The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/04/09 at 09:00 EDT

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/04/09 at 09:00 EDT

I've been covering politics for 20 years and I can't remember a time like now when everything we thought we knew has been thrown in the air. From Trudeau's resignation to Trump's tariffs to a spring election during huge shifts in the polls. There's a lot at stake and power and politics is here to guide you through it. I'm David Cochran and on CBC's only political

daily I speak to the key players in this election. From the candidates to the analysts to the journalists on the campaign trail, you can find power and politics wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. It's the World This Hour. I'm Joe Cummings. The Trump administration's global tariff campaign is now officially in effect. As of today, more than 180 countries and territories are facing a range of trade levies. As we hear now from Katie Nicholson, there could be more to come. President Trump was defiant last night in a 90-minute speech just hours before these

tariffs kicked in, telling Republicans that they will be legendary and that his plan will work. I know what the hell I'm doing. I know what I'm doing. These countries are calling us up, kissing. They are dying to make it here. Please, please make it here. I'll do anything.

Trump also said he would soon be announcing a major tariff on pharmaceuticals and he said those companies would then rush back to the US. Now it's important to know that outside of the US, China and India and several European countries, they are major players in the pharmaceuticals industry. So this could touch off more disruption in the trade war. But already MAGA billionaire Bill Ackman has posted a long diatribe on X urging the president to pause these tariffs. He says if that doesn't happen, small businesses are going to go bankrupt and then medium-sized businesses will follow.

Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Washington. China has now issued its response to the Trump trade action. The Chinese finance minister is announcing that 84% tariffs will be imposed on all US goods that will be effective as of tomorrow. Canada isn't facing any new American tariffs today, but the Canadian government is hitting the US with its own specific retaliatory measure. In response to the duty on the Canadian auto sector, Canada now imposing a 25% tariff on all US-made vehicles that do not apply to the new NAFTA.

And in the middle of all this, global analysts are suggesting that China and other Asian countries are now poised to assume a new role on the world stage. Lisa Sheng reports. The world order of the last 80 years has made me know that it's dead. Cameron Johnson is a senior partner at supply chain consultancy, Tidal Wave Solutions. Based in Shanghai, he says China and other Asian countries could become key players on the world stage. The whole world is shifting here. If you're not on that train, you're going to get screwed and your people are going to get screwed. China is the world's second largest economy after

the U.S. and diplomatically its influence is also increasingly far-reaching, says Dan Wang, China director for consulting firm Eurasia Group. We've seen a higher presence of China in areas like the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, with U.S. retreating from foreign aid. But Dan Treffler, an international trade professor at the University of Toronto warns there are risks of engaging China. China has been very arbitrary in its actions against Canada and those actions have been very harmful. Lisa Shing, CBC News, Toronto.

Now to the federal election campaign and an allegation that the war between Israel and Hamas is being purposely avoided by the leaders out on the campaign trail. Nicole Williams has more. We've got, you know, a humanitarian crisis. avoided by the leaders out on the campaign trail. Nicole Williams has more. We've got a humanitarian crisis. There's many things on the mind of Aisha Shirazi this election. More than 100 Muslim and Arab organizations have signed a letter calling for a clear commitment

from party leaders to support Palestinians in Gaza and stand against Islamophobia. But any mention of the issue of the conflict by party leaders on the campaign trail has been few and far between. Ruby Dacher is professor of international development at the University of Ottawa. She says that's because the war as a campaign issue is downright risky because of how divided voters are on the conflict. What we can see is that the Arabs are, I wouldn't say spread equally among the parties, but I would say spread enough for there not to be a huge backlash. Even still, Shirazi says voters like her want to know where Canada's political leaders stand on the war in Gaza.

Nicole Williams, CBC News, Ottawa. Incidentally, health officials in Gaza say at least 29 people have been killed today in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. A multi-floor residential building was hit. At this point, there's been no comment from the Israeli military. And that is The World This Hour. For CBC News, I'm Joe Cummings.