republican leader mitch mcconnell, whose most famous export from kentucky, bourbon, apparently drew some interest from people in europe about potentially putting a tariff on that there is a lot of controversy. thanks so much for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" starts right now. >> announcer: the white house is at war with itself >> we're not looking to get into trade wars we are looking to make sure that u.s. companies can compete fairly around the world. >> announcer: one side favoring tariffs. the other side saying they'll sink the american economy and american stocks. >> the price was $1.99 so, who in the world is something to be too bothered by 0.6 of a cent? >> announcer: today the drama increases. more voices weigh in foreign governments vow to strike back. we're talking live to two ceos

on the opposite sides of the u.s./canada border and opposite sides of the issue. both making themselves heard the "closing bell" with kelly evans and bill griffeth starts now, live from the new york stock exchange hi, everybody. welcome. we've got a lot to get to this hour, including joint news conference with the president and the prime minister of sweden >> i was just reading. necessity have -- we are their fourth largest export country. >> wow surprised we're down that far, i guess. >> we're an important part we have a lot to talk about in trade. and another major winter storm is about to hit the east coast that starts later tonight. >> and all this with the dow up about 31 points. we've been fluctuating today between gains and losses the s&p up 7 russell leading the charge, up nearly 1% today. >> all that's coming up. we started with the war in the white house between pro and

anti-tariff forces i mean, you've been hearing about this all day today eamon javers is live in washington with the very latest right now. eamon? >> reporter: hi, bill and kelly. a little audio trouble at the white house. i can't hear you i hope you can hear me there is something of a trade war going on internally at the white house. different factions given the president dramatically different advice about the tariffs he announced last week. the question is whether any caveats or loopholes will be inserted into those tariffs when it's all said and done when it's all said and done is still a question some aides aiming for the end of the week i'm told the ultimate resolution of all this, because the president has already gone out and announced tariffs, is going to tb some form of tariff. but the form of those tariff is up in the air right now. aides fighting it out behind closed doors the president pushing back saying it comes from the fake news about chaos in the white house. here's his tweet from earlier in the day.

his new fake news is there's chaos in the white house wrong. people will always come and go i still have some people i want to change. always seeking perfection. there is no chaos only great energy so, that may be a little unsettling for some of the people who suspect they are among the crew that the president wants to change here on the white house staff but nonetheless, the president saying there's no chaos here at the white house. we still are trying to figure out exactly where thistariff fight is going to end. if we find out in the coming hours, i will update you guys. we'll hear from the president here in a joint press conference in about half an hour's time so, when that happens, we might get further clarity from the president in terms of where he's headed with tariffs. back to you. >> thank you tariffs have been the talk of the town in washington as republicans seek to tamp down fears and criticize what they have called unfair trade practices. here's what house speaker paul ryan, commerce secretary wilbur ross, congressman kevin brady

and treasury secretary steve mnuchin had to say on the sunl today. >> there is clearly abuse occurring. clearly there is overcapacity dumping and trans-shipping of steel and aluminum by some countries, particularly china. >> imports of these products threaten our national security because they have decimated domestic industry to the point where in a time of crisis, we might not be able to fill our needs for national defense. >> this is about hitting your target in this case, the president wants to go after unfairly traded products. >> the objective is to have a new nafta. once we do that, which i'm cautiously optimistic on, the tariffs won't apply to them. >> let's check in on both sides of the border on this issue. u.s. steel ceo and a canadian one, berk buyer and scott from

ontario. thank you for joining us as a u.s. company, do you expect to benefit if these tariffs are slapped on, as expected? >> absolutely. we fully expect to get a fair playing field we've been needing for many, many years now. >> what does that mean >> so, we've been challenged for -- we've been in a global trade war for years that people are just now starting to talk about. we've seen steel dumped of all different types, from all different countries. coming in at costs just not a fair playing field for us to be able to provide enough margin to employ people and do what our industry needs to do now the president is looking to do -- tail meaningful action that we are very much in support of that's going to really help get us back to where we need to be

as an industry >> scott, i'm intrigued. we bill you certainly as a canadian company, which you are, but you also have plants in the united states and in mexico. so, i'm curious what a 25% tariff on steel would do to your company. >> it would certainly do some damage, create a lot of uncertainty. there's a lot of product that flows back and forth between the two countries. we ship a lot of our product by truck. every time a truck goes down to the northeast, we actually pick up products in the united states and it comes back to canada. there's goo two-way trade there. we're worried that will slow down so it will hurt both sides. certainly we're already seeing in the last week prices in the united states rising above prizes where we're seeing in canada it's having an effect already. >> do you expect - >> the problem, i believe -- >> so, do you think you'd lose business to a company like byers in the u.s.? >> no, byers -- i agree with

them on a lot of the problems. the problem with steel getting shipped by boat, not by truck. some of the countries that they are trying to slow down, the turks, the taiwanese and the japanese, that's all coming by boat that's a different part of the economy. we're more just in time. it could really hurt us. it's going to hurt the americans at the same time >> would these tariffs - >> the president, unfortunately -- >> would they give you pricing power? would you be able to raise prices >> yes, we would be able to raise our prices to be able to capture our margin we've needed for many years but the fortunate thing about this situation is the president has the ability in his power to carve out countries or products. we're strongly in support that he hopefully evaluates all sides of the situation and he's able to appraise our talented and valuable allies like canada and mexico

because to the gentleman from nova's point, they're valuable trading partners with us. >> so, you would rather see targeted tariffs rather than a blanket 25% tariff, is that what you're saying? >> sorry, there's a train going by. >> we're aware >> we hope the facts are - >> cincinnati. >> yes we hope that all the facts are appraised and that from canada and mexico, they're our biggest clients of our -- the little bit of steel we do export. we're their biggest clients for the majority of steel they export so, that would tell me mostly we're balancing very well on how we trade but to - >> but your point is that there's been steel dumped into the u.s. and are you confident that issue can be resolved if countries like canada are exempted will the chinese, for example, just then put their steel into canada to get it into the u.s.

>> i don't believe so because canada has the same if not a bigger issue than we did from the same global offenders of turkey and china they were getting imports dumped at alarming rates also the thing about canada, their system moves quickly. >> i'll verify that. you're absolutely right. we have a problem in canada and our government has to be tough as well. >> before we go -- >> canada supported -- yeah? >> would you change your manufacturing portfolio if these tariffs go into place? in other words, would you place more emphasis on the u.s. plants that you have right now? >> oumver time that was our intention anyway i don't think we'd have an immediate reaction but no question we see growth in the united states. certainly, if these tariffs were ineffective, it could speed up the process, i suppose we love the u.s.

we've been doing business with the u.s. for 40 years. we hope nothing changes. the growth down there, our investments in the u.s. and our investments in canada. >> does it mean potential job losses in canada and in mexico for your company >> well, mexico we're basically shipping to mexico we're not shipping any steel from mexico to the u.s in fact, the case in mexicois they import more u.s. steel than they export to the u.s so, there's a bit of a trade imbalance. the problem in mexico is probably all the manufacturing taking place there. >> finally, scott, are you confident that you in canada could have control so that turkey and china and whoever's dumping steel into the marketplace is not able to just go through your country in order to get steel into the u.s. >> well, that would be -- we're filing our own trade case against turkish, so we have some concerns -- on is shut out of

canada on the cold roll and galvanized side. i hope our canadian government does something quickly because we have a problem in canada as well i agree with what the trump administration is doing. we would have chosen option two, which is targeted tariffs with quotas, at we're not keen on the quotas, but we would accept that. >> gentlemen, thank you both we appreciate it for their respective steel companies in the u.s. and canada wouldn't you know, we scheduled that interview for all day - >> can you imagine if they had to hear that all day >> the train schedule, we didn't check that to see if a train was going by at that moment. we're heading to the close we have 49 minutes left in the trading session here the dow at one point was up 120 points, down 166 and right now it's up just 13. still ahead, the former chair of the fdic, sheila bair, who has serious concerns and a warning for everyone in the stock market. plus, two of the biggest names in oil, the ceo of bp, bob

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about north korea opening up to the possibility of denuclearization but that -- and that pushed it up 120 points on the open this morning. but then that faded down 166 at the lows but we've been hovering since then >> it's a big week for energy as ceos, industry experts and analysts all descend on houston for the annual conference where we find brian sullivan, who's been there all day with great stuff. now joined exclusively by the ceo of bp, bob dudley. brian, take it away. >> thank you very much i certainly do have a little oil and gas on the mind, i must say. bob, it's great to chat with you again, sir thank you for joining us. >> good to see you. >> coming in this morning, i had no idea what to expect the theme all day is a lot of optimism around global production, a lot of optimism around demand. your balance sheet is cleaned up people say remarkable job on the financial side by you and your team but there is a concern that the industry is going to need a lot

of capital, which is not being attracted right now. how do you see it? >> well, one of the messages from our shareholders is be disciplined about your capital that's what the company was -- the industry was known for $100 oil, overspending capitalists. i'm not sure there's a shortage of capital because we're going to do more with less money the cost structures have come down all around the world. i think we're not necessarily shorting investments there's huge investments going in the u.s. in shales. there are big projects around the world. decline rates are bei ining man. i'm not a buying that somehow we're not investing. >> the other theme is demand for power generally is goinging to boom 8 billion people going to turn into 10 billion people a lot of young -- just the need to turn on the lights, to power electric vehicles, whatever it is the need for power is going to surge. you guys are back in the solar game, back in the renewables game how do you convince your investors and shareholders,

renewables, great for the environment and our lungs, are also a great investment. >> emissions reduction is the goal of where we need to head to, it's not just a race for renewables reduction of emissions to do that, you really have to start with power, then go to power, if you have time, talk about power again. so, this is really the central part of reducing emissions in the world. renewables has a big role to play i believe it's in combination with natural gas the intermittency when winds aren't blowing, sun isn't shining, combined with natural gas, has to be part of the answer of answering power. putting a price are carbon globally should make these things more and more economic. >> you were in the solar game, got out of the solar game. why and what did you learn >> we learned a lot. we invested a lot in solar bp was the third largest solar company in the world it made the panels they became commoditized, became very hard to make money so we exited that. we just in the last six months

purchased a very large solar development company that will combine around the world in places, middle east, that need power. >> what's whachanged, though? how do you make money? >> do you it on margins of developing a project you sell electricity in countries that need it, a short of it, then you save the natural gas or maybe coal, but natural gas and put it down the pipelines for other uses it's a combination then you have a trading organization that can buy and sell electric power. there is a business model there. but it's one of margin rather than -- rather than, you know, home runs. you have to do a lot. >> my dad owned a gas station. my grandfather owned a gas station. part of the reason combustion engines are plentiful is we have gas stations everywhere in america. you never worry about running out of gas people are worry about electric cars what is your industry's role in helping to build out the infrastructure for electric

vehicles because if i'm not sure that i'm going to have a charge somewhere close by, i'm probably not going to buy the car the ceo of gm or tesla or ford wants me to what's your response >> i think you have to define what an ev is, electric vehicle. there's two kinds. about 50% are plug-in battery and another 50% are hybrids that actually have dual drive trains. liquid - >> combustion engine on the side. >> yes so over time a lot of liquid fuels will be used as well what role do we play evs are needed they need to improve air quality. we will use our retail sites which have retailing as well, liquid fuel and charging sites over time so someone can come and get their charge, they'll be shops, things that can buy and can be a business there as well. it's going to take time. it's not going to be overnight >> so it's going to have everything i think that's the maybe the holdup is lack of infrastructure

to build out i shouldn't call it a gas station anymore. >> you can call it a mobility station. >> a mobility station. very quickly, 2017, your best year for -- let's get back to oil. oil exploration since 2004 best year in two years what did you figure out? >> we had a long journey we've retooled our operations around the world 95% up-time across the world we brought in seven major projects last year, six more this year. the company is doing what it should be doing and the balance sheet is strong and i'm very optimistic. >> bob dudley of bp, ceo we appreciate it kelly and bill, gas stations are dead call it the mobility, get your big gulp, your sandwich -- >> they used to call them filling stations mobility station-p, i kind of like that. >> i don't it sounds awful. mobility station >> we're not going to do that, brian.

the millenials don't like it it's not happening. >> you charge for the charge i don't know -- you charge charge charge charge anyway, my brain is fried. >> thank you, sir. >> mull it over. great stuff, brian we have another big ceo interview next hour. i'll be speaking exclusively with chevron's michael wirth. dow is down 15 points. other averages are positive. nasdaq was up half a percent the small caps doing quite nicely. moments away from the president's joint news conference with the prime minister of sweden from north korea to tariffs, plenty of ground to cover. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it gets under way. sheila bair will be with us. she says the seeds of the next financial crisis may already be planted. inwh klyt her warng enel and i come back on "closing bell."

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as you may know, the senate is expected to pass a bill this

week that rolls back some of dodd/frank regulations in the banking industry republicans drafted the bill but it does have 12 democratic sponsors that means it's likely to pass our next guest says easing bank regulations like dodd/frank could plant the seeds of another crisis we welcome back former fdic chair, sheila bair. >> thank you for having me. >> you're not against the whole bill. >> no. >> the impact it will have on small and regional banks, you're in favor of. but you're worried about what it does for the big guys, right >> yeah, i mean, there's a pretty widespread consensus that we may have overshot with the community banks and smaller regionals. they were not really drivers of the crisis existing regulatory supervisory tools are sufficient but, of course, you have the big banks, they have to get their own little pound of flesh in the bill inserted in this otherwise good bill is section 402, which puts

us on a very slippery slope towards a serious weakening of bank capital requirements for the largest systematic institutions that's very short-sided. in times of economic growth, in good times, we want banks to be building their capital buffers when we get into a downturn, they can keep lending. now what we're doing is when the times are good and growth is good and they're profitable and they just got a big tax cut, we're letting them reduce their capital. it makes no sense whatsoever. >> and we're just about nine years to the day of when the market bottomed. the s&p was down at 666 there. we're looking at 2700, of course so, as you mentioned, there's a couple elements of this bill one would raise the systematically important institution for banks all the way up to $250 billion there's also thele volcker rule exemption for smaller one, credit freezes for consumers do you think overall the net effect will be appropriate in

terms of dialing back the overregulation or do you think that your concerns about capital still prevail? >> well, by far the most objectional provision from my point of view is section 402, which weakens big bank capital standards. in terms of increasing the threshold, i know a lot of people are concerned about that. as long as they clearly preserve pre-existing supervisory authorities, i don't really have a problem with eliminating the automatic trigger for systematic status, raising that to $250 billion as long as we preserve the authorities that regulators have to make sure banks are operating in a safe and sound matter i think the tools are there as long as we clearly preserve them in the legislation, assuming it becomes law. so, yes, i'm much less concerned about that than i am about this provision of capital because we're doing exactly, you mention, you know, we're going on the tenth anniversary of the crisis and prior to the crisis, we did

exactly what we're doing now we loweredle bank capital standards when growth was very robust fueled by a lot of unfordable mortgage lending. we reduced bank capital. and then they had no capital, downturn came, they were suffering losses, teetering on the edge the taxpayers had to bail them out. we're going down that same path again. it's very frustrating for someone like me who lived through the crisis and thought we learned better lessons. >> right now you're concerned about other areas as well in the debt area credit card debt, which continues to grow again. and the subprime auto loans we've been hearing so much about the last few years but what can you do about that what should be done about that, do you think >> well, first of all, i think more structural reforms to our economy so we're less reliant on debt you know, real wage growth has still struggled. and people borrow more than they otherwise would if we had better real wage growth so, i think that's a large discussion to have and i think there are other tax

policies and other changes that can be made. sensible infrastructure to get real wages up, but that's a big part of it but we have -- you know, we devolved into this rampant short-termism and people are borrowing to sustain their living as opposed to getting real wage increases. i think that is the core problem, what's driving debt it's not sustainable if your economic growth, consumer spending is driven by debt, there's only so much they can borrow, then they'll stop and you have a very deep recession, which is exactly what we had in 2008 and 2009. >> you know, the other thing we've learned this week is according to the journal that amazon may be trying to do something on the banking front in partnership so, in walmart for years has wanted to do something more but they couldn't get the license for it really. you know, are these moves that would help americans, do you think, or do they fall under the category of, we better be careful with this kind of innovation >> right it's a good question we don't have many details

i think if they -- you know, the partnership could be very good for middle and low income americans if it can make mainstream banking services more accessible at low costs. that's something amazon does very well in other sectors that would be a positive thing one area i do worry about is the protection of consumer data. amazon is not a regulated entity banks are obviously heavily regulated and have a lot of highly sensitive personal information about their customers. who is the custodian of that how is it used that's a key issue we need to look at as we learn more about this effort by amazon. >> sheila, always good to see you. thank you. >> nice to see you thanks for having me. >> sheila bair, who worries for a living joining us from washington by the way, be sure to tune in tomorrow. we have an exclusive with morgan stanley ceo james gorman look forward to that coming up very much. >> very much. we're awaiting president trump's joint news conference with the prime minister of sweden should get under way any moment.

we'll bring that to you as soon as it begins right here on the "closing bell. should we check on markets in the meantime? >> yeah. some s&p 500 winners. >> the dow has flipped positive. it's up about 15 points. the other markets actually doing -- they're outperforming as we said a moment ago. the nasdaq is up half of 1%. >> we're tracking a winter storm. they've given it a name. quinn. >> we're naming them now. >> i just think it's ludicrous let's check with meteorologist ray to give us the latest on quinn. >> on a tuesday we've got another nor'easter we're not seeing things. on the east coast another winter storm quinn. in is what it will look like tomorrow powerful low pressure along the east coast and continuing to push north-northeast as it does, heavy snow mainly into the interior but places like new york city off to parts of connecticut, maybe hartford

and west of boston forecast to get some of the heaviest snow. the exact track will determine who gets the heaviest snowfall with winter storm warnings in place for places like new york city, newark and into hartford, we're expecting to see some heavy snowfall and the potential does exist in some spots along the i-95 corridor for potentially up to a foot of snowfall back to you. >> we are watching this like a hawk. >> oh, joy i thought i'd missed it last week when i was in las vegas i thought i was -- >> some people still have their power out from that storm. >> they're hoping to get the power back by 11:00 tonight, just as the next storm is hitting. >> i already went to the grocery store. >> good idea get as much milk and bread as you can. >> and it's time for a news update let's get over to sue herera and check in with her now. hello. here's what's happening at this hour, everyone secretary of state rex tillerson announced a half billion dollar increase in humanitarian aid for africa it came during a speech at george mason university in fairfax, virginia.

it comes just before his first formal trip to the continent >> the united states is the world's largest prior of humanitarian assistance. we'll continue to stand with those most vulnerable. as a testament to that commitment, today i'm announcing $533 million in additional humanitarian assistance to fight famine and food insecurity. federal prosecutors say shkreli should be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison, saying the former drug executive lacks remorse. the mona lease sisa may be g on tour. the frempbl cultural minister will bring it up and she doesn't see why works of art have to stay in the same place da vinci's masterpiece has spent 500 years in paris that would be a very hot ticket, i think.

>> but that's what makes the louver such a -- >> it does that's the only thing they want to see. >> that's interesting. it could cause quite an uproar in france. you never know. >> and wherever it goes. sue, thank you. >> you got it. see you next hour. quick check on the markets as we await the president. that news conference getting under way momentarily. they're in the east room with the dow up about 30 points after what has been yet another volatile day here. you want to bring the guys in right quick before we do this? all right. victoria fernandez, one of the guys, from cross mark global investments is part of our exchange jeff and steve grasso from stuart frankel at post nine. we'll make this quick. we try to come up with reasons the market moves one way or another. this morning, 120-point rally turned into 166-point decline. and there was no apparent reason why, other than, you know, buyers and sellers, right? >> when you get up close, it's really hard to see the picture

when you pull yourself back and get a little clarity, hindsight's always 20/20 all these movements that we see is, for me, all about tariffs. it's all about the political environment. we've lost sight of all those individual stories obviously, the first story before the market even opened was the north korea headlines. so, these are positive things. we're right at the 50% retracement from the all-time highs and the recent lows. so, everyone who comes on air, you can be bullish or bearish you could both be right. it's a flip of the coin. ultimately i think markets will go higher because there's more positive than negative i'll let the others speak because i know we're in a rush. >> jeff, what are you watching here >> hey, killer, it's your turn >> i'm ready i'm ready. so, i see march madness brewing. ultimately, bill, we have

seen -- grasso talked about the technical takeover right now the s&p 500 is about ten handles lower than that 50-day moving average. as we continue to see reaction from overseas, eu going punch for punch. any time i can work in a rocky analogy it's like rocky throwing a punch and waiting for drago coming back. at the end of the day, i'm focused on the jobs number late in the week. the jobs inflation, that created the volatility so, right now i think it's time to harness this volatility and understand what the opportunities in this mixed tape >> victoria, as you invest globally, the talk of the tariffs by the president, does that keep you up nights or is it an opportunity, investment opportunitywise? >> yeah, we actually see it as an opportunity everyone, you know, that's looking at the tariffs right now, it's just headline news we really don't even know what the actual tariff policy is going to be. so, at this point it's not driving our investments. we're using more of the volatility in the markets across all of our strategies to

reposition ourselves so, whether that's going to be looking at financials because they benefit from higher rates and volatility for trading revenue, whether it's rewriting options or moving further out the yield curve, that's what we're looking at more as the fundamental components instead of the headlines. >> that's what makes it -- that makes jeff right friday that jobs number will be so interesting because that tells us if rates will go higher or not if the wages number isn't that strong, it's going to be hard to hang your hat on a lot of inflation and higher rates. >> the problem is, though, if it's not that strong, then people will look back to chairman powell's speech and say, well, he wants three, possibly four. and if it is strong, they'll say, well, it's definitely four. so, people will look back on it. the truth is - >> you don't think it will unwind too much? >> i don't think it will unwind too much i think the pressing issues right now are going to be the tariff conversation, and i think people are going to look back and say, okay, maybe we were a little too bearish or a little

too presumption. i think that the eps will be ratcheted up when people start focusing on the economy, we'll see the market move higher. >> i think we're getting close because everybody just stood up. so, yes, i'll thank our guests and let's start this news conference president trump welcoming the swedish prime minister let's listen in. >> i'm honored to be joined by prime minister of sweden at our first meeting in the white house. sweden is one of our oldest ask closest partners and among the first european nations to offer the united states an unsolicited treaty of friendship a treaty signed, believe it or not, in 1783 that's a long time ago my daughter ivanka had a great

time watching u.s. and swedish men in curling at the olympics that was something, huh? a little upset that was something we'll take it. all the athletes should be immensely proud of the great job they did the prime minister and i have just concluded a series of very productive meetings. the relationship between the united states and sweden is one based on shared values, including respect for individual rights, the rule of law and human dignity. these common principles are the foundation of our partnership. we've had a great partnership for many years we look forward to exploring further opportunities to increase our security and our cooperation in every other way we encourage nations around the world to share responsibility for our common defense we appreciate sweden's leadership on the united nations security council and look very much forward to working together in the coming months

the united states is also grateful to sweden for advocate ing for americans detained in north korea. i particularly want to thank the swedish government for its assistance in securing the release of american college student otto warmbier last year. we continue to pray for otto's parents, fred and cindy, two terrific people, over the tragic death of their son we remain determined to achieve a denuclearization of the korean peninsula. there's been a lot of news on that today hopefully it's positive. hopefully it will lead to a very positive result. in economic matters, we're striving for a relationship grounded in fairness and reciprocity. the united states is one of the largest investors in sweden and the swedish investments in the united states support over 200,000 american jobs.

earlier this afternoon i heard from several swedish business executives, some of the greatest in the world where are you folks? please, some of the great executives in the world. people i've known for a long time and know of they're investing tremendous amounts of money in the united states supporting also vocational training for american workers. we're grateful for those investments and we're committed to working with sweden to pursue even greater economic cooperation. we're continuing to pursue bilateral agreement for mutual prosperity i'm pleased that sweden intends to procure the patriot air and missile defense system finest in the world. in a deal worth over $3 billion. this system will increase stability and security in the baltic sea region. a strong and balanced economic relationship strengthens

security and prosperity in both of our countries and this is just the beginning we have a lot of things we're working on we're working on them really very hard. mr. prime minister, i want to thank you again for joining us i want to thank your great staff who we met with and your great business leaders it was a very interesting and productive meeting it is long-standing friendship between our peoples has greatly enriched both of our countries this is just the beginning our relationship has never been better an honor to have you here. thank you. >> thank you very much thank you, mr. president, for a warm and generous welcome. it is a true pleasure to be here at the white house this year sweden and united states share 200 years of diplomatic relations

this meeting reaffirms the strength of our relations. the history has shown that our two nations share fundamental values and interests such as democracy and human rights we also share a strong partnership that continues to evolve today we have discussed how to further strengthen our country's prosperity and security. as for prosperity, sweden is one of the largest per capita investors in the united states and my country may not be big, but we support directly and indirectly almost 1 million jobs in the united states and some key executives of the companies that provides these jobs are also here with me at this visit at the same time, the united states is our most important foreign employer and many u.s. companies play a vital role in providing investment and creating jobs in sweden. president trump and i have discussed our on you nations can

support jobs and growth. it's a crucial issue for sweden. that means embrace iing now sustainable technologies that permit our economy to grow, at the same time reducing emissions. also, how we can secure good jobs in a labor market constantly changing due to automation and digitalization. sweden and the united states are two of the most innovative economies in the world we see great opportunities ahead. swedish prosperity is built on cooperation, competitiveness and free trade and i'm convinced that increased terrorists will hurt us all in the long run as a swede, i support the efforts of the european union to achieve trade with fewer obstacles and as few as possible turning to security, the president and i have discussed some key regional and global security challenges such as the

situation on the korean peninsula, but also the developments in sweden's neighborhood we also addressed the constructive cooperation between sweden and the united states in the united nations security council. i would like to underline the transpacific link. sweden isa military nonaligned country, but we build security in partnership with others and we greatly value our broad security and defense cooperation with the united states one important example of that is our joint efforts to fight and combat terrorism sweden and the united states stands shoulder to shoulderin the global coalition against isis and also in the resolute support mission in afghanistan and these vital military efforts must go hand in hand with strong

political, diplomatic and also civilian support to create sustainable results. in conclusion, as we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations, we're also planning for shared prosperity and security for many, many years to come once again, i thank you, mr. president, for constructive and successful meeting and for the very warm welcome that both my delegation and i received thank you so much. >> thank you very much thank you very much. john >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. you spoke about north korea in the oval office, so i'd like to turn to trade, if i could. my understanding is that the prime minister came to you with a message from the european union commission president saying, we put tariffs on steel and aluminum, we'll slap you back with punitive tariffs on

bourbon and jeans and the motorcycles you talk about from wisconsin. are you still planning on going ahead with these tariffs there are some people in your party who have suggested it's not a good idea. prime minister lofven, what's your perspective on tariffs and what message did you convey to the president from sweden and the european union thank you. >> well, the united states has been taken advantage of by other countries both friendly and not so friendly for many, many decades. we have a trade deficit of $800 billion a year that's not going to happen with me we have been mistreated, sometimes unfairly i don't blame the countries. i blame our leadership for allowing it to happen. when i was with president xi in china, as an example, we lose $500 billion a year on trade

we have a deficit of approximately $500 billion a year with china. and we're doing things with china which are very strong but they understand it but i was with him and i said to him in public, look, i don't blame you. i blame our people for not doing a better job for allowing this to happen. but it's like that with many countries other than small the european union has been particularly tough on the united states they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the united states and they can do whatever they'd like but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25% on their cars believe me, they won't be doing it very long the european union has not treated us well. and it's been a very unfair trade situation. i'm here to protect, and one of the reasons i'm elected is i'm protecting our workers, i'm

protecting our companies and i'm not going to let that happen so, we're doing tariffs on steel. we cannot lose our steel industry it's a fraction of what it once was. we can't lose our aluminum industry also a fraction of what it once was. and our country's doing well the massive tax cuts and all of the deregulation has really kicked us into gear, but i have to work on trade deals we're working on nafta right now. and if we're able to make a deal with canada and mexico in nafta, then there will be no reason to do the tariffs with canada and mexico again, other countries we won't have that choice and -- unless they can do something for us as an example, if the european union takes off some of the horrible barriers that make it impossible for our product to go into there, then we can start talking, otherwise we'll leave it the way it is the fact is we've been

mistreated as a country for many years and it's just not going to happen any longer. >> how do you avoid this escalating into a trade war? >> well, we'll have to see you know, when we're behind on every single country, trade wars aren't so bad. do you understand what i mean by that when we're down by 30 billion, 40 billion, 60 billion, $100 billion, the trade war hurts them, doesn't hurt us. we'll see what happens you can also take it, in some cases we lose on trade, plus we give them military where we're subsidizing them tremendously. so, not only do we lose on trade, we lose on military and, hence, we have these massive deficit numbers in our country. we're going to straighten it out. we'll do it in a very loving way. it will be a loving, loving way. they'll like us better and they will respect us much more. because even they say, right now they say they can't believe we've gotten away -- i mean, two

countries have said, we cannot believe, to be honest with you, we've gotten away with this so long one of them made that statement before i got elected he said, i can't believe i made that statement before i got elected. it's one of those things we have to straighten it out we really have no choice. >> mr. prime minister, how forceful was your message to the president on what the consequences will be if he goes ahead with tariffs >> first, trade is a european union mandate, so we're a member of the european union. european mandate to handle trade issues but as a member of the european union, i think it's important for us to try to find a way to cooperate between the european union and the united states. i fully understand and respect the president's view that we have to look after his own country, the country that you're

leaving. i understand that fully. that's my primary task as well but for me leading a small country, depending on open trade, we -- the best way for us is to do that with others. because our export equals to 50% of our gdp so, for us it is crucially important that we have this open and free trade today also i believe that the supply chains are very, very complicated to see i know that, for example, when we sell our fighter aircraft, which is a very good aircraft, the content is, perhaps, 50% american so, we want this to be -- to be resolved in cooperation. when it comes to steel, yes, we have an overcapacity in the world. that's obvious but at the same time, it is china that is producing about 50% of the steel in the world.

and european union, perhaps, 10%. and less than that so, to summarize, i think it was a pity again, it's a european union mandate, but it was a pity also that the ttp negotiations ended because, perhaps with negotiations and talks, we can come into a situation with the european union and united states can cooperate. i think that would be a very good solution. >> just to add maybe a little bit further, if you talk china, i've watched where the reporters have been writing 2% of our steel comes from chooip. well, that's not right they trans-ship all through other countries. and you'll see that a country that doesn't even have a steel mill is sending us 3% steel for our country. many countries are doing it, but it comes from china. so, china doesn't send us 2%,

they send us a much, much higher level than that. but it's called trans-shipping, so is it doesn't look good when it all comes out of china so they send it through other countries and it comes to us and it's putting our steel mills out of business, our aluminum mills are going out of business and we need steel and we need aluminum you know, there's a theory that if a country doesn't have steel, it doesn't have a country. and it's true. so, this is more than just pure economics. this is about defense. this is about the country itself remember this, we lose $800 billion a year in trade. and i think i was elected at least partially on this issue. i've been saying it for 25 years. our country's been taken advantage of by everybody. by everybody almost everybody and we cannot let that happen any longer not for our companies and not, most importantly, for our

workers so we're not going to let it happen. please >> reporter: tina. >> reporter: you mentioned united states with north korea how do you see your collaboration in the future to create a peaceful korean peninsula? how do you view the collaboration? as a follow-up to that, if i may, mr. president, i know that you follow the development in sweden closely, especially when it comes to immigration politics now that you spent some sometime with our prime minister, how do you view sweden in general what is your take? also, on our immigration politics thank you. >> i think you have a wonderful prime minister, i have to say. we've gotten to know each other. certainly you have a problem with the immigration it's caused problems in sweden

i was one of the first ones to say it took a little heat, but that was okay because i proved to be right. but you do have a problem. i know the problem will slowly disappear. hopefully rapidly disappear. but as far as our relationship with sweden, it's going to be only stronger, only better both in a military sense and a trading sense and an economic sense. you know, sweden is a -- i think, the largest -- eighth largest investor in the united states they like me very much because the market is up almost 40% since election day so, i've made a lot of these business geniuses look even better, so they like trump but, you know, it's been up very substantially. i believe sweden is about the eighth largest investor in the united states. that's quite an achievement. [ inaudible question ] >> sweden has somewhat of a relationship with north korea. we've been working with north

korea. otto was really brought home, unfortunately, in very poor condition, but otto was brought home largely with the help of sweden they're terrific terrific people. people from sweden, swedish people are fantastic people. i have many people in new york and washington from sweden and they are fantastic people. >> mr. prime minister, how do you view sweden, north korea and the u.s. >> we have to find a dialogue. it's not easy, but that's the way it has to be it's a very dangerous situation and we need it all to be very concerned about the development of nuclear weapon, but we must look at the peninsula, the region, the world and this has to do with world peace or something else. so, the key actor is the country, south and north korea, as well as the united states and other big countries. they're the key actors we said we can provide -- we can

be a channel or do whatever we can to see that the dialogue is smooth not being naive. it's not up to us to solve this problem. but we can definitely, with our presence on the peninsula, both in south and north, we have an embassy in pyongyang, for example. we've had that since 1973. that relation with north korea, i believe they trust us. we're a nonaligned country and military nonaligned country, and i think we can -- if the president decides, the key actors decide they want us to help out, we'll be there. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. since my first time before you,

i thought you might indulge me with two questions first, do you believe north korea's recent willingness to talk is sincere or is it an effort to buy time for their nuclear program? and to what do you owe this recent openness to talk? >> me. no, i think that -- nobody got that i think that they are sincere, but i think they're sincere also because these sanctions and what we're doing with respect to north korea, including, you know, the great help we've been given from china, and they can do more, but i think they've done more than certainly they've ever done for our country before so china has been a big help that's been a factor but the sanctions have been very, very strong. and very biting. and we don't want that to happen so, i really hope they are sincere. i hope they're sincere we'll soon find out.

>> reporter: you would like to see some change in the people around you does that include your attorney general jeff sessions or either of your cabinet secretaries? >> i don't want to talk about that i just said that the white house has tremendous energy, it has tremendous spirit. it is a great place to be working. many, many people want every single job you know, i read where, oh, gee, maybe people don't want to work for trump. believe me, everybody wants to work in the white house. they all want a piece of that oval office. they want a piece of the west wing and not only in terms of it looks great on their resume, it's a great place to work it's got tremendous energy it's tough i like conflict. i like having people with different points -- -- we have tremendous talent. there will be people -- i'm not going to be specific but we'll

have people that change. sometimes they want to go out and do something else, but they all want to be in the white house. so many people want to come. i have a choice of anybody i could take any position in the white house and i'll have a choice of the ten top people having to do with that position. everybody wants to be there. and they love this white house because we have energy like rarely before. thank you very much. >> reporter: mr. prime minister, last year you criticized the pressure for drawing a link between immigrant crime and the recent arrivals of refugees. this week one of our own flagship papers, "the new york times," actually profiled a link between hand grenade violence and immigrant gangs in your country. do you stand by your criticism of the president >> first, sweden, we have our share of domestic challenges, no doubt about that so, we inherited a legislation that was not sustainable, legislation on migration

which meant in 2015 we received 163,000 refugees seeking refuge. bear in mind, we're a country of 100 million inhabitants. we changed the legislation, so now we have decreased the number of refugees entering sweden and we are also putting pressure on the other european union countries to take their share of the responsibility this is not a responsibility for one, two, three, four countries. it's a shared responsibility we're working with that now within the european union. so -- and we, of course, hope -- we have problems with crime, organized crime in sweden, shootings, but it's not like you have this no-go zone we have the dealt with it. i'm dealing with it every day, allocating more sources to the

police more policemen trained more resources to the security police tougher on crime, tougher on terrorism, so we do a lot to combat that. we can see some results in our three major cities decreased shootings because we're attacking the organized crime very tough we'll keep on doing that because there is no space in sweden for organized crime because they decrease freedom for ordinary people at the same time, sweden has a high growth. unemployment is going down unemployment is going up we have high investment rates. we are allocating resources to the welfare. we have a strong, strong economy with a surplus, a huge surplus that we're not using to develop our society with the welfare we want so, the pictures we need -- it's

two pictures yes, we have our share of domestic problems and challenges, no doubt about that, but we're dealing with them and we also have a good foundation for dealing with them, not least with the strong economy and the shrinking unemployment >> reporter: swedish radio this is an election year for both of our countries. i want to ask you, mr. trump, what do you think sweden should learn about how the russian influence campaign affected the presidential election in the u.s. >> well, the russians had no impact on our votes whatsoever but certainly there was meddling and probably meddling from other countries and maybe other individuals. and i think you have to be really watching very closely you don't want your system of

votes to be compromised in any way. and we won't allow that to happen we're doing a very, very deep study. we're coming out with some very strong suggestions on the '18 election i think we'll do well in the '18 election, at historically those in the white house have a little bit of dip, but i think we'll do well because the economy is so good and because we're protecting our jobs like our jobs are being protected finally with what we're doing with the tariffs. the big thing would be the tax cut and the regulations cuts also the judges. we have outstanding judges judge gorsuch on the supreme court and many, many judges going onto the bench all over the country. i think we're going to do very well and i think it will be a tremendous surprise to people how well it's -- the economy is so good. so jobs are so good. black unemployment, hispanic unemployment at all-time lows. we're really doing well. so, based on that, i guess we

should do pretty well. i hope so. you have to be very vigilant one of the things we're learning is it's always good, it's old fashioned but it's always good to have a paper backup system of voting it's called paper. not highly complex computers paper. and a lot of states are doing that they're going to a paper backup and i think that's a great idea. but we're studying it very closely. various agencies, including homeland security are studying it very carefully. >> but are you worried about russians trying to meddle in the midterm? >> no, because we'll counteract whatever they do we'll counteract it very strongly and we're having strong backup systems. we've been working actually -- we haven't been giving credit for this, but we've been working very hard on the '18 election and the '20 election coming up thank you very much. >> reporter: mr. lofven, are you on the same page when it comes

to evaluating the threat from russia, when it comes to meddling in elections, you think? >> well, we both agree upon the election and the country should -- the result of the election should be decided by the country and nobody but the voters in that country that's our clear stance. that's why our intelligence agencies now also increasing their own capacity to detect and counter, whether it's hacker tax or financing or producing or spreading propaganda, whatever it is, we are increasing our capacity to handle that. we are cooperating with other european union countries and this will continue to do so, any foreign power that believes -- that can interfere with our election, we will find out and we will call them out very clearly loud >> this is the first time you

two meet, just the two of you. where did you find most common ground and where do you differ most on political issues >> we dairs fir-- first, we - >> almost everything. >> yes first, we -- we -- i mean, we both come from outside politics into politics. i've spent part of 30 years in the industry as a welder, but also as a trade unionist, trade union leader spending 75%, 80% of my time cooperating with company leaders, with the employers organization in an effort to strengthen our industry so, that's perhaps a similar background not similar because it's different, but because we come from outside policies. of course, also friends differ from time to time. the paris agreement, the importance of paris agreement, we stand by that we think it's very important we implement and fulfill the paris

agreement because of the climate issue. on that, we might differ on tariffs as well. having said that, still we know that the relationship is good, yes, so we can take that that we differ as well the values are there and we cooperate very, very good on economic issues, making sure we have great jobs and growth and also on security issues both when it comes to combating terrorism but also when it comes to defend ourselves. >> reporter: finally a follow-up for mr. trump. do you think trade is where u.s. and sweden differ most right now? >> i think we have good relationship on trade. we have had and we are constantly in touch. we have on the military great cooperation, including design of various components of aircraft, et cetera. we were discussing that. we have some of the great makers of these components in the room with us today.

no, we have a very good relationship on trade and we always will have sweden is a grit country it's small but it's very sharp, i will tell you. they are very sharp. thank you very much, everybody i appreciate it. thank you. >> you always have to wait to see if the president's going to say anything to shouted questions on the way out that's president trump concludes his news conference with the prime minister of sweden there, covering a wide range of issues. some familiar territory. he was asked about recent turmoil at the white house saying it's a great place to work, he likes controversy, he likes different points of view there were questions about the tariffs and the president reiterating they'll slap a 25% tariff on european cars if the europeans slap tariffs on some of our goods in retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs he announced last week

a lot in there eamon javers was in the room he'll join us in a minute. the markets closed ten minutes ago with green across the board. dow up ten points. the biggest movers were nasdaq and small cap. nasdaq adding 0.5% russell 2000s are up 1% once again today. eamon javers joins us now with more from what we just heard from the president >> reporter: i think you hit the headline right there, the issue of 25% tax on imported european cars is a notion the president raised there saying the european union has been unfair to the united states in terms of trade saying that our friends and allies have taken advantage of us standing next to a european friend and ally on the podium here in the east room of the white house. so, tough talk from the president on tariffs, saying he's going to continue to push ahead on that. interesting atmospherics in the room i wanted to point out neither

gary cohn or jared kushner were here they are both regular attendees at events like this. there there is so much speculation about who might next leave this administration. the president there at pains to point out that the white house is a fabulous place to work, influential, looks good on your resume, he said, and also is a fun place to work because you can have so much influence the president insisting he has top picks of candidates. he does not seem to be concerned about these rumors that other people might be forced out or resigned from his administration president very tough on trade and the idea of his administration being a terrific place to work. >> eamon, thank you. for more let's bring in cnbc senior contributor larry kudlow at post nine along with nicholas burns, michael santoli. larry, what struck you about what we just heard from the president?

>>. >> he's digging it he's digging if. i heard it clearly i've not heard about the eu car tariffs. they build a lot of cars in the united states. i hate to disrupt that supply chain. >> he said he would only do it -- tit for tat. we go on steel and aaluminum, they go for harleys, we go for cars. >> the eu has made that clear, the swedish guy is a right of center guy, he's my guy, but he made it clear that he wants open trade. i don't see much progress. i was told today by some people in the west wing that the meeting with manufacturers who use steel, that was kind of pushed by gary cohn, is not on the president's calendar at the moment so, that may or may not happen i think president trump means

what he says, all right? kudlow, notwithstanding, we've had this conversation, i agree with him he's done a great job on tax cuts, absolutely he's done a great job in de regulation the economy is looking good. but i still feel the more free trade we have, the better we are. look, if you want to get china -- this is my last point if you want to go after china, go after china targeted, temporary tariffs, china's unfair, no reciprocity i get that but don't go african da. don't go after europe. don't go after mexico. >> we heard the aluminum association saying we don't want to hurt canada what's the better way of doing that, do you think >> well, i think it's unfortunate that the president has now set up this dynamic that he consistently castigates the european union, including this issue. it's kid glove treatment of china. it's serious china is the major trade violator in the world. i worry about the president

saying trade wars aren't so bad. i harken back to the very effective "wall street journal" editorial on friday where they said this is the biggest blunder of his presidency to go african da and the euro -- and canada when we need them 6.5 million people depend on their jobs for those industries. i think the construct here, the president just doesn't have it quite right. i understand that he's not trying to -- he's trying to treat china respectfully because he needs them in north korea and i thought the president was good on north korea, what he said but you have to be a little more honest and transparent about our long-standing trade differences with the chinese government. >> so, mike, the interesting thing, too, is that the market response since friday essentially has been muted, has been -- the mood has been much better we were looking at some steel stocks what is the market trying to - >> it's certainly on edge with this rhetoric that the president continues to go back to when he's asked directly about these

things of defining a trade deficit as a loss. of essentially making zero sum and essentially kind of saying that basically trade wars, you know, as the ambassador said, are not so bad. >> why, if that's -- if that's the rhetoric he's going back to, so for a president who now watches the market closely, is he going to look at this and say, the market doesn't seem is that bothered? >> the market is in a mode that's not going to start pricing in policies that we don't know what they are yet we're kind of bouncing around. it's not the main thing that matters for the market right now. we should keep in mind, this is not an export-driven economy but the s&p 500 is a little more export-driven than the u.s. economy. >> can i underscore something? a point mike made is so important. i've had this conversation with the commander in chief you've got these trade deficits. two quick things number one, as our economy grows faster, faster than the rest of

the world, trade deficits may go up but -- >> we import more, we have consumer demand. >> that's correct. we have capital goods demands, et cetera, et cetera but that money comes right back into the united states we don't lose the money. the capital inflows are the flipside of the trade gap. we actually save more through this we invest more through this. gregory, the chairman -- former chairman of the harvard economics has written extensi extensively about this it's an old accounting -- it doesn't have the kind of economic meaning it had 70 years ago. >> it's also very interesting when he prefers to define it as the goods-based trade deficit. we have a total surplus with canada, if you include services. but for some reason the $12 billion worth of goods, whatever it is, very small number we net import -- that, i think, clashes with how investors - >> i want services our services -- you're talking about vacations. you're talking about canadian

snow birds going to florida. it's huge. it's scored as a service i want that. i think it's great canada's our friend. they're not going to dessert us in a war that's all sorry. >> thank you larry kudlow mr. ambassador, i want to give you last word. circling back on the north korea issue. this morning a south korean envoy said that pyeongchang said they would engage in talks with the u.s. and even halt their military exercises and nuclear drills in the meantime do you put any stock in that what is going on here? >> i think this is traditional north korean diplomacy i don't think we can assume they're going to disaarm they're not going to disarm. they're trying to get into talks. i think they want to split south korea from the united states we'll prevent that from happening. it is our interest to have talks with them. i think secretary tillerson wants to do that we have to explore if there's a diplomatic way out of the crisis before we think seriously about military weapons i think the president did well on that today, but to circle back to the main conversation

here, the president continues to go after the european union and described them as strategic competitor rather than partner he passed up another opportunity today to own up to the fact that russia did interfere in the 2016 election he's absolutely quiet. i won't criticize putin and xi jinping, very big critic of the europeans. this is a very difficult place for the united states to be. not a good place these are our allies in europe. >> mr. ambassador, thank you for joining us as well tim seymour, the man is sitting by, watching these markets here. >> i didn't think i had been mentioned so i thought i would be quiet. >> also, neil hennessey, portfolio manager at hennessey funds. we wanted to talk about the markets with all of this going on tim, look at how strong the small caps are relative to the internationally exposed s&p. is that going to continue to be the trade until the tariff issue is resolved? >> small caps are supposed to be

your growth barometers markets are having difficulty with key technical levels. they're not above the 50-day and that's the small caps, the s&p, emerging markets which get a boost from korean headlines more than anybody i also think this conversation we're having in termsof should we be going after china and what the market's response is in fact, first of allings steel companies have been lagging. steel companies really, if anything, the cool thing and efficient thing about markets -- maybe cool is not the term. >> i hear you. >> we're pricing a steel industry that's going to get inefficient. we cut demand. >> say that again. i mean, this is -- >> was that not clear? >> because it was so clear this is now what the -- what people are trading is the whole idea that you slap a 25% steel tariff on and it hurts u.s. steel producers. >> sure it does. it hurts demand. we're running at 90% capacity

right now in terms of hrc. there's potential that steel prices will go up to 900 bucks a ton or something extraordinary for steel companies. in the short run, steel stocks should rally at they rallied going into this moment and i think, again, markets are efficient. and i think section 301 investigation into china, let me throw that out there, i think there are places where we'll dig in i don't think steel was the place to do it china's not a major offender but i think we do -- i agree with the panel >> neil, what about you, as you're watching this, are you seeing opportunities created or do you just have to wait and see how it all shakes out? >> you know, i just sort of sit back and watch if you look at what our president does, he just likes to keep people off-balance. you could tell it from the border and the wall. now all of a sudden congress wants to give him some money to build the wall you can see with taxes being down at 15%, they settle at 21%. god knows what gets to come out on the tariff deal

bottom line, he likes to keep people off-balance the market is reacting because in the last couple of years we haven't had any volatility whatsoever now it's the headlines, let's trade off the headlines. i was told 40 years ago when i got in the business, if you trade off the headlines, at some point in time you'll be delivering the newspaper so, let all this go by the wayside because these companies, if you look at the dow jones, the pes are about 19 on the dow jones. maybe it's 17 or 18 after the tax cuts start to show up in the bottom lines so, there's a lot of room for growth this bull market is not over in any way, shape or form so, just stay the course >> let me just ask you, then, this is kind of one of the other big stories. we had target falling after posting better than expected results. same store sales, revenue and all this happening at a time when nordstrom may or is trying to go private. it's been a difficult couple months it's weird, the last couple weeks you had the likes of

walmart or kohl's come out the shares behave totally differently and target down today. are you a buyer of any retail here >> yeah, i'm a buyer of retail the big story has been around the target or macy's or penny's. they're box stores their numbers were very, very good if you look at target and say, match it up against amazon don't get me wrong, amazon is a great company. but they're selling at 350 times earnings i know they could go and print money should they want and lower the pe but you take that and price of sales ratio, 4.2 versus target selling at 15 times earnings, earning over $5 a share and paying a dividend of 250 and amazon doesn't pay i rather do the value trade than the future trade >> tim, last word on this. >> well, i agree with that, at i look at the margin on target and sthaetsz the big problem the competition in the space is

absurd they're feeling it from -- >> i mean, the alternative to doing all that that you described is to do nothing. >> i think target is doing the right thing. little inflalgs, if it's out there, is great for these guys consumers may not like it. retailers love it. and i think the staples basket is going to be at some point a tailwind right now it's a headwith ind. we're over stored in this country and that's a - >> sears has gone from 4,000 stores in 2010 to 1,000 now. >> that includes k-mart as well for sears. i think it's good target and others have this money but it's money they can play defense with i think that's what the market's reacting to. >> that's a good way ofputting it thank you both steel tariffs are still front and center in just the last hour we had two ceos, one from the canadian side

of the border, one from the u.s. side take a listen. >> i'm hoping our canadian government does something quickly because we have a big problem with imports here as well i kind of agree with what the trump administration is doing. i think twe we would have chosen option two, which is targeted tariffs with some quotas, at we're not too keen on the quotas but we would accept that. >> canada and mexico, they're our biggest clients of the little bit of steel we do export we're their biggestclient from the majority of the steel they export >> let's bring in our reporters who are on the ground in both locations all day today. kayla is in cincinnati deirdre is in hamilton, ontario. kayla, what are you hearing there? >> reporter: well, i mean, we talked to workers here it's currently quiet here because it's in between shifts the morning shift and the afternoon shift here interestingly, the ceo of this company also was interested in option number two.

he originally wanted targeted tariffs as to not have the unintended consequences of not being able to keep the supply chain going with other countries, especially allies on an undisrupted basis when i asked him about the fact that now president trump is looking at this global tariff, there's a possibility there will be no exemptions he said at least he's doing something. something will help more than nothing. that ultimately is still better than nothing, kelly. >> deirdre, do the people you speak with agree on that >> reporter: they absolutely agree on that. we're hearing a lot of the same things on the ground in canada you've been hearing on our network all day and hearing from even american steel ceos that is canada is the u.s.'s -- one of its oldest and closest allies why wouldn't they be exempt? the tariffs are seen more as a negotiating chip for nafta president trump and mnuchin said perhaps canada could win an

exemption if they played ball on nafta. that may be a bargaining chip for the president, but for the workers here on the ground, this is very real they're worried. we spoke to a few of them who have been here for the financial crisis they saw this plant right here go down to ten people, then pick back up to 100 people. they say they're just as worried now that these tariffs could impact the city, the industry, the canadian economy in a similar way they've seen in the past. >> kayla, i know you've been following this nafta story go ahead i was going to say, these talks and negotiations have been such an issue for much now. what if the president is just using this as a bargaining chip? >> reporter: interestingly, the workers on the ground here say that just the talk of tariffs, let's say it's not a bargaining chip, just the talk of tariffs has improved their business. more customers are calling with bigger orders, there is a feeling of this desire to buy american because of the

anticipation that tariffs could be coming and that a lot of these companies would be incentivized to do more business with american steel. that's what shift workers who are making this rebar are saying things have been picking up despite the fact that over the last several years business has been relatively slow spotty, i would say there. in terms of nafta, certainly the president -- the cooler heads within the cabinet, i know many globalists would like to prevail, have no intention of leaving nafta. kevin brady, when he returned to nafta, said he's more convinced than ever of the importance of the agreement and the commitment of people around the negotiating table. so, it depends on who you ask, really you get very black and white answers. >> and at the same time, i keep thinking about what tim seymour was describing where he said, look, if the reaction in the steel stocks it's want like -- whether you're in canada, whether you're in the u.s. right now, if you want that employment, if you want that business and we're talking about a more inefficient steel

industry, doesn't feel like the right outcome. >> with higher material costs for manufacturers here who get their steel here i think the complexities are ov overlapping trade accounts, all these different trade agreements plus a global commodity and international supply chains, all that gets thrown together. the market has to sort that out. it's not as simple as tariffs will help the u.s. >> what were you going to say? >> reporter: if i can jump in here because i was really interested to hear what kayla is hearing on the ground from steel workers there and hearing that there's optimism among businesses because it's the exact opposite in canada we're also talking to executives in the steel and aluminum industry one ceo told us spot steel prices on the canadian prices have ground to a halt. you also see the canadian hitting nearly eight-month lows. you're seeing the canadian markets have struggled, especially compared to its american counterparts. it's very interesting to see that dynamic play out just from

the threat of these tariffs. >> and speaking of which, thank you, guys, we have a news alert on mexican auto production phil lebeau, what can you tell us >> new numbers coming in from mexico if you think that the way the pace of nafta talks are going would slow down mexico auto production imports to the u.s., not happening. for the first two months of this year, mexico auto imports to the u.s. up 9.5% auto production in mexico, which has been booming, up 6.2%. at this pace, mexico will build more than 4 million vehicles this year, a stunning increase compared to back in 2010 when it was about 1.5 million. so, again, imports of mexican autos to the u.s. up 9.5% this year back to you. >> yeah, we're adding this to the economic indicators calendar you know, this -- this feels more market moving than it ever has in the past, right >> oh, yeah. i mean, people knew it was increasing but i don't think they realized that it has continued despite all the nafta talk

>> yeah. and yet it has we'll see what happens in the months ahead phil, thank you. phil lebeau there. here's a look at how we finished the day on wall street the dow went out with a small gain despite being up and down more than 100 points today small gain for the s&p as well the much bigger increase is seen in the nasdaq, which is up about 0.5% on the bell and the russell 2000, the small caps with less exexposure to international trade, up another 1% today. it's time for a cnbc news update let's get over to sue herera. >> hello again here's what's happening at this hour israeli prime minister netanyahu meeting with house leaders at the u.s. capital it comes after he spoke at the annual pro-israel apec conference in which he claimed iran was responsible for the darkness descending on the mideast. nato chief says russia's development of a news cruise missile violates an international anti-nuclear arms treaty the comments came in a news conference during his visit to jordan

>> the united states has determined that russia is in violation of the imf treaty by developing and flight-testing a new -- a nuclear-capable cruise missile, which is in violation of their inf treaty. and residents in the northeast are bracing for their second nor'easter in less than a week more than 200,000 customers remain in the dark as crews race against time to get them electricity before this new storm hits tonight snowfall forecasts are up to 2 feet of snow in some areas and the grocery stores, bare not much on the shelves. >> i already went. >> i did, too. i went yesterday morning be. >> the tree had buds on it today. i'm thinking, it's a sunny day, it's beautiful and this is bearing down. >> hopefully it's the last one. >> thank you coming up, chevron ceo

michael wirth joins us for his first interview since taking the top job last month find out when the oil giant plans buying back stock after a three-year hiatus when we return what did you have in mind? i don't know. $4.95 per trade? uhhh and i was wondering if your brokerage offers some sort of guarantee? guarantee? where we can get our fees and commissions back if we're not happy. so can you offer me what schwab is offering? what's with all the questions? ask your broker if they're offering $4.95 online equity trades and a satisfaction guarantee. if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab.

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stocks are higher on news that north korea might be open to talks with the u.s. on its nuclear weapons as fear of a trade war are brewing. >> we're encouraging the administration to focus on what is clearly a legitimate problem and to be more surgical in its approach so we can go after the true abusers. >> i don't think we have to escalate this into a full-blown trade war. i think it's unwise for everybody. >> our trading relationship with mexico and canada is critical the u.s. competitiveness and u.s. jobs. >> to the extent we're successful in renegotiating nafta, those tariffs won't apply to mexico and canada. >> we do have plans for expansion in the u.s we still planning to proceed. >> the european union has been particularly tough on the united states they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them and yet they send their cars and everything else back into the

united states. and they can do whatever they'd like, but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25% on their cars. >> the dow is up nine points the s&p up seven the bigger movers were the nasdaq and small cap russells today. >> shares of target, one of the worst on the s&p, down 5% on the close after topping revenue expectations in their earnings this morning joining us to discuss this, "fast money's" brian kelly and dan. you are at the crypto conference you're going to be talking a lot of crypto next hour. >> a lot >> it's catnip for you, i'm sure so, what are your thoughts on target, though, in the meantime? >> it's interesting because the revenues were better, right, but their bottom line wasn't you can look at it two ways. is the positive story is that it's a turn-around and they're spending money to turn around similar to what walmart did last year the negative stories, you can

look at some wage growth they've had or wage increases, that's a story going throughout the marketplace at this point. so, down 4.5% tells me the market is viewing it as the negative story. >> i'll just tell you, i actually look down 4.5% when you look how poorly walmart did after they disappointed on margins also i think actually down 4.5% is good this stock is up 35% in the last year here. the turn-around story is really important. they're giving you guidance about when margins should start to get better after they've accelerated this -- you know, this turn-around strategy. to me, i think the way the stock traded pretty well today >> i think to dan's point, the stock was up from 55 to 75 in almost a straight line since november or so at i do think -- i wonder if the decline does indicate it's still a little show-me situation with investors. iment sure target has the benefit of the doubt in the bank that they can execute all this,

get the digital stuff figured out. i don't know how that sorts out but it seems like the market wants to back off and wait and see. >> brian >> yeah, for sure, they're not getting the pass walmart did walmart for a long period of time got this kind of tailwind of, oh, all right, we're finally getting into digital, to online. target does not have that pass it reminds me of the amazon of the space and target is somebody who's just not -- doesn't have the benefit of that. >> we'll let you go. >> i disagree with that. at the - >> well, i was just going to say before we have to let you go, just tell me what the new crypto buzz thing is. ripple, is that done i saw something -- was it novo or something today what's the latest? >> so, there's a couple. you know, ripple's still around, bitcoin's still around etherium is still around to me, you're making a bet on

the space, on digital assets as a whole and there will be 10 or 20 of these things that have any real value. >> i want to know so when the neighbor's kid asks, i'm knowledgeable. >> we'll make it a kelly coin. >> no. for you, not for me. guys, thank you for joining us we'll let you go brian kelly and dan nathan. >> it's an anonymous virtual currency, but you have to be in person at a conference to talk about that. >> yeah, that's the next hot one. you can catch much more coming up at the top of the hour. three stocks on the move after reportings after hours >> we'll start with auto d.c.desd.c desk, stock up more than 10% smaller loss than expected for the fourth quarter of nine cents per share and adjusted basis versus analyst 11 cent loss.

the eps and revenue guidance for the first quarter was light but that stock up almost 11% after hours. we'll put you to urban outfitters, going in the opposite direction despite a fourth quarter beat on both top and bottom lines earnings come in at 69 cents versus 63 cents estimate loog that will stock has had a big run-up so that's down 7% after hours. ross stores, we'll finish it out with, down a little after hours despite a beat on both the top and bottom lines it did look like their q1 eps guidance, after you exclude the tax reform impact, also noting a competitive retail environment saying that they do hope to do better but, quote, we continue to take a prudent approach to forecasting their business in 2018 ross down about 3.1% back over to you. >> a lot of movers to the downside meg, thank you

how about shares of chevron, they reported higher it's lower for the year by 9%. up next, ceo michael wirth will join me here at the new york stock exchange in his first interview since taking the helm when "closing bell" comes right back hi! i'm mike ditka.

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but i'm not standing still... and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ ♪ everything is working, working, just like it should ♪ take a look quickly at crude oil and chevron. oil itself is up more than 3% so far this year.

it's around $6 2 a barrel shares of chevron are down 9%. what can the company do to turn the company around, joining us first as ceo of chevron is michael wirth. >> thank you. >> you are your first analyst day as ceo today of course, the community is focused on all the stock news. namely, share buybacks and dividends and all the goodies, so to speak. what do you have to say about capital return for chevron >> we had a chance to share with our shareholders our plans to leverage three great strengths we have. an advantage portfolio, a really strong and deep resource position and a great balance sheet. and leverage that to deliver leading free cash flow and ultimately leading shareholder return we did talk about dividends and buybacks and we have a strong track record in both areas and intend to keep that up. >> you guys have been lauded by some of the analyst community for your position in shale, in the permian in particular.

interestingly, mark poppa is out there making some comments about how he doesn't think shale is going to be as productive over the next couple of years that everybody assumes. is it going to be productive for chevron? >> we continue to see great gains. today we unveiled news our permian position, which is one of the largest grew by 10% we increased our resource position to 11 billion barrels we talked about leading well performance against some of the best competitors in the basin. we're using new technology, data science and understanding at a first principles level why the shale works to improve performances >> what about the price of crude oil? what is the break-even for chevron? where it's $62 right now, is that -- how does that free up capital for you guys >> last year we were able to break even and pay our dividend at $54 brent and in this year we've said without any asset sales we'll be

at $50 or better our break-evens continue to come down at a price we're at today, we indicated today we expect to generate $14 billion in free cash flow this year. our dividend is about $8 billion, so that would be $6 billion excess. >> and the share buybacks, those could be something, are something that you guys are able to do this year and next year, is that right? >> we did talk about the intent to be in a position to resume our buyback program. in ten of the last 14 years we actually repurchased shares, $45 billion in total over that period of time we have a strong track record of share buybacks that's our private our first priority is dividend reinvest in the business, strong balance sheet and when we have excess cash is goes back to the shareholders. >> does it throw a wrench had when it the president says we'll have a 25% tariff on steel, 10%

tariff on aluminum, how does it affect chevron >> an increase in the cost of steel will be a cost we would bear this is in its early days, as best i can tell. it seems to be a bit of a fluid situation. and so, you know, our industry, among many industries, has steel has an important input we've seen a number of good things from this administration in terms of support for jobs and economic growth. and i think we need to just watch how this one plays out. >> there's no immediate -- i think exxon made comments about maybe not expanding a refinery, for example, because of this issue. nothing like that for you guys to announce? >> i think it's early to say we'll spend $8 billion in the united states this year. we intend to spend $25 billion in the united states over the next three years it's a great market for us, a great place to invest. and we intend to stay on track with our plans. >> also today the -- jaguar made some comments about electricity fiction and they will said they think for cars it's going to happener than anybody thinks and

we've seen a number of automakers say our fleets will be all electric by, you pick the year what does that mean for chevron and oil demand >> it's interesting. only a quarter of a barrel ends up in passenger vehicles the oe other three-quarters ends up in other uses heavy duty transportation, ships, petro chemicals vehicles are also -- passenger vehicles are only a portion of crude oil demand and the vehicle fleet in the world is over 1.2 billion vehicles today there are about 2 million of those that are electric vehicles so, lots of technology, lots of announcements from automakers but the turnover of the fleet takes time the other thing you have to remember is, out of the 7.5 billion people on the planet today, relatively few of them have a vehicle of any kind there's growing demand in the emerging markets and a thirst for transportation that really probably won't be met by electric vehicles in the beginning. and so there is some countervailing forces as well. >> about 25% of each barrel of oil is passenger

that's interesting on that note about exports, what do you think is going to happen with the u.s. continuing to export fuels and products to other countries who have high demand for it? >> the u.s. is an energy superpower we've become the leading producer of of oil and natural s in the world, refined products, you go down the list -- coal, nuclear, biofuels. the u.s. is truly an energy superpower and as we now have surplus quantities of crude oil to the domestic refining demand, i think you'll see exports continue to grow. >> is there something that keeps you up at night? i'm sure as ceo there's many things but when you have to think about geopolitics, whether it's north korea or the middle east, seen a lot of turmoil there, whether it's what might come next out of the white house, suddenly shift in crude prices, what are the things that are top of mind for you as concerns now that you've taken the reins. >> risk management is what we do we manage many different types

of risk with, geopolitical risk, policy risk. so we have a deep team of talented people in our company that are very skilled at understanding these risks and managing them so i don't really lose sleep at night over those kinds of things. we're in a difficult business that has exacting standards and we have high expectations for safety so if there's one thing i never go a day without thinking about, it's safety and reliability of our operations >> fair enough finally, to go back to the price of crude oil, you're in a great place when it is up there and holding at these levels. do you have an expectation it goes higher from here? what happens if it doesn't >> well, crude prices are very hard to predict. we're focused on winning in any environment and not looking to crude price as the catalyst to our success so we need to look at self-help, the things we can control and execute well everyday so whether prices are low or high, we're a strong

competitor. >> do you have a personal trade you'd make higher or lower by the end of the year >> i think we'll be range-bound and it's give or take in the neighborhood we're in right now. >> you could be a market michael wirth, thank you for joining us michael wirth is the new ceo of chevron. it will be a special edition of "fast money" live from credit suisse's blockchain symposium where leaders of the crypto space are gathered one is the president of coin ba base

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. welcome back, we have news on american outdoor brands, formerly smith & wesson. >> smith & wesson writing a letter to blackrock's investment stewartship group in response to the letter blackrock submitted last week where they said they were planning to engage with firearms manufacturers and potentially vote against any directors based on that engagement now american outdoor brands company responding to that in a letter today where they say that the solution is not to take a politically motivated action that has an adverse impact on our company, our employees, our industry, our shareholders, the economies we support and significantly the rights of our law-abiding customers but results in no increase in public safety now they go on to say that we must collectively have the courage to ensure that any actions are guided by data, by facts, by what will make us safer.

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you can do that? we can do that. then do that. can we do that? we can do that. welcome back to closing bell check out shares of h&r block up in the after hours trade on a fiscal q-3 beat on revenue numbers coming in at $488

million versus analyst estimate of $495 million. the company saying there's been a strong start to tax season, up 10% for h&r block. kelly, back to you. >> nice pop, meg, thank you. lots of headline this is hour president trump threatening a 25% tariff on imported steel and possibly on european cars, insist ago trade war would hurt other countries not the u.s., this was after speaking with the prime minister of sweden mexico's automotive association reporting exports to the u.s. are up nearly 10% this year while auto production in mexico is up 6.2% so far. and shares of auto desk are soaring after hours as the software company beat earnings estimate they're up 11% h rsh hrb up 10%. >> this is the only quarter, the one we're in right now, for 00 and very boston red s -- h&r block. people want to get their refunds and figure out what their withhelding are supposed to be

anyway, the market in general, i don't think the tax and tariff stuff is make or break but it will be the headline maker >> that means it's clear path to do it. >> maybe. >> maybe we'll see. >> you think that's the one thing keeping it from happening? >> it might be we have to go. michael, thank you that does it for closing bell. a big "fast money" from san francisco begins right now welcome to a special edition of "fast money" tonight. tonight "fast" is going crypto we're live at the st. regis hotel in san francisco it's a gathering of who's who and top investors and executives from the world of investing and crypto we've got three of the biggest names joining us tonight, tim draper, a billion laaire lacqueo tesla, plus the president of coinse