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CNN International: U.S. Stocks Falls; WH Doubles Down On Raising Tariffs On China; Acting South Korean Pres. Wants Tariff Deal With Trump; Ukraine Says It Captured Chinese Nationals Fighting Alongside Russia; Ukraine: Two Chinese Nationals Fighting For Russia Captured; WH: Trump To Impose At Least 104 Percent Tariff On China Wednesday; Shoe Industry Bracing For Trump's New Tariffs. Aired 6-8p ET

Aired April 08, 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]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington D.C.

And just ahead this hour, the market rally reverses as the White House doubles, triples, quadruples down on raising tariffs on China to 104 percent. Those will take effect in just a few hours' time. In an exclusive interview, South Korea's acting president tells CNN, he wants to cut a tariff deal with Donald Trump. And biotech company, Colossal Biosciences, says it has, quote, "de-extincted" a species of wolf that died out some 12,500 years ago. Lots of questions about that. We're going to speak to the CEO.

The clock is ticking down to yet one more chapter and yet one more escalation in President Donald Trump's global trade war. New tariffs on U.S. trading partners are set to kick in just under six hours from now, including an 84 percent tariff hike on Chinese imports that will raise tariffs on Chinese goods in total to more than 100 percent. That's more than doubling their prices. White House Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said a few hours ago that there will be no last- minute changes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president was asked and answered this yesterday, he said he's not considering an extension or delay. I spoke to him before this briefing. That was not his mindset. He expects that these tariffs are going to go into effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Markets seem to believe that the White House says some 70 trading partners are lining up to negotiate hoping to bring their tariff levels down. But no individual deals have been announced yet. Officials say those negotiations could last months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN HASSETT, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: Right now, we're managing a massive number of requests for negotiations. It's actually logistically quite challenging just to go through them.

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: The negotiations are the result of the massive inflow of inbound calls to come and negotiate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: But does the U.S. want to negotiate? U.S. stocks gave up early gains on Tuesday and closed sharply lower with no signs of progress in those negotiations or any hints, and this is important, that China is ready to give in.

Tech stocks were the worst performers, falling more than 2 percent in total. All this as a new poll shows that 57 percent of Americans oppose President Trump's new tariffs with 73 percent. Three out of four expecting prices to rise on everyday items in the months ahead. Remember the impact in the last election of rising prices.

Tom Orlik, chief economist for Bloomberg Economics joins us now on the market and economic implications of the tariff move. Ivan Watson joining us from Hong Kong for the latest reaction from China, Mike Valerio in South Korea, where the governor's already been in touch with the White House, hoping for a tariff compromise.

Let's begin with you, Tom. First question I suppose, is when you speak to investors, investment bank CEOs and your colleagues, do they see the U.S. Trump as relenting at some point? That at the end of the day, this is just a big negotiation and as long as Trump can walk away from the table with lower tariff barriers, et cetera, he will relent or do they listen to some in President Trump's own administration to say, no, no, he wants to fundamentally change the U.S. economy?

TOM ORLIK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BLOOMBERG ECONOMICS: You know, Jim, I think it's really interesting. There's been a sharp shift in the Wall Street view and the C-suite view on Donald Trump from pre-inauguration to today.

If you spoke to investors in Wall Street, if you spoke to the Davos set back in January, I wouldn't say it was elation, but there was a high degree of confidence. They thought there was going to be talk about tariffs. But actually, Trump was going to be about tax cuts and regulatory cuts. It was going to be a repeat of Trump 1, basically good for the markets.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ORLIK: Now, 180-degree shift, there's real fear, there's a sense of panic out there because Trump does appear to be committed to delivering those enormous tariffs that he talked about on the campaign trail.

SCIUTTO: So, next question is, do any investors, investment banks, CEOs, et cetera, believe that Trump can accomplish what he seems to want to accomplish here, which is to, in effect, bring all manufacturing back to the U.S? Is that a realistic goal in their view?

[18:05:00] ORLIK: So, that's the big question. I was reading the Apple press release. Apple said, we are going to invest $500 billion in the New York -- in the U.S. in the next few years. A big number. Guess how many jobs they said they were going to create?

SCIUTTO: Tell me.

ORLIK: Just 20,000.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ORLIK: Do the maths on that, it's a cool $25 million of investment to create one job.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ORLIK: So, I think there's something revealed there, right? America is not a great place to do manufacturing anymore. Wages are high. Infrastructure is creaking. And these new tariffs, which President Trump says he's going to introduce, well, they're going to cut off U.S. factories from global supply chains.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You know, you're talking -- Tim Cook has been very public on this through the years that it took them years to create the efficiencies and the skills, et cetera, to build -- to make our iPhones in China in volume and at a cost that well is relatively affordable.

So, how do companies react to this now? Are they making plans when you speak to them and your reporters speak to them? Are they making plans for a slower smaller U.S. economy?

ORLIK: So, if we think about the 104 percent tariffs, which Trump is now threatening on China, that's a really seismic shock to trade between the world's two biggest economies. If you plug tariffs at that level into a model of the global economy, it tells you that U.S.-China trade is pretty much wiped out.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

ORLIK: So, I think the reaction in boardrooms right now is going to be pretty shellshocked. Hoping that these tariffs come down. If they don't, I think we're going to see a bunch of activity as firms and investors scramble to try and find workarounds.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, we'll be seeing if there are those possible. Tom Orlik, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

The clock is ticking before tariffs begin to bite. Reciprocal tariffs come into effect, as we noted, just under six hours from now. That leaves a little time for companies to get their goods into the U.S. before those tariffs take effect and for countries negotiate a deal. Although, that doesn't seem that the administration really is interested in negotiations before that deadline.

CNN's Ivan Watson is live in Hong Kong. So, Ivan, tell us how China is expected to retaliate. They say they will retaliate, and one might say this is existential for them too if the U.S. is suddenly going to double the price of its imports. How do they respond?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, they're certainly not backing down, at least rhetorically, they have caused -- called the tariffs coming from the Trump administration, protectionism, unilateralism, and economic bullying. Their foreign ministry spokesperson has says that -- has said that it does not seem that Washington wants to have any genuine dialogue right now. And they've gone one step further saying that if Trump wants a trade war, that Beijing will fight to the end. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIN JIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): Pressure, threats, and blackmail are not the right ways to engage with China. If the U.S. disregards the interest of both countries and the International Community insists on launching a tariff or trade war, China will fight to the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So, what could China do? Well, last week when President Trump announced 34 percent tariffs on top of 20 percent that his most recent administration had imposed China on Friday night, during the Chinese Tomb Sweeping Holiday, a national holiday, the government announced it would reciprocate with 34 percent tariffs. We don't yet know what it's going to do now that President Trump has escalated that essentially doubled the tariffs to 104 percent.

But Chinese state media has suggested some possible measures that China would increase tariffs on U.S. agricultural products like soybeans and sorghum. It would pause cooperation on fentanyl. It would restrict U.S. films in the Chinese box office. And create further barriers to the services sector. Those could be some measures.

And we've heard in Chinese state media that, you know, this is a trade war that's been going on since the first Trump administration them indicating that they've had eight years to prepare for this. And there is some kind of patriotic nationalist reaction to some of the insults coming from Washington. For example, a couple of days ago, the U.S. vice president, J. D. Vance basically called Chinese people peasants, he said, we borrow from Chinese peasants to buy the things the Chinese peasants' manufacture. That has created a backlash on the heavily censored and controlled Chinese social media.

[18:10:00]

And in fact, the foreign ministry spokesperson singled out these comments saying that they were rude and ignorant. And that further boxes in the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, not to back down in the face of what the Chinese government is characterizing as an American assault and the U.S. initiating what it's calling a trade war against Beijing.

SCIUTTO: Yes. You do not want an American leader referring to the Chinese people as peasants, as China has remarkably grown its economy over the last many years to one of the biggest in the world. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Thanks so much.

Well, south Korea's acting president says he wants to cut a tariff deal with the White House. Han Duck-soo spoke to CNN in an exclusive interview. He said his country will not fight back against Trump tariffs. The longtime U.S. ally faces a 25 percent tariff from the U.S., that despite supplying Americans with products such as Hyundai cars, Samsung phones, televisions.

Mike Valerio joins me now from Seoul. So, Mike, an interesting approach from South Korea saying, OK, we're not going to get into a slug fest here. But I imagine his hope is that that will lead to some sort of deal where Trump lowers the tariffs on South Korea.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. And, Jim, it was fascinating to see right in front of us in this exclusive interview, South Korea's tariff playbook unfold, and it's pretty much how you described it, to stay cool, calm, collected, and come to the bargaining table. A huge contrast from our geographic neighbor, what Watson was just describing a couple seconds ago, across the LOC, Beijing leading retaliation, leading the resistance, a similar approach, you know. Canada also leading the resistance in North America. That is not the playbook that South Korea is facing.

So, we talked to South Korea's acting president, Han Duck-soo, for close to an hour. Jim, we're going to play a minute and 48 seconds of our conversation. The highlights of what he said, and what you got to know before watching this conversation is Han Duck-soo is an acting president, because South Korea on Friday just impeached its elected president for declaring martial law back in December.

So, we asked South Korea's leader, is this going to be a problem for you to reach a deal? Long and short of it he says no. But we start by asking him if he sees any room for cooperation and coordination between China, Japan, South Korea. Listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: I'm curious, Acting President Han, do you see a role for any potential cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea to fight back against these U.S. tariffs?

HAN DUCK-SOO, ACTING SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT: I don't think the real trade fight among countries, I don't think that kind of, you know, fighting back will improve the situation dramatically.

VALERIO: You do anticipate that this 25 percent tariff level will not stay, that's your anticipation?

HAN: Depending on the negotiations.

VALERIO: That's certainly your hope?

HAN: Yes.

VALERIO: Are you optimistic? How do you feel, on a gut level, these negotiations are going to go?

HAN: Well, 57 countries are actually subject to that kind of tariff. So --

VALERIO: 25 percent though, that's pretty steep for friends, for generations.

HAN: Well, it's a pity because we are evaluated in that way.

VALERIO: Yes.

HAN: But I think that that kind of different assessment can always happen in this kind of situations.

VALERIO: For a White House negotiating with an interim leader, there's a chance that they may have an issue with that. What do you say to address that potential concern?

HAN: Our relations between the United States and Korea have been very good. We have a, you know, very strong alliance relationship, not only in the military terms but in, you know, technology area, business areas, and many economic areas. So, there are so many things that we should talk together and work together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So, Jim, you wrote about this in your book, at a time when these steadfast alliances are being questioned, South Korea is saying, you know, we realize that we were called out about a month ago in the joint session of Congress with President Trump singling out South Korea as an example of his perception of being treated unfairly.

[18:15:00]

But they are still relying on the strength of the alliance. They're not forgetting about it. And of course. China is not -- or South Korea is not in the same position as China. South Korea relies on good relations with the United States to keep it safe from North Korea. About 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed here on the peninsula, very similar to Japan. So, we hear this talk, we're going to see if they walk the walk. They had their first phone conversation D.C. time this morning. So, we will see what the ultimate terms of a deal are, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. And if there is some sort of trade settlement to the point of U.S. troops there, is that something Trump thinks about reducing, he's certainly discussed that in the past, going back to the first term. Mike Valerio in Soul, important interview, thanks so much.

VALERIO: Thanks.

SCIUTTO: And coming up, Ukraine says it has captured Chinese nationals fighting alongside the Russian military in Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We really hope that after this situation, the Americans will talk more with the Ukrainians and then the Russians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: President Trump's top trade representative, Jamieson Greer, testified before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, took some heat from a fellow Republican worried about the political implications of Trump's tariffs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): People are looking at their 401(k) statements. They did vote for President Trump. They voted for me. I hope that they will, again, in both cases. Well, maybe the -- not the president, but I intend to run for re-election. I'm just trying to figure out if they're going to feel good about this, because the long- term play in American politics and long-term play in American policy, public policy formation is about 12 months from the beginning of an administration. I wish you well, but I am skeptical. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Skeptical. Greer was also asked why Australia was hit with tariffs when the U.S. has a trade surplus with the country. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Australia, we have a trade surplus with Australia. We have a free trade agreement. Why -- they are incredibly important national security partner. Why were they whacked with a tariff?

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: Senator, despite the agreement, they ban our beef, they ban our pork, they're getting ready to impose measures on our digital company.

WARNER: But with your --

GREER: It's --

[18:20:00]

WARNER: With your Greek letter formula, the fact that we have a trade surplus.

GREER: We have a global tariff on every -- we're trying to address the $1.2 trillion deficit --

WARNER: I think that answer --

GREER: -- that Biden left us with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Support is growing on Capitol Hill to claw back some of the broad powers President Trump is now claiming and setting tariff policy. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell is the co-sponsor of a bill with Republican Charles Grassley limiting the president's authority to impose tariffs unilaterally. That bill would also give Congress the power to end existing tariffs at any time. President Trump says he would veto that bill if it were to pass Congress.

Senator Maria Cantwell, who also attended today's Finance Committee meeting joins me now. Thanks so much for joining.

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D-WA): Yes, Jim. Thank you.

SCIUTTO: You have seven Republicans, I believe, backing your bill so far. I wonder what that tells you. Another public comments we're hearing from Republican lawmakers about just how far and wide the concerns are across the aisle about the impact of these tariffs.

CANTWELL: Well, if they're listening to their constituents, if they're listening to small businesses, if they're listening to the agriculture community, just as you heard, they are skeptical. And the reason they're skeptical is because there is no historic framework here where this strategy has worked. And in the meantime, what we really want is trade agreements that do get our products on the shelf.

I think what you're hearing is a lot of anxiety that other countries are moving forward and they could move forward without us.

SCIUTTO: You know the math, unfortunately, you need 60 votes in the Senate to advance this. Of course, you need the GOP controlled House to come on board. They've already indicated they will not, and President Trump has said he would veto, in which case you need even more votes. So, I wonder, does bipartisan legislation really have legs, right, or is this going to end up being more of a symbolic effort?

CANTWELL: I think it's a dangerous place for any member to be on the side of their leadership against their constituents. And I think what we're counting on is that people are going to continue to hear that this is a consumer issue in which consumers, if you think of our economy, 70 percent of it being related to consumption, they're worried that this is going to affect their ability to do business, raise the cost of groceries, raise the cost of consumer electronics at a time when we've already seen inflation plague us. And people want to have relief from that, not more expense.

So, I think what's going to play out here is you're going to continue to see this impact the economy and the louder and louder our constituents are going to be.

SCIUTTO: Tell us what you're hearing from union leaders specifically in Washington, because there have been some unions who are expressing public support for these tariffs and at least the ambition to bring back more manufacturing jobs to the U.S. What are union leaders in the Washington -- in Washington State tell you?

CANTWELL: Well, I represent proudly the third most unionized state in the country, and that big union, the Machinist Union, supports our bill to reign in control back to the Congress. And the reason is because they know as supply chains are being hurt between the United States and Canada that drive down the price of production and as the president threatens to go to a trade war, it means their products might not get sold to those markets.

So, what they want to see, they want to do their jobs, produce the best product, win the day on the best airplanes or the best automobiles or the best products, and then have the success in the marketplace. And what they see now is a prolonged fight that could affect not just inflation, but their long-term ability to compete.

And so, they don't want to see this damage and that's why they support where Senator Grassley and I are going. And today, more unions came out in support of that, our position.

SCIUTTO: When I've spoken to Canadian officials and when you hear public comments from, for instance, the Canadian prime minister, their view is that this is a fundamental change to the U.S.-Canada trading relationship, in effect that there's no going back. That there's no repairing that damage done by these tariffs and other public comments from President Trump. And I wonder, given you're a border state, is that your impression here, or do you believe that there is a way to repair that break?

CANTWELL: I think the biggest problem here is now the breach of trust, where we have this alliance with countries, particularly Canada, and now all of a sudden. we're saying that the United States of America doesn't believe in that cross-border relationship.

[18:25:00]

And so, it is going to make them think strategically about other partners and other partnerships that may put us -- you know, years ago, I remember traveling to Egypt and wanting -- it was right after a very tumultuous time, and people wanted to say, well, let's talk to them about putting -- getting more wheat into the market. And the officials on the ground said, I don't think that's going to work. The Canadians have already been here and they've taken up the slack.

So, what happens is you lose shelf space. And these other countries are just as competitive and going around the world trying to get their products sold. So, we should be building alliances, we should be building relationships and using that alliance to counter China instead of tariffs that are really going to hurt us on innovation and our ability to compete.

SCIUTTO: I'm not going to ask you to make predictions here about where President Trump goes. But it strikes me that in his public comments, what you're hearing from members of an administration and other reports is that Trump is digging his heels in on these tariffs and that his attitude in a second term is, in effect, that he believes he's politically, even perhaps legally, untouchable.

So, do you see him backing down at some point, even if he's hearing from Republican lawmakers saying, this is doing U.S. damage?

CANTWELL: Well, I would love to talk to the president about the northwest economy that has had to compete and had to get markets open and has continued to deal with the problems of these challenges over a long period of time and be successful. And I would encourage the president to think more about the fact that supply chains are integrated, consumers and so much of our society, more than 50 percent now have 401(k) pension plans -- instead of pension plans, 401s that are impacted by the market and that he would get more juice out of building alliances and then pushing back on some of these bad practices of other countries.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CANTWELL: That if he took that approach, he could get further.

SCIUTTO: Senator Maria Cantwell from Washington State, we appreciate the work you're doing and thank you for taking the time.

CANTWELL: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, Ukraine says it has captured two Mainland Chinese nationals fighting in the Russian Army in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted this video on social media saying the two men had their identification documents and bank cards from China. The Ukrainian president also claims there are many more Chinese fighting alongside the Russian military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We really hope that after this situation, the Americans will talk more with the Ukrainians and then the Russians. We really hope that the Chinese side will also react. I have instructed the minister of foreign affairs and the minister of defense to contact the Chinese counterparts so that they can give us an explanation for those actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: It is not yet clear if those two men are members of Chinese -- of the Chinese military or perhaps volunteers. John Lough is the head of foreign policy at the new Eurasian Strategies Center. John, thanks so much for joining.

JOHN LOUGH, HEAD OF FOREIGN POLICY, NEW EURASIAN STRATEGIES CENTER: Thank you. My pleasure. Good evening.

SCIUTTO: So, as you know, since the start of the invasion, the U.S. and others have been watching very closely to see if China were to give military support to Russia. China gives a lot of support to Russia already, but weapons and troops would be significant. Based on what we know now, does this show that China might be doing just that and formally providing military support to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine?

LOUGH: Well, this is certainly a new development. We haven't seen Chinese soldiers captured by the Ukrainians so far. And it comes as something of a surprise. But I would interpret it as follows. I think it's very unlikely that these are Chinese regular soldiers. They've probably been recruited by the Russian Army. And so, far, we've seen people from countries as far afield as Cuba, Yemen, even India fighting in the Russian Army. In the case, about 90 Indians. They didn't do this of their free will. They were kind of conned or scammed into signing paperwork that took them to the front in Eastern Ukraine.

So, we don't know the exact origin of these two alleged Chinese prisoners now in Ukrainian hands. But my suspicion is that Beijing will do everything to distance itself from their participation in the war and claim that these are not regular soldiers, that they don't how they ended up fighting on the Russian side. So, I think it'd be -- it's important not to perhaps exaggerate the importance of this event.

[18:30:00]

SCIUTTO: If China's intentions are, given the current effort at cease fire and potentially peace negotiations, do you believe that China wants to see this war come to an end and would be willing to put some of its diplomatic might behind such an effort? Or is it perfectly happy seeing it drag on and perhaps occupy the U.S. there, while China perhaps has plans of its own in Asia?

LOUGH: Well, it rather seems as though the Chinese are not in a particular hurry to see this war end. I believe that at the outset, when Putin told President Xi that President Putin told his Chinese counterpart that they were going to war, that he believed it would be over pretty quickly. So the fact that it's gone on for more than three years and China has become in some ways increasingly involved in supporting the Russian military effort by providing economic support, by buying oil and gas in particular, but most importantly by supplying certain industrial goods, dual use goods, some of which found their way into Russian military industry and really supported the Russian military efforts indirectly. I think without Chinese support, there's no way the Russians could have continued fighting.

So, logic would suggest that surely, they should have an interest in this war coming to an end, particularly now that the United States is making overtures to Russia. And the Chinese have in the past said that they support a peace process, that they would be happy to try to broker something of Ukraine, but they haven't shown so far real willingness to do it. And there's some doubt about whether they in fact, diplomatic muscle.

SCIUTTO: Well, and we will certainly watch. They've certainly had a lot of opportunities to do so. John Lough, thanks so much for joining.

It is no secret that much of the clothing and footwear Americans buy comes, and is made overseas. After the break, why the fashion industry faces greater tariffs than other imports, we'll hear from shoe retailers about who will ultimately bear the costs. I can give you a hint. It's you and me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:29] SCIUTTO: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Sciuto. And here are more international headlines we're watching. Today, a U.S. Federal judge has ruled that a ban imposed on the Associated Press by the White House is unconstitutional. The AP had been barred from accessing President Trump's events, the Oval Office, Air Force One. That ruling followed the AP's use of the phrase Gulf of Mexico after the Trump administration, you'll remember, renamed it to the Gulf of America. The judge, we should note a Trump appointee, has delayed restoring AP's access for a week to allow for the White House to appeal.

66 people are known to have died after the roof collapsed at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic. At least 155 people have been taken to hospitals. A popular merengue artist was performing there at the time when the ceiling gave way at a club in the early hours Tuesday morning.

South Korea's military says it fired warning shots on Tuesday after North Korean soldiers violated the demarcation line in the demilitarized zone before then backing off. A South Korean news agency, citing a military official, suggested the crossing might have been a mistake. Dangerous one.

Returning to our top story, U.S. President Donald Trump is hours away from opposing an astounding 104 percent tariff on all imports from China. This comes on top of Chinese tariffs that were put in place prior to President Trump's second term. And so-called reciprocal tariffs come into effect at midnight tonight east coast time.

As the White House pushes for a return of manufacturing to this country's, to this country. Lots of questions about U.S. industrial capabilities, which at the moment, well, they don't seem to exist. Take for example, shoes.

According to the American Apparel and Footwear association, the majority of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported. Most, as you see there, come from China as well as Vietnam and Indonesia. Critics have long pointed to high labor costs in this country that would make it difficult, to say the least, to move that all back here.

Matt Priest, he is president and CEO of the trade group Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, which strongly opposes the tariffs. Thanks so much for joining.

MATT PRIEST, PRESIDENT AND CEO, FOOTWEAR DISTRIBUTORS AND RETAILERS OF AMERICA: Thanks for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So 90 percent of shoes sold in the U.S. imported from China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Do you or other leaders in the Industry see that shoe manufacturing realistically coming back to the U.S.

PRIEST: Now, the fact of the matter is Jim, we import in 2.3 billion pairs of shoes every single year. That's over seven pairs of shoes for every single man, woman, and child in this country.

SCIUTTO: That's more than I have, but you know. PRIEST: Just a few more right, me too. But the fact of the matter is

the Trump administration is also applying heavy duties to machinery components, materials that you would need to produce domestically anyway. So, they're making it hyper uncompetitive to bring it back if you wanted to. So that's not a viable option unfortunately.

SCIUTTO: And the labor costs are part of the issue here too because I imagine given the higher labor costs in this country that would drive up shoe costs perhaps like astronomically.

PRIEST: So they would be astronomic. I mean there's a number of producers still here in the States, and those shoes have higher retail value because they have the higher labor costs. So again, the volume of shoes we have to bring in is going to be, is astronomical for the, what the capacity here is in the States is to produce those shoes.

SCIUTTO: So what is the response of the industry? How do your members, they have to run businesses, right? I mean what do they do now? How do they make plans?

PRIEST: I've been fielding calls ever since Wednesday night in the Rose Garden talking about. These are the words I'm hearing, Jim. Catastrophic, ruinous. And so, we're trying to help our members better understand what the cost implication will be. The fact is I've had a number particularly China-based sourcing operations for American companies saying I've got to figure out how much I can sell a shoe, probably double the price to American consumer and see if they'll still buy it, particularly after these inflationary times. And the answer is not going to be a positive one, unfortunately.

SCIUTTO: Is China, I mean listen, China is discussing a whole host of retaliatory measures, some of which we've seen already. Does China have ways, options to punish U.S. manufacturers that have capacity inside China?

[18:40:02]

PRIEST: They do have ways of doing that, but I don't think they're focused there. The retaliation will be on U.S. Ag exports. That's they're going to hit us where it hurts most. And we see this over the 250-year history of our country, Jim, that any time we decide to tax our own consumers via import taxes, our exports get hit in retaliatory action, at least a job loss, decline in GDP, and the party in power gets thrown out pretty quickly after that.

SCIUTTO: Do you hear or have any receptive voices in the Trump administration who you can call up and say, listen, this isn't working, we got to find a way forward. Or is the Trump administration in lockstep on this?

PRIEST: The president seems singularly focused on continuing to add these tariffs, particularly tonight at midnight. We are trying anything and everything we can to collectively as an industry, we're $115 billion industry annually to make the case that this will drive up prices. The president was elected on a mandate, Jim, to lower prices. That's what he committed to do. And so, this is the antithesis of that. And we hope that as the American consumer feels that pain that they'll pull back almost immediately because it's unsustainable.

SCIUTTO: Just putting it on the spot here. But just ballparking. If a hundred-dollar pair of sneakers costs $100 made currently, whether it's in China, Vietnam or Indonesia, if it was made in the U.S. how much would that pair of sneakers cost?

PRIEST: Three or four hundred dollars easily. In fact, we've even just looked at the tariffs coming into place tonight at midnight. $150 pair of running shoes will be $230. Right. And that's coming from overseas sources without U.S. --

SCIUTTO: That's just with the tariffs.

PRIEST: That's just with the tariffs. Yes.

SCIUTTO: Folks will feel that. Matt Priest, thanks so much for joining.

PRIEST: They will. Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, CNN was the first U.S. Broadcaster to gain access to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador. Just frightening there. This is the Trump administration's latest deportation flight. We're going to take you inside that prison. You'll see images just like that coming up.

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SCIUTTO: The U.S. Supreme Court is now allowing the Trump administration to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, that is a law from 1798 to deport alleged gang members. The highest court also paused an order requiring the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who even the administration admits it mistakenly deported to El Salvador. This will now give the justices more time to consider that case.

[18:45:02]

SCIUTTO: The Maryland man has been placed in the country's notorious mega prison. We should note that he has not been charged with any crime. CNN was the first U.S. broadcaster to gain access to the prison since the latest round of U.S. deportations. David Culver went inside just hours ago, and he filed this report.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we're going to go into Sector 4 right here. But if you look just straight down there at the very end, that's Sector 8, that's where the deportees are being held. We cannot go into that sector. When I ask why, he says, it's not part of this approved tour.

But we will go into Sector 4 right now. And he said we're going to notice a difference from the last time we were here. The last time were here, the director tells me there were roughly 80 or so people inside each of the jumbo cells. This time he said no. Notice the numbers. It's a bit more crowded. He suggests a bit more than 100. Why are there more people here?

He says the state of exception, essentially the state of emergency that's been declared under President Bukele going back 2022 will not end until the last gang member has been taken from the communities and brought here to Cecot. He said, everybody's got the same conditions. It doesn't matter where you are including Sector 8.

This is the place where El Salvador says they keep the worst of the worst. And now the U.S. is sending deportees here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Just shocking images from inside there. Coming up after the break, Jurassic Park predicted it. Now, it is becoming a reality. Scientists claim they can bring back a previously extinct species by combining the DNA from fossils and that of a close living relative. We're going to hear from the company behind it, as well as what questions it raises coming up next.

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SCIUTTO: Small howl big breakthrough. A U.S. Biotech company says it has resurrected a long extinct species called the dire wolf. How? By combining the DNA from fossils that are thousands of years old with the genes of a living gray wolf. That is the dire wolf's closest living relative. The result is what's known as a hybrid. Colossal Biosciences says it's also working to bring back the mammoth, the dodo, and the Tasmanian tiger. Ben Lamm is the CEO of Colossal Biosciences, and he joins me now. Thanks so much for joining.

[18:50:07]

BEN LAMM, CEO, COLOSSAL BIOSCIENCES: Yes, thanks so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: So let me ask you just what probably sounds like an ignorant question from a history major here. Bbut is that combination of the fossil DNA and the DNA of its closest living relative, does that mean that dire wolf looks, breathes, walks, sounds exactly like the ones that lived 12,000 years ago?

LAMM: We don't exactly know. Right. And it's actually not a fossil. Fossils are a rock. So, unfortunately, we can't get DNA from fossils, which is probably a good thing if you don't want people to bring back dinosaurs using synthetic biology.

We are using very old DNA preserved, in this case in a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 73,000-year-old skull. And what we did is we basically spent a lot of time using AI and computers to understand the genetic differences between the reconstructed genomes from the dire wolf, which have about 50,000 years of difference between them. So, we really understand what made a dire wolf a dire wolf. We have about 500 times more data than anyone else in the world does in the world in terms of dire wolf DNA, in terms of dire wolf data.

And we compare that to their closest living relative, which is the gray wolf, and then we use synthetic biology and technologies like CRISPR to edit those into those cell lines. And so, the more computational analysis we can do, and the better we are at our genome engineering, actually, the less edits we have to make because we're just trying to bring back those functional traits.

So, we think it'll sound like a dire wolf. We think it'll behave like a dire wolf, and it definitely looks like a dire wolf because we brought back all of the physical traits that have been lost to time in the wolf lineage.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. I mean, is the intention here to not just resurrect an individual from the species but to resurrect the species so that you have dire wolves running around in the wild, or dodo birds, or you name it.

LAMM: Yes. So, our goal is to build genetically diverse, healthy populations of animals that we can work with, individuals, private landowners, indigenous people, groups, and governments to rewild and help the ecosystems. Specifically, with the dire wolves, we do have them on a secure, expansive ecological preserve, so we're not in the process of rewilding them. That takes 10-plus years on any species. You look at what we did in melatonin with rewilding wolves, if you look at like what's being done with birds in other countries and even bears and in parts of Europe. It's a very stage-gated process. That's why we work with, you know, 48 plus conservation partners and ecologists around the world to do that. But right now, most likely that these dire wolves, this first pack, will live out most of their lives on the secure ecological preserve.

And we are working with some of the largest indigenous people groups of the United States that actually have a spiritual connection to the dire wolves. And their hope is that eventually, we can actually rewild them back onto their sovereign land.

SCIUTTO: I imagine there are risks here, right? I mean, you bring back long-dead species, right? Do you know about what the impact will be, for instance, on other living species? Right, how they might interact? I mean, will they breed, could they bring diseases that we don't know of, or genetic mutations, et cetera. I mean, can you explain the risks and how you handle those risks?

LAMM: No, it's a great question. So, we actually work with about 17 academic labs around the world. We have 170 scientists here, and we fund about 40 postdocs, including bioethicists. We have about 48 conservation partners. We are at a biodiversity crisis where we're going to lose up to 50 percent of all biodiversity between now and 20. The sixth mass extinction is what humans are calling it. It's all driven by humankind. So we need new technologies to actually bring back species, biobank and save existing species.

So we're not bringing back full clones of these species. That's actually impossible. We've saved that from day one. We're actually just looking to bring back the lost biodiversity. So, we're not bringing back diseases, we're not bringing back anything we don't know. We're looking at very specific, well-studied, targeted genes that

drive the genotype to phenotype or physical expression so that we can actually bring back lost biodiversity to help species. And one of the things that people aren't talking about today, which is kind of crazy, everyone, I guess, is a big Game of Thrones fan. But we actually made four red wolves. We actually made more red wolves than we did dire wolves. And the red wolf is the most endangered wolf on the entire planet. It's an American wolf.

And so, we are using all the technologies that we use to bring back the dire wolf, save Red Wolves, open sourcing that for conservation. But it's not as exciting as, you know, Game of Thrones or Dungeons and Dragons. So, it's not getting the headlines today.

SCIUTTO: We don't have a lot of time, but just quickly. Could you, in theory. There are obviously different ethical questions with this. Bring back a lost relative of human species, right. I'm thinking early humans, you know, Homo erectus or Neanderthals. I mean, via the same method.

[18:55:07]

LAMM: It's a great question. We get it all the time. So colossal, that's where we draw the line, right? So, we're only working on critically endangered species and species preservation, and species that anthropologic effects meaning mankind help drive to extinction. We're not working on anything in the category of what's called non- human primates. It's where we draw an ethical line. And we also don't want on anything human. So, a lot of the technologies that we're developing are advancing human healthcare. We actually spin those technologies out, monetize those with third parties, but we don't touch anything about that. We really just focus on animals and we do draw a line at non-human primates.

SCIUTTO: Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences. Thanks so much for joining.

LAMM: Thanks so much for having me.

SCIUTTO: And finally, in Space, no one, of course, can hear you sing. Sound advice for pop star Katy Perry, who's preparing to go into space on a Blue Origin rocket with an all-female crew next week. Also on board, journalists Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez, who happens to be the fiance of Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder who also owns Blue Origin. The New Shepard rocket will carry the crew to the Karman Line, which is the internationally recognized boundary of space.

Thanks so much for your company today. I'm Jim Sciuto in Washington. Still waiting for my trip to space. Please do stay with CNN.

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