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President Trump's First Week in Office; Samsung Blames Bad Batteries for Note 7 Problems; UAE's Ambitious Renewable Energy Plan; Theresa May Dodges Questions About Runaway Trident Missile Test Off Coast of Florida. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired January 23, 2017 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[10:00:24] DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: on day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful,
southern border wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LYNDA KINKADE, HOST: After the campaign promises, will policy follow as President
Trump starts his first working week? We'll look at what he's already doing and what's to come. He'll be signing executive orders in just 30 minutes
time. And one of the first will be to pull out of the U.S. trade deal. We're live in Hong Kong for that story.
Also getting ready for guests. World leaders line up to visit the White House. The British prime minister got the first invitation, but who is
next and what do they want? We're live in Jerusalem and Moscow for much more.
Hello and welcome to Connect the World. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Live from the CNN Center. Brand-new U.S. President Donald Trump is starting his first
full week in office, and after a weekend of protests and perceived presidential insults, one thing is for sure, it is going to be an
interesting four years.
The president is meeting right now with business leaders to talk about manufacturing in the U.S. And this hour, President Trump is expected to
sign some executive orders, including one that will have a major impact on Asian trade allies.
Later, Mr. Trump will head into his daily briefing, and then he'll have lunch with Vice President Mike Pence.
In the meeting with business leaders, President Trump talked about lowering taxes for U.S. companies and putting American workers and products first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We want people. We want to start making our products again. We don't want to bring them in, we want to make them here. And that doesn't
mean we don't want trade, because we do trade. But we want to make our products here.
And if you look at some of the original great people that ran this country, you will see that
they felt very strongly about that. We're going to make our products again. And we're going to start making our products again.
I think there be advantaged to companies that do indeed make their products here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, it feels like the world is keeping a very close eye on Washington right now. And CNN's reporters are spread out right across the
map to gather all their reactions for you. Clarissa Ward is is following every twist and turn in Moscow this hour. And Oren Liebermann is working
his sources in Jerusalem. Ivan Watson is in Hong Kong for us.
And we're going to start there in Asia, with news from the White House that will have an impact on trade partners right across the world.
President Trump is about to sign an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the Transpacific Partnership deal. Now, CNN's senior international
correspondent Ivan Watson is joining us for more from Hong Kong on that.
Ivan, the TPP is the biggest free trade deal in history. Trump had promised to withdraw the U.S. from it during the campaign, and he's now
doing that.
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And this will certainly come as a disappointment to the leaders of the world's third
largest economy, Japan. The Japanese prime minister who notably was the first foreign leader to meet with Donald Trump in New York around the time
after he won the election.
He was on the floor of the Japanese parliament on Monday, saying he was still hoping to try to convince Donald Trump to support the TPP, but now as
we're hearing from Trump administration officials, that executive order is really going to kill U.S. participation in this trade deal.
Other countries that were supposed to be involved in it that still support it, the Australian government, for example, coming out with a statement
saying that this was disappointing that the U.S. would not be moving forward with this deal, also hearing that from New
Zealand.
We've seen from the Malaysian government that they're still going to try to move forward with
negotiations among the remaining 11 countries that are in the trade deal to try to salvage something that's left of that.
In the meantime, many analysts say that this could be a big chance for China to move forward with it's own multinational, multilateral trade
deals, which is called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that's supposed to include some 16 countries, that this could be a boon for
China, which is already a behemoth economically, certainly in this part of the world -- Lynda.
[10:05:09] KINKADE: So, Ivan, for those that do want to remain in the TPP as it stands without the U.S., what could it mean for those countries
remaining? And could they potentially stall any sort of negotiations on that until the next administration?
WATSON: Well, it certainly will be a much smaller trading bloc without the world's largest
economy in it. But of course, you know, Donald Trump has been railing against the TPP since the days of the campaign. So you could probably
expect that governments had been preparing for this moment.
There will be other concerns, however, with the talk of protectionism, of possible tariffs being imposed, with these late test comments where Donald
Trump was actually criticizing Japan, basically claiming that it was kind of making it hard for the U.S. to sell cars to Japan, while Japan was, in
his words, pretty much dumping cars, boatloads of cars, into the U.S. And the U.S. was allowing that to happen.
There are going to be big concerns about what kind of impact this could have on Japanese manufacturing on bilateral trade between Japan and the
U.S. And of course there are big concerns in China, the world's second largest economy. The Chinese government has been repeating this chorus,
arguing that listen, we have some 40 years of trade with the U.S. It has been mutually beneficial. It has been a win-win situation, but there are
clearly concerns in Beijing as well, about the new trade policies that the Trump administration may be planning to impose.
KINKADE: All right, Ivan Watson, staying across it all throughout what's going on in Asia for us and the reaction there. Thank you very much for
joining us.
Well, Britain's prime minister is set to be the first world leader to walk through the door of the
Trump White House on Friday, and they will discuss everything from trade to Syria. Israel's leader may not be very far behind. Mr. Trump invited
Benjamin Netanyahu to visit in the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, Moscow is still waiting to set a date to pick up the phone for a discussion. The Kremlin tells CNN negotiations for that are still taking
place.
CNN's Clarissa Ward is watching the Kremlin in Moscow. And Oren Liebermann is in Jerusalem where Trump could make a major change there.
We'll begin with Clarissa. Let's just start with you.
Now, while Trump and Putin are yet to speak, Russia's foreign minister has spoken about the two leaders and their similarities, let's just take a
listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We are certainly following how the situation is developing, how it was developing
and is continuing to develop in the United States. We see a number of elements that coincide on principal questions concerning aims on foreign
policy, which have been laid down by Donald Trump and have closely involved with how President Putin sees the foreign policy aims of the Russian
Federation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: So, Mr. Lavrov there talking about the similarities between the two leaders.
Clarissa, how do you see this new relationship playing out?
CLARISSA WARD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think when he talks about those similarities, the first one that really jumps to mind
that President Donald Trump has discussed a number of times previously is the idea that the U.S. and Russia could potentially
cooperate on the issue of combating terrorism, of fighting ISIS. We have heard again and again, President Trump say that that might be something
that the U.S. and Russia would have a unified approach on, though I do think it's worth mentioning that so far in Syria where Russia claims to be
fighting ISIS, they have largely been targeting the opposition against Bashar al-Assad. And they have actually had relatively little success in
the fight against ISIS.
More generally, I do think there are some real sticking points and thorny issues that President Trump and President Putin are going to have to work
out if there is going to be a rapproachment, or a kind of detente, and I'm thinking specifically here of Russian aggression in Syria, which I just
mentioned, of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Is President Donald Trump essentially going to say that the annexation of Crimea was OK, that it was
lawful? He's indicated that he might do that, but he hasn't done it yet.
And of course from the Russian position, there's a real concern and deep resentment about the U.S. sanctions against Russia, which have really
hobbled the economy here.
So, clearly there are some potential avenues for cooperation, but there are also some real sticking point, some thorny issues, that both world leaders
are going to have to try to work together to find some way forward, Lynda.
[10:10:03] KINKADE: All right, Clarissa Ward, we'll have to leave it there for now. Thanks for joining us.
I want to go to Oren Liebermann now to talk more about Netanyahu and the fact that he did hold a conversation with Mr. Trump. What was discussed in
that phone call?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made it clear that his number one priority not only for
the phone call, but also in their first meeting will be talking about some way of changing, revoking, redoing, rewriting the Iran deal. Netanyahu
has been the biggest critics. He was quiet in the final months of the Obama administration, perhaps seeing no way, or no alternative of fighting
the deal. Now he sees President Trump in office. The two have, from what all appearances, a very good relationship to start off. And he sees a new
opportunity to fight the deal.
He still calls it and still refers to it as a bad deal.
What else will be on their discussion? What else will they talk about? The Israeli-Palestinian issue, both mentioned that in their readout of the
phone call, as well as regional issues and bilateral ties. Both Trump and Netanyahu have said they want to strengthen the ties between the U.S. and
Israel. Both see this as incredibly critical, and it's something that Trump talked about during his campaign.
As for the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Trump has said he would like to be the guy to get the deal done. He's called it, quote, the ultimate deal,
achieving a two-state solution and bringing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. So, that will be on the agenda.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu just a short time ago urging his own government to be patient here. He said this is the time for thoughtful diplomacy. It's not
the time to, quote, he's always been a cautious politician, and he remains one before his meeting with President Trump.
KINKADE: And Oren, just looking at the other major issue, the settlements, of course, before the inauguration, the settlements were frozen. That is
now going ahead.
LIEBERMANN: The question is how. The specific settlements you're talking about are more than 500 units in east Jerusalem, those were frozen right
before the New Year on December 28 just a few hours before Secretary of State John Kerry gave a speech that was incredibly critical of Israeli
settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Netanyahu had that construction frozen. It seems he's now had them unfrozen as they were able to continue.
What will be Netanyahu's settlement policy when it relates to East Jerusalem and the West Bank? That hasn't been fully fleshed out yet. It
seems he wants to get a better idea of what Trump's Middle East policy will be and what his policy will be towards Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinians have made it clear if Trump moves the embassy, if there's too much growth of
settlements, they consider that the death of a two-state solution, so perhaps even Trump playing this one cautiously. Again, Netanyahu urging
caution here. Some of his ministers have suggested get Trump to sign off on construction within the settlement blocs, which is within the regions of
high concentrations of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and then perhaps
freeze construction outside. That could come up in the conversation.
Netanyahu has said there is no more pro-settlement government than his. He just has to formulate that policy and let his constituency and the right-
wing here know exactly what it is that that means.
KINKADE: All right, Oren Liebermann live for us from Jerusalem. Great to have you with us. Thank you.
Well, now in its sixth year, the war in Syria proved to be a quagmire for former President Obama and it may turn out to be for President Trump, his
biggest challenge in the Middle East.
At this hour, a new piece of it is under way in Kazakhstan, but the talks involving key players in the crisis are already off to a rocky start
organized by Russia and Turkey, the U.S. is on the sidelines. America was not invited to send a delegation, but the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan is
an observer.
The Syrian government and rebels are already discussing and expressing their differences.
A U.S. official tells CNN a British missile test went badly wrong in the waters of Florida last year. The missile was not armed, but did turn
towards the United States after being fired from a submarine after it started to self-destruct.
Now, a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May says she was aware of the test, but it's not clear if she knew about the outcome. It
could be a problem for her politically if she did, because after the date of the test, Mrs. May told parliament to extend the country's nuclear
program.
Mrs. May refused to say how much she knew to the BBC on Sunday. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP))
UNIDNETIFIED MALE: Made that first speech in July in the House of Commons about our Trident Nuclear Defense, did you know that misfire had occurred?
THERESA MAY, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: I have absolute faith in our Trident Missiles. When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we
were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident, whether or not we should have trident missiles, an independent nuclear deterrent in
the future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we should defend our country. I think we should play
our role in NATO with an independent nuclear deterrent.
Jeremy Corbyn thinks differently. Jeremy Corbyn thinks we shouldn't defend our country.
[10:15:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very serious incident. Did you know about it when you told the House of Commons?
MAY: And the issue we were talking about in the House of Commons was a very serious issue, it was about whether or not we should renew Trident,
whether we should look to the future and have a replacement Trident, that's what we were talking about in the House of Commons, that's what the House
of Commons voted for. I believe in defending our country. Jeremy Corbyn voted against it. He doesn't want to defend our country with an
independent nuclear deterrent.
UNIDENITIFIED MALE: Prime minister, did you know?
MAY: There are tests that take place all the time for our -- regularly for our nuclear deterrents. What we were talking about in that...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. I'm not going to get an answer to this. Can I just ask about one other thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Well, CNN's Nic Robertson has much more on this story for us live from London. Nic, last year the prime minister give a very strong
endorsement of this program, saying it would be an act of gross irresponsibility for the UK to abandon its nuclear weapons.
But the question, of course, is did she know about the failed test when she said that?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, there's credibility on the line here, and not just of Theresa May's credibility, politically,
at the moment, but also the credibility of having a deterrent. If you can't fire it straight, then it's not a deterrent. So, that's one issue.
What we're hearing is that they do these tests and calibrations of these missiles every few
years, that this was a new ship, or rather, a refurbished ship that was going through certification and test procedures and the crew passed those
test procedures.
But for Therea May on this, it was a very, very important moment in parliament, it showed divisions in the opposition, the Labour Party. She
was asked at one point in this very heated debate, it should be prepared to used nuclear weapons. She said, yes. It passed 472 votes to 117. But
because it relates to $50 billion worth of defense spending in Britain, her credibility, did she or did she not know that the outcome of this test?
This test, of course, happened before she became prime minister. She, if you will, inherited this
issue. It was always going to be an issue about the renewing of Trident, that parliament made a
commitment to the renewing of Trident.
But, you know, where this leaves her right now in the current political environment is potentially seriously embarrassed, not an issue that she
wants to deflect from some of her core missions today, trying to -- she is giving speeches about how the government can work with key businesses, if
those businesses work together. She's all about improving the economy and social equalization of pay throughout the country, if you will a more
equitable distribution of wealth within the country.
This will distract from that.
But the core thing for her right now really is Brexit. So it's hard to see if this is ultimately going to significantly derail her. But potentially,
this is one of those issues that crops up for politicians, that really puts them off their stride, gets them off their message. For how long? She has
this important meeting with President Trump on Friday. No doubt that's what the talk by the end of the week will be about.
KINKADE: So, yeah, as you said, moving on to that meeting with Trump. Despite the political
problems she's facing domestically, this meeting being the first world leader to meet with the new president is a bit of a coup for her.
ROBERTSON: Hugely. And when you think about when President Trump was elected, Therea May wasn't the first, second, third, or fourth, or fifth,
even, person to get the phone call into him. So the fact that she's first through the door at the White House, first world leader through the door of
the White House is significant.
It's very significant, Donald Trump believes in Brexit. He believes he has an ally in Theresa May. There's a lot of talk about Ronald Reagan,
Margaret Thatcher, this perhaps a new era Trump and May.
What he is doing is giving her an opportunity to get strong support for a stronger trade deal in the future with the United States to offset whatever
Britain may lose in terms of trade and the economy coming out of the European Union. But perhaps more importantly, a strong combined message
about a future trade deal for Britain will empower British negotiators going into those talks in the next few months that exit the European Union,
and of course that worry within the rest of European that Donald Trump might try to use this as part of his vision that the unity of Europe not so
important. That's a concern on continental Europe.
KINKADE: A lot up for discussion today in the UK.
Nic Robertson, great to have you with us. Thank you.
Well, still to come, Donald Trump gets to work as he starts his first full week as commander-in-chief. Next, we look at what's on the president's
agenda. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:22:15] KINKADE: Live from the CNN Center, you're watching Connect the World. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome bcak.
Well, it was a momentous weekend in Washington, but today U.S. President Trump is getting down to business quite literally. First up on the
president's schedule was a breakfast with key business leaders. And congress is back to work as well. Mr. Trump is also to confer with
congressional leaders. And he'll need their support to move his legislative agenda forward.
Well, joining us now to talk about Mr. Trump's domestic priorities is Doug Heye. He's a CNN political commentator, Republican strategist, and former
communications director for the Republican National Committee.
Doug, great to have you with us.
DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great, good to be here.
KINKADE: Before we get to the rest of Donald Trump's agenda today, I just want your reaction to the events that unfolded over the weekend,
particularly the war of words he had with the media and talking about the crowd size at his inauguration, that term of course that alternative facts
that kept coming up.
HEYE: Well, obviously not surprising that Donald Trump is now as president, who he was as president-elect and also as a candidate, fighting
with the media was part of Donald Trump's reason of becoming a candidate to begin with. So we shouldn't be surprised by that.
But what we don't know, is while people were talking about it in Washington and people were talking about it in New York, if you get outside of those
kinds of bubbles is that what people are talking about in the states that really elected Donald Trump president? In North Carolina and Michigan,
Wisconsin, Ohio? We don't know that yet. And that's why I think if you see what's happened so far today, you talk about getting down to business.
That meeting today showed Donald Trump looking and being presidential. That's important to him, as will the meeting that he has with congressional
leadership tonight.
KINKADE: And looking about some -- and looking at some of his picks for cabinet, more and more are being approved now, quite controversial names
there. Democrats, of course, have their concerns. Do you have any concerns?
HEYE: By and large, no. I think he's picked a very good slate of potential cabinet appointees, several of whom are known either in the
Senate or in the House, because they have served as members of congress or in the senate. Those are people -- Mike Pompeo for the CIA director today
who will be voted on, who I expect to pass very easily.
The only name that we've seen to have any trouble with this far is Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, which obviously is a very important post.
John McCain and Lindsay Graham, two key Republicans, have said that they'll support him. It looks likely that he'll pass as well.
KINKADE: What do you make of the lawsuit that Donald Trump is facing at the start of his presidency?
HEYE: I think it shows that if you're Donald Trump in the White House, the kind of under siege mentality that we saw just this weekend, is a very real
one, it may be right, it may be wrong, but it's very real. And this is what we better get used to for the next four years. This is not going to
just happen on week one, this is going to happen at the end of year one, probably at the beginning of year four as well. They need to buckle up.
[10:25:08] KINKADE: All right, Doug Heye, I would love to talk to you more about all of this, but we have to leave it there. Thanks so much for
joining us.
HEYE: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, the latest world news headlines are just ahead, plus Trump administration in a new battle with the media, as we just discussed. The
dispute over facts versus fiction. That story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
KINKADE: Well, one of President Donald Trump's top advisers is facing criticism over what she calls alternative facts. Now, it all started when
news outlets reported the crowds at Friday's inauguration appeared smaller than those at Barack Obama's in 2009. You can judge here for yourself with
those pictures side by side.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump's crowd was actually bigger. That claim led to this exchange between adviser Kellyanne
Conway and NBC's Chuck Todd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Don't be so overly dramatic about it, Chuck. What -- you're saying it's a falsehood, and they're giving Sean
Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that.
(END VIDEO CLIP))
KINKADE: For more, Brian Stelter is with us from CNN New York. Brian, good to have you with us. No doubt, alternative facts is a term the
administration will regret using.
[10:30:10] BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think it's going to be with
us for a long time, though, yes. It may not be used by Trump aides again, but this term now entering the lexicon, maybe it'll even be the phrase of
the year.
I mean, it really clearly crystallizes where we are right now, this battle that the Trump administration has whether there really were crowds, whether
it was sunny or cloudy on inauguration day, whether there were mats on the floor or the National Mall or not. Basic facts that can be proven from
photos and videos were challenged by Sean Spicer at that podium on Saturday. Kellyanne Conway trying to explain it by citing alternative
facts comes across a lot of people like, well, lying, or if you want to be generous, coming up wiht fictions instead of facts.
KINKADE: And Brian, talk to us about the strained relationship between this new administration and the media. To put it lightly, Trump really has
attacked the media throughout the campaign. But as president, we can expect this in many countries, but have we ever seen in the U.S. before a
newly appointed U.S. president attacking the media?
STELTER: You could go back to the Richard Nixon administration and find examples of similar behavior from Nixon.
Later on in his administration he was thinking of the press as his enemy. If presidents sensed that and felt that way, they have not express it the
way that Trump did on Saturday. He said he is in a running war with the media. He said that on his first full day as president.
You're right, we have seen this in other countries. We see this all the time in other countries, whether it's more authoritarian countries that are
trying to delegitimize the press, whether -- you know, that is something the Committee to Protect Journalist documents all around the world. We
don't see it in the U.S. normally.
Today, you know, we're a few hours away from Spicer's briefing. This is a career defining moment for Sean Spicer. What he says about Saturday, what
he says about those false statements, how he responds to questions from the press, it's going to go a long way about setting a tone, not just for today
and tomorrow, but for the next months and years to come.
KINKADE: Absolutely. We can only hope this one goes much better and journalists do get a chance to ask some questions. There is, of course, so
much other things -- other matters to cover -- the transition team, the executive orders, policy issues. Should the media at all be focusing on
the crowd numbers and the media war that has played out?
STELTER: Yeah, I think it's a story, but not the stop story. You know, the crowd size issue in particular is interesting because on Friday what I
noticed as a viewer, someone who had five TVs on watching all the news coverage on Friday was that there actually wasn't much attention paid to
crowd size at all.
You could tell from some of the aerial shots that this inauguration was not as well attended as
President Obama's first inauguration. Now, that was a historic day in 2009. You can see it there on the right-hand of the screen. I was in that
crowd right near that castle in 2009. That was a huge event, partly because we were seeing an African-American for the first time become
president.
Donald Trump's inauguration, still an impressive crowd. Let's give them credit. Hundreds of thousands of people just by eyesight you can tell on
that Mall. There's no official crowd estimate and certainly CNN has no official numbers for either of these two events, but you can see with your
own eyes the difference between those two events.
The press did not linger or that issue on Friday, but Donald Trump made it a story on Saturday issue by bringing it up. And I think that's something
we may continue to see with this administration. Trump's frustration with news coverage actually elevates the stories that he doesn't want to see
dominate the news cycle. So, when he tweets something, when he speaks from a podium about something, it actually makes it into a much bigger story.
KINKADE: All right, Brian Stelter, live for us from New York, thanks for joining us.
STELTER: Thank you, appreciate it.
KINKADE: Well, President Trump is expected to sign at this hour an executive order taking the U.S. out of the Transpacific Partnership trade
deal. Now the Transpacific Partnership, or TPP, is a trade agreement between 12 countries highlighted there for you in yellow -- the U.S.,
Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Chile.
Now, together they account for 40 percent of the global economy and a combined population of about 800 million people. The deal would expend
trade between the TPP partners by cutting tariffs and taxes on imports. Notably absent from the deal is China, the world's second largest economy.
The treaty was agreed upon after years of negotiations, but it is waiting to be ratified to go into effect.
And, by the way, the U.S. is a huge trade partner for the 12 countries, the U.S. ships almost $2 billion in goods to TPP countries every single day.
Now, senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny joins us to discuss this a little further.
This is not going to be an easy feat, the fact that the Trump administration wants to withdraw both from the TPP and renegotiate the
NAFTA.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORREPSONDENT: No question about it, Lynda. But the withdrawal from the TPP was really a central campaign theme of the
president and it is something that has bipartisan support here in the United States. A lot of Democrats were opposed to this as well.
Hillary Clinton even, if you'll remember, she supported it as secretary of state, but then opposed it while she was campaigning. So this is something
that is certainly expected. It is the first executive order that we believe the president will sign, really coming up in a matter of moments
here at the White House. And this is something that is really essentially back to the drawing board here in terms of negotiating this type of
agreement.
But if the U.S. pulls out, of course, it's sort of like, you know, a stack of dominoes, it may cause all of them to crumble here and really back at
the beginning of negotiating any type of trade pact.
The problem has not gone away, but the solution here will not be in the way of TPP.
KINKADE: Right. Well, of course the Japanese prime minister already said without the U.S., the TPP has different meaning. Could they potentially
stall bringing it into effect until the next administration, or is it worthless without the U.S.?
ZELENY: It's hard to imagine that -- it certainly is not the same without the U.S. And, again, it was never ratified, because this -- a lot of
opposition to this in congres as well.
And this is one of those things that cuts across different party lines. It had some Republican support, had some Democratic support, but really it
became as this populist outcry here in this presidential campaign last year, and indeed around the world, rose up it became much more
controversial.
So, it's hard to imagine you could wait until the next administration, that's some four years from now obviously. But there is more likely going
to be a different type of agreement discussed of perhaps nothing at all on the TPP as it stands right now.
But it is going to be one of the first executive orders signed, again, within moments here at
the White House.
KINKADE: And, Jeff, of course the first weekend for this new president was pretty tough, mass protests, right across the world. And before the
inauguration, his poll numbers suggested he was losing support. Is he up to the job of uniting the country?
ZELENY: Sure, he has had a rocky transition period, no question, and the first couple days here
at the White House had been a little -- slightly rocky as well, not necessarily unusual. It is a big task, of course, to get a government and
an administration up and running, but the unity question is very much an open one. Will he want to, will he able to unify and bring people
together? I mean, he could hear the protests and the crowd's shouting right here at the White House, that's one of the interesting
things about the White House, so it's right in the middle of the city.
He could hear those protests. But he is certainly going to try reaching out. He's having a meeting tonight here at the White House with Democratic
and Republican leaders. And he met with business leaders this morning. That's his burden to try and unify the
country. Open question to know if he can actually do it.
KINKADE: All right, Jeff Zeleny, as always, great to have you with us. Thank you.
ZELENY: Thank you.
KINKADE: Well, live from the CNN Center, this is Connect the World. Coming up, Samsung concludes a second investigation into the Galaxy Note 7
fiasco. We'll have details on that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:41:37] KINKADE: Well, live from the CNN Center, you're watching Connect the World. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome back.
Well, this is what climate change, the section on the White House's website, looked like a few days ago. And this is what it looks like now.
Gone.
As soon as America's new president, Donald Trump, took over from Barack Obama on Friday, the issue seemed to vanish entirely. And there's no sign
of it coming back. But while Washington may be changing positions, other words capitals are putting a lot of money into changing how we power our
world.
As Becky Anderson found out, Abu Dhabi is at the front of the line.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDENT: Noving it, refining it and running on it, oil is a very messy and very expensive business. Abu Dhabi
has used the stuff to build all of this. But with the global energy mix on the move, it's throwing more than $150 billion on the table to take big and
bold steps to change the way we power our world like this plane that's fueled by sunlight.
The Emirates, (inaudible), was a key backer, building this entire zero carbon, zero waste city as well where the world leading international
renewable energy agency is based too.
Head of both enterprises joined me, along with the Emirati minister for climate change.
I'm going to quote the current president of the UN general assembly: "10 years ago, renewable energy was hippy talk. Today it is a reality." Why?
ADNAN AMIN, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, INTL. RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY: Well, I think if hippy talk means creativity and flexibility, then that describes our
modern energy transition that we're seeing.
But I think that we're at a transformational moment in how global power systems are evolving over time. We have seen in the last three years in a
row, net capacity addition to the global power sector, the majority has come from renewables. And last year, it was 61 percent of new capacity
addition came from renewable energy. That's a huge transformation that we're beginning to see. And that's driven by the fact the technology costs
have come down so dramatically. And that's really beginning to deliver prices for electricity like in the UAE at around between three and four
cents a kilowatt hour, which is remarkably cheap and competes with gas.
We live in a world of unpredictable prices when it comes to oil. We have seen oil price as high as over $100 and we have seen it as though as less
than 30. Are you absolutely convinced that the UAE's energy strategy going forward will continue to focus on clean energy should this country know
that it can make an awful lot of money out of oil and gas?
THANI AHMED AL ZEYOUD, EMIRATI MINISTER OF CLIMATE CHANGE & ENVIRONMENT: Two years ago, when the oil prices went down, everyone was doubting the
renewable sector and this is going to be the end of it. But everyone (inaudible) led by the organizations, like (inaudible) and many others
around the world, everyone is stuck to the same statement, that this is the right time to move ahead with renewables, to show the world that we have to
be -- we should be away from this (inaudible) and the volatile prices linking our economies to a single resource, which is -- we don't -- you
cannot even predict its prices.
We look at energy mix as complementing each other. So each source is complementing each other. Again, I'm coming back to the 2050 strategy.
We're talking about almost 100,000 megawatts of power by 2050, which is almost three times the current power supply, which is around 50, 52
megawatts.
So, for sure, the hydrocarbons is going to have its own shares within our energy mix, but to
fill in the gaps, it's going to be the renewables and clean energy supplies.
AMIN: What Thani was just saying, it's absolutely true. If the price of oil goes up, do you make more money exporting it or burning it? The
choice, if you want to be economically sound, is in clean energy.
ANDERSON: As the head of an organization like Masder (ph), that many people here will say has been around for a decade, and it's only now that
the industry and the rest of the world is caught up, how do you fit in to this energy transition world as it were now in 2017?
MOHAMED JAMEEL AL RAMAHI, CEO, MASDER: Well, Becky, for the past decade, and because of the support of our shareholders (inaudible), and the policy
makers like the government of the United Arab Emirates, and globally, we were able to deploy $2.7 billion in renewable energy, be it here in the
United Arab Emirates, or regionally in the (inaudible) region, we have heard from the minister Al Faleh from the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
highlighting that there is a new, nine almost ten gigawatts coming in in the next five years, so the opportunities around
here is huge. And we are happy to be part of that change in the region. We we started 10 years back, we were pioneers. We were the only renewable
energy and sustainable energy company in this region.
But we see that this has changed. There are more companies coming into the market and more renewable energy targets, which is good for our business.
ANDERSON: The UAE as launched this clean energy strategy. The irony of a fossil fuel burner getting into significantly into clean energy will not
be lost on our viewers. And yet, I have heard people here in Abu Dhabi this week wonder whether your target is ambitious enough. Is there more to
come out of green energy and its strategy in the UAE?
ZEYOUD: The story of the renewables here and clean energy was basically launched early 2000s. Basically because we looked at the forecast of the
demand, and we know that during this period in 2017, 2018, we're going to reach a peak where we're going to start burning more and more diesel to
fill demand, especially during the summer season. How we're going to fill out that gap when it comes to the huge supply of power needed in the
upcoming three decades, absolutely the answer is to inject more renewables and clean energy into the mix.
Yes, it's not going to be a static strategy. Two years ago, actually 2014, we set a clean target of 24 percent by 2021. Last year in 2016, when we
saw the global prices on production and technologies, we revised it to -- we increased it to 27 percent by 2021. And now we're having this 50
percent.
So -- in a very (inaudible) manner, the clinical team (inaudible) to see what are the markets
and how is the progress and we're going to review, for sure, the strategies...
ANDERSON: Next month you hit your one year anniversary as chief executive. Tell me about the last 12 months.
RAMAHI: It's been exciting. I've been in the company for eight years, so I know Masdar extremely well. But as a chief executive been exciting. I
mean, we have won the phase two of Dubai solar part (ph), Hamid (inaudible) solar park, at world breaking record, 2.99 cents. I think we have created
a new benchmark internationally. Everybody is coming around asking us how did we do it.
And it is this largest solar park in the region.
ANDERSON: And then there's almost unanimous agreement around the world on climate change. I say almost unanimous agreement. The elephant in the
room, of course, the incoming U.S. administration led by Donald Trump who until now, at least, has given the impression of being rather more on the
climate skeptic side. How big a risk is it that a new U.S. administration could derail the
investment that we are seeing in this business?
AMIN: I think first of all, we have to see what policy is going to be. It's very hard to
conjecture given the current political climate of how things are going to go one way or the other. So, you know, the jury is out until we see what
policy implications are going to be and what policies are going to be put on the table.
[10:50:38] ANDERSON: Let's agree that the three of us will meet in 2050 and have this conversation again and see where we are and where we're going
at that point -- agree? Excellent. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Live from the CNN center, you're watching Connect the World. Still to come, a shirtless Russian president roasts Donald Trump, well, not
quite. All the details of what's going on here just ahead.
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KINKADE: Live from the CNN Center, you're watching Connect the World. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome back.
Well, Samsung has finished a second investigation into why some of its flagship phones, the Galaxy Note 7, overheated and even caught fire. The
problem forced the South Korean to issue a worldwide recall and cancel its production. Alexandra Field has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Flagship phones bursting into flames, some even on airplanes. After months of investigation,
Samsung is blaming the design and manufacturing of the Note 7's battery
DONG-JIN KOH, PRESIDENT, SAMSUNG MOBILE (through translator): I deeply apologize to all of our customers, carriers, retail and distribution
partners.
FIELD: Samsung now says they may have asked too much of their battery suppliers by building a much stronger battery while keeping the phone
smaller.
GEOFFREY CAIN, AUTHOR: Engineers may have been under enormous pressure from their bosses. So Samsung suffers from this problem, and it's been
pointed out before they have this featureitis. And it's this tendency in Samsung for engineers to put a lot of features in a phone to sort of check
a list for their bosses.
FIELD: The crisis has cost the company billions of dollars and damaged its reputation. Samsung has been able to withstand that.
The most recent international data corporation report, which includes the recall period, shows
Samsung with a commanding 21 percent of marketshare, its closest competitor, Apple lags behind with 12.5 percent marketshare.
Samsung's profits reportedly have not been hurt. The company's most recent quarter is forecast to be its best in about three years.
Strength in its other businesses offset the damage done by the recall.
That spells relief for some South Koreans who believe that Samsung's successes are the country's successes.
UNIDENITIFIED MALE (through translator): As you all know, Samsung ranks top in brand value and the best corporation in South Korea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Samsung means a lot to people. It is a big corporation and common brand.
FIELD: Samsung still commands loyalty out outside its home country, too. In the U.S. an Ipsos-Reuters poll found despite the recall 91 percent of
Samsung users would likely buy another Samsung smartphone.
[10:55:03] KOH (through translator): We are an organization that takes great pride in our ability to listen,
learn and improve. The lessons we have learned are now deeply reflected in our processes and in our culture.
FIELD: The company is promising its customers this won't happen again.
Alexandra Field, CNN, Seoul, South Korea.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Well, for your Parting Shots today, some potshots at America's new president, a shirtless Russian president stole the show on Saturday
Night Live by lampooning Donald Trump's inauguration.
Here's Vladimir Putin as played by Beck Bennett.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECK BENNETT, COMEIAN: Donald, let's talk as friends. You're not off to a great start man. I thought you would be better at this. However, I'm glad
to see so many people showed up to your inauguration, oh, wait, that's the woman's march.
One day your country could be as happy as we are here in Russia. We are not divided. You know like you, because all our people are so glad for
their freedom.
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KINKADE: The comedian Aziz Ansari hosted SNL this weekend. Here's his take on it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZIZ ANSARI, COMEDIAN: I'm here hosting Saturday Night Live. Yeah. The day after Trump's inauguration.
The problem is, there's a new group. I'm talking about this tiny slice of people that have gotten way too fired up about the Trump thing for the
wrong reasons. I'm talking about these people that are running around saying stuff like Trump won, go back to Africa. Trump won, go back to
Mexico.
They see me, Trump won , go back -- to where you came from.
Yeah, they're not usually geography buffs.
If you're excited about Trump, great, he's president, let's hope he does a great job. If you're scared about Trump and you're very worried, you're
going to be okay too. Because if you look at our country's history, change doesn't come from presidents, change comes from large groups of angry
people, and if day one is any indication, you are part of the largest group of angry people I have ever seen. Good luck to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: We'll leave it there,. I'm Lynda Kinkade. That was Connect the World. Thank you for joining us.
END
