How Canada & Mexico Respond To Trump's Tariffs
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What is the introduction and context for Trump's tariffs?
I'm cold just listening to that. Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Asma Khalid. I cover the White House. And I'm Susan Davis. I cover politics. And today on the show, Trump tariffs are back.
It's a big deal. It's a big deal. This is the beginning of making America rich again.
Yesterday, the president announced 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. Every country, no exceptions, no exclusions, even for our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. And this all comes after Trump had threatened and then pulled back from sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico. So today on the show, we want to hear how our neighbors are reacting.
How is Canada responding to the U.S. tariffs?
And lucky for us, we have got a stellar group of international correspondents that we can call up. And we're going to start up north with NPR correspondent Jackie Northam, who was just in Canada's capital, Ottawa. Hey there, Jackie. Thanks for joining us. Hey, thank you very much for having me. Jackie, how is Canada responding to this latest news from President Trump?
Well, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned to Vice President J.D. Vance that this was going to hurt his home state of Ohio. Canada is the largest supplier of both aluminum and steel to the U.S. It's going to have a huge impact if this does happen. However, Trudeau has not said whether he is going to place retaliatory tariffs if these do go ahead, unlike earlier tariffs that Trump had said he was going to put on all Canadian products.
Yeah. Jackie, I want to ask you about that, because there was a lot of back and forth a couple of weeks ago where Trump threatened, you know, widespread tariffs on Canadian goods that would come into the United States. And I recall Justin Trudeau said, well, then Canada will retaliate.
Yeah, sure did. He said it was going to be the same 25 percent tariffs on a wide range of U.S. goods, up to 100 billion dollars worth. And so that would be You know, U.S. cars or plastic, alcohol, any sort of beer and bourbon, household products as well.
What economic impacts do the tariffs have on Canada?
And the reason that he did that, because the tariffs that Trump was threatening to slap on Canada, which are still in place, they're just being suspended for now. We don't know if they're going to be, you know, come back again or not. But this was really hitting Canada hard. It was affecting agricultural products, lumber and paper products, but also things like potash that's used for fertilizer. Canada was also facing 10% tariffs on crude oil. Now, if you think about it, the U.S. gets about half of its imported oil. So these were really digging deep. And so that's why Trudeau turned around and said, right, we're going to hit back as hard as you're hitting us. And to be honest, He had really just broad backing by the Canadian public because they were sort of fed up with being what a lot of people think is being bullied by the U.S.
So these broad tariffs that Jackie was describing, as she mentioned, they are suspended for now. They could come back. Right. We don't really know what's going to happen on those across the board tariffs. But to me, this is interesting because Canada is a longtime ally of the United States. I mean, the countries share the largest undefended border in the world. And so by acting this way toward a major ally, it seems like President Trump is signaling that foreign policy is just a far more transactional process for him than it has been in previous administrations.
You do get the sense that Canada has been put on its back foot a little bit since Trump took office. I think that Mexico was prepared for a more contentious relationship with the White House. But I don't know if Canada really saw this coming. I will say broadly, I don't think anyone should be surprised by this. If there was anything...
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the introduction and context for Trump's tariffs?
0:28–1:07
2
How is Canada responding to the U.S. tariffs?
1:07–2:25
3
What economic impacts do the tariffs have on Canada?
2:25–5:09
4
Is Trump's tariff strategy working with Canada?
5:09–7:20
5
How does Trump's foreign policy approach affect traditional allies?
7:20–15:30