Canada Leaders Put the Screws in Trump in Public

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast: Canada Leaders Put the Screws in Trump in Public

Episode Release Date: March 5, 2025
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas

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Overview

In the episode titled "Canada Leaders Put the Screws in Trump in Public," the Meiselas brothers delve into the escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada under the Trump administration. Leveraging their unique backgrounds in law, video editing, and advertising, Ben, Brett, and Jordy provide a comprehensive analysis of the recent tariffs imposed by President Trump and Canada's robust countermeasures. Their discussion is marked by incisive commentary, strategic insights, and characteristic brotherly banter, aiming to elucidate the broader implications for both nations' economies and international relations.

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US Tariffs and Canada’s Firm Response

The episode opens with the hosts outlining President Trump's reinstatement of tariffs against Canadian goods, a move perceived as an aggressive stance in the ongoing trade war. The tariffs targeted $155 billion worth of American products, with an immediate implementation of $30 billion in goods, escalating to $125 billion within 21 days.

Host 1 emphasizes the severity of Trump's actions:

"Trump's tariffs against Canada are backfiring as Canada stood up for itself, issued a firm and powerful and forceful response, and it has Donald Trump's administration reeling."
[00:24]

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Premier Doug Ford’s Strategic Countermeasures

Ontario's Premier, Doug Ford, emerges as a central figure in Canada's retaliation against the imposed tariffs. Initially perceived as supportive of Trump, Ford's stance shifted sharply following the tariffs, leading to decisive actions against American businesses in Ontario.

Ford's response included:

• Terminating the Starlink contract: Ford declared, "We're ripping up Ontario's contract with Starlink. It's done. It's gone."
  [06:26]
• Removing American alcohol from LCBO shelves: The LCBO, Ontario's premier liquor retailer, ceased the sale of all American alcohol, resulting in an immediate $1 billion loss for US alcohol companies.
  [08:06]
• Banning US companies from government procurements: This move aims to protect Ontario's economy by restricting US business operations within the province.
  [07:02]

Doug Ford firmly states:

"You punched us in the face, Howard. We have to respond this way."
[04:59]

His aggressive stance is further highlighted when he asserts:

"If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy with a smile on my face."
[07:02]

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Rebuke

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to the international stage to criticize the US tariffs, framing them as detrimental to both American families and global economic stability. Trudeau's speech underscores Canada's commitment to fair trade and its readiness to counteract unfair economic measures.

Key points from Trudeau's address include:

• Impact on the US economy: Trudeau highlighted the negative effects on American jobs and consumer prices, stating, "They've chosen to harm American national security, impeding access to the abundant, critical minerals, energy, building materials and fertilizers that we have and that the United States needs to grow and prosper."
  [10:46]
• Condemnation of the trade war: He labeled the tariffs as a "declaration of war" against Canada, emphasizing the lack of justification for such measures.
  [12:52]
• Call for international unity: Trudeau expressed concern over how the US actions could set a precedent, potentially emboldening other nations to engage in similar economic hostilities.
  [14:31]

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Economic Impacts and Predictions

The hosts delve into the anticipated economic fallout resulting from the trade war. They discuss the immediate consequences, such as the LCBO's halted sales of American alcohol and the soaring prices of lumber, which is critical for the US housing market. These factors contribute to fears of impending stagflation—a combination of stagnation and inflation—and a potential recession.

Host 1 provides a grim outlook:

"Trump took a perfectly stable good economy and crashed it into the ground."
[15:06]

Analyzing economic forecasts, the episode references predictions from the Atlanta Fed, which anticipates a 3%+ contraction in GDP for the first quarter—a significant deviation from the previously expected 4% growth absent the tariffs.

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US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Negotiations

Howard Lutnick, Trump's Commerce Secretary, is portrayed as being in a state of anxiety over the escalating trade tensions. His attempts to negotiate with Premier Doug Ford are highlighted, showcasing the administration's internal struggle to manage the fallout of the tariffs.

Lutnick conveys a mix of concern and optimism in his statements:

"We're trying to work out a deal with Canada and Mexico. Trump's a good deal maker. This is all going to plan."
[04:59]

However, his reassurances are juxtaposed against Ford's resolute opposition, illustrating a power imbalance and the administration's precarious position.

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Host Commentary and Analysis

The MeidasTouch hosts do not shy away from expressing their critical views on the Trump administration's handling of the trade situation. Host 1 uses vivid language to describe the US leadership's weaknesses:

"You see how weak and pathetic this regime is, this wannabe authoritarian regime of freaking losers who are in charge in the United States right now."
[07:26]

This strong rhetoric underscores the hosts' perspective that Trump's aggressive trade policies are both flawed and counterproductive, ultimately harming the US economy more than Canada’s.

Host 1 further criticizes the administration's approach:

"These snake oil salesmen, con men who are just trying to screw up the international order to benefit Putin."
[07:26]

Such statements reflect the podcast's unapologetic support for democratic principles and a firm stance against policies perceived as authoritarian or detrimental to international alliances.

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Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The episode wraps up with a somber reflection on the potential long-term ramifications of the US-Canada trade war. The hosts caution that the imposed tariffs could lead to sustained economic instability in the United States, emphasizing that "American families are going to lose jobs" and "paying more for groceries, for gas, for cars, for homes."
[15:06]

They highlight Canada's unified and strategic response as a testament to the nation's resilience and the importance of standing up against economic aggression. The discussion serves as a warning against the detrimental effects of divisive trade policies and underscores the value of strong international alliances rooted in mutual respect and cooperation.

Host 1 concludes with a call to action and reflection:

"Canada standing up powerfully to the United States. And we're not even talking about the boycotts, the boycott of U.S. tourism, the boycott of all U.S. goods. Think about the tourism hit when that shows up in our economic data."
[19:08]

This episode encapsulates the Meiselas brothers' commitment to dissecting significant political events, offering listeners a blend of informative analysis and engaging commentary.

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Note: Advertisements and non-content segments have been omitted to maintain the focus on the episode's primary discussions.

Transcript

[Host 1]

I'm ready for my life to change.

[Host 2]

Abc Sunday, American Idol returns.

[Justin Trudeau]

Give it your all. Good luck. Come out with a golden ticket.

[Doug Ford]

Let's hear it.

[Host 2]

This is immense world.

[Doug Ford]

I've never seen anything like it.

[Host 2]

And a new chapter begins.

[Host 1]

You're going to Hollywood.

[Host 2]

Carrie Underwood joins Lionel Richie, Luke Bryant, and Ryan Seacrest on American Idol.

[Host 1]

Season premieres Sunday, 8, 7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. Trump's tariffs against Canada are backfiring as Canada stood up for itself, issued a firm and powerful and forceful response, and it has Donald Trump's administration reeling. Trump's Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, was reportedly nervously calling the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and saying, doug, please don't do this retaliatory tariff stuff. Please don't cancel the Starlink contracts. Please tell all of your supermarkets not to take the American bourbon and American whiskey off of the shelves. Please don't do that. Let's. Let's try to do a deal. To which the premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, said, you punched us in the face, Howard. We have to respond this way. And Howard was like, look, we're going to try to do a deal. Donald Trump needs to kind of get out of this. Let's figure something out. Look, Prime Minister Trudeau and his speech that he gave earlier in the day was mean to us. We gotta figure this out. We gotta figure something out. Yes. When you stand up to the bully, it turns out that the bully that the Trump administration is weak as f. You know that now. And that's for sure. Um, so let me just show you what went down, right? So Doug Ford, the Conservative premier of Ontario, who used to be maple bag of this guy, used to be kind of supportive of Trump, but not kind of was supportive of Trump until he said Trump stabbed him in the back with the tariffs. Here's the message that he posted yesterday. Canada and Ontario didn't start this trade war with President Trump, but Team Canada is ready to win it. Referring to the unity of mostly all of the premieres of the provinces in Canada aligned at the federal level with Prime Minister Trudeau, Doug Ford goes on to say, as a first step in our response, Ontario will rip up our contract with Starlink, take US Alcohol off of LCBO shelves, and ban US Companies from government procurements. Prime Minister Trudeau issued the following statement the moment US Tariffs came into effect this morning. So did the Canadian response. He wrote yesterday, Canada will be implementing 25% tariffs against $155 billion of American products, starting with $30 billion worth of goods immediately and the remaining $125 billion in 21 days time. You see right here, the LCBO halted the sale of all American alcohol. The LCBO is the world's single largest purchaser of alcohol. A loss right away of $1 billion to American companies like that. Donald Trump did it. Here's what LCBO posted. For the good of Ontario, for the good of Canada. In response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods. Products produced in the U.S. are no longer available until further notice. Looking for alternative? Ask our team about our extensive range of Ontario and Canada made products and you saw right there all of the American alcohol being taken off the shelves. Also, lumber futures soaring to its highest price in recent memory as well, making it very difficult for new homes to be built in the United States. So here's the play by play of what went down. As I talked about it earlier, Laura Stone got the scoop. So the Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, he had to call Premier Doug Fraud of Ontario after the press conference by Doug Ford, basically saying, look, your response is too tough, it's too aggressive. You got to tone it down. You're making Donald Trump sad. You're making Donald Trump sad. And Ford told Lutnick, Lutnick, Howard, I ain't back down. You punched us, you went after us. We have to respond. You have to understand, Howard, you come after us, we're coming after you. We were prepared, your people weren't ready. What you going to do about it? So then Howard Lutnick runs on Fox American state regime, media and then he's like, all right, we're trying to work out a deal. We're trying to figure something out with Canada and Mexico. You know, Trump's a good deal maker. This is, it's all going to plan, everybody, it's all going to plan. Here's what Lutnick said. Here, watch this.

[Howard Lutnick]

He's going to come out today angry that Americans are still being killed. Now, both the Mexicans and the Canadians were on the phone with me all day today trying to show that they'll do better. And the President's listening because, you know, he's very, very fair and very reasonable. So I think he's going to work something out with them. It's not going to be a pause, none of that pause stuff. But I think he's going to figure out, you do more and I'll meet you in the middle some way. And we're going to probably be announcing that tomorrow. So somewhere in the middle will likely be the outcome. The President moving with the Canadians and Mexicans but not all the way.

[Justin Trudeau]

Just to clarify.

[Host 1]

Yeah. You see when Canada smacked these losers down, you see how weak and pathetic this regime is, this wannabe authoritarian regime of freaking losers who are in charge in the United States right now, These snake oil salesmen, con men who are just trying to screw up the international order to benefit Putin. Yeah. When you screw over Canada, Canada goes over the boards. When you screw with Canada, Canada goes elbows up. Canada is a peaceful nation, as many of our allies are, unlike Russia. But you screw with them, you poke them, they stand up. Here is the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, in the speech that he gave yesterday that really scared the crap out of the American regime. Here, watch this.

[Doug Ford]

Going one step further. We're ripping up Ontario's contract with Starlink. It's done. It's gone. We won't award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country alongside federal tariffs and the measures my fellow premiers are bringing forward. This team Canada's opening response.

[Host 1]

And here he is again from the day before that. Even Doug Ford saying, we're going to cut off your electricity next, too. We're going after you. You come after us, we're coming after you. Watch this.

[Doug Ford]

If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cut off their energy with a smile on my face. So. And I'm encouraging every other province to do the same. Quebec, Manitoba, bc. We all have to act in unison. Out east. They rely on our energy. They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard. We're going to come back twice as hard.

[Host 1]

And here he was on CNN saying how livid Canadians are. Play it.

[Host 2]

How upset, how mad are Canadians? Canadians aren't usually the types to get angry, but how mad are Canadians?

[Doug Ford]

This morning, they're absolutely livid. They're furious because we look at the United States as our family. We're one big family. We've stood shoulder to shoulder in wars and every other crisis there is. We love the American people, but unfortunately, the President has gone sideways on ourselves.

[Host 1]

Here he is saying that Canada will not hesitate to use every tool in its toolbox. Play this.

[Doug Ford]

I want to send more critical mineral, but I will not hesitate to use every tool in our toolbox to protect Ontarians and Canadians across the board. I've never seen patriotism run so wild across our country. Right down to the grocery aisles. People refuse to buy American products. This. This is not right. We love America. We love the people. And the President needs to be stopped. Simple as that.

[Host 2]

Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario and Canada.

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[Host 1]

Episode and Prime Minister Trudeau's speech yesterday. Pitch Perfect. You know he's acting like a wartime President because it is a declaration of war essentially against Canada by the United States. Here's what he said.

[Justin Trudeau]

I want to speak first directly to the American people. We don't want this. We want to work with you as a friend and ally and we don't want to see you hurt either. But your government has chosen to do this to you. As of this morning, markets are down and inflation is set to rise Dramatically all across your country. Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk at the thousands of workplaces that succeed because of materials from Canada or because of consumers in Canada, or both. They've chosen to raise costs for American consumers on everyday, essential items like groceries and gas, on major purchases like cars and homes and everything in between. They've chosen to harm American national security, impeding access to the abundant, critical minerals, energy, building materials and fertilizers that we have and that the United States needs to grow and prosper. They've chosen to launch a trade war that will first and foremost harm American families. They've chosen to sabotage their own agenda that was supposed to usher in a new golden age for the United States. And they've chosen to undermine the incredible work we've done together to tackle the scourge that is Fentanyl, a drug that must be wiped from the face of the earth. So on that point, let me be crystal clear. There is absolutely, no, no justification or need whatsoever for these tariffs today.

[Host 1]

Here he is again. Let's play it.

[Justin Trudeau]

I think, in terms of what he wants. I heard he talked about banking again this morning in a tweet, which doesn't make any sense because American banks, there's about 16American banks currently active in Canada holding about $113 billion worth of assets in this country. So the American banks are alive and well and prospering in Canada. It's an example of not really being able to see what it is that he wants, because even the excuse that he's giving for these Paris tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false. So we actually have to fall back on the one thing he has said repeatedly, that what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that'll make it easier to annex us, is the second half of his thought. Now, first of all, that's never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state. But, yeah, he can do damage to the Canadian economy, and he started this morning. But he is rapidly going to find out, as American families are going to find out, that that's going to hurt people on both sides of the border. Americans will lose jobs. Americans will be paying more for groceries, for gas, for cars, for homes, because we have always done best when we work together.

[Host 1]

Here he is again. Let's play it.

[Justin Trudeau]

And I can tell you that every country is very, very aware that if the American government is willing to do this to their own closest ally, neighbor and friend, everyone is vulnerable to a Trade, war and our ability to work together thoughtfully and strategically to make sure we're supporting our citizens who are doing things together in a more diversified way is something that is on the mind of all of our allies.

[Host 1]

Now, all of the MAGA Republicans had to go on state regime media in the U.S. fox and had to be like, well, look, look, short term pains, okay, right. Short term pains, okay, right.

[Host 2]

Worried about all of these spending cuts potentially leading to a recession. Now there's new growth worries. As you know, markets were down sharply yesterday on the tariffs and on this idea that all this cuts happening could in fact induce a recession. Now we're expecting a contraction in the first quarter.

[Congressman]

We, I mean, your last segment, you, you hit on the tariffs and I think that was a large reason why the market reacted to that. But we have to cut spending. We are $36 trillion in debt. I've only been in Congress for six years. When I first got elected, we were 20 trillion in debt. We put 16 trillion on the debt. We were running just in the last six years. We're running a 2.5 to $3.5 trillion deficit every year. Our country and our economy can't handle that. The treasury can't handle that. The American people can't handle that. We have got to get our fiscal house in order in Washington. And if that means a short term pain for the country, then we're going to have to walk through that together to ensure that we put on a fiscal prudent path going into the next 10 years.

[Host 1]

And then Donald Trump at the State of the Union, you may have seen, or the joint address, whatever the hell they're calling it, was like, we're good with pain, right? We'll suffer a little bit. Everyone's okay with some short term suffering here. Watch this. They're about protecting the soul of our country.

[Host 2]

Tariffs are about making America rich again.

[Justin Trudeau]

And making America great again.

[Host 2]

And it's happening and it will happen rather quickly.

[Howard Lutnick]

There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that. It won't be much. No, you're not. Oh.

[Host 1]

Well, if you take a look at the Dow Jones yesterday, it crashed yesterday. Over the past month, it's down over 2,000 points. Over 65% of Americans believe the economy is doing very bad right now. That's what they're saying, very bad. But folks, the big MAGA influencer cat turd wants you to know that these tariffs are going to hurt Canada a hundred times more than us. And the Canadian leaders know it. They can't hide their panic really? Because now doesn't seem like they're panicked, it seems like they're prepared. It seems like this Trump regime is in panic mode as stagflation fears bubble up as the Trump tariffs take effect. Now economists believe that there will be stagflation meaning rising inflation and a recession when it comes to GDP growth. Remember, the Atlanta Fed is now predicting basically a 3% plus contraction in the economy where it was supposed to be a 4% growth if Donald Trump didn't do a thing and just let former President Biden's economy roll on. There you have it folks. Canada standing up powerfully to the United States. And we're not even talking about the boycotts, the boycott of U.S. tourism, the boycott of all U.S. goods. Think about the tourism hit when that shows up in our economic data. That's in the Atlanta Fed model in addition to other things. That's why they're predicting like a 3 1/2 to 4% contraction of our GDP recession territory in the first quarter. Trump took a perfectly stable good economy and crashed it into the ground. And you see how weak and pathetic he is, like a quartered rat that he is. No offense to quartered rats were frankly more likable hit. Subscribe let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas? Check out the Midas plus substack for ad Free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free [e-mail].

[Host 2]

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