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G7 Summit Ends in Chaos; U.S.-North Korea Summit; Tributes Pour in for Anthony Bourdain. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2018 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And, hello, everyone. Thank you very much for joining us. I'm Cyril Vanier live from the CNN Center, right here in Atlanta.

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VANIER: It was a brief but contentious visit. U.S. President Donald Trump stunned G7 members on Saturday when he rejected the group's joint statement, just hours after okaying it.

For a moment, it appeared that acrimony over U.S. trade tariffs had been papered over. All seven nations had agreed to a joint statement. But then Mr. Trump took umbrage with a comment by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

He wrote that, ""Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!"

So what Mr. Trudeau s exactly that was so offensive?

Here it is.

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JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: It would be with regret but it would be with absolute certainty and firmness that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July 1st, applying equivalent tariffs to the ones that the Americans have unjustly applied to us.

I have made it very clear to the president that it is not something we relish doing. But it is something that we absolutely will do because Canadians, we are polite, we're reasonable but we also will not be pushed around.

I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry, particularly did not take lightly the fact that it's based on a national security reason that, for Canadians, who either themselves or whose parents or community members have stood shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in far- off lands and conflicts from the First World War onwards, that it's kind of insulting.

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VANIER: So after Mr. Trump's criticism, Mr. Trudeau's office responded, "The Prime Minister said nothing he hasn't said before, both in public and in private conversations with the president."

Just before leaving the summit early, President Trump took aim at the entire group of allies, accusing them of taking advantage of the U.S.

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TRUMP: It's going to change. It's going to change. It's not a question of I hope it changes. It's going to change 100 percent. And tariffs are going to come way down because we -- people cannot continue to do that. We're like the piggy bank that everybody's robbing. And that ends.

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VANIER: Political analyst Peter Matthews joins us from Los Angeles. He teaches political science at Cypress College. He is a friend of the show, of course.

Peter, I just wonder, when you hear those words, false statements, weak, meek and all the other words that the U.S. president used to describe the Canadian prime minister, is there a point, you think, when the damage done to the relationships becomes irreparable?

PETER MATTHEWS, CYPRESS COLLEGE: I'm really concerned about it, Cyril, because it's very demeaning and insulting for the president to use those kinds of words when the prime minister was basically only telling the truth.

And it's very dangerous. Our closest ally, the closest physically and, in many ways, politically is Canada. And yet we have this kind relationship now and also with the other G7 members.

It was a really horrible meeting, I believe, from Trump's perspective, from our perspective what Trump did. He basically set the whole post- World War alliances back by quite a bit. We don't know where it's going in terms of the danger of this action of his and the --

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VANIER: Consider the flip side of the argument, which would be that the U.S. president -- perhaps no one else -- but the U.S. president perhaps can get away with this because he is so powerful, he plays such a central role in world order and world trade, everything, that different rules apply to him? MATTHEWS: That certainly may be true. But other presidents didn't behave this way. It is not good for the United States or for the Western allies to be treated that way. Let me make this point. The trade deficit in the world with the U.S. is only about $552 billion. That's $552 billion and the E.U. deficit is about $92 billion. It's not that much, really, when you consider it, in goods and services.

And the fact is, you have to be able to find a way to sell those products around the world and to the people who want to buy those products. And that's the problem. I believe that there is a different way to go about this than insulting our neighbors and our allies.

And Canada was in several wars with us, as Prime Minister Trudeau pointed out. That's a very wrong way to go about it. And just because the president can -- thinks he can do it because we are a powerful country, economically and militarily --

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MATTHEWS: -- it doesn't mean he should do it. I don't think it'll be good for the United States security or our friendship with other countries (INAUDIBLE).

VANIER: On the substance of Mr. Trump's argument, and you started addressing this, which is that allies are robbing the United States, does he have a point there?

MATTHEWS: No, he does not, really, because there's a problem here with American behavior toward its own industries. We don't subsidize our industries nearly enough in the right way.

America gives out money to big agricultural farmers to export our products and subsidize them, buying them crop insurance and giving them tax deductions. But we don't really promote the industrial policy like Japan and Germany do.

Those are examples where other European countries are also doing the same thing and that is what the government provides, research and development, to feed to the corporations. In turn, they compete. They put it together with their own research and development. And they come up with the best products in the world, modern products and they export all over the world.

That's why they have the balance of trade surplus in Germany and Japan because the government's been involved in that. In the U.S., we backed away from that policy, from industrial policy, when many Republicans came into office recently, it took us away from that government support for our businesses and for our workers.

That's the problem. Even American workers are paid a lot less than European workers in terms of how much they can buy with the product they're paid. That's the real problem. That's what Trump should be looking at, not this artificial way of putting tariffs and starting a trade war like was done in the 1930s, with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

VANIER: Donald Trump also said that G7 countries would have to agree to new trade rules. Listen to this.

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TRUMP: It's going to change. It's going to change. They have no choice. If it is not going to change, we are not going to trade with them.

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VANIER: Look, can the United States force new trade rules onto its allies?

MATTHEWS: Very dangerous to attempt to do that because it is very demeaning, first of all, to talk down to the allies who are our equals in many ways, economically especially. Then on top of that, it could backfire into allies retaliating as they already have, proposed a $700 billion tariff system on U.S. products.

And then Trump is saying, don't retaliate to our retaliation?

He is the one who started the trade war. I don't think I see it that way at all from Trump's point of view. It's going to backfire on the United States and on our American people and the people of Europe as well and the world eventually. And this is a real problem for our economic situation, as for working Americans and working middle class people around the world. And the working poor as well.

VANIER: All right, Peter Matthews, always a pleasure to see you. Thank you.

MATTHEWS: Thank you very much.

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VANIER: President Trump is now headed to Singapore and the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Before leaving Canada, Mr. Trump called it "a mission of peace." He also seemed to downplay expectations, saying it is the beginning of a process.

And later the president tweeted from Air Force One, saying he has a feeling that, quote, "This one-time opportunity will not be wasted."

So how long will it take the so-called dealmaker in chief to size up the man on the other side of the table?

Mr. Trump says not long at all.

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TRUMP: I think within the first minute I'll know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How?

TRUMP: Just my touch, my feel. That's what I do.

How long will it take to figure out whether or not they are serious?

I said maybe in the first minute. You know, the way they say that you know if you are going to like somebody in the first five seconds.

You ever hear that one?

Well, I think that very quickly I will know whether or not something good is going to happen.

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VANIER: Paula Hancocks is in Singapore. She's standing by for that summit.

When something good or not, actually does happen, Paula, one of my greatest areas of curiosity going into this, barring the actual outcome of the summit, is how are you going to cover the North Koreans?

Do you expect them to communicate with reporters at all?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a good question, Cyril. This is going to be a very different kind of summit to come from a journalistic point of view. The information we're getting at the moment is not coming directly from the North Koreans.

We're getting indications of Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, heading this way. There are a number of planes that we're tracking at this point to try to figure out which one he's on. There are stakeouts at the airport to try to catch that elusive glimpse of that plane landing.

And, of course, we're hearing from the police force here, saying that within the next hour, there will be road closures from the airport to the vicinity of one hotel, The St. Regis, which has a lot of security around it and a lot of journalists waiting outside that we suspect that Kim Jong-un will be staying at.

This is how we're getting information at the moment. There are no press releases. There's no press statements coming from Pyongyang. We will obviously be getting some kind of information from the state- run media, KCNA.

We know there are a number of North Korean journalists here and cameramen as well. But that takes some time. So it's going to be a very interesting kind of summit. The fact that we know very little.

We're hearing from the Singaporean side that the prime minister will be meeting with Kim Jong-un at some point today, Sunday local time, and will be meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.

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HANCOCKS: We know 9:00 am Tuesday local time is when the summit begins. It's really going to be a case of trying to piece things together.

We're not going to get the stereotypical press releases and embargoed copies of speeches this time around.

VANIER: Paula, that's one of the instances where the backstory is actually fascinating. You explained what happens between now and the meeting. You've got Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un heading your way.

Then they'll have about a day and a half before the actual meeting. We know so little about the moment and the circumstances of the meeting itself.

Can you fill in any of the blanks?

HANCOCKS: Well, we know where it is. It's about 10 kilometers from where we are now in the middle of Singapore. It's on Sentosa Island, about a kilometer off the south coast. A little easier for both security details to be able to keep that safe and secure and keep people outside away.

That's at the Capella hotel, a five-star resort, which has a number of hotels. It has a number of golf courses, a theme park. It's somewhere that both the North Koreans and the Americans agreed would be a good venue, first and foremost, because they could keep it secure and also because they can control what comes out of there.

They can choreograph exactly what kinds of images the rest of the world is going to see. Given what we've seen from the North-South Korean summits, the pictures are very important. That was a picture- perfect summit. This is what the U.S. president Donald Trump wants here as well.

Of course, when it comes to substance, we don't know exactly what is going to be talked about in these meetings. The U.S. president in the past couple of days has said that everything will be talked about.

He was asked, will human rights, will the gulags be talked about in North Korea?

He said they will discuss everything. But at the same time, he's also lowering the bar of expectation, saying there is a good chance it won't work out, at the same time saying he's very positive that it will work out.

So we're really hearing very mixed messages from the U.S. president and hearing very little from the North Korean leader. So it's going to be a very interesting one to see what exactly happens and whether or not it is a photo opportunity or whether something actually comes out at the end of it, a communique, a statement, which we heard secretary of state Mike Pompeo say he would like to see.

But it really depends how it goes between these two men.

VANIER: You know, Paula, who is going to have a front row seat to some of the world's most exclusive breaking news in about a day and a half is the interpreters, who are actually standing and sitting between these two men, translating that conversation. Paula, thank you very much. Always a pleasure.

Fans and friends are paying tribute to CNN host Anthony Bourdain. The chef and storyteller took his own life Friday at the age of 61. In the U.S., memorials are springing up. In New York, fans are leaving notes and flowers at a shuttered restaurant where Bourdain was executive chef.

He was also an accomplished author. His groundbreaking book, "Kitchen Confidential," was released 18 years ago, it is now number one on the Amazon best seller list.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier. You've got "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" up next.