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Trump in Japan as U.S. Reaches Tentative Trade Deal With China; Hurricane Melissa Nears Jamaica as Catastrophic Category 5 Storm; Air Traffic Control Staffing Problems Spike Over the Weekend. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired October 27, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, President Trump lands in Japan with his eye toward China and a potential trade deal and a make or break meeting for the Chinese on the horizon.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, Hurricane Melissa intensifies to a rare Category 5 storm Jamaica in its direct path, forecasters worried not just about the winds, but the storm could dump up to 40 inches of rain.

And a heart-stopping scene in Texas, bystanders and police running to rescue a one-year-old baby pinned beneath a car.

I'm Sarah Sidner with Kate Bolduan. John is out this morning. This is CNN News Central,

BOLDUAN: Well, breaking overnight, President Trump has arrived in Japan for the second leg of his nearly week-long trip through Asia with the Trump team touting big progress and what are the most important trade talks of them all right now with China, this world's second largest economy.

Shortly after touching down in Tokyo, the president met with Japan's emperor at the Imperial Palace. Tomorrow -- as you see, there's video of it there, Tomorrow he's set to hold talks with Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.

Japan is an important ally for Trump and the United States, but make no mistake, he is already looking ahead to the biggest meeting of the week, and the big headline today is progress between the U.S. and China on trade ahead of President Trump's expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the two sides had reached a, quote, substantial framework, his words, of a deal that would avoid the additional 100 percent tariff that the president had threatened on Chinese goods. The president aboard Air Force One expressed optimism himself about sealing the deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have China coming and it's going to be very interesting. I have a lot of respect for President Xi and we are going to -- I think we're going to come away with a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Kristen Holmes live in Tokyo this morning. What are you hearing, learning? What are the big questions right now about this framework of this deal, Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, all the -- everything about the framework is still a question. All we've heard is kind of snippets from the secretary of treasury talking about what might be in it, what they're hoping is in it.

But I will say when you go back just a few days talking to White House officials, they were really lowering expectations for this sit-down with Xi. Over the weekend, Secretary of Treasury Bessent sounded really bullish about it.

So, let's take a look at what we know. And this is all, again, from snippets of what might be in this trade work deal framework. It's talking about further cooperation on stemming the flow of fentanyl into the U.S., China to buy a substantial amount of U.S. soybeans. That is huge because we know this has been a huge issue for American farmers.

The other part of this, China might delay the export controls on rare earth minerals. Remember, that is what they had put in place that actually sparked this, President Trump saying that he was going to charge 100 percent tariff starting in November. That was because of this. And we heard Bessent say that could be delayed or deferred for roughly a year.

And then we know that this week, or at least is likely very expected to come out of the meeting between Xi and Trump is the finalized deal to transfer TikTok ownership. According to Bessent, they say all they have to do is consummate the deal when they sit down with these two leaders. That in itself is the one thing we know is for certain likely to come out of this meeting.

But, again, this is the big deal of this entire trip. These two men have not sat down face-to-face, and trade has been a huge issue for President Trump. If you look at relations between China and the United States, they're the lowest they have been in years.

Now, as for this part in Japan, President Trump, a lot of this is really going to be what Japan needs out of these meetings. If you talk to President Trump, he says this is all about their friendship, all about showcasing the alliance.

But the prime minister, as you noted, this is her first big diplomatic meeting. Xi is going to want to talk to President Trump about trade. Also, Japanese officials are going to want to talk about that $550 billion investment they made in the U.S.

[07:05:00]

Now, President Trump on Air Force One was sounding incredibly optimistic about his meeting with the prime minister. But, again, all of this is really the setup to that meeting with China's President Xi.

BOLDUAN: Kristen, there's also something of an update from the president on his health. He revealed a report that he's recently he got an MRI. What are we learning about it?

HOLMES: Yes. I mean, it was this moment on Air Force One where we had asked a number of times, including the last press briefing from the press secretary, what kind of advanced imaging President Trump had gotten during his last trip to Walter Reed. Just a reminder, that had come out as part of the release. And the press secretary said she didn't know.

Well, President Trump was directly asked on this plane if whether or not he got an MRI, and he said, yes, he did.

Now, according to him, he said that the results were perfect. Unsurprisingly, it's President Trump. He did not say what the scan was for or why he ended up getting it. And then he kind of proceeded to say over and over again, you already got all these results. But to be very clear, we had not heard anything about this MRI in particular. We were asking about it, but we had heard about this idea of advanced imaging.

Of course, this just raises more questions since he had already had his original checkup. This was not a full year later as to why exactly he went in for this MRI.

BOLDUAN: All right. Much more to be asked and learned about that one, for sure. Kristen, it's great to see you. Thank you. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking news, Hurricane Melissa is now a dangerous Category 5 storm with winds at 160 miles an hour. And it's expected to make a direct strike on Jamaica in just a couple of hours. The streets of Jamaica empty this morning as the island braces for what may be the most powerful storm in its history. Officials are now warning do not venture out of your safe shelter.

CNN Meteorologist Chris Warren is tracking Melissa's path. This is a huge storm, but I think one of your biggest concerns is that it -- while the wind speeds are high, it is moving slowly. Give us some sense of what that means.

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's so much going on with this. Yes, there is the wind, which will bring catastrophic damage, but the slow movement of this, the winds, part of that, you don't want 160- mile-an-hour winds blowing hours on end, but also it's the rainfall.

So, we look at this and there's a lot to see just with this, that well-formed eye right there. The more symmetrical these storms are, the more dangerous they tend to be. It means they're more organized, they're better organized. So, you can think of all of this purple as being very, very heavy rain, tropical rain, and that slow movement means it's going to be several hours of rain.

But to the wind, we can look at these numbers, Category 5, Category 4, Category 3, so a major hurricane three and above. And you can think of these numbers as words, five, catastrophic damage, five, catastrophic damage. This whole time, the slow movement of this, it's going to be raining very, very hard. Four, still catastrophic damage. Three, devastating, that's the word associated with three. And then two, extremely dangerous.

This is serious business here for Jamaica. Slow moving storm means rain and rain and rain, hours and hours of rain. And you see the mountain here. The mountains in Jamaica, up several thousand feet, help get more moisture out of what is already a juiced up environment, and then not until late on Tuesday.

So, it's raining now in Jamaica. It's going to get even heavier, closer to landfall and will continue to rain overnight tonight and into tomorrow. The catastrophe, not just with winds, but the rain, the flooding, the landslides, and on top of all of that, the storm this strong, Sara, pushing a lot of sea water into the island as well, up in some cases around ten feet above normal high tides.

SIDNER: Yes. And we know that it's usually not the wind that is the most deadly, but water. Chris Warren, thank you so much for that update. We'll be checking in live with authorities in Jamaica a bit later.

Now, ahead, if you're flying this week, be prepared for potential delays. This weekend saw the worst staffing for air traffic controllers since the start of the shutdown. Why it may get a lot worse.

And a major breakthrough in the $100 million crown jewel heist from the Louvre Museum. How police caught two of the suspected robbers, but did they find any of those precious crown jewels?

Also, a terrifyingly close call, a plane comes within feet of smashing into cars on a highway.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Major delays at airports across the country this weekend, real evidence that the government shut down, that continues to drag on as having a real impact on air travel. Air traffic controller staffing shortages hit the highest levels this weekend since the government shutdown began. From New York to Oakland, air traffic control facilities were understaffed, helping to lead to more than 4,000 flight delays nationwide.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now. He has much more on this. And, Pete, air traffic controllers also were notified that this week is when they're going to miss their first full paycheck. What are you learning?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the first $0 paycheck comes in tomorrow, Kate. You know, you can't really blame these controllers because one of them calling out sick can have an outsized impact on the air traffic control system, as we've seen.

[07:15:00]

This is the biggest spike over the weekend and staffing problems we have seen since the start of the shutdown and air traffic controllers began working without pay.

Over the weekend, about 50 air traffic control facilities were short staffed. Remember, there are only about 300 FAA towers approach controls and centers nationwide, all boils down to about one in every six nationwide without enough staff, and it all means some serious problems for those traveling by air. Perhaps the worst problems were yesterday at Los Angeles International Airport. LAX was under a ground stop due to staffing problems, lasted for about an hour and 45 minutes.

But that kicks off a ripple effect at the fifth biggest airport in the U.S., about a quarter of all flights in and out of LAX were delayed on Sunday. Saturday, not a cakewalk either. The FAA has a term for these staffing shortages. They're called staffing triggers.

And I want to show you what the list looked like on Saturday night. Really, the longest we have seen since the shutdown began October 1, there have now been 264 of these staffing triggers since then. And our analysis shows that about four -- that's about four times bigger than the same period a year ago.

The latest data from FlightAware shows Sunday is the worst day for flight delays since the shutdown began. And I've said this before, I'll say it again, it's likely going to get worse before it gets better. The $0 paycheck comes in tomorrow, like I mentioned, and so far.

Now, the FAA has not seen any staffing problems for today, though we have seen this month that things can change really quickly. It gets worse in the evenings. It gets worse on weekends. We have Halloween coming up, can really change on a dime. So, we'll be on the lookout for that. Not easy for these controllers who are showing up to work and now have to think about how they have to put food on the table.

BOLDUAN: Yes, not easy for the controllers and the ripple effects then for air travel, I mean, everyone is starting to feel it now, some clearly much worse than others. These air traffic controllers expected to show up to work and now have no dollars coming in on their paycheck starting this week.

Thanks, Pete. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Breaking overnight, a U.S. Navy helicopter and a fighter jet both crashed in the South China Sea within 30 minutes of each other. The Navy says an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter went down Sunday while conducting routine operations from the USS Nimitz. Just 30 minutes later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter also crashed, conducting operations from the Nimitz. All crew members successfully ejected and were rescued. An investigation is, of course, underway.

President Trump called the back-to-back crashes very unusual and said bad fuel might be to blame. We will talk more about that ahead.

Plus, police have arrested two suspects in that brazen theft of France's priceless crown jewels from the Louvre Museum. Paris prosecutors say the men were arrested Saturday. One of them was at the airport in Paris, they say, about to board a flight to Algeria. Investigators use DNA found at the museum to track them down. They have not said if any of the stolen jewels have been recovered, more than a hundred million dollars worth. A manhunt still underway for at least two other suspects.

All right, the real scare this Halloween, surging prices, which sweets are going to cost you a lot more.

And where is this sweet little girl? The search for a missing little girl and new details about the suspicion circumstances last time the nine-year-old was seen,

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[07:20:00]

BOLDUAN: Former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers faced his old team, the Green Bay Packers for the first time, but it was not his night.

CNN's Carolyn Manno is here with the highlights or lowlights, depending on who it is, I guess, Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kate. Yes, depending on what team you're rooting for, I mean, this was a very big win for Love, besting his former mentor. A lot of people feel like it marked a significant moment and the Packers continued transition away from Aaron Rodgers, who really just struggled in this game to keep pace with the Packers attack.

The Steelers did get off to a good start. They led 16-7 at halftime, but, ultimately, Jordan Love, like you said, really shining bright in this game, threw for 360 yards in three touchdowns, had a particularly impressive stretch where he completed 20 consecutive passes, which tied a franchise record. Packers Tight End Tucker Kraft, also a star, catching seven passes, a career high 143 yards, two touchdowns. And in the end, Rogers threw for 219 yards and two scores. But the Steelers offense stalled in the second half, 35-25, the final score in that game.

Jaylen Hurts leading the Eagles offense to a 38-20 rout of the Giants. Philly's Saquon Barkley rushing for 150 yards and a touchdown against his former team, nice play early in the game here, one of two scores on the day for the running back. He left the game late due to injury, downplayed the severity of a groin strain afterwards. Meantime, Giants Running Back Cam Skattebo, not so fortunate, the rookie dislocating his ankle in the second quarter.

And after four seasons and no championships, LSU is parting ways with head football coach Brian Kelly, the firing coming after a home blowout loss to Texas A&M that dropped LSU to five and three overall. It marked their third loss in their last four games, all but eliminating them from college football playoff contention. So, the university still likely (INAUDIBLE) a buyout of over $50 million, but they are looking for a new head coach.

And the World Series shifts back to L.A. tonight for a pivotal game three between the Dodgers and Blue Jays. Game two felt like a must-win for the Dodgers after the Blue Jays opened the series in dominant fashion. But now that the series is split at a game apiece, tonight is really going to be just as crucial in terms of momentum for this swing game.

And the pitching matchup is very intriguing as well, Kate, a veteran versus a flame thrower on the hill between Toronto's Max Scherzer and LA's Tyler Glasnow World Series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE ROBERTS, LOS ANGELES DODGERS MANAGER: I know Scherzer from years past, and we have to know that he's going to come in and compete and make pitches, and we got to have a good game plan and execute and play sound baseball.

[07:25:00]

And, you know, then everything will take care of itself.

JOHN SCHNEIDER, TORONTO BLUE JAYS MANAGER: It's a battle. You know what I mean? It's -- these guys have really good stuff. Our guys have really good stuff. We have really good hitters. They have really good hitters. So, it comes down to really making one pitch at a time, not being predictable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: The series has been very entertaining so far, Kate. And as you know, historically, with this series split, at one game apiece, the team that has gone on to win this game three, this critical game three, has gone on to win the World Series about 70 percent of the time. So, a lot riding on tonight and we'll see which team prevails.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. If you're playing the odds, what are you going to do tonight? This game, this one, it's going to be one to watch.

It's good to see you. Thank you so much Carolyn.

Still ahead for us, imagine seeing -- we're going to show you, watch this, this as you're driving down the highway, a very wild close call with the U.S. Air Force plane. Details on this coming up.

And food stamps running out of money, and that means crisis mode is coming for tens of millions of Americans in just days. The Trump administration's reworked funds to keep other food programs afloat in this government shutdown. Why the administration says it cannot do that now.

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