![Transcript: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on "Face the Nation," Feb. 19, 2023](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/02/18/fd036e29-4d45-458f-9e09-85d4fa6c148a/thumbnail/1200x630g2/04d39afe01d7213716757787e36d7c9c/antony-blinken-1247244032-edited.jpg)
Transcript: Secretary of State Antony Blinken on "Face the Nation," Feb. 19, 2023
CBSN
The following is a transcript of an interview with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that's scheduled to air Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Germany attending the Munich Security Conference. Mr. Secretary, I know you just met with your Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, who has publicly said the U.S. response to the spy balloon was 'absurd,' 'hysterical,' and an 'effort to divert attention away from domestic problems.' Was he that dismissive to you in private?
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More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
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In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
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The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.