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Markets Dive Due to Trump's Global Tariffs; Does the U.S. Need Rescuing from the Fringes? Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired April 04, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: For the exhibition. "Michelangelo Imperfect" is made up of 40 reproductions from the Madrid-based studio, Factum Arte. The studio uses new and traditional techniques to create copies that are visually identical to the originals.
[06:00:15]
All right, that'll do it for us today and this week. Thanks for joining us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon in New York. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It is Friday, April 4. Here's what's happening right now on CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's a noble goal, but it feels like there's a lot of pain in between here and then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Are you feeling the pain? The markets sure are, with their worst day since the pandemic. What futures look like just hours before the opening bell.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When immigrant rights are under attack, what do we do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up. Fight back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up. Fight back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stand up. Fight back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: A day of protests this weekend. People across the country preparing to take to the streets to speak out against the Trump administration. But what can protests actually accomplish this time around? Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just devastating to come up and see what's going on here and that nothing's left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: You're looking at trees ripped from the roots, cars flipped over, homes left in splinters. Now, some of those same places are at risk for a once-in-a-lifetime flooding event.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The tariffs give us great power to negotiate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Could tariffs save TikTok? The deadline is tomorrow, but the president thinks his new levies on China may help in the deal-making process.
It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Good morning to Honolulu. It's just past midnight there. Happy Friday to you all.
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me.
And let's start here. Have you checked your 401(k)? Don't. Because it was the worst day for the stock market since March of 2020. And now, even more concern that President Trump's global trade war could trigger a recession.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE GLASSMAN, GLASSMAN AUTOMOTIVE GROUP: We haven't seen anything, in my opinion, this disruptive as long as I've been in the business.
DENISE HOLIDAY, PURCHASING A CAR: We thought we better come now.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we still can, and we still have our Social Security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Here's what we know. The Dow closed nearly 1,700 points down Thursday. The NASDAQ losing close to 6 percent. The S&P 500, nearly 5 percent.
And here's a reaction from CNBC's money guru, Jim Cramer. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CRAMER, HOST, CNBC'S "MAD MONEY" & "SQUAWK ON THE STREET": I went deep on the numbers today, and the numbers did not make any sense.
And I feel like a sucker tonight. This is what they came up with? Jeez. Come on. Have some gumption. Have some math.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The economic boom promised by the president isn't looking good right now. But here's what he has to say about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's going very well. It was an operation. Like when a patient gets operated on. The markets are going to boom. The stock is going to boom. The country is going to boom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. Bringing in the group chat: Washington bureau chief for "The Boston Globe," Jackie Kucinich; former Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina; and president and executive director of "The Daily Signal," Rob Bluey.
Jackie, I want to start with you, just helping us understand how the White House is talking about this. What's your team reporting?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So, when we went to the Hill yesterday, you did have the big push by the White House for Republicans to stay in line on this and to not come out against the president. And you saw that for the most part on the Hill.
You had Republicans saying that they were willing to give, most of them, to give the president time to allow this to work.
But there was also a bit of a disconnect, where the White House said, this is the final answer. This is not a negotiating tactic. You had Republican senators on the Hill saying, you know, this is a starting point.
So, where that ends up, maybe somewhere in the middle. We'll have to see.
CORNISH: Yes, we know there was some cracks there with some Senate Republicans voting against --
KUCINICH: Yes.
CORNISH: -- in a vote against tariffs. Here was J.D. Vance reacting to the market plunge yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: We're feeling good. Look, I frankly thought, in some ways, it could be worse in the markets, because this is a big transition.
You saw the president said earlier today, it's like a patient who was very sick. We did the operation, and now it's time to make the patient better. And that's exactly what we're doing.
Yes. Look, one bad day in the stock market, compared to what President Trump said earlier today -- and I think he's right about this -- we're going to have a booming stock market for a long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I love these analogies, because our economy is the patient. But markets, they're the nerves. And when you touch them and there's pain, they are the first to let you know.
[06:05:05]
So, how long can they keep saying, Wait it out. It's a bad day. It's not a big deal?
ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": Yes. It's one of those things, Audie, where I think Republicans will have some patience in the short term. They recognize that there will be some -- some pain probably when it comes to the stock market.
But if Trump is able to couple these tariffs with deregulation, which he was successful at doing in his first term, and tax cuts, which is currently up for debate on Capitol Hill with the budget reconciliation bill, the American people could see positive benefits from this in the end.
But as we all know, tariffs are a tax. And so, you have to make sure that it's part of the full package. You can't just do it single handedly.
CORNISH: Rob, you're saying we all know. We don't all know. What I hear a lot of times as a talking point is that they're not a tax, that they're going to fix things, that they're this or that.
For you and your team reporting, you guys aren't pretending they're not taxes?
BLUEY: Right. Well, I think -- I think we have to acknowledge that the American people will be paying higher prices on some goods.
Now, whether or not Trump uses this as a negotiating tactic, as Jackie mentioned, could be another point. The tariffs haven't actually gone into effect yet, and so there could be countries that decide to lower their tariffs. And ultimately, I think what the president had promised was reciprocity.
What we saw delivered on Liberation Day was something slightly different. He was trying to correct the trade imbalance. And I think that --
CORNISH: Cramer pointing out the math wasn't mathing. There's a lot of questions about the math.
KUCINICH: And I think you could forgive Republicans, too, for thinking this might be a negotiating tactic, because we've seen it in the past, where Trump has said, we're doing this, and then has pulled back.
CORNISH: Yes. Jim.
JIM MESSINA, FORMER OBAMA 2012 CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Look, I think Rob is onto something. There's a lot of questions about what's going to happen. Here's what I think is going to happen.
I have over a dozen presidents and prime ministers around the world, as my clients, and all of them have a decision to make this week. Do you just be quiet? Do you reciprocate and put your own tariffs on? Do you get us in a trade war?
What I do know is that people are going to start feeling this immediately. I was talking to the head of one very large American grocery store who said, this weekend, they will start having to raise prices as they bring in goods from Mexico on Saturday and Canada on Sunday. People are going to start feeling --
CORNISH: Do they have to raise prices? I mean, we always say they pass it on to the consumer. There's no law that says you have to pass it on.
MESSINA: It is a tax on the consumer. We know this.
I went back and read Ronald Reagan's last speech as president in 1988, where he warned the country about tariffs. And he said, Look, we've been through this in the 1930s. We know what this does, and what it does is kneecap the American economy. And that's what you're about to start to see.
CORNISH: Well, one thing we're hearing, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation saying that the average American household will pay $2,100 more per year for goods.
One of the things that I'm thinking about as we're looking ahead is at what point do voters start to really speak out? And I'm referring to this, because there is going to be this mass protest. Democrats are organizing it this weekend.
But when -- what are you going to be listening for, Rob, in terms of actual voter pushback?
BLUEY: Oh, sure. Well, I think you'll start to see it reflected in polling. I mean, one of the polling numbers that we saw during Biden's presidency, when the cost of living was a huge issue, was whether or not people felt confident in their personal finances. And so, I think that's an important metric to look at.
But I think also these rallies that you're seeing on the -- on the streets, I mean, up until now, there have been a variety of different issues that I think have been animating Democrats. Probably this could be one that takes center stage. CORNISH: That you actually coalesce around.
One thing I've noticed, to your point, Jackie, is Republicans not -- like a little bit of a queasy description about what they are seeing in this moment. Here are some voices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUISE (R-TX): Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I'm not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers.
SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): Sometimes in business, you have to have short-term -- short-term pain to have long-term gain.
SEN. JERRY MORAN (R-KS): It's very damaging. Steel and aluminum is also a significant component of what we manufacture, including ag equipment in Kansas. And so, the prices go up.
SEN. STEVE DAINES (R-MN): There's always short-term blowback. But we're looking at the long haul here.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Anyone who says there may be a little bit of pain before we get things right, need to talk to my farmers, who are one crop away from bankruptcy. They don't have time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Jackie, I heard you nodding with that.
KUCINICH: Yes. Yes. I mean, and you saw that with Chuck Grassley introducing a bill with --
CORNISH: Right.
KUCINICH: -- from Washington, talking about trying to limit the power of presidents to implement tariffs down the line. Chuck Grassley, obviously, from Iowa.
CORNISH: It would say that they would, basically expire after 60 days if they were not approved by Congress.
KUCINICH: Right.
CORNISH: Is that the bill we're talking about?
KUCINICH: Yes. Yes, exactly.
And so, you -- so, it is manifesting itself. And particularly those Republicans from farm states, because they remember in the first Trump administration --
CORNISH: Yes, when farmers struggled.
KUCINICH: When tariffs hurt farmers and made them struggle.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CORNISH: I want you guys to stay with us, because we're going to talk
more about this and other things today.
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about that famous catch phrase: "You're fired." Overnight the director of the NSA was let go the same day that multiple staffers on the National Security Council were dismissed.
Plus, TikTok has just one day before it might be banned in the U.S. What could be the app's saving grace?
[06:10:06]
And this. Dozens of tornadoes still moving through the South. We're going to talk about the damage left behind and what more could be on the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole backside of the house is leaning. Like, it's the whole house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the whole house. I just bought this house two years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:14:59]
CORNISH: If you're getting ready, it's 15 minutes past the hour. I want to give you your morning roundup, some of the stories you need to know to get the day started.
Celebrations and protests in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, after the nation's highest court removed the president from office. He had declared martial law in December, which the head judge said was unconstitutional. He still faces criminal charges of leading an insurrection.
The Pentagon's inspector general is going to investigate Pete Hegseth's use of the Signal app. The defense secretary has defended the information that he shared in that chat, where a journalist was added.
The investigation will focus on regulations regarding classified information and record keeping.
And also, that line of dangerous tornadoes left seven people dead across three states. One man in Tennessee recounted the moment a tornado actually hit his house.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the windows in the in the -- in the house shattered and had just enough time to run back in the house and grab the kids and just kind of throw them in a corner and bear-hug them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: There's actually a new risk heading for some of these areas today. This weekend, nearly nonstop rain expected in the Mississippi Valley. That could trigger once-in-a-lifetime flooding.
And one more thing: the finals of the men's National Invitation Basketball Tournament. With barely any time left on the clock, UC Irvine has a chance to win it, only to miss the wide-open shot.
Chattanooga comes from behind to win its first NIT title, 85 to 84.
But you know what? Shout out to that young man, because he did his best. OK? Keep your head up high.
We're also going to be talking about politics today, of course. And what's happening with democracy in the age of extremes.
And also opening the vault. Bruce Springsteen is about to release more than 80 new songs all at once.
Good morning, Chicago. Parts of Illinois also facing a threat of severe weather.
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[06:21:16]
CORNISH: All right. I want to go off-script a bit, because after this week's special election, I was thinking a lot about how many congressional districts, frankly, aren't competitive.
So, yes, Democrats managed to close the gap. Instead of losing by 30 points, as they did in November, they cut the margins down to 14 points this time. But basically, these were predictable victories for the GOP.
And despite more of us identifying as and registering as independents, we're living in this deeply partisan age in districts where outcomes feel basically predetermined.
So, Nick Troiano says party primaries are a big reason why. He's the executive director of Unite America. He's also the author of a new book, "The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes.:
Nick, good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING.
NICK TROIANO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNITED AMERICA: Great to be with you, Audie.
So, in your book, you were saying that only 14 percent of Americans cast a meaningful vote to elect the entire U.S. House of Representatives in 2024. So, what do you mean by meaningful?
TROIANO: Well, you're exactly right with that introduction. You know, if I told you about a country where, in nine out of every ten elections, we know, basically, the outcome well in advance of a single vote being cast, you probably wouldn't think I was talking about a democracy, no less the United States of America.
But that is the case today, because the vast majority of our elections are over before they even begin. And what I mean by that is they're not decided in November. They're decided in the dominant party's primary.
And the problem is that very few voters cast ballots in those elections. In 16 states, 17 million independent voters are prohibited from voting in these taxpayer-funded elections.
And when you add that all together, only about 14 percent of eligible voters cast a meaningful vote, which means a ballot that actually contributes to determining a competitive election.
And so, when most Americans say they feel --
CORNISH: Yes.
TROIANO: -- unrepresented or unheard in our political system today, they're right. They're not.
CORNISH: You talk about open primaries. You talk about ranked choice voting. I hear people talking about jungle primaries.
But I also hear Republicans -- and you even cite this yourself in the book. Senator Tom Cotton dismissing ranked choice voting, for example, as a scam to rig elections.
There have also been attempts to reform primary systems in states. They have been rebuffed by voters.
So, what can you actually do to make this argument that would, like, convince people who think this is something, for instance, that just Democrats want?
TROIANO: Well, listen, party primaries are not written into the Constitution. Our founders feared parties to begin with. This system that we have today was invented out of whole cloth about 100 years ago to solve a problem of smoke-filled rooms and party bosses handpicking candidates. And it worked well for about a century, until this current system itself has become a problem today because of how few voters determine these elections.
And states -- red, blue, and purple -- are moving in a direction of more open primaries. We saw that in Alaska in 2020, when voters replaced both parties' primaries with a single all-candidate primary. Everyone has the freedom to vote for whomever they want.
And we just saw this a couple of weeks ago in New Mexico, where a bipartisan bill was passed that opened the party primaries to independent voters, which is going to enfranchise about a quarter of all New Mexico voters for the first time in the next election.
This is a wildly popular issue among Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Even if both parties tend to reflexively oppose it, this isn't left or right. This is really about the people --
CORNISH: Yes.
TROIANO: -- versus a political establishment that is no longer serving them.
CORNISH: We have a short time left, but I have to ask. We saw this week, with the Wisconsin election, billionaires can pour money into elections. They may not always -- their candidates may not always win.
But between that spending, between super PACs, does it make any sense to even focus on party and party infrastructure anymore?
TROIANO: Well, listen, we know that the influence of money in politics is a problem, and that problem is much more significant when that money is spent in low-turnout party primaries.
And so, when we open our elections for more voters, and more participation, and more competition, it dilutes the power of special interests and big donors. And that's why, you know, we're advocating for more open primaries in every state across the country.
CORNISH: All right. That's Nick Troiano. He's the author of "The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes."
Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, a dispute over a timeshare lands a U.S. couple in a Mexican prison. How they got out.
Plus, hundreds of thousands of people are signing up to protest the Trump administration this weekend. Will it make a difference?
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