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Donald Trump Pauses Most Tariffs For 90 Days But Hits China Harder; Markets Gain After Donald Trump Halts Most Tariffs For 90 Days; Germany's Incoming Chancellor Unveils Coalition Amid Tariff Turmoil; Nightclub Roof Collapse Kills At Least 184; CNN Gets Access To Prisoners Inside El Salvador's Mega-Prison; Israeli Strike Kills at Least 23 in Gaza City; Recently Freed Argentine-Israeli Hostage Fights for Brother's Release; Drone and Robot Dog Reveal Lost Secrets of Alcatraz Island; Cartier Jewels Worn by Royals and Celebrities Go on Display. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 10, 2025 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max, I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day tariff pause for most countries except China, even though markets are soaring, some say the damage is already done.
In the Dominican Republic, relatives wait for news of their missing loved ones as the death toll from that nightclub tragedy keeps climbing.
And CNN returns to one of the world's most dangerous prisons, where tattoos reveal chilling stories.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Appreciate you joining us. Well, as stock markets post major gains, Donald Trump is trying to take a victory lap after hitting pause on a crisis entirely of his own making. He put most of his aggressive new tariffs on hold for 90-days, despite insisting earlier that the historically high levies were here to stay.
His walk back came after days of sell offs and burgeoning fears of a bond market meltdown. U.S. president admitted people were getting yippy over the chaos. Turns out they don't like watching trillions of dollars wipe from the global economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was watching the bond market. The bond market is very tricky. I was watching it, but if you look at it now, it's beautiful. The bond market right now is beautiful, but yes, I saw last night where people are getting a little queasy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Wall Street breathing a sigh of relief over the pause. U.S. stocks posted their best day in 16 years, but remain lower than they were before all this tariff turmoil.
So, let's take a look at the U.S. Futures. They are in negative territory, but only just in those instances. We'll keep an eye on that, of course.
President Trump claimed the decision to suspend tariffs was written from the heart and said, we don't want to hurt countries that don't need to be hurt. The notable exception being China.
President Trump ramped up tariffs on Beijing to a staggering 125 percent that's after China raised retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods to 84 percent.
And here's a look at how the Asia Pacific markets are reacting to all these changes. They have rebounded significantly. Japan's Nikkei up nearly nine percent there, the Hang Seng up nearly three percent.
So, let's bring in CNN's Steven Jiang now live from Beijing. Good to see you, Steven. So, what's China's likely next move now that President Trump has hiked tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Rosemary. So far, the Chinese have now specifically responded to the latest Trump tariff on Chinese imports. Now, a lot of people are wondering, are they going to take a breath? Are they going to wait for a while or even trying to arrange a phone call between the two leaders, as Trump himself suggested, or are they going to feel compelled again to respond in kind?
Now, even though Trump has claimed China is panicking, they're desperate to talk to him, just don't know somehow to start the conversation. A lot of analysts disagree. They think China's response so far has been very calibrated and deliberate, trying to hit back at Washington where it will sting.
And also, they have -- the Chinese have been studying Trump for a long time. They've been watching very closely how he deals with other trading partners, and the conclusion here in Beijing seems to be concessions invite more pressure, and leverage is the only language that Trump understands and respects.
And now with Trump singling out China in this tariff war, this would reinforce this notion here that the ultimate strategic goal of all the tariff is actually to contain and suppress China.
So, at this juncture, it's just very difficult to see how Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, is going to climb down from all these counter tariffs and other measures against the U.S., given this political environment.
And if anything, the more likely scenario to play out is China standing firm, absorbing pressure while trying to let Trump overplay his hand.
Now, as you mentioned, the additional 84 percent Chinese tariffs on American imports have kicked in, and this, of course, is part of their broader retaliation response to the American tariffs on Chinese imports. They have also been focusing on something perhaps more important, that is trying to redouble their efforts to rewire their economy and its trade ties.
[02:05:12]
We have seen more state investments into these key sectors and also, of course, other tools in their toolbox, ranging from fiscal deficits to perhaps even more stimulus packages.
But most importantly, they're also trying very hard to drive up domestic consumption, to really transform their growth model.
Of course, all of this takes a long time, but as a lot of observers have pointed out, when it comes to this political system here, they are probably at an advantage trying to have their people really endure pain, at least short term pain.
As you know, Rosemary, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping himself has told the Chinese youth, for example, to learn to eat bitterness, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Steven Jiang joining us live from Beijing. Many thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
Want to go now to Singapore and Robert Subbaraman, Head of Global Markets Research at the Financial Services Group, Nomura. Good to have you with us.
ROBERT SUBBARAMAN, HEAD OF GLOBAL MARKETS RESEARCH, NOMURA: Good to be here, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, U.S. stocks soared Wednesday after Donald Trump paused most tariffs, so for 90-days, except for those on China. Treasury Secretary Bessent saying that this tariff pause was Trump's strategy all along. What's your response to that? And is there any evidence of sound economic strategy behind all of this?
SUBBARAMAN: I think the Trump put has been exercised. I think overall, there was clear concern around financial markets unraveling and recession risk. And I think in a way, Trump capitulated around that the 90-day pause, reducing the tariff rate on non-retaliatory nations to 10 percent and China being escalated even further to 125 percent.
I mean, one point I would make is, if you look at the U.S. effective tariff rate, it's now -- it's still very high, around 24 percent. It's come down from 27 to 24 percent on our estimates, about half of that is on China. But 24 percent is still the highest U.S. effective tariff rate. You're going to go back to the 1930s under Smoot-Hawley. So, this is still potentially very inflationary for the U.S., and I would say deflationary for China.
CHURCH: And President Trump is claiming that China wants to make a deal, but we're not seeing much evidence of that, are we? In fact, Beijing says it will fight to the very end.
So, how likely is it that the two countries will end up negotiating a deal to lower Trump's 125 percent tariff on all Chinese goods coming into America?
SUBBARAMAN: Well, that's the billion, trillion dollar question, whether they can actually reach a deal. They seem very far apart. The tit for tat has continued, and you've now got, you know, the two largest economies in the world in a full blown trade war. This is not good for anyone.
I think, you know, one thing we are thinking about at Nomura is, with these high tariff walls against China, is China going to have to redirect its exports to other countries, and they're very cheap, and that raises the risk, I think, particularly in Asia, of getting more deflation from China and growing competition for local companies faced by cheap Chinese imports coming in.
CHURCH: Right, and markets rebounded Wednesday, but not to pre-tariff levels. So, what needs to happen in terms of negotiations in the next 90-days with these more than 70 nations that say they want to make a deal? I mean, do you see that those negotiations could possibly take the market to pre tariff levels? Or how possible is that?
SUBBARAMAN: We suspect. I mean, firstly, I'd say it's extremely uncertain what's going to happen next. I think there's a general sense in the markets that countries are going to be lining up and trying to get deals with the Trump administration.
You know, arguably, other countries have a bit more leverage now, because there has been a step back by Trump because of its cons -- his concern around financial markets.
But you could get deals. But does the U.S. really want to bring tariffs back to pre this year's levels? If Trump really wants to, you know, gain tariff revenue to pay for fiscal expansion, it's not so clear that tariffs are going to come down substantially.
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And the other point I would make is going forward for markets, we haven't seen yet the effects on the economy, we're going to see inflation going up, we're going to see growth coming down, irrespective of what happens to tariffs. There's just so much uncertainty out there. Firms are delaying their investments and probably delaying their hiring.
And so, you know, the economy, in our view, is going to weaken. It's still the question of whether it can avoid a recession.
And so, this is going to be a continued challenge, we think, for financial markets. And the last point I would make is, with this Trump put, it probably reduces the chance of a Fed put.
CHURCH: All right. Robert Subbaraman, thank you so much joining us live there from Singapore. Appreciate it.
SUBBARAMAN: Thank you.
CHURCH: As the U.S. prepares to send more people to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador, CNN makes a rare visit inside to hear the stories of those in prison. We'll have that story after a short break. Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The incoming German Chancellor is uniting parties over the global trade war and President Trump's tariffs.
On Wednesday, he unveiled a new coalition of Germany's main centrist parties and claimed a pause on the reciprocal tariffs is due to the resolve of Europeans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRIEDRICH MERZ, GERMAN CHANCELLOR-IN-WAITING (through translator): From my point of view, it's a reaction to the Europeans resolve, and that's what Ursula von der Leyen has said several times in the last few days. She also said, personally, we are determined to fight back. And you can see from this example that unity helps. It's best if we all do zero percent tariffs in Transatlantic trade, and then the problem is solved.
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CHURCH: Friedrich Merz has pledged to revive Germany's ailing economy, which has been in disarray for years. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more details.
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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 we're trying to get more investment going here in Germany, but then also to decrease tax rates, especially on medium and smaller size 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)
CHURCH: The death toll in one of the deadliest tragedies in the Dominican Republic now stands at 184 and authorities say the bodies of dozens of victims in Tuesday's nightclub roof collapse have yet to be identified. The victims include two former major league baseball players, merengue artist and the governor of a local province.
At least one U.S. citizen was among the 300 people who were inside the Jet Set night club when the roof caved in.
Families have been waiting outside the building hoping their loved ones will be rescued.
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YAEFREISI MALENO, RELATIVE MISSING AFTER ROOF COLLAPSE (through translator): We learned that there are two relatives of ours. Their vehicle was here. There are videos of them dancing here, and that's how we found out.
So far, they have not given us any clues. We have gone to the hospitals. We have searched. We have been attentive when they take the bodies out and nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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CHURCH: The country's president has declared three days of mourning. The cause of the disaster is not yet known.
The Trump administration is preparing to deport more migrants with criminal records to a notorious mega prison in El Salvador, according to two U.S. officials.
It comes after a Supreme Court order that allows the administration to deport people under an act that dates back to the 18th century.
CNN's David Culver got exclusive access to the prison and has the chilling stories of those inside told by their tattoos.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see the Santa Muerte. This is something that was actually adopted from Mexico, Sinaloa Cartel, and has been used by gangs across Latin America, including, as the director points out, 18th Street gang.
CULVER (voice over): Inside CECOT, El Salvador's notorious terrorism confinement center, tattoos aren't just art. Officials say their messages, warnings, a visual record of where someone has been and what they've done.
CULVER: The saint of death.
CULVER (voice over): Prison director Belarmino Garcia says many of these markings are steeped in ritual, loyalty and violence. But officials insist they don't rely on tattoos alone.
Each inmate here, they say, has a file with a criminal history that goes back years.
CULVER: He said, MS-13, active. And I said, what do you mean by active? He said, still a gang member.
CULVER (voice over): Prison officials selected one inmate for us to speak with, Hector Hernandez (ph), under close watch by guards. He proudly showed off his tattoos. CULVER (voice over): Why are you here?
HECTOR HERNANDEZ, INMATE: Homicide.
CULVER: For homicide. More than 50 people?
HECTOR HERNANDEZ, INMATE: Si.
CULVER (voice over): Critics question the lack of due process. Officials insist they've done their due diligence, though they acknowledge not all inmates here have been convicted, but El Salvador's justice and public security ministry insists they can back up each case, in part, thanks to this.
GUSTAVO VILLATORO, EL SALVADOR SECURITY AND JUSTICE MINISTER: They have one-eight, means barrio desi otso.
CULVER (voice over): Public Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro shows us his personal gang intelligence book. 20 years in the making. It's now shared with law enforcement around the world, he says.
VILLATORO: We are giving support the police in Italy, Spain and U.S.
CULVER (voice over): He says their focus is global, and includes deportees. If someone in U.S. custody has ties to El Salvador, officials here say they're watching.
VILLATORO: Even in the book, you have separate.
CULVER (voice over): While they won't comment on specific cases, Villatoro says they have extensive criminal records on alleged gang members who have yet to be caught.
VILLATORO: This information allowed us to catch them when U.S. and deportation flight, we check all of them. And if we found someone who we are very sure that he is a member of any gangs in El Salvador, we capture them and put in jail.
CULVER: You know exactly who's coming in on those deportation flights.
VILLATORO: Yes.
CULVER: Did you specifically want those individuals to come back?
VILLATORO: Of course, of course.
CULVER (voice over): The minister continuously updates his findings and says he shares those records and other gang Intel with U.S. law enforcement. The tactics used to track gang symbols here in El Salvador started outside prison walls, where ink can mean art or accusation.
CULVER: Why are you covering that? That's what -- that's what they're seeing (INAUDIBLE).
CULVER (voice over): Tattoo artist Alejandra Angel says she once worried her ink might draw suspicion, especially after President Nayib Bukele launched a state of emergency in 2022 to dismantle gangs. She says her decision to cover an old design that she no longer liked raised questions, but nothing ever came of it.
Camilo Rodriguez (ph), another tattoo artist, says police stopped him twice early on in the crackdown, asking what his tattoos meant.
CULVER: He said, no longer are people fearing police when they have tattoos. He's actually seeing more and more professionals, doctors, lawyers come and want to get tattoos done.
CULVER (voice over): Camilo says officers here are now more informed, better trained, more precise.
Inside CECOT, the country's violent past is etched into skin. Yet for those being sent back across borders, tattoos may not just hint at who they are. They can help decide where they end up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (on camera): With my colleague Priscilla Alvarez reporting that the U.S. is now planning to send more deportees to right here in El Salvador and eventually in the CECOT raises the question, is there enough space?
Now, the prison director told me on our tour that the capacity of the prison is about 40,000 and that they're nearing capacity at this point, but that there is still sufficient space.
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The public Minister telling me that they are considering all options, including expanding and even looking into potentially building a second CECOT. CHURCH: Still to come, a recently freed hostage is fighting for his
brother's release from Hamas captivity. What he told CNN, that's next.
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CHURCH: As Israeli airstrikes continue to claim lives in Gaza, a member of Gaza's Civil Defense says, "The entire world is watching in silence." An Israeli strike on Wednesday killed at least 23 Palestinians, including children. 60 people were wounded. Dozens of people are still believed to be trapped or missing under the rubble of what was a four-storey 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. A recently freed hostage is speaking out in hopes of securing the release of his brother, who's still in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Argentine-Israeli Iair Horn addressed the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner in Washington on Tuesday. He was released from captivity and reunited with his family in February. But his brother, Eitan, was not. In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Horn said he will keep fighting to bring his brother home.
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IAIR HORN, HAD BEEN HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: I am supposed to protect him, protect him. I can do nothing now. I cannot get back to (inaudible) to the Gaza Strip, to the tunnels. So I'm fighting in my fight. Yeah, right here. Yeah. Everyone who wants to hear the story, I am going tell the story.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Horn is calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring his brother and all the hostages home. The full interview is online at cnn.com.
Alcatraz Island has long been known as the site of an infamous prison, now high-tech gadgets helping to reveal secrets about areas on the island that were once off-limits. Details just ahead.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. New research has revealed secrets of the prison where gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly were once locked up. Researchers used a special drone, lasers, and a robot dog to create a 3D map of the Alcatraz Island prison in California.
Now, CNN's Louise McLoughlin reports researchers uncovered clues about a breakout at the prison once considered escape-proof.
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LOUISE MCLOUGHLIN, CNN PRODUCER: We're about to show you parts of Alcatraz that hasn't been seen in more than a century. Pete Kelsey was called in to 3D 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.
MCLOUGHLIN: Peter and his team also used robots, 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: I mean, think of it like an X-ray or a CAT scan of the entire island. And 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 a hundred 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 a hundred years.
MCLOUGHLIN: 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. They 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)
CHURCH: Fascinating, isn't it? Well, they say that diamonds never go out of fashion. Now, a new exhibition is proving just that. The luxury jeweler Cartier is putting some of its best-loved pieces on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum starting on Saturday. The exhibit includes more than 350 pieces from tiaras and necklaces to broaches and watches, included are gems worn by the British Royals, Grace Kelly the Princess of Monaco, and movie star Elizabeth Taylor.
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I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.
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