U.S.-China Trade War; North Korea Waiting for Trump to Blink or Leave Office; Children at War
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A trade war is brewing. U.S. president Trump threatens China with more tariffs after talks between Beijing and Washington stall.</s>GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Plus, House Democrats subpoena the Treasury Secretary for President Trump's tax returns, escalating the battle for information about the Trump administration.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): Also this hour, thousands of people without power and it could get worse. You're looking at severe weather and flooding, battering the south central U.S. Derek will have the forecast.</s>HOWELL (voice-over): Looking at that reminds me of Hurricane Harvey. So bad there. A warm welcome to viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.</s>ALLEN (voice-over): I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.</s>ALLEN: Our top story, U.S. president Donald Trump dealing with trouble in at least three points around the world with no indication of what is coming next.</s>HOWELL: First in China, which now faces tariffs of 25 percent on imports to the United States. This after trade talks break down and no word when those talks will resume.</s>ALLEN: In the Middle East, the U.S. has deployed additional firepower, the U.S. calling it a deterrent to Iran. A military carrier group is already in the area.</s>HOWELL: And also the issue of North Korea, Mr. Trump, downplaying recent short-range missile launches. The diplomatic efforts are at a standstill. But the president says he is still open to talks. CNN has reporters covering all angles of this story.</s>ALLEN: Our Matt Rivers is in China. Ben Wedeman is in Beirut, following the U.S. missile system deployment. And Anna Coren is in Hong Kong for the latest on North Korea.</s>HOWELL: Let's go to Matt Rivers. It comes down to exactly how China will retaliate and when, at this point.</s>MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the when, it's not an if question, you're right, George. It's when. China says they're going to retaliate. They've done it before when the U.S. has hiked tariffs on Chinese imports to the U.S. So we're just waiting word from the commerce ministry as to exactly how China's going to retaliate. I would expect that information is going to come out relatively quickly, either this weekend or on Monday. But that's what we're waiting for. In terms of how China can retaliate, there's a number of different ways you can do it. Interestingly, because of this trade war, most American imports to China are already under tariffs. So when America sends goods here, Chinese importers have to pay a tax. That's the initial retaliation that China first did. But what we could see China to is increase those tariff rates like what the U.S. just did on Friday. We could also see them restrict market access for American companies. And interestingly, they could resume restrictions on Chinese buyers buying American soybeans. It may seem obscure, but Americans sell billions of dollars of that crop to China each year. That had been a casualty of the trade war. There were restrictions put on last year then China lifted those restrictions. But they could easily come back up again. That's where we're at, George and Natalie. We're not exactly sure how China is going to retaliate. We know they will; it's just a question of mad.</s>HOWELL: Matt, we hear from the United States president, saying the U.S. is negotiating from a place of strength. There in China, what is the word from Xi Jinping about the nation's economy and how they will endure in the long term?</s>RIVERS: If you believe what the White House is saying, that it was China walked back on an agreement, that's how it came back from where it was looking like a deal to where we are now, China would deny that. But if you believe what the White House is saying, look, China knew what they were doing when they got into that. It knew that the United States was not going to be happy and that this was a possibility. So I think in the halls of power in Beijing, you, at least, can infer a sense of relative position of strength, in terms of they're looking at the economy here and saying we're resilient. We can get through this. That's the line you're see in state media. Trying to drum up nationalistic support against the Americans in this trade war. Now whether that's true, economists really have a wide range of opinions on this. I think the general feeling is that China's economy might not last as long as the American economy could, in terms of being OK during a trade war. There's really a whole bunch of opinions. But looking at China's actions, you're seeing --</s>RIVERS: -- at least for now, Beijing thinks they can weather this.</s>HOWELL: Matt Rivers following the story, Matt, thank you.</s>ALLEN: There is another growing dispute involving the U.S. This one with Iran. The Pentagon saying it has deployed more Patriot missiles to the Middle East in order to deter potential attacks by Iran or its allies.</s>HOWELL: This comes days after the U.S. decides to send a carrier strike group to the region. Still, the U.S. insists it doesn't want war. It also gave Switzerland a phone number that Iran can use to call President Trump.</s>ALLEN: We'll see if they make that call. Let's talk about the standoff with CNN's Ben Wedeman, live this hour in Beirut. The United States seems to take these threats very seriously. The question is, how and why Iran is making these reported threats, Ben?</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the fog of prewar, Natalie and George, is very thick at the moment. For instance, the deployment of this -- the Abraham Lincoln carrier group. It wasn't decided a few days ago. It was decided months ago. It was announced a month ago that it would be deployed to the Middle East. It was only late on Sunday night that U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced it was because of unspecified Iranian threats. What we're hearing is a lot of intelligence or so-called intelligence from unnamed sources. But there's nothing much solid you can put your hands on at the moment, somewhat reminiscent of the leadup to the 2003 war against Iraq. We all know how that happened. Now the latest moves by the United States is that it's announced it's going to be deploying one Patriot anti-missile battery in the region. But just a few months ago, it withdrew four such batteries as the war against ISIS was winding down. They're also going to be deploying the USMC Armament, which is an amphibious vessel that delivers Marines and military vehicles. That, in fact, was also planned to be deployed in the region. Its deployment, however, has been accelerated. So certainly, we see the moves from elements within the U.S. administration certainly heading toward an escalation. But we've also heard President Trump said the Iranians should give him a call, because all he wants is for the Iranian nuclear program to come to an end, which is exactly what the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was designed to do, at least until the year 2030. Now President Trump doesn't seem to be on the same page as Mr. Bolton, who has long been a proponent of regime change in Iraq. He -- rather, President Trump -- saying that he wants the nuclear program to end. Bolton, obviously, has a much broader program or agenda. He wants to see an end to the regime itself in Tehran. So confusion reigns but definitely, the fog is very thick.</s>ALLEN: Absolutely. Yes, relations between the two countries have been deteriorating ever since President Trump withdrew from that nuclear deal. Ben Wedeman for us in Beirut. Thank you, Ben.</s>HOWELL: So again in the face of all of these different crises that are playing out, the U.S. president is downplaying North Korea's latest missile tests.</s>ALLEN: On Friday, President Trump told "Politico" that he did not consider the short-range missile launch Thursday to be a breach of trust by North Korea's leader. He called it, quote, "very standard stuff." And the U.S. special representative for North Korea says the door for talks is still open.</s>HOWELL: Let's go live to Hong Kong. Our Anna Coren has been following the story. Anna, it doesn't feel like the response from both sides has been measured for this relationship.</s>ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's right. Because there's so much at stake. Not only are we talking about the difference between peace and war on the Korean Peninsula, I should say, but we're also talking about a U.S. president who wants to have that foreign policy accomplishment. He wants to be the U.S. president to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and bring about peace. We have to remember when those two leaders, Kim Jong-un and President Trump, met in Singapore last year and that bromance that flourished, shortly after that, President Trump said there was no longer a threat from North Korea. Well, since then, we've seen a deterioration in that bromance, although, as you say, they're keeping things quite measured.</s>COREN: But North Korea is, without a doubt, testing America. It desperately wants its attention. It wants to return to the negotiating table. It wants those sanctions lifted. But the United States, under this administration, Trump is saying that North Korea denuclearize before those sanctions are lifted. So as we say, George, there's so much at stake. But there's a lot of face to save as well. As you mentioned, you know, Trump has many foreign policy issues happening all over the world. And he is stretched. He does not want to see this unravel on the Korean Peninsula, what he has worked so hard to achieve. But it is a big gamble. For all we know, these short-range missile tests could soon become long-range missile tests. And that will certainly get up the nose of the United States because those are what they are most concerned about. As for now, Donald Trump says the relationship remains. Nobody is happy about what is taking place. But North Korea clearly isn't ready for the talks. And that would suggest that the United States is not prepared to go into the negotiating table with North Korea anytime soon, George.</s>HOWELL: Anna Coren, thank you.</s>ALLEN: And that, of course, is the global front. But the president certainly faces much on the domestic front. The U.S. attorney general seems to think Donald Trump did not obstruct justice. So why won't the former White House counsel, that you see here, say that? We'll talk about that story coming up here.</s>HOWELL: Speaking of denied requests, it looks like the U.S. Congress won't get a look at Mr. Trump's taxes anytime soon. We'll take a look at how they're trying to change that.