Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Trade Truce? Trump, Xi Aim To Ratchet Down Tensions; High- Stakes Summit: Trump Seeks Trade Breakthrough With Xi; South Korea Appeals To Trump's Love To Gold During His Visit; Million Set To Lose Critical Food Aid Starting Saturday; Obamacare Premiums Spike For 2025 Amid Stalemate On Subsides; CNN Treks To Areas Of Jamaica Hardest Hit By Hurricane Melissa. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 29, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:05]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, superpower, super meeting. Global markets are on edge as the leaders of the world's two biggest economies prepare to meet face to face just hours from now. We have new details on the Trump, Xi summit that could contain or combust a crippling trade war.

Plus, Hurricane Melissa is still battering the Caribbean, after tearing through communities in Jamaica and Cuba. CNN is live on the ground to show you the storm's heartbreaking trail of destruction. And he's digging in. Many fellow Republicans want the GOP candidate for New York City mayor to drop out to prevent a Democratic socialist from winning. I'll speak with Curtis Sliwa about why he thinks he still has a path to Gracie Mansion.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

After months of trading insults, warnings and a whole lot of tariffs, President Trump will sit down face to face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea. Here's how President Trump previewed the high stakes meeting aboard Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think we're going to have a great meeting with President Xi of China, and a lot of problems are going to be solved, OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're optimistic?

TRUMP: Yeah, I'm very optimistic. I am. I think we're going to have a very good outcome for our country and for the world actually. I think it's important for the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It's unclear which problems the president thinks he's going to solve, but there are several serious issues on the agenda. Beyond tariffs, there's also China's restrictions on rare earth minerals, its boycott of U.S. soybeans, Russian oil, the flow of chemical ingredients for fentanyl and a little thing called TikTok.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters. Starting with you, Phil Mattingly. You called this on your Instagram video, the most important meeting in the world.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Non- hyperbole.

BASH: No.

MATTINGLY: Which is why, I know it's a rarity on Cable News but think about it like this. These are the two -- these leaders represent the two largest economies, the world's two largest militaries, the two -- the world's two largest geopolitical rivals. And really kind of the midst of -- in the midst of a superpower competition that is perpetually on the verge or on the brink of tipping into confrontation.

And after the last 10, 11, months of -- I think you put it quite well, just trading numerous tariffs, back and forth, export restrictions, any number of weaponizing supply chains to create problems for one another. This is a moment that will determine not just the next couple of weeks or what the domestic economies look like for these two countries over the course of the next couple of months.

This is really laying the groundwork for the path forward in this relationship over the entirety of the Trump administration. And the reason why is? This is setting the parameters that will ostensibly lead to President Trump visiting President Xi in China. President Xi making his first visit to the United States, I think, since 2015, if I remember correctly. And it also sets off the kind of a starting gun and the race between these two countries.

There is no kind of detente where they become friends. This is a race right now. It is a competition. I think the goal, when you talk to U.S. officials is, all right, how do we ratchet down the temperature from where it has been several times over the course of the last 10 months, and lay the groundwork to give the U.S. the advantage in the race and the supply chains on military power and authority and really on geopolitical influence right now across the globe.

BASH: Yeah. So, the stakes are very high, but so are the expectations, which is kind of a dangerous place to be in diplomacy, especially when you talk about all of the specifics that you just discussed. Let's listen to what the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this morning about this meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: They announced these export controls that are going to go into effect next month and we have aggressively pushed back against them. This is China versus the world. They have pointed a bazooka at the supply chains and the industrial base of the entire free world. And you know, we're not going to have it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I just want to correct myself. I said this morning, it was October 13.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: But it still stands.

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: I mean, the point is the bazooka to the world. That's a pretty stark metaphor there or example. But to Phil's point, this meeting is so extraordinarily important. And if those meetings happen, I think will also be determined by their three-hour meeting today, if President Trump visits China, or President Xi visits the U.S. And he has a long relationship with the U.S. As a younger man, he studied in the Midwest, in Iowa, for example. But it is in Iowa, which we talk about a lot.

[12:05:00]

What is one of the key concerns here among the Trump based, soybeans. We've talked about it on this program before, but now it's really going to be front and center here. The reason this matter is, China is the biggest purchaser of U.S. soybeans. They have not bought a single order this year because of the trade war. This has really erupted what I think is the biggest sort of act of disagreement and concern and disappointment in Trump country at this president.

Several Republican senators and lawmakers wrote a letter to the president just earlier this week, and it said, our producers don't expect Washington to guarantee their success, but they do expect a level playing field. So that is one of the burdens that President Trump has going into this.

If he does not get some type of a deal on soybeans, that is going to be big problems for him here at home, on his domestic agenda as well. Republicans have always given him a pass on many things. I'm not sure if they will as easily on this.

BASH: And it's so noteworthy that they use the term level playing field because that is what you hear from President Trump over and over, and have, frankly, for decades when he makes an argument for tariffs.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST: Yeah. And in the meantime, you know, China has basically redirected its soybean purchases elsewhere, and Trump has been promising a bailout that has yet to come. You know, and this comes on top of all sorts of other problems that farmers in the Midwest have, not just the folks who are interested in soybeans.

You know, you heard Scott Bessent talk about a bazooka, and in terms of language, it's apropos, given what China has done around these rare earth minerals. They essentially control 90 percent or so of the supply. And what is the U.S. to do? What's the sort of counter to that sort of muscle that China is throwing around now? I think the expectations are sky high. I think the deliverable rules can't match these high expectations. We'll see a lot of pomp and circumstance, and we'll see what actually comes, but it's hard to imagine that soybean farmers will come away after this much happier than they are. Now we'll see what happen so.

BASH: Nia just mentioned rare earth minerals, which we did earlier. Can you put your -- I'm not calling you a dork, but put your wonky, wonky hat on and explain in plain English to our viewers why that's so important?

MATTINGLY: 17 elements that are critical to every piece of electronics that you utilize, but more importantly, for the administration, really for the entire world right now, is that their centrality in weapon systems, in military aircraft. China has spot on. 90 percent, kind of a hammer lock on the refinement of these rare earth elements and also has about 70 percent of the world's mining capacity.

I have not spoken to administration officials on anything that has created more anxiety and genuine, I think, palpable concern than this issue as it has played out over the course of the last several months when China first moved to put export controls, really kind of lock up their rare earth capacity.

It was the first time this administration has a lot of confidence, both publicly and privately, including on the trade war. They believe that they're winning this battle. They believe that the economic doomsayers were wrong from the beginning.

On this issue, when you talk to them candidly, they acknowledge we are way behind. This is a huge problem, and this is a -- and I mean, no pun here, but it's a trump card for China from a supply chain perspective. It's not just for the U.S., but really all of their allies as well, both from an economic security perspective, but also from a national security perspective.

BASH: OK. Before we move away from the president's trip, and obviously, we're looking ahead, but we have to talk about some of the imagery. No matter who the president is on these foreign trips, particularly at the APEC summits and things around it. The imagery and the pictures are fascinating, but right now for this president, all of these world leaders understand what they need to do, or at least they think, to get in his good graces.

And in South Korea, that means giving President Trump a replica crown, previously worn by Korean kings. There you see it in the glass box. I asked if there was any moment where he put it on. The answer I was told was no, but boy--

ZELENY: Boy not, yet.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: And then Nia, he also got the highest Korean honor for his outreach to Kim. And that was -- there was a different remarkable moment of imagery. HENDERSON: Yeah. This is a president who loves all things gold, including gold plated toilets, and we've seen what he has done at the White House in the Oval Office, with all of those tchotchkes in gold and fake seals and all sorts of things. And so, you know, you talked about him not wearing this. I'm sure at some point, he will wear this. He probably thinks this belongs to him and not to the United States. So, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up and had more--

[12:10:00]

BASH: Maybe he -- when he does his Hugh Grant dance around White House, I'll never mind. Love actually. We got to have a fun movie reference every once in a while. Coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): So, the question is, are there five people over there with a backbone? Five courageous Democrats, five Democrats who don't buy this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Wow. Republicans are certainly ratcheting up the pressure on Democrats to end the shutdown as pain. I'm not talking about political pain. I'm talking about real pain like hunger, may strike Americans in just a few days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Americans are feeling more pain from the government shutdown every single day, and it's about to get a lot worse. Air traffic controllers aren't getting paid. And yesterday, there were control tower shortages all across the country. This weekend, millions of Americans who receive food stamps will lose their benefits. 42 million Americans rely on them.

House Speaker Mike Johnson addressed that deadline this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): On Saturday, this gets very real. SNAP benefits will stop flowing to all those who need it. You're talking about tens of millions of Americans at risk of going hungry, if the Senate Democrats can continue this gambit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The largest union representing government workers, many of whom are now relying on food banks while not getting paid, is telling both sides, enough is enough, but Democrats still say they won't budge until Republicans agree to their terms on healthcare. My panel is back now. And I think that because it's been so long and there's so much back and forth and so much finger pointing, I think it's good to take a moment and reset. And something we were talking about during the break, Jeff, is that none of us can remember a time when the government is shut down because Democrats are forcing a policy change, and that is what they are unabashedly doing right now.

And that is among other reasons, I think, a big reason, maybe the biggest reason, Republicans are saying no, because I've been told that they don't want to set a precedent by giving in to policy changes on a government shutdown.

ZELENY: Exactly. And the policy change, obviously, is on healthcare, but it's an issue that crosses party lines. And we've talked so much during these last 27, 28 days about how there hasn't -- it hasn't really felt like a government shutdown in some traditional respects because, you know, there's been a lot that's happened in the last month. A lot of demolition at the White House. A lot of paychecks are still coming.

However, those pressure points we talk about, those pain points, those are coming. And this weekend, of course, is a first installment of those, are one of the most profound, perhaps. And the idea that the food assistance benefits snap a supplemental nutrition assistance, which used to be called food stamps. That is what I was talking to a top Republican official this morning.

He believes that snap is going to sort of break this and Democrats do not necessarily disagree with. So, I don't know what will happen in the next coming three or four days, but you get the sense that there is movement here happening. But Josh Hawley, the Republican senator from Missouri, has a very compelling op-ed in the New York Times. Again, he said, no American should go to bed hungry, and he talks about this.

Well, you know, this is something that resonates with all. I was thinking back to -- I was at a food bank in Missouri earlier this year, just a couple months ago, and the people in line, you know, who didn't necessarily get SNAP benefits, some did, a lot of retirees, a lot of others, and food banks are just jammed over the last month. So, I think this is about to get a lot more real for people here, and Democrats, they've been unified so far.

BASH: Yeah

ZELENY: I'm not sure if that will continue or not.

BASH: And let me read a quote from that op-ed from Josh Hawley. Again, he's among the most conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate. He said, preventing debilitating poverty through the food program costs only about a tenth of our annual defense budget. Of course, aid should be limited to those who truly need it, but there is no cause and no excuse to deny aid to the poor entirely. What he is saying is, let's bring legislation to the floor to at least fund this program through November. The question is, whether or not, that is -- I mean, it certainly makes sense, just on a humanitarian level, but on a strategic level, whether that is something that people will agree to, given the fact that if they don't, perhaps this would be the thing that would break the shutdown fever picture.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And listen, you would ordinarily think that this is a Democratic issue, right? Reading that op-ed, listening to Mike Johnson, there talk about SNAP benefits possibly expiring. I'm like, wait, this is usually something you hear from Democrats. It isn't typical politics that Republicans are sort of on the side of the very poor.

[12:20:00]

So, we'll see, if that kind of pressure point, and this will be bipartisan pressure, a lot of mega folks are on SNAP, just like folks in blue states as well. We'll see. They've been looking for five Democrats to switch sides. But they've been looking for those five Democrats for weeks and weeks and weeks. And so, when you listen to the pressure points, when you listen to Thune and talk about it, it kind of still feels like it's status quo. It doesn't really feel like there's movement.

BASH: Yeah. And you know, when I mentioned that this is the first time Democrats have used the shutdown to push a policy proposal. Republicans, of course, have done it several times. Sometimes the policy is just cutting the budget, which is very much related to funding the government. Other times it's been about immigration and so forth.

But the reason Democrats feel that they are on political sort of terror firm right here is because it is about Obamacare, which is popular. It's about subsidies to help people get their health insurance, which is popular. And according to KFF, we're talking about 114 percent increase in the people who get these premium support benefits, increase in their what they have to pay out of pocket if everything does expire, which is not set to happen until the end of the year.

MATTINGLY: I think the thing that I got wrong at the very beginning of this was thinking the analog was Obamacare repeal in 2013, which was when Republicans wandered their way into a box canyon, got their tails kicked for a very kind of regular basis over the entirety of the shutdown and eventually cried uncle. The numbers are not showing that for the Democratic side.

Democrats, particularly outside of the Capitol believe, the laser focus on this issue has been one of the better political moves that they've had over the course of last couple of months, and also that this is, like, their pain point is coming as well. People are now seeing what those premium increases are going to be like. And so, there's competing pain points here.

The one wild card here is, the administration has done things without precedent related to moving money around to pay troops, law enforcement, moving money around to help farmers, cutting democratic programs or moving to cut democratic programs in states. And you talk to Republicans on Capitol Hill, some of them say, like, look, if we pass the threshold on SNAP, they can move money around and make something happen. Democrats are saying, there's a $5 billion contingency fund use it, pain points.

BASH: Can I just quickly say that it is -- and David Chalian mentioned this this morning to those of us here listening to him, speak to us this morning. And it's kind of amazing that we're still talking about Obamacare and it is also amazing that Republicans still -- even though they don't like it, still will have an alternative.

We're going to go to break, but before we do, I want to go in the CNN Inside Politics' way back machine. 10 years ago, it is the Republican primary -- one of the Republican primary debates. I'm asking then candidate Donald Trump about his healthcare plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: If you could talk a little bit more about your plan. I know you talked about--

TRUMP: No, no. We're going to have many different plans because there's going to be competition.

BASH: Can you be a little specific?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's done it again.

TRUMP: There's going to be competition. There's going to be competition among all of the states and the insurance companies. They're going to have many, many different plans.

BASH: Is there anything else you would like to add to that as point of your plan?

TRUMP: No, there's nothing to add. What's to add?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He's not alone. Republicans have not come up with an alternative for Obamacare in what 15 years. So, that is part of the story here. All right. Up next. CNN is trekking to the areas hit hardest by record breaking Hurricane Melissa. How the storm is creating chaos from Jamaica to Cuba. And J.D. Vance swears he doesn't wake up and think, how do I make myself president? But he does. He says, think about how he could run against one of his self-described best friends in 2028.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: We're following breaking news in the Caribbean, where we're just getting a sense of the chaos created by record breaking Hurricane Melissa. CNN's Derek Van Dam who weathered the storm in Jamaica. Put it this way. What we've seen unfold is truly catastrophic. Some communities will likely be isolated for days. Those hard-hit areas are where he is trekking now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You can see just some of the over wash here. On the roadways, we've encountered a lot of rockslides and mudslides and downed trees, some power lines over the roads, and it's difficult to navigate this area. I mean, here's an electrical wire, dangling right in front of us as well. This is obviously very typical of hurricane damage, but as we get further and further into the disaster area where the core of the hurricane struck, we anticipate the destruction to be more widespread.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And these are pictures of Black River. Officials say that community in particular, and others known for their tourism like Montego Bay were, quote, very, very heavily impacted. Authorities say, at least 30 people have died across the region, with that number expected to rise.

Hurricane Melissa is now a category two, and it's tracking toward the Bahamas after slamming through Cuba. We're going to have much more on that, and we'll be checking in with our reporters on the ground as we hear from them.

Up next, no means no. The Republican candidate for New York mayor is refusing to bow out of the race.

[12:30:00]