The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/04 at 10:00 EST

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/04 at 10:00 EST

What does a mummified Egyptian child, the Parthenon marbles of Greece and an Irish giant all have in common? They are all stuff the British stole. Maybe. Join me, Mark Fennell, as I travel around the globe uncovering the shocking stories of how some, let's call them ill-gotten, artifacts made it to faraway institutions. Spoiler, it was probably the British. Don't miss a brand new season of Stuff the British Style. Watch it free on CBC Gem. From CBC News, it's the World This Hour. I'm Joe Cummings.

With sweeping US tariffs now in effect on Canadian imports, a Canada-US trade war is underway. That is the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning, where numbers are down right across the board. The Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ are all in the red. Here in Canada, it's the same story at the TSX. While the details on Canada's response have yet to be formally released, we're being told counter tariffs

are indeed on the way. And Ontario Premier Doug Ford brought that fight this morning to CNN. We do have to retaliate, and I apologize to the American people. It's not you. It's your president that's causing this problem. We're the number one customer in the world to the United States. We had a great relationship. I want to continue on with that relationship, but I will use every tool in our toolbox to send a message to President Trump that this is the wrong thing to do.

As for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he has a news conference scheduled in Ottawa later this hour. It's set for 1030 Eastern. His office saying that the Prime Minister will be joined by Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie, and Public Safety Minister David McGinty. With more now on the Canadian game plan in Ottawa, here's Janice McGregor. Trudeau's cabinet seems to be pulling its retaliation strategy off the shelf. We have a list of imported products the government says adds up to the first 30 billion dollars worth of targets but it's not going to stop there. Ontario's Doug Ford as chair has already been talking to other Premiers

and he's hot to respond. I will do everything including cut off their energy with a smile on my face. Quebec Premier François Legault told Radio Canada that the way to hurt Trump the most is cutting off things like lumber, aluminum or energy shipments. And Premiers that lined up before to cancel US contracts all poised to snap back into action. If this is just intended to be transactional, to force concessions at a future bargaining table, the politics of that just got more difficult for any country that sits down with Trump.

Why would any politician, not just Canadian ones, go through the painful process of negotiating concessions again if the end result is in a secure and stable trade environment? Janice McGregor, CBC News, Ottawa. And while the Trump administration continues with its border demands, the Custom and Immigration Union in this country is concerned about staffing levels at the Canadian Border Services Agency. The Union's national president says the agency is short at least 2,000 frontline workers. And he says this will impact any long-term demands for border searches in the future. Meanwhile, away from the economic front, the Trump White House has announced it is pausing

all its military aid to Ukraine. U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance appeared last night on Fox News saying it's a move aimed at forcing Ukraine to consider any future U.S.-Russian ceasefire proposal. The president is actually taking a much more realistic perspective and saying, this can't go on forever. We can't fund this thing forever. The Ukrainians can't fight forever. So let's bring this thing to a peaceful settlement.

In the midst of all this, a proposed European defense plan worth more than 800 billion euros is in the final stages. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the Rearm Europe package will be put to the 27 EU leaders during a meeting this week in Brussels. Now to the measles outbreak in Texas. It's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.

From a Cabinet meeting last week, that is U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. The Texas outbreak has grown to nearly 150 confirmed cases and one death. As for Kennedy's claim that it's not unusual, health officials say the last outbreak of this size in the state was more than 30 years ago, and the fatality was the first in the U.S. in a decade. Meanwhile, the Canadian outbreak continues. Quebec is reporting an estimated 30 cases, and in Ontario, 84 new cases have been reported over the past two weeks. That's nearly double the number since the outbreak began in the fall.

And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.