Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

Von Der Leyen: "Europe Faces a Clear and Present Danger"; Trump's "Last Warning" to Hamas: Release all Hostages Now; Republicans Push Musk to Coordinate more with Congress; Could Tariffs Push Mexico and Canada into a Recession; Liverpool Stuns PSG with 1-0 First-Leg Victory. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 06, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Well, this is the scene at the White House after Donald Trump carved out an exemption to auto tariffs for

a month. More on that coming up. It's 09:00 a.m. in Washington. It is 06:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi, you're watching "Connect the World" with me Becky

Anderson from CNN's Middle East programming headquarters.

Also coming up this hour, a European show of force in Brussels, where leaders are rallying behind President Zelenskyy and vowing to step up their

defense spending. We will get you there live. And President Trump expected to take the first steps to dismantle the U.S. Education Department.

More on that as we move through what are the next two hours. Meantime, the stock market in New York opens about 30 minutes from now. And futures

indicating, well, quite a significant lower opening amid confusion around tariffs and trade, which continue to unnerve investors back on Wall Street

at 09:30 Eastern time.

Well, U.S. President Donald Trump giving Mexico and Canada a break on one particular tariff. He says he's pausing tariffs on autos made by the U.S.'s

neighbors for at least the next month. The White House says the president made that decision after talking with U.S. auto makers to protect them from

financial harm, while hinting more exemptions are not off the table.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is open to hearing about additional exemptions. He always has open dialog, and he'll

always do you know what's right, what he believes is right for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, the President of Mexico says she will speak with Mr. Trump in the coming hours. The Canadian Prime Minister had a conversation with

the U.S. President on Wednesday. Later this hour, as I say, we'll take a look at those stock markets, how they are reacting as these trade wars, it

seems, continue at this point.

Well now to a crucial summit aimed at boosting defense for Ukraine and Europe, coming as France's President warns that the continent is facing

down a new era. Ukraine's President warmly welcomed in Brussels this morning as leaders searches for ways to end Russia's war on Ukraine,

following the U.S. President's pivot towards the man who started it.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Washington's move to suspend aid to Ukraine. The Europeans goal to negotiate peace from a position of strength,

and that means more money for defense. European Commission President says she has got a plan to pump more than $800 billion into that effort. Ursula

von der Leyen saying the need is urgent. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

URSULA VON DER LEYEN, EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT: This is a watershed moment for Europe. And Ukraine as part of our European family. It's also

watershed moment for Ukraine. Europe faces a clear and present danger. And therefore, Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself, as we

have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for lasting and just peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: We've got CNN's international assets on this for you. Diplomatic Editor, Nic Robertson is in Brussels watching these developments for us.

Our senior, sorry, our Chief International Security Correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv. Nic Robertson, let me start with you.

Ursula von der Leyen there speaking and announcing today what's being dubbed as a re-arm initiative that would mobilize more than three quarters

of a trillion euros to increase EU defense spending. How feasible is this as a goal, and what are the obstacles at this point?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Sure, there are a couple of obvious obstacles. Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, is

against any military financial support for Ukraine is pro-Putin, says Robert Fico, the Slovenian, Slovakian rather Prime Minister.

So, they will be sort of grit in the ointment around the table of the other 27 leaders there speaking right now.

[09:05:00]

But the -- are feeling is that Ukraine needs the support the plan being put forward, the proposal by Ursula von der Leyen is something that can fly 150

billion euros worth of loans, 650 billion euros worth of each nation dipping into their own pocket to up their defense spending.

The way she proposes achieving this for the $150 billion of loans. The idea is that the EU does what it did during COVID, which is, you know, use some

exceptional rules to go to banks and say, hey, we're a big trading what we're worth a lot of money. 450 million people give us some really big

loans it happened during COVID to buy vaccines.

They're using a similar methodology now. 650 billion that comes from the individual nations. There the EU has to kind of loosen off some of its

financial restrictions. That's probably going to go ahead as well. There are some other ideas scattered in there, but I think, look, here's the

bottom line on all of this.

You've got those dissenters. They'll probably still get a good decision at the end of the day for the EU majority, but there's no way that EU moves as

fast as the rapid changes that are coming out of the White House. Quite simply, they have to have lots and lots of meetings like this one.

This one gets to decide how to raise the money. They haven't even agreed that the money is raised or the money is not even there, and then they

still got to decide how to spend it. All of that takes time. So, these security holes that are appearing in Ukraine are real now and today, that's

a concern.

And of course, the real concern around this table is it's not just Ukraine that's being abandoned. It's potentially the European Union and the

strength of support that they believe they had previously from the United States. So that's why we're hearing these really strong pieces of language.

You know, at a crossroad.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

ROBERTSON: At a moment in history, there's a sort of language that's being put on these meetings.

ANDERSON: Nick Paton Walsh, President Zelenskyy, receiving what has to be described as a much warmer welcome in Brussels than he did, certainly in

Washington. Let's just hear a little bit more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: During all this period. And last week, you stay with us, and of course, from all the Ukrainians, from all

our nations. Big appreciation. We are very thankful that we are not alone. And these are not just words. We feel it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: As Nic, was pointing out, some of the 27 European countries who make up the bloc are neither willing nor interested, it seems, in

supporting Ukraine's fight for survival. What does Zelenskyy want to take away from this emergency summit in Europe?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think ultimately, they will want to have a sense of what the Europeans are

willing to do on the ground and militarily in making up the short fall of American aid here. And it's also money too that has in the background been

floating this question of what to do with the hundreds of billions of euros or dollars of frozen Russian assets.

Capital that is within European Union jurisdiction that could indefinitely fund Ukraine's war effort if indeed, they're able to purchase the weapons

they need on the global, particularly American markets. But there is another issue here. We've got a sort of second day of European, sorry,

second visit in five days of European solidarity with President Zelenskyy Sunday in London, similar scenes.

But none of this has really altered the basic calculation of where the United States stands in this. Indeed, the positive word's reaction to

Zelenskyy letter that President Trump gave in his speech on Tuesday night, that hasn't actually moved the needle practically. There is still a pause

in intelligence sharing, still a pause in military aid that may not yet literally 48 hours old as it is, or maybe a little longer impact at the

front lines.

But unless there is a change in that, Ukraine is going to have severe difficulties, and unless there is a change in the United States its open

willingness to support this European security plan taking shape, as it likely will next week during a meeting of European military chiefs in

Paris.

They're in real trouble, the Europeans, except one European official I was speaking to, saying it's both high risk and impossible to carry out the

plan they want, but putting peace keepers on the ground without the United States both psychologically and practically behind them.

So that's a huge problem Zelenskyy still has to try and fix. And at this point, despite suggestions he made, he might be able to get to go to

Washington at some point or have more meetings, his staff meeting Trump staff. The contacts are there. The relationship is not fixed.

And he's still done pretty much all the things Trump has asked him to, except it is still unclear what piece it is the White House want him to

sign on to. Is it the piece the U.S. is negotiating with Russia? Is it the peace the Europeans are planning that Ukraine is on board with? Or is it a

general, more wider feeling that we can't really define ourselves, that President Trump believes Zelenskyy wants peace?

So that's a seriously pressing issue. And while all this political theater on the stage has been going on for nearly three weeks now.

[09:10:00]

There is a stark change, obviously, in how Ukrainians feel, but also a loss of life. Zelenskyy's own hometown, Kryvyi Rih was hit by a ballistic

missile last night, a hotel hit where some foreign humanitarian workers stay indeed. Four people died in that and over a dozen were injured.

That was a ballistic missile, the kind of ballistic missile that Ukraine urgently needs U.S. patriot missiles to defend itself from those patriots,

one of the first things they're going to run out in the lack of U.S. military -- or the pause in it. So, all of this has very real-world

consequences.

And isn't really about the sort of extraordinary scenes we're seeing in Washington, Brussels, London, a new era of European security. Certainly,

all of that is immediately impacting the skies overnight here, where Russian drones offer attack every night in their dozens, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and that those scenes will not be lost on, on the Europeans. Nic Robertson, France's President, says his country will

consider using its nuclear arsenal to protect its allies that came in a speech late yesterday. Let's just have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Nuclear deterrence protects us, protects French sovereignty right across the board, and this has always played a

part in the security and peace of Europe, but responding to the historic appeal of the German Chancellor, I decided that we have to increase our

protection amongst our allies in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, Russia's Foreign Minister reacting to that today. Nic, what more can you tell us?

ROBERTSON: Yeah, Lavrov has said that this is really dangerous talk coming from President Emmanuel Macron. Of course, it's normally President Putin

and the likes of Lavrov and other key people around the Kremlin who speak about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, about testing nuclear

weapons, about their new and better nuclear weapons.

They're often rattling, if you will, the nuclear saber, and indeed, recently, they did appear to strike, use a drone to strike on a former

nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, inside of Ukraine. All of that very much a sort of nuclear saber rattling. So, it's sort of perhaps not surprising

that the Russians would respond in this way to Macron talking about something that actually.

And I was speaking about this last night after President Macron said, this actually belies what appears to be a growing and genuine concern about the

level of support that European partners within NATO can rely on the United States for. I mean, part of the fundamental of article five of NATO is that

if one nation is attacked, others will come to support.

And a core part of that is the nuclear deterrence part of it, and a core part of that has always been that the United States would be in the line

firing those missiles. And what Macron is saying now indicates that he's worried about that, and that is an indicator of just how concerned the

Europeans are about where the White House under Donald Trump is going at the moment.

They really cannot calculate, don't know what the bottom line is. Don't know how low it will go. That's why this language is coming out. And yes,

if it sounds dangerous, this is the new environment.

ANDERSON: Nic Robertson is in Brussels and Belgium for you. And the time is 03:13 in the afternoon. 06:13, here. Thank you, Nic. And in an

unprecedented move, the White House says the U.S. is negotiating directly with Hamas about hostages and Gaza ceasefire. The move goes against

Washington's established stance of not talking to groups it deems to be terrorists.

Well, the White House says Israel was consulted. Excuse me. Shortly after that statement, President Trump issued what he called a last warning to

Hamas to immediately release all of its hostages in a post on Truth Social he said he was sending Israel everything it needs to, quote, finish the

job.

Well U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio explaining that Mr. Trump is getting, frankly, fed up with the deteriorating condition of the hostages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: He's tired of watching these videos every weekend where hostages that are emaciated or released, and bodies are

turned over, and sometimes it's the wrong bodies, and this five here and three there, and games that are being played.

And he's lost his patience with it. He's been very clear about this from the beginning. He's created space and time for this to be solved, and now

it's time for seeing it to come to an end. It's enough for this already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:15:00]

ANDERSON: Well, Jeremy Diamond, with more on all of this out of Tel Aviv for you today, that is a significant change in U.S. policy. It's under

Donald Trump. How is Israel viewing this and what will it mean for negotiations?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israel would only say that it made its views clear to the United States about these direct

negotiations with Hamas, no explanation beyond that about how they view it. Certainly, I think they would be a little bit wary of the U.S. negotiating

directly with Hamas.

Especially if it means that the U.S. is trying to cut some kind of a side deal to free Edan Alexander, the last remaining living American hostage

held in Gaza. There are still the bodies of four other Americans being held in Gaza as well. But overall, I mean, Israel and the United States are very

much aligned right now on the fate of these negotiations.

We have seen as the president's latest ultimatum, very much lines up with Israel gearing up for a return to the war in Gaza, and making these new

conditions known to Hamas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): In the desolate ruins of Northern Gaza, Hala (ph) assembles scraps of wood and chunks of foam to build a fire. Proper housing

and basic infrastructure are nowhere to be found. But for now, at least there is flour, water and oil, and Hala's (ph) mother can make bread.

The food aid is what's keeping us alive, she explains. Like so many others, Um Mohammed (ph) and her family of 11 are surviving thanks to the tens of

thousands of aid trucks that entered Gaza during the first six weeks of the ceasefire. We eat and drink for the whole month from aid.

Without that, it will be very difficult. Food and drinks are very expensive, especially when crossings were closed, we couldn't buy sugar or

flour, she says, aid makes us live. That lifeline is now under existential threat. Israel is laying siege to Gaza once again, shutting down the supply

of food and other humanitarian aid in a move decried by the United Nations and human rights groups as a violation of international law.

Israel says it is trying to pressure Hamas into releasing more hostages, and accuses Hamas of profiting from the aid, to quote, rebuild its war

machine. Claim Hamas calls a baseless lie. It is also threatening to cut off water and electricity if Hamas does not give in to new conditions.

And a return to war could also be on the horizon. In Gaza, where markets have only recently begun to come back to life, Israel's renewed blockade is

already driving up prices, and aid groups say minimal stock piles of aid are beginning to dwindle. Without more aid, the World Food Program says

bakeries and soup kitchens will likely shut down in less than two weeks.

For those living amid the rubble, aid running dry will revive the threat of famine and spell an end to what little they can still rely on. We are so

happy when aid keeps coming, Ibrahim (ph) says. We have no work. Our lives are on hold. Our businesses and homes are gone. So, when aid comes, the

children are happy, whether it's food, drinks, cleaning products, this is the only way we can live.

For some the aid blockade already feels like a return to war. They are fighting us through food, Abu Muhammad (ph) says. Netanyahu is now publicly

saying, I will close the crossings in star view, no one is standing against him. He wonders who will stand with the people of Gaza and how he will feed

his children when the aid runs dry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (on camera): And it is important to note, of course, that Israel has threatened to go even further, cutting off electricity and water and

also very much threatening a return to war. And that's why the comments by President Trump, demanding that Hamas release all of the hostages now or

face hell to pay later, and threatening to give Israel the weaponry to finish the job.

All of that is coming at this very, very critical and delicate moment, as we see that this ceasefire is now hanging by a thread, and a return to war

seems very, very much possible, Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv in Israel for you, Jeremy, thank you. Well, still to come, after a wobbly few days, a look at how the

stock markets, are reacting after President Trump backed off a looming auto tariff. More on that is coming up. Plus, sources say President Trump is

gearing up to order the scrapping of the U.S. Department of Education. We are close to the following developments for you from Washington.

[09:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education as early as this week, according

to multiple sources there. The president has said he'd like to give education policy back to the States. And he's tied the Department of

Education to culture war issues, and says that the U.S. lags behind other countries in educational standards, despite spending more per student than

anyone else.

Well, the move to dismantle the Department of Education comes as a number of Republicans are pushing Elon Musk to coordinate more with Congress on

his sweeping DOGE cuts to the federal government. CNN's, Lauren Fox joins us now from Capitol Hill. What are you hearing, Lauren from Republican

lawmakers about DOGE?

And what was this meeting with Musk behind closed doors yesterday. We hear a very supportive message in public. Is that the same message from

lawmakers behind closed doors?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well privately, House and Senate Republicans are urging to be more involved in how Musk handles these

across-the-board cuts. And one of the ways that they are suggesting to do this is to essentially have the White House send up in a package the kinds

of cuts that they are enacting and have Congress vote on them.

This is known in Capitol Hill as a rescissions package, and essentially what it does is it allows Congress to vote by a simple majority in the

Senate and a simple majority in the House to go ahead and enact some cuts to already congressionally mandated spending.

And the reason that that matter is because we've seen in court decision, after court decision that a lot of these cuts that Elon Musk is making are

getting challenged and are getting caught up in the courts. And the point from Republicans is that they need to have more of a say, because none of

this is real until they vote on it. Here's Senator Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): It's just political theater until it becomes a law. So, we're not going to capture the savings until we have legislation

passed by Congress. If the White House put together a rescission package, encapsulating the really egregious stuff DOGE has found and brought it to

the floor of the Senate, I think it would pass.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And just to remind everyone back home, rescission packages aren't new, Trump tried to send one to Capitol Hill in 2018 and it was only $15 billion

the kinds of cuts that DOGE is making would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. It couldn't pass, because one of the challenges is it's all in

theory a good idea to cut waste, fraud and abuse.

But senators then have to make individual decisions about whether or not, when they see the line items being cut, they can support them, and that

really becomes the challenge.

[09:25:00]

A couple senators that I talked to said, on the one hand, they want more power. On the other hand, having that power is going to be really

difficult, because all of a sudden, they're the ones on the hook for DOGE's actions. They can't just turn around and tell voters, oh, this was all Elon

Musk's idea, Becky.

ANDERSON: Good to have you. Thank you. Well, let's get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now. And a Mayor in

South Korea says that parts of his city look like a battlefield. That is after the country's Air Force accidentally dropped eight bombs on a

residential area, injuring more than a dozen people.

It happened in the City of Pocheon during military drills with U.S. forces earlier today, officials say initial findings suggest a pilot that ended

wrong bombing coordinates. Well, a powerful and large storm that slammed parts of the U.S. this week will be tapering off throughout the day from

the mid-section to the south to East Coast.

The storm brought snow, tornados, gusty winds and notable dust storms and fires. At least five weather related deaths have already been reported.

Well, Pope Francis is resting after another peaceful night, according to the Vatican. The 88-year-old pontiff has been in a Rome hospital now for

nearly three weeks, getting treatment for complications due to double pneumonia.

His condition has been described as stable but complex. U.S. stock markets open in just a few minutes. Stocks did rally yesterday in relief that

President Trump was causing some of his import tariffs, injecting some sort of flexibility in what has otherwise been a very trying time for investors.

We're going to take a look at today's early action just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You're watching "Connect the World" from our CNN Programming Hub here in the Middle East.

The White House putting the brakes on auto tariffs for Mexico and Canada for one month.

[09:30:00]

The U.S. President says he wants to protect the big three U.S. auto makers from financial harm. A 25 percent tariff on other goods, however, remains

in place. Let's get you to Wall Street, and this is the bell the U.S. markets will be out of the gates momentarily, and we will get you a sense

of where they stand.

Certainly, futures indicate, indicating a very much weaker start to the trading day today. So, let's take a look and see. We've got the DOW off

four fifths of 1 percent I would ignore that NASDAQ number. I simply don't think it's real. There you go at 1.88 percent nearly 2 percent off on the

NASDAQ and the S&P down one and a third percent.

Automakers feeling some serious whiplash over the past couple of weeks amid this back and forth over tariffs on car imports. Mr. Trump hitting pause

just a day after administration officials, of course, met with the heads of Ford, GM, General Motors and Stellantis. Well, Gabriela Santos is the Chief

Market Strategist for the Americas at J.P. Morgan Asset Management joining us now from New York.

We'll take a look at how the big three car makers are faring this morning. Shortly, stocks have, though, on the whole, started lower today. Just give

us a sense of what this chaotic approach from the Trump Administration to these tariffs at present, what sort of impact this is having on investor

sentiment?

GABRIELA SANTOS, CHIEF AMERICAS MARKET STRATEGIST AT J.P. MORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT: Thank you so much. And indeed, I think this morning is a

continuation of a correction that started on February 19, when we last hit a new all-time high, and so far, a correction of about 6 percent which, to

be clear, it's fairly normal, fairly mild, tends to happen about three times on any given year.

But I do think this is investors having a greater appreciation that the use of tariffs will be much broader and much quicker and more frequent than

during the first Trump Administration as Treasury Secretary, Bessent has talked about tariffs, it's part negotiating tool for other domestic

priorities, but it's also very much related to other goals, such as rebalancing trade as well as tariff revenue generation.

And I think this is investors thinking about much more the growth down side that tariffs can create, yes, they push up cost, but more than that, they

hit corporate margins, which can hit corporate capex spending, hiring and ultimately, even consumer spending. Of course, it's all going to depend on

the final scale, scope and staying power of various policies.

But I do think the market reaction is showing that it's much more about investors trying to price in a bit of a growth slowdown in the U.S. and

around the world, versus getting too overly concerned about a more permanent re acceleration in inflation.

ANDERSON: Yeah. I mean, look, we know that investors, certainly, on a short-term basis, hate uncertainty and this sort of, you know, lurch from

here's a tariff to. All right, let's inject some flexibility, but we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I mean, I have to say, you know, it's

already hurting the shares of the Big Three automakers today.

They are off between what, I think I was looking at just less than, what 1 percent to 1.8 percent. So, you're right to point out, I mean this

volatility in what feels to be policy at this point isn't doing anybody's nerves any favors at this point. Let's talk about the impact on Mexico and

Canada.

I wanted the team to pull up some numbers. Last year, Mexico exported over $500 billion to the United States, or around 30 percent of its GDP. For

Canada, the number was over 400 billion equal to around 20 percent of its GDP. What's your sense of whether these trade wars, be them, tit for tat,

or however they sort of pan out at this point?

What's your sense of how this trade war could push these two economies into one, hates to say it, but into a recession at this point, is that a

possibility?

SANTOS: I think it's. It's all going to depend on exactly how long and at what magnitude these tariffs really end up staying on, specifically with

regards to Canada and Mexico, but I do think ultimately it is something that would impact much more the Mexican and Canadian economies versus the

U.S. economy.

[09:35:00]

And exactly as you mentioned, the U.S. is much more of a closed economy. We estimate it only depends about 7 percent of GDP with regards to exports,

versus a much, much bigger, nearly 20 percent share, just to U.S., for Canada and Mexico.

ANDERSON: Yeah.

SANTOS: And I look to, for example, the Peterson Institute for a simple estimate they did of the effect of these permanent 25 percent tariffs,

which would be ahead of about 20 basis points to U.S. growth over five years, versus a 1.5 percent hit to Mexican and Canadian GDP, which

ultimately could mean a recession.

But this is all very much, you know, up in the air, because not just depends on how long they stay and at what exact magnitude and what scope,

but also what reactions are there? Are there policy offsets that these different countries do or not? What's the import substitution that's

possible?

So, there are a lot of questions. It's very hard to say one for one. So, I think your initial point is more spot on, which is just the uncertainty of

it all, leads businesses, at times, to stay on wait and see mode, which is a more moderate, but could be an important hit to business investment and

hiring.

ANDERSON: Yeah. Let's just thank you. Let's just have a look at China announcing an ambitious growth target of 5 percent some will say, not as

ambitious as its growth targets. You know, in years past, but still, you know, given the new world and the new growth picture around the world, it's

not bad.

And for the first time, the government is making consumer spending its top priority. How big a shift is this? And how much of this do you believe is

being driven by Trump's policies towards China?

SANTOS: So, we see China being much more reactive to some of these external head winds, including U.S. trade policy. Ultimately, we see the targets

that were announced out of the National People's Congress this week as much more incremental rather than revolutionary.

So, we've been seeing this from China since September of last year, incremental steps to increasing direct fiscal spending, especially, and

very, very incremental fiscal support to household. It's still very incremental. The most important change that we saw this week with the

increase in the overall government fiscal deficit from 3 percent to 4 percent but this is still very, very small.

So ultimately, I think this is the continuation of the new China, which is trying to balance not just growth objectives, but also variety of other

objectives, such as reducing inequality, reducing leverage, the energy transition. So ultimately, a China that will stay reactive just enough

fiscal support to provide at least somewhat of a floor to their economy, but not a -- like change from China.

And probably a little bit more will be necessary, because, with regards to China, is where we really do think these tariffs stick like they did the

first time around, and can even increase further from here come April 2, which is the next big important deadline here.

ANDERSON: Yeah, and you're absolutely right to point that out. It's good to have you on the perspective of J.P. Morgan Asset Management there. Thank

you very much indeed.

SANTOS: Thank you.

ANDERSON: Well, still to come on CNN, Liverpool, shock PSG, with a last- minute goal in the Champions League last 16. Your highlights after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

ANDERSON: Well, Liverpool holds a narrow one-nil lead over after sealing a first leg victory against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, a late goal

from Harvey Elliot helped Liverpool in in the Champions League last 16 match. Let's get you CNN's Patrick Snell, joining me from Atlanta. Pat,

what did you make of the game?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: I still don't know. Becky, how Liverpool won that match. It was the ultimate smash and grab. Paris Saint-Germain

delivered a super performance. I was writing yesterday's "World Sport" show, and every time I looked up and glanced at the monitor, it was one way

traffic.

It was all Paris Saint-Germain, but I have to say, Alisson the big Brazilian in Liverpool's goal, had the performance of a lifetime. His

words, not mine. He made nine saves, including outstanding and key moments in the first half and in the second half as well. He was just unbeatable.

There's still the second leg to come at Anfield, so PSG, will have some hope of keeping the tie alive. And who knows, winning at fortress Anfield,

but they probably may well come, Becky, to rue those chances missed.

ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. What a performance by that keeper. Look, I just want to keep you for one moment, because, as I understand it, the World

Cup, the Football World Cup, not the soccer, the Football World Cup.

SNELL: Well said.

ANDERSON: Which is in the States, next year, will introduce, yes, is introducing a half time show. What is this all about? This is not football

as we know it.

SNELL: Football purist up in arms, Becky, is this the Super Bowl -- of the FIFA World Cup final? It's really significant because never, and I mean

never in the history of this story tournament goes back to 1930 remember. There's never been a half time show, but all that set to change in New

Jersey next year.

Now let's recap the official rules of football. They clearly state that half time breaks should not exceed 15 minutes. It's unclear whether that's

going to be changed to accommodate the performance. FIFA President Gianni Infantino calling it a historic moment befitting the biggest sporting event

in the world.

And Becky, a further word, because Cold Play are going to have a big role in this in terms of advising who might do the half time show. Could they

even select themselves? Infantino did not say Cold Play would be performing, but it did say its members will be helping to put together a

list of potential artists.

I tell you what I want to leave you with a closing thought. Taylor Swift, Becky has never before done a Super Bowl half time show worth considering.

We'll see how it all pans out. But you have to think, you know, is it going to become a 20- or 25-minute half time show.

Spare a thought for the players as well. Are they going to have to start warming up again? They're not used to this. If the game is on a knife edge

at half time. The last thing they probably want to be hearing is the music coming out as they're trying to focus on tactics, but look fascinating.

We'll see how it all pans out. Back to you.

ANDERSON: -- I can see which side of the purest fence you said on me, the same as me, this is all wrong. It's all wrong. All right. "World Sport" is

up after this short break. I'll be back top of the hour with the second hour of "Connect the World". Do stay with this CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

END