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Quest Means Business

Trump Threatens To Obliterate Iran's Energy Sites; Spanish Deputy P.M. On Spain's Iran War Stance; JPMorgan: Oil Disruptions To Move Westward From Asia; Trump Allows Russian Oil Tanker To Reach Cuba; Fidel Castro's Grandson Turns To Political Satire Videos; Busch: Would Be A "Disaster" For European Union To Prioritize A.I. Independence. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired March 30, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:17]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Closing bell ringing on Wall Street. Koppers ringing the closing bell, and Koppers have

copped the lot in a sense.

The market is down and it was up and then it was down. And now look, there you are. Just a bit of green etching out at the start of the week.

Sir, please do the business. And one and two -- oh, dear. That was very tepid -- that was a very tepid Kopper, if I may say so, sir. Anyway,

trading is over. The markets are closed and these are the main events.

President Trump says he wants to take Iran's oil. I will speak to Ed Luce, the "F.T." journalist who interviewed him.

Spain closed its airspace to U.S. jets involved in Iran's war. The Spanish Deputy Prime Minister on this program. Spain wants no part in the conflict.

You'll hear him in just a moment.

Ahead, the Siemens chief executive will tell me why he believes Europe can't go it alone when it comes to A.I.

What a potpourri and a magnificent lot we've got.

We are live in New York. It is March, Monday, the 30th. I think I got that the wrong way round, but I am still Richard Quest and whatever the date, I

mean, business.

Good evening.

President Trump is threatening a huge attack on Iran's infrastructure, at the same time claiming progress on talks to end the war. Is there a

contradiction? We will discuss.

Donald Trump says the U.S. is in discussions with a new and more reasonable Iranian regime, and then threatens to obliterate Iran's energy hubs if a

deal isn't reached. Some suggest that might be a war crime in its own right.

U.S. Allies, some of them, like Spain, are directly opposing the war. The Spanish Defense Minister says Spain will not let U.S. military planes

involved in the war fly over Spanish airspace. Spain has also drawn President Trump's criticism by denying the U.S. access to its military

bases.

I was joined earlier by Spain's Deputy Prime Minister, Carlos Cuerpo, he says Spain will remain steadfast in its opposition to the war, and I asked

him about this decision to ban overflights by U.S. military jets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARLOS CUERPO, SPANISH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: This decision was -- is nothing new. It was in effect already since we decided also against the use

of the military bases in our territory, as is fully consistent with our decision not to participate or to contribute to the war in Iran.

QUEST: Why do you not allow just the use of the airspace? I mean, it is one thing to not allow the military bases, but not to allow the airspace from,

you know, just for a plane to go through on its way, say, from the U.K. to its mission. That is almost thumbing the U.S.

CUERPO: Well, again, as I said, this was already communicated at the very beginning when we decided also against the use of the military bases as

part of the same decision making process, which was originated in the fact that Spain did not want to participate or to contribute to this war, which

was started unilaterally.

And as we've already said many times, also outside of the realm of international law.

QUEST: Spain doesn't seem to be trying to find any common ground here. This position that you've taken, and if I compare it to, say, the U.K. or

Germany or France, where they -- particularly the U.K. -- has to some extent attempted to accommodate the United States if it can. You -- Spain

saying, no, we are not having anything to do with this at all.

CUERPO: Well, again, since the very beginning, we've been very open and frank with our allies saying that we did not want any participation in this

war and I think other countries also followed suit on that front and we are just keeping firm on that decision, so there is nothing new actually on

this, I have to say.

QUEST: Okay, we have to see it in context though, and we have to see it in context of, for example, the arguments that Spain has had with the U.S.

over NATO contributions and the five percent or the various other disagreements that the prime minister has had with President Trump.

In isolation, they all look fine. Together, they all look as if Spain is very much against the United States or is not willing to play the part that

others would be playing.

[16:05:10]

CUERPO: Not at all, actually, and I think the proper way to look at it is exactly to look at each and every one of those decisions in isolation and

what they mean also for Spain and from the Spanish government's point of view.

When it comes to NATO, which you were mentioning, what we are doing in terms of our contribution to NATO is fulfill our commitments to refill NATO

capabilities that we did commit to.

And actually, we had a visit from NATO Secretary General a few weeks ago saying that Spain was doing its part, and we will keep on doing our part in

terms of being, of course, a faithful ally with all NATO members.

And that's also the case, of course, with the U.S.

QUEST: The measures that the government is having to take in terms of reducing taxes on electricity and fuel and aid. Do you expect these will

have a really bad effect on the budget? Because I am seeing this across Europe now as more -- and in fact, across the world as governments are

having to reduce taxes or duties on fuel, this will have a budgetary impact at a time when government budgets are already strained.

CUERPO: Well, that is a very good question. Actually, when we look at what is going on now in terms of the economic impact of the war in Iran, Spain

is more prepared than we were a few years ago, for example, when the war in Ukraine came. Look, for example, at our growth figures.

We have been for the second year in a row in 2025, the fastest major advanced economy in terms of growth, basically doubling our Euro area

counterparts. We are more prepared also in budgetary terms, when you look at our 2025 figures, we will be in primary surplus, which was not the case

since 2008, sorry.

And also, that means that we have rebuilt the fiscal space that we did use to respond to COVID and to the war in Ukraine. And also, we are more

prepared when it comes to the energy side, because we've made progress in terms of decoupling from gas prices.

For example, when you look at what happened over the past four weeks, the electricity price in Spain was around 30 euros per megawatt hour, and if we

go back to 2022 in the war in Ukraine, at this stage, prices were around 200 euros per megawatt hour. So that's how much progress we've made in

terms of being prepared for what is to come and being able to protect our citizens also against it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The man recently appointed as Spain's Deputy Prime Minister.

The White House, says Iran must accept its terms or it will continue to pay the price. The Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, says Iran has a chance to

change the world for the better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This remains a truly once in a generation opportunity for the regime to make a good deal with the United

States, permanently abandon their nuclear ambitions and stop acting as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

If the Iranians reject this golden opportunity, the greatest military in the history of the world continues to stand by to provide President Trump

with every option available to ensure this regime continues to pay a grave price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: And President Trump himself is escalating his threats on Iranian energy infrastructure, telling "The Financial Times" he would prefer to

take Iran's oil.

According to "The F.T.": To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran, but some stupid people back in the U.S. say, why are

you doing that? But they're stupid people.

Trump also told "The. F.T.": Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't We have lots of options. It would also mean we had to be there for a while. I

don't think they have any defense. We could take it very easily.

Edward Luce is "The Financial Times" journalist who interviewed President Trump. Good friend of this program.

Mr. Luce, good to see you, sir. I am grateful for your time.

How was the interview? I mean, when I read the transcript and I read your article and the quotes, the President seems pretty bellicose.

EDWARD LUCE, "THE FINANCIAL TIMES" JOURNALIST: He seems a mixture of bellicose and also wishing for maybe its wishful thinking, a deal. So he

sort of switches from one to the other, I call it from Armageddon to TACO shuffle and he was exhibiting those same sort of shuffle instincts on the

call I made to him yesterday, Sunday.

QUEST: When he says we -- I want the oil, the Iranian oil. It has got overtones of the Venezuela. It is all mine.

[16:20:08]

I want it, I will take it. Did you get the impression it was a throwaway comment or it was something that he deeply felt and deeply held?

LUCE: Well, he kept returning to it unprompted, so I didn't take it as throwaway, even though, you know, any sort of objective accounts from

experts in the region of what it would take to seize Iran's oil that suggests it would be an extremely risky escalation of the situation and I

think we could both doubt, Richard, that the Pentagon would be advising it at this point.

But of course, Trump, you know, has form, if you like, on oil. He has been talking since the 1980s about America taking the oil of its adversaries,

including in 1987 about Iran's oil, when there was that tanker war in the Strait of Hormuz. He said it after the Iraq War. He said Bush should have

just taken the oil.

So, this is not something new to crop up in his mind. It is a recurring theme throughout his life, really.

QUEST: And on this question of Kharg Island, I mean, if to follow your excellent interview and report, if he follows through by his own admission,

they would be there for a long time, which is exactly what MAGA was against, the very thing that MAGA didn't want was a long, protracted

foreign escapade, and if he tried to take Kharg Island, he would end up with it.

LUCE: He would. I mean, he seem to think, because again, I pressed him on this he seem to think it was hardly defended at all, and it wouldn't be

difficult. And of course, as you know, he has got the 82nd Airborne going into the region, a Marine Expeditionary Force, the Delta Forces, Army

Rangers, so he has got a lot of commando units at his fingertips and therefore that option is very much on his mind.

But his mind keeps shifting. It is not like we are talking of a consistent American president here.

QUEST: On this TACO question, did you get the feeling at any stage that he is worried about the markets to such an extent that he would -- it would

temper his military goals?

LUCE: Yes. I think that's a continual concern, and we have seen the pattern of him often over the weekend, delivering bromides, and then on Mondays,

although today is different as it happens, but on Mondays, saying market calming things rather than threats to Iran, as I say, today is different.

But he is in a very new situation, which is that Iran is battered, you know, mostly destroyed military of Iran. The remnants of its regime have

control over TACO. They have this chokehold over global markets because of the Strait of Hormuz.

And there is nothing he can easily or even foreseeably do to fix that at the moment.

QUEST: One thing I am just seeing this afternoon, you may have seen it, you may not, Marco Rubio suggesting that after this is all over, there will be

to be a reappraisal of the NATO arrangements, I think, is how he puts it, because basically on the idea that if NATO doesn't come to the U.S.' aid

when the U.S. needs it, what good is it as an alliance? Conveniently forgetting, of course.

Now, this is quite a dramatic shift for somebody who has been an Atlanticist, a strong Atlanticist all this time, and it doesn't bode well

for NATO whatever happens.

LUCE: I think that's undoubtedly true, and the Europeans are particularly dispirited that it is Marco Rubio saying that because, as you say, he is

the one person they felt they could count on in Trump's orbit who has a strong historic record of being very, very pro NATO.

But Trump, his boss is absolutely set on this idea that as things go wrong in the Gulf, there are other people to blame. And in a sense, it is our

allies who have stabbed us in the back by not coming to help us.

Now, this does not go down well in Europe, which wasn't consulted about this war and would not have advised him to go ahead with it, but that is

the narrative I think Rubio is being required to deliver, it is not going down well at all.

QUEST: It is great to have you and thank you, and excellent interview. Congratulations on getting it.

Leading all the news in all different directions around the world this morning, Edward Luce at "The F.T."

[16:15:10]

Now, U.S. crude settled above a hundred dollars. U.S. crude for the first time since the war in Iran began. Both WTI and Brent finished higher, the

highest since 2022. You can see the difference. Normally they're quite -- the trading range is very similar between the two.

JPMorgan says it is only a matter of time before high prices gives way to oil scarcity in some regions and I am going to show you exactly what we are

talking about.

Here you have the world and assuming I get my bits together, here we go. Now the locus, of course, where it all starts is just here. That is in the

Straits of Hormuz, and then you're talking about initially this area, which I shall call area number one that is badly affected, which is Southeast

Asia, parts of China, and arguably straight on down there. It is the shortest supply route from the Persian Gulf, and the first two have gone

dry.

But now JPMorgan says the disruption moves further westward. So let's go see where we will go. So, you go west and you're heading towards Africa

because that's the next bit. That's number two, and in that you can also include Europe because the shocks will arrive in a couple of weeks if the

Straits remain closed.

From Europe, you're really talking the North Pole. You're talking about across to the United States and the ripple effects there will be number

three. Put that together and you can see quite clearly exactly how JPMorgan believes the three areas, number one, number two and number three.

Anna Cooban is with me. They are the three. Sorry, my handwriting is dreadful. You should really probably take it into the doctors lab and take

it into the chemist and have it put up into a prescription.

That's the way it looks, Anna.

What is the time scale for all of this?

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: Well, Richard, what JP Morgan said in its report was that on February 28th, when this war broke

out, that really set the clock, and so those shipments coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, a lot of it was going to Asia, but also it reached Asia

the quickest, in about 10 to 20 days and now, those shipments are running dry, and then the next phase is 20 to 35 days. That shipment is going from

Strait of Hormuz to Africa and Europe, and let's bear in mind, we are on day 31 of the conflict.

So we are going to start to see the real impact in Africa and then in Europe, and then after 35 days, we might start seeing some impacts in the

United States, but these regions are created equal in terms of their vulnerability, Richard.

So I want to just mention that Europe has got higher inventories, says JPMorgan, it has also got its own supply in the Atlantic Basin, and the

United States is the world's largest oil producer, but they are not immune to the price shocks and that is where we will see the real impact in these

regions -- Richard.

QUEST: Yes, so the idea of shortages in the United States is highly unlikely. I mean, you may see some specific types because of various types

of oil from Canada, et cetera, et cetera, but wholesale shortage. But the U.S. is not immune in terms of price because everything is priced as a

global basket under -- in dollars and we are seeing WTI and Brent getting closer, much closer.

COOBAN: Yes, I mean the U.S., really the vulnerability here is the price, and we are seeing the price of the global oil price, the U.S. oil price

feed into refined products and diesel for example up around $5.00 a gallon for the first time in a few years.

Now, this creates huge political vulnerabilities for Donald Trump. One of the things he touts is having brought down gas prices over the past couple

of years, and now we are seeing them back up again.

But I want to talk about European governments trying to introduce these energy saving measures. They are also less vulnerable to abject shortages,

but still vulnerable to prices like the U.S. We are now starting to see them come out with these measures, like France giving fuel subsidies,

Poland giving fuel price caps like South Korea. They are now moving after to Asian governments really first came out with these measures.

And so in the next couple of weeks, by mid-April, this is when JPMorgan is assessing this to start to happen, we are going to start to see those

impacts in Europe.

QUEST: Anna, I am grateful. Thank you. Late in London. Good to have you with us.

TSA workers are finally getting paid after going unpaid for weeks. The partial government shut that started this mess continues.

Sara Nelson will be with me. She is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, the AFA. Sara, she will be with me live

in the moment. Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:19]

QUEST: For the first time in weeks, some TSA workers finally have been paid and money for food, gas and other necessities badly needed. More than

60,000 workers have been providing security at U.S. Airports without pay because of the partial government shutdown. A significant number also

stopped showing up for work and hardly surprising.

President Trump finally ordered the Department of Homeland Security to find the money and pay them. Security lines are moving much more swiftly. The

shutdown remains unresolved. Congress is on recess.

Sara Nelson is the international president of the AFA, the association of flight Attendants, and it is always good to see you, Sara. I am grateful to

you for joining us.

You know, I've used this phrase a million times over this crisis, as my late grandmother used to say, this is no way to run a railroad or an

airport. And your members, of course, have felt the effect along with everybody else, but you're supporting what is taking place.

SARA NELSON, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS: Well, we are supporting the TSA officers who have kept us safe for 25 years

and federalizing that workforce was very important prior to that, prior to 9/11, this was private security, went to the lowest bidder. Federalizing

this and connecting it in with all of the other Intelligence groups was very important for our security, and we believe that they should get paid.

We helped them form their union and create better jobs, create career jobs with pensions and health care, and a better paycheck, and to expect people

to come to work for more than six weeks without getting a paycheck is just absolutely insane when the first rule in safety and security is to remove

all distractions, what could be more distracting than not getting a paycheck?

QUEST: The difficulty, of course, is that the reason for this is the lack of financial -- the congressional payments or congressional authority, and

if you go behind that, you have the Democrats holding out on immigration rules. You have Republicans wanting to do it now.

Without getting into the necessities of the arguments at the core of it, there are very strongly held views at the political end, right in Congress

that are fighting for some major principles.

NELSON: Yes, absolutely. But let's be really clear, this has been a shutdown of DHS because they did not agree over the funding of DHS and the

continued funding of ICE after killing people in our streets and creating mass chaos all over the country and illegally detaining people.

[16:25:00]

So, they are asking for some basic due process that are basic rights under the Constitution to ensure that there are some oversight here, and what has

happened though is that the Trump administration now has decided that they can pay TSA.

They were deciding to pay ICE and CBP previously, active members of the Coast Guard, so they were picking and choosing which workers they were

going to pay out of DHS, and what we said as flight attendants is this is absolutely outrageous. If you believe that you can fund these other areas

without authorization from Congress, then surely you can fund the paychecks of TSA.

And in the end, that is what happened when flight attendants said, we will no longer work in a system that doesn't put our safety and security first.

QUEST: Let's just talk about safety and security as it is very much on the mind. The LaGuardia crash, a couple of weeks ago, a sharp reminder of the

work that your members do. The flight attendant who was in the jump seat behind the cockpit and gets thrown 300 feet in the seat. I mean, this is a

very telling reminder of -- it happens very rarely, but when it does happen, you really don't want to be around it.

NELSON: No, you don't, and aviation is the safest form of transportation in the world, but it is that safe because everyone focuses on safety first and

that in a lot of ways is because the workers on the front lines have our unions. In the United States, we are 80 percent unionized.

We take part in the accident investigations. We help to ensure that the best regulations are in place. We are fighting for regulations right now in

Congress actually following the mid-air collision last year, right outside National Airport.

So the flight attendant who was thrown from that plane, that's all part of aircraft design and survivability that goes into manufacturing of those

aircraft. But that's because the people on the front lines keep it safe and make sure that we learn from these accidents.

And let me just say, first of all, Richard, huge condolences to the families of the two pilots who passed. Thank goodness they saved the lives

of everyone else. But of course, we will not let their lives be lost in vain. We are going to fight to make sure that we have the best safety and

security in place following this incident, following a thorough investigation, too.

QUEST: I am grateful, Sara, it is always good to see you. Thank you for taking the time in busy days, to talk to us at QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

NELSON: I miss you, Richard.

QUEST: Thank you.

NELSON: Good to be with you.

QUEST: Thank you.

The chief executive of Siemens says customers are pulling back due to the war. You've got the ripple effects, but you've also got the question of

A.I. independence in Europe and whether that's a good idea, and the CEO says, well, he is not so sure.

QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, it continues after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:52]

QUEST: The Russian oil tanker has now reportedly reached Cuba, which is in the midst of its crippling energy crisis, as a result of the Trump

administration's blockade and sanctions. The administration has now allowed the tanker to break the blockade and has threatened tariffs on countries

that ship oil to Cuba.

The White House says that position remains in effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is not a policy change. There has not been a formal change in sanction policy. As the president

said last night, we allowed this ship to reach Cuba in order to provide humanitarian needs to the Cuban people. These decisions are being made on a

case-by-case basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Patrick is with me. Patrick Oppmann is in Havana. These ships can carry quite a lot. How much -- how much is on board, in a sense, how long

will it add to the -- to the supplies?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We are doing about 250,000 barrels of crude oil, Richard, which for Cuba country, running on fumes, would

sound like a lot. But, of course, this oil needs to be refined, it will be primarily diesel to run the power plants here, as you know, the power is

off more often than it is on these days. And only really last energy analysts tell us for about 12 days.

So, this is a lifeline to a country that is still drowning. And we see the impacts here every day. Less cars on the road, blackouts that go on for

several days, hospitals without power, schools without power, is affecting every person on every walk of life, pretty much here. It is even affecting

those in the Castro family, we find out over the weekend. Certainly, they are much better off than pretty much any other Cuban on this island.

But in a rare interview, one of Fidel Castro's grandsons told me that he is feeling the impacts of this economic crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (voice over): In this social media satire video, Donald Trump arrives in Cuba to buy the island, while this Trump is a fake, he is

dealing with a real member of the Castro family, Fidel Castro's grandson, Sandro Castro, an influencer and nightclub impresario who says he has no

interest in politics, the very public face of an otherwise still mysterious family that has held power in Cuba for nearly seven decades.

At an interview in his apartment in Havana, Sandro Castro says he is a sign of the changing times on the communist-run island.

OPPMANN: And what would your grandfather, Fidel Castro said that you're more capitalist than communist?

SANDRO CASTRO, GRANDSON OF FIDEL CASTRO (text): My grandfather was a person who had his principles like everyone else. But he also respected others'

opinions. That's my way of thinking.

OPPMANN: But all the capitalist said, leave Cuba.

CASTRO (text): There are many people in Cuba that think in a capitalistic way. There are many people who want to do capitalism with sovereignty.

OPPMANN (voice over): When we arrived for the interview, the neighborhood Castro lives in is in a blackout, a near constant condition these days,

with the U.S. oil blockade and power plants breaking down.

Sandro Castro's apartment is lit by an electric generator, but from his balcony, the surrounding houses are in near total darkness.

He shows me his one-bedroom bachelor pad, how he lacks paint for the wall, how his fridge is nearly empty, except for the Cuban beer he is always

drinking.

I point out that the appliance is a foreign brand that most Cubans could never hope to afford. His famous last name Sandro Castro wants people to

know doesn't come with any special treatment in a Cuba on the edge of economic collapse.

CASTRO (text): We have to fight as we say in Cuba. It's tough, so tough.

OPPMANN: Even for a Castro, (INAUDIBLE) --

CASTRO (text): Because you suffer thousands of problems. In a day, there might not be electricity, no water. Goods don't arrive. It's so hard really

hard.

OPPMANN: But being a Castro must help you.

CASTRO (text): My name is my name. I am proud of my name logically. But I don't see this you are talking about. I am one more citizen.

[16:35:04]

OPPMANN (through translator): Cuba faces unprecedented U.S. pressure to open politically and economically. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a

Cuban American, has been reaching out to Cuban officials, including members of the Castro family.

In one of his videos, Sandro Castro pretends to receive a call from Rubio, who he then hangs up on. Rubio has said, Cuba needs new leadership, and

that could include Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stepping down despite Fidel and Raul Castro's support for Diaz-Canel over many years, Sandro

Castro says he is no fan.

OPPMANN: Do you think President Diaz-Canel is doing a good job?

CASTRO (text): I would not say he is doing a good job. For me he is not doing a good job.

There are a lot of things he should have been doing for a while now, and today that is hurting our lives.

OPPMANN (through translator): Cuba's leaders reject attempts to blame them for the crisis. And Sandro Castro says officials have questioned him about

his often surreal and critical postings. As well, Cuban exiles regularly attack him online, he says.

OPPMANN: Why do you think there are people though that hate the Castro family so much?

CASTRO (text): It's complicated. Many Cubans would have liked to have been capitalist. I think the majority of Cubans want to be capitalist, not

communist. That has created differences, a hatred which is not productive.

OPPMANN (through translator): Sandro Castro says he supports Trump's calls to open the economy, if not his threats against the island.

At the end of his video, he takes a U.S. leader on a tour of Havana. Hope from at least one member of the Castro family, that historic deal with the

U.S. and opening on the island are possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OPPMANN (on camera): And Castro is in unique position -- is in a unique position, Richard, because the government that his grandfather founded,

according to him, is now telling him to be quiet, to stop posting some of these outrageous and controversial videos.

Sandro Castro tells me he has no intention of stopping his advocacy and his unspokeness (PH) and some of these frankly ridiculous postings that he

likes to do.

QUEST: What a fascinating report. Patrick, I'm grateful. Thank you for bringing it to us. Patrick Oppmann in Havana.

The French A.I. startup Mistral has raised more than $800 million in new debt. New data centers powered by thousands of Nvidia chips.

This expansion comes as Europe's races to scale up A.I. and not rely as much on the U.S. and China. The head of Siemens F.T. that the E.U. push for

A.I. independence would be a disaster. The firm builds the technology and A.I. systems behind many sectors: energy, infrastructure, healthcare,

transportation.

Siemens' CEO, Roland Busch, joins me.

Now, sir, it is good to you. I realize there is nuance in your comment. Before we get to that, just tell me, as a result of the current crisis, you

are seeing clients do what? Put off spending, pull back, cancel projects?

ROLAND BUSCH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SIEMENS: Good afternoon, Richard.

So, what we see is that some customers, they are not canceling, but holding back investments, maybe investments which were originally planned for

building new infrastructure, new upstream. They are now holding back in order to figure out what needs to be repaired. So, I would not say it's

canceling, but it's slowing down. What that's what we see currently.

QUEST: And the longer it goes, the more and the worse the possibility has become, I imagine.

BUSCH: Yes. And there are two effects. Number one is, obviously, the longer it takes, the more you have a kind of a standstill investment on the one

side. And the other side is we see, obviously, an increase in inflation, which is throttling economies.

So, people holding the money back. This is actually not what we want. We want really a growing economy, and that's really holding back by higher

inflation.

QUEST: If we don't know about this idea of digital sovereignty, I sort of know where you are coming from, but the recent crises have shown us the

necessity for Europe to have an element of independence. It's balancing sovereignty and independence with integration, so, for maximum benefit. Can

you do both?

BUSCH: So, I mean, there are two elements in this statement which I made. Number one is, it's about resilience, and don't miss some dimension.

[16:40:01]

The other dimension is, if you want to do that in Europe, you need really, to leverage this infrastructure. That means you need data, you need A.I.

running on it. And here Europe is just too fragmented and it's too much regulated in order to really give really a full steam for industrial A.I.,

and that's what hopefully happens in Europe.

QUEST: The Draghi report says exactly this. Europe needs some champions, and you can't have 26 of them in every different country. But you go and

tell that to the politicians in Brussels, Roland.

BUSCH: Yes. So, this is exactly the point. I mean, let's talk about scaling. I mean, if you have a massive amount of regulations, and each of

them is interpreted in a different way in 26 countries, now, you cannot really scale. And the regulation is also slowing down.

So, we have to think about, what can policies do in order to accelerate the deployment of this channel purpose technology? which changes everything,

the way how we design products, how we manufacture, how we operate. We need tailwind in order to create, also, global champions, which do -- and this

is a very important point industrial A.I., physics-based A.I.

This is when A.I. leaves the computer and goes to the shop floor and does real things on the shop floor.

QUEST: Is anybody listening? Well, no, actually, I'll rephrase that. People are listening, but is anything happening?

Because we haven't. -- we have a, you know, drinking game here at QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Every time someone says the Draghi report, you have to take

a drink because it's said so often with so little meaning, or so little progress. Is anybody listening?

BUSCH: I think that people are listening, but we don't see that this is translated into action yet. So, we have a hope after the meeting of the

countries with the commission, where they say -- and it's all about competitiveness, a competitiveness in Europe.

So, it needs a wake-up call. And, I mean, don't get me wrong, we could see that Europe can move fast. Think about the Ukraine war, COVID crisis. So,

maybe the first point would be to realize, yes, we are in a crisis. It's a different one, because we are losing competitiveness in each and every day.

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: Right.

BUSCH: So, we have to change something now. What does it mean? We have -- I mean crisis mode means, focus. Focus on the important things and move fast.

(CROSSTALK)

QUEST: All right.

BUSCH: And that's what I guess we have to do now.

QUEST: And I'm grateful to you, sir, for joining us tonight. Thank you. We'll talk again face to face next time we meet up. Good to see you,

Roland. Thank you.

And I'm going to show you very quickly just how the markets have closed.

There you are. You are -- you are OK on the Dow, just at 49 points. Quick Look at the 30, because you really need to gain some Salesforce, travelers,

Disney, get the Dow in the green. Microsoft, about a point. It's A.I. copilot now drawing responses from both ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude.

And that is QUEST QUEENS BUSINESS for this Monday. I started new week together with you. Delighted to have you on board. I'm Richard Quest in New

York. Whenever you are up to in the outside, hope it's profitable.

"CONNECTING AFRICA" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:46:10]

VICTORIA RUBADIRI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to CONNECTING AFRICA. I'm Victoria Rubadiri in Nairobi, Kenya.

Rail is often seen as the backbone of Africa's economy. It can be used to move goods faster, cheaper and more sustainably to major economic hubs

across the continent.

Eric Ntagengerwa at the African Union Commission, says rail must play a bigger role in inter African trade.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC NTAGENGERWA, HEAD, TRANSPORT AND MOBILITY DIVISION, AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION: Trade cannot happen without faster movement of goods and

services. Of course, railway line is not only for goods, but also for passengers. We have air, we have maritime, we have also the road -- the

road transport is also still taking like 70 percent. But in the next five, 10 years, we hope to see the railway as a mode coming to support, or maybe

to supplement, the railway transport, which is becoming too congested and it's not very efficient.

RUBADIRI (voice over): One industry that is highly dependent on rail is the mining industry. Across the continent, tracks are being revived, upgraded

and expanded to connect Africa's mines to ports, so, critical minerals can be sent to markets across the globe.

One ambitious project is the Lobito Corridor. New and refurbished tracks and trains are connecting Angola's port of libido to the mineral rich

Katanga region in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the copper belt of Zambia, backed largely by the United States.

In 2024, the U.S. announced it would loan just over $550 million to upgrade 1,300 kilometers of railway. This corridor is expected to streamline cross

border trade, increase efficiency and reduce transportation costs. As part of the corridor's modernization, the South African firm, Galison Group has

been tapped to make hundreds of new container wagons.

Based in Welkom, south of Johannesburg, Eleni Giokos reports on how the company is busy building freight wagons for export across the continent.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Innovation is around every corner at Galison's manufacturing facility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This thing's been a win, but a new computerized brake force tester.

GIOKOS (voice over): This company makes and supplies railway freight wagons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they refurbish them nicely.

GIOKOS (voice over): And underground mining equipment for countries across Africa.

Producing about 200 freight cargo wagons and 800 underground wagons a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this workshop alone, you've seen product from Libya, Angola, South Africa, and Zambia.

So, these are rock flow wagons, and they go into the copper mines in Zambia. The copper mines are one of our biggest customers. Can see the

bolts on the outside, they put in the liners, and they should also be ready to ship in about a week's time.

GIOKOS (voice over): 250 skilled workers have been trained to design, cut and weld the equipment.

Robots have been drafted to ensure critical components are welded with accuracy and precision.

GARY WILSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, GALISON GROUP: The robot is a much more sophisticated welding operation. You can pulse, you can weave, and all the

parts come out exactly the same. The components we welding in the robots, which are the wings of the surface wagon, must fit when it comes to

assembly. So, it has to be 100 percent accurate.

Robot almost becomes one of your best quality controller, because if the parts are not assembled correctly, the robot won't weld them.

[16:49:59]

GIOKOS (voice over): The latest undertaking is supplying wagons to one of the largest rail projects in Southern Africa, the Lobito Corridor in

Angola.

ANDREW THORBURN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GALISON GROUP: We are sending 275 of them. They just having the final painting and doing their final brake

testing. They will be loaded later this week.

GIOKOS (voice over): They will play a critical role in the seamless transportation of minerals between the Democratic Republic of Congo,

Zambia, and Angola.

FRANCISCO FRANCA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LOBITO ATLANTIC RAILWAY: Lobito Corridor is much more efficient. So, it takes six days to 35 days. So, it's

30 days difference.

Most everything is done by roads. So, imagine the fuel, the pollution that we have there. So, Lobito Corridor will bring those benefits, economical,

and environmental ones.

And we do 200,000 per year, 200,000 tons. We want to reach 5 million.

GIOKOS (voice over): The CEO of Galison says they've supplied the Lobito Atlantic Railway with 200 wagons so far. Whether it's cargo wagons or

mining equipment, the company says a majority of its building materials are locally sourced.

THORBURN: The underground wagons, we're talking probably nine, five percent locally sourced. For these, freight wagons in order to be competitive in

Southern Africa, the local content of actual materials probably drops to 70 percent. But I still think that's a significant number.

We design all the products ourselves. We have got large factories that we developed over the years to process it.

We can go through about 800 tons of steel a month, and that's a significant amount, and that keeps people like our steel mills running as well.

GIOKOS: 800?

THORNBURN: Tons of steel a month.

GIOKOS: A month. You use 800 tons of steel a month. And that's all South African sourced?

THORNBURN: Almost entirely.

GIOKOS (voice over): With this project nearing completion, Galison is eyeing its next opportunity within the rail and mineral industry.

THORNBURN: We are definitely seeing that we're on a fantastic upward cycle. Commodity prices are high, and we will -- everyone is saying they expect to

remain high. There is tremendous push to extract minerals from Africa. I also see there is a lot of push to verification in Africa, which is great.

We are seeing orders, and we've seen mines announcing expansion projects, especially in the DRC in Zambia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RUBADIRI: Up next, how Morocco is paving the way for high-speed rail across the continent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RUBADIRI: Welcome back.

Modern rail networks could be the engine that connects cities and moves people and cargo as demand for goods and population numbers grow. By 2050,

more than a quarter of the world's population, 2-1/2 billion people will be living in Africa.

One country, Morocco, is investing heavily in upgrading and expanding its real capacity. It's deploying about $10 billion to build high speed lines

connecting the country's economic cities and tourist hubs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUBADIRI (voice over): With each departing train, Morocco is moving one step closer to realizing its rail revolution.

NACERA BECHARI, MARKETING AND STRATEGIC MANAGER, ONCF (through translator): Investment in rail is strategically important on several levels. From an

economic perspective, it supports urban development, creates jobs, and establishes an economic corridor from Tangier to Marrakesh. From a

territorial perspective, it will better connect cities and ease congestion.

[16:55:03]

The nation's rail operator, ONCF says, in 2023, 53 million people 17 million tons of goods traveled by rail. And they are bracing for that

number to continue to increase rapidly.

BECHARI: If we consider the entire network, including other regional trains and intercity trains, today, we have about 56 million passengers. We will

go to more than 120 million passengers by 2030.

RUBADIRI (voice over): With its eyes also set on co-hosting the World Cup in 2030, the country has announced a nearly $10 billion rail expansion

project.

It includes adding more than 600 kilometers of high-speed rail to connect Kenitra, a city in the northwest of the country, with a tourist hot spot of

Marrakesh.

It's buying 168 new trains, 18 of which will be high-speed.

BECHARI: They will provide faster connections between cities, smoother journeys, reduced travel times and improved links to airports. As a result,

mobility will be enhanced for business and professional travelers, while also making leisure travel and access easier for other categories of

passengers.

RUBADIRI (voice over): Once complete, ONCF says its network will connect 43 major cities, linking 15 international airports and 12 ports.

BECHARI: We consider rail to be the backbone of sustainable mobility that facilitates connectivity, connection and transport between different

cities. At the African level, the potential is even greater, because it will make it possible to further develop economic relations between African

cities and create intra African corridors, all while promoting Environmental sustainability.

RUBADIRI (voice over): To ease the movement of goods and people, technology has been at the forefront of modernization.

BECHARI: New railway stations will be built in Casablanca and Marrakesh, along with the renovation of existing stations.

A full digital transformation is also planned to provide passengers with a seamless experience through e-ticketing and smooth access to boarding

platforms, and for all passenger information as well.

RUBADIRI (voice over): With an ambitious goal of completing the project by 2029, the ONCF is hopeful that their vision for high-speed rail can be

replicated across the continent.

BECHARI: Our ambition is to develop this Moroccan know how and expertise, so, that it can be exported and serve other African countries as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RUBADIRI (on camera): That's it for this month's CONNECTING AFRICA. If you want to know more about the subjects we cover, you can check out our web

site until next month from me, Victoria Rubadiri, let's keep on connecting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END