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Judges on Court of International Trade Appointed by Reagan, Obama and Trump; Trump Administration to Revoke Visas of Chinese Students with Ties to Communist Party, Those Students Studying in "Critical" Fields; Russia: New Peace Talks Set for Monday; Federal Court Blocks Most of Trump's Global Tariffs; Thunder Cruise Past T-Wolves to Clinch Spot in NBA Finals. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired May 29, 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)

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: Taking a look there, live pictures out of Washington that of course, the White House. The president's economic

agenda today facing a major setback after a federal court blocked Trump's sweeping tariffs, striking at the core of his trade policy. It is 09:00

a.m. on the DOT in Washington, D.C. and also here in New York.

I'm Erica Hill. Thanks for joining us on "Connect the World". Also coming up this hour, President Trump going into his legal battle with Harvard, as

the university fights for the right to continue enrolling international students. Plus, Russia setting the date for the next talks with Ukraine, as

Trump says he's giving Putin two weeks to show he's serious about peace.

The stock market in New York set to open just about 30 minutes from now. Let's take a quick look at those futures up slightly overnight, perhaps on

the news, of course, of this shock ruling from a U.S. Federal Court blocking most of President Trump's global tariffs.

That ruling coming from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which found the president overstepped his authority in declaring a national emergency

to impose the tariffs, also noting that the constitutional authority to decide on tariffs rests with Congress. The administration immediately

appealed the decision, the White House releasing a statement which reads in part, deficits have created a national emergency that has decimated

American communities, left our workers behind and weakened our defense industrial base.

Facts that the court did not dispute. It is not for unelected judges to decide how to properly address a national emergency. The court also ruled,

by the way, in favor of a permanent injunction on the tariffs, so that could block the tariffs through this entire appeals process, which could

potentially go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Its decision stemming from a loss from lawsuits which were filed by a dozen U.S. states and a handful of small U.S. businesses. Those businesses

claiming they had been severely harmed by the tariffs. Joining me to discuss the potential here, the far-reaching impact of the decision.

Michael Froman, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Former U.S. Trade Representative in the Obama White House, and Chris Southworth,

Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom. We should note, of course, the U.S. and UK announced the first

steps in a deal, some agreements, earlier this month.

It's good to have both of you with us when we look just stepping back on the surface. The fact that there was this unanimous ruling here in the

United States blocking most of these tariffs, right, the ones that were declared as being under a national emergency. Mike, as you look at this,

what does that change going forward?

MICHAEL FROMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, first of all, as you said, it will be appealed immediately to the Federal Circuit

Court of Appeals and potentially to the Supreme Court. We don't know how long that process will take. Secondly, some of the tariffs will remain in

force, including on steel and aluminum autos, the ones that came under a different kind of authority, those will still stay in place.

And the president has some other authorities. He could use that to impose tariffs, but those require more process and more public comment, and he was

trying to do a shortcut by using these emergency powers. So, he can still ramp up tariffs, but it will take him longer, and there will be more checks

on it going forward.

And then thirdly, I think the real issue is that other countries who have been seeking to negotiate a deal before the reciprocal tariffs go into

effect, are likely to wait and see now and to see what the process goes, how the process goes in the courts, before they make further compromises.

HILL: So, they would be likely to wait and see when it comes to negotiating with U.S. But Chris, they are certainly reaching out and negotiating with

each other, including what we've just seen between the UK and EU. How much have these tariffs on the part of Donald Trump? Chris reset, frankly, the

world order.

CHRIS SOUTHWORTH, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN THE UK.: Oh, completely. I mean, there's no question about

that. I mean, we're seeing big statements from the likes of a pack, which is the Asia group, Asian just come forward with another big statement.

We're likely to see the same with the Commonwealth, which is a big connector community of middle economies.

And we've certainly seen the same with Europe, with the EU, UK summit last week. So, you know, we're moving into a different phase of the tariffs and

Liberation Day, where we're starting to see legal challenges coming in from the U.S. That's really interesting, particularly coming from the five small

companies who are making the legal challenge.

This has the potential to really open up the floodgates for all sorts of legal challenges, firstly from other U.S. companies, but also from foreign

investors, from governments that don't forget, China, have already lodged a complaint in the World Trade Organization, but also potentially, and I

wouldn't discount it, from U.S. consumers that tariffs are impacting day to day, life and livelihoods.

[09:05:00]

As to what we've always said from the beginning is tariffs are not good for business and not good for consumers. It just leads to inflation and more

pressure and doesn't address the core issue, which is a policy failure, which we all share by the way, the U.S. are not alone in this regard.

The UK have the same problem, and so does much of the Western economies, where we haven't distributed the wealth of trade across the national

economies, our national economies. And people are clearly angry about that, and that's driving the political policy. But tariffs are the wrong solution

to that problem.

So, you know, having legal challenges coming in creates a whole phase of new uncertainty, which is unfortunate for the U.S., but the rest of the

world is moving on. There's no such thing as a vacuum in the global community. The world moves on very quickly, as we found out with the UK and

Brexit.

HILL: All right. You know, as we're talking about the world moving on and sort of where things stand, I was struck by a moment which I know has had a

lot of attention in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon, President Trump was asked about what has been coined as taco trades by a reporter through

financial times that Trump always chickens out. So, take a listen to his reaction to that question?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the taco trade. They're saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff

threats, and that's why markets are higher this week. What's your response to that?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:

I kick out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chicken out.

TRUMP -- Chicken out. I never heard that we had a dead country. We had a country people didn't think it was going to survive. And you ask a nasty

question like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So, the president berating the reporter there. He also said that this back and forth is really just one of his negotiating tactics, which Mike,

we have heard a number of times, that this is how a deal is made for President Trump, but when we look at the fact that many of these

negotiations to your point, will likely be now on pause as countries wait to see what these rulings amount to, whether this holds in the United

States.

I wonder if this is being seen less as a negotiating tactic and more as the boy who cried wolf in many ways.

FROMAN: Well, I think he will continue to use tariffs whenever he can, one as a source of leverage, and has proven to be successful in bringing other

countries to the table, and he can do that even without the reciprocal tariffs by pursuing some of these other authorities. He has to open

investigations on national security grounds or on unfair trade practices grounds, even on balance of payments grounds.

So, he has other tools at his disposal. I think the real question is, he's been pursuing these tariffs, in part for leverage, in part for revenue, and

in part to help re industrialize the United States, to create a wall of tariffs behind which other country companies would feel compelled to build

and produce in the United States if they want to serve the U.S. market.

I think the question is whether it's a 10 percent residual tariff or whatever comes out of this process. Will it give that proper incentive to

companies to move their production and their supply chains to the U.S., or will they now wait and see to with a greater uncertainty about what the

ultimate tariff regime might look like, and leave their supply chains where they are.

HILL: Chris, in terms of that right, the uncertainty, as we know, makes it all but impossible, in many ways, for businesses to make important

decisions like, oh hey, I'm going to build a plant in the U.S. and move my manufacturing there. So, in terms of re industrializing, how much is the

president actually hurting those efforts, Chris, with this back and forth?

And, you know, trying from the from the get go here, to use more of a work around rather than going through the established channels in the United

States.

SOUTHWORTH: Yeah, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, a lot of this is for the birds. The idea that everybody's going to reorder their global supply

chains and create manufacturing hubs in the U.S. is just not going to happen. For some companies that makes a lot of sense, and they will.

That's fine, but the idea that, you know the U.S. is going to reassure all their global supply chains, it's just not going to happen. That's not the

way the global trading system works. Some companies will respond to that because they have to. Others won't, and they will, you know, restructure

their supply chains, as we're seeing with global buyers and commodity traders, rerouting global supply chains and the same with government

relationships.

In many ways, the damage is done, and it's now, all about the New World Order, who is stepping forward. None of that involves the U.S., and that's

unfortunate. You know, in the UK, by the way, is a great friend of the U.S.

[09:10:00]

You know, we have the same ultimate issues national level as the U.S. does. It's almost identical in terms of distributing wealth and improving living

standards. But the answers are policy, national policy. It's not about trade, but tariffs are not the answer to those issues.

All this does is create a lot more uncertainty. It does more damage to the U.S. economy, which is really unfortunate for everybody, because we all

benefit if the U.S. is strong, and we all miss the U.S. at the table. But the truth is the world moves on, and we will have to adapt to that new

world. And there's lots of evidence of exactly that happening?

HILL: Yeah, Mike, before I let you both go, do you see evidence amidst this shuffling and reorganization of any winners?

FROMAN: Well, look, not really. It's hard to have a global trading system if the U.S. exempts itself and in explicitly and if China exempts itself in

terms of how it plays by its own rules, those are the two largest economies of the world. The other smaller powers, medium sized countries can continue

to live by a rules-based system.

But you're not going to make much progress on a global level without the United States and China being at the table itself. U.S. is incredibly

resilient economy, as we've seen through COVID, through the global financial crisis, high productivity, high innovation. Hopefully those

attributes will continue.

But I think, you know, ultimately, we're raising the cost is going to be a more fractured world, a more expensive world, a less coherent and a less

cooperative world going forward, unless we can get through this in a different way.

HILL: Michael Froman, Chris Southworth, really appreciate you both joining us this morning. Thank you.

FROMAN: Thanks for having me.

HILL: President Trump's campaign of harassment of America's oldest university is back in court today as Harvard graduates prepare for their

commencement ceremony just about 10 kilometers away, the school's lawyers are preparing to face off with the Trump Administration a short time from

now.

All of this, of course, over the right to enroll international students. So, we just learned also ahead of today's hearing, the administration has

also begun the formal process of stripping Harvard of its ability to host international students. We'll take a closer look at what that means just

ahead.

It's also important to note this is all coming one day after the White House delivered yet another blow to America's institutions of higher

learning writ large. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announcing the U.S. State Department would aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.

We have team coverage. CNN's Jennifer Hansler at the State Department. Mark Stewart joining us with reaction from Beijing. Jennifer, I want to start

with you first in terms of this, I guess, new policy that was announced by the Secretary yesterday, aggressively stripping Chinese students of their

visas. What does that actually translate to? Is every Chinese student out?

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT REPORTER: Well, Erica, this statement from the secretary, which came as a surprise yesterday evening,

is really sparse on details. He says they're going to aggressively revoke these visas from Chinese students, including those who have connections to

the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields.

However, he does not define what those critical fields are, or how they're going to establish what constitutes a connection to the CCP, which is

ubiquitous in China, of course. But we do know that they did say they would be working with the Department of Homeland Security on this maneuver, which

indicates that they are going to act aggressively to make sure that these students do not remain in the United States if their visas are revoked.

And of course, Erica, this is going to have a very significant impact on U.S. higher education institutions, because there is a huge population of

Chinese students who are studying in the United States in the 2023-2024 school year, for example, they were the second largest population of

international students here in the U.S.

They were traditionally the largest population in 2023-2024, there were more than 275,000 Chinese students in this country. And of course, all of

this is coming amid a larger swath of actions that are going to deter international students from coming and studying here.

On Tuesday, embassies and consulates around the world were ordered to stop all new visa appointments for student and exchange visas while they are

undertaking this review of expanded social media vetting that is likely to increase a back flow of students who are applying for these visas.

It's also likely to reduce the capacity of these embassies to actually issue the visas, so that is going to likely draw down the number of

students who are coming here. And of course, there is the uncertainty and fear around all of these actions that may also deter students from coming

to the United States.

These universities here rely on international students for enrollment numbers and tuition money. I should also note, Erica, this is coming as

they are also escalating their feud with Harvard University. Senior State Department officials last night confirmed that they are reviewing all visa

holders affiliated with Harvard not just international students.

[09:15:00]

So, a lot of wide-ranging actions here that are ultimately going to have a major impact here in the United States, Erica.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely. And Marc, in terms of the view that we're seeing from Beijing and how this is being received. How is it being received? What

is the reaction today?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Erica, I don't think this is a surprise to Beijing at all, as Jennifer will tell you, Marco

Rubio has been a well-known China hawk, a well-known China critic, even before his time as secretary of state. It's something that he established a

reputation he established during his time as a member of the United States Congress.

Obviously, China is not viewing upon this kindly. At one point in the previous administration, these people-to-people exchanges were seen as an

important priority. Obviously, a different tone in this administration. Beijing has filed a complaint with the United States hoping perhaps for the

best.

Listen to what a government spokeswoman had to say in Beijing just a few hours ago. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAO NING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: This politically motivated and discriminatory action exposes the lie of the so-called freedom and

openness that the U.S. has always boasted and will only further damage America's own international image and credibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: So, there's also another issue that is kind of being weaved into all of this. It's the tariff policy that we have been talking about that

these tariffs now, especially those levied against China, have been halted because of this injunction. And that spokeswoman was asked a question,

might this issue with the college students, the college visas might that impact future trade talks between the two nations?

You know, China, of course, very focused in its response, saying that, you know, they hope that the two nations will have, you know, discussions to

result in the greater good, leading to, you know, a stable U.S.-China relationship.

It's also interesting, of course, there's also some discussion that, you know, if the students from China are not allowed into the United States,

perhaps would benefit China in the sense that some of the smartest minds in the world will be back here in China, perhaps developing new technologies,

new medical advances. But this is something that China certainly does not see as a favorable move, Erica.

HILL: Absolutely. We'll continue to follow all these developments. Marc Stewart, Jennifer Hansler, appreciate it. Thank you both. Still to come

here, Ukraine agreeing to a major arms package with Germany. So, what could it mean, especially with new peace talks on the horizon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Another day of death and desperation in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry says 11 people have been killed since aid hubs opened earlier this

week, including three deaths on Thursday, as crowds of desperate people converge at distribution sites in Southern Gaza.

[09:20:00]

The World Food Program says at least two people were killed on Wednesday as crowds of hungry people broke into a UN food warehouse. The UN says

humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control following the 80-day Israeli blockade of all food and aid into Gaza.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is joining us from Tel Aviv with these latest developments. So more do we know about aid distribution and those concerns

moving forward, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, a few things are very clear right now in Gaza. One of them is that this hunger crisis that has

grips the Gaza Strip for weeks now, since Israel imposed a total blockade of the strip on March 2. It's clear that that crisis has not yet been

alleviated.

We are witnessing scenes of desperation as crowd these aid distribution sites of this controversial new U.S. and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian

Foundation. We've also seen reports and videos of Palestinians hungry for food looting a market in the northern part of the strip, as well as a World

Food Program warehouse in central Gaza.

In terms of these aid sites, these Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, we are told that three of the four sites that were set to be opened at the

beginning of this process are now operational. Two of those are in the southern part of the strip. One of them is in central Gaza. The Gaza

Humanitarian Foundation says that it has distributed more than 17,000 boxes of food today, which they say amounts to nearly 1 million meals.

But it is also clear that the area around these distribution sites has been the site of some violence, and we don't know who is responsible, but the

Palestinian Ministry of Health has said that 11 people have been killed near these sites over the course of this week, including three people who

were killed just today.

One of our journalists saw one man's body and three people with injuries being taken from the scene near one of these aid distribution sites in the

area of Khan Yunis in Southern Gaza. Journalists on the ground also reported that two men had been shot and several people were injured as

crowds converged on one of these Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites.

Now the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, for its part, has said that there have been no deaths at any of its sites. The question is, of course, what

they define as their site? Is it just the secured area where Palestinians come in to collect aid? Is it the surrounding area as well? Some

uncertainty about that.

But it is clear that this new foundation has yet to alleviate this hunger crisis that is gripping the Gaza Strip, and part of that stems from the

fact that in Northern Gaza, there still are none of these GHF sites that are operational as of yet, and the little aid that is still getting in

through the humanitarian channels, which Israel has allowed for about a week now.

Almost none of those trucks are also making it to the northern part of the strip, as the Israeli military is failing to provide safe routes to those

humanitarian agencies to get that aid to the people who need it in the northern part of Gaza.

HILL: It is just -- it is mind boggling in many ways, when you look at it, the fact that the crisis is still at this point, and as you point out, so

much aid unable to get to other areas as well. Jeremy, appreciate you staying on all this for us. Thank you. Want to connect you now with some

major developments around the war in Ukraine.

Russia says the next round of peace talks will be held in Turkey on Monday, with Moscow promising to lay out its position on key sticking points.

Sources tell Reuters, Vladimir Putin is seeking a written pledge to stop NATO expansion to the east. All of this coming as Donald Trump says he's

giving Mr. Putin two weeks to see whether he's actually serious about peace.

Important to note, the U.S. President didn't specify anything further, but he is said to have become increasingly frustrated about the lack of a

breakthrough this as Ukraine's President says he is open to three way talks between himself and Presidents Trump and Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also just agreed to a new arms deal with Germany, which will co-produce long range weapons for Kyiv. Nic Robertson is following

these developments for us from London. So important developments on a number of fronts, not just a day for the talks, right?

But also, we have these arms deal that we're learning about between Germany and Ukraine, and also the comments from President Trump, about two more

weeks for Vladimir Putin, although, as our colleague Kevin Liptak has pointed out, this is, I believe, now, the third time that Mr. Trump has

said Putin has two weeks.

Nic, as we look at all of these developments, where do things stand, practically speaking in this moment?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. And I think to that point, every two weeks that President Trump says he's going to give

Russia to see where it stands, those are the same two weeks Ukraine's European allies say we know where Russia stands.

It's very clear, and they're using their usual tactics. This is certainly something that's being said very strongly in Ukraine.

[09:25:00]

That Russia is using as usual tactics of prevarication, stalling and trying to get into discussions about -- when discussions about when talks could

actually happen. And that's all a tried and tested Russian method of just playing things out down the line, President Trump again giving another two

weeks.

And I think from the Ukrainian perspective, they're pointing specifically right now that Russia has said yes, it will have a second round of talks in

Turkey next week, on Monday. The last round of talks was two weeks ago Friday, again in Turkey, and at that stage, Russia was expected to give its

memorandum, if you will, as it's describing it of its outstanding issues about what the possibility of a peace process could look like, what they

want out the other end of it.

There's been no definitive position that's been set out by the Russian government, but everything that they have been saying up until now has

involved things that speak about the -- addressing the underlying factors for the for the war in Ukraine, for their -- in their invasion there, which

has always been understood to be NATO's position.

Not its position today, but the fact that it has moved forces Ever eastward in response to Russia's aggression. So, is that coming into sharper focus?

Now, really, it isn't clear, because we don't have any detail from the Russian side. And the Ukrainians have said, you're slowing you could give

us that memorandum.

Now, you said you were going to give it last week. So, the Ukrainian position is very, very clear. Russia is playing for time. President Trump

is giving them more time here. What's in the memorandum. We don't know. The talks will happen on Monday in Turkey next week.

I don't think that at this stage, anyone is holding out a great deal of hope that they will advance the situation any more than it was at the last

round, which was by not much.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely. And just really quickly, Nic, to touch on these arms deal with Germany that was announced. What does that change? What does

that bring to Ukraine in terms of additional power?

ROBERTSON: Well, it brings some of the much-needed income, if you will, and industrial base build up that any nation is going to require to sort of

meet its economic needs. But the real thing that it brings, in addition to that, because we understand that some of the manufacturing would be jointly

German supported inside of Ukraine.

It's going to bring Ukraine the ability to strike deeper into Russia and hit targets. We know the Russians said that they intercepted overnight at

least 48 Ukrainian drones some nights. It's many more than that Ukraine appearing to be able to hit with its drone's targets deep inside Russia,

inside Moscow in the past 24 hours, for example.

But it's these missile systems that that Ukraine's Western backers like Germany that are taking off the limits of how at the distance that these

missiles can be fired, and they have a high degree of accuracy. They are harder to stop than drones, and they will, in essence, potentially push

Russia's resupply and armaments to the front-line efforts further away from the front line.

And that, of course, gives Ukraine an intelligence ability to see where Russia is then moving its forces and its armaments, because they have to

move further that's available to observation by satellite. So, it helps Ukraine's war effort on multiple levels. But is it seriously going to

change the dynamic at the moment, potentially not.

But it will put more pain into Russia, and that's what Russia has been reacting to on this issue, because they have clearly said that this is

counterproductive, not helpful for peace. I think the latest that we heard from the Russian Foreign Minister today began talking about the ceasefire

talks here is saying that there's words he used hysterical effort to try to sort of bounce Russia into some kind of immediate, unconditional ceasefire.

Of course, United States President Trump, more than two months ago, asked Russia to do that. But the language that's coming out of Russia now, about

the longer-range missiles, about the peace talks, sounds as if they are getting more heated, by the way they're describing it all.

HILL: Yeah. Nic Robertson in London, appreciate it as always. Thank you. Still ahead here President Trump's sweeping global tariffs blocked by a

court in the United States, a court that maybe you hadn't heard of, but said very clearly in a unanimous ruling, it believes the president

overstepped his authority. A closer look at the fallout.

[09:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: Welcome back. I'm Erica Hill in New York. You're watching "Connect the World". Here's a look at your headlines. Markets reacting now to the

U.S. Federal Courts block on President Trump's sweeping global tariffs. As you can see there are fairly positive. The DOW barely up there, but we'll

take the green where we could find it.

The Trump Administration, of course, is appealing this decision now, which came down late Wednesday, which threatens to throw the president's economic

agenda into chaos. Joining us now with more CNN's Matt Egan. So Matt, we're watching the market reaction here. We had seen a somewhat positive reaction

in Europe ahead of markets opening here in the U.S.

Is this a wholesale response to that ruling, or is there more to what we're seeing right now in the early moments of trading?

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, Erica, investors are happy that this is a setback in the trade war. The moment this ruling came out, last night, we

saw U.S. stock futures move sharply higher, but as you note, some of those gains sort of faded a little bit, right? You see the DOW is only up by

point 1 percent more significant gains for the S&P 500, almost 1 percent the NASDAQ up more than 1 percent although that's being driven in part by

Nvidia.

I think the reason why the reaction is not even more emphatically positive is because investors realize that this does not mean the trade war is over,

right? This is a ruling that does pause many of the president's tariffs, including those 30 percent tariffs on China, the 25 percent limited tariffs

on Canada and Mexico, and the 10 percent universal tariffs.

But it does not pause all of the tariffs the sector tariffs, which are the ones on autos and steel and aluminum, they stay in place. And as you noted,

the president has already appealed this ruling. And the court noted that he does have other legal authorities that he can rely on to impose tariffs.

[09:35:00]

The other thing here, though, is arguably, we have more uncertainty when it comes to the trade war than we did 24 hours ago, because this ruling, while

it halts some of the tariffs, it just raises some questions about what happens next in the trade war, and really what happens to the broader

agenda here.

Now we saw that the U.S. markets, the major index, is opening significantly higher, except for the DOW, which was only slightly higher. But when you

look at some of the individual movers, we're seeing bigger gains in some of the more tariff exposed stocks, including Apple, Target, Nike, Crocs.

Look at that, Wayfair up 3 percent, Restoration Hardware up 3 percent as well. So, a little bit more of a significantly positive reaction there. I

talked to Erica York over the Tax Foundation. She's been a pretty consistent critic of tariffs, and she told me that she believes that this

ruling is excellent news.

She said it clarifies that Trump does not have willy-nilly tariff power. This is a major blow to the president's tariff strategy and a major boon to

both taxpayers and the economy, but Erica, I would just stress that this does not mean that the tariff war here is over. This could end up being a

little bit more of a delay or even a detour here, rather than sort of a death knell to the trade war.

HILL: OK, so putting tariffs aside for a moment, I also wanted to ask you, because I think you have some new information for us when it comes to Elon

Musk. So, Elon Musk saying he is now, in fact, stepping away from his role in the administration. At the same time, of course, Tesla shareholders have

been calling for him to really prioritize his duties as CEO.

As we've seen slumping sales, massively slumping sales in Europe, and issues for the company. What more are you learning about this decision

making and where Musk's head is at in this moment?

EGAN: Yeah, well, Erica, the fact that the that Elon Musk is stepping away from the White House that is going to use it to the ears of Tesla

shareholders, because, as you note, this company has been in a crisis, right? You see shares moving 2 percent higher today, largely on this news

that Elon has officially exited the White House.

We've seen sales plunge, especially in Europe. The share price has really taken a big hit from where it was, and there's this concern that the Musk

brand has done some damage to the Tesla brand, and that ultimately could hurt the company's bottom line, and what's interesting is that in the last

24 hours or so, a group of Tesla shareholders put out a letter to the company where they're listing a series of demands, because they're

concerned that Elon Musk has become too distracted here, right?

They want Musk to commit to a 40-hour work week. They want the board to link his pay to that commitment to the 40-hour work week. They also want

the company to lay out a clear CEO succession plan, and this letter, it comes from shareholders representing just less than 1 percent of Tesla

shares.

But they have an interesting point here, right? Because it's not just the DOGE efforts, which most Musk has now stepped away from. It's his broader

empire here, right? I mean, he's not just running Tesla. You're talking about his rocket ship company SpaceX, the brain chip startup company

Neuralink.

There's the boring company, there's the xAI, there's X the social media company, right? He's got a lot going on. And the point here from these

shareholders is that they want Tesla to not be treated as just one of many competing obligations for Musk, they want it to be his number one focus.

And it does seem like Musk has started to get that message right from the fact that he's stepping aside from the White House. He says he's going to

be focusing more on Tesla's ups and downs and trying to get the company on the right trajectory, but I do think, Erica, this speaks to a larger issue

of just how reliant Tesla is on Elon Musk.

HILL: Yeah, absolutely, Matt, appreciate it as always. Good to see you. Thanks.

EGAN: Thanks.

HILL: Still ahead here, one side of the bracket for the NBA Finals championship is set the Oklahoma City Thunder blowing out the Timberwolves,

on Wednesday night, they will be representing the west. Highlights, just ahead in "World Sport".

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[09:40:00]

HILL: The Oklahoma City Thunder looked light years ahead of a competition last night, talk about a blowout victory on their home court. This, of

course, to clinch the NBA Western Conference Championship. They led the Timberwolves by nearly 30 points at the half the thunder had finished the

regular season with the best record in the NBA.

Of course, lot, happening tonight as well. Game five of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight, the Indiana Pacers up three games to one over

the New York Knicks. Andy Scholes joining me now with more from Atlanta. I think, as you know, Andy, I live in a house of firm facers pans -- fans,

Pacers fans, so we will be glued to the TV.

I was struck, though, when I came downstairs, I have to say, last night, I looked at the TV and to see the score between I was -- I think it was 40-73

at one point.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

HILL: In the third.

SCHOLES: Yeah. I mean, it was ugly for the Timberwolves, Erica, and the rest -- the whole NBA really in trouble with this Oklahoma City Thunder

team. They won 68 games a regular season. Have 80 wins now going to the finals. And Erica, they're the youngest team in the NBA.

So, their rain is just getting started, they will be heavy favorites in the NBA Finals, whether they end up facing the Pacers or the Knicks. We'll see

if that Eastern Conference Finals wraps up tonight. But man, this thunder squad so impressive. We'll show you how they got it done again on "World

Sport", and hear from some of the team.

HILL: Yeah, looking forward to it is -- it was really something, and looking forward to the game tonight as well, Andy -- thanks.

SCHOLES: Yeah.

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[09:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[10:00:00]

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