Your World Tonight - Canada regroups on tariffs, President Trump says Gazans should resettle elsewhere, how to improve interprovincial trade, and more

Episode Date: February 4, 2025

Pause for effect – Canada is figuring out what to do while the tariff threat from the U.S. is on hold. It’s still a full-court press of lobbying the Trump administration to remove the threat entirely. One of the things Canada is doing – naming a so-called fentanyl czar to combat drug trafficking. Less than one per cent of fentanyl that gets into the U.S. comes from Canada. But the cost of combatting it pales in comparison to the potential economic harm of tariffs. And: U.S. president Donald Trump says reconstruction of Gaza will take years, and Palestinians will need to find somewhere else to live and call home. Trump’s comments are on the same day he met with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.Also: Another way to mitigate the damage - better interprovincial trade. That could reduce reliance on the U.S. market. It could eventually boost Canada’s GDP by $200 billion. But it won’t be easy – one Nova Scotia medical equipment maker points out it is currently easier to sell products overseas, than to customers in other provinces.Plus: China retaliates against U.S. tariffs, ten dead in mass shooting in Sweden, ebola outbreak, and more.

When a body is discovered 10 miles out to sea, it sparks a mind-blowing police investigation. There's a man living in this address in the name of a deceased. He's one of the most wanted men in the world. This isn't really happening. Officers are finding large sums of money. It's a tale of murder, skullduggery and international intrigue. So who really is he? I'm Sam Mullins and this is Sea of Lies from CBC's Uncovered, available now.

This is a CBC Podcast. When all of a sudden Canada is treated more like an adversary than a partner, it did shake every Canadian. It is the jittery new reality of dealing with Donald Trump. A day after making a last-minute deal, the clock is already ticking on a 30-day tariff delay, with billions of dollars in trade still in limbo and Canadian officials looking for long-term stability

from a White House set on unpredictability. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Tuesday, February 4th coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern. Also on the podcast. It's a demolition site. The whole place is demolished. It's unsafe. It's unsanitary. I don't know how they could want to stay. It's a pure demolition site. Relocate rather than rebuild with a ceasefire holding in Gaza and the Israeli Prime Minister in Washington.

Donald Trump says Palestinians should leave their battered territory and resettle in other countries, marking a shift in U.S. policy. It's a little more runway for Canadian officials trying to stave off Donald Trump's trade threat, and the work of turning a one-month reprieve into something more lasting has already begun, with political and business leaders trying to avoid more drama with a president who seems to like it. Tom Perry reports from Ottawa. I think Canadians across the country are feeling a sense of relief because of this 30-day pause. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie has been spending a lot of time in Washington.

Lobbying US officials arguing tariffs on Canada will hurt business on both sides of the border. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has managed to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to hold off on his tariff plans for a month. But Jolie says her work in Washington is not done. Ultimately, what we know is the only ones that will be able to convince President Trump are Americans themselves. So we need to continue the pressure. Some of Jolie's cabinet colleagues have been making the rounds in Washington today, including industry minister Francois Philippe Champagne speaking with US business

leaders. Our message is getting across and I've seen a change of tone since I was there last week because now it's American folks who said, you know what, these tariff things, you know, could really hurt our industries and our states. Still, the threat remains. And if some American businesses are worried about tariffs, that fear is even more acute on this side of the border. You know, the uncertainty is there. Nobody thinks this is solved by any stretch.

Robert Aslan is vice president of the Business Council of Canada. To him, the threat of tariffs is almost as bad as the real thing. The uncertainty coming out of that I think is a tariff in itself in a sense that investors, businesses will be really really reluctant to move money, to invest money given the uncertainty over our heads. So in a way it's almost as bad to not know what's coming. But knowing what's coming means knowing what Donald Trump is thinking or at least what his motives might be.

Flavio Volpe with Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association has watched Trump operate for years and says dealing with him requires a different approach. You know the problem for me and people like me is that we went to school and this isn't about school this is about what happens in the alley and he's the biggest guy so we've got to learn what the biggest guy in the alley is likely to do and either you're going to be able to stand in the alley with them or you should give up. We won't. Federal ministers, provincial premiers and Canadian business say they're not giving up

either, just taking a breath and getting ready for the next round of a fight over tariffs that's on hold but not over yet. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. Donald Trump says fentanyl is a key motivator for his tariff threat. Just a fraction of what is seized at America's borders comes from this side. Despite that, Canada is creating a so-called fentanyl czar to address the issue. Ashley Burke has more on the role and what the job could entail. So now it's alarming right now. At a border crossing in Manitoba,

Public Safety Minister David McGinty is touring a lab used to detect fentanyl. And it will identify certain substances that are present. He's part of the government's effort to show Donald Trump they're trying to crack down on one of his key concerns. We're getting this job done. We're gonna be really wrestling

this fentanyl scourge to the ground. It's a tragedy for so many families. The photo op unfolding after a chaotic day. A senior government source says on a high-stakes call with Trump, Canada's pitch to try and stop the tariffs included its proposal to appoint a fentanyl czar. The objective yesterday was not to have any tariffs. Today, no tariffs and to have any tariffs. Today no

tariffs and tomorrow no tariffs. The Fentanyl Czar's job is to coordinate between police, the Attorney General, global affairs and Health Canada's labs used to detect any precursor chemicals used by organized crime groups to make the powerful drug. Fentanyl Czar role will be involved in helping to pull all of this together so we can get over any hurdles and execute on a plan that involves minimizing, if not eliminating, fentanyl from Canadian soil. A senior government source says Ottawa's looking for a serving or former police officer for the job, and they would act as a go-between with the U.S., working to share more intelligence.

Having a point person to organize, that's very important. Alberta's premier Daniel Smith spoke to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after his inauguration. She's advocated for Ottawa to appoint a border czar and says with the prime minister being replaced in March, it's necessary. We need to have a consistent voice through this period to demonstrate that we're making real progress on it. Calvin Krusty is a former senior operations officer with the RCMP who worked with the FBI and U.S. law enforcement to address fentanyl.

He says many in the industry expected someone in this SAR role long ago. Law enforcement has expressed concerns, you know, for a decade regarding some of the impediments allowing us to be more effective and efficient in terms of our international collaboration. I think the timing is we just crossed the threshold. McGinty says more information about the new czar should come by the end of the week. Ashley Burke, CBC News, Ottawa. Canada and Mexico may have gotten a temporary tariff reprieve, but not China. An additional 10 percent levy is now in effect on Chinese products entering the States, with

Trump blaming the country for supplying synthetic opioids. Today, China responded with tariffs of its own. Chris Reyes reports on the renewed trade war between the world's two largest economies. That's fine. That's fine. We're going to do very well against China and against everybody else. President Donald Trump shrugged off China's counter tariffs as he took questions from reporters at the Oval Office.

China announced a levy of 15 percent on coal and liquefied natural gas and another 10 percent on crude oil, farm equipment, and large vehicles by February 10. It's a limited strike in response to Trump's new tariff of 10% on all Chinese goods starting today. Trump said a conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping will happen at some point.

No, we'll speak to him at the appropriate time. I'm in no rush. I'm in no rush. That conversation could determine the future of U.S.-China relations under the Trump administration. Zoe Liu is with the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. She says China likely retaliated to set the table for those talks. This put U.S.-China relationship at a flexible negotiating point, in fact. And I would even argue that China's retaliatory measures is not aimed at inflaming or adding oil to the trade war,

but in fact, it opens door for potential negotiations. While those negotiations slowly brew, it's the consumers from both countries that may feel the immediate ramifications, says economist Chris Doritos with Moody's Analytics. So if you're a manufacturer, you need a specific product from one of these countries, it's going to cost more. And then on the flip side, if you are an exporter, if you're selling into these markets and there are now tariffs being imposed on your exports, well that could certainly hit your bottom line. China is America's largest trading partner.

In 2022, more than $700 billion in goods and services crossed each other's borders. But the U.S. imports more from China, a deficit Trump notes repeatedly. Gary Ng is a senior economist at Netixis. He says China could capitalize on Trump's tariffs. Then China may actually see this as an opportunity to divide the West, or basically the US alliance, in terms of breaking some of the tech or trade blockades that it may face over the past few years.

Trump has not indicated he has any intentions of pausing tariffs with China, as he did with Mexico and Canada earlier this week. Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. Coming up on the podcast, Donald Trump says Palestinians should be moved out of Gaza and given new homes in another country. On the day he greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And can a continental trade crisis force freer national trade in this country? In Washington, Israel's Prime Minister met with Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu is the

first foreign leader to meet with the US president since his inauguration. It comes as negotiations on phase two of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are underway. Ahead of the meeting, Trump made it clear what he wants to happen in Gaza. Here's Paul Hunter. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of it? Have you been there? It's terrible to live. Sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office, ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his vision on the future of Gaza, now in ruins, and the many hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by the Hamas-Israel war. Oh, I think they'd love to leave Gaza if they had an option.

Suggested Trump put the Palestinians somewhere else, away from Gaza, it would seem, permanently. If we could find the right piece of land or numerous pieces of land and build them some Gaza, it would seem permanently. And you'd have people living in a place that could be very beautiful and safe and nice. Gaza's been a disaster for decades. When it was put to Trump that Jordan and Egypt have already flatly rejected such an idea. Well, they may have said that, but a lot of people said things to me. All of it certain to be part of the conversation with Trump and Netanyahu. The timing couldn't be more critical.

The Hamas-Israel ceasefire is holding, if barely, at least for now, as it moves toward its so-called phase two, in which Israeli soldiers are meant to fully withdraw from Gaza. Meanwhile, Netanyahu himself is governing only with the support of the far right in Israel, which would likely support Trump's notion of finding new land for displaced Gazans. On the notion of moving Gazans somewhere else, it's an idea it seems supported by Trump's new national security adviser, Mike Walz.

We have to look realistically, how do you rebuild Gaza? What does that look like? What's the timeline? I think a lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. We're talking 10, 15 years, not the five years. And so that is what... Adding to the complications, Trump's desire to normalize relations between Israel and other countries in the region, notably Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis have always stood with Palestinians, but today Trump said the Saudis are not demanding a Palestinian state. What message does Trump have for Netanyahu? Well I'm here to listen. He's here to see me. A joint press conference will follow their talks then the two will sit down for dinner. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. Two of Trump's most divisive cabinet picks have moved a step closer to confirmation. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced some opposition as the Senate Finance Committee voted in favor of his nomination to head of Health and Human Services. Democrat Raphael Warnock called Kennedy manifestly unqualified to head an agency responsible for the health of half of Americans.

Mr. Kennedy appears more obsessed in chasing conspiracy theories than chasing solutions to lower health care costs for working families in Georgia and to make sure that we are protected. The last thing we need is a dilettante, dabbling in conspiracy theories at HHS. The vote of 14-13 clears the way for Kennedy to face a full Senate vote. Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concern about Kennedy's position on vaccine safety. A Senate committee also advanced Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation as director of national intelligence

also by a single vote. Opposition to her appointment has focused on her past comments, sympathetic to Russia and a meeting she had with now deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad. Prince Karim Agha Khan has died at age 88. For decades, he was the spiritual leader of an estimated 15 million Ismaili Muslims and a unique and powerful figure. As Haverd Gould reports the Aga Khan also had special connections with Canada.

Say good morning, Miss Highness. Good morning, Miss Highness. Prince Kareem Aga Khan being greeted by school children in Kenya. Visiting a classroom in a new school, just one of the billions of dollars worth of development projects he created in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. There's so much that has to be done. It's better, I think, to try and do it once properly. Some of the money for his projects came from tithes, donations from the Ismaili community. The Aga Khan also used his vast connections to win government support and raise funds.

A British citizen, he was born in Geneva, educated at Harvard in the U.S. and skied in the Olympics for Iran. The Aga Khan's link to Canada was cemented in 1972, when dictator Idi Amin abruptly expelled Ismailis from Uganda. I want to see that the whole Kampala street is not full of Indians. The Aga Khan asked his friend, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, to help, and Canada took in thousands of refugees. Decades later, the Trudeau family friendship led to an expenses scandal for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when he vacations on the Aga Khan's private island in the Caribbean.

Building and sustaining a pro-just society is always going to be a work in progress. The Aga Khan often seemed disappointed by the way the West viewed both him and Islam, but he didn't let that hold him back as he championed the tolerance that he said was essential to the very survival of the world. Havard Gould, CBC News, Toronto. Ten people are dead after a shooting at an adult education centre in Sweden. One of the dead is the suspected gunman. Police say they do not believe it was terrorism and there were no warning signs.

Senior international correspondent Margaret Evans reports. The sound of gunfire coming from inside the college and creating panic outside as people realize something's wrong. Captured on social media from a building overlooking the school. The police first received reports of a shooting at about half past noon. The scene inside the college when they arrived reportedly one of confusion. The gunman believed to be among the dead. By nightfall, the college and surrounding schools were still cordoned off.

Marwa, a student, was an eyewitness. When I looked behind me, I saw three people bleeding on the floor. Everyone was shocked. They said, go out, get out. Oribrus, chief of police, Roberto Id Forest, gave a briefing on the suspect. He is not known to the police from before, he says, and has no gang affiliations. What we believe is that it was a lone perpetrator. Sweden's image is often one of calm tranquillity, but gang-related violence has given it one of the highest homicide rates in Europe.

Sweden's Prime Minister, Ove Kristersson, spoke of bottomless sadness, calling it the worst mass shooting in Swedish history. We have today seen a brutally deadly violence against completely innocent people, he says. There are still a lot of answers missing. Gia Sandel's son was forced to hide in one of the nearby schools. I'm angry and I'm shocked, she says. This shouldn't have happened. Schools should be safe for children and adults. These things shouldn't happen in Sweden or anywhere.

Oribru is a city about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm, but all of Sweden is mourning tonight. Margaret Evans, CBC News, London. Health officials in Uganda are racing to contain an outbreak of Ebola. One person has died, two others are ill and hundreds more have been identified as possible contacts. Now just days after the outbreak was declared, a new vaccine trial is underway. Health reporter Jennifer Yoon reports. Red makeshift tents in Kampala, Uganda with paper signs that read vaccination, a key weapon against deadly Ebola, a clinical trial for a new vaccine underway just four days after an outbreak

was declared. Post-mortem samples confirmed Sudan Ebola virus. Ugandan Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Diana Atwin confirmed it last Thursday after a nurse died of the virus, which causes fever, vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding. The 32-year-old man had sought care with several medical facilities and a traditional healer. Members of his family have now tested positive and over 230 contacts identified.

In a city like Kampala, the capital of Uganda, which has a highly mobile population of 4 million people, contact tracing can be a challenge, says Canadian infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogosh. Whenever we hear about Ebola virus and proximity to urban centres, we think back to the 2014 outbreak, which was awful. That outbreak killed over 10,000 people in West Africa and led to scientists developing effective treatments and vaccines against the more common type of the virus known as Zaire Ebola. If you don't have an outbreak happening you cannot test any humans. Canadian virologist Gary Kobinger helped develop that Ebola vaccine.

He says while there's no approved shot for the type of virus circulating in Uganda, he's hopeful the new vaccine being tested now could help. In this case, about 60% of the vaccine is the same and 40% needs to be completely removed and changed for and adapted for Sudan. Ugandan health authorities are using a strategy called ring vaccination, immunizing those who had closest contact with confirmed or likely cases first and then working their way to less likely contacts. But it takes a lot of coordination and global cooperation. Historically, American agencies like USAID have played key roles in containing the spread. And right now the USAID is not doing those things. American physician

Dr. Craig Spencer survived Ebola in 2015 after being infected while fighting the virus in Guinea. He fears what a U.S. retreat from global health leadership could mean for the world. We're going to see outbreaks that are going to spin further out of control if we don't manage them early, which is going to be harder and harder to do if the organizations doing this like the WHO have fewer people and fewer resources. But Spencer is hopeful. The fact that needles are already going into arms in Uganda, he says, shows the world can

learn from past health crises and prevent future ones. Jennifer Yoon, CBC News, Toronto. The truce in Canada's tariff war with the U.S. may be temporary, and that has businesses here looking for ways to be less reliant on American customers. It includes tackling a long-standing trade issue within our own borders. Lindsay Duncombe explains. I've been wearing the brace now for seven, eight weeks. I've noticed a great improvement in my skating. In this promotional video, 85-year-old Ron Shanks shows how a high-tech knee brace allows him to keep playing hockey. The brace is made by a Halifax company, spring-loaded technology, created with Canadian cash and research.

But company director Chris Kuppersmith says selling medical devices between provinces is difficult and expensive. The trade barriers are more significant within Canada than they are going to other countries. Different provinces have different rules, and complying with each costs time and money. It doesn't make any sense at all. A 2019 study from the International Monetary Fund estimated that internal trade barriers in Canada add up to a 21% tariff. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says getting rid of those barriers could increase the economy by $200 billion, or more than $5,000 a person. It's not like provinces don't want to buy stuff from their neighbors. It's more like, over time, different regulations in different industries just kept piling up,

and each jurisdiction wants to keep playing by their own rules. President of the Business Council of British Columbia Laura Jones says it's kind of like having to get a different driver's license to drive in different provinces. You can drive in Ontario with a BC license so it's kind of that idea like let's just clear out some of these regulatory challenges. Jones says the 2017 Canada Free Trade Agreement removed some barriers. An oversight group is working to address issues industry by industry. But...

They're kind of doing it piecemeal, like one at a time, and it's very slow. Trump's tariff threat brings new urgency. Speaking Monday in Vancouver, federal opposition leader Pierre Pauliev promised to overhaul the Canada Free Trade Agreement and eliminate trade barriers. It's funny, here we are trying to save our trade with another country while we can't even trade with ourselves. Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie says the premiers are ready to work together. It is an eye-opening conversation that is happening right now.

Easy to say, tough to do. the premiers are ready to work together. It is an eye-opening conversation that is happening right now. Easy to say, tough to do. Consider that knee brace that's allowing Ron Shanks to play hockey. The company that made it says some provinces rules around medical devices are outdated. Some provinces pay for braces, some don't. But Chris Copper-Smith says in the face of tariffs, it would make sense to figure it all out. I think it certainly should be a motivator. A long-standing entrenched problem it just might take potential economic catastrophe to fix.

Lindsay Dankom, CBC News, Vancouver. Finally it's a major rethink for an ancient settlement along a Saskatchewan River thanks to one little piece of charcoal. When we say we lived in a bottle of thousands and thousands of years, well this site will prove that. The sound of trowels scraping the dry soil last summer on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River just outside of Prince Albert. The site has long been known as a very early indigenous settlement

dating back at least 9,000 years. But last July, researchers set out to test a theory. It's even older. Now carbon dating on a piece of charcoal unearthed from the site suggests humans were there about a thousand years earlier. University of Saskatchewan professor Glenn Stewart says the findings align with oral histories about the area being settled shortly after

glaciers receded. They've got oral traditions you know even going back you know far enough talking about these great floods. Well that works out really well with this site because right below there's lots of deposits there that looked like they would be you know immediately after the end of the Ice Age. A press release from the nearby Sturgeon Lake First Nation says the findings mean the site is one of the oldest indigenous settlements in North America and that an organized society existed there much earlier than previously thought. For now the site remains a quiet riverbank in central Saskatchewan, but the First Nation

says it should be recognized, like the Pyramids of Egypt or Stonehenge, as a key site in the history of human civilization. Thank you for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Tuesday, February 4th. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again.