Your World Tonight - Fiery Trump-Zelenskyy meeting, Canada braces for tariffs, aid freeze fallout, and more

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

With Ukraine's Volodomyr Zelenskyy seated next to them, U.S. president Donald Trump and Vice-president J.D. Vance berate, scold and mock him and his country, even suggesting he provoked Russia into invading. Ukraine's President didn't take it quietly. And the battle of words has thrown any deal making – whether for peace or for minerals… into serious question.The confrontation has prompted reaction around the world, with European leaders coming out quickly to say they stand with Ukraine. Russian media has been gleeful – saying Zelenskyy got slapped.And: As Ukraine awaits the fallout from Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disastrous encounter with Donald Trump, Canada is waiting to see what happens Tuesday when the U.S. is set to begin imposing tariffs on Canadian exports.Also: Aid workers in Bangladesh say they're running out of options after the Trump administration abruptly paused foreign aid for 90 days. More than one million Rohingya refugees depend on that funding for essential services.Plus: Historic majority for Ontario’s premier, bird flu and the price of eggs, and more.

1942, Europe. Soldiers find a boy surviving alone in the woods. They make him a member of Hitler's army. But what no one would know for decades, he was Jewish. Could a story so unbelievable be true? I'm Dan Goldberg. I'm from CBC's personally, Toy Soldier. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. But you don't have the cards. But once we sign that deal you're in a much better position But you're not acting at all thankful, and that's not a nice thing. I'll be honest. That's not a nice thing

unprecedented perhaps unbelievable even Unpresidential an Oval Office meeting that swiftly turned into a war of words Donald Trump and JD Vance berating scolding and mocking Donald Trump and JD Vance berating, scolding and mocking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his country, even suggesting he provoked Russia into invading. But Zelensky didn't just sit there and take it. He pushed back. And the spat heard around the world torpedoed a plan to sign a deal for minerals and a step toward peace.

Welcome to Your World Tonight. It's Friday, February 28th, coming up on 6pm Eastern Time. I'm Tom Harrington. The exchange lasted minutes, but the global shock is still reverberating. Inside Ukraine, disbelief. I couldn't believe my eyes, couldn't believe my ears when it was going on, when it was unfolding. I was thinking, is it for real? Canada is among the many countries voicing support for Ukraine.

We believe in supporting Ukraine. Our position has not changed. We think Ukrainians are fighting for their own freedoms, but also fighting for ours. But it's a fight the Trump administration no longer seems keen to be part of. We have extensive coverage, starting with Paul Hunter, on a presidential debate unlike any we've ever seen. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III.

You're gambling with World War III. It was an extraordinarily tense, jaw-dropping scene in the Oval Office, something rarely, if ever ever seen or heard from this place before. I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. The attitudes have to change. U.S. President Donald Trump and his Vice President, J.D. Vance, berating Ukrainian President Vladimir

Zelensky, arguing openly and forcefully over Ukraine's wartime needs and whether the U.S. will continue aiding Ukraine in its defense against Russia's brutal onslaught. Have you said thank you once this entire meeting? You gotta be more thankful because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. Not having the cards was a term Trump used often, Zelensky firing back. With us you start having plain cards. The plan had been for Zelensky and Trump to work toward Ukraine, signing a deal allowing

US access to its critical minerals. But in front of news cameras, Zelensky, arms folded, calmly made clear Ukraine needs continued US military support in return. Emphasizing multiple times Russian President Vladimir Putin started the war, Ukraine wants back all of the land and people stolen by Russia and that the US as Zelensky put it will feel problems from Russia if it trusts Putin. Don't tell us what we're gonna feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem.

Don't tell us what we're going to feel. I'm not telling you. Because you're in no position to dictate that. Remember that. With voices raised, Zelensky tried to counter. Please, you're saying that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can... He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly.

Your country is in big trouble. Can I answer? Wait a minute. No, no. You've done a lot of talking. At one point, Zelensky asked Vance, has he even been to Ukraine? I've actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President.

Trump's remarkable bottom line to Ukraine's president. You're either going to make a deal or we're out. And if we're out, you'll fight it out. I don't think it's going to be pretty. Further talks were promptly cancelled. The deal went unsigned and Zelensky left the White House, said Trump at the end of that photo op. What do you think?

This is going to be great television, I will say that. Later, posting on his Truth social platform, Zelensky disrespected the US in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back, wrote Trump, when he's ready for peace. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. In response to the stunning dispute, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada will continue to stand with Ukrainians.

As Katie Nicholson reports, reaction for and against the conduct of both presidents is flooding in from all over the world and within the US too. Go around! Go around! Outside the White House, longtime Republican ally Lindsey Graham among the first to defend President Trump. Somebody asked me, am I embarrassed about Trump? I have never been more proud of the president. What I saw in the Oval Office was disrespectful, and I don't know if we can ever do business

with Zelensky again. The South Carolina senator who has consistently voiced support for Ukraine summed up the Oval Office meeting in three words. Complete utter disaster. Quite a difference from the video he had posted a few hours earlier touting a deal that was supposed to be signed between the U.S. and Ukraine. Half a trillion dollars, folks, is a big deal.

This is Donald Trump, the dealmaker and peacemaker on display. That deal now on ICE. Elsewhere in the capital, ripples of outrage. This is just truly, truly embarrassing. Democratic representative Seth Moulton sits on the Armed Services Committee. And the vast majority, the vast vast majority of my Republican colleagues in Congress completely agree with me. They know the truth here. They're just too scared to say it themselves. And this from former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

Trump and Vance are absolute cowards. Like, we should be thanking Ukraine for taking on the Russians, for fighting back against the Russian invasion. In Europe, one country after another voiced unequivocal support for Ukraine and its leader. From French President Emmanuel Macron on Ukraine, they are fighting for their dignity, their independence, their children and the security of Europe. Poland's president pledging in a tweet to Volodymyr Zelensky on X, dear Ukrainian friends,

you are not alone. The seriousness of American power is something to be doubted. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt was left questioning the country long seen as a big brother in the post-World War II order. Can anyone pick up the pieces of this? I don't know. Can the United States return as a serious diplomatic power? That looks debatable at the moment. In Vancouver, Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolie laid out the stakes of why support for Ukraine is integral.

And we know that President Putin has no red lines. And if he has no red lines, it means that then NATO territory is a threat. The heated exchange in the Oval Office, a destabilizing moment for Ukraine, but one that has apparently cemented support from its allies outside the U.S. Katie Nicholson, CBC News, Toronto. Reaction inside Ukraine tonight, shock and disappointment, but also determination to keep up the fight. And in Russia, glee over the scolding of their enemy, even as the combat and the bloodshed

shows no sign of slowing down. Brara Stewart reports. In Kiev this morning, crowds gathered to mourn a U.S. combat medic who was killed on the front. Ukrainian soldiers stood saluting a coffin draped in an American flag. But this evening another emotion, dismay and anger. After U.S. President Donald Trump accused Volodymyr Zelensky of being disrespectful and Ukraine's president was told to leave the White House.

I was angry, obviously yes. Andrei Kachuk is a Ukrainian soldier who stationed in the northern part of the country, where Russian forces are trying to push in to Ukraine's Sumy region. We understand Trump and Trump administration have some politics. They have some strategy.

When we speak about strategy, when we speak about money, we forgot about people. He says every day he's losing men in his unit along the front line, but he vows they will keep fighting with or without U.S. support. Washington has been Kiev's biggest supplier of weaponry, and Ukraine and its allies believe the U.S.

needs to be a key part of any ceasefire deal by granting security guarantees or acting as a backstop. If you didn't have our military equipment... But in that meeting it was Trump who accused Zelensky of gambling with World War III. I couldn't believe my eyes, couldn't believe my ears when it was going on, when it was unfolding. I was thinking, is it for real? Oleksandr Moreshko was a Ukrainian lawmaker and chair of the country's foreign affairs committee.

And I'm proud of my president and at the same time I'm hopeful that somehow things will turn out better. Not surprising, reaction on Russian social media was jubilant. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia's security council, said Zelensky got a well-deserved dressing down and a solid slap, while the country's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zaharova said it was a miracle that Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance had restrained themselves from hitting Zelensky during the meeting. Zelensky is going to be in London on Sunday meeting with the Prime Minister of the UK and European leaders. The reception will certainly be much warmer, but Sergei Rodchenko, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, says there's no easy way forward. The Europeans and the Ukrainians will have to decide, well, where do we go from here?

Do we continue this war without American support and perhaps in the face of American resistance or even sabotage? Your country is in big trouble. How does Ukraine keep fighting or even be part of peace negotiations when the relationship with the U.S. president has become so dismal? Briar Stewart, CBC News, London. Briar Stewart, CBC News, London. Coming right up, when is the levee breaking? Ottawa is preparing for tariffs from the U.S. next Tuesday, even though it's still not certain they will actually be imposed. Plus, in dire need, as the U.S. slashes foreign aid,

refugees in one of the world's largest camps are without access to food or shelter. And the Ford Drive, Ontario elects the PCs for the third straight time, a run of success not seen in 60 years. Later, the shell game, the rising cost of eggs in the U.S. has farmers and businesses scrambling. That shocking presidential argument in the Oval Office stole the spotlight in Washington. Behind the scenes, a key meeting for Canada was underway. Canadian and Mexican officials were with other members of Donald Trump's team. It was a last-ditch effort to avoid those 25% tariffs scheduled ahead on Tuesday.

Tom Harry has details. One thing I've learned is not to speculate. I don't have a crystal ball. Ever the optimist, industry minister Francois-Philippe Champagne was in his home province of Quebec today, assuring people the federal government is continuing its efforts to stave off U.S. tariffs set to drop on Canada early next week. Let's be honest, we had our folks in Washington all week.

We had our Fentanyl Tsar, we had the Minister of Public Safety, Minister of Immigration. But after Champagne spoke, something else happened in Washington. If you didn't have our military equipment, this war would have been over in two weeks. In three days, I heard it from Putin, in three days. US President Donald Trump and his Vice President JD Vance berating, insulting, and dismissing Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Flavio Volpe, head of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers

Association and a member of the federal government's Council on Canada-US Relations, was watching it all on television in horror. It is as jarring as it is sad, but it's instructional for anybody here in Canada who thinks that we're dealing with traditional rational counterparty as we face down these tariff threats. Volpe says what today's ugly episode in the Oval Office shows is that Canada needs to be ready for anything in its dealings with the U.S. Canadian officials are still working to persuade Americans tariffs will hurt both the Canadian and U.S. economies. They're also showing off increased Canadian border security.

To try to push back on Trump's stated reason for his tariffs, his questionable claim this country is allowing fentanyl and migrants to stream across the border. I think we're going to continue doing what we've been doing all week, which is showing progress. Public safety minister David McGinty was in Washington today, once again making Canada's case. The president and the new administration has indicated concerns with the border and with

the fentanyl crisis on both sides of the border. We've taken that seriously. Mexico, which is also facing U.S. tariffs, has been making its own efforts to curry favor with Trump, this week extraditing leaders of drug cartels to the U.S. for prosecution, and reportedly proposing it could match U.S. tariffs on China. America's trading partners, looking to protect themselves from a US president who has shown daily though especially today how he treats his enemies and his friends. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. The threat of tariffs, the taunts about Canada becoming the 51st state, the disparaging comments about Canadian

economic weakness, all of it may have helped propel Ontario's Conservative Party to a historic election win. Premier Doug Ford secured a third straight majority government, something not seen in the province in more than half a century. Jamie Strashan reports. Donald Trump thinks he can break us. He thinks he can divide and conquer. For Doug Ford, this midwinter snap election was framed around one person.

US President Donald Trump. Ford told the people of Ontario he needed a fresh mandate to fight against the looming threat of tariffs. And that he was the only provincial leader who could protect Ontario's economy. We're in a battle for the future of our province, for the future of our country. I promise you this, I will wake up every day and I will fight like I've never fought before. Ontario voters agreed giving Ford's government an extremely rare third straight majority, the first in Ontario since the 1950s embracing the captain Canada

persona, Ford embodied both in words and wardrobe during the campaign. Corey tonight is Ford's campaign manager. Well, I think that the electorate obviously agreed that this was an unusual situation and something that was, you know, existential to our economy and kind of an unparalleled and unprecedented threat. And getting a new mandate for that is something that, uh, that I think made a lot of sense to, to voters.

Throughout the campaign, Ontario's opposition parties struggled to shift the narrative away from the daily drumbeat of tariff threats. The NDP, who will return as the official opposition at Queen's Park, tried to find inroads around issues concerning affordability and health care. But after the votes were counted, even leader Marit Stiles spoke of her commitment to fighting Trump alongside Ford. I really do want to offer him any possible help that we can provide in the face of the threat of

Donald Trump. The threat is real and I deeply believe that we can overcome it with a strong Team Ontario and a strong Team Canada approach. For the Ontario Liberals who were all but wiped off the political map in the 2018 provincial election, it was a night of small steps and major setbacks. They regained official party status, but new leader Bonnie Crombie failed to win a seat. A devastating result, says Liberal strategist Shani Scott. I think the party needs to go back to the drawing table and look at is it the message, is it the leader, is it the team? Bonnie's going to face a really tough road. For Doug Ford the coming months will present challenges

beyond the US president. Results of an RCMP investigation into the so-called green belt scandal could rattle his government but for now Ford is on a major role. We ask the people for a mandate a strong mandate that outlives and outlasts the Trump administration while friends, the people have spoken. Now the real work begins. Jamie Strash in CBC News, Toronto. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify,

Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. Aid workers in Bangladesh say they're running out of options after the Trump administration abruptly paused foreign aid for 90 days. More than one million Rohingya refugees depend on that funding for essential services. The CBC South Asia correspondent Salima Shivji reports. The crowd of refugees stands shoulder to shoulder, many craning their necks to see how far they are from the front of the line.

They're all desperate to receive their official aid registration card. Each one of them has recently arrived in Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh, the world's largest refugee camp. These people are all people are newcomers. This NGO worker explains they've joined more than a million others from Myanmar's persecuted Muslim minority, the Rohingya, escaping a military crackdown. The massive tent city entrenched in neighbouring Bangladesh since 2017 is heaving under the strain of so many people and the added stress of waning foreign funds.

At this health clinic run by UNICEF, a nurse jabs a newborn with a diphtheria vaccine. It's part of a list of crucial aid exempt from a recent executive order signed by US President Donald Trump suspending foreign aid for three months. Emergency food distribution is also safe for now. But other vital assistance for thousands of refugees has vanished. All activity suddenly stopped. No ambulance, no service.

Abu Osman, who used to run an NGO community health program in the camp, says it's been devastating. For the 24,000 refugees who depend on door-to-door visits and treatment, his group provides. Rashida is one of them. She's eight months pregnant and struggling to take care of herself and her toddler. I'm worried, Rashida says, social workers used to come to see us with medicine and give us proper care. How will I get to the hospital now, she asks.

It's also been an anxiety-filled month for 13-year-old Mohammed Khan and his family. He can't walk because of a rare degenerative disease. He needs his medicine, Mohammed's mother Yasmin says, but for 10 days, his treatment stopped. My son was confined to his bed. Many of the NGOs operating here don't want to talk about how the Trump administration has frozen humanitarian aid abroad. There's fear mixed with uncertainty that it could get much worse for Rohingya refugees, heavily dependent on American funding.

Last year it is more than 55 percent. But Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, head of the Bangladesh government agency handling the refugees, says the whole world is distracted by other crises and overall funding for the Rohingya keeps dropping every year. Hopefully the countries like USA and other countries will not forget Rohingya crisis. Rahman is trying to stay hopeful that the U.S. will change its mind and reinstate the funds so desperately needed for a humanitarian crisis that many here feel the world has already forgotten. Salima Shivji, CBC News, Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh.

Pope Francis has suffered another setback in his two-week-long struggle with double pneumonia. The Vatican says Francis suffered another respiratory crisis and had to be put back on mechanical ventilation. Officials say the 88-year-old remained conscious and is responding well. The episode comes after two days of improvement in the Pope's health. He's been in hospital for the past 14 days and at one point was in critical condition.

Egg prices in the US are soaring and there's little relief in sight. Avian flu has wiped out millions of egg-laying chickens, triggering a major shortage. Sarah Levitt is in Vermont, speaking with Americans, scrambling to cope. In St. Albans, Vermont, eggs are the beating heart of Maple City Diner. Erica Hamill is the owner. We crack 22 to 2,500 eggs a week.

Yes. Yep. 22 to 2,500 eggs a week. Yes. So as egg prices soar in the United States, the diner has had to make changes. I did make some pricing adjustments back in September to accommodate for what we were dealing with then. What's happened since September is outrageous. Avian Flu has devastated chicken farms across the U.S. More than 140 million birds have been culled after getting sick in the past two years alone. That's created an egg shortage, making prices rise, particularly lately. The average cost of a dozen eggs went from four dollars and fifteen cents US in December to seven dollars and thirty four cents in February.

And the US Agriculture Department estimates it'll rise another forty percent this year. Maybe our omelettes become a two egg omelette instead of a three egg omelette, you know, but I'm hoping to not have to get there. Some have gotten creative in their attempt to get a hold of eggs like renting chickens. Jen Tompkins is the owner of Rent the Chicken. Our online inquiries have been filling up more than ever. This month a hundred thousand organic eggs were stolen in Pennsylvania valued at forty thousand U.S. Breakfast places like Denny's have resorted to adding an egg surcharge, and grocery stores like Trader Joe's are limiting sales. Bruce Merehead is the Egg Farmers of Canada Public Policy Chair and a professor at the University of Waterloo.

They have such huge farms, huge barns, huge establishments that when something untoward happens like this, it know four million birds. Something that doesn't happen in Canada thanks to supply management. The context in which they operate, the smallness too, actually helps them prevent the spread of avian influenza. Eggs are astronomical right now. Sitting with her friend at Maple City Diner, Kim Nelson says she's reconsidering her daily egg burrito.

Groceries are so expensive anyways and then to add 40% on pretty much a staple I think most homes eggs as a staple ingredient that you have so that would be significant. As Canadians seem shielded from costly eggs, the Trump administration has floated the idea of a temporary import of eggs from other countries to ease the pain on American wallets, one of his central election promises. Sarah Levitt, CBC News, St. Albans, Vermont. We close with the call of spring. March beckons, but winter grimly hangs on. So let's take a soothing turn to warmer activities, calling balls and strikes.

I am so excited that this is something I've been working for for and towards since I was 11, 12 years old. Rob MacDonald just found out he's going to the Little League World Series as an umpire. The London Ontario man is one of only three umps from Canada at this year's tournament. Working the plate is a family affair. McDonald's grandfather began umpiring in Hamilton's Little

League back in 1959. Then his father, Don, the chest protector. And said, well, we're going to be at the park anyways. Is this something that you might be interested in doing? It was something that I was good at, like memorizing rules. Little League umpires are volunteers and it takes years to qualify for this level. McDonald is a math teacher, which is what puts money on his home plate. But he says he loves working with kids and the challenges of calling him as he sees him.

Even when not everyone sees it his way. We have to be customer service agents at times. Being able to explain things in the right way to coaches, also essentially really lawyers looking at and interpreting a rulebook known thoroughly so that we can apply the rules correctly. The Little League World Series is held every summer in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. McDonald will put on his face mask and say, play ball next August. This has been Your World Tonight for Friday, February 28th.

I'm Tom Harrington. Thanks for listening tonight. Stay safe and take care of each other.