon anything except maybe defeating Hitler in World War II.

[09:05:00]

Look, I think here. I mean, look, yes, this is an important race, right, as Musk was saying, it will, in fact, determine the ideological balance of the

court, whether or not the liberals or conservatives are in charge. And yes, one of the things that the liberal ones, they got the majority last time

around, was redrew the state district lines.

Maybe they would redraw the congressional district lines. But I think the real thing to keep in mind here in terms of national implications, is the

state is normally reflective of, in fact, the national mood it is voted for the last five presidential winners. That's the longest consecutive streak

tied to Pennsylvania and Michigan.

So, I do think it's important sort of understanding the nation. But no, civilization doesn't lay on the foundations of this particular race.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, worth noting. So, let's turn to the two states in Florida as we know, these, of course, deep red district safe seats for Republicans.

But how close do you think we could get according to the numbers that you're seeing in the run up to this?

ENTEN: Yeah, so you know, you point out, you know that these are deeply red districts. You know where these special elections taking place today?

They're taking place in Florida's first district that's in the panhandle. Trump won that by 37 points. Florida sixth district that is in the

northeast part of the state, Trump won this by 30 points.

Ultimately, the question probably isn't whether or not the Democrats can win this, it's the margin by which Republicans do win this. If you were

looking at the early vote, you would in fact, see that Republicans are underestimating in terms of the number of Republicans that are turning out

the party affiliation was, in fact, only plus nine Republican ways less than this plus 30, you see here.

But then, of course, the other thing to point out is, just in terms of the House breakdown, we have the smallest GOP majority dating back since 1917

at this point in Congress. So, if the GOP is able to win, you can cross out that 218 and you can get up to 220 for Mike Johnson, and that would give

him a little bit more breathing room.

So, it's not just looking forward to the 2026 midterms and sort of the implications there. It's also about understanding, hey, this is a really

razor tight House majority. And let's give Mike Johnson a little bit more breathing room if, in fact, these races go as history would suggest they

would, which is two Republican winds in northwest and northeast Florida later today.

MACFARLANE: All right, Harry, always great to have you on days like today.

ENTEN: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: Appreciate it. Now I mentioned it's a big two days. Well, we're just a day away from what analysts expect to be President Trump's most

aggressive tariffs move yet against America's trading partners. The president claims the tariffs will ultimately boost the U.S. economy, but

analysts warn his so-called Liberation Day could amount to a major trade war escalation, and it's putting investors, global businesses and consumers

on edge.

Well, CNN's Matt Egan is here to discuss this with us from New York. Matt, I know you've written an opinion piece today about Trump's tariffs for CNN

digital. And in it, you explain that the crucial details of the tariff announcements remain unclear, as we all know, and even confusing is what

the Trump's team strategy is here.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Yeah, Christina, a lot of confusion here. The president seems to be trying to rewrite the global trading rules, but the

exact rationale behind that really isn't clear, right? At times, Trump and his officials have suggested that it's to raise revenue.

Other times, it's to help workers, and it's just not clear at this point, but yeah, tomorrow is shaping up to really be the biggest day yet for

President Trump. When it comes to tariffs, we expecting a range of announcements. The biggest one is on these Liberation Day tariffs would

have been known as the reciprocal tariffs.

They also expanded tariffs, perhaps on Canada and Mexico, because some of the exemptions that were put in place a month ago are scheduled to expire.

There's also potentially tariffs on any country that buys oil from Venezuela. And then the day after that, on Thursday, we're expecting more

tariff announcements.

The 25 percent tariffs on autos are scheduled to kick in. And also, Mexico is expected to announce retaliatory tariffs. Now the main event really is

these Liberation Day tariffs. And investors are just desperate for clarity on exactly what that means. A number of ideas have been floated, but here

we are just a day out, and we really don't know what it looks like yet.

In fact, CNN's Kevin Liptak reported that a lot of Trump's own advisers are actually still in the dark about what those tariffs mean, although one

thing that has been floated is that this could be 20 percent tariffs on most U.S. imports, and that is something that would be likely to alarm

investors and economists.

I just talked to Moody's Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi, and he told me that look 20 percent tariffs on most U.S. imports, plus retaliation from

other countries.

[09:10:00]

He said that's a worst-case scenario. That's something that would likely push the U.S. economy into recession and wipe out millions of jobs. But he

said, you never know with the president, right? He has a tendency to sort of pull back and change course when things look dark.

So, we've got to wait to see what is actually announced. But what is clear is that Trump has used tariffs more aggressively than he did during his

first term. Right his first term, he imposed tariffs on almost $400 billion of U.S. goods. Here we are. We're about two months into his second term,

and he's already more than double that with tariffs on about a trillion dollars of U.S. goods.

Universal tariffs, that would be something that would impact more than $3 trillion of U.S. imports. I talked to Erica York, over at the Tax

Foundation, and she told me, we've never seen anything like this. She said, It's unprecedented, and it's radical. And Christina, again, I do just think

that investors, really around the world are desperate for answers here on what the next front in the trade war looks like.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, and there is growing concern about a major trade war escalation coming. And in the last few hours, we have actually heard from

Europe threatening retaliation. I think we have a sound bite from the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Let's just have a

listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: We are open to negotiations. We will approach these negotiations from a position of

strength. Europe holds a lot of cards, from trade to technology to the size of our market, but this strength is also built on our readiness to take

firm counter measures is, if necessary. All instruments are on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: All instruments are on the table. A red-hot warning, really, from Europe there. How much, Matt, are the U.S. potentially about to feel

the pain of retaliation here?

EGAN: Yeah, it really depends on what happens next, but obviously, if Europe fires back by putting steep tariffs on goods that are made in

America that can cause real economic damage here, because so you work at a factory that makes motorcycles, but Europe imposes deep tariffs, well, the

motorcycles that you make have just become less competitive.

They've become less affordable overseas. And so maybe the factory doesn't need you to work as many hours. Maybe they're going to cut your wages. They

might have to lay off some workers. And so that's how we kind of shift the conversation from just talking about what's the price impact to how does

this actually slow down growth and potentially kill jobs?

And that's why this is such a problem when you think about tariffs, because you can easily get into an escalatory cycle. That's really hard to get out

of, where one country threatens to put tariffs on the other country promises to respond. And you know that if Europe responds aggressively,

then President Trump is going to threaten to go even higher with tariffs, and then what is Europe going to do at that point?

So, it really does become very messy and it just adds so much uncertainty and causes a lot of damage to the economy. And so that's why I think

investors are hoping that Liberation Day won't be quite as bad as feared, because that would give some greater clarity and some greater certainty and

sort of maybe take the temperature down a bit.

If you see one of these more aggressive responses and announcements from the White House tomorrow, that's not going to sit well with investors at

all, Christina.

MACFARLANE: -- Where does it end? And ahead of Liberation Day, I mean U.S. stocks have dropped sharply as investors tried to make sense of Trump's

tariff plan, if indeed there is one. We've got the stock market due to open in roughly 20 minutes or so. What are you watching for today in the global

markets?

EGAN: Yeah. Well, look, we saw the market have a pretty turbulent day yesterday. The DOW swung in about 1000-point range. Ended near the highest

levels of the day. You see U.S. stock futures they're pointing to a slightly lower open this morning. That's not surprising, right?

Anytime investors have a lot of questions about a policy announcement. They're likely to sell first and ask questions later. The market, the U.S.

market, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ, they both suffered their worst quarter since 2022 and a lot of that, again, was driven by worries about the trade

war, about uncertainty around policy.

And there's also just growing concern about these yellow lights that are flashing in the U.S. economy. A Goldman Sachs, they ramped up their tariff

assumptions and they downgraded their economic forecast for the United States, right there, warning of slower growth, higher unemployment, higher

inflation, and they now see a 35 percent chance of a recession.

[09:15:00]

It doesn't mean there's going to be a recession, but clearly Christina, there are growing concerns on Wall Street and really on Main Street, about

the impact of the trade war.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, absolutely, it certainly has to be considered at this stage. Matt, appreciate you being with us, and we'll see you again next

hour. Thank you.

EGAN: Thanks Christina.

MACFARLANE: Now Chinese military officials are sending what they call a quote, stern warning and forceful deterrence against Taiwan. It's in the

form of military drills. China is using multiple branches of its military for exercise, as it says, is closing in on Taiwan from all directions.

Taiwan has condemned the exercises, calling China a troublemaker. The drills come days after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's visit to Asia.

CNN's Ivan Watson has the latest from Hong Kong.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time this year that the Chinese military has conducted these types of maneuvers

around the self-governing island of Taiwan. The announcement came from China's Eastern theater command, saying that this was a serious warning and

powerful containment of what it claims is Taiwan independence separatist forces, that all four branches of the Chinese military are involved in

these maneuvers.

Now Beijing, of course, views Taiwan as effectively a renegade province, and is very angry about any moves towards autonomy coming from Taiwan. But

typically, in the past, when it has carried out these types of naval and aerial maneuvers around Taiwan, it has been pegged to some type of event,

such as the inauguration last year of the Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.

This time, there doesn't seem to be an obvious trigger, but some of the videos that were put out by the Chinese military took direct aim at the

Taiwanese President. This one accusing him, depicting him of being a cartoon parasite and accusing him of consorting with foreign powers.

Of course, the Taiwanese government has condemned this. A statement coming out from the head of the National Security Council in Taiwan called this

reckless and irresponsible, saying it came without justification and that it violates international law. The Taiwanese Defense Minister has indicated

that it appears there is a Chinese aircraft carrier group operating off the southeast coast of Taiwan right now.

And we've heard from a senior security official in the Taiwanese government suggesting some possible reasons why the officials there think this has

been the time for these joint Chinese military maneuvers around the island. And one argument has been that it follows a recent visit by the U.S.

Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth to Asia, where he visited the Philippines and Japan, two close allies.

And he talked about what he claimed was communist China's threat to the region and the need to build up deterrence among U.S. allies here in the

region. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

MACFARLANE: Right, still to come, a devastating earthquake worsens an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. We'll speak with a health official

on the ground there about the biggest concerns for the survivors as the search for the missing continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

MACFARLANE: More than 160 monks are among those killed in that powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar four days ago. According to state media,

they were taking an exam when the shaking started and ran to the exit, and that's where they were crushed to death.

The country's military junta says the death toll from the quake now stands at more than 2700 and more than 400 people are reported missing. Frantic

search efforts continue through the crucial 72 window for survival, which is now closed. That means those trapped in wreckage since Friday with no

access to water are less likely to survive.

Well, we're joined now by Elena Vuolo. She's the Deputy Head of the World Health Organization's country office in Myanmar. Thank you so much for

joining us. That latest update from the military junta we had there that more than 2700 people have been killed now in the quake of Myanmar.

I mean, experts are fearing, obviously, that the true death toll is going to be much, much higher than that. You are currently joining us from

Myanmar's capital there, Naypyidaw. Can you just talk to us about the situation on the ground there, what you're seeing, what you're

experiencing?

ELENA VUOLO, DEPUTY HEAD OF W.H.O. COUNTRY OFFICE AT MYANMAR: First of all, good evening to everybody, and thanks for having us as well that

organization, I'm actually living in Naypyidaw. So last Friday, I was at the office with our other colleagues and the other U.N. agencies

colleagues. We are, several of us based here in Naypyidaw, and we witnessed it, the scale and intensity of the earthquake.

The situation is appalling. The city is quite recently a new established city, yet several buildings have totally collapsed. We have at least two

hospitals that have fully collapsed, and nobody can access these hospitals anymore, and at least 20 hospitals are severely damaged.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go and visit some of the temporary locations where some temporary hospitals have been set up for the injured

cases. We remain extremely concerned, because people don't want to go back to their houses. People are scared because there was not only just one

strike on Friday, we had another strike on -- Saturday afternoon, Richter scale 5.5.

And even this afternoon, a few hours ago, we had another wave. This time was a scale of 4.4 but we felt it. Everybody felt it. The situation is

scary because we are also entering the so-called hot season. That's how, in Myanmar, they call their own beginning of the summer season.

And today, as I speak to you, we are at 35 Celsius degrees with shortage of water, shortage of food, several people living in temporary shelters. We

are extremely worried, because this is a crisis within a crisis. Myanmar has been in a protected emergency for more actually, than the last three

years and a half.

Shortages of medicines, critical medicines were already experienced before, as a matter of fact, as a result of the international, global aid cuts,

already, we had to stop serving more than 250,000 people in need of humanitarian health assistance.

MACFARLANE: Can I ask --

VUOLO: So right now, it was -- working? Sure.

MACFARLANE: Sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to ask because you mentioned just there, the fact that we are entering the hot season, the fact that

you're still feeling quakes. Obviously, that is going to hamper the search and rescue efforts on the ground there. What is the latest on the efforts

being made to recover people?

Because we're hearing in some regions that there is absolutely no access to areas even outside of the city. Can you tell us about the search and rescue

that you're seeing?

VUOLO: Yes, there are some rescue teams that have reached Myanmar as a result of the call that the government of Myanmar has made internationally,

which is a quite outstanding, important event to take into consideration, the given circumstances. We know that there are some rescue teams coming

from countries like Russia, China, India.

[09:25:00]

Today, other countries that have come actually, or have expressed their interest to provide the rescue capacity, like, for example, Japan, also the

Philippines. And we ourselves as W.H.O., we are advocating to allow us to bring our Accredited Emergency Medical Teams. However, the rescue

operations are very difficult.

First of all, because the roads have been severely damaged. Some of these locations were already difficult to reach before and also because basically

this country, even though it counted potential risk of earthquake, is not prepared to respond to an earthquake.

MACFARLANE: Yes.

VUOLO: So even organizations like Myanmar Red Cross, for example, or the Civil Defense will not have the full equipment that are needed, for

example, to rescue people under collapsed building. We also need to consider that some of these buildings are huge. In the scale of the size of

the building.

It's not easy to rescue people from five story building or five or from a three-story hospital. So, the operations are made difficult to buy the

roads that are interrupted. Let's not forget also that the airport in Naypyidaw, the capital, but also the airport in Mandalay had been severely

damaged.

As a matter of fact, the control tower of the airport here in Naypyidaw collapsed on Friday.

MACFARLANE: OK, Elena --

VUOLO: And this is also making very much difficult for us.

MACFARLANE: Can I just ask? Because you talked about the international aid effort that is happening, countries attempting to bring aid in, attempting

to reach those who are trapped. We're hearing reports that the military junta are restricting international aid from getting into the most

devastated areas. Is that something you're experiencing.

VUOLO: We are not experiencing it. On the contrary, I must say that there is quite a certain level of openness about receiving support, because the

situation is extremely bad on the ground.

MACFARLANE: That is obviously good to hear, and we really hope that you're able with W.H.O. to continue your efforts. I know you said you're leaving,

but the efforts of the who will continue. And we appreciate your time today. Thank you for giving us the picture of what's happening on the

ground.

VUOLO: Thanks to you. Good night.

MACFARLANE: Now -- good night. Lebanon's Health Ministry says at least four people were killed and several more injured in an Israeli strike in the

southern suburbs of Beirut. An early morning strike hit the top three floors of a building with two missiles. According to the country's national

news agency, Israel's military claims the strike targeted a Hezbollah militant.

It marks the second attack on southern Beirut in recent days, testing the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran backed militant group. Meantime,

President Trump is eyeing up a trip to the Gulf potentially as soon as next month. He says he'll likely visit the U.A.E. and Qatar in the near future,

as well as Saudi Arabia. Speaking in the oval office Monday, here's what Mr. Trump said the kingdom had agreed to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They've agreed to spend close to a trillion dollars of money in our American companies, which to me, means jobs. So, they're going to spend

hundreds of billions of dollars giving them to American companies that are going to be making equipment for Saudi Arabia and other places in the

Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Right, when we come back, we'll head to New York for a live look at how U.S. markets are faring One day out from Trump's big

announcement on tariffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. The world is waiting to see what Mr. Trump's so called Liberation Day will bring tomorrow. Whatever it is, we are expecting

a big show. The U.S. President will make his much-anticipated announcement on new tariffs from the Rose Garden flanked by his top advisers.

In true Trump fashion, he has made a dizzying array of grandiose promises, while also seeming to leave the door open for anything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think this is going to be an amazing, you know, I call it a lot of different names, but it's really in a sense is a rebirth of a country.

Because what -- how we could have afforded to do what we did, we helped everybody, and they don't help us. I really the term I like best, probably,

is the liberation of America. It's a liberation of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well's CNN, Senior Political Reporter Stephen Collinson joins us now. And Stephen, good to see you. We know you've written about how

Trump has had this mythical belief in the power of tariffs since pretty much the 1980s and we heard him there just saying yesterday that this was

going to be the rebirth of a country. But in reality, Stephen, is this just one big, great economic experiment?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think so, because most times in the past that tariffs have been used on a prolonged basis, at

least in modern economies, they haven't worked, and Trump is going against the expertise and the advice of almost every mainstream economist when he

talks about the way that tariffs are going to create this renaissance of manufacturing in the United States.

The truth is, tariffs can work if they use smartly in limited areas, perhaps to promote a new industry or a vital industry to national security,

like steel making. The problem is that if they use broadly, it can take years for the effects of those tariffs to come into effect, jobs coming

back to a market, for example, an expansion in manufacturing.

So, this is why a lot of people are so worried. The other issue, of course, is that we don't really know what Trump is going to do. The evidence of

that news conference last night in the Oval Office, which was an extraordinary spectacle, is that he doesn't seem to know exactly what he's

going to do, either, and the world economy could be hanging on the results.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, we were hearing from Matt Egan a little earlier that even his closest advisers are still somewhat in the dark. There's been a sort of

Republican slogan that we've had a lot, you know, in the last sort of days and weeks of long-term gain, short term pain.

Now that's predicated on the idea that Donald Trump can convince the American people that this is going to be worth it in the long run. This is

an American people who voted for him because he'd bring prices down. How much is the success of his entire second term here at stake.

COLLINSON: I think domestically, especially, it is very much at stake. The issue here is who is facing the pain. It's not Republican senators,

although there are a few who are running for reelection in two years that are going to be very nervous. The message, as you were saying of the last

election, was that Americans were very wary, weary of higher prices.

There was a massive spike in inflation over the pandemic, and while that has abated prices in supermarkets and for rent and mortgages with high

mortgage rates, they're still very high.

[09:35:00]

So, I think the tolerance of the electorate for a period of prolonged economic deprivation is really in question. And it's not just what people

can take. It's what the economy can take. Consumer demand has been ebbing. There's a real fear among many Wall Street analysts now that given those

particular conditions, adding another area of stress to the economy could push it into recession.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, the big R words on the horizon. Stephen, thank you for now. We'll be talking to you again shortly. Appreciate it. Now, still to

come without a deal over the line, President Trump vents frustration with both Ukraine and Russia. Will have a live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says both sides are working to reach a mutually acceptable text for signing after U.S. President Trump accused

Ukraine's President of trying to back out of a rare earth minerals deal. Mr. Trump said President Zelenskyy would face big problems if he doesn't

sign.

Ukraine says the U.S. has been changing the terms. Meantime, Mr. Trump is also warning Russia, threatening to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil

unless Bosco makes a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Over the weekend, the U.S. President said he was, quote, pissed off by Vladimir Putin's lack of

cooperation, although he struck a more conciliatory tone on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I want to see him make a deal so that we stop Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers and other people from being killed. I want to make sure

that he follows through, and I think he will. I don't want to go secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think, you know, it's something I would do if I

thought he wasn't doing the job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Our Chief International Security Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh joins me now. And Nick, just before we get to comments made by Donald

Trump there, I want to ask you or point out a fact, which was that last night, there were actually no reported drone attacks on Ukraine by Russia,

which is, I think, the first time in a few months we've had a scenario like that. In light of recent events, can we read anything into that?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Really dangerous to read things into it potentially? I mean, I think that this may

be a sign, if you're being most generous towards the Kremlin, that ahead of the likely phone call that Donald Trump is going to have with Vladimir

Putin, that maybe they want to show that this is what a potential ceasefire might look like, that they're capable.

But still, two ballistic missiles were fired during that night as well. So, it wasn't entirely quiet. They were both shot down by Ukraine. The last

time something like this happened was October, November. This might simply be a technical reason where perhaps the drones need a refit or shift

change, et cetera, or other reasons outside of our knowledge.

Doesn't look like they're running out of drones. They seem to make quite a lot themselves, but it's a sign maybe that perhaps Moscow wants to send a

signal.

MACFARLANE: On the raw minerals deal, CNN has actually obtained a copy of the new proposal for the agreement, which was put forward by the U.S.

Treasury Department.

[09:40:00]

Talk to us about how it differs, what the changes are here?

WALSH: It's a completely different document than the framework that we saw just about a month ago. Now, that framework was incredibly short and kind

of toothless, really. It said, Ukraine would like to do this. We want to create a fund. We want everyone to be on the same page and help each other

rebuild Ukraine and the U.S. to get what it wants out of that.

This new document is 55 pages, and it reads, frankly, like it's written by commercial lawyers. I think it was and is registered out of Delaware, a

state known for U.S. corporate interests being serviced there. So, there's a lot there that's quite hard to penetrate. It certainly seems

overwhelmingly in the U.S. is interests.

It doesn't specify specific places, but essentially says large parts of Ukraine's infrastructure and mineral wealth, even oil and gas are

potentially on the table. Here talks about previous aid being given to Ukraine being repaid, and also how this will be controlled by a board of

five, three Americans and two Ukrainians.

So, it is overwhelmingly, it seems, in United States' interests. It harks way back to the original terms first floated, I think, by the U.S. Treasury

Secretary in his visit to Kyiv. And I think it's clear from reading at this and something, if you're a Ukrainian parliamentarian or president, you want

to really put your name to in a hurry.

MACFARLANE: Yeah, well, Zelenskyy is saying it needs more work and more negotiation. Meanwhile, President Trump has been talking about imposing

secondary tariffs on Russia. Have the Kremlin had any response to these threats?

WALSH: Yeah, I mean this change in Trump's tone, and clearly, he's feeling the heat, because he came to power thinking this was a matter of days or

hours which he could fix the largest land war in Europe since the 40s. It was never going to be that simple, and now he's seeing that, basically,

Vladimir Putin has been playing him along for a number of weeks and isn't clearly interested in the piece that Donald Trump so urgently seems to

want.

That's what most European leaders have been saying, and analysts too. So, it's come just no surprise. But what is surprising, I think, is Trump feels

the pressure openly. He's also suggesting that Ukraine could be in trouble if it doesn't sign the rare earths mineral deal.

But I think we're seeing a Russian, sorry, an American President here acutely aware of the fact that things are not moving with the speed he'd

like, and the idea of secondary tariffs, what he's really talking about hitting India and China with extraordinary tariffs, if they still buy

Russian oil, they're the main customers.

It's a threat, it's a kind of a nuclear option. Forgive the metaphor there to some degree, but it shows certainly, there's a lot resting on this

future call.

MACFARLANE: All right, Nick, appreciate it. Thank you. And that is it for this hour. I'll be back with more "Connect the World" in 15 minutes. "World

Sport" is up after this quick break. Stay with us.

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