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One World with Zain Asher

Trump Pushes Tariff Deadline To August 1; Trump: Japan And South Korea To Face 25 Percent Tariffs; Death Toll From Catastrophic Texas Floods Rises To 108; Israel-Hamas Mediators Build "Framework" Document In Doha; Trump's Approval Rating On Trade Has Tumbled; Aired 12-1p ET

Aired July 08, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:38]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You've just been watching a live cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, where he touched on a number of

issues, in particular, obviously, the flash flooding that we've seen out of Texas that has taken well over 100 lives.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem really just talked in a very touching way about some of the things that the families

who have lost loved ones and the families who are still waiting for news as it pertains to what has happened to their loved ones, what they are dealing

with at this point in time.

[12:05:08]

She gave this really touching account of a mother who is holding on to her kids and accidentally let go of her kids who ended up getting swept away by

those floods.

He also touched on, of course, the tariffs that are going into effect. The Trump administration sent out letters to 14 countries, most of them in

Asia, essentially warning them of new tariff rates that would be put into effect by August 1st if they do not reach a deal, a trade deal with the

U.S. by that time.

The initial reciprocal tariff rate that -- that sort of deadline was initially supposed to be tomorrow, by the way, July 9th, and that has now

been extended to August 1st.

In fact, Anna Stewart, our reporter on the ground gave a little graphic as to how many times these dates have continued to be pushed back.

Let's bring in CNN's Alayna Treene joining us live now from the White House. I mean, that was wide-ranging just in terms of the number of issues

he touched on.

Obviously, as I mentioned, part of it was definitely heavily focused on the flash flooding and -- and the victims out of Texas, but also tariffs as

well. That is a big priority for the administration, especially because of the money that he talked about that would be coming into the United States.

Walk us through that, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right. And that's been a long time priority for the president as it relates to these

tariffs, this idea that they can bring billions of dollars. And you saw him, you know, refer to his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent there, saying,

I'd like you to speak about it.

They said, you know, they've seen some $100 billion come in, unclear how they got to that figure, but really trying to tout that as, of course,

we're now seeing the Trump administration push that deadline back, that initial deadline where they gave a 90-day extension to most of the United

States trading partners until July 9th, which is supposed to be tomorrow for the deadline on those reciprocal tariffs.

Push that back to August 1st, but really saying that, you know, he still believes that the United States is getting taken advantage of here. And

that's really what we've heard from him and other officials here.

But I do think the big picture, at least when it comes to tariffs, of course, Zain and Bianna, is that this is really supposed to allow the Trump

administration, particularly Scott Bessent and others who are on the economic team in this administration, more time to negotiate some of these

deals.

We know that the president had initially anticipated there would be more trade deals struck by this point in time, particularly by that July 9th

date that he initially set back in April.

We haven't really seen that. We've seen, you know, one firm deal with the United Kingdom, but others still have a ways to go in negotiations. And

that's why you saw the president really start to release some of those letters yesterday that he had sent to multiple different countries,

including Japan and South Korea, among many others.

But I want to go back to Texas as well, because I think it's notable that he, of course, opened with that. You know, we haven't seen him at the White

House addressing reporters on the ground specifically in the last couple of days.

And so to hear him talk about that and really praise his Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, for how she's handling it. I remind you that the

president is hoping to go to Texas as early as this Friday to be on the ground there and kind of go over some of the recovery efforts, you know,

probably talk about some of the preparation that went into that. We know there's been a lot of that that has been scrutinized, but get on the ground

there to meet with Governor Greg Abbott and others.

They're still trying to firm up that trip, make sure that, of course, the security apparatus that surrounds the president is not something that could

get in the way of some of those recovery efforts.

But all to say, I do think there's a lot that's actually going to be coming out of this cabinet meeting. It's his sixth of his second term, his sixth

since January 20th. And particularly when we get to the questions, but they have a lot that they are focusing on.

Obviously, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is here in Washington for several days. We saw them have dinner last night. That's

going to be a big topic. I'm sure that comes up around the table and more - - many more things discussed, particularly with his after making those comments about sending weapons to Ukraine, wanting to resume some of the

weapons to Ukraine as well.

So, I'd keep an ear out for some of those topics as well as he gets further around the tables, Zain and Bianna.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And we are getting word that the president and the Prime Minister of Israel are scheduled to meet again

today later this evening. So, we'll be following any developments there.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

Let's go back to CNN's Anna Stewart. And, Anna, the -- the issue of tariffs, it was just 24 hours ago where the Treasury Secretary said that

they'd be announcing a slew of new deals over the next 48 hours.

I guess he still has 24 hours to bring some of those to the fore. But we have yet to hear other than the two. And those were obviously the framework

deals between Vietnam and the United Kingdom. It does appear that the E.U. is getting closer to finalizing some sort of deal with the United States.

But where do things stand given this new deadline?

[12:10:06]

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You have a good memory.

ASHER: She does. She -- she really does.

STEWART: Twenty-four hours left. And the inbox supposedly for Scott Bessent is filled with offers for deals, but we haven't yet had them. All we've had

is these letters.

And we also have a new post from the president on Truth Social, which I think suggests that he's concerned people aren't taking his deadlines very

seriously. He says in caps lock, "Tariffs will start being paid on August the 1st 2025. There has been no change to the state and there will be no

change. All money will be due and payable on that date. Thank you for your attention."

So, I think there is some concern here that given how many times we've had a tariff deadline and how many times that has been pushed back, investors

especially, aren't taking them all that seriously.

As we've said many times before, there's this term going around called the TACO trade. Trump always chickens out. Perhaps that's what's concerning

him. And I have to say, markets today are completely flat in the U.S. if we're looking at the major indices.

There was some reaction yesterday. But this morning, given how many of the countries that were sent letters were from Asia, Asian markets were

generally higher on the day. So clearly, we're not seeing much reaction.

Now, we could see some deals that is interesting that two key trading partners did not receive a letter or they haven't yet. More letters could

be coming. One is India and one is the E.U. and the E.U. does feel like it is inching ever closer towards a deal.

There were active talks, face-to-face talks in D.C. last week. There was a phone call over the weekend with the E.U. Commission President Ursula von

der Leyen who said they had a good exchange with the president.

But so far, we aren't actually getting any of those deals, not even in principle. So wait and see, but we could get more letters, I think, before

we get more deals, ladies.

ASHER: Anna Stewart. You're right about Bianna's memory, by the way. It is incredible.

GOLODRYGA: I don't know about that. I don't know about that.

ASHER: OK. All right. Let's bring in Desmond Lachman, a former deputy director at the International Monetary Fund and a senior fellow at the

American Enterprise Institute.

I do want to talk about Japan and South Korea specifically when it comes to these trade deals. And obviously, there are so many countries in Asia that

really depend on trade with the United States for their economies. I mean, the list is longer, but certainly those two at the very least, they are

facing potentially 25 percent tariffs, if -- if they don't reach a deal.

Just walk us through what sort of impact that would have on their economies, but it's not just their economies. And obviously, the longer

this trade war goes on for, the longer the uncertainty continues, the U.S. economies also going to be hit by this too.

DESMOND LACHMAN, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, IMF: Oh, absolutely. That's absolutely right that Japan and Korea could be hit really, very hard.

What we have to remember is that these are pretty export-intensive economies. Their share of exports in relation to the size of the economy is

very much larger than it is in the United States.

So if you put a 25 percent tariff on these countries, you put tariffs on their automobiles and auto parts and so on, that is going to hit those

economies pretty hard.

And the point that one needs to bear in mind is that if the rest of the world economy doesn't do well, that can come back to bite the United

States.

The S&P 500 gets something like between 30 and 40 percent of their revenues are derived from abroad. So, it's not in our interest to have the rest of

the world economy not doing well.

GOLODRYGA: These levies, Desmond, are quite similar in terms of how steep they are the -- to -- to the original sort of liberation day from -- back

in April, they were averaging 20, 25, 30 percent. That seems to be where they stand right now.

We saw a massive scare in the bond market and the stock market, but specifically the bond market that many attribute to the president to

actually delaying this and turning back around a significant spike in treasury, U.S. Treasury yields.

I'm just wondering if that happened once before, what's to say that it can't happen again and how concerning is that if we continue to see

investors spooked by the stability of the U.S. economy and perhaps even the U.S. dollar.

LACHMAN: Yes. You're pointing to something that -- that is really very important. You know, both the bond market and the dollar market aren't

doing very well right now. The dollars lost something like 10 percent since the start of the year. That's the worst first half that we've had.

And interest rates, on the long end, you know, the U.S. tenure treasury rate is at 4 percent, 4.4 percent, at a time that the -- that the Federal

Reserve had cut interest rates. So, those markets are signaling very bad news.

[12:15:08]

And what you have to remember is it's not just the question of the uncertainty in the tariffs and the chaotic way in which this policy is

being run, but it's also a question that we've now got a budget that is totally out of control, that we're running massive budget deficits.

Our debt is on a really very dangerous path and foreigners are losing confidence in the United States. So while the stock market might be fairly

stable, the bond market, the dollar market and the gold market, gold has gone up by 25 percent since the start of the year. All of those are

signaling that trouble lies ahead they're both because of the tariff policy, but more so because of a -- a reckless budget policy that is now

being pursued.

GOLODRYGA: What did Janet Yellen tell us? The worst self-inflicted economic wound that --

ASHER: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: -- she has seen in the industry. Yes.

ASHER: Yes, and we witness. We interviewed Janet Yellen a couple of months ago and that's the tagline that she left us with at the very end of our

interview.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Desmond Lachman, former Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund.

ASHER: He disappeared at the exact --

GOLODRYGA: That was it.

ASHER: -- right time.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. No prompt. That's right.

All right. Well, moments ago, President Trump confirmed that he and the First Lady will visit the flood-ravaged Texas Hill Country on Friday.

ASHER: And in the last hour, officials confirmed that at least 108 people have died as rescue crews continue to comb through the region for a fifth

day.

Officials dodged questions such as the one from CNN's Shimon Prokupecz, on Kerr County's alert system for flash floods.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're not (INAUDIBLE) right? The sheriff's not EOC.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, there is no --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, we understand you have many questions. Hang on.

PROKUPECZ: No, I understand. But you're going to go -- you're not going to answer the question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: OK. I thought I heard his voice out there. Only Shimon can -- can ask those really tough but very important questions that -- that he

constantly asked in situations like this.

There are also questions over emergency warning systems in general and whether better planning could have saved lives.

ASHER: Yes. CNN has obtained this video of one cabin at Camp La Junta floating along the Guadalupe River. Friday, Seth Stover tell CNN his son

was among three other camp staff inside, and that at first, they didn't even know they were floating. He said after 30 seconds, the cabin hit a

tree and got wedged.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Isabel Rosales joins us now from the hard-hit city of Kerrville. And, Isabel, I know you were there in that press conference

earlier in the last hour. What more are you learning?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Bianna, Zain. Right before that interaction that you just played between my colleague Shimon Prokupecz and

the Kerr County sheriff, I asked him specifically about the timeline. Because right now, we have an information gap.

We're trying to figure out between 1:14 in the morning on Friday. That was when the first emergency flash flood alert came out. And then 5:00 A.M. in

the morning when the Guadalupe River first started to flood homes. What happened in that gap? What discussions were taking place? Who was aware

that this was a dangerous situation getting worse by the minute? And did anyone consider evacuations?

These are the same questions that we've been hearing from community members here, distraught parents to strut locals in this area that want to get more

answers from their local officials.

And what we saw in that moment was repeated dodging or refusing to answer of questions from the officials there.

We did hear from the sheriff, Larry Leitha. He did say in that moment that this is new information that he wasn't notified about the flash flooding

until 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. That would mean that he didn't know that the situation was getting worse and worse until three to four hours after

that first alert came through.

Again, repeatedly refusing to answer those questions. We need to know what happened in that gap. We have heard from officials saying that, hey,

evacuations aren't as simple as you guys think. If we evacuate too late, we could be putting people in harm's way. As we saw back in the '80s when a

school bus of kids were being evacuated and they got trapped in the flood waters. You evacuate too late. You could be putting people in even more

danger.

We're inviting them to answer those questions of accountability and answer the questions that the community members have.

Now, I've been at Center Point for days now. This is a community just 25 miles southeast of Hunt of Kerrville, this area where I'm at right now. And

I've been seeing just an overwhelming amount of regular people, volunteers uniting with first responders there, using their bare hands to lift up tree

limbs, bringing in heavy machinery now too to help clear the path and following the Guadalupe River to see if they can find anyone who is

missing. Ladies.

[12:20:09]

GOLODRYGA: All right. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much.

ASHER: All right. Still to come, France's second city hidden by a lot of smoke as fast-moving wildfire takes hold.

Also ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's very nice, thank you. That's very nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: The Nobel Peace Prize is something Donald Trump has wanted for a very long time. Hasn't been quite subtle about it.

Now, the Israeli Prime Minister has nominated him for it. We'll have more details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. Right now, President Trump is taking questions at a cabinet meeting at the White House. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those new reports saying that -- that imported goods have actually decreased in price from December.

TRUMP: I know. It's -- I don't think --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, my question is whether tariffs (INAUDIBLE) keep saying that tariffs are going to cause price increases. Are the prices just

not passed --

TRUMP: Are we -- chairman of the Fed?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, exactly.

TRUMP: You do a better job than that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are the prices just not asked through yet?

TRUMP: No. I think what's happening is everything's evening out. You know, when we charge them -- see what people don't understand, the other

countries have been charging -- almost every country charges us tariffs. We had deficits with everybody for years, for -- for decades.

And we were like this big monolith that made bad deals with everybody. You know, we rebuilt South Korea and we stayed there. It's OK. We rebuilt it.

And we stayed there. And they pay us very little for the military. I got them to pay billions of dollars. And Biden then canceled it when he came

in.

You know, I sent to South Korea as an example. You know, we give you free military, essentially. Very little. And I think you should pay us $10

billion a year.

And they went crazy, but they agreed to three. So I got three with a phone call. And I was satisfied. I said, but next year we have to talk. And then

we had a rigged election. We never got to talk.

And you know what Biden did? He -- they probably went to him and they said, listen, Trump treated us terribly. And we shouldn't be paying anything. And

he cut it down to nothing. So that's what happens. It's ridiculous.

That's the other thing. We're talking to countries about contributing to the military. Not only just paying more in NATO, but contributing. You

know, we have 45,000 soldiers in South Korea. We have 45,000 soldiers in Germany. 52,000, actually.

[12:25:07]

And, you know, that's a huge economic development for them. That's tremendous amount. That's like having a city. That's tremendous money for

them. And it's a tremendous loss for us.

So, we're talking -- in a very nice way, we're talking to them about it. It's very unfair. We supply the military. There's so many very successful

countries. I mean, South Korea is making a lot of money. And they're very good. They're very good.

But, you know, they should be paying for their own military.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, can I ask you a question about Jerome Powell as well? And then the question to the attorney general.

TRUMP: Question about what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jerome Powell. And then I have a question for the attorney general. Jerome Powell who you've been pressuring to lower

interest rates, he's facing accusations of lying to Congress, which is a potential crime about the --

TRUMP: Oh, he should resign immediately. We should get somebody in there that's going to lower interest rates.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you want congressional --

TRUMP: What are you calling for his resignation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want congressional Republicans to investigate?

TRUMP: It's OK with me. I think he's terrible. I think -- look, we're paying -- I call him Too Late. T-O-O, Too Late. Like Too Tall Jones for the

Dallas Cowboys, right? Too Late. He's always late.

But he wasn't late with Biden before the election. He was cutting him like crazy. It didn't help too much, did it? But he was cutting him like crazy

before the election with Kamala. And Biden, he was trying to get them in, I guess. I don't know. He was recommended by somebody that worked for me.

I like you better.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I can ask -- if I can ask you general questions too.

TRUMP: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your memo and released yesterday with Jeffrey Epstein left some lingering mysteries. One of the biggest ones is whether

he ever worked for a American for foreign intelligence agency. The former labor secretary who was Miami U.S. attorney, Alex Costa. He have allegedly

said that he did work for intelligence agency.

So, could you resolve whether or not he did? And also, could you see why there was a minute missing from the jailhouse (INAUDIBLE)?

PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, sure. If I --

TRUMP: Can I just interrupt for a second?

BONDI: Sure.

TRUMP: Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years. You're asking -- we have Texas, we have this, we

have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep? That is unbelievable.

Do you want to waste the time? Do you feel like answering?

BONDI: I don't mind answering.

TRUMP: I mean, I can't believe you're asking a question on Epstein at a time like this where we're having some of the greatest success and -- and

also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration. But you go ahead.

BONDI: Sure. Sure. First to back up on that, in February, I did an interview on Fox. And it's been getting a lot of attention because I said -

- I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was, it's sitting on my desk to be reviewed, meaning the file along with the JFK,

MLK, files as well. That's what I meant by that.

Also to the tens of thousands of video, they turned out to be child porn downloaded by that disgusting Jeffrey Epstein. Child porn is what they

were. Never going to be released. Never going to see the light of day.

To him being an agent, I have no knowledge about that. We can get back to you on that. And the minute missing from the video, we released the video

showing definitively the video was not conclusive. But the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide.

And what was on that, there was a minute that was off the counter. And what we learned from bureau of prisons was every year, every night, they redo

that video. It's old from like 1999. So every night, the video is reset. And every night should have the same minute missing. So we're looking for

that video to release that as well, showing that a minute is missing every night. And that's it on Epstein.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, on tariffs -- on tariffs again, on August 1, you've said is the deadline. What incentives do countries have to

negotiate? It seems that deadline keeps moving. It's April 2nd, now it's --

TRUMP: We didn't move, no, no. It's always been August 1st. That's all I'm saying. A statement was put out today. And I put it out just to make it

clear. It --it wasn't a change. It was August 1st.

We don't change very much. And every time we put out a statement, they say, he made a change. I didn't make a change. Clarification, maybe.

No, August 1st, they pay. And everybody pays. Everybody has to pay. And the incentive is that they have the right to deal in the United States. If they

don't want to, they don't have to pay. And they don't have to deal here.

But if they want to buy and make a lot of money and sell, in the United States, they have to do that. You know, if you go back and look at some of

the good presidents -- our country was the wealthiest, proportionately the wealthiest. From 1870 to 1913, it was an all-tariff country. We didn't have

income tax. They came to -- they came in in 1913 with tariffs.

[12:30:11]

And we had so much money, we didn't know what to do with it. We had -- I mean, we had a couple of presidents that were very, very strong. McKinley,

I guess, more than anybody, but he was the tariff king, but he was very, very strong. And it's sort of sad. He -- he made a fortune for this

country, became very rich.

And then Teddy Roosevelt went out and the vice president, and he spent the money. And they said Roosevelt was a great president. And let's say he was

a great president, but the money was paid by McKinley with tariffs.

Tariffs are charged by other countries at levels that are ridiculous. And, you know, I call those other countries -- and every one of them is willing

to give us everything now, by the way, just so you know.

Sir, we'll charge you no tariffs. Nothing. We'll give you everything. We'll give you access to our markets. We'll give you everything. Is that a

correct statement, Scott?

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Yes, sir.

TRUMP: Howard, would you say that's a correct statement?

HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Exactly correct.

TRUMP: It's like they just don't -- because they're very spoiled. Because for years, they ripped us off. And we didn't have a president that

understood it. Or Secretary of Treasury or Secretary of -- Of -- a lot of different secretaries are involved. But certainly Commerce Secretary was, you know, not doing their job.

I don't know about Kelly's small business. We'll keep it that way. OK? Her small business is bigger than almost all big businesses where it can do a

lot.

But no, they are very respectful of our country. But the incentive is that they have the right to do business with us. Without that, they don't have

the right to do business. And that will be OK, too.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the next 24 hours, we'll hear a flurry of deals.

TRUMP: Yes. We have a lot of them going out. But the deals are mostly my deal to them. We're picking a number that's low. We don't want to hurt

that. And fair. We're picking a number that's lower than, in most cases, lower than what they charged us.

But it's amazing when you've paid all this money for years. And they get one president that's a little bit different and a little tougher on this

subject. And they're willing to drop everything they've been charging us for years and years.

I mean, we have countries going -- we will have no -- you don't have to pay any tariff to come in and do business. They're giving us total access to

their countries. They gave us no access to the country.

They say, well, you cannot go and talk. OK. But now it's, we will give you total access and you don't have to pay any tariffs. But please don't charge

us tariffs. And we don't like that deal.

So, the letters I sent out are -- we have made some deals. We can make a lot more deals. It's just too time-consuming. It just makes it more

complicated. And we can do things over the years, too. You know, we're going to -- we're not going to -- we're not hardline. But it's about time

the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off, ripping us off, and laughing behind our back at how

stupid we were. OK? Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm in tariff issue. So, you talked about India coming. But then a couple of days ago, you issued a new tariffs threat to

members of the BRICS countries for --

TRUMP: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- if they aligned with anti-American countries.

TRUMP: Ten percent charge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That would be India, Brazil, but --

TRUMP: That's right. They have to pay 10 percent, if they're in BRICS. Because BRICS was set up to hurt us. BRICS was set up to degenerate our

dollar and take our dollar as the standard, take it off as the standard. And that's OK if they want to play that game. But I can play that game,

too. So anybody that's in BRICS is getting a 10 percent charge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that immediate, sir? Or is that --

TRUMP: Yes, pretty soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- if they engage in some behavior?

TRUMP: Well, if they're a member of BRICS, they're going to have to pay 10 percent tariff just for that one thing. And they won't be a member alone.

I thought BRICS was -- you know, I said this about a year ago and it largely broke up. But, you know, there are a couple that will hang around.

But I thought it largely broke up.

BRICS is not, in my opinion, not a serious threat. But what they're trying to do is destroy the dollar. So that another country can take over and be

the standard. And we're not going to lose the standard at any time.

If you have a smart president, you will never lose the standard. If you have a stupid president, like the last one, you would lose the standard.

You wouldn't -- you wouldn't have the dollars here.

And if we lost the -- the world standard dollar, that would be like losing a war, a major world war. We would not be the same country any longer.

We're not going to let that happen.

The dollar -- you have the expression, dollar is king, the dollar is king. We're going to keep it that way, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: And I'm just saying, if people want to challenge it, they can, but they're going to have to pay a big price. And I don't think any of them are

willing to pay that price.

(CROSSTALK)

[12:35:08]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. President. Are you optimistic about reaching the tariff deal with the European Union soon?

TRUMP: Well, the European Union has been speaking to, Ursula, and the whole group. And they've been very nice. They treated us very badly until

recently. Now they're treating us very nicely. It's like a different world, actually.

They've treated us very badly. They were among the toughest to deal with. Actually, in many respects, they were much worse than China.

Look at what they do to our companies. They sue Apple. They sue Google. Seventeen billion they got from Apple on a lawsuit that they didn't have a

case. They have, you know, judges that are European Union judges. And they ruled -- they take so much money away from our country in terms of that, in

terms of other things that they do. They're very tough. But now they're being very nice to us. And we'll see what happens.

We're probably two days off from sending them a letter. We are talking to them. I --I just want you to know, a letter means a deal. You know, a lot

of people said, you -- we've got 200 countries. We can't meet with 200 countries.

We have a few trusted people that know what they're doing, that are doing a good job, but you can't do it. You have to do it in a more general way, but

it's a very good way. It's a better way. It's a more powerful way.

And we sent them a letter. You read the letter. I think it was well crafted. And mostly, it's just a little number in there. You'll pay 25

percent, 35 percent. We have some at 60, 70. Those are ones with massive year where we have massive trade deficits, because they've treated us very

badly.

But I would say in every case --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: All right. We've been listening to Trump, the president, speaking there with his cabinet, addressing a number of issues. Most

dominant, of course, has been the tariffs and the announcement that that deadline has been extended to August 1st.

He said that has always been the deadline. That has not been the case. But he is determined that by August 1st, if all of these countries that have

been issued these letters have not made a trade deal, that they will be slapped with reciprocal tariffs, already 10 percent, has been the universal

baseline that's already been imposed.

The president touched on the war in Ukraine as well, really expressing his frustration with Vladimir Putin. And again, continuing his attacks against

Fed Chair Jay Powell, saying that he should resign immediately.

We will keep a close eye on his comments there and go back to them if he makes any additional news.

Meantime, we'll be right back with more.

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[12:40:16]

ASHER: All right. As Israel and Hamas hold indirect talks for a third day in Qatar to try to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal, Israel continues to

intensify attacks across Gaza.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Hospitals and emergency responders say more than 60 people were killed so far today. About half of them have been living in tents in

southern Gaza, that is according to the Nasser Medical Complex. Several parts of Gaza City were also hit by airstrikes.

Here's one woman describing a terrifying scene in the dead of night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RASHA WISHAH, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN SHELTERING AT SCHOOL (through translator): Suddenly at 3:00 A.M. at dawn, about three missiles hit the

school. We ran to the sound and found all of the tents on fire. People were inside. Of course, they were already asleep.

People were asleep, so the young men started putting the fire out. The sound of screaming and the women and their children were already sleeping

in the tents. And that's what happened. They started putting the fire out, trying. They tried as hard as they could, but they couldn't until the

people were at their end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The International Committee of Red Cross says that there's been a sharp increase in deaths over the past month, particularly near aid

distribution points.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues his visit to Washington. He's up on Capitol Hill now meeting with House Speaker Mike

Johnson.

GOLODRYGA: Meantime in Qatar, a critical moment in the Israel-Hamas conflict as mediators are trying to bridge gaps between the warring sides

in a framework document. It's a third day of indirect talks there. Qatar's foreign ministry is not giving details of how negotiations are progressing.

All right. Time now for "The Exchange" and joining us is CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk, who believes situation in the Middle East has

stabilized specifically after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

In an op-ed for cnn.com, McGurk says that "Military success has set the stage for feats of diplomacy and with creativity and compromise. It's now

possible to see an end to the cataclysmic chain of events that Hamas unleashed on October 7th."

That would be music to everyone's ears, Brett McGurk. Thank you so much for joining us.

You still have 50 Israeli hostages, 20 of them believe to be alive. Obviously, their families every day fighting for their release, as we know,

and as we have been reporting, continued civilian deaths in Gaza.

In the meantime now, as the war is inching closer to two years, it's hard to believe that.

Let's talk about the possibility for a ceasefire deal, because it seems that that's, at best, where things stand right now. That is a 60-day pause

in the fighting, the release of some of the hostages, and to quote some of what you write in the piece, one of the issues is that Hamas remains

determined that they will continue to rule and preside in Gaza, despite the fact that the majority of their military leadership has been killed or

decimated.

Israel is saying, firm, that they will not allow for Hamas to continue to control Gaza. But what you note is that Israel has also failed to define a

future for Gaza without Hamas. So, walk us through what happens if we are to get a deal on day 61.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Bianna, thanks so much for -- for having me. I might help lead these talks over the last year trying

to get this done so I kind of understand the gaps quite well.

But let me step back, because you said a key thing. On October 7th, Hamas invaded Israel, took about 300 hostages, slaughtered 1,200 people, and then

said, we need a permanent ceasefire to release the hostages. And we're going to stay in power. Hezbollah joined the war and supported that demand,

as did Iran and Iran's proxies around the region.

That's basically what happened. And Hamas, to this day, has kept with that core demand. There's a juxtaposition to those terrible images that you just

showed leading up to this peace, a juxtaposition between the urgency to get into a ceasefire and how Hamas deals with these negotiations.

So, let me just kind of explain the deal. The structure of the deal here is very similar to actually what President Biden worked out in May,

unanimously endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

There's three parts to a ceasefire deal. There are the rules of the ceasefire where Israeli forces will go, what both sides do during that

period.

Second is the crux of it, the hostages to be released, and the Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel.

The third are the humanitarian dimensions and number of trucks and where they go and everything else.

What Hamas does in these talks is they negotiate over every single detail. So, the IDF forces will withdraw to a certain point. No, it should be 100

meters, it should be 200 meters. And then you never get to the actual hostages to be released and Palestinian names to be released. So, this goes

on endlessly.

[12:45:07]

And what I'm concerned about is we're kind of back into that pattern. There was an offer put on the table two weeks ago that Israel accepted and Hamas

did not accept it. They said, let's talk about all the details. And that's where we are.

This work could stop tomorrow or yesterday or two weeks ago if Hamas would agree to release those 10 hostages.

Now, all of that said, my understanding, Bianna, is they are making progress in Doha. It's difficult. It's painstaking. And having Netanyahu

here in Washington is actually very helpful.

I'm encouraged by the way this visit is being managed. It is not a victory lap after the operations are on. It is actually a very working visit to try

to roll up our sleeves and get on the same page to try to get the ceasefire done.

As has been reported earlier in CNN, President Trump is likely to meet again with Netanyahu tonight to talk about these details.

So, I'm hopeful here that by the end of the week, Steve Witkoff, who is the president's envoy, will be in Doha to try to wrap this up. We have to get

the ceasefire in place.

But again, there's got to be pressure on Hamas to take the deal. You never hear from international voices, Hamas take the deal, release 10 hostages,

then you're in a 60-day window of calm. Humanitarian aid comes in, relief for Gazans. We desperately have to get to that point.

And in that 60 days, given where we are in the region, I think the Israelis have a lot of leeway to get to a final status in which we could actually

have a permanent end of the war. But we got to get into the 60 days to get to that point.

ASHER: When you talk about humanitarian aid and the much needed relief for people in Gaza, and as we talk about continuously on the show, it is the

Palestinian people through all of this that continue to suffer.

I mean, that enclave has been on the brink of famine, enclave-wide famine for many, many months now. And we've seen so many images of children,

especially in the enclave, who continue to suffer.

I do want to talk a bit more about Netanyahu's visit to Washington and the conditions surrounding this visit. Obviously, it comes after the U.S.

brokered a ceasefire agreement between Iran and Israel that it comes after the U.S. has lifted a lot of sanctions on Syria. And, of course, as

President Trump continues to push for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

Can you explain to us what exactly and what specifically Netanyahu wants and needs from President Trump at this point in time?

MCGURK: Well, obviously, I think Netanyahu is here in a very different context than any other visit he's had to Washington since October 7th.

So basically, the tables have completely turned. I think Israel has restored its deterrence. The operations in Iran were successful. Hezbollah

declared a ceasefire. The Assad regime has gone. All the militias in Iraq and Syria, no longer doing anything. They're in a state of a ceasefire, and

now were in the cusp of a ceasefire in Gaza.

It gives Prime Minister Netanyahu an awful lot of leeway, as I mentioned, to try to get to a final deal in Gaza. And, you know, the Prime Minister,

the Israelis said something to me very early in this crisis that after October 7th, and that attack into Israel and then has Ebola launching

another front, the Houthis, and multiple fronts against Israel, like Israel's existence was thought to be at stake.

And what has happened now is that's just no longer the case. I think they have restored their strength. That's very important. And now you can move,

you can begin to bridge from more to peace, not only in Gaza, but talk their back channel talks to Lebanon and Syria for non-aggression packs, and

also the direct talks between the U.S. and Iran that are likely to get going again here over the coming weeks.

Important for the prime minister and the president and their teams that basically get on the same page, where do we want to go over the next two to

three months? It's a critical period.

And if you can get into the 60-day calm in Gaza, it opens up a lot of diplomatic space. But you've got to get into that 60-day calm. I go back to

that. That's why these talks in Doha are so important.

Look, the Israelis will have to make some final compromises to get into that deal. But Hamas, at the end of the day, this war would stop now if

they said, OK, we're going to release the 10 hostages. Let's have the 60- day ceasefire and talk about that final end state.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. They should release all 50 of the hostages, both the living and the deceased. Amen to that.

Quickly, Brett, I know you speak -- spend a lot of time speaking to leaders in the Gulf countries as well. Just going back to this idea of what a post-

Gaza, post-war, post-Hamas, Gaza looks like, just realistically, do you see a scenario where you have other armies from the region governing militarily

in Gaza? Or is this a situation looking more and more likely like the IDF will be there for a significant period of time?

[12:50:58]

MCGURK: Well, this is the -- again, I don't think it should be the IDF. But Hamas, to this day, Bianna, has never accepted any notion of an alternative

force to come in, whether an Arab force, whether Palestinian security forces, anybody. It has to be them with security control. That is their

demand. And after October 7th, the Israelis, frankly, are never going to accept that.

So, you have to come to some arrangement, some Palestinian security structure that can then be enabled by Arab forces, by U.S. forces, not in

Gaza, but perhaps based in Egypt and elsewhere.

All this planning has been done, but it can't happen until you have an arrangement with Hamas to accept it. Because otherwise, no Arab force --

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

MCGURK: -- is going to come in and fight Hamas. That's certainly not going to happen. And you don't want to recreate the conditions for another

Palestinian civil war, as we saw in Gaza back in 2005.

GOLODRYGA: Right.

MCGURK: So, it comes back to Hamas accepting arrangements to allow Gaza to be rehabilitated. If Hamas remains in power, that's not going to happen.

That really is a fundamental crux of this. And one of the reasons it is so difficult.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Brett McGurk, always great to have your insights. Thank you for your time today.

And a reminder that you can read the rest of Brett's op-ed on cnn.com.

We'll have more after this break.

MCGURK: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. We've been speaking all hour about President Trump's tariffs. So, what exactly do the American people think about this?

GOLODRYGA: Chief data analyst Harry Enten has the answers always, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hi. I've been told I have 90 seconds. We're going to run through this fast and we'll see how fast.

ASHER: You just wasted 10 seconds.

ENTEN: I'm sorry about that.

Let's take a look at disapprove of Trump's trade policies. This is what we're talking about. Back in January, it was 40 percent who said they

disapproved of Trump's tariffs or trade policies.

Look at where that number jumped to in June, 54 percent. The American people have turned against Trump's trade policies.

And remember we went through this sort of trade war back in April. Remember that? Well, what happened to Trump's overall approval rating the last time

we had a potential tariff war? It went down. It went down.

All right, March 28. Pre-tariffs, his net approval rating was zero points. Look at where it was by April 10th, the post-tariffs. It went down to minus

six points.

So, I think Donald Trump is looking at what's going on here, recognizes that the American people have turned against him on tariffs. And that is

why he is over and over again delayed what's going on.

And then I'll finally just note very quickly, think tariffs hurt the U.S. economy. Last year, it was 39 percent in September of 2024. Look at where

that number has jumped up to now, 57 percent.

[12:55:06]

So the bottom line is people like tariffs, perhaps, in theory. But when it comes to actually in practice, they're not so hot to trot on them.

And I've told, I actually think I've done this in well under a minute and 30 seconds, guys.

ASHER: You can actually keep going, Harry. We're listening. You've got a minute more to fill.

ENTEN: I got a minute more to fill?

GOLODRYGA: You (INAUDIBLE) auctioneer, Harry.

ENTEN: Well, I'll tell you, here's the thing.

ASHER: Oh, 30 seconds. I'm sorry.

ENTEN: Thirty seconds. It's perfectly fine. I think what's so important to note here is just 28 percent of Americans think that tariffs actually help

the U.S. economy.

And I think this is just exactly like new Coke, right? Where you basically have this idea, hey, I like the idea of trying something new. But when it's

actually implemented and it has an impact on their wallets, the American people have turned against it. And that was what we saw last time around

where Trump's approval rating went down into the gutter the last time we tried a tariff.

Did I fill the 1:30?

GOLODRYGA: Yes.

ASHER: No. You -- you were perfect. That was exactly -- that requires skill.

GOLODRYGA: The majority of Americans listened in econ 101 is basically what you're saying.

Harry Enten, it is good to see you.

ENTEN: Nice to see you.

ASHER: Yes, it is.

ENTEN: Next time maybe two minutes.

ASHER: We'll try.

GOLODRYGA: Harry Enten, on time as always.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Thanks for being with us. That's Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. Thanks for watching. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back with "Amanpour."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:00]

END