00:01 - 00:03
breaking news that we're following
00:03 - 00:04
the breaking news of President
00:04 - 00:06
Trump saying he is now
00:06 - 00:08
doubling the tariffs on Canadian
00:08 - 00:09
aluminum and steel
00:09 - 00:10
as markets reel
00:10 - 00:12
for a second day in a row.
00:12 - 00:13
The Dow Jones down now.
00:13 - 00:15
Take a look at this and see
00:15 - 00:17
the Dow is way down.
00:17 - 00:20
Getting close to 600 points at 622
00:20 - 00:23
points down right now 622.
00:23 - 00:24
It's all fueled
00:24 - 00:26
by the enormous uncertainty
00:26 - 00:28
over the president president's trade war.
00:28 - 00:30
Joining us now, CNN white House reporter
00:30 - 00:31
Elena Tareen.
00:31 - 00:33
Elena is joining us and CNN business
00:33 - 00:35
and politics correspondent Vanessa.
00:35 - 00:36
Your coverage is in New York.
00:36 - 00:38
She's joining us as well.
00:38 - 00:40
Elaina, let me start to you with you.
00:40 - 00:41
What is the white House saying,
00:41 - 00:43
first of all, about this
00:43 - 00:44
latest escalation
00:45 - 00:47
involving our closest neighbor
00:47 - 00:49
and good friend, China, Canada?
00:50 - 00:51
Well, Wolf, we really saw the
00:51 - 00:53
president just moments ago
00:53 - 00:55
with this post on social media
00:55 - 00:57
really just ramp up
00:57 - 00:58
some of that uncertainty
00:58 - 01:00
and threats to Canada.
01:00 - 01:01
I note as well that this comes
01:01 - 01:03
just days after Canada
01:03 - 01:04
selected a new leader
01:04 - 01:05
for the Liberal Party.
01:05 - 01:06
We're going to have to see them
01:06 - 01:08
have a new prime minister soon.
01:08 - 01:09
Someone who has said that
01:09 - 01:10
he wants to continue
01:10 - 01:12
what Justin Trudeau has been doing.
01:12 - 01:13
But I want to get into
01:13 - 01:14
what the president said.
01:14 - 01:16
He said that in response
01:16 - 01:18
to the premier of Ontario
01:18 - 01:19
placing a 25% tariff
01:19 - 01:22
on electricity in certain states,
01:22 - 01:23
that he is going to be responding,
01:23 - 01:24
as you mentioned,
01:24 - 01:26
with increasing
01:26 - 01:27
tariffs on steel and aluminum
01:27 - 01:29
from 25% to 50%.
01:29 - 01:31
He also argued that
01:31 - 01:33
that those are going to go into effect
01:33 - 01:34
starting tomorrow morning.
01:34 - 01:35
He also said he would soon
01:35 - 01:36
be declaring
01:36 - 01:39
a national emergency on electricity
01:39 - 01:41
within the threatened area.
01:41 - 01:42
And he went on to say that
01:42 - 01:44
if he does not like what Canada does,
01:44 - 01:46
if he does not like how they respond,
01:46 - 01:49
he will significantly increase tariffs
01:49 - 01:50
on automakers and cars
01:50 - 01:52
coming into the United States
01:52 - 01:53
from Canada.
01:53 - 01:54
And he added, as well,
01:54 - 01:54
he said this,
01:54 - 01:56
which I found very notable, quote.
01:56 - 01:57
The only thing that makes sense
01:57 - 01:58
is for Canada
01:58 - 02:01
to become our cherished 51st state.
02:01 - 02:03
Just continuing on with that taunt.
02:03 - 02:04
But I think the big picture here,
02:04 - 02:05
Wolf, is that we have seen
02:05 - 02:07
so much uncertainty.
02:07 - 02:09
The market had its worst day
02:09 - 02:11
yesterday that it has had all year.
02:11 - 02:11
A lot of people
02:11 - 02:13
wanting to get some reassurance
02:13 - 02:14
from the president and the white House.
02:14 - 02:15
This is not doing that.
02:15 - 02:16
This is only creating
02:16 - 02:18
far more uncertainty at a time
02:18 - 02:19
when people are very concerned
02:19 - 02:21
about the state of the economy,
02:21 - 02:23
and the markets are not good.
02:23 - 02:24
So far today,
02:24 - 02:25
in the first couple hours
02:25 - 02:26
or so since December, the Dow Jones,
02:26 - 02:28
as you can see, bottom
02:28 - 02:29
corner of the screen down
02:29 - 02:32
570 points already.
02:32 - 02:33
Elena, stand by.
02:33 - 02:35
I want to bring in Vanessa. Vanessa.
02:35 - 02:37
How else is Wall Street responding?
02:37 - 02:37
This morning
02:37 - 02:39
yesterday was very, very bad.
02:39 - 02:41
Today looks pretty bad as well.
02:41 - 02:43
Yeah. Markets open mics this morning.
02:43 - 02:44
Kind of waiting to see
02:44 - 02:46
what the president was going to say.
02:46 - 02:48
We got that answer at 10 a.m.
02:48 - 02:50
when the president posted on Truth Social
02:50 - 02:52
that he would be doubling
02:52 - 02:54
tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
02:54 - 02:56
And you see now markets
02:56 - 02:57
reacting to that news
02:57 - 02:59
falling even further.
02:59 - 03:01
There's a big question here
03:01 - 03:01
about whether or not
03:01 - 03:03
we're pointing towards a recession.
03:03 - 03:04
President Trump said
03:04 - 03:06
that he could not rule one out.
03:07 - 03:08
Sachs has just increased
03:08 - 03:13
their recession forecast to 20% from 15%.
03:13 - 03:14
But just to reassure
03:14 - 03:15
folks at home,
03:15 - 03:16
we are not in recession
03:16 - 03:18
territory just yet.
03:18 - 03:19
And Jerome Powell,
03:19 - 03:21
the chair of the Federal Reserve,
03:21 - 03:22
said that the economy
03:22 - 03:24
is actually in a good place right now.
03:24 - 03:26
But there are flashing
03:26 - 03:27
warning signs right now.
03:27 - 03:30
We are hearing from major retailers
03:30 - 03:31
about what the outlook
03:31 - 03:32
is looking like
03:32 - 03:34
for consumers for this year.
03:34 - 03:36
Delta slashing its forecast
03:36 - 03:37
by about half.
03:37 - 03:39
And also Kohl's saying
03:39 - 03:42
that this is going to be a turbulent 2025
03:42 - 03:43
for consumers.
03:43 - 03:46
And you see those stocks reacting
03:46 - 03:46
right there.
03:46 - 03:48
Also in the auto industry,
03:48 - 03:50
President Trump in his post
03:50 - 03:52
said that he is going to
03:52 - 03:54
go ahead on April 2nd
03:54 - 03:55
and put tariffs on any autos
03:55 - 03:57
coming into the U.S.
03:57 - 03:59
but the problem is Canadian
04:00 - 04:01
and cars are very much
04:01 - 04:04
intertwined with U.S. manufacturing.
04:04 - 04:07
Those stocks GM, Ford and Stellantis,
04:07 - 04:09
the big three here in the U.S.
04:09 - 04:10
are also down this morning
04:10 - 04:11
on that news, Wolf.
04:11 - 04:12
They certainly are.
04:12 - 04:15
How's Canada so far reacting? Vanessa.
04:16 - 04:17
Well, Canada has
04:17 - 04:18
they want to come
04:18 - 04:19
to the negotiating table
04:19 - 04:21
and try to work something out.
04:21 - 04:23
But we heard just moments ago
04:23 - 04:26
from Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario,
04:26 - 04:29
who reacted to Trumps Truth Social post
04:29 - 04:30
this morning.
04:30 - 04:33
Take a listen to what he said.
04:33 - 04:35
I apologize to the American people
04:36 - 04:37
President Trump
04:37 - 04:39
decided to have an unprovoked attack
04:39 - 04:40
on our country,
04:40 - 04:43
on families, on jobs,
04:43 - 04:44
and that's unacceptable.
04:44 - 04:45
I'll talk to the team
04:45 - 04:48
and we'll make an appropriate response.
04:48 - 04:50
The President Trump, again, I stress
04:50 - 04:52
this is not the American people.
04:52 - 04:53
Canadians don't.
04:53 - 04:55
And if we go into a recession itself
04:55 - 04:58
made by one person, it's called President
04:58 - 05:00
Trump's recession,
05:00 - 05:01
which shouldn't be this way.
05:01 - 05:02
We should be booming
05:02 - 05:03
both countries right now.
05:04 - 05:05
Now, Wolf, we have been
05:05 - 05:06
reporting a lot
05:06 - 05:08
on the trade war
05:08 - 05:08
with Canada,
05:08 - 05:09
Mexico and China,
05:09 - 05:11
but this is really shaping up
05:11 - 05:13
to be a global trade war.
05:13 - 05:14
You heard from the premier
05:15 - 05:16
saying that the recession
05:16 - 05:18
that could be coming
05:18 - 05:19
would be self-inflicted.
05:19 - 05:20
We also heard the same thing
05:20 - 05:22
from the former Treasury secretary,
05:22 - 05:23
Larry Summers,
05:23 - 05:24
who said that would also
05:24 - 05:26
be self-inflicted.
05:26 - 05:28
Now, the markets this morning
05:28 - 05:29
have been reacting
05:29 - 05:31
at every step of the way
05:31 - 05:32
along this news cycle.
05:32 - 05:33
It'll be interesting to see
05:33 - 05:36
if we get any readout from the 5 p.m.
05:36 - 05:37
Business Roundtable
05:37 - 05:38
that the president
05:38 - 05:39
is holding later today,
05:39 - 05:41
and whether or not business
05:41 - 05:43
leaders can try to pull back
05:43 - 05:44
President Trump
05:44 - 05:46
from some of these more rash
05:46 - 05:47
tariff decisions,
05:47 - 05:48
of course, rattling
05:48 - 05:49
markets and American consumers
05:49 - 05:51
who are looking for some certainty
05:51 - 05:52
right now, Wolf.
05:52 - 05:54
We'll see what happens, and we'll monitor
05:54 - 05:55
what the president has to say
05:55 - 05:56
later today.
05:56 - 05:58
He was silent on all of this yesterday.
05:58 - 05:59
Vanessa Jurkovich and Elaina Treen
05:59 - 06:01
reporting for us to both of you.
06:02 - 06:04
Ran CNN's Maddy again
06:04 - 06:05
with a look at the markets.
06:05 - 06:08
Quite a change for Trump 2.0 going back,
06:08 - 06:09
it wasn't so long ago
06:09 - 06:10
in his first term
06:10 - 06:13
where he was touting the markets climbs.
06:13 - 06:16
Now he seems to be ignoring them
06:16 - 06:18
suggesting he doesn't even pay attention,
06:18 - 06:19
though those around him
06:19 - 06:21
all say he watches closely.
06:21 - 06:22
So what's going on, Matt?
06:23 - 06:23
Well, I'll
06:23 - 06:25
be honest, Zain, as you guys
06:25 - 06:27
know, CEOs and investors,
06:27 - 06:30
they really crave stability and clarity,
06:32 - 06:32
Unfortunately, though,
06:32 - 06:33
they're getting more
06:33 - 06:36
and more chaos really, by the day.
06:36 - 06:37
You would have thought
06:37 - 06:38
that after yesterday's
06:38 - 06:39
steep selloff
06:39 - 06:42
where the Dow fell almost 900 points,
06:42 - 06:44
that perhaps the white House
06:44 - 06:44
might change
06:44 - 06:48
its tune on tariffs and this trade war.
06:48 - 06:49
But that did not happen.
06:49 - 06:51
Instead, we saw U.S.
06:52 - 06:54
significantly after President
06:54 - 06:55
Trump announced plans
06:55 - 06:57
to really escalate further
06:57 - 06:59
this trade battle with Canada
06:59 - 07:01
by announcing plans to double
07:01 - 07:02
the steel and aluminum tariffs
07:02 - 07:04
to 50%, and suggests
07:04 - 07:06
that more tariffs are on the way.
07:06 - 07:07
I just got off the phone
07:07 - 07:08
with the market veteran Art Hogan,
07:08 - 07:10
and he said, look,
07:10 - 07:12
he said this is a market
07:12 - 07:14
that is just blatantly sick
07:14 - 07:15
and tired of the back
07:15 - 07:17
and forth on trade policy.
07:17 - 07:18
it feels as though
07:18 - 07:20
the administration just continues
07:20 - 07:22
to move the goalposts
07:22 - 07:23
with all that uncertainty.
07:23 - 07:25
It's just impossible for investors
07:25 - 07:26
to have any confidence.
07:26 - 07:29
And so we are seeing that play out again
07:30 - 07:31
where investors
07:31 - 07:32
really want to know
07:32 - 07:34
where this is all going,
07:34 - 07:35
how long tariffs
07:35 - 07:36
are going to be in place,
07:36 - 07:37
how high they're going to go
07:37 - 07:38
on, which countries and why.
07:38 - 07:40
And yet it feels like
07:40 - 07:41
this is another day
07:41 - 07:42
where we're really left
07:42 - 07:43
with more questions than answers.
07:43 - 07:45
Yeah, there's very little clarity.
07:45 - 07:46
I mean, we initially thought
07:46 - 07:46
that these tariffs
07:46 - 07:49
are going to go into effect on April 2nd,
07:49 - 07:50
and then Donald Trump
07:50 - 07:50
now saying that
07:50 - 07:53
because Ontario essentially
07:53 - 07:54
imposed taxes
07:54 - 07:55
or raised taxes on electricity
07:55 - 07:56
being imported
07:56 - 07:57
into the US,
07:57 - 07:58
that Donald Trump was now going to,
07:58 - 08:00
as you point out, double,
08:00 - 08:03
tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%.
08:03 - 08:04
And he's saying these tariffs
08:04 - 08:05
are going to go into effect
08:05 - 08:07
as soon as tomorrow.
08:07 - 08:08
and so given this trade war,
08:08 - 08:09
trade war with Canada
08:09 - 08:10
really ramping up
08:10 - 08:12
my question to you is how resilient
08:12 - 08:13
is the US economy?
08:13 - 08:15
Is it prepared to withstand
08:15 - 08:17
what's coming down the pike?
08:18 - 08:18
Well, we're
08:18 - 08:19
about to find out
08:19 - 08:21
just how resilient it is.
08:21 - 08:22
thankfully, we're in a situation
08:22 - 08:24
where the unemployment rate is low.
08:24 - 08:25
We know that the economy is growing
08:25 - 08:27
at the end of last year.
08:27 - 08:29
market was continuing to add jobs
08:29 - 08:31
in January and February.
08:31 - 08:34
So all of that is is good, right?
08:34 - 08:35
we also know that this economy
08:35 - 08:36
has been very resilient
08:36 - 08:38
in the past few years.
08:38 - 08:39
It has survived shock
08:39 - 08:41
after shock after shock,
08:41 - 08:42
whether it was the supply chain
08:42 - 08:45
mess in the inflation crisis
08:45 - 08:47
and the fed spiking interest rates
08:47 - 08:48
like each time
08:48 - 08:48
the economy was able
08:48 - 08:51
to withstand that pressure.
08:51 - 08:54
but now there's a new kind of pressure.
08:54 - 08:57
It's being largely driven by this
08:57 - 08:58
chaos and policy
08:58 - 09:00
uncertainty out of Washington.
09:00 - 09:02
A former US Treasury secretary,
09:02 - 09:04
Larry Summers.
09:04 - 09:06
He says that he is increasingly worried
09:06 - 09:07
about the potential
09:07 - 09:09
for a recession in the United States
09:10 - 09:11
Take a listen to what Somerset.
09:13 - 09:15
This is pretty much a
09:15 - 09:16
self-inflicted wound.
09:16 - 09:18
I think we've got a real possibility
09:18 - 09:22
of a vicious cycle where weakening
09:22 - 09:25
economy leads to weaker markets,
09:25 - 09:28
and then weaker markets lead to,
09:28 - 09:30
a weakening economy.
09:30 - 09:33
So I'm pretty worried about,
09:34 - 09:37
the whole situation.
09:38 - 09:40
No, of course, it's far
09:40 - 09:42
too early to say that
09:42 - 09:44
there will be a recession, right?
09:44 - 09:46
We we just don't know that at this point.
09:46 - 09:48
And it's also worth remembering
09:48 - 09:50
there have been recession scares
09:50 - 09:53
in the past that proved to be overblown.
09:53 - 09:54
And just how the market reaction
09:54 - 09:56
to the election to the upside
09:56 - 09:57
was probably overdone.
09:57 - 09:59
Investors kept pricing
09:59 - 10:00
in all of the positives
10:00 - 10:01
of the Trump agenda.
10:01 - 10:02
None of the negatives.
10:02 - 10:03
It's also possible
10:03 - 10:04
that this market sell off
10:04 - 10:05
and this extreme fear
10:05 - 10:07
we're seeing in the market,
10:07 - 10:09
that could also be overdone as well.
10:09 - 10:10
But I think what is clear
10:10 - 10:12
is that investors really
10:12 - 10:14
want to see more clarity
10:14 - 10:15
from the white House on
10:15 - 10:17
tariffs and this trade war.
10:18 - 10:19
I mean, the headlines
10:19 - 10:20
keep coming out of this white House,
10:20 - 10:22
not even by the day, but by the hour.
10:22 - 10:24
I mean, this really spooking markets.
10:24 - 10:26
The fact that the president came out
10:26 - 10:28
and doubled down on retaliatory tariffs
10:28 - 10:31
against Canada set to begin tomorrow.
10:31 - 10:33
So all of this,
10:33 - 10:34
as we say to be continued.
10:34 - 10:35
You'll be watching the markets
10:35 - 10:37
for so closely. Madigan. Thank you.
video to article