we heard it on the air earlier eamon javers is live with more >> reporter: yeah, another big departure today as you say rex tillerson apparently finding out that he lost his job as secretary of state when the president tweeted about it this morning. he had had some indication in a things were souring in a phone call last week that was not from the president of the united states, but apparently finding out officially the decision had been made when the rest of us did when we saw the presidential tweet earlier this morning in the 8:00 a.m. east coast time. take a look at this chart of all of the big names who have departed this white house over the last year. and just within the past several weeks, we've seen some giant names leaving. rex tillerson, gary cone koecohe hicks, 1 some of the clothes onh economy and communication and now state. the president on his way to marine one today stopped to talk to cameras and explained some of his thinking on why he wanted to get rid of rex tillerson here's what he said. >> rex and i have been talking about this for a long time we got along actually

who will benefit from those tariffs will be in the ascendancy, melissa. >> eamon, thanks so much eamon javersng us on the phone. and eamon mentioned, according to his sources, it wasn't simply because of the tariff issue that gary cohn resigned but regardless of why, wall street just lost their top deputy in the white house and as you pointed out, probably one of the last barriers standing in the way of the trump administration and tariffs in terms of somebody objecting to them in the white house. he's gone now. >> right. >> what does this mean for the markets? >> again, i don't think this is good for the markets because the markets are going to say okay, what else? are we going to have more debt all the other nationalist agendas out there that could be harmful to the market, i think the market will shoot first and ask questions later so this -- again, we're in a period of extreme political volatility that are affecting asset prices and the market isn't reacting well. >> we'll show you the etfs, it looks like they're down 1% apiece. >> it's interesting to think about before january how few 1%

eamon javers, what would this new round target >> good morning. it's about $60 billion that reuters is reporting that the united states would be targeting in terms of imports from china and new tariffs. unclear what the tariff rate would be and what industries the united states would specifically be going after i've been talking to sources at the white house, it's not just tariffs. it's more than just the tariffs they're thinking about imposing. they're talking about tariffs but also investment restrictions in the united states by chinese individuals and also possibly visa restrictions on chinese travelers coming to the united states all of that is in the mix at the white house. we'll try to figure out today where we go. what's the big number that all this is about? here it is, the trade deficit with china the president likes to say it's about 5$500 billion the official number is 3$347 billion in trade deficit the president wants to roll that number way back. the effort here with the tariffs, with the investment restrictions and visa restrictions

eamon javers at the white house. dow is still down u about 200 points it's off the worst levels of the session. it's a busy news day with even more now a news alert on blackrock. hey, brian >> blackrock coming out with a statement on guns and index funds. saying it can't remove specific stocks from funds held by clients because it is required to hold those if they are in any index. however, they are taking a number of steps to ease some of the concern and criticism over its ownership in gun related stocks first, it is looking at ways to offer clients different index funds that do not include gun g gunmakers or retailers of guns if they choose i also says it is quote engaging gunmakers and retailers on their their business practices, including asking gunmakers for financial and litigation risks associated with making guns and whether they are investing in r and d to make guns safer for example, a trigger locking technology they are also threatening to use its voting power to make change. suggesting in part it could ta

cnbc's eamon javers is live at the white house. what do we know, eamon? >> reporter: larry kudlow accepted the job, a free market conservative. what this sets up is a fascinating tension, because larry kudlow does not believe in or support broad based tariffs. you've seen this white house moving more toward a protectionist tariff-friendly kind of regime in terms of global trade. that's the president sort of committing to that promise that he made out on the campaign trail to protect american workers. but larry kudlow doesn't necessarily agree with that, he's more of a free trader. the president said earlier this week that larry kudlow has come around on that and views those tariffs as possible negotiating points now with foreign countries. so it will be interesting to see that tension between the two men develop. gary cohn famously resigned in part because he did not support the president's tariff agenda. now larry kudlow will be coming in as somebody who also doesn't support that tariff agenda but might see it slightly differently than gary cohn did as f

let's get straight to eamon javers live in washington with the latest good morning >> good morning.nother week, another major white house departure. this time gary cohn, the president's top economic adviser. it was not an unexpected move and throughout the afternoon white house aides were cautioning us that if gary cohn were to resign it would be about more than the tariff decision made by the president of the united states last week. gary cohn had been opposed to it, was maneuvering to block it or take the steam out of it, in the end gary cohn left the white house last night, an announcement that came after the market closed. the president on twitter last night saying we will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new chief economic adviser. many people wanting the job. will choose wisely what does all of this mean i talked to an administration official last night who had worked closely with all of these folks, and this administration official put it this way saying this is a new jersey victory for the nationalists peter navarro won the trade battle and now gary has given

and let's bring in eamon javers from the white house >> reporter: there is an enormous amount of uncertainty about what will happen in a couple of minutes time but two sources tell me the president is expected to sign this omnibus bill in a couple of minutes. i'm told he might make a statement in front of television cameras and then sign the bill and he'll do that likely on national security grounds saying that there is a lot of defense spending in this bill that needs to happen. we know that he was meeting with defense secretary james mattis today who may have made that point to the president despite the president's tweet earlier in the day suggesting he's considering a veto of this bill, because of the daca fight with democrats so an enormous amount of uncertainty but two sources saying the president is expected to sign the omnibus bill, despite his tweet and if it pans out there is confusion whether he will be in a briefing room or some other room and whether or not we'll see him take questions from reporters that is all to be determined at this point reporters in the briefing room trying

. >> art, thanks eamon javers in washington appreciate you john harwood on the phone and to jim cramer who brought brought us this news that larry kudlow is the leading contender to take gary cohn's job. to the half. >> cart, thanks very much so much welcome to the halftime report our break iing news continueses with reporting by jim cramer that larry kudlow is the top contender the replace gary cohn. the r report moving stocks off their lows we're going to discuss all of that with our panel today. joe, steve, sarat, ian, we want to get back out west though as a reset of sorts with jim cramer who broke this story jim, what do you know? >> well, look. the president has spoken to larry. spoken to larry in the last day to say he's not a, say the leading contender would be wrong, but the president hasn't picked anybody i think it's important to note the president does have differences with larry, but tha may be applauded with someone who's not a globalist, but an economist. we know he's likeded wall street i worked with larry for many years. his knowledge of rag p and reagan white house, v

our eamon javers is again listening in here. both of these conditions wants something from each other. the president of the united states just fired the secretary of state last week, and there's speculation will mean white he's been in an locked up a numb be for a period of time last year you heard the president giving his sales pitch in chief there about u.s. military equipment being the best in the world, hoping the saudis will buy that and bring some of their dollars here to the united states for investments and jobs. >> the other thing on a more lighter note, if you will, gary cohn, the outgoing economic adviser, was at the big table. we had mentioned many times how we're used to seeing mr. cohn in that role, not sitting at the table with the other cabinet members, but for this particular meeting, he was certainly there and i took note of it. >> interesting it comes a day after politico -- we knew gary cohn had been negotiating for a number of other jobs before his resignation. we did not know that he had been considered for

. >>> eamon javers has a news alert. >> reporter: john dowd, one of the president's personal attorneys, is resigning from that position, telling nbc's kristen welker, "i love the president and wish him well. jay sekulow, another attorney for the president, texted me that "john dowd is a friend, a valued member of our legal team. we will continue our ongoing representation of the president and our cooperation with the office of the special counsel. a few days ago the president was tweeting, denying reports of a shake-up in his legal team, stating "the new york times purposely wrote a false story. something must have changed between then and now, we don't know exactly what the situation is here, scott it would be a little early to speculate on what's going on behind the scenes. you remember that john dowd was involved in a straininge episod over the weekend in which he seemed to call for an end to the mueller investigation, then gave different accounts to different media outlets, suggesting once that he was speaking on behalf of the president and then suggesting later he was not in fact

the road now that the game has changed >>> back to the tillerson news at least at the moment, eamon javers at the white house how this all went down what it says of the larger picture of turnover in the west wing >> yeah, carl, it is a larger picture of turnover in the west wing and not unexpected but still surprising to see a dramatic move here with tillerson out as secretary of state. mike pompeo from cia will move over to the state department and that's a dramatic move as well pompeo is somebody who has been seen here often at the white house as a very hands-on relationship when it comes to interacting with president trump. somebody that develops a really good report with president trump. so we are getting a statement from the white house, sarah huckabee sanders e-mailing me with an official statement from the white house. the president is saying that that he's proud to dominate mike pompeo to be the new secretary of state, somebody that the president clearly trusts the washington post is reporting that this decision was made last week on friday if that's accurate, that's fascinate ng t

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

. >> i was going to say, let's bring in eamon javers. what are you hearing as this thing has been so fluid over the last 24 hours? >> the only person missing here is the president, by the way. >> reporter: i'll tell you what, i was standing a few feet from where that picture is inside the white house and i saw peter navarro behind the scenes coordinating with junior white house staff, a very much figure in action here at the white house. you point out how rare it is to see him on the big stage here. he's somebody who has emerged as the voice of the trump administration on trade here, particularly in this week of tariffs. watch this space in terms of who's going to succeed gary cohn has the national economic counsel director the personalities really matter. cohn, not in the room liningup wilbur ross, peter navarro are in the room lining up alongside steven mnuchin we're told was somebody who was skeptical of tariffs as mnuchin will be at the president's sign if this current lineup holds up. watching the personalities and the players is im

eamon javers joins us.en telegraphed kind of a new direction for cifius. >> this is all about china bottom line. you have to bear in mind the trump administration vote. this is protecting the u.s. industry from the chinese encroachment the u.s. concerned about market share here and concern that broadcom would have too much access to intellectual access here in the u.s. this didn't look like it was heading this way back in september. they said they were going to move the headquarters from singapore to the united states here's what who chock tan said e united states. >> today we are announcing that we are making america home again. >> america is once again the best place to lead a business with global footprint. thanks to you, mr. president, business conditions have stead little improved. >> a round of applause there some flattery from broadcom to the president of the united states it didn't work out the way broadcom wanted it to work out and the question here, guys, is what does this mean now for these other

eamon javers has the details >> reporter: good morning. another dramatic and emotional day at the white house yesterday with the departure of hope hicks. the "new york times" breaking the story late in the afternoon. there were emotional scenes yesterday of staffers hugging each other, stunned by the news. hope hicks is seen as somebody as close to the president as anybody, including members of his family one of the originals from the campaign days still working in the white house. here's what the house is saying about this they're saying that hicks tendered her resignation to president trump on wednesday morning, and the departure has nothing to do with the eight or nine-hour testimony she gave on capitol hill she said the resignation has been in the works for weeks, and that hicks was considering leaving several weeks ago and waited until some developments occurred in the white house and thinks this is the right time. that the president was not unhappy with her hope hicks saying there are no words to adequately express my gratitude to pr

let's get to eamon javers at the white house with more. ng, eamon. >> a lot of moving parts at the white house. the secretary of state is out as you say but it looks like he didn't want to be out. here's the statement we have from the secretary of state's office suggesting he hoped to remain in his position the secretary of state's office saying the secretary had every intention of staying because of the progress made in national security he'll miss his colleagues at the department of state and foreign ministers he has worked with throughout the world andrea mitchell of nbc news is reporting that rex tillerson found out finally he'd been fired today via the tweet the president of the united states put out today. the president speaking to this as he was departing the white house on the south lawn getting in marine one on his way to california here's what the president said about his relationship with rex tillerson and how it evolved over time. >> i've gotten to know a lot of people very well over the last year and i'm at a point where we're

. >>> so what does gary cohn's departure mean for the tumultuous west wing eamon javers is live at the white housech and before we get to cohn, who you very astutely yesterday at the end of the press briefing -- during the press conference, pointed out he was not there and you -- and his absence hung heavy but before we get to cohn, new news on tariffs just out. >> that is right you heard bob just quoting from goldman sachs, that report has at just about right. i'm told we're going to expect this announcement on tariffs, the details at an event here at the white house either thursday or friday. still fluid as to the times of when that might happen but we'll get the legal underpinning them but simultaneous to that, we should expect at least some conversations around additional trade actions that this white house might take that is behind the scenes, they are considering a basket of other trade actions that might be put into place. they're working through the details on that. we might hear more about that on thursday and friday at that event. but of course those steel and aluminum tariff

chatter still running wild about another west wing shakeup to come, and eamon javers has been filteringumors and the scuttlebutt for us on the north lawn hi, eamon. >> hi, a really unsettled feeling here at the white house today. aides reported for work this morning, a number texting me saying they're not sure if one or a number of senior administration officials would be fired today so far, no news in that department and i talked to one aide a short while ago who said that everything feels chill so far today. so there is a sense here that there might be an effort to tamp down on some of the speculation that somebody might be about to depart the white house but we'll watch it throughout the afternoon. we're going to see a briefing now from press secretary sarah huckabee sanders in a few moments. you can imagine she will get a barrage of questions about exactly that any number of officials on thin ice with the president starting with john kelly, the chief of staff himself, is somebody who has been speculated to be on the president's bad side also h.r. mcmaster is someone who never really

i'm eamon javers at the white house, where president trump is meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. in that session the president was asked if he's going to back down on tariffs. here's what he said. >> no, we're not backing down. mexico is -- we've had a very bad deal with mexico, very balance dealed with canada our factories have left, our jobs have left for many years nafta has been a disaster we are renegotiating nafta as i said i would if we don't make a deal, i will terminate it if i do make a deal, which is fair to the workers and to the american people, that would be i would imagine one of the points we'll negotiate, whether tariffs on steel for canada and for mexico we'll see what happens >>> so, scott, some tough talk on trade there from the president. in those remarks, he also raised the prospect of new taxes on european cars coming into the united states, so a lot of tough talk and rhetoric on trade here tess white house. >>> thank you, eamon all this as speaker paul ryan urged the president to back off the tariff talk. we'll see where it all goes in the comin

eamon javers is live in washington with more on this >> reporter: good morning. another dramatic and emotional day at the white house yesterday with the departure of hope hicks. the "new york times" breaking the story late in the afternoon. hope one of the president's closest confidants and advisers. the white house saying she tendered her resignation to president trump on wednesday morning and they insist her departure has nothing to do with that testimony she had before the intel committee on capitol hill the day before. about eight or nine hours of straight testimony for hope hicks con capitol hill they say the resignation has been in the works for weeks, and that the president was not unhappy with her hope hicks saying there are no words to adequately express my gratitude to president trump i wish the president and his administration the very best as he cons to lead our country. the president himself putting out a statement. the president's statement is she's a smart and thoughtful as they come. a truly great person i will miss having her by my side when she

. >> jared, we have to take a quick pause and bring in eamon javers who is covering this story from the white house and among the questions i have, eamon, what is this job any way and what is the national economic council that he will be the chair of. >> reporter: the council is a powerful force inside of the white house. the director sits in the west wing, just upstairs from the oval office with a staff of about 40 people or so who sit next door in the executive office building. they devise policy options on the economy for the president of the united states. how powerful that job is really depends on the person who holds it and we've seen that wax and wain o over the years, under gary cohn it was the most that we've seen -- spearheading the president's tax policy through capitol hill a big legislative battle undertaken largely by gary cohn walking up to capitol hill and putting the arm on lawmakers to get that deal done along with the legislative team here at the white house. so for larry kudlow, the question will be, what is the economic agenda of the trump white house post tax refor

our eamon javers is standing by at the white house at always eamon, he talked about trade and the achievements he's made and gary cohn and his departure as well >> reporter: and a round of applause there for gary cohn let's pick apart what the president said there at the end. he said he wants to preserve the ability to raise or lower tariffs on individual countries going forward but he wants to start initially with the 10 and 25 that you were just talking about. that indicates to me that he's contemplating additional loopholes and exclusions and he specifically mentioned the country of australia as somebody who has been a good friend of the united states and he said we might do something with them as well. so it appears that the president's sense of who gets excluded from this is expanding. he's also contemplating adding additional provisions that would give him the ability toi intogge up and down as he sees fit that could open up a broader negotiation country by country as each country asks the president to toggle them out of this going forward that gives the president a lot of negotiating po

and let's bring in eamon javers from the white house >> reporter: there is an enormous amount of uncertaintyut what will happen in a couple

administration against each other with the outcome potentially impacting the markets and your money eamon javers on the north lawn for us with new reporting. gl there is real and intense disagreement among the president's staff about exactly how this tar itch issue should play out there's a camp that would like to see exemptions. the other camp would like to lock it down and get it finalized. there are rumors that both sides are planning events here at the white house for laettner the week with ceos that would buttress their side of the argument, but neither of those meetings, i am told, has been placeded on the official white house schedule so as of now, there's a will the of maneuvering internally, but no actual meetings on the president's schedule for later in the week. secretary mnuchin of the treasury was up on capitol hill today talking about where the president stands on sttariffs a said might be folded into the broader and a half the ta debate >> canada is a very significant partner that buy and sells steal to the extent we're successful and renegotiating and a hae ini. we look forward t

cnbc's eamon javers live in washington with more >> yeah, good morning, dom the president was angry overlashing outty mueller investigation. it began friday night late with the firing of the retiring number two andrew mccabe mccabe would be set to retire in just two days. the attorney general jeff sessions fired him late friday ahead of an ig report which is supposed to be unflattering to him. the president taking to twitter saying andrew mccabe fired a great day for the hard working men and women of the fbi, a great day for democracy. james comey was his boss and made mccabe look like a choir boy. mccabe himself fired back at the president in a statement saying this was nothing more than an effort to tarnish the fbi and to tarnish himself personally as the president defends himself against the mueller investigation. the president throughout the weekend continued with a number of other angry tweets aimed at the mueller investigation, including one that named mueller personally, which is something that he hasn't done directly on twitter before he says why does the mueller team have 13 har

senate passing a bill late yesterday to roll back some of the dodd-frank regulations let's get to eamon javersn washington with more on this story. >> good morning. the vote there was 67-31, the senate is not the final passage. the bill has to go to the house. it's a rollback of a lot of regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis and that dodd frank reform the white house signaled it would support the measure. we'll see what the technical details are once it emerges from the house. guys over there will want to put their stamp on it. speaking of the white house, we had the president yesterday signaling he may not be done with tax cuts. here's what he said. >> it's going to be something i think very special kevin brady is working on it with me. congress is working. the senate is working. unfortunately on the original we didn't have one democrat vote, which is pretty incredible we'll do a phase two it's going to be something >> so the president there saying he's going to do a phase two on tax cuts no details offered by anybody on capitol hill or at the white house in what would be i

we have more news developing regarding the president's talk of tariffs eamon javers is at the white house with those details >> my latest understanding as of this afternoon on what we're x expkting the rest of the week. we're waiting on the specifics of it. they can come thursday or friday we're going to get some of the details on what's been decided on tariffs whether there are going to be carve outs or exemptss. they've been talking about wiggle room than maybe we would have expected just 24 hours ago. that might be a moving target. i'm also learning we might expect conversations around additional trade actions that the president might be contemplating between now and the end of the week as well. so beyond steel and aluminum, other possibilities that the white house might be considering. not sure what those are, but the president's been tweeting today about intellectual prosecutor theft, the trade deficit with china. also been commenting about european cars and the need for a tax on those coming in to the united states. so those would be among the basket of things that we might e expect

. >> eamon javers was up watching that and busy day in washington. good morning >> reporter: you guys have been talking about it and you're exactly right. we are expecting an announcement from the white house at 11:00 on tariffs. the white house official confirming the announcement for me but not confirming any of e specifics about what the president is going to say. you saw the tweet from the president saying the steel and aluminum industries and many others have been decimated by decades of unfair trade and bad policy with countries from around the world we must not let our workers be taken advantage of any longer, we want free and fair and smart trade. all of that coming on a morning where you would have to describe its as chaos here at the white house in terms of the staff. we saw hope hicks nouannouncing she's going to resign. she's one of the president's closest advisers, emotionally close and close on policy and press level to the president one of his advisers was in the room at almost all times for the major decisions and some of the major fl

administration against each other with the outcome potentially impacting the markets and your money eamon javersn the north lawn for us with new reporting. gl there is real and intense disagreement among the president's staff about exactly how this tar itch issue should play out

. >> art, thanks eamon javers in washington appreciate you john harwood on the phone and to jim cramerrought brought us this news that larry kudlow is the leading contender to take gary cohn's job. to the half. >> cart, thanks very much so much welcome to the halftime report our break iing news continueses with reporting by jim cramer that larry kudlow is the top contender the replace gary cohn. the r report moving stocks off their lows we're going to discuss all of that with our panel today. joe, steve, sarat, ian, we want to get back out west though as a reset of

kayla tausche is live in washington we're going to start things out with eamon javers who is also in ning. >> reporter: good morning, becky. today and the rest of the week the white house staff is going to be putting some of the details on the president's tariff proposal. he put it out last week without a lot of the paperwork behind it now the question is are there going to be any exemptions in the tariffs for particular countries or particular companies among others, staffers signaling, no, they don't believe the president's intent is to have any exemptions whatsoever this is a bit of a moving target throughout the rest of the week when they expect to have this process finished wilbur ross was on "meet the press" over the weekend and was asked whether the president might change his mind. here's what wilbur ross said. >> i've just said what he has said he has said if he says something different, it'll be something different i have no reason to think he's going to change. >> what does this mean you just said, well, he may say this, he may say that. >> no, i didn't say that i sidaid, he

. >>> we do have breaking news and major news from washington now let's go to eamon javers at the white> according to a source familiar with the deliberations, the president has asked larry kudlow to serve as the next national economic council director succeeding gary cohn here at the white house. the president offered larry kudlow the job last night and larry kudlow has accepted the job. we're prospecting an announcement of that formally could come as soon as tomorrow this is a significant development because, as you know, larry kudlow has been opposed to the president on the issue of tariffs, but we saw president trump say this week that larry kudlow has come around on the issue of tariffs as a negotiating tactic. so the president seems to be willing to bring in a very high-profile economic advisor here who disagrees with him on a key issue but agrees that that issue can be used to bring other nations to the negotiating table. the president has said he wants a diversity of voices in his cabinet and around him at the white house. that appears to be the case with this decision. so to wr

>> just as you said, craig, the fact that according to eamo eamon javers, the president is expected to sign this bill into law despite that initial veto threat he unleashed earlier today. for all of the reasons you've been talking about with geoff, the fact that he feels as though he didn't get a good deal here. he feels as though he didn't get enough on his border wall. a lot of pressure from his base on that end. but he also has been getting pressure from those in the freedom caucus who say, look, this is not fiscally responsible. it adds to the deficit. this goes against conservative principles. there was a lot of discussion about that yesterday, craig, when we were holding a briefing with mick mulvaney. the omb director when he was insistent president trump would sign this bill. didn't indicate there would be any last-minute drama around signing this bill. mick mulvaney who is seen as someone who is very conservative, particularly when it comes to spending got asked a number of questions about whether he would sign this bill or actually support this bill if he were still in congres

eamon javers joins us. speak, eamon, how long is the half-life of a denial so if you say that it's not going to happen, does it mean today but it could happen monday and they're not dissembling or do you know? how long does it -- >> it's a lot shorter than it used to be. >> could be telling the truth but he could be gone next week >> right nbc reported that h.r. mcmaster was on the way out a couple weeks ago, i believe it was. >> yeah. >> so there's been speculation about h.r. mcmaster for a while now. today is another friday where washington wakes up expecting that somebody prominent at the white house could be fired today. the speculation today centering on h.r. mcmaster see what the "new york times" wrote. they're reporting that mcmaster could be on their way out. one person close to the president said general mcmaster whom officials have described having never clicked with the president personally could be released as early as friday. after some of that are the roing last nig -- reporting hit the intern

eamon javers is in d.c.latest. >> reporter: reuters is reporting that $60 billion worth of goods that the trump administration would put a tariff on coming in from china there was a report that the president was offered a package of $30 billion of tariffs. no, i don't like that, i want a bigger number. reuters reported later in the afternoon that the number would be $60 billion of goods coming in that would be hit with this new tariff i'm also talking to sources who tell me there are other things under consideration inside the white house beyond just these tariffs. take a look at a quick cheat sheet here it's tariffs being considered. investment restrictions on money coming in from china into the united states. possible visa restrictions on chinese travelers coming to the united states. all of this designed, i am told, to chip away at this number. this is the deficit. trade deficit between the united states and china, 347 billion. the president often refers to it as $500 billion. he'd like to chip that numbe

eamon javers joins us with that one. >> we continue to follow the bouncing ball.expecting a tariff announcement today >> that could change this has been a moving target we were told the president was not envisioning carveouts for countries or sectors last week but then yesterday the white house publicly changed course and then in the afternoon sarah huckaby sanders confirmed they were expecting to carve out some exemptions for canada and mex o mexico, heres how she described late afternoon yesterday >> the president has been clear he wants to address the trade imbalances and unfair practices. as of right now we are moving fully ahead and anything that would change would be done so on a national security basis. >> so sarah huckaby sanders saying the white house would consider anything in trade imbalances, as of yesterday everyone afternoon, they will move full ahead with tariffs they said any could have beenouts will have to be done on a national security basis. that was the administration's thinking as of late yesterday afternoon. also happening yesterday, the pre

drama, we'll bring in eamon javers. hey, eamon. >> hi, michelle. it's clear there's a trade war of sorts going on within the white house, within different factions of the economy economic team trying to do what they can on to at a time some of the area out of it. it is unsettled right now. not clear where we'll be at the end of the week. folks tell me, though, where this debate lands, there will have to be thaving, because the president announced them on live national television, so not likely to back off that position the question is, whether there could be carve-outs and caveats, some other things put into the tariff plan that might make it more palatable to the so-called globalist faction that's been fighting with. part of the stakes, or on offer seemingly. it feels like a different moment today we have statements from the president and vice president, which is bore encouraging on the diplomatic front. here's the tweet there the president earlier today. possible for the first time in many years, a maybe false hope, but the u.s. is ready to go ha

. >>> today's top story, gary cohn announcing his resignation eamon javers joins us with more. >> bothides like to mass taj the story. >> a lot of massaging going on last night i'm very relaxed i've been massaged a lot >> let's not go into the massage jokes this morning i wonder if you were serving at the president, he wants you to serve, you give him your opinions, if he doesn't take your advice, like if mnuchin did something, i think he'll say no m stay no matter what. if he gives his advice, he says i gave him advice and i'm moving on if you say i'm leaving if you do this tariff deal, i made my point here if you go against me and go with navarro and ross, i'm out of here, it's not about the tariffs, it's about you. is that part of what's happening? was he going to leave in a year any way? if i were gary cohn i wouldn't want it to look like i didn't get my way on tariffs, so i'm out of here. >> right this is about tariffs but also more about tariffs speak being that massaging last night, i spoke to a senior administration official who gave me an explanation for what happened with gar

lets check in with eamon javers at the white house hey eamon. >> good morning.he 500 point move on the dow yesterday in response to the president's tariffs announcement the president tweeting just before 9:00 this morning a new tweet saying when a country taxes our product product comint 50%, not fair. we'll soon be charging reciprocal taxes so they'll charge the same thing. what's going on here internally is an internal political battle for the soul of donald trump when it comes to taxes, trades and protectionism. gary cohn against peter navarro of the trade expert here inside the white house of the more of the protection side, yesterday, it was navarro one and cohn zero that sparked a lot of speculations here that gary cohn may not stick around in the white house. sarah sanders was asked whether gary cohn will stay in the administrations this morning, her response, i don't have any reasons to think otherwise right now. that'll be read as a response to the question it is unclear of what gary cohn going to do going forward. will he decide that he's more needed i

>> well, depends >> well, that's very helpful >> let's go to eamon javers on how this departure or the announcement of this departure went down last night hey, ammoeamon. >> you guys point out, the strategy here before the markets opened, ross and mnuchin is out on national television of a united white house but also talking about some of the -- a softening in tone this morning from the white house beyond just this trading session, the bigger question is what does cohn's departure means for the economic direction of this administration, here what i say an administration official told me last night of gary cohn's departure here calling it a big win for the national lists. peter navarro won the trade battle and now gary's given up and literally reestablishes the intellectual framework we can let trump be trump. that's telling inside the white house of what's going to happen next will the president reverse to his in clclination that he heldr years. he likes the idea of advisers disagree and likes to get out before him in the office >> i like conflicts, i like people with two different poi

we know this of course thursday was announced of what it intended to be and eamon javers covers thisell for us in terms of the announcement and on friday, we have the executosecrn and wilbur ross made the rounds yesterday. would this supply to every nation, allies he says that's what the president seemed to say. >> that's a great word he's not clear that the president has necessarily discussed it fully it is not clear at all >> here is peter navarro >> there will be an exemption procedure for particular cases where we need to have exemptions so that businesses can move forward. at this point in time there are no country exclusions. >> there you have it from him. >> he's right in the sense of how do you get the chinese to stop over producing. we have been trying to get them and nothing really work. >> right >> theoretically everyone will go to china will you please start producing something else they're trying to put people to work in china. that's a good idea steel takes a lot. it is labor intensive business if they decide to put people to work on lithium batteries and solar panels t

. >> eamon javers, thank you let's stay with the aspect of this story, pressure growing overseas, therliament calling on mark zuckerberg to testify. so will international regulators step in and curb facebook's business let's bring in ian bremmer, founder and president of eurasia group. thank you for joining us today. >> sure. >> so we've got increased scrutiny on facebook and mark zuckerberg from u.s. regulators and lawmakers but also across the pond in the uk are we sort of standing on precipice of a broader regulatory crackdown on facebook and other big tech companies not just in the u.s. but globally? >> certainly it's not going to be as easy for them, i think at the very least there could be consumer backlash in terms of to what extent they want people to consume their product, that hurts their brand, hurts in the united states, hurts in europe, too. on the regulatory side, there's a little bit of an "oh, my god, i can't believe there's gambling going on in the casino." we understand facebook is a huge advertising company, that's how they make their money, they are selling their d

thanks >> thank you >>> all right, we have news coming out of the white house related to venezuela eamon javers has the news alert. >> hi, michelle. 12:13 p.m. eastern daylite time is the time stamp on the new executive order from president trump blocking u.s. persons from engaging in transaction involving cryptocurrency issued by the venezuelan government the president issuing that executive order at 12:15 thereafter, all of those transactions will be prohibited. the white house not putting out a lot of detail on exactly why they took this step. obviously, there are concerns here that cryptocurrency issued by that government could be used to do an end run around sanctions in place by the united states as a way for the venezuelan regime to raise capital. we'll see what the administration says through the afternoon, but 12:15 and beyond, you can't engage in transactions if you're in the u.s. and you're a u.s. person in that cryptocurrency >> that ico is supposed to happen tomorrow. treasury had already given some verbiage on this suggesting that to be involved would be some kind of violation of

did the market rally because of what paul ryan said and people worried a trade war is coming, or eamon javersls us peter north ameri navarro is telling the president, see, the market rallied yesterday because they realized they were overworried about these things, that they're not worried actually about these tariffs that we want to do what do you think? what is the impact, if some kind of big policy change happens when it comes to steel and aluminum on the markets? >> well, with steel and aluminum, the impact is relatively small trump isn't the first president to put tariffs on steel. each of his predecessors in the white house did that it's a question of what it leads to we know we have this section 301 investigation of china's alleged intellectual property. that could turn into something more we have brexit negotiations. trade is front and center. clearly there's a risk of a shift towards protectionism. but we've got to remember, we're in the best environment for global trade it is growing the fastest and the most broad in more than a decade that, i think, explains yesterday. the economic

aim eamon javers is live there. >> what did they talk about?ting a press pool in to have a look at the working lunch. there you see the two men in the oval office. between the two countries. here's what the president had to say on the visit here. >> saudi arabia is a very wealthy nation, they're going to give the united states some of that wealth hopefully, in the form of jobs and the perform of the finest military equipment. also making some news in that session, which is that he's going to be meeting with vladimir putin at some point in the future he wants to discuss the arms race that is in the wakes and could defeat u.s. missiles defenses. news on another topic there, as the president welcome the crown prince to the white house. >> thanks, eamon >> mo more on his visit. let let's. >> thank you for having me. >>> what is the prince's number within order >> that the u.s. takes a very tough line on iran >> so what would he say? >> i think he would talk up the regional threat. i think he would certainly be encouraging trump to potential pull ou

. >>> eamon javers is live at the white house covering all things prompt trade related and otherwise. today will be a busy today with you, as many days. >> reporter: the president just hit that point again he's meeting with benjamin netanyahu today, and just a few moments ago, he was asked about trade and asked about where he is going on that he raised the prospect of possibly exempting canada and mexico from the steel tariffs if they get on board with the negotiation. take a listen to what the president said, and see if -- here's what the president said >> if i do make a deal which is fair to the workers and the american people that would be i would imagine one of the points wee negotiate. tariffs on steel for canada and from mexico. so we'll see what happens. right now 1hands%, but it could be a part of nafta i understand i just got a call from people who are right now in mexico city negotiating nafta. mexico and really canada i want to talk about it. >> reporter: i've been asking officials here at the white house about those comments from paul ryan's office on capitol hill about th

thanks so much eamon javers, breaking news. >> "the new york times" posted a story saying special counselobert mueller has subpoenaed the trump organization requesting documents including documents relating to russia the times is saying it's not clear the entire breadth of the subpoena request to the trump organization, but it's significant because this is the first known demand of documents from the trump organization related to russia. it indicates that we could be entering a new phase of the mueller investigation. we're also not sure from the times reporting exactly when the subpoena was issued. the times saying simply it was issued in recent weeks we'll be hearing from the press secretary sarah huckabee sanders at about 2:30 east coast time, momentarily, but i'm sure reporters will press her on this question typically, the white house has punted questions on the mueller investigation to the president's lawyers and anything about the trump organization to the trump organization itself. so it may be some time through the afternoon before we get an official comment from the trump organiz

markets, more questions today about the possible ripple effects of the president's administration eamon javers is live at the white house with more. >> reporter: that is right you heard kayla walk through the chaotic rollout yesterday and part of the reason is the chaos surrounding this white house and all of the key leadership within the white house. take a look at this graphic of the key players inside of the white house with questions surrounding their tenure we'll go down the line john kel yirvly, chief of staffs incommand but spent several weeks pushing back against rumors that the president wanted somebody else in the job in the wake of rob porter scandal and gary cohn, questions about his role going forward, given that he got rolled on these tariff and in that meeting kayla told you about yesterday and h.r. mcmaster, pushing back that they are considering replacing him as national security adviser at the white house because he doesn't get along with the president the president has been mocking and tweeting against his attorney general jeff sessions, no indications that sessions will lea

. >> let's bring in eamon javers from the white house sarah huckabee sanders just finished speaking withrs. how did she frame this big meeting? >> reporter: it was a little different from the message we got from the south koreans who you remember in a surprise move appeared on the white house driveway just behind me to announce that the president had agreed to meet with kim jong-un by may that sounded fairly definitive last night today the white house stressing there are certain conditions here to this meeting, including that the north koreans have to make some progress on denuclearizing their arsenal here's how sarah huckabee sanders put it. >> the president will not go to the meeting without seeing concrete steps by north korea. the president would actually be getting something. frankly, the world would be getting something. if we can get to a place where north korea is deal nuclearizing -- >> reporter: so, sarah huckabee sanders saying concrete steps have to be taken she wouldn't say exactly what those concrete steps have to be by north korea she also wouldn't say exactly how the unit