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Quest Means Business

Trump Hails Talks with Xi as the Two Look to Ease Tensions; Rising Oil Prices Send Bond Yields to Multiyear Highs; Israeli Prime Minister Addresses U.N. Amid Walkouts and Protests. Dutch PM on Trump's G20 Invitations; Trump Hails "Great Meeting" with China's Xi Jinping at the White House. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired September 24, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": The closing bell is ringing Wall Street. It is the -- I see (Philippines) ringing the

closing bell for today, I believe, The markets are down quite sharply down. The Dow has been off all day. Bring trading to an end. One, two, one, two,

three, four. Those are the markets. And these are the these are the main events of the day.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi looking for common ground on trade and A.I. safety during an historic White House visit. I will speak to the

former White House Communications Director, Anthony Scaramucci. We have his book here. We will be talking about that.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu delivering a fiery speech at the U.N. as delegates are walking out. The former U.S. Ambassador to Israel

and Treasury secretary, Jack Lew, will be with me.

And also tonight, you'll hear from the Dutch Prime Minister. He will tell me he is attending the G20 summit in Miami, even if the Russian President

shows up.

We are live in New York on Thursday, September the 24th. I am Richard Quest. I mean business.

Good evening. We begin tonight with a red carpet reception as President Trump pulls out all the stops for the first State Visit by Chinese Leader,

Xi Jinping, the first visit in more than 10 years.

The two presidents held talks at The White House with multiple issues on the agenda. Washington and Beijing have agreed to extend the trade war

truce over tariffs until at least January of next year. President Trump said they are also discussing super intelligence. That's the term Mr. Trump

is using less threatening than artificial intelligence, even though it already refers to a future stage of A.I. that's not yet been reached.

Also on the table, Taiwan and the war with Iran. President Xi said, "... we have both the capability and responsibility to develop and manage A.I. for

good and ensure that the development of A.I. is always under human control and serves the well-being of the people." The talks are over for the

moment.

On Friday, the three-day visit continues with a tour of the National Archives, where they will view historic documents, including the U.S.

Declaration of Independence.

Now, let's clarify. If you are wondering, normally we would be plastering your screen with pictures of the two presidents you're not seeing pictures

of the presidents. It is because of the ongoing impact of Mr. Trump's media ban, although a judge has overturned that and we will discuss that later on

in the hour, it is still not clear the full ramifications.

So Jim Sciutto is with me in Washington. Nothing wrong with seeing you, Jim, without pictures, you will do on a good day, any day. Jim, what's been

said at The White House? Where are we with this meeting?

JIM SCIUTTO CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, I think you could say this is lots of pomp and not many pieces of

progress. Right? Certainly, no breakthroughs. Because if your signature deliverable from this summit between the leaders of the two most powerful

nations in the world is extending the truce, and not even for a year, Scott Bessent said yesterday for two months, to January, it is not exactly a

grand meeting of the minds, right? I mean, it is pretty -- it was a low expectations summit coming in that both leaders did want to extend the

truce, but they didn't expect to settle the many big issues of division that they still have dividing them, such as Taiwan, such as plans for

artificial intelligence and so on.

But a two-month extension is not that much for rolling out the red carpet, literally.

QUEST: Okay. But let's just take it at its -- let's take what we've got, not what we would like in a sense. The fact that they are talking on A.I.

when we know that they are competitors. Now, President Trump doesn't really want to do guardrails and deals. Xi is very much more in favor of, hang on,

if we don't do this, it could blow us all up.

True, I mean, I guess the thing is they each have their own -- well, Trump has no interest in guardrails, and Xi has interests in guardrails that

serve his interests. Right? Because he certainly wants to keep developing it and has been doing his darndest to get the most advanced U.S. chips to

do just that. Right? And doing his best to steal as much of that technology as they can, which has been, you know, quite a Chinese tactic through the

years in terms of technology, in addition to developing its own quite well on its own.

Just look at the advances of DeepSeek and their approach.

[16:05:19]

So, you know, they are a long way from coming to some sort of grand bargain on A.I. but it is good that they are talking. Right? Because you do want

these two leaders talking and extending a truce is far better than going back to the trade war we were in a little more than a year ago, with all

the consequences that had for financial markets around the world.

So I don't want to say, you know, give the impression it is a bad idea that they are meeting. But I just think it is worth managing expectations.

QUEST: Jim, you'll manage your own expectations in two hours at 6:00 Eastern Time. I look forward to seeing you. Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

Now, our financial news, rising oil prices are deepening the global bond selloff. Brent crude rose to more than $106.00 a barrel after the U.S. and

Iran struck defiant tones at the U.N. General Assembly. The yields, well, you can see the prices there. You can see it there.

The yields on the 10 and the 30-year Treasuries are now pushed to their highest levels in roughly two decades. So, the U.S. Treasury tried to

cushion the blow. It bought back more than $4 billion in 20 to 30-year notes during -- bonds -- during today's operations. It had very limited --

you can see a blip, and then things go back to where they were.

Jack Lew was the U.S. Treasury Secretary during President Obama's second term. The former secretary joins me now. Mr. Lew, it is good to see you,

sir. I am glad you to have you with us.

We will discuss a range of issues. Let's just start with the this business of trying to twist, manage whatever you want to say, the yield curve by

buying $4 billion in bonds. It seems -- it seems the market has basically just shrugged it off and although the current secretary says, well, we will

never really know what it would have been like if we hadn't. I am guessing you think that this wasn't really worth it.

JACK LEW, FORMER U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: So, it is good to be with you, Richard. I think the size of an intervention, like a $4 billion move is

like a drop of water in an ocean. It is such a huge market.

The most important thing about the market is its depth and liquidity and the confidence that holders of U.S. debt have in the United States. So I

tend to be a bit old fashioned. The most important thing you can do at the Department of Treasury, as secretary of the Treasury, is to maintain

confidence in the market and I don't think it should be surprising that an intervention like this had very little impact and very short-term impact.

QUEST: When you say the confidence of the market, from your view now, and if you look at the way yields are rising, do you believe they are -- the

market is telegraphing it does not have confidence in the medium -- near to medium term or even long term economic policies, because rates are rising

regardless?

LEW: So, Richard, it is hard to explain exactly what the markets are thinking. So I can just describe the things that I see going on that, you

know, I think are a bit puzzling.

The proximate incident that caused some concern yesterday was actually good economic news. More economic business activity in a fairly obscure economic

report.

You have a confluence of things going on between a war that's affecting at least short and medium-term supplies and prices of oil and diesel. You have

U.S. policies that in a number of areas tend to feed inflationary concerns. We have a debt and deficit problem, which doesn't seem to be very much on

anyone's mind and we have tariffs that are increasing costs.

So, the question to me is why is it a surprise that there is some expectation that there are inflationary pressures on the economy? By any of

the measures that are frequently used, we are not a two percent, which is the Fed's target and there are different ways of measuring it.

You can look at ways of showing that we are just under -- just over three, but it is -- however, you look at it, far ways from two.

[16:10:05]

So I think that there are a lot of reason for some expectation that there is more work to be done on inflation.

QUEST: And indeed, that, of course, is what Kevin Warsh has said. We have already had one rate hike. The FOMC itself is talking about a second and

arguably a third, because it really comes back to this question of the integrity of the Central Bank to get inflation back down to target and get

that last mile which frankly, has bedeviled not only the Fed, but others.

But getting that last mile now becomes the litmus test.

LEW: You know, Richard, it is a funny thing.

Just like for the Treasury, confidence in steady stewardship and stability of policy is so important. For the Fed, having said two percent is the

goal, showing that they mean it is as important as the number itself. If they had said two-and-a-half or three percent, they'd be held to a

different standard.

I am not going to get into the economic argument of what the exact right number is, in terms of confidence, showing that they take it seriously is

what is important.

QUEST: Mr. Lew, stay with us, please. We've done the economics bit, but of course, you are the guest that just keeps giving. Because as a former

Ambassador -- U.S. Ambassador to Israel, we will be talking about Israel's prime minister's speech to the United Nations and the current situation

with you after the break. Stay with us, sir.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: In the last few hours, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been speaking to the United Nations, beginning his address

by justifying Israel's attacks on Iran and telling the Assembly that without them, we would all be dead.

Mr. Netanyahu's visit to the U.N. was met with pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Dozens of protesters were detained by the police, and some

delegates as is de rigueur left the Hall as the Prime Minister prepared to speak.

During his speech, Mr. Netanyahu also attacked New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani accusing him of antisemitism.

[16:15:10]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Shame on you! Shame on you for distorting the facts. Shame on you for inverting victim and aggressor.

Shame on you for spitting in the face of truth.

Mr. Mamdani, since you were elected mayor of this city, many Jews no longer feel safe in New York. They talk to me. They tell me this isn't the city we

remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Jack Lew is back with me, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and a native New Yorker himself.

The relationship is deteriorating somewhat awfully. You've recently written a feature piece about the U.S.-Israeli relationship and how it needs to be

rebuilt. If anything, it is getting worse at the moment.

LEW: Yes, Richard, in the essay that I recently wrote, I did point out the observation, which seems a bit of an understatement, that there has been a

generational shift. I mean, I think that there is a generation on the right and the left in America that doesn't remember the founding story of Israel,

the fact that there is a legitimate right to a state of Israel and there was a need for it after World War II and the Holocaust, that's ancient

history to people who are just looking at the news of the day. It is even ancient history that October 7th was a brutal attack on Israel.

What I point out in the essay is that Israel, when it has its elections in October and forms a government afterwards, is going to need to take very

seriously the fact that it has challenges on the right and the left in the U.S., and on the right, the challenge is the aggressive stance towards

Iran, where there is not a disagreement about whether Iran is an adversary.

We have broad agreement on that, but whether or not the U.S. should be in a war in Iran, there is a difference of view that is strong and it is strong

on the right and the left in the U.S. particularly amongst young people.

QUEST: You make the valid point, and I am going to play you a soundbite from a singer, Ed Sheeran, who got into all sorts of trouble during

concerts when one of his backing -- one of his opening artists made pro- Palestinian comments.

But if you listen to the apology or explanation that Ed Sheeran gave recently in Pennsylvania, you see exactly the point that you made the

differences between, say, October the 7th and what has been happening in Gaza. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED SHEERAN, SINGER-SONGWRITER: This is a humanitarian issue and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore.

What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza

is a catastrophic, unjustifiable and disproportionate.

My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians' lives, of children's lives, and the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold

in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: You probably haven't been able to hear too clearly, but again, it is this point of, on the one hand, October 7th, on the other hand, Israel's

actions in Gaza. And as you said, sir, there is an entire generation that doesn't have the historic perspective within which to treat these issues.

LEW: Yes. Look, October 7th was a horrific attack by any standard. On the scale of the United States, it is many times larger than 9/11 was in the

United States. We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

I can tell you, as somebody who was in New York on 9/11, it brought back memories that feel like they were yesterday. Israel is three years after

October 7th. The expectation that they are not going to try and eliminate that threat is not realistic. To expect that they do it in a way that

protects civilian life is reasonable. That's something that we did work very hard on in the Biden administration, I worked day and night on it as

ambassador.

It is very hard to fight a war against an enemy that hides in civilian populations. We are beyond the depth of the war that was there when I was

ambassador. It is time to give a chance to building an alternative to Hamas in Gaza and that is -- I will say something that might surprise you --

supportive of the current administration to give the Board of Peace a chance, to give the 15 or 20 points a chance. And I think that's where the

emphasis should be.

I think to kind of erase the damage done and the trauma in Israel is a mistake, to call on Israel to build a better future is correct.

[16:20:10]

QUEST: And finally, because you were Treasury Secretary, I was very interested in your essay. You put forward very meaningful -- in your own

words -- meaningful change and a lot of the steps that you talked about are, you know, for want of a better word, good old fashioned economic

banking steps that could be taken that would move things forward.

I mean, they are not as sexy, arguably, as some of the public shoutings that people say, but when you talk about restoring funding, resuming

revenue transfers, committing to new expenditures, this is really the bread and butter stuff from which peace laid.

LEW: Absolutely. Yes. The truth of the matter is the things that could be done quickly are to make life for Palestinians living in the West Bank and

Gaza better and that is why I started with giving the Board of Peace a chance. And in the essay, I pointed to steps that could be taken so that

the economy in the West Bank would get off its back and people could breathe a bit more.

That means giving revenues that are due to the Palestinians, to the authorities there. It means making sure the banking system isn't on a month

to month crisis, that it is going to collapse, and it means, quite importantly, imposing the rule of law on vigilante action, which even our

current ambassador, who has different views than I do on settlement policies, says is completely unacceptable, that there can't be a terrorist

action by you know, Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. Those are all real steps that can be taken.

I think that quest for a lasting solution, a peace that gives two states, two peoples dignity, that's not a hundred days or even a year project, but

to preserve that as an option, we need to start making progress, which is why I tried to put some practical steps out there.

QUEST: Jack Lew, always good to see you, sir. I am grateful. Thank you for talking to us tonight to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. Thank you.

LEW: Good to be with you.

QUEST: Thank you.

Journalists from CNN, my colleagues were allowed back into The White House early today after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to

reinstate their access. The judge ruled overnight that Mr. Trump's ban, which also affected reporters from MS NOW, POLITICO, was enforced without

constitutionally adequate due process.

The ruling came hours before Mr. Trump hosted President Xi Jinping at The White House.

Kristen Holmes joins me from Washington.

Needless to say, Kristen, even though the judge ruled it was not -- the morning came and it was not without difficulties of practicalities of

getting back in.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It took hours, actually, for our correspondent, Betsy Klein and her team to get in.

She started at 5:30. That's when the gates technically open here. Just a reminder, it was her that had her pass seized. The rest of us on Friday,

when we left The White House, still had our hard passes, our I.D. badges when we left the grounds. They had not heard anything from The White House

other than President Trump saying that CNN and these other outlets had been banned.

And for multiple hours, Betsy and her team tried to get back in and tried to get her badge, but were unsuccessful despite that court order.

Now, we have now seen a sworn affidavit that says essentially, and this was put forward by the Department of Justice after a judge asked what was going

on, the media outlets had gone to the judge requesting an emergency hearing. And in this sworn affidavit, she says that she is the Director of

the White House Press Operations, that it was not made clear to her until 7:10, that's when they were notified to restore the access. They

essentially walked through the timing of this, saying that the confiscated badges were delivered to The White House at 9:45 to the operations, and

then they were brought over to the gate.

But Betsy had tried at nine. She also tried at 11:30, she finally was able to get in at noon. She was given her badge back. And I should note that in

the interim, as multiple people from these various outlets were trying, they were getting their badge seized despite that court order.

Now, this issue is not over. We are still going to be going through the litigation. This is -- we are now in basically a 14-day probationary

period. But there is also this entire issue of The White House press pool, which is not completely related to the press badges and being on campus.

CNN, of course, being one of the five networks that rotates in to the press pool, all of them banding together after CNN was kicked off White House

grounds. We still do not have an indication of what is going to happen with CNN and their role in the press pool. We are trying to figure that out, but

until then, there is no press pool coverage of these big events with President Xi here on The White House grounds.

[16:25:13]

QUEST: Kristen, I am grateful. Thank you for bringing us up-to-date.

HOLMES: Thank you.

QUEST: A few weeks from the midterm election and new CNN polling suggests that President Trump is increasingly out of step with public opinion. Only

27 percent of respondents have approved of Mr. Trump's handling of the economy, 73 percent disapprove. A sharp drop from the last midterms in

2018, when his approval was just shy of 50 percent.

With me, Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Director of Communications, a good friend of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS and it is always excellent to see

you.

Look, I often sort of leaf through these books when I get them. I actually read yours in great detail because it is not just a litany of what has gone

wrong. It is a historical treatise in a sense of three areas why you say Donald Trump was able to happen and that goes all the way back, in a sense

to the WTO and the accession of China.

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, first of all, thanks for reading the book. And, Richard, I usually see you in the

cold weather where you and I are standing outside somewhere in Davos freezing, so it is nice to be indoors.

And I try to identify what happened because, you know, when I talk around the country or sometimes I travel outside the United States, people say,

what happened? And this took me a year to research and I tried to objectively look at a historical, political and economic analysis of what

actually happened to the United States and I boiled it down -- there are many things, but I boiled it down to those three big things.

When China was entering the World Trade Organization as a permanent member, there were protests all over the country. It turns out that the protesters

were right, and the people like me on Wall Street and Fortune 500 CEOs that thought China was going to open its market actually got that wrong and that

caused some wage stagnation.

QUEST: Right.

SCARAMUCCI: And then there are two other mistakes that we made that flipped this over into this anger based populist argument.

QUEST: By the way, I was on the streets in Seattle being tear gassed during that battle of Seattle. So I certainly know that.

The reality is, though, however, we got here, here we are with an extremely agitated, angst, febrile electorate that has put Donald Trump in power, but

now seems to be, I don't know -- is it having second thoughts? Is it going to turn against? I mean, that's the big question for the midterms.

SCARAMUCCI: Well, you know, listen, I am surprised by the Democrats actually. I am surprised that their messaging isn't sharper. I mean they

should have bumper stickers everywhere saying promises made, promises broken. The President campaigned on affordability, he sent prices

skyrocketing with his illegal tariffs and then this sort of unilateral war.

He campaigned on transparency. He withheld the Epstein files. He said no more forever wars, we are back in a forever war. And I do think that you're

seeing a melting ice cube of MAGA supporters now. That poll yesterday was to me, as a politician, I've never seen a number like that. Only 26 percent

of the Americans feel like Donald Trump is doing a good job on the economy. I am trying to figure out who those 26 percent are.

But there are likely people who feel angry and feel disaffected, and they see him as an avatar for their anger.

QUEST: Right. Is he on -- related to this, and again, back to the wider historical economic point. If we take A.I., Donald Trump is all for it --

hell for leather wants to go as fast as he can, but all the numbers suggest people are deeply worried. And I wonder, like the battle of Seattle, like

the WTO, like globalization, are we in danger of making the same economic mistake again, not preparing properly, but this time for an economic -- I

won't say revolution -- I would say quantum leap of A.I. that will leave vast swathes out of work.

SCARAMUCCI: Listen, I think that is a central point, and I think it ties into the thesis that you can have consensus thinking, conventional

thinking, elite-based thinking and even though the people could be very smart, they could get things wrong or they could get an outcome that they

didn't expect.

And so, you know, Richard, if I was writing a book about my own mistakes, it would have been a phone book. I just tried to distill it down to a few

of these things. And again, I submit to you, I would have likely got every one of those mistakes, or I would have likely done every one of those

mistakes and gotten those things wrong myself, because in that environment, when you were getting teargassed in Seattle, we on Wall Street thought that

that Chinese market was going to open to the West, and it was going to be a whole new explosion of capitalist growth, and that didn't happen and God

only knows what will happen now in this whole A.I. boom.

[16:30:25]

QUEST: Is it very difficult to make those decisions when common sense tells you one thing, gut feeling tells you something else, but there's a fear at

the back of the mind that says, this could all go horribly wrong?

SCARAMUCCI: Yes. Listen, I think we need to be more humble. I think we need to be less arrogant when we make decisions. And certainly, if I had done

that in my own life, I would have made less mistakes. But we're in a situation now where it's important to explain to the American people what

actually happened and then offer the American people some ideas that are not really even that ideological. It's not about being left or right

leaning. It's really about what's right or wrong for the country. And I try to put that in the back of the book.

Be open-minded. This is how we can curb the deficit without going into austerity. This is how we can get some of the money out of politics, so

that we can switch up the legislative agenda, which is now too skewed to big business and tax cuts for the rich.

QUEST: Anthony, I'm glad to have you with us, sir. "All the Wrong Moves." Anthony Scaramucci on QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

As we continue, an embarrassment of riches, the Dutch prime minister tells me why he's attending the G20 in Miami even if Putin shows up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB JETTEN, DUTCH PRIME MINISTER: -- are shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian president and with all other allies to end this war, to support

Ukraine and to put more pressure on Putin. And if it's needed, we'll tell him straight into his face.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. You and I, together, we have a lot more to talk about.

[16:35:01]

My interview with the new Dutch prime minister. We'll be discussing the far-right surge in parts of Europe. And President Trump seeking common

ground with his Chinese counterpart. The three-day state visit continues. I'll be speaking to a former U.S. ambassador to China, Gary Locke.

All of that after the headlines because this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first.

The leaders of the world's two largest economies have held talks at the White House. Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump are getting together

again this evening at this lavish state dinner. A.I. race, trade, Taiwan and Iran are just some of the issues that they've been discussing.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave a fiery speech to the U.N. General Assembly, calling accusations of genocide against Israel the

greatest lie of the century. Dozens of diplomats, as is usual, walked out in protest before the prime minister had even begun. Mr. Netanyahu defended

Israel's war on Iran and downplayed the worsening settler violence in the West Bank.

The prime minister of Australia is expressing extreme concern after an OpenAI agent hacked into its healthcare database. It's the first known case

of an A.I. model hacking a government network. The hack was first discovered in August, but Australians were only told recently. The company

insists no patient records were compromised. It comes as the industry calls for more safety protocols.

The Dutch prime minister says President Trump is sending the wrong signal by inviting his Russian counterpart to the G20 meeting in Miami. The U.S.

has built the invitation as an opportunity for Vladimir Putin to engage with other world leaders. Prime Minister Rob Jetten thinks Russia needs to

be under more pressure in order to end its war in Ukraine and if necessary, he's prepared to get it done himself.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JETTEN: Well, first of all, it is crystal clear to us that Putin is losing this war in Ukraine. We see tremendous casualties on the Russian side, a

huge impact on the Russian economy, but no clear will from Putin to come to the negotiation table for a just and lasting peace. The only way forward is

a negotiated peace deal. And the invitation by President Trump to President Putin to join the G20 meeting sends the wrong signal in terms of we need to

increase the pressure on the Russian regime to come to a solution.

The Netherlands is invited for this G20 meeting, as well as many other European countries. We will be there. We will be at the table, and we are

ready to support Ukraine in the necessary negotiations and to put more pressure on the Russian regime. And I hope that the American president

understands that he can play a vital role by imposing more sanctions on Russia and increasing the pressure on the regime, but also by keep on

reaching out to Putin, and to tell him that only a negotiated deal is a way forward to end this senseless war.

QUEST: So to be clear, Prime Minister, you will sit at a table, a very large table, where President Putin may also be sitting.

JETTEN: Well, first of all, let's wait and see how Putin is going to respond to the invitation by the American president. But I think it's now

also the time that European countries show force, and also that we are shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian president and with all other allies

to end this war, to support Ukraine and to put more pressure on Putin, and if it's needed, we'll tell him straight into his face.

QUEST: Let's finally just talk about the politics of Europe. You won. You won a strong election against populism, a right-wing populism. Germany, of

course, is going in the opposite direction. How concerned are you? I can't really work out which election these days is the outlier and which election

is setting the trend. But certainly, if we look at the German recent elections, the shift to the right continues. And I wonder if that's of

great concern to you.

JETTEN: It does concern us because there's also a lot of other elections coming up in Europe. And one thing that is crystal clear for the

Netherlands is that we need European unity to strengthen our competitiveness, to boost our security, and to tackle the issues of

migration and climate change. So I wish for a lot of European capitals to see more pro-European and progressive governments to come into power.

[16:40:06]

In the Netherlands, we were able to win the elections and to beat the populist extreme right with a very positive agenda. I think a lot of

Europeans have been way too naive for far too long, and that we should also be much more proud of what our continent has to offer in many, many topics.

So I think this is also the case in Germany and other countries that the ones that run a positive campaign are the ones that are able to get voters

to come out of their houses, and to actually use their right to vote.

And as long as we can deliver on affordable housing, affordable living, but also to show to our citizens that we are ready to invest in our wealth and

in security, this is the way forward for centrist parties to show that we can beat populist parties, but also that we can actually deliver on

substance.

QUEST: You paid a visit to Stonewall, which is, of course, entirely appropriate. I wonder when you're at something like the United Nations, how

aware are you? Let's take Africa, for example. More than 50 countries in Africa still, certainly over 30, have still not decriminalized same-sex

relationships. How aware are you and how much of your political capital do you intend to spend in pushing this agenda?

JETTEN: In the end, the United Nations is all about protecting human rights for all of us. So women's rights, queer rights, and other minorities are at

the heart of the foreign affairs policies of the kingdom of the Netherlands. And you've mentioned all these dozens of countries where

homosexuality is still criminalized. But we also see a lot of backlash in other countries with new legislation put on the table, and also a very

harsh campaign, both of online, but also in the real world, with more and more security issues for the queer community, including in my own country.

And I'm not going to sit back and let this happen because it is a very well-organized campaign by conservative forces that try to undermine the

rights of the queer community. But in the end, this is just a start. Next is women's rights and others. So that is why I also use my platform to

stand up and speak out, to protect the rights of LGBTQ Plus people. And I will do so here at the U.N., at the Stonewall Inn, but also in my bilateral

meetings with other heads of state.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: The prime minister of the Netherlands.

As Donald Trump gives a warm welcome to the Chinese leader at the White House, major points of tension to be addressed. We'll be talking to a

former U.S. ambassador to China in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:25]

QUEST: The Salish Sea is one of the world's largest and most biologically rich coastal ecosystems. It spans from Washington state to British

Columbia. Home, good lord, to whales, seals, salmon and hundreds of other species. Also, a Mission Blue Hope spot, part of a global network of

ecosystems deemed important to ocean health and supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative.

As part of our ongoing coverage of Mission Blue, CNN spent a week with SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation and Research or SR3. We wanted to see how

it's protecting the wildlife that call these waters home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER (voice-over): These harbor seal pups may look like they're living their best lives. Swimming, sleeping and

socializing. But they're actually patients at SR3, the only hospital dedicated to marine animals in the Pacific Northwest.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has a heart murmur.

HOSSEINI (voice-over): SR3 treats wildlife ranging from seals and sealions to turtles and porpoises, responding to animals in the field and caring for

them here at their facility.

CASEY MCLEAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SR3: So we've got a lot of people in here getting things ready, making formula, preparing all of our fish to go out

and feed our patients for the morning. So this is our area where patients are very fragile. They're still getting lots of hands-on care. So in the

morning typically we'll do a walk through and just see how's everybody looking. Looks alert and awake.

HOSSEINI (voice-over): Summer is the busiest time for SR3. Its peak, pupping season when seal pups are born, and that means more calls to their

response hotline about abandoned or injured pups.

MCLEAN: So often, mom will abandon the pup simply because people are in the area. Adult harbor seals are extremely skittish. Because we've got over

eight million people living along the shorelines of the Salish Sea, there's the potential for a lot of human interaction. Typically for a harbor seal

pup that's just been abandoned by mom, they'll stay about three months with us while they're really basically getting fat, and occasionally those

animals will have something like pneumonia or bite wounds or some other sort of injury that we're treating.

DR. TAYLOR ABRAHAM, VETERINARIAN, SR3: 52 and 53 were two new ones, so they'll be getting admin exams today. So that will include blood work,

overall physical exam.

MCLEAN: Everybody has a little round circle on their head. And that is what we affectionately call a hat tag. But it's just so we know who is who.

HOSSEINI (voice-over): The goal is to return these animals healthy to their ocean home, but until then, they get some creature comforts at SR3 to help

them along the way.

MCLEAN: You have these little pillows, and those are really just for comfort. It's just something to have in there until they're able to mix and

mingle with other seals. It can be a very sterile environment compared to the dynamic ocean. So we actually add enrichment items for them to explore

and use their senses and develop their skills that they'll need out in the ocean to survive.

HOSSEINI (voice-over): Beyond the pillows and playtime, they have some work to do while they're here. After they're done formula feeding, they're all

enrolled in fish school.

MCLEAN: As their teeth come in and as their belly button closes up, we start introducing them to fish. This is where stage one of fish school

comes in, where you're teaching them fish or food. And this is good. It takes a little while. And then eventually were using different things like

tongs to feed them and separate ourselves from that process. Eventually you get to just toss the fish into the pool and they go after it.

Typically, they'll come in around 10 pounds and we want them at about 50 pounds before they're ready for release.

That is close to release weight.

HOSSEINI (voice-over): And as more patients arrive, another is ready to return to the wild.

MCLEAN: Tomorrow after our morning feed and treatments, we'll get Frittata loaded up to go back home.

KC SCOFIELD, RESPONSE PROGRAM COORDINATOR, SR3: Let's get her in the truck. We are about to release one of our harbor seals that came into care this

summer. Frittata. She spent 65 days in care, and her main focus while she was in care is just to gain weight and get healthy. She's ready to go home.

Whenever you're ready, go ahead, open that door.

MCLEAN: Despite all of the things that we're doing to it and near it, this is still a beautiful, healthy ecosystem and we need to protect that. So I

think as much as humans may be problems at times, we're also the solutions here.

[16:50:02]

SCOFIELD: There she is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Every animal that comes through its doors can help SR3 better understand the ecosystems they live in.

In a moment, next month, how we'll see how innovative research is helping create protections for whales and the ocean (PH).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: A reminder of our top story tonight, President Trump is hailing what he's calling a great meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, at the

White House.

Ambassador Gary Locke is a former U.S. ambassador to China and former U.S. secretary of commerce, with me now.

Ambassador, what's the best that can come out of this?

AMB. GARY LOCKE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: Really not much. This is really a continuation of the stability of the status quo that was

negotiated many, many months ago, actually over a year ago, following the massive eye-popping tariffs that President Trump imposed on Chinese goods,

as well as goods from all around the world.

China retaliated with tariffs against American goods. And that really hurt American companies. But actually, the Chinese economy has not suffered from

these tariffs. And because China actually pulled out an ace card that really got Washington, D.C. to take aback and to actually roll back some of

these tariffs. And that is primarily the Chinese restrictions on the sale of heavy rare earths going to the United States.

QUEST: OK. So Jim Sciutto earlier made the point that it's better that the two sides are talking than not talking, but that's a fairly low bar in a

sense. And when we add in A.I., there's no real meeting of minds there either because Xi arguably for his own reasons wants -- is willing to

accept guardrails where Donald Trump isn't.

LOCKE: Yes. There's really nothing coming out of these talks other than the status quo. At least they're talking. They're not ratcheting up the trade

war or intensifying the trade war. In fact, everything that was negotiated as part of the truce has been extended through January. But in terms of

A.I., I mean, we in the United States haven't even decided how to regulate or even whether regulation is indeed necessary for A.I.. And President

Trump, of course, feels that A.I. should not be regulated at all.

QUEST: Right.

[16:55:00]

LOCKE: And so to expect any type of significant development in terms of A.I. is unrealistic. Furthermore, both countries want to dominate this

area, and both countries have huge distrust of the motives of the other side with respect to anything dealing with A.I..

QUEST: So, so of the two, who's in the stronger position?

LOCKE: I really think that President Xi comes off much better from this summit. He is being welcomed with pomp and circumstance by President Trump.

And so President Xi's stature has been elevated and recognized by President Trump. And that is being broadcast throughout the world and certainly back

to China. So I think that President Xi comes off much better from this summit.

And I want to make it very clear that the American public has actually suffered from the tariffs because the volume and the dollar amount of

exports from China to the United States is already back to the pre-trade war levels. So what's happening is that the exports are continuing into the

United States. American consumers are paying more because of the tariffs, whereas American businesses face these huge tariffs in China. But China

doesn't have to buy these American products.

QUEST: Right.

LOCKE: They can buy from Brazil. They can buy from Germany, whereas the American consumer has really no choice. They have to eat these higher

prices from the tariffs because, you know, they're not -- I mean, the tools that they buy at Home Depot and the things they buy at Costco or Walmart,

there are no substitutes for those things made in China.

QUEST: All right. I'm grateful for you joining us tonight. We'll talk more. Thank you, sir.

And we, you and I, will take a "Profitable Moment" after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." It's very easy to say that the Xi- Trump meeting is a waste of time. Nothing really is going to come of it. And that they could have just as easily stayed at home. But I think that

completely ignores the point.

There really is value in these leaders meeting, if only because they get to look at each other in the eye, they get to shake hands, they get to meet

each other again, and it's a lot harder to have a really serious, nasty spat with somebody who you consider your friend, who you've done business

with, and who have a better understanding.

At least one might have said that, except that Donald Trump does seem to have a penchant for managing to have full scale rows with people who he's

just met, who has become friends with, and who seems to have no problem with tariffing three days later. But be that as it may, I stick to my

fundamental point. It is better than not to meet, to talk, and ultimately to get on. Why? Because the alternative is far, far worse.

And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead -- I've forgotten the bell again,

I'll have it tomorrow.

END