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One World with Zain Asher
Trump To Announce Sweeping New Tariffs Today; Twenty-Five Percent On Imported Cars To Take Effect Thursday; Liberal Wins Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Despite Musk's Money; U.S. Supreme Court Weighs Funding For Planned Parenthood; Investigation Into "Qatargate" Deepens; China's Military Launches Live-Fire Exercise Near Taiwan; Canada Vows To Retaliate Against Trump's Tariffs; New York Yankees Crushing Records Using "Torpedo" Bats; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired April 02, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:08]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Make America wealthy again. We are just hours away from Donald Trump's big announcement on tariffs.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, the second hour of ONE WORLD starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: April 2nd is Liberation Day.
We have a lot of tariffs that we're going to be putting on.
It'll be substantial.
And it will be Liberation Day.
Liberation Day, April 2nd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Today is the day, how sweeping new tariffs could affect your wallet.
ASHER: Also ahead, china conducts military drills for the second day in a row, why their location is ringing alarm bells.
And later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the teams are going to use it. Should it be legal? No. Is it cheating? Yes, it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: What's a torpedo bat? And why does it have the world of baseball up in arms?
ASHER: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of ONE WORLD.
Well, four hours from now, as soon as U.S. markets close, don't know if that's specific as to why he's doing this at that time, we'll know Donald
Trump's price to do business with the United States.
ASHER: Yes. The White House says he'll unveil sweeping tariffs that will affect prices in the U.S. and abroad, but to what degree? We still don't
know. Only time will tell. Everybody's waiting for this announcement at four o'clock this afternoon local time.
The president is calling it Liberation Day in America. He writes online that these new tariffs will free Americans from unfair trade practices.
World leaders say, they are ready to react.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER DUTTON, AUSTRALIAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I've been very clear that my job as prime minister would be to stand up for our national interest. And I
don't care whether it's President Trump or any other world leader. My job is to stand up for Australians.
SOPHIE PRIMAS, FRENCH GOVERNMENT SPOKESWOMAN (through translator): We're waiting for the American announcements tonight. And we have no vision on
which sectors these tariffs will fall on, but we do know that they risk being pretty powerful.
OLOF GILL, EUROPEAN COMMISSION SPOKESPERSON: Right now, we're just in -- we're in waiting mode. And we will issue our formal European Union
response at the appropriate moment.
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: A trade war is in nobody's interest. And the country deserves and we will take a calm, pragmatic approach.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: So let's see how the U.S. market is doing midday. I guess to quote, Keir Starmer. They're taking a calm, pragmatic approach now as we're
anticipating the news of these tariffs, but that's more or less likely because they don't know and investors don't know exactly what to expect.
Anna Stewart joins us now with an update. We're four hours away and it's anyone's guess, Anna. It's just unimaginable that the world's largest
economy is really holding the entire world, really on pause in anticipation.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So-called Liberation Day has been sign posted now for some weeks by the U.S. president, but it's unbelievable that
it's finally here. And we still really don't know exactly what is going to be announced.
You're looking at U.S. markets there, which opened in the red, clearly also in wait and see mode, much like politicians around the world who are
waiting to see what the tariffs will mean for them and how they might respond or retaliate. So today and tomorrow, of course, will be really
interesting on that.
The options out there. First of all, you could have a universal tariff, perhaps 20 percent across all imports into the U.S. Now, that would be a
very easy tariff to implement, one would think, but very costly to the U.S. consumer.
According to Yale's Budget Lab, potentially, it would cost the typical middle-class household in the US $3,800 a year. You could see tariffs sort
of targeting specific sectors. We've already had that, of course, with autos. We had that last week. Those will be implemented this week.
You could see reciprocal tariffs, which has been talked about a lot by the U.S. president. This would be looking at tariffs that are against U.S.
products currently and just simply reciprocating them. That would be very difficult to implement.
You'd be looking at all sorts of very niche products across all sorts of different countries and having to implement that against them.
There is, frankly, so many different options on the table right now. And not only do investors have to grapple with that, but they also have to
consider what the fallout will be tomorrow. What will the retaliation be? Is this a moment for negotiation? Could these tariffs be sort of rained
back in once they are announced? Or could they escalate if countries dare to retaliate against U.S. president Donald Trump?
GOLODRYGA: Wait and see mode. We shall see in less than four hours now.
Anna Stewart, thank you.
ASHER: And President Trump has already announced a 25 percent tariff on imported cars. Those are expected to go into effect tomorrow.
CNN's Danny Freeman is reporting from a car dealership in Pennsylvania for us.
So what's interesting is that buyers, at least in March, really flooded car dealerships across the United States, just in an attempt to sort of snap up
cars in anticipation of higher prices in terms of when these tariffs go into effect. Take us through it, Danny.
[12:05:09]
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Now, I'll have more to say in that in a moment because we just spoke actually to a customer who really
felt that pressure and came to the lot specifically for that today.
But I just want to describe what the issue is that folks at dealerships are experiencing. So this is a dealership, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, American
cars. This one right here, this is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was assembled in Detroit. So this would not be subject to the tariffs that are going to
be implemented overnight.
But a car like this, this is a Dodge Hornet. This car is predominantly assembled in Italy. So any new cars like this would be subject to those
tariffs.
This, a Dodge Charger, as American as it gets, this car was assembled in Ontario, Canada, and many of the parts also imported as well. So this car
would be subject to those tariffs as well.
All of this is really indicative of the challenges that dealerships and ultimately consumers are going to face.
We just heard a story from the owner of this dealership who noted that there was a customer who bought a car back in January, but that shipment
got delayed. And listen now, he describes now the problem facing not just him as a dealer, but also the customer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVE KELLEHER, PRESIDENT, DAVE AUTO GROUP: If it gets on the train tomorrow, it's going to have a 25 percent tariff. That $86,000 car becomes
$103,000 car overnight.
And that customer, he's going to turn to me. I'm most likely going to eat that. That's a $20,000 hit that I'm going to take.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREEMAN: So again, you can see there are real dollars at stake here for real consumers and real small business owners, including this one here at
Dave Auto in Pennsylvania.
The last thing on that, though, just to bring around full circle, you were correct. Ford said that they experienced a high number of sales in the
month of March. They didn't specifically reference tariffs as the reason, but of course it was all coming up to tomorrow when these tariffs are
coming into place.
Dave, the owner here, he said that over the weekend, he saw a lot of people in the showroom sold more cars than they normally do for an early spring
weekend. And like I started this hit, Rosa was the woman who we just met, who's driving off the lot in a Jeep Wrangler. She said that she probably
would have waited a few months to buy that car, but she was worried that prices would go up. So she drove out in the new car this morning.
Zain, Bianna?
ASHER: All right. Danny Freeman, I appreciate your reporting there.
GOLODRYGA: Well, Democrats are celebrating today after scoring an important electoral victory.
ASHER: Yes. CNN projects that liberal judge, Susan Crawford, has won a seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. It means that Wisconsin court will
likely have a liberal majority until at least 2028.
Elon Musk and his allies, by the way, spent tens of millions of dollars trying to beat Crawford, making it the most expensive judicial race in
American history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CRAWFORD, WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE-ELECT: As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I'd be
taking on the richest man in the world.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
For justice in Wisconsin. And we won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Now, Republican candidates did manage a pair of important wins in two special congressional elections in Florida on Tuesday. But in both
cases, seats that Republicans had won by more than 30 points just months ago, produced much smaller margins of victory this time around.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDY FINE, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN-ELECT: Mr. President, this win is yours far more than is mine.
I believe in every fiber of my being that God turned Donald Trump's head in Butler, Pennsylvania so he could save the world. And it is God's plan that
I get to go and help him do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: So what message did voters send with these elections? No one better to answer that question than our chief data analyst, Harry Enten,
with amazing penmanship today.
ASHER: Oh look at -- I put my mic on. Well done you, Harry.
GOLODRYGA: Brilliant.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Thank you.
ASHER: So smart. Gosh.
ENTEN: Thank you. You know, yesterday I was on with our colleague, Richard Quest, and all of a sudden I started talking and he says, Harry, I can't
hear you. And it was because my mic was off.
But then I just, you know, I said, we'll do it live like Bill O'Reilly once said, and I held the mic up right to my day an d I started talking.
ASHER: What a great reference.
ENTEN: You know, why that?
ASHER: We'll do it live. We'll do it live.
ENTEN: We'll do it live. We'll do it live. Just like we're going to do this live because I actually remember to put my mic on. All right?
GOLODRYGA: A true Renaissance man, Harry.
ENTEN: Thank.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you. Thank you --
ENTEN: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: -- for putting your mic on for us.
So, how much of an impact did a certain Elon Musk have in the race in Wisconsin? Let's start there.
ENTEN: Yes. Let's start with Elon Musk and then we'll go on to Florida. Look, the bottom line is Elon Musk is political poison, whether it's in
Wisconsin or nationally.
Take a look at Musk in that favorable rating in the state of Wisconsin. Look at this. Minus 12 points. You go nationally, it's even worse.
[12:10:04]
If you are a Republican candidate running in a swing state, you don't want Elon Musk anywhere near you. You do not want him visiting your state. We
saw the result yesterday in Wisconsin, when we saw that blowout. Schimel, the conservative candidate, lost to Susan Crawford, the liberal party --
the liberal candidate.
And so, Elon Musk, not someone you want by your side, all right? So that's the Wisconsin race.
Let's go into Florida, you mention those, right? OK. It's all, in my opinion, about the baseline and comparing where we were back in November
with Donald Trump and where we were last night in Florida. You talk about Florida 1, right?
Look at that, Donald Trump won it by 37 points. Last night, the Republican candidate won, but just by 15.
How about in Florida 6? Look at this, Donald Trump won there by 30 points back in 2024. Last night, just a 14-point win.
What we're talking about shifts are over 20 points in Florida 1. A little bit under 20 points in Florida 6. And an average of, get this, a shift to
the left of 19 points. Holy cow.
And I wrap my brain, you know, I'm going to myself, OK, what does this remind me of? Where can I find a historical parallel to what happened last
night in Florida? And you know what? I like to go out to the state of Kansas. I'm a big fan of the Wizard of Oz.
And take a look here, the fourth district, back in 2017. I was a young man there -- young man there. I think my hair on my face was not quite as gray.
And take a look at this. This is a special election that took place there. And you saw Ron Estes, the Republican win by six back in April of 2017. But
Donald Trump had won in that district by get this, 27 points.
That shift that happened in Kansas looks a heck of a lot like the shift that we saw last night in Florida. And of course, that presaged, of course,
Democrats taking over the House in 2018. Obviously, a lot of Democrats are hoping for the same.
And I will just note in conclusion here that special elections and midterm results, if on average, a party outperforms compared to the last
presidential race, going back since the '05, '06 cycle, five out of five times that party took over the House. We'll have to wait and see if that is
the case come November of 2026.
But last night, a bad night for Elon Musk, a good night for Democrats. And I dare say it was a good night for my improvement of my penmanship, as
illustrated earlier on in this segment.
ASHER: And also, you got your mic on. So --
ENTEN: Yes.
ASHER: -- win all around.
ENTEN: Oh, hello, hello, hello? Yes, I think we got it.
ASHER: We can't hear you, Harry. Oh, my gosh, we can't hear you.
ENTEN: I'll run upstairs, and I'll start screaming in your faces as I sometimes tend to do.
ASHER: As you do sometimes, in the makeup room, does that a lot.
ENTEN: That's right.
GOLODRYGA: Harry -- he's always nice to me in the makeup room. Harry, you - -
ENTEN: I know. Isn't it nice? I look fantastic.
GOLODRYGA: You always look fantastic, Harry Enten.
ENTEN: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you. You make the show --
ENTEN: Bye.
GOLODRYGA: -- that much better. Bye.
ASHER: All right. The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today in a case that could deal a major blow to women healthcare's -- women's
healthcare, rather, in some states.
GOLODRYGA: And involves a decision by the state of South Carolina to stop providing Medicaid payments to the health care organization, Planned
Parenthood.
Now, that decision blocked payments for things like cancer screenings, birth control, and basic checkups because Planned Parenthood also provides
abortions.
The court must now decide whether Planned Parenthood and patients have the right to sue states that cut Medicaid funding to the organization.
ASHER: CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is tracking this story for us.
So, Paula, I mean, this case is kind of sort of tangentially about abortion. But what is technically at issue is whether or not South Carolina
can remove Planned Parenthood from its list of Medicaid-funded programs. Just take us through that.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. This is not a traditional abortion case before the High Court. But the
issue looms large because South Carolina pulled Medicaid funding for these two Planned Parenthood clinics that provided a wide array of health
services like blood pressure screenings, cholesterol screenings, screenings for diabetes. And they specifically catered for low-income individuals in
the state.
Now, they did also provide abortions, but abortions cannot be paid for with Medicaid. So the state decided to withhold Medicaid funding from these two
clinics because the clinic provided abortion services.
Now, Planned Parenthood, and at least one of their patients sued. And the lower courts have repeatedly ruled that federal Medicaid law specifically
requires that patients have a right to go to, quote, any qualified and willing medical provider.
Now, what's interesting in this case, especially, is the question of who can actually bring a case like this. So this is a very important issue. And
if the state of South Carolina prevails here, we know other conservative governors will likely follow suit and try to pull Medicaid funding.
The question is whether Planned Parenthood and this patient are the right people and have standing to bring this suit because we know that some
conservatives on the Supreme Court have not allowed similar actions to go forward and believe that the proper way to challenge this would have been
to go to the Health and Human Services, the Secretary, and rescind all Medicaid funding for the state of South Carolina.
[12:15:04]
But that, of course, could have a negative effect on people who rely on that coverage. So they've gone about this in a unique way and it is
possible that the justices, instead of deciding the larger issue, a majority of them could decide that, look, this case was not brought in the
proper format and rejected that way.
But this is definitely one to look at and one to watch in June when the justices released their big decision, mostly because of the impact it could
have on other states across the country.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And we've seen that happen before, specifically as it relates to this issue at hand.
Paul Reid, thank you so much.
Well, U.S. Democrat, Cory Booker, made history by speaking on the Senate floor for 25 hours and five minutes without taking a break.
ASHER: Imagine standing up for that long.
GOLODRYGA: Incredible. Well, Booker's Marathon Speech was largely symbolic as he described a country in crisis under the Trump administration and the
deep cuts to federal programs.
Now, he called on the rising generation to take a leading role in helping to fix the country's problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I confess that I've been inadequate to the moment. I confess that the Democratic Party has made terrible mistakes.
This is the time where new leaders in our country must emerge. I'm not talking about senators. I'm talking about citizens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: That is -- that is quite an incredible feat. Twenty-five hours standing, speaking. Obviously, his colleagues gave him a break by asking
really, really long questions.
But he broke the record for the longest Senate floor speech in modern history, a record that was previously held by this man, a segregationist,
Strom Thurmond, who was protesting the 1957 Civil Rights Act. I believe he spoke for 24 hours. So Cory Booker beat him by just under an hour, right?
The moment, of course, was not lost on Senator Booker. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKER: There's a room here in the Senate named after Strom Thurmond. I hate him. It was wrong. Maybe my ego got too caught up that if I stood
here, maybe, maybe, just maybe I could break this record of the man who tried to stop the rights upon which I stand.
I'm not here, though, because of his speech. I'm here despite his speech. I'm here because as powerful as he was, the people were more powerful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: I mean, it is quite something to have an African-American senator beat Strom Thurmond, who was known for some of his racist views and, of
course, trying to protest against civil rights in this country. So that is a -- that is a really important symbolic moment.
GOLODRYGA: And he really energized the party as well. This was a symbolic move, obviously, on his part, but it did create the sense of revival
amongst a lot of Democrats who have felt very pressured by constituents to do more in response to some of the policies that they don't like from
Donald Trump. And this was a textbook example of clearly something that energized so many Democrats.
Now, Booker says that he prepared for this marathon speech by fasting and cutting back on water.
ASHER: Water was smart. He (INAUDIBLE) bathroom break.
GOLODRYGA: I hope that he is eating, resting, and drinking right now.
ASHER: Speaking for 24 hours, you do not need a bathroom break. All right.
Still to come, did Qatar enlist two top Israeli advisors to make the Gulf nation look good during the hostage talks? The investigation into Qatargate
deepens.
GOLODRYGA: Plus, China launches one of its largest military drills in years. A serious warning to Taiwan. We'll have details after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:21]
ASHER: Two close associates of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are being held in police custody as an investigation into what's being
called Qatargate deepens.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The judge in the case says Prime Minister Netanyahu's closest advisor and a former aide are suspected of having unlawful ties
with Qatar.
Now, Doha allegedly wanted them to put a positive spin on Qatar's role as a facilitator in hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Aaron David
Miller's former U.S. State Department Middle East negotiator and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He joins us now
from Washington.
So, I mean, talk about strange bedfellows, but this investigation just gets deeper and deeper in the connections closer and closer to Prime Minister
Netanyahu. Just talk to us about the impact that these charges have against his associates and what that may mean for trouble politically, potentially,
and even legally for the prime minister, if in fact this has proven to be true, that during hostage negotiations that some of his top aides were
actually paid money to make Qatar look better.
AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Yes. I mean, this gets really complicated. Bianna, it's like an iceberg of
a quarter of its -- above the waterline, three quarters of its below.
I mean, there's so many angles, but I think, look, for perspective, let's keep in mind the reality that this Israeli prime minister has been on trial
for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in a Jerusalem district court before three judges.
Now, for almost five years in running, five years with an enormous number of witnesses, a complex set of charges, and yet nothing has happened that
would erode or undermine his political saliency in Israeli politics.
This one, though it is sort of intertwined with the hostage issue, and the fact that the prime minister has just fired Ronen Bar, the head of Shin
Bet, unprecedented in Israel's political history.
Shin Bet was doing the negotiating, excuse me -- was doing the investigating for this alleged Qatargate scandal.
So it's, again, it's inexorably mixed up with Netanyahu's political future. I mean, can they in fact prove the charges that the prime minister presided
over, knew, was aware of the fact that his aides were apparently taking Qatari money in an effort to improve Qatar's image in the run-up to the
World Cup? Virtually impossible to know.
I would only sense, though, given the nine lives that Benjamin Netanyahu has already expanded in terms of his political saliency, the longest
governing Prime Minister in the history of the state of Israel, exceeding even David Ben-Gurion, perhaps Israel's greatest prime minister, that this
prime minister probably still has a good bit of political life left in him.
ASHER: And, Aaron, I want to talk to you about this report that according to Israel Katz, Israel's defense minister, that Israel is planning on
seizing large areas of land and absorbing it into the country's sort of security zones. Just give us your take on that.
MILLER: I mean, look, the most charitable interpretation of this, and again, I think the prime minister's evidence seems to me not in Israeli. It
seems to me that the prime minister has prized continuing the war against Hamas, weakening it, ultimately eroding it, maybe seeking the expulsion of
its senior leadership from Gaza over where most of the country is right now in terms of putting an absolute premium on returning 59 hostages both alive
and dead that Hamas is holding.
[12:25:23]
And I think this tactic, the most terrible interpretation is that they're pressing Hamas in an effort to agree to double the number of hostages that
Hamas has prepared to release or was according to its latest proposal.
The Witkoff proposal, I think, wanted 11 living hostages and half of those who are not, in exchange for two months ceasefire. Hamas rejected it. He
came back with the release of Edan Alexander, the living -- lone living American that Hamas is holding.
And they've settled on five that's not enough for the Israelis, so they press their military advantage, their escalation dominance in Gaza, whether
Hamas will essentially agree at some point to release more hostages in a first phase is frankly unclear.
But what is very clear is that continuation of the war and the end of Hamas' political influence, however unattainable, that actually may be in
reality, that remains Mr. Netanyahu's military objective because it coincides, frankly, with the continued viability of his right-wing
government.
GOLODRYGA: Well, the Prime Minister Netanyahu just now said that this operation is ongoing to retrieve hostages in Gaza. Those are his words. You
couple that with the Hostage Family Forum, which has said they're horrified at this announcement and what it means for the safety of the hostages, both
the living and those who are no longer alive.
Do you give credence at this point to the words from the prime minister as to an explanation?
MILLER: I mean, of course, it's certainly plausible that the objective of this operation is to put pressure on Hamas in order to free as many
hostages as possible.
But look, in the end, you really have to wonder, an all-for-all agreement, which would have been the most rational way to solve this, ending the war,
releasing all of the hostages and Israel with all of its forces from Gaza would have ended this.
And the reality is many military experts in Israel, former security and intelligence professionals, would argue that Israel does not have to occupy
Gaza in order to maintain its escalation dominance. It can deal with Hamas at what remains still by withdrawing his forces and preempting and
preventing when necessary.
That arrangement would, in fact, probably lead to freeing of all the hostages. And, you know, even if the Israelis agreed to this, to withdraw
their forces and then decided that they wanted to move into Gaza and perhaps maintain permanent positions there, given the acquiescence and the
view of Hamas in the Trump administration, I suspect they could do that as well.
So I continue to believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu, yes, he wants the hostages home, but that is not his main priority. It's staying in power,
and staying in power means a continuation of the conflict at some level.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The argument that you could go back in later, and that would have been met with resistance from the West, particularly from the
United States, may have carried more weight under a different administration, specifically under the Biden administration. But it's hard
to make that argument, given what we're seeing from the Trump administration in their response to how Israel is conducting this war.
Aaron David Miller, always good to see you. Thank you.
MILLER: Thank you, Bianna.
ASHER: All right. China launched live fire military drills in the East China Sea. The exercise is dubbed as Strait Thunder are said to be focused
on testing the military's ability to carry out precision strikes and conduct a blockade at sea.
GOLODRYGA: On Tuesday, the White House issued a warning to China after the exercises began.
CNN's Will Ripley has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, SENIOR CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Erupt in the Taiwan Strait. China launches one of its largest military drills in
years, including long-range live fire exercises near the East China Sea.
Dozens of warplanes, navy and coast guard vessels, even Beijing's newest aircraft carrier, the Shandong, a simulated siege encircling Taiwan by air
and sea, taking Taiwan, the U.S., and its allies by surprise.
[12:30:07]
GUO JIAKUN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): A serious warning against Taiwan independence.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan is scrambling fighter jets, activating missile systems, accusing Beijing of corruption and internal chaos.
WILLINGTON KOO, TAIWAN DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): I think they should properly resolve these internal problems instead of destroying peace
and stability in the region.
RIPLEY (voice-over): China's military is dealing with a wave of purges, top generals disappearing amid corruption probes and secrecy.
The drills include assault simulations, rehearsals for a full blockade of Taiwan's sea lanes, a likely first move if China ever tries to seize the
island by force, a stark new warning to Taiwan's leaders, and some say the Trump administration.
SU TZU-YUN, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY RESEARCH: So I think Beijing is trying to show its signal to Washington.
RIPLEY (voice-over): An internal Taiwanese government memo obtained by CNN confirms China timed the drills just after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete
Hegseth left Asia.
Just days earlier, a leaked Pentagon memo, first reported by "The Washington Post," calling China the department's sole pacing threat,
warning U.S. forces to prepare for a possible Chinese seizure of Taiwan.
"The New York Times" reports Elon Musk was scheduled to be briefed at the Pentagon on U.S. war plans for a possible conflict with China.
That meeting never happened, reportedly called off after the paper began asking questions. Both Musk and Trump deny the story, calling it
propaganda.
Online, China's state-run media is cheering the drills. One Weibo hashtag racked up more than 300 million views. The concern here in Taiwan, one
wrong move could trigger a conflict with global consequences.
HAWKIN YEE, TAIPEI RESIDENT (through translator): We hope governments on both sides will exercise restraints instead of acting unilaterally and
causing conflicts or even war.
RIPLEY (voice-over): In one propaganda video, China's military mocks Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-te, calling him a parasite.
Beijing's ridicule may be a response to stepped-up espionage crackdowns. Taiwan sentencing four soldiers, including presidential guards for spying
for China.
Taiwan also deporting several pro-China social media influencers, accusing them of calling for an armed takeover of the island.
Making these massive military drills even more ominous.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIE JOLY, CANADIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We didn't start this trade war, the U.S. administration did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Canada reacts to President Donald Trump's sweeping new tariffs, what the country vows to do, just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:32]
ASHER: All right. Welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. As we've been saying throughout the show, soon the U.S. president is expected to announce his most aggressive
tariff policy yet in a major escalation of his global trade war.
ASHER: Yes. America's neighbor and longtime ally, Canada, is vowing to retaliate against those tariffs. Many Canadians say they are left feeling
frustrated and angered by President Trump's tax hikes.
Trump, however, says he's using the tariffs a way to bring down the nation's debt and bring jobs back. Canada's foreign minister says her
country is ready to fight back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOLY: We didn't start this trade war, the U.S. administration did. And they can reverse course, but they can only reverse course if the American people
themselves say, it's enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: All right. Time now for The Exchange. Joining us live now is chief economist and primary spokesperson at The Conference Board of Canada, Pedro
Antunes. Pedro, thank you so much for being with us.
It's interesting because the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, actually spoke with Howard Lutnick, the U.S. Commerce Secretary a few days ago and asked
him, hey, listen, what exactly are these tariffs that are coming our way?
And at that precise moment in time, just a few days ago, Howard Lutnick seemed to have absolutely no idea. And we also know that the president, at
least until last night, was still sort of talking to his advisers and brainstorming what exactly the tariffs that were going to be that he's
going to announce in a few hours from now.
Based on all that, based on this level of fly by the city of your pants, this level of uncertainty. I mean, how do Canadians even begin to prepare
for that?
PEDRO ANTUNES, CHIEF ECONOMIST, THE CONFERENCE BOARD OF CANADA: Well, it's very, very difficult. And in fact, by all measures, you know, uncertainty
is very high.
We've seen essentially consumer confidence, for example, in Canada reach rock bottom levels, lower than they were in during the pandemic. And
similarly, business confidence is being hard hit. We've already seen essentially the impacts of that. Consumers are retrenching. And certainly in terms of major projects, I know that we've
seen a number of major projects already being held back in terms of investment.
So the environment is extremely uncertain. And I do think that this is part of the objective here is to, you know, similarly to what we saw in 2016
with President Trump's first term, it was this, you know, intent to create this uncertainty, especially uncertainty about access to the U.S. market
that essentially motivates less investment in Canada. And I think the objective here is to move that investment, obviously south of the border,
as we've heard.
GOLODRYGA: Sticking with Doug Ford, just this morning, he was on CNBC, a business network, and was talking about the -- and I don't even know if
he's at liberty to make such an offer, but suggested that they would be willing -- Canada would be willing, he would be willing to do away with all
tariffs if the United States would avoid doing the same, which just leaves you a bit baffled as to why he would be negotiating on television just
hours before this announcement from the president.
But if that were the case, if that is an option from Canada, doesn't that suggest that President Trump's policies or his tactics are working?
ANTUNES: Well, I mean, I do think that's part of the tactic. I mean, one is to create this anxiety and uncertainty to move investment on its own,
private investment, especially as we've heard on auto sectors and manufacturing in general.
[12:40:07]
I think the other objective here is to, you know, essentially push on certain aspects that the U.S. administration is looking to push on. And
that is essentially some key markets that are protected here in Canada. We have supply managed dairy in particular, which is a very sensitive issue
north of the border, and especially sensitive for different provinces.
So I don't know that, you know, we can hear one premier negotiating on behalf of all provinces and the National Federation on that topic.
But essentially, I do think this is part of the objective is to push Canada on different things. We're certainly thinking that we will get pushed on
dairy once again. We were pushed on dairy when we renegotiated the free trade agreement with the U.S. back in 2017, I believe it was.
We're going to be pushed possibly on defense spending. Canada has not anteed up and this is something The Conference Board has been talking about
in the past, that we do need to push harder on ramping up our spending on defense to our NATO commitment.
So I think these are a couple of things. Obviously, we'll wait and see what comes later today. But yes, we're holding our breaths.
ASHER: Republican senator, Susan Collins, essentially said recently that maybe these tariffs could possibly make sense with China, but not with
Canada and ally whose economy is so interconnected and so intertwined with the United States.
Do you anticipate that once Americans start feeling the pain themselves, in terms of the ramifications of these tariffs be it higher prices, be it the
reciprocal or retaliatory tariffs that are going to be imposed on American exporters? Do you think that the U.S. will have no choice but to walk these
tariffs back?
ANTUNES: You know, well, I mean, again, we'll have to wait and see where the tariffs are applied. I mean, personally, I think this idea that the
U.S. is somehow losing out to Canada because there's essentially a deficit with our trade, our trade in goods, by the way.
I think that's a false argument. I think the U.S. is simply buying, for the most part, most of our exports into the U.S. are resources. And the
resources are necessary inputs to help make the U.S. competitive on all sorts of things, energy, potash, uranium, all sorts of minerals. And these
are products, and I didn't even mention oil.
But these are all products that, you know, Canada sells on a global market at a global price, and the U.S. chooses to purchase because there's such
necessary inputs into your own production process, making the U.S. economy competitive.
So, yes, I think just the tariffs in and of themselves, the tariffs that the U.S. is applying, we'll see again what they are, those in themselves
will have a negative impact on prices and U.S. competitiveness.
This is why we think that most -- for the most part, these are essentially pressure tactics and negotiating tactics and will not be imposed for a
long-term -- long-time period, hopefully. And I think we're seeing that in markets as well.
If you look at how markets have been reacting, I think they're very hopeful that these are, in fact, negotiating tactics and not, you know, essentially
policies that will harm both economies tremendously if they are applied for any length of time.
ASHER: Pedro Antunes, we'll see what happens in three hours plus from now. Thank you so much, Pedro.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. As we saw the Dow there, it was flat just an hour ago. And it's up over 100 points there, I think, yes. And three tenths of a percent,
nearly four tenths of a percentage point. So maybe speaking to what Pedro was saying, hopeful that this is a temporary negotiating tactic. We will
see.
All right. Coming up, the new baseball season is reviving fiery debate about so-called torpedo bats. The Yankees love them, but are they legal?
Yes, they are. We will discuss, ahead. I'll answer that question.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:40]
ASHER: In this episode of Africa Insider explores how a Nigerian start-up called Pocket Food is transforming workplace dining.
GOLODRYGA: And by offering nutritious healthy meals to busy professionals, Pocket Food aims to redefine dining at work through technological
innovation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMOLARA OLARERIN, FOUNDER, POCKET FOOD: Pocket Food is a food management platform for busy professionals in Africa. We are providing solutions that
helps businesses to provide scalable and sustainable new solutions to their staff.
The trend currently is convenient, fast delivery, being able to access, you know, healthy meals, meals on the sports.
GBEMISOLA OGUNJI, CUSTOMER SUCCESS EXECUTIVE: So with Pocket Food, basically once you subscribe as clients of ours and then we curate your
meal based on your preference, we have signed a vendor to you, alongside with our customer success team.
OLARERIN: On our platform, we are able to access various meal plans from different chefs, not just restaurants but also our private chefs in our
platform.
OGUNJI: Some people have else challenges which we are supposed in concentration when preparing your food. We also look at the budgets of the
clients, which is very, very key.
MAYOWA KUYORO, PARTNER, HEAD OF AFRICA FINANCIAL SERVICES MCKINSEY: Over the last five years, women-led tech start-ups have only accounted for two
percent of the total funding to tech startups across the continent.
It's a testament to the resilience of women entrepreneurs that despite all the challenges that they face, they continue to be disproportionately
represented when it comes to entrepreneurship. And I think the time to begin to support them is now.
OLARERIN: Our plan for growth is to grow outside of Nigeria. We see ourselves being present in places like Kenya and Ghana.
For the future, I hope that we are able to look outside just back delivery. And see us focusing more on sustainable delivery like bicycles or even
drone deliveries to be able to access places that are not easily accessible by road.
I see us opening up some more technology in terms of healthy meals, accessible meals and food security for low-income owners.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[12:50:45]
GOLODRYGA: Baseball season is well underway with the New York Yankees already crushing records and racking up home runs.
ASHER: Yes. And sparking lots of talk around the team's torpedo bats. They're called that because these customized bats actually resemble a
torpedo.
The barrels on these bats are tailored for each hitter's so-called sweet spot. Players on the other teams use them too. But the big question is,
should they actually be allowed?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the teams are going to use it. Should it be legal? No. Is it cheating? Yes, it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone's now focusing on it because it was the New York Yankees. If the twins did it, I don't think it'd be that big of a
story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MLB will mess it up. They'll mess it. Makes too much history of baseball.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to legalize these bats that clearly help the batters that are going to choose the offensive stats, then Barry Bond
should be put in the Hall of Fame tomorrow.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I heard -- I heard you say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Oh, come on. These are just Yankee haters.
World sports Don Riddell joins us live from Atlanta. So, yes, my son is a Yankees fan, so that's I am a Yankees fan.
But, Don, walk us through the controversy here because from what I know, this was created by someone at MIT, and it is legal. I mean, I just don't
know if the Yankees can use it, why can't other teams and why is such a controversy then?
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, as you heard from one of the clips there, guys, other teams are using it. I guess not every player is using it
either, right? So, for example, the Yankees big star, Aaron Judge, isn't using them, and he's playing just fine, so there's that. He doesn't feel
like he needs to change his bat.
The Yankees actually started using these last season. So Giancarlo Stanton, in the playoffs last year, scored seven home runs through 14 games in the
postseason with this bat. No one said anything about it.
The only reason that it's become a big story now is because the Yankees are breaking records. Several of them. So they've just hit 18 home runs through
the first four games. That's never been done in Major League Baseball.
They've also had nine different players scoring home runs through the first four games. No team has ever done that in baseball.
So there is a lot of attention and a lot of focus on them because of the records they're breaking, but also because it's the Yankees because
everybody either loves to love the Yankees or they love to hate them. And so that's why it is a big talker, but it is absolutely fascinating.
Major League Baseball is OK with it. They've basically just reconfigured the bats to sort of, you know, the scientists within the sport have looked
at every player's individual swing plane and strike zone and basically just put the sweet spot where they are most likely to make contact with the
ball.
The sweet spot basically is the heaviest and the fattest part of the bat. That's where you want the meat of the bat where you're going to hit the
ball. And that's why these players are having greater success with them. But there's no reason other players can't use it too if they so desire.
GOLODRYGA: So baseball season, as we know, just kicked off. Walk us through what stood out thus far to you.
RIDDELL: Well, I mean, clearly we're only four games in, but the Yankees are playing absolutely great. I will say these bats don't guarantee wins.
They lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks last night. So like this isn't everything.
The LA Dodgers who, of course, beat the Yankees in the World Series last year have also made an absolutely phenomenal start to this season. So early
days, only three, four games in, but it's looking like those two teams could well be going the distance again this year.
[12:55:12]
GOLODRYGA: And you heard it here from me first. This controversy is much ado about nothing. Torpedo bats for all. They're legal, folks.
ASHER: But I love how you explained it, right? The difference between these torpedo bats and a standard bat. I mean, it's the science that goes into
it. Really, really precise. And it does improve your game too.
GOLODRYGA: You're going to go buy one?
ASHER: I am the least sports-orientated person on the planet, so no.
GOLODRYGA: The season's still young. We'll turn you around.
All right. Don Riddell, thank you so much.
ASHER: Thank you, Don.
GOLODRYGA: And that does it for ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. I appreciate you watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:00]
END
