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CNN International: Trump Confirms Tariffs Will Start; U.S. Stocks Close Down Sharply; China Prepares For Trade Tensions With U.S.; Canada Ready With Counter Tariffs; Europe's Promised Peace Plan For Ukraine; Israel Blocks Aid To Gaza; SpaceX Scrubs Starship Launch. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 03, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers. Joining us from around the world, America Hill in New York.

Just ahead this hour, tariff trauma playing out on U.S. stocks and closing down sharply to open the week as President Trump confirms tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada will go into effect just a matter of hours from now.

France and the U.K. formulating a peace plan of their own to end the war in Ukraine, including security guarantees, of course, which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been looking for.

And live this hour, SpaceX Starship readying for launch. The company hoping this test flight will not lead to a so-called unscheduled disassembly.

The global trade war is heating up. Donald Trump confirming 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico will go into effect as planned on Tuesday. The U.S. president says Washington's two major trading partners have, quote, "no room left to negotiate." Mr. Trump suggesting Canadian and Mexican car manufacturers and other businesses should move their plants to the U.S. to see if they want to avoid those levies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I would just say this to people in Canada or Mexico, if they're going to build car plants, the people that are doing them are much better off building here. Because we have the market. We're the market where they sell the most. And so, I think it's going to be very exciting. Very exciting for the automobile companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Mr. Trump also signing an executive action on Monday to double the tariff on Chinese goods, all Chinese goods, increasing it from 10 to 20 percent. He says Beijing hasn't done enough to stem the flow of illegal drugs like fentanyl coming into the U.S. Well, the Dow tumbling as much as 830 points in afternoon trading after Trump confirmed those tariffs on Mexico and Canada will start on Tuesday. For a closer look, we're joined by Paul La Monica, senior markets analyst -- analysis writer at Barron's. Paul, it is nice to see you again, my friend.

PAUL R. LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Thank you.

HILL: This is I think what one would call a -- yes, one would call this a rather rough start to the week on a Monday for trading because you have not only these tariffs, right, that now everyone is bracing for in a matter of hours, but you couple that with the uncertainty and that is a volatile mix.

LA MONICA: Yes, investors are not happy, Erica, with this news. I think there have been the hope that much like a few weeks ago when we got to the brink of having tariffs with Canada and Mexico kick in and then there was reprieve that, you know, that would lead to time to reach some sort of compromise, a deal that would avoid a trade war.

And now, all of a sudden, we have these tariffs coming into play with Canada and Mexico doubling the China tariffs. And there's the threat of Europe down the road as well. So, I think investors are looking at what's going on and. They're kind of wondering, yes, I thought we were supposed to get deregulation and lower taxes and that was going to be all about the animal spirits. There's animal spirits right now, Erica, but it's a bear, not a bull yet.

HILL: Yes, it certainly is a bear. All three countries, as we know, have vowed to respond, retaliate in their own way. I was struck by comments from Warren Buffett over the weekend and speaking with CBS News who called tariffs an act of war and also went on to say, you know, essentially, I'm paraphrasing him here, but if you're going to put tariffs in place, you have to think about what comes afterwards. And you have to think about the plan for the and then what, in his words.

Is there a sense on wall street and among investors that there is in fact any focus on the after?

LA MONICA: I think that President Trump and his advisers probably are thinking about the after to some extent, but the problem, I spoke to someone a few weeks ago who said that his sort of take on the way that the president is negotiating right now, it's a ready fire aim sort of strategy. They're willing to inflict some damage before coming to some sort of agreement. And that's, I think, not necessarily what investors are used to with lawmakers and politicians. They, you know, kind of take things down to the last minute, but usually do some sort of deal.

Trump seems happy to deal after the fact, even though there's probably going to be some damage to the economy. Just look at the Atlanta feds GDP now economic forecast, and they're projecting a 2.8 percent. annualized decline in the first quarter, which is not a record any president wants to have associated with them.

[18:05:00]

HILL: No, it certainly isn't. I did want to ask you, too, about this broader fallout on Wall Street thanks to some of these DOGE cuts and what's happening within the federal government. You wrote about it this afternoon. How concerning is that broader fallout at this point?

LA MONICA: Yes, I think the broader fallout is a worry, you know, investors are flocking to safety. You look at the types of companies that were actually able to emerge relatively unscathed today, and it was companies like Verizon and Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, your safe dividend paying stocks.

But with regards to DOGE, yes, there are worries that companies like Accenture and some defense companies will also get hit if, you know, DOGE really takes a hatchet to federal spending. And you know, there are lots of questions about whether or not there is inefficiency in Washington, just like there probably is in many companies in corporate America. But you have to manage it in a way where you're not cutting to the bone, which is what I think a lot of investors are worried is happening with some of these DOGE, you know, suggested cuts.

HILL: Paula La Monica, great to talk to you today. Thank you.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

HILL: Officials in Beijing, meantime, say they are ready for those higher tariffs from President Trump from the U.S. Marc Stewart has more now on China's response.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As more American tariffs loom, Chinese officials and state media are vocal. About the government's determination to retaliate. As we've seen in the past, this is very much tit for tat, you hurt us, we'll hurt you back.

It was just last month we saw China respond after the U.S. imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on all Chinese imports. Beijing implemented a 15 percent tax on American exports. That included certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas. We also saw a 10 percent tariff on crude oil, machines used for agriculture and pickup trucks. The Chinese government also launched an investigation into Google and accused two companies, including the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, of violating trade rules.

President Trump said he's targeting China because it hasn't done enough to stop fentanyl from flooding into the U.S., fueling a deadly opioid crisis. China has said the real problem is America's demand for drugs. In addition, the White House is considering putting reciprocal tariffs into place next month.

As the U.S. tries to weigh the impact of the tariffs on its own economy, China's been expanding its export base to be less dependent on American business, looking at markets including Southeast Asia and Latin America, and increasingly presenting itself as a champion for free global trade. Marc Stewart, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: So, there is the view from Beijing. Canada, meantime, says each own package of counter-tariffs for American-made products, well, they're ready to go. Paula Newton joining us now live from Ottawa, ready to go, and we're hearing some more details as well, Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Make no mistake, Erica, this is really looking and sounding like a trade war. Canada ready with $155 billion worth of reciprocal tariffs that would come down in the next few weeks.

But, you know, there are some measures that will be more instantaneous than that, and quite frankly, more damaging to the U.S. economy. Take, for instance, Premier Doug Ford of Ontario, Canada's largest economy and province, and he's saying, look, he is not ruling out, Erica, I hate to say it, really affecting the electricity that New York City runs on right now. The grids are very interconnected, and he's saying that, look, I might stop the flow of energy. I might put a tariff on it.

Whether or not this is an escalation that will actually see, Erica, one thing is correct. You were talking to Paul about the what now. Canada has prepared for the what now, and that includes even doing things like taking American alcohol off Canadian shelves so that it's no longer available here.

The issue is though that the White House has not prepared Americans for what happens next. And what happens next most experts agree there will be higher prices from this. And Canada knows how to really turn on the valve there to make sure that this hurts Americans where the White House promised it wouldn't hurt them, right, with inflation, with higher prices.

In Canada, though, the government here isn't a good job of just letting Canadians, look, this will be painful. But if we do not stand up for our economy now, there is really no other choice. This was a fight that Donald Trump picked with us, and we need to stand up for our economy and for ourselves.

[18:10:00]

And believe me, Erica, the government here has big buy in on that. There is a shop Canadian by Canadian momentum really that's taken on a life of its own. You can see it everywhere where you shop. And the message is quite clear, this will hurt the Canadian economy, perhaps much more than it will hurt the American economy, but this economy and Canadians are ready for it. I'm not sure you can say the same thing right now about Americans who were promised lower prices.

HILL: No, it's an excellent point. And, Paula, we have heard from some leaders, not all, right, of course, you have Democrats who are saying this is going to be terrible, but we have heard from some other American lawmakers who have said, well, it's not really going to be that bad. It'll be interesting to see, because as you and I both know all too well, those tariffs do ultimately get passed on the consumer. I'll see if the -- let you know if the lights go off here in New York, my friend. Thank you.

Well, meantime, Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer, announcing plans on money to invest $100 billion in its U.S. manufacturing, funding two new chip making facilities in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

C. C. WEI, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, TSMC: For this, all the investment, $165 billion, is going to create thousands of high paid jobs as president has announced. And we are -- most important actually, we are going to produce many A.I. chips. We're going to produce many chips to support the A.I. progress and to support the smartphones progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The chairman and CEO of TSMC flank there, of course, by President Donald Trump and also U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who said that companies can avoid tariffs if they were to invest in U.S. production like TSMC just announced.

Ahead here, Donald Trump continuing to criticize Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. How is Europe reacting? That's ahead.

Plus, Europe's plans to secure a peace deal for Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Britain will play a leading role with, if necessary, and together with others, boots on the ground and planes in the air.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Welcome back. President Trump continuing his attacks on Ukraine's president Monday while at the same time revealing that rare earth mineral deal with Ukraine apparently not dead yet. In fact, proposing that he'll offer an update on those efforts Tuesday in his speech to Congress.

[18:15:00]

It is important to note, Mr. Trump is still not ruling out cutting military assistance to Ukraine, complaining once again that Mr. Zelenskyy should be more appreciative for that aid and support from the U.S. He also made this veiled prediction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now, maybe somebody doesn't want to make a deal, and if somebody doesn't want to make a deal, I think that person won't be around very long, that person will not be listened to very long, because I believe that Russia wants to make a deal, I believe certainly the people of Ukraine want to make a deal, they've suffered more than anybody else. We talk about suffering, they've suffered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Stephen Collinson, joining me now from Washington a not so veiled push there, I guess, to get Volodymyr Zelenskyy out. The realities of holding an election right now would be difficult for a number of reasons. It doesn't mean it won't happen in the near future.

When we look at where things stand, though, today I was struck by a statement not long ago from Ukraine's parliament expressing, quote, "profound gratitude" to Donald Trump on Monday, going on to say that the Ukrainian people desire peace more than anyone else in the world, which would seem to be a pushback on what we heard from Donald Trump and from Dmitry Peskov saying that there was a sense that Volodymyr Zelenskyy doesn't really want peace right now. Will that be effective, Stephen?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think if the Ukrainians deliver this deal in time for -- on the rare earth minerals in time for Donald Trump's primetime address on Tuesday night, that might have at least some short-term benefit for the Ukrainians. But what I think we're seeing here, and there are going to be splits going forward, is that Trump wants a deal pretty much now on any terms, he's not too fussy about what that would mean for Ukraine's future, or indeed the future of the European continent and its security, and in many ways, it looks like Ukraine is just a sideshow for him on the path to improving relations with Russia.

That, of course, would be very alarming to Ukraine, which is why we saw Zelenskyy pushed back in the Oval Office on Friday. Ukraine knows that the eventual peace deal will be existential for its ability to survive as a state in future. Europe understands that and that its own security is at great risk, which is driving the effort between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

So, the idea here, I think, for the Europeans is to try to come up with some deal that they can give to Trump in short order that then he can use as the basis for his discussions with the Russians, but there are very different timetables going on here and that's going to be a great complication, I think.

HILL: There are very different timetables. The goal is also very different, quite frankly, for all the parties involved. The fact that there is such a focus on this rare earth minerals deal, that deal really has nothing to do with peace. It certainly has nothing to do with the lasting peace that Zelenskyy and Europe have said that they need. It has nothing to do with the security guarantees that Europe has backed Ukraine on.

I was struck by some comments from France's prime minister, I believe it was, who said, you know, Europe sees itself as weak, but really Europe is strong. Is Europe, even in just the last 48 hours or so, starting to lean into that a little bit more? COLLINSON: I think it certainly is trying to give that impression and it there is a real feeling of urgency in London and Paris and Berlin partly because of this idea that's finally dawned on them, and you might ask why it took so long, is that the United States isn't always going to be there securing their military defense following the trips to Europe earlier this month and last month by members of the new Trump administration. So, that's driving a lot of this.

Europe is strong economically. It dwarfs the GDP of Russia. The problem here is that for decades, Europe has cut its defense budgets, it has put money into social welfare programs and social safety nets, and in some cases, in lowering taxes, it is not strong enough on its own to counter Russia, or even really to send a significant peace force to Ukraine if there's a peace deal, without what Starmer calls a U.S. backstop, U.S. intelligence, U.S. heavy lift, air support. So, that is the problem here.

The steps, and if Europe is being sort of -- Europe follows through here, the steps that it will take to increase its defense expenditure, that will take years to work through and to increase the force that they can bring to bear in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe. So, they can't afford for the U.S. to go away.

So, yes, it's strong. I think there is real resilience there now and a real determination to increase defense spending. But right now, it can't do a lot without the United States, and that's why there's been so much panic.

[18:20:00]

HILL: Yes. Stephen Collinson, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

HILL: Well, as you heard and likely saw over the weekend, Europe is moving to take control of these peace negotiations in hopes of ending the war in Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosting a summit over the weekend, which did include President Zelenskyy. He told Parliament Europe is ready to provide security guarantees for Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STARMER: Together we agreed a clear strategy that the United Kingdom, France, and our allies will work closely with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, which we will then discuss directly with the United States.

Britain will play a leading role, with, if necessary, and together with others, boots on the ground and planes in the air.

Mr. Speaker, it is right that Europe do the heavy lifting to support peace on our continent. But to succeed, this effort must also have strong U.S. backing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: Well, as we watch for those developments, Russian officials are reacting with glee, frankly, to the disastrous exchange between Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday. The Kremlin, hoping that impact could actually go well beyond the war in Ukraine, perhaps completely redrawing the relationship between the two countries. Matthew Chance reports now from Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even Russian commentators saw this as a trap. A public flogging in the Oval Office, said one columnist on state television, the Kremlin spokesman confirmed President Putin watched the drama unfold.

Of course, Putin saw it with all of its nuances, Dmitry Peskov says. So, did the entire world. It was, let's say, quite unprecedented, he adds. Earlier, he said the new U.S. administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations, which he said largely coincides with Russia's vision.

But on the streets, ordinary Russians took the presidential bust up in their stride. The fact there was a squabble is just part of the show, says Dmitry, like good American cinema. The really important things will be decided behind the scenes, he says.

I'm against war and I'm waiting for this to finally end, says Natalia. In terms of what happened, though, it's probably more positive for Russia.

Already, there are expectations in Moscow that U.S.-Russia talks, which began in Saudi Arabia last month, will now intensify. Even hopes a Trump-Putin summit will be fast tracked.

And with the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders at odds, negotiations to end the brutal war in Ukraine may be overshadowed by lucrative U.S.- Russian economic deals already being tabled behind closed doors. Russian officials couldn't be happier with what they see as a seismic shift in Washington's geopolitical stance.

Trump is a pragmatist. His slogan is, common sense, says Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. It's a shift to a different way of doing things. That's why it's interesting to work with him, he adds.

But again, on Moscow's Streets, Trump's embrace is viewed with skepticism. Trump doesn't really know much about what's happening in the world, says 74-year-old Vladimir. He has a very narrow view of purely financial tasks, he says.

But with Trump's lurch towards Russia, there is far more at stake than just money.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HILL: Just ahead here on CNN Newsroom, Elon Musk's Starship back on the launch pad. SpaceX is about to test its powerful space vehicle again after that big explosion in January. We're going to bring you the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

HILL: Almost half past the hour now. Let's take a look at some of the international headlines we're watching at this hour. In Germany, a car plowing into a crowd in Mannheim, what authorities are now calling a deliberate attack. Two people were killed, several others wounded. The suspected attacker is in police custody. Officials say the suspect suffers from a psychological illness and does not appear to have had a political nor a religious motive.

The Vatican says Pope Francis is now alert and resting after suffering two episodes of acute respiratory failure. Those incidents were caused by a buildup of mucus, which then caused the pontiff's airways to narrow. Francis has been battling double pneumonia since February. He has been given an oxygen mask, we're told, to aid in his breathing.

The State of South Carolina declaring a state of emergency as it battles dozens of wildfires, the worst of them in Carolina Forest. That's just north of the popular tourist destination of Myrtle beach. Neighboring North Carolina is also dealing with brush fires.

And an unusually powerful storm for March now making its way across the U.S. threatening to create blizzard-like conditions and tornadoes. And the East Coast is set to feel the worst of it on Wednesday. CNN Meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Parts of the southern U.S. are facing a multi-day severe weather threat that could spawn tornadoes as the system marches eastward through the middle of the week. Not the best timing considering the buyouts and layoffs of nearly 800 employees from NOAA and the National Weather Service.

So, here's a look at the three days ahead of us. We really do have our severe weather threat today across portions of Oklahoma and Texas tomorrow into the Gulf Coast states. And then, Wednesday, we're going to see that severe weather threat moved to the Atlantic seaboard. Again, this is part of a larger storm system that is bringing in a whole host of other problems, including blizzard conditions across the northern plain states.

To the south of that, we have a fire risk that we're going to talk about momentarily and then the severe storms that will march eastward. But first, here's a look at the extreme fire conditions that we're anticipating for the rest of the day today, particularly across Eastern New Mexico and western sections of Texas. This is an area we need to pay particular attention to as this cold front sweeps eastward, churns up the winds in a very dry environment. [18:30:00]

Then, as this moves eastward, we start to pull in moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, get the spin in the atmosphere, enough to produce at least the potential for tornadoes. In terms of this time frame, heads up Little Rock to Jackson, Mississippi, even as far south as New Orleans by midday to early evening hours on Tuesday, we could see that line of severe storms move through.

In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has highlighted these lists this hatched area as the greatest risk for EF-2 or greater tornadoes. That is tornadoes with the potential for winds in excess of 111 miles per hour. Something we need to consider, all the Mardi Gras festivities taking place in New Orleans. The system marches eastward, brings line of storms to Atlanta and then the Atlantic seaboard just in time for the tornado season to really ramp up in earnest later this month. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: All right. Derek, appreciate it. Well, right now the future of the Gaza ceasefire deal is unclear. Israel says it will block all humanitarian aid from going into the Strip until Hamas agrees to new conditions for the current ceasefire plan. The initial phase of the deal expired over the weekend. Israel missed a deadline early last month to begin talks for phase twp.

The State Department, for its part in the U.S., confirming the U.S. special envoy will in fact travel to the Middle East in the coming days to work out a way to extend phase one or possibly advanced to phase two. Aid groups and the United Nations watching all of this very closely condemning the suspension of aid into Gaza and raising concerns about the impact on civilians in particular children.

Janti Soeripto is the president and CEO of Save the Children U.S. It's good to have you with us. I mean, just put it, put into perspective for us, if you could, what this means that aid is once again now not going into Gaza. What is the immediate impact?

JANTI SOERIPTO, PRESIDENT AND CEO SAVE THE CHILDREN U.S.: Look, the immediate impact is that we once again have to worry about, you know, how undernourished young children are going to survive if we can't get the right treatment to them.

Over these past six weeks, we've seen what unimpeded access can actually do. We have seen indeed 600 to 800 trucks of much needed supplies go in every day. We have been able to deliver clean water to 11 sites across Gaza for people. We have been able to treat thousands of children in our health care clinics, in our mother and baby clinics. We have been able to assess young children on their nutrition situation, and we've been able to treat them.

Now, we still have some stocks available in Gaza as of today. So, we're hoping that that can be enough and that soon access will again be opened up. But we are very concerned also if the violence would restart again, because then it will be harder for us to deliver lifesaving supplies.

HILL: Absolutely. In terms of what that stock that you mentioned that is still on the ground in Gaza, how long can that last?

SOERIPTO: Well, it's hard to predict. We think we have enough for the next four to six weeks. I don't know the situation of other organizations. But again, you know -- so, again, if other -- if stocks don't last for six weeks everywhere, there will be more pressure on the overall system in order to then use what we have.

So, that's the situation now. Again, we had restarted child friendly spaces where we essentially have children be children again, where they can play, where they can start to process some of the trauma. If we have to close those down again, again it's another hit for children in Gaza who have already suffered so much.

HILL: You mentioned the other aid organizations. I know oftentimes not only do aid organizations speak to one another, right? But you can work together in many instances. How important are those partnerships in this moment?

SOERIPTO: Oh, they're completely critical. And they have been since day one of this crisis. Of course. Now, what is it, 16 months ago. There's huge collaboration. There is sharing of stocks. If people think they have something that can help somebody else, you know, there is real collaboration. I've seen it firsthand. I was in Gaza last March, and I saw that coordination happening in real-time. In terms of safety and security, in terms of stocks and supplies, in terms of understanding where people were actually residing, because there was so much displacement -- multiple displacement happening all the time. And we see that today as well.

Of course, hundreds of thousands of people start to move when the ceasefire was announced, because they wanted to go back to their homes and see what they could salvage and bring their families back to where they came from. So, coordination and collaboration, sharing trucks, sharing supplies has been absolutely critical to make sure the best supplies get to the most critical populations.

HILL: So, many aid organizations are concerned in this moment about what comes next based on the cuts that we've seen here in the United States to humanitarian aid work. I believe it's 55 percent of Save the Children's funding actually comes from the U.S. government. How are these cuts impacting your work both in Gaza and elsewhere?

[18:35:00]

SOERIPTO: Yes. So, there's a massive impact globally. The U.S. government sources that are now suspended or, in some cases, not terminated are around 25 percent of our overall global programs. Again, 25 percent is still a lot, right? So, we are furloughing and terminating staff. We have already announced that we're going to exit five countries.

Now, Save the Children is in 116 countries worldwide. But we felt it prudent to exit five because we felt we just couldn't hold up a viable, sustainable operation and do work with quality. We'll be seeing -- I'm particularly concerned about some of our life saving activities, which are some of which are now also formally terminated, although we are keeping up that lifesaving work.

I'm talking about stabilization centers for malnourished infants and young children in Syria, in Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where millions of people are already displaced. I'm talking about closing down 92 health clinics in the east of the DRC, where over 200,000 people get access to basic health care medicine, where we do cholera treatment if there is an outbreak.

So, I'm incredibly concerned about the impact this disorderly withdrawal in particular is having on young children and families everywhere.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Janti, I'm glad you could be here with us today just to hammer home the importance of the work that you do and the need in Gaza, frankly, beyond. Thank you.

SOERIPTO: Thank you for having us.

HILL: Stay tuned, much more to come after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

HILL: Welcome back around the world. Over the past few days, people have been out in force celebrating the annual carnival tradition. The season has its root in ancient times. It's often seen as the final festivity before the start of Lent. The party spirit definitely in full swing in Cologne, where thousands of revelers dressed up to sing and dance in the streets.

Some more intense scenes in Northern Italy where carnival festivities coincided with the exhilarating tradition known as the Battle of the Oranges on Sunday. If you think it looks like a big food fight, well, you're right, as you can see there.

And sort of a U.S. focused atmosphere in Croatia. People dancing there to YMCA while waving Trump nation flags.

Few places, though, capture the full grandeur and spectacle of carnival season like Brazil. Those are just some of the thousands of Samba troupe members who took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The city's most famous Samba schools battle it out there for the title of Carnival Champions. They're judged on their performances, but also on their costumes. And those taking part say this really means the world to them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARISSA MAIA, PARTICIPANT AND DENTIST (through translator): The carnival means life to me, happiness and fulfillment. It's everything.

FLAVIA COSTA, PARTICIPANT AND SALES REPRESENTATIVE (through translator): It's always wonderful. Always exciting. It always makes you want to cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: And the party is not over yet. Rio's Carnival events run through Saturday. Well, all eyes on the skies at this hour. Elon Musk's SpaceX is preparing to test launch its Starship in Southern Texas. Starship, which has the world's most powerful rocket, plays a key role in Musk's vision for colonizing Mars. And if this looks like a familiar scene, it should. It's actually happening about six weeks after the upper stage actually blew up in the last trial. Today's mission expected to last about an hour.

Joining me to dig in a little deeper, Garrett Reisman, former NASA astronaut and professor of astronautics -- astronautical engineering. Easy for me to say. The University of Southern California. It's great to have your security. We're watching this right? Six weeks ago. Not exactly going as planned. What are we anticipating today? What will this launch mean?

GARRETT REISMAN, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT AND PROFESSOR OF ASTRONAUTICAL ENGINEERING, USC: Well, thanks. I have a hard time saying astronautical engineering too. It's kind of a mouthful. So, no problem, Erica.

But the -- we -- what we're trying to do today is just basically repeat what we tried to do at SpaceX the last time but didn't quite make it. So, we're going to try to get the Starship up into a suborbital trajectory up into space. We're going to try to capture -- catch the booster once again with the chopsticks. And then, once it's up there, it's going to relight one of its engines. It's going to send out a couple of dummy payloads simulating satellite deployments. And then, it's going to come back through the atmosphere.

And this is the most important part because the redesigned ship has got a lot of new features that hopefully will make it much more robust when it comes back through the heat of re-entry. And that's what SpaceX is really hoping to get to today that they failed to get to the last time around.

HILL: So, I remember this first time with those chopsticks, right? And it was so exciting and everybody saying, wow, this is really -- this is a huge move forward with each launch. To your point, there are things that don't always work out as we saw in January, but adapting that.

Practically speaking, we talk about how Elon Musk wants to go to Mars with SpaceX, but what is the more immediate impact that really folks are looking for?

REISMAN: Well, if this works, if Starship gets through its development successfully and is operational, it'll do a number of things. First of all, it's gargantuan. It's almost twice as big as the next biggest rocket ever flown as far as the thrust at liftoff. 17 million pounds of thrust. It's ridiculous. So, there's the size of the thing.

But then, also, it's designed to be fully reusable. So, both the booster with the chopsticks, like we caught last time and then, also, the ship is also designed to be caught by the same chopsticks. If we can get both the ship and the booster back and just fill it up with gas and fly it again, that would change the economics considerably.

So, we've gotten down from 63,000 per kilogram is what it costs to put something into space with the space shuttle. Now, with the Falcon family of rockets, it's down to about 2,000 per kilogram. This could drop another zero off that price tag and make all kinds of new business plans and different entrepreneurial ideas possible in space that right now are cost prohibitive.

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HILL: Yes, it is. It is remarkable, especially when you put it in those terms, right, to go down that far to make such significant differences during the impact of the cost. So, I was about to say to you, hey, let's listen in. We're getting ready for the launch. It's now been paused at 40 seconds.

As we watch this pause and we wait for them to restart operations there, when there is a pause, what's generally happening in that moment? What is being checked?

REISMAN: Well, they're trying to figure out -- you know, get to the bottom of the problem that caused them to pause. So, earlier, before we started talking, I was listening in and there was an issue, they were working on the booster. I assume that this is the same issue because it was also going to lead to a hold at 40 seconds. So, I don't know exactly what that issue, is something on the booster, not the ship.

And they were confident that they had a solution to it. But obviously, there's something going on. That's a technical problem that's causing them to hold and examine it. They got some time here before they will no longer be able to launch. So, they -- there's no hurry other than the fact that all of us are watching and would love to see it fly.

HILL: No pressure. But we're all watching right now. It is kind of remarkable. I mean, you were just, you know, taking through the importance here. The fact that these components are reusable, that this is getting the cost down. I remember covering the final shuttle launch in, what was that 2012, I believe 2011, 2012, and there was this sense at the time of, yes, there will be private investment. And yes, this is all going to happen, but it was a real -- it was a moment of we'll never have something like this again.

I've been struck by how just in the last couple of years the excitement, I think, has been building and really is filtering out to the people who cannot say that big word like me, right, who were not involved, perhaps in actual space research and science, and that is palpable. And that's really important, actually, for the future of all these efforts.

REISMAN: Oh, it sure is. You know, I was -- I missed out on the Apollo era. I was too young for that and -- but I was inspired by it. But then -- and I was part of the space shuttle era and the space station era, and that was wonderful. I got to go up to the space station. So, I can't complain. It was fantastic.

But it's really awesome to be part of this new era. I believe this is like the second wave. What we're seeing now with the private sector and public private partnerships, like we're seeing with NASA and SpaceX together, we're making progress in a way that is so exponentially fast. It's like the days of Apollo, and I'm glad that I got to play a role in that and now, I'm glad I get to watch it.

HILL: So, you -- it's nice you get to keep that role going. We are getting a slight update. I don't think it really tells us what we want to know, which is what the issue is, but we are now officially hearing they're, quote, "pausing" for an issue as we see that clock still stopped at 40 seconds.

As we made for more on this, I also just wanted to get your take on something that we saw over the weekend from Firefly. So, this is separate as people are watching SpaceX here, but this was a private lunar landing that happened on Sunday. It brought up a drill, a vacuum, some other NASA experiments. I was struck though, this was the first private outlet as I understand it, that was able to put a spacecraft on the moon without falling over, without crashing. That's another big moment that we saw.

REISMAN: It sure is. Yes, there's a picture of it sitting on the moon. So, all this activity on the moon led by commercial companies. Again, this is an example of what can be accomplished if the price of launch comes down. That's really the most important thing is how many dollars per kilogram does it take?

And when we got down to $2,000, things like this are possible. And Firefly landing on the moon is a great accomplishment. That's a difficult technical feat. There have been struggles. There are, you know, companies from Israel, from Japan, and another company from the United States that tried and had issues trying to pull this off.

So, my hat's off to Firefly for They're successfully touching down. They're going to do a lot of great science up there and technology demonstrations.

There's another one coming up in just a couple more days. The Athena lander from Intuitive Machines is going to also look to land. And this one's going to land near the South Pole of the moon, which is harder to land there, but it's also really important because that's where we plan to go for Artemis where we -- when we go back with people.

And the reason for that is down at the South Pole, we think there's water, quite a bit of water. And why that might sound somewhat mundane here on Earth, that's really precious up in space because from water, obviously, you can drink it, but you can also make fuel out of it and you can make oxygen out of it. It's a really valuable resource.

HILL: Yes, it is. It is pretty remarkable. Garrett Reisman, really appreciate you joining us this afternoon. Thank you.

REISMAN: My pleasure. Great to be here.

[18:50:00]

HILL: Just ahead, Hollywood's biggest night, "Anora," "Wicked," Conan O'Brien, all the highlights after the break.

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HILL: Welcome back top honors at the Academy Awards going to an indie film, "Anora," and that best picture nod also giving the director, Sean Baker, his fourth win of the night. He's now tied with Walt Disney of all people for the most Oscars won in a single ceremony.

Comedian Conan O'Brien taking on the hosting duties this year. He also took a moment to address the show's international viewers.

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CONAN O'BRIEN, OSCARS HOST: And for those of you watching from China, I am in serious financial debt. Please consider using me in your many films. I beg you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Unclear whether he got any job offers in the wake of that plea. Among the other highlights on Sunday evening, a tribute to James Bond featuring the singers RAYE, Doja Cat, and Blackpink's Lisa performing a mashup of iconic songs from the franchise.

For a deeper dive into Hollywood's Biggest Night, I'm joined by Marc Malkin, senior culture and events editor for Variety. Great to have you here. There was -- we saw that number, right, for James Bond. But the opening mashup for -- the opening number for "Wicked," that's when I turned on my TV and I just stopped in my tracks.

MARC MALKIN, SENIOR CULTURE AND EVENTS EDITOR, VARIETY: Yes, listen, whether you like these singers or not, or you like, you know, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or a "Home" from "The Wiz" or "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, there's just no doubt everyone is going to love an opening like that when you hear those notes live, that is a great, great start of the show.

You know, the show started with, you know, in honor of Los Angeles, obviously. Los Angeles here, we've been through a lot in the last year. But you have these two powerhouse voices from these women, it was such an enormous way to open the Oscars.

HILL: Yes, it really was. I was struck by, I mean, a number of speeches, but Zoe Saldana, who won for Best Supporting Actress, she gave this beautiful, impassioned, it was so real, her speech. And then, she also addressed later on, there was a lot of pushback, right, in Mexico, and backlash, frankly, for the movie. She addressed that as well.

MALKIN: She did. You know, she basically said, you know, I'm sorry if we offended people. We did not make a movie about the country of Mexico. It was a movie about three women. Even then, still, that's getting pushed back. This movie has been, unfortunately, clouded in controversy, whether it is about Mexico or Karla Sofia Gascon. But that said, I don't think it takes away from Zoe Saldana's performance because it really was truly remarkable.

[18:55:00]

This is a woman who has been working a very long time in Hollywood, who is part of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, "Avatar" and "Guardians of the Galaxy." And there she was picking up this Oscar for, you know, a much smaller film than she's used to. You know, and I asked her, I said, what are you going to do with that Oscar? Where are you going to keep it? I'm thinking she's going to keep it on her bedside table, because she was so excited. And she said she's going to let her little sons decide where to put it, as long as they don't take it around the house and run around with it.

HILL: I mean, there's a great mom for you. I have to say, when she popped up on the screen, one of my kids said, that's the woman from "Guardians of the Galaxy," to your point. Marc, appreciate it. Thank you so much. Good to have you here.

And just an update, you know, we've been watching this SpaceX launch, we were expecting it about 15 minutes ago. Well, it has officially been scrubbed for the day. We're told they're going to try again on a different day. So, hey, if it's during our hours, we will bring it to you.

Thanks so much for joining me this hour. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Stay with CNN. Much more to come after a quick break.

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