The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/03/04 at 12:00 EST

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/03/04 at 12:00 EST

It's been really awesome to see people have never been more interested in our show, Frontburner, than they are today. I'm Jamie Puezo and Frontburner is the daily news podcast that I host. We cover Canadian news and politics in, I think, a really clear way. What topics? Oh, you know, Trump's threats to annihilate our economy with tariffs, make us the 51st state, the chaos of a teetering federal government, a looming election, that kind of thing. So if you want to get a good sense of what's going on and why, please follow Front Burner wherever you get your podcasts.

From CBC News, it's the World This Hour. I'm Joe Cummings. We go first to Ottawa and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The United States launched a trade war against Canada. Their closest partner and ally, their closest friend. At the same time, they're talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense. The Trump administration's sweeping tariffs against Canadian imports went

into effect as of midnight and Trudeau at a news conference in Ottawa today issued a direct appeal to the US president. Now it's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do. The Trudeau government is responding to the U.S. trade action with 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on $30 billion worth of American products. And Trudeau says that will expand to cover another $125 billion in U.S. goods before the end of the month. Trudeau also says Canada will be filing

claims with the World Trade Organization and through the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement. As for the response across the country, Ontario has announced it'll be imposing a 25% export tax on the electricity it's sending over to a million customers in Minnesota, Michigan and New York. And Premier Doug Ford appeared on CNN this morning to defend the mood. 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 well, Ford says he'll be directing the province's liquor stores

to remove all U.S. alcohol from their shelves. It's estimated the Ontario Liquor Control Board buys at least a billion dollars' worth of American alcohol each year. And at this point, the Trump White House appears to be doubling down on its tariff strategy. Vice President J.D. Vance is claiming today that Canada has not been serious about stopping the fentanyl trade. And in a social media post, President Trump is telling Canadian companies to move their production to the United States to avoid the trade action. As for the stock markets in the U.S., they are plunging today. The Dow Jones, the S&P,

and the NASDAQ are all deep in the red, and these losses have now wiped out all the gains that accompanied Trump's return to the White House. Away from the economic front, the day after the Trump White House announced it is pausing its military aid to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is saying today he is prepared to sign the U.S. rare minerals deal. President Trump has said that deal is key to achieving peace in Ukraine. This says the European Commission has finalized a plan that will see EU countries dramatically increase their defense spending.

Crystal Gamansing has the details now from London. We are in an era of rearmament. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, says it's the most dangerous of times. For the protection of the continent, investments are required. I do not need to describe the grave nature of the threats that we face. A pool of nearly 800 billion euros is being made available to enable bloc nations to make the needed investments. I'm shocked. This is unbelievable what's unfolding.

Oleksandr Moreshko is a Ukrainian MP. If there will be casualties and human lives lost because of this, I think Mr. Trump should seriously think about how he's going to enter in history. If you didn't have our military equipment... During that explosive meeting last week, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky of not wanting peace and gambling with World War III. Crystal Gamansing, CBC News, London.

And that is The World This Hour. For news anytime, go to our website cbcnews.ca. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.