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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Tsunami Waves Hit U.S. Shores After Major Pacific Quake; U.S. Federal Reserve Expected To Hold Interest Rates Steady; Trump Administration Boasts About U.S.-EU Deal: "Biggest" Ever Made. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired July 30, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:22]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MIN JUNG LEE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers, joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm MJ Lee. Rahel Solomon is off.

It's Wednesday, July 30th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington. And 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night in Honolulu, Hawaii.

We begin with the tsunami threat across the Pacific with the first big waves now hitting U.S. shores in both Hawaii and California after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off Russia's far eastern coast a few hours ago. Officials in Hawaii have reported waves of more than five feet, or well over a meter higher than normal tide levels in some areas.

Sirens blared as authorities urged beachgoers to stay out of the ocean and evacuate to higher ground. Authorities are opening emergency shelters as they expect flooding in coastal areas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDAL COLLINS, HONOLULU DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Our number one priority is life safety. And so right now, it's an -- it's an easy thing. Get away from the beaches, get inland and get upward. If you do live in an area that's within a tsunami area, first and foremost, go to a friend's house, go to a neighbors house, go to your workplace. But go -- go inward, inward and upward out of the tsunami area. If you have no other place to go, then go to the tsunami assembly areas that we have activated around -- around Oahu.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Hawaii's governor warned earlier that tsunami waves would, quote, wrap around the islands, but he says everything has been okay so far. Hawaii's tsunami warnings has now been downgraded to an advisory, but officials have been urging residents not to let their guard down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOVERNOR JOSH GREEN (D), HAWAII: Right now, we still have not seen any wave activity come past the big island. That's important until we see what happens on the big island and the full wraparound of the islands, we won't feel that we are in a position to start seeing and saying that we're kind of in the clear. The airports have not yet been impacted, of course, by a wave, but all flights in and out of Maui have been canceled for tonight. There are about 200 people sheltering at the terminal. We hope to take care of them comfortably. We'll certainly do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Many people taking no chances of risking the potential danger and got in their cars to evacuate. Video from one Hawaii resident shows both drivers and boaters preparing for the imminent tsunami waves. A time lapse shows a heavy traffic jam adjacent to a marina in downtown Honolulu.

And as I mentioned, parts of California are now reporting their first tsunami waves, and the threat remains up the West Coast as well into Washington and Oregon. The 8.8 magnitude quake that caused these tsunamis is the strongest since 2011, and tied for the sixth most powerful on record.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking the latest developments.

So, Allison, since we last checked in with you, these waves have started reaching the U.S. West Coast, Washington, Oregon and California. What are you seeing?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So, we've been seeing a lot of these numbers. Most of the areas are looking at wave height numbers around one to two feet. Again, that's compared to the normal tide. Here's a look at however, some of the highest numbers that we've seen. And these are around Hawaii looking at four and five feet respectively.

So, again, these are some pretty substantial numbers. Also noting too that at the time these first waves came in, Hawaii was dealing with high tide too, which likely in turn allowed for some more extra water to kind of flow over some of those streets and parking lots that are right there along the water. Right now, the only place we have left on this map that is still under a tsunami warning is actually this small portion of northern California.

We've since seen the western Aleutian Islands go down to an advisory. Hawaii has now gone down to an advisory. So, we just have this small section here that is still under the tsunami warning. And some may be wondering, okay, why just that small section that's there to be under that particular warning.

And the reason is the bathymetry of that coastline right there, it's a little bit different. It juts out the position of it, how it aligns with the rest of the coastline, makes it more susceptible, more prone to additional flooding because of how that coastline is shaped. So that's why they are still under the warning as opposed to the

advisory for many of the surrounding areas.

Now, essentially, what happens is not every earthquake triggers a tsunami. It has to be on the correct type of fault. It also has to be very strong. It also has to be very shallow earthquake.

We had all three of those things with this particular quake.

[05:05:01]

So, this red dot here, this indicates where the epicenter was for the quake in question. That 8.8 magnitude, essentially what happens with this particular one once the earthquake happened, the tsunami essentially pushes that water all out in one direction. And you can see here, those waves will then continue to propagate outward. And we can time them very accurately. You can start to see when it's going to be one hour, two hour, five hours, 10 hours, even 15 hours later, where those waves are set to arrive and what countries they are going to impact.

And yes, even things like 10 to 15 hours later, those waves are still ongoing. In fact, the original quake happened nearly 12 hours ago. It's been a while, but those waves are still going to continue.

And just like if you were to drop a rock or a stone into the water and you get those ripples that go outward, it's never just one ripple. There's many of them. And that's going to be the case. You're going to have multiple rounds of waves as we go through the next several hours for some of these areas.

But it's how we were able to time out a lot of these initial wave points for places like Alaska, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon, and even into California. But again, it's not just one wave. You're going to have multiples going through the next several hours.

And one of the main reasons was because of how large this quake was, because of how shallow it was. It allows for more of that water to be displaced. This particular earthquake was 13 miles deep. Again, I know mentally, you know, you think of something that that sounds like that's very far down.

But technically speaking, when you're discussing earthquakes, anything that is 44 miles or less meaning, you know, shallow, that is actually considered a very shallow earthquake. And that is exactly what we had, MJ, with this particular one that we've been talking about.

LEE: That was also informative. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

And let's bring in CNN's Ivan Watson, following developments from Hong Kong.

Ivan, we've been following these developments minute by minute. What are you watching most closely this upcoming hour?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, mostly is the most directly impacted was this far east of Russia, the Kamchatka region. Thats where the earthquake struck in the mid-morning on Wednesday.

And I want to show you some video. This is from a cancer center in Kamchatka where you had a medical team conducting an operation when the earth began to shake and you see them hanging on to their patient and to the machinery there. Now, a local health official has called these doctors and nurses heroes and said that the patient is actually okay.

A state of emergency was declared in the Russian town of Severo- Kurilsk. That's in the northern Kuril Islands, and there we saw flooding from the tsunami effects into the coastal areas, heard about evacuations of hundreds of people, but no real reports of injuries to speak of.

Now, there were serious warnings that went across Japan, which ordered evacuation alerts to nearly 2 million people. And we saw in one instance, people sheltering on a rooftop there, at least at one port, the port of Kuji, there were reports of a 1.3 meter, 4.3 foot wave that came in, and there were higher waves reported at other locations as well.

There were workers evacuated from the Fukushima nuclear power facility. No reports of any injuries there or any aberrations. But there's an important reason why that location was evacuated, because in 2011, there was a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan. It sent a tsunami smashing into the Japanese coast and triggered a nuclear disaster, a meltdown at that same Fukushima power plant. And that's part of why the Japanese are so sensitive in moments of these tsunami alerts.

Also worth noting that the U.S. embassy has put out tsunami threats to Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and the alerts went in the hours after the initial earthquake. All around the Pacific Rim. But we're starting to hear sighs of relief. For example, coming from Hawaii, which has downgraded its tsunami threat -- MJ.

LEE: Yeah, and you know, Ivan, one thing that were obviously keeping an eye out for are these aftershocks. And we've already seen some reports of aftershocks after this initial huge 8.8 magnitude earthquake, are countries that are going to be affected, regions that are going to be affected, keeping a really close eye on the possibility of those aftershocks and the fact that they could maybe prompt additional waves.

WATSON: Sure. And for example, that far east region of Russia, Kamchatka, it saw in the hour after that initial historic 8.8 magnitude earthquake, it saw further powerful aftershocks to the tune of 6.9 and 6.3 magnitude and then more afterwards.

And that's, of course, dangerous because buildings and structures that have been weakened then in the subsequent tremors, they can be brought down. So that -- that can be a real threat after the initial terrifying moments of an earthquake past. It's something that I've witnessed in the aftermath of earthquakes in other earthquake-prone regions.

And this is a reality that everybody in this Pacific Rim in the so- called Ring of Fire, really has to deal with either its volcanoes or earthquakes.

LEE: Ivan Watson in Hong Kong, thank you so much.

And coming up, the U.K.'s ultimatum. What Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he will do if Israel doesn't fix the appalling situation in Gaza.

Plus, some major U.S. household goods are about to get a price hike, which one company says is due to Donald Trump's tariffs.

And much more on the tsunami threat around the pacific as reports of new waves continue to come in. But in some places, the worst appears to be over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:35]

LEE: The U.S. Federal Reserve is once again expected to hold interest rates steady when the board meets later today. Despite president Trump's loud and frequent demands for lower rates and his attacks on Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he has threatened to fire.

Meanwhile, new data released on Tuesday shows Americans are growing more hopeful about the economy. Consumer confidence rose two points this month, staying stable since May after April's big plunge but still remaining below last year's levels.

Global economic data is showing signs of similar optimism. The International Monetary Fund has bumped its global growth forecast up to 3 percent. It was at 2.8 percent back in April. That's after the U.S. GDP was raised to 1.9 percent and China's economy performed better than expected.

But the IMF warns there are still risks, especially from the ongoing trade uncertainty.

And earlier this week, the Trump administration announced the contours of a trade agreement with the European Union, calling it the biggest deal ever made.

But after three rounds of talks, U.S. negotiators have failed to reach any such agreement with China. Tariffs are set to skyrocket on August 12th if no trade deal is in place. Both sides sounded hopeful about a possible extension to the 90-day pause currently in effect, but there's been no decision on that quite yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just had a phone call from Scott Bessent and had a very good meeting with China, and it seems that -- I mean, they're going to brief me tomorrow. We'll either approve it or not, but he felt very good about the meeting. Better -- better than he felt yesterday. Yesterday I said, here we go again. Here we go again. But today, it worked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: India could also face higher U.S. tariffs next month. President Trump has now threatened to hike them up to 25 percent if there's no trade agreement. It's not entirely clear what the sticking points are. India's commerce minister recently sounded optimistic about striking a deal before the U.S. self-imposed August 1st deadline.

But the U.S. trade representative said more discussions are needed.

And with just hours to go before the Trump administration is set to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian exports, the country's finance minister says Brazil hopes to negotiate with Washington. But Fernando Haddad tells CNN his country needs assurances that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will not face a dressing down from Donald Trump, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did during his February Oval Office visit.

Trump has linked the high tariffs to Brazil's treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office. And one of the largest household goods corporations in the U.S. says it will be raising prices on some of its products, thanks to the Trump administrations trade war.

Procter and Gamble, the maker of Tide detergent and Charmin toilet paper, says its profits will take a $1 billion hit from Donald Trump's tariffs. In an earnings call, the company said it would raise prices on a quarter of its U.S. products starting in August.

Ryan Patel is a senior fellow at Claremont Graduate University's Drucker School of Management, and he is with us from Los Angeles.

Ryan, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

I want to start with the U.S.-China trade talks in Stockholm that ended yesterday without a deal. Still, we did hear top U.S. officials sounding generally optimistic. And Trump, too, sounded rather upbeat.

I'm hoping you can remind our viewers the kinds of tariffs that would go into effect if a deal or an extension were not to come together by August 12th, and why that would be such a big deal for the global economy.

RYAN PATEL, SENIOR FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: Well, I mean, you got the number one and number two economies not playing along. And if they don't come together, I think here's the issue, right, yes, you've got -- you know, it could be up to 145 percent tariffs on certain goods, you really think about what they're talking about. You think about, you know, semiconductors. You think of pharmaceuticals. You think about you know, specifically chip making.

Those kind of things when it comes to the innovation and technology manufacturing that the U.S. and China have together, that becomes an issue. And it does bleed into other aspects, especially you're talking about consumer goods that the U.S. buys a lot and keeps some of the pricing down, would face consumers to have an increase in their average check.

[05:20:08]

And so, it has a trickle-down effect if these two get to a point to not just go back and forth on tariffs, it's really if it continues to escalate, it really leaves not a win-win situation for either country, including the citizens for both.

LEE: Yeah. And you alluded to this, but one of the biggest sticking points for the two countries has been the issue of rare earth minerals. Basically, the U.S. would like more access to it, which Beijing did recently agree to. And meanwhile, China wants restrictions on certain technologies to be loosened. And we did see the White House lifting its ban on sales of those key Nvidia chips to China earlier this month.

But Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested yesterday that rare earth minerals is still a sticky issue. Why is that?

PATEL: Well, because that's on the U.S. top priority list. It's something that around the U.S. economy and things that not just from manufacturing, but something that the U.S. can't get. And I think this is where it brings both China and the U.S., you know, to the table because it's out in the open on what exactly the U.S. wants.

So, to me, it's very interesting what the potential truce meaning of if they don't have a deal, can they push it along because if they go back and forth and just all of a sudden in a couple of days, add a tariff, does that sticking point for the U.S. still become a sticking point? And at this point, you just mentioned, it's clear that the U.S. wants to get something in that. And it would be deemed unfavorable if the U.S. doesn't get that in a trade deal that they've touted that they needed.

LEE: And bringing the conversation back here to the U.S. you know, this is a very consequential week for the U.S. economy. Lots of economic data coming out this week on every front, really jobs, inflation, consumer confidence, second quarter GDP. And then, of course, the Fed's decision on whether or not to cut rates.

What are you watching most closely?

PATEL: Well, I mean the Fed not cutting rates is not so much of a surprising thing. But to me, you think about what the inflation climbing to 2.5 percent isn't a surprise either, especially when you think of tariffs on basic goods like furniture and toys. They're fueling it.

So, to me, it's really interesting. And the jobs reports -- we're going to see those numbers not be as great as well due to, you know, not just job cuts but just the types of jobs that are out there.

So, the gloomy picture is still there. To me, what I'm really watching is when the Fed Chair Jerome Powell, comes and dictates what happens to the next meeting, where there's a lot of dissent going on right now with the Fed. And I think, are they going to give any kind of clarity on when that interest rate could drop, or are we still in the same thing we were a couple of months ago that the data still does not indicate that were there, and the recession could be potentially still on the table?

Consumer price index is another one to me that we're watching that our consumers back. I mean, with the E.U. deal, do we feel over the next few days or weeks that are consumers back on wanting to spend because they feel like the tariffs are off. But we don't see that just yet.

LEE: Yeah. All eyes on the fed right now.

Let me also finally get your thoughts on the U.S.-E.U. trade deal that was announced this past week. Initially, there was a bit of a waiting period to learn what the fine print details were. Now that it's been a few days, give us a sense of how the announcement has reverberated across the various E.U. countries.

PATEL: Well, not so popular, I would say, you know, but it was necessary. And to bring stability. And I think this is where, you know, the U.S. and President Trump had the leverage here. I think some of the things that were interesting that stood out, maybe for some of the positives for the E.U. was the E.U.'s commitment to nearly $700 billion in energy purchases and the $500 billion in U.S. investment.

Why does that matter? That allows European markets to have access more to the U.S., and that's what they wanted to be a part of it. But when you think about the long-term trust that's being built, that maybe that deal happens, you think of pharma, you think of auto and the clean tech. I think those are the sectors that pop out.

But when you think of Europe's internal division on this deal suggested that leaders are still grappling with this, I don't -- you know, there's a balance of, you know, national priorities versus the collective resilience. And that's what I thought this deal was more of a collective resilience versus some, some sectors and some countries getting the shorter end of maybe what they wanted from this deal.

LEE: Ryan Patel, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

PATEL: Thank you for having me.

LEE: Hawaii is experiencing several large tsunami waves after a massive earthquake in Russia's far east. What the governor is saying about the situation, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:22]

LEE: Welcome back.

More now on the tsunami threat in the Pacific following that major 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia's far east. The worst now appears to be over for Hawaii, where officials have downgraded from a tsunami warning to an advisory. Earlier, the state had reported waves of more than five feet, or well over a meter higher than normal tide levels. Sirens blared as authorities urged beachgoers to stay out of the ocean and evacuate to higher ground.

Hawaii's governor warned earlier that tsunami waves would, wrap around the island, but so far, he says, everything has been okay. Officials have still been urging people to not let their guard down. The tsunami warnings in Hawaii caught some cruise passengers by surprise.