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Early Start with Rahel Solomon
Canadians Boo During U.S. National Anthem at NHL Game; Senate Delivers Bipartisan Rebuke of Trump Tariffs; Interview with Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL): Trump Tariff Announcement Triggers Global Shock Waves. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired April 03, 2025 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead of that visit, Netanyahu delivered a video speech announcing a military escalation in Gaza, vowing to ramp up pressure until all of the hostages are released. Israel's defense minister was the first to announce a major expansion of the operation, which would involve the seizure of large areas of land in the enclave. The announcements come as Israel continues its aerial bombardment of Gaza.
At least 17 people were killed in strikes in southern Gaza overnight on Wednesday. In his statement, Israel's defense minister said that the expanded operation would also involve a, quote, large-scale evacuation of Gaza's population from combat zones without providing specific details.
Ahead for us, loud boos ringing out during the U.S. national anthem. Is this the new normal in Canada? We'll be right back.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: That was how Canadians reacted when they heard the U.S. national anthem played on their soil. Those boos echoing through Vancouver's Rogers Hockey Arena several hours ago ahead of the Canucks Kraken game. That's thanks to President Trump's new tariffs and his comments about making Canada the 51st state.
Well now, Canada was notably left out of President Trump's news tariffs. However, Canadian imports do remain under the 25 percent levies that his administration imposed weeks ago.
CNN's Paula Newton reports on how tariffs are affecting the hometown of hockey's great, great one, Wayne Gretzky.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've come to a place that leans into a Canadian stereotype quite naturally and is now on the front line of a trade war.
GRAEME ROUSTAN, OWNER, ROUSTAN HOCKEY: This business here has been in place for 178 years and it's been selling product and trading with the United States since before Canada was a country.
NEWTON (voice-over): We're in Brantford, Ontario, a little more than an hour away from both Toronto and Buffalo, one of the places likely to be hardest hit by tariffs and the birthplace of hockey's great one --
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": Where did you grow up?
WAYNE GRETZKY, CANADIAN HOCKEY LEGEND: I grew up in a town called Brantford, Ontario.
NEWTON (voice-over): -- Wayne Gretzky.
ROUSTAN: These are all signed by Wayne Gretzky.
NEWTON (voice-over): With tariffs looming, owner Graeme Roustan says business is already down about 10 percent.
ROUSTAN: Well, for us, it's a disaster day.
NEWTON (voice-over): U.S. customers want their orders before tariffs hit.
ROUSTAN: All these are going to the Miracle on Ice, Team USA, 45th anniversary.
NEWTON (voice-over): President Trump's tariffs and taunts to make Canada a 51st state are biting here.
ROUSTAN: It's just ridiculous to insult your neighbor and as a dual citizen, Canadian and American, I don't understand it from the American point of view either. Why would we insult Canadians?
NEWTON (voice-over): In Brantford and across Canada, buying American now seems like an act of treason.
INES KOWAL, PLANT MANAGER, UNIQPOL: Even in our store, we get asked all the time, you know, are these products local? Have they been made in Canada?
NEWTON (voice-over): Brantford's mayor is incredulous about how the U.S.-Canada bond so frayed in the last few weeks.
KEVIN DAVIS, MAYOR OF BRANTFORD, CANADA: It's a mutually beneficial relationship.
NEWTON: Until it wasn't.
DAVIS: Until it wasn't. You know, we're nice until we're not. And yes, if you want a war, then it's a war. But it's a totally meaningless war from my perspective. I just, like, I really frankly don't understand it.
Until it wasn't. Something else he doesn't understand. How Wayne Gretzky, Brantford's hometown icon, got wrapped up in all of this.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have so many great friends. One of them is the great one, Wayne Gretzky.
NEWTON: He has been called a traitor, a turncoat, a MAGA junkie, a MAGA sidekick.
DAVIS: Based on 30 years of knowing Wayne and his family. Sorry, I'm getting a little bit emotional.
NEWTON: There are people that want to take his name off the buildings here.
DAVIS: Well, there are -- I agree with you, there are people that feel strongly about it and feel emotional, very emotional about this. Because we do feel under attack here in Canada.
NEWTON (voice-over): Wayne Gretzky declined comment to CNN.
At the local community center, the Brantford Titans are on the ice, Gretzky's name on the rink.
TERRY CORBIN, BRANTFORD, CANADA RESIDENT: He hasn't lived here for how many years? I mean, I almost see him as, you know, kind of somebody with dual citizenship, but who has chosen, you know, United States of America to live in.
NEWTON: You wanted to speak up for Canada.
RICK MANNEN, BRANTFORD, CANADA RESIDENT: I do. I do. He's kind of a voice of Canada. He hasn't been that way in the past and he is now if he chose to do that. So I really would like to see Wayne do that, but I still don't feel any ill against Wayne for just because he's a friend of Donald Trump.
NEWTON: Do you think he could put in a word?
KAREN ROBB, BRANTFORD, CANADA RESIDENT: Love it if he would. You know, we don't want anybody to get hurt. We want businesses to flourish and both in the U.S. and in Canada.
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There's got to be a way to do that without just slapping tariffs, you know, here and there and everywhere.
ROUSTAN: I think that as soon as you start talking about invading another country or taking it over, the disrespect that that presents to people, it wakes them up and it creates a tremendous anger.
NEWTON (voice-over): How long that anger lingers here will depend on what happens with tariffs and the taunts. And while Gretzky has a solid reserve of goodwill here after decades of donations and devotion to his hometown, Brantford, like Canada, has found its limit.
Paula Newton, CNN, Brantford, Ontario.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SOLOMON: And still to come, a rare bipartisan rebuke in the Senate of President Trump's trade policy. But could a similar tactic work in the House? I'll speak with a House Democrat about these new tariffs just after this short break.
[05:45:00]
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SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon, 5:45 here in New York. And here are some of the top stories we are watching for you today.
Donald Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs on virtually all of America's trade partners is raising red flags for economists. Experts now warning that the president's decision to escalate his trade war could have devastating consequences and may push the U.S. and global economies into a recession by the end of the year.
President Trump's foreign counterparts expressing their concerns about his sweeping tariffs of at least 10 percent across all countries, with rates even higher for some countries than trading blocs.
The European Union, which will be subject to a 20 percent tariff, is calling it a, quote, major blow to the world economy and is preparing countermeasures if the U.S. is not willing to negotiate.
And Trump's financial advisers also warning against retaliation and trying to reassure concerned consumers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urging other countries to quote, sit back and take a deep breath before taking any action.
Four Republican lawmakers helped pass a bipartisan resolution in the Senate rebuking the White House's trade policy toward Canada. Here's what Senate Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Chuck Schumer had to say about the massive economic shift.
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Donald Trump said he reduced prices on day one when he got elected. He's doing just the opposite with these tariffs. He's raising prices through the roof and strangling American families.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): This is a tax, plain and simple, on the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right, the impact of that vote is largely symbolic as House GOP leaders are not expected to take up any efforts to rebuke Trump over tariff policy. Now, the president's plan also has some supporters like Republican Tommy Tuberville from Alabama, who says that his constituents must trust Trump's moves.
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SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): We have to save the people in the industries of the United States. If they continue to go on, we're going to have huge problems. We think we've got problems now. They'll get much worse.
In my state of Alabama, we voted almost unanimously for President Trump. They believe in him. And he's trying something different. We have to have a different game plan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right, joining me now is Congressman Jonathan Jackson, a House Democrat and also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman, good to have you back on the program.
We've had some time now to digest this news, about 12 hours, 13 hours, in fact. What's your top line reaction to these tariffs impacting some 185 nations?
REP. JONATHAN JACKSON (D-IL): Well, what he's calling -- what the president is calling Liberation Day feels more like D-Day, that he has lit a fuse that can connect different countries and some incalculable measure on people's actions and reactions. To think that in this world that's globalized, that he can unwrap and then make threats against allies, neighbors and trading partners without consequences is not true.
When we saw in 19 -- in 2022, when the Brazilian economy started growing significantly with its export of soybeans into China, people are going to start finding other places to source. So he's going to create decoupling from the United States economy to other countries.
SOLOMON: And Illinois, your home state, obviously a huge agricultural source of exporting. I'm going to get to that in just a moment.
But first, while I have you, I want to talk about how the GOP or how the House specifically plans to respond to this. We saw the Senate last night deliver that rare bipartisan rebuke of Trump's tariffs on Canada, adopting that resolution that effectively aims to block the proposed tariffs on our neighbors to the north. This was already in the works before that announcement yesterday.
But four Republicans signed on to this. What do House leaders do now? I mean, what does the House do now? Because we know that leaders there don't want to touch this. So what's the plan now for Dems?
JACKSON: Well, let me say, first of all, a huge shout out to Senator Cory Booker. He might have broken the dam as far as letting the senators have their voice. I'm glad to see that Senator Rand Paul and McConnell, Murkowski and others have now stepped forward. And it's passed the Senate 51-49, 58-49.
That's a great thing. In the House, we've been fighting under the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries. And now with our ranking member on foreign affairs, Mr. Gregory Meeks, he's putting forward a privileged resolution when we get back to Washington, D.C., to bypass the speaker. The Speaker of the House still has not found his voice. He's the third most powerful person in the United States of America.
[05:50:00]
And he's not using that power to curtail Mr. Trump and let him know we have co-equal branches of government. There are tools in place to stop this sort of erratic, frenetic, using that power to curtail Mr. Trump and let him know we have co-equal branches of government. There are tools in place to stop this sort of erratic, frenetic behavior.
And so I'm so proud of ranking member Meeks. And there will be a privileged resolution to go around the Speaker of the House to let this come before the United States Congress as well.
SOLOMON: But Congressman, do you think you'll be able to pull that off? And do you think that in the House, which is obviously very different than the Senate, that you might see some Republican defectors like we saw in the Senate? I mean, realistically, as the kids might say, keep it real with me.
I mean, what do you expect here?
JACKSON: Yes, absolutely. So it was an embarrassing defeat last week for Speaker Johnson. Luna was able to shut him down.
And it was over a simple thing. It was a matter of women having access, mothers having access to vote remotely. Like, what kind of arcane leadership is he doing where women cannot vote remotely? Of course, that's a natural workforce enhancement that we should have. And I do believe when Meeks moves this forward that we will see the House follow suit.
SOLOMON: OK. Let me talk specifically about Illinois, as we just sort of alluded to there. You're on the House Committee on Agriculture. Illinois, a major exporter of agricultural products, one of the largest in the country, more than $13 billion in 2023, according to your state's agriculture department. How are these tariffs going to impact farmers in your state? What are you hearing?
JACKSON: Well, my goodness, what do we get from Canada? We get a lot of lumber from Canada for our housing market. We get a crude oil that we need for the refineries coming from Canada.
So we're immediately going to feel a shock. And our gas prices, that goes in asphalt and many other products. We're going to see a spike in our housing prices because of the tariffs that are coming in here. We'll also see the impacts of the manufacturing from aluminum that fills the factories, manufacturing facilities in the north. That's huge.
The other part is on the export of the soybean and corn. The Chinese started investing heavily in Brazil the last time there was a U.S.- Chinese trade dispute. And now we're going to see an increase in Brazilian exports, a decrease in Illinois exports of our soy and corn to the markets of China. And he's making the commodity markets come down.
It's going to have less access for U.S. farmers in our trade. We're pulling back on USAID. So we're not going to be welcomed in as many places.
This is D-Day in so many places around the world. And Mr. Trump has turned the parking lot of the White House into a used car lot one week. The next week, he's now making with these big boards, like, let's make a deal on the parking lot or, you know, wheel of fortune. It's unbelievable.
And we have energy and commerce committees that are prepared to make these decisions. He doesn't have to do this alone.
So he's making America, in some ways, in diplomatic circles, stand for the MAGA movement. I heard a diplomat tell me the other day MAGA means to him, make America go away. He's turning people away from the goodness and goodwill of America.
America built this world financial trade system after World War II, and he's dismantling it single-handedly.
SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, he's not doing it alone, though, right? I mean, he has the advice of those like his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent. And to that point, I want to play for you something the Secretary told my colleague, Kaitlan Collins.
Take a listen, Congressman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: It depends on the country. But remember that the history of trade is we are the deficit country. The deficit country has an advantage.
They are the surplus countries. The surplus countries traditionally always lose any kind of a trade escalation. So as a student of economic history or a professor of economic history, I'd advise against it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: Congressman, you have a master's in business. You have taught college finance. Do you agree with his assessment there?
JACKSON: Yes. You want to have people to have the United States dollar in the reserve. And so you do have a deficit.
What he's doing is unparalleled in breaking the chains and the ties, if you will, of the manufacturing and the global infrastructure. Remember what he did at the last time? He started off with some great people, as in Mr. Rex Tillerson of Exxon, one of the CEOs and a great CEO of the world's largest oil company. He ended up not with CEO of Mobil and Rex Tillerson. He ended up with Mr. Pillow. And so you're going to see people begin to defect when they find out that you cannot have a coordinated plan.
He should bring this to The Hill, people in the Senate and the leadership. Talk to the people in the House leadership. There are many people that want to be a part of this conversation. Not do it alone.
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SOLOMON: Representative Jonathan Jackson, we appreciate you being here this morning. Thank you.
JACKSON: Thank you.
SOLOMON: I'm going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.
SOLOMON: Welcome back. The clock is ticking for TikTok with no apparent solution to avoid a ban in the U.S. this weekend. Now, if it seems like we've been here before, it's because we have.
President Trump extended a similar January deadline to this Saturday, forcing TikTok's parent company to sell its U.S. operations due to national security concerns over its Chinese ownership. President Trump even suggested reducing tariffs on Chinese imports as part of a sale.
All right, that's going to do it for us this morning. Thanks for being with us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. CNN "THIS MORNING" starts right now.
