Your World Tonight - Carney’s fighting words on tariffs, measles cases up in Ontario, and more

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner for Canada. And he says Canada will respond next week, when new tariffs are supposed to take effect. Carney says he still hasn���t spoken to President Donald Trump, but expects to have a call within the next few days. And he says he has a strategy to save Canadian industries – that doesn’t rely on U.S. markets.And: The tariffs are shifting the focus on the campaign trail. Party leaders have stepped forward to show their support for workers, and their anger at Trump’s actions.Also: Another jump in measles cases in Ontario. The province added 102 new cases in the past week. That means more than 570 confirmed and suspected cases since the outbreak began in October.Plus: Auto workers plan for uncertainty, ICE agents arrest student protesters, and more.

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. This is a CBC Podcast. We're in this together. We're probably in the biggest industrial crisis our country has ever faced. This is not an industry that is Donald Trump's to steal.

He wants a fight. He's going to get a fight. We're Canadian. We're going to fight for everything, whatever we can get. It's going to get dirty. From the assembly lines and factory floors to the front lines of a trade war. Canadian automakers shifting gears as Donald Trump fast tracks potentially devastating tariffs that could make the Canadian auto industry the next casualty. Welcome to Your World Tonight.

It's Thursday, March 27th, just before 6pm Eastern. I'm Susan Bonner. We will respond forcefully. Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country. I'm Susan Bonner. We will respond forcefully. Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country. My message to President Trump is knock it off. Stop attacking America's friends. Start trading.

The workers need to know that we're going to immediately put in place an EI that's going to cover their wages enough so they can keep their homes and pay their bills. What we have to do in order to support businesses and companies has to come from our own counter tariffs against American products. Thousands of jobs at risk in the middle of the race for the most powerful job in the country. Washington's trade war takes over the federal election campaign with party leaders positioning themselves as the best fit to lead Canada through a crisis. As a matter of fairness and tradition, Canadian prime ministers try to present themselves as simply party leaders and candidates during a federal election campaign, only

stepping back into the role for truly urgent matters. And that's where we were today. It was Prime Minister Mark Carney addressing Canadians about this country's response to American auto tariffs and unprecedented economic uncertainty. Olivia Stefanovic brings us the latest from Ottawa. Our response to these latest tariffs is to fight. Liberal leader Mark Carney suspending his campaign to put his prime ministerial hat back on and deal with what he calls the biggest crisis in Canadians' lifetimes. I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can

own us. That will never happen. Carney is promising maximum impact on the US and minimum impact at home. He says everything is on the table but the exact details aren't yet being revealed as Carney waits to see how the White House moves forward with auto tariffs set to take effect on April 2nd and prepares for an upcoming call with U.S. President Donald Trump in the next day or two. I will make clear to the president that those interests are best served by cooperation and mutual respect including of our sovereignty. We need to retaliate. Before making his announcement, Carney spoke to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province will be the most affected by Trump's latest move.

It's not going to be a good situation, in my opinion. Ford says he also had a 25-minute call with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last night. The good news, Ford says a lot of the auto part manufacturers aren't going to be touched, but if a car has 50 percent American parts, the U.S. will impose half a tariff at 12.5 percent. I say it all the time we have to play like we've never fought before. And so we've taken a somewhat different approach of you know education advocating. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe appeared to take a swipe at Ford by noting that none of Saskatchewan's industries are being hit

by new U.S. tariffs. You know maybe a different approach taken by leaders across Canada and we'll see how this all works out. And I want to say that our government in Manitoba we fully support whatever steps the government of Canada has to do to stand up for workers in every single province. Manitoba premier Wap Kanu says his province won't be directly affected but he's still preparing to protect his economy from the fallout of looming tariffs. The reality is we're in a fight for manufacturing jobs in North America and I am not going to let Donald Trump take manufacturing jobs away from Manitoba.

Trump already imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. With his eyes set next on the auto industry, along with a package of reciprocal tariffs for next week, Carney is set to meet with all of Canada's premiers tomorrow. Olivia Stefanovic, CBC News, Ottawa. From assembly lines to parts, factories, the trucking companies, the tariffs could risk the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people. But as the CBC's Alison Northcott tells us, Canadian auto workers say that won't happen

without a fight. Our jobs, our plants, our jobs, our plans, our jobs, our plans. In Oshawa, Ontario, a city deeply connected to the auto sector. 30 years I've been doing it and it raised my family, it raised my father's family. Workers are anxious and angry. I'm not going to let them walk away. Chris Vavasori says Canada's auto workers will fight back against President Donald Trump's tariffs and any plans to move jobs to the U.S.

I've got that guy over there is back. I got that guy there is back and I'm sure that they've got mine. And we're going to stand together. There are more than 125,000 workers in Canada's auto industry and nearly half a million spin-off jobs according to Unifor, a union representing auto workers. The sector is deeply integrated with the US and Mexico with parts moving back and forth across borders. These are our jobs. These are our plants. These are our communities and this is our country.

And we are fighting for all of it. Unifor's national president, Lana Payne, says the Canadian and U.S. sectors rely on each other and tariffs will impact both sides of the border. We build cars, we build trucks together. That's the reality of the industry. And if you put tariffs on one part of it, it will collapse one part of it. That means the whole industry shuts down.

That is the fear many workers are facing, along with uncertainty, confusion, and a lack of clarity about what comes next. Every effort is being undertaken to make sure that we can protect this Canadian footprint, keep Canadians employed in this. Brian Kingston is president and CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association, representing Ford, GM, and Stellantis in Canada. He says Trump's plan for fully made-in made in America vehicles is far-fetched. In the U.S. they build about 10 million vehicles a year they consume 16 million.

To replace those imports you would need tens of billions of dollars of new investment and years of construction. We have no no indication as to what's gonna happen. Jason Mercy and his wife are both auto workers in Windsor, Ontario. He calls the ongoing uncertainty around tariffs unbearable. But says there's one thing he's sure of. The reality is this. They're not going to take a single piece of machinery from this location. I can promise you that. I will die on the sidewalk protecting my job.

And Mercier and other workers are demanding political leaders here fight to protect jobs too. Alison Northcott, CBC News, Montreal. It was a Donald Trump detour on the federal campaign trail today with all of the major party leaders switching gears to talk about their plans to fight U.S. auto tariffs and protect Canadian jobs. David Thurton takes us through it. I'm once again, like all Canadian leaders, forced to address yet another attack by President Trump.

Conservative leader Pierre Pauliade's campaign stopping Coquitlam, BC was focused on Canadian savings, but he started by addressing Donald Trump's latest auto tariff threats, telling the US president to knock it off. If you decide to go down this road, this is what's going to happen. Yes, you'll do damage to us in the short term, but we will fight back and we will build back. Within four years of a new, strong, conservative government, Canada will be completely rebuilt. We will rebuild our economy. We will not be reliant on the U.S. anymore,

and the Americans will have lost the greatest trading partner and friend they ever had. Trump is the ultimate wild card in this race, forcing campaigns off message and causing some to take a detour. The Liberal campaign rerouted to Ottawa so Mark Carney could chair the Canada-U.S. Relations Cabinet Committee. We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere.

Carney is now set to be back on the campaign trail with a stop in Montreal. The NDP campaign itinerary also juggled. Jagmeet Singh cut short his London Ontario campaign stop. Heading instead to Winslow, Ontario where he grew up to meet auto workers and labour leaders. Of course, with the announcement of the tariffs impacting the auto sector, I said we had to be here in Windsor. We had to be in the automotive capital of our country to talk to workers about the devastating impact of this. Singh said all parties are united opposing Trump's punitive tariffs, but that not all are defending the interests of this. Singh said all parties are united opposing Trump's punitive tariffs, but that not all are defending the interests of workers.

He pitched his plan to help workers who will be laid off and create new jobs. We got to retool our manufacturing sector so we can build vehicles entirely, tailpipe to headlight in our country. The NDP is fighting for support, with polling suggesting voters are abandoning him as the Liberals rise. The Bloc Québécois also feeling the squeeze. Leader Yves-François Blanchet cautioned the country today against electing a Liberal majority government.

Because if populations of any other place in Canada than Ontario do say yes to that, everybody will pay for what will be, at the end of the day, the sole interests of Mr. Ford, Toronto, Ontario, and car industry. Trump's name may not be on the ballot, but whatever the U.S. president says is driving the conversation in this election and some of the decisions political parties are making

on the campaign trail. David Thurton, CBC News, Windsor. At a campaign stop in Coquitlam, BC, Conservative leader Pierre Polyev promised to increase the contribution limit for tax-free savings accounts. The TFSA top-up would allow Canadians to pay in an extra $5,000 per year as long as it's invested in Canadian companies.

Polyev says it's a way to keep more investment dollars at home in the wake of U.S. tariffs. This will bring billions of dollars of investment into Canadian companies who will then spend it on factories, equipment, tools, wages, and making our economy self-reliant and strong. We need to encourage investment in this country by changing the rules to make them fair and not for the wealthy, not for the elites, but for the retail working-class investors. The Canada Revenue Agency says more than 9 million Canadians made contributions to TFSA accounts last year. Saskatchewan is taking the lead in our nation by reducing the industrial

carbon tax rate charged in our province to zero. Saskatchewan is taking the lead in our nation by reducing the industrial carbon tax rate charged in our province to zero. Saskatchewan's Scott Moe is pausing the province's industrial carbon tax. The tax is paid by large industrial emitters into a fund to help them reduce emissions. That pause was scheduled to go into effect on April 1st. We have always stood, I think from day one against this tax. We don't think it is in any way an environmental tax but ultimately is you know preventing in many ways investment and enhancing the inflationary costs that we are experiencing as Canadians. With both the federal

liberals and conservatives promising to eliminate the consumer carbon tax, Saskatchewan says it will be the first promising to eliminate the consumer carbon tax, Saskatchewan says it will be the first province to fully remove all carbon tax. Coming up on the podcast, federal party leaders respond to Trump's tariffs, seized and detained foreign students grabbed by ICE agents and headed for deportation for their political activities on U.S. campuses, plus the worsening and worrying measles outbreaks. Many in the U.S. are taking a wait-and-see approach to get a sense of how the latest tariffs will affect everything from jobs to sticker prices.

And European leaders are preparing to respond. Now Trump is threatening even higher tariffs if that response involves teaming up with Canada. Paul Hunter walks us through it. As the massive global automotive industry considers what Donald Trump may or may not do with tariffs We won't get ahead of the president on any additional tariffs The White House this morning underlining more are coming April 2nd on top of those announced yesterday And said White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt this morning

The singular goal is to push car companies to make more of their cars in the U.S. We want more jobs, more products made right here in the United States, which means more money in the pockets of the American people at the end of the day. There's no denying Trump believes tariffs will help the U.S. economy. The tricky part is that countless economic experts believe exactly the opposite. I'd buckle in. I think this means higher prices and fewer jobs. Mark Zandi, chief economist with the US financial giant

Moody's, figures that for Americans, Trump's tariffs, acting as a tax on cars into the US, will push prices up in the US, on average, $5,000 to $10,000 per car. As for the predicted effect on jobs outside the auto industry. You'll see retaliation just heard the Canadian Canadians talk about this other countries will respond no doubt and that means where US manufacturers are gonna have trouble selling what they produce to those countries and it'll cost jobs.

In Europe, where the US is the biggest customer for its cars, now also targeted by Trump's auto tariffs, Germany's outgoing foreign minister, Annalena Baerbach, warns pain is coming for everyone, including Americans, with European retaliation targeting the US. Trump's tariffs, she said, will have a significant impact on the global economy and prices will rise massively in the US. Our Canadian colleague, she said, has put it clearly, these tariffs from the US are de facto taxes for American consumers. As if in reply, the US president putting out a sobering warning on social media, quote, if the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, he

wrote, large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both, adding, as he put it, to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. They say they have the right to speak out and the U.S. government says it has the right to kick them out. Immigration agents in Boston have arrested another foreign-born student and revoked her visa. She is the latest legally in the U.S. to be targeted by the Trump administration

after participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Chris Reyes has more from New York. That is Ramesa Ozturk at the moment that U.S. federal immigration agents approached her on the street near her home in Massachusetts on Tuesday night. Captured on newly released CCTV footage, Osterk, who is a Turkish national in the U.S. on a student visa, was surrounded by plainclothes ICE officers, handcuffed and then hauled away.

Students are under attack! What do we do? Stand up for your class! What do we do? Stand up for your class! Soon after, students at Tufts University, where Osterk is a Ph.D. candidate, hit the streets in protest. Osterk is the latest international student arrested by U.S. immigration officials accused by the Trump administration of engaging in activities in support of Hamas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said his department has revoked more than 300 visas already, many in connection to last year's protests against the war in Gaza on college campuses across the U.S.

I think it's crazy to invite students into your country that are coming onto your campus and destabilizing it. We're just not going to have it. So we'll revoke your visa and once your visa is revoked you're illegally in the country and you have to leave. Another high profile arrest happened earlier this month. Mahmoud Khalil is a U.S. permanent resident who organized pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year. last year. Halil has been in custody since March 8, as his lawyers fight against deportation. Also fighting the government, South Korean national Yoon Se-ho Chung, who was also arrested this month for her involvement in pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. On Tuesday, a judge ruled that Chung can't be detained as she fights her deportation order. Well, I don't know if we've ever seen revocation of student visas, deportation of students

on this scale. Gabriel Chin is an immigration lawyer at the University of California Davis. He said the arrests are sending a concerning message to foreign students, especially the footage of Ostirk's arrest. It was reminiscent of authoritarian regimes. People in the United States say things that are unpleasant and wrong and rude all the time and traditionally one of the good things about the United States is that people can speak their mind. The Trump administration defended its deportation numbers now in the thousands

citing national security concerns and a mandate from voters to crack down on illegal immigration. Chris Reyes, CBC News, New York. King Charles has cancelled some public engagements today and tomorrow because of side effects related to his cancer treatment. Buckingham Palace says he was sent to hospital for observation after experiencing temporary side effects. It says the King is now home and working. The 76-year-old has been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer for more than a year.

This is Your World Tonight from CBC News. If you want to make sure you stay up to date and never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. A spike in measles cases in Ontario has public health officials on high alert. They're reporting more than 100 cases in the past week alone, mostly in unvaccinated children. And those are in addition to the hundreds of cases in the past few months, part of the largest outbreak in the country in more than a decade. Jennifer LaGrasse reports. I think we have to remain vigilant.

Dr. Adele Chang-On is the medical officer of health for one of the areas hard hit by measles in Ontario, rural counties that are about two hours away from Toronto. Public health officials say there are 102 new cases in the past week. In total, the province has reported 572 confirmed and suspected cases since October. Southwestern Ontario continues to be the hardest hit, with a majority of cases in unvaccinated children. Chang'an says they're running vaccine clinics to try and reach everyone in the community

who's not immunized. Anyone who is not fully protected against measles is at risk of the virus. A large number of these cases are related to a gathering of Mennonite communities in New Brunswick from the fall. Ontario's chief medical officer of health has said this outbreak is particularly impacting some Mennonite, Amish and other Anabaptist communities.

The latest data from Public Health Ontario also says that 42 patients have been hospitalized, two in the intensive care unit. We continue to be concerned about this measles outbreak. Dr. Sarah Wilson is with Public Health Ontario. She says there could be more cases that just haven't been reported. If people have signs and symptoms of measles infection they should call either their primary care provider or their public health unit. I think it really is important to people have symptoms to you know with the appropriate advance notice of course to

to be tested where possible because that's really important in terms of both being aware of the size of this outbreak, but also very importantly the measures that can be put in place to prevent onward transmission. Compared to the week before, there's been a slight dip in new cases. In Toronto, infectious disease Dr. Alison McGeer is cautiously optimistic. There's still a lot of cases, but there's significantly fewer. There's nothing that suggests the risk is increasing or that this won't be contained. But she adds, you can never be too certain when it comes to measles, a highly infectious respiratory disease that includes symptoms of high fever and a rash all over the body.

And experts continue to stress vaccination is the best protection. Jennifer LaGrasse, CBC News, Toronto. Returning to the issue of tariffs, for Europe it's not only the auto industry in danger. The U.S. is one of the biggest consumers of wine and other spirits from France, Italy and Spain. And that sector is also being targeted by Washington. And in the French countryside, the threat alone has already caused a drop in sales. Chris Brown reports.

Although the season has barely begun, the mood in France's wine country has turned decidedly sour. The giant VATS at Chateau Terrefort, an Avignon area winery owned by Pierre Joffre and Nadine Horey, are waiting for this year's grape harvest. Seventy percent of our trade in other countries than France. But whether their reds will eventually end up served in California and New York as they usually are is still up in the air. Donald Trump's threat of a big tariff has already cost them business. We should have an order in April for the U.S. markets.

And he said today for this time we stop. As a large customer in the United States? It's our main importer in California. The lost orders forced the couple to lay off a long-time worker and they say it's hard to plan for the future. How could you find a strategy in front of someone who has known? European diplomats have come away from White House meetings despondent, believing EU products, including alcohol, will face at least a 20 percent duty starting next week.

And if Europe retaliates, Trump has threatened the nuclear option, a 200% tariff on alcohol. But Paris economist Anne-Sophie Alcif doubts it will come to that. I think the Americans don't necessarily want a lot of customs duties, she says. I think they want to get deals and to negotiate a better trade agreement. You know, French people are worried as... French parliamentarian Roland Lecure says, like in Canada,

Trump's tariffs have fueled a growing anti-American sentiment in France. Only 20-plus percent of French people truly believe that the U.S. are their ally, and that's a major change. I mean, this has changed overnight. European wine and alcoholic beverage sales to the U.S. amount to almost 13 billion dollars a year and accounts for 20% of Europe's wine exports. So the stakes are immense.

Chateau Terrefort survived previous tariff threats in Trump's first term, but Nadine Orey says it took years to recover the business they lost. It's very hard to to get it back because you have all the work due to reconquer that market. Her hope is that Europe stays united and hits back at the United States, but not so hard that it ruins their winery. Chris Brown, CBC News near Avignon, France. Finally tonight, a groundbreaking new study into what were thought to be the silent killers of the sea. For decades, this has been the sound most commonly associated with sharks. Recorded on dry land for the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, now scientists in New Zealand have scored

in a different way. While dolphins whistle, whales sing, and many fish are capable of generating sounds, sharks were thought to be the silent type. But using underwater microphones, a team of researchers at the University of Auckland spent weeks recording a species known as the rig shark. And something clicked. something clicked. That is believed to be the first ever recording of a shark making noise. Clicking or popping sounds regularly heard during the study. The sounds are short but powerful, about as loud as a firecracker made by the sharks snapping

their teeth together. Researchers noted it got more frequent when the sharks were being moved around or handled, leading them to believe it's a distress sound that could be used to fend off predators. It's not clear if other sharks can also make the sound, but researchers say these findings open the door to more studies, or in other words, sequels. Thank you for joining us. This has been Your World Tonight for Thursday, March 27th. I'm Susan Bonner.

Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.