Is meeting with the National Association of manufacturers. Hes expected to make some major announcements on trade today with two executive orders. Our ylan mui is in washington, d. C. With all the details. Reporter sara, executive orders are focused on rooting out trade abuses designed to put other countries on notice and commerce secretary wilbur ross fired a warning shot on cnbc earlier this morning. There are unintended consequences of doing nothing as well. So as to doing something, tough think about it this way, we are in a trade war. We have been for decades. The only difference is that our troops are finally coming to the rampart. The first order calls for a review of any country with which the u. S. Has a trade imbalance, the biggest one of course is china. Theyre looking for currency misalignment, over capacity in any industry and perhaps even lax enforcement of existing agreements on the part of the u. S. This review will be due in 90 days. The second executive order will bolster the governments efforts to collect duties it had already imposed on countries for dumping products into the United States 2. 3 billion have gone uncollected since 2001 according to a government report. That order will also beef up efforts to combat counterfeit and pirated products. Now, the president is scheduled to meet right now with executives from small and mid size Manufacturing Companies. Theyre part of an Industry Group that has defended free trade and defended nafta in particular. So lots to talk about in the roosevelt room this morning. Back to you guys. Thank you, ylan. Well get more from that meeting shortly. For more on the announcements today and potential impacts on markets as we wrap up the First Quarter, lets bring in chief global strategist at charles schaub. Jeff, first to you, when you hear the commerce secretary talking about ratrade wars, wha do you think as arn investor . I heard wilbur ross talk about this before. This doesnt sound like were about to label china a currency manipulator, this sounds very specific and something that weve been pursuing for some time. Remember, there have been u. S. Big tariffs on tires, on steel from china, a number of these things. Increasing trade frictions you can count on that. But i think a trade war more importantly this is shedding light on the fact that were unlikely to see that kind of trade war scenario unfold but more of a surgical approach by product and by country renegotiating some of these agreements. Brian, that may be the case, but does trade friction still have you concerned about industries most exposed to that . No, not really. I mean, at the end of the day we dont really know what kind of any border adjustment tax looks like, number one. Number two, weve had a tremendous move in the First Quarter in the markets but more specifically things Like Technology which as you know majority of the revenues come from outside the u. S. So at the end of the day i think Technology Stocks are going to be more impacted by what ultimately the repatriation number looks like in terms of taxes and how that is allowed to come back on the cash side. So i think jeffrey has it 100 right. This is going to be surgical. This is very trump like to look at things from the bottom up and not put a big umbrella over it. So i think so far so good with respect to what were hearing. Jeffrey, i wonder if there are perhaps unintended consequences to framing trade as a zero sum game, taking a look at some of the trade surpluses that we have, hong kong at the top of the list if you split that off from china, singapore, australia, brazil among those who could argue, hey, look, if we want perfect trade balance, then we need some skin back from the u. S. Yeah, theres definitely a give or take here. And certainly classifying it as a zero sum game is obviously i think the wrong way to look at it. But there were a lot of ways we can close some of these trade gaps that dont just mean stopping imports coming in. For example, china would love to import more Technology Products from the u. S. We block a lot of that because of concerns about their uses in weapons. But, you know, we could soften some of that up, export more tech product and close that gap from a u. S. Export standpoint rather than blocking imports coming in from some of these countries. So theres a lot of things we can look at and im confident our commerce secretary will be doing that. So, brian, lets talk about this Market Performance for a moment because if you look at the general News Headlines that dominated the First Quarter, division inside the white house, division inside the Republican Party, russia investigations, record low Approval Ratings for the president and yet were about to wrap up the best quarter for the nasdaq since 2013, best quarter for the s p sixth quarterly gain since 2015. Whats the message from the markets when it comes to the strump agenda . Isnt it great, sara . Stocks are going up but everybody seems to think were going to have a correction at any moment. The way that investors are acting and talking and the media markets down 1 , oh, todays the day, thats not investing. If you take a look at First Quarter performances not outsized in terms of history, yeah, the average performance of the s p 500 since 1990 in the First Quarter is 2 . But remember in march of 2012 and march of 2013 we had double digit quarters. A lot of that was snapback rallies because of other stupidity things especially in march 2012 after the debacle of the supercommittee in the Third Quarter of 2011. Be that as it may speaking of may, we probably think now given the 5 move in the market in the First Quarter were going to hear a lot more about pundits talk about sell in may, go away. Youre fired up this morning. I wasnt sure if there was going to be a theresa may or where that was going. Well, at the end of the day markets go down and up for fundamental reasons. And we believe the laser focus on washington and trump is wrong. Were going to see some sort of a pullback driven by something that no one thinks about. And at the end of the day remember fundamentals in the u. S. Economy and the stock market are the best in the world. I dont know, jeff, if its great or not what brian said about the Market Performance. I guess the question is, is the market appropriately pricing in the odds of trump getting tax reform, infrastructure and deregulation . Well, i think brian nailed it actually, i think my friend brian really hit the nail on the head. Look, you didnt have to be a political strategist to figure out where stocks were headed in q1. Stocks tracked earnings revisions in lock step which then tracked Economic Data in lockstep. I think that will be true in q2 as well. The risks are fundamental and not so much around politics. Sure at the margin they move the markets, but hope for a pro growth republican agenda isnt what drove stocks really in the First Quarter. Again, it was on the data. And q2 again though had some volatility but really i dont see analysts have added the impact of lower taxes for example in the Financial Sector would have a huge impact or changes to import or even infrastructure programs on some of the industrial and material sectors. I dont see analysts doing that. And thats what stocks are tracking. Again, i think q2 is a fundamental story and not one so focused on politics. Just look at the nasdaq. Gentlemen, thank you. And global stocks as well. Exactly. Best quarter since 2013. Yep. And sticking with trade lets bring in john chen, ceo of blackberry just out with earnings this morning. The stock up better than 12 , perhaps some shorts getting squeezed there. John, in your shift towards software over the past several quarters, it seems like a lot of your business has tilted toward the u. S. 75 of your assets in the u. S. Now up from less than half a year ago. More than half your customers now i believe in the u. S. , up from a third 18 months ago. How does this talk of the u. S. Becoming a little bit more inward focused when it comes to trade affect your business then being based in canada . Good morning. Yes. It does have an effect, but it does effect both ways. Im very bullish on the infrastructure that the president and the team is trying to buildup and the spending there. Like last week there was a big proposed bills by senators i think blumenthal and mark ki. We got the security car there are a lot of opportunities in the u. S. For us but of course we love not to see any kind of trade war or any final surgical or otherwise. And we love to do business everywhere around the world. A slogan weve seen emerge from this Trump Administration is buy american, hire american. A lot of your workforce is in the u. S. Is that slogan at all hostile to blackberry . Or are you able to make the argument we do a lot of business in the u. S. , we have a lot of assets in the u. S. So for these purposes were american . We do. We do. And we also are big provider of Security Software and platform for various u. S. Agency. And in addition to that we just got certification for u. S. Certification for cloud base deployment. And i have our Cyber Security center is actually in the United States. So i think we quite qualify as definitely a somewhat of a u. S. Entity but a key partner of the u. S. Government. Mr. Chen, i was looking up that bill you referenced, the Democratic Senators markey and blumenthal reintroduce bills in Cyber Security in automobiles and airplanes, we know staff workers are working with ford in the automobile, what more might we expect from you on that front . Theres a lot to come. You know, we also wanted to set or lead, not set, but lead some kind of standard setting in Cyber Security readiness, like in vehicles or, you know, airplane or in devices. So if you look at blackberry, our heritage, our dna and our strength has always been Cyber Security, has always been enterprise. And always mobility. So basically everything we just talk about are all in that area. So we think we could contribute a lot. John, i want to talk about the internet of thing which is is an area youve staked out for growth. Of course blackberry has a qnx, but lately both intel with mobileye and qualcomm with nxp have staked out the car as an area where they want to grow and increasingly have influence. Tell me why investors shouldnt view that as a threat to blackberrys ability to really help to shape where the car is headed as a Computing Device . A couple reasons. Qualcomm and intel are both partners of ours. In fact this morning on a Conference Call i announced, well, i was just telling everybody reported on our new Development Platform for qnx that supported intel and arm technology. So all partners of ours. Its really more complimentary. In addition to that we have relationship with 60 million cars today using Blackberry Software running out there. And we have relationship with all the direct manufacturers and ford being a pretty Big Partnership with us. So i think we shouldnt be concerned about blackberry. Well, john, thanks for joining us first on cnbc. A quarter that certainly wall street seems to like, the stock up about 12 in the early trade. John chen. Thank you, jon. Always good to hear from him. Thank you, john. Lets get to our eamon javers with some breaking news out of washington. What now, eamon . Yeah, hi, kelly. New development here in the saga of National Security former National Security advisor mike flynns immunity. A senior congressional source telling with direct knowledge telling nbc news now that the Senate Intelligence committee has turned down the request by mike flynns lawyer for a grant of immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. Nbc news reporting the official said flynns lawyer was told it was, quote, wildly preliminary and that immunity was, quote, not on the table for the moment. Flynns lawyers also conveyed the offer to the justice department. The official said in terms of asking for immunity. So there would be two entities who could decide to take that offer up one would be the senate and the fbi itself and they would make their own determination on whether or not they think mike flynn should get immunity or not, not clear what this means at this early stage. Could be too early to make that determination. It could be that flynn himself is the target of the investigation. It could be that officials dont think theres anybody further up the food chain who they would need flynn to flip on in order to give him that immunity. So its very early here. But it looks like at least for now the senate turning down that request from mike flynns lawyer for immunity, kelly. Eamon, thank you. Eamon javers at the white house. You bet. When we come back on squawk alley, awaiting sounds from the president s meeting with the national manufacturers. Then the president of that group, ceo jay tim mons will be joining us right after his meeting in the white house. A first on cnbc interview. Find out what went on inside. Squawk alley back in a moment. Dows down 34 points. Flz. Post nine is sponsored by fidelity investments, innovative ideas for serious investors. At fidelity, trades are now just 4. 95. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. Its your glass of willpower that helps keep cravings. Far, far away. Feel less hungry with the natural fiber in clinically. Proven meta appetite control. From metamucil. President trump expected to sign two executive orders today. One addressing the trade deficit, the other targeting tariff enforcement. And weve got a pair of experts to discuss what all of this means. Were joined right now by former deputy secretary for International Trade at the u. S. Treasury gary as well as former trade representative and lead nafta negotiate ambassador carla hill joins us by phone. Welcome to you both for being here. Pleasure to join you. So ambassador hills, maybe you could just run us through. Were trying to figure out exactly how much power President Trump has, not just in todays executive orders but Going Forward when it comes to renegotiating nafta and potentially going after china for its trade deficit . Hes entitled under the agreement on six months notice to pull out of the agreement. And he is entitled on 90 days notice to talk to the congress, give notice, tell the congress what he wants to do with the north American Free trade agreement, and inform them and then move ahead with renewing the agreement. It doesnt have to be torn up. There are areas that we should address that would be good for all three parties that negotiated it. Issues that didnt exist when we negotiated almost a quarter century ago like ecommerce and the like. So, gary, youve been reading a lot of the tea leaves and listening to the rhetoric from washington and from the Trump Administration. Is ambassador hills right that there is some room for improvement and what were actually going to see out of the administration will bring a nafta, for instance, up to speed with Current Technology . Oh, sure. Theres a lot of room as carla just said. If you read the draft letter that was released yesterday or leaked yesterday, i describe it as an iron fist and velvet blood. Weve got to see how much velvet there is and iron Going Forward because they talk about a lot of things that could be translated into very aggressive and back ward looking demands on mexico and canada. But on the other hand they could go for digital commerce, they could go for improving infrastructure across the border, rules on labor and environment, rules on state owned enterprises. But there would be a big improvement. So the way is open. Ambassador hills, some interpreted at least this draft text of proposed changes to nafta as being less aggressive than one might have expected from the Trump Administration given the rhetoric around nafta. And also theres this talk of mexico wanting this process to hurry up and get on with because of stalled investment in mexico as theres uncertainty around what kind of free trade zone theres going to be several months from now. How do you expect those two factors perhaps mexicos builtin eagerness and the perhaps velvet aspect of this glove to affect where we go from here . Well, my hope is that we work constructively with our two neighbors, north and south. We have to remember that canada is our largest export destination, and mexico is our second largest export destination. We sell more to mexico than we sell to all the rest of latin america. And our supply chains are extraordinarily interconnected. Indeed when we import something from mexico, and i know thereve been a lot of frowns cast on imports, but 40 of that import is of american products. 60 of our imports around the world offer intermediate products. If we start cutting off imports, our exports will be far less competitive. And we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. So, you know, i hope that we reach out, open up the markets, create greater opportunities for our entrepreneurs. We have about 300,000 exporters. About 90 of those are defined as small and medium size businesses who are the great job producers in our country. So if we want