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Day 1 Of U.S./China Trade Talks Conclude; India, Pakistan Agreed To Ceasefire After Weeks Of Tension, Fighting; Federal Judge Halts Trump's Drastic Cuts To Agencies; Trump Involved In Discussions Over Suspending Habeas Corpus; U.S. Judge Orders Release Of Detained Tufts University Student; Air Traffic Controller Repeatedly Reported Critical Safety Incidents At Newark Liberty International Airport; Air Traffic Controllers At Newark Lose Radar & Radio Contact With Planes For Second Time In Two Weeks; Flower Industry Takes Tariff Hit Before Mother's Day; "My Happy Place" New Episode Airs Tomorrow At 10PM ET/PT. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 10, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:01:25]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN'S HOST: You're in the CNN'S NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

The U.S. and China's first day of economic negotiations just wrapping up and the two countries looking to thaw trade tensions amid the ongoing tariff war.

Just after the team leading the talks took off for Switzerland, Trump signaled a deal could be on the horizon, posting this to Truth Social, quote, "80 percent tariff on China seems right. Up to Scott B." Of course, that is the Treasury Secretary.

CNN'S senior White House reporter Betsy Klein is joining us now. Betsy, what are we learning about where things stand after day one?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, exactly. The first round of in-person trade talks between the U.S. and China in Switzerland have concluded for the night after several hours, according to a source briefed on the talks.

Now, we haven't gotten a readout from either side characterizing how this meeting went, but I think it is very notable and a positive sign that, according to this source, those talks are expected to continue tomorrow on Sunday through the day.

Trump administration officials really sought to tamp down expectations ahead of these talks, calling them a good first step but saying essentially not to expect a deal to be signed, sealed or delivered this weekend.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that his goal here was really to de-escalate tensions with China after a relative stalemate since President Trump imposed those 145 percent tariffs on most Chinese goods just last month.

He said Friday that he might be willing to accept an 80 percent tariff rate on China, appearing to soften the ground there, but of course, saying it was up to Scott B., as you mentioned, of course, referring to the Treasury Secretary there.

But I want you to listen to how the president said he was thinking about these talks and what he told our colleague Kristen Holmes yesterday in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What parameters have you given Scott Bessent on negotiating with China this weekend?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to Make a great deal for America.

HOLMES: Are you going to be disappointed if he comes back without a deal?

TRUMP: No, not at all, because we already made a great deal. We're not doing business with China right now.

HOLMES: Have you given Bessent a number of how low you're willing to go?

TRUMP: Yes, I have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the number?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can we have that number?

TRUMP: 80 percent. That's what I put out in the numbers today, 80 percent. So we'll see how that all works out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: The president, of course, declining to provide a specific number he shared with Bessent, but still a very significant step forward today. And we'll be watching how these talks progress tomorrow, Jessica.

DEAN: And Betsy, on another note, the Trump administration is taking credit for this India-Pakistan ceasefire. What are you learning about the administration's role in all of that?

KLEIN: Yes, exactly. It was just Thursday that Vice President J.D. Vance said that it was essentially none of the U.S.' business, and that we would be staying out of this conflict.

But just 48 hours later, a very significant development after engagement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with Vance himself.

And a major turning point we are learning, came on Friday, according to our colleague Alayna Treene, who reports according to Trump administration officials, that Vance, Rubio and White House chief of staff -- excuse me -- Susie Wiles determined that the conflict was at risk of spiraling out of control.

Now, the sources declined to say what intelligence led them to determine that assessment, citing its sensitivity. But they said it was critical in making the decision to get the U.S. aggressively involved.

[17:04:54]

KLEIN: So we know that the vice president spoke with India Prime Minister Modi at noon Eastern time on Friday and subsequently, Rubio and other top level State Department officials spoke with their counterparts in both India and Pakistan, leading to the president's post this morning announcing that ceasefire.

The White House clearly wants to call this a win, but of course, it is quite tenuous, and they're watching it quite closely.

DEAN: All right. Betsy Klein, a lot of developments out of the White House today. Thank you so much for that.

And joining us now, Anthony Scaramucci, who was the White House communications director for President Trump for a time during his first term. Thanks so much for being here with us.

President Trump -- I want to go back to China there -- President Trump says the U.S. will not cut its tariffs on China without China making some concessions.

I'm curious what you would consider a win for the president in these negotiations.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR TRUMP: Well, I mean, he's saying 80 percent, but I think that would really stall the supply chain. You'd almost end up in a COVID-19 situation in the United States, and a fairly stiff recession.

So I'm hoping the negotiation comes out way lower than that. Hopefully it will look something similar to the U.K. deal. Even those tariffs, by the way, I think are too high.

One thing I do think the president is right about, because I always do my best to be objective, is in the last deal, they didn't buy the agricultural products that they had agreed to.

So there's definitely some stuff going on under the surface on both sides that has to be remediated and hopefully Secretary Bessent and the team over there can resolve all of that.

DEAN: And as you noted ahead of the talks, we also said that Trump posted that this 80 percent tariff on China, quote, "seems right".

Do you do you get the sense he's negotiating kind of with himself here? What do you think the strategy is publicly saying that as Scott Bessent is headed into these negotiations?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I mean, listen, let's give the president the benefit of the doubt. He's probably trying to position people to a very high number so that if it comes in at a lower number, all sides can declare victory.

But again, I don't think there's any economist that you can bring on the air that's going to tell you that an 80 percent tariff between these countries is really that much better than a 145 percent tariff.

And again, as Congressman Torres pointed out yesterday, you're making chips here in the U.S., you'll tariff them into China and then tariff them back into the United States and then tariff them again. When we sell that product out of the United States, you're going to have a 240 percent tariff on something. It's just going to stop the demand for that -- that thing.

So if the objective is to create more trade fairness with China, there are other ways to do it that won't stall out the U.S. Economy or force us into a recession.

So, you know, hopefully cooler heads will prevail. And hopefully the people that are very smart on economic policy will get the president's ear and bend it very hard on this issue.

DEAN: I want to play a clip from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Here's what he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The president is going to keep significant tariffs on trade with China. That is his objective. That's his expectation. That should be everybody's expectation.

But 145 percent is decoupling. Let's not do business with each other. Let's bring it down to a level that he studied and he knows, right. 34 percent is where it came out on Liberation Day. That's the studied number that Donald Trump did then. He may put it up higher but that's kind of the idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Do you think if they end up at 34 percent, is that a -- is that a good deal?

SCARAMUCCI: Of course -- listen, Howard -- no, I know Howard a long time. He knows better. I mean he's dunked now and steeped into the MAGA tariff nonsense. I mean that -- that would cause a very steep recession for both countries.

And so if we want to cause a steep recession and we want to inflict some type of pain on the American consumer, but also a lot of American small businesses, frankly, businesses large and small, leave it at 34 percent.

But if you really want to get some trade equalization and some trade fairness, there's a surgical way to apply the tariffs on certain goods to protect U.S. citizens, U.S. markets, and to leave other tariffs fairly symmetrical. That 34 percent number, the 80 percent number are honestly nonstarters.

The stock market, though, is telling you -- the stock market believes that the numbers are going to come in way less than that.

But I will say this to everybody, time is running out because the supply chain and the ships at port are going to dry up with non-tariff goods and it'll cause an unnecessary recession by the third or fourth quarter of this year.

[17:09:54]

DEAN: Do you get the sense, realistically, that in your conversations with people that the White House is absorbing what you just said, just the fact that there is a chance of a recession that that these non- tariff goods, that they're dwindling and that we are about to enter a new phase of this.

Do you think that there is kind of pressure on them because of all of that?

SCARAMUCCI: I think there is pressure on them. But I think the president, you know, this is an idea that he's had for 40 years. It's an idea that people have tried to reason with him in the past.

His first team, frankly, stopped him from implementing this idea. If he had the same team as he had last time, these ideas wouldn't be happening. He would have put these ideas into place in 2018 if he wasn't stopped by his team.

And so, look, if they let him do it, I'm saying he's the president, so of course, it can get implemented. The Congress could potentially stop him. Senator Paul has talked about potentially trying to stop him.

But if they do this, this is like effectively like a Brexit of the United States from the global economy. So you could call it like Am- exit.

And what do we know? Nine years after the Brexit that society, Great Britain is lower living standards, more unemployment, more economic disarray and more general unhappiness.

And so I really hope that they don't do this. And I really hope somebody gets to the president, explain to him, why do you want to put your fellow citizens through this type of pain and misery?

The reset that he's looking for can be accomplished without this type of draconian measure.

DEAN: I do want to ask you about the trade deal with the United Kingdom. Just what are your thoughts on that? And do you think, you know, obviously that was a win for the Trump administration. They were able to get a deal done with the U.K. Do you view it as that? SCARAMUCCI: Well, I view it as a 10 percent consumption tax for the

American people on U.K. products. And so I think the United Kingdom had no choice to do that, because they would have lost parts of their automobile industries and lots of their steel industry. So they had to accept the deal.

But ultimately, I don't like the deal because a 10 percent tariff -- remember Richard Nixon after he took us off the gold standard in August of 1971, imposed tariffs. All those tariffs did was spark and increase more inflation and push the economy into a recession.

So a 10 percent number we know from past practices causes recessions. So I understand why the U.K. cut the deal. I understand why the president's declaring it a victory.

But I'm telling you, that is an onerous consumption tax on American citizens for things that they want to purchase from Great Britain.

DEAN: I do want to ask you about the tax bill that's currently being negotiated by Republicans on the Hill. Weve heard a little bit from the president, including him floating this idea of upping taxes on the ultra-wealthy in this country.

And we played a clip earlier in the show of him from the Oval Office saying that it would be a redistribution of sorts. Those were his words, kind of surprising to hear from a Republican president talking about the redistribution of wealth.

As someone who's known the president a long time, who worked for him for a while for -- for a time in the White House, were you surprised to hear this kind of more populist idea?

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I'm personally not surprised. I think you have to accept the president for what he actually is. He's a populist president.

And so, you know, the real RINOs are actually -- the Republicans in Name Only, which are actually the MAGA party. And so if you want to give the president his due, he decapitated the old guard of the Republican Party. He installed a MAGA philosophy, which is a populist philosophy.

And if you go throughout history of populism, populist leaders generally redistribute wealth, and they generally tax people at very high tax rates at the -- at the upper end.

So that's not a Republican orthodoxy from 20 or even 40 years ago. But it is consistent historically with where populist leaders go. So I'm actually not surprised.

I think we just have to be honest about what the president is. He's a nationalist. He's a populist leader. And the policies about this stuff are going to actually weaken the country. When you wall-off a country like the United States, or you try to extricate it from the rest of the world, you'll make the society poorer, you'll make the society weaker. DEAN: All right. Anthony Scaramucci, thanks for your time. We really

appreciate it.

SCARAMUCCI: Good to be on with you. Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, a federal judge halts drastic cuts to agencies that are being enacted under Trump's executive order. What's next for workers who've already been told they're out of a job?

Plus, the Trump administration considers suspending habeas corpus, a key constitutional right to fast-track deportations.

You're in the CNN'S NEWSROOM.

[17:14:46]

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DEAN: A federal judge is temporarily blocking the Trump administration from carrying out its mass firings or major reorganizations at federal agencies. Senior District Judge Susan Illston granting a temporary restraining order sought by federal employee unions, arguing the administration is acting outside the bounds of the law.

CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig is joining us now to talk about this. Elie, good to see you.

[17:19:48]

DEAN: This order is only for two weeks. So what do you see as the next steps? And do you think this has the potential to go all the way to the Supreme Court?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well Jess, one of these cases involving mass firings of federal employees is almost sure to end up at the Supreme Court eventually. This could be the one.

Now, we've had a string of these rulings. The Trump administration has lost most of them -- not all of them, but most of them. And last night's ruling was especially broad because it relates to mass firings at over a dozen federal agencies.

And the core legal concept that the judge set out yesterday is that when it comes to the elimination of an entire agency or to mass firings within an agency, yes the president does have broad authority within the executive branch but generally those mass firings have to come from Congress. They have to be authorized by Congress.

So where exactly that line is between what the president can do on his own and what has to be authorized by Congress, that seems to me to be ripe for the Supreme Court to ultimately decide.

DEAN: I also want to ask you about this. According to two sources, President Trump has been personally involved in talks about potentially suspending habeas corpus, which we can get to, reminding everyone exactly what that is in just a second. But here's what Stephen Miller, one of his, of course, top aides had

to say about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: Well, the Constitution is clear. And that, of course, is the supreme law of the land, that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion.

So it's an option we're actively looking at. Look, a lot of it depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So Elie, remind people what we're talking about here. And then also is Stephen Miller right about the law?

HONIG: Gosh, where to begin with Stephen Miller's take on the law? No, he's not right on the law.

So I want people to understand how extreme this is, what's being talked about apparently inside the White House now.

Habeas corpus is the fundamental right of a person to go into court and challenge his or her incarceration. It goes back before the founding of the United States.

The Constitution does not say, as Stephen Miller suggests there, go ahead, the president can invoke -- can restrict habeas corpus anytime he wants if he thinks something's an invasion.

In fact, the Constitution is clear that habeas corpus is to be suspended only in the most severe and dire emergencies only if there's an actual rebellion or an invasion.

Now, this argument that the Trump administration has come up with in various contexts, that the presence of illegal migrants in the country, or some subset of illegal migrants is an invasion has been rejected by lower courts.

I think it's patently a stretch. It's not the way the constitution works. And Jess, if we look at the history, the very few times that habeas corpus has been suspended, we're looking at the civil war, reconstruction when the Ku Klux Klan was running wild in certain parts of South Carolina, in 1905 in respect to our governance of the Philippines which was then under rebellion, and after Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941.

That gives you a sense of the extreme scenarios where this might be justified. But the presence of illegal migrants doesn't even come close to meeting the constitutional bar here.

DEAN: Does the president have the power to do that on his own, though?

HONIG: Yes, that's a good question. Of those four times that I just mentioned, three of them were authorized by Congress. The fourth one was Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, because Congress had essentially recessed. It wasn't really available at that time.

Beyond that, there's a lot of scholarship and legal thinking out there that it has to come from Congress, that it can't be the president alone to suspend habeas corpus.

In fact, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that, of course, before he died, that it has to come from Congress.

And finally, Jessica, if you look at where this language is set out in the U.S. Constitution, it's Article One. That's the article that creates Congress.

So I think it's quite clear that a President, Trump or any other president, cannot do this on his own. It has to really come from Congress.

Dr5: And what's interesting, though, is that Miller has said that Congress has passed laws that say the courts have no say here. But it sounds like what you're saying that's not accurate.

HONIG: Yes. Well, he's wrong again on this. What it sounds like Stephen Miller is trying to say is that Congress has already said that immigration cases have no right to go into what we call the Title Three courts. The courts that we're used to are district courts.

That's not what they say. What some laws say is that in certain contexts, immigration cases first have to go to immigration courts, which are separate from those Title Three courts, and they can still be reviewed by Title Three courts, by the usual district courts and appeals courts that we're used to.

So look, Stephen Miller is not a lawyer. Let's remember that. I mean, he does a fairly decent job of pretending to be one, but his explanation of what those laws do is completely faulty.

DEAN: I also want to ask you about this case in which the federal judge has now ordered the immediate release of that Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk, after she was held in a Louisiana detention center for six weeks. What is the broader significance of that ruling?

[17:24:47]

HONIG: Yes, so this is one of several cases, Jessica, where again, the administration has called on a fairly obscure law -- 1952 law -- that says if the secretary of state decides that a person is a serious potential national security threat and not a citizen, that person can be deported. That's been invoked against various students.

Now, the question though is, are these students being targeted strictly for their speech, for things they've said which could violate the First Amendment or for something beyond that, for some actual conduct?

Now, the judge in this particular case gave the administration almost a month. The judge said, I need you to give me proof of what this person did other than write an op ed that you may object to, and the administration has utterly failed to do that.

Now, it's important to note, though, it's not over for this student. She's not completely out of the woods yet. She will still be subject to deportation proceedings.

But what this judge has said is I'm not going to let her languish behind bars while that plays out. And it wouldn't surprise me to see other district judges around the country follow that lead and say, look, we have a process here, but there's no reason for these people to be stuck, locked up while this plays out in court.

DEAN: All right. Elie Honig as always, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

HONIG: Thanks, Jess. All right.

DEAN: Still ahead. Air traffic controllers lose radar and radio contact with planes approaching and departing Newark for 90 seconds. That happened again Friday morning.

It is a communication system reliant on floppy disk and copper wires. What this crisis at Newark's airport could mean for travelers heading into the busy summer travel season.

[17:26:16]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:40]

DEAN: More chaos at Newark Airport. Air traffic controllers experiencing another system outage, losing radar for about 90 seconds early Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FedEx 1989, I'm going to hand you off here. Our scopes just went black again. If you care about this, contact your airline and try to get some pressure for them to fix this stuff. New York departure now, 120.8.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

DEAN: Now this comes after nearly two weeks of unprecedented delays at the New Jersey airport with more than 1,000 flights over the last two weeks canceled. It's also, as an internal FAA report just obtained by CNN revealed, experts downplayed the odds of a communication outage at Newark airport as quote, "extremely unlikely".

CNN's Kyung Lah has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They all have radio failure and they're turning every plane that's in the sky, so I have no idea.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was the evening of November 6th last year, months before this recent crisis at Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just lost all frequencies and communications here.

LAH (voice-over): That call came from the Newark approach air traffic controllers, unable to communicate with passenger planes. And this tech failure wasn't the only one. It happened multiple times within the last year.

A CNN review of safety reports and air traffic audio show Newark controllers were repeatedly sounding the alarm about, quote, "incredibly dangerous conditions in Newark airspace", saying the FAA's moves in the last year pose a, quote, "significant detriment to safety".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flight 743 heavy descend and maintain 3,000 and speed 180.

LAH (voice-over): That appears to be the last radio call from the Newark approach controllers in the November incident. The system then fell silent for minutes as pilots from three different planes were left in the dark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't heard anything in a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we have no answer on approach, so I don't -- it seems like he's not talking to anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody answer.

LAH (voice-over): This plane FedEx 743 should have landed at Newark. Instead with no communication from the Newark approach controllers, it ended up where it wasn't supposed to be in LaGuardia's airspace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on a 150 heading now. What do you want us to do now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FedEx 743 heavy turn left, heading 360.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left 360, FedEx 743 heavy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FedEx 743 heavy, climb and maintain 5,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 5,000, FedEx 743 heavy.

LAH (voice-over): Critical minutes ticked by with no word from the Newark approach controllers until --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: United 1043, Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, United 1043, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, got you loud and clear, thank you.

LAH (voice-over): For the next few minutes, air traffic controllers for Newark checked in with the planes in the air.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, besides -- listen up everybody, real careful. Anybody besides United 1560, 1043 or 2192, is there anybody else that can hear me on this frequency?

LAH (voice-over): Last July, the FAA moved about two dozen air traffic controllers in New York who were overseeing Newark to Philadelphia, splitting duties between two locations. The reason, to address staffing problems and air traffic congestion.

Within weeks, air traffic controllers reported serious safety issues because of the move. "The fact that there was no catastrophic midair collision is nothing short of luck", wrote a controller about an August incident. "I am absolutely dumbfounded", another controller reported about the lack of training on the Philadelphia move. And another wrote that moving the controllers "has caused an extremely dangerous situation" in the extremely complicated NYC area airspace.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2346, how do you hear this transmission?

LAH (voice-over): The November failure captured in real time in air traffic recordings, as was the relief from the pilots in the sky.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 070 134 point Niner, thanks for the deconflict. Appreciate it. Good night.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LAH (on-camera): We did reach out to the FAA with specific questions about the repeated criticism from controllers and experts, as well as what happened on November 6th. The FAA did not respond directly to our questions, but said it is taking immediate steps to improve the reliability of operations at Newark, including upgrading technology and increasing staffing at the Philadelphia location.

We did also reach out to FedEx who had their plane go into LaGuardia airspace. A FedEx spokesman says the crew complied with air traffic control instructions before landing safely.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

[17:35:00]

DEAN: All right, Kyung, thank you very much.

And with us now is a former air traffic controller, Todd Yeary. Thank you so much, Todd, for being here with us.

Based on the reports over the last two weeks, and again, now knowing about this outage just yesterday morning, do you think it's safe for planes to be operating in and out of Newark right now?

S. TODD YEARY, FORMER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Well, actually, I do. Here's the bigger question. How quickly can the secretary move on the implementation of what he's proposed earlier this week? The agency and the department have known for many years now that there's been deteriorating infrastructure. And just at the time, we need to be able to respond quickly if there is an outage.

We have this disruption where we're not sure whether you've got enough technical folks ready to respond, or how you're going to be able to address the attrition gap of losing controllers who face mandatory retirement. And so I -- but I still know about the system.

The system has redundancies in place and a committed air traffic control workforce that is going to make sure that the system is going to be safe, but it is certainly being stressed beyond what anybody could have imagined at this time.

DEAN: Yes. And then what about this internal FAA report that was downplaying the risks of a data outage affecting Newark air traffic controllers? Did that surprise you?

YEARY: Well, it doesn't really surprise me. I would need to look at the date of the report. I'm not sure if at the time of that report they were anticipating that they would be dealing with the same infrastructure this many years later, which comes to the politics of making sure that there's follow through on whatever the plan is for improving the air traffic control system.

If we're going to get caught up in this often political gamesmanship, one hand we're trying to hire new controllers. On the other hand, there's an attempt to reduce the value of government employee pensions. You're not really addressing the issue if there's concern about how folks are going to make ends meet.

And so you've got two things going on simultaneously, pay the controllers and give them the equipment that they need to be able to do the job that brings an increasing demand on what they are asked to do. But it still affects 5 percent of our gross domestic product every year. There's an economic harm to what we're seeing happen in real time and a very real safety issue for the flying public.

DEAN: Yes. And as you're talking about the politics of it all, it kind of occurs to me that, look, this is one of those things that could be kind of out of sight, out of mind in the political world, right? Like if it's working, don't look. Even though we're -- you know, people are saying, hey, for years, it sounds like we need updated systems, we need more air traffic controllers, we need all of these things to ensure everyone's safety and that this works. And yet, until we have horrible accidents, it doesn't get that attention.

YEARY: Well, and even just shy of horrible accidents. Let's be very clear that in these instances where we had radar and communications outages, there were no accidents or critical incidents. The controllers, as you heard the voice of the controller responding, remain calm under pressure, but there's still pressure.

And so the issue is, if you're going to fund it, lock the money down, make it sure that it's available and follow through on what you've put out as the plan. Three years is a bit ambitious, so you don't have time to waste. And now's the time to start moving through the process of delivering on what the flying public has needed for far too long.

DEAN: How confident are you that this can get fixed?

YEARY: I'm confident that a fix is available. I'm not very confident that the politics won't get in the way. I started air traffic control playing on the same -- working on the same equipment that I touched as a kid going to work with my father, who was a controller fired during the PATCO strike.

And so I've seen the delays of the implementation of technology, but I've also seen the dedication of the controllers who, in spite of all of that, continue to make sure that this is the safest airspace in the world. But you can't keep asking more of a control workforce that is already overstressed if you're not going to resource them to be able to do the job that is critical to every person that you're talking to, even today, either in the movement of people or goods or other items that are necessary to get us through the situations of life.

DEAN: All right, Todd Yeary, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

YEARY: Happy Mother's Day. Good to be with you, Jessica.

DEAN: Thank you.

Still ahead, Mother's Day flowers could cost you more this year. How tariffs are taking a toll on the floral industry ahead of Mother's Day? You're in the CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:44:07]

DEAN: It is Mother's Day weekend and along with cards and the brunches, flowers are a go-to gift for a lot of people out there. But you might see higher prices when you go to pick them up tomorrow or when you get the bill for whatever you're having delivered because of the new higher tariffs on countries including Colombia, a major supplier of fresh flowers to the U.S.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now from Los Angeles. And Julia, you've been talking there with flower wholesalers. How are the tariffs affecting their businesses right now?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite clear the impact here, Jessica. A dozen of roses that would have cost around $20 last year is closer to $40 this year. And it goes along with what we're seeing at 10 percent to 50 percent jump in those prices that have to do -- a lot of it has to do with those tariffs in countries like Colombia.

Colombia is basically responsible for 60 percent of the flowers that we buy in this country. So it does make sense. But that only accounts for about 10 percent of this increase, right? [17:45:06]

Why are we seeing prices go even higher? Well, the business people here are telling me that it's because of the uncertainty generated by the tariffs. So there's the tariffs themselves, and then there's the secondary effects, right?

So those wholesalers are saying they're not getting as many orders. People are not planning accordingly and buying ahead of time like you usually do, even on the biggest day of the year, one of the biggest day of the year, as I was to say, after Valentine's Day in this industry.

Take a listen to what else they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JONES: Are you hoping that these tariffs will eventually go away?

SAL JIMENEZ, FLOWER WHOLESALER: I think we all are. Yes, I think we all are. Because this country consumes a lot of import goods, and that's definitely something that is part of our daily life. Yes.

JONES: How much are they hurting your business?

JIMENEZ: There is a percentage because now people doesn't get prepared as they used to. They kind of wait for the movement flow, and then everybody's kind of like last minute.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

JONES: And it's not just flowers. It's everything that goes along with the flowers, the packaging materials. We keep on hearing those have gone up in price as well. The ribbons, the teddy bears, a lot of those materials also coming from China. We've been looking at all of the labels of where everything is coming from here.

Yes, it's Colombia, Ecuador, but also a lot of those packaging is coming from China. And that's a whole other bucket of tariffs, right, Jessica. And this is, again, a wholesale market.

We also spoke to a florist who said that with all of the other costs that she has, like delivery, for example, she's not even breaking even this year. She's only putting together these bouquets so that people have something to give their mothers this Mother's Day.

And I'll say it's surprising, but we've seen a packed market all day the whole time we've been here, which is a good thing, right? Just -- not just for the economy, but also for moms everywhere.

DEAN: Yes, they deserve something tomorrow.

Julia Vargas Jones in Los Angeles, thanks so much for that. We appreciate it.

And still ahead, European leaders issuing an ultimatum to Russia -- 30-day ceasefire or massive sanctions. We're in Kyiv with more on the push to stop that war.

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[17:51:57]

DEAN: The CNN Original Series, "My Happy Place" follows celebrities around the world as they visit their personal sanctuaries. In honor of the new show, our Sanjay Gupta is sharing his happy place, and it's Ann Arbor, Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the last practice before the big spring game here in Ann Arbor. So what you're seeing here is Wolverines before they get after it this season.

S. GUPTA (voice-over): The Michigan Wolverines, the winningest football program in history. Befittingly, they play in the largest sports stadium in the country.

S. GUPTA: The big house. I'm so excited. Very few people get this view. Just imagine all these seats filled, more than 100,000 people, all cheering for the same thing. I love it. And that was my life every Saturday.

S. GUPTA (voice-over): One of my favorite times I was here was to deliver the commencement address.

S. GUPTA: Thank you. Simply being here is incredibly personal for me. You see, not only was the foundation for most of my life conceived in this town, I myself was likely conceived in this town.

(LAUGHTER)

S. GUPTA (voice-over): We are in Ann Arbor because this is my happy place. I spent 13 years of my life here studying to become a neurosurgeon.

Yes, that's me with the mullet. I mean, give me a break. It was the 1980s.

S. GUPTA: So you bring the patient in, head's here. And I think I probably spent years of my life standing right here.

S. GUPTA (voice-over): Ann Arbor, Michigan is widely considered to be one of the best college towns in the country. And I would have to agree. But what makes a great college town? The academics, the students, the sports teams, the food, the culture, the nightlife? If you ask me, Ann Arbor checks all the boxes.

It's packed full of incredible places, including the world famous Zingerman's Deli. I asked the owner Ari about what makes Ann Arbor such a happy place for me, for him, and for so many others.

ARI WEINZWEIG, CO-FOUNDER, ZINGERMAN'S DELI: There's very good energy here. I meet a football coach. I meet a world class violinist. I meet a poet that's in doing a book event, you know, and that's like one evening, you know. And I think there's a lot of that here. And so the creativity enhances the creativity and people meet and creates a spirit of generosity that's wonderful.

S. GUPTA (voice-over): It's true. You do meet a lot of interesting people here. Probably the most important person I met was my wife, Rebecca. She used to work at my favorite restaurant in town, Palio. And when we started dating, she would keep this starving, poor surgical resident from going hungry.

S. GUPTA: I'd come in here and it was like I was a mafia don. Sitting here, they'd bring me pasta, a glass of wine, more pasta, some bread.

REBECCA GUPTA, SANJAY'S WIFE: You did luck out when you would come here, because if there had been like a mistake and we would have an extra meal or something, I'd be like, oh, can I have it? They're like, OK, and I'd go and give it to you.

[17:55:07]

S. GUPTA: To the happiest place in the world.

R. GUPTA: Cheers.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

DEAN: That's so nice.

Be sure to tune in a new episode of "My Happy Place". This one featuring award winning filmmaker musician Questlove, airs tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.

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