Tripledigit gains for the dow, the s p and nasdaq are surging as well. Financials, industrials and the semis are among the best performing sections today. Check out the big movers at this hour. Footlocker is up more than 5 near session highs. Thats a big reversal from its premarket declines after the retailer warned. Then it got an upgrade. Its a very strange story, but the stock is up sharply today. Verizon under pressure after missing profit estimates this morning and snapon is rallying another 5 on its earnings beat today. Here is whats else happening at this hour, activists investor is turning up the heat in its fight with buffalo wild wings. Calling on that restaurant and chain to replace its ceo. The stock up over 5 right now as a result. And a day after being removed at fox news, our julia is reporting that bill oreilly is going to receive a maximum of one year salary as part of his exit. That salary has been reported somewhere between 20 and 25 million annually. And this is real and its spectacular. A fake architect named newman charged by new York Attorney general Eric Sneiderman with nearly 60 counts of larceny and fraud in a true seinfeldina sting. Theyre calling it operation and have lay industries. Anyone . Anyone . Remember that well, bilge. We begin with a busy day in washington. President trump meeting with ceos from the Steel Industry and signing executive order on steel imports. We are live in washington with the very latest. The president called it a historic day for American Steel here at the white house today. Surrounded by executives from the Steel Industry. He signed a memorandum. The idea here is that his ordering the Commerce Department to speed up a study of whether or not imports of steel into the United States are bad for the national defense. The concern here is that if the United States depends too much on foreign steel in any emergency situation those Foreign Countries if theyre hostile to the United States could ended up turning off the speck et of steal. One of the interesting things that happened in this event, the president made an unscripted sideline into canada and nafta. Here is what he had to say on that. We cant let canada or anybody else take advantage and do what they did to our workers and to our farmers. And again, i want to also just mention included in there is lumber, timber and energy. So we have to get to the negotiating table with canada very, very quickly. So the country not being emphasized today by the white house is china, but of course that is the sub text of all of this. A lot of steel imports are coming from the country of china. The president very much telegraphing that he is not willing to call china a currency manipulator. He said in a tweet he wasnt doing that at a time that the United States is depending on china for negotiations over north korea, but obviously the president is willing to take this action today, which could be viewed as a bit of a finger wag toward the country of china. He is willing to give them something but not everything, guys. Thank you. President trumps relationship with china is a tough one to figure out. On the one hand, hes bashing china about trade and picking fights like were seeing today over steel dumping. On the other hand, hes touting his budding relationship with president xi and the need for cooperation on north korea. Can trump play both good cop and bad cop . Lets bring in john rut lij. John, its always great to see you. Thanks, melissa. Do you think the chinese will buy this act that trump is putting on . I think its a load of baloney, melissa. You know what, in february the ugs imported 2 billion worth of steel. 72 million or 3. 7 of it came from china. China is not where the u. S. Gets its steel import. Theyre not even in the top ten. So this is politics. This is not economics thats happening today. But steel is excellent ground for politics because you can impose duties on specific products which appeal to specific industries which turn them into political donors. Plat rolled, coil, tubing, bar products, rebar all have different tariffs attached to them. But let me back it up just a little bit here, john, and look at not only the trade picture but the military issue as well regarding north korea, especially. Who needs who more here . Who has the lench . Does china need us more or do we need them more, do you think . The only solution to korea is going to come from china, and not from the u. S. China could take out that government any time it wanted to and it could do it through internal people. So, the u. S. Has big interests there, as to our allies in the pacific. But this is not going to be a u. S. Operation here. Trump is touting National Security interests for the steel tariffs today. National security interests have nothing to do with steel imports here. We have plenty of steel for National Security. Its a trade hes making for other things hes getting out of china. And its a fair question how much is north korea and how much its other economic interests. Hes calling for an investigation, though, into the impacts, john. Whats wrong with that . Isnt it possible that like with other materials, technology for instance, that we want to be a little bit protectionist on this particular front . Well, this has nothing to do with technology. This has to do with steel showing up on ships but like any import, input into data center, ship or car isnt it all the same . Its all the same. In fact, its all exactly the same as the steel thats already made here. Steel is steel. Like motor oil is motor oil. There are rare earth issues in china. They have supplies of rare earth that are very important to the electronics and tech industry. But this is politics. What do you see . You see a photo op. There are tech issues, intellectual property and other things that are very important and not there at the table today. We see the steel stocks all charging today. We just had the ceo of u. S. Steel on up 7. 5 for that stock. Clearly wall street thinks that this is going to be good for the steel companies. Do you think it will be . I do. But you know this is not the only event going on in steel right now. Last week the eu imposed duties on foreign steel. Two weeks ago the u. S. Did for a list of countries. So, the steel import tariffs are alive and well and really not a chinese issue. Its an issue regarding mostly europe, india, korea, japan and brazil. But everywhere in the world now theres a glut of steel capacity. Steel prices are down. And the companies are after someone to help protect them from it. The solution to this, bill, is really more demand that uses more steel and buys more steel to build capital goods. Thats what we need, not protectionist measures. John rutledge, also good to see you. Thanks for joining us today. Nice to see you, bill. As we established, trade is topic one for u. S. Auto makers. We are live from the a cadillac plant in shanghai, china, getting a chance to peer into the future. Its 1 00 a. M. Friday morning there. Good morning, phil. Reporter good morning, bill. And the cadillacs are still rolling off the line at 1 00 a. M. The reason we come to china every year is because this auto market gives us a real glimpse of whats happening in not only the biggest auto market in the world but one that is maturing. Some brand are seeing theirs slow down and others like cadillac are still posting impressive gains. We went to a cadillac dealership today, fairly crowded. Look at their sales in the first quarter, up 90 and they are expanding not only their dealerships but also manufacturing in china. Here is the reason why take a look at the largest auto luxury brand i should say here in china. Cadillac 12 years ago wasnt here, now its number four in the market. And as opposed to the one, two and three brands which are all german auto makers, cadillac can sell the fact that it has american styling and american heritage. America has lot of positive con notation for chinese. Its the country of optimism. Its the country of opportunities. And i think cadillac is reflecting those values. Its bold. Its sophisticated. Its something that stands out of the crowd. Lets talk about the trade element here. A lot of people believe that china is going to be mass producing vehicles and then exporting them to the u. S. Thats not whats happening right now. In fact, in china, they receive 10 ten times more vehicles built in the u. S. And then shipped over here than are build in china and then shipped over to the u. S. And remember, theres a 25 tariff on all vehicles that are imported into china. And still there are more that are built in the u. S. And shipped here as opposed to those built here and then shipped over to the u. S. General motors reports earnings next friday. It will be interesting to see what they have to say about the Chinese Market because this market, while it is starting to mature and youre seeing overall sales start to slow down, cadillac remains one of the strongest performers here. Guys, back to you. When i went to a cadillac showroom in china, maybe the same one you were at, they were saying a lot of buyers came into the showroom were looking at a specific model that had additional inches in the backseat because theyre buying the vehicles because a driver will be driving them and they would be driven. Is that still the dynamic . Or is it now finally you know what, were going to go buy my own cadillac that i am going to drive . Reporter we talked with somebody who was going to be buying one for themselves, but a lot of people here still have drivers. Thats why longwheeled base vehicles remain incredibly popular in china. Its still a mix there but we did talk to a few people who are buying their own vehicle. All right, bill. Thank you. Interesting to see what gm says about venezuelaen market. Retail stocks are on the move right now. Lets get the market flash. Bill, Retail Stocks having a great week, it could be the best week of the year. The best week since december 9th last year. One of the big reasons lets keep with the auto theme here. Auto dealers in america, check out shares of lithium motors, auto nation, sonic, penske a big part of the story. The bullishness lithia boosted their dividend and fouryear earnings stock. The big bounces are helping the overall retail industry, guys, as well. Back other to you, bill. Thanks very much. Stocks in rally mode. We are on the floor of the new york stock exchange. Weve seen this movie before. Other rallies faded into the afternoon. This feels real, though. It does and there are a couple reasons for that. Earnings are the principle one. Lets look at the s m 500. Why the rally . Its simple. We started moving up at the european close. Buying yields did not fall apart there. They held up near the highs. I think thats the major factor for the market. A lot of people talking about the health care. I would say possibly but thats a small part of it. Volume is just average. Its not huge people people coming into buy but stocks are up. I want to show you the sectors here because banks are back. This is the reflation trade. Banks are back. Healthy round of earning season. Industrials are strong because the transports are strong. Materials are strong. You heard about whats going on in steel stocks. We have earnings out as well. The reflation trade son. Gold is down. Buying yields, theyre moving to the upside and the dollar index is to the downside. Thats the reverse you see usually. Its about earnings today. Theyre almost all positive. Kwaul come really good. Csx helping the. Dover beat one of the first industrials. Ge is tomorrow. Steel dynamics great numbers overall. You heard whats going on with the steel stocks. Sher winwilliams, do it yourself paint business fantastic, sales up 7. 5 . Great numbers this morning here. Lets not overanalyze it, a positive european close buying yields holding up over there, talk on compromised bill on health care. Back to you. Not necessarily in that order too. Ill see you later down at the big board there. Thanks. Our big exclusive with germanys finance chief, his take on trump, protectionism and the state of the Global Economy. But first, brexit, european elections, the list of geo political flash points the list keeps getting bigger. The opportunities for you in this environment next. Hey youve gotta see this. Cmon. No. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Welcome back to power lunch. We want to call your attention right now to whats happening with shares of tesla. As you can see, they are currently down by just about a percent or so, but a real chart move in the last couple minutes or so. The reason why, tesla is issuing a voluntary recall, 53,000 of its model s and model x vehicles. The reason why theyre doing this is because there could be an issue with the electric parking brake on the vehicles. Tesla does say that there have been no accidents and no incidents related to this recall. Just the fact that theyre being proactive about it. Guys, as we talk about tesla, a stock thats hovering near record highs right now, it just goes to show you this is not a massive move down but it is one where we do see any bit of news sending tesla shares lower, guys. Back over to you. All right, don. Thank you very much. Well send it down to michelle in washington. Michelle . Hey, there, melissa. I just sat down with cnbc exclusive with the germany finance chief. Why causes have had so much success in recent elections. The reason why we have is some complexity of european Decision Making process. Some discussions on did you hear that heavy sigh. Its a reflection of a lot of the establishment parties in europe have yiegt now as they see the rise of Marine Le Pen. Is she going to win . Thats a very big concern for many people in europe and wonder if it poses a threat to the euro. I asked him those questions. Well have a lot more from that exclusive interview with german finance minister straight ahead on power lunch. Before we move on, you know, he mentioned the complexity of the problems. The way that the opposition parties that are gaining favor these days, they portray these problems as very simple. Theyre oversimplifying these problems in many cases, arent they . Yeah. I think both sides agree that trying to get to any kind of agreement among 26 countries is nearly, as we discovered, impossible in some cases. Right. So you heard that sigh. Thats his frustration and yet he is committed to thats what they have to do. Where as the euro skeptics say, no, it should be country by country. Let us control all our rules. But he is convinced that when it comes to the health of the eurozone, they are better together. Yeah. Stay there. Antieu sentiment is also of the mind of the imf director who spoke with our own sara eisen just a short while ago. We have some of the headlines from that conversation. Absolutely, bill. And that antieu sentiment goes hand in hand with rising protectionism. And thats the topic du jour here. They have gotten more vocal warning about the risks of rising tariffs and protectionist sentiment. Now thats prompted a response from wilbur ross, the commerce secretary just on our air. Called the imf warnings rubbish. Says other countries are much more protectionist than we are. So this was Christine Lagardes first chance to respond to that. Listen. You know, when i hear that, im delighted because it means that the concern of all our members is to make sure that we protect free, fair and global trade and that we all work at eliminating the distortion, at eliminating what could constitute and a Playing Field that is not level and accessible to all. So, were on the same page. Madame le guard playing down any friction between the imf and the u. S. Administration saying great to hear. We all want fair trade, level the Playing Field and open it up to help Economic Growth. Of course i had to ask her about the French Election. She used to be the french finance minister. I did ask if Marine Le Pen won and she went forward on her Campaign Promises to take france out of the euro, would that trigger a financial crisis. Here is what the managing director of the imf said. It would certainly entail major disorder and a risk of dislocation. Lets see what happens on sunday. So clearly that is just one of the risks from what guys was overall a better more up beat tone as the imf did just upgrade its forecast for warning of protectionism and policy risks. Back to you. Sara eisen thank you. Reporter much. Lot of big interviews on cnbc today. Investors just being bombarded right now with some rather scary headlines from around the world. Tension with north korea, strained relationships with russia, trade spats with china and that French Election this weekend. What impact might this have on the markets going forward, we say Global Strategies because you just got back from a month worth of traveling in mexico and latin america, i think parts of europe as well. Why are the markets the dow is up pretty nicely in the past year, but were actually one of the worst performing major markets. Everything is up despite everything we just said. Why . I think partly, brian, you saw a lot of yufism, optimism that came in the market following the donald trump election. The promise of more stimulus. The promise of i think they were a big factor in terms of the u. S. Market doing well. And that also helped a lot of other markets except for the emerging markets initially which were worried about trade restrictions. Now that you have come into 2017, the emerging markets are feeling more confident about a slower increase in fed rate increases. Not so much in terms of trade restrictions because the president has made peace both with china as well as with mexico. And i think despite the negatives that are taking place with russia on the political side, i this i the Market Outlook looks very good. Well get to russia in a moment because you said something important. When trump came out, when he was elected,