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The Situation Room

Interview With Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI); U.S. Welcomes Senior Russian Envoy; World Bracing For Trump Tariffs. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired April 02, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: We have team coverage and reaction from U.S. trade partners as the world waits to hear what Trump has planned.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And we also, Pamela, have new CNN reporting this morning. A senior Russian official is due here in Washington as early as today. This would be the first visit of its kind since the Ukraine invasion by Russia began.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We're just hours away from President Trump's big tariff announcement. CNN has new reporting that he was working late into Tuesday night to -- quote -- "perfect" the plans, but the exact details are still unclear. We do know that one consideration is a 20 percent universal tariff on all imports.

Some of the world's top economists say that could send the United States into recession.

We have a team of CNN correspondents in THE SITUATION ROOM fanned out across the U.S. and indeed around the world covering the major global story.

Let's go live, first of all, to our chief national security correspondent -- national affairs correspondent, I should say, Jeff Zeleny. He's over at the White House.

Jeff, first of all, tell us more about what could be announced in a few hours.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, good morning.

All eyes are at the White House, or on the White House, not just from business leaders in financial markets, but indeed from leaders around the world and businesses as well. President Trump has long talked about this day. He calls it liberation day to free the U.S. from bad trading policies, in his view, but it is an open question if the markets will see it as liberating at all.

Of course, we are hours before that announcement, and the White House has purposely scheduled this Rose Garden announcement for 4:00 p.m. after the markets close here in the U.S. Now, the White House advisers are still working, they say, on which specifics of this plan will be announced.

But we do know it's really the, biggest, most sweeping tariff policy in about a century. The president talked about an American-first agenda. We're going to see him roll this out, but here are some of the possible things he's discussing, as you can see there.

Well, one possibility is a 20 percent universal tariff across the board. That would raise significant revenue, but also cost households more. Also, potentially, 15 countries or so, as the White House views them the worst tariff defenders, that means the trade imbalance here is the highest.

So those are a couple of the different options they are thinking about, but the markets are watching this very carefully. The president has long held this view he wants to bring more American manufacturing back. But the question is, is he living in this moment? Is this possible?

Economists in both parties, both sides, are worrying about this announcement, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, lots of nervous people right now, not only here in the United States, but indeed around the world.

Jeff Zeleny at the White House, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: Well, Wolf, President Trump's 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles are set to begin tomorrow, and a similar tariff on parts will follow soon after.

Autos built in American factories are likely to see price changes too.

CNN's Danny Freeman is at a car dealership in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania right outside of Philadelphia.

Danny, how are dealers feeling about all of this?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Listen, Pamela, this dealer here in the suburbs of Philly is, frankly, nervous and anxious for the impact of these tariffs.

I want to show you exactly what the challenge is here. This is a dealership that sells mostly American-made cars, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep. This car right here, this is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. You can see, final assembly point in Detroit, Michigan. So a car like this would not be impacted tomorrow, but 23 percent of the parts in this car come from Mexico.

So a car like this would be impacted in a month, when those tariffs (AUDIO GAP) particularly this car right here. This is a Dodge Hornet, again, a Dodge vehicle. The majority of this car is coming from Italy, 50 per 60 percent of the parts here, and the final assembly point is in Italy as well. So any cars like this immediately would cost higher if they're coming

into this dealership. This Dodge Charger right here, again, Dodge, American car, this car was assembled in Ontario, Canada. These are the types of vehicles that automatically essentially would go up.

And I want you to take a listen to what the owner of the dealership told me about the impact to consumers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KELLEHER, PRESIDENT AND OWNER, DAVID AUTO GROUP: That car could go from $30,000 ostensibly to $37,500, and it's that quick. And that kind of change in a price moves that payment $175 a month. And our customers, they're middle-class people. They just can't afford that kind of bump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And, Pamela, the last thing I will note is that we actually just ran to a customer who just bought a car today. She drove off the lot, and she specifically told us the reason she bought this car is because she was concerned that the prices would go up and that she'd probably be priced out of that Jeep car that she drove away if the tariffs went into effect -- Pamela.

[11:05:14]

BROWN: Yes, I think a lot of folks are doing that right now.

Danny Freeman, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela, we don't know exactly what to expect from today's Rose Garden announcement, but we do know that every U.S. trading partner could be impacted, could be impacted big time.

Europe and other close allies like Canada, for example, have already vowed to retaliate against these latest tariffs.

BROWN: Our CNN reporters are stationed around the world to get reaction to this escalating trade war.

So I want to begin now with CNN's Paula Newton. She's live in Brantford, Ontario.

Paula, how is Canada preparing for today's announcement?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, listen, this is one of the top five cities in Canada that would be affected by those tariffs.

And, right now, the Canadian government, Canada is in the middle of an election right here, Prime Minister Mark Carney having a Cabinet meeting later today to really discuss what retaliation is going to look like. Of course, they can't do that until they actually know what kind of tariffs the Trump administration is going to be imposing. And I can tell you, Pamela, from the highest levels of both government

and industry in Canada right now, those I have spoken to, say they simply have no idea exactly what this is going to look like in the end. And it's kind of like being in the middle of the earthquake and trying to determine damage when the shaking just won't stop.

I want you to listen now to Doug Ford, the Ontario premier, the, premier of this province. It will be the province most hurt by these tariffs. I want you to listen to what he said on CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG FORD, PREMIER OF ONTARIO, CANADA: These tariffs is nothing but a tax on Americans. And he, President Trump, calls it liberation day. I call it termination day because a lot of people are going to be terminated from their jobs. We buy more goods off the U.S. than any country in the world, more than Japan, the U.K., and France combined.

And if you go after Canada, we have no choice but retaliate. And I apologize to the American people. We shouldn't be doing this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: That kind of talk to the Trump administration has really yielded very few results so far.

At this point in time, Canada itself is ready for the repercussions. And in order to adapt, the government here says that they will begin to pivot away from the United States, not just in the economy, but in security and military affairs as well -- Pamela.

BLITZER: All right, I want to head over to Beijing right now.

CNN's Marc Stewart is on the scene for us.

Marc, one of the biggest targets of these tariffs is, of course, China, where you are. What are you learning?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, to give you some context, it will be 04:00 in the morning local time here in Beijing when that White House press conference is expected to take place.

But ahead of it, China's foreign minister is making it very clear that, if China is pressured by the United States, it will fight back. There are really three options on the table. Number one, further, wider tariffs could certainly be implemented.

Number two, China, as the world's second largest economy, could impact the supply chain, creating this game of hard to get, making it hard for American companies and businesses to get things like critical minerals, which are used for electronics, even pharmaceuticals.

And then, number three, China could make it very difficult for American companies that are here in China to do business. It's something that we have seen with Google. China is very attractive to the American business community, because there are more than a billion people here, a lot of potential.

Wolf, we will have to see what's on the table, but, typically, when China responds, the response is very quick.

BROWN: All right.

And let's head over now to Mexico City and our Valeria Leon.

Valeria, how is Mexico expected to respond to these new tariffs?

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, Mexico says it will respond with what its president calls a comprehensive plan, which is aimed at all the Trump tariffs.

Tomorrow, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will present the details of this plan, which is expected to include some reciprocal duties on U.S. imports. But, according to Mexican authorities, the plan will mainly be focused on stimulating national production to try to reduce dependence on U.S. exports, which currently stand in about 80 percent of all Mexican goods sent abroad.

This economic strategy known as Plan Mexico is aimed at shoring up the nation's economy to counter U.S. pressure. President Sheinbaum has said she doesn't believe in an eye-for-an-eye response, saying that always makes a bad situation worse. She has emphasized pragmatism and also patience over the aggressive reaction that reciprocal tariffs on U.S. products will imply.

Through this strategy, Mexico hopes to avoid confrontation with the U.S. administration and play the long game, this being the same strategy President Sheinbaum has used since Trump took office this year.

[11:10:11]

BROWN: All right, Valeria Leon in Mexico City, thank you so much.

And new this morning, two sources tell CNN that a senior Russian negotiator is due to meet Trump envoy Steve Witkoff today in Washington. This will be the first U.S. visit by a senior Russian official since the country invaded Ukraine more than three years ago.

CNN's Alex Marquardt is here in THE SITUATION ROOM with his new reporting.

So, Alex, Vladimir Putin has just called up a 60,000 men to Russia's military in one of its largest conscription drives in years. So what does this visit actually signal?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It signals that there's a recognition of Russia -- of the American frustration over Russia right now, which we have heard from President Trump.

And this top Kremlin official, Kirill Dmitriev, he is coming here to smooth that over to try to keep the conversation going, not just about Ukraine, but about improving relations between the U.S. and Russia past the Ukraine war.

He is a top economic, adviser to President Putin. He's the head of the sovereign wealth fund for Russia. And both he and Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy, are keen on reestablishing financial ties. They see the potential for what they have called historic financial opportunities between the two countries.

So, my colleagues Alayna Treene, Jennifer Hansler and myself are reporting that Kirill Dmitriev is coming to Washington. He is due to meet with Witkoff today, comes -- he is under U.S. sanctions, we should note, and we learned that the U.S. Treasury actually had to lift these sanctions temporarily in order for the State Department to be able to give him a visa to come here.

But, guys, just in the past few days, we have heard President Trump say that he was actually pissed off at Vladimir Putin following his call with him last week. He's increasingly angry. I have been told by a source that President Trump has asked out loud whether he can trust President Putin.

Of course, many would say that, no, you absolutely can't. President Trump has said that Putin is dragging his feet on this issue of the cease-fire. The U.S. had called for an immediate cease-fire all across the front line in Ukraine. The Russians rejected that.

There is a bit of a cease-fire on the energy infrastructure between the two countries, but it is clear this is not going as fast as the Trump administration would like. So Dmitriev is here to show that he wants this conversation to continue, but major questions about whether President Putin is still playing for time here.

BROWN: But is this visit in response to Trump's recent remarks just over the weekend to Kristen Welker from NBC saying he was pissed off at Putin? Do we know, like, how far back this was planned?

MARQUARDT: They haven't acknowledged that directly. The Kremlin's actually been quite coy about whether he was coming here at all.

But, clearly, this is one of the closest ties between the U.S. and Russia right now. There is a relationship between Dmitriev and Witkoff. And Witkoff has become essentially the point person for Russia for the administration. He's gone to Moscow twice to meet with Vladimir Putin.

So this is essentially the friendliest contact. And, certainly, the effort between Dmitriev and Witkoff will be to convince the Trump administration that Russia is serious about wanting peace in Ukraine, but major questions about that and, of course, as you noted, with this mobilization of conscripts, real questions about what they intend to do.

BROWN: All right, Alex, thanks, as always -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And, coming up, I will speak with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan about the president's tariffs plan. Her state, which borders Canada, clearly has a lot on the line. BROWN: And then later, my in-depth look at what happened when a

Virginia school banned cell phones. The teens I talked with had some pretty surprising comments, actually. I'm going to share those ahead.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:18:33]

BLITZER: Just hours from now, President Trump is expected to detail the latest escalation in his trade war.

The sweeping new series of tariffs has put key global trading partners on edge big time right now, as well as industries right here in the United States.

Joining us now, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Her state's economy is deeply intertwined with Canada.

You're right on the border with Canada. So what are you hearing from the folks in your district and elsewhere in Michigan?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): It's complicated. The whole tariff issue is complicated.

The companies need certainty and stability, and they're a ping-pong ball now in a lot of different things. The announcement that was made last week is still being interpreted by lawyers. It's not clear what's USMCA-compliant, what's not USMC-compliant, what vehicles will be tariffed or not.

But the -- and the autoworkers are concerned about -- or unions in general potential increased costs. But, quite frankly, they're not unhappy to see someone doing something about trade, bringing those jobs home, bringing the supply chains back home.

BLITZER: Because we all know that Michigan, your state, has the most auto manufacturing jobs in the entire country.

And the Rochester Hills mayor, Bryan Barnett, I assume he's someone you know, has called these tariffs a -- quote -- "perfect storm" that has paralyzed the industry right now.

How potentially damaging could all of this be to Michigan's auto industry, which is so important to all the folks in Michigan, indeed, around the country?

[11:20:01]

DINGELL: Well, no one's criticizing them really publicly of the Big Three. They're trying to understand it.

Shawn Fain, president of the UAW, has said it's about time. But what is one of the biggest problems right now is the immediacy and the meat cleaver approach. If you're going to bring -- I want to see production come back home. NAFTA was one of the worst trade bills we had in the history of this country, and it did result in plants and jobs being shipped overseas.

But if you're going to bring those jobs home, manufacturers need the time to make the production adjustments, to make the material adjustments. If you're going to build a new plant, it's 2.5 or three years if everything goes right. And when's the last time anything went right all the way?

So we're not giving the time to make the adjustments, and that's part of the problem as well.

BLITZER: A worker at Ford's Rawsonville assembly plant, which I understand is in your...

DINGELL: it's my district.

BLITZER: ... in your district, told CNN he's optimistic these tariffs will in the end create jobs. As you mentioned, that's a settlement shared by United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain. He thinks this move could yield thousands of jobs, in fact.

Have you seen any indication that this will be the case?

DINGELL: You are already seeing the companies -- so I have talked to them -- look at, OK, how do they adjust production and bring it back?

I want to work with this administration. I think trade is a very important -- tariffs are a very important tool in the trade toolbox, but we got to do it in a way where we're supporting it with good, commonsense other industrial policy. So I think we can't do it overnight. Companies can't adjust overnight, but do it in a way that will bring manufacturing back to this country.

And, more than that, more than I want to see the autos, we don't make steel in this country very much anymore. That's a national security issue. We need to bring that home. And while we're in the process of bringing jobs home, how about our medicine and our pharmaceuticals? Eighty-nine percent produced overseas? That's a national security issue.

Let's bring the jobs home, but let's work together so there's time to bring it in, bring those jobs home, bring them...

BLITZER: It's not that easy. It's easier said than done.

DINGELL: It's not. You can't do it overnight.

BLITZER: Yes, of course.

On a separate subject, a very sensitive one, here in Washington, as you know, your Senate colleague New Jersey Senator Cory Booker made history yesterday with more than 25 hours of a floor speech to protest the president's agenda. It was the longest in modern history. It was called a filibuster.

Do you want to see more of this coming from your party, to speak out so enthusiastically against Trump's policies?

DINGELL: I cried last night when Cory finished his -- it -- as you -- it's not a filibuster, but...

BLITZER: It's a long speech, though.

DINGELL: He -- it was -- 25 hours is a long speech for anybody.

BLITZER: Yes.

DINGELL: He energized people. They saw him fighting.

Look, I'm someone who's been doing town halls since the first week he was inaugurated. I have been doing them every week. I'm out there. I did four rallies on Saturday. This weekend, I have got to figure out how I'm going to do 10 of them in about a six-hour period. People want to see us. They want to talk to us. You got to be out there. You -- and it's important.

And Cory energized a lot of people, made people feel that they were being heard.

BLITZER: On another subject that I want to hit while I have you, Congresswoman, nine GOP lawmakers joined with Democrats yesterday to sink Speaker Johnson's effort to block a remote voting push for new parents.

CNN has learned that Johnson is not giving up and is considering linking Trump's agenda to a measure blocking remote voting, hoping to pressure those nine Republicans to choose between the president's priorities and the proxy effort that's under way right now.

How do you see this playing out?

DINGELL: I don't know how this is going to play out.

I know I have talked to the Republicans who voted the way that they did, and they feel very strongly that there needs to be something done to accommodate new parents. I think it's a mistake, by the way, to combine those two issues. The budget's a very serious issue and one the American people need to understand.

And combining two issues such as that, I think they're going to be called out for doing something like that.

BLITZER: It's an important issue whether a mom who just had a baby can vote by proxy or a dad can vote by proxy if he's going to stay home with the new kids.

(CROSSTALK)

DINGELL: It is.

And what we're trying to do is to make clear them -- someone who's of childbearing age doesn't -- can be represented. A representative government means everybody's there. They should have the ability to take that -- it's not that long to be with their child, to be there.

I'm not, in general, a big fan of proxy voting. I think people need to build relationships. You need to be present. You need to be in committee. You need to have the exchange of ideas. But there are times that you need to make a short-term exception, so that moms can be part of representative government.

BLITZER: And that -- and that's what they're pushing for right now.

DINGELL: Correct.

BLITZER: We will see how that unfolds.

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan, thanks very much for joining us.

DINGELL: Thank you.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right, right now, justices on the Supreme Court are hearing arguments over South Carolina's attempt to boot Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program aimed at helping low-income Americans. This decision could have far -reaching implications.

[11:25:00]

And our chief legal analyst, Paula Reid, with some details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Happening now, anti-abortion protesters are waving signs outside the U.S. Supreme Court as justices hear oral arguments in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic

At issue here, an executive order from South Carolina's Republican governor that pulled funding for Planned Parenthood. The organization and one of its patients sued, saying the order violated a federal law that allows Medicaid recipients to get care from any qualified provider.