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Quest Means Business

Trump: Severe Tariffs On Russia If No Ukraine Deal Is Made; E.U. Warns Transatlantic Trade Will Be Almost Impossible; Wall Street Closes Slightly Higher Amid Tariff Threats; Bitcoin Touches $123,000 As Congress Debates Crypto Bills; Astronauts Begin Journey Back To Earth. Aired 4-4:45p ET

Aired July 14, 2025 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:10]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: And that is, of course, the closing bell on Wall Street marking the end to this first day of trading for the week in New

York. As you see, the Dow finishing the day up. Some welcome green there on the big board. Stocks shaking off trade concerns to close on the day in the

green, of course.

Those are the markets. These are the main events --

President Trump's threat to Russia: Agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine in 50 days or face severe sanctions. The price of Bitcoin tops $120,000.00 and

QMB goes to space. The members of the Axiom 4 Mission join us to talk about their research.

Live from New York. It is Monday, July 14th. I am Erica Hill in for Richard Quest, this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Good evening. U.S. President Donald Trump unveiling a new arms plan for Ukraine while also warning of severe tariffs on Russia if it doesn't agree

to a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days. Mr. Trump announcing that ultimatum alongside NATO Chief Mark Rutte at the White House earlier today.

Under the new weapons agreement, the U.S. would sell weapons to NATO members. Those weapons could then be transferred to Ukraine.

President Trump also expressing his growing frustration with President Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal

two months ago, but it doesn't seem to get there. So based on that, we are going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. It

is very simple and they will be at a hundred percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Kevin Liptak is at the White House at this hour. Nick Paton Walsh joining us from London.

Kevin, first to you, when we look at this shift that we've seen from the President over the last several days, perhaps even a couple of weeks, how

did that influence him arriving at this point when it comes to what we heard today about those weapons for Ukraine?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I think it is fair to call this a hardening of his position towards Russia and it all seems to be

rooted in this animus that he feels towards Vladimir Putin, essentially accusing him of misleading on his interest in coming to a peace agreement

in Ukraine. The President saying that he thought he had been close three or four times over the past several months to reaching a deal, only to find

Putin backing away, and that does seem to be the origin of these new moves that the President is taking today to bolster support for Ukraine.

Whether it is this new plan to send weapons through Europe to Kyiv, essentially rushing the weapons there at a moment when they desperately

need them, but also potentially insulating President Trump from some of the political criticism that he is sure to face, that he is flip-flopping here.

Because, remember, he promised as a candidate to back away from this war, to let the Europeans lead and to have less of a U.S. impact on the ground

there. The President, to be sure, is inserting the U.S. into this conflict, but he seems to be doing it in a way that allows him to say, this is

Europe's war, and we are just helping them.

The other element of this is the monetary one. The President promising one, new tariffs on Russia, which in the end will not have that much of an

effect. Russia exports very little product to the U.S. The bigger one could potentially be these secondary sanctions on countries that import Russian

fuel, countries like China and India that do have a major trading relationship with the U.S., in Which The President says will face these new

tariffs if Russia doesn't come to an agreement in 50 days.

But I do think it is a big question of what exactly he needs to see from Putin in 50 days to avoid these economic penalties. You know, President

Trump is someone who uses these deadlines and sometimes something of a loose manner. We think of the two-week deadline. We think of some of the

tariff deadlines. It is not exactly clear what Putin needs to do in order to stave off these new tariffs. Does he need to just express interest in a

ceasefire deal, which I don't think would necessarily be hard for him? He has said to President Trump in the past that he is interested in coming to

an agreement, only to reiterate these maximalist positions that Ukraine can never accept.

And so I think it is sort of to be seen whether President Trump sticks to this deadline or whether it ends up being this kind of rolling sort of

expiration date that the President never really sort of acts upon.

So I think that's something that a lot of people will be watching, I guess, in the next sort of month-and-a-half. I think, for the President, this is

clearly a sign that he wants to see this conflict come to an end. He expressed extraordinary frustration with Putin in this appearance today

over the last several weeks, but at the end of the day, this position on weapons that he has taken is essentially a reversion back to what President

Biden did at the end of his term, trying to rush these defensive weapons to Ukraine in an attempt to get it to defend itself. None of that essentially

changed Putin's position towards coming to an agreement to end the war.

[16:05:06]

It remains to be seen how this will necessarily change Putin's standpoint - - stance, but I think President Trump clearly hopeful that this will do something to bring a resolution to this conflict.

HILL: Yes, I guess it will be interesting to see if it does, in fact, move the needle at all.

Nick, when it comes to these weapons systems, specifically, this new plan that was laid out involving NATO, what does this change, practically

speaking, for Ukraine in the immediate future?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think it removes the times, I think, to many allies of Ukraine, unthinkable fact

that the delivery of these urgently needed patriot interceptors and batteries was something, essentially that the United States was holding up

by not agreeing to it. Now, they've reversed that position and done so in such a way where it is going to be European money paying for it. That's

going to certainly please President Trump's MAGA base and it seems like it is possible within a matter of days, according to President Trump, that

more interceptors and possibly more patriot batteries.

He suggested one nation had 17 of them that were essentially going spare, way more than Ukraine, in fact, has said publicly it needs. These could all

be headed over quite fast. That's, of course, a huge boost to a capital like, Kyiv that has been struggling with its air defenses to hold back

these extraordinary onslaughts from Russia, particularly the ballistic missiles that only U.S. Patriots can take down.

So certainly urgent need there being realized by Donald Trump and fulfilled. It may possibly broaden in the future to more types of weapons.

There were no specifics to exactly what the limitations on the kind of weaponry being delivered was going to be, and it sets up a mechanism there,

essentially, where America gets to make money by selling weapons to other members of NATO that go to Ukraine.

So a potential future there in that, but also to remember, we are still left with this President Trump position where he simultaneously believes

that he is being played along by Vladimir Putin, but also is constructing yet another deadline, after which he might potentially then cause some kind

of action unless Vladimir Putin goes along with the diplomatic scheme that Trump has complained he doesn't want to go along with. So some jumble there

in the thinking and reticence, perhaps, to implement these secondary sanctions.

Look, they are essentially about levying huge tariffs against China and India for buying Russian energy. That in itself is going to have an

enormous impact on the global energy market that's going to hit the United States, too. It is going to complicate an already messy trade market across

the world that's already in significant turmoil.

So I can see the reluctance to do that there, but what we have essentially now given is Moscow, 50 days more breathing space. They are, by many

accounts, likely to soon try and prosecute some kind of summer offensive. They've got now until September to potentially do that. Their allies China,

well, they have some space to rethink perhaps their position, but it seems unlikely they are about to abandon Moscow and India, a U.S. ally, while

they're deeply reliant on Russian energy, frankly, so they are going to have to do a huge amount of fast work to reduce that kind of dependency.

So it is the fact that these sanctions are something kicked further down the line that I think will disappoint Ukraine. It is, again, an echo of the

Trump thinking that he doesn't want immediate action against Russia, but does at the same time believe they could potentially be forthcoming in some

kind of diplomacy. So some jumble there, essentially.

But if we just step back and look at the past couple of weeks, we've seen President Trump going from a very negative posture towards Ukraine to

essentially now replicating Biden's position when it comes to arming Kyiv and that will be a huge comfort to Ukraine and its allies. But there is

still certainly some ambiguity and confusion as to the policy going forwards, and that ultimately is going to play into Vladimir Putin's hands.

He has been buying for time here for six months. Now, he has got until September.

HILL: Yes. Nick Paton Walsh, Kevin Liptak appreciate it. Thank you both.

Well, Donald Trump, meantime, is downplaying the need for Congress to come up with new sanctions against Russia.

There is a bipartisan Senate bill that would set a tariff rate as high as 500 percent on countries that import Russian oil, gas, and uranium. Trump

says the bill is, "very good" and plans to discuss it with the Senate Majority Leader.

Jill Dougherty served as CNN's Moscow Bureau Chief. She is now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and she joins me now.

Jill, it is always good to talk to you. I wonder if we could pick up -- both Kevin and Nick just touched on this. The fact that in many ways, what

we heard from Donald Trump today again kicks things down the road.

So Vladimir Putin, you now have 50 days, not clear what needs to happen in those 50 days. Is this essentially a win in some ways for Vladimir Putin to

hear this today, even with that threat of those secondary sanctions?

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, I wouldn't call it a win. I think if you look at what's happening, we have two

important people here in town visiting at the White House, or at least visiting in at the White House and at the Defense Department and those are

the head of NATO, Secretary-General Rutte and you also have the German Defense Minister.

[16:10:06]

So this is symbolic, really, of the allies getting together with this plan.

Now, there are a lot of details, and you just heard a lot from nick, but I think that this could be a worrying sign for the kremlin, because what they

desperately want to do is, you know, come out with their usual line, which is the United States tells Europe what to do and they are just patsies, and

they accept it all, et cetera, et cetera.

But I think if they actually do feel that Trump is no longer aboard with his previous interpretation of what was going on, and if he is now on board

with the allies, then it might worry the kremlin.

I mean, you look at the things that the President of the United States said today. He praised Ukraine. He said they have a lot of courage. He praised

NATO, remember, you know what he used to say about NATO. Now, he says they are great leaders of their countries. They are together, you know, in this

mission. And then he even praised Europe. So this is a big switch.

Now, again, we have to see the action. And I think that 50 days is worrisome, mainly because it really does push this off when time is of the

essence.

HILL: Former Ambassador Bill Taylor said a short time ago on CNN that, in his view, Donald Trump has finally figured out here that Putin is the

problem. You noted some of these moments certainly today that could be worrisome for the Kremlin. Is any of that enough, though, based on your

experience, to really change anything in Russia at this point or Putin's approach, perhaps is more what I should say.

DOUGHERTY: You know, that is really a difficult question, but I think based on everything that I have seen and I think, you know, for people who have

really been watching this, it would be dubious because Putin, number one, probably feels 50 days, he has got a lot of time until September, and he

will look at the previous behavior of the American president, who has set deadlines before, you know, two weeks, et cetera, and then blown right

through them.

So what is to stop him? Putin might be thinking, you know, come September to just say, well, you know, we will push it back or whatever. So I think

that Putin probably is going to continue doing what he has been doing.

Now, I think it will be terrible to think about this, but will Putin continue with these really vicious attacks on Ukraine every single night,

or will he pull back a little bit? You know, this is where Putin is good at reacting, not so good at figuring out strategy.

So now he has to figure out a way to respond to what Donald Trump is doing, but nobody knows. But my bet would be that one way or the other, he is

going to continue doing what he plans to do, which is to ultimately take over or neuter Ukraine and geopolitically put it under his control -- that

is his aim.

HILL: Jill, always appreciate it. Thank you.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

HILL: Still to come here, the European Union warning Donald Trump, his proposed tariffs would effectively eliminate transatlantic trade. The U.S.

President says he is open to talk. More details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:16:18]

HILL: The E.U. Trade Commissioner says a 30 percent tariff on European goods will make Transatlantic trade nearly impossible. Maros Sefcovic had

said he believes there is still time to negotiate with Washington, but warned there will be countermeasures if no deal is reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAROS SEFCOVIC, E.U. TRADE COMMISSIONER: Thirty percent or anything above 30 percent, so eventually any additional counteraction from the United

States, it has more or less the same effect. So it practically -- it prohibits the trade. So if you're talking about 30 percent or 30 percent

plus, there will be a huge impact on trade, it will be almost impossible to continue the trading as we are used in the transatlantic relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Speaking of the White House earlier, President Trump said he is open to talks with the E.U.

Anna Stewart is following the story for us, so open to talk and also a major warning, of course, from the E.U. Where do things stand -- Anna.

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, it has been a bit of a surprise really, because the E.U. and the U.S. have been talking, of course, for the last 90

days for a trade deal. Things were looking quite good. We were getting positive noises from both sides in the last couple of weeks, suggesting

that a deal was near.

Now President Trump is calling this letter a deal. I don't expect European officials will see it quite that way. It feels like a fait accompli. It is

a letter simply saying there will be a 30 percent flat tariff on E.U. goods being imported into the U.S. and absolutely no carve out, no changes to the

25 percent tariff on cars, the 50 percent tariff on steel and aluminum.

So as far as the E.U. is concerned, I don't think this is really a deal at all. And actually the tariff level of 30 percent is higher than the 20

percent that was slapped on them back in April in the so-called Liberation Day. So it has actually got worse.

So this did come as a surprise, but the 1st of August is the deadline for the tariff being implemented. That gives them more than two weeks to

continue to negotiate, to continue to talk. And President Trump even today said that while he calls this a deal, he is still open to talks. He is

still open to them reaching a better deal.

I think the question is whether a better deal can be reached this stage, because why hasn't it yet -- Erica.

HILL: It is such a fair point. Anna, I appreciate you as always. Thank you.

Well, U.S. stocks closing higher, slightly higher on the tariff back and forth. A number of investors betting that President Trump will dial down

that final rate. It is a clear shift of course from the initial reaction back in April when the President's so-called Liberation Day announcement

sparked a selloff. Some of the rebound linked to the so-called TACO trade, which of course, is short for Trump Always Chickens Out, an acknowledgment

that the President's threats are often walked back and therefore aren't taken seriously.

But one concern with that investment strategy, lack of market movement, may also make Trump less likely to change course.

Robert Armstrong is U.S. financial commentator for "The Financial Times" and coined that term TACO trade. Good to have you with us this afternoon,

Robert.

So as we look at this, there is, you know, the reaction or lack of reaction in many ways that we saw today. How much of the uncertainty at this point

and the back and forth and frankly, the mercurial nature of President Trump is already priced in?

ROBERT ARMSTRONG, U.S. FINANCIAL COMMENTATOR, "THE FINANCIAL TIMES": I think that you are quite right to highlight the possibility that because

the market is ignoring or almost laughing at the President's tariff threats, it becomes more likely that he will follow through on them. So

there is a risk that we get to the 1st of August, and at least for some period, his threats will be made real.

HILL: There is also the reality of the tariffs that have already been made real, right? So we had Anna run some of them --

ARMSTRONG: Correct.

HILL: You have cars, you have steel, aluminum, of course, now, we are talking a lot about copper.

The fact that so much of this is already baked in, that also needs to be taken into account.

[16:20:08]

ARMSTRONG: Oh, absolutely. Right. And I think the thing you have to keep in mind about tariffs is they take some time for their effect to be felt. It

is one thing for them to be put in place, but they have to work their way through value chains and through the economy.

So we don't know what the final effect of these tariffs that are in place are going to be. So we are in a bit of a strange in-between period where

the tariffs you mentioned have been put on, but they haven't yet been felt. So that again adds a layer of uncertainty to the whole situation.

HILL: It has also been an interesting talking point because there has been certainly a threat or concerns that have been raised repeatedly about how

these costs are going to be passed on to consumers. Consumers haven't started yet to really feel the brunt of that, and we hear the President

pointing to different examples saying, look, we are still doing okay. This is not having the impact that everybody warned it would. Stick with me. I

know what I am doing.

ARMSTRONG: I think everyone knew from the beginning that tariffs would take time to be felt by the consumer for the reasons I just described and there

is another factor here, which is that both importers and wholesalers and retailers, they are all waiting to see where the tariffs will settle out

before they make any changes to their pricing plans.

So the President's own kind of Helter Skelter strategy creates this situation where were in a kind of status or in a stasis or in between

period where we don't really know what is going on, and you're quite right to point out that right now, that's working to the President's advantage.

It may not always do so of course.

HILL: As we wait to see what things actually look like when they kick in.

It is also interesting as we see the back and forth when it comes specifically -- if we are specifically talking about Europe. The fact that

over the weekend, of course, Europe said it was going to delay its planned countermeasures.

It is interesting to watch the back and forth and also the frustration, frankly, that we saw with the question of how does this play out with still

two more weeks to go, and the excellent point that if there were, they were really that close to a deal, we could have had one by now.

ARMSTRONG: You have to remember, though, that a proper trade deal, a final trade deal is something that is made over months or years, not days. So

what we are talking about is a bare framework that the sides agree to that will convince the President not to follow through on the worst of his

threats.

And there is another factor we have to keep in mind. Things will look very different when the stock and bond markets, which have mostly been sitting

on the sidelines up until now, get involved. In other words, if we get to August 1st and the threats become reality, then markets are going to wake

up. And then there are three players in the game: There's America, there's Europe, and then there is the stock and bond markets and it is the

interplay between those three that will determine the final outcome, not just the discussion between the two nations or nation states, as it were.

HILL: Based on what we are seeing. And then to your point, obviously, it does take months and months, sometimes years, frankly, to get these -- the

kind of deals that the President is after in place, but based on what we are seeing from the President and the way this has shaken things up

globally, there has been much written about the reworking of global trade and a New World Order that may not include the United States, or certainly

not in the position that it has historically held.

Are you starting to see that play out?

ARMSTRONG: I don't think we are there yet. I think the market consensus and the consensus among economists is that we settle at a tariff level. This

may be optimistic, but an average tariff level for the United States of around 10 to 15 percent, and that's friction. That is sand in the gears of

the global economy and of the American economy. But it is not enough to change the fundamental patterns that have sort of described the world

economy in recent decades.

It will be a cost. It will cause some adjustments around the edges. But the world economy works the way it does for reasons that are hard to change and

that are bigger than the economic policies of any one administration.

HILL: Robert Armstrong, great to talk to you today. Thank you.

ARMSTRONG: Pleasure being here.

HILL: Well, Elon Musk says he will ask Tesla shareholders whether they want to invest in his A.I. startup. He posted that on X, saying if it were up to

him, Tesla would have put money in xAI a long time ago, ruling out, though, a merger between the two companies.

Clare Duffy is with me now.

What does this actually mean, Clare? How close is this?

[16:25:03]

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, Erica, it is interesting because this comes at a time when Musk has been marshaling resources from his

various companies to put them into xAI.

We saw in March xAI acquired his social media platform, X, which of course had already been using for training data and for, you know, to distribute

its chatbot, Grok. There is also now reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" that Musk's SpaceX is planning to invest $2 billion into xAI, and

now we have this comment from him that he is going to be asking Tesla shareholders whether they would be interested in investing in xAI.

Of course, it makes sense that xAI needs these billions of dollars' worth of investments because it is in a very expensive business. All of the big

A.I. players are funneling tens of billions of dollars into infrastructure to power these big A.I. models.

But I think when it comes to this idea of Tesla investing in xAI, that could potentially be controversial with Tesla shareholders, I think, of

course, there is the question of whether there is a conflict of interest here, Musk pushing to have his public company invest in his private

company. But we've also seen concerns from Tesla shareholders in recent months about Musk being distracted by his political involvements, by all of

the different companies that he is involved in helping to lead or run.

And so I think there may be a question about whether it is worth it for Tesla shareholders or whether they would really just like him to focus on

Tesla.

Tesla shares, as you see there, down about 16 percent year-to-date and we've heard calls from some Tesla shareholders for the board to implement

some rules around Elon Musk's outside activities. But look, I also think, on the other hand, if you are a Tesla shareholder who is concerned about

Elon Musk's outside activities, occupying too much of his time, maybe at least you want a stake, a little share in those outside activities, knowing

that Musk is probably just going to keep doing what he wants to do -- Erica.

HILL: Based on everything you've laid out, Clare, what are the chances that this actually happens, though, or that there is perhaps enough pushback?

DUFFY: Yes, I think it is a really good question and Musk offered very little detail in that post about when this vote would be, what that would

look like, how they would carry that out. And so I think this may be a ways off still.

But, you know, then again, musk often sort of makes things happen. He changes his mind on a dime. And so I think it is an open question. I think

one of the big other questions would be whether this happens before or after Tesla's shareholder meeting on November 6th of this year. We had

heard shareholders for weeks, kind of angrily calling on Tesla to set a date for that meeting because they want to hear from the company. They want

to hear from Musk about how they're going to turn things around.

And so I think that they may be more eager to hear for that meeting to happen to take place before they sort of vote on whether to invest in xAI,

which would be sort of a side project for the company at this point.

HILL: Yes, Clare, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, a crew of private astronauts began its journey back to Earth today after more than two weeks at the International Space Station last week. The

four astronauts spoke with CNN's Paula Newton, speaking with her from space, explaining their research and also what it means to represent their

respective countries. That interview is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:31:12]

HILL: Bitcoin touching a new record of $123,000 before pulling back slightly. That latest surge, though, comes with U.S. lawmakers are debating

a series of bills that would regulate the crypto industry. One of them known as the GENIUS Act regulates stable coins.

President Trump has long urged for policymakers to revamp crypto rules in favor of the industry. Barron's senior markets analysis writer Paul La

Monica joins me now.

Paul, good to see you as always. So, when we take a look at this is supposed to be crypto week, right, in Washington, there are three bills, I

mentioned one of them. What does this really look like? What would this mean in terms of changes if we see these bills move forward?

PAUL LA MONICA, SENIOR MARKETS ANALYSIS WRITER, BARRON'S: Yes, if you have them move forward first with the GENIUS Act that would regulate stable

coins. That's something that a lot of people in the industry are hopeful for to have more clarity around these coins that, as their name implies,

are pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar, some to gold, so they're not as volatile as Bitcoin, which hit a record high today, as you pointed

out, above $120,000.

You have USDC, that's backed by circle, the company that just went public and has done really well on Wall Street, Tether and their USDT is another

so called stable coin, and they hover around a value of a dollar.

The other bills, you've got, you know, the CLARITY Act that could give, as the name implies more of a framework around digital assets, if that passes.

And then there's also a bill that would prevent the Fed from having its own digital currency, which a lot of the industry want, because they really

think that this should be about entrepreneurship and innovators, and not having the Federal Reserve having as much control over the possible value

of digital currencies as they do the U.S. dollar, by being able to raise and lower interest rates.

HILL: So, it also raises a lot of questions about who the real winners and losers are here, right? So, these are obviously friendly to the industry

when it comes to consumers, when it comes to sort of the overall financial health. Where could this put things?

LA MONICA: Yes, I mean, there are obvious questions about conflicts of interest. We know that President Trump, through Trump Media and Technology

Group has a lot of investments in cryptocurrencies, so there are legitimate concerns there.

But I think that the industry response to all this legislation -- proposed legislation, is that they've been wanting to have some rules and

guidelines. No one really benefits for long through a kind of wild, wild west atmosphere where everyone is basically creating the rules on the fly.

Having a firm kind of rules in place and framework really gives the industry a lot more clarity. And I think that helps investors as well, and

companies like Coinbase, that's public also.

HILL: You bring up a great point about conflict of interest. I mean, that is some of the pushback that we've heard from Democratic lawmakers,

certainly from Senator Elizabeth Warren, concerns about conflicts of interest, specifically when it comes to the Trump family. It would seem,

though, in many ways, that ship has sailed, that that is not a major concern at this point for most lawmakers.

LA MONICA: Well, I think when you look at the math, I mean, clearly, you know, there is a Republican majority, so that would seemingly maybe explain

why there isn't as much of a concern about the conflict.

But obviously, Democrats are going to continue to raise concerns about the president's company, Trump Media, having skin in the game, if you will.

[16:35:08]

But again, I think the industry is willing to, you know, put politics aside. They're just happy to have more clarity, more rules and regulations

that they can follow and an administration that obviously is pro-crypto, which was not the case under Gary Gensler at the Securities and Exchange

Commission under President Biden, he was widely criticized, I think, by people on both sides of the aisle as having, you know, a very anti-crypto

attitude and not really being willing to take the time to come up with rules and regulations that might have been to the benefit of crypto

investors.

HILL: Yes, certainly a shift, that is for sure. Paul, great to have you break it down for all of us. Thank you.

LA MONICA: Thank you.

HILL: Four astronauts sent to the International Space Station, a private mission, are now on their way back to Earth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Axiom 4, God speed and safe journey home to the best planet in the solar system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft undocking this morning, it's scheduled to splash down near California early Tuesday. The crew included astronauts

from the U.S., India, Hungary and Poland. The mission itself was arranged by a Texas based company called Axiom. It's the first time in 40 years that

India, Hungary and Poland have sent a human to space.

Paula Newton spoke with the crew last week, and they discussed everything from the thrill of liftoff to research that can only be done in space.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBHANSHU SHUKLA, INDIAN ASTRONAUT: I'm Shubhanshu Shukla. I'm the mission pilot for Axiom 4 Mission, and I think it is great to be in space. It was

kind of a cycle. I would say initially, one or two days was not so good. You were kind of adjusting to microgravity, but after that, it grows on you

every day. And the longer you stay, the more you like it.

And it is so much of fun being here looking back at the earth and just enjoying all the different settings and environment of space.

TIBOR KAPU, HUNGARIAN ASTRONAUT: (AUDIO GAP) It's really nice to talk to you. It has been so much fun as Shub said. We started right with the

launch, which was, I think, the best 8.5 minutes of our lives. I could do it any day, that's for sure.

And ever since we have been here, we had the warmest welcome from the -- from the crew that has been up there -- up here already.

And in the past two weeks, we have been conducting so much research and so much science, which has been actually the biggest fun.

In fact, I was always -- I was almost late from this conversation, because I had a physics experiment right before this but Peggy would have been

really mad at me. So, try to make sure I'm here.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Tell us about some of the research that you will be doing and what would be groundbreaking about it in your opinion?

SLAWOSZ UZNANSKI-WISNIEWSKI, POLISH ASTRONAUT: I represent Poland and the European Space Agency as well in Europe. So, Polish companies and

universities and science institutes have, for the first time, the opportunity to conduct science on the ISS.

Together with ESA, we prepared a big scientific complement for the mission, and this is the main focus, science and technology demonstrators. We've

been one of the most exciting experiments that I -- we prepared from the Polish side was, for example, we demonstrated the first brain machine

interface in space that was for the first time ever done, so a direct measurement from the human brain and then interpreted by the computer to

perform certain actions. So, this is one.

But also the scientific complement is very -- is a big variety. We have experiments on nanotechnology on science. (INAUDIBLE) Yes, of course. Here

you go.

NEWTON: Slawosz can talk a lot about science, but we all love it. I am also a science geek, and I think you know one of the new investigations that

we're trying on this mission, Axiom 4 is looking to make it possible for diabetics to fly in space in the future. It's -- we're testing out hardware

and equipment and the capabilities that would keep someone with diabetes safe up in space.

Of course, my favorite is actually the cancer study where we're testing a couple of drugs to see if we can stop triple negative breast cancer from

replicating. And it's got some very exciting results.

Tibor, you're only the second astronaut from your country. There's a lot of pressure on you. They'll be expecting some of those experiments on earth as

well. But how important is it, then, for your country?

KAPU: It is extremely important. And as you mentioned, I'm not the only one as a second national astronaut, but also Shub and Slawosz, representing the

same kind of class as well.

We have been the second from our countries as national selected astronauts, and all of these countries have been waiting 40 years to come back to space

as a form of an astronaut.

[16:40:02]

It's a huge responsibility, but also a huge privilege on us. Now that we have been doing this mission, it's actually a new access for us to space.

NEWTON: Captain, I want to ask you, this mission is so important to your country. India, what are your thoughts on the recent news that the

Gaganyaan mission has been postponed until 2027. Are you still hopeful that more can be done with this mission in terms of testing in this calendar

year?

SHUKLA: Yes, Paula, I think first of all, this mission comes at a very crucial time for us, and I think it is very aptly placed.

As you mentioned, we are on our own journey for human space flight mission, the mission Gaganyaan. And a lot of progress has been made. A lot of test

missions have been conducted, and we were looking for certain test missions to be done this year and next year as well.

Since I am on station and I am busy with a lot of experiments and research out here, I may not have the exact update on what's happening as per the

timeline of the test events, but I do agree that this mission plays a very important role for us, because witnessing a human space flight mission end

to end, from launch till recovery, gives you insights which are, you know, I will take back with me, and would be able to apply for our own journey

back home in India.

NEWTON: Peggy, if we could turn to you and you are the veteran. I mean, as we mentioned, this is not your first rodeo. And given that I've learned

that this is a very research intensive mission, I mean, with this framing is in mind, why is commercial space travel so important now and for the

years to come?

PEGGY WHITSON, U.S. ASTRONAUT: Well, as you know, the International Space Station is planned to be decommissioned by the end of this decade, and it's

going to be very important to maintain a human presence in space.

And I think Axiom space is on the forefront of being leader there of providing a space station that will enable the continuation of the

phenomenal types of research that we're doing, but more importantly, to also take advantage of manufacturing and actually making using space to

make items that you can't make as well on Earth, like superconductor crystals or pulling fiber optics, having a commercial entity that will

enable a lot of new pathways that have not been available in the past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Well, that's going to do it for QUEST MEANS BUSINESS on this Monday, I'm Erica Hill.

Up next, CONNECTING AFRICA.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(CONNECTING AFRICA)

END