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The Situation Room

Trump Backs Off Mexico Tariffs; Interview With Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL); Interview With Ontario, Canada, Premier Doug Ford. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired March 06, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And he refers to Prime Minister Trudeau as the governor. I see the background behind you right now. The sign says, "Canada is not for sale," right next to the Canadian flag.

DOUG FORD, PREMIER OF ONTARIO, CANADA: Right.

BLITZER: Do you see those comments from Trump as doing lasting potential damage to this wonderful, over the many years, relationship between these two longtime allies?

FORD: Well, the closest friends, closest allies in the world for over 200 years. The rest of the world are watching us as China is bringing in cheap parts, undermining American workers and Canadian workers.

That's the issue, not your closest ally and friends, your number one customer in the world. And, hopefully, we can mend this relationship. And I can tell you, all Canadians love Americans. It's one person, and that's President Trump, that's creating mass chaos right across North America and, honestly, around the world right now.

Over what? We still -- I know what it's about. It's about his $4.5 trillion tax cut that he can't afford right now, and he wants to pick those costs up off other countries. I take the total opposite approach, Wolf. Let's build the economy. Let's create more revenues. That's what we have done.

I have never raised a tax in my life. There's no reason to.

BLITZER: Prime Minister Trudeau spoke with President Trump on the phone for nearly an hour yesterday, we're told. Trudeau's office called the conversation -- quote -- "productive."

If you could speak with President Trump directly, Premier, what would your message be to him?

FORD: Well, exactly what I was just saying, Wolf. Let's stop the chaos, the uncertainty, assembly plants shutting down, jobs being lost on both sides of the border.

But the American people, the pension funds that they worked their whole lives for, they're being hurt. The market the other day dropped $3 trillion. Then it bounced a little back. And it's like a roller coaster right now.

As you know, because you're a super smart guy, Wolf, the worst thing the market hates is uncertainty. Everyone hates uncertainty. Investment needs uncertainty. So let's get down to the table, let's start talking about the USMCA deal, and let's resolve this once and for all to give certainty to the people of the United States and Canada, two greatest countries in the world.

I call it the Am-Can fortress. Let's build that Am-Can fortress.

BLITZER: And as someone like myself, who grew up in Western New York and Buffalo, right on the border with Canada, we love Canadians, we love Canada, and we hope this situation improves trade dramatically in the coming days.

The premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, thanks so much for joining us.

FORD: Wolf, thank you. God bless America and God bless Canada. Let's get through this.

Thank you so much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good point.

Thank you so much, Premier.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Certainly hope we get through this.

Just ahead: As the Trump administration continues to cut tens of thousands of jobs, new polling reveals how voters feel about Elon Musk's role in all of this.

I will speak with one of the president's most ardent supporters, GOP Congressman Byron Donalds, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:37:27]

BROWN: We're learning about new moves by President Trump and Elon Musk to slash the federal government with cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs and eliminating the Education Department.

It is once again putting the spotlight on one of the president's closest advisers, Elon Musk. Polling shows one in three voters approve of the job Musk is doing in the federal government. That's 34 percent. One in four approve of Musk shutting down federal programs he deems unnecessary.

But the goal of cuts has support among Democrats and Republicans, with 51 percent of Americans approving of Trump's efforts to cut staff at government agencies.

At the same time, all those cuts are already having an impact on the economy. New employment data shows recession-level cuts for February, with more jobs lost than any month in 15 years. Joining us now is Republican Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida.

Thank you for coming on. We appreciate it.

So, I have just laid out the numbers for you and talked about that economic data as well. Does it concern you at all that Trump and Musk's efficiency initiatives are impacting the economy in this way?

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Let's be clear about the numbers that you're reporting.

The reason why the job growth numbers are down is because government workers are the ones who are starting to lose their job at the federal level. And it needs to be understood that, under the previous administration, they increased government -- the government work force really in ways that are unsustainable.

So what is happening here in Washington is getting the federal government under control so we can get spending under control. And the number one way you get inflation in an economy is overspending at the federal level.

So, yes, we have to shrink the federal government. It has to live within its means. That's what the American people have to do every day. But the other elements of our economy are very, very strong, and they're going to remain that way.

BROWN: But the consumer sentiment is down. It's the lowest it's been in 3.5 years. Spending is down. Certain prices are up.

The leader of that study on the economy says what we're seeing is the DOGE effect on those numbers. I just spoke to Marc Short, who worked for Trump the first term, and he said Trump's tariff policy is undermining his goals on the economy. What do you say to that?

DONALDS: Well, what I say is that tariff policy is one piece of the overall economic picture. Tariff policy is one thing. You have deregulation at the federal level, which is critical for the future health of our economy.

The last administration layered $2 trillion of regulation on the economy and then tried to backfill it with stimulus packages and government items.

BROWN: It wasn't just regulations, the $2 trillion. It was other issues as well. It wasn't just $2 trillion.

[11:40:00]

DONALDS: That's -- no, no, it was $2 trillion.

Listen, I know the facts. It was $2 trillion.

BROWN: It's -- I know the facts too. I looked it up because I have heard you say that in other interviews. DONALDS: And it was $2 trillion -- it was $2 trillion in regulations

that the Biden administration layered on our economy, coupled with massive overspending, which created inflation.

That created the picture that we are in today. So what we have to do is, yes, cut regulations. We're going to pass the president's tax agenda, which is reauthorizing his tax policy, and also become energy- dominant. Those are the things of how you create the environment for a thriving economy that grows on its own, as opposed to relying on government stimulus and government jobs. '

BROWN: Just to be clear, it was regulations and broader spending initiatives for that $2 trillion number.

But you said this in September 2024 -- quote -- "The core issues facing the American people are the cost of food and housing."

I just spoke to a farmer who says American farmers are being hammered by Trump's policies right now, and that will only cause the price of food for Americans to go up. I want you to listen to what he said and respond to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALDS: Mayor Wu, in the city of Boston, how much did you spend?

MICHELLE WU (D), MAYOR OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS: We don't ask about immigration status in...

DR. JOHN BOYD, FOUNDER, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: Really, this is a state of emergency for America's farmers right now. You put in all of this chaos -- and that's what this is. The president came right in the office and caused a whole lot of chaos.

I'm going to say this; 99 percent, especially white America and white farmers, voted for this president. And here he is making us pay the piper here at the beginning of planting season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Obviously, ignore the first part of that was you.

But how do you answer this farmer, who said the president hasn't made food prices a top priority, as he said he would do?

DONALDS: What I would say is that, when you have to unwind the terrible inflation from the previous administration, you have to go through several processes, like I have laid out.

The first piece is what DOGE is doing, giving Congress a list of areas where we can make immediate cuts, to the betterment of our economy and to the American consumer. When you massively overspend federally, you inject more dollars into the system, you create inflation.

That's the way it works. That's what Joe Biden did. We have to squeeze that out. Tariff policy is a piece of that. That's raising revenue into our coffers through other means than just raising taxes to help stabilize the federal balance sheet here on Capitol Hill.

So those things work together. And so I think it's important for people to understand, as we work through the changes that our economy needs, it will create a more stable economy that grows organically with its own efforts, as opposed to being reliant on government stimulus. More government stimulus is only going to yield more inflation.

And that's not going to be to the help of that farmer in particular or any other American.

BROWN: Well, we will be closely tracking this. As you heard from that farmer, right now, that uncertainty is causing some of these issues that we're seeing in the economy, according to this farmer and others we have spoken to. But we will wait and we will watch and see what happens.

I want to note, you just officially announced you're running for governor of Florida. And I want to ask you about some of the Floridians that you will be trying to win over. Those would be veterans.

The administration is planning on cutting around 70,000 jobs at the VA? Can you assure each and every one of the nearly 1.5 million veterans of Florida that cuts to the VA won't affect them?

DONALDS: Absolutely.

And let's be very clear. The VA has been an albatross of an agency. It is heavily bureaucratic. A lot of our veterans aren't getting the care that they need in a timely fashion. And that's because of how bureaucratized the VA has become.

Let's talk clearly to everybody. If you have a bureaucratic delivery system that's not meaning the needs of veterans, should we change that? And the answer is yes. So cleaning out the waste at VA actually will help our veterans be able to get their care faster.

And one of the things that we have been trying to do for a long time, and the same bureaucracy has been stopping it -- and Donald Trump did this in his first term -- is let veterans get the health care they need anywhere in the health care economy, not just the VA.

You know what the stopgap is? The fact that the VA still hasn't figured out how to digitize medical records in an era when people can digitize any document on their cell phone right now. I can do it right now for you. I can get something in by e-mail and PDF it and e-mail it to you if you wanted to.

We can do that and with generally people using their cell phones.

BROWN: Right.

DONALDS: But the VA is too much of a bureaucratic state, can't figure it out. So change is needed and that will help veterans. BROWN: All right. Well, we will be watching this issue closely as

well. And it sounds like you're trying to hint at potentially privatizing more of this. But there -- we have seen issues with that as well. But we will continue that conversation next time you're on.

I want to ask you about this breaking news just coming into CNN that Trump just announced that Mexico will not be required to pay tariffs on any products that fall under the USMCA agreement. He did this -- quote -- "out of respect for the Mexican president."

Was Trump's back-and-forth tariff decision the right call, especially given the volatility of markets? We just heard from that farmer too, who said this tariff back-and-forth is just causing mass uncertainty. That's -- businesses hate that. You know that.

[11:45:09]

DONALDS: Well, look, I'm going to be -- I'm going to repeat myself a little bit here.

BROWN: OK.

DONALDS: It is important that we stabilize not just our economic relationships around the globe, but also the fact that we got to secure our border and we got us to stop the flow of fentanyl.

Give Donald Trump the opportunity to actually negotiate with the Mexican president and with Canada and with China. You got to give him that opportunity, because, when prices were rising in the United States, I didn't hear CNN talking about that much. As a matter of fact, you ignored most of it while it was hurting the American people.

BROWN: We did.

DONALDS: So, let the president negotiate on tariff policy.

BROWN: We did cover that.

DONALDS: That is what he's doing. And it's going to work out to the better.

You didn't cover it the way it needed to be covered. Let's just be perfectly honest.

BROWN: OK, well, that's a matter of opinion.

DONALDS: You let the last administration get away with it, but the American people suffered as a result.

BROWN: That is your opinion. But we did.

DONALDS: Oh, no, it's not my opinion. That's a fact.

BROWN: OK. No, it's not a fact.

Congressman Byron Donalds, thank you for coming on to share your points of view. We appreciate your time, and best of luck in your run for governor of Florida.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:54]

BLITZER: More now on the breaking news we're following, President Trump announcing a temporary exemption for most of his tariffs on Mexico after a conversation with the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

I want to get reaction right now from former Democratic Congressman Dan Glickman of Kansas. He served as agriculture secretary during the Clinton administration.

What do you make of this whiplash approach that Trump is now going with the tariffs, the non-tariffs, the tariffs, the non-tariffs? What do you make of it?

DAN GLICKMAN, FORMER U.S. AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: It's pretty chaotic, Wolf.

And to farmers and ranchers who have very uncertain economic conditions, it's not a very predictable way of doing business. So I would say that part of the reason that this is happening is because they're getting tremendous pushback from farmers and from members of Congress, both political parties.

Tariffs generally are not a good idea for farmers because we have to sell our products overseas for farmers to make income.

BLITZER: How hard are these tariffs impacting the farmers in Kansas, Nebraska, and other agricultural states?

GLICKMAN: To date, it's too early to tell in terms of this, but Trump put tariffs on China. He put trade restrictions on China back in his Trump first term, and that caused serious problems with the American agriculture market. And so the U.S. government had to write nearly $28 billion worth of checks to compensate the farmers for those losses.

So these tariffs generally result in bad news for farmers and also for consumers too.

BLITZER: Because these states, like your home state of Kansas and Nebraska, they all voted big time for Trump.

GLICKMAN: Yes.

BLITZER: You think it's going to have an impact if these tariffs really impact the export of American wheat or soybeans or grains or other products?

GLICKMAN: Well, it's too early to tell what we end up with, as we have seen from today's news. But if these tariffs result in lower farm income and higher farm input

prices, and if they hurt consumers, because Mexico sells a lot of fresh produce into our country, and we eat that more and more right now, but if it starts impacting food prices and farm income, then I think the political damage will be significant.

BLITZER: Have you ever -- and you have spent years in Congress, then agriculture secretary. Have you ever seen anything like this develop before, as far as the American farmers are concerned?

GLICKMAN: The only thing that's somewhat parallel is when Jimmy Carter put an embargo on grain to the Soviet Union in 1979 and 1980, and that hurt our farm income for a long time, and it had great impact on the political nature of how farmers support people running for office.

But it was nowhere as chaotic as what we see right now. So I -- what I suspect and what I hope will happen is farmers and ranchers and consumers will speak up. And if they do, I think even this administration will have to listen to them.

BLITZER: I'm very worried about the U.S.-Canadian relationship. I'm sure you are as well.

GLICKMAN: Yes. You know, I -- like, Canada is a great place. I found myself agreeing with Doug Ford more than I...

BLITZER: The premier of Ontario.

GLICKMAN: The premier of Ontario.

Canadians are great friends of ours. They supply a lot of phosphate, which goes into fertilizer for American farmers. They're great friends, allies in terms of our geopolitical issues in the United States. I'm not sure what the Canadians have done to justify all this.

BLITZER: And they provide a lot of energy for the neighboring states along the Canadian border as well.

GLICKMAN: They provide energy. They also -- the Mexico-Canadian- American free trade agreement was a great, positive thing in terms of a regional political situation, an economic environment that certainly allowed a lot of growth to occur in our three countries.

Working together, North America achieved a lot on that agreement. And it's being really frontally attacked right now, which is bad news.

BLITZER: You think all of this is going to have an impact on Trump supporters?

GLICKMAN: You know, you don't know what's happening in politics.

Trump is the most interesting guy. During the State of the Union, he says he just loves farmers. He's got a way of expressing himself which is most unusual. The only problem is, these policies are not the policies you would put into place if you really were in love with farmers and agriculture, because this industry is probably more impacted by what he's doing than anything else.

BLITZER: The auto industry as well.

[11:55:01]

GLICKMAN: Auto industry as well. And we will see whether agriculture gets the same kind of pause of relief that the auto industry has.

BLITZER: We will see.

Dan Glickman, thanks very much for coming in.

GLICKMAN: Thank you. Sure.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very, very much.

And another giant leap, Pamela, in the modern space race could be taking place soon.

BROWN: Yes, in just minutes. Wolf, the commercial spacecraft Athena will attempt to land near the moon's south pole right here. You're looking at images that Athena has been gathering above the moon. Once Athena lands, a rover will get to work on the lunar surface to create a 3-D map and a search for ice.

If ice is found, it could potentially be converted to drinking water or even breathable air, which would be a massive development for future manned missions.

BLITZER: Very interested in watching all of this unfold.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Thank you very, very much.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us. You can keep up with us on social media. I'm @WolfBlitzer, and, of course, Pamela is @PamelaBrownCNN.

We will see you back here tomorrow and every weekday morning for our expanded two-hour SITUATION ROOM 10:00 a.m. Eastern.

BROWN: "INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend Dana Bash is next right after a short break.