Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Crushed by Canada Heads to Mexico With Tail Between Legs to Beg for Bailout

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, on the day that the Trump administration responded to Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada's video message to his people, telling them that they're in for a long fight, but an important fight against the United States. In a trade war, they didn't ask for, but that they need to win. Just hours after that message, you would think, well, maybe leadership, which is obviously in short supply in the United States, would send some sort of representative to Ottawa to try to solve this problem, right? Donald Trump running out of moves after this latest counter-counter tariffs. But what do we wake up to today? The leadership of the economic policy of Donald Trump in the form of Howard Lutnik,

Starting point is 00:00:40 the Commerce Secretary, who's made himself the czar of steel and the auto industry, is on his way, not to Ottawa, but to Mexico. Right. He's got to now go down to Mexico to meet with the president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum because she obviously holds the keys to whether there's going to be any way for the Trump administration to get themselves out of the corner they just painted in the relationship between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. But it's very telling that when obviously the United States should be looking north and meeting with Mark Carney and his trade representatives,

Starting point is 00:01:18 they've instead got to send Howard Lucknick South to Mexico. Yeah, Mexico looking to bail out the United States for their failed Canadian policy. You're on legal A.F. I'm Michael Popak. I've got a special vantage point here for this particular video. I'm very close to the border of Canada. I'm in Detroit, Michigan, right over the border from Windsor, Ontario. I've always understood the importance of not only the relationship between America and Canadians, but the importance of the connectivity of their economy because we can't run our economy without the support of Canada and, of course, of Mexico. While you're here, hit that free subscribe button, help us to continue to grow our channel. So let's first play the clip of the video message. This is what true leadership looks like

Starting point is 00:02:11 as Mark Carney addresses his nation and the importance of not only fighting a good fight, but getting ready for the hardship that could result. I mean, there are economic models that show that Canada could suffer a up to 1% loss of its gross domestic product for the year in the midst of this trade war. But it's a fight worth having and important for them to succeed in and win for Canadian sovereignty. Play the clip. We're stronger now than when the United States started this trade war a year and a half ago. More unified, more determined, more ambitious. Our non-U.S. exports are up sharply and they're on track to double over the next day.

Starting point is 00:02:51 decade. Foreign direct investment in Canada is at its highest level in two decades, and it's running at twice the rate of our nearest G7 competitor. Canada is now rated as the most attractive country in the world for infrastructure investment. Our growth is accelerating, and it's projected to be the second fastest in the G7 this year and next. So with the resilient economy in the strongest fiscal position in the G7, we have everything we need. to pivot and prosper. That pivot will come at a cost. There's always a cost to action, but it doesn't come close to the cost of standing still. This is about who we are as Canadians. It's about our livelihoods and the country we leave to our kids. It's about making Canada strong,

Starting point is 00:03:43 and it's about the compassion that makes us who we really are. The truth is, adversity only makes us stronger, it always has. We are met Shainu. What we're doing is working and we're just getting started. Let's keep going. Thank you for your time. I know it's precious. Now what does Donald Trump do? Well, Donald Trump's running out of moves here. So he announced he's going to do some counter-counter-measures. He's going to force any federal contract remove Canadian goods from the contract. He's going to go after alcohol beverage import from Canada and go after motorcycles. You see, he's got very few moves here because the fundamentals of the relationship are really about the power grid. They're really about electric and hydroelectric and the fuel line, Canada fueling

Starting point is 00:04:41 a lot of the Midwest, a lot of the Pacific Northwest is fueled. The lights are on because of Canada. That's why Doug Ford, the Ontario Premier, has said, we should just turn off the lights of the United States in this discussion. Now, they haven't gone this far, but they're about to. And so when you have a trade war that has reached this boiling point, you would think, all right, cooler head should be heading to Ottawa or making an invitation for Mark Carney to come to the White House, right? Oh, no. Howard Lutnik, who screwed up the deal to begin with when at the last minute he tried to push too hard for the auto industry and the steel industry is on his way to Mexico, apparently to do the same thing with Claudia Scheimbaum and her economic secretary, Marcelo Eberhard. Now, he's already met in last week, Lutnik, with the Mexicans and the Mexican trade representatives in Chapel Hill,

Starting point is 00:05:47 North Carolina during a G20 breakout session in which they talked about auto manufacturing and steel manufacturing. And this is important because you wouldn't know it by watching Donald Trump's economic policy, but there is an agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. it's known as the USMCA right that is supposed to govern trade, including the manufacturing of automobiles. Now, GM and Ford and other major auto manufacturers, they rely on Mexico and on Canada for component parts, for supply chain and for manufacturing and building of their vehicles. In fact, GM and Ford can't do it without Mexico in Canada. So what could go wrong with Howard Lutnik heading down to Mexico?

Starting point is 00:06:39 Here's Howard Lutnik on Canada, and then I'll play a clip of Howard Lutnik on Mexico. Play the clips. Friday at 4 o'clock, the Canadians call and say they start adding crazy ideas to the mix. And we said, what are you doing? And I said to one of the ministers, are you actually trying to blow this up? And his answer to me was, I'm not allowed to say that. and they blew it up for political reasons only. So if you're going to mess with the United States of America and its economy,

Starting point is 00:07:09 and you're right adjacent to our northern border, I think it was really disrespectful. We were treated disrespectfully. And I think when you treat Donald Trump disrespectfully, you know, he knows it. And that's what happened. They did it for politics. They're going to do it through their elections in Quebec, and then they have an election in Alberta.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And after October 12th, all of a sudden the Canadians, They're going to treat us respectfully because their elections will be behind them. It's just, it's sad. From my perspective, it's just sad the way candidates treated us. Are you going to renegotiate that free trade deal, the USMCA? I think the president is absolutely going to renegotiate USNCAA, but that's a year from today. Exactly. So today, of course, 75% comes in free, but of course, should you expect us to renegotiate it?

Starting point is 00:07:57 It makes perfect sense for the president to renegotiate it. He wants to protect American jobs. He doesn't want cars built in Canada or Mexico when they could be built in Michigan and Ohio. It's just better for American workers. The president's got the American workers back. That's why they elected them. That's why the stock markets at all-time highs. They understand the president actually understands business and is doing it the right way.

Starting point is 00:08:24 But it just shows you how perverse this administration is. They treat Canada like crap. They act like they don't need. I mean, literally Donald Trump said, we don't need Canada. I mean, I don't know what economics class he fell asleep in, but that is completely untrue. We've got a trade agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada that Donald Trump's in violation of. He's trying to use these other powers of the president, these Section 338 tariffs in order to,

Starting point is 00:08:57 because he's running out of moves against the Canadians. And in the meantime, Carney's telling his people and telling the Canadians, we're in for a rough ride here, but there is no alternative. And that's obvious. At the end, if Canada squeezes the United States at the same time that Mexico does, we're toast. And that's why they're sending Lutnik, but he's like a bull in the China shop. Does anybody really think that the U.S. negotiating position with Mexico, led by Howard Lutnik, is in a better position than it was? before they started their fight with Canada? Or is Mexico and Claudia Scheimbaum in a better leverage position

Starting point is 00:09:35 to squeeze America hard knowing that they're already in the fight with Canada? If these are the cards that have been dealt to President Scheinbaum of Mexico, she's going to play it to the hilt, and she should. So, tail between his legs, completely compromised Howard Lutniks

Starting point is 00:09:53 going down to Mexico. And you know who's watching all of this on the sidelines? China. We've got new reports. that China is out selling the rest of the world on if you want a stable trading partner and you want billions of dollars invested in your infrastructure, come to China. We are obviously more stable than that guy in the White House.

Starting point is 00:10:17 Yes, we've reached the point now where Donald Trump is effectively a walking commercial for Chinese trade. I'm crazy. China is not, at least in this and a whole, and so people are turning to China. Canada has turned towards China as a legitimate and stable, operative word, stable trading partner. Well, what did Donald Trump and his administration think was going to happen when the State Department under Marco Rubio closed all of his global consulates and embassies, terminated U.S. aid around the world? Where did he think those countries

Starting point is 00:10:54 were going to go to the waiting arms of China? China. If you ever traveled throughout the Caribbean, you'll see major infrastructure projects, ports, bridges, tunnels, roads built by the Chinese. We have completely abdicated and left the region of Central and South America and the Caribbean. And the Chinese have stepped in. And they're doing it again with our, what is supposed to be, our NATO and other trading allies, every day. Every time we burn a bridge, China's there to pick up the pieces and say, we're the stable trading partner with, you know, a trillion, trillions and trillions of dollars of an economy that you can have access to. Hooray, great job, Trump. America first. He's made China first. He's making

Starting point is 00:11:47 Canada first. He's making Mexico first. I'll continue to follow it. A lot of updates here. I'm traveling. I'll be back behind my microphone in Miami in about two or three hours. Stay here on Legal AF. Hit that free subscribe button. Until my next report, this is Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF. Me neither. That's why we form the Legal A.F.

Starting point is 00:12:09 Substack, every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, morning A.F. What else? All the other contributors from Legal A.F are there as well.

Starting point is 00:12:27 We got some new reporting. We got interviews. reviews. We got add free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal a. F on substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Trump Crushed by Canada Heads to Mexico With Tail Between Legs to Beg for Bailout

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.