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Trump Optimistic about U.S.-China Tariff Deal; Negotiators Meeting in Oman for New Iran Nuclear Deal; Trump Foreign Policy; U.S. State Department Revokes 500+ Student Visas at 88 Universities; Uncertainty Sends Markets on a Wild Ride; Dominican Republic Night Club Roof Collapse; "Space Miso"; Prada to Buy Versace; Nintendo Unveils New Switch 2 in U.K. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 12, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to all of our viewers around the world. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. president Donald Trump is expressing optimism about avoiding a trade war with China. But American consumers are feeling the opposite. And Beijing is talking tough.
The U.S. and Iran are set for high stakes talks about a nuclear deal. We'll look at the man leading those talks for Washington and his sudden significance on the world stage.
And a judge says a pro-Palestinian Columbia University grad is removable from the U.S. But that's not the end of the legal battle for Mahmoud Khalil.
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WATSON: All right. U.S. president Donald Trump is expressing optimism over his tariff war with China. He spoke about the growing trade war aboard Air Force One Friday after China raised its tariffs on the U.S. to 125 percent. President Trump touted his good relationship with Chinese president Xi and called him a very smart leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want to put the country in an unbelievable economic position, which is where we should be. And it should have been done many years ago by other presidents and they didn't do it. We're making billions of dollars a day. We were losing billions of dollars a day. China now is losing billions of dollars. I don't want them to lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The U.S. stock market posted strong gains at Friday's closing after a volatile week on Wall Street. The major indices all rose by more than 1 percent. But we're starting to see concrete warning signs that some Americans
are worried about prices going up. U.S. consumer confidence numbers are down 11 percentage points since last month, according to a University of Michigan survey. That's the second lowest reading in more than 70 years.
Meanwhile, China is showing no signs of backing down. President Xi said his nation is not afraid after breaking his silence on the trade war. President Trump has raised tariffs on China to 145 percent. A spokesperson from the country's foreign ministry warns China will fight to the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): China has repeatedly stated its solemn position on tariffs. There are no winners in a tariff and trade war. China is unwilling but unafraid to engage in it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: All right. For more, let's bring in CNN's Mike Valerio, live in Seoul.
Good to see you, Mike. So we're headed full steam into a trade war right now.
Who do you think has more of a threshold for economic pain here, American or Chinese society?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ivan, we're asking that question to more and more political scientists, a hugely consequential question. You're going to hear from one of them, Larry Sabato, in about two minutes, from the University of Virginia.
The consensus seems to be, Ivan, that America, the United States, has a lower pain tolerance than China does for this trade war, which has been preparing for years since the first Trump administration.
So really, the question that we are facing, before we talk more about pain tolerance, Ivan, this weekend into the week ahead, is what exactly is going to happen next in terms of who talks to whom between Beijing and D.C.?
What happens next?
So for a window into that thinking, we're going to go to a statement from Beijing. This is the commerce ministry that came out late yesterday with Beijing, saying that it is not going to raise tariffs anymore. It's met the end of that game, as it puts it.
So it says, quote, "If the U.S. insists on continuing this numbers game with tariffs, China will not engage. However, if the U.S. persists in substantively harming China's interests, China will resolutely take countermeasures and fight to the end."
So "resolutely take countermeasures," Ivan. What exactly does that mean?
Well, more and more economists, investors and traders are thinking that perhaps China's tariff toolkit has ended. And it may pivot to another toolkit. Think about China not buying agricultural products from the American heartland, from Trump country anymore, instead pivoting to buy soybeans from Brazil.
Cutting off, for example, all rare earth mineral exports to the United States.
[04:05:00]
Right now, just a few rare earth minerals are prohibited being sent to the United States. But if that happened, microchips, the inside of computers, cars, manufacturing in the U.S. would without question be hurt.
So despite all of this, president Trump, as we said in the intro, seems to be optimistic. Let's listen to more of what he said aboard Air Force One last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've always gotten along well with President Xi. We had a good relationship, very good. And I think something positive is going to come out of it.
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, REUTERS: Are you done with that level? Their last response (INAUDIBLE).
TRUMP: We're going to see what happens. I mean, look, China is a very big, great country. He's a very good leader and very smart leader.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: OK. So now, Ivan, we're going to talk about who can withstand more economic pain, the United States or China. Political scientists are telling us, from this vantage point, from this moment in time, it seems as though China would be able to sustain more.
Just think about where we were in COVID times and handling that. The United States went under lockdown beginning in March 2020. You know, several blue states continue those lockdowns. But really, president Trump was in favor of ending those lockdowns in China. They continued for much longer because the government is able to do that.
So let's listen to political scientist Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia. He's saying that Americans are only willing to sustain so much and will make their voices known at the ballot box. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: In a democracy, presidents, even presidents who think they're above it all, have to be subject to public opinion because their fellow party members in Congress and other places are worried already about the midterm elections.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: And where we end,. Ivan, we want to go back to those Asian market numbers. U.S. allies are already feeling the pain of these tariffs because, even though the April 2nd tariffs, you know, on the big poster board in the Rose Garden, most of those are on hold, with the exception of China's.
We have tariffs on cars, aluminum and steel that are in effect right now. So you see that nearly 3 percent drop in Tokyo for the Nikkei. The KOSPI here in Seoul losing a solid 0.5 percent on Friday.
That's because we have Hyundai, Kia; in Japan we have Toyota. We have Honda. These auto manufacturers are beginning to feel the pain.
So the question from that is, will this economic pain hasten the timeline for these American allies to make a deal with the Trump administration?
Ivan.
WATSON: All right. Mike Valerio, thank you very much. And you do point out that important difference. President Xi and president Trump, only one of these leaders has to face midterm elections.
Now moving on, updated research from Yale University's Budget Lab, it estimates that tariffs will cost the typical middle class American household $3,700 a year. That is up about $250 to reflect Mr. Trump's 145 percent tariffs on China. And that means higher consumer prices all around.
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NATASHA SARIN, PRESIDENT, THE BUDGET LAB, YALE UNIVERSITY: As a result of the tariffs that are in place currently and have been announced, which is the 10 percent across-the-board tariff.
And these 145 percent tariff rate on Chinese goods, you're in a situation where, in the United States, you have the highest tariff rates that we've had at any moment in the last century.
And what you're seeing vis-a-vis China is kind of -- and frankly, understandably -- this ratcheting-up effect, where the United States launched this trade war, sort of very substantially increased tariff rates on the Chinese. And the Chinese have three times since increased tariff rates right back on the United States.
The key thing to understand is, in a trade war, the consumers cannot win. So what the American people are going to experience -- and The Yale Budget Lab, which I run, has kind of crunched the numbers here.
They're going to experience price increases across the board because it turns out a lot of things that they buy come from China. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The Budget Lab also estimates that, by the end of this year, the U.S. unemployment rate will rise by about 0.6 percent, which amounts to about 740,000 lost jobs.
All right. Iranian negotiators have arrived in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with the U.S., scheduled to begin in the coming hours. Iran's state news agency says the delegation is led by the country's foreign minister. You can see him in this video, speaking with Omani officials.
The White House is pushing for a new agreement that would stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon.
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But U.S. president Donald Trump said if the deal is not reached in two months, military action is possible.
During his first term, he withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran. Now he says he wants a stronger agreement but has not said how any new deal would be different. This is what he said Friday night about the upcoming talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I want them not to have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country. But they can't have a nuclear weapon. I want them to flourish but they can't have a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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WATSON: Now Ukraine and its allies are making it clear they do not have much faith in Moscow after Witkoff held talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Ukraine is reporting a new wave of Russian drone attacks overnight, which wounded three in Kyiv.
On Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the site of one of Russia's deadliest attacks on his country this year. At least 19 people were killed, including nine children, in a missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih.
Last week, Britain and Germany said on Friday that peace appears to be out of reach for now because of Russia's ongoing aggression. Mr. Zelenskyy echoed that sentiment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Today marks exactly one month since Russia rejected the U.S.' proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire.
One month that has made it completely clear, Russia is the sole cause of this war. With our strength against Russia, there will be no will in Russia to accept and implement any realistic and effective proposals for peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The talks with Iran, talks with Putin over Ukraine, ceasefire negotiations over Gaza, all share a common denominator. CNN's Alex Marquardt explains how a New York property developer became Donald Trump's most trusted diplomat.
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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This is the first time we've seen images of Vladimir Putin meeting with a U.S. official in almost four years.
This U.S. official, Steve Witkoff, is different and is making a habit of this, sitting down with Putin for the third time just this year. It comes amid a flurry of new contact between the U.S. and Russia, which, so far, has made little progress at ending the war in Ukraine.
It's being led by Witkoff, who's a longtime friend and donor of Donald Trump's and a fellow New York billionaire real estate developer. Despite zero diplomatic experience, Trump tapped Witkoff to be his envoy to the Middle East.
TRUMP: Steve Witkoff, who's just got back from the Middle East and he's done a fantastic job. He's a -- he's a great dealmaker.
MARQUARDT: It's a huge job, which only got bigger when he took on the Russia portfolio. And this weekend, Witkoff is set to add more, meeting with Iran's foreign minister to try to hash out a new nuclear deal. Iran's nuclear program, the Russia-Ukraine war and a ceasefire in Gaza, each a monumental task on its own.
And Witkoff appears to be doing much of it himself, traveling around the world on his own private jet, with little to no staff or officials with him.
STEVE WITKOFF, TRUMP ENVOY: I don't want to put -- put words in President Putin's mouth but I think he's indicated that he accepts what -- he accepts the philosophy of President Trump.
MARQUARDT: Many observers of Putin and Russia fear they're playing Witkoff and not actually interested in peace.
TUCKER CARLSON, TV HOST: What did you think of him?
WITKOFF: I liked him.
CARLSON: Yes.
WITKOFF: I thought he was straight up with me. In the second visit that I had, you know, it got personal.
The president, President Putin, had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him.
MARQUARDT: Trump is increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in Ukraine and now, Witkoff's main accomplishment so far, the ceasefire in Gaza has fallen apart, with Israel resuming military operations against Hamas.
WITKOFF: I would encourage Hamas to get much more sensible than how they have been.
MARQUARDT: Trump and Witkoff met in the 1980s. Like Trump, he has now moved to Florida. His son, Zach, is a co-founder of a cryptocurrency company that's backed by Trump and his sons. Crypto site CoinDesk reported today that the company recently lost $125 million.
Few had heard of Witkoff when he was out golfing with Trump last September, when a gunman fired shots and Witkoff watched Secret Service spring into action.
WITKOFF: The entire team converged on top of him, except for the snipers.
MARQUARDT: Now he's the toast of the foreign policy world, seen by global leaders as the best way into Trump, overshadowing the secretary of state, Marco Rubio.
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Who does not have as close a relationship -- Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Israel is warning residents in some parts of Gaza City to evacuate ahead of military operations. This comes as Israel looks to create a buffer zone to separate Palestinians from Israeli communities along the Gaza border.
The U.N. now estimates close to 400,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed last month.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is the billionth time I am displaced. I can't walk. I have back cartilage pain in my back. I have high blood pressure. I have diabetes. I can't walk. Enough terrorizing us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Libyan protesters demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinians on Friday. They waved Palestinian flags and carried signs with Quranic verses.
Meanwhile, thousands more rallied in Pakistan's second largest city. The country's major Islamist party has been calling for countrywide demonstrations against Israel.
Now to a legal victory for the Trump administration in its efforts to deport a legal permanent resident of the United States because of his pro-Palestinian protests. That story is just ahead.
Plus, president Trump says he will follow the Supreme Court order in the case of a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. Those details are coming up after the break.
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WATSON: Welcome back to the program.
A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to provide daily updates on what they are doing to facilitate a wrongly deported man's return to the United States.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Maryland father of three, who was sent to an El Salvador prison. The White House says it was an administrative error.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the White House to get him back to the U.S. But the high court did not give the administration a deadline for when Abrego Garcia should be returned. Here is what president Trump told reporters on a flight to Mar-a-Lago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: How does the administration, how do you plan to respond to the Supreme Court ruling and the other courts, about the gentleman who is from Maryland, who was put in the El Salvador prison?
TRUMP: Is that the one that was not Tren de Aragua but he was MS-13?
QUESTION: Just the one that they've said needs to come back.
TRUMP: No, but was he MS-13?
Because I only know about that, I mean. I don't know which one. But if the Supreme Court said, Bring somebody back, I would do that. I respect the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: At one point Friday, the government's lawyer admitted he had no information about the man's location. Abrego Garcia's lawyers say the White House isn't trying to follow the court's order.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SIMON SANDOVAL-MOSHENBERG, ATTORNEY FOR KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA: I don't think there's anyone in this country who believes the government when they say, well, we don't -- you know, we don't know how to do this.
We can't -- we can't figure out how to get someone out of Salvadoran jail.
They got Kristi Noem out of a Salvadoran jail, right?
I mean, they can get Kilmer Abrego Garcia out of that same jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: His attorney says Abrego Garcia fled gang violence in El Salvador more than a decade ago. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protected status, which should have prevented his deportation.
A Louisiana immigration judge ruled on Friday in a separate case that a pro-Palestinian activist who is a legal permanent resident of the U.S. can be deported.
Mahmoud Khalil is a Columbia University graduate who led protests at the Ivy League school last year against Israel's war in Gaza. His legal team plans to appeal the ruling. They say that the judges decision was a violation of Khalil's constitutional rights. Khalil also has an ongoing case in New Jersey. CNN's Gloria Pazmino has more.
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GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And it's important to remember that, despite this judge's finding, that Khalil is, in fact, removable from the United States, it's unlikely that he will be removed from the country anytime soon.
The reason for that is because his attorneys have made it clear they plan to appeal that decision. Now it's important to remember that there are two cases unfolding here, the one in Louisiana, which is focused on his immigration proceeding and his immigration, his deportation order.
And the one in New Jersey, which focuses on the constitutionality and the legality of his detention. Remember, Khalil's attorneys have said that his detention is illegal because he is being targeted for his for his speech and for his political activity in violation of the First Amendment.
Now although the immigration judge has said that she believes Khalil will be deportable, the other case in New Jersey continues to advance.
Now we should also highlight that the Louisiana judge made that determination based on a piece of evidence submitted by the government, a two-page memo written by secretary of state, Marco Rubio, in which he laid out the reasons why Khalil is deportable, specifically citing his protest activity.
Again, his attorneys focused on the fact that that activity is protected by the First Amendment, something that not just U.S. citizens are protected by but also permanent U.S. residents like Khalil.
In the meantime, his attorneys remain focused on trying to get him released from detention. They are hoping that a judge in New Jersey will hear a motion asking for his release. It's not yet clear whether or not that will happen.
But it seems like, for now, the case is far from over and Khalil will have to remain in custody -- Gloria Pazmino, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Now this comes as the U.S. State Department has now revoked more than 500 student visas across 88 colleges and universities.
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It is an expansion of the government's mass deportation effort. In statements, some of the schools affected say it does not appear that the government is detaining people whose visas have been revoked.
It's not clear if those students must immediately leave the country or can stay to continue their education.
The search for survivors has come to an end in the horrific night club roof collapse. Relatives desperately wait on any word of their missing loved ones. The latest from the Dominican Republic, that's coming just ahead after this break.
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WATSON: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. I'm Ivan Watson and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
The main economic story we're following, the rapidly evolving trade war between the U.S. and China. As tensions escalate, the Trump administration has been warning China in private talks against retaliatory tariffs. But they have had little effect.
The White House is asking a worried American public to trust in Trump and the president is looking to reassure the nation that, quote, "something positive" will come out of the trade war. He has complimented the Chinese president and believes a deal will get done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've always gotten along well with President Xi. We had a good relationship, very good.
China is a very big, great country. He's a very good leader and very smart leader. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So far, though, neither side appears ready to break the ice.
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Meanwhile, all major U.S. stock market indices rose by more than 1 percentage point on Friday to close out a wild ride over the week. Tariffs, retaliation and surprise announcements all playing a part in the cycle of uncertainty. CNN's Anna Stewart takes a closer look.
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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It has been a roller-coaster week for global markets and it all kicked off on Monday when the S&P started the week in bear market territory, a 20 percent fall from its recent peak.
That wasn't helped by president Donald Trump announcing an additional 50 percent tariff on China in response to their 34 percent retaliation the week prior. Wall Street started the day higher Tuesday, encouraged by word that dozens of countries were seeking deals.
But as the hours ticked down to Trump's so called liberation day, gains evaporated and U.S. stocks ended the day in the red.
Now on Wednesday, president Trump's so-called reciprocal tariffs went into effect, a major escalation in his global trade war. Tariffs on China were raised to at least 104 percent. And China responded with 84 percent tariffs.
The European Union also backed countermeasures, albeit only against an earlier round of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. Markets were deeply unsettled, with a selloff even in assets like U.S. bonds, usually a safe haven at times of volatility. But then Trump announced a major turnaround.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know? They were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid, unlike these champions, because we have a big job to do. No other president would have done what I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: A 90-day pause on the new higher tariffs to allow for negotiations and, in their place, a 10 percent baseline tariff for all on his list; apart from China, whose tariffs increased to 125 percent.
The news sparked one of the biggest Wall Street rallies in history. But that was short-lived. On Thursday, the selloff continued as U.S. recession fears remained unassuaged by Trump's tariff pause.
And those losses deepened after the White House clarified that the total levy on China wasn't 125 percent but at least 145 percent. The E.U. announcing a 90-day pause on its tariffs on U.S. products.
Wasn't enough to lift U.S. stocks, especially after the E.U. Commission president warned, if negotiations weren't satisfactory, their countermeasures would kick in.
The week ended with China retaliating once again, on Friday raising its tariff on the U.S. to 125 percent, with a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry saying it had become nothing more than a numbers game with no real economic significance.
In one week, we saw volatility on Wall Street, economists warnings about a U.S. recession, a weaker dollar and a U.S. bond selloff. It all suggests that Trump's trade war is already having lasting consequences, regardless of the backpedaling -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
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WATSON: Now as Anna mentioned, U.S. government bonds have seen a sharp selloff over president Trump's tariff policies. But he is denying that concerns of a bond market catastrophe is what ultimately led him to hit pause on reciprocal tariffs this week.
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TRUMP: I think the bond market is going good. It had its little moments but I solved that problem very quickly. I'm very good at that stuff and I solved it very quickly. I didn't know I solved it that well, we had the biggest day in history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: CNN's Allison Morrow spoke with Jake Tapper and explained why investors are rattled.
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ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Very simply, a bond is a loan, so I give you some cash and you eventually give me that cash back and give me some interest payments along the way, pretty easy.
With U.S. Treasury bonds that we're talking about, this is tens and trillions of coming into the United States from all over the world.
And that asset, that bond is considered to be one of the safest places any investor can put their money because it is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. So ultimately, a U.S. bond treasury is a safe haven.
So this is important to what happened this week. Normally, in times of economic turmoil, we would see stocks sell off and investors go to bonds. That didn't happen.
We saw investors selling stocks and bonds and that is really a red flag because it's only happened a handful of times in history and it's a signal that investors can't really see which way the economy is going and they're kind of putting their pencils down and saying, we're sitting this one out and it's a big red flag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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WATSON: To the Dominican Republic now, that's where the United States says at least 17 Americans were killed in Tuesday's roof collapse at the Jet Set night club. They're among at least 225 killed in the disaster. Authorities now say the search for survivors is over.
But relatives of the victims say the process of identifying bodies is too slow and they're demanding for it to be sped up. The tragedy killed two former Major League Baseball players and merengue singer Rubby Perez, who was performing at the time of the collapse. Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused it.
The top United Nations office for humanitarian aid is facing a severe funding crisis and cutting 20 percent of its global workforce as a consequence. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will withdraw or adjust operations in nine countries, including Cameroon, Colombia, Iraq, Nigeria and Turkiye.
The agency's head acknowledged brutal cuts that were driven by a nearly $60 million funding shortfall this year and were compounded by a rising humanitarian demands. World powers are stepping in to boost the ongoing earthquake relief efforts in war-torn Myanmar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What the earthquake didn't take, the fire did. This was Sein Pan, one of Mandalay's poorest districts, built over an old garbage dump. Survivors describe an inferno when the earth split open.
KYL THEIN, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translation): The fireball emerged from the ground just after the earthquake. It wiped out all 400 houses. Everybody ran. Now nothing remains.
RIPLEY (voice-over): More than 2,000 people homeless, a neighborhood vaporized in minutes.
I just want my home back, this survivor says. She sleeps outside. And like many here, prays for help.
Aid workers say help, from the United States at least, is nowhere to be found. No American rescue teams, no visible U.S. presence in Mandalay, no American flags on the food trucks.
FRANCISCO BENCOSME, FORMER USAID OFFICIAL: That the United States only sent a paltry amount of assistance. It sent only three workers, which then subsequently were fired.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Those three U.S. staffers arrived days after the quake. They were notified their jobs would be eliminated while in the disaster zone. The U.S. initially pledged just $2 million, later increasing it to $9 million. Compare that to 2023. The U.S. pledged $185 million and full search-and-rescue teams to the Turkey earthquake, deploying more than 200 U.S. staff.
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not the government of the world. We are willing to continue to help in the humanitarian crisis. Other countries need to do so as well.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And others are China, Russia, India, Japan, more than 15 countries have boots on the ground. Search-and-rescue units, field hospitals, mobile clinics, heavy machinery. Chinese teams were pulling survivors from the rubble just 48 hours after the quake.
Beijing also pledged nearly $5 million more than the U.S.
TOM FLETCHER, HUMANITARIAN CHIEF, UNOCHA: So the fact that the U.S. is cutting back heavily hits us here. As you know, it hits us everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an embarrassment. But beyond that, it's deadly.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The U.S. used to be a leader in global disaster response, sending elite rescue teams, dogs, cranes, food and water. All that feels like a distant memory now.
EL MON KHINE, MYANMAR RECOVERY WORKER (through translation): We need proper machines to dig through collapsed buildings. Without them, people die. We can't save lives without real support.
RIPLEY (voice-over): This is the first major natural disaster since the Trump administration dismantled most of U.S. aid, firing thousands, freezing funding and ending contracts.
In Myanmar, almost 20 million people were already in need, displaced by four years of civil war. Then came the earthquake. The suffering is immense.
The United States, once a lifeline, now missing in action.
RIPLEY: Remember those three U.S. aid staffers, working in Myanmar when they were notified their jobs were being eliminated?
This was part of the broader layoffs at USAID and we're told that they weren't immediately pulled out. They're actually still working in Myanmar but their positions are being cut and there are no plans to replace them.
Now the countries that are, ironically, providing more aid to Myanmar are also sending hundreds of millions of dollars in weapons to the junta in some cases, like Russia and China. The U.N. has documented dozens of junta attacks since the quake, including some even after the junta declared a ceasefire -- Will Ripley, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: All right. Get ready, because we're going to talk about Japanese cuisine in space. Scientists.
[04:40:00]
They sent soybean paste into orbit to make fermented miso. How the experiment holds up to the original, just ahead.
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WATSON: Welcome back. Astronaut food has become a long way from tangy powdered drinks and dehydrated soups and casseroles. An experiment on the International Space Station is spicing things up. Scientists sent cooked soybean paste to the International Space Station in 2020. It became miso, thought to be the first food deliberately fermented outside the Earth. It's said to have the same savoriness as the Earthly original but with a key difference. It packs a nutty punch.
Joining me to unpack this is Joshua Evans, one of the scientists who sent a container of the soybean paste into orbit.
Joshua, great to see you.
My first question, why send soybeans into space?
JOSHUA EVANS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF DENMARK: It's a great question. Many people have asked us this because maybe it seems a bit frivolous superficially.
But there's two main reasons we sent it into space. One is more applied and has to do with trying to improve astronaut dietary diversity, well-being and performance. We know that diet and dietary diversity is directly linked to astronaut well-being and how well they can perform.
A second reason has more to do with basic science, because we can learn a lot about microbiology and biology in general when we study how it changes in novel and extreme environments like space.
WATSON: OK, the paste was sent up in 2020.
How come it took so long to kind of report and publish the results here?
EVANS: Yes. Great question. I mean, of course, the big reason is, as we might expect, COVID.
[04:45:00]
We were really lucky, actually. Our experiment was scheduled to be sent up to space, I think like 2-3 days before lockdown started in the U.S. If it had only been a few days later, maybe the experiment wouldn't have happened at all. But COVID definitely gave us a lot of delays. We luckily got the miso
back after it had been up on the ISS for 30 days. But because most laboratories were closed for quite a few months, it definitely gave us some delays. And, you know, the first time we could actually get our hands into it and sample it and start to do analyses on it.
WATSON: Have you tasted space miso?
EVANS: I hadn't tasted it before this experiment. But that was one of the things we did. I mean, my collaborator, Maggie Copeland, said, my team and I, Maggie and I designed the experiment and did the whole study together. We tasted it more informally in Copenhagen when we first got the samples back.
And we were starting to, you know, portion them out to do different kinds of further, further tests. And then we also organized a more formal sensory analysis, which is a scientific technique, where we can use, we can train people.
We can use people's sensory perception to give us more systematic data on how it tastes and smells. And we also participated in that.
WATSON: I would imagine that there is other research being conducted right now into other type of food processing in space, other fermentation.
Do you know anything more about this?
EVANS: Well, as far as we know -- and it's always difficult to make, you know, claims to privacy. But as far as we know and have looked into in the scientific literature and, you know, extensive online searches, this seems to be the first time someone has, you know, a group has tried to actually conduct fermentation in space.
We found a couple other projects that maybe sent already fermented foods into space. There was a group from the Korean Space Agency sent that sent some kimchi. But the kimchi was already fermented and had been dehydrated.
And similarly, we found some records of a French wine producer, a famous wine producer called Petrus. They sent some wine into space. But the wine, similarly there, had already been fermented. So this really seems to us to break some new ground, to really say, OK.
You know, firstly, is fermentation in space possible at all?
And at least from our study, it seems that it is.
And secondly, what, if anything, might the space environment change about how fermentation works, both microbiologically, chemically and, of course, also ultimately in the taste?
WATSON: All right. Well, I guess there will be more fermentation in space as a result of your groundbreaking research. Associate professor Joshua Evans, live from Copenhagen, thanks very much for sharing your research. EVANS: Thanks so much for having me.
WATSON: All right. Two of the biggest names in Italian fashion are about to be united. Just ahead, the deal struck by Prada to strengthen its position as an Italian powerhouse.
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WATSON: OK, in fashion news, two of Italy's great fashion houses are uniting. Prada is buying its rival, Versace, for more than $1 billion. Prada is seeking to expand, having defied a slowdown in luxury demand, while Versace has been operating at a loss in the last few quarters. CNN's Barbie Nadeau has more from Rome.
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BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the movie, "The Devil Wears Prada," fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly knows how to make a stylish entrance.
And just like that formidable fictional character, Prada is turning heads in the fashion industry with its pending acquisition of the rival brand Versace for about $1.4 billion from Capri Holdings.
They are two of the biggest names in Italian fashion. Prada is clean and understated; Versace, bold and glamorous. And as part of the Prada Group portfolio, experts say it could bring Italian fashion to new heights.
BRYCE QUILLIN, CO-FOUNDER AND PRINCIPAL, IT'S A WORKING TITLE: For Prada, this is an opportunity to sort of create a made in Italy sort of mega label, to kind of allow them to better compete with what are significantly larger competitors from France.
NADEAU (voice-over): For decades, Versace has been a staple on the red carpet, from Elizabeth Hurley's safety pin dress to J. Lo's plunging green gown to Taylor Swift's coral and hot pink Grammys look.
But in recent years, Versace has been struggling with lower revenues. And with Donatella Versace stepping down as chief creative officer of the brand last month, some strategists say Prada is well positioned to help revive Versace's sales.
MARIO ORTELLI, LUXURY BRAND STRATEGIST: If you look at the trajectory of the brand in the last year, there was a contraction of revenues, a contraction of profitability. But despite that, this is a brand with a great heritage. And I believe the Prada Group has got all the capabilities to bring back Versace to its -- to sparkle. NADEAU (voice-over): At a time when much of the luxury market is in a slowdown, the Prada Group is on a hot streak, largely because of its Miu Miu brand, with its chic Gen Z vibe, which had a record retail sales growth last year of 93 percent.
And though the deal to buy Versace comes at a time of tariff chaos, the Prada Group says it's playing the long game, which isn't as much about cost cutting but expanding its brand into a tour de force -- Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
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WATSON: OK, from the catwalk to first-person shooters, the Nintendo Switch 2 has been unveiled in London. Gamers there got a sneak peek at the coveted new system as its presale in the U.S. was delayed.
[04:55:03]
The Japanese based company is pausing the rollout while it figures out the potential impacts of U.S. tariffs. Some gamers can't wait for the device.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm very excited. I literally just found when it's exactly being released. It's a little bit too far away from market. There's an app no experience in this after today. I kind of just want to take one home. (INAUDIBLE). I'd like to take one home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really to wait (ph), I expect Nintendo will probably get its way, then, so we don't have to worry about that from lines (ph). We're just getting this off (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ideally it would be anyone who would want that smooth process for when it comes out. Again hold the day as well, you'd want it to be smooth and easy but I think (INAUDIBLE) especially it's just going to (INAUDIBLE) people.
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WATSON: And the console is $449. But that's before the extra tariff costs. Despite the preorder delay in the U.S., the system is still set to launch globally on June 5th.
Now just in time for the Easter holiday, edible Easter creations went on display this week at a hotel in Brussels. The eggs are in an Art Deco style, blending nature ,curves, industrial material and geometric patterns found in the Belgian capital; 35 top Belgian chocolate makers created the confections, up to 60 centimeters or about 20 inches tall.
The eggs cost $850 each, with the funds going to a Belgian hospital.
That's wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. I'll be back with more news after a quick break.
