Your World Tonight - Trump moves to reshape global trade

Episode Date: April 2, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump announces a baseline 10 per cent tariff on almost every country. Canada is largely exempt from today’s tariffs because of the free trade deal. But there are still the 25 per cent tariffs previously announced. Prime Minister Carney said Canada will fight today’s tariffs with countermeasures.We’ll have all the details. 

Scott Payne spent nearly two decades working undercover as a biker, a neo-Nazi, a drug dealer, and a killer. But his last big mission at the FBI was the wildest of all. I have never had to burn baubles. I have never had to burn an American flag. And I damn sure was never with a group of people that stole a goat, sacrificed it in a pagan ritual, and drank its blood. And I did all that in about three days with these guys. Listen to Agent Palehorse, the second season of White Hot Hate, available now. This is a CBC Podcast. April 2nd, 2025 will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy

again. He calls it Liberation Day, but trade with the United States isn't so free anymore. The next phase of Donald Trump's radical remake of global exchange, sweeping new tariffs on allies and adversaries alike that could cut entire industries off from the most powerful economy in the world. International backlash has been swift with world leaders readying for a global trade war. Here there's some relief in the reaction with Canada emerging in better shape than others but not unharmed. We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures.

We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy. The Prime Minister reminding Canadians that earlier tariffs remain in place and there may be more to come as Canadian workers watch the end of an era of global free trade and hope the stability and prosperity that system brought to so many won't be next. Welcome to Your World Tonight. It's Wednesday, April 2nd, just before 8pm. I'm Susan Bonner. We have full coverage of Donald Trump's sweeping new trade rules, breaking down what it means

for Canada, the many sectors that depend on U.S. markets, and how it's all factoring into the federal election campaign. And we begin with the announcement itself. In the White House rose garden with flags flying and trumpets blaring, President Donald Trump promised to usher in a new economic era, unveiling a much anticipated list of countries he will hit with tariffs, with some notable exceptions. The CBC's Richard Madden is in Washington.

My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. Waiting for a long time. Using a patriotic backdrop of American flags in the White House Rose Garden, President Donald Trump announced sweeping 10% blanket tariffs on all foreign trading partners, who he says have been ripping off the U.S. with unfair trade imbalances. The United States can no longer continue with a policy of unilateral economic surrender. We cannot pay the deficits of Canada, Mexico and so many other countries. We used to do it, we can't do it anymore.

Holding a game show sized chart, Trump called out a list of nations that impose bop-sided tariffs on U.S. imports and named the biggest offenders he'll hit hardest with reciprocal tariffs. 34% on China, 20% on the European Union, 25% on South Korea. As for Canada, Trump repeated his grievances, making false claims against Canada's protected dairy sector. Canada, by the way, imposes a 250% to 300% tariff on many of our dairy products.

They do the first can of milk. They do the first little carton of milk at a very low price. But after that, it gets bad. But Canada was not listed in Trump's chart and under the fine print of his executive order, imports from Canada and Mexico covered under the USMCA trade agreement will be exempt from his reciprocal tariffs but existing tariffs on metals, cars and car parts will remain. Trump insists he could have been more severe in his tariff rollout but chose not to.

We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us. So the tariffs will be not a full reciprocal. I could have done that, I guess, but it would have been tough for a lot of countries who didn't want to do that. But as Trump announced his next phase of his global trade war, some high-profile Senate Republicans pushed back. This is a tax, plain and simple, on the American people. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blasting Trump's tariff agenda as an abusive power and for targeting a key ally. Canada is a great customer of ours. Do we want the Canadians to buy less of our stuff or more of our stuff?

It is a crazy notion to put a 25% tariff on this enormous amount of goods. At least five Senate Republicans have joined Democrats in a symbolic vote to end the national emergency declaration along the northern border over Fentanyl that Trump himself used to justify his tariffs in the first place. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. There's no factual basis here. It's a crazy idea in his head that hurts American families and does very little benefit.

While the resolution will likely stall in Congress, the vote itself sends a rare show of opposition by Republicans against Trump's signature tariff policy. The White House says the reciprocal tariffs will take effect at midnight but are open to renegotiate. Richard Madden, CBC News, Washington. Mark Carney is in Ottawa today and tonight spoke to Canadians about Trump's tariff announcement. Carina Roman is in the nation's capital in our Parliamentary Bureau following the latest developments. Carina, Mark Carney the nation's capital in our parliamentary bureau following the latest

developments. Carina, Mark Carney struck a somber tone today. What was his message? Well, when he stopped on his way into his cabinet meeting because he's chairing the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee, he says that what Trump has announced is going to fundamentally change the international trading system. That yes, Trump has preserved a number of important parts of our commercial relationship today, but the border, steel and aluminum tariffs remain, as well overnight the auto

tariffs go into effect. And Carney says the US is signaling that there are more to come on particular sectors like pharmaceuticals, lumber and semiconductors. So here's more of what he said. So, we're in a situation where there's going to be an impact on the U.S. economy, which will build with time in our judgment. It will be negative on the U.S. economy. That will have an impact on us. But the series of measures will directly affect millions of Canadians. We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures.

We are going to protect our workers. And we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7. So in the Cabinet meeting tonight, they will be sorting out the actual impact and grappling with these questions. Are the tariffs that are still in place enough to keep in the current retaliatory tariffs? Because so far Canada has put 60 billion dollars worth of retaliatory tariffs on US goods. And Canada might have avoided the worst of what Trump doled out today, but could it still trigger more retaliation tariffs from Canada? So these are what they're grappling with. Because the response is a careful balancing act.

Canada will eventually be sitting across the table from the US negotiating a new deal, at least we think so. And today the president again attacked Canada's supply managed dairy sector and mischaracterized how it works which is an indication that even if for instance the dairy sector hasn't been hit by tariffs today, supply management is a target. The government knows it. It's why they've been talking about it and why Carney tweeted today that supply management is part of our economic sovereignty, that it will always be off the table in negotiations and all the political leaders actually in this election campaign have said similar things.

And Karina, Mark Carney hopes that he is the one sitting across the table from the United States. He hopes to be Prime Minister after the next election. Tomorrow he will remain in his role as Prime Minister before he heads back onto the campaign trail, what can we expect? Well, because the government has to decide how to respond and that might take some time, it also will take some time before Canadians learn what that response is. He has a meeting tomorrow morning with the premiers to ensure everyone is on the same page with whatever Canada's

response is. Because from the beginning, the government has said it does not want one part of the country or one sector to be disproportionately impacted. So all this means, Carney will not be holding a news conference to further speak to Canadians until tomorrow and finally tell Canadians what their country's response will be. Carina, thank you. You're welcome. Carina Roman tonight in our Parliamentary Bureau. The Trump administration deliberately timed today's announcement to come after the stock

markets closed. Investors have been increasingly anxious about the President's plan. So have so many businesses and Canadians across the country. Our senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong joins me here in studio. Peter, what do we know for sure changed for Canada today? Well we know that things didn't get dramatically worse, which is one scenario that could have unfolded and I think you could probably hear the heaving sigh of relief from CEOs and policymakers across the continent.

But look, there's still a lot of trouble in the road ahead. We've got multiple tariffs, more threats still looming. And this wild roller coaster of an afternoon has left us with a lot of questions and Canadian policymakers, business leaders and union leaders like Lana Payne aren't exactly enthusiastic that we kind of only got hit by some tariffs. And nobody in Canada should allow Trump to gaslight us into feeling grateful that he didn't smack us harder today. That is for sure. We have a very big problem on our hands.

The key here, Susan, is as both Richard and Karina said, that anything that's USMCA compliant is exempt from these tariffs. But there's some dispute about what's actually compliant and what's not. The White House says like 62% of Canada-US trade meets that standard. But I'm just going to read you a small passage from the Canadian Trade Commissioner's office from their website that says, for the vast majority of goods, over 98% of tariff lines and over 99.9% of bilateral trade between Canada and the US, traders will

be able to claim preference under CUSMA if they meet the agreement's rules of origin. Now there will be and if we're doing some heavy lifting there, there's a little bit of wiggle room basically saying 99.9% of trade could be USMCA compliant. Remember you got a bunch of exporters that never made their products compliant because they were covered under other agreements, the most favored nation status that offered these really low, sometimes even zero tariffs. So look, there are companies, there are products that will need to apply and will need to sort out some paperwork.

That may not be easy. It may not be a done deal, but it's obviously better than the alternative. And yet there is pain as we heard from Mark Carney and there may be more pain to come. How could Canada's response factor into that? Yeah, look, first there's already pain. Investment has already begun to move away from Canada. It's not like we're a super attractive place to invest right now. You don't know if you've got access to your biggest markets. You don't know if you've got access to your biggest markets. You don't know if you're going to be able to take advantage of various supply

chains. And then for us consumers, look, any Canadian counter-tariff is a tax on us products that we buy. Any goods that Canadians are still buying from the U S will suddenly get more expensive. That will increase our cost of living. And remember today was supposed to be about providing some certainty that we spent months building up to this. The president himself said that he today would answer all our questions. And yet I'm sitting here talking to you

with more questions than answers tonight. We're grateful for that. Thank you, Peter. You bet. That's Peter Armstrong here in Toronto. All imports of oil and gas were exempted from President Trump's new tariffs, including those from Canada. A huge relief in Canada's oil patch and the two provinces that profit most from it. Madeline Cummings has been watching that part of the story from Edmonton. Madeline, the premiers of Alberta and

Saskatchewan are now reacting to the announcement and the reprieve for the petroleum sector. What do they have to say? Well, about an hour ago, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called today a big win for Alberta and Canada. She released a statement on social media saying today's outcome that the US is upholding most of the free trade agreement between the two countries is precisely what she had been advocating for. She has been traveling to the US to make the case against tariffs to Trump, most recently

to conservative influencer Ben Shapiro last week. She did say there's still more work to do to get other tariffs removed or significantly reduced. And she's calling on everyone involved in the advocacy effort to focus on diplomacy and persuasion. It will be interesting to see if Smith faces more calls to use oil and gas export tariffs as a way maybe to retaliate against the US tariffs that they are imposing. Smith has said she's not willing to do that.

She doesn't think it's fair to Alberta. We also heard today from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, like Smith, he said in a statement that it appears Canada's coordinated approach, which includes engaging with US government officials, has been working. So both premiers this afternoon framing today as a win. And what about the industry? What does this news mean for the industry itself? Rory Johnston, an oil market researcher who is the founder of Commodity Context, says this shows the US needs Canada's oil. He says the White House has determined it's not tenable to put tariffs on Western Canadian crude, but that doesn't mean

there's no risk for the industry anymore. He says tariffs remain a possibility. He supports building more pipelines, particularly ones not going to the US to diversify our markets, but he says so long as there are no tariffs in place, Canada will likely keep shipping most oil to the US simply because it's the closest. Madeline, thank you so much. You're welcome. Madeline Cummings in Edmonton. Other Premiers are also responding to today's announcement from Washington on

social media. Saskatchewan Scott Moe says while it appears Canada is not being hit with new tariffs, there are still worries about current levies on steel and lumber. Susan Holt from New Brunswick says the uncertainty continues to cause unnecessary stress on her province. 92% of our exports go to the United States. You don't treat your neighbors like this. We know that these tariffs, these unnecessary taxes, end badly for both of our countries. On the campaign trail, the other main parties are messaging their plans to protect Canadian workers and businesses from future uncertainty with the U.S. We begin our election coverage

with Tom Perry and the Conservatives. We need a serious nation-building plan to trump-proof our economy. Pierre Poliev has spoken about Donald Trump on this campaign but has spent far more time talking about cutting taxes and building pipelines. All while attacking the Liberals and Mark Carney. Donald Trump knows that a fourth Liberal term under Mark Carney will make Canada even weaker and poorer than it was over the last decade. More dependent on American markets and vulnerable to his threats. Today with Trump unleashing yet more tariffs,

Poliev turned his attention south. Speaking at a campaign event in Toronto, the Conservative leader promised targeted reciprocal tariffs, loans to help businesses directly impacted by US trade measures preserve jobs, vowing as well to renegotiate Kusma, the North American free trade deal structuring Trump's first administration, with a caveat that Canada and the U.S. suspend tariffs against each other while talks are ongoing.

We would require this to be fully reciprocal as we work towards getting a deal. Poliev also promising increased defence spending not to appease Trump, he says, but to protect Canada. Whether the US President would go for any of it, an open question. Tom Perry, CBC News, near Kingston, Ontario. You want a good laugh? Yeah.

Good laugh. Oh yeah. I'm Janice McGregor with the NDP campaign in Winnipeg, where Jagmeet Singh got a quick lesson in the building trades and vowed to protect unionized workers in this trade war. We will not give up and we will win this fight. The NDP released a list of things it believes the government should be doing right now, from enhancing the employment insurance system to launching a massive

infrastructure building campaign using Canadian resource materials and Canadian workers. When it comes to how we as a nation deal with the United States, I'm on Team Canada. I want us to win. I think we need to show united front and we stand together. When it comes to our internal response, our domestic response, that's where I'm going to be critical of the other parties. Singh's also matching Donald Trump's protectionism with some of his own, calling for a no trade clause in future deals to wall off essential services and industries and protect them from exploitation. Thanks again.

Thank you so much. You too. Appreciate that. Jagmeet Singh joined striking equipment operators on their picket line this afternoon before flying back to Ottawa to position his team alongside the rest of the nation. Jagmeet Singh joined striking equipment operators on their picket line this afternoon before flying back to Ottawa to position his team alongside the rest of the nation. Janice McGregor, CBC News, Winnipeg. The Bloc leader called Trump's announcement today confusing

but says he needs more details before giving a full response. Earlier, Yves-François Blanchet toured a region northeast of Quebec City crucial to softwood lumber, pledging retaliation if that industry is hit with new tariffs. We are, to be specific, in favour of an amount of counter tariffs which are at the same level as what Americans do, with some exceptions because some parts of our economy are very fragile. And François Blanchet reiterated the bloc must have a say in any trade negotiations with the U.S. in order to protect Quebec's culture and sovereignty. And for more information on this developing story, you can go to cbcnews.ca for the very latest. 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 major blowout in professional hockey to tell you about now that happened far from the ice, Rogers Communications is spending $11 billion on another exclusive deal to broadcast National Hockey League games in Canada. The telecom giant already held broadcast rights and while that won't change, the way fans watch the sports could be set for big change.

Ethel Musa reports. For us, this isn't just a game, it's our game. Roger's CEO Tony Staffieri says his company's new deal with the NHL is a major win. The new agreement gives Rodgers the rights to all league games on all platforms, including playoffs and the Stanley Cup final. But whether traditional TV broadcasts will take a backseat to streaming services and how much that might cost is still not known. I think if I was Rodgers I would think very long and hard about what that price point

would be for hockey. Richard Deitch is a writer with The Athletic and has covered sports media for more than two decades. If I had to take a guess at where Rogers is heading, I think they will try to customize their broadcast as best as possible for individual viewers because they're going to ask those viewers to spend a lot of money on this product. Roger's CEO Tony Staffieri was asked if the cost of the new deal is just being passed on to fans. The focus for us on this is growing the viewership, and if we do that well, which is what we've done over the last 10 years, significantly expanding the audiences,

then the revenues follow. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says the appetite for hockey in Canada is limitless and he believes the potential to grow more paying subscribers is there. As long as we have compelling, entertaining, exciting content, look at our races, look at the player performances, the game will continue to connect with the widest number of fans. Ken Wong with Queens University's Smith School of Business says while the new Rogers NHL deal is more than double the current one, it's not an astronomical

sum. Eleven billion dollars over 12 years which basically means we're buying the 2037 hockey season with 202525 and given the rates of inflation and the like it's not that much. Hockey night in Canada and the CBC were once considered inseparable until Rogers won the exclusive rights to broadcast NHL games in Canada in 2013. CBC signed a long-term agreement to broadcast games, but it's unclear whether the corporation, which has televised NHL games since 1952, will be involved in the new deal. Colette Watson is the president of Rogers Sports and Media. We value our partnership with the CBC and over the next 18 months we'll look to see if there's a continued partnership there. There's another season to go with the CBC's existing deal and spokesperson Chuck Thompson says

whatever opportunities presented to the corporation with this new agreement will be considered. Ivo Musa, CBC News, Toronto. Tributes are pouring in for Hollywood actor Val Kilmer who died on Tuesday at the age of 65. A striking and versatile leading man, Kilmer was known for giving his characters a complexity that came from his own life. Makda Gaber-Salesa has more. He was the cocky fighter pilot going head to head with Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Val Kilmer's turn as Iceman would blast him into superstardom. His films were some of these huge global blockbusters.

Scott Roxborough is with the Hollywood Reporter's European Bureau. Val Kilmer's combination of traditional Hollywood glamour boy looks with a complicated, darker, and sometimes confronting performance style. I think that's what made him unique. Born in LA, Kilmer at the age of 17 landed a spot at the Juilliard School in New York.

He would go on to flex his talents on the stage and in TV roles before making it big in films. After Top Gun, he was Jim Morrison in The Doors. You know that it would be untrue, The Dark Knight superhero in Batman Forever, and a gun-slinging Doc Holliday in the Western Tombstone. While he was revered as a dramatic actor, Kilmer had a funny bone too. One of the films that absolutely changed my life of all things is Top Secret. Kilmer's first film has stayed with Toronto film critic Jason Gorber.

I saw it at a birthday party when I was a kid and I didn't know something could be so funny and so silly and so goofy. But Kilmer's life took a very serious turn in 2014. He was diagnosed with throat cancer. The treatment, which included two tracheotomies, had a lasting effect on his voice. Still in 2021, with the help of his son, he would tell his own story with the documentary Val. In light of Kilmer's passing, Gorber thinks it's the one film that everyone should see. It's an incredible movie and it's a self-reflective movie about his own struggles with his health, but also his struggles in Hollywood, his struggles of being pigeonholed into a particular type of actor in the 80s and him

chafing at that. And so you actually see in that film, I think him unafraid to actually recognize that sometimes he was not the best of individuals, but he learned from that. Kilmer made yet another lasting impression with his final film appearance back as Iceman in Top Gun Maverick in 2022. With the help of AI his original voice was restored giving way to one more memorable moment with Tom Cruise. One last thing, who's the better pilot? Kilmer was reportedly surrounded by his family and friends

when he died on Tuesday from pneumonia. Makda Gebera-Selassie, CBC News, Toronto. From board rooms to break rooms to political war rooms, conversations across Canada have been dominated by Donald Trump's tariffs and his administration's undoing of decades of global trade norms. It's leaving Canadians unsettled and uncertain.

It doesn't make any sense. It's foolish to, you know, a valued ally to treat like this. So people are very upset. I'd say some negotiation needs to happen. Hitting somebody back hard, for me, is not really the right way to approach things. I think we should hit them back hard. Relationships are really disturbing. It's the common public that's paying the price at the end of the day, right? So whether it's tariffs or even the retaliatory tariffs that the, you know, government of Canada plans to take, it's not the people in the offices

that are going to pay the price for it. It's the end consumer that's going to pay the price. And the fear in the consumer and the general public is much more than the government itself. I think there's a lot of tension going on because of that on a day-to-day basis. And since the tariffs have been put, like every day there is some expectations from the Canadians that can go away

or something can change because it's gonna affect the spending power of Canadians and they're feeling the pinch. But hopefully something predictable comes out and we all Canadians get some respite, right? Thank you for joining us on Your World Tonight for April 2nd. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.