A.M. Edition for Mar. 10. The WSJ’s Aaron Zitner says the Democratic Party is split between progressives who want direct confrontation with Republicans and moderates worried about alienating centrists who vote with their pocketbooks. Plus, Mark Carney wins the contest to become Canada’s new leader and vows to push back on Donald Trump’s trade war. And Russia regains key territory from Kyiv’s troops ahead of this week’s U.S.-Ukraine talks. Luke Vargas hosts. Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the top headlines in today's world?
Canada gets a new leader as America's neighbour pushes back on Trump's trade war.
We didn't ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. So the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade as in hockey, Canada will win.
Plus, Russia claws back key territory from Ukrainian troops. And overpowered in Washington, Democrats wrestle with whether future voters want confrontation or attack to the center. It's Monday, March 10th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.
Chapter 2: What challenges face Canada's new leader Mark Carney?
Former Bank of Canada and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is set to take over from Justin Trudeau as Canada's next prime minister after winning a vote this weekend to become the leader of the country's governing Liberal Party. Journal reporter Vipal Manga says Carney is expected to call a snap election that suddenly looks winnable.
When Trudeau announced that he was resigning in January, the Liberal Party was mired at the bottom of the polls. Canadian voters had soured on his economic vision and were extremely frustrated by rising inflation and seemed to be following the same path that many voters in the Western world have been doing in kicking out their incumbent parties.
However, since Donald Trump started to threaten to annex Canada, calling it the 51st state, and imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian goods, the Liberal Party has rebounded strongly and now in some polls is virtually tied with the Conservatives who are led by populist Pierre Polyev.
Carney warned yesterday that his conservative rival lacks the ability to manage Trump and jumpstart the economy. He also promised to cut taxes for the middle class and rein in government spending, seeking to distance himself from Trudeau's economic agenda. Ukrainian forces are losing ground in Kursk, the slice of Russian territory that Kyiv had hoped would give it leverage in any peace talks.
Chapter 3: How are Russia and Ukraine's tensions escalating?
That's according to analysts and soldiers in the area, who say Russian and North Korean troops have seized several villages there and used overwhelming drone power to largely cut supply routes to the main Ukrainian force. The advance follows a U.S. decision to halt intelligence sharing with Kyiv, reducing Ukraine's ability to carry out long-range strikes which rely on accurate targeting data.
It also comes as senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials prepare to meet for talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Israel said yesterday it was cutting off its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip, part of efforts to force Hamas into releasing Israeli hostages and laying down its weapons, now that talks to extend a seven-week ceasefire have stalled.
Chapter 4: What is happening in the Israel-Gaza conflict?
The cutoff will likely mean the enclave's desalination plant will stop working. According to an Israeli security official, Israel still supplies Gaza's population of more than two million people with water from three different pipelines. However, the country's finance minister said last week that cutting off water to Gaza in order to pressure Hamas was also a possibility.
A Hamas spokesman said that Israel disregards international law and that it has practically cut off electricity since the war began in October 2023. Meanwhile, U.S. federal immigration officers yesterday arrested a Columbia University student who helped to lead pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations last year.
Chapter 5: How are U.S.-China trade tensions affecting agriculture?
According to his lawyer, Mahmoud Khalil, who's Palestinian and Syrian, was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents who said they were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke his green card. The spokeswoman for DHS said Khalil had led activities aligned to Hamas and and that his arrest came, quote, in support of President Trump's executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.
The day before Khalil's detention, the Trump administration said it would cancel roughly $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Colombia. A State Department spokesperson didn't comment on the case, citing visa confidentiality laws. Chinese tariffs on American food and agricultural products will kick in today, Beijing's retaliation to an additional 10% U.S. levy on all Chinese goods.
American chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton products face an extra 15% duty compared to 10% for soybeans, pork, beef, dairy products, and more. The moves will put pressure on the third-largest agricultural export market for U.S. farmers, which was worth almost $25 billion last year. Pushed on Fox News whether his economic agenda could lead the U.S.
economy to contract, President Trump offered the following on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
Chapter 6: Is a recession predicted for the U.S. economy?
Look, I know that you inherited a mess, and you said that the other night.
I've already been here.
Chapter 7: What is the Democratic Party's strategy for regaining power?
But are you expecting a recession this year?
Um... I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time. It takes a little time.
Trump's cabinet officials have offered differing opinions on the economic outlook, with Commerce Secretary Howard Ludnick ruling out a recession yesterday, while Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said last week the economy could be in for a rough patch. Coming up, the Democratic Party is torn over what its path back to power looks like. We've got that story after the break.
Democrats need to fight back against President Trump. That much they can agree on. But how to do it is a question causing some of them to fight amongst themselves, as the party reckons with the options at its disposal, given Trump's command of the national political debate and Republican control of Congress. Journal reporter Aaron Zittner is in Washington.
Aaron, it's great to have you back on the pod. I'm trying to think about the last Democrat that we mentioned here, and I believe it was Representative Al Green who was yelling at President Trump during his address to Congress last week and got himself censured for it. I take it that's maybe one of the strategies, confrontation, that Democrats think they should be embracing here?
Well, that's right. Democrats have a very restive liberal base. We've seen people showing up at town hall meetings. In fact, so many That House Republican leaders said, hey, we don't want to have any more town hall meetings. Too many angry people are showing up. Whether that's organic or driven by Democratic groups seems irrelevant.
People are getting out of their houses and going to these town meetings. And they've been flooding the hill, the members of Congress, with phone calls. But there are centrists in the party who say, wait a second.
Our path back to winning the House of Representatives and having any hope in the Senate depends on moving to the center and winning those swing voters who swung toward President Trump in 2024. And they don't like this performative stuff. They don't like partisan politics. In our last poll in January, Democrats had the worst image ratings.
that we have ever found in Wall Street Journal polling in three decades. This is a party that voters do not trust, and it's not enough to protest. This is what the centrists say. Democrats have to make sure that voters understand what they would do with power if they got it back. And the way to do that, they say, is not through protest.
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