stocks broadly are lower. here are some individual names on the move this morning to watch. halliburton reporting profit that beat estimates, but revenue was below forecast. the oil field services company says it's returned to profitability in north america, but as an international downward cycle is still playing out. call.com w qualcomm was downgra from to neutral. and the broader dow is down about 63 points. yields are lower and that's boosting interest rate-sensitive stocks. the dollar weaker as well. we'll send it over to you, carl, for "squawk alley." >> sara, thank you very much for that. good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. at sprint headquarters in kansas, 11:00 a.m. on wall street. "squawk alley" is live. we want to take you to washington, d.c. we've been talking about this meeting with manufacturing ceos and the president in the white house today. looking to see if we're going to get some comments.

this is andrew liveris of dow chemical. >> okay, well, we just met with the president. the group of ceos behind me and others. we had a dialogue with his team. the team was incredibly engaged but to say the president was engaged was an understatement. the meeting went way over the time allotted and we listened very carefully and he listened to us about the agenda that this administration wants to put forward to really revitalize the american manufacturing economy. all of us are manufacturers in the united states. we're global companies. we create jobs. we create jobs and ecosystems, and we create jobs across the value chain. the conversation honed in on tax, regulatory and trade. he listened very carefully to everyone around me here on their specific issues and how to actually get some action around fixing some of the issues that are embedded in creating

american manufacturing jobs. the president was very generous with his team. actually, towards the middle of the meeting or thereabouts, he had to take a break for a call and reconvened the meeting actually in the oval office. several of the ceos around the table to respond to a question he asked, who's been in the office? lots before. quite of a few of them had not. but to say he and his team were engaged and the action register as the main outcome. we've been tasked with coming back in 30 days with a series of actions that can help stimulate the american manufacturing economy. so, that's my statement. andrew liveris, chairman and ceo of dow chemical. >> can you talk about the executive orders that -- >> we did not talk about executive orders. >> nafta -- >> did not talk about any of that. >> there was some very real threats that we've heard on the campaign trail that if you bring jobs across the border and products back in, there is going to be a heavy tax. one, do you take him for his

word on that? do you believe that could be a possibility? and two, on the corporate tax side today, he seemed to move the goal post a little bit 15% to 20%, if that is an environment that would still be happening. >> i can't speak for the company around us, rather than we did talk about the border tax quite a bit and we did talk about the sorts of industries that might be helped or hurt by that. look, i would take the president at his word here. he's not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. he's going to actually make us all more competitive, recognizing there's a transition here in terms you can't get things done overnight. maybe mark fields, would you like to add some comments? did mark disappear on me? would you like to add some comments? because the auto industry in particular -- >> no, i -- >> the mike, mike, mike. >> mark fields, ford motor company. i think, you know, walking out of the meeting today, i know i come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious on making sure that the united states economy is going to be strong and have policies, tax,

regulatory or trade to drive that, and i think that encourages all of us as ceos as we make decisions going forward. so it was a very, very positive meeting, and i think a positive meeting for the united states of america and manufacturing in general. >> i think that's enough. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> any suggestions on the number of jobs that might be turned? >> well, comments from at least two ceos, andrew liveris of dow chemical, mark fields of ford, and in the words of andrew liveris, to say that the president was engaged in this meeting is an understatement. the meeting actually interrupted by a call that the president had to take, continued in the oval office. for many of these ceos, he said it was their first time there and that they would reconvene in 30 days with a series of actions to help further stimulate american manufacturing. eamon javers, you're right there on the scene. what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah, carl, look, that meeting went a lot longer than we were told to expect here. and also, it's unusual for the president to convene a meeting

in the roosevelt room, then break up and bring all those people back into the oval office. that is a sign that this president is really engaged with these ceos. he wants to bring in some of those ceos who haven't had access to the oval office before, haven't had access to the presidency before, and get their input. the question is going to be, what specific policies come out of all this? you've got a 30-day timetable now here going forward tomorrow ceos to come up with some suggestions. so, you can imagine that a lot of them will know already what they want the u.s. government to do and we'll wait and see how much of that trump brings on board as part of his agenda as president of the united states for the first 100 days. one of the pieces of sound that we heard from donald trump earlier when we saw that pool spray of the meeting, he talked about his desire to cut regulations dramatically. here's what he said about that. >> we think we can cut regulations by 75%, maybe more, but by 75%, have in a certain

way better protections. but when you want to expand your plant or when mark wants to come in and build a big, massive plant, or when dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special, you're going to have your approvals really fast. >> reporter: monstrous and special is clearly the goal here for a lot of these ceos. we'll wait and see what some of the specifics are here, guys, but a pretty significant meeting here at the white house this morning. >> and a lot more to come. of course, votes on pompeo and tillerson, executive orders we're waiting for, and of course, that press briefing at 1:30 eastern time. eamon, we'll come back to you. for more on this, we're joined by republican strategist rick tyler as well as mercury partner and democratic strategist morris reid. jon fortt, kayla tausche and myself here at post 9. good morning, guys. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> what does it say that essentially your first order of business is convening a meeting like this? >> i think it's huge. you know, the president has a lot of priorities on his plate

and he could have chose meetings with any number of people, but he didn't. he chose it with ceos of manufacturers. manufacturers face some 300,000 different regulations that they're subject to, and it really is crippling. and the compliance costs are huge. and what these manufacturers want to do is they want to put that capital toward innovation and, as he says, new plants. if there's one thing donald trump knows, it's how to build things. and if you're going tofg manufacturers, you'd better know how to build things. so, i think these guys are in sync. i think it's an important indication that he intends to end this decades-long war on jobs. >> well, interestingly, though, morris, this conversation was about the u.s. manufacturing economy, but we just heard andrew liveris talking in his australian accent, klaus kleinfeld also there, from germany, elon musk is from south africa. these are executives of truly global companies who have a global supply chain and a global customer base. what are the ramifications of

some of the things that the president is proposing to these companies? >> well, what he's saying is that if you are truly a multinational company headquartered in america, we want you to think about america first. i think that what he's doing is smart. i think he campaigned on jobs and creating jobs and holding people's feet to the fire. to start his day with the business community getting them on the right page is the right thing to do. as you know, later in the day, he'll have a bipartisan meeting with the members of the congress. this is important that he does this and finds a way to be bipartisan as well. he was sort of off message a little bit this weekend, but he's now back on message, and i think it's important for him to find these opportunities early on to bring the business community together, but also bring the bipartisan community together for some wins, some true wins for the entire country, which i think if you can't get a rally around creating jobs, it will be very difficult for you to get people to rally around other things. >> rick, i wonder if you can kind of compare and contrast this meeting with the one that we saw with tech ceos a couple

weeks ago. granted, president trump is president trump now, but i note that the come back in 30 days idea, there was also a timetable for reconvening. what does that tell you about his approach here? >> carl, i saw that and it piqued my interest because it didn't seem to me that this was just going to be some perfunctory meeting where he said he met with the ceos. he clearly wants to hear back from them and he wants to know their ideas, and i think that's important. one thing donald trump -- and i've criticized him a lot, as you know, but one thing he does do is he seems to listen to people who know what they're doing in their field, and these are top ceos, and he wants to know, what is it going to take to bring your next plant or your next expansion or the next jobs that you create, how can we get them here? and he's going to want to report on the things that could be changed, probably mostly regulatory, some tax, but how can we change those things so that they'll grow jobs here in america. >> you know, it's interesting, because we now have three parties in washington. you have the republicans, you have the democrats and you have

the donald trump world, where he's taking a little bit from each side, and he's going to force people really to be more accountab accountable. if he holds himself to being a discipline messenger, this is a beautiful thing, because he's on message and we're going to hope that he holds people accountable. the problem is that he sometimes gets off of message when people tweak him. i hope the democrats see this as an opportunity to work with the president and create some jobs, which is a big fit for all parties. >> i wonder, rick, whether or not you think -- we were looking at the markets today, not that the market needs to rally on a meeting like this, but for a while this morning, it's been the worst decline of the year for both the dow and the s&p. is there a worry among some that things like border taxes are not equity-friendly? how legitimate is that concern? >> look, i think if you do read donald trump's "art of the deal," and people should to understand how he thinks, he's going to put his worst-case scenario, his opening bid on a bargain out there first. i think part of the market's

worry is can this president actually change this city? this city does not want to change. its bureaucracies are entrenched. they like things the way they are. many presidents have come through, many political leaders have come through who run on i'm going to change washington and nothing really changes. and so, the question is can he really change washington? and the first test will be can he really repeal and replace obamacare in a way that people like? and can he really reform the tax code with democratic opposition to the way our tax system is structured? and i think if there is a unique individual who could do it, i really believe it is donald trump who could do it. i may not always like the way he operates, but as tony dolan, who was a speech writer for reagan, said to me, he said you know, in other countries, when you get a revolution, you get the guillotine. in our country, you get a peaceful transfer of power, although you've got to put up with a trump speech. >> you know what that might be sometimes that feels like a guillotine, as you know, when he's speaking. it's interesting, it's important

that the president understands that you can be pro business and also pro workers. so, i think it's important, just as he's meeting with ceos, that he sits down with the common man. invite common workers into the oval office and get their perspective on what's going on. >> yes. >> if you really want to reform and show real difference, those are the type of things you do. just don't bring captains and titans, bring ordinary people that can actually contribute to society and also give the president ideas on how to move the country forward. >> yeah, and we are expecting some meetings with american workers and union officials to balance out what we saw this morning. guys, appreciate it so much. good to see you again. >> thanks, carl. when we come back, forget jay z. the details behind tidal's new backer. plus, more from trump's business leader roundtable. the focus, of course okourcours taxes among some. the women's march meets wall street. we'll talk with alexandra lie e lebenthal who was there to discuss.

a company that wants to fire all of its people in the united states and build some factory someplace else and then thinks that that product is going to just flow across the border into the united states, that's not going to happen. they're going to have a tax, border tax, substantial border tax. now, some people would say that's not free trade, but we don't have free trade now, because we're the only one that makes it easy to come into the country.

>> that was president trump earlier this morning making comments during a roundtable with business leaders from a variety of sectors. for more on this issue of trade and border taxes, we're joined now by the former undersecretary of state, ambassador nick burns. ambassad ambassador, the conversation post inauguration has largely been on the economic front, about trade, about renegotiating some of the deals and this morning about bringing jobs back to the united states. but what impact and what line gets blurred between economic policy and foreign policy? because ultimately, it means taking economic activity away from other countries. >> well, i think that when the rest of the world listened to president trump's inaugural address on friday, when they hear clips like the one you just played, the obvious question is going to be, is the united states still committed to trade around the world? we are the largest economy in the world. we, of course, have been a free trade nation for most of the history of the united states. are we going to deviate from

that? are we moving in a more protectionist direction? and i think the challenge for president trump and his advisers will be with mexico and canada to begin with, but also with the european allies, especially with china and japan. what will be their reaction? so, i don't think we'll see an early action by this. and also, it's going to be interesting to see how speaker ryan and majority leader mitch mcconnell react, because they have traditionally supported free trade. so, the issue of trade and protectionism i think takes center stage here at home, with canada, with mexico, with china. >> but the president seemed to be straddling both lines this morning. he said it doesn't mean we don't trade, because we do trade, but we want to make the products here. what's wrong with that? >> well, of course we want -- every government has to think of its own interests, the country's own interests first. no one would disagree with that, but we have largely been in a free trade environment for most of the last seven decades, so we need to see the details of

president trump's proposal. is he going to propose some emphatic departure from that policy of the united states, and what will then be the reaction? and will we see rising barriers, tariff barriers and other barriers around the world? and what impact will that have on america's growth rate and the fate of the global economy? i'm not an economist. i'm a foreign policy person. but i think this is becoming -- this and whether or not president trump will support our european allies and nato across the board, these are the issues that i know are being debated over the weekend and early this week as people react to the first few days of this administration. >> we did get some brief comments from dow chemical's ceo, andrew liveris, as well as ford's ceo, mark fields. let's take a listen to that quickly. >> walking out of the meeting today, i know i come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious on making sure that the united states economy is going to be strong and have policies, tax,

regulatory, or trade, to drive that, and i think that encourages all of us as ceos as we make decisions going forward. so, it was a very, very positive meeting, and i think a very positive meeting for the united states of america and manufacturing in general. >> of course, ceos coming out of the meeting talking the talk, but they'll have to walk the walk when they put that dossier together. 30 days is what they said they have as a deadline to put together their suggestions for how to reinforce the manufacturing economy here. what do you think that would entail and what considerations do you think they have to make when their international manufacturing partners are considered? >> well, first, you know, president trump needs to get his team together. he doesn't have his secretary of the treasury or commerce confirmed yet by the u.s. senate. he needs to develop a coherent strategy, not just sound bites, but a coherent strategy on how he wants to proceed on regulatory reform, on taxation, but also how he wants to proceed

on trade. from the transition, he seems to be preparing for a struggle with china over currency and over trade. it seems from comments this morning that he wants to meet the canadian and mexican leaders very soon. i think that's very positive. he'll see theresa may, the british prime minister. i think she'll be the first visitor of the oval office. that's important given our special relationship. she announced in parliament last week a plan to bring the united kingdom out of the european union because the british people voted for that. so there's a great deal of turbulence in the system, this liberal world order that we've established over the last 70 years since the second world war. i think what we'll eventually need from president trump and hear from him is what is his strategic, coherent, comprehensive, strategic plan that puts this all together in a way that can be sensible to people and where congress, obviously, is going to have to have a major role. >> ambassador, i wonder, given everything that you mentioned --

brexit, the rise of china, the importance of asian economies, this sort of resetting of alliances -- might it not be pretty wise for president trump to play the maverick card, where people aren't sure exactly what the united states is going to do? if he does what you say and lays down the coherent strategy later, might he not seize advantage now by being less predictable? >> being a maverick, being unpredictable, being pugnacious may work in real estate, in my view has not worked successfully in international politics. look at our greatest leaders -- roosevelt, eisenhower, reagan, john f. kennedy, george h.w. bush. these have been people of principle, of consistency. they've all understood the value of american alliances to the rest of the world. i hope that donald trump will reach out to angela merkel. i hope that he won't support the right-wing populists who are assaulting the democratic order in europe. i don't see any premium and any

degree of effectiveness in the complex international order of the united states not being clear and not being consistent about our belief in free markets, trade, and democracy and freedom. and those words were largely missing from the president's inaugural address. >> finally, ambassador, one of the topics that uk prime minister theresa may plans to address with president trump is the international approach to nato, which was a contentious topic during the campaign with trump saying that the u.s. was paying more than its fair share into nato. do you expect her to signal a commitment from the countries in europe to commit more financially when they've been in a period of austerity for so long? >> well, i was in london last week and heard a lot of concern about this from the british, but also from continental europeans. the fact is that in the last two years, 20 of the 28 nato allies have increased their defense spending. they're reacting to president

putin's invasion and annexation of crimea, his division of eastern ukraine. so, i think the trends are moving. donald trump is right to push the europeans on defense spending, particularly germany, italy, spain, the netherlands and canada. none of them are spending what they should on defense. but he has to be careful here. nato is the great power differential for the united states in our competition and rivalry with china. we don't want to belittle nato. we don't want to somehow act as if we're ready to toss nato by the wayside, because it's part of american power in the world. so he's okay in pushing for greater defense contract issues, but he needs to ig nationsignal for the germans, for angela merkel in this election year and be the nato alliance against vladimir putin to contain putin and not to somehow think he can make deals with putin above the heads of the european leaders. that's what they're concerned about. >> mm-hmm. well, we will see if the president chooses to do just that. for now, ambassador nick burns,

appreciate it. >> thank you so much. when we come back, more headaches for qualcomm. the stock's under some heavy selling pressure this morning on the news that apple is suing them. and later, why rico's kara swisher says silicon valley's lost its nerve, should act more like the late steve jobs. "squawk alley" will be right back. hni be r .ty

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qualcomm responding to a billion-dollar lawsuit brought forward by apple after the ftc announced last week it was suing the chipmaker due to antitrust concerns. the company's calling the claims baseless and says apple has failed to acknowledge the value of qualcomm technology. i've spoken to some folks on qualcomm's side this morning who argue apple has been bad-mouthing it around the world, trying to undermine qualcomm's business model. they say apple's arguments about licensing payments being too high are overblown because those payments are actually capped, so it's not as if they keep going higher. and this i found most interesting -- they point to

apple's ceo, tim cook's statement about the pornst impo of lte technology and opening up markets like india, kind of underlying their point, that without qualcomm technology, apple wouldn't have its markets and therefore, they should be able to charge the fees they have there. nomura downgrading qualcomm's stock from neutral to buy, saying the rulings are more impactful than anticipated. call cam down more than 12% this morning. it's been worse than that at times this morning, but we'll see where it goes. >> definitely off the lows today. to the broader markets as well, the major averages, of course, looking at selling pressure. dow's down 74. let's bring in ubs director of floor operations, art cashin, who joins us here at post 9. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you said this morning the markets are hoping the focus in d.c. can shift from personalities to policies. is today's meeting a step in that direction? >> well, marginally so. i don't think it's the kind of thing that the market's looking for. they want greater definition on what tax reform will look like. a lot of these companies for

forward projection for the balance of the year -- what kind of corporate tax am i going to be paying? how are things going to go? the infrastructure team would be important. what areas of infrastructure are we going into? how much is going to be spent? how soon can it get done? so, it's those kinds of things that they need a little bit more specificity on. otherwise, you know, a meeting like today's good politics, but it's not what the market's waiting to hear. we topped out just below a resistance band on friday. s&p 2,278 to 2,283, and now we're pulling back here. we rolled over when oil went into negative territory. it had been stronger earlier today. so i would be wary. if we make a lower low, it could cause some problems. >> yeah. is the market disappointed by the lack of references in

earnings calls to policy? because it's been more general than specific from companies as well. >> yeah, i think they were hoping that you might get to see more, but you have to emphasize with the ceos, they don't know what their tax policy's going to be. there are so many new things that are uncertain, it's very difficult for me to be an accommodative ceo and give you a meaningful projection for the balance of the year. >> we don't get into the real thick of earnings season, though, until the first week of february, but so far, the rate of companies that are beating their expectations is running a little bit below average. does that worry you? >> that is a minor concern, because you know, we've seen most of the sentiment indicators and other things perking up, but if earnings are not coming along with it, then perhaps sales, and maybe the retail client is talking a better game than he's spending. >> art, a lot of people are saying a week or two ago, it was perfectly fine that the dow hadn't gotten above 20k.

it's healthy to consolidate around this space to move higher. but is that still the feeling, or have we moved more into a show-me stage post inauguration? >> yeah, no, i think you are at a show-me stage. it was interesting. you could see that the markets remained relatively near the highs. then when president trump took his hand off the bible and walked to the microphone and began to speak, within seconds they realized that there was not going to be any specific programs described or any of the other things, and that's why we had that sell-off. not that it was terrific, but they pulled back and gave back more than half the gains. >> kind of unreasonable to expect that at an inaugural, isn't it? >> i don't mean a specific rate, but if he had gone into the grand -- this is my vision, america, i hope to do this by doing that. i think there was some hope that that might show up. never did. >> art, good to see you. >> my pleasure. >> we'll see what the week

brings. art cashin. up next on "squawk alley," why recode's kara swisher says silicon valley has lost its nerve when it comes to innovation under president trump. plus, alexandra lebenthal on last weekend's women's march. she was at the capitol and will be here at post 9 to discuss. and the president, as you know by now, meeting with manufacturing ceos at the white house today. here's dow chemical's ceo, andrew liveris, following that meeting. >> the conversation honed in on tax, regulatory, and trade. he listened very carefully to everyone around me here on their specific senatorial issues and how to actually get some action around fixing some of the issues that are embedded in creating american manufacturing jobs.

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good morning once again, everyone. i'm sue herera and here is your "cnbc news update" at this hour. a little bit of good news to pass along. doctors say former first lady barbara bush has been discharged from the houston hospital where she underwent treatment for bronchitis, and former president george h.w. bush has now been moved out of the icu to a regular floor at the hospital and is doing really well. residents of south georgia are sorting through the massive wreckage after a weekend of fierce storms. at least 15 people were killed, 43 injured from those storms. at least seven georgia counties are under a state of emergency. rescue workers continue to sift through the rubble to try

to find the remaining 23 missing people buried under the ruins of that central italian hotel that was crushed by an avalanche. they are now considering whether to use heavy equipment to speed up the search. and a new health survey found 60% of women think heart screenings should start after age 30, but the american heart association says testing needs to begin at age 20 because women can begin developing plaque in their arteries in their teens. sooner the better, apparently. that's our news update this hour. back downtown. carl, back to you. >> okay, sue. thank you very much. sue herera. markets are closing in the uk and across europe, a few minutes late. seema mody. >> hemo, carl. stocks are moving mostly lower in europe as markets react for the first time since president trump's inauguration speech. some investors viewing his remarks as protectionist, but theresa may expressing optimism to the bbc about her upcoming meeting with the u.s. president, which is expected to take place

on friday. >> what i think is important is that when i sit down with donald trump, i'm going to be able to talk about how we can build on that special relationship. he's already said to me that he wants to see a very strong relationship between the uk and the u.s. going into the future. there are issues that we will work together on in the future -- the importance of nato, for example, as i've said, defeating terrorism. these are issues where we share the challenges, we see the threats, and we have worked together in the past and will in the future. >> also on the prime minister's rad radar, tomorrow's uk high court decision on whether she must consult parliament before setting in motion the process for britain to exit the eu. today marks seven months since the brexit. hard to believe it's been seven months. the pound, as you can see, down 50% during that time frame. meantime, trump's inauguration has brought forth an active discussion about how he will redefine washington's relationship with the rest of the world. just today, think tank eurasia upgrading russia to positive, given the likely relaxation of sanctions and improved

relationship with the united states. now, while this could improve investors' sentiment, it raises questions around putin's ultimate objective. the former u.s. ambassador at large for the former soviet union telling me that putin's immediate goal is to end all the steps taken by europe and the u.s. to counter his aggression in ukraine. that's why at this point strat quizes say there's more to putin to gain than for trump, unless, carl, russia proves to be a key partner in combating isis. that, of course, could be significant. >> all right. thank you, seema. i will take it. and donald trump's first 100 days as president have begun! the president meeting with leaders and executives from manufacturing companies earlier today. >> we want to start making our products again. we don't want to bring them in. we want to make them here. and that doesn't mean we don't trade, because we do trade. but we want to make our products here. >> kara swisher is the executive editor at re/code. she's out with a new column this

morning, basically saying silicon valley has lost its nerve under a president trump. the headline -- "what would steve jobs do? he sure wouldn't eat humble pie as the trump era dawns." kara, welcome. good morning. >> hi. >> i wonder, fascinating column and way to tackle it, but steve jobs never had to operate in this reality of a $500 billion-plus market cap company to run, seen as a global power. >> yep. >> and arguably, we've never had a group of tech ceos that are this powerful and regulatable. might it not be wise in this environment not to be as brash as jobs was? >> well, my point being is the reason they became this successful was because they had been as brash as jobs has been in the past. and so, what i wonder is what gets lost in this sort of self-defying cooperation that they've pulled. so i just wanted to wonder, like, a lot of what got jobs ahead was being a pain in the ass, being difficult, thinking

differently. that was obviously their marketing term. and i'm wondering how much you could think differently when all you think about is the next quarter. and that was what struck me. i was having lunch with someone here. i'm in washington right now. and someone who's spent a lot of time with tech leaders is like, they're just like talking to banks now, they're just like talking to -- like, they're not anything special anymore. and so, i was like, you know, you're right. they're absolutely right. it's just, the pirate days are over, and you wonder if the pirate days are over and truly over, what's that mean for innovation and tech? so that's why i wrote it i just wondered. >> kara, isn't it easier to be a hot head if you're still building an empire? it's like being single and having kids. you have to operate in a political environment. >> i guess. i'm still a hot head and i'm 100 years old. i think we're trying to remind tech its origins and say, listen, a lot of what got you where you are is, as much as i

can't stand it a lot of the time, it's arrogance, it's outspokenness, it's willingness to go to the edge. and maybe i'm living in, like i'm sort of nostalgic for that, and i am, and i want them just to be a little more like themselves and what got them there. and i think a lot of -- you know, now when they tell me disrupt and we're changing the world, i literally am i, shut up. you're actually not anymore. so, the question is, can they innovate for the next level if they're like everybody else? and i don't know. we'll see if that happens. but i think innovation comes from difficulty. and i think steve jobs did represent it. now, look, steve jobs often didn't tell the truth on a lot of things, or you know, i think we called it the reality distortion field, but that was a little different than what's going on here. it's just utter silence in the face of a lot of things, and i would like to see just a tiny bit more leadership from the tech people. and i'm going to be an irritating nag on this forever because i do think it goes right to the heart of innovation. >> but kara, these are companies

that have hired the david plouffes and jay carneys of the world because they have wanted to get savvier in dealing with washington because they felt like that was a place where too much was getting lost in translation before. >> yeah. >> so, what's wrong with that? >> there's nothing wrong with it. i just think that there's still a place for leadership from the tech community on leadership issues. on immigration for sure, i think there's probably going to be a clash on encryption. there's all kinds of clashes coming ahead. even in this trade thing. i'm not even clear -- silicon valley's been very outspoken. trade is very important to silicon valley and they're also globalists. they don't want to say it now, but most people in technology is globalists. they're sort of not saying anything about these trade issues. and so, i think -- i just would like to see more -- it's not outspoken to talk about the things that got you successful, and i think you're mistaking saying very clearly what your intentions are, there's nothing wrong with that. and i think a lot of their employees, like i'm saying,

their employees are very disappointed that tech seems very silent during this entire time, and i get that it's a strategy. i just don't particularly like it and so i'm going to say so. >> i wonder, kara, if six months to a year from now, the tone from tech has changed, will your view of this period change? i wonder. they've come right out in seeming to oppose president trump at every turn on these basis, maybe people wouldn't have taken them seriously, just assuming, oh, you're in the tank for hillary from the beginning. but they seem to cooperate in the beginning. does that perhaps give them some standing to take a different position later? >> i always feel that you have to sort of say what -- i suppose. i guess. we'll see. i think once you start to acquiesce, you acquiesce forever. and again, these are people -- this is an industry that got ahead through being innovative, difficult, disruptive, and none of it feels like that. it really was born from this lunch that i had. and i talked to a lot of people here, and nobody feels the excitement that you would feel

around tech. and so, it's an interesting concept. maybe tech has grown up and maybe that requires this, but at the same time, where does the next innovative cycle come from? maybe not the united states, which would be a shame. and so, i wonder where innovation comes from. it's something i think about a lot, and i think, you know, if you look at all these companies -- facebook, apple, microsoft, google -- are they the next innovators of tech? i'm not so sure you can say they're going to be. so, that's what i -- i'm just trying to bring up the idea. and so, it made me think of steve jobs, who really was, i think correctly seen as one of the great innovators. and i wonder what he would do. maybe he wouldn't say anything now, although if he was living now, i think he would have gotten to a certain age where he'd be like, i don't care what people think of me. he didn't really care through his whole life. so i just got to thinking about what he might say. i loved the speech from stanford, where he said it doesn't matter. do what matters to you. but i guess the point of being a trillion-dollar company. i get it. i just want to -- it has to be said that there is some element

of being difficult that got silicon valley to where it's been -- or difficult and disruptive. >> you're always thought-provoking, kara. >> thank you. >> and it certainly is an issue a lot of people in tech are talking about. kara swisher from recode, thanks. as we're talking, breaking news on etna and humana? >> anthem shares are moving on this bit of news. reports are now that the u.s. is going to move to block the merger between aetna and humana, ruled by a judge as being anticompetitive, according to multiple reports. we're watching shares of both anthem and humana move on the news as aetna and humana, also watching anthem and cigna as well. all of this stuff moving the entire complex for health insurance, so carl, we'll keep an eye on that, but that's why those shares are moving. back to you. >> we're going to watch that breaking just moments ago. dom, thanks. as we go to break, look at

shares of disney this morning. news on the next "star wars" movie has come out. we'll get you details coming up. first, rick santelli, what are you watching? >> i was watching kara swisher! that's an a-plus interview! brash, disruptive, hard to work with, innovative! she's giving a stencil for many who can't see why this president is the way he is! we'll talk about that after the break. d 8%f n y l. heik r? e neud

some breaking news this morning. president trump has formally signed the executive order regarding the intent to pull out of the trans-pacific partnership trade deal. of course, that trade deal with 11 pac rim countries, along with some other executive orders we're expecting today, one calling for the intention to renegotiate nafta, another one about a federal hiring freeze. so, all that talk during the campaign of the things that they could do on day one are starting to happen. >> yeah, but those trade deals can't be unilaterally renegotiated. they'll need to reach very specific terms with those other countries and also get congressional involvement to actually reset that. interestingly, though, if you take a look at shares of nike, which had been the poster child in many ways of tpp, because ceo mark parker and the president made the announcement about tpp on nike's campus, and they do so much of their manufacturing

abroad, taking a leg lower, down close to 1%. under armour, whose ceo, kevin plank, was at the white house this morning, also taking another leg lower, too. >> the question is, if not tpp, then what? there's a lot of growth to be had in asian markets, particularly in tech, and a lot of people are concerned about what policy the u.s. will have toward asia. >> certainly, of course, whether it's tpp or nafta, a lot of bilaterals are going to get written. still an open question in washington as to who will be at the table for those. obviously, names like wilbur ross, navarro, light heisser, the trade rep will be there. another question for some is whether or not an intent to renegotiate means you withdraw out of nafta early and what that does to trade in the meantime. look at kansas city southern shares, down 8% since the election. the so-called nafta railroad. so, whether it's production or logistics, currencies, peso's had a relief the last couple days. with all of this, dow session

lows down 86. >> interesting, though, the harshest rhetoric on trade has been against china, which was not part of the trans-pacific partnership, and china actually didn't like tpp. so even withdrawing from means that you're actually doing something that china would see as favorable. they put forward their own asia-wide trade option at apec late last year. it will be interesting to see if any future deal involves china because this one didn't. >> sure. that ernot standing still by any means. john harwood is in washington, watching what the signing of this order means. john? >> carl, we have learned that the president signed three executive orders. the first one is an order withdrawing from the transpacific partnership. now that's -- the united states isn't in the transpacific partnership because the senate hasn't confirmed that deal. now it won't. it's an agreement that's never

taken effect. nevertheless it's not going to. he signed an order freezing federal hiring except for the military. this is something that he signaled on friday, the first day that he was in office. and, finally, he signed an office reversing president obama's policy on the so-called mexico city rule. this is something that has gone back and forth between democratic and republican administrations recently. that order that he signs prohibits international u.s. aid from being used to support family planning, contraception, abortion, that sort of thing. so, this is an expected move by a republican president. george w. bush had done the same thing. president obama reversed it. now donald trump has taken the opposite step, the most consequential, of course, for our audience is the transpacific partnership. we also expect later to have an order signed that commences the renegotiation of nafta, something that will take time. it involves other countries, the

u.s. congress. he is getting the ball rolling on his agenda. carl? >> already announcing meetings with trudeaux. along it looks like teresa may will be the world leader to meet with him first. is that right? >> that's right. you could see the commencing of a bilateral trade negotiation with teresa may. this is something that, as the united states pulls back from multilateral trade deals, this is something that donald trump and his aides have indicated. they say they're going to replace them with bilateral deals. the deal with the uk could be first up there. >> john, any sense of what comes instead of tpp? we saw china making an interesting case for globalization at davos just last week. and the concern is the u.s. could get left behind if china surges ahead, making their own deals with asian countries. >> no question about it. i expect china to go full speed

ahead in exactly that direction. the response is what i indicated a couple of minutes ago, john. they're going to try to make bilateral deals with asian countries, other signatories to the transpacific partnership, in lieu of a multilateral deal. i think donald trump's thinking is in a one-on-one negotiation, his deputies, navarro and others, will be able to cut better deals than they could when you're horse trading among a multiple group of nations. >> john, as we're talking bernie sanders on tpp, quote, i'm glad the transpacific partnership is dead and gone. for the last 30 years we've had a series of trade deals, including nafta, permanent trade relations with china and others which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom, which has lowered wages for american workers. we're going to see if we get

some sound here on this tape that's coming in, via the pool feed a few moments ago. sanders goes on to say now is the time to develop a new trade policy that helps working families, not just multinational corporations. here is the president. >> we're going to sign three memorandums right now. the first one is withdrawal from the -- of the united states from the transpacific partnership. >> everyone knows what that means, right? we've been talking about this for a long time. okay. great thing for the american worker, what we just did. >> next, a federal government employee hiring freeze. >> except for the military. >> except for the military. >> except for the military.

>> next is the policy in regard to mexico city. >> that's it. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> reaction to the lawsuit today? >> sorry. totally without merit. >> thank you. appreciate it. thank you. >> president trump signing the executive order to withdraw from tpp, peter navarro, vice

president there, reince priebus, steve bannon. some are still going to argue that's negative for growth. dow is down 90. do they have a point? >> well, one of the interesting things to watch is going to be market reaction because certainly there are things that donald trump it intends to do, that republicans in congress are desperate to do with him, cutting regulation, as he discussed with the ceos, cutting corporate taxes, individual taxes, cutting regulation on -- under dodd/frank that are clearly pro-growth. but the companies that make up the dow, the u.s. corporate community, which is increasingly global in nature, their reaction to the idea of pulling back from the rest of the world, of pulling back from international commitments and that includes not only trade deals but the national security commitments the united states has made that donald trump indicated in his

benefit of other countries. to the extent that donald trump blows up that part of the establishment, i would expect that to have a negative effect on business. and we'll see whether business agrees and whether the market agrees. but the fact that the market is down around 90 today is e offset by the pro-growthtrump strategies, one would argue, of tax cuts and deregulation, which has obviously been the focus of the meetings today with krechlt os. his meetings are not over by a long shot. he has an intelligence briefing this morning, lunch with the vice president and meetings with union workers, which at least optically will be a nice balance with the ceos we saw earlier today. >> yes. and, remember, the union workers, of course, are going to be very happy with the withdrawal from the transpacific partnership and the renegotiation of nafta. he is also due to meet this

evening with members of congress, bipartisan congressional leadership. and the tone he sets there in his first meeting with them beyond the pleasantries of the inauguration will tell us something about how he intends to work with them or whether he intends to continue using them as a foil, as he did in his inaugural address when he stood up and said to the american people you've been ripped off and it's been the political establishment, such as these politicians sitting around me, who have been ripping you off. >> but there was a stark contrast, john, in tone between that inaugural address and the way that he addressed the congressional leadership at the lunch later in the day. do you think that that signal asignals a willingness to work together as opposed to publicly? >> the things he says changes moment to moment. it's very difficult to know how much weight to put on any

particular statement that he makes, because it might change. so even on sunday, after the women's march, he tweeted out a statement kind of mocking the march. hey, we had an election a few weeks ago. celebrities hurt their cause badly. and then a little while later, perhaps after an aide spoke to him, he said i recognize the right of people to peacefully protest. so, it is moment to moment with donald trump, depending on how he's feeling. and, certainly, when you're inaugurated as president and you go in and have a ceremonial meal with people who have just attended your swearing in, that's an easy thing to be gracious on. it's different from the inaugural address when you're speaking to his own base and the worldwide audience. but the rubber hits the road when plans start becoming concrete, when the house comes up with a tax plan and he and

his aides decide whether it's something he can accept or not. >> we'll be on the watch for all of this, of course. market off the lows, down 74. press briefing at 1:30. got to watch that with sean spicer. thanks for your help, john. let's get over to wapner and "the half." >> i'm scott wapner. we begin today where the last hour left off. a lot happening within the white house today, the president just signing three executive orders, most of which to deal with trades and jobs. earlier he met with business leaders. we'll talk about what all of that means to your money today. joe taranova along with steve weiss and josh brown and kevin o'leary is here. we do begin with the president and that big meeting at the white house today.