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Quest Means Business

US VP Vance Speaks In Munich, Scolds European Allies; NATO's Rutte: A Final Deal For Ukraine Must Be A Strong One; Israel Identifies Three Hostages Set For Release Saturday; 7th Prosecutor Quits After DOJ Order To Drop Adams Case; European Winemakers Ship Extra Stock Ahead Of U.S. Tariffs; OpenTable Sees Uptick In Valentine's Day Reservations. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 14, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:08]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN HOST: All right, clapping and the gavel coming down and you're hearing it. That is the closing bell ringing on Wall Street. MvVO

Art and Art Venture ringing that bell on Wall Street. The Dow right there, you can see in the red ending down, more than a hundred points. It is a

mixed market. The NASDAQ finished the day slightly higher. We are seeing stocks ending the week there slightly in the green.

Investors, you know getting new inflation data; also, more clarity about President Trump's tariffs plans. Those reciprocal tariffs not taking place

immediately.

Those are the markets and these are the main events.

A confrontational speech in Munich from the US vice president. Vance tells European allies that they must address the threat from within.

The White House bans the Associated Press indefinitely over its use of just three words "Gulf of Mexico."

And what Valentine's Day is complete without a romantic table for two. The Open Table CEO joins me right here on the show.

Live from Atlanta. It is Friday, February 14th. I am Isabel Rosales, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening.

Tonight, US Vice President JD Vance is going after European allies as he meets with leaders at the Munich Security Conference.

Vance just sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy is urging the US to not, "make any decisions about Ukraine without

Ukraine." But Vance only mentioned the war briefly in his address this morning. He spent much of it lecturing European leaders, criticizing them

for what he considers to be attacks on free speech. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the

conscience that guide your very own people.

Europe faces many challenges, but the crisis this continent faces right now, the crisis I believe we all face together, is one of our own making.

If you're running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: The German Defense minister went on to call those remarks unacceptable.

A Ukrainian lawmaker said it was, "the humiliation of all European leaders." President Trump, meanwhile, called the speech brilliant.

Nick Paton Walsh is live in London to help break this down for us. Wow, Nick, it has been a bizarre week. Let's start with Ukraine.

We heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth originally saying that NATO was off the table for Ukraine and it wouldn't get those pre-2014 borders

back. Then he completely reversed course. And of course, we heard from President Trump yesterday saying that Hegseth's comments were spot on

originally, but then he called it soft when he backtracked.

So Nick, will Zelenskyy get a say here in the future of his own country?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He is being reassured that he will, and certainly after it was clear for a few

days that he was not in the room when it came to the Trump-Putin unprecedented negotiations. Remember, Moscow and Washington simply haven't

been holding phone calls like that at all for three years because of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine back in 2022.

And so there clearly has been a bit at the back end of this week to try and rectify that and to try and respond to Zelenskyy's point, and the European

allies of Ukraine's point that there can't be a meaningful deal about Ukraine without Ukraine being involved in it and agreeing to it.

But really today, I think many had thought that at Munich we might see a greater elucidation of the Trump administration's peace plan for Ukraine.

We didn't see that. We instead saw JD Vance talking more about the need for continued, I think optionality was his term there, essentially all things

being on the table.

Again, that's where the Secretary of Defense of the United States, Pete Hegseth, landed after a robust speech earlier this week in Brussels, where,

as you said, he said no membership for Ukraine in NATO, no pre-2014 borders, things that pretty much everybody who knew this conflict knew were

highly unlikely to occur, particularly Ukraine's European allies.

But everyone had realized they shouldn't say that publicly ahead of peace negotiations, where these ideas could be potentially cards to be dealt as

concessions for Russia.

Instead, Hegseth said that whether he was told to or chose to, we will probably never really know, and then reeled them back 48 hours later after

frankly, Europe was in consternation, wondering quite how this had even occurred.

So it has been a week of whiplash. Remember also, too, we have the separate sideshow of news conferences given by Donald Trump in the Oval Office. At

times, he seemingly talks about off the cuff remarks about Ukraine.

[16:05:08]

He referred to how, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, may not necessarily, I will paraphrase here, be there forever, that he would have

to have elections soon and that his poll numbers were, to put it mildly, not very good. I paraphrase there as well, essentially beginning to start

the electoral bells around the Ukrainian presidency during wartime.

So there is a lot of stuff that we've been seeing the Trump administration saying publicly. They appear to need to correct themselves, it seems days

or hours afterwards. Is that because they are trying to put out a strategy of altering the negotiation field here in what they think is favorable

terms to getting a deal to happen? We don't know.

It is beginning to smell a little bit more like they are kind of not all in joined up, pros here potentially, particularly given JD Vance's recent

comments to "The Wall Street Journal" that there may be some sort of tools of leverage that are military, essentially holding out the idea of

extremists that American troops might somehow be involved in Ukraine, something that Hegseth had said days earlier was simply never going to

happen.

So it has been messy, frankly and whether we are seeing a complex negotiating strategy play out that is designed to leave Russia and the

European allies of Ukraine confused is one option. The other is that we are just seeing something quite chaotic emerge.

ROSALES: Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate it. We will talk more later on about those strange comments from Vance in that backdrop of Munich, undeniable

there, the history there with Nazis and this strange address to our allies. Appreciate your time.

All right, NATO's Secretary General says any deal with Russia needs to be a strong one. Mark Rutte told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that China is

watching and underscored the need for security guarantees.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Now, let's talk about President Trump having called President Putin and then President Zelenskyy

about his negotiating plan. What did Vice President JD Vance say to you about that? Because there is somewhat of a public confusion.

Hegseth said, you know, he took off NATO membership. He said it was unrealistic for Ukraine to even think about regaining its territorial

integrity. Then Vance had to tell "The Wall Street Journal" that actually, the US would put, you know, sanctions on Russia, and that nothing was off

the table.

What is the fact?

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: Well, of course, I cannot disclose what I discussed with the vice president, but what I am clearly hearing from all

my talks with the senior Americans, from the White House, The Pentagon, State Department is one, we have to make sure that we end this war as soon

as possible. We all want that.

A final deal in Ukraine has to be a strong deal, because we know that China is watching and a weak deal on Ukraine will not only have consequences here

in Europe and for the collective NATO security, but also for China, which will then feel emboldened to move with whatever they want to do.

And that when that deal is struck, you need security guarantees to make sure that Ukraine can prevail, that Putin will never try this again. So, it

has to be a lasting, a durable outcome.

We all agree on that, and I am really optimistic that we can get there and for the Europeans, part of NATO, it is now important to think what they

could do to add to a potential success.

So, for example, when it comes to security guarantees, what could the Europeans do, including training now, but also post a peace deal?

AMANPOUR: Yes, well, you know, this is the question the Americans have said, it is only the Europeans who they intend to police or whatever

security guarantee, any deal. Does that mean you face just Europeans? Is it NATO? What is it?

When you think about that, who goes in to patrol any line of contact?

RUTTE: But here's the thing. My worry is that we are now already negotiating with Putin without having Putin yet at the table.

AMANPOUR: Fine. But that's what the Americans have done. I'm sorry. The Defense secretary --

RUTTE: No, I am not sure they are doing this.

AMANPOUR: He said that no American boots on the ground. He said only Europe. And he -- that's what he said.

RUTTE: I think the agreement is this, that whatever the outcome of those talks will be, that Putin should never, ever again to try to capture one

square kilometer or to say it in American terms, one square mile of Ukraine, that is vital.

We cannot have a Minsk 3, this was the agreement struck after they kept Crimea, after they were able to capture Crimea in 2014-2015. We can never

have that again. So it has to be doable. We all agree on this.

And then you and I can brainstorm whatever those security guarantees should be. What exactly it should look like.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: And that was NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

Christiane Amanpour will interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday at the Munich Security Conference. That's at 10:00 AM in Munich,

and you can see it right here on CNN.

[16:10:10]

Ukraine says a Russian drone hit the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant overnight. Russia denies the attack.

Salma Abdelaziz has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do you remember Chernobyl? Well, that nuclear power plant has been struck by a Russian drone according to

President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.

You're looking at footage that shows a Russian drone with a high explosive warhead striking the shelter that covers the Fourth Unit of the Chernobyl

Nuclear Power Plant, sparking a fire that was later contained.

Unit Four originally exploded in 1986, sending clouds of radiation across the Soviet Union and Europe. It was later encased in a sarcophagus made of

steel and concrete. That casing has been significantly damaged by this strike according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian officials are

monitoring radiation levels and say there is no increase detected as of yet.

Now, President Zelenskyy says that this strike shows that President Putin is not willing to negotiate peace in good faith. President Zelenskyy

accuses President Putin of trying to deceive the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: Resignations are rolling in at the US Attorney's Office that oversees New York City, after it was ordered to drop a case against Mayor

Eric Adams.

We will have the latest resignation letter for you, which says right there "It would take a fool or a coward to drop the case."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: Welcome back.

Israel has announced the names of the three hostages set to be released from Gaza on Saturday. All are men who were seized from Kibbutz Nir Oz by

Palestinian militants during the October 7th attacks. Here they are right here on your screen. Israel, meanwhile, is set to release 369 Palestinian

prisoners in exchange.

Hamas initially postponed the hostage release, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire. Donald Trump's proposal for the US to takeover Gaza has

raised more questions about the future of the deal.

Now, the Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation says that Middle Eastern nations are developing their own plan for Gaza.

Richard Quest sat down with Rania al-Mashat at the World Government Summit on Tuesday. She told him the proposal will ensure that Palestinians can

stay in their homeland.

[16:15:08 ]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANIA AL-MASHAT, MINISTER OF PLANNING, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF EGYPT: Egypt looks forward to working on a

comprehensive and just peace for the Palestinian people that ensures they stay in their homeland, taking into account the legal and their legitimate

rights as well.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": So the way this moves forward is certainly not clear, but what we did hear from the

president is fundamentally, all right, you don't like mine, come up with your own. Is that what the Arab nations are looking at doing?

AL-MASHAT: Absolutely. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and there is going to be an upcoming Arab League Summit in Cairo before end of month, and there, there

is going to be a proposal that, again, as I mentioned, ensures comprehensive and just peace where the Palestinians again, have the right

to their homeland in a legitimate way.

QUEST: What are you seeing at the moment? Because you've faced -- things were going really well. Things were going really well until the war in

Gaza, and then suddenly, you had a refugee crisis, you had blocked borders, you had these issues. It has taken its toll.

AL-MASHAT: I mean, since 2011, Egypt has been hosting, you know, what the president calls visitors from Sudan, from Libya, from Yemen. So this has

been one of the key issues, not recently, October 7th, the biggest economic drawback was the 70 percent decline in Suez Canal receipts. Nonetheless,

we've done so much to ensure macroeconomic stability on the fiscal side, on the monetary side, inflation is coming down.

FDI is coming back. Growth is at 3.2 percent first quarter and growth is coming from manufacturing industries, which again is a fundamental change

with respect to the structure of growth.

QUEST: What will be the pillars of strength for the Egyptian economy besides tourism, which is so fickle?

AL-MASHAT: We are becoming more diversified. We move -- we want to move from a non-tradable economy to a tradable economy and here comes export

orientation more with respect to manufacturing and pushing forward with the structural reforms that do invite this type of growth.

QUEST: Finally, do you ever get -- do you ever get weary? I mean, every day it is sort of -- it is like being hit over the head once, and then there is

always something, isn't there? Do you get weary?

AL-MASHAT: There is always something. I've been a minister now for seven years, three different portfolios. Shocks are the name of the game.

Regardless if you're a policymaker or a business or a small business or a household. But again, agility and resilience are really the two words that

today need to be on everybody's mind and in practice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: One of the world's biggest news outlets, the Associated Press is now banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One indefinitely. It comes

after the AP decided to continue calling the body of water south of Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico even after President Trump signed an order

changing the name to the Gulf of America.

A White House staffer says the policy shows the AP's "commitment to disinformation." The outlet's reporters will still have credentials to the

White House grounds.

Brian Stelter joins me now to help explain what is happening here. What is the administration saying about this? And I guess the first question that

comes to mind is, is this even legal?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right. We are going to find out shortly, because I think the Associated Press is contemplating a legal

challenge. It may file suit, possibly as early as today; if not today, then next week.

The AP has been working through this for the past few days because this standoff started on Tuesday when a reporter was barred from entering the

Oval Office. Yesterday, it became a worse situation for the AP when there was a presidential press conference and the AP was not allowed inside. And

now today, the wire service is not allowed to fly on Air Force One.

Why is that a big deal? Because the AP has been a part of the presidential press pool for as long as there has been a pool for more than a hundred

years. The AP is there every single day tracking the president's movements on behalf of thousands of clients around the world.

I mean, the around the world part is important because the AP is not just thinking about American news outlets, it is thinking about outlets in other

countries that do not recognize the Gulf of Mexico as being the Gulf of America.

This dispute was started by President Trump when he announced that renaming last month, but the AP is thinking about clients all around the world, so

it is trying to do something nuanced. It is being transparent, and other global news outlets are making similar decisions, referring, for example,

to the Gulf of Mexico, but saying, hey, Trump has renamed it in the United States.

So for now, the Trump White House has singled out the AP. This is clearly a power play saying obey us, use the words we are choosing. But it is a very

troubling, very slippery slope and that is why it is likely the AP will take legal action.

ROSALES: And maybe, Brian, you can talk about this, how the AP Stylebook is essentially our bible as journalists. That is the industry standard of how

we choose to address certain words. I mean, can we anticipate more bans to come?

[16:20:12]

STELTER: Right. For example, Bloomberg has said, hey, we are calling it the Gulf of Mexico because we are following the AP Style Guide. The AP is the

bible for the news industry when it comes to styles, decisions about what to call things, how to handle this. Maybe that's why the Trump White House

has been calling out the AP.

Clearly, the Trump White House wants a fight here. They want to portray the press as the enemy, as the opponent. We saw this during Trump's first term,

but it was mostly about words back then. Now, we are seeing actions to follow up on those words, actions, for example, a ban against the AP.

Viewers might recall that in 2018, CNN faced this as well. A press credential was revoked. CNN went to court. CNN was able to win the case

pretty quickly. So that might happen again here with the AP. But I think we are talking about something bigger than one phrase. This is not just about

the Gulf of Mexico or the Gulf of America.

We have seen the Trump White House try to wield language in other ways, saying, for example, there are only two genders. As a result, the word

transgender has been deleted from government websites. We've also seen government databases taken offline.

So there is a lot of concern here, especially among journalists and other news outlets that the Trump White House will try to punish other news

outlets for, for example, using the wrong language or using the wrong terminology. It seems like something straight out of George Orwell's

"1984," but it is also important not to come across as the opposition.

Journalists are just trying to observe, just trying to report on the Trump White House, not go to war with the Trump White House.

ROSALES: Hey, an important topic right here and we will certainly keep a close eye on this.

Brian Stelter thank you.

STELTER: More to come, yes.

ROSALES: Yes, thanks.

Well, turning to tech now, the chief executive of IBM says quantum computing is the next big thing in technology after AI. Richard Quest, sat

down with Arvind Krishna at the World Governments Summit in Dubai and Krishna says that quantum is a major part of Big Blue's future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARVIND KRISHNA, CEO, IBM: Quantum is a hard technology, I'll just outright start off by saying that. It is hard because you've got to make advances in

your quantum processors. You've got to make advancement on how you put the system together, material science, lots and lots of innovations.

But the fact that it is hard makes it exciting, makes it interesting. It is now, I will tell you an engineering problem to scale it from where we are

to where it is going to be incredibly useful for the world.

We think that's a three-to-four-year journey from where we are. Just fact, we have 13 quantum computers. Each one with over a hundred qubits, quantum

bits, as a way of getting the scale of these machines that you can access on the Cloud today.

QUEST: One of the difficulties, of course, is the security and the national interests relating to quantum. It is highly restricted in many cases. Well,

in most cases.

KRISHNA: Well, so the worry is about the quantum could break encryption. That I think is going to be quite a ways out. That is not necessarily in

the near term. Any advanced technology, nations tend to restrict. But there is a lot of friendly nations still, and we can always give access to

friendlies and to enterprises whom we can trust over the cloud.

QUEST: How much of IBM's future relies on quantum?

KRISHNA: Look, it has always -- in my role, we've got to be able to diversify the company. So we are never going to say that the entire future

depends upon it, but if I look at it, hybrid cloud is where we are today. AI Is coming, I wouldn't say that AI is mature, so that's why I say AI is

coming and the next layer of innovation is quantum. I think that's the way that we look at it just in the top three.

QUEST: And as you manage those top three, you're a huge company. The ability to pivot or to change priorities at any given moment is highly

limited.

KRISHNA: I would disagree. So we are a focused company. If I look at the journey we've been on, software was 20 percent of the company about five or

six years ago. It is now almost half the company, 45 percent.

If I look at services, it was 60 percent of the company. Now it is 30 percent. So that's a pretty good pivot, wouldn't you say so?

Growth rate was negative. Now, it is in the plus three range. We just committed five percent plus to the street. Software is growing at 10

percent. Those are all achievements in the last three or four years.

QUEST: We are in very difficult and different times. The trade relations between nations, particularly now since the Trump administration has come

in, is going to be very constrained and strained. How will this affect you?

KRISHNA: So two parts to it. One, on the actual supply chain, we believe that one should always have a diversified supply chain. So I will just put

the supply chain and then say diversification is good and put it on the side.

Look, trade relations between nations are incredibly important to be able to do business in all countries and I believe that as long as we can

maintain good trade relations, tariffs to the side, we can be in good shape. So that is where I would go.

[16:25:08]

QUEST: The difficulty for you is that, the administration is now adding friendly nations, previous allies, companies or countries where you would

do business. That is more of a problem.

KRISHNA: They are not restricting what we do there, so that is why the trade relations are critical. As long as it is a level playing field and we

can go ahead and compete for business in other places, in some areas we have absolutely unique technology, so it is less of a concern.

In some other areas, if you begin to advantage some companies over others, that is where I think it would be unfair. We haven't seen that yet, but

maybe it will get there, but I hope not.

QUEST: Finally, when we look at it, particularly in the research and development, how much do you spend on R&D?

KRISHNA: We spend about 12 percent of our revenue, so we are up to about almost $8 billion.

QUEST: Eight billion -- that is a huge amount. Is there such a thing as an a-ha moment in research? Does it happen?

KRISHNA: Of course, there is. I remember back in 2016, we were sitting down and talking to our quantum computing scientists. And at that time, the

people were still playing around in the lab. It was two, three, four qubits, and then they started talking about it. And I said, do you think we

can stand one up on the cloud? And they went back and thought about it for a week, and they said, yes, if we did this and this and this, and that's an

a-ha moment.

Because you take it from there and you say, could we go to 20? Yes. Could we go to 30? Yes. Could we go to a hundred? Yes. That's an a-ha moment.

And by the way, the roadmap we constructed, this is now eight years later, we have met every one of the milestones.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: Coming up, if you missed it on the calendar, you're in big trouble. It is Valentine's Day and if your partner is expecting more than

just a box of chocolates, well, you're in luck, we will have the Open Table CEO next to talk about how to score those hard to get reservations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSALES: Welcome back to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I am Isabel Rosales.

There is turmoil at the us Justice Department after a seventh federal prosecutor quit for refusing to follow orders to drop corruption charges

against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

In a blistering resignation letter, Hagan Scotten wrote, "I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to

file your motion, but it was never going to be me."

Now, his letter echoing the message from his former boss, who resigned earlier this week. Danielle Sassoon says Adams is only being given leniency

here to assist with the Trump administration's immigration policies, which she says amounts to a quid pro quo.

That is a charge Eric Adams has denied.

[16:30:48]

Kara Scannell is in New York. And Cara, we just got a statement from Mayor Adams. What is he saying?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we did, Isabel. He's doubling down on this denial, saying in this new statement, I want to be crystal clear

with New Yorkers, I never offered, nor did anyone offer on my behalf any trade of my authority as your mayor for an end to my case. Never. This

comes as the Justice Department is still a bit in turmoil with this resignation of Hagan Scotten and one of the prosecutors on the case.

We're also learning from sources that to try to get a handle on this and bring this to an end, the Deputy Attorney General met with career

prosecutors in Washington at the Public Integrity section trying to get some of them, those who have remained because five had resigned last night.

Trying to get one of them to agree to sign this motion to dismiss to move the case forward. Now, according to sources, there was no threat in the

meeting but the writing is on the wall.

They know that those who refused in New York to move forward with the case were placed on administrative leave unless they resigned. So, after Bove

met with the prosecutors, they had their own meeting and according to sources, they considered a range of options, including potentially a mass

resignation. Ultimately, they decided that one prosecutor would sign the motion.

Now we have not seen that motion yet, although the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, was on Fox earlier, and she said that she expects that motion to be

filed in court today. So we're waiting to see when that will happen. Ultimately, though, Isabel, this will be up to a judge to sign off on, and

then that will be in his hands shortly.

ROSALES: And what are the judge's options here?

SCANNELL: So the judge could bring in the prosecutors and ask them to explain what has been going on behind the scenes that has now spilled into

the public to try to get a better basis for why they want to dismiss this case. Part of the argument here the Justice Department had said that this -

- they want to dismiss it, not based on the merits, but because of this potential interference in Adam's ability to carry out Trump's political

agenda, particularly on immigration.

So, the judge could bring them in for some additional scrutiny on that. Ultimately, he can't really force prosecutors to move forward with a

criminal case, but he could make it potentially embarrassing for the justice department if all additional details do spill into the public.

Isabel?

ROSALES: A messy situation. Kara Scannell, thank you for giving us some clarity here. Really appreciate it.

Well, the U.S. says -- the E.U., excuse me, said Friday that it will, "react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair

trade." It comes just one day after Donald Trump threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on trading partners. The previous Trump administration

slapped 25 percent tariffs on most European wine imports. That was back in 2019. And now Spanish and French winemakers are rushing to get ahead of

more potential trade disruptions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Americans who love wine from Europe may soon have to pay a little more for it, depending on possible U.S. tariffs.

So, one Spanish winemaker is preparing for the possible impact on their customers in the U.S. Protos wine seller is a top Spanish wine maker and

exports over 250,000 bottles a year to the U.S.

LUISA DE PAZ, EXPORT MANAGER, BODEGAS PROTOS (through translator): At first, we waited expectantly, and now it has become a reality. U.S.

President Donald Trump is in office and tariffs are about to come into force. So, at the end of last year, we decided to be one step ahead. When

he was elected, we anticipated orders for the following four to six months, depending on the client.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): The produce export manager says they sent six months' worth of supply to clients in the U.S. The extra supply would

allow us businesses to stagger price increases if tariffs ensue.

DE PAZ (through translator): We work with local importers, and all of them are stockpiling to maintain a security stock for the first six months. This

is a short-term solution and it is not a solution for the future.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Wine exports from Spain to the U.S. rose by 20 percent at the end of 2024. A growth the Spanish Wine Federation

attributes in part to stockpiling by importers.

[16:35:00]

And it's not just wine, U.S. companies are expediting imports of other European Union goods like auto parts and specialty foods to prepare for and

it's not just wine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROSALES: All right, it is Valentine's Day, and looking for a last-minute reservation is sort of like a -- like a box of chocolates. You know, you

just never really know what you're going to get. Is in one of these, one of these with some nuts in there, a lot of options. You might struggle to find

a table at a suitable time. Who wants to end up in that position, where you might get pigeonholed into choosing a restaurant with a pricey prefix menu?

Or you might have to settle for a restaurant that just doesn't quite fit your preferences. OpenTable is trying to alleviate that problem with its

filters. You can choose from dining options like casual or fine dining, probably the expectation for today. Or if you're craving a specific food,

you can select filters like sushi or steak. OpenTable CEO Debby Soo is with me. A lot of the folks out there are not just doing these intimate, you

know, eye contact to eye contact sort of dates anymore.

Now they're doing double dates or even singles taking themselves out. What are the changes to these trends?

DEBBY SOO, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, OPENTABLE: You are absolutely correct that Valentine's Day is no longer just about that table for two candle lit

dinner. People are increasingly going out on double dates, like you mentioned, but also groups of friends are going out. So, when you go out

tonight, you'll see that it's not just going to be couples, lots of group dining activity happening on Valentine's Day.

ROSALES: And with Valentine's Day falling on a Friday, what does this mean for the celebrations this weekend?

SOO: Well, it becomes Valentine's weekend. We are seeing the bookings continue to increase on Saturday and Sunday as well. In the United States,

Monday is a holiday. Lots of people are traveling this weekend. When people go travel, they're definitely going out and eating. So, we're seeing a lot

of double-digit growth in dining demand on Friday, today, Valentine's Day and throughout the weekend.

ROSALES: OK. I've seen some of your interviews and folks are like, I'm asking for a friend. Well, I'm going to be honest with you, I'm asking for

me. I am that procrastinator. OK? My husband, bless him, he's an accountant. Tax season. So, it was up to me to figure today out. So, what

are my chances of actually scoring that last second reservation at OpenTable? Tell me realistically.

SOO: Well, I'm not going to lie. It's not going to be easy. It also really depends on what you're looking for and what city you're in, but in all of

our key cities and here in the U.S. and abroad, there are still slots out there. You can always try walking by and walking in. Unfortunately, even

today, the biggest diet, one of the biggest dining days of the year, sometimes people no show. So, you just really never know.

But I do encourage everyone, if you do not have a reservation yet, please go to OpenTable or open up our app. There is still available --

availability out there, and there's something for everyone. We have so many restaurants on our platform that are waiting for you to experience. So,

fire up the app. It's never too late. You can still grab that reservation.

ROSALES: And the robot in there an OpenTable kind of does it for you, right? Through this notify me feature?

SOO: Correct. So, if you find a restaurant that you really want to go to during a time that you want -- you want and you're seeing that availability

is booked, you can set a notify me alert. And the second a spot opens up at the time that you want, you will get notified. And you can -- you can go

ahead and book that. We're trying to make it as easy as possible for diners to access all of the amazing restaurants that we have on our platform, and

the notify feature is one great example of that.

And we saw a big boom of just people going out to restaurants when we moved out of the pandemic protocols, people were getting out there. They were

socializing. How is dining demand looking like right now?

SOO: Dining demand continues to be quite strong, as you said, after the pandemic, there was what we called Revenge Dining, which was great for

restaurants, right? Because it's tough running a restaurant, you're already running on laser thin profit margins with some of the supply chain

disruptions and labor shortages. So, it was great to see that dining demand come roaring back.

And what we've seen that even with, you know, times of economic uncertainty, that people continue to prioritize the experiential. They

continue to want to go out and experience restaurants, go out and try new restaurants. We've been seeing that trend for the last few years and we

hope that's a trend that continues to persist.

ROSALES: Yes. And I'm hearing that from the customer end. But what about the restaurant and how is the common economy right now? Is it favorable for

restaurants?

SOO: It really depends on what city you speak to with restaurants.

[16:40:01]

There are some cities that are humming along very nicely. Others are more impacted by some of the new cycle events that we're hearing. I would say it

also depends on what kind of price point and restaurant you're running for the top echelon, Michelin-starred, very awarded, very renowned restaurants.

I think business has been pretty steady and then for, you know, different years of restaurants, it's kind of run the gamut in terms of how

restaurants are doing.

When we look at overall dining demand, we're seeing that dining demand is overall up. But again, that kind of masks some of the challenge that

certain cities and certain restaurants are facing right now.

ROSALES: Debbie, I know you've been doing these interviews. You've had a busy week, and I hope your Valentine's Day plans are solidified. I would

assume so. I -- you look like a woman that is organized.

SOO: I'm organized and work not so much. I mean, I was literally just screaming at my kids like, please do not come into this room. We're getting

takeout tonight, but we are -- my husband and I are going out for Valentine's weekend tomorrow just the two of us.

ROSALES: I respect that. Debbie, thank you so much. We really appreciate your time.

SOO: Thank you.

ROSALES: All right. Wall Street finished mixed in the week. The Dow Jones shed 165

points and you can see there not a lot of movement on the S&500. The NASDAQ built on Thursday's gains in the green right there. It picked up point-four

percent.

And that is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Isabel Rosales. Up next is Market Plays Asia.

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