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The Situation Room

Interview With Ontario, Canada, Premier Doug Ford; FEMA Cancels Fire Training Classes; Arrest of Palestinian Protester Stirs Controversy; Republicans Try to Avert Government Shutdown; Trump Escalates Trade War. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired March 11, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:39]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news: dramatic escalation. President Trump upping the ante in the trade war. Markets now dropping big time amid the uncertainty. Take a look at this, the Dow Jones industrials now down 629 -- 626 points as we're speaking right now.

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Pamela Brown is off today. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: And we're following the breaking news, President Trump saying he is now doubling the tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel, as markets reel for a second day in a row, the Dow Jones down now. Take a look at this. You see the Dow is way down, getting close to 600 points now, 622 points down right now, 622.

It's all fueled by the enormous uncertainty over the president's trade war.

Joining us now, CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna is joining us. And CNN business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich is in New York. She's joining us as well.

Alayna, let me start to you -- with you.

What is the White House saying, first of all, about this latest escalation in tariffs involving our closest neighbor and good friend China -- Canada?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Wolf, we really saw the present just moments ago with this post on social media really just ramp up some of that uncertainty and threats to Canada.

I note as well that this comes just days after Canada selected a new leader for the Liberal Party. We are going to see them have a new prime minister soon. Someone who has said that he wants to continue what Justin Trudeau has been doing. But I want to get into what the president said. He said that, in

response to the premier of Ontario placing a 25 percent tariff on electricity in certain states, that he is going to be responding, as you mentioned, with increasing tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25 percent to 50 percent.

He also argued that those are going to go into effect starting tomorrow morning. He also said he would soon be declaring a national emergency on electricity within the threatened area. And he went on to say that, if he does not like what Canada does, if he does not like how they respond, he will significantly increase tariffs on automakers and cars coming into United States from Canada.

And he added as well, he said this, which I found very notable -- quote -- "The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our chair's 51st state," just continuing on with that taunt.

But I think the big picture here, Wolf, is that we have seen so much uncertainty. The market had its worst day yesterday that it has had all year. A lot of people wanting to get some reassurance from the president and the White House. This is not doing that. This is only creating far more uncertainty at a time when people are very concerned about the state of the economy.

BLITZER: Yes, and the markets are not good so far today. In the first couple of hours since it's opened, the Dow Jones, as you can see, bottom right-hand corner of the screen, down 570 points already.

Alayna, stand by. I want to bring in Vanessa.

Vanessa, how else is Wall Street responding this morning? Yesterday was very, very bad. Today looks pretty bad as well.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, markets opened mix this morning, kind of waiting to see what the president was going to say. We got that answer at 10:00 a.m. when the president posted on TRUTH Social that he would be doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

And you see now markets reacting to that news, falling even further. There's a big question here about whether or not we're pointing towards a recession. President Trump said that he could not rule one out, and Goldman Sachs has just increased their recession forecast to 20 percent from 15 percent.

But just to reassure folks at home, we are not in recession territory just yet. And Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, said that the economy is actually in a good place right now. But there are flashing warning signs right now. We are hearing from major retailers about what the outlook is looking like for consumers for this year, Delta slashing its forecast by about half, and also Kohl's saying that this is going to be a turbulent 2025 for consumers.

And you see those stocks reacting right there. Also, in the auto industry, President Trump in his post said that he is going to go ahead on April 2 and put tariffs on any autos coming into the U.S. But the problem is, Canadian auto parts and cars are very much intertwined with U.S. manufacturing.

[11:05:18]

Those stocks, GM, Ford and Stellantis, the Big Three here in the U.S., are also down this morning on that news, Wolf.

BLITZER: They certainly are.

How is Canada so far reacting, Vanessa?

YURKEVICH: Well, Canada has said that they want to come to the negotiating table and try to work something out. But we heard just moments ago from Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, who reacted to Trump's TRUTH Social post this morning. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG FORD, PREMIER OF ONTARIO, CANADA: I apologize to the American people that President Trump decided to have an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs, and it's unacceptable. I will talk to the team and we will make an appropriate response to President Trump.

Again, I stress this is not the American people. Canadians know it. And if we go into a recession, it's self-made by one person. It's called President Trump's recession, which shouldn't be this way. We should be booming, both countries right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: Now, Wolf, we have been reporting a lot on the trade war with Canada -- Mexico and China, but this is really shaping up to be a global trade war.

You heard from the premier right there saying that the recession that could be coming would be self-inflicted. We also heard the same thing from the former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who said that would also be self-inflicted.

Now, the markets this morning have been reacting at every step of the way along this news cycle. It'll be interesting to see if we get any readout from the 5:00 p.m. business roundtable that the president is holding later today and whether or not business leaders can try to pull back President Trump from some of these more rash tariff decisions, of course, rattling markets and American consumers, who are looking for some certainty right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: We will see what happens and we will monitor what the president has to say later today. He was silent on all of this yesterday.

Vanessa Yurkevich and Alayna Treene reporting for us. To both of you, thank you.

There's more breaking news we're following right now. We're expecting a cliffhanger vote later today on a spending bill, Congress and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, scrambling right now to avoid a full- scale federal government shutdown as the deadline draws closer and closer.

I want to go live to see in the congressional correspondent Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill.

Lauren, where do things stand, at least right now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Republican leaders, Wolf, are trying to make a point, but that point only will succeed if they can convince all of their members to rally behind the plan.

And that is to support the stopgap spending bill that continues government funding until the end of September. Now, Democrats have preferred a shorter-term stopgap measure that would allow them to negotiate fuller-year spending bills. But that is something that at this point Johnson is saying he will not do.

The question is whether he has the votes to pass it. Now, already Speaker Johnson has one no-vote in Thomas Massie and there are a number of other conservatives who are still holding out support. You can expect that President Trump is going to be working the phone lines. You can expect GOP leaders are going to be having meetings, having conversations with their skeptical members.

There are a lot of conservatives who don't typically vote for these stopgap measures that are going to have to be convinced. We expect that this vote will happen later this afternoon. But here's Johnson already blaming Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): They're planning to vote down this simple bill. They are going to try to shut the government down.

Every House Democrat will participate in this, it looks like. That would be a shame if it's true. I hope some of them will have a moment of clarity themselves and do the right thing. But it looks like they're going to try to shut down the government. It's a striking new posture for Democrats, who have always said -- they have just been apoplectic about the prospect of government shutdowns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And, typically, in these kind of negotiations, a lot of Democrats do support these stopgap measures, but we expect that Democratic leaders are going to be holding their caucus together.

The bigger question is, if this does get out of the House, what happens in the United States Senate? They are going to need a handful of Democrats over there. Already today, Wolf, I have been questioning one after another Democrat. No one committed to supporting the bill, but no one committed to voting no, knowing that doing so could lead to a government shutdown come Friday at midnight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we will see what happens in the House of Representatives later today.

Lauren Fox reporting for us.

Lauren thank you very much.

Still ahead: Follow the money. Elon Musk is sharing brand-new details about DOGE and what's next for its cost-cutting efforts.

Plus, staff cuts and funding freezes are pushing FEMA to cancel, yes, cancel most classes at the country's top fire training academy actually as we head into fire season.

[11:10:07]

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're following all the breaking news, including the deteriorating relationship between the United States and Canada.

Momentarily, we will be speaking live with the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, on his reaction to President Trump's decision today to double tariffs on aluminum and steel.

[11:15:06]

Other important news we're following though, right now, including this. This morning, we're getting new details about the arrest of a Palestinian activist. Mahmoud Khalil is a legal U.S. resident who helped lead Columbia University student protest movement. Immigration officials arrested him over the weekend, saying they were acting on a U.S. State Department order to revoke his green card, allowing him to be a legal resident here in the United States.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked an effort to deport him.

CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM.

I know you're getting more information, Priscilla. What are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I am learning from sources that Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved of a use of a legal provision, a rare one, Wolf, to initiate this arrest and detaining not only of Khalil, but also of another activist.

Now, this is a legal provision that is in immigration law. Essentially, it gives authority to the secretary of state if they find that someone is deemed to be a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

Now, in this case, it seems to be the argument that the government is making for the arrest of this activist, but, Wolf, it is an extraordinary escalation of the immigration crackdown by this administration. Now, as you mentioned there, federal judge has blocked the effort to deport him. There will be a hearing tomorrow where we will learn more about that.

A filing yesterday, said the following -- quote -- "To preserve the court's jurisdiction, pending a ruling on the petition, petitioners shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the court orders otherwise."

So there are still some steps that we are going to see unfold here. I think one of the things we will be watching very closely is what the government brings to that hearing. We know what provision in the law they're using to detain this activist, but what evidence do they have?

And, ultimately, it'll be a judge who will have to decide, is this really free speech or was there support of a terrorist organization? Those are some of the questions we anticipate are going to be raised over the course of these proceedings.

Now, I will say this. We have a statement from the attorney, Khalil's attorney, who says -- quote -- The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech," that being free speech.

So there's still so many questions here in terms of how they came to that determination, Wolf. But I am learning from my sources that the secretary of state did approve the use of this provision for the detainment of Khalil, who is now being held in Louisiana.

BLITZER: And does the Trump administration, specifically the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who ordered his deportation, do they have evidence that Khalil was threatening Jewish students at Columbia University?

ALVAREZ: And that's exactly what we anticipate hearing more about tomorrow during the hearing. So far, they have not provided what evidence that they are using to hold him. Those are the questions we expect a judge will have. We're also keeping a close eye on the docket for any filings from the government that would include those exhibits, for example, to say these are the reasons we think he's a threat to U.S. foreign policy.

BLITZER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez reporting for us, good work. Thank you very, very much.

And we will be right back with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:22:48]

BLITZER: The Trump administration's efforts to slash federal spending has created an extremely unlikely casualty. FEMA has canceled, yes, canceled, its firefighter training courses, at least for the time being. Hard to believe this is going on.

For decades, firefighters and other first responders have relied on the National Fire Academy for free training. Joining us now is Marc Bashoor. He's led the department's emergency

services in multiple states and has 44 years of fire safety experience.

Marc, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for all your service over these years.

This is the nation's, as you well know better than me, preeminent fire training academy, calling itself the West Point of the fire service. How big of a loss, Marc, is this training?

MARC BASHOOR, FORMER PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND, FIRE CHIEF: Right.

No, absolutely. I mean, we liken it to the War College or the Naval Postgraduate School for what firefighters go through. So the locals are good at getting the basic training to folks. And where we tend to see and where we have seen it across the 50 states -- I have worked in three different ones -- and where we have seen it across the 50 states is, when we get into those higher-level classes, we begin to see a disparity in what people feel are the priorities.

And that's where the national training academy, the National Fire Academy, brings together the Executive Fire Officer Program and others to help firefighters be consistent. And I think it's extremely important when we start talking about 911 response and to make sure that our communities not only do expect good service from us; they get good, consistent, and efficient service.

BLITZER: You know this area very, very well. Is there anything to fill this void for training first responders at the local, state and national levels?

BASHOOR: Yes, so important things for people to understand, the National Fire Academy has both on-campus opportunities and off-campus opportunities.

And all 50 states have training academies or training associations that are associated with the National Fire Academy. More people actually attend National Fire Academy courses at their state level than they actually do at the campus at Emmitsburg. The difference is that every one of those courses is no cost to those firefighters.

[11:25:02]

It would be completely cost-prohibitive if firefighters had to find that training either at a local level without the funding covered or from some private entity. So, being able to tie all that together, is there something to replace that? No, there isn't.

The states have their own academies. In most cases, the locals have their own academies and they can get that basic training done. But when we start talking about the coordination of training at the higher levels, there's not another entity that's doing that.

BLITZER: Yes, good point. We did some research. The National Fire Academy and the U.S. Fire

Administration were founded 50 years ago to reduce fire deaths. That mission has shown enormous success over these decades. That's right. I assume you agree.

BASHOOR: Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you want, I will cover that whole little piece there.

In 1973, the "America Burning" report, which was commissioned by the government, determined that between 12,000 and 16,000 people were dying every year in fires in the United States. So they established the national -- the United States Fire Administration in 1974, a year after that report, and then, in 1977, the National Fire Academy.

So their main mission out of the "America Burning" report was to reduce fire deaths and reduce losses, insured losses, in the United States. We have reduced those fire deaths by 75 percent. So, while 3,000 people still die every year, which is one every three hours somebody's dying in a fire in the United States still today, but that's much better than the 33 per hour that were dying in 1973.

So, the mission was pretty succinct and the mission has been phenomenally successful. To take this away right now, even for a pause, we're going to begin to see a degradation in our services. It may not happen tonight or tomorrow, but you're going to see a degradation in the capabilities of fire departments who are unable to get this training and keep their people up to date.

BLITZER: Yes, so critically important. Hard to believe this is even being considered here in the United States of America.

Marc Bashoor, thank you very much for all your service over the years. Thanks so much for joining us.

BASHOOR: Thank you. Appreciate it.

BLITZER: And I want to get back to the breaking news right now, President Trump now saying he will double tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports. He says it's a response to Ontario, the province of Ontario placing a 225 percent surcharge on electricity coming into three U.S. neighboring states.

And joining us now, the Ontario premier, Doug Ford.

Premier Ford, thanks so much for joining us.

First of all, what's your reaction when you heard this latest news?

FORD: Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, Wolf.

And it's disappointing. And I will tell you the reason it's disappointing, because Americans are going to pay more. They only have the capacity, the U.S. only has the capacity of producing 16 percent of the aluminum they need. Pretty well almost the balance comes -- over 60 percent comes from Quebec. So costs are going to go up, along with aluminum and steel. But let's

focus on the real problem. And that's China bringing transshipments in and costing American and Canadian jobs. I want to make sure that we send more electricity, Wolf. I want to send more critical minerals.

But there was an unprovoked attack on Canada, on families, on jobs, on businesses. For what reason? The market is speaking loud and clear. Consumer confidence is down. The market's tumbling. There's going to be plants closed in the U.S. Assembly plants will shut down because they won't have the aluminum, or they will be paying twice, three times as much.

This is -- this is absolute chaos created by one person. And that's Donald Trump, not the American people. I always say, Canadians love Americans. I love Americans. And this has to stop. Let's sit around the table and negotiate a new deal, even though he created the deal in the first place.

BLITZER: Yes, and as someone who grew up in Western New York and Buffalo along the border with Canada, I can honestly say I love Canadians as well.

Talk a little bit about Ontario, your province, and the electrical power it shares with the states in the United States along the border. A lot of it is coming from Ontario, right?

FORD: That's correct.

We power 1.5 million homes and businesses in New York and Michigan and in Minnesota. I just got off the phone with Governor Whitmer, I consider a friend. We worked together for seven years. She's a wonderful person. And I apologized to her. She understands.

But what I recommend is, on the electricity bill, put down, this increase is a tariff from Trump. It's a Trump tariff, which is basically a Trump tax.