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- [00:01]
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- [00:29]
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- [00:58]
Michael Popak
Given the developments in the last 48 hours, the world is watching Canada take on the United States in the tariff war and use brinksmanship to try to achieve a positive outcome. The question for the world is, does that method of taking the US to the mat and fighting with it, is that more effective with Donald Trump than, let's say, a Mexico Claudia Scheinbau method of being more quiet in her diplomacy? Does, does being quiet and trying to hope Donald Trump doesn't go after you, does that work? That's how the world is currently reacting. But Canada is the tip of the spear right now, led by its incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, a former banker, major banker for the bank of England, the bank of Canada, and Doug Ford, the largest province, Ontario, who produces a lot of the electricity that's needed for the US Economy. I'm Michael Popak. You're on the Midas Touch Network and Legal af. Let's put on our financial markets, politics and law intersection and talk about how the world is observing Canada right now. We just watched the number one hot button apparently for Donald Trump, is Canada trying to use electricity in a way to leverage their negotiations. When Donald Trump announced an aluminum and steel tariff of 25%, Doug Ford in Ontario announced that he was going to do a 25% tax or tariff on electricity going to New York, Michigan and Minnesota. Donald Trump then said, well, we'll double our aluminum and steel tariff to 50%. At that time, the incoming Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney said the United States is a country we can't trust. When the BBC asked Mark Carney in particular, do you think if the UK just stays quiet there'll be listen to this question. Do you think if the UK just stays quiet, we'll avoid the ire of Donald Trump in the trade war. To which Mark Carney said, yeah, good luck with that. There's also a respect aspect to this. Canada now led by Mark Carney and previously by, by Trudeau, demand appropriately the respect of this president. And he, they've been disrespected. It's sort of a weird what we're watching here, Donald Trump, who is a judged misogynist and sex abuser, but always has a strange relationship with women in power. See Nancy Pelosi and now see Claudia Sheinbaum. For the Claudia Sheinbaums of the world, he has this begrudging respect and he works better behind the scenes in diplomacy. And that's why Mexico has, you know, done a little bit of a give and take and diplomatic dance, but mainly behind closed doors. Canada's had no choice. They went down on bended knee and tried to negotiate in January and February or even, yeah, in January and February with the new Trump administration. And they've been thoroughly embarrassed ever since. I mean, Donald Trump to this day still calls the, the, the premier, the prime, sorry, the, the prime minister of Canada, still calls him Governor Trudeau and says that Canada is the 51st state. He doesn't do that with Mexico. And so the rest of the world is watching. So by not by choice, but because this is the hand they've been dealt, Canada has to be more aggressive. Forget Canada. Nice. It's time, as they've learned, to try Canada, Canada, aggressive Canada. We don't blink. And so far it's working. Melanie Joy, who is the trade representative or trade minister for Canada, said that, that the rest of the world is going to have to follow effectively going to have to follow Canada's lead. Because if they think they're just going to be quiet and be ignored, that's not going to happen. It's Canada first, it's the rest of the world next. And the rest of the world leaders are watching. The steel and aluminum tariffs thing especially is troubling because there's a lot of steel manufacturing going on in Southeast Asia and in Asia. And so they're watching Canada right now again, Canada, the poster child about does they're all sitting there. Will this work? Does this work as Canada goes out on a limb to try to protect its sovereignty, its, its economy, its national security. But I'll tell you one thing. Doug Ford got Trump's attention along with the incoming Mark Carney, because that's why I think it's working, is that the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, is on his way to a meeting on Thursday in Ontario with Doug Ford and we'll have to see what happens there. I'm so excited to share with you.
- [05:47]
Fatty 15 Representative
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- [06:03]
Michael Popak
It's pretty simple.
- [06:05]
Fatty 15 Representative
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- [06:21]
Michael Popak
The result?
- [06:22]
Fatty 15 Representative
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- [08:12]
Michael Popak
You know there's other provinces in Canada that tried to work with Donald Trump and they've been insulted and they're there is a little bit of a lack of it's interesting how Canada works. Like we wouldn't properly allow a state to tariff or tax individually another country, but in Canada, apparently other provinces have self autonomy and they can do their own without coordination with the central government. That's one of the, one of the many differences between Canadian form of government and our form of government. So, you know, we're seeing other leaders like Doug Ford step forward now. We'll continue to do the reporting. But I think the takeaway from this particular hot take is there's two different models that we're observing about how to deal with the bully of Donald Trump and his erratic economic policy that is making the world not hum, but spin, potentially out of control, negatively impacting the American economy. And only, you know, less than 60 days of an administration. You have the Mexico model, but I think the Mexico model, to be fair, is not. It's not one size fit all. And I think it's working because of the unique personal and leadership qualities of Claudia Sheinbaum and how that intersects with Donald Trump in particular, given his history with women and strong women. So I think that works in Mexico. I'm not sure that works in Canada. And Canada, you know, got dragged into a fight and now are going to have to brass knuckle their way out. And they're trying that method of being a little bit more hostile in their approach publicly. Seems to be working for now because Donald Trump is moving back from the brink and sending trade representatives and commerce secretaries to go into Canada for their meetings, which I think is a very positive sign. And the rest of the world is trying to figure out what works for them. I'll tell you what doesn't work. I agree with Mark Carney and his BBC interview, which is just, if we just lay low, maybe he won't. He'll go away. No, that's not how that's going to work. You know, a bully never goes away until you punch them in the face and eat their lunch in front of them. And that's what we're watching Canada do with great pride. They will obtain respect from Donald Trump one way or the other and continue, continue to be one of the most important trading partners. That's the thing that gets lost in the story. One of the most important trading partners that we have is with Canada Import and export. We cannot run our gdp, our gross domestic product, our manufacturing capacity, our plants is in part powered by many of the things that come out of Canada. We can't make our goods without Canada. We need their steel, we need their rare earth minerals and metals. We need their electricity. We need their power grid just the way it is. That is one of the competitive advantages of the United States. It is the largest engine to produce goods and services, but it needs power and it needs resources and it needs components that we get from Canada. And so Donald Trump talks with a lot of false bravado. But the reality is we are desperate in our need for things that Mexico and Canada provide. That's why we're going to get that free trade agreement really, really quickly. That is the other thing to keep an eye on getting back to the free trade pact that Donald Trump actually put in place in his first administration and then has tried to strangle and kill. Now it's going to come back. It's going to be another win in the trade war for Canada and Mexico, a war that Donald Trump started for no good reason. Not helping him at all. It's not helping him in the polls. It's not helping the American economy. It's not helping people in their wallets, in their pocketbooks. And yet he continues and we'll continue to follow it right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF. Follow me Michael Popak Wednesdays and Saturdays at 8pm Eastern Time on the Midas Touch Legal AF Podcast. We sit at that intersection of law, politics and global economy so that you don't have to Wednesdays I do the show with Karen Freeman, Nicknifolo Saturdays with Ben Meiselas and then I do hot takes like this about every hour right here on the Midas Touch Network. So until my next reporting, I'm Michael.
- [12:30]
Fatty 15 Representative
Popak in collaboration with the Midas Touch Network. We just launched the Legal AF YouTube channel. Help us build this pro democracy channel where I'll be curating the top stories the intersection of law and Politics. Go to YouTube now and free subscribe at Legal AFMTN. That's @legal AFMTN.
- [12:55]
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