Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
Trump Meets Canadian PM Carney At White House Amid Tensions; Trump: Why Is America Subsidizing Canada? Trump, Carney Meet At White House Amid Trade Tensions; Trump: We Don't Do Much Business With Canada; Trump: Houthis Won't Attack Ships Anymore. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired May 06, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Watching the second hour of "ONE WORLD."
A crucial meeting between two neighbors has just begun at the White House. Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, he's actually just arrived there.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Here you see pictures from just moments ago of Carney arriving at the White House, but the U.S. president may have
already set the tone with a post on social media saying, quote, why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 billion a year in addition to giving
them free military protection and many other things?
CNN senior political reporter Stephen Collinson joins us now from Washington. Looks like things are quite diplomatic and friendly between the
two of them as they just shook hands and walked into the White House, but no coincidence that the president issued that post on Truth Social just
moments before the arrival of the Prime Minister.
He's got a tough job ahead of him, Mark Carney, in trying to reestablish, reset the relationship between these two allies, but also delivering a
message to his own constituents that he came to be fair and represent Canada and not necessarily just sit there and take whatever beating
President Trump may have planned for him.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. After all, he won an election last week, which was completely framed by the anger of
Canadians. Trump's claims that they should be the 51st state of the United States and his attacks and his trade war, at the same time, a trade war
would hurt Canada economically more than it would the United States.
So if he can, at all, avoid this confrontation worsening and some way defuse it, that would be what Carney would like to do. So it's a
politically dicey spot he's in. Superficially at least, that social media post by the president makes it look like this could be a very contentious
meeting indeed.
Having said that, is this perhaps a way for the president to build himself a little bit of political space, to not be so confrontational in that
meeting, having satisfied his supporters who want to see him put on a robust approach?
Is there, for instance, room for Carney to perhaps offer something to Trump that would allow him to claim that he's getting a trade deal with Canada?
Because all of those trade deals that he said will be forthcoming in 90 days because of his tariff wars across dozens of countries, none of them
have so far produced anything. And the president is under increasing political and economic pressure.
So it's not that Carney does not come without any cards to play, I think.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
ASHER: Yes, it's interesting because the longer this trade war goes on for, and obviously the U.S. is in a trade war with multiple countries at once,
and obviously not just China, multiple countries are involved in this, the longer it goes on for, the more economic damage is being done. So as you
point out, the president is actually under more pressure.
But that Truth Social post, Stephen, was an interesting power move by the president to post that out deliberately, just sort of 30, 45 minutes before
Mark Carney is set to arrive at the White House, sends a very clear message as to who is in control.
Just in terms of the concrete asks, right? So just sort of take us into that meeting. The concrete asks that Mark Carney is going to have to go in
there with, what do you think they actually will be, Stephen?
COLLINSON: Well, one of the problems throughout this whole showdown with Canada is that the Canadians have found it very difficult to work out what
exactly Trump wants.
To begin with, he wanted cuts to fentanyl coming across the northern border and more border security. There's a negligible amount of fentanyl that was
already coming across the border. Then he wanted trade concessions. Canada said it was off prepared to negotiate. That wasn't enough.
So I think there is a great deal of confusion about the president's own volatility. It might simply be that he wants to show down with U.S. allies
because he doesn't see U.S. allies and adversaries as any different.
You're right, that is a power move going into this meeting. And I think it exemplifies the challenge a lot of global leaders have when they come to
the White House. They go into that bare pit of the Oval Office before the cameras and they need to be very nimble and respond to what the president
and even some of his subordinates, like Vice President JD Vance tend to throw at them. Remember what happened when President Zelenskyy walked in
there.
So, and I do know just from talking to some diplomats that that is a consideration when they talk about, OK, should we have a visit to the
United States? How will we handle it? So it's one of the great high pressure moments, I think, for world leaders right now when they come into
the Oval Office, a place where they're normally welcomed under other presence with formality and scripted comments.
And then they get this deeply unpredictable American president who often seems to be more hostile to allies than he does American adversaries.
[12:05:03]
ASHER: All right. Stephen Collinson, live for us there. Thank you so much. I want to bring a Jackie Kucinich, CNN political analyst and the Washington
bureau chief for "The Boston Globe." Jackie, good to see you.
So Stephen was just touching on there. One of the key aspects of Donald Trump's negotiating style is this element of surprise, right? This element
of unpredictability. We've seen it with the war in Ukraine, where all of a sudden either Trump or Marco Rubio will suddenly say, you know what, we're
just going to walk away from this, if we can't get Russia and Ukraine to agree to the deal. We're just going to -- we're going to give up, right?
Obviously, they're -- you know, nothing's going to happen here just in terms of peace, so we're going to just sort of leave it. And obviously that
catches everyone off guard and leads everyone sort of scrambling, trying to figure out what the U.S. is going to do next.
When it comes to Canada, we've just seen this Truth Social post that President Trump essentially saying, you know what, we don't need Canada.
Why should we be spending all this money with them? Why should we be guaranteeing their security? We don't need their energy, et cetera, et
cetera.
How does Mark Carney handle someone who is this unpredictable? How do you negotiate with that?
JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: So it's a really interesting question. And I think, you know, if you're Carney, you're looking -- you're
hoping to be more like Emmanuel Macron than you are Zelenskyy sitting in that Oval Office. Because as we remember, I mean, every -- they canceled
lunch, they -- and they gave all the Ukrainian delegation their leave after things went to pieces.
Now, is -- was Trump trying to set a bit of a trap, trying to bait Carney going into that meeting with that Truth Social post perhaps?
But, you know, we're also talking about someone with a lot of international experience, someone who was the head banker in Canada and has a, you know,
a very good reputation and someone who's very typically mild-mannered. So we'll have to see how he deals with this very different situation.
GOLODRYGA: But, Jackie, you know, I'm still trying to interpret what I think Stephen Collinson, and it was an excellent point he was making it
very well, maybe correct that this was a power play by President Trump, sort of placate his base, this post just going into this meeting.
I don't necessarily know, and perhaps the facts contradict me on this, that the MAGA supporters, that his core base, when they elected him back into
office, put -- going after Canada as their top concern and gripe. And so this seems to be more of a personal thing for President Trump, who
typically is very smart and sharp about reading the polls and reading his base.
So, how do you interpret that? I mean, how does he walk down the ladder from a battle that he seems to be, actually, let's -- let's -- we're going
to go to the two of them at the White House and see how this -- how this moment unfolds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much, everybody. It's a great honor to have Prime Minister Mark Carney with us.
As you know, just a few days ago, he won a very big election in Canada. And I think that was probably the greatest thing that happened to him, but I
can't take a vote, right?
He -- his party was losing by a lot, and he ended up winning, so I really want to congratulate him. It was one of -- probably one of the greatest
comebacks in the history of politics, maybe even greater than mine.
But I wanted to just congratulate you. That was a great election, actually. We were watching it with interest. And I think Canada chose a very talented
person, a very good person, as we spoke before the election, quite a few times.
And it's an honor to have you at the White House and the Oval Office. You see the new and improved Oval Office, as it becomes more and more beautiful
with love, with -- handle it with great love, and 24-carat gold. That always helps, too. But it's been a lot of fun.
We're going over some of the beautiful pictures that were stored in the vaults that were for many, many years. In some cases, over 100 years, they
were stored in vaults of the great presidents, who are almost great presidents, all having a reason for being up, every one of them. So it's
very interesting.
But I just want to congratulate you, and you ran a really great race. I watched the debate. I thought you were excellent. And I think we have a lot
of things in common.
We have some tough points to go over, and that'll be fine. We're going to also be discussing Ukraine, Russia, the war, because Mark wants it end as
quickly as I do. I think it has to end.
We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not -- or they've been announced to us at least, that they don't want
to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight. And we will honor that. And we will -- we will stop the bombings. And they have capitulated, but
more importantly, they will take their word.
[12:10:21]
They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore. And that's what the purpose of what we were doing. So that's just news. We just found out about
that. So I think it's very, very positive.
They were not going to have a lot of ships going, as you know, sailing beautifully down the various seas. It wasn't just a canal. It was a lot of
other places. And I will accept their word. And that we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis. Effective immediately.
And, Marco, you'll let everybody know that. OK? Do you have something to say about that, by the way? It's a pretty big announcement.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Yes. This is always a freedom of navigation. These guys, these are, you know, a band of individuals with
advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping. And the job was to get that to stop. And if it's going to stop, then we can stop. And so I
think it's an important development.
TRUMP: And we'll have maybe before we're going to, as you know, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. We're going to UAE and Qatar. And that'll be, I guess,
Monday night. Some of you are coming with us.
I think before then we're going to have a very, very big announcement to make. Like as big as it gets, and I won't tell you on what, but it's going
to -- and it's very positive. I'd also -- I tell you if it was negative or positive, I can't keep that up. It is really, really positive.
And that announcement will be made either Thursday or Friday or Monday before we leave. But it'll be one of the most important announcements that
have been made in many years about a certain subject, a very important subject. So you'll all be here.
Mark, would you like to say a few words?
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Mr. President. I'm on the edge of my seat, actually.
TRUMP: I know.
CARNEY: But thank you for your hospitality and -- and above all, for your - - for your leadership. Your -- your transformational president, the focus on the economy with a relentless focus on the American worker, securing
your borders, providing -- ending the scourge of fentanyl, and other opioids, and securing the world.
And I've been elected with -- with my colleagues here, with the help of my colleagues here. I'm going to spread -- spread the -- the credit to
transform Canada with a similar focus on the economy, securing our borders. Again, on fentanyl. Much greater focus on defense and security, securing
the Arctic, and developing the Arctic.
And, you know, the history of Canada and the U.S. is we're stronger when we work together, and there's many opportunities to work together. And I look
forward to, you know, addressing some of those issues that we have, but also finding those areas of mutual cooperation so we can go forward.
TRUMP: Great. That's great. Very nice. Thank you very much. It's very nice to meet you.
Anybody?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, is USMCA a deal?
TRUMP: No. It was actually very effective, and it's still very effective, but people have to follow it. So, you know, that's been a problem. People
haven't followed it.
But it's a -- it was a transitional step a little bit. And, as you know, it terminates fairly shortly. It --it gets renegotiated very shortly. But I
thought it was a very positive step from NAFTA. NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history of our country, probably in the history of the world.
And this was a transitional deal. And we'll see what happens. You know, we're going to be start -- starting to possibly renegotiate that if it's
even necessary. I don't know that it's necessary anymore, but it served a very good purpose.
And the biggest purpose it served is we got rid of NAFTA. NAFTA was a very unfair deal for the United States. It's a very, very terrible deal. It
should have never been made. It was made many years ago, but it should have never been made.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Canada and the United States, would you like to see your first trade deal being with Canada?
TRUMP: I would -- I would love that. Look, I have a lot of respect for this man. And I watched him come up and essentially -- through the ranks when he
wasn't given much of a chance, and he did it.
He ran a really great campaign. He did a really great debate. I think that debate was very helpful. I was going to raise my hand. I don't know if
that's good or bad. I shouldn't say that. It might -- it might hurt you.
But, no, he ran a really great election, I thought. And, yes, something could happen. Something could happen.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the top concession you want out of the Canada? The top concession you want out of Canada?
TRUMP: Concession?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TRUMP: Friendship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not a concession.
TRUMP: No. I just -- I just -- we're going to be friends with Canada. Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada.
[12:15:04]
Canada is a very special place to me. I know so many people that live in Canada. My parents had relatives that lived in Canada, my mother in
particular. And, you know, I love Canada.
A lot of -- I have a lot of respect for the Canadians. Wayne Gretzky, I mean, how good -- the great one. You happen to have a very, very good
hockey player right here on the capitals, who I have a lot of -- he is a big tough cookie too. He just broke the record and he's a great guy. And,
you know, we had the -- we had the team here and I got to know a lot of the players.
But, no, Canada is a very special place. Yes, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, I'd like to get your responses too. And Mr. President, you would have said that Canada should become the 51st state
(INAUDIBLE)?
TRUMP: No, no. Well, I still believe that. But, you know, it takes two to tango, right? But no, I do.
I mean, I believe it would be a -- a massive tax cut for the Canadian citizens. You get free military. You get tremendous medical cares and other
things. There would be a lot of advantages, but it would be -- it would be a massive tax cut.
And it's also a beautiful -- you know, as a real estate developer, you know, I'm a real estate developer at heart. When you get rid of that
artificially drawn line, somebody drew that line many years ago with like a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country.
When you look at that beautiful formation, when it's together, I'm a very artistic person. But when I looked at that beauty, I said that's the way it
was meant to be.
But, you know, it's -- I just -- I do feel it's much better for Canada. But we're not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it.
I think that there are tremendous benefits to the Canadian citizens, tremendously lower taxes, free military, which honestly, we give you
essentially anyway, because we're protecting Canada, if you have had a problem.
But I think it -- you know, it's -- it would really be a wonderful marriage because it's two places that get along very well. They like each other a
lot.
CARNEY: Well, if -- if -- if I may, as you know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.
TRUMP: That's true.
CARNEY: We're sitting in one right now, you know, Buckingham Palace, and you visited as well.
TRUMP: That's true.
CARNEY: And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale, won't be for sale, ever.
But the opportunity is in the partnership and -- and -- and what we can build together. We have done that in the past. And part of that, as the
President just said, is with respect to our own security.
And my government is committed for a step change in our investment in Canadian security and our partnership. And I'll say this as well, that the
President has revitalized international security, revitalized NATO.
TRUMP: That's true.
CARNEY: And us playing our full weight in NATO, and that will be part of it.
TRUMP: It's true. And they have --
(CROSSTALK)
They have -- what I must say Canada is stepping up the military participation because Mark -- you know, they were low and now they're
stepping it up, and that's a very important thing. But never say never. Never say never.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What would it take for different tariffs off of Canada?
TRUMP: Well, we'll be talking about different things.
CARNEY: Yes.
TRUMP: Look, you know, we want to protect our automobile business, and so does Mark. But we want to protect -- we want to make the automobiles. And
we want to -- you know, we have a tremendous abundance of energy more than any country. We have just in Alaska alone, ANWR has been reopened now. ANWR
is probably the largest find anywhere in the world. They say it's larger than Saudi Arabia. I don't know, but it's a lot.
But we have tremendous amounts of energy. Other countries don't. We're both lucky in that way. They have energy. We have energy. We have more than we
can ever use and more than we could ever sell, actually, and you have the same thing.
So with two countries that are very lucky, if you look at China, they don't have that. You know, it's a big disadvantage. Other countries, most
countries don't have. You know, most countries don't have that.
So Canada and us, we have a lot of -- a lot of advantages over other places.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, would you -- would you consider what Mr. Carney just said that Canada is not for sale? Does this make the discussion
a little more difficult to start off?
TRUMP: No, not at all. No, not at all. No, the time. Time will tell. It's only time.
But I say never say never. I've had many, many things that were not doable and they ended up being doable. And only doable in a very friendly way. But
if it -- if it's to everybody's benefit, you know, Canada loves us and we love Canada. That's, I think, the number one thing that's important. But
we'll see. I mean, over time, we'll see what happens.
(CROSSTALK)
[12:20:02]
TRUMP: China.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President (INAUDIBLE) Capitol Hill Secretary Bessent said that there had been no negotiations yet with China. You have said
something differently. Can you clarify that?
TRUMP: They want to meet and they're doing no business right now. And those ships are turning around in the Pacific Ocean. A big turn, those are big
ships. Those ships take about 10 miles to turn.
And, you know, we lost a trillion dollars to China on trade because of an incompetent president that we had who proceeded to be grossly incompetent.
You -- you're finding it out more and more now.
And by not trading, we're losing nothing. So we're saving a trillion dollars. It's a lot. But they want to negotiate and they want to have a
meeting, and we'll -- we'll -- we'll be meeting with them at the right time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But you haven't meet with them?
TRUMP: I have not met with them, of course. You would know if I met. I'd tell you. They want to meet. But, you know, we are right now -- look,
they're suffering greatly. They're -- your economy is suffering greatly because they're not doing trade with the U.S. And -- and they made most of
their money off the U.S. Don't -- don't kid yourself. They don't make the money off other countries like this.
And they were making -- we had a trade imbalance. We had a -- a deficit or they had a surplus, another way of saying it, of more than a trillion
dollars. Think of it, more than a trillion dollars.
And because of 145 percent, that's the only reason. But because of -- they have now 145 percent tariff. There's no trading. You can't trade with 145
percent.
We are, therefore, making, in a certain way, I guess, $1.1 trillion. In other words, we're not losing $1.1 trillion. A deficit is much better.
When I started, I say we were losing billions of dollars a day on trade. That's rapidly turning around. We looked at numbers this morning.
So we were losing -- the United States during Biden, was losing more than - - I won't even give you numbers because they're so embarrassing. But billions of dollars a day on trade. Those numbers are rapidly turning
between the tariffs.
Don't forget, we're now getting 25 percent on cars, 25 percent on aluminum, 25 percent on steel, and maybe more importantly, massive numbers of
companies are moving into the United States, Honda. We have tremendous -- the car companies are moving in at levels we've never seen before.
The biggest investment ever made in the United States is being made right now. Trillions of dollars. I would say we could be at 9, $9 trillion.
You could go back to other presidents say that haven't had $1 trillion for their entire term. Look at Biden. He had bad numbers. People are leaving.
They weren't coming in. They were leaving with Biden. And he didn't know the difference.
The only thing he knew is people coming in. You know who they were? Illegal immigrants. OK? From prisons, from mental institutions, from all sorts of
places that weren't good, from gangs, from Venezuela. They were coming in and they were criminals and murderers, 11,888 people that murdered, and at
least half of them murdered more than one person. This is what Biden led into our country. I'm bringing in big companies.
We have -- Apple is investing $500 billion. We have Jensen, as you know. It's going to be 500 -- bi -- biggest chip maker or chip thinker, I call
him. He's really a thinker, more than a maker. But we also have the maker, Mr. Wei. I get to know him all in the last. It was a cram course.
But they're all moving into America because of the tariffs. And that the -- I don't think people have appreciated it. Some people do. Some of the smart
people do.
So we have more money coming in. It's really an amazing thing. We have more money being invested in the United States now than at any time, ever before
in our history and it's not even close.
And I think the real number could be 9 or 10 trillion. We don't know everybody that's doing it. We have many -- I just heard about a plant
that's being built right now, very, very top of the line company. And they didn't come to the White House. They're just doing it because they're
making it because if they build here, there are no tariffs. And this is the big market. This is the market. That sets us apart from it. This is the
market where everyone wants to be.
Now, if I didn't come here and do this, all of a sudden, we wouldn't be the market where everyone wants to be. So we were able to do it in time. But
we're going to have a great announcement.
And I'm not necessarily saying it's on trade going to the beginning. We're going to have a great announcement over the next few days and announcement
that will be so -- so incredible, so positive. And I'm not saying -- I don't want you to think it's necessarily on trade.
Just to finish, we also have a situation -- because everyone says, when, when? When are you going to sign deals? We don't have to sign deals. We
could sign 25 deals right now, Howard, if we wanted. We don't have to sign deals.
They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don't want a piece of their market. We don't care about their market. They want a
piece of our market.
[12:25:09]
So we can just sit down, and I'll do this at some point over the next two weeks. And I'll sit with Howard and Scott and with our great vice president
who has done a really good job. We have some good news to report on a lot of fronts, but JD will be there and Marco and we're going to sit down and
we're going to put very fair numbers down. And we're going to say, here's what this country, what we want, and congratulations. We have a deal.
And they'll either say, great, and they'll start shopping, or they'll say, not good. We're not going to do that. I said, that's OK. You don't have to
shop.
Now, we may think, well, they have a right. You know, they're -- that maybe we were a little bit wrong. So we'll adjust it. And then you people will
say, oh, it's so chaotic. No, we're flexible.
But we'll sit down. And we'll, at some point, some -- in some cases, we'll sign some deals. It's much less important than what I'm talking about.
For the most part, we're just going to put down a number and say, this is what you're going to pay to shop. And it's going to be a very fair number.
It'll be a low number. We're not looking to hurt countries. We want to help countries. We want to be friendly with countries.
But you keep writing about deals, deals. What are we going to sign? One, it's very simple. We're going to say, in some cases, we want you to open up
your country. In some cases, we want you to drop your tariffs.
I mean, India, as an example, is one of the highest tariffs in the world. We're not going to put up with that. And they've agreed already to drop it.
They'll drop it to nothing. They've already agreed. They would have never done that for anybody else but me.
So we're going to put down some numbers. And we're going to say, our country is open for business. And they're going to come in. And they're
going to pay for the privilege of being able to shop in the United States of America. It's very simple. It's very simple.
So I wish that keep -- you know, stop asking, how many deals he's signing this week? Because one day we'll come and we'll give you 100 deals. And
they don't have to sign. All they have to do is say, oh, we'll start sending our ships right now to pick up whatever we want or to bring
whatever we want. It's very, very simple.
And I think my people haven't made it clear. We will sign some deals. But much bigger than that is we're going to put down the price that people are
going to have to pay to shop in the United States.
Think of us as a super luxury store. A store that has the goods. You're going to come and you're going to pay a price. And we're going to give you
a very good price. We're going to make very good deals. And in some cases, we'll adjust. But that's where it is.
And we've been ripped off by everybody for 50 years. For 50 years. And we're just not going to do that anymore. We can't do that. And we can't let
any country do that to us. We're just not going to do it anymore.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us a bit more about the deal that you reached with the Houthis?
TRUMP: No, it's not a deal. They've said, please don't bomb us anymore. We're not going to attack your ships.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And where did you hear about that?
TRUMP: It doesn't matter where I hear it. The very good source, I can tell. Very, very good source.
Would you say Marco? I would say pretty good, right, JD? A very good source.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No. They don't want to be -- they don't want to be bomb -- they don't want to be bombed anymore, you know. I sort of thought that would
happen.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: No, no, no. Behind you, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you clarify some of what you said (INAUDIBLE) is USMCA prepared to walk away from that pact?
TRUMP: From what pact?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USMCA.
TRUMP: No, no, no, it's fine. It's there. It's good. We use it for certain things. It's there. We have -- the USMCA is a good deal for everybody.
I won't say this about Mark, but I didn't like his predecessor. I didn't like a person that worked --she was terrible, actually. She was a terrible
person. And she really hurt that deal very badly because she tried to take advantage of the deal and she didn't get away with it. You know what I'm
talking about.
But so, you know, I had a -- we had a bad -- we had a bad relationship having to do with the fact that we disagreed with the way they viewed the
deal. And we ended it. You know, we ended that relationship pretty much.
The USMCA is great for all countries. It's good for all countries. We do have a negotiation coming up over the next year or so to adjust it or
terminate it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President --
CARNEY: I'll just say -- I'll say a word on USMCA, if I may, Mr. President. It is a basis for a broader negotiation. Some things about are going to
have to change. And part of the way you've conducted these tariffs has taken advantage of existing aspects of USMCA.
So it's going to have to change. There's other elements that are coming and that's part of what we're going to discuss.
TRUMP: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
[12:30:01]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the campaign, Prime Minister Carney talked about the American vitriol. How did you react? You kind of decided not to shop in
the American store as much as before and decided to partner with other countries?
TRUMP: Well, we don't do much business with Canada from our standpoint. They do a lot of business with us.
We're at like four percent. And usually, those things don't last very long. You know, we have great things, great product. The kind of product we sell
nobody else can sell, including military.
Look, we make the best military equipment in the world, and Canada buys our military equipment, which we appreciate. But we make the best military
equipment in the world by far, the missiles, the submarines, everything. Everything we have is really top-notch.
I rebuilt our military during our last term. Stupidly, we gave some away to Afghanistan, which shouldn't have happened, but that was -- I think, it was
the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. It was just a very incompetent people.
But if you look, the man that's now at the head of our joint chiefs, he led the attack on ISIS for me. That's why he's the head of the joint chiefs.
And Razin Caine, he's the -- he was unbelievable. And as you know, we defeated ISIS. In three weeks, it was supposed to take five years. We did
it in three weeks. And he ran the campaign. I said, I like him.
But I knew him before. I went -- I went to Iraq, and we agreed to a plan, and that was the plan. And, as you know, we did it in record time.
So we have -- you know, we have the best -- we have the best equipment in the world. We have the best a lot of things. And -- but Canada does a lot
more business with us than we do with Canada. Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) investments, Mr. President. When do you think the investments that you've announced in trillions will finally hit
economic data this year?
TRUMP: When you're saying about the tariffs?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, about the investments that you've announced.
TRUMP: Oh. Oh, it's hitting right now. Look, they're already starting AI plans. These are not people that look for financing. That's a good thing.
You know, in real estate, you get a site, then you have to look for financing. You have to get your zoning. You know, five years later, you
start building, you get a bank, then the bank's no good. These people have massive amounts of cash.
The CHIPS Act was a ridiculous thing because that doesn't get them to build. All we did his hand very wealthy companies money. The CHIPS Act that
was done by Biden. Billions -- we give them billions of dollars. They don't even have to do anything with it.
And then if you weren't -- if you -- if you didn't have -- and I won't -- I don't want to be a wise guy, but if you didn't go with the DEI, if you
didn't go with all of the different things, woke. If you weren't woke, you couldn't even use the money. You had to have a certain percentage of this
and that and that and that. It's impossible. Impossible to have.
The people -- the companies actually complained to me. They said they gave me all this money, but nobody can get these people to do anything.
I mean, look, President Obama, and if I -- if I -- if you wanted help, I'd give him help because I'm a really good builder and I build on time, on
budget. He's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster. And he said, something to the effect, I only want DEI. I only want woke. He wants woke
people to build it.
Well, he got woke people. And they have massive cost overruns. The job has stopped. I don't know. It's a disaster.
And I don't like that happening because it's -- I think it's bad for the presidency that a thing like that should happen. He's got a -- a library
that's a disaster. And he wanted to be very politically correct and he didn't use good, hard, tough, mean construction workers that I love, Marco.
I love those construction workers.
But he didn't want construction workers. He wanted people that like never did it before and he's got a disaster in his hands. Like millions of
dollars. Many, many, I mean, really many millions of dollars over budget.
And I would love to help him with it or somebody else I could recommend professionals. But it was not built in a professional manner.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: By the way, nor was -- nor was in California. A little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that's being run by Gavin New-scum. The
governor of California. Did -- did you ever hear of Gavin New-scum?
He has got that train is the worst cost overrun I've ever seen. It's like totally out of control. So then they said, all right, we won't go into San
Francisco. We'll stop 25 miles short. And we won't go into Los Angeles. We'll stop 25 miles short.
It's hundreds of billions of dollars for this stupid project that should have never been built. And then they realized that it would have been a lot
less costly if we just gave limousine service back and forth and gave it free. They would have saved hundreds of billions of dollars. They have
airplanes that go there for one -- one -- one hundredth the cost. And they have cars. They have a thing called a highway that goes back and forth
that's not fully utilized and they got involved with this project.
[12:35:10]
And Gavin on for -- you know, I always like Gavin. I had a good relationship with him. I just got him a lot of water, you know. I -- I sent
in people to open up that water because he refused to do it. And we just got him a lot of water.
They would have had that water. And if they would have done what I said to do, they wouldn't add the fires in Los Angeles. Those fires would have been
put out very quickly.
But if you think about it and you got to take a look at this part, it's the worst cost over and I've ever seen -- I've watched a lot of stupid people
build a lot of stupid things, but that's the worst cost over on I've ever seen, what's happening between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
And you want to ask about that because this government is not going to pay. I told our very great new secretary of transportation is doing a good job,
Sean Duffy. I said, we're not going to pay for that thing. They are just -- it's out of control.
This is something that -- you don't have things like this. It -- it's not even conceivable like 30 times over budget, 30 times. It's the craziest
thing I've -- and now it's hundreds of -- it was supposed to be a simple train.
And I think the media should take a look at it. And I'd love him to run for president on the other side, you know. I'd love to see that. But I don't
think he's going to be running, because that one project alone -- well that and the fires and a lot of other things, pretty much put him out of the
race.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, what changes would you like to see with the
USMCA? What changes --
TRUMP: It's -- we're going to work on some subtle changes, maybe. I don't even know we're going to be dealing with USMCA. We're just -- we're dealing
more with concepts right now.
Look, right now, we're doing trade. We have trade. They're -- they're paying a tariff and cars and steel and aluminum. And I think we have a
baseline of 10 percent or something like that for the tariffs but we're -- we're getting along very well.
Right now, going no further but we have -- we have an agreement. We did something with even parts. You want to discuss that, Howard, with respect
to Canada which helps Canada?
HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. SECRETARY OF COMMERCE: Sure. So we've -- we've made an arrangement with the car companies that 15 percent of their, A, USMCA parts
are included and then 15 percent of foreign parts from the -- the manufactured suggested retail price are not tariffed to help domestic
manufacturing really thrive.
TRUMP: So it gave them a chance to be able to build their car parts factories if they're going to -- a lot of these companies already have
factories and what they have to do is just fill them out, but they're able to build them in the United States so we gave them a pretty substantial
period of time.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just to clarify, Mr. President, is there anything Prime Minster can say to you today to change your mind on tariffing Canada?
TRUMP: Tariffing cars?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tariffing Canada. Is there anything he can say to you in the course of your needs within today that would get you to lift tariffs
on Canada?
TRUMP: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?
TRUMP: Just the way it is.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) 51st state, if Canadians don't want it, would you respect that?
TRUMP: Sure, I would. But this is not necessarily a one day deal. This is over a period of time. They have to make that decision. Yes, go ahead.
CARNEY: Yes, if I may. Well, I respectfully, Canadians view on this and is not going to change on the 51st state. Secondly, we are the largest client
of the United States in -- in the totality of all the goods. So we are the largest client of the United States.
We have a tremendous auto sector between the two of us and the changes that made have been helpful. You know 50 percent of a car that comes from Canada
is American. That's not like anywhere else in the world.
And to your question about is there one thing. No, this is a bigger discussion. There are much bigger forces involved. And -- and this will
take some time and some discussions. And that's why we're here to have those discussions and that's -- that is represented by who's sitting around
the table.
TRUMP: See, the conflict is, and -- and this is very friendly. We're -- we're not -- this is not going to be like -- we had another little blow up
with somebody else. It was a much different -- this is -- this is a very friendly conversation, but we want to make our own cars. We don't really
want cars from Canada.
And we put tariffs on cars from Canada and at a certain point, it won't make economic sense for Canada to build those cars. And we don't want steel
from Canada because we're making our own steel and we're having massive steel plants being built right now as we speak.
We really don't want Canadian steel and we don't want Canadian aluminum and various other things because we want to be able to do it ourselves and we -
- because of, you know, past thinking of people, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada, in other words, they have a surplus with us.
[12:40:02]
And there's no reason for us to be subsidizing Canada. Canada is a -- a place that will have to be able to take care of itself economically. I
assume they can.
I will tell you that Trudeau, when I spoke to him, I used to call him Governor Trudeau. I think that probably didn't help his election. But when
I spoke to him, I said, so why are we -- why are we taking your cars? Why are we taking your -- we want to make them ourselves.
I mean, I said, and if the price of your cars went up or if we put a tariff -- if we put a tariff on your cars of 25 percent, what would that mean to
you? He said, that would mean the end of Canada. He actually said that to me. And I said, that's a strange answer, but I understand his answer.
But no, I mean, it's -- it's hard to justify subsidizing Canada to the tune of maybe $200 billion a year. We protect Canada, militarily, and we always
will. We're going to -- you know, that's not a money thing. That's -- but we always will.
But, you know, it's not fair. But why are we subsidizing Canada $200 billion a year? Or whatever the number might be? It's a very substantial
number.
And it's hard for the American taxpayer to say, gee whiz, we love doing that.
Thank you very much. We're going to have a very -- thank you. Thank you very much.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: All right. You've just been watching a live press conference out of the Oval Office. A lot of different topics were addressed. But obviously,
the main thing that they were meeting on was about the U.S.'s relationship with Canada.
Mark Carney, that was his -- literally, his first sort of major political test of his career. He is only just elected. He really did hold his own.
His strategy was to stay silent, most of the time, as Trump sort of veered off in different directions.
But in terms of tariffs on Canada, Trump reiterated that there was nothing that Carney could say to stop the tariffs.
Obviously, he issued that social media post just before this meeting, essentially saying that the U.S. does not need Canada's cars, steel, their
energy, their lumber or anything else.
And in terms of the 51st state, obviously Donald Trump has reiterated multiple times, not jokingly that he would want to make Canada the 51st
state.
Mark Carney addressed those directly, essentially saying that, look, some things are not for sale, including the Oval Office where we're in right now
that is not for sale.
I want to bring in CNN, senior political reporter Stephen Collinson, who has been listening to this press conference along with us.
So, Stephen, can you hear me? There you are.
So, Stephen, just in terms of sort of the topics that were addressed, I mean, obviously, Donald Trump talked about investment in the US. He talked
about trade deals. He touched on the Houthi rebels, essentially making some kind of a concession, asking the U.S. not to bomb them. Our reporters are
going to be fact checking that.
But just in terms of Mark Carney, obviously, Trump has a very different relationship based on what we've seen with Mark Carney compared to, quote-
unquote, Governor Trudeau.
Give us your take on how well Carney did here.
COLLINSON: Yes. I think you were right to say that he held his own. I thought it was interesting that he used the language of real estate to
defend Canada's sovereignty. He said that he'd spoken to the owners of Canada, i.e. the electorate very recently, and that the country was not for
sale. So I think that was quite a neat trick.
It was very interesting how the divisions between the two sides were more prominent as the news conference went on. Right at the end there, for
example, the president made all sorts of false claims about how the United States subsidizes Canada, made a very one-sided argument about the defense
arrangement between them.
And then he ended the news conference right there and didn't give Carney a chance to push back against those accusations.
The other thing was, I think, ultimately, the -- of the broadest significance was the president was rowing back on this claim that there are
going to be a bunch of trade deals coming down the pipe.
He and members of his administration have been predicting trade deals all by the end of the day, by the end of the week, for a number of weeks. And
it seems to be that the president is digging in and arguing that, well, tariffs are going to be permanent. I'm going to sit down as if I'm the head
of a rich department store and decide the price that each individual country pays.
[12:45:05]
I think that is going to dismay the markets and it's going to be a prolongation, I think, of the deep uncertainty that's causing a great deal
of economic damage while it becomes clear exactly what Trump is planning to do.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Trump said, think of the United States as a super luxury store. We're going to set the price that you're going to have to pay when
you come do business here, essentially suggesting that the U.S. is in no rush to announce trade deals, as you just noted.
Though he did, as he always does, in sort of his very talented showmanship fashion, teased to a major announcement later this week, Thursday or
Friday, and then -- then reiterated that this may not be a -- a trade deal that he's announcing, but a major announcement nonetheless from the United
States.
We'll continue to follow news out of this press conference and any further developments on a geopolitical stage as well, given the news that the
president announced the Houthis said they've capitulated. We will talk more about that in a moment.
One other thing to leave our viewers on is when the president was asked, what's the top concession that Canada can make? And he said friendship,
which the reporter said, that's not a concession.
Clearly, they are smoothing some of those rough edges -- edges and some of the tension that had been brewing between the previous prime minister and
his government with this administration. Still, a lot to be sorted out, though, in terms of where trade goes in the future.
Stephen Collinson, thank you for joining us.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: All right. We want to take a closer look at something President Trump just said in his meeting with the Prime Minister of Canada. He told
reporters at the Houthis have capitulated to the U.S. and won't attack ships anymore. In exchange, the U.S. will halt strikes on Yemen.
Now, earlier today, Israel struck the international airport in Sanaa. Israel says that it has fully disabled it, which is Yemen's main airport.
I want to bring in CNN's David Sanger, political and security analyst. But first, let's go to Jeremy Diamond.
So, Jeremy, just in terms of what we know so far, and obviously, this is a bold statement by the U.S. president. This idea that the Houthi rebels have
capitulated, that they're sort of asking the U.S. not to attack them anymore. They won't attack ships anymore.
Just give us a sense of what we know, for sure, in terms of what you have fact checked.
[12:50:05]
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, in terms of what President Trump described, it certainly sounds like a de facto ceasefire
between the United States and the Houthis, following several months during which the United States really stepped up its attacks against Houthi
positions in Yemen.
We have not heard from those Houthi militants directly. The way that President Trump described it was that the U.S. would stop the bombings
against the Houthis after the Houthis said that they don't want to fight anymore, that they -- and the Houthis said that they will stop attacking
ships in the Red Sea.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio also chimed in to note that U.S. strikes against the Houthis have been focused on stopping those Houthi attacks
against commercial ships in the Red Sea, that this was a freedom of navigation issue. And he believes that that freedom of navigation has now
or will in short order be restored.
It sounded like there was still some kind of official announcements and agreements that had not yet been finalized that -- that would be announced
in short order.
The timing of all of this is, of course, very interesting, not only because it followed this Houthi ballistic missile attack against Tel Aviv's
international airport, but also because it followed these two series of Israeli airstrikes in Yemen over the course of the last 24 hours.
And certainly one of the big questions now is going to be, how will this U.S.-Houthi ceasefire, if indeed it does get formalized and go into effect?
How will that affect the back and forth between Israel and the Houthis?
There's no indication right now, at least, that the Israel Houthi attacks are part of this burgeoning agreement between the United States and the
Houthis. So that will certainly be something to watch going forward.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The president made no mention of Israel's recent strike, basically suggesting that -- that it was the U.S.'s constant strikes
against the Houthis that ultimately led to this capitulations he described it.
And then also when asked who he heard this from, he said, you know, a very well-placed source. So we will continue to follow this story, though it
does come on the heels of his trip to the region in the coming days as well.
Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much.
We want to now get to David Sanger. Sort of take your pick on what you want to address, David. Perhaps let's start with that Carney conversation there
in the -- the Oval Office. It could have been a lot worse. They were quite cordial and complimentary with each other.
The president saying the -- the concession they could make is friendship, but -- but he's not giving in on tariffs.
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Certainly not. Look, it wasn't the Zelenskyy visit. So that's --
ASHER: That's where the bar is. That's -- that's the bar.
SANGER: OK.
GOLODRYGA: He wasn't kicked out. Yes.
SANGER: It's a really low bar, right. And it was slightly better than what happened in the 1830s when the U.S. and Canada nearly went to war. And I
think a group of Canadians got to an American ship and sent it over the Niagara Falls. So it's better than that.
So, you know, we're -- we're -- we're -- we're -- we're working our way -- we're working our way up.
It was pretty clear that -- that Mr. Carney had arrived having practiced for this at some time. I wouldn't be surprised if they had rehearsed this
with -- with great care.
He was silent a lot of times, so he didn't get into arguments. He stood his ground. He went back to the real estate comparison, looked around the Oval
Office, said, Oval Office isn't for sale, and neither is Canada.
And, you know, the President sort of agreed to disagree. He says, never say never, OK? That was better than him saying, we've got to have your land.
It's better than what he's done with Greenland. So there was a little more of a sense of respect here.
The oddity to my mind came when President Trump said, we don't need Canada for anything. Well, first of all, they're leading you buyer of U.S. goods,
right? So you wouldn't want to -- you wouldn't want to cut that off.
The second is the President overstated the trade deficit. He maintained it was $200 billion. It's $63 billion. And if you take away Canadian oil sold
to the United States, the U.S. actually has a surplus with Canada.
So there's no crisis here in any way, but neither side showed any sign of backing down. And, you know, Mr. Carney from his days, back in the Central
Bank of Canada, and Central Bank of -- in Great Britain, he -- he is not anybody who basically takes much trouble from anybody else. So he's a
pretty tough customer.
[12:55:03]
ASHER: And -- and, David, just quickly, in terms of the sort of other major news that we got from this press conference, obviously, Donald Trump is
essentially saying that the Houthis had announced that they don't want to fight anymore, that they're going to stop the bombings, they have
capitulated.
Based on what we know about the Houthis. I mean, not only did the Houthis just say very recently that they're not going to stop targeting Israel
until the war in Gaza ends, but just in terms of what we know about how tenacious they are, even going back to the start of the war with Saudi
Arabia, Saudi Arabia bombing Houthi rebels in Yemen.
This is a tenacious group. They are aggressive. They sort of seem to keep on living to fight another day, despite how much they are targeted. Based
on what we know about them, does this -- is this what the president said in line with -- with our perspective on the Houthi rebels?
SANGER: It -- it's not. Let's hope the president is right. A ceasefire would be good.
Well, what was the -- what was the purpose of the bombing? The purpose of the U.S. bombing was not to try to take territory or even completely
destroy the Houthis. Certainly wasn't an attack on the Yemen government. It was an effort to get to just this outcome, which is the Houthis saying,
we're not going to target shipping anymore.
GOLODRYGA: Right, yes.
SANGER: Now, you know, if there are ceasefire violations here, we're all going to see them --
ASHER: David, unfortunately, we are out of time. I asked you that question and I realized there was only 30 seconds left in the show. I'm so sorry.
GOLODRYGA: But you made your point.
ASHER: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: Yes.
ASHER: Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Thank you.
SANGER: No problem. Thank you, guys.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. I appreciate you watching. This is Bianna Golodryga. She'll be back in about three minutes from now.
GOLODRYGA: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:00:00]
END
