well u.s. silica mill bought it during the show. >> square, billing in a big portion of what they were missing in terms of sales, et cetera that's a stock i am going to be watching, come out tuesday. >> our thanks to you >> thanks for having me. >> amazon holding at 4.6%. we will see how it close that does it for the halftime report "power lunch" starts now. >> here's what's on the menu touchdown. amazing amazon soaring sales, rising prices, growth in new markets. the stock soaring to all-time highs and a ton of upgrades today. is it an unstoppable juggernaut that you can't afford to live without. >> history in the making, north and south korea planning to end their of 5-year-old war and work toward complete denuclearization of the region. what this means for u.s. policy. >> and president trump set to hold a news conference this hour with germany's angela merckal. trade front and center we will carry it live. "power lunch" starts right now

♪ change your mind on the first train line ♪ honey i'm still free take a chance on me. >> welcome to "power lunch" i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. stocks are under pressure this hour nasdaq surged more than 1% earlier fueled by strong earnings with am, microsoft and others as well all that faded now dow remains on pace for its first weekly loss in three it's the ipo of the day. dock oou sign. it soared 30% on its debut other big movers sony is soaring on record profits. starbucks is down, reporting smaller profit mother-in-laws and flat same store sales and expedia rallying on its revenue beat tyler. >> michelle, thank you very much i'm tyler mathisen here in the wonderful atrium at christie as an homage to rockefeller center where beginning may 8:the collection of peggy and david rockefeller will go on sale in

what expected to be the largest single auction ever, $500 million wogt of beautiful items, art, objects of art, furnishings, the whole thing will go on sale, including this wonderful piece expected to patch $100 million, a picasso of a young girl with flowers. rebound frank and i are here we will take you through the entire exhibit ities i am telling you it is one of the most impressive things i have ever seen before there was bezos, before there was gates there was rockefeller. we will show it all to you. >> we are looking forward to that. we begin the hour with not just the story of the day but what could be one of the biggest stories of the year. a potentially historic peace agreement between north and south korea. south korea president moon jae-in and north korean leader kim jong-un agreed to work together toward complete denuclearization and also ending the korean war which has technically still been going on for more than of 0 years. eunice eun is in seoul, south

korea. >> reporter: thanks so much, michele. everybody here is talking about some of the more unexpected moments of the summit. probably the most discussed one at the moment is the fact that kim jong-un, probably the most secretive leader on the planet, walked up to a podium to address the press and did that on live television and that really seemed to have a dramatic effect on the mood of the south korean people where most people were saying that they really believed that he was being much more open, he was saying at the time that he believed that south koreans and north koreans were the same people and that he hoped to forge a new path forward it really touched many of the people here. in fact, that is just one of many of these fascinating moments that we had all day today where the two leaders were holding hand with each other they were sharing jokes. and that sentiment was enshrined

in the document that was issued at the end of the summit, the joint declaration where the two leaders said that they believed that they would be able to end the korean war they also said that they wanted to move towards a peace regime and also said that they hoped to set up a liaison office, that they would agree to phase disarmament and complete denuclearization on the korean peninsula. now that part has been getting a lot of attention not only in washington but also here in the local media. the north korea watchers have been on the evening shows tonight really latching onto the word of denuclearization because there still isn't quite a -- an agreed upon definition of denuclearization the statement said denuclearization of the korean peninsula. and some of the people here, the experts are saying why didn't it say denuclearization of north

korea? i think that shows there is still a lot of skepticism, because we have seen two other summits here on the korean peninsula. and at the end of the day they ended with peace agreements but really had nothing to show for it we are still, michelle, waiting to see what's going to happen next. >> yeah, the pictures are certainly extraordinary. thank you so much, eunice eun in seoul for us let's bring in meredith sumper the. good to have you here. do you believe kim jong-un really means denuclearization? >> no. but while today's events and the declaration were historic for many reasons that were already discussed, we do not see that -- anything we have seen today does not lead to us change. there are very low odds of north korea denying in the first term of the trump administration. we put those odds at 5%.

>> what was that in the last 24 hours. when you look at all the pick that are so extraordinary, what do they mean. >> they do mean a great deal, especially if you are an investor or someone how is trading for the short-term what we are likely to see is an easing of those interkorean tensions and growth of the korean ties in the short-term, especially in the lead up to the planned kim jong-un/president trump summit scheduled to take place in late may or early june of this year in a sense, what happened today, we'll likely see a slight uptick in the probability of prolonged negotiation, prolonged diplomacy over denuclearization. but it does nothing to change the long term calculations of the north korean leader about his need for a credible nuclear threat to ultimately protect his regime. >> does president trump deserve credit here? >> that's debatable. i would say that president trump, president moon, and

several other of the leaders who are involved in these negotiations -- certainly, the pressure that has been brought to bear here has likely led the north korean leader to determine that he needs to have a break from the financial pressure that is brought on by the sanctions, and he needs to buy time, frankly. our sense is that kim jong-un has made the calculation that he likely can't make a deal with this president and expect it to last he has seen what has happened with syria a country that likewise has human rights abuses but no credible means to retaliate against the made to. he is also likely watching the u.s. president and his calculations about walking away from the iran nuclear agreement. so likelyhere, we see kim jong-un vying for time and playing for time as long as president trump is in office. >> so then back to the original question that sarah posed to you, does trump deserve credit you say it is debatable but it sound like you just gave him credit for actually getting kim

jong-un to do something. >> and for the chinese to put pressure as well, i would think. >> you get kim jong-un to do something. but is this going to be a game change center and that is something we do not see happening. in the you are thinking about this in terms of denuclearization and in terms of easing those risks over the long term if you are a corporate leader if you are a long term investor, those risk does remain you can expect a lull in those tensions in the interim. >> meredith, thank for coming on. president trump hosting german chancellor angela merkel at the white house today there will be a join press conference in half an hour from now. what's on the agenda ayman jaffers is at the white house with that. it is a working visit as onned to the state visit with macron earlier in the week we will see a press conference this afternoon we are told on the agenda here today are things including nato. global warming, also trade and

tariffs. you see that dpreeting between the president and angela merkel. that double disthat he gave her. that was not something he did last year. already observers are going to be saying the body language is warmer than it was last year when a lot of observers felt that they saw a hostile or at least frosty relationship between the two leaders. the president in the oval office today went out of his way to suggest that there had never been any hostilities between the two leaders. here's what he said. >> we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning but some people didn't understand that. but we understand it and that's what's important. but very extraordinary woman >> in the press conference this afternoon, michelle, we'll get the opportunity to ask the president a couple of questions, ask the clans lore a couple of questions. we will see if any specific deals emerge from this both shinzo abe the prime minister of japan and emmanuel macron, the president of france came here to meet with the president of the united states and made asks on trade and

tariffs. they didn't get what they wanted will angela merkel get something she wants here today >> what does she want, a permanent exemption on the tariffs on steel and aluminum and president trump to stay in the iran deal. >> that's true and a lowering of tensions president trump has been critical of the number of german cars he sees in the united states will the germans extent an olive brachbl to the u.s. in terms of the trade deficit? one possibility is to announce a major purchase of american weapons. that would lower the doppler radar deficit and go a lon way towards increasing spending on defense for nato. >> peter navarro, during the last visit he was around and prominent and putting aside china the country that peter navarro often criticizes the most is germany. >> that's right. you have also got a new national economic director in the form of

larry kudlow that adds a new element to the mix as well. we will wait to see how all of that shakes out this afternoon no big announcements as after the abe or may krone visits. observers are not expecting a whole lot in terms of concrete takeaways after the visit. >> a market flash. >> shares of klx, makers of aerospace parts including fasteners and ball bearings. up 8%, 9%. volatility on dow jones headlines that boeing is nearing an offer to buy this company for $3.7 billion certainly something we are watching in the i don't have all aerospace industry as we watch these defense contractors. a big deal possibly. >> that stock up almost more than of the% the potential for world peace is not doing a whole lot for the stock market today seema mody is live at the nyse for an update on trading >> not doing much for markets

here today but given china's role in getting north korea to the table, art carbon telling me he expected next week's trade meeting in beijing to go well bringing down fears of a trade war. first quarter gdp coming in at 2.3% here in the u.s that is better than consensus. but the slowdown in personal consumption is rattling some investors. the dow up just about 15 points this as bond yields tick down. goldman sachs putting on a warning of a deceleration in european growth. earnings in europe haven't been as strong as what we are seeing here in the u.s. turning to asia. south korean etf, ewy seeing its best week in a monday, up 2% following that historic meeting between the two korean leaders we are about halfway through the earnings season and profits in the u.s. are up nearly 25% guys that's the best quarter since q 4 of 201 the standouts, amazon,

microsoft, expedia up 10% on better than expected bookings. >> back to you. >> thank you very much week erig counts just out. jk jackie. >> good afternoon. higher prices, more rigs come on line u.s. oil drillers added five more oil rigs for this week. a total of 825 up about 128 from a year ago thises the fourth straight week of additions that's according to baker hughes prices have been bouncing between foev and negative territory all day. they turned on this. down about three pennies, hugging the flat line there. with oil over 65 producers are drilling. amazon out with another blowout quarter. the stock hitting a new all-time high earlier today look at the price targets. they keep going higher analysts are hiking across the board. that is good news for nick lowry who took amazon in our stock draft yesterday. we have got post draft analysis

24 hours after that draft coming 24 hours after that draft coming up on "power lunch." with objectives like building capital for the future, managing portfolio risk and liquidity and generating income. that's real etf innovation. flexshares. built by investors, for investors. before investing consider the fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. go to flexshares.com for a prospectus containing this information. read it carefully.

you know what's not awesome? gig-speed internet. when only certain people can get it. let's fix that. let's give this guy gig- really? and these kids, and these guys, him, ah. oh hello. that lady, these houses! yes, yes and yes. and don't forget about them. uh huh, sure. still yes! xfinity delivers gig speed to more homes than anyone. now you can get it, too. welcome to the party. we love the earnings, earnings per share. and also no currency surprise. they are going to continue to

cannibalize the markets. i think they are a huge advertising giant and they are going to continue to set the standard for customer service. >> that was former nfl kicker nick lowry from our stock draft. he picked amazon with the seventh pick in the first round. his pick is paying off the stock soared after its earnings beat. check out the stats. sales soaring 40% from a year ago. it is a not just about shopping. ad rev knew surged 140% in the past quarter breaking $2 billion in revenue for the first time. and webb services surging almost 50%. amtz is think offing for investors. check out the slew of analyst upgrades joining us, the manager director of luke capital markets. he is maintaining his buy rating and raising his right target by $100 to $1800 which is surprisingly low on the street anthony, glad to have you with

us, thank you for joining us >> thanks for having me. >> everyone is jazzed up with the cloud business that was eye popping in terms of its rev growth i ammed. >> the advertising which for the first time we are hearing about because he broke out out compared to the other revenue. is this to amazon what services is to apple? >> i think so. inthat's a great analogy first off i mean they are just scratching the surface in terms of advertising there's a lot of growth that we expect from advertising. and it's very, very profitable so i think that it's no -- no, it's no coincidence that as their advertising revenue is starting to become significant their profit margins are increasing as well. >> how far along are they in advertising? in other words how much should the likes of a facebook and alphabet be concerned in the case for facebook people say advertisers can't believe that platform and there is no alternative. does amazon prove there could be an alternative

>> facebook and google should be afraid they should be very afraid, particularly given the issues they have had recently facebook with cambridge analytic you know, google with you tube i think the skcary thing is that as i said amazon just starting to scratch the surface we don't think a year from now they take a ton of share from those guys but three or four or five years down the road we could be looking at a different picture. >> when it comes to an advertiser and a cloud service provider, what's the competitive edge they have such big competitors like microsoft, like google and facebook in advertising. what's the amazon edge how are they able the grow these massive double digit numbers off of now what are billion dollar businesses that's are great questions let's start with aws first amazon was the first mover in terms of cloud computing they started this years ahead of microsoft and google

they are still by far the most innovative of the three. they also have the biggest ecosystem of the three in terms of advertising, i mean at the end of the day one thing that companies, cpg for example, companies always struggle with is how can you prove to me that the advertising is effective if i'm advertising tide detergent on amazon.com i can pretty much figure out whether that ad worked or not. i think that's a big advantage am has over 100 million prime members. and they have got a ton of incredibly rich purchase data on those members and other people who visit the site who aren't prime members. >> are you in the category of people who believe this is going to be the first trillion dollar market cap company >> i don't prognosticate on that given the fact that i don't formally cover apple and google and microsoft. i will say there is definitely more upside particularly given the fact that amazon is becoming more profitable while their top line continues to grow at a very

high rate and they continue to invest at a very high rate. >> anthony thank you for your time from luke capital markets. amazon was just one of the names chosen in the 2018 stock draft. we saw some hoc shocking calls mr. wonderful taking battered blue apron bethany frankel taking embattled general electric joining us, steve. you saw mr. lowry got a good start with his pick of am. what do you pick >> the way you have to classify it is -- by the way great time watching the draft pick yesterday. >> fun, right. >> it was fun. the way i categorize a lot of these picks, amazon has always been a favorite of mine. but you have to think what has the most bang for their buck now, not back then or not a year ago. so we've seen a lot of stocks outperform amazon has been one of them. but i would think that mr.

gordon has the best portfolio. i like the fact that the biggest variable i would think in this draft pick is bitcoin. and i'm not even sure it should have been there. i think it is a tremendous coup on his part. >> i think everyone wanted it. >> exactly i think bitcoin is probably the best one if it were up to me you want to choose the high beta stocks. kevin o'leary had blue apron odds are if they can rally, which are slim, it's going to be a dramatic rally if they can survive in light of what amazon is trying to do for them literally eating their lunch if they can do that, then the stock could double, triple or quadruple. if i would have my pin pick it would have been bitcoin, ge and amd. i have been in and out of amd this week. >> you would have swung for the fences in terms of bitcoin and ge >> right. >> and amd is -- they have already been on the perfect

trajectory. >> amd for me fits nicely between nvidia and intel and it checks some boxes that neither of the other two do. and of course it's been out of favor, and you see the stock price. and that's why you saw that pop off of earnings. i actually bought it the night going into earnings at about 356 literally and then i sold it the next morning so for me, i already got my "fast money" trade so to speak, melissa. but i do think if you want to invest in this it's optimistic for shareholders if the stock had hole the $11 price. >> i was surprised how much love there was for oil and energy stocks eric dickerson picked all three. we got those reports out of exxon and chevron. better for mr. wonderful who picked chevron not so for mr. dickerson who

picked exxon can it have much upside now that oil is near $70 again. >> i think the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the saudi aram coipo when you look at -- for me it's a lot geopolitical as it always is with the price of oil the iran deal, whether we are going to be in and out of it president trump made some glancing comments today, that date is going to be may 12th i think the leadup is always more hawkish than the actual outcome. i think people wanted to buy oil, get ahead of it and the subsector finally rallied with the overarching commodity crude. so i think they are in for a rude awakening inyou are going to see crude maybe sell off and the sebastian subsector sell off we are still in a oversupply status chesapeake has tremendous upside, tremendous leverage but

it is levered to the price of gnat gas i'm not sure that can move up. >> thanks. opining on the stock draft. >> nick lowry was right, there were no currency surprised at amazon there were a lot of other surprises. >> a huge auction from the rockefeller collection is taking place. tyler mathisen is there. buy me something nice. >> that's right. welcome back to christies where we will give you a private exclusive tour of the collection of peggy and david rockefeller you met this picasso $100 million nude moments ago now i'm joined by the priceless full lee clothed robert frank to tell us why this picture is so significant. >> tyler when you walked into the rockefeller town house in manhattan, this was the first thing you saw. this is a holy grail among art collectors it's from his rare rose period we will show you this, a monet water lily and a matisse that could sell for over $70 million.

and tell you the czy sryrato how david rockefeller bought this by drawing straws. >> all that and more when we return

welcome back to christie's and the really amazing auction of the collection of peggy and david rockefeller. we were talking about this $100 million expected picasso there is quite a story about this one and how rockefeller acquired it. >> everything in here has a

wreck feller story david wreck feller formed a syndicate to buy the collection of gertrude stein. she was friends of picasso and had this painting. david rockefeller said let's draw straws to see what gets first pick of all the incredible paintings she has. he got the first pick and this is the one he choice. >> he got the prime choice we are going to pass by this very large monet of famously, water lilies. >> there are so few of these left in private hands. not just few of them left, but this size and this quality you can get lost in this painting it's mesmerizing, the colors this is estimated at somewhere around $50 million actually, not one of the even top three lots here. >> the amazing profusion of a i've never seen anything like this there was a specialty in sort of

premodern, modern art, late 19th century, including this, which is an henry matisse. >> david rockefeller was the chairman and on the board of the museum of modern art for most of his life he was able to see the best stuff coming up for sale and the buy it this is a matisse, one of the most famous paintings in the world, reclining nude. david rockefeller jr., david's son, said whoever buys this, he would like the come visit it every once in a while just because it was his favorite piece. it is a lush, it's cheerful and like all of these pieces just hung in their house. >> just hung in their house. >> that monet was under the stairs in westchester. >> these items have not been available for decades, decades. >> right and there are collectors that have been eyeing them and waiting for these to come up and you know, it's hard to everybody whether or not, we are showing you some of these. there are 500 paintings. >> and 2,000 items overall and you showed me moments ago, some of these things might even

be out of your price range you showed me stuff that is accessible, including david rockefeller's money clip which he inherited from lawrence. >> that's stipulated for 800 to $1200. if you want to buy a rare matisse for $70 million you can do that. but there are things here for under $2,000 now, whether they end up there we will see. when the rock fellers were buying this stuff in the '50s and '60s there weren't rich collectors competing with him. >> the mathisen key chain is here you can put in a bid on e-bay for $9.99 to start the bidding on it. we will be back to show you more of the amazing profusion of art, including napoleon's porcelain set including his ice cream cooler and rockefeller's picnic set. all of that when we come back. >> fantastic stuff, guys

really great we are looking forward to it later on on "power lunch." also coming up, the leaders of north korea and south korea cam out hand and hand and saying they are ending the reian war, yi. ising to denng >> yet the markets are shrugging. what's driving the markets right now. >> we discuss next on "power lunch. money into equities. they're not investing in commodities or fixed income. what people areally putting their money into is what they hope to get out of life. but helping them get there requires a real refusal to settle for average. because when you approach investing with a tireless desire to beat the status quo, something wonderful can happen. those people might just get what they wanted out of life. or maybe even more.

hello everybody. i'm sue herera here's your cnbc news update at this hour. president trump holding a photoon with german chancellor angela merkel at the white house. he grasped her hand and said their relationship has been misconstrued by the media. >> we have a really great relationship and we actually have had a great relationship right from the beginning. but some people didn't understand that. but we understand it and that's what's important. kim jong-un returning to north korea after a summit with south korea's president, moon jae-in inwhich they vowed to remove nuclear weapons from the korean peninsula they firmly grasped each other's hands during a lavish farewell ceremony. a bush spokesperson says that former president george hw bush's health continues to

improve. he will remain at hospital over the weekend. he is said to be in great spirits. he is being treated for an infection that spread to his blood. we wish him continued good health as he improves. that is the news update this hour i will send it back to you melissa. big news from wynn resorts changing the name of its resort casino in boston in its fight to keep its gaming license. is this going to be enough >> that's the question before the gaming commission. regulators there, about whether it's enough to keep their license. it's just one step the ceo testified for the first time before the massachusetts gaming commission this morning as regulators weigh whether to remove steve wynn as a qualifier for the license. in an evident to distance wynn resorts from steve wynn. it will now be called encore

boston harbor. >> as ceo, i can tell you there is no association with steve wynn there is no business association with steve wynn. i'm my own man. >> but the commission pressed maddox on whether long standing board members can make the same commitment maddox says they have agreed to disclose any communication with steve wynn said earlier this week the boston property is a good opportunity but if it poses a risk to macau or las vegas he would sell it. mgm ceo's made it clear they are not interested in buying the property that had been report. >> i think he called it a contablon risk to the other properties if it is, they will pitch it. >> the question of the gaming license hangs over if they can keep it they want to make a go of it. they are talking about what happens -- the commissioner said what happens to the popeye statue, this is big famous

sculpture that steve wynn was planning to put this the boston property the commissioners want to know is it coming to everett washington he was like we hope to see it there. it's fascinating to see how this work out. >> that's up in the air. the taming license in boston the gaming license in macau we don't know if the concession will be extended. >> that's part of the risk if it gets yanged from encore boston harbor then macau will be pressured to follow suit and so will nevada. >> it's going to be hard to detach completely from steve wynn. >> is the 9-year-old bull market losing steam they are unloading stock fund at one of the fastest paces in a decade $2.4 billion in mutual fund and etf outflows for the week ending april 18th it's the i go best monthly exodus since january of 2008 overall investors have pulled $67 billion oust stock funds

since the start of february. more now from the kreef investment officer at independent advise or alliance and jamie cox joins us, manager partner at harris financial group with $750 million in assets under management. gentlemen, thank you so much welcome to "power lunch. jamie we look at the outflows as a sentiment barometer. clearly, people are getting more negative on the stock market is it negative enough that you see an attractive buying opportunity here >> i don't think i could characterize it as negative enough but i do believe right now is a good buying opportunity. we have had a very good buying opportunity thousand for a couple of hopts. volatility is just that, the opportunity to buy stocks that you like at lower prices so fur not buying right now, i don't know why not pause i think as the economy moves throughout the year it's going to accelerate, profits are going to increase my view is, you know, you should be buying everything that you like. >> if you don't believe the earnings are going to continue to grow, if earnings will face

head winds such as for instance a rising dollar or tariffs or rising interest rates, right i mean that's going to be key. it's not just you buy now because stocks are cheaper are they really cheaper? >> there are two worries you cited them both. interest rates and tariffs are clearly going to hold the market back until we find out the true level of interest rates, where it stops and also whenever the tariffs end. absolutely correct in that storm is always where the opportunity is created when you have a list of stocks in the prices you want to pay you are going to have good opportunities to get entry points during these periods. that's what you should do as investors. a lot of people getting oust mat are getting out for all of the wrong reasons because they are unsettled by the volatility. i think most people should be doing the opposite, buying into the volatility not selling into night chris, do you agree. >> i agree right now the market is sideways. it is an opportunity to buy if you are a lon term investor. in the short run there are a lot of head winds, things hanging

over the market, fears of a trade war, fears of higher interest rates but the economy is solid we had a 2.3% print on the gdp this morning it is light versus the last few quarters but typically the pattern has been that the first quarter is the low point for the year that's what we've seen three of the last four years. the economy is strong. you are seeing gpette go corporate earnings have been fantastic. of that of the s&p reported. up 23% you are not going to see 23% earnings growth year over year from here but you are going to see continued growth as long as the economy is strong which is why we are optimistic and think the bull market has more legs tolg from here. >> what do you think should be the forward multiple on the market right now. >> right now the forward multiple is around 17. i think we could go to 17.5 or 18 it's not going to happen immediately. you need to grow into the earnings we have seen so far the earnings have to continue. inby the end of the year if we can see a 17.5% multiple or even higher then that will really

confirm that we've soon so far, which is that the strength is continuing with the economy. we are focused on the fundamentals so we think valuing as are about right where we are given the head winds but as some of those subside i think you could see valuation -- or you could see multiples move higher from here. >> jamie, i wanted to ask this of an investor all day we saw the remarkable images from korea president trump took credit on twitter clearing having an impact here. and he thanks the chinese president. if tariffs are one of the overhangs on this market does it inspire that trump's style, while it may be completely unconventional, seems to be working and having victories on foreign policy and therefore investors could take faith when it comes and the trade negotiations >> think about it, we could have dmz disney in two or three years if this works out. this is not the same as having

the berlin wall come down. it's not that level. but i do believe that the president has had success in areas where people thought they were absolutely not going to happen and the tariff thing -- i'm not really sure how -- it seems more bluster and talk than actual substance. so i think the hit hard with the talk is his style. but to me, i think what you are going the fine in a couple of weeks after the trade mission by secretary murchin and others, they will come to the table table with positive thing that will put to bed the problem with the china tariffs specifically i think the tariffs that will remain and will be front and center will be steel and aluminum and it will be a couple more months before those actually go away >> we will leave it there. chris zaccarelli, nice to see you. and jamie cox. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> to the bond market. rick santelli is tracking the

action at the cme. >> 296 tens and 313 30s. the i waets' been the last hour a half curve flattening one week of tens fascinating. the high, basically the new high, 303. the low, the low is the old high, 295. this is trading in a rain that many technicians find fascinating. you can see it on the february 1st chat as well both highs watch for this range to be significant. if you look at year to date of boones it close of the at 57 it gave a lot back look at gilt guilds. ten year in the uk 144 giving a lot back global markets may have a red is but they all move in the same direction. the stellar winner of the day and the week dollar index you into he the high there, coming close to the 92 close of last year. that is the level trade

remembers paying attention to. michelle, back to you. >> of the goi. thank you rick. president trump about to hole a joint news conference with german chancellor angela merkel we will take you there live as ons bins. stay with us

(indistinguishable muttering) that was awful. why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math.

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have -- what that looks like in a news conference. angela merkel and donald trump clearly do not have that kind of rapport. they don't get along but angela merkels that same policy goals that emmanuel macron had macron left washington pessimistic that he had persuaded the president on either tariffs or on the iran nuclear deal we will see whether merkel, who just had that oval office session that we saw -- not a lot of smiles in that session between her and the president. but we will see whether or not their working lunch produced any tangible results >> let's bring in ayman javers who is also at the white house as we continue to watch people shuffle in awaiting the news conference were the two world leaders. ayman, what will you be watching >> to pick up on john's point, i think one of the thing to be aware of is when they come out to do the news conference, the traditional two and two side by side world leaders, there will

have just finish theed up their private meeting. everything so far has been scripted we knew what the arrival would look like. we knew what the oval office photoon lacks like now we will see whether they actually gred on anything or made progress. other foreign leaders have come to town to visit the president abe, macron, looking for specific things from this president haven't gotten them and epersoned largely empty handed from their sessions with the president. will angela merkel come out here and basically telegraph she is emerging empty handed as well? or will they have something to tell us about trade for example, ornato financing another area to look for an area of agreement on. also the iran deal, what did the german chance lumbar say to president trump behind closed doors about that what will he say publicly about that a lot of times you can get an idea how the private meeting went based on when they are face

to face with the media >> let's bring in our panel. professor, let me start with you. you heard those questions owesed by ayman what do you think? is she going to get something permanent exemptions and what do you think she's going to tell him when it comes to the iran deal >> i think these are the two most important questions, i think the first one, of course, is the iran nuclear deal you see the president will have to sign a waiver on may 12th, and the europeans and there's no difference between the french, the germans, and the british we all believe that this deal, the iran deal, is a very good one, and should be preserved there might be talks about additions to it, aside from the deal, but the deal, the agreement of 2015, should be preserved. that's number one topic. the other big topic is free

trade, as you mentioned. and here, we have an exemption of the european union, which lasts until may 1st, so that's just a few days from now and i think the big issue will be, will there be an agreement to either prolong this exemption or to totally get rid of it and those are the two most important things to watch. >> jillian, you want to answer what you think might happen as a result he's posed the question so well. got any ideas on answers >> i will simply add a couple of other things to the discussions. of course the germans are watching very carefully to see what happens with the u.s. threat on russian sanctions, particularly on things like aluminum, which have big implications for german industrial interests in terms of some kind of trade issue on the tariffs, i'm not wildly optimistic. i think that, you know, the u.s. has been sticking in its heels quite a bit recently, but certainly there will be quite a lot of pressure on that. on the iran deal, again, we have a very, very unpredictable

president on this, but the signals i've been getting is they may be trying to create some kind of wiggle room whether that's enough to appease either the iranians or the europeans right now, though, is unclear. and on the sanctions, again, the u.s. has indicated it is open to rolling back some of the russian sanctions, but again, whether that's enough for germany is not clear, because you know, germany, a few years ago, thought it was the key u.s. ally in europe. it's been a real slap in the face to watch macron being feteed in washington while the body language between merkel and trump until now has not exactly been particularly warm >> what do you mean by wiggle room when it comes to the iran deal you know, obviously,macron was just there he tried his best, i'm sure, to convince president trump to make the decision to remain in the deal, and here we have angela merkel i'm not sure what she could possibly say or leverage how she could persuade him to stay along with this deal. >> well, at the end of the day,

it's probably less about persuading and more about trump's love for the dramatic flourish and for cliff hangers and the fact that he knows if he keeps everyone guessing, he will probably extract maximum leverage from that kind of tactic so, my best guess is that he is not actually in a hurry to pull out of iran deal notwithstanding the fact that john bolton has been such an iran hawk, but he would like to find some way to try and stay within it but he's certainly going to extract every ounce of dramatic suspense he can, and at the end of the day, unless they feel they're getting something back in exchange for staying in the deal, he will pull out >> on the trade issue, skirmish between these two countries, we have about a $65 billion trade deficit last year with germany germany has a surplus with nearly every country in the world. do the germans play fair on trade? does president trump have a point when he has been critical before >> i think we are playing fair

you see, you have to look at the whole european union you can't just say u.s. sh germany, or u.s./france. you see, you have to take a look at the whole european union, and of course the deal is that germany does help other countries in the european union with their expenses. germany spends about 10 billion euros per year on the eu budget and you see, of course, it doesn't profit from trade but i think other countries also profit from the trade, and so i do think it's a fair deal. >> so, when they complain -- when peter navarro, in particular, complains about tariffs going on cars the minute they go into germany, you think that's fair that there are tariffs on cars that go into germany? >> no, you see, what i think you see, of course, this was in 1994 that it was negotiated, long time ago but you see at the time, the

deal was eu asked for 10% overall whereas the united states wanted, before all, a relatively sizable tariff on vans and trucks, and that was set at 25%, still enforced today, and in return, only 2.5% for cars so i think one could negotiate that one could talk about that. i think maybe today, the priorities have changed. in '94, the united states wanted to prevent especially suvs, vans, and trucks from europe coming into this country they didn't care that much about the cars if that has changed, one has to renegotiate that, but that is possible, i think. >> all right, guys, if you would stay with us, we're going to continue to monitor this we'll continue to have this conversation about just what's at stake with klaus and jillian.

president trump and chancellor merkel are meeting at the white house.

president trump and german chancellor angela merkel about to hold a news conference together at the white house.

let's bring in amon who is there as we await the two world leaders. we're watching for body language and any signs of compromise on policies like iran and trade set the table. >> reporter: that's right, and we're running a few minutes behind here so that looks like the behind closed doors session of this gathering has run a little bit over as well. that could be good or bad news we'll wait and find out whether that indicates that they are actually hammering out some details here in terms of agreements, but we don't have the german delegation or the u.s. vips in the room here yet in the east room so it looks like we have at least a few more minutes before things get under way here at the white house. couple of things to look for we saw that dandruff brushing moment webetween the president f the united states and emmanuel macron of france we haven't seen anything quite like that this time around but we've seen a number of -- i'm seeing officials walking in, sarah huckabee sanders and john bolton walking in just behind me so that indicates we're getting a little bit closer here but in terms of the body language, wanted to go back to

that one point we saw the double kiss from the german chancellor at the west wing door. that's something we didn't see last year. so the president setting a much warmer tone at least so far and we'll see what happens >> he did say he has a very good relationship with merkel trade will be one of the key topics the two leaders will discuss. kayla is taking a look at that angle. >> reporter: melissa, it's a landscape that's intensified since the last time that chancellor merkel was at the white house last year. you have those russian sanctions and you have steel and aluminum tariffs that had administration has threatened both of those have the potential to cripple the german economy so that is why chancellor merkel has those items at the top of her list the european union is in talks with the commerce department to get a permanent exemption on those tariffs. larry kudlow has said the white house wants concession but an eu spokesman said today, we're not negotiating or offering anything under a threat, and a german official told the ft that the country is planning for those tariffs to take effect next tuesday and that the eu could

still retaliate. now, on the sanctions front, that appears to be easing. the proposed treasury sanctions on russia's group threatened to severely limit aluminum supply german auto makers today the company's announced ownership and governance changes that could sidestep those sanctions. treasury has to weigh in and if those go into effect, expect germany to be very vocal about that one good thing that merkel can offer trump. germany's trade surplus is down 10% in the last year, so perhaps that will soften the blow for president trump, though he is still likely to point that out >> all right, thank you very much, kayla. let's bring back in professor klaus, former german ambassador to the u.s. and now professor at tufts university. also jillian is u.s. managing editor at the financial times. jillian, talk more about this issue when it comes to the

relationship between u.s. and germany under president trump, because when i think back to the early days of this administration, and peter novarro being so vocal and we know he's back to having some degree of power at the white house, he was extremely critical of china but almost just as critical of germany-y >> yes the fact that the u.s. has chosen to pick a trade fight so openly with germany at the same time as getting tough with china has left many in europe quite astonished, frankly, because most people assume that you would actually want to have the europeans as your allies if you were trying to force better deals from china and of course, europe has plenty of big issues -- trade issues with china too you know, and that has created a lot of consternation inside germany. as you heard from the ambassador, there is a recognition inside germany that there are elements of the transatlantic relationship which could be renegotiated and probably should be i think germans are realizing belatedly that, yes, they do need to pay more for their own security vis-a-vis nato and yes,

there are elements of past trade deals like this pacific tariffs to do with cars that could be reconsidered but the one thing to realize is angela merkel has had a long history in her career of standing up to bullies she's come from east germany she's dealt with a whole ex-communist system. she's gone eyeball to eyeball with putin she is not easily intimidated at all. so, the fact you have donald trump taking such an aggressive stance in the past, in many ways, has not helped the relationship and has not made the germans more willing to compromise right now >> professor, we've gotten the two-minute warning but let me go to you germany has the largest current account surplus in the world it's not china it's germany i mean, it's come under a lot of pressure from its trading partners, from all kinds of organizations all over the world, concerned that it is an economic threat. i mean, germany's not without blame if you want to use that word when it comes to the world trade situation, is it >> you see, i would say in one

point there is correct i also agree that the european union and including that is germany, that we should spend more on infrastructure we should increase our domestic spending >> sir, i'm so sorry, i've got to interrupt you because they have now walked to the podium. let's listen in, president donald trump and german chancellor angela merkel >> today, i'm honored to welcome chancellor angela merkel back to the white house. over the past year, i have enjoyed getting to know the chancellor very well through many productive calls, discussions, and meetings. we have a great relationship chancellor, i want to congratulate you once again on your election victory, fourth term in office it's really something. congratulations. we're all so pleased to have our newly confirmed united states ambassador to germany, richard

grenel, outstanding man, and he's with us today and richard, congratulations do a great job and i know you will. thank you. this confirmation was long overdue. we've been waiting a long time for richard to get his clearance, and he got it, and it's going to be special but we have a lot of people that are waiting approval, and the democrats have been treating us extremely unfairly, and they're going to have to move it along for decades, the alliance and friendship between germany and the united states has advanced the cause of peace, prosperity, and freedom. today, our nations face a wide array of shared challenges and opportunities, and i am confident that we will meet them together with the same strength and resolve that has always defined the united states/german friendship this afternoon, i want to congratulate the republic of korea on its historic summit

with north korea we're encouraged by president moon and kim jong-un's express goal of complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. i will be meeting with kim jong-un in the coming weeks. we look forward to that and hopefully it will be productive. i want to thank chancellor merkel for her leadership in our campaign of maximum pressure on the north korean regime, which has helped us to reach this important step, this moment where we are right now it's taken a long time, many, many decades to get here let's see what happens we seek a future of peace, prosperity, and harmony for the whole korean peninsula, not only a brighter future for the people of korea but for the people of the world. however, in pursuit of that goal, we will not repeat the mistake of past administrations.

maximum pressure will continue until denuclearization occurs. i look forward to our meeting. it should be quite something in our meetings today, the chancellor and i discussed iran, the iranian regime fuels violence, bloodshed, and chaos all across the middle east we must ensure that this murderous regime does not even get close to a nuclear weapon, and that iran ends its proliferation of dangerous missiles and its support for terrorism. no matter where you go in the middle east, wherever there's a problem, iran is right there as we reradicate what is left o isis, it is essential that our coalition and regional partners step up their financial and

military contributions to the anti-isis efforts. some of these countries are immensely wealthy, and they're going to start paying for it and paying for this tremendous help that we've given them. the chancellor and i also had a productive discussion about the security of europe and the responsibility of european nations to properly contribute to their own defense we addressed the need to strengthen nato and the nato alliance by ensuring that all member states honor their commitment to spend 2% and hopefully much more of gdp on defense. it is essential that our nato allies increase their financial contributions so that everyone is paying their fair share we look forward to seeing further progress towards improved burden sharing. a lot of people have stepped up.

a lot of countries have stepped up and they're going to have to continue to do so. tremendous amount of additional money has been raised for nato over the past 16 months, and i'm proud to have helped, but they have to keep going in this age of international crime, smuggling, errorism, an traffic, it is also essential that we have strong border security and immigration control. this is fundamental to national defense. also vital to our security and that of our allies is america's ability to maintain a strong and robust manufacturing base, which we really are doing in the united states. we have additional steel plants opening, steel plants are expanding. aluminum is doing great. lot of things are happening that were never going to happen before that's why we must have a fair and reciprocal trading

relationship with our friends and partners we have a trade deficit in goods with the european union of approximately, hard to believe, $151 billion a year, including a $50 billion annual trade deficit in autos and auto parts. i'm committed to working with chancellor merkel to reduce barriers for united states exports to remedy these trade imbalances and deepen our economic ties. we also welcome the chancellor's partnership in promoting major are reforms to international organizations like the world trade organization, which has not treated the united states well to protect sovereignty and ensure fairness. the close cooperation across multiple fronts, military, intelligence, economic,

academic, is critical to the defense of our civilization as we know it and the close friendship between the german and american people enriches the lives of millions and millions of our citizens chancellor, thank you again for visiting the white house it's an honor to have you. our alliance is strong and thriving, and together, we will overcome shared obstacles, seize upon shared opportunities, and build an incredible future for our country and our people thank you very much. thank you. chancellor, thank you very much. >> translator: thank you very much i would like to thank you for the very warm reception here in the white house and for giving us this opportunity to have an exchange of views. this is my first visit after the reelection to a country outside of europe, and i thought it was

very important to underline that for germany, the transatlantic ties are of prime importance we are very much aware of the fact that these transatlantic ties are for us crucial, indeed existential importance these transatlantic ties have given a great contribution to our reunification, the first part of my life, i spent on the other side of the iron curtain, and the fact that it was possible for our country to reunite is essentially due to the united states and their contribution and this will be most important also for our future cooperation, cooperation that is more urgently needed than ever in view of the turbulences all over the world so germany will continue to be a reliable partner in nato, in our alliance, is a reliable partner within the european union, all the more so since today we fight against nuclearization of iran, against terrorism, against isis in iraq and syria, against

terrorism in afghanistan or in africa and we depend urgently on each other today, we meet at a point in time where it has become very clear that the strength of the american president, where he really saw to it that the sanctions against north korea are abided by, are respected, has opened new possibilities, opened new ways. this first meeting between kim jong-un and the south korean president moon is a first step on a road that will hopefully lead into a better future. we germans know only too well what it means after years of separation, after years of division, to have these first contacts, but we will continue to be vigilant, to see to it that denuclearization is stopped of north korea and that a nuclear-free zone is established on the korean peninsula. we think that this is essential. we will have to see, also, in

our fight against the iranian attempts to become nuclear will go on. we are of the opinion that the jcpoa is a first step that has contributed to slowing down their activities in this particular respect to also establish a better verification and monitoring process, but we also think, from a german perspective, that this is not sufficient in order to see to it that iran's ambitions are curbed and are contained. it is most important to see that iran, after all, is trying to exert a geopolitical influence in syria, in lebanon, and in iraq and we have to see to it that this attempt at influence is curbed, is contained, and that beyond jcpoa, reliability can be established and i think that europe and the united states of america ought to be in

lock step on this, ought to work together very closely, also, to end the terrible bloodshed in syria and to bring about a solution for the region as a whole. beyond that, and over and above that, we also addressed the tasks that we see ahead on defense. germany in 2019 is going to earmark a share of 1.3 of its gdp on defense that has been an increase over the past few years we haven't yet met the target where we should be but we are getting closer to the target to the guideline that we've set for ourselves in wales on trade, i think it's most important to see that very close relations on trade exist between germany and the european union on the one hand and the united states on the other. we want fair trade we want a trade that is in line with the multilateral trading system of a wto but we also acknowledge that for many, many years, wto has not been able to

bring about international agreements, so bilateral agreements may well replace that that's something that we, on behalf of the european union, already have done and have negotiated with a number of countries over the past few years, so i can well envisage such negotiations with the united states as well. but obviously, that hasn't been reconciled, and i would also like to point out that germany, on the one hand, has a very close trade relation with you, the president obviously is not satisfied with the trade surplus, so we have already been able to reduce that. our trade surplus, that is, with the united states, but we still have a long way to go, but the united states, also due to the tax reform, again has become a very interesting place to invest for our companies and we can say with great pride that not only hundreds of thousands of cars are exported from germany to the united states but from the u.s. to the rest of the world, hundreds of thousands of cars that are built here in the states are exported to the rest

of the world with creating american jobs and i believe that the workers here have very good working conditions, so that, again, is another bond that ties our two countries together we will continue to discuss those trade issues we will have the nato meeting in the summer we will meet again there and let me say in conclusion that apart from the political relations that are very close and while we sometimes may look at issues differently, but generally on the basis of friendship, on partnership, we are linked by ties in the world of science, in the world of culture, we still have the -- host the largest number of troops ever since 1945 about 17 million members of the u.s. military were stationed in germany and a lot of them have established very close ties, very close friendships with germans and i'm delighted to see that now the ambassador can very soon, when he's in germany, work on this basis and we're

delighted that we finally have an ambassador. thank you. >> thank you very much >> we'll take some questions blake berman yes. blake? >> thank you, mr. president. chancellor merkel, i'll ask a couple questions of the president first. i want to ask you -- let me step over it's crowded in here i want to ask you about a couple comments that you made in the oval office earlier in which you said about north korea that they've played the u.s. in the past like a fiddle but that's not going to happen to us. do you, as its relates to hopefully getting peace on the korean peninsula, denuclearization of the korean peninsula, do you feel as if you need to be the closer in that deal do you want to be the closer in that deal? or do you think that's something that is shared by all of the major stakeholders, all of the world leaders within that region and secondly, indulge us if you

might. you said that the relationship with north korea has been strong or one of the words you used have you spoken with kim jong-un himself or do you plan on speaking with him? >> i don't want to comment on that >> do you plan on speaking with him before >> we have a very good working relationship we're setting up a meeting things have changed very radically from a few months ago. you know the name calling and a lot of other things. we get a kick every once in a while out of the fact that i'll be watching people that fail so badly over the last 25 years explaining to me how to make a deal with north korea. i get a big, big kick out of that but we are doing very well i think that something very dramatic could happen. they're treating us with great respect and you know what's going on with south korea, and i think president moon of south korea was very generous in saying that we helped make the olympics a great success because

of the fact that, as you know, there was a tremendous animosity. there was a tremendous problem going on, and all of a sudden, people started buying tickets because whole different feeling when north said we'd love to go to the olympics. so, a lot of good things are happening with respect to north korea. president obama told me when i had the one meeting with him, he said, that's your biggest problem. that's going to be the most difficult thing you have and honestly, i wish it was handled earlier. i wish it were handled by another administration years ago. i'm not just talking about president obama. i go back to any administration you want but over the last 25 years, this should have been handled a long time ago, not now. this should not have been left for me to handle but we will handle it. we're handling it well, and hopefully there will be peace for north korea, south korea, germany, i mean, everything is included japan. the chancellor's been very

helpful in the maximum pressure campaign, as i said, really very helpful. so have many other nations president xi of china has been really good at the border. everyone surprised at how tight he clamped down. everyone said that he would just talk about it. he wouldn't do it. well, he did it and he did it out of a relationship that we have and also out of the fact that we're negotiating trade deals and i think that's also very important to him hopefully we'll come up with something that's good for both countries. so i think some very good things can happen with respect to north korea. we're setting up meetings now. we're down to two countries as to a site. and we'll let you know what that site is. do you have a question for the chancellor >> just a follow-up real quickly. do you feel like it's your responsibility for this to eventually get settled between north and south korea? >> i think i have a responsibility i think other presidents should have done it i think the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the president of the united states, and i think we have -- i think i have a responsibility to see if

i can do it. and if i can't do it, it will be a very tough time for a lot of countries and a lot of people. it's certainly something that i hope i can do for the world. this is beyond the united states this is a world problem, and it's something that i hope i'm able to do for the world okay please >> thank you and chancellor -- >> chancellor merkel >> sorry >> thank you very much i'm just wondering if you've been given any assurances that the european union will be exempt from steel and aluminum tariffs come tuesday, the may 1st deadline did president trump tell you what he may or may not do? thank you. >> if you have question >> translator: the president will decide. that is very clear we had an exchange of views on the current state of affairs of the negotiations, and the

respective assessments on where we stand on this and the decision lies with the president. mr. ross, please >> i have a question for the chancellor, but i'd like to start with a question on iran for you, mr. president after a long day of talks with you, president macron went to congress, warned of a new war in the middle east, and asked the world and the united states to respect the sovereignty of all countries, including iran. in the absence of a new agreement, are you prepared to use military force to reign in the nuclear program in iran, or do you have another plan b that is not an agreement and not military force >> i don't talk about whether or not i'd use military force that's not appropriate to be talking about, but i can tell you this they will not be doing nuclear weapons. that i can tell you. okay they're not going to be doing nuclear weapons.

you can bank on it please >> translator: madame chancellor, only a year ago, people in berlin were very much concerned about president trump not being ready to show toughness against russia now you've come to washington with the concern that a new round of sanctions against the so-called oligarchs may well be detrimental to the german economy. have you asked the president to exempt german companies from these sanctions, and are you generally worried that the united states, because the president is trying to be toughest with president putin, may well change completely and may well be treating russia too harshly without coordinating with you well, we discussed ukraine and here we worked together very closely against the illegitimate actions of russia due to, for example, annexation of crimea and also the situation they

caused in ukraine. i'm very pleased to say that we worked very closely with the american administration in complementing the minsk format and the sanctions very much are a thing of the congress and we worked together with the representative of the administration here also and very closely with the treasury we exchanged views on what sort of secondary effects that may have, and looking at the conflicts we have with russia, for example, in syria, there is a wide degree of agreement and no one is interested in not having good relations with russia, but wherever there are c conflicts, wherever there are certain things happening, as for example in ukraine, we have to call a spade a spade and the principle of territorial integrity of the country such as ukraine is one that needs to be upheld and one that needs to be enforced >> translator: but madam

chancellor, the exchange, was it satisfactory on these issues between america and europe is it closely as aligned as you want >> translator: yes, whenever i have questions, i can ask those questions and i believe the exchange is there. again, sanctions have been dominated adopted by congress. we pointed out what sort of effect that has. i believe our finance minister and the treasury have talked about this yesterday when they met at the -- with other finance ministers at the financing for syria conference yesterday, and whenever i have problems, i can talk to our american counterparts >> cbn >> thank you very much mr. president, two questions for you. the first one's on ronny jackson. it's been one day since he bowed out. i know it's only been less than 24 hours do you have a new nominee for the secretary for the department of veteran affairs my second question is on the u.s. embassy set to open in jerusalem in three weeks have you decided if you plan to

attend and also, can you confirm if treasury secretary steve mnuchin is leading a delegation that could include your son-in-law, jared kushner, and ivanka trump. >> ronny jackson, admiral doctor, is one of the finest men that i've met over the last long period of time high quality high quality family. i just met them. and i explained what happened. i explained that washington can be a very mean place you don't know about that, chancellor a nasty place. the false accusations that were made about him by senator tester from a great state, i don't think that state is going to put up with it these were false accusations about a great man. about a man who has a son who's a top student at annapolis, about a man that's given his

life to this country and the military a brave man. he would have been a great leader to say the kind of things that he said, you had president obama giving him an a-plus report. you had president bush giving him an a-plus report you had president trump giving him an a-plus report, and to make statements of things that most people said never happened, never even happened, calling them names was, to me, a disgrace an absolute disgrace and i think it's something we learned from i called him today i said, in a certain way, you're an -- in a very big way, you're an american hero because you've exposed a system for some horrible things. i've had it happen to me with the russian collusion hoax. it's a hoax. but i came into the job understanding that things

happen he didn't. he's a great doctor. he's a great admiral he didn't really think a thing like this could happen and i think it's a disgrace. so i just want to comment on that and actually, i'm glad you asked the question i think this man has been treated -- he's an american hero, and i think he's been treated very unfairly. >> as far as a nomination, have you put forward a new nomination yet? >> i have many people that want the position, if you can believe it, with all of this being said. we have some excellent people, some very political people, some people that a thing like that wouldn't happen or if it did happen, i guess they'll handle it somewhat differently. but we have many people that want that job. we're very proud of the job we've done for the veterans. the veterans have been -- we've gotten accountability approved, which is something that for years, for years, they've been trying to get, as you know, they couldn't get it approved we got accountability.

so that when somebody treats our veterans badly, we can fire them so fast, almost as fast as they fire people in germany we'll get rid of them. and i will tell you, we're getting choice, we're putting choice in very, very strongly. we have tremendous support in the senate for that. but i do have a lot of people that want the job. we're getting -- we're doing a great job over there for the vets, and you know, that was one of the things that, to me, was the most important we had tremendous support from the vets we're getting great reports, but getting a thing such as accountability done. we'll be soon getting choice done meaning if a veteran stands on line and can't get to a doctor for various reasons, they're going to a private doctor, and this country's going to pay. they're not going to wait nine weeks on line for a cure to something that could have been very easy to cure and then they end up dying from it so, we're going to -- i'm very proud of what we've done, and i will tell you, your new head of

the va is going to be very exceptional. we have some exceptional people that want to do the job. >> before i get to chancellor merkel, i wanted to backtrack to the u.s. embassy opening up in jerusalem. you said in the past that you would like to go >> so, they came to me it's a little bit about government somebody said, could i tell this story? and they came to me with a proposal for a $1 billion embassy in jerusalem and the papers, mike pence can tell you, the papers were put before me to sign an application for more than $1 billion to build an embassy i said, what are you talking about, $1 billion? most embassies are like a single story. and they said, yes, sir, it's $1 billion and i had my name half signed, and then i noticed the figure and i didn't -- i never got to the word trump i had donald signed but i never got to the word trump. and i called my ambassador, who's a great lawyer most people in business know david freedman

he's the ambassador to israel. and loves israel loves our country, loves israel too. and i said, what's this $1 billion he said, i can build it for $150,000 i said, what he said, i can build it for $150,000 the embassy. we have a building we have the site we already own the site. we own the building. i can take a corner of the building and for $150,000, we can fix it up, make it beautiful, open our embassy instead of ten years from now, we can open it up in three months and that's what we did but i said, david, let's not go from $1 billion to $150,000. let's go $300,000 or $400,000 and that's what we did we take a piece of the building. it's going to be beautiful and it will be somewhat temporary but it could be for many years because by the time they build it the other way, it's going to be many, many years. they were looking for sites. we already have a site and it's a great site. the site's better than anything you could imagine.

but that's the way government works. they were going to spend $1 billion and we're going to spend much less than $500,000. i may go very proud of it jerusalem has been a subject that's been promised for many years, as you know, the embassy in jerusalem, it's been promised for many, many years by presidents they all made campaign promises and they never had the courage to carry it out. i carried it out so i may go. it's getting ready to open and i do want to tell that story, though, because there are a couple of people that got to see it, including mike, but others where literally, they were going to spend $1 billion and we're spending a tiny, tiny fraction of that in the hundreds of thousands of dollars instead. and it will be very nice maybe it will be nicer than a $1 billion building. okay for the chancellor, please >> well, chancellor, i wanted to ask about the iran nuclear deal. you just heard president trump say that iran will not be

restarting the nuclear program you can bank on it do you fear that if the u.s. backs out that iran will restart their nuclear program? and also, you're the second european union leader or european leader to stop here at the white house this week. what improvements did you recommend to the president that needs to be changed in order to keep the u.s. in the deal? >> translator: well, i set out my position. that is that i believe that obviously this agreement is anything but perfect it will not solve all the problems with iran it is one piece of the mosaic, one building block, if you like, on which we can build up this structure. and that when the united kingdom, france, and germany work together with the american colleagues, this was brought about, and we will now see what sort of decisions are made by

american partners. i said that the whole of the region obviously is of prime importance to us because it's not 1,000 kilometers away as it is the case, for example, between the usa and syria, but syria and iran are countries that are right on our todoorstep so that is of prime importance to us and we will continue to be in very close talks on this. ms. dunst, please. >> translator: christina dunst madam chancellor, you used to describe america as a destination of your sort of -- what you ever wanted to be and now it's said in germany by you that europe actually has to take its destiny in its own hands and that you can not rely on the united states supporting you all the time have you talked with the president about this development where -- this unhappy development that drifting apart

and should not you, in many ways, deliver also on this promise of significantly increasing the defense spending and addressed to you, mr. president, a lot of people are irritated by the way that you fulfilled this most important job that exists in the rest of the world with certain aggressive twitter messages and so on. i want to ask you whether -- and certain threats that you make. does this mean that in the future there will be less compromise struck by the united states, less reconciliation, and how will you decide on the first of may when it is about a possible extension of the exemption for tariffs? what is your position on this, mr. president? will there be a trade war with this big bloc europe or do you see an opportunity of actually not going into touch a trade war? >> translator: well, i think for a lot of people in germany, but also in many other countries,

people wish and love to go to the united states. we have just said there are more than 40 million people who have -- there are roots in germany, in europe, here in the united states, also for many people in germany, in europe, america is a great country, and even though we may see matters differently on certain political issues, we have to address that, we have to talk about this, but this land of freedom, this great country, obviously, still remains very attractive and so i continue to say that, and i say, yes, germany and europe have to take their destiny into their own hands because we can no longer, as we used to during the period of the cold war, during the years when germany was divided, rely on america coming and helping us america is is stistill helping t step by step, we will have to increase our contribution to and america has been very much

engaged, very broadly engaged in parts of the world that are far away from america and the people of america too have said, well, what's in it for us? so the president is saying, you ought to have some more burden sharing. so in a way, we're maturing. we're growing out of a role where, after the second world war, people were rather happy for germany not to becoming too engaged, too active, because during the period of national socialism, we created such incredible injustice in the world and -- but this period is at an end. it's more than -- this post-war period is, well, that's essentially 70 years ago, so we, as germans, have to learn to assume more responsibility we're proud to be the second largest troop contributor in nato we've done a lot over the past few years, obviously from the president's perspective, not perhaps fast enough, but i would say, as german chancellor, we have made important steps in the right direction and we will

continue to do so. we cannot rely if conflicts are on our doorstep for others to step in and we ourselves don't have to give a contribution. and this contribution will have to increase over the next few years to come. that has something to do with military engagement, with defense spending, with combattingroot causes of fligh but also with the readiness to become more engaged in diplomacy. germany, for example, for the first time is part and parcel of the so-called small group. that has just had a meeting in paris on syria together with the u.s., with saudi arabia, and we want to give our contribution to this as well it's our obligation. it's our duty. i don't think that we ought to complain about this. we have to learn, as a big country, as an economically successful country, as the president says, you are economically successful but militarily and politically, you don't wish to do so much, we have to learn to assume our role and there are differences of opinion.

we, as friends, can discuss that openly >> thank you, chancellor we need a resip ciprocal relationship, which we don't have the united states right now has a trade deficit with the european union of $151 billion and the chancellor and i have discussed it today at length, and we're working on it. and we want to make it more fair and the chancellor wants to make it more fair, same thing with nato we have a far greater burden than we should have. other countries should be paying more and i'm not saying germany alone. other countries should be mpayig more we're protecting europe and yet we pay by far more than anybody else and nato is wonderful but it helps europe more than it helps us and why are we paying a vast majority of the costs so we're working on those things it's been unfair and i don't blame the chancellor and i don't blame germany. i don't even blame the european union. i blame the people that preceded me for allowing this to happen there's no way we should have a

trade deficit of $151 billion. so, we're going to make it reciprocal we're going to make it a much more fair situation, and i think in the end, everybody's going to be very happy. i think both countries -- i view this as many countries, but looking at it as one bloc will really benefit there's tremendous, tremendous potential between the european union and the united states, and i think that's going to happen there's also tremendous benefit to nato when people pay what they have be paying. some countries actually pay more than they're supposed to they think the united states is -- i've been told by numerous countries, poland being one, poland is great. i mean, they pay, actually, a little bit more than they're supposed to be paying or have to pay because they feel the united states is more than carrying the load, and perhaps they feel it's not fair but it's something we very much appreciate but i believe that, you know,

when i look at the numbers in germany and some other countries, they may not like donald trump, but you have to understand, that means i'm doing a good job, because i'm representing the united states angela is representing germany she's doing a fantastic job. my predecessors did not go a very good job. but we'll try and catch you, okay we'll try. we're going to have a reciprocal relationship and it's going to be something that benefits all of us. okay thank you very much, everybody thank you. thank you. angela, thank you very much. >> president trump and german chancellor angela merkel wrapping up a joint news conference at the white house talking everything from trade to iran to germany's contributions. what i thought is that actually, german chancellor merkel really, i think, took great effort to bridge some of the gaps in policy here, talking about how

she could see a bilateral trade agreement between the european union and the u.s. that she thinks germany has to contribute more to some of these multilateral organizations like nato and really, coming around to trump's thinking, even commending him on the tax reform, saying it makes the u.s. an interesting place for german companies to invest. >> his tonality of north korea, there was one moment where i thought he sounded incredibly solemn and very sincere, and a little atypical for the president, when he said, it's something i hope i can do for the rest of the world. when it comes to some kind of deal with north korea. on its nuclear weapons >> yeah. let's go straight to amon in the room where that press conference took place >> reporter: yeah, melissa, my big takeaway there was that there was clearly no specific agreement. angela merkel was asked whether or not the president had offered her any concessions in terms of the tariffs and she said it's simply a matter that's up to the president to decide so we don't seem to have had any major

breakthroughs in terms of the ones angela amerimerkel was loog for here she did offer that note, in terms of germany's role as a leader of europe, saying that germany needs to spend more on its military, needs to stand, essentially, on its own two feet and she called that a maturing of the german-american relationship, very much agreeing, tonally anyway, with some of the rhetoric from the president which has said that nato countries need to contribute more to that alliance and militarily to that alliance, saying that nato is a wonderful thing but why are we paying the cost for it. so a surprising agreement this that sense but no real agreement in terms of the tariff issue >> that's the next topic we want to get to. let's bring in the president and ceo of the aluminum association. good to have you here. >> thanks very having me >> you have sent a letter to president trump saying that our allies, countries with market economies should get a permanent exemption on these tariffs, correct? i assume you mean germany and the eu, for example.

>> that's correct. yes. we believe that china is the problem. china's structural overcapacity with china is the problem for the aluminum industry. we would recommend that the president exempt all countries that are operating as market economies without tariffs, without quotas, and focus on china. >> i want to get your opinion, heidi, on some breaking news that happened earlier today, affecting your industry. and was referred to obliquely in this news conference, sanctioned russian oligarch has agreed to reduce a stake in his company to below 50%, and he's hoping that means the u.s. treasury will once again allow his aluminum company to do business with the rest of the world. they provide 6% of the world's aluminum does your association take any position on what should happen there? >> well, first of all, what i would say about the sanctions is, we recognize that the sanctions are for reasons that go well above and beyond trade these are foreign policy issues,

and our members are absolutely committed to complying with the sanctions. but i will say that because the u.s. has most recently consumed at least 12% of its aluminum from a country like russia, that the interdependence, the global interdependence of the value chain is very much a topic of conversation there's been a lot of market uncertainty and so today's action and announcement is at least a promising constituenstet there's a lot of questions we don't know how the office of foreign asset control will respond today. >> in terms of your membership, i'm not sure if you saw u.s. steel's earnings report yesterday, but it was largely a good report but it was commentary about the uncertainty from tariffs that really sunk the stock. the stock is down 14% today. in the aluminum industry, your members, how uncertain are they in terms of their outlook for business given the situation >> there's a great deal of

uncertainty related to the 232 tariffs and that's why we're really calling on the president to focus on the problem. the problem in the aluminum sector is china, and china's overcapacity it's not just in the primary aluminum sector. it's in the downstream sector as well but the uncertainty for these valued trading partners is absolutely critical. you know, in the united states, our primary aluminum sector, they were able to produce about roughly 1 million metric tons of aluminum last year they have the capability to produce up to 2 billion metric tons, yet the u.s. consumed more than 5 million metric tons we are heavily reliant on foreign metal and that is 97% of the aluminum jobs are reliant on that foreign metal >> so, yeah, the repercussions would be big thank you, heidi thanks for joining us today. heidi brock. dominic has a news alert >> widespread technical issues are hampering trading in

canadian equities. right now, the toronto stock exchange are down due to technical glitches as you can see, there's been no movement in the toronto stock exchange but we have this statement. they say they are unable to connect for their customers. they apologize for the inconvenience. they continue to investigate further updates will be provided we'll bring you more details as we know more, but for now, no trading on the toronto stock exchange back over to you >> got it. thanks the sale of the rockefeller collection is expected to be the largest single auction ever. let's go back to tyler who is there along with robert frank and christy's chairman >> sarah, thank you so much. mark, welcome. thank you for having us here this is an amazing exhibit we're here in an aviary that is a replica, basically, of one that was on rockefeller property among some decorative items that were a part of the collection. where did all of this stuff come from is this the rockefeller yard

sale >> this came from six rockefeller houses in houses in upstate new york, maine, and elsewhere. >> we have to remind people, what happened here is david passed away last year. he's selling all of those homes and everything in those homes is being sold here for charity. are there other wealthy families that have come to you now after this and said, maybe this is what we want to -- is this an example for other people >> well, the rockefeller family is the great example of philanthropic giving in the united states, and there are several other families that do the same thing the tish family, well known to all of us in new york, is selling a major collection of modern paintings the week after rockefeller, picassos, and other great works for charity as well. >> you've never put on something of this scale, you say it took you how many days to prepare this exhibit >> i think it took us 360 days

to prepare it but six days to construct it >> i want your contractor, by the way. this is an amazing thing is there a premium to these items because they are associated with the rockefeller name >> there is a premium for these objects. but not for the reason you think. for the objects, but not for the reason you think. not because rockefeller is a celebrity, but because rockefeller is known as the collector of the greatest objects, so for the most expensive paintings to less intensive arts, that comes with a rock fefeller -- that's what have >> i want you to talk about this item, the rockefeller's picnic set, ladies and gentlemen. the rockefellers did not do paper plates, did they >> no. i think if you were at a picnic, this is the way you'd want to go, with a great big wicker hamper given to them by the king of morocco and great porcelain

cups and everything that you need for the best picnic ever. >> how much do you expect to pay for it >> estimating $5,000 to $10,000, and given it's been -- we don't know if it'll sell for less or more >> and you have, let's face it, a lot at stake money-wise, time-wise. do you have confident based on what you've seen that 50,000 overseas, 30,000 people here, how do you think this comes out in may >> i feel extremely confident that the objects have been well-received, and there's an enormous amount of interest. i don't yet have a sense of how much things will sell for or whether people will get great bargains when they come. >> mark, good luck with this it's an extraordinary exhibit. if you have not seen it, it's no new york, by reservation, but it's something to be seen, and we're coming back, robert and i will show you a couple of our

favorite things, the rockefeller auction draft like our stock draft yesterday. thank you very much for having us >> thank you >> we'll be back in a minute >> enjoying that michelle is bidding on the picnic stuff, i think. >> that's right. >> tyler, see you in a bit time for trading nation, taking a look at energy today. the space under pressure on the heels of chevron and exxon earnings today, despite the setback, though, the group is on track for the best month in three years. we bring in the trading nation team to discuss it larry mcjohnson, and craig johnson, and actually exxon and chevron are moving in opposite directions what are you seeing in the xle chart? >> what i see is lows of higher highs and lower lows in here, and 200 moving day average, and next stop is $78, the old highs, tested twice before, so i think we run up to that the next 5% higher we're overweight the space we continue to be buying the

names, not chevron or kpexxon, t cono conoco and other refiners with leverage in there especially given the gdp number you saw today. >> larry, you are bullish, on the price of oil or the companies? which don't move in tandem >> good point. for most of this year, the companies have dramatically underperformed the commodity, but in the last month, it's been a real catchup going on. you have to understand, for this year, for the first time in more than a decade, stocks and bonds for the first four months of the year are negative, and so investors all around the country and around the world are looking at the statements, and they are under -- they are under owning right now or they don't own enough commodities and energy names, and the flight out of stocks and bonds will move towards commodities and energy names, and you're talking a potentially trillion dollars over the next year and a half, two years that's going to move

out of stocks and bonds into commodities, and so you back up the truck, the energy space, the xle and xlp are screaming buys right here >> all right we'll see if you are right guys, thank you. >> thank you for more insights, go to tradingnation.cnbc.com check please is next daily price -- >> and now, the latest from tradingnation.cnbc.com and a word from our sponsor. >> daily price changes of individual stocks can offer trading opportunities, however, if you are unhappy with your returns trading actively, consider taking smaller positions over a great investment time frame. trade over weeks rather than hours can help a trader locate more consistently tradeable trends while possibly trading less frequently. ♪

adults are just kids with much, much better toys. introducing the 2018 c-class sedan, coupe and cabriolet. the thrills keep getting better. lease the c300 sedan for $419 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. welcome back to christie's where it's time for check, please, and bring a big check, please our favorite choices are out of this peggy and david rockefeller option you know my third pick, that picnic basket we saw for $5,000-$10,000 >> there was a cool one. i like these martin cuff links he made a great one, and, how cool, they are $400-$600

expected they are affordable. >> my second choice was an apple drawn by picasso for gertrude. there's a story here, walking back, and this is the first pick in a minute, but she had that apple, she had an apple that saison painted, lost it in a fight with her brother, so picasso says you want an apple i'll paint you an apple. two artists in one because you got picasso doing a saison >> given to her as a christmas present with a inscription >> this is a giant -- it's $3 million, but it's a small model authority only $100,000, and that would fit >> my first pick is napolean's dessert, folks, this is so special because he took it, he was only allowed to take certain things with him when he was

exiled, and then you saw this, this is his ice cream bowl, and sugar bowls, $150,000, this can be yours, and, wait, there's more, you can have them all, folks. everything is going on sale. robert, this has been a blast. >> thank you, tyler, this was fun, and we department see hatch the rooms here there's a ton of treasures >> amazing stuff folks, back to you we'll put your bid in. got a question >> i'm on the website right now, because they post everything that you can bid on, and you can see, i can't believe they got it divided up into, like, eight nights or something because there's so much stuff. usually, that's one link to everything you can look at, and here is half a dozen >> 2,000 items, the auction begins on may 8th, and as robert said, this is all going to go, the proceeds go to charity, and of course, the family among the greatest philanthropists in american history >> right to michelle's point, a lot is

just online, so the online bidding will start soon, may 1st, and easy to bid >> folks, that's all from kr christie's we didn't bother showing the jewelry. >> have fun, great stuff out there. thank you for watching "power lunch," and "closing bell" starts right now ♪ hi, everybody, welcome to the "closing bell" on friday, i'm kelly evans. >> i'm wilbur frost. i was nervous for them i would have tripped and broke something. would the tab be on us >> i don't know. >> glad they didn't do that. the dow swinging more than 160 points in session, and we'll discuss what's driving the market as we begin this, the final hour of trading for the week >> one of the big movers this week, of course, amazon, t