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Trump Tariffs Back On; World Financial Markets Processing Tariff Gyrations; Israel, Hamas Haggle on Ceasefire Plan; White House Wants to Triple Daily Immigrant Arrests; Canada Wildfires Force Thousands to Evacuate; U.S. Administration Moves to Revoke Chinese Students' Visas; U.S. Supreme Court Allows Trump to End Biden Era Immigration Policy; Court Resumes in Sex-Trafficking Trial of Sean Combs; A.I. CEO Warns of Mass Unemployment. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired May 30, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:38]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: All right. Welcome to our second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher in for Becky Anderson.
President Trump's on again-off again tariffs appear to be back on. And everybody is feeling the whiplash. Israel and Hamas are wrangling over the
terms of a U.S. backed ceasefire and hostage release plan. And will artificial intelligence trigger mass unemployment? The chief of a leading
A.I. firm warns it could happen in the next three to five years.
And let's start with the U.S. president essentially blasting China for what he says is violating of a trade agreement, all while his sweeping tariffs
remain in legal limbo. Just a short time ago, on his social media Web site, Donald Trump wrote, Beijing totally violated an agreement that had reduced
his 145 percent tariffs on Chinese exports to 30 percent. That deal came out of talks between the two countries in Geneva earlier this month, where
the U.S. expected some Chinese concessions, including easing export restrictions on critical rare earth minerals. That has not happened so far.
Earlier, the Treasury secretary acknowledged negotiations are not going particularly well. I want you to listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: I would say that they are a bit stalled. I believe that we will be having more talks with them in the next
few weeks, and I believe we may at some point have a call between the president and party Chair Xi.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And we're learning that the ongoing dispute has played a part in the Trump administration's moves to limit critical technology sales to China
and revoke visas of Chinese students studying in the U.S.
Matt Egan is back with us this hour. We're also joined by CNN's senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein.
Betsy, let me start with you because this idea that Donald Trump is essentially calling out China on social media, basically saying that they
violated parts of their agreement, he didn't really give much detail, right? Just walk us through what more we know about what the president
meant here.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT AND WRITER: That's exactly right. The president making his displeasure with China very clear. But all of this
comes as our colleagues have reported that the Trump administration really believes that China is not doing enough to hold up their end of the deal
that was reached in Geneva just a few weeks ago.
I want you to listen to comments from the United States trade representative, Jamison Greer. You know, after those talks, the U.S. had
really been expecting China to ease export restrictions on those critical earth minerals. That powers everything from dishwashers, televisions,
iPhones, all the way to things like electric vehicles and fighter jets. But Greer here making his displeasure clear. Take a look.
Oh, not sure we have that sound, but the idea is Trump has taken a series of punitive measures against China as retaliation for what he believes is a
failure to live up to these negotiations. He has revoked the visas of Chinese students. As you mentioned, he's limited critical technology sales.
And all of this comes as the president's tariff agenda is really in this massive state of uncertainty.
President Trump ran and has spent the first few months of his administration transforming the U.S. and the global economy, particularly
with his tariff policies. But we are seeing the courts transform that economic agenda as well. So a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of
International Trade, including one judge that the president appointed during his first term, blocked Trump's tariffs. That includes the universal
10 percent tariffs, the tariffs he installed on so-called liberation day, as well as the tariffs aimed at blocking the spread of fentanyl.
But a panel -- appeals court essentially bought the administration time here, a temporary reprieve while this appeal works its way through the
courts. Officials in the Trump administration have really looked to a familiar playbook, going after judges, calling it a judicial coup,
according to Stephen Miller, the president's deputy chief of staff. Other officials saying that this represents judicial activism.
President Trump, in a post to social media last night, also railed against the decision.
[10:05:00]
He said, quote, "The ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade is so wrong and so political. Hopefully the Supreme Court will reverse this
horrible, country threatening decision quickly and decisively."
Under this decision, he said, trillions of dollars would be lost by our country. Money that will make America great again. It would be the harshest
financial ruling ever leveled on us as a sovereign nation. The president of the United States must be allowed to protect America against those that are
doing it economic and financial harm.
Now, there has been so much uncertainty in the economy as a result of the president's on and off again tariffs. And there are two major questions,
really, in my view, going forward. Number one, what happens to the deals that were already being negotiated as a result of this court action? Are
they going to continue to talk to their global counterparts? Do their global counterparts want to talk to them or skip a beat and wait for this
to play out in the courts? That is something that U.S. officials are really encouraging their counterparts to keep the process moving along.
And second, what happens to that one big, beautiful bill that has passed the House, has yet to pass the Senate? It really depends on revenue from
these tariffs to pay for tax cuts. What is going to happen there? That is something we'll be watching quite closely from the White House. The
administration for now prepared to take this all the way to the Supreme Court.
ASHER: All right. Betsy Klein, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right, Matt, let me bring you into the conversation because obviously there are so much at stake, so much at stake, rather, for Wall Street if
the original triple-digit tariffs against China snap back into effect. Donald Trump's social media post was actually very ominous. Walk us through
what is at stake here for investors.
MATT EGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, for investors this trade war whiplash continues, right? One moment trade tensions are deescalating. The
next they're heating up again. One moment a court is striking down the tariffs, and the next are being temporarily reinstated. It is really hard
to just keep track of it all, let alone sort out what it means for the economy and supply chains and corporate profits.
But look, there is so much at stake here. The U.S.-China piece of this, right, has always been the most important part of the trade war. It's also
really always been the hardest part to solve for because there are so many legitimate criticisms that the administration has about Chinas trade
practices, and it's not going to be easy to get them to agree to any sweeping changes there, especially when there's so much legal uncertainty
about how constitutional or unconstitutional these tariffs are in the first place.
And listen, it's really important to remember, as we look at U.S. markets trading mostly lower, although the Dow is basically unchanged on the day.
It is really important to remember that U.S. tariffs on China remain elevated, right? They're not nearly as high as they were when they were at
145 percent before that breakthrough in Geneva. But still, even at 30 percent, I mean, that is a significant tax on imports coming into the
United States from one of the leading sources of imports into the U.S.
And we've heard from a number of companies in the last few weeks, including Walmart and Barbie maker Mattel, that, yes, they're going to have to raise
prices because of these tariffs. Most recently last night, GAP, the owner of Old Navy and Banana Republic, they're warning that these tariffs on
China but also on all countries could end up costing the company $150 million. GAP shares moving about 20 percent lower today alone.
And Zain, I do think at the end of the day, the longer these tariffs remain in place, the greater the damage here. And likewise the longer there's
uncertainty about how this trade war is going to play out, the more damage it's going to do to the economy.
ASHER: Yes. I mean, it's interesting what you said about the 30 percent tariffs being basically relative. You know, if you had told us about a year
and a half ago or a year ago or so that that we were going to have 30 percent tariffs, that would have been catastrophic, but because it is in
contrast to the original 145 percent, obviously markets when we got that news breathed a sigh of relief.
Just in terms of the way Donald Trump is going about this, Matt, a lot of people are saying that perhaps this is some kind of negotiation strategy,
this idea of publicly blasting China, saying that they're not living up to their side of the bargain. And we've seen this tactic by the president
before.
EGAN: Yes, we saw it a week ago when the president threatened to put 50 percent tariffs on its biggest, the U.S.'s biggest trading partner, the
European Union. And then after a very good phone call, the president ended up backing off and saying that that 50 percent tariff won't happen until
July potentially. So I do think there's a lot of hope among investors that this is a negotiating tactic. We know the president loves tariffs. We know
that he loves to figure out a way to get leverage. And that's why he likes to use tariffs and the threat of tariffs to try to get a better agreement.
[10:10:06]
Now we also know, and this is something that investors have been talking about a lot recently, we know that the president has at times backed down
from his most extreme tariff threats. Whether we're talking about the liberation day, April 2nd, massive country specific tariffs, all of which
were dialed back except for China. There's the China 145 percent tariffs that were dialed back. I mean, there were the initial threats to put
tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico, and that got dialed back.
Even the auto tariffs got scaled back. So again and again, when either markets start freaking out, whether it's the stock market or the bond
market, whether it's CEOs that start calling the White House, whether it's retailers warning about empty store shelves, we have seen the president
move away from his most extreme proposals.
But to your point, though, Zain, a lot of this is relative, right? To some extent, we've become numb to all of these moves and these threats because
they're happening so fast and they're just changing before people are even able to make sense of what they actually mean. So we've got to watch what
happens next on the U.S.-China trade front because that really is the most important part of this trade war. Back to you.
ASHER: All right, Matt Egan, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. In Gaza, scenes of chaos are again breaking out around those controversial new aid depots.
In Central Gaza today, people were sent running as a loud blast and gunfire were heard near an aid distribution site. Speaking in Singapore, French
President Emmanuel Macron warned that Israel has, quote, hours or days to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. And he called the eventual
recognition of a Palestinian state a political necessity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): What we are building over the coming weeks is obviously a political response to the
crisis. And yes, it's a necessity because today, over and above the current humanitarian tragedy, it is the very possibility of a Palestinian state
that is being questioned. It is clear that some people want to make a Palestinian state impossible. But what we are defending is a political
outcome to the situation.
If we don't see a response that matches the humanitarian situation in the next few hours or days, we will obviously have to take a tougher collective
stance. And in any case, apply the rules we have set for ourselves. This means putting an end to any ongoing processes that pre-require respect for
humanitarian rights, which is not the case today, and apply sanctions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: An Israeli official meantime tells CNN that the country has accepted a U.S. plan for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas, though, says the latest
framework does not meet its core demands and has issued three counterpoints.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond has more on that and the declining humanitarian situation in Gaza.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's clear that there are still some major differences here between the Israeli position and
Hamas's position. But at the same time, it's also important to acknowledge some of the progress that clearly has been made in getting these two sides
closer together.
You know, while Hamas, in its statements publicly is still insisting on an end to the war, they are, it seems, willing to go for a temporary ceasefire
and the release of about half of the living and deceased hostages. But what they want is that they want assurances that this temporary ceasefire won't
simply end after 60 days, meaning if negotiations are still happening between the two sides to try and reach a deal to end the war, that that
ceasefire will effectively continue as long as the two sides are still talking.
And one of the reasons why Hamas is seeking those assurances is because we saw that during the last ceasefire, that's exactly what was supposed to
have happened but instead Israel did not engage in serious negotiations over an end of the war, and then at a certain point, very rapidly decided
to resume its military operations in Gaza, accusing Hamas of not releasing additional hostages.
So, you know, we'll see if they can actually bridge that gap. But that certainly seems to be the kind of central sticking point at this time,
meaning, you know, Hamas willing to go for a temporary ceasefire. Israel as well. The question being, you know, what kind of guarantees will there be
that both sides will engage in good faith negotiations to actually reach a permanent ceasefire and the release of all of the remaining hostages held
in Gaza.
ASHER: And we've seen throughout this week just really chaotic scenes when it comes to the distribution of aid in Gaza.
[10:15:00]
The U.N. is essentially accusing Israel of really only letting a fraction of the amount of aid that is needed to get into the enclave. Just walk us
through the situation on the ground there, Jeremy.
DIAMOND: Yes, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has one of its sites operational today. According to organization, yesterday they had three. And
so clearly this is an operation that is going in kind of fits and starts. And we've seen scenes of chaos around this newly established aid mechanism,
which is existing because the Israelis don't want to allow aid in through the traditional humanitarian channels.
They have, you know, effectively been forced to do so in limited quantities over the course of the last week, allowing in parallel with this new Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation for the United Nations to also bring in its own trucks. But the idea ultimately is to end that altogether and to have the
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with the secure distribution sites that are secured by private American military contractors to be the only avenue for
aid available to the people of Gaza.
And it's also important to note that the aid that is getting in right now via those traditional humanitarian channels primarily run by the United
Nations, you know, trucks are getting into Gaza. They're being brought to a depot across from the Kerem Shalom crossing. But the United Nations is
having enormous difficulties being able to go up and pick up that aid and then distribute it throughout the Gaza Strip, because, they say, of a lack
of secure routes being provided by the Israelis for them to actually move those trucks without running the risk of being struck by these very active
and intensifying Israeli military operations at the same time.
So, you know, we are seeing some aid get into Gaza. But the reason why we're still seeing these very chaotic scenes, these scenes of desperation
and hunger in Gaza, is because it simply has not been enough aid yet and not enough aid is actually reaching the people in need. And so for the
moment, that hunger crisis in Gaza still has not been alleviated.
ASHER: Jeremy Diamond reporting there from Jerusalem.
In a rare move, Saudi Arabia will send its top diplomat to the occupied West Bank this weekend. That's according to Palestinian officials who tell
CNN the delegation led by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan will arrive Sunday to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The visit comes as the kingdom pushes for international recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Next, under pressure, law enforcement insiders reveal the fallout from White House demands to arrest more immigrants. Also coming up, why
wildfires in Canada are also threatening cities in the U.S. way across the border.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Let's connect you to one of the core issues of Donald Trump's presidency, immigration.
[10:20:03]
A White House demand to triple the number of immigrants arrested every day is said to be putting a big strain on law enforcement. Hundreds of FBI
agents and other law officers have been reassigned to immigration led duties. Sources say there are concerns the change of focus could hinder
other important tasks such as countering terrorist threats and espionage.
Priscilla Alvarez is following this story for us from Washington. So the administration has a stated goal of about one million deportations a year.
That is putting a lot of pressure on their resources. Walk us through that.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And the U.S., at least in recent history, hasn't met a million deportations a year. The highest mark was
around 400,000, just over that, during the Obama administration. So you can see why this is such an immense challenge for this administration. And so
to try to execute on it, they are having to look across other parts of the federal government to bolster their manpower to do interior arrests.
That means, for example, asking Customs and Border Protection, which is primarily focused on border security, to fan out across the country and
help with interior arrests. DEA, ATF, FBI. The FBI sources tell CNN that they are trying to reassign hundreds of agents to do this immigration
related work, and also providing incentives in the process, like, for example, overtime pay.
They are also saying in a statement to CNN about this because there are concerns that this could mean that they are having to shift their attention
from their national security investigations to immigration. The FBI saying in a statement, quote, "Working around the clock to defend the homeland and
crush violent crime, a mission which certainly overlaps with the consequences of the previous administration's four-year open border
policy."
So that is really indicative of the administration's position right now, which is that immigration is their number one priority, not only for the
Department of Homeland Security, which has typically had that under their mantle, but now also to various other federal agencies. And I will tell
you, having covered this for several years, other federal agencies will often do something or could be doing -- could do something in the
immigration space because there may be overlap with other criminal investigations that they are doing.
But to have multiple federal agencies across government focus also on civil immigration arrests, meaning perhaps people that have no criminal record
other than having crossed the border illegally, that is different and necessary according to the administration, because Immigration and Customs
Enforcement only has about 6,000 agents. So amid all of this pressure, they are trying to ramp up where they can to try to meet this new threshold. The
White House has placed about 30,000 daily arrests, and the White House border czar has been asked about this multiple times, and whether or not he
is satisfied yet, this is what he told reporters yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: I have not been satisfied with the numbers. Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, and myself, we all want more numbers,
so we've increased the teams a lot. We're increased targeting a lot. So we expect a fast increase in number of arrests every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALVAREZ: Now what the administration is also doing is changing their leadership yet again at ICE. There was yet another shakeup yesterday with
two senior officials leaving their posts, one retiring, another reassigned. In announcing that, ICE said that this was a realignment as they ramp up
enforcement efforts. So certainly trying to enter a new phase here, as they are looking at the clock to try to meet the lofty goals they've set for
themselves.
ASHER: Priscilla Alvarez, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. Let's get you up to speed on some other stories that are on our radar right now.
British comedian and YouTuber Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in a London courtroom. In April, the
British actor was charged on five different counts related to four separate women. He has denied any wrongdoing.
A man appeared in court in the English city of Liverpool after a car rammed into a crowd of people on Monday. Paul Doyle is charged with seven
offenses, including causing grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving. The incident happened as football fans were celebrating Liverpool's Premier
League win.
And a state of emergency has been declared in the Canadian province of Manitoba, where wildfires have forced more than 17,000 people out of their
homes. Manitoba's premier says the military is being deployed to help the evacuation.
For more on the fires and their impact, let's bring in meteorologist Allison Chinchar, joins us live now.
So what sort of impact is the weather and winds having on these wildfires - - Allison?
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Yes. So there's a cold front that's making its way down from Canada towards the U.S., and it's going to
spread all of the smoke from the fires you see behind me from Canada down into portions of the United States. So we take a look at some of the smoke
and the forecast for these areas. Look at all of these fires you see here on this map.
[10:25:04]
Again, it's a large area. But specifically the concern is going to be across the fires that are over in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as they begin
to spread a lot of that smoke down into the U.S. Now you've got the threat level of five. That's the highest you can get in Canada for several
provinces there. Over 24,000 square miles has burned. That's roughly the size of the state of Delaware. And again, it's just kind of goes to show
you the impactfulness of this. But we also take a look at the smoke.
Now, there's two different colors on here so I want to emphasize this brighter white color that you see here. This is just cloud cover, regular
normal clouds. But over here more of a little bit more of a darker gray color. That is the smoke that's coming down from those fires into portions
of the northern U.S. Now, there's very likely some smoke underneath these clouds. It's just a little bit harder to see it there.
But this is overall where we've been keeping an eye on the air quality, where you see all of those bright orange and red colors. That's where the
air quality is at its poorest right now. So portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and even into Michigan. But as that cold front begins to sweep
down from Canada, it's going to spread all of that smoke farther south as we head into the weekend. For some states as far south as Missouri, looking
at some of that smoke.
And then we transition into Saturday and we start to see it change direction. So now, still in the U.S., but now a little bit farther to the
west, focused more over portions of the Dakotas. This is cause for concern because this is leading to air quality alerts across several U.S. states.
And the concern here is that for a lot of those sensitive groups, they're wanting to not be outside for prolonged periods of time, go back inside,
take some breaks with some cleaner air so that you don't cause any more unnecessary problems.
Another problem that we are facing is severe thunderstorms across the U.S. We have at least one confirmed tornado across the state of Kentucky from
earlier this morning as this line of storms continues to progress eastward. More tornadoes are possible today, especially the farther east you go into
portions of the southeast. Look at all of these areas here. The ones highlighted in the yellow color as well as the orange.
This is where the greatest threat is really going to be this afternoon and into the evening hours. Yes, there's the potential for some tornadoes.
There's also the potential for very strong wind gusts 60 to 70 miles per hour. We could also even see some large hailstones, especially in some of
those orange colored areas. There are lots of cities that are expected to be impacted.
Back to you.
ASHER: Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.
All right. Coming up, I'm going to be speaking to a Chinese student at Harvard about the Trump administration's decision to start revoking student
visas, and an ex-assistant and alleged victim of Sean "Diddy" Combs is on the stand for a second day after giving gut-wrenching testimony. We'll have
that story and more after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:03]
ASHER: Welcome back to CONNECT THE WORLD with me, Zain Asher. Here are your headlines.
U.S. President Donald Trump is again taking on China, saying in a social media post that Beijing totally violated a trade agreement between the two
countries that reduced his massive 145 percent tariffs to 30 percent. His latest comments follow an appeals court ruling that temporarily reinstated
his global tariff policy after two lower courts blocked most of them.
An Israeli official and the White House says that Israel is backing the latest U.S. plan for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. The official says the
proposal calls for the release of 10 living and 18 deceased hostages. Hamas has issued three counterpoints, including a demand that the fighting will
not resume after the truce.
Mass evacuations are underway as 170 wildfires burn in western and central Canada. Thousands of people have been forced out of their homes in what
Manitoba's premier is calling the region's largest evacuation in recent memory. Smoke from the blaze is expected to drift across the border into
the U.S., impacting air quality for people in several states.
The Trump administration's pledge to aggressively revoke visas from Chinese students is sending shockwaves through the academic community. Vice
President JD Vance is defending the move, saying that on the grounds of democratic accountability, universities need to realign with the American
people's wishes. But three Trump administration officials tell CNN the announcement was a reaction to China not living up to its commitments it
made in trade talks this month.
Meantime, a federal judge in Boston says that she will block the White House from ending Harvard's ability to enroll international students. Her
order will indefinitely bar the administration from forcing any changes to the school's current enrollment policy.
Fangzhou Jiang is a Chinese student at Harvard. He writes, "Within the next critical weeks, America's higher education landscape may be reshaped for
years. My hope, nurtured in the vibrant debates at Harvard Kennedy School, is that Americans recognize this challenge quickly enough to defend what
makes their institutions extraordinary."
And Fangzhou joins us live now from San Francisco.
Fangzhou, thank you so much for being with us at what I can only imagine is a really unsettling time for you and fellow students. Just, it's
interesting because Chinese students are really caught in the crosshairs here because on the one hand you have sort of the initial ban on
international students, which we know that a court has struck down. But also, you have this idea that in this kind of retaliatory move, because
trade talks aren't really going as well as the U.S. administration had hoped, that now there is this plan to revoke student visas for Chinese
students as well.
Just walk us through how you've been caught in the middle of all of this.
FANGZHOU JIANG, STUDENT, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL: Thank you, Zain, for having me. The last week has definitely been very, very eventful. As we
were celebrating graduation, many of my peers and also the, I guess the injunction given by the court that's definitely a good news for
international students at Harvard. A couple of days ago, we started hearing that the State Department is taking a more aggressive stance on revoking
Chinese student visas.
And that definitely sparked a new wave of uncertainty among a lot of Chinese students, not only at Harvard, but also across the board. There are
about 300,000 students studying in the U.S. from China, and everybody is definitely a bit worried given that the details aren't very clear. For
instance, what do we mean by party affiliation? And also what are the critical research fields that are affected?
But at the same time, I urge students to really think about this critically because this is not the first time that the administration, the Trump
administration, even in the first term, implemented certain policies with restrictions. So we just need to assess to what extent this will impact
each individual student's future. So it is definitely a very uncertain and nerve-wracking situation for Chinese international students in the U.S.
right now.
ASHER: I mean, listen, there is this hope, right, that this is just some kind of a negotiation tactic with Beijing because obviously we saw Donald
Trump's post on social media today that he didn't think that the negotiations with China were going well, that according to him, China
wasn't living up to its side of the bargain. So, of course, there is this hope that maybe the administration is sort of saying this in order to get
the Chinese to move further along in negotiations.
And also, by the way, if you look at the tariff policy in the United States, we've seen so much back and forth.
[10:35:02]
The administration says one thing today, and that could be something completely, I mean, there is a difference between June and July when it
comes to this administration. So is there that hope among Chinese international students that perhaps this is a temporary move and the
administration is going to change its mind? How hopeful are you?
JIANG: Yes, for now, I think I am optimistically I guess cautious, I would say when I haven't, for example, made any changes to my living, housing
situation at Harvard next year. For now, I feel that this will be resolved hopefully in the coming weeks. But of course, I'm personally preparing for
a range of scenarios, including going back to China to finish my semester online or taking a leave of absence.
But I think in general we definitely feel that there's one aspect of politics in there, but it's pretty confusing to us because, first of all,
there are many different people in China that are involved in the political party, not because of their political aspirations, but because it is an
opportunity for students to advance. When you target everybody who has some affiliation with the Communist Party, then you don't really have addressed
that sort of national security measure.
And at the same time, I mean, being targeted as Chinese students is definitely very disheartening. A lot of Chinese international students
abide policies on campus. They work very hard academically. They make contributions as members of the community being, for example, I was a
course assistant. I was the vice president of the student government assisting international students as well as domestic U.S. students on
campus.
So we just want to be given the opportunity or to continue to have the opportunity to pursue our education here in the U.S. And in addition, I
mean, the new administration isn't a big fan of giving opportunities away to other countries. If we stop having international students from China in
the U.S., then they will automatically turn to the U.K., Canada, Australia and other countries. And that's definitely a loss for American higher
education.
ASHER: Yes, I mean, I think that one thing I've been very inspired by is just how much solidarity there appears to be between the domestic students
and the international students. I mean, it's very clear that the American students at Harvard are really standing with you guys, just with
international students more broadly.
Fangzhou Jiang, live for us there. I really hope it all gets resolved for you. OK? Thank you so much for being with us.
JIANG: Thank you, Zina.
ASHER: All right. All right. Breaking news to bring you from the Supreme Court affecting the legal status of some migrants who are in the U.S. from
Latin America. The court sided with the Trump administration allowing it to suspend a Biden era program which allowed migrants from Cuba, Haiti,
Nicaragua and Venezuela to temporarily live and work in the United States.
The emergency decision from the Supreme Court is not final. The underlying legal case will continue in lower courts, but the order will allow the
administration to essentially expedite deportations for those who had previously benefited from the program.
We'll have much more on this breaking news after this short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: All right. Recapping our breaking news from the Supreme Court. An emergency decision allowing the Trump administration to end Biden era
protections for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Joining us live now is the attorney and legal affairs commentator, Areva Martin.
I mean, this idea that the administration can now suspend this Biden era program that essentially allowed migrants from these countries, Haiti,
Nicaragua, Cuba, to basically work and live in the United States, at least temporarily is all part of this push, Areva, to boost, dramatically boost
the number of deportations that the administration carries out every single year.
Just walk us through this.
AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY, LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes. What we know, Zain, is that the administration has set as a goal to deport one million
immigrants from this country each year. They are woefully behind in terms of meeting those numbers. But this is a win for the Trump administration
even though it's a temporary order. But it does allow about 530 migrants who are from those Latin American countries to be targeted for deportation
by the Trump administration.
These individuals were allowed to live and work for up to two years in the U.S. if they had a sponsor that was already living in the States. This was
a significant part of the Biden administration's efforts to provide a pathway to legal citizenship for migrants from those Latin American
countries. Obviously, the Trump administration feels very differently about these individuals in this country. And this decision today by the Supreme
Court allows them to move forward with deportation of, like I said, about 500,000 of migrants from these Latin American countries.
ASHER: I mean, it's interesting because we've reported extensively about the situation on the ground in some of those countries especially, I mean,
my mind immediately went to the massive humanitarian crisis that is happening on the ground in Haiti when you think about the risk of famine,
extreme poverty, gang violence, what a lot of these migrants are going back to. But I think from a legal perspective, what's interesting is that this
emergency decision by the Supreme Court is actually not final.
Can you just explain to our audience why that is?
MARTIN: Yes, this is a temporary order by the Supreme Court because this case is not -- it hasn't been resolved in the lower courts. So what this
does is it lifts an injunction, a stay, that was put in place by the appellate level court. So while the case continues to be litigated in the
trial court, the U.S. Supreme Court is saying the Trump administration can continue with its deportation efforts.
Now, I suspect that this case may make its way back up to the Supreme Court for a more final determination. But this was a temporary restraining order
or removal of a temporary restraining order that halted those deportations at the federal appellate level. So this is a win of sorts, but it's not a
permanent win. And we know these issues, these fights over who can stay legally in this country will continue to be litigated at the Supreme Court
level.
ASHER: All right, Areva, stand by, because I want to update our audience on another story that we are following, because right now the federal
racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs is resuming with one of his alleged victims returning to the stand for a second day
yesterday.
A former assistant of Combs, who was granted anonymity and referred to in court as Mia, described a number of incidents in which she said Combs
sexually assaulted her. Mia also said that she witnessed Combs abuse his then girlfriend Cassie, recalling one instance when she said that she
feared for Cassie's life.
Areva, just to bring you back in on this conversation as well, I mean, just some of the testimony that this former assistant shared. It's really
chilling, right? I mean, walk us through how Sean "Diddy" Combs is being portrayed here and what we're learning about him from those people who
worked for him.
MARTIN: Yes. What we've seen this week, Zain, is several individuals that worked for Sean Combs, who had a front row seat in terms of witnessing his
relationship with Cassie Ventura and in this case, this witness, Mia, who herself was subjected to sexual violence, who was raped, she said,
repeatedly by Sean Combs, who also was physically threatened and was struck at times by Sean Combs.
[10:45:10]
This witness also said that she witnessed Sean Combs violently attack and beat of Cassie Ventura on numerous occasions. You know, one of the things,
Zain, that -- one of the themes in this case has been by the defense to portray this as just a case of domestic violence and to downplay any notion
that Cassie Ventura in particular has been coerced, threatened, or intimidated into engaging in sexual acts.
We know we've heard a lot about these freak offs that Cassie Ventura said she was forced into and this testimony by this witness, Mia, corroborates a
lot of what Cassie Ventura testified to, which is that she was horrified, frightened of Sean Combs, forced to do things out of fear of her life, out
of fear of being physically beaten. And according to this witness, there was a fear that she could even be killed by Sean Combs because of the level
of violence that she witnessed in the relationship.
ASHER: I mean, some of this testimony, let's be honest, is just, it's really difficult to hear. Just walk us through what Sean "Diddy" Combs
risks if he ends up taking the stand here. I mean, sometimes a lot of people who are on trial are told not to take the stand because what ends up
happening when they get cross-examined could be really disastrous for their case.
Give us your take on that.
MARTIN: Yes. We've heard some rumbling from the defense team that Sean Combs wanted to take the witness stand, wanted to tell his story, but it
seems inconceivable to me at this point that Sean Combs could take the stand in his own defense. There is no defense to the level of violence that
has been testified to. And unless he's going to try to convince the jurors that every witness for the prosecution is a liar, it would be impossible, I
think, for himself to paint a picture of his relationship with Cassie Ventura, with this witness Mia, with Deonte Nash, with the other employees
that have testified to paint any kind of positive picture that would be persuasive to the jurors.
I think the level and the amount of evidence that has already come out in the prosecution's case is not over. So we should be clear that there is
going to be even more testimony. Just seems to be an overwhelming amount of testimony that is so negative towards Sean Combs that he could only hurt
himself more by taking the witness stand.
ASHER: And just in terms of just going back to this ex-assistant, who is going by the name Mia, she was granted anonymity here, when she is cross-
examined, what sort of questions do you think the defense team is going to pose to her?
MARTIN: Well, it's going to be interesting, Zain, because this witness was very emotional. We're learning throughout her testimony yesterday, she
spoke in a soft voice. She often broke down and cried when she talked about the sexual assault that she experienced. So the defense is going to have to
walk a very tight line and be very careful in its cross-examination of her because this is a woman who has been victimized by Sean Combs according to
her testimony.
Obviously they're going to want to try to punch holes in the testimony, try to suggest that her memory is not accurate. Perhaps she's exaggerating.
Perhaps she didn't see what she thought she saw. And then I suspect they're going to also try to get her to acknowledge some of their theme, which is
that Cassie Ventura was a strong, independent woman, that she had her own agency, that she had the ability to walk away from this relationship, that
she was engaged in other relationships.
That's been a central theme of the defense's theory. But again, I think that that theory perhaps will fall on deaf ears. I mean, two things can be
true at the same time. Cassie Ventura clearly could be both independent and at the same time could have been horrified, and could have felt incredibly
threatened and intimidated by Sean Combs and could have been coerced as the definition is articulated in the Mann Act to engage in commercial sex acts.
ASHER: Right. Areva Martin, thank you so much. Appreciate your perspective.
All right. Coming up, a prominent tech CEO warns artificial intelligence may wreak havoc on the American job market. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:51:04]
ASHER: The chief executive of one of the world's leading artificial intelligence labs is sounding the alarm. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is
warning A.I. could cause dramatic spike in unemployment in the very near future.
CNN's Clare Duffy is joining us live now.
So, Clare, what's interesting about this, there's lots of things that are interesting, but the fact that typically you have academics, right, and
economists who are usually sounding the alarm, but this time you have somebody within the A.I. sector itself. That is really what's raising
eyebrows here.
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. Zain, I think that is a big part of why this is getting so much attention. I mean, Anthropic is among the top
A.I. labs. It's in the same league as OpenAI and Google. I think the other reason that his comments are really sort of striking a chord right now is
because of the types of jobs that he is saying could be wiped out by A.I. in the next few years. He's talking about half of all entry-level, white-
collar jobs that could be eliminated by A.I. Things like coders, financial analysts, you know, paralegals.
These are people where if humans get replaced by A.I., those humans may not necessarily be so easy to retrain and place in other jobs that are going to
pay them the same amount of money. And so that poses a real risk that he says both the public and lawmakers need to move more quickly to respond to.
And he's proposing some suggestions for lawmakers that he even called radical, including potentially attacks on A.I. companies. Here's what he
said about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARIO AMODEI, CEO, ANTHROPIC: I wouldn't exclude the notion of, you know, levying a tax on A.I. companies, right? If A.I. creates huge total wealth,
you know, a lot of that will, by default go to the A.I. companies and, you know, less to ordinary people. And so, you know, definitely not in my
economic interest to say that, but I think this is something we should consider. And, you know, I think it shouldn't be a partisan thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: But look, I think there is, you know, it is worth noting that this comes at a time when his company is selling the very technology that he
says could potentially replace human jobs. Anthropic just released a new A.I. model last week that the company says can work for about seven hours
straight with very little human intervention on really complex tasks.
And so I think there is a bit of skepticism here from the public about, is he, you know, somebody who clearly is in a position to know just how
powerful and capable this technology is, sounding the alarm, or is this an executive who is trying to sort of, hint, hint, sell this very powerful
technology to companies that maybe want to save money and replace some of their human workers?
And I think that's really the question here that we'll have to see how this technology continues to improve and if this prediction really, really bears
out.
ASHER: All right. Clare Duffy, live for us there. Thank you so much.
All right. Sometimes the smallest things can help soothe the biggest pain. In war torn Ukraine people are finding solace in the company of playful
piglets. One of the founders of Kyiv's Pig Cafe says she came up with the idea because of the constant air raids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YULLIA DAVYDENKO, CO-FOUNDER OF PIG CAFE (through translator): We wanted to create something positive, a project to counter all the bad news everyone
has plenty of. We decided that these creatures, piglets, mini-pigs, would work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: And looking around the place, it is certainly hard to disagree. Cafe customers put aside their worries even if it's just for a half an hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINA YANOPOLA, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON FROM KHARKIV (through translator): I didn't expect to be able to relax here. It's very difficult
to relax in general because when I relax, I start to cry and I do not want this to happen. So I just enjoy the moment. Now I'm here, now I'm with
them, I touch them, they give me joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The owners say they don't make their pigs entertain visitors all day long. They're given plenty of time for walks in the fresh air and to sleep
as well.
And there's a new champ in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Faizan Zaki, a 13-year-old from Texas, took the title along with a $50,000 cash prize by
beating out two other top spellers in the final round. Here's how it all played out in the end.
[10:55:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eclaircissement.
FAIZAN ZAKI, SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE CHAMPION: Eclaircissement. E-C- L-A-I-R-C-I-S-S-E-M-E-N-T. Eclaircissement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Look at that joy. Wow. That final word means enlightenment. For Faizan, the victory was a sweet, sweet redemption after he finished as
runner-up in a lightning round tiebreaker last year. Oh, so joyful there.
All right, that does it for CONNECT THE WORLD this hour. Stay with CNN. "ONE WORLD" with my colleague Bianna Golodryga is up next.
You're watching CNN.
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END
