00:00We've been working together, the foreign minister of Mexico and I have been in close
00:06contact for many weeks now.
00:07It's been more than 90 days that we've been dealing with different executive orders coming
00:12out of the White House that are affecting our economies.
00:19But it was an introduction call.
00:22It was the first time that the prime minister of Canada, Prime Minister Carney and President
00:26Trayvon Martin were talking and we're both very important trading partners.
00:33Mexico is the second biggest trading partner to Canada, but also we're part of the USMCA,
00:38this trade agreement that is also so key right now and that we need to see whether we can
00:43continue to work on to keep it strong.
00:47And this is certainly a message that we wanted to make sure that the Mexican government heard
00:51from their Canadian friends.
00:55As you know, the Prime Minister Carney, he warned that the old US relationship that Canada
00:59had with the US is over, stating, quote, the US is no longer a reliable partner.
01:06I wonder, what does that mean exactly?
01:09How will the trading relationship change between the US and Canada, but also the defense partnership?
01:17Well, we didn't launch a trade war against the US.
01:21The US decided to put 25 percent tariffs against all our products in their first executive
01:28order, then went after us by putting 25 percent tariffs on our steel and aluminum, then went
01:33after us putting 25 percent on our auto sector.
01:37And now we're looking at potentially being vulnerable to reciprocal tariffs.
01:43Meanwhile, we wanted to make sure that we were sending a clear message that we were
01:48retaliating.
01:49And at this point, we've put $60 billion worth of tariffs against products in Canada.
01:55And also, we have $100 billion more of potential counter tariffs against the US, so on American
02:03products in Canada.
02:04Canada is the biggest client of the US.
02:06Jim, you've asked me that question in the past.
02:09You know, when you're in business, and I know many people watching us right now are in the
02:12business sector, you treat your client, your best client well.
02:16And so our goal is to make sure that we end this trade war, that we get to a common understanding
02:23that this is hurting our Canadians and Americans, their wallets, and nobody's winning from it.
02:33But at the same time, of course, we want to make sure that we work with the White House.
02:37Of course, we want to make sure that we find an off-ramp.
02:41Of course, we're willing to have discussions.
02:44And that's my goal, working with Marco Rubio.
02:46But also, this is the goal of the Prime Minister, talking to the President, and as well the
02:52Secretary of Commerce and the Minister of International Trade here in Canada.
Comments