The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 04:00 EST

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

The World This Hour for 2025/12/18 at 04:00 EST

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. from CBC News, the world this hour. I'm Neil Hurland. The Trump administration is making new demands of its biggest trading partners, laying out the concessions it wants from Canada and Mexico. If the U.S. is going to stay in the three-way trade agreement known as Kuzma, Katie Simpson has more. It is in the interest of the United States to keep free and open trade with Canada. As Canada's ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, was appearing on American cable news to make the case to keep Kuzma. Her counterpart, the top U.S. trade official, was submitting a report to Congress listing off the complaints the Trump administration has about the three-way trade agreement. Trump wants provincial bans on the sale of American alcohol to end.

He wants it to be easier for farmers to sell American dairy products into Canada. and he has problems with the Online News Act and Online Streaming Act which American Tech Giants don't like. These issues will be discussed as part of the Kuzma Review, which begins next year. Canada has already indicated it would like to stay in the agreement and is open to making improvements to the deal. It's also demanding the U.S. end punishing tariffs hitting a wide range of Canadian industries, but there are no signs Trump is willing to budge.

Katie Simpson, CBC News, Washington. Good evening, America. Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I'm fixing it. U.S. President Donald Trump painted a rosy picture of the U.S. economy in a speech from the White House last night, and Trump announced he was sending bonus checks to U.S. troops this Christmas. One year ago, our country was dead. We were absolutely dead.

Our country was ready to fail. Totally failed. Now, we're the hottest country anywhere. in the world. And that's said by every single leader that I've spoken to over the last five months. Trump did not mention Venezuela during his speech. There had been speculation he might discuss the rising tension between the United States and the South American country. While it's official Canada's binding 2030 climate target is out of reach, that's according to new emissions projections from the government. David Thurton reports. This year's emissions report shows an even wider gap than

previous years, making it impossible to achieve the country's 2030 climate goal. The report's projections show Canada will fall well short of its 2030 target, just halfway to Ottawa's 40 to 45 percent emissions reduction below 2005 levels. This is the first report released under Prime Minister Mark Carney, and it comes after the county government removed key planks from the country's climate plan, including the consumer carbon tax, pausing the electric vehicle mandate, all while backing additional LNG exports and potentially another bitumen pipeline to the Pacific coast. One of Canada's leading energy think tanks, the Canadian Climate Institute, is reacting.

It said Canada is well off track and needs immediate policy delivery. David Thurton, CBC News, Ottawa. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has just announced a plan to fight anti-Semitism. after gunmen opened fire at a Jewish event in Sydney on Sunday, killing 15 people. The Attorney General and Minister for Home Affairs will develop a package of legislative reforms to crack down on those who spread hate, division and radicalization. It will target people who preach religious hate speech that promotes violence and increase penalties. And finally, we've got sad news from the world of journalism.

Peter Arnett, the acclaimed war correspondent, is dead. The anti-aircraft weapons in the city center where we are living around the government buildings erupted in five. I must have been 200 guns firing to the sky. Arnett captured the world's attention when he covered the 1991 Gulf War live on CNN. It was the first war covered in real time. Arnett also won a Pulitzer Prize in 1966, reporting on the Vietnam War for the Associated Press. Arnette died yesterday after battling prostate cancer. Peter Arnett dead at 91.

And that is your world this hour. For CBC News, I'm Neil Hurland.