Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Cornered by Canada and Mexico as Trade War Backfires

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

The world is watching Canada as it uses aggressive brinksmanship to shove back against Trump and his insane tariff war, and it’s working. Michael Popok compares Canada’s new muscular approach to Trump’s bullying and Mexico’s behind-closed-doors approach, and why both work against Trump but it different ways. Get an additional 15% off their 90-day subscription Starter Kit by going to https://fatty15.com/LEGALAF and using code LEGALAF at checkout. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And when life is moving at the speed of, well, life, Enterprise is right there with you. Around the corner and around the globe. We'll keep you moving forward. Enterprise. Her lives in drive. Given the developments in the last 48 hours, the world is watching Canada take on the United States in the tariff war and use brinksmanship to try to achieve a positive outcome. The question for the world is does that method of taking the US to the mat and fighting with it, is that more effective with Donald Trump than let's say a Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum method of being more quiet in her

diplomacy? Does being quiet and trying to hope Donald Trump doesn't go after you, does that work? That's how the world is currently reacting. But Canada is the tip of the spear right now, led by its incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney, a former banker, major banker for the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada, and Doug Ford, the largest province, Ontario, who produces a lot of the electricity that's needed for the US economy. I'm Michael Popak, you're on the Midas Touch Network

and Legal AF. Let's put on our financial markets, politics, and law intersection and talk about how the world is observing Canada right now. We just watched the number one hot button, apparently, for Donald Trump. Is Canada trying to use electricity in a way to leverage their negotiations? When Donald Trump announced an aluminum and steel tariff of 25%, Doug Ford in Ontario announced that he was going

to do a 25% tax or tariff on electricity going to New York, Michigan and Minnesota. Donald Trump then said, well, we'll double our aluminum and steel tariff to 50%. At that time, the incoming Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said, the United States is a country we can't trust. When the BBC asked Mark Carney in particular, do you think if the UK just stays quiet, there'll be, listen to this question, do you think if the UK just stays quiet, we'll avoid the ire of Donald Trump and the trade war?

To which Mark Carney said, yeah, good luck with that. There's also a respect aspect to this. Canada, now led by Mark Carney and previously by Trudeau, demand appropriately the respect of this president. They've been disrespected. It's sort of a weird what we're watching here. Donald Trump, who is a judged misogynist and sex abuser, but always has a strange relationship with women in power. See Nancy Pelosi and now see Claudia Scheinbaum. For the Claudia Scheinbaums of the world, he has this begrudging respect and he works better behind the scenes in diplomacy and that's why Mexico has done a little bit of a give and take and diplomatic dance, but mainly behind closed doors.

Canada's had no choice. They went down on bended knee and tried to negotiate in January and February with the new Trump administration, and they've been thoroughly embarrassed ever since. Donald Trump to this day still calls the premier, sorry, the prime minister of Canada, still calls him Governor Trudeau and says that Canada is the 51st state. He doesn't do that with Mexico. And so the rest of the world is watching. So not by choice, but because this is the hand they've been dealt, Canada has to be

more aggressive. Forget Canada nice. It's time, as they've learned, to try Canada aggressive. Canada, we don't blink. And so far, it's working. Melanie Joy, who is the trade representative or trade minister for Canada, said that the rest of the world is going to have to follow, effectively, is going to have to follow Canada's lead because if they think they're just going to be quiet and be ignored, that's not going to happen. It's Canada first.

It's the rest of the world next. And the rest of the world leaders are watching. The steel and aluminum tariffs thing especially is troubling because there's a lot of steel manufacturing going on in Southeast Asia and in Asia. And so they're watching Canada right now. Again, Canada, the poster child about does they're all sitting there, will this work? Does this work? As Canada goes out on a limb to try to protect its sovereignty, its economy, its national

security. But I'll tell you one thing, Doug Ford got Trump's attention along with the incoming Mark Carney, because that's why I think it's working, is that the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, is on his way to a meeting on Thursday in Ontario with Doug Ford. And we'll have to see what happens there. I'm so excited to share with you guys an incredible scientific breakthrough to support our long-term health and wellness. C15 is the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in 90 years. And get this, studies have confirmed that it's three times better, broader, and safer than omega-3.

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You know, there's other provinces in Canada that tried to work with Donald Trump and they've been insulted and there's a little bit of a lack of, it's interesting how Canada works. Like, we wouldn't properly allow a state to tariff or tax individually another country. But in Canada, apparently, other provinces have self autonomy and they can do their own without coordination with the central government. That's one of the many differences between Canadian form of government and our form of government.

So, we're seeing other leaders like Doug Ford step forward. Now we'll continue to do the reporting. But I think the takeaway from this particular hot take is there's two different models that we're observing about how to deal with the bully of Donald Trump and his erratic economic policy that is making the world not hum, but spin potentially out of control, negatively impacting the American economy in only less than 60 days of an administration. You have the Mexico model, but I think the Mexico model, to be fair, it's not one size

fit all. And I think it's working because of the unique personal and leadership qualities of Claudia Scheinbaum and how that intersects with Donald Trump in particular, given his history with women and strong women. So I think that works in Mexico. I'm not sure that works in Canada, and Canada got dragged into a fight and now are gonna have to brass knuckle their way out.

And they're trying that method of being a little bit more hostile in their approach publicly seems to be working for now because Donald Trump is moving back from the brink and sending trade representatives and commerce secretaries to go into Canada for their meetings, which I think is a very positive sign. And the rest of the world is trying to figure out what works for them. I'll tell you what doesn't work. I agree with Mark Carney and his BBC interview, which is just, if we just lay low, maybe he

won't, he'll go away. No, that's not how that's going to work. You know, a bully never goes away until you punch them in the face and eat their lunch in front of them. And that's what we're watching Canada do with great pride. They will obtain respect from Donald Trump one way or the other and continue to be one of the most important trading partners. That's the thing that gets lost in the story.

One of the most important trading partners that we have is with Canada, import and export. We cannot run our GDP, our gross domestic product, our manufacturing capacity, our plants is in part powered by many of the things that come out of Canada. We can't make our goods without Canada. We need their steel. We need their rare earth minerals and metals. We need their electricity. We need their power grid just the way it is. That is one of the competitive advantages of the United States. It is the largest engine to produce goods and services, but it needs power and it needs resources and it needs components that we get from Canada.

And so Donald Trump talks up with a lot of false provado, but the reality is we are desperate in our need for things that Mexico and Canada provide. That's why we're going to get that free trade agreement really, really quickly. That is the other thing to keep an eye on. Getting back to the free trade pact that Donald Trump actually put in place in his first administration and then has tried to strangle and kill. Now it's going to come back. It's going to be another win in the trade war

for Canada and Mexico, a war that Donald Trump started for no good reason. It's not helping him at all. It's not helping him in the polls. It's not helping the American economy. It's not helping people in their wallets and their pocketbooks. And yet he continues.

And we'll continue to follow it right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Follow me, Michael Popak, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. Eastern time on the Midas Touch Legal AF podcast. We sit at that intersection of law and politics and global economy so that you don't have to. Wednesdays I do the show with Karen Freeman at Knipfalo, Saturdays with Ben Mycelis, and then I do hot takes like this about every hour right here on the Midas Touch Network. So until my next reporting, I'm Michael Popak. In here on the Midas Touch Network. So until my next reporting, I'm Michael Popock. In collaboration with the Midas Touch Network, we just launched the Legal AF

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