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mesothelioma, we'll send you a free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 808 two one 4000. >> tariff trade off mexico says it has a deal that could push off punishing tariffs for a month, but a potential trade war with canada could heat up unless the two leaders can reach a deal in a critical call two hours from now. >> plus. >> elon musk's government makeover, he's putting his own stamp on the federal bureaucracy, backed with the power of president trump. we're going to take a closer look at how an unelected billionaire is now transforming government as we know it. and new threats and defiance at the fbi. agents questioned about their role in investigating the january 6th riots as fears spread that a personnel purge is coming. one official saying he's digging in to defend his staff. we're following these major developing stories and many more, all

coming in right here to cnn news central. >> and 1,000 mexican soldiers to reinforce the us mexico border. >> now the question is, could canada cut a similar deal? trump spoke with canadian prime minister justin trudeau earlier today. >> they have another call scheduled in just about two hours. cnn's kevin liptak is following the latest from the white house. kevin, we'll get into trade in a second. but we understand that as we're

speaking, president trump is signing more executive orders. what do we know about those? yeah. >> he's in the oval office. reporters have been in there with him for about 15 minutes. so we'll see what he has to say. early read is that he is signing some personnel appointments, some new special envoys, and he's also created a new american sovereign wealth fund. that's something he's talked about previously. but of course, we'll have to get a few more details on what exactly he's saying. certainly, i think the backdrop to all of this is this trade news here at the white house. and i wouldn't be surprised if president trump has quite a bit to say about these tariffs that were set to go into place at midnight tonight, but now have been delayed, at least when it comes to mexico. after that phone call with the president. claudia sheinbaum of course, the big question now that's hanging over all of this is whether canada will receive a similar reprieve from their own 25% tariffs that are again set to go into place at midnight, according to canadian officials that i was talking to this morning, they weren't

necessarily optimistic after that first phone call between president trump and prime minister trudeau that an extension would be granted. but of course, they do have this second call on the books at 3 p.m. of course, now it is, i think, a little clearer for trudeau what exactly he could do to help ease these tariffs. before it was unclear to canadian officials, along with mexican officials, exactly what trump was looking for in terms of a quantifiable metric to avoid these tariffs. now, he has a good example of what he needs to do. certainly see mexico saying that it would deploy those troops along the border. can trudeau do something similar to curry favor with trump to allow these tariffs to be held off? i think that's a big question now hanging over the white house this afternoon. of course, this could have sparked a major trade war. even donald trump himself acknowledged yesterday that americans would feel some pain from these tariffs. and you saw in the stock market this morning significant repercussions. of

course, donald trump is attuned to nothing more than the stock market. of course, that could have played a role here as well. but we'll have to see exactly what trump has to say about these tariffs in the oval office. when we see tape from that event shortly. >> all right. we'll be looking for that. kevin, thank you so much. let's talk a little bit more about this now with douglas holtz-eakin, former chief economist for the white house council of economic advisers under president george w bush. he's now president of the american action forum. and justin wolfers is also with us. he's an economics professor at the university of michigan. so doug, mexico, giving trump these 10,000 mexican soldiers at the border to combat fentanyl and illegal immigration. and then they see their tariffs paused. do you expect that something like that is going to happen with canada? trump has a 3 p.m. follow up call with prime minister trudeau. >> yeah, i think that probably is the most likely course. whether it will happen as quickly as mexico or not, i don't know, but these tariffs were not built to be around very long. you know, 25% is quite

high. there are no exceptions, especially for things like autos that cross both borders, you know, half a dozen times during the course of production. there's some complicated issues with u.s. electricity coming from canada. so i don't think these tariffs are something which are economically desirable at all, but they are certainly not economically survivable over a long period. they are there for negotiating purposes. and that's exactly what i expect to have happen. we'll see how long it takes. >> justin. kevin from the white house just mentioned a moment ago that stocks were not responding well to this initial announcement that the tariffs were incoming. they bounced back up slightly when it was announced that the tariffs on mexican goods were going to be delayed by a month, but if trump doesn't find some sort of deal or back down from the tariffs on canada and china, what can we expect markets to do? >> look, the markets are speaking pretty clearly here, aren't they? um trump announces tariffs. so markets fall. trump walks back. tariffs. markets

rise. um and so if we don't see some action on the canadian front, markets are going to fall again. uh, china is of course also an absolutely major trading partner. and then we've got the president out there also talking about levying additional tariffs on the european union. look, if this is a way of writing a tv show, it's a pretty compelling script and i'm watching it pretty closely. but if this is a way of managing the economy, it doesn't make any sense. >> i mean, justin, speaking of a tv show, the one that comes to mind for me is south park the movie, and that song blame canada. in fact, that was sort of playing in my head today because something that's interesting that i think a lot of people don't understand, there's really a difference on these two borders. 1% of the fentanyl street supply in the u.s. comes from canada. most drugs do come through actual ports of entry, not between. most of it is brought by u.s. citizens, not non-citizens. and in 2024, only about 43 pounds of fentanyl was seized at the northern border. comparing that

to more than 21,000 on the southern border actually rounded the rounding is actually bigger than what was found there on the canadian border. is it kind of arbitrary then, to to go after canada? i mean, why canada? >> i mean, it's beyond arbitrary. they're our closest neighbors there. we have trade and people and families and lives more closely integrated across that border than any other border. um, the claim is that it's about fentanyl. well, they're not a big source of fentanyl. a different claim is that this is all about raising revenue. but they're there. you know that that story doesn't make sense on its face either. um, and then, of course, you've got the president tweeting that they'd be a remarkably good 51st state. and, you know, the easy way to get it back down in the trade war is you make it easy for the other side to make concessions. that sort of language makes it a whole lot harder for trudeau, because canadians, believe me, i'm coming to you from near the canadian border. they're angry.

>> mm. doug, i actually want to show that social media message that the president posted about canada. he writes, quote, we don't need anything. they have we have unlimited energy, should make our own cars and have more lumber than we could ever use. is it crazy to think that trump is actually trying to annex canada and bullying them? is the way that he sees that happening? >> so i don't know what the president believes, but this behavior is unacceptable. i mean, i think justin's right about the revenue component of this. it's never going to replace the income tax. that's that kind of talk is just very misleading. it's not going to balance the trade between the u.s. and canada. that kind of talk is very misleading. you can't find an issue about which economists are more unanimous than the damage that the tariffs like this will do, particularly with our largest trading partners and at the scale in which they've been imposed. so the only reason to defend tariffs is as a negotiating

tactic. and the question is what does he want from canada. and i don't know the answer to that. i think a better way to go about this is that if you have genuine concerns about border security, southern or northern, that in the context of renegotiating the u.s., trade agreement, you have a side agreement on efforts at the border and embody that in the language of the of the agreement. it would then also have to be ratified by the u.s. senate. so it would be a bipartisan position on what we think needs to be done at the border. and that would be the right way to take this issue off the table for the foreseeable future. this doesn't really do that. >> but, doug, you hear justin describing how upset canadians are and there's concern obviously, about about the of course. and and with the concerns of ironically, considering inflation may have won trump his second term, concerns about how inflationary this would be. do you see with emotions running high here that

we could fall into a cycle where this does go on for longer than it should, as is sustainable as you put it. >> the. >> i'm very concerned about that, not just because of the the tariffs on canada and mexico, but as justin mentioned, the the president has raised the prospect of further tariffs in the middle of the month aimed at all imports of pharmaceuticals and other products from any country on the globe. and so he is setting out to pick trade wars with our allies. and that strikes me as completely counterproductive. if you think back to his first presidency, he came into office. he did some remarkable things on the regulatory costs. he got the agreement of the 2017 tax reform. he got a big new pentagon spending bill. the economy picked up really quickly, and then he picked a trade war with china. and it ground to a slower, slower salt. i don't know why you would do this as your as your opening

act. having had that history. so it's worth watching closely. it's not a good story from any economic perspective. >> we will be watching that call between trudeau and trump set to happen at the 3:00 hour. doug and justin, thank you both so much. appreciate the analysis. >> a pleasure. thank you. >> still to come this hour, the flight data recorder from that black hawk that collided mid-air with an american airlines plane has now been recovered. we have the latest on the investigation and the salvage operation underway. >> also, he's unelected, unconfirmed by the senate. but through the power of doge, elon musk's fingerprints are all over the major shakeups at federal agencies, including access to payment systems. we'll have much more on that just ahead kobe the making of a legend saturday at nine on cnn. >> one second. you feel safe and then.

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famines and natural disasters. it also promotes democracy building and development by supporting non-government organizations, independent media and social initiatives as well. the agency, like several others, has found itself in the crosshairs of trump and musk's efforts to revamp the federal government dramatically. here is what musk said about u.s. aid this morning as we dug into usaid, usaid, it became apparent that what we have here is is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a bowl of worms. >> and so at the point at which you don't really know if you've got an apple, it's got a worm, and it may even take the worm out. but if you've got actually just a ball of worms, it's hopeless. and usaid is a bowl of worms. there is no apple. and when there is no apple, this you've just got to basically get rid of the whole thing. >> let's bring in cnn's alex marquardt. he's live from the agency's headquarters in washington, d.c. alex, walk us through how this move to shut

down this agency went about. well. >> boris, it does appear that usaid is on the cusp of at least being absorbed into the state department. and that is something that is worrying a lot of current and former officials who have worked at usaid, who simply say that the state department is not equipped to carry out the kinds of missions that usaid has been doing since the 1960s. this is the outside of usaid. there's an ongoing press conference with democratic lawmakers from both the house and the senate. many of the people who you see here are staffers from usaid, who we've been speaking with, the lawmakers are talking about the gutting of usaid. one lawmaker used the word purge. they're also highlighting the fact that this helps america's adversaries, russia and china. and every so often, cheers are going up from the crowd. mind you, these staffers are not allowed inside the building. they got an email overnight saying that they were to work

from home today, that they could not go inside. in fact, i went up to the entrance. boris, there's a fake hedge in the way of that. that revolving door right there. one of the biggest pieces of news today, boris, is that the acting administrator is now the secretary of state. marco rubio. that is the clearest sign that usaid is about to be absorbed by the state department. he said that just a short time ago. he's putting someone else in charge of implementing the day to day. but he was just asked about this move during his trip to central america. take a listen. >> our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interest. but if you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases, usaid is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region that cannot continue. usaid is not an independent, non-governmental

entity. it is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars, and it needs to spend it. as the statute says, in alignment with the policy directives that they get from the secretary of state, the national security council, and the president. >> and boris, again, the officials who i have spoken with say that state department simply does not have the capability, the training, the expertise to carry out the life saving missions that they undertake all around the world in more than 100 countries, with a $40 billion budget. now, boris, this event comes just days after doge officials barged their way into the building to demand access to very sensitive areas, very sensitive information. initially, usaid officials blocked them in the top two security officials were put on leave. they did manage to get inside. but one thing that is being underscored by these democratic lawmakers, boris, is the illegal nature of usaid being absorbed because this this

was an agency that was created by congress and only an act of congress can change its status. boris. >> alex marquardt, thanks for the update. live outside usaid headquarters in washington, d.c. and, brianna, these were just some of the moves that musk and his doge personnel were making over the weekend, moves that had actually been in the works for a while. >> exactly right. and his team now has access as well to sensitive payment systems at the treasury department. and the run up, as boris alluded to there, to this started a few weeks before trump even took office, when members of his transition team showed up at treasury wanting answers about how government payments are processed. things really came to a head last friday when the top civil servant at treasury, david lebryk, left unexpectedly after trump affiliated officials expressed interest in stopping certain payments, according to one person familiar with the department. liebreich pushed back on those inquiries, saying we don't do that. and that source went on to tell cnn that the trump officials seem, quote, to want treasury to be the choke

point on payments. and that is unprecedented. the person added that it is not treasury's role to decide which payments to make. it is, quote, just to make the effing payments. that's what the source said here. and the timing of this is key, especially since it comes after the white house's budget office was met with resistance in its attempt to freeze all federal spending and the importance of this payment system. it really cannot be overstated here. it reportedly, it disbursed more than $5 trillion in fiscal year 2023 alone, and access to it has historically been really close hold because it includes sensitive personal information. we're talking about millions of americans who receive social security checks, tax refunds and other payments from the federal government. so if you're one of those people, you fall into one of those categories. then doge associates could have access to your personal data. boris

musk's influence is also being felt in what is essentially the government's hr department. >> absolutely. and on that note, three former musk employees have reportedly taken top positions at the office of personnel management. and now sources tell cnn that senior staff at the agency have been directed by one of those former musk employees to prepare plans to eventually cut 70% of its workforce. you might recall it was also this same agency last week that sent this fork in the road, email a take it or leave it style buyout offer to millions of federal workers, giving them the option to resign and get paid through september. that email echoes a message that x then called twitter, sent to its employees just days after musk took over the company. the offer did not sit well with federal workers unions, which quickly lashed out. the american federation of government employees, the largest federal workforce union, says that the communications from opm are riddled with inconsistencies and

uncertainties, and of the buyout offer itself, they added, quote, it's also unclear whether opm has the legal authority to support the program or its alleged benefits, and the eligibility criteria are vague. the union also notes that the federal government is only funded through mid-march, so the trump administration can't make payment promises beyond then until congress passes a spending bill. the president of the nation's first federal employee union shared that same level of apprehension when he spoke with us. >> another reason that we are advising our members not to accept this deal is because there's a good chance they're going to get stiffed. you know, they would essentially be signing away their rights, signing away their job, and then when the administration has to deliver on their promises, they will renege on that because congress never authorized it. so you don't you don't you don't, you know, make offers like this. this is not the way you run the federal government. and it's just highly irresponsible.

>> now, to be clear, musk is making all of these changes without being an elected official. yes, elections have consequences. he's not an elected official. he's not a federal employee. he has not been approved by the senate to a leadership role in government. >> let's discuss these moves and more with cnn contributor kara swisher, who has covered musk extensively. she's also the host of the podcast on with kara swisher and pivot. also with us is richard posner. he's the former chief white house ethics lawyer under president george w. bush. bush, thank you both for being with us. richard. first to you, let's start with the obvious question. are these actions by elon musk actually legal well, elon musk is acting as if he is a federal officer, a federal officer appointed by the president of the united states. >> and president trump can appoint him as a federal officer and then send him into the agencies. some of what he's doing is legal for a federal officer. some of it is not. but he would be a federal officer bound by the criminal conflict of interest statute at 18 united states code 2018, which says it

is a crime for a federal officer to participate in a government matter that has a direct and predictable effect on their financial interest. and so that means that musk is going to have to sell his interest in tesla x, spacex, and the rest of it, or recuse from any and all government matters that have anything to do with or could impact those companies. but he's going around saying, well, actually, i'm not a federal officer. they're saying it's a federal advisory committee. they said it would be outside the government. well, then he has no authority to do any of this. and then also, if it's a federal advisory committee, they must have public meetings and public disclosure of their documents and their proceedings and public access, a chance for public participation pursuant to the the federal advisory committee act of 1972. so it's one or the other. and i pointed this out in an op ed in the star tribune weeks ago. and they're playing games with us. he's running

around acting like a federal employee, but he doesn't want to comply with the criminal conflict of interest statute. he's playing with fire, and the white house needs to make it clear he's a federal employee or he's not, and then have him perform the appropriate functions. >> carol, what do you think about how elon musk is conducting himself? >> i'm surprised. i'm so surprised that someone who breaks the rules all the time is breaking the rules. that's all he does. this is his. this is his playbook. whether it was a twitter or any any of his businesses, he blows up rockets and it rains down trash. he goes around people, he says things, he sues the sec. this is his. this is such a playbook for elon musk. and now apparently he's attacking a ball of worms or an apple with worms or whatever the heck is going on in his brain at that hour of the night. um, you know, this is all nonsense. he doesn't have the authority to do this, but the president did in that executive order. give him the authority, the problem is, it runs smack into congressional authority, of course, around spending. he's also doing it in the typical manner on the weekend, late at night, with a band of people

that come in and attack of engineers, usually young men, in this case, who are just doing whatever they want and there's nobody there to stop them. and so they'll he'll keep doing that as long as nobody stops him. trust me, he doesn't care about rules or laws or anything else. >> kara and richard, please stand by. we want to listen in now to president trump. this is inside the oval office. moments ago, signing some new executive orders. >> let's listen to him to california to turn on the water. we turned it on. it was not easy because we had to go through a lot of environmentalists that are causing a lot of problems, and we have billions of gallons of water. it was on three days ago. you probably saw it should have gotten a lot of press, but it didn't get much. all we're doing is giving los angeles and the entire state of california virtually unlimited water, which they could have done five years ago, which i told them they should do. but the environmentalists stopped them and we opened it, and we did it regardless of the state. and now the state seems to be very

happy. i spoke with gavin newsom and he he's very happy. i almost called him by the other name, didn't i? my little nickname for him, but i think they were all happy. they have a lot of water in california. too bad we didn't have it about two months ago, right? mr. president, that was, by the way, that was a big that was a big move. we have. i don't know if you saw the pictures that were released of the water pouring down from the pacific northwest and canada and lots of other places, and it's a pretty amazing sight. >> mr. president, rick grenell had a big friday trip as well. >> he had a very big friday trip. you're right. we'll talk about that. he's doing it. he's a good man, rick. >> lastly, sir, we have a designation of mark burnett as your special envoy to the united kingdom. >> you know, mark burnett is figure. he should be good. he certainly has done a great job. a friend of mine and very

talented guy. we have very talented people working for. >> us. >> i'll hold that one up because mark gets so much television. we'll hold it up right. he'll be thrilled to see it. he's going to do a good job. >> thank you sir. next, your administration has smashed records for appointing large numbers of highly qualified, capable people at all levels of the federal government. these are 28 subcabinet level officials being appointed to a number of different departments and agencies. some of them are quite important positions like departmental, departmental, general councils. but these are people who have been pre-vetted and have received your approval previously. >> very good. >> okay. >> thank you sir. next. this is an executive order. this charges your secretary of the treasury scott bessent and your secretary of commerce, howard lutnick to

begin a process that will hopefully result in the creation of an american sovereign wealth fund. >> it's a very exciting event. we're going to have a sovereign wealth fund, which we've never had. we have a lot of things that create wealth. and you've seen that over the last two weeks. i think we've created more wealth. other people have created the wealth. the people, my predecessors, we're creating a lot of wealth. scott, maybe you'd like to say something about it. and i'd ask also howard to say something about it. >> yes, sir. there's a very exciting. we're going to stand this thing up within the next 12 months. we're going to. monetize the asset side of the u.s. balance sheet for the american people. we are going to put the assets to work. and i think it's going to be very exciting. we're going to study best practices that's done around the world. it will be a combination of liquid assets,

assets that we have in this country as we work to bring them out for the american people. >> the extraordinary size and scale of the u.s. government and the business it does with companies should create value for american citizens. if we are going to buy 2 billion covid vaccines, maybe we should have some warrants and some equity in these companies and have that grow for the help of the american people. so i bring all these things together. i think we'll create scott and i will create an amazing sovereign wealth fund for you, sir. >> so other countries have sovereign wealth funds, and they're much smaller countries, and they're not the united states. we have tremendous potential in this country. tremendous. you're seeing that what's happened just in a short period of time. and as an example, tiktok, we're going to be doing something, perhaps with tiktok and perhaps not. if we make the right deal, we'll do

it. otherwise we won't. but i have the right to do that, and we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund. whatever we make, or if we do a partnership with very wealthy people, a lot of options. but we could put that as an example in the fund. and we have a lot of other things that we could put in the fund. and i think in a short period of time, we'd have one of the biggest funds. and, you know, some of some of them are pretty large. i must tell you, some of the like the saudi arabia fund is, is on the large side, but eventually we'll catch it. but we're going to create a lot of wealth for the fund. and i think it's about time that this country had a sovereign wealth fund. and these two gentlemen and some others are going to work with them very closely, and they'll be heading it up and they're going to do a great job. two highly respected people that have done unbelievably well in the world, in the real world. so that's a big deal, huh? >> yes, sir. i think i think it's going to create value and be a great strategic importance.

>> mr. president, why is it important for elon musk to have access to the payment systems at treasury? >> well, he's got access only to letting people go that he thinks are no good. if we agree with him. and it's only if we agree with him. he's a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs, and we put him in charge of seeing what he can do with certain groups and certain numbers. the numbers, some of the numbers are horrible. what he's found. 100. think of it, $100 million on condoms to hamas, condoms to hamas, and many other things that are, frankly, even more ridiculous. and they're finding tremendous waste really waste more than anything else, i think you could say probably fraud and abuse can be added to it. the more standard waste, fraud and abuse. but they're finding

tremendous amounts of really bad things, bad spending. uh, you've been reading about you've been writing about some of it, frankly, and some of the things that they've been doing is is just terrible. leah. ellen can't do and won't do anything without our approval. and we'll give him the approval where appropriate. we're not appropriate. we won't. but he reports in and he uh, it's it's something that he feels very strongly about. and i'm impressed because he's running obviously a big company has nothing to do if there's a conflict that we won't let him get near it. but he does have a good natural instinct. he's got a team of very talented people, and we're trying to shrink government, and he can probably shrink it as well as anybody else, if not better. where we think there's a conflict or there's a problem, we won't let them go near it. but he has some very good ideas, and we have a lot of very other talented people. also. we're bringing in the most talented people in the world, by the way. we just unrelated, but we have two of

the most talented people in the world, the legendary rupert murdoch and larry ellison. so they are two legends in in business, publishing and probably every other. rupert is, uh, larry, pretty much in a class by himself. right? i mean, although you may have a couple of bucks more, i don't know, but. but rupert is in a class by himself. he's an amazing guy. and larry is, uh. larry is larry. larry is one of the most serious players anywhere in the world. so it's an honor to have you. this has nothing to do with you people. but they're here. and i thought it would be appropriate. i'm sure you didn't recognize them. at all. going crazy. they're saying, what are they doing here? thank you sir, thank you. >> omnitech. >> is there any chance that canada or china could also get out of the tariffs after you struck a deal with mexico? >> nobody's out with mexico. we had a great talk with mexico. and, uh, we had. president sheinbaum is a woman. i like her

very much. we've had good relationships, but we have to stop fentanyl from coming in, whether i like somebody or not. and we have to stop the illegal aliens from coming in. i think we've lost 200,000 people on average a year for many years, much higher than the 100,000. it could be even closer to 300,000. and they've agreed to put in 10,000 soldiers permanently. like forever, 10,000 soldiers at their side of the border, and stop fentanyl and illegal aliens from coming into our country. they have a big incentive to do. other than that, we've agreed to talk and consider various other things. we haven't agreed on tariffs yet, and maybe we will. maybe we won't. but we have a very good relationship. i also spoke with prime minister trudeau of canada, and we had a good talk in the morning. but i did ask him a couple of questions like, you know, banks aren't allowed to do business in canada. canada is very tough. canada is very you know, we're

not treated well by canada and we have to be treated well. uh, banks are not, as an example, allowed. did you know that that banks, american banks are not allowed to do business in canada? can you believe that? and that's one of many things. and we talked about it. and i think we'll win most of the subjects. but for some reason, a lot of things have been very unfair with canada. i noticed that in the first term you deal with people and after a while you begin to realize, like you learned, that larry ellison's very tough to do business with. okay? it's a very tough guy. i mean, i'm sure you're shocked to hear that, uh, but but canada is very tough. they're very, very tough to do business with. and we can't let them take advantage of the u.s. they don't take our agricultural product. for the most part. they don't take our cars. they make cars, but they basically don't take our cars. and, you know, we don't need. and look, i think we're going to have another good conversation today. we're actually speaking at 3:00 again,

but we don't need them to make our cars. we don't need them to give us lumber. we don't need them for agricultural products because we have all the agriculture we need. they don't take our agricultural product. for the most part, our milk and dairy, et cetera. a little bit they do, but not much. we take theirs. uh, and as far as cars are concerned, they took in a big percentage, almost 19% of the market. and, you know, i wouldn't mind making our cars in the united states. so we have a problem there. i'd like to make our cars in the u.s. we don't need canada to make our cars. with that being said, we're going to have another call at 3:00. we had a call this morning. it was a pretty good call, i'd say. so the call with mexico went very well in the sense that they're very strong now on the border. they're going to put soldiers there. so actually they're their best military soldiers, and they're going to be at the border 10,000. that's a lot of soldiers, and they want to

protect it also. you know, they want they don't want people running through mexico, coming through mexico to come into our country. so they're going to do that. and then we're going to talk about other things over the next, and we're going to have over the next 30 days, we're going to have scott howard and marco. marco rubio, secretary of state, lead the delegation, and we're going to have a big negotiation with mexico. uh, i'll be involved, too. and president sheinbaum will be involved to see whether or not we can work something out on the tariffs. >> on fentanyl. >> and china will be speaking to china probably over the next 24 hours. >> on fentanyl and china. president trump. >> we don't want fentanyl coming into our country. now. we had another big thing. speaking of china, uh, china is involved with the panama canal. they won't be for long. and that's the way it has to be. marco just got back. as you know, he's in the process of coming back. i guess he's almost back by now. and he had a very long

conversation with the leader of panama, the respected man, and some others. the entire leadership group. and we're trying to work a deal on the panama canal, the panama canal was given foolishly years ago to it shouldn't have been happened years ago to panama by jimmy carter and the group, uh, we lost 38,000 people building the panama canal. like the one of the great wonders of the world. it's the biggest job we've ever built. the biggest project we've ever built in this country, dollar wise. and every other way. 38,000 people died. americans, all men, just about, uh, laborers and construction people. they went to panama. the mosquito got them between mosquito and snakes. we lost 38,000 people. it was the most expensive project ever built by

the united states. most the biggest, most expensive project we ever built 110 years ago. if you bring it up to now, it would have been the equivalent of $2 trillion. the most expensive we ever built. and we gave it away for $1. okay. we gave it away essentially for nothing. and we either want it back or we're going to get something very strong, or we're going to take it back. and china, uh. will be dealt with. and we didn't give that to china. we gave it to panama. we shouldn't have given it to panama. but panama, as you know, has violated the agreement, totally violated the agreement. so that's in the process right now. but they did have a very good meeting with the head of panama. >> in addition to the tariffs, in addition to tariffs on china, could you say your current thinking about whether china should be forced to pay reparations for fentanyl deaths

and the million? >> no, i haven't talked about that. but they do have tariffs. honestly, nobody the amount of money that was lost and and most importantly, the lives lost because of covid will is not something that anybody could ever even imagine. it's probably $60 trillion in all the countries in the world don't have $60 trillion. the amount of death and the amount of destruction and the amount of money lost is probably $60 trillion. i had it figured by people about three months ago. i was just it just said, figure it out. nobody knows what the real number is, but it's an almost an infinite number. the damage done. no, but i have not discussed that. what i have discussed is, uh, we'll have some good meetings with china. we have meetings planned, and we'll see what happens. but that was just an opening salvo. if we can't make a deal with

china, then the tariffs will be very, very substantial. okay, i'm going to sign this one, sir. >> this is you've obviously made making america healthy again a key priority of this administration. a key component of that is obviously heart health. this is a ceremonial proclamation declaring the month of february to be national heart month. >> okay. >> i hear we're doing very well with nominations. we'll see. but it looks like we're doing very well with nominations. >> mr. president, have you been involved with calling senators who had some concerns about tulsi gabbard? yes. >> yeah, i've gotten great response and they want to do what's right and we've had a good response. i think we'll do well. we have great people like people like this. we have great, great people coming in. i think i'd like to say the best ever recruited for government. i think we have the finest people ever recruited for government. >> well, let's take an act of congress. >> and you know what? you're starting to see that because we've done more in two weeks than biden has done in five

years. six years, they could be here between him and obama. you add it up. okay, we've done more in two weeks than they've done in 12 years. >> well, let's take an act of congress to do away with usaid. or do you believe you. >> have i don't know, i don't think so. no, we've not when it comes to fraud, if there's fraud, these people are lunatics. and if it if it comes to fraud, you wouldn't have an act of congress. and i'm not sure that you would anyway. but we just want to do the right thing. it's, uh, it's something that should have been done a long time ago. it went crazy. during the biden administration. they went totally crazy what they were doing and the money they were giving to people that shouldn't be getting it. and to agencies and others that shouldn't be getting it was a shame. so, uh, the tremendous fraud. but we'll be doing a report. we'll be giving you that report at the appropriate time. >> yeah. in the first term, though, usaid was something that you liked in some respects. >> i love the concept of it. yeah, sure. i love the concept,

but they turned out to be radical left lunatics. and the concept of it is good, but it's all about the people. >> mr. president, you said you also want to impose tariffs on eu. what kind of tariffs are you talking about? >> well, we have massive deficits with the european union. massive like $350 billion if you can believe it. they don't take our farm product. they don't take our cars. they don't take almost anything. but we take their cars. we have millions of cars coming and bmw and mercedes-benz and volkswagen and just so many different cars. and we don't do anything about that. and, uh, we don't charge them tariffs. they make it impossible to sell cars in the european union. they make it very difficult agricultural product. they actually don't take it. and they have a lot of excuses. some of them are the pesticides and the different chemicals used. and bobby kennedy actually is, uh, looking at that very, very seriously

because maybe it's not necessary to use all of that. you know, we want to be the healthiest country and we're not. we spend more money on food than anybody else in terms of its creation. but we're not the healthiest country. so maybe there is something to the fact that we shouldn't be using so much chemical, and maybe that'll stop. but bobby kennedy is the one because he's he is not a believer in all of the things we have done, and neither are the europeans. so we'll see what happens. but they use it as an excuse not to buy our product. uh, and they you tried? i asked a couple of the leaders, i don't want to use names, but how many chevrolets or fords do you see in the middle of munich? and the answer is none, because they don't take any cars. they don't take anything. so the european has abused the united states for years, and they can't do that and they want to make a deal. let me tell you, in all cases, they all want to make deals. there's nobody that doesn't want to make deals. they've been abusers and they

want to make deals. so we'll see about that. but, uh, we'll have, i think, some very fair. all we want is a fair deal. and, you know, there's a word reciprocal. i'd go right now. reciprocal tariffs on everybody. because many of the countries that you feel so horrible about, the way they're being treated by trump is saying, oh, president trump is so terrible to them. well, they charge u.s. tariffs. european union has a vat tax which is through the roof. okay. it's a similar thing, similar to a tariff. it's a vat. and they have it and it's numbers like you wouldn't believe. and canada i told you about the banks and i told you they, they charge us. and people don't say that. they don't like to say it. just like they don't like to say that i opened up the water for california. it's a great thing. it's too bad they didn't do it themselves. i had to do it. and it was not easy. we did it at a very rough way and i didn't like to do it a rough way. we shouldn't have to do it a rough way, but a lot of these countries that we're

talking about, you know, there are so-called allies, but they don't treat us well. and just like i got $420 billion and now it's actually over $600 billion, the secretary general of nato came in two weeks ago, and he said it was a miracle when trump came in, when president trump came in to nato, i got he said it was $636 billion by saying to them, no, you have to pay. and if you don't pay, we're not going to be there for you. you know, somebody has to say it. and they paid. and it was a large amount of money. and one of the problems we have with the russia-ukraine situation is that we want to see some equalization, because we're in for close to $300 billion and they're in for $200 billion less. why are they in for less? because biden never asked them for money. he never said, you got to pay. he never did. all he did is hand out money. so we're

talking with them right now, and we're actually working some deals right now. so we have some, uh, some guarantees and some, uh, other things to keep that whole situation to go. really going. i mean, going, we're telling ukraine. they have very valuable rare earth. we want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee. we want a guarantee we want. we're handing them money hand over fist. we're giving them equipment. european is not keeping up with us. they should equalize. look, we have an ocean in between. they don't. it's more important for them than it is for us. but they're way below us in terms of money. and they should be paying at least equal. they should really be paying much more than us, but let's say equal to us. and they have billions and billions of dollars below. so we're looking to do a deal with ukraine where they're going to secure what we're giving them with their

rare earth and other things. >> mr. president, a deal with mexico this morning was that, uh, partially related to the market reaction and the criticism from mr. murdoch's own newspaper? he called it the dumbest trade war on the on the editorial page on saturday. >> i'm going to have to talk to. >> him. >> about. >> i've been right over the wall street journal many times. i will tell you, i don't agree with him on some things. no, it's not only is it not dumb, you're going to see, you're going to see every single one of those countries is dying to make a deal. you know why? because they're ripping us off really badly. and the united states is tired of being ripped. just being ripped off. and that's why we have $36 trillion in debt. we have it for a reason, because we make bad deals with everybody, and we don't allow that anymore. so the wall street journal is wrong because very simply, every single country that you're writing about right now is dying to make a deal because the deals

they have right now are so good and so good for them and so profitable for them. you didn't know that canada didn't allow our banks. you didn't know all of these different things. uh, and i think in the end, you're going to see that, uh, either very, very substantial tariffs are going to be paid by them or they're going to make some kind of a deal. >> or did mexican president. did what? did you blink this morning. >> there was no blinking. no. she's a wonderful woman. but she did agree to 10,000 soldiers on the border. i would say that's a lot. would you say that's pretty good. 10,000 soldiers on the border and. and the 10,000 soldiers are going to keep illegal aliens out, and they're going to keep them out. seriously out. and otherwise they're going to have a big penalty. mexico is going to be penalized. they're not going to come through mexico anymore, and they're not going to let the fentanyl come in from china. and china hopefully is going to stop sending us fentanyl. and if they're not, the tariffs are going to go substantially

higher. >> sir. on just to clarify, when you said about ukraine earlier the rare earths, is that something you want them to give the rare earths to the united states? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> i want to have security of rare earth. we're putting in hundreds of billions of dollars. they have great rare earths. and i want security of the rare earth, and they're willing to do. >> it, sir, you mentioned earlier that you. >> were in canada when you talked to justin trudeau again. is there anything he can give you at 3 p.m. when you talk again to? also. >> i don't know. i don't. >> know, like you said. >> i don't know. we have big deficits with canada like we do with all countries. i mean, i look at some of the deals made, i say, who the hell made these deals are so bad. but with canada, i have a talk with him and you maybe know or maybe not. we're going to meet again or talk again at 3:00, right after my next meeting, and we'll see what happens. i can't tell you what's going to. >> happen that he could agree to, to change your mind on the tariff.

>> well, we can always look what i'd like to see canada become our 51st state. we give them protection. military protection? we we don't need them to build our cars. i'd rather see detroit or south carolina or any one of our tennessee, any one of our states build the cars. they could do it very easily. we don't need them for the cars. we don't need them for lumber. we don't need them for anything. we don't need them for energy. we have more energy than they do. we don't need them for energy. so i say, why are we doing this? why do we? why are we willing to lose between 100 billion and $200 billion a year? we don't need them as a state. it's different as a state, it's much different. and there are no tariffs. so i'd love to see that. but some people say that would be a long shot. uh, if people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100% certain that they'd become a state. but a lot of people don't like to play the game because they don't have a threshold of pain.

and there would be some pain, but not a lot. the pain would be really there. so we're going to meet again by phone at 3:00, and we'll let you know. >> what that is. real is real. president trump, you're benjamin netanyahu. >> coming in tomorrow. >> yes. you mentioned in the past you're concerned about israel being too small geographically. would you support annexation of parts of the west bank by israel? >> well, i'm not going to talk about that. it certainly is a small it's a small country in terms of land. i take see this pen, this wonderful pen. my desk is the middle east. and this pen, the top of the pen, that's israel. that's not good, right? you know, that's a pretty big difference. i use that as an analogy. it's pretty accurate, actually. it's a it's a pretty small piece of land. and it's amazing that they've been able to do what they've been able to do. when you think about it, there's a lot of good, smart brainpower, but it is a very small piece of land, no question

about it. >> mr. president, you said earlier that. >> elon musk. >> is doing everything with. >> your say so. so is there everything that he has done thus far going. >> to all the agencies, shutting. >> off access, getting access to federal payments that all has yours. you're okay with all of that? >> for the most part. yeah. if we i mean, if there was something that didn't have my okay, i'd let you know about it really fast. >> there are some areas where you. >> wouldn't let him. >> work because he has conflicts of interest. >> if there was a no no, i haven't seen that and he would know not to do it. so we haven't had that yet. but if there was a conflict, we would let him work in that area. >> with regard to. panama, that you're going to make a deal or the u.s. is going to take it, how long do they have to make that sort of deal? and are you still leaving on the table? >> we're going to meet with panic. we're going to meet with panama on friday at about 330 in the afternoon by phone, and maybe there'll be some representatives that, you know, here or there, but we're going to be talking to panama on friday, essentially. and they've agreed to certain things, but

i'm not happy with it. >> it's not mr. president, if i may, you still have doubts that the cease fire will hold. >> on. >> what on the middle east, do you think the cease fire? >> i have no assurances that it will hold. i mean, i've seen people brutalized. i've never. nobody's ever seen anything like it. no, i have no guarantees that the peace is going to hold. steve, you might want to say something about that. steve witkoff. >> it's holding so far. >> so. and we're certainly hopeful. >> and that's the president's direction to get the hostages out and save lives and come to hopefully a a peaceful settlement of it all. so, so far it's holding., mr. president, on a different topic. >> questionnaires have been going out to fbi agents across the country who were involved potentially in the investigation. do you believe anyone involved at any level should be fired, sir? >> well, i think the fbi was a very corrupt institution, and i'm a i'm a victim of it in a true sense. i was able to beat

it, but other people have been treated horribly. i think the fbi has a great reputation, had a great reputation. i think its reputation was really damaged badly, as is doj. look at what they've done in terms of weaponization. look at what they've done to a political opponent. probably got me elected by what they did, or i think i was doing well anyway, but they might have got me elected. but you know what? we have to have pristine, beautiful, perfect law enforcement and what we want to do. and i cash is the one to do it. he's the one guy that is going to do it. we have to bring the reputation of the fbi. we have to bring the fact of the fbi back to what it could be, not even to what it was, even better than it ever was, because who would have thought that the fbi could have been corrupted, like they were corrupted? who would have thought that would have happened? who would have thought they would have been

used to go after, you know, political opponents essentially. but me being the number one and so many other things beyond that, and they've been hurt very badly and we'll see what happens. but cash is the one to do it. and i hear he's doing very well. cash will straighten it out. we have great confidence that we can make the fbi great again. >> mr. tulsi gabbard. >> okay, 1 or 2 more and we'll be. >> done. >> nomination is. >> say it. tulsi gabbard. >> yeah, i think tulsi is going to be doing okay. i'm not sure i can't guarantee anything, but she's liked by so many people, especially people in the military and law enforcement. >> she has a little bit of trouble with some senators over her thoughts on edward snowden. i know snowden, you've mentioned in the past you're thinking about pardoning him. are you still and what do you think about that? are you discussing with mr.