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Hurricane Melissa Strengthens To Dangerous Cat. 5 Ahead Of Landfall; U.S. And China Agree On "Substantial Framework" For Trade Deal; Trump Administration Refuses Emergency Funds For Food Stamps. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 27, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:45]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news. Hurricane Melissa is now an extremely dangerous category 5 storm and heading directly for Jamaica. It's expected to make landfall early tomorrow morning, bringing destructive winds, storm surge, and catastrophic flooding.

Right now officials in the country are preparing for the worst. Emergency shelters have been activated, public hospitals are in emergency mode, and airports are currently closed.

Joining me now is Jamaica's minister of water, environment, and climate change, Matthew Samuda. Thank you so much for being here this morning while you're in, you know, the way of danger.

What are the conditions that you have been experiencing now where you are?

MATTHEW SAMUDA, JAMAICAN MINISTER OF WATER, ENVIRONMENT, AND CLIMATE CHANGE (via Webex by Cisco): Well, good morning, Sara, and good morning to your viewers.

We've started to experience some rain swells and some tropical storm- force wind gusts certainly in Kingston and Saint Andrew. We're not sustained winds just yet. The storm -- the eye of the storm is currently 104 miles just south of Treasure Beach to the west -- southwest of the island. So we are starting to see some storm-like conditions. We've been experiencing a lot of rain over the past few days, and we expect that to intensify rapidly throughout the course of the day. It's a -- it's a really dangerous storm.

SIDNER: Yeah. We are hearing from meteorologists that there could be up to 40 inches of rain that pounds Jamaica because the storm -- while the winds are kicking up so fast, the storm is actually moving slowly.

What is your gravest concern? What is it that you are telling residents?

SAMUDA: So we're telling them to prepare and in some low-lying flood prone areas we have issued evacuation orders because the storm surge is also particularly dangerous. So it's a very dangerous storm because you have a very high storm surge, a lot of rain, and very slow forward movement, and 160 mile an hour winds. Now that speak to catastrophe if it does, indeed, make landfall.

Now we are monitoring it very closely. We have opened up over 800 shelters right across the length and breadth of the country. Our national bus service is supporting the Jamaica Defense Force and ODPEM, our disaster preparedness unit, in mobilizing these evacuations and getting people into shelters as best as possible. We're supporting all hospitals as well for emergency response.

SIDNER: Minister, perhaps the worst hurricane to ever hit Jamaica was a category 4 storm in the '80s. This one is now a category 5. So many people -- there were more than 40 people died in that storm in '88. There were thousands of people who lost their homes.

Do you feel that Jamaica is better prepared than in the '80s even though this is a bigger storm?

SAMUDA: So we are better prepared even than last year where we, you know, had -- felt the impacts of Hurricane Beryl. We are certainly better prepared than we would have been in the '80s. We have much stronger housing stock. Our infrastructure has vastly improved from the 1980s. Our electricity grid is far more resilient.

But when you speak about 160 mile an hour winds, we've never tested our new infrastructure in that regard. And we have 70 percent of our population living within five kilometers -- five kilometers of the coast.

Now, when you're speaking about waves 17 feet high that storm surge will come inland. And you're speaking about massive flooding -- 30 inches, 40 inches of rain simultaneously. There isn't infrastructure that's built, I think anywhere in the world to navigate that sort of risk. So we do expect that if it does come onshore, we will be facing significant damage.

SIDNER: Are people heeding the --

SAMUDA: Similar to what we had during Gilbert.

SIDNER: Are people heeding the warnings so far as you can tell?

SAMUDA: Um, I haven't gotten reports of any mass rejection of warnings.

SIDNER: OK.

SAMUDA: There will always be persons who choose to ride out the storm in their home and protecting their property. But our words to them would be heed the warnings. This is serious. It's a devastating storm. Move to the shelters. Go to higher ground because this can take lives.

[07:35:00]

And we are reaching out to all citizens. We're also asking members of the diaspora who have family members who are, you know, rejecting the sort of evacuation orders to speak to their family members and encourage them to follow the guidance.

SIDNER: Yeah. It's a good way to try to get that personal touch to warn them of this extreme danger.

Thank you, Minister. We'll be checking in with you throughout this. Thank you so much for taking the time this morning to speak to us about this. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is in Japan this morning, the second leg of his trip through Asia. Shortly after arriving in Tokyo he met with Japan's emperor at the Imperial Palace. Tomorrow he is set to hold talks with Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi.

But much of the focus right now is beyond this stop already and on to China and the critical face-to-face scheduled between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just announced progress in trade talks with China ahead of that face-to- face, describing Sunday a "substantial framework" being made for a trade deal.

CNN's Hanako Montgomery is live in Tokyo. Before this sit-down between Trump and Xi, first the -- President Trump meets with Japan's new prime minister. What's expected?

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kate. As you said, U.S. President Donald Trump will be meeting the new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Now, on the Japanese government's side they're really looking for one thing and that is chemistry between the two leaders. They want to see if Trump and Takaichi will be able to really develop a close, personal rapport -- a close relationship to take the U.S.-Japan alliance to new heights.

Now, Takaichi said as much herself on her own personal X account, saying just a couple of hours ago -- welcoming the U.S. president to Tokyo, saying that she was "looking forward to seeing him on Tuesday to have a fruitful discussion on how we can further strengthen our great alliance."

So again, really just emphasizing the need for the U.S.-Japan alliance to develop further, to strengthen further.

And Kate, we are expecting Takaichi to lean into her close personal relationship that she shared with the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Now, Abe very famously had a very, very good relationship with Trump. They enjoyed many rounds of golf. They also enjoyed Japanese culture and watched Japanese sumo. I mean, they had a very good and colorful relationship.

Now, Takaichi will want to have to emulate as much of Abe as possible. She wants to have a very close relationship with Trump -- and by doing that she, of course, will help her country move forward in this very uncertain tariff war that the U.S. has partially imposed.

Now, sources tell me that Takaichi, of course, will try to engage Trump in a close diplomatic relationship by also playing into Gulf diplomacy. Sources tell me that Takaichi will likely gift Donald Trump a couple of golden golf balls, for example, and also a golf club that Trump used during his many rounds of golf with the former Japanese prime minister.

So again, Kate, lots of discussions about trade and defense on the agenda. But really for the Japanese government this is a test -- a personal test to see if Takaichi and Trump have chemistry -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We'll -- we will soon see.

It's good to see you, Hanako. Thank you very much.

Joining me right now is Jeff Moon. He's a former assistant U.S. trade representative regarding China affairs in the Obama administration. It's good to see you, Jeff. Thank you so much for being here.

Let's look ahead to what really are the most important trade talks of them all with China coming later this week.

The way that the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described it from his conversations leading up to this is he said, "I think we've reached a substantial framework for the two leaders who will meet next Thursday."

The way the Chinese are talking about it, Chinese state media said that the U.S. and China have reached a preliminary consensus on how to address respective concerns. And also adding a readout, "Both sides agree to further finalize the specific details and fulfill their respective domestic approval processes."

You read that and you hear what about where things stand right now in these critical talks?

JEFF MOON, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE TO CHINA (via Webex by Cisco): I think they're almost there but certainly they're going to have to get the leaders to give final approval for all of the details.

And the statements here are very interesting because there's been a history during the Trump 2 administration of different statements from the U.S. and from China. The U.S. has tend -- tended to talk about significant concrete achievements while the Chinese have talked more about agreement in principle or consensus or framework. And then immediately after those statements have been issued disagreements have erupted.

So we seem to be repeating the similar pattern where there is nothing written out there and there are verbal assessments of what happens, and then we move on and may or may not actually resolve the issues.

[07:40:00] BOLDUAN: One central and key part about this is where things head or how things free up and what are the agreements around rare earths. Bessent said on NBC that he anticipates the United States is going to get some kind of deferral on rare earth export controls.

Is some kind of deferral -- if you're looking at year even on export controls, is that a win, Jeff? I mean, how big of a concession is that on the part of the Chinese?

MOON: Well, the most contentious issues right now are rare earths and U.S. export controls. And -- so to get some kind of relief, at least for a year, is useful. However, that's not a permanent solution to the problem of China controlling 90 percent of the world's rare earths and threatening to weaponize that against the entire global electronic supply chain. So -- and even if they agree to defer for a year that could be reversed as quickly as Trump reverses his mind on tariff levels, you know, that he imposes on other countries.

So yes, that it would be positive news but that does not resolve all the issues.

BOLDUAN: That's fair and it's a great point.

And when you point out -- which is important to remind folks that China controls more than 90 percent of global output of -- when you're talking about rare earths and controls basically 100 percent of kind of the key categories of rare earths that are needed in the most cutting edge technologies.

How much leverage do you think the United States really has going into these talks, especially around this central issue?

MOON: Well, the U.S. has lots of leverage. We have tariffs. And despite the talk in Washington that some people want to decouple, we can't decouple. We both need things from each other.

You know, the Chinese want our technology. They want our aircraft technology and other things that Trump mentions. Software to design semiconductors.

Both sides want to cooperate with each other but geopolitically it's very difficult to do and extremely volatile.

BOLDUAN: How do you -- in your decades of experience, how are you going to be evaluating what really is the out -- like what is success and what falls short of success, do you think, from both sides? What are you looking for?

MOON: Success is some form of detente. I think we really have had an erratic period here. Threats, counterthreats, instability causing, you know, fluctuations in the stock market. That's not useful to anybody.

They need to reach some kind of understanding starting with those two key issues -- the two key issues of rare earths and probably tech export controls. And I think what we're probably going to get is some selected transactional agreements that Bessent has been referencing in his press conference. Things like fentanyl, soybeans, port fees, TikTok. Those sorts of things I think are the easy things that they can do without really getting into deep geopolitical issues.

BOLDUAN: Jeff Moon, great to have you in here. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. A huge surge of voter turnout in the first weekend of early voting in New York's mayoral race. The Board of Elections says it has seen more than five times as many voters in the first weekend of early voting versus four years ago.

And as New Yorkers cast their ballots, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani rallied alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. During his speech, Mamdani talked about the amount of attention the race is getting not just from New York but from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI, (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYORAL CANDIDATE: While Donald Trump's billionaire donors think that they have the money to buy this election, we have a movement of the masses, and we are a movement that is not afraid of what we believe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: CNN's Gloria Pazmino was there last night and sat down with Mamdani ahead of the rally. What did you learn and what was it like being in that room? It seemed very raucous.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It did. More than 10,000 people --

SIDNER: Yeah.

PAZMINO: -- we packed into that stadium in Queens, and that is -- that is a big number for a New York City mayor's race.

SIDNER: Yeah.

PAZMINO: I've covered at least three of these and I have never really seen these types of big rally events -- something that you might see during a presidential campaign.

But Mamdani, for now at least, is getting the numbers out there. The turnout that we are seeing of early voting -- only three days so far -- is really significant when we compare it to the turnout back in 2021. At his point we were at just 31,000 voters. Now we're at over 243,000 people who have already cast their ballots. We don't know exactly what it means yet.

Zohran Mamdani telling his supporters yesterday to not take his double-digit lead as a guarantee. He told them not to get comfortable. And he told them to continue to get out there and try and canvas -- knock on doors, rally supporters.

[07:45:00] Now the rally, the campaigning, that's all very hard, but in many ways the hardest part comes next. If he gets elected, he is going to have to govern, and one of the hardest decisions he's going to have to make is who he is going to lead the NYPD. This is a top administration job.

As you know, Sara, the police commissioner here in New York City, leading the nation's largest police force, is very much in the public eye. They get a lot of scrutiny. They almost are just as high-profile as the mayor of New York. And a mayoralty success hinges very much on the success of the police department. So that relationship is very important.

Now, Zohran Mamdani made it clear last week that he intends to ask Jessica Tisch, the current commissioner, to stay on. But I learned in my conversation with him that he actually hasn't asked her. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Have you gotten a commitment from her that she would take you up on that offer?

MAMDANI: I haven't had a private conversation with her on that.

PAZMINO: OK.

MAMDANI: And I continue to be confident, however, not only in my own decision to retain her but that she would also stay and do this work. And that's because of the fact that her commitment that she's shown time and again is a commitment to the work itself, and so often that has been work that has been made more difficult by the Adams administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now Sara, the reason that is so interesting is because not only has he not gotten a public or a private commitment from her, but they have very sort of different worldviews. And Zohran Mamdani has a very significant public safety agenda and whoever is his commissioner is going to be key in order for him to be able to enact that.

So we'll see how this relationship plays out in the next few weeks. Jessica Tisch has made it clear she is not going to sort of make any political pronouncements until -- while she's still working for this current administration. So I think the next few weeks and through the end of the year are going to be pivotal to see if she actually stays.

SIDNER: There's a lot there. Mamdani also apologized for some of the comments --

PAZMINO: Correct.

SIDNER: -- that he made --

PAZMINO: Yes.

SIDNER: -- about police to the police themselves.

We will see what happens here. But also the turnout says a lot about --

PAZMINO: Yes.

SIDNER: -- enthusiasm --

PAZMINO: Um-hum.

SIDNER: -- when it comes to this particular mayoral race. We'll see who comes out on top.

Gloria, great reporting. Thank you so much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: One of the scariest things is -- of Halloween this year -- it might be the price of candy. How scary it is and what's driving it up now.

And an incredible rescue and on camera. Officers and Good Samaritans working together to save an infant that was trapped under a car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to move the car. There's a -- I think the baby is under there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:51:50]

BOLDUAN: New this morning it is time to start counting down to Halloween, and while you are counting you may be in for a bit of a shock when it comes to the price of candy this year jumping more than 10 percent since last year.

CNN's Matt Egan tracking this one for us. I mean, what's going on?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, Kate. Unfortunately, inflation is haunting the checkout aisle this Halloween. And this sticker shock is being caused by this one-two combo of high cocoa prices around the world, but also high tariffs here in the United States.

So candy is 11 percent more expensive this Halloween than last. So that's almost quadruple the overall rate of inflation and that's more than five times the price increases last Halloween.

This is based on a new analysis by the Groundwork Collaborative. That's a progress thinktank. They combed through all the different pricing data, and they found some big price hikes on some Halloween candy favorites, starting with one of my favorites, Reese' Peanut Butter Cup. Eight percent more expensive than last year.

Some of the Mondelez gummy candy, like Sour Patch Kids -- BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- which we don't have in our vending machine, nine percent. I looked this morning.

BOLDUAN: All eaten by me.

EGAN: Nine percent more expensive.

Some of the Mars candy that's among my kid's favorites.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: Snickers, M&Ms --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- up by 12 percent. Hershey's, 22 percent more expensive. And the Tootsie Roll lollipops, 34 percent.

And it's not just the fact that they're more expensive; there's also some shrinkflation going on, right, where some of the candymakers -- they're actually shrinking the size of their products, so people don't feel like they're paying more even though --

BOLDUAN: Like, the fun size is even smaller?

EGAN: Yes, yeah, exactly.

And in some cases, they're shrinking the chocolate content as well.

BOLDUAN: Oh, really?

EGAN: Yeah. So it's less chocolatey.

Now this is happening in part because, as I mentioned, there's the high tariffs. We spoke to a -- one candy shop in North Carolina that said that these high tariffs have really hit everything. It's not just the imported cocoa; it's also the aluminum that goes into some of the packaging.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: And then the other big factor here is just the fact that cocoa prices around the world have gone up. They skyrocketed in 2023 and in 2024. They've come down a bit but you're still looking at an average price of around $3,800 per metric. That was a year ago. Now $6,300 and that's linked to climate change. There is poor harvest in Africa and that has actually limited the supply.

So look, no matter the cause here, unfortunately, if you haven't gone to the store yet to stock up for Halloween candy, you're probably in store for some sticker shock this year.

BOLDUAN: For sure.

EGAN: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: You can leave that here on your way out.

EGAN: I will, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I appreciate it.

EGAN: This is all for you.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

EGAN: This is -- yes.

BOLDUAN: It's the only joy in our day waking up at 3:00 in the morning. Kidding -- love you. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: Speaking of joy, Matt, throw me one of those chocolates you've got over there.

BOLDUAN: You leave that -- leave that Snickers here.

SIDNER: I'm serious. I want -- I want the Reese's -- yeah.

EGAN: Reese's?

SIDNER: Yeah, yeah. See if you can toss it. Thanks. OK, I'll keep this. I really appreciate it.

All right. On our radar for you two Texas police lifting an oversized car to rescue a trapped 1-year-old. Now we've got to warn you the video of the rescue is difficult to watch. Take a look.

[07:55:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the baby is here. Keep moving! Keep moving! Keep moving!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow. You can see the child there. The child is alright but injured. My goodness.

Officers immediately began CPR on the unconscious baby and moments later the baby started to breathe again. Body camera video capturing the officers' relief as they heard her crying. The baby and her mother, who was also thrown from the car, are both recovering this morning. My goodness.

All right. In Oklahoma City, new dashcam video shows a driver barely missing a plane as it crashed-landed -- whoa -- right in front of him. Firefighters say the small Air Force training jet hit two power poles before skidding across the road and sparking a grass fire as well. Look at that -- oof. Two people were on board. They're both OK. The aircraft operates out of Will Rogers International Air National Guard base. The National Guard is investigating that.

Wow -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Wow is right. Thanks so much, Sara.

A new warning today from the Department of Agriculture over the government shutdown that tens of millions of Americans who rely on food assistance programs through SNAP may not receive the benefits starting next week. And the Trump administration now says it will not be tapping into emergency funds in order to try and keep SNAP afloat. SNAP is better known as food stamps. It's a program that helps low- income seniors and people with disabilities to buy groceries.

Nearly 42 million Americans rely on it. That's one in every eight people. Among them is Juan Saro. He's a disabled Navy veteran who cares for two young boys, and Juan is joining us right now. Thank you so much for being here.

I think it's important first for people to understand. It sounds like -- to a lot of people like a convoluted, you know, acronym-filled government program, but what do SNAP benefits really mean and provide for you and your boys on a regular basis?

JUAN SARO, DISABLED VETERAN AND SNAP RECIPIENT (via Webex by Cisco): Um, SNAP benefits is literally the lifeline that feeds us at the end of the month when we receive them. It bridges the gap between when my VA disability runs out and when the next set of -- the next month's disability funds come into my bank account. And so, you know, it's critical to our home, to our refrigerator, and to our table.

BOLDUAN: And Juan, now you have the Department of Agriculture saying -- sending out notice that the money will be running out starting next month.

What is that going to mean -- I mean, five days from now -- for you? What options do you have?

SARO: Um, you know, there's not a whole lot of options. It's -- I'm going to have to stretch what we do have out. You know, eat maybe a little less. Rely on Soldiers' Angels, which is a food drive they have here at the VA every month. They have other food drives, food pantries. And just make sure the boys eat before I do and, you know, just -- that's what we'll do.

BOLDUAN: Is this -- it's always tough when you've got young kids in your -- in your care. What's the conversation like with the boys? Are you talking to them about what it could be looking like in -- if -- you know, if something doesn't change in the next month?

SARO: Um, you know, that's a -- it's a fine line because the two boys I take care of -- their mother is addicted to fentanyl, and she left them in my care about nine-10 months ago. And I want them to have as normal a life as possible and not have to worry about stresses that parents or adults have to deal with. And so I try to just make things consistent and, you know, easy and joyful for them so they're going to be -- enjoy being kids.

And so they don't really know some of the stresses and struggles and things coming up that may happen. So I haven't really talked to them about it, and I don't know that I necessarily will if I don't have to.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, that makes total sense when they're already clearly dealing with more than any kid -- any young kid should have to in their lives.

So now the administration -- the administration has found ways to use -- rework, redirect funds in some other ways to make sure military members are getting paid and also to keep a different SNAP program for -- specifically for women and children afloat. They are saying that they cannot rework funds for SNAP broadly. They cannot tap into contingency funds.

When you hear that I'm just wondering what you would hope that -- what is your message to Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill -- the -- your message to the Department of Agriculture, and the White House?