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Trump Announces Massive Trade Agreement with Japan; National Intel Director Joins White House Briefing; EPA Proposal Seeks to Reverse Scientific Climate Pollution Finding. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 23, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: New developments in President Trump's trade war, perhaps even some progress. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he will meet with Chinese officials in Sweden next week for talks to extend the existing tariff truce between the two countries. This comes as President Trump announced a big trade agreement with Japan.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I just signed the largest trade deal in history. I think maybe the largest deal in history with Japan.

(CHEERING)

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SCIUTTO: CNN business and politics correspondents Vanessa Yurkevich joins me now. First on the details of the Japan trade deal. I mean, one, is it the largest trade deal in history? What are the actual elements of this deal?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Japan is our fifth largest trading partner. We import $148 billion worth of goods from this country. So it is an important deal with a large trading partner.

Part of this deal includes a $550 billion investment by Japan into the United States. It also opens up trade for U.S. for cars and rice that Japan would buy U.S. cars and rice. There's a 15 percent tariff, though, that is up from the 10 percent universal tariff.

But that does extend to cars and car parts. And that's important because the U.S. is facing a 25 percent tariff on cars and car parts that they import. And then you can also see there that that 50 percent tariff on steel and does still remain.

But important to point out that we are hearing from the big three U.S. car manufacturers, GM, Ford and Stellantis, through the American Automotive Policy Council, which is calling this Japan deal at first glance a bad deal. And here's why. I want to read part of what the president of this organization, Matt Blunt, told us. He said that any deal that charges a lower tariff for China for excuse

me -- Japanese imports with virtually no U.S. content than the tariff imposed on North American built vehicles with high U.S. content is a bad deal for U.S. industry and the U.S. autoworkers.

And as I mentioned, the United States, excuse me, the American car makers, they import a lot of cars and car parts fully assembled and manufactured in Canada and Mexico. And they are paying that 25 percent tariff. That is why they believe that this deal with Japan, with the United States and Japan, is unfair because they are getting that lower rate -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Interesting. Interesting that it's not balanced, which President Trump has said repeatedly he's he's been seeking. Vanessa Yurkovich, thanks so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Let's get some perspective now from a union leader. We're joined by Tony Totty, who is the president of United Auto Workers Local 14 in Toledo, Ohio.

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He represents GM employees. Tony, great to see you again.

The UAW is generally supportive of auto tariffs on foreign cars coming into the U.S. Now we'll see Japan with a lower tariff under this agreement. How do you expect that to hurt auto jobs?

TONY TOTTY, PRESIDENT, UAW LOCAL 14, TOLEDO, OHIO: Good to be with you again, Brianna. You know, we don't -- I guess at first glance, I don't like the deal. You know, Japan doesn't import many U.S. vehicles. Last year it was around 16,000, where we take in $40 billion of their their imports. So, you know, even if you say 15 percent to 15 percent, it's still not a good deal for us. I think this is a better deal for U.S. rice producers than it is the U.S. auto worker.

KEILAR: Oh, yes, that certainly is part of the deal, and they've been often excluded from importing rice to Japan. And this has something in there for them, for sure.

Do you have a message? I mean, if you were talking to the president, you were talking to his advisers on trade. What would your message to them be in terms of this deal with Japan?

TOTTY: Well, we need the next deals to be better, especially with China, because they're making a lot of electric vehicles and they could flood our market and wipe us out. So they need to be much tougher on China. And, you know, we're worried about the Mexico/Canada deal.

You know, this is essentially setting the bar very low at 15 percent, and that could set the bar for them. We don't like that. And we look at the health of the companies.

You know, 10 to 20 percent of our big three salaries come from profit sharing. And when you look at Stellantis, who reported negative numbers, they're not going to receive that strong profit sharing check next year. So that plays into it as well.

You know, we actually need a strong trade deal because these tariffs could go away overnight and we need to replace it with a deal. But it needs to be better than the Japanese deal.

KEILAR: GM says the current tariffs on cars and auto parts made mostly mainly in Canada and Mexico cost them a billion dollars in the second quarter, and it's expecting tariffs to cost them between four to five billion by the end of the year. Do you have any concerns about that hit to GM's bottom line? You mentioned the profit sharing there.

How could that affect auto jobs?

TOTTY: Well, you know, fortunately for us, General Motors is doing a good job of reinvesting into the U.S. market. They just recently announced $4 billion of new investment. You know, Stellantis is bringing back the Belvedere facility that will be up in 2017, up and running, I believe.

And here in Toledo, we just received a $200 million investment to increase our capacity for our popular selling trucks. So that's all good. And we're working with General Motors as the UAW to make more investments. So that's a good thing.

And I think that's because some of the tariffs are incentivizing the work to come back here. We're only five to six percent of the cost of the vehicle. And when you think about that and the high tariffs that you have to pay, it just makes more sense to bring the work back. So we're advocating for the administration to make better deals with China, especially in Mexico and Canada.

KEILAR: GM said it has no immediate plans to hike car prices specifically to cover the costs that are associated with the tariffs. Do you expect the auto companies to just keep eating the cost of these tariffs?

TOTTY: Well, with the cost of vehicles at an all time high, I don't see how you can pass it on to the consumer without impacting the equilibrium point and it'll start to decrease sales. So, you know, the quicker we get to a good trade deal where everybody understands the rules of engagement, the better off we are. But this was going to be disruptive and they need to start bringing product back to this country.

This is the largest auto market in the world. And the barriers for entry need to be much higher to these countries.

KEILAR: Tony Totty, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being with us.

TOTTY: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: And we'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Moments ago, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was at the White House press briefing and she stopped short of accusing former President Obama and top officials in his administration of crimes for their role in her alleged conspiracy surrounding the 2016 election, saying she had referred that matter to the Justice Department.

SCIUTTO: Still quite significant referral to the DOJ. CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Gabbard about previous statements by then Senator Marco Rubio in 2016, endorsing the assessment that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election. We're going to go live.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Karoline. Two questions for Director Gabbard just on this. Director Gabbard, you referenced the past intelligence reports and assessments on this, including that 2017 one that was signed off, as noted by every Republican on the Senate intelligence community, including the acting chair of the time, now Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Who said in a statement that they did not find any evidence of Russian collusion, but they did find, however, is very troubling and they found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling.

One, are you saying that he's wrong in that statement that he made then?

And secondly, what would you say to people who believe that you're only releasing these documents now to improve your standing with the president after he said that your intelligence assessments were wrong?

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TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Well, first, I want to correct something that you stated, which was citing the Senate Intelligence Committee's report as being one in the same.

I think you said the intelligence community. The Senate Intelligence Committee has a very different function than the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The evidence and the intelligence that has been declassified and released is irrefutable.

I'm going to let Karoline speak to Secretary Rubio.

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I'll speak to both questions first on Secretary Rubio. He put out a statement in 2020 following that Senate Intelligence Committee report, and he said what they found is troubling. We found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling, which the director of national intelligence just confirmed for all of you that Russia was trying to sow distrust and chaos.

But what's the outrage in this that Secretary Rubio did not say at the time the Democrats were saying at the time is the fact that the intelligence community was concocting this narrative that the president colluded with the Russians, that the president's son was holding secret meetings with the Russians. All of these lies that were never true. And he also said at that time, we discovered deeply troubling actions

taken by the FBI under Comey, particularly their acceptance and willingness to rely on the Steele dossier without verifying its methodology or sourcing the Steele dossier that many outlets in this room ran as the gospel truth. And it was cooked up and paid for by the Clinton campaign.

As for your second question, Kaitlan, I think who is saying that that she would release this to try to boost her standing with the president? Who has said that?

COLLINS: Well, the president has publicly undermined her when it came to Iran. He said she was wrong. He told me that she didn't know what she was talking about. That was on Air Force One on camera.

LEAVITT: The only people who are suggesting that the director of national intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos amongst the president's cabinet. And it is not working.

COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE)

LEAVITT: I will. I will just answer your question directly. I am with the president of the United States every day. He has the utmost confidence in Director Gabbard. He always has. He continues to.

And that is true of his entire cabinet, who is all working as one team to deliver on the promises this president made. Does anyone else have questions for director --?

SCIUTTO: That was our Kaitlan Collins asking the White House press secretary about Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, quite public statements around 2016, endorsing the intelligence community's assessment about Russian interference in the 2016 election. We're going to go live to the White House next hour for more on this. Please do stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Today CNN is learning that the Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a proposal to end the agency's ability to make regulations about climate pollution. This proposal would reverse a landmark scientific finding that planet warming pollution from fossil fuels endangers human health. This repeal, which could be released as soon as this week, targets the federal government's main mechanism for fighting climate change.

CNN's Rene Marsh is with us now on this story. What all do we know about this so far?

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So for quite some time, this has been the legal basis giving the EPA the authority to regulate these greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say come from. These are pollutants that come from the fossil fuel industry that warm the planet and have really supercharged the climate crisis.

Now, the EPA is saying, or we know from our reporting today that they're expected to propose killing this legal argument that essentially gives the EPA the authority to regulate these greenhouse gases.

This doesn't come as a surprise. Back in March, Trump's EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, said that they would be reconsidering this legal argument, which basically says that greenhouse gas emissions are harmful to human health. And by that legal argument, it then gives the EPA the ability to regulate things like how much greenhouse gas emissions are coming out of cars, coal plants, power plants, factories because of that human health element.

But now they're saying that the EPA overstepped its authority, that it should not be regulating greenhouse gas emissions or even the climate crisis.

If the Trump administration is successful here, Brianna, what this does effectively is it will essentially hamstring the agency from being able to fight the climate crisis. This finding, this legal argument, which is known as the endangerment finding, which was settled in 2009, has really been the underpinning for the basis in which the EPA can create these laws that essentially limit how much of this pollutant coming out of things like cars and factories.

And if this goes away, we could very well see limits on things like how much greenhouse gas emissions can come from vehicles that could go away as well.

KEILAR: And when could we be seeing this proposal released?

MARSH: Well, it's important to note that this is a draft proposal that we are reporting on. So these are the plans of the administration. But as you know, it still has to go through the lengthy process of the rulemaking process.

So it's got to go for a public comment. So it might be some time. This is not something that is going to happen overnight.

It will be several months before we see this rescinded.

[14:55:00]

But but it is important to point out that it also just signals where this administration is and where the Trump EPA is.

They have been very clear in stating that they want to get rid of regulations that they call burdensome for industries like the fossil fuel industry. And this is very much a part of that.

KEILAR: All right. We know that you will keep tracking this. Rene Marsh, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And when we come back, the man convicted of murdering four University of Idaho students while they slept is sentenced. What the victims told the killer to his face.

Stay with us.

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