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Canada Imposes Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Goods; Newsom: Condemnation of Netanyahu 'Almost Universal' Among Dems; Missteps and Lessons: The War on Terror Across Four Presidencies. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired September 08, 2026 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: The outage was the result of a power short in the main transformer supplying the electricity. SMU ended up winning 27-24.

[06:00:11]

And in California, there was plenty of flexing, posing, and showing off years of hard work. Competitors from around the world gathered at the iconic Muscle Beach Championship in Venice Beach.

The bodybuilding competition took place at the legendary Muscle Beach Gym, long considered one of the sport's most famous stages. I'll be there soon.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, probably memes about Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: In the face of unjustified unprovoked tariffs from the United States, we're stepping up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Looks like we're in a trade war brewing before the midterms. Could it cost Republicans in battleground states like, say, Michigan or Ohio?

Plus, California's Gavin Newsom says there is overwhelming opposition among Democrats to the current regime in Israel. Is he describing the party's new position or positioning himself to lead?

And in New York, Mayor Mamdani stands firm in the face of calls for him to skip Friday's 9/11 ceremony. Does he risk becoming a political distraction there?

And Democrats see an opening in the Texas race for governor. Can Latino leaders get party bosses to put their money where their mouth is?

All right. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we start with the tariffs and the back and forth. Canada hitting back. Now they've got their own retaliatory tariff on U.S. products.

So, for instance, Canada placing $20 billion worth of levies on dairy, steel, aluminum, apparel, household appliances. And this comes after trade talks fell apart late last month with the U.S., and the president increased his own tariffs on Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: We tried to touch on all the things that matter to them, give them a better deal on autos, on steel, on aluminum, on lumber.

They looked this deal square in the face. And after a few days, decided to walk it back. You know, we don't know all of the reasons why. Maybe it was politics. It doesn't seem to make a lot of economic sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Speaking of autos, there's a couple of states where this is going to be meaningful. Right? With the midterms coming up, some of the states that are the biggest trading partners with Canada, Michigan, Maine. And those Senate races, those are toss ups. And it's the voters that will be hurt the most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything, whether it's tariffs or, you know, whatever they do, it's -- it's going to end up back on the consumer.

They also have to see their food bill going up every week they go to the grocery store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you have things in your books that you're, you're counting on and they disappear, then, you know, it definitely makes business a lot harder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think what's going to happen is the Canadians are just going to say, I don't want to buy American products, and they're going to buy Chinese products.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It puts our capacity to grow and to continue making impact in our community at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So today in the group chat, I've got Isaac Dovere, CNN senior reporter; Chuck Rocha, former senior advisor to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns; and Ashley Davis, former White House official under President George W. Bush.

So, Isaac, I want to start with you. And these tariffs, we were talking about the economic impact per person. We're learning from the Business Data Lab, $1,300 on Canadians, $1,300 on Americans.

The thing is, we have a much larger economy. I mean, I know this is very threatening this morning, but is it really going to hurt voters?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Look, when I travel around the country talking to people, the -- one of the consistent things that people talk about is prices are high.

They know it. They know that they're paying more at the grocery store. They know that they're paying more at the pump. They feel it.

They also see that they associate that -- whether it's fair or unfair -- with the Trump tariffs so far.

Now this is coming with more tariffs that are going to hit a lot of products that people use. And the prices are going to go up because of them.

And if they make the same political connection that they've been making to it over the course of the last year and a half, that does seem like it's going to be a problem for Donald Trump and Republicans.

Because, look, it's not Donald Trump, basically, who's paying for the -- the higher costs that come with these tariffs. It's voters of -- of all stripes and all places around the country.

CORNISH: I know an industry that has dealt with this already. Distilled Spirits Council says U.S. spirits exports to Canada fell 70 percent year-over-year when they faced tariffs.

So, it's one of those things, let's call it asymmetric economic warfare. Will we see certain industries really take it on the chin? And then how do you explain that to voters in a Michigan, for instance, with auto parts?

[06:05:01]

ASHLEY DAVIS, FORMER WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH: Look, I -- here's the bottom line in this. And I spent a lot of time with the Canadians over the years.

First of all, our economy is 13.5 times larger than Canada. But this is a very good issue for Carney, because he's bringing national pride to Canada to fight back against the United States.

For decades, there have been issues on the price of dairy and aluminum, especially, that they -- we think, the United States thinks that they overcharge us in regards to tariffs.

That being said, there's a very, very important race. I'm sorry, a referendum happening October 19th in Alberta. They are doing a referendum to actually leave Canada. And Carney has to be fighting against us until after that vote.

So, I don't think he backs off, because at the end of the day, we have a much stronger position than they do in regards to not being able to take them.

But I know Chuck's, like, ready to talk. CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You go. You go.

CORNISH: It's OK.

DAVIS: At the end of the day for this --

CORNISH: He's just writing the ads for this right night.

DAVIS: Yes. Yes. But here's the deal. At the end of the day, just like Iran, just -- Trump's not going to get -- make a bad deal on prices.

So, whether it's going to happen or not -- and I'm not being flippant about it -- he's not going to say, OK, I'm going to let 250 percent increase on dairy, just because there's a midterm.

ROCHA: I spent the weekend in rural Maine, and I want to unpack what Isaac was talking about a little bit.

And that is, the American people may not know the nuances of trade or international relations. Chuck Rocha being one of them.

But what you do know is what you read in the paper in the morning. Oh, tariffs; oh, prices; oh, the price of this. Even if it's Donald Trump's fault or not, the American voter in every poll that I'm doing, Audie, right now is saying this is the reason prices are going up, and I'm mad.

And those people, even if they're not partisans, they have blue hair, whatever. If they're not partisans, they're blaming Republicans, whether Republicans deserve it or not, just because there's so much anxiety in the economy.

CORNISH: One of the things that's interesting is -- is Trump's been tweeting through it. You know, when you got to sell something.

One of the hundreds that came up, he talked about, for instance, the Bombardier plane, right? And he's like, look, we're not going to sell this Canadian product in the U.S. anymore.

He says, "They live off American Buyers, American Companies, American Airports. If they want our Market, they've got to build here."

Well, a cursory Google would find that two of the engines in that plane are built in Indiana. You know what I mean? They are Honeywell engines that are built in Arizona. They employ, like, 3,000 people in the U.S.

It's not a big number. But just while you're on the Internet posting the memes, who is this going to affect?

Because we're looking at the polling. Reuters/Ipsos in August, late August. How do you feel about Trump's tariffs on Canada? Independents, 59 percent disapprove; and 30 -- 33 percent disapproval among GOP.

It's not, you know, amazing for him on this issue. I think a lot of people just wonder why? Like, there is no Carney

without Trump. They were on their way to a conservative government, right? That was, like, almost threatening to be the leadership in Canada.

He starts all this up, and now all of a sudden, there are fists-up leaves everywhere. And it's a thing.

DAVIS: From a policy perspective, our -- our trade deals need renegotiated, because they're not good. And by the way, Trump negotiated the one that's in place right now, the USMCA.

CORNISH: Well, when he came in office, it was about Mexico. It was about fentanyl from China. I heard five other country names --

(CROSSTALK)

CORNISH: -- before I heard Canada. And now this is where we are. And I think a lot of people just don't know why we're fighting with Canada. It just feels random.

DAVIS: Well, I think the reason we're fighting is because Canada is actually fighting back against some of Trump's rhetoric against China, because it's really good politically for them.

And I think that it's not great politically for us. But I don't even think those jobs will ever be impacted, because there's going to be a deal that will be in place.

CORNISH: So, you think it's all threats right now?

DAVIS: Totally.

DOVERE: This is a sense that I think is --

DAVIS: Let's wait til after October 19.

DOVERE: -- very -- along with people all across the country feeling like their costs are up, there is a definite sense that the politicians keep talking, and they keep doing politics back and forth. And I am paying the price for it.

CORNISH: Yes. Like, while you're waiting until October, you still have to go to the grocery store.

DOVERE: And nobody's -- nobody's helping me.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: Nobody cares about me. And because, look, the tariffs are -- the direct impact of them is the prices that go up.

But then there's also, OK, well, it's less deliveries that are going on. So, that brings down trucking. All sorts of --

CORNISH: Yes. DOVERE: -- effects that go on. Industries that suffer from it and people -- I think the danger here, beyond what it means for Republicans and Democrats, is people just feeling more and more like they are being left out, while the politicians, even across the border politicians, fight with each other.

CORNISH: All right. We'll see what the talking point is in the Michigan Senate race. I suspect this will come up.

ROCHA: And in Maine, and Alaska.

CORNISH: Yes, given -- but the auto industry in particular has always been loud, and Washington always manages to hear them.

ROCHA: Car imports also been bridged (ph) six times.

CORNISH: Yes, OK.

Coming up this morning, President Trump spent Labor Day pushing another thing, a new name for New Mexico. So, he wants to call it New America.

Plus, Governor Gavin Newsom not holding back on Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Israel.

[06:10:03]

So, is Newsom speaking for himself or the Democratic Party?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:14:32]

CORNISH: So, California Governor Gavin Newsom, taking a critical stance on Israel. He was talking to pbs. And the governor says that condemnation of the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu is, quote, "almost universal" among Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): There's not controversy within the party on that. From my perspective. The expansion of the settlers and what's happening in the settler movement and the violence in the West Bank; the opposition that he's advanced as it relates to a two-state solution.

We want to secure Israel. We want a Democratic and secure Israel, and we want a secure and Democratic Palestinian state as well, right next door. And I don't think that's a really divisive thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right. So, there's evidence of, of course, that the party has shifted.

In July, 103 House Democrats voted to block billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. The measure ultimately failed, but it's the first time the majority of House Democrats voted to block the aid.

The group chat is back. And I want to say we did not hear if the reporter was able to ask him, what do you think about military aid to Israel?

The rest of the interview is dropping in later today. But what do you make of him basically trying to come in? It sounds a little bit like I'm the adult in the room. Many fine people can disagree, but I think we all like he's trying to describe for himself and set the parameters for the party about where the discourse is.

DOVERE: This has been going on for the better part of two years.

CORNISH: Him or in general

DOVERE: As you know, Democrats overall have been trying to split Benjamin Netanyahu from support of Israel.

Netanyahu, going back many years, certainly, to when that -- he gave that speech during the Obama years about Iran has fallen very much out of favor among Democrats. And you see, and I walked around capitol hill last summer talking to people about this, and they said, oh, I don't like Benjamin Netanyahu. I still support Israel and has gotten very hard as this has continued.

CORNISH: As the voter has said, on the far left, Israel is an apartheid state. Don't take money from AIPAC. Like, they have a different standard by which --

DOVERE: Sure.

CORNISH: -- saying support or don't support Israel.

DOVERE: And the issue coming up here is that there -- the elections in Israel on October 27, right before our elections in the midterms here. And it's not clear whether Netanyahu will be able to put together a governing coalition on the other side of it.

But part of the trickiness for Democrats and for Americans overall when it comes to the Israel issue, is that any of the options other than Netanyahu also are saying that they don't agree that there should be a Palestinian state, also are saying --

CORNISH: Right. Which in this interview, he also advocated for.

DOVERE: Right. Netanyahu is -- comes with a lot of baggage on -- on a lot of issues for a lot of Americans. But -- and it's -- and any -- and the other options to be prime minister if he's not, would take a different approach to this -- but --

CORNISH: Although I think the context of bringing the U.S. into this war in the last couple of months has identified something a little different for folks.

DOVERE: For sure CORNISH: So, I want to bring up this to Chuck, because I remember when the DNC did its autopsy of what went wrong in the Harris era, it didn't mention the politics around Gaza. And people got mad about that. They got mad abo something that wasn't in there.

And then you've got someone like Rahm Emanuel on the other end of the spectrum, who physically goes to Israel, right? Gives interviews, and he says this. This is from a speech at the University of Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHM EMANUEL (D), FORMER CHICAGO MAYOR: The historic alliance between two democracies. Without question, the alliance is at a crossroads. It cannot stand or survive as it has been.

For too long, American policy towards Israel operated under the assumption that the best thing Washington can do for Jerusalem is to blindly, to silently stand behind your government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Are they finding their way to an answer? I know Hasan Piker thinks he has an answer, right, on his Twitch stream. And then I don't know where Democrats are starting to land.

ROCHA: What are Democrats? What you're seeing play out in front of you two folks that are hopeful to maybe want to run for president of the United States in a primary that may have 20 people. And what you're witnessing before your very eyes is positioning.

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: Test balloons of where I can be. Because within the Democratic primary, this is a giant issue.

I will also tell all of you at home, in a general election, it is somewhat impactful, but not near as impactful as in a primary.

And as I've told lots of well-intentioned candidates and consultants, you have to win one race at a time.

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: I know you may be from a red state, and you won as a Democrat. Great. You've got to win the primary first. Take it from the Bernie guy. You've got to win the primary.

So, they're trying to figure out where's a good way? And it was a masterclass by Gavin to be, like, I'm going to do a little bit of both. I'm going to throw this out here where I'm feeling sympathy for both sides and does the middle work?

And then you see Rahm Emanuel going, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're going to position here. They're our ally.

But we don't know yet which one of those works politically. CORNISH: But to your point, the new table stakes. And I'm saying new.

ROCHA: Yes.

CORNISH: The new table stakes is do not take money from AIPAC.

ROCHA: Great point.

CORNISH: OK? That's like litmus test, where there's a group of primary voters who are going to make that a yes or no --

ROCHA: Big time.

CORNISH: -- then I move forward.

ROCHA: Right.

CORNISH: So, can you be a national Democrat, meet that bar, and go on to the general?

ROCHA: We don't know that yet.

DAVIS: And how many -- how many Jewish Democrat candidates, potentially, could run in 2028? I mean --

CORNISH: Well, they'll have to find a lane to talk about, as well.

DAVIS: I mean, you have Josh, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and Pritzker. That's my point.

CORNISH: Yes.

DAVIS: So, I actually think Newsom, Rahm Emanuel, you have to have -- they have to figure this out, because -- and also Democrats vote for -- Jewish Americans mainly vote for Democrats way more than Republicans.

[06:20:02]

So, they have to figure out this lane. I mean, Isaac, you know, this better than anybody. The antisemitic rhetoric going on in this country has to stop. And there has to be a way to support Israel.

And it's hard to know where those voters can go, because then if they look to Republicans, you're looking at Tucker Carlson and a bunch of people that --

DOVERE: There's a lot of antisemitism to go around in history (ph). Right?

CORNISH: Exact. But politically, the idea is it's been a penalty, right?

DOVERE: And -- the -- yes. And the intermingling between what's anti- Israel and what's antisemitic. And it's -- it's gotten very muddied in a lot of places. CORNISH: Yes. So, the first candidate to figure it out --

DOVERE: Well, I'm not sure that there is a figuring it out to do. But I do think --

CORNISH: Really?

DOVERE: No. Well, I mean --

CORNISH: Well, then why is Shapiro out there? And why is Rahm going to Israel?

DOVERE: Because nobody's going to satisfy everybody with the answer here.

But I do think that we're likely headed to a place where, like, maybe by the first presidential debate, the primary debate for the Democrats, which will be at some point next summer, probably.

CORNISH: Don't start a new tandem. OK? I'm exhausted already.

DOVERE: That you could have, when we get to those, like, raise your hand, yes or no questions --

CORNISH: Yes. That's what it's going to be.

DOVERE: It could be do you -- do you support continued military aid to Israel?

ROCHA: Were you taking AIPAC money?

DOVERE: Well, I mean, I think that one is done.

DAVIS: I think that's gone. Yes.

DOVERE: But really, where -- where you stand on this issue and some of that will be bound up inevitably with who is the leader of Israel at that point.

CORNISH: OK. After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, the push to turn Texas blue. We've got Latino lawmakers who want the party to put 10 million into the governor's race. So, is Texas worth the bet for Democrats?

Plus, nearly 25 years since the September 11th attacks, are America's leaders repeating the same mistakes? We're bringing on Peter Bergen. He's going to join with his take. He is also the author of "All the Presidents' Wars."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:00]

CORNISH: All right. This week, the U.S. is marking 25 years since the 9/11 attacks and the start of what would become known as the global war on terror. The U.S. responded to that terrible day with the invasion of

Afghanistan to take out al Qaeda and the Taliban. That quickly snowballed into something which would plunge the U.S. into a quarter century of conflict in Iraq, Syria, and beyond.

And the decisions which shaped those conflicts would go on to define the presidencies of four different administrations, who each added their own successes and failures to what would become America's longest war.

Joining me now to discuss is Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst. He's also the author of the new book, "All the Presidents' Wars: 25 Years of America's War on Terror."

Thank you so much for being here.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me on.

CORNISH: So, this book actually has some new reporting, even in areas that we think we know, right? Like when it comes to the 9/11 Commission, it sounds like, from your reporting, some things were left out.

BERGEN: Well, the 911 Commission was a great piece of work, but it was incomplete on its conclusions about Saudi official support for al Qaeda.

The Bush administration was curiously incurious about the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi. They were quickly -- quick to link Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with 9/11, to the attacks.

But we now know a Saudi official was living in California. We've known for a while that he was supporting two of the 9/11 hijackers that flew into the Pentagon.

We now know that he was -- he had a casing video of the U.S. Capitol; that he had equations for the flight plan for a plane descending into a large landmark that were discovered in his house.

And this all came out in 2024 as a result of the lawsuit the 9/11 victims' families have filed.

So, what does it -- what does it mean? It means that there was some level of Saudi official support for al Qaeda, which is sort of surprising. Not that the Saudi government was involved, but there were certainly real sympathizers in the Saudi government.

CORNISH: And here we are all these years later. Obviously, the U.S. has a relationship with the Saudis, and this administration has a different approach to the Middle East.

I'm saying different. And as it's out of my mouth, I'm not sure it's so different, as we get entangled in another regional war. What -- how did Trump approach the Middle East differently from his

predecessors, especially since he campaigned on the idea of, you know, no more endless wars. He campaigned in reaction to the Bush era neocon politics of the Republican Party.

BERGEN: Well, it was -- you know, President Bush kind of greased the skids with his preventative war in Iraq.

President Obama also agrees to skids with his war in Libya in 2011 --

CORNISH: Right.

BERGEN: -- without congressional authorization.

But President Trump, you know, if you have a checklist of what you want before you go to war, you'd want congressional authorization; public buy-in; a real imminent threat; NATO allies; a U.N. resolution, perhaps, in favor; a plan for the day after.

Well, that checklist, I mean, there's zero on that checklist, except we haven't sent large numbers of troops to Iraq -- to Iran as yet.

So, the Iran war seems to replicate many of the failures of our previous conflicts. And unfortunately, we don't -- I don't even know why I wrote this book, since we don't seem to learn from our own history.

CORNISH: Wait, are you serious? No, no. I mean, we're joking, but like, I'm reading everyone to know about Iran and maybe there's attacks on water infrastructure in the U.S.

BERGEN: Yes.

CORNISH: Or it feels as though there is still a terror threat, even if it's not as we think about it? Or are you saying the entire security apparatus has now shifted?

BERGEN: Well, I mean, I think, look, we're well-defended compared to where we were on 9/11. There was no TSA on 9/11. There was no Department of Homeland Security.

CORNISH: Yes.

BERGEN: The intelligence budget has quintupled. You know, we've done a lot of things to make -- we're much better defended.

Does that mean that we're immune from threat? No. And of course, homegrown terrorism from the right wing and also from jihadists is an issue. It's not as big an issue as 9/11, but it continues.

CORNISH: So, I guess I'm trying to figure out like what has been learned. I mean, we're now in this scenario where, for a lot of young people, this might as well be Pearl Harbor, right?

BERGEN: Yes. CORNISH: Like, this was a long time ago. So much so that we're in a completely different kind of political orientation towards the region. What do you think the legacy has become?

BERGEN: Well, I think we still live in the post-9/11 era.

[06:30:00]