Return to Transcripts main page

Quest Means Business

President Trump Meets Brazilian President for Talks Over Venezuela Crisis; Newly Unsealed Court Documents Show President Trump's Former Attorney Michael Cohen was Under Investigation Earlier than Previously Known; U.S. Official: ISIS Fighters Linked to January Attack Captured; Kazakhstan President Resigns After Three Decades in Office; CNN Poll: Seven in Ten Say U.S. Economy is in Good Shape; JPMorgan CEO Says Trump's Tariff Strategy Might have Worked; Trump Steps Up Pressure on GM to Reopen Ohio Plant; Australian Prime Minister Calls for G20 Action Against Social Media Sites; Facebook Blamed for not Being Able to Detect Video of Mass Shooting in New Zealand; Michel Barnier: Europe Cannot Prolong Brexit Without "Useful" Reason; DHL Prepare in Case of a No-Deal Brexit; Dow Choppy on U.S.-China Tariff Talks. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired March 19, 2019 - 15:00   ET

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

SHANE BAUER, AMERICAN JOURNALIST: ... in the American prison population, which really changed the system a lot made. It made it so that states were

scrambling to build prisons fast enough, and a couple of businessmen approached him, you know, he was known for running prisons at a profit.

And they proposed a new model, essentially, to make money where, rather than, you know, using prisoners as labor, the prisoners themselves are

essentially the commodities and the states are paying them just to house them, and they're traded on the stock exchange.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, Shane Bauer, thanks so much for talking.

BAUER: Thank you.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, ANCHOR, CNN: There's a dark look there at the roots of the U.S. private prisons. That is it for now. Remember, you can always

listen to our podcast and see us online @amanpour.com and you can follow me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks for watching. And goodbye from London.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:05:00]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, ANCHOR, CNN: Stocks take a dip after conflicting reports on trade talks. It's Tuesday, March 19th. Tonight, it's all about

relationship management -- an alliance made. President Trump and the so- called Trump of the tropics meet at the White House.

And alliance at risk. The merger between Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank faces new opposition from regulators and a breakup in process. The E.U.'s

Chief Brexit negotiation issues a stark warning. I'm Julia Chatterley. This is "Quest Means Business."

A warm welcome to you to the show. Once again, tonight, discrimination and collusion -- those are the accusations launched by the U.S. president at

Facebook, Twitter and Google. Donald Trump say Silicon Valley companies have had hatred for the conservatives in power and they're using their

platforms to stack the deck against him.

Speaking last hour, President Trump who leveraged social media to help him win the 2016 presidential election promised to do something about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We use the word collusion very loosely all the time and I will tell you, there is collusion

with respect to that because something has to be going on and when you get the back scene, back office statements made by executives of the various

companies and you see the level of, in many cases hatred they have for a certain group of people that happened to be in power, that happen to have

won the election, you say that's really unfair.

So something is happening with those groups of folks that are running Facebook and Google and Twitter and I do think we have to get to the bottom

of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Stephen Collinson is a CNN politics reporter in Washington and Anna Navarro is a political commentator in Miami. Stephen, I'll come to

you first the President himself, his comment there, significant fire in the last few days for not being more stringent in the light of social media's

role on Friday in the New Zealand terror attack. Today, he's complaining about its treatment of him. Talk us through this.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, POLITICS REPORTER, CNN: Right, Julia. It was quite something to see the President of the United States standing side by side

and making common cause against what he says is fake news with the leader of Brazil who has been criticized for autocratic and anti-democratic

tendencies in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Then the President took a question from a conservative journalist, a teed up question really to ask him about a lawsuit that's been filed against

these social media giants by a political ally, Devin Nunes, a California Congressman, alleging that there's discrimination against conservative

figures in the media.

And he went on really to make an attack, I think is the only way you can talk about this on free expression, one of the core U.S. values. This of

course, is a President who says he is being discriminated against, but has 59 million Twitter followers. And let's remember, he won the White House

following an attack on the U.S. on social media platforms by Russian intelligence agencies, which developed a preference for him which spread

sort of propaganda and discord in the United States and targeted Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 election.

So this is quite some claim for the President to make and it just furthers the idea of his attack on what he calls the enemies of the people in the

media.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, when it works for him it works, when it doesn't work for him, perhaps, he has a problem here and he has voiced that.

[15:10:10]

CHATTERLEY: He has not held back throughout his presidency, though, with his views on fake news, on perhaps the suppression of conservative voices

within the media. Anna, weigh in here. What do you think?

ANNA NAVARRO, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Look, I think he uses this as a constant wedge issue. I think he tries to spin the narrative and spin the

news to his benefit. Whatever is not positive news about him, he likes to qualify as fake news. He's not one that is much for accuracy or truth

himself. We see it over and over again.

And I did feel that it was the height of irony that he was attacking things like Facebook and Twitter when Bob Mueller has indicted Russian troll farms

and Russian operations that were using Facebook and Twitter and social media in the United States to try to influence elections and influence

culture.

We have seen over and over again how media campaigns - social media campaigns, paid for by Russia, directed by Russia have sown discord in

America. They start hashtag campaigns, one against the other, they aggregate and they promulgate and they promote things that are not true in

order to create and fabricate culture wars.

They played a crucial role in 2016 in depressing the African-American vote in instigating votes for people like Jill Stein, and so Donald Trump for

once is right that the social media that Facebook and Google and Twitter have got to do a better job. Where he's wrong is in claiming that it is

against conservatives. No, it is against democracy. It is against American values. It is against truth, and that's why he should be

offended, and so should every American.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's quite fascinating, because that's the way I started this conversation was that this conversation could have been very different

if the target that he put there on social media was about something else rather than himself and his own grievances that this stage. Stephen,

obviously, these two presidents are very aligned in many ways, not just on the target for freedom of the press, so called fake news as they both said

it, but also as far as Venezuela is concerned, and Nicolas Maduro there. What else came out of that press conference that strikes you as important

here for both of these countries going forward?

COLLINSON: Well, the President - President Trump talked about how he wasn't ready to take any option, including military action off the table in

the U.S. government effort to topple or at least allow the departure of President Maduro of Venezuela. He didn't go further into specifics, but he

did weigh in against socialism in Venezuela, and then he quickly pivoted to the domestic political context accusing Democrats in the 2020 presidential

race that's just gearing up of embracing socialism. That is something we're going to hear very much going forward towards the 2020 election.

And this was I think, just the latest example of how the President finds common cause with autocratic strongmen type leaders like Bolsonaro whom he

inspired, but we can also go back to talk about Kim Jong-un during the Summits with North Korea; President Putin, President Xi of China -- often

when the President is on stage with one of these leaders, he adopts positions which appear to be far more in tune with the politics advocated

by those leaders than U.S. values.

We saw it with Putin and just to go into an argument against free expression in the Rose Garden of the White House, one of the platforms

which in the past, Presidents have used as a as a stage for U.S. values tells us something quite profound about the President and his presidency.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it does. He said, the twilight hour for socialism, both in the western hemisphere, but also back in the United States. Stephen

Collinson and Anna Navarro, guys, thank you so much for joining us on the show this evening.

All right, President Trump and his Brazilian counterpart, the so called Trump of the Tropics exchange soccer jerseys as they met. They're hoping

for cooperation though on a lot more including trade, limiting China's influence, the political crisis in Venezuela, as we discussed there and

NATO privileges for Brazil.

Today's meeting comes as the outlook for Brazil darkens, the country's economic growth fell more than expected in January and economies are

downgrading that 2019 forecasts even as the stock market hits record highs this week.

[15:15:07]

CHATTERLEY: I'm joined from Washington by Eric Farnsworth, he is Vice President of the American Society and Council of the Americas. He also

served in the State Department and in the Clinton White House. Eric, fantastic to have you on the show. Your observations of both this press

conference, but also more broadly, what a stronger relationship here between the United States and Brazil may mean on paper, but also in

practice?

ERIC FARNSWORTH, VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN SOCIETY AND COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS: I think on the press conference, we've never seen anything quite

like this between the U.S. and Brazilian leaders. You know, previous leaders have had a good relationship even when they don't share politics.

George Bush had a really good relationship with President Lula from Brazil earlier this century, and other leaders have had similar relations, Clinton

and Cardoso, for example.

But this is something that we haven't seen. This is not just aligning their countries together along a shared values type of agenda, as we've

seen, often in the past. But this is a shared political agenda of the two leaders. And I think that's fundamentally different. But having said

that, the United States at least, is hoping that this new relationship, this burgeoning relationship between the two leaders can really lead to

some progress at the national level on some very difficult issues that have really bedeviled the relationship for some time on trade and economics, but

also on political issues across the hemisphere and in terms of global governance issues.

So their thinking is if you can get the tone right, that some of the specifics will follow.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, a lot of people have suggested that Jair Bolsonaro has modeled himself in terms of rhetoric, tone, and approach here on President

Trump and that's why he has earned himself the name, the Trump of the tropics here. But if I just pick out one of those things, what about

China? I mean, they both use pretty fiery rhetoric against China. We know exactly what's going on between the United States and China here, but for

Brazil, it's the largest trade partner, so while he can talk very aggressively about China. It's tough to follow through, how do you see

that playing out in particular?

FARNSWORTH: Yes, this is really complicated and you're right to raise it because the interest between the United States and Brazil aren't

necessarily aligned with reference to China. I mean, clearly both have their own independent relations with China, you know and the United States

is trying to rebalance, get Brazil to walk away a little bit from China, but you've heard the -- Minister Guedes from Brazil this week, say during

this visit, look, you know, we have big infrastructure needs, for example, we'd prefer the United States to be involved with us. But if you're not,

we have to get investment from wherever we can. And you the United States have been trading with China for a long time, why can't we as well?

So there are some clear breaks along those lines. And I think they're going to have to agree to disagree on this particular issue. But having

said that, there are also some indirect impacts to, for example, if the United States does do a trade agreement with China that causes China to

increase dramatically its imports of U.S. agricultural products, for example, that's going to be a shift in trade from the sales of agriculture

that Brazil is currently making to China.

So in some ways, they're even competitors along these lines. That's something we're going to have to watch very, very carefully.

CHATTERLEY: What about the designation of Brazil now as a major non-NATO ally at a time when the President lambasts his true NATO allies for not

paying enough money into the organization. He is giving special privileges to Brazil here, how is that going to go down?

FARNSWORTH: Well, this is another issue that is somewhat complicated and there's history here. There are other countries in Latin America with

similar status, Argentina, Colombia in particular. But what this does do is it allows the defense establishments to cooperate a little bit more

closely together to allow Brazil to purchase equipment on a different pay scale and that sort of thing, but you're right, I mean, nothing occurs in a

vacuum and to offer this status to Brazil at the same time there are questions that have been raised about the real NATO in Europe I think does

cause some people to scratch their heads.

But it is something that's a designation that is important and it pre- exists for the current administration and for the longer term to the extent it binds the two countries together and the defense relationship, I think

that's something that can be built on.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, I think there's plenty of head scratching around this White House quite frankly. Eric, thank you so much for that. Eric

Farnsworth, great to have you on the show.

FARNSWORTH: Thank you, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Now, as I mentioned, the BOVESPA, the Brazilian market is at a record high. Let's also check in on what Wall Street is doing as well.

The major indices coming off their highs earlier on in the session struggling to click onto their gains. In fact, we've just tilted to the

downside there in the Dow, the Dow taking a stumble off reports that China is pulling back on some of its trade concessions, although the President

was asked that at the end of that press conference earlier, he said trade talks are going well. We shall see.

Now talk about crisis and uncertainty, of course that on the eve of an E.U. Summit, and with just 10 days to go until Britain's chaotic divorce from

the block, Brussels offers a warning about any potential Brexit delay.

[15:20:06]

CHATTERLEY: And should President Trump get any credit for slapping tariffs on China, well, we'll hear exclusively from the Chief Executive of JPMorgan

and hear what he thinks. It might surprise you. This is "Quest Means Business." Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to the show, tonight, a warning from the European Union's chief at Brexit negotiator over the U.K.'s increasingly messy

divorce, and from Downing Street, talk of a crisis. Michelle Barnier says sees that Europe cannot prolong Brexit without a useful reason for doing

so. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHEL BARNIER, E.U. CHIEF BREXIT NEGOTIATOR: If Prime Minister May requests such an extension before the European Council on Thursday, it will

be for the 27 leaders to assess the reason and the usefulness for an extension. E.U. leaders will need a concrete plan for the U.K. in order to

be able to make an informed decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: It comes as the British Prime Minister is expected to write to the E.U. with a plan to delay Brexit past the March 29th deadline. With

just 10 days to go until the U.K. leaves the E.U. by law, Theresa May spokesman says a crisis has now quote "come to pass." I might say we've

been there for a while.

All right, let's get a reminder of where the main players stand right now. The Speaker of the House of Commons says Parliament will have to approve

any extension of Article 50. On Monday, he blocked Theresa May's planned third vote unless she produces big changes to her Brexit deal and Mrs. May

is in fact still weighing a possible third vote despite the Speaker's ruling.

As for Michel Barnier, he says E.U. leaders will do what's in the best interest of the European Union. We've got this covered from all sides for

you. Bianca Nobilo is outside of the British Houses of Parliament. But first let's go to Erin McLaughlin who is in Brussels for us. Erin, I feel

like there is collective exhaustion right now on the side of the E.U., but if you look under the surface, there's a tone difference between different

leaders of the E.U. nations. How important is that going to be when that letter arrives requesting that extension?

[15:25:02]

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: We're going to have to see how this plays out exactly, Julia, but we just heard from Simon Coveney, the Irish

Foreign Minister echoing what Michel Barnier had to say out of today's meeting of European Ministers, which is meant to pave the way to this

critical Summit on Thursday in which all 27 leaders are set together to determine whether or not to give an extension to the U.K. Coveney saying,

"Don't assume an extension is automatic." He is echoing what Barnier had to say saying he wants to see a detailed plan from the U.K. as to how to

get a majority in Westminster for something. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON COVENEY, IRISH FOREIGN MINISTER: If there's going to be a request for allowing extension of Article 50 by the U.K., well then, it will need

to be very persuasive plan to go with that to explain why that's needed and how they will use the time to conclude the outstanding issues that haven't

been able to be agreed in London in the context of the Brexit process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: I'd expect them to be playing hardball here. Look, they've been saying this all along, come to us with something, with justification

for why you need the delay, whether it's a deal and you just need to work it out or something more serious. Bianca, the problem is, even on the U.K.

side, they're saying that Parliament will have to vote on whether they approve the length of extension. So it's not even clear if we get the

extension whether Parliament are going to back it.

BIANCA NOBILO, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yet another hurdle for the Prime Minister, when Bercow intervenes yesterday, that created a fresh obstacle

for her because she needs to change the deal in substance and then now today, hearing the Parliament is also going to have to approve an extension

which has to be approved by the E.U. and as Erin was just saying, this isn't necessarily given, it needs to be thoroughly discussed.

It really does underline the level of chaos and confusion only 10 days out here. The Prime Minister needs to decide what type of extension she's

going to ask for. Will it be a short technical extension with the hope of buying her a bit more time to make some changes to that deal?

By the way, the Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay says that the changes don't necessarily need to be material, the sentiment of the Houses of

Parliament could change and therefore warrant a third go at voting on the deal. Whether or not the Speaker will agree with that I'm not quite sure.

So Theresa May needs to try and get her deal through the Houses of Parliament in a short amount of time as possible if she is to try and keep

to the deadline as tightly as she can and the reason why that's important is also a very fractious Cabinet meeting. Today, the Prime Minister was

reminded of the fact that several of her Cabinet members, key players like Andrea Leadsom, Liam Fox, Chris Grayling may well walk away from Cabinet if

she secures a longer extension, which is the other option. That could be anywhere in the vicinity of one to two years.

So she's in a precarious position when she's choosing what she's going to ask the E.U. for. I've spoken to some lawmakers who've proffered that she

could possibly approach the E.U. with a two-prong solution so that she would ask for a shorter extension with the option to extend that further or

a longer extension with the option to limit that if she somehow manages to get her deal through.

All in all, I think we can say that there needs to be a lot more clarity and it's quite remarkable that we're still in this level of confusion just

a few days out.

CHATTERLEY: Erin, Bianca, I have to wrap up here, but Bianca very quickly because you have the best sense with people that you're speaking to, yes or

no, do you think she has the votes right now in a wake up time to smell the coffee sense from those around her and the key Brexiteers around her?

NOBILO: The length of that extension will matter in the answer to that question, Julia, because if it's a long extension that her Brexiteers are

looking at, they may well be more inclined to vote for her deal fearing that anything else other than supporting it could lead to a much softer

Brexit or even no Brexit at all, the third of the U.K. gets away from that initial referendum date, the last pull that has on the Houses of Parliament

to deliver on the referendum result.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, wake up and smell the coffee moment. Bianca Nobilo, Erin McLaughlin, thank you so much for that. There is still 10 days, still

plenty of time.

All right, he is head of one of the world's biggest banks and he doesn't like tariffs, so why is Jamie Diamonds speaking up for President Trump's

trading strategy with Beijing. Well, we will tell you because our interview is next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:30:00]

[15:30:00] JULIA CHATTERLEY, HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Welcome back to the show, I'm Julia Chatterley, there's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in just a

moment. It's time when the CEO of JPMorgan takes a surprising stance on tariffs. And opposition is growing to a tie up between Commerzbank and

Deutsche Bank.

But before that, the headlines at this hour. A show of solidarity between U.S. President Donald Trump and Brazil's far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.

They spoke a short time ago at the White House, saying their shared goal is seeing the removal of Venezuela's president from power.

President Trump said all options remain on the table, calling Nicolas Maduro a Cuban puppet. Newly unsealed court documents show President

Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen was under investigation earlier than previously known. Special counsel Robert Mueller began seeking warrants

for his e-mails in July of 2017.

Just two months after Mueller was appointed to lead the Russia investigation. U.S.-backed forces in Syria have detained several militants

they believe are linked to a January suicide attack that killed four Americans and ten others. A U.S. defense official says the Syrian

Democratic Forces are holding up to five ISIS fighters who were involved in the attacks planning and execution.

U.S. personnel have interrogated the militants. After nearly three decades in office, the president of Kazakhstan has retired. President Nursultan

Nazarbayev made the surprise announcement in a nationally televised address. The president has dominated politics in the oil rich country

since it declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Good news for President Trump. A majority of Americans agree with the president that the economy is on the right track. In a new CNN poll, 71

percent say the U.S. economy is in good shape. That's the highest number since February of 2001. A lower number meanwhile, 51 percent approve of

the way the president is handling the economy, that's up from February.

[15:35:00] The CEO of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon is no fan of tariffs. He's seen as the pro-trade face of corporate America. Yet, in an exclusive

interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow, he thinks President Trump's love of tariffs may actually be paying off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DIMON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JPMORGAN CHASE: There are serious issues around trade, we want the issues seriously looked at and resolved.

On the other hand, you know, a trade -- I looked at we've had trade skirmishes, but a trade war.

You know, every time you see that manning that badly, you see the effect in the marketplace. So a trade war wouldn't be a good thing, and you know, I

do believe that both the U.S. administration and China are trying to get to a proper deal.

POPPY HARLOW, CO-HOST, NEWSROOM: I mean, do you call that the most important geopolitical relationship the U.S. and China that we're going to

see for the next --

DIMON: Yes, in general, not just trade --

HARLOW: One hundred years. Trade is obviously a big part of that. What does it mean if we do not see a comprehensive trade deal in the next few

months?

DIMON: Well, in the long run, America will be fine. You know, we prefer to see a negotiation at least toward a proper trade deal. Tariffs

themselves that are put in place, they're just -- they increase the odds that you have a trade war, that's all.

And I think if you had tariffs, you would see reaction in the marketplace which is not what either side wants.

HARLOW: So we heard last week from former White House economic adviser Gary Cohn who said pretty bluntly, tariffs, quote, "don't work", and he

pointed to the numbers we saw that stunned me. I mean, you've got an $891 billion trade deficit, $419 billion deficit in goods, both records after

the president said, you know, I can solve this.

Is Gary Cohn right, they don't work?

DIMON: I would -- I think -- like, let me say I agree with him, they don't work technically because they cause all the various things. But if the

president was here, he would say they work, I got them to the table and no one else did.

HARLOW: So it's the president, right?

DIMON: So it's a negotiating strategy, it might have worked, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: We want you to join the conversation, get out your phones and go to cnn.com-slash-join. Tonight, we're asking you, has Donald Trump's

tariff strategy paid off or do you think it's too soon to tell. Let us know if you agree with Jamie Dimon there. Go to cnn.com-slash-join and

vote now and you will see the results at the bottom of your screen.

And we will bring those to you later on in the show. All right, the U.S. president is also stepping up the pressure on auto giant GM over in Ohio

over a plant in Ohio that's recently closed. GM's chief made it clear she doesn't appreciate the arm twisting.

Separately, the Trump administration has warned it may raise tariffs on Chinese car imports. CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich, she's live at that idle GM

plant in Lordstown, Ohio. Vanessa, great to have you with us. The president has sent out a whole barrage of tweets lambasting GM ahead of a

trip to Ohio later this week.

Even included the union boss David Green, telling him to get his act together. Of course, GM said, look, we're having trouble with the unions.

Walk us through what's happened since.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Julia, yes, well, we just heard from GM a little earlier today that they were able to relocate about 500

people who worked at this Lordstown plant behind me to other GM locations across the country. But as you mentioned, the president really frustrated

with the company that they have closed this plant, that it's no longer active.

He was calling on GM to close some of their other plants in China and in Mexico and re-open this one instead. He also sort of commented on David

Green, that local union president here in town, asking him to get his act together and to produce.

And that all culminated in a response from GM. They put out a statement saying that it's really up to GM and the United Auto Workers Union to come

to some sort of an agreement before their contract ends later this year to see if they can get another product back on this line here, Julia.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, GM has become a political pawn in a sense for the U.S. president suggesting that he wanted to reassure workers in the United

States. But it's become a political pawn in other ways too because a Democratic presidential contender also paying a visit to GM and speaking to

the unions there too.

Talk to me about the visit of Mr. O'Rourke as well.

YURKEVICH: Yes, Beto O'Rourke came to town unannounced. He surprised the local union President David Green. He wanted to meet with him, we caught

up with him just before he went in to speak with David Green. But he said that he wanted to come here to Lordstown to find out for himself what he

could do to help.

He also said that if he became president, he would promise to bring back jobs to this area. He also said that if any Democrat wanted to win the

presidency in 2020, they would have to get the rural vote. We're talking about farmers, we're talking about ranchers and we're talking about

manufacturers, Julia, people who worked right here behind me in this plant in Lordstown.

[15:40:00] CHATTERLEY: What kind of a reception do you think the president will get when he arrives there, Vanessa?

YURKEVICH: Well, the president is going to be a couple of hours away from where we are right now, but I know that a lot of people are in the area are

going to be watching the president.

They're going to be watching him as he's televised tomorrow at around 3:00 p.m. at an event. They're going to see if he has anything to say about GM,

and I know that people in the area are going to be watching his Twitter handle. They want to see if he's going to be tweeting any more at GM, at

Mary Barra or even at the local union president here.

Some people here in town, Julia, think that he could put pressure on GM to re-open this plant. Others think it's really up to the company and to that

union to get a product back on this line here in Lordstown.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, changing consumer taste, Vanessa, great job, thank you so much for that. Vanessa Yurkevich speaking there. All right, according to

you guys, those of you who voted at cnn.com-slash-join, most of you are split over whether Donald Trump's tariff strategy has paid off.

Around half of you say, it simply hasn't worked as you can see. Actually, 61 percent now, saying no, 20 percent of you saying too soon to tell. Now,

let's move on because Commerzbank and Deutsche ended talks for a tie-up opposition is mounting. My next guest says only one person, the German

finance minister actually wants this deal to go through.

We'll talk through it, stay with the show, you're with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: The backlash against Facebook and other social media sites gathered pace on Tuesday, and I am not talking about the U.S. president.

This in the wake of course of the dissemination of the New Zealand mass shooting video. Australia's Prime Minister called for G20 action against

social media sites.

New Zealand's largest telecom companies demanded, quote, "urgent discussion of social media's role in a spread of content and the country's advertising

groups are calling on companies to reconsider marketing on social media sites. Samuel Burke joins us now on this.

Samuel, you and I have been discussing this now for two days since the events of Friday. Action at the G20 level, how credible really is that?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: There's absolutely no track --

CHATTERLEY: Yes --

BURKE: Record of the G20 with technology, regulation of social media --

[15:45:00] CHATTERLEY: Tax --

BURKE: And tech firms. EU, the place where we are right now for however much longer the U.K. is in the EU has actually shown some real teeth, and I

would argue is probably the only entity in the world that's actually shown that they can do something. So until the EU steps up, I don't think we're

going to see anything change at least on this front.

CHATTERLEY: At least they're talking about it. I guess that we can make that point that the --

BURKE: Yes --

CHATTERLEY: G20 is a forum for discussion, it's important that they talk, but always -- as always with the G20 we'd like to see some follow-through.

Facebook giving more detail about what happened with that video, the live stream of that terrorist attack on Friday. Talk us through what they're

saying here.

BURKE: It's interesting because I don't think that Facebook always realize when they have a crisis on their hands. They've proven in the past that

they're slow to realize when the public has already realized something. So all of a sudden they're increasing the amount of information that they're

giving us about their role in this attack, and clearly they did play a role because this was disseminated live on social media.

But I just want to put on the screens for you some of these details, Julia, because I think that there's a lot of spin going on here, and I think your

viewers will see through it very quickly. If you start with the fact that Facebook says, well, no user reported the video during the live broadcast.

Now, is their way of saying we can't be at fault? Nobody flagged it to us? If so, that just proves that the system they have for checking live videos

is not working. They say the original video was only viewed about 4,000 times before being removed.

Well, that's on the original video. We've said there were 300,000 copies uploaded in just the -- in just the 24 hours following the attack. How

many times is that viewed? Facebook won't say. And they say a user was posting the video on HN before it could even come down.

Well, the video originated on Facebook, wherever it ended up, at the end of the day, if it started on your platform, and you're the biggest platform in

the world, that just proves how powerful you are and how much more policing needs to happen.

CHATTERLEY: Do you think they were slow to react in not recognizing a crisis here or do you think actually just took them that long to understand

exactly what happened and what the details are. Because given the amount of spending and the ramp up that we've seen to include greater use of

artificial intelligence, of algorithms, of monitors of their content.

That delay remains pretty worrying to me. Either they're being slow to react or it's simply taking them that long to understand what happened. I

don't think they fully have reacted yet. We haven't heard from Mark Zuckerberg on this. And this is something that everybody in the world is

talking about.

And often times, Facebook sends out these defensive press releases, trying to change the narrative, make you look at different numbers as they did

with Cambridge Analytica, going after the "New York Times" at one point before they realized, no it's time to do some more self reflecting.

I don't believe they wanted this video up. It's not in their interest. I give them that for sure. But at the end of the day, Mark Zuckerberg is the

face of Facebook. This is one of the most important facets that's affecting the world right now, and it will continue to be.

It wasn't just this situation. Remember, that an attacker, a terrorist in France did the same thing, they had a live stream after they attacked a

police officer and their partner. ISIS has live streamed. This is an important question for Facebook in the world to face. So you have to hear

from the face of Facebook.

CHATTERLEY: OK, so, we've also talked about the reaction speed, the timing, the approach, not just of religious fundamentalist acts, but also

rhetoric, this kind of thing that comes from the right side and this kind of voice, noise, conservatism, perhaps as the president alluded today.

The president directly saying that something needs to be done about the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google for suppressing conservatism,

conservative voices on social media. It's a separate issue, but we are talking about the president, perhaps talking about doing something.

Credibility here?

BURKE: Oh, I think it's interesting. You're alluding to something that's being grappled with on a wider basis around the world. Do we react to

right-wing attacks, far right-wing attacks? To be fair, the same way that we react to maybe an attack from a Muslim fundamentalist, an extremist, a

terrorist, to make it clear.

And in talking to analysts about how Facebook reacts to this, they were making the argument to me that maybe Facebook doesn't react to these far

right-wing extremists the way they do Islamic terrorists because they say the focus in and outside of Facebook and the world has longed for the past

few years has been completely on ISIS.

And at the same time, there's been this brewing of the far-right, right under their nose, right under the platforms and they haven't had the

pressure to go after them, so they haven't gone after them in the same way. Now, part of the reason that happens is it's easier to look where is this

content originating from?

Is it ISIS in Syria? Can we block these IP addresses where you may have a different group that's just now bubbling up. But as the world starts to

grapple with these types of extremists, certainly Facebook and their peers at other social networks will have to as well.

And admittedly there, the social media companies have had a head start on some of those Islamic state, for example, in looking for those kind of IP

addresses and the location for these.

[15:50:00] But what we're talking about here is the president suggesting that voices that support him, conservative voices that support him are

being suppressed. So actually, the time when -- I think around the world, people were looking for him to be more stringent about social media

companies locking down on some of these more extremist elements, at least they're more extreme than conservative voices that perhaps he's talking

about, he's asking for the opposite.

He's criticizing them for suppressing voices that aren't in support of him. I find it difficult to understand at this moment.

BURKE: It's a fascinating dichotomy, and you have to wonder about the level of importance. Certainly, the freedom of speech is extremely

important on these platforms. But the radicalization of --

CHATTERLEY: Right --

BURKE: Of people via these platforms, and don't forget, it's not just that this attacker in New Zealand was radicalized by social media. We know

that from his manifesto. It's the fact that this video being spread could radicalize more people in a much more fervent way than I think what the

president is discussing.

It's the level of importance that we need to give to these, because it has major ramifications from New Zealand to New York.

CHATTERLEY: I think we've gone full circle here. I think Europe acts sooner than the United States --

BURKE: They've shown that to be the --

CHATTERLEY: Everything we just said --

BURKE: Once and again.

CHATTERLEY: Samuel Burke, great job, thank you. DHL is feeling gloomy meanwhile about Brexit. Now, not alone, we've been talking to the CEO of

the parcel shipping giant, he says the company is ready for whatever happens when the U.K. leaves the EU. That next, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: On the eve of a critical EU Summit, the European Union chief Brexit negotiator is out with a stark warning. Michel Barnier says that

Europe cannot prolong Brexit without a useful reason for doing so. And DHL isn't taking any chances.

The parcel delivery firm has hired hundreds of workers to deal with Custom's procedures that may be affected by Brexit. The CEO of Deutsche

Post DHL Frank Appel tells my colleague Zain Asher he's pretty gloomy about the U.K.'s impending divorce.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK APPEL, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, DEUTSCHE POST DHL GROUP: Yes, of course, it's difficult to prepare, but of course we have our contingency

plans for our customs clearance, for traffic jams, and all this kind of stuff.

[15:55:00] You know, it is not a good idea in the first place that the U.K. exiting Europe because it's a part of Europe, and you know whatever

people expected from that will not happen. But on the other side, no, we'll muddle through that. You know, we had bigger challenges in the last

DK with the financial market crisis or we call it a financial market, you know, FHL and so forth, euro.

So it's not good news for anybody, neither in the U.K. nor in Europe if somebody is leaving a free trade area, but we will do our best to help our

customers to really get through that.

ZAIN ASHER, CNN: OK, customers is one thing, well, what about the workforce? How many people do you employ in the U.K. and how might they be

affected by Brexit?

APPEL: So we have 50,000 people, so a quite sizable operations across our different activities, we do a freight forwarding, no sure(ph) freight, we

have warehouses which is huge operation, we have express business there. We have -- you know, our parcel business in the U.K. as well.

You know, it's unpredictable what really will happen. If there's a slowdown in the U.K. economy, of course, then it will hurt us as well. If

that doesn't happen, you know, then we will -- you know, try to keep everything, everybody on board. And currently we have no plans to think

about that.

We only are focusing on how can we help our customers to get their business moving. And that's the best we can do because if our customers are not

suffering, you know, we will suffer significantly less.

ASHER: In terms of your express business, DHL Express, obviously in the U.S., market-share is dominated by FedEx and the UPS. How are you trying

to get those two players to sit up and take notice?

APPEL: Yes, so, I think we are very visible on the international business, we have gained market share, we probably doubled our market share in the

last five, six years. We are not in the domestic business. We tried that a long time ago.

ASHER: Then what?

APPEL: We decided that didn't work and we retrenched from that. But our international business is doing extremely well. We're very profitable

globally as and if we're in this industry and we have seen a good development and the years before.

So we are visible for the international business of many U.S. companies and also for export companies to the U.S., and we're helping them to get their

stuff moved next day or two days depending the destination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: That was Frank Appel there. Right, let's take a quick look at our CNN join poll. More than 60 percent of you say Trump's tariff strategy

hasn't paid off. But Jamie Dimon's point was it brought them to the table, but the stats don't lie.

The bilateral trade deficit with China worsened in 2018. The U.S. is now exporting less to China, not more. We'll wait and see what happens when

those tariffs have really kicked in and that feeds into the numbers. We shall see, right, just moments left to trade on Wall Street today.

We'll have the final numbers and the closing bell straight after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: The last few minutes of trade on Wall Street today, the Dow is in danger of giving up its full session win streak which just tilted into

the red. It took a stumble after a pause that China is putting back on some of its trade concessions.

The president was asked today if you remember at that press conference, he said, talks are going great.

(BELL RINGING)

And that's it for QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, I'm Julia Chatterley in London. The news continues here on CNN, and that of course is the closing bell.

END