Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Markets Gain After Trump Halts Most Tariffs for 90 Days; Incoming Chancellor Unveils Coalition amid Tariff Turmoil; Nightclub Roof Collapse Kills at Least 184; Making Sense of the Market for Smaller Investors. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 10, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:42]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: It was all part of their cunning plan, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Trump has a spine of steel, and he will not break.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Tuesday's president with the spine of steel blinks first in his global trade war. But wait.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: This was his strategy all along.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Regardless of why a 90-day pause for tariff talks sent stocks soaring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: The second best performance for the Nasdaq and the highest point gain for the Dow Jones Industrials.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: While opinion polls show the president's job approval tanking.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.
VAUSE: In the end, the U.S. president was the one who blinked with the world economy in open rebellion, with the bond market on the verge of a meltdown not seen since the 2008 global financial crisis, and facing a potential financial disaster entirely of his own making.
President Trump hit pause, announcing most of his aggressive new tariffs would be on hold for 90 days, despite multiple senior White House officials repeatedly insisting there would be no turning back, no negotiations. But fears of a meltdown in the bond market seem to be the main reason for the sudden change of course. The president saying he was aware some were getting queasy and yippy because of the chaos.
And while this is only a pause and not the end of Trump's trade war, Wall Street saw a massive relief rally. But the best day in 16 years for U.S. stocks was not good enough for shares to recover all the losses since caused by days of turmoil. And here are the U.S. futures right now. The Dow on opening appears to be in negative territory, so too the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also down there on the opening it's expected a few hours from now by 1.5 percent.
President Trump says the decision to suspend tariffs was heartfelt and meant to avoid hurting countries, which, in his words, didn't need to be hurt. The notable exception being China, which was hit by another increase in U.S. tariffs, now at a staggering 125 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They were all calling, how do we do this? They all want to make a deal. Somebody had to do what we did. And I did a 90-day pause for the people that didn't retaliate because I told them, if you retaliate, we're going to double it. And that's what I did with China, because they did retaliate. So we'll see how it all works out. I think it's going to work out amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And while U.S. futures are in negative territory, Asia-Pacific is all green across the board. We have the Nikkei up by 8.5 percent. Hong Kong by almost 2 percent. Shanghai up by almost 1 percent. And the Seoul KOSPI up there by just over 3.5 percent.
CNN's Steven Jiang live for us this hour in Beijing.
So, Steven, now the U.S. president has narrowed what was an unprecedented global trade war to a fight with China, we've been here before. This is familiar territory in many ways, but not with tariffs this high. So what happens next?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BREAU CHIEF: That's right, although some analysts have pointed out, when you cross certain threshold, now it's 125 percent, then it's just a number game, right? It doesn't make too much of a difference between 125 percent perhaps and 500 percent. So some people have already been looking at a hard decoupling to zero trade between the world's two biggest economies, but that remains to be seen.
So far China has not responded to the latest Trump additional tariffs on Chinese imports. But interestingly, just a few minutes ago, when you kicked off your show, the Chinese additional 84 percent tariffs on American imports have also kicked in. So that obviously is part of their countermeasures we have seen them announced in the past few days. Not only counter tariffs, but also putting more American companies and
entities on their unreliable and export control lists, not to mention launching new investigations targeting America. And the latest developments mean have seen them really touching on people to people exchange as well with the government here issuing travel advisories on the U.S., warning not only Chinese tourists, but also Chinese students trying to go to the U.S. to study.
But all of this is really interesting because the latest Trump move by singling out China perhaps would reinforce this notion among many government officials, but also ordinary people here that the ultimate strategic goal of all the tariffs imposed by the White House is to contain and suppress China.
[00:05:16]
Some analysts, though, pointed out that is assuming the Trump White House actually has a coherent plan on this, which they think there's little evidence to show so far. But still that perception is here. That's why it's very difficult, according to many analysts, to see how the Chinese are going to back down from all of their countermeasures.
The Chinese, unlike what Trump has claimed, they are not panicking, according to many observers. They actually have been studying Trump for a long time. They have been watching very closely how he handles other partners, trading partners from Mexico to Canada to Japan and others. And their conclusion seems to be concessions invite more pressure, and leverage is the only language that Trump understands and respect.
That's why it's just very difficult to see how Xi Jinping is going to back down from all these measures he has announced so far, even though the Chinese have also emphasized they're leaving the door open for negotiations -- John.
VAUSE: Steven, thank you. Steven Jiang live in Beijing.
Political analyst Michael Genovese is author of "The Modern Presidency." He's also president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. And he joins us now from Los Angeles.
Welcome back, Michael, good to see you.
MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you, sir.
VAUSE: So the reason why this announcement of a 90-day tariff pause was just so stunning is because of the consistent and adamant statements from the White House to the contrary like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: I don't think there's any chance they're going to -- that President Trump is going to back off his tariffs.
LEAVITT: He's not considering an extension or a delay. TRUMP: I really think we're helped a lot by the tariff situation
that's going on, which is a good situation.
LEAVITT: The president is firm in his approach.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Would you be open to a pause in tariffs to allow for negotiations?
TRUMP: Well, we're not looking at that.
LEAVITT: He expects that these tariffs are going to go into effect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: How much has the flip-flop cost the administration in just credibility alone, not just domestically but around the world, especially with traditional allies?
GENOVESE: Well, you know, the bond market spanked Donald Trump and he caved in. And in a way your question is so two hours ago because every two hours something dramatic changes and there's a whole new thing to talk about. But I think what's happened is that the administration is claiming that this was the plan all along, that there was always a method to this madness, but in fact, there's just madness to the madness.
And then they say that this roller coaster ride was all Donald Trump's making. He knows what he's doing. But this roller coaster ride is making us all nauseous. And so both at home and abroad, we're seeing traditional allies worried, scared. We're seeing a lot of fall back on the domestic front as well, where citizens are starting to wonder what we've gotten ourselves into.
VAUSE: You're right. I did write the questions two hours ago. Right now, almost every major poll has President Trump underwater in terms of job approval. He's also losing ground on the handling of the economy. And according to the conservative "Wall Street Journal," which had a poll late March, 52 percent believe the economy is getting worse, up from 37 percent in January. 55 percent disapprove of the job Trump is doing on prices and inflation, the issue, which he was primarily elected on, and 83 percent of voters believe Trump's policies will create economic difficulties.
I guess the point here is not every voter cares about immigration or abortion or DEI, or transgender school kids, but the economy is a different story. So again, what are the political costs here to the administration? How does this now impact President Trump's political capital for the rest of his term?
GENOVESE: We're seeing a very clear softening among support from moderates, from independents, and from conservative Democrats. But Republicans are standing firm so far. The Republicans in Congress are worried about their prospects for 2026, but they're still at this point, staying with the president.
The Republican business establishment is also starting to push back when business executives said today that this was an economic version of nuclear winter. But you mentioned the "Wall Street Journal," it's the Republican intellectual establishment that's really starting to push back. The "Wall Street Journal" has been very critical.
The "National Review," which is the most revered voice of American conservative thought, had a scathing essay about Donald Trump in which they called it just raw chaos. And they said of Donald Trump's many violations of the law, and I'll quote, no free man wants to be under the thumb of a king. That's from a friend. And so if your friends are starting to say this, you really ought to be worried.
VAUSE: Yes, there does seem to be an element here of, you know, certainly unpredictability, to say the least. And just hours before this Trump turnaround on tariffs, the E.U. announced tariffs on U.S. goods which the "Washington Post" reports targeted hundreds of U.S. products.
[00:10:03]
One E.U. official says the tariffs would affect approximately $23 billion worth of imported U.S. products. This pause for trade talks with 70 countries is just about the reciprocal tariffs, not on earlier U.S. tariffs, which is what the E.U. stuff was all about.
There is so much to unravel here and it seems right now this administration, at least publicly, isn't saying a whole lot on how it plans to move forward. There doesn't seem to be a lot of confidence coming out of this administration, and they know how to fix this.
GENOVESE: And they're speaking with many voices. The Treasury secretary is saying one thing, Elon Musk another. Navarro, the trade -- the chief tariff guy is saying another thing. And then Trump changes back and forth all the time. So there's no sense of confidence that we have in what's going to happen tomorrow or two hours from now. And that kind of chaos, which Donald Trump has always thrived on, in economic terms can cause real problems because business, if it wants to invest, needs stability.
They need to know where things are going to be in the next six, eight months, and they don't know where things are going to be in the next six to eight hours. And so this is completely a self-inflicted wound. They're shooting themselves in the foot. And it's not just the United States that Donald Trump is causing fears of a recession. And if this gets worse, it will be a global recession. And it's all on Donald Trump's shoulders.
VAUSE: Michael Genovese, as always, good to have you with us, sir. Thank you.
GENOVESE: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: We'll take a short break. When we come back, Germany's new coalition government. How the chancellor plans to revitalize the German economy, as well as respond to Trump tariffs. All that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:16:05]
VAUSE: The U.S. tariffs are now an additional issue for the new German government, which has already facing years of economic stagnation. Wednesday, the incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, announced a deal between Germany's two major centrist parties to form a coalition which he says will revive a failing economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR-IN-WAITING (through translator): The future government, the future coalition will reform and invest to keep Germany stable, make it more secure and make it economically stronger again. And Europe can also rely on Germany.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: More details now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting in from Berlin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Germany has taken a major step towards forming a new government, as the conservatives and social Democrats have managed to come together and agree on a coalition contract going forward. Now this makes conservative Friedrich Merz the designated chancellor, and he could take office within the next couple of weeks.
There are several topics that are of extreme importance the two coalition partners have said. On the one hand, it is Germany's economy which has been faltering really over the past couple of years, and the designated chancellor, Friedrich Merz, says that one of the main priorities will try to get more investment going here in Germany, but then also to decrease tax rates, especially on medium and smaller- sized companies, which are considered to really be the backbone of the German economy.
On the other hand, also security, international security, very important for the Germans as well. And that, of course, first and foremost means defense. The new German government is set to spend a lot more on defense than Germany has in the past. And the third big issue is going to be migration, where the two coalition partners have already announced that they want to curb asylum seeking here in Germany but immigration in general.
Friedrich Merz had this to say after the negotiations.
MERZ: The key message to Donald Trump is Germany is back on track. Germany will fulfill the obligations in terms of defense. And Germany is willing to strengthen their own competitiveness. And that is not just Germany, that is Europe. The European Union and Germany will be again a very strong partner within the European Union. And we will bring the European Union forward. PLEITGEN: Now all this comes as Germany faces several big challenges,
both here at home, but then also on the European and international stage as well. Of course, first and foremost, that being the Trump administration and its tariffs. One of the things that we have to keep in mind is that Germany is not only Europe's largest economy, it's also a large manufacturing economy and a very large exporting economy as well.
And so therefore, the tariffs, especially on Germany's powerful auto industry could hurt this country very dearly. As far as migration is concerned, the Germans certainly have had a lot of problems in that regard, and that was really one of the big priorities here for this country. And then, of course, there is the continuing situation in Ukraine where at this point in time, the Germans say, of course, they want to continue to help Ukraine, but they also feel that they need to be doing more for their own defense as the threat of Russia looms.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Israel has expanded military operations in Gaza's south with at least 23 Palestinians, including children, killed in one strike alone Wednesday. Sixty people were wounded and dozens of others are listed as either missing or trapped under the rubble of what was a four-story residential building in Gaza City. Israel's military says it struck a senior Hamas terrorist who planned and carried out attacks from northern Gaza, but did not identify their target.
The death toll in one of the deadliest tragedies in the Dominican Republic now stands at nearly 200. Authorities say the bodies of many victims of Tuesday's nightclub roof collapse have not been identified.
More now from CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon.
[00:20:03]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fernandez Reyes Reyes. Joel Manuel Santana Pion (PH).
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): The names read out loud by forensic doctors. Each of them a life cut short.
More than 100 bodies have been recovered, but dozens yet to be identified in the rooftop collapse of a nightclub in Santo Domingo. A growing death toll cutting through the soul of this nation.
The Jet Set was an iconic venue. Monday night, many local celebrities had come here to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Several are now been mourned. Including two former Major League baseball players, a Latin music star, and the governor of a local province.
Dominican President Luis Abinader, declared three days of national mourning to commemorate the victims. Outside the venue, relative search for the names of their loved ones in lists hanging on a field hospital.
I've lost two brothers, this is a national tragedy. We are just heartbroken, says this man.
The rescue operations continue in the dark. There are still people to be found, a race against time, even when hope is fading fast. A small group of faithful singing their pain and refusing to let go.
Stefano Pozzebon, CNN, Santo Domingo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: After the break here on CNN, living la vida loca in the U.S. about to get a whole lot more expensive with increased prices from imported wine to cheese to luxury vehicles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:26:33]
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. Let's take a look at today's top stories.
Donald Trump has ordered a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariffs, except for China. The country will now see tariff rates rise to 125 percent as the U.S. president ratchets up his trade war with Beijing. The move is meant to put pressure on China to begin negotiations, but so far, Beijing is not backing down.
On Wednesday, as Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports took effect, the Chinese Foreign Ministry says the country will not accept what it calls bullying behavior, promising to, quote, "resolute an effective measures to safeguard its rights and interests." China's retaliatory tariffs of 84 percent on imports of U.S. goods now, in effect.
The tariff wars sent U.S. stocks skyrocketing on Wednesday. All three major indices saw their best day in years. The Dow jumped almost 7.9 percent. The S&P 500 gained 9.5 percent. The tech heavy Nasdaq soared over 12 percent, and after Wednesday's record rally, let's see how U.S. futures are looking. There's nine hours to go until the Opening Bell. And right now the futures are looking at a down open with the Dow down by a quarter of 1 percent, S&P down by three quarters of 1 percent, Nasdaq down by just over 1.25 percent.
That's the macro view of the economy. But how does all of this impact what consumers will be able to afford to buy and can't buy.
CNN's Karin Caifa has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The markets skyrocketed on Wednesday afternoon when President Trump made that announcement about a pause on some tariffs. Big leaps in losses over the last week have been something to watch, even for households without major investments, because of what they can mean for consumer prices and even for jobs. (Voice-over): President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff plan has
unleashed turmoil in the stock market.
MICHELLE SINGLETARY, WASHINGTON POST: If you're like me, I am first generation in the stock market. So to see these type of drops is heartbreaking and very scary. And we need to acknowledge that and say it's OK that you're scared.
CAIFA: When investors believe in a company's ability to deliver on the goods and services they promised and consumer demand for them, that company stock often becomes more desirable and pushes the company's value higher. Losses across the 30 diverse companies that compose the closely watched Dow, from Apple to McDonald's to Walmart, mean investors are anxious about what broad tariffs and a global trade war mean for the future.
ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, B. RILEY FINANCIAL: The longer this lasts, the more of an economic drag it is with uncertainty both by the consumer, investor and certainly people that run companies. And the longer that lasts, the more real economic damage we're doing.
CAIFA: When a company stock goes down, they can eventually be challenged to make decisions about infrastructure like hiring and the number of people they can continue to employ. They may also hike prices to cover costs which can also squeeze consumers.
And for those lamenting retirement losses as the market as turned down, experts say it's important to look forward, not back, and stay on top of that money.
KEN FISHER, FISHER INVESTMENTS EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: What's really important to you always, whether you're taking a loss or not is what will do well ahead.
CAIFA: And that 90-day pause that President Trump announced does not include China. In fact, the president raised tariffs on Chinese goods again coming into the United States. For other countries, the negotiations will continue, the White House says. They say more than 75 countries have reached out.
In Washington, I'm Karin Caifa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: European Union has announced new tariffs on $23 billion worth of U.S. imports. E.U. retaliation comes in three phases with the first phase set to begin next Tuesday. The 27-nation bloc is still considering how to respond to broader reciprocal tariffs.
CNN's Melissa Bell has a look at what will be more expensive now for American consumers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CAR REVVING)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That noise is about to become a lot more expensive for American consumers.
The car industry, already hugely hit by steel and aluminum tariffs, car tariffs. But of course, now European-made cars -- by definition, the Ferrari made in Italy is about to become much more expensive for American consumers as a result of the 20 percent tax that came in overnight on all European products.
And it isn't just luxury products. The humble camembert cheese also will become much more expensive for Americans, perhaps prohibitively so.
The Heineken, so beloved by American consumers, already hit by aluminum tariffs, will now become also subject to the 20 percent import tax and so more expensive, probably, for American consumers.
And then there is the wine industry: 2.5 billion euros worth of wine, European wine, were imported to the United States last year. These wines are about to become a lot more expensive.
Now, the argument could be American consumers will therefore turn to Californian wine. But Californian wine itself depends on things like French barrels, corks that are imported to the United States, themselves now subject to the tariffs.
The point is that, for American consumers, their choices when it comes to foreign-made products are about to become probably a lot more limited and, certainly, a lot more expensive.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Melissa Bell there.
Another epiphany, perhaps, for the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The well-known anti-vaxxer now urging Americans to get the measles vaccine.
During an interview with CBS News, Kennedy says he encourages people to get the vaccine. That's a big, significant change in his stance. While he did endorse the vaccine as the only way to prevent the measles, he never urged anyone to go out and get it.
Still, he says federal, state, and local governments should not be mandating the shots.
There's been almost 600 cases of measles across the U.S. in recent months. Three deaths have been reported in connection with the outbreak, all of them unvaccinated.
Alcatraz Island has long been known as the site as a notorious prison, but now high-tech gadgets are helping to reveal secrets about areas on the island that were once off-limits. Details in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:37:09] VAUSE: More than a century after the Titanic went down, 3-D underwater scans are revealing new insights about the final moments of the ship's maiden voyage.
Deep-sea mapping company Magellan created a full-scale digital image of the liner and the area where it came to rest after hitting an iceberg.
New information from that reconstruction is now the basis of a documentary about the final moments of the ship, the damage it sustained, as well as the heroic actions of some on board, which was previously unknown, like the ship's engineers in a boiler room keeping electricity on for two hours to allow distress signals to be sent.
The documentary is called "Titanic: The Digital Resurrection."
And there's new research which has revealed secrets of the notorious prison where Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly served time.
Researchers used a special drone, lasers, and a robot dog to create a 3-D map of Alcatraz, the island prison in California. As CNN's Louise McLaughlin reports, the research even produced clues about a breakout at a prison once considered escape-proof.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We're about to show you part of Alcatraz that hasn't been seen in more than a century. Pete Kelsey was called in to 3-D map the infamous island, now under threat from rising sea levels, using a $100,000 drone.
PETE KELSEY, PROJECT MANAGER, VCTO LABS: So, we sent that thing into some of the worst places you can imagine: sewer lines, cisterns, up the smokestack at the power plant.
MCLAUGHLIN: Pete and his team also used robots --
MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): -- and most importantly, lidar. Cutting-edge laser mapping technology that allowed the team to essentially go back in time and capture data that may save Alcatraz's future. '
KELSEY: We think of it like an X-ray or a CAT scan of the entire island, and that's -- that's where a lot of discovery, potentially, can come from, is when you can give scientists, researchers, academics a view that no one has ever seen before.
So, what we're looking at is a modern building, only about 100 years old, which abuts, which is right up against the original Civil War-era gate to Alcatraz.
And because they were constructed right up next to each other, this original sign over the gate was blocked, literally blocked.
So, by cutting a cross-section through this data, like we see here, we see a view that no one has seen in over 100 years.
MCLAUGHLIN: The team's discoveries have also lifted the veil on the prison's famous 1962 escape.
KELSEY: And this is where this -- one of the three guys dug his way out of his cell into this corridor. Then they climbed up all these pipes every night for weeks.
[00:40:02]
They'd come up here and start building stuff that they needed for the escape until, on escape night, they got out through this air vent up onto the roof.
I've been doing this kind of work for decades, and literally, all over the world. This project, however, I think it just might be my Mona Lisa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. I'll be back with more news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:45:27]
(WORLD SPORT)
[00:57:50]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)