00:00Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is speaking there live right now.
00:03These are live pictures from the Canadian province of Quebec where Mark Carney has been talking.
00:08Now, we can bring in Nelson Wiseman, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto's Department of Political Science.
00:17Just to drill down more into the politics of all of this, thank you so much indeed for joining us,
00:22Professor.
00:23As we've just been saying, Mark Carney is speaking right now.
00:26He does not seem to be bluffing and clearly means to take a tough line with the U.S.
00:32Can you tell us more about why the Prime Minister does feel so emboldened, why he feels he really has
00:37the country behind him?
00:38He has a mandate not to give in to the U.S. president to keep pushing hard with these talks.
00:44Yes, indeed. It's interesting you raise the issue of having a mandate.
00:50A poll that just recently came out indicated that 77% of the public supports Carney's decision.
00:59In contrast, you look at the United States and Donald Trump's popularity, it's the highest disapproval rating we've seen for
01:10a president, I don't know, in decades.
01:14So, their political status is different.
01:18I should say you're absolutely right about Carney's.
01:24Well, I would talk about Carney's credentials.
01:27Not only was he governor of the Bank of Canada, he was governor of the Bank of England,
01:32the first person not born in England who actually had that job.
01:38And one of the reasons he got it is because when we had the financial crisis in 2007, 2008, 2009,
01:47Canada went through that with less damage than any other G7 country.
01:52And in terms of an economic war here between Canada and the U.S., and I'm fairly sanguine, this is
02:02going to get resolved,
02:03because Carney and Trump, and Carney speaks to Trump, or let me put it this way,
02:12Trump speaks to Carney more than he does with any other foreign leader.
02:18And my source is Anthony Scaramucci, who used to be Trump's communications person.
02:26Now, when we compare Canada and the U.S., there are other things where Canada is stronger.
02:33For example, in the G7, Canada is in the best fiscal position, according to the IMF, compared to its peers
02:46in the G7.
02:47In contrast, in the United States, we saw that last week, they are now $40 trillion in debt.
02:56And that's having an effect on bond markets.
03:01Indeed, interest rates now on 10-year bonds in Canada and the U.S., well, they're lower in Canada than
03:09they are in the U.S.
03:10Yes, that's unusual.
03:13So, but I don't want to underestimate how punishing these American tariffs are in Canada,
03:23because 72% of all exports from Canada go to the United States.
03:31All right, well, we'll have to leave it there.
03:34We're out of time, I'm afraid, but really wonderful to get your initial reaction,
03:38some analysis to this latest development in the U.S.-Canada trade war,
03:42as we just heard from the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney.
03:46Nelson Wiseman, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto's Department of Political Science.
03:50Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today.
