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Quest Means Business

Vestager: We Must Move Forward On Regulating AI; Russian Airstrikes Destroy Kyiv Region's Largest Power Plant; White House: Iran Threat Real And Credible; Soon: V.P. Harris To Speak About Arizona Abortion Ruling; Trump And Johnson Push Fears Of Non-Citizen Voting, Despite No Evidence It Is Widespread; Mexico's New Plan To Curb Illegal Crossing Into The U.S. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired April 12, 2024 - 16:00:00   ET

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

[16:00:11]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Ringing on Wall Street Bark-Air, which I think for dogs -- transporting dogs. They are the ones who are

doing the bell, although we always seem to see little of the bell and a lot of these other things.

Anyway Bark-Air, dogs flying, and there is the market it is down 475, quite a sharp fall. Second day in a row of sharp falls on Wall Street. Fall of

one and a quarter percent. The triple stack shows that actually the tech stocks were down even more, down 1.6 percent.

The market and the main events of the day we are following. Tonight, the EU's competition and digital chief tells me they need to move forward on

regulating AI before it is too late. Russia continues its attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. The CEO of Ukraine's biggest power company

will be on our program tonight.

And Donald Trump is holding an event alongside the US Speaker Mike Johnson as the Speaker tries to hold on to his job.

It is Friday, April 12th. Live from New York, I am Richard Quest and I mean business.

A very good day to you. We begin with the EU's antitrust chief who says artificial intelligence has the path to both serve and destroy us.

Commissioner Margrethe Vestager turned to the movie "Oppenheimer" to make her point, saying this observation about atomic bombs applies just as well

today to AI.

("OPPENHEIMER" VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

NEILS BOHR, PORTRAYED BY KENNETH BRANAGH: This isn't a new weapon, it's a new world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: "This isn't a new weapon, it's a new world."

Now, I spoke to the commissioner. I asked how we are managing this brave new world of technology so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARGRETHE VESTAGER, EU COMMISSIONER: When it comes to artificial intelligence, it is indeed not just another new technology, it is a new

world, it will change everything. And when you have that kind of potential, obviously, you have the equivalent risks.

Important steps have been taken. We have our AI law in Europe, but that's the first. For other jurisdictions, we have the Code of Practices, we have

the Presidential Order here, but we need to move forward. And obviously, we need to implement to make sure that this is not just words on paper, but

real obligation that AI developers take upon themselves.

QUEST: There is a real risk because this is one of the reasons your here, of course, it is part of the regular discussions that take place, that

everybody is doing their own thing and whilst intentions may be good, you end up with a fragmented tapestry of different rules and regulations, which

we already have in the digital world that could be made a great deal worse under AI.

VESTAGER: Yes, and I think everybody realizes that. We came in my opinion, too late in to regulate what is now a Big Tech because we got a lot of

entrenched market power, very few opportunities for the new commerce, for the competitors actually to get to their customers.

And I think everybody realize that we cannot make that mistake again, so we need to figure out how to align, not only with friends in the US, but also

globally.

QUEST: You see, I hear what you're saying and I know this is sort of the way governance works, but it is working a great deal slower than the

technological advancements. And that is your core problem, you can't keep up with the advancements.

VESTAGER: No, and this is exactly why the focus should not be on regulating technology in itself, but should focus on regulating the use of technology

because the use cases of technology, they are much more stable than the technology because technology is developing as we speak.

There will be another generation of our whatever model we are talking about, but the use cases, the risk that people are being discriminated when

applying for university, trying to get a mortgage, wanting to insure themselves, getting proper health treatment those use cases, they are there

and they will remain with us no matter the level of AI sophistication.

QUEST: The way in which the EU and US has tackled this is, is different if, even if its nuanced, yes, you both do enforcement, but also the EU

regulates and then companies have to fit in to the regulation.

[16:05:07]

Now Thierry Breton was telling me, your colleague that that is a more -- the regulation aspect is a stronger form of enforcement because basically,

you either follow the rules or you don't play in the game.

VESTAGER: That is, I think a categorical difference because if you do not follow the rules of the law, well, there will be sanctions, there will be

fines, there will be even more hefty fines in repeat instances and we now have fresh deterrence to say that as a measure of last resort if the fines

doesn't work, then companies can be asked to divest. They can be broken up.

So of course, a fine is very -- a law is very different from something that can be changed overnight where enforcement do not have real muscle in order

to make sure that it is actually happening.

QUEST: But if I look at the cases against Google, against matter, the current case against Apple in the United States by the DOJ, do you not

think that they don't want to fall foul of you, but if they do, then the fines that you impose will be "a cost of doing business."

Let's try it on, see what she does, and if we lose, well, we will pay the bill.

VESTAGER: Well, I think to some degree, of course, we are talking about the biggest businesses on this planet.

QUEST: Exactly.

VESTAGER: So even when we get to say five percent of global turnover it is still something that they can afford to pay now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Now, we will hear more later from the commissioner.

JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon agrees that AI will be utterly transformational comparing it to electricity or the printing press in his annual letter to

shareholders. He struck a more pessimistic note during today's earnings call.

We are going to read that quote though, I was looking at that, saying: "The chance of a bad economy is higher than other people think." You can see how

far that went. Shares are down, but JPMorgan's and of course, the market shares are down. We were off 1.6 percent on the NASDAQ.

Also, volatility is higher. The VIX Index, which measures volatility has spiked to a six-month high.

Let's look at the issues. You have CPI and sticky inflation. You have geopolitical tensions, the Middle East or Ukraine leading to higher oil

prices. And all of that coalesces after a very strong first quarter, which has led, of course, people to take some profits off the table.

Julia is with me. The issues are clear in that, but I wonder what you think is the one that is driving forces.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I think they are all connected to your point, Richard, we have tensions in the Middle East. We have two

big wars going on. The risk now around the Middle East is seeing oil prices move higher and oil prices directly connected to the level of inflation.

So if you're talking about the confluence of factors today very much tied together, you quite rightly said, and I think we've talked about it in the

past few weeks, stocks in many respects were priced to perfection or for perfection despite the risk factors out there, and now you're seeing a

little bit of a shake down and actually, to your point about JPMorgan and I think a lot of what he said actually was very interesting, he is of the

biggest risk managers in the world, and what he has talked about in his latest shareholder letter is interest rates being are either two percent or

eight percent and they have to sort of look at the risks associated with both extremes.

But actually what he said today was the real risk here, isn't the US economy, it is the future of the free world. And he pointed to the wars. He

was talking about Russia and Ukraine. And I think he has a very valid point.

The investors reflect that today.

QUEST: Do you think the market -- I mean, you know, I've described as sort of children in the playground. I mean, we've got that, but do you see the

market as not having really priced in geostrategic risk?

CHATTERLEY: It is hard to do that, really to any effective manner because the risks here are so asymmetric. If we see something very dramatic, and I

know you're going to talk about this later on in the show around Iran and their response to what happened in Damascus, then we could see a huge oil

price spike, but we may not.

So calculating the probabilities of that are really hard and there is a lot of good news and good things going on. The US, in particular has been

incredibly resilient. We had the Jobs Report. Again, it is concerning on inflation, but hey, interest rates have gone up significantly and we've

managed that and this is good news.

QUEST: I guess, I am trying to just understand. You've gone -- an economy that is doing better than expected. Youve got great job growth. You've even

got earnings growth.

CHATTERLEY: Right.

[16:10:00]

QUEST: Yes. You've got inflation coming down, that's all the US, which as you rightly say, is one on its own. On the other side, you've got all of

these other risks and issues. It is factoring that in that I can't do and I need a brain like yours.

CHATTERLEY: We need both our brains, Richard, and you know, if we could do that, we'd be doing something else perhaps not this job.

I think that we've had a lot going on for quite a while and we also have a lot of good news. You talked about it with AI and increases in productivity

and a lot of that is reflected in the market. It is very difficult, but actually I think we know a lot and there is a lot we don't know and you

can't forecast what you don't know.

So I think I am taking a little bit --

QUEST: It has never stopped me.

CHATTERLEY: Take -- I am just trying -- taking a little bit of risk off the table we've had a blinder, let's be clear of the first-quarter makes sense

to me, and for the S&P and what the NASDAQ that is still up eight, nine percent year-to-date. That's great going, take a few chips off the table

and pause and see where we go next.

QUEST: What have you got on "First Move"?

CHATTERLEY: What haven't we got, coming up on "First Move."

QUEST: Well --

CHATTERLEY: Thank God for Friday, Richard. It been a long week.

QUEST: Tell me about it.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

QUEST: All right, Julia, you've got me on "FIRST MOVE."

CHATTERLEY: And there you -- that's what I was waiting for. We will reconvene, my friend.

QUEST: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: See you soon. Thank you.

QUEST: It is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

The train is still on the tracks, at least here.

In Ukraine, dreadful events as Russia relentlessly pounds the country's power grid. The CEO of the companies trying to keep the lights on in such

dramatic circumstances, we will talk about it a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Russia has struck Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure for a second straight day. Ukraine says it shot down all but one Russian drone on

Friday, and the energy facility in the Southern Ukraine was still damaged by falling debris.

On Thursday, Russian airstrikes destroyed Kyiv region's largest power plant and its power stations across the country. Two of them belong to DTEK,

Ukraine's biggest private power company estimating 80 percent of its facilities have been destroyed by Russian strikes. The DTEK chief executive

Maxim Timchenko, he joins me now from Kyiv.

[16:15:03]

Before we talk about the plans and the infrastructure, tell me -- reassure me that your staff have been as safe as can be in these circumstances?

MAXIM TIMCHENKO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DTEK: Hello, Richard.

If you remember, two years ago. we were talking about first attack on our power station was two days before were talking about trust attack. Now

palmer station, it was two days before full-scale invasion and three weeks ago, we experienced the largest attack on our infrastructure. As you said,

80 percent of available capacity we lost after two attacks.

And of course, we are in one of the most difficult times since full-scale invasion in terms of energy supply in the country and level of destruction

so it is difficult to comment on that, but what we have to do now is to restore unit by unit to reconnect with the grid.

But the main issue for us and the main problem for us that we feel ourselves unprotected because of lack of air defense, lack of ammunition,

lack of adequate systems and that's the main problem for us at the moment, so we can restore our power plants, we can bring more equipment, but we

don't know what will happen the next day, because --

QUEST: What is providing power at the moment to keep the lights on in places like Kyiv?

TIMCHENKO: So today, we know that is because of weather conditions, not so bad, because we have import of power out of European countries, we still

have enough capacity, generation capacity, for today, but in three months' time, if attacks will continue and we will still have such damage and when

we have maximum consumption in some time, then definitely we will have blackouts in the country.

The situation is urgent and it should be changed immediately.

QUEST: When you say that the gravity of the situation, President Zelenskyy is basically -- well, he basically did say that without US anti-defense air

missiles or at least systems, Ukraine will lose this war to the extent that without further air defense missiles or systems you can't -- you can't keep

power being generated.

TIMCHENKO: Absolutely.

So last year -- after last year's attacks, we restored three power units. We invested more than $125 million and we managed to go through the last

winter season, but all of these were destroyed just by one attack.

And I don't know what we should do now, if you bring more equipment, install it now, and then we have another attack and it is all destroyed,

then there will be nothing to restore after that.

So it is absolute emergency in supply of air defense systems to protect civil infrastructure, and to protect normal life of people and protect our

industry.

QUEST: Take off your CEO hat, if you will, and just be a Ukrainian citizen who is facing this. How annoyed, angry, pissed off, whatever phrase you

want to use, are you about the US' so far backsliding in providing what they promised?

TIMCHENKO: You know, we are living for more than two years under everyday terror from Russia and all the amount of suffering brought to our people

and to our companies cannot be explained by words.

And of course, we are all angry that decision are not taken to avoid the suffering, to help us to fight, and we are not fighting only for Ukraine.

We are fighting for the rest of the world, and I think it is should be clear to everybody who are making decisions about support of Ukraine.

QUEST: Sir, I am grateful that we've spoken. We will speak again. I am always glad to have you and talk to you on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Thank you.

TIMCHENKO: Thank you.

QUEST: Israel says a barrage of rockets was fired towards the country from Lebanon over the last few hours, and the Israeli military says it

intersected some of the rockets, others fell in open areas.

The Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility as the strike was in response to recent Israeli attacks.

Earlier in the day, the IDF carried out strikes in southern Lebanon against what it described as military buildings used by Hezbollah.

[16:20:05]

President Biden says he believes an Iranian attack on Israel could be imminent. He is warning Tehran against taking action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: . my expectation sooner than later.

REPORTER: What is your message to Iran in this moment?

BIDEN: Don't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, the White House has called out threat from Iran, real and credible and Iran has vowed to retaliate of the deadly strike on its

consulate in Syria last week, but blames Israel for that attack.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, convened the War Cabinet to discuss Israel's readiness.

Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon.

Oren, this is -- I mean, this is spiraling at the moment, isn't it?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: And it could get worse. That's the fear of the US. At this point though, the goal of the US and the US

believes the goal of Iran is not to escalate the situation. Still, everyone here and that includes the US and Israel very much expecting some sort of

Iranian retaliation to that Israeli strike in Damascus.

The commander of US Central Command, General Erik Kurilla, he is on the ground. He has met with Israel's military leadership, a situational

assessment.

So there is clear coordination here. The big question of course, is, what does this Iranian response look like? And is it even Iranian forces or

proxies in the region to at, least try to create some distance there and avoid an escalation.

But I think it is safe to say at this point, Richard, in terms of the last six months, this is one of those moments that the US is looking at as

having the greatest risk of escalation of a wider war.

QUEST: And how will -- I mean, there are two phrases, our old dear friend, ironclad, well, ironclad's support for Israel earlier in the week, ironclad

support for the trilateral, we heard that yesterday, I think it was from the president. He is very fond of the ironclad.

LIEBERMANN: Absolutely. And at least in terms of Israel's security establishment, he has stood by that, by continuing to provide them weapons,

many of which of course have been used in the war in Gaza. We have also heard from two US officials that if Iran or its proxies launches a missile,

a drone, or a rocket at Israel, that the US is able to intercept either ships in the Red Sea or US troops in Iraq and Syria.

The US will do so even with all of the tension, I think you could call it, between the political establishments.

QUEST: Now, on another subject, yesterday, I was on -- I was on "First Move" and I got to see your B-52 superb report. Let's enjoy a moment of it

and I've got a question afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LIEBERMANN (voice over): Under the shroud of predawn darkness, flight MYLAR11 roars out of Louisiana`s Barksdale Air Force Base. It's the start

of one of the longest military missions in the world, a nonstop 33-hour flight by this B-52 strategic bomber group to the other side of the world,

flying near Russia, China, North Korea and back.

LIEBERMANN (on camera): As you can see, it`s dark outside. The cockpit has red light once again for the night vision here.

QUEST: Wow. I am envious in a sense. I mean, what was it like? I mean, here you are on this behemoth veteran aircraft, it is older than -- in fact, it

is almost older than me, what was it like?

LIEBERMANN: It was an incredible experience. It was exhausting though physically and mentally. You have to prepare your body a couple of days in

advance for the size of this massive aircraft, the part for an eight-person crew was actually quite small. So you get very comfortable being very

uncomfortable.

You can't eat all that much. The air is actually quite dry in the pressurized cabin there. So you're drinking a lot of water. Crew rests at

different points. I rested sitting cross-legged on the floor with my head against a panel, but it is incredibly and able to see this crew keep the

plane functioning, keep it in motion, fly halfway around the world, conduct a mission and then turn around and fly all the way back.

It was a heck of an experience to say the least, and an absolute privilege to meet the crew on this and to see how they do it, to see how they manage

a bomber that is far older than them.

QUEST: Eight engines. My goodness. Go answer the phone. It might be somebody important that is more important than me.

Thank you, Oren Liebermann.

Donald Trump is hosting the US House Speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Largo. We are expecting a joint news conference in a moment. Let's discuss it

after the break.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:28:21]

QUEST: Hello, I am Richard Quest. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. Together, we will hear -- you will hear more of my interview with

the EU's Competition Chief and her thoughts on why Europe's tech regulations are good for business.

Nearly one in three of US companies are exploring a shorter workweek, but I promise you, I will stay with you at least another 28 minutes.

Before we get to any of the other stories, I do need to update your on the news headlines because this is CNN, and here, the news always comes first.

There is a mass evacuation going on in the Russian city of Orenburg following the severe flooding. The mayor is describing conditions as

extremely dangerous.

Thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes over the past three days because of the rising waters.

A former US ambassador accused of spying for China is expected to be sentenced soon in Miami federal court. He pleaded guilty. Victor Manuel

Rocha is charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. The case has been described as one of the highest reaching and longest

lasting breaches of the US government.

The president of Argentina met today with Elon Musk at Tesla's headquarters in Texas. Javier Milei talked about Musk -- talked to Musk about possible

lithium projects in his country.

They are also said to have discussed free markets, entrepreneurship, and cutting bureaucratic red tape.

The following two events related to the us presidential race, the US Vice President Kamala Harris is in Arizona. She will talk about the abortion

rights and expected to call the states abortion ban one of the biggest aftershocks from the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and at same time, President

Trump is hosting the House Speaker Mike Johnson at Mar-a-Lago where they are likely to call for a bill that would ban noncitizens from voting.

The law already exists, noncitizens can't vote in federal elections.

[16:30:29]

Let's start with the President's -- the Vice President's talks in Arizona. Priscilla Alvarez in Tucson. To a certain extent, Priscilla, she's sort of

pushing at an open door here because everybody except for the maybe the Supreme Court justices in Arizona, does sort of say, eek, this decision

really is very difficult.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, and that's exactly what the Vice President is expected to say. She wants to tie these unpopular

abortion bans directly to former President Donald Trump and cite it as a consequence of his time in office and the Supreme Court justices that he

helped put on the Supreme Court. Of course, this ruling was the state's Supreme Court, but all the same.

In prepared remarks, the Vice President is expected to say that the former President poses a threat to personal freedoms and to health care saying,

"here is what a second Trump term looks like. More bans, more suffering, less freedom." Now, of course, the Biden campaign does see the issue of

abortion as a salient political one, one that they can mobilize voters on come November.

And in fact, this week, the Biden campaign announced a seven-figure ad by that includes abortion related ads that are going to be airing here in the

state. All of this to try to galvanize that momentum. And the Vice President in particular is uniquely positioned to take this on. She started

a launch, rather, a reproductive freedom store in January. She has been crisscrossing the country with this argument, the argument being that the

overturning of Roe was directly tied to former President Donald Trump.

And it's a message that she's going to bring here again to Arizona. Now, in talking to Democratic strategists, they told me, look, this state Supreme

Court ruling is ultimately another data point in the ongoing Democratic argument about the consequences of a second Donald Trump term. But it is

important in a state like this one, one where President Biden only won by nearly 11,000 votes in 2020.

So, mobilizing voters is front of mine and they see the issue of abortion as what's going to get people to the polls.

QUEST: All right. Thank you. Priscilla in Tucson. Now to Florida where Donald Trump and Mike Johnson are about to speak. The Republican strategist

Doug Heye is with me. I mean --

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good to be with you.

QUEST: They don't like each other very much. They are political bedfellows. Trump sort of endorsed. They -- how do you -- what can come out of this?

HEYE: Well, I think it starts with where they are right now. It's been a very tough week for House Republicans. It's been a tough year and it's been

a tough year and -- a year plus for House Republicans. With the small majority that Republicans have with Donald Trump now not just being, you

know, the figurehead of the party or the alpha dog, but being the presumptive nominee. It was important politically within the Republican

Conference for Mike Johnson to be with the president.

They talk a lot. They haven't spent a lot of time together. So, he wants to be with him to talk about what he's trying to do to learn more about what

the president or excuse me, the former president is trying to do. And then also to change some of the conversation from what it's been over the past

week and month to get Republicans back on offense. With the small majority that they have, Richard.

It's been very difficult for them to do is everything I've seen you cover for House Republicans hasn't been very positive because of what's happened.

QUEST: Right. But if I was -- if I was at Mar-a-Lago, my first question to Donald Trump would be Mr. Trump, will you tell Marjorie Taylor Greene not

to house the speaker and to give him support?

HEYE: Yes. Look, one, I'd love to see you do that. I'd like to see more people ask Trump that because that's the biggest problem that whether it's

this speaker or, you know, other speakers have had is one person because of the rule change that Kevin McCarthy unfortunately agreed to can set us into

chaos. And this is why the speaker is in Mar-a-Lago is to try and work on that so that he doesn't have that problem moving forward.

But again, when you have a majority that is that small, it could be Marjorie Taylor Greene, it could be somebody else. Republicans put

themselves because of the move that McCarthy made in this very difficult situation.

QUEST: This question -- to this next question to you is not about your own personal beliefs. I emphasize. Well, you'll see where I'm going in a

second. But how uncomfortable are you as a Republican, as the former RNC communications director with the stance taken by the Arizona Supreme Court

essentially eliminating abortion in the state?

[16:35:09]

HEYE: I think it's -- I think it's a political disaster potentially for Republicans. And you see that not from Washington, D.C., but you see it in

Arizona. So Kari Lake when she was running for governor two years ago, she praised this law that essentially was reenacted by the Arizona Supreme

Court. Now that she's a candidate, again, running for Senate, she has completely changed her tune, and she's trying to talk to her Republican

counterparts in the State House and the State Senate to change this law.

And where Republicans have a problem here after the Dobbs decision is it is not a problem that's going to be solved in Washington. It could be in any

state. When we were talking about Arizona, it came up out of nowhere. Could be Texas, could be South Carolina, and that defines things, Richard,

nationally for Republicans and negatively.

QUEST: But you know that old saying, Doug, when digging a hole, it's often best to stop digging. The Democrats tried to overturn this, you know, or

they tried to legislate that would essentially have restored the 15 weeks or whatever it was the state is (INAUDIBLE) and Republicans wouldn't let

them. So, they are just digging their own hole deeper.

HEYE: Well, they are. And I think part of the problem, Richard, is there are a lot of shovels. And what I've learned in my time working in House

Republican leadership is that what's a priority for House or Senate leadership, what's a priority for Republicans in Washington, D.C., quite

often is not that same problem in state capitals in Raleigh, North Carolina, Tallahassee, Florida, or wherever you may be.

And that's why Republicans are finding themselves on the defensive, essentially playing Whac-A-Mole. Because again, we could be talking about

South Dakota next week. We could be talking about any state where Republicans are in charge or a court decision with a trigger law.

QUEST: Which of course is essentially what happened in this case. Finally, will it turn into a single issue do you think in the election?

HEYE: I don't think it'll be a single issue. If you look at polling that goes in detail on issues, what we see is abortion is the only issue where

Joe Biden has a very comfortable lead on everything else. Crime, immigration in the border, certainly the economy and what things cost. Joe

Biden is completely underwater. That's why they are talking about this right now in Arizona. And Donald Trump and Mike Johnson want to talk about

something else.

It's essentially to talk to a U.K. and international audience. What side of the pitch do you want to be on? And that's the conversation that you want

to have and what your opponents don't want to have.

QUEST: Do you have a good weekend planned ahead?

HEYE: I have no plans. Was exactly a great idea for a weekend.

QUEST: Excellent. Always good to talk to you. Thank you.

HEYE: Thank you.

QUEST: Enjoy the peace and quiet and turn the phone off. After the break, the woman behind you have anti-trust efforts is ardently rejecting the idea

that regulation is bad for European business. The second part of our discussion with Margrethe Vestager next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARGRETHE VESTAGER, EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSIONER: I think that's a false premise, because if you look at the innovation environment, it's very

vibrant in Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:46]

QUEST: Here's antitrust commissioner top dog is pushing back on the idea that regulating big tech could be bad for business in Europe. Returning to

my interview with Margrethe Vestager, I asked her how the E.U. is positioning itself for the future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VESTAGER: We learned from the mistakes we made 10, 15 years ago when no tech were capable of growing up and scaling in Europe. And two things that

we failed to provide. One was a truly single market for everything digital and the second thing was a capital market, that caters for scale up. And

those are problems that we're, you know, quite advanced in solving. But if you do not have that, if you do not have market, if you do not have that

capital, that also comes with the competence needed to scale up, you will not see it happen. And that, of course, we have learned.

QUEST: Right. But aren't you ignoring your role in that? Not in the capital and scale up, but in the fact that you've created an environment that is

considered to be unfriendly for innovation in tech.

VESTAGER: Well, I think that's a false premise, because if you look at the innovation environment, it's very vibrant in Europe. If you look at the

shopping trips that Big Tech had been to, to Europe, you'd see that they're more than happy to gobble up what is invented in Europe, what is innovated

in Europe. So that I do not buy. The risk, of course, is that if you cannot find the capital, and sometimes, actually, we see European investors

traveling to the U.S. in order to invest in European companies.

And that, of course, is not how it should be. It should be that it is also attractive to invest in Europe. And here, the capital market is an obvious

priority and it is a work in good progress.

QUEST: The GDPR, Digital Media, Digital Services, A.I., you have a raft of legislation that is making Europe very difficult to compete.

VESTAGER: Yes. But if you compare, you know, we have one set of privacy rules. I think in the U.S., by now, you have 15 states who have different

sets of privacy rules that you'd have to adhere to. Privacy is the thing that is here to come, because we would want to keep our privacy when

online, just as well as offline. You know, just because we're in a modern society, we don't want anyone to read our letters.

We don't want law enforcement to enter our door without due calls. So that is going to come everywhere because when our lives moves online, of course,

so does our wish, actually, to have control over our privacy. And you can have one set of rules as you have in Europe, or you can have different set

of rules popping up here and there, all good, all with the right purpose. But, of course, that comes with a cost of compliance.

QUEST: Did you -- the elections are coming up, we'll have to wait to see who and what after the European elections are over. Do you still hope to be

in a senior role in a commission after the elections, which is a very long- winded way of saying, just still want to continue?

VESTAGER: Yes, it is, but before I get there, I think it's important to realize that campaigning in Europe has not begun yet.

QUEST: Oh, I don't agree. Oh, I don't agree. The moment that the President of the Commission accepted the nomination of the EPP in the Parliament as

being their preferred candidate if they -- if they win, campaigning began.

VESTAGER: Well, I know you have been there quite recently, but still, you know, parliamentarians, they are finalizing the last pieces of legislation.

They are going to have a very, very busy week in Strasbourg very soon in order to get it all done. And only then will they be full-time on the road

to convince voters, not only about what they have done, but also what they are going to do.

And the second point is to say that we have that sense of stability because we have an amazing president who has shown her capabilities and I do hope

that we will continue.

[16:45:05]

For my own part, of course, the chances of me being renominated as a commissioner, they are quite slim, since my party is not in government and

Denmark, but remains to be seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Margrethe Vestager. Now, we got our first exclusive look at how Mexico is trying to stop illegal crossings into the United States. There's

those sorts of ways, checkpoints and inspection camps at some of the busiest entry points. The officials in Mexico say it's helped deter

migration to the (INAUDIBLE) by 10 percent. CNN's David Culver has been spending time with the border guards and sent this dispatch from Tijuana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You can see some of the morning commuters leaving where we are, the Mexican side and crossing into California. And

this is the pedestrian bridge that takes you in there. And this is, of course, how officials would like people to cross. And these are folks who

will often go for the day and come back. And then this is the same site where they now have the CBP One registration and appointments.

And those are folks who have decided to claim asylum and who will register through the CBP One app so as to get an appointment and meet with the

sideline officers on the U.S. side after being screened here on the Mexican side by Mexican officials. Now, that is stepped up coordination between

Mexican officials and U.S. officials. And it's all coming together as Mexican officials have also stepped up law enforcement on this side of the

border.

And you can see here, here's a National Guard's vehicle. We've started to notice perhaps some of the toughest enforcement on the border happening

here on the Mexican side of things. And they're trying to stop things like this from happening, things that we saw play out just in the past 24 hours

or so. And you can see this large group of migrants that crossed illegally, sometimes they'll scale using a ladder.

Oftentimes, smugglers will even cut holes in the border wall so that they can quickly pass through. And they'll then continue on to be processed by

U.S. officials so as to claim asylum in the U.S. But to stop them from even getting to that point, you've got now members of the Mexican National

Guard. You've got members of the Mexican Army. You've got migration officials here on the Mexican side of things who have started posting along

various points of the border wall.

And even in some very remote areas, they have actually deployed troops and set up base camps, if you will, at the more popular crossing spots. And

that's obviously to deter smugglers who are often backed by cartels from dropping off big groups of migrants and allowing them to enter illegally.

But it's also to send a larger message to migrants in general that they should come through the more orderly legal way of doing things and that

would be through the CBP One app registration.

We often talk about folks on the US side who are frustrated, residents who live on properties that back up right up to the border with Mexico. Here on

the Mexican side, we're seeing similar frustrations. In fact, we went to one private community where now we've seen National Guard members

patrolling in a neighborhood, imagine a suburban private community that now has troops essentially going through.

And that's at the request of those residents on the Mexican side who have said that they're tired of smugglers coming through, dropping off at all

hours large groups of migrants using their patios and yards to then jump over the fence into the U.S. As of now, this seems to be holding. However,

politics could derail this at any moment. Oftentimes, the Mexican officials can be frustrated when it comes to how U.S., either federal policy or

individual states, is changing towards migration.

And that, in turn, can add pressures domestically here in Mexico, a year in which they also are voting for their next president. And so, they're

mindful that while right now the numbers seem to be reflecting a positive change in decline in illegal crossings, that could really change at any

moment.

David Culver, CNN, Tijuana, Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: It's Friday here in the U.S., the fifth and final work day for me and others. However, it could be an update in the near future. Many large

U.S. companies say they are thinking of shrinking the water. In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:01]

QUEST: Nearly one-third of large U.S. companies are considering whether to shrink their work week. It's a new KPMG survey of chief executives.

CNN's Matt Egan who did duty, tried to cover it, and have a four-day week.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: A four-day work week sounds pretty nice. Think about how much more time there would be to see friends and family, run some

errands, decompress from work, and, you know, just get stuff done. Weekends might even feel more relaxing. And we do know that some companies are

desperate to attract talent right now, and, frankly, keep existing talent from burning out.

So maybe that's why KPMG found that 30 percent of large company CEOs in the U.S. say they are exploring shifts in schedules, like a four-day work week

or a 4-1/2-day work week to address these very issues. I'm struck by just how high that figure is. And, listen, bosses, they would not need to sell

workers on the wisdom of a four-day work week. Workers love the idea. A Gallup poll that found that 77 percent of U.S. workers support a four-day,

40-hour work week.

That includes 46 percent who are extremely positive about the idea. It's hard to get 77 percent of Americans' degree on much right now, but they're

on board with this idea. Now, I did speak to KPMG US CEO Paul Knopp and he told me that we should tap the brakes a bit. He said it's way too early to

say a four-day work week is definitely part of the future. He said, yes, companies will experiment here and there, but he thinks that widespread

adoption, that could be years away if it ever happens.

Still, there is some research supporting a four-day work week. Studies in the U.S. and Europe have found positive results, both for employee, well-

being, and productivity. In the biggest trial held in the U.K., the vast majority of companies that tried a four-day work week, they stuck with it a

year later and more than half made the change permanent. All of this, some food for thought, heading into the weekend. Back to you.

QUEST: Hmm. I need to think about this a bit more carefully. The markets, while I do, the U.S. markets are only on a sour note. The Dow is off best

part of 500 points, and the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 are also sharply low, off more than 1-1/2 percent. A few companies finished the week in the

green. Tech stock slid as a result of bank stock. It results kicking off the earnings season. So, you see J.P. Morgan War. What a walloping, down

six percent and Boeing is off.

That also brings it down. And you can see how miserable the market actually is when you bear in mind that Apple, which is not a good week overall,

Apple only excited a one percent gain. So the weight against the market today, at least on the Dow, has been pretty sharp and pretty brutal.

Goldman off, just looking at the other financials that are down sharply as well. American Express, IKEA had a small game but that's on a frolic of its

own. He is my guess, and even that might soon evaporate.

You and I together, we will have a profitable moment. Whether we like it or not, after the break. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:57:39]

QUEST: Tonight's profitable moment. There is something rather perverse about discussing the prospect of a four-day working week coming up to 5:00

on a Friday afternoon. But this debate has been around for a long time. And the reality is, according to the U.K. study, there it is, the results are

in from the U.K.'s four-day study and absolutely it made sense to have a four-day working week.

But it's not as straightforward as you think. You have to plan it. You don't just say to people, oh, take a four -- take a four-day weekend, what

about that? No, you have to plan it. You have to work out what time people are going to take off. Is it going to be Friday's office? Is it going to be

job sharing? Is it going to be some sort of annualized basis? And then you have to put in place proper plans for the person to make sure that

whoever's covering them on their day off is actually doing it properly as well.

So, it's not as straightforward or easy. But this study showed that when you do that, it works beautifully. When you put it in place, then

productivity doesn't suffer. Employees feel better. Management is happier. It is a win-win situation. The only problem is getting people to understand

this. And here in the United States, where they have a sort of a rather hair-shirt view on work is after all, you only get two weeks holiday a year

and all of that sort of thing.

I suspect this idea will be slacking off. Just look at how quickly the U.S. decided working from home wasn't going to be such a good idea. It's a

really interesting question that deserves further experimentation and I think it'll end up going nowhere. A four-day working week. I'm sorry, I'm

off. I think I shouldn't title to it. I'm sorry, no, no, I'm not doing all this thing. And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, I hope it' profitable. I'm off.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to "THE LEAD." I'm Jake Tapper. At any moment, we are expecting to hear from former President Donald Trump and the

Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

[17:00:01]

They're holding a news conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida.

END