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The Situation Room

U.S. and Canada's Strained Relationship; Trump Brings Fight Over Alien Enemies Act to Supreme Court; Trump Ends Collective Bargaining to Many Federal Workers. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 28, 2025 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): -- or woman or anyone in the Intelligence Community at risk. And if I were a mom or dad and my kid were flying there, putting his or her life in danger to protect our great country, you would never want anyone, especially the secretary of defense, to undermine their safety.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Well said. Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thanks very much for joining us.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Up next, I'm joined by a former premier of Quebec to talk about the very strained relationship right now between the U.S. and Canada. What will it take to start to mend this? We'll be right back.

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[10:35:00]

BLITZER: Back to our breaking news this morning. President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will hold a phone call this morning. This comes after Canada's leader says the old bilateral relationship with the United States is, quote, "over." President Trump is escalating his trade war with America's northern neighbor and close ally, and continues to say Canada should simply become the 51st state of the United States.

Joining us now for some analysis, the former premier of Quebec, Jean Charest. He's also the former deputy prime minister of Canada. Premier, thanks so much for joining us. First of all, do you agree with Prime Minister Carney that the longstanding, very old, distinguished U.S.-Canadian relationship is now over?

JEAN CHAREST, FORMER QUEBEC PREMIER, FORMER CANADIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND PARTNER, THERRIEN, COUTURE, JOLI-COEUR: We, you know, continue to hear the same messages coming out of the Trump administration, Wolf. And we -- you know, how could we not come to that conclusion? And sadly, because the relationship between both our countries has been historically exceptional. Both countries are lucky to be born and live in this neighborhood of the world. Frankly, if you look around from a trade perspective, it's been an exceptional relationship, but it's changed. And we have just come to the conclusion that it's changed forever. And now, we're looking ahead. We want to continue to work. And by the way, the American people, we -- you know, our neighbors and friends, we love them very dearly. We're -- and there's a difference between that and the political issues we have.

So, we want to work with our American neighbors. I think we have to look at a comprehensive trade and security agreement in the in the future. But Canada's going to have to rethink its economy and rethink how we operate in this new political environment with the United States.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a whole new world for those of us who grew up along the Canadian border. I'm from Buffalo in Western New York. It's hard for me to believe that this is even going on given the longstanding very close friendship and alliance between the U.S. and Canada.

President Trump and Prime Minister are speaking today. How much do you think this conversation will or will not improve the very bad moment in U.S.-Canada relations right now?

CHAREST: Well, it's an opportunity to have a better understanding of what President Trump has in mind. I mean this, the idea of just throwing out there a 25 percent tariffs in the automotive industry. I mean, our whole industry has been integrated on the automotive side, Wolf, since 1965. And so, there's a whole logic around how the industry's organized and trying to change that would cost billions of dollars to redo the supply chains that are very effective for both sides of the border and effective for consumers.

Now, you know, Mark Carney is in the middle of -- Prime Minister Carney is in the middle of a federal election campaign to be held on the 28th of April. He is seeking a mandate and he'll be seeking a mandate to be able to negotiate with President Trump and the -- our American neighbor, the new administration. And so, that has to be part of the conversation.

And if that's the case, it would sort of make sense for the American administration to hold back on making decisions that are going to be upsetting and creating some chaos in our supply chains until that election campaign happens.

BLITZER: You know, it was interesting, Premier, hours before the prime minister's comments yesterday, President Trump issued a warning on social media. Let me read it to you. If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those countries has ever had. How seriously are you taking this threat?

CHAREST: Well, we -- you know, we take seriously what President Trump says, by the way, on a number of issues. We get it, Wolf. Canadians know that there's a number of issues that the president wants to address, and we want to be helpful in that regard. We want to help him be able to accomplish what he has on his plate, on his agenda. Now, we're a sovereign and independent country, and if he's putting tariffs, he -- I mean, he can't -- at the end of the day, you can't tell other countries how to react if you are actually dragging them into this fight. And we did not ask for this fight, Wolf, to be very clear.

Again, I mean, to the American people, I hope they all understand that. We haven't -- we're being dragged into this because President Trump has decided so. But he can, on the other hand, decide what either us as Canadians or Europeans do in response, which will be a legitimate response to his tariff policies.

BLITZER: And very quickly, Premier, before I let you go, how do you react when you hear President Trump refer to Canada as potentially America's 51st state and he starts calling the premier, the prime minister of Canada, governor?

[10:40:00]

CHAREST: Well, we all thought initially that this was just, you know, a friendly jive at Canada. Obviously, it's not. And it is -- it's disturbing. And you know, if you read between the lines, it's says, oh, he's saying to Canada, what's really wrong with you is the fact that you exist. And I object to the fact you exist and you should not.

And think for a moment if you were an American of how disturbing such a statement would be to say you don't exist as a country and then question the borders. You know, we've seen this movie before. They never end well. And hopefully with a new prime minister, with Mark Carney as the new prime minister, that this tone will change and that we'll get to a serious friendly discussion on the fundamental issues that affect both countries and continue to work together. That's our hope.

BLITZER: Yes. Let's see if that happens. Premier, thank you so much for joining us.

CHAREST: Thank you.

BLITZER: And breaking news just coming in to CNN right now, a major development of the legal fight over deportation flights based on what's called the Alien Enemies Act. The Trump Administration taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. We'll have more right after the break.

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[10:45:00]

BLITZER: All right. There's more breaking news coming into the Situation Room right now. The Trump administration is now taking its fight to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, it's taking the fight to the U.S. Supreme Court. I want to go live to our Senior Supreme Court Analyst, Joan Bizkupic. Joan, first of all, tell our viewers what you're learning. JOAN BIZKUPIC, CNN SENIOR SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Thanks, Wolf. This is probably the most important request that the Trump administration has brought to the Supreme Court yet because it involves, as you said, that Alien Enemies Act of 1798 rarely invoked in the history of the United States, but that Donald Trump has tried to use to deport and he has swiftly deported alleged members of a Venezuelan gang.

You probably remember when this all happened last weekend. He quickly was able to try to get several planes out of the country to deport these detainees. A judge then tried to stop the planes from leaving. He was able to, going forward, stop these deportations. But this is the judge, James Boasberg, here in the District of Columbia, a Federal District Court judge, that Donald Trump has said should be impeached because of his actions.

But the judge's order stopping the deportations was upheld by the U.S. District -- the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. And now, the Trump administration has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court saying, this case cries out for Supreme Court intervention. It threatens sensitive negotiations with foreign powers. And again, Wolf, this is a pretty dramatic step that the Trump administration did to even use the 1798 law. And now, we'll see how the Supreme Court itself decides to intervene and whether it will allow the lower court judge's order to stand or if it will overturn it, Wolf.

BLITZER: How long do you think it'll take to get a decision from the Supreme Court?

BIZKUPIC: I think what we'll know probably by this afternoon is some sort of schedule that allows the challengers to the Trump administration to submit its own filing. And I think it would be within a matter of days, probably at the outset a couple weeks.

But the Trump administration, I should say, Wolf, has tried to really light a fire under the court saying this is all urgent. The Supreme Court, for its part, has been trying to slow it down. But as I say, this is the cases that has gotten the most attention over whether this Trump administration is going to abide by lower court judges orders, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Joan Bizkupic, our Supreme Court analyst, as usual, thank you very, very much.

BIZKUPIC: Sure.

BLITZER: And we'll be right back with more news.

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[10:50:00]

BLITZER: This morning, the Trump administration's latest move to overhaul the federal government is sending shockwaves through the entire federal workforce, following a late-night executive order from Trump, taking direct aim at the federal employee unions and their right to collectively bargain.

Joining us now is Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents, get this, more than 800,000 federal government workers. Everett, thanks very much for joining us. Let me get your reaction to this new executive order from Trump. What's your response?

EVERETT KELLEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: Well, first of all, Wolf, thank you for having me. I think this is ridiculous. OK. This administration is hellbent on destroying. good federal employees and their livelihood, and it's all about retaliation. It has nothing to do with the pretense of, you know, national security. You know, this is all about retaliation because AFGE has been the union that's out there standing up for its employees and standing up for America to try to ensure that America still have a democracy in years to come.

BLITZER: I know you've announced that your union is preparing to immediately take legal action to fight all this. Why do you say the president doesn't have the legal authority even to take this step?

KELLEY: Because when you look at the order itself, you know, it's so much in there that points to retaliation. That's what this is all about. You know, and the American people are the ones that's going to suffer if this goes into effect. But we are going to make sure that we are there fighting every step of the way, because we represent these members and we're going to fight.

AFGE is going nowhere. We are going to be here. We've been here for 90 years for every party line. You know, whether it is Democrat, Republican, we've been here, and we going to be here when this president and this administration is gone.

BLITZER: American Federation of Government Employees, your union that you lead. The White House says the president is using his authority granted to him by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. How do you respond to that?

[10:55:00]

KELLEY: You know, I think that the president has a right for some of the entity, but certainly, this is not the way, this is not what the intent of that act was. Because can you imagine the -- these employees have been in a union for 90 years, for decades, and that this order has never been used because it's been understood that these employees have a right to be unionized.

BLITZER: Well, good luck, Everett. Thanks very much for coming in.

KELLEY: Thank you. Thank you so much.

BLITZER: Everett Kelley, appreciate it very, very much. And we'll be right back.

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