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Quest Means Business
Apple Wins Appeal Over $15B E.U. Tax Ruling; Chicago Expands Quarantine Order To Cover 17 U.S. States; Call to Earth; Brazilian President Tests Positive for COVID-19 Once Again; Egypt Hopes to Revive Economy as Coronavirus Cases Fall. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired July 15, 2020 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:35]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: As we head into the final hour of trading on Wall Street, 60 minutes to go on what started
out as a very robust day has somewhat evaporated. The market has given back most of the gains, now just barely up half a percentage. You can see the
way the day has moved.
There's been many undercurrents over the course of the day, and these are some of them and the reasons why the markets are the way they are.
China is vowing retaliation against the United Kingdom, and Washington is adding more sanctions to Huawei. I'll be joined by a top Huawei executive
on this program in a moment or two.
There's progress on COVID vaccines, and that's given stocks a boost worldwide, some of the reasons that you're seeing there.
And a huge win for Apple against the European Commission on taxation in Ireland.
You'll remember the costs involved. The E.U. Economics Commissioner is on this program.
We are live in London on Wednesday. It's July the 15th. I'm Richard Quest in the living room, and I mean business.
Good evening, the Chinese state media wasted little time in offering their views after the U.K. announced that Huawei would have to withdraw from
telecoms in the country.
The Chinese media says the reaction and the response should be public and painful for the United Kingdom. You'll recall that Britain has decided
Huawei will not be allowed to take part in the country's 5G network, and in a correlation to that, they'll have to withdraw all its equipment in 2, 3
and 4G. It has banned it from taking part.
Meanwhile, Huawei is in the American cross as again. The U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo singled out Huawei and announcing new visa restrictions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The State Department will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of the Chinese technology companies
like Huawei that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Andy Purdy is the Chief Security Officer for Huawei in the U.S.A. Andy Purdy joins me live from Washington. Does Huawei believe, like Chinese
state media and those representing government bodies -- does Huawei believe that the Chinese response to the U.K. should be in public and painful?
ANDY PURDY, CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, HUAWEI-U.S.A.: I certainly don't think there should be any escalation. I don't think there should be any
retaliation by the China government. I think escalation in these situations is a huge mistake.
I think we've got to start having discussions. In this case, the U.S. government and the China government need to have some serious conversations
and at some point, the U.S. government needs to be able to -- needs to be willing to talk directly to Huawei, but right now, the geopolitical
situation has made the U.S. government unwilling to talk with us.
QUEST: Well, far from talking to you, it's getting worse. You heard that some of your executives will be -- will have visa restrictions and visa
difficulties -- more visa difficulties than before. What's your reaction to that?
PURDY: Well, it's really unjustified and it's unfair. And when you look at, for example, we're talking about the U.K. decision that the U.K. was
never convinced by any so-called evidence that the U.S. government brought to them.
And in fact, when you look around the world, I only know of one allegation by the U.S. government against Huawei, and that information was
declassified and U.S. government refuses to turn it over, and that's just crazy.
And so this kind of action to retaliate, to try to hurt China by hurting Huawei is really unjustified, and the U.S. and China need to start having
talks because despite the vast differences, there are some major issues in the world that need to be addressed between those two governments.
QUEST: I heard you on the radio in Britain this morning, defending the Huawei position. The reality is, certainly, nobody is listening in that --
I mean, they're listening politely, but nobody who is paying attention are going to give credence because the received wisdom is that Huawei is a risk
and a danger because information can be obtained by the Chinese authorities. It's as simple as that.
[15:05:21]
PURDY: Well, the fact is, as we've done in the U.S. and elsewhere, we can prove -- it's subject to the strict controls by the telecom and mobile
operators -- we can prove that we are not improperly accessing data. We are not improperly sending data back to anyone.
So by doing that, we can prove the Chinese government has not forced us to do that. Those are facts. That's what our competitors should be doing. And
that's the kind of thing that that we believe the U.S. government should be willing to listen to and a fact-based approach to addressing risk, that's
what the U.K. government and many other governments believe in. The U.S. government just doesn't believe in that because of the geopolitical
situation.
QUEST: But the reality here is, I mean, you were the first dimension, as I heard you say this morning that this is going to cost the U.K. two to three
years on 5G, and it's going to cost several billion dollars.
Now a government doesn't hobble its own country, unless either it's been nobbled by the United States, or there is a real risk of eavesdropping and
spying. So, which is it? Has the U.K. government been nobbled?
PURDY: Well, the U.S. government has been swinging a really big stick around the world for about 18 months. The U.K. Government has come up with
a risk-informed objective approach to addressing risk that's worked very well and the additional restrictions that the U.S. government has placed on
Huawei to hurt China by hurting Huawei has forced the U.K. government, we hope they'll reconsider that decision.
But it's a fairly complex issue because of the U.S. sanctions that have been put in place that the risk can still be addressed. But it's not
because of what President Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo said. They said, well, this is evidence that the U.K. government is coming to believe
that Huawei is an arm of the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party and the U.K. government said no such thing.
QUEST: So finally, the Five Eyes governments, of course, the Five Eye nations that share information, the mere talk of the U.K. joining or using
Huawei had other countries like New Zealand, like Australia, saying that they would have doubts about their own passing of Intelligence.
You have an uphill task. Again, I say to you, however much you say nobody is believing that in some shape or form in the future, if not now, but in
the future, the Huawei could not be pressured by the Chinese government to pass on material and data.
PURDY: The fact is, there are five nations to the world including the U.S. and China who have the ability to virtually hack into networks and systems
around the world.
You may have heard of the Crypto AG story recently, the Swiss company that the C.I.A. took control of that allows the U.S. government to spy and break
the encryption of every country in the world except for China and Russia.
The fact is in the U.S., if it weren't for double standards, there'll be no standards at all. The processes are in place. The telecom and mobile
operators know them. The U.K. government knows them that can guarantee and prove that Huawei is not improperly accessing data and not improperly
sending it back to anyone.
QUEST: Andy Purdy, thank you for joining us. I'm sure you will agree that it is important that we keep hearing from -- obviously, from the Huawei
side, and I'm grateful that you've been on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight to do just that, sir. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
PURDY: You're welcome.
QUEST: Staying with China and the way China is reacting across the world, and the relationship to Hong Kong. Now, the United States of course, has
introduced new sanctions and will now treat Hong Kong differently, pretty much as just another part of China.
As Kristie Lu Stout reports from Hong Kong, this is a whole new relationship for Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Hong Kong, the glittering East West conduit for international trade and finance is now
just another Chinese city to the U.S. after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order ending Hong Kong's special trade status meaning
the U.S. will now treat Hong Kong the same as Mainland China.
He also signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, enabling sanctions on businesses and individuals that help China restrict Hong Kong's authority.
China has responded. In a statement, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes, "We urge the U.S. to correct its mistakes, refrain from
implementing the so-called Hong Kong Autonomy Act and stop interfering in any way in China's internal affairs including Hong Kong affairs."
Scrapping Hong Kong's special trade status jeopardizes tens of billions of dollars' worth of trade between the U.S. and Hong Kong, tarnishes Hong
Kong's reputation as an international financial hub and causes uncertainties for the over 1,300 American companies that operate here.
[15:10:16]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT (on camera): Rob, you are an American businessman who's been working in Asia for over 20 years. You are based in Hong Kong for quite a
number of years. What does the Hong Kong Autonomy Act mean for business confidence in Hong Kong?
ROB KOEPP, FOUNDER, GEOECONOMICS: The confidence has really gone out of what used to be a city with a lot of confidence. No matter what side you
take on this issue, and I know there are a number of other Western expats who don't necessarily see this as all bad. I would say they're probably in
the minority just because of the far reaching nature of both the U.S. acts as well as the Chinese act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT (voice over): In retaliation, China says it will take necessary measures and impose sanctions on relevant U.S. personnel and entities.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PROFESSOR TERENCE CHONG, ECONOMIST, CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: In terms of the retaliation on China, they don't have a lot of choice because
China just had a trade deal with the U.S., so China may not impose any consideration on the increase in tariff for the U.S.
I think, the thing that China can do maybe like to also limit the exposure of China as they have with the U.S.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT (voice over): Analysts also say ending Hong Kong's special treatment could be self-defeating for the United States, which has profited from
business friendly conditions here.
Last year, Hong Kong was the source of the largest bilateral U.S. goods trade surplus worth some $26.1 billion.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Ian Bremmer is with me, the President and Founder of the Eurasia Group. It is always good to have you, Ian, to help us understand and make
sense of this.
Let's take it at a fair clip, if we may. First of all, the change in status of Hong Kong. Over the years, I've read many times, you know, talk of my
death is greatly exaggerated. Is this a fundamental shift now or will eventually, everyone go back to business as usual?
IAN BREMMER, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, EURASIA GROUP (via Skype): It's a tipping point. We will look at it and I'll say that, you know, this about
Hong Kong being a global finance center and it stopped citizens from feeling like they were not given democracy.
The U.S. responses are not yet a tipping point at trying to like summon an Ambassador, but didn't actually do anything because the Americans are
deeply held back from a range of economic things that we could be -- so far don't have much on the ability of Americans to conduct business as usual in
Hong Kong.
QUEST: Then you have this issue of China and the call within Chinese media. So we assume it's official, for there to be public and pain for the
U.K. over Huawei. China is obviously going to do something. But China is now seeming to fight on all fronts. Will it be concerned by that?
BREMMER: Of course. You know, I mean, Trump is not having a great year in the United States, you know, where his polls are. Xi Jinping is here for a
lot worse.
Zero percent growth despite six percent of GDP stimulus. The cover up of the original coronavirus that their own people angry about or of course,
everybody else is and now mass backlash from the United States, a big fight with the Australians, French, the Germans, Japanese, Indians, and now
you've got United Kingdom.
I mean, they have said even back in January, Boris Johnson said, we're going to work with Huawei. The United States, they better not. We're not
going to cooperate with you on Intel. The U.K. now understands a bet on Huawei is an uncertain bet both on Huawei's ability to implement because
the Americans are hitting them, and also on relationship with the United States, Boris Johnson is already part of that.
This is the single biggest foreign policy win of the Trump administration, since they've come in office. It is the Cold War in technology against
China. Almost all the U.S. allies who weren't paying attention to it three years ago, they are now with the Americans, really problem over time.
QUEST: Ian, we will leave it there and we will return to you at some point because the line is not good and we want to hear clearly, and we're not
able to, so my apologies that we're ending a bit earlier than we would have done.
But Ian Bremmer joining me.
It is a QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tonight from London. When we come back in just a moment, so the vaccines, the various competitors for vaccines, some are
now into late stage or about to start late stage three. After the break, what that means and why Wall Street took a tear when it saw what was
happening and then reverse course. In a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:17:50]
QUEST: Welcome back to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. On Wall Street, the driving force was as it has been on so many occasions the possibilities and
prospects for a vaccine.
The idea that Moderna is getting into late stage trials and the rumor that AstraZeneca might be being very successful all pushed Wall Street higher.
As a result, the Dow went above 27,000 or be it ever so briefly. The S&P nearly positive year-to-date, and it all faded at lunchtime. If you look at
the graph or the charts of the day, everything sort of disappeared thereafter.
And the pandemic stocks, the ones I always look at. So, if the prospect of a vaccine sends Carnival, United and Marriott higher, and in doing so it
sends Netflix lower because people won't watch that much TV, Amazon because people will go out and Zoom, well for obvious reasons, we won't be doing as
many calls like that.
So today, the six -- the pandemic six performed exactly as I would have expected them to bearing in mind the news on a vaccine and Moderna.
Moderna is to begin Phase 3 trials in less than two weeks. That's the final stage. Phase 3 is the final stage before a vaccine is approved or rejected
by the regulatory authorities. Thirty thousand volunteers including high risk. Now, the way that Phase 3 is done, one group get injected with a
vaccine on Day 1 and Day 29. The other groups kept placebos.
Two weeks after the second dose, participants are tested. There are 23 vaccines now in some shape or form around the world being tested at one
stage or another.
There you see him, Dr. Saad Omer is the Director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. Twenty three, there are really though only three or four
major contenders. There's the Moderna, there's the AstraZeneca, the J&J and the Oxford, all of whom seem to be -- seem to be -- later than others. What
do you make of them?
[15:20:03]
DR. SAAD OMER, DIRECTOR, YALE INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL HEALTH: I think this is good news. We have been getting some really good news on the vaccine front.
Having said that, vaccine development is a fickle friend. Things become unpredictable, things get delayed. But all the overall situation is very
positive.
The biggest thing is that we have over 20 vaccines in human trials. So even if there is a setback or a delay in one vaccine, we have several promising
candidates coming right behind them.
QUEST: But when they do these trials, particularly the human trials. Now, I know this is -- this is nothing new to you who does it day and night, but
to the rest of us. In these very late stage trials, you give the vaccine and what? You inject with the virus or do you just hope that some would
catch the virus and others would not?
How do you ensure that those who have got the vaccines are sufficiently exposed to the real virus to make it count?
OMER: Yes. So, in the classic efficacy trials, which are Phase 3 trials, what you do is yes, you vaccinate them, you give them the full schedule.
You do take their specimens to look at the antibody response, for example, and the so-called cellular response, but the main thing that you go after
is the likelihood or the incidence of disease amongst those who are infected versus who are injected -- sorry -- with the vaccine, versus the
placebo group.
So those who got the vaccine schedule versus those who did not get the vaccine schedule, you compare the incidence of disease between the two.
QUEST: Yes, it's fascinating the way it is done to the point where you can say -- I mean, I would have just said, well, maybe none of those who took
the vaccine actually came close to anybody who had the virus.
OMER: Yes, no, but look, it is -- the human immune system is complex and there's a reason why we do Phase 3 trials. There's a reason why we just not
look at, for example, biological markers. We go one step beyond that to make sure that the vaccine is efficacious.
If you're going to scale it up to not just hundreds of millions of people, but in this case, potentially billions of people getting vaccinated, this
is the way to do it. This is the way to ensure the efficacy and safety of vaccines.
QUEST: So finally, the idea that there can be a vaccine that will be starting to be used before the end of the year in this fall, Fauci says
it'll be a year to 18 months. Where do you stand? Do you think there's a realistic possibility of a vaccine starting to be used before the end of
this year?
OMER: I would say my central estimate is still early next year, so early spring or spring next year. But the possibility of a vaccine becoming
available is within the range of -- a vaccine becoming available before the end of the year is within the range of possibilities.
So it's not a fantasy to say that there could be a vaccine, at least being used in some groups before the end of the year, but the central estimate of
a full rollout or a reasonable rollout, at least from my perspective, is still spring.
QUEST: Doctor, always good to have you. I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you, sir.
Now, if you've ever wanted to see the full disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street, then just look at the results of Goldman Sachs today.
Goldman Sachs was up -- their numbers were up 41 percent in the second quarter. There is no mystery about how they made their money. They got it
from the Fed because the Fed is juicing the economy. They got it from debt and stock sales, because the juice from the Fed led to debt and stock sales
and they collect fees, a flurry of deals.
Clare Sebastian is with us. So, they make their money, equities to certain extent, but also all those companies restructuring, bond issuance on their
own bond trading desk.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right, Richard. It's almost like this last quarter was tailor-made for Goldman Sachs's business.
Interesting, because, of course over the last 10 years, we've seen Goldman try to diversify away from sort of pure investment banking and trading as
the volatility has declined.'
This really was the bank going back its Wall Street roots. Some of the superlatives we saw here, this was the second highest quarterly revenue
they had seen ever record. Investment banking revenue, the global markets revenue. That almost doubled. EPS earnings per share were about double what
was expected.
[15:25:15]
SEBASTIAN: So a huge quarter for the bank, but the CEO is still taking a cautious tone. David Solomon, saying that he sees prolonged economic
challenges ahead. He sees the path to reopening in a number of U.S. states is very unclear at this point.
And the bank is taking a cautious approach to its balance sheets, to its sort of capital allocation into less risky assets and things like that. So
while this was a blockbuster quarter for the bank, there's absolutely no question about that.
It remains to be seen whether this is repeatable. I think a lot of analysts are questioning that today and that's why the stock gains have not been so
extreme today.
QUEST: Clare, the reality is though, as companies did debt reissuance, raised money, did capital market issuance of new shares. They were on the
other side of those transactions and they were the ones who received the fees.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, that is exactly how they made their money in the last quarter, Richard. This is a bank that is deep in those areas of business
and this was extremely busy.
David Solomon, the CEO, saying on the call, you know, as our clients became increasingly busy, so did we, but as I said, he doesn't necessarily view
this as permanent.
So Goldman has to sort of capitalize on these gains while continuing to do what it was doing before diversifying the business, building its foundation
in its consumer division.
I will say as well, Richard, we've seen a lot of these banks setting aside record loan loss provisions. Goldman much smaller, of course, because it
makes much fewer loans, but it still set aside $1.6 billion in provisions to protect itself against credit losses, so it's not immune to this, but
still an extraordinary quarter, which, as you said, underscores the disconnect that we're seeing between these markets and the broader economy.
QUEST: Clare Sebastian. Clare, thank you, watching on Goldman. As we continue, in just a moment or three, Apple. Well, Apple finally had a win
against the European Commission on the question of its tax bill in Ireland.
We'll go into the details as to why the European Court found that the help given by the Irish government was legal. Now, it's not the final world.
There's still another court to the rule on this, but a big win for Apple nonetheless.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:30:00]
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for you in just a moment. The European economy commissioner will be here talking
about Apple, and how it's had a victory over the Commission on Taxation in Ireland. And the Mayor of Chicago joins us, keeping her city safe in an era
of COVID when there are dangers from states and regions all around, just how far can you actually go? All of that is still to come. This is CNN, and
on this network, the news always comes first.
President Trump says trade advisor Peter Navarro was wrong for writing an op-ed, criticizing the country's top infectious disease expert. He insisted
that they all on the same team. The White House has told CNN that Navarro was told to deescalate tensions with Dr. Fauci before releasing the article
on Tuesday.
Walmart will require all customers at its U.S. stores to a facemask starting from next week. It says it will enforce the policy by stationing
employees called "health ambassadors" near entrances. Walmart is now the biggest retailer to mandate facial coverings as, yes, Coronavirus has
continued to rise.
A law enforcement source says a man found dismembered in his New York apartment was Fahim Saleh, the head of a Nigerian ride hail company.
Saleh's assistant found his remains partially bagged up at the luxury address. They say surveillance footage shows a suspect dressed in black
entering an elevator with Saleh.
In the market, Apple shares were hurt after the general court of the European Union ruled that the aid given by Ireland was not illegal, and
that Apple did not have to repay $13 billion as previously been ruled. Now, of course, the commissioner says it is looking to see whether it will
appeal to the highest court. However, that is still to be determined. It's a big blow to the commission, which had worked to crack down on U.S. tech
companies. I spoke to the European Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, who told me the ruling doesn't take away from the fact big tech still pays
too little taxes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAOLO GENTILONI, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR ECONOMY: This ruling is going against our decisions. I would say that this is not canceling the problem,
because the problem in a nut is very simple. Apple, a giant, is having profits for 16, 17 billion per year and paying taxes for 50 million. So,
it's less than one percent of taxes.
QUEST: (INAUDIBLE) you say concerning the plans for -- the plans that are being put forward, the recovery plan, you say we can afford neither failure
nor delay. But delay is exactly what you have had over the failure to be able to get the members to agree.
GENTILONI: Oh, well, we will see. Actually, we have the summit meeting this weekend. And I am quite confident that despite the divisions, the
differences that are there, we all know that at the end, we can reach an agreement. And this, if we consider how Europe reacted to the previous
crisis, the financial crisis. I think this would be a great success.
QUEST: But there have already been several goes of this already. And you're right, so it's the Frugal Four, and it's the Netherlands that are the
holdouts at the moment. But so far, they have not shown willingness. There were plenty of chances for them to sign on to the plans, but have not
chosen to do so. Why are you more confident now?
[15:35:07]
GENTILONI: Well, because I know that what we are proposing -- what we propose as European Commission is quite unprecedented. Someone called it a
Hamiltonian moment. So, you are proposing to have a common -- to issue a common debt of 750 billion for financing common purposes, which is really
unprecedented in the European Union. So, the story is a very important one. What makes me confident on the possibility to reach an agreement is the
fact that, despite this real, new proposal, we didn't have slamming doors.
QUEST: The E.U. or the structures and the decision making of the community and the commission, it wasn't built for crises, was it? It wasn't it wasn't
built for moving fast.
GENTILONI: No, not at all. But indeed, as Germany said some long time ago, Europe is indeed then growing through crisis. Building capacity through
crisis. It is -- you're right, it is a rather Baroque building.
QUEST: The numbers are coming in on the economics. And the recession is deeper than first thought. All right, it'll be short lived in terms of
technicalities, but the recovery is looking more L-shaped or than U, and certainly not V-shaped. What -- this is getting to be the crisis.
GENTILONI: Yes, we are -- we are, in fact, very worried. What I repeat always is that recovery is underway. But the road to recovery is paved with
uncertainty. And until you have uncertainty -- uncertainty is not about, at least not in Europe, about second waves of the pandemic, we have only
limited outbreaks in very limited dimension, but this is still conditioning the atmosphere, the moods of investors, of communities, of consumers, and
we need to restore confidence.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The European Economics Commissioner talking to me earlier. In the United States, Chicago has placed two more states under emergency
restrictions. Now by that, I mean, that they are telling travelers from up to 19 states now, that they can -- that if they travel to Chicago, the
city, not necessarily in Illinois, the state, but if they go to Chicago, then they need to quarantine for two weeks. I think that it's 17 states now
on the list of hotspots. Arizona, Florida, California, of course, as the case has surge around the United States. Look at that map. Extraordinary.
New cases in the past week versus previous week.
The city is revisiting the list. The mayor of Chicago is Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who joins me now via Skype. Mayor, you would -- you admit, don't
you, that at best, these restrictions of visitors from elsewhere from effective states is a best an honor system that can have no real
enforcement mechanism?
LORI LIGHTFOOT, MAYOR OF CHICAGO (via Skype): But it's not unlike what we've seen in European countries and also other states here in the United
States. The people who are adhering to the public health guidance and have been all along, I think are taking this very seriously. But it applies with
equal measure to people who live here in Chicago, and that are going to those states, and then coming back, they're also required to quarantine.
And I do think people who are residents of Chicago leave and then come back are taking this very seriously.
But it does have an also another, I think, effect, which is to raise the consciousness of people, both here and elsewhere, that if you're coming
from a state that has, for example, four times and in some instances, eight times the amount of new cases that we do have here in Chicago, that we need
you to be careful because we are trying to make sure that we contain the spread in my city.
[15:40:00]
QUEST: Chicago and Illinois was at the forefront along with New York at the beginning of the crisis. I wonder when you look at the situation in your
city now, how close to the edge are you? I mean, are you -- I'm not suggesting complacency, or anything like that. But what I mean is, how
risky is the current situation? How close do you believe you could be to another full-throttle outbreak?
LIGHTFOOT: Well, look, because of the hard work and sacrifice of so many here in my city, we're not on the precipice that we feared back in March or
even April, but that's only because we remained diligent. But what we're seeing is, for example, an uptick in new cases in the cohort of 18 to 29-
year-olds, across all races, all ethnicities, particularly in some northern parts of our city. So, what the lesson of this is, we can never not be
diligent. COVID-19 is very much a part of our present and will be part of our future. So, we've got to remain diligent and continue to follow the
public health guidance that has gotten us to this point, where we have a semblance of normalcy in our city.
QUEST: But, Mayor, you're using scientific advisors will have told you that, yes, when the reopening happens, you should expect a certain rising
in numbers of cases. That's just a straightforward public health fact. We've seen it everywhere. The trick here or the difficulty is to ensure the
management of that number of cases, so that it doesn't, obviously, put your healthcare surfaces at risk. And masks, for example, and the significance,
can you understand those -- can you have any comprehension of those who are against wearing masks?
LIGHTFOOT: No, no, it's quite foolish. And look, you're right, the brightest minds really in a world that we've had access to showed modeling
that all of it showed a slight surge. Now, whether or not that surge became extreme, and whether or not we were able to manage it, is wholly dependent
upon social distancing, adherence, wearing face coverings when you leave your home, and making sure that you continue to engage in the hand hygiene
regimes that we know are important. Plus, making sure that our older residents and those with underlying medical conditions continue to stay
home.
So, no, I don't understand people who have unfortunately politicized the wearing of face coverings in public is essential. We know it works. And so,
we are really trying to drive that home as much as possible. I don't want to get to a situation where we've got to fine people or worse because they
refuse to wear face coverings, but it is taking an unnecessary risk, not only with your own health, but the health of every other person that you
literally come into contact with, including your loved ones. This virus is vicious, it is ruthless. And as we know, there's significant asymptomatic
spread here in -- across the country, across the world.
QUEST: Mayor, as somebody -- as I'm sitting here in London, in a two-week quarantine, having arrived from the United States, which is not on the U.K.
list, I can only agree and sympathize and say, your message is well-heard. Mayor, thank you for joining us. Now, we can, in a moment.
LIGHTFOOT: Thank you.
QUEST: This is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. We're back in a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:45:00]
QUEST: CALL TO EARTH. A global mission to help protect and manage our environment in a sustainable way. Now, faced with climate change crisis and
the unrelenting growth of humanity, we can draw inspiration, in many ways, from extraordinary people who dedicate themselves to finding the urgent
solutions that we need, answering the call to action on behalf of us all. Today, the biologist and 2016 Rolex laureate, Vreni Haussermann, who spent
decades of her life exploring and studying the depths of Chilean Patagonia, whilst working to conserve the area's biodiversity.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VRENI HAUSSERMANN, SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR, HUINAY SCIENTIFIC FIELD STATION: The problem really of the ocean is that we cannot see it through the
surface. So, there's might be a lot of colorful, beautiful life down there and most people don't see it. And this is really the tragedy of the ocean,
because even if all the life down there would be wiped out, nobody would see it. And so, we really have to make this more visible. My name is Vreni
Haussermann and I'm studying the marine biodiversity of Chilean Patagonia. I really hope that I can contribute to preserve this wonderful area of the
world.
Chilean Patagonia is a biodiversity hotspot That means we have a really exceptional biodiversity here. I've dived in hundreds of places and we
found between 100 and 200 new species. We are trying to really inventory the region to find what lives here, how are things changing with climate
change. We are here in Comau Fjord, which is a fjord of North on Patagonia. It's a huge area, the coastline spans around 80,000 kilometers, so it's
twice around the world. And it's really deep, it's 500 meters deep. So, we really need a vehicle to go down to look what lives further down in the
depths.
The ROV means Remotely Operated Vehicle. It's basically a robot on a cable that we can maneuver from the boat and it can record, it can sample, and we
have the chance to really see and observe the life down to 500-meter depths. So, of the new species we found, there are too are really very
important for me because I named them after my children. It's the Fabians and Fionae (INAUDIBLE) 1545 [0:04:08] You will realize that if a species is
named after you, you feel closer to it, you feel like you need to care for it and protect its environment.
I've been here diving the first time in 2003. And over only 10 years, and I've seen that the abundance of many species was reduced by 75 percent.
We've seen that the corals died and about half the fjord. And this most probably is an effect of the impacts of the salmon farming here. But also,
climate change, and all this overlays and it's a problem of extinction of species. It can't be reversed, a species that is gone is gone. And as
scientists, it's our duty to tell people that the situation is so serious that we have to act right now.
Chilean Patagonia for me is something really unique. It's one of the last walruses on earth.
[15:50:09]
And it's so poorly known, that as a biologist, I can contribute to make it better known so that people understand it and only if people understand
that they will like it and only if they will like it, they will be interested in preserving it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Magnificent. Absolutely stunning pictures and a tremendous story. And we will continue focusing on these, sort of, inspirational stories in
our CALL TO EARTH. And of course, let us know what you're doing. Use the hashtag #CallToEarth. This is CNN.
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QUEST: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive again for COVID-19. Telling CNN Brazil (INAUDIBLE) that he took a second test on
Tuesday morning. He first tested positive last week, and now he's telling CNN Brazil he hasn't had a fever since last week. Egypt is hoping that it
has turned the corner on coronavirus. New cases are steadily continuing to fall with roughly 8 to 900 cases daily. There are growing tensions over the
government over huge Ethiopian dam on the river Nile. Egypt is concerned the dam could impact water supply and tensions are high.
Rania Al-Mashat is the Egyptian Ministry of International Cooperation. Let's deal and get it out right first with this dam question. What more
does Egypt wish to see done to help alleviate or relieve the tensions that exist?
RANIA AL-MASHAT, EGYPTIAN MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION (via Skype): Hi, Richard. Well, you know, Egypt's political diplomacy is a very
authentic school. And we're very confident that our minister of foreign affairs, minister of irrigations, through the negotiations, are in good
hands.
QUEST: If we look at coronavirus and the situation, the state of the country, now, you know, no economy can withstand the full force of what's
taken place. So, what more does Egypt now need economically to cope with this crisis?
AL-MASHAT: You know, the coronavirus is one which is extremely novel and it has hit all countries in different ways but no one is isolated.
[15:55:09]
AL-MASHAT: And when I look at the experience over the past few months, I actually find that there are some silver linings that we, as policymakers,
have been able to witness as well as, of course, private sector, civil society and even citizens. For instance, many of the reforms that we wanted
to do related to formalizing the informal sector, we were able to do now. So, now we have 1-1/2 million informal workers on the books. Also, social
safety nets were widened, and that's again to ensure that people through this crisis have been taken care of.
So, the socio-economic implications to a large extent mitigated. Also, a lot has been done with the reforms related to financial inclusion,
digitalization. And one very important lesson in all of this, is that reforms are a continuous process, we entered this crisis as Egypt with
strong fiscal, as well as foreign exchange reserve buffers. And that's because of the reforms that took place between 2016 and 2019. And just
looking through this, also, some of the reforms on the education sector have proven fruit because a lot of the schooling has happened online.
So, there is -- there is plenty of learnings here, and at the same time, and you know that Egypt has a big public purpose, and many of us in the
public service have been working remotely. So, all of these efforts have taken place, and it did -- it does provide for a good story.
QUEST: We'll talk -- we'll follow on throughout the summer, as it continues. Thank you, Minister, for joining us. And we will take a
profitable moment after the break.
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QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment, I know and I understand how and why those like Goldman Sachs made money. There was a wealth of business,
corporate restructuring, they needed to do it, death issuance, share issuance, all of these things by companies urgently emergency raising cash,
and those like Goldman were on the other end, charging fees, PPP, the fees that could be made through putting in applications. But I understand all
that. But it still sits on easily with me that Wall Street firms should do so well when the rest of us are in such crisis.
And now is the time for those leaders of Wall Street banks to make it clear how they are going to give back, where they see their social
responsibility. Yes, they will make losses over in terms of nonperforming loans, but they also need to be aware that they are doing well, while the
rest of us are in deep trouble indeed. That's something they need to consider in terms of the equality and social justice. And that's QUEST
MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in quarantine in London, whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it is profitable. The day
is over, the day is done. The bells ringing.
END
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