Return to Transcripts main page
Inside Politics
Trump Threatens New Tariffs On Canada As Trade War Escalates; Carney: Canada Will Match U.S. Tariffs "Dollar For Dollar". Aired 12- 12:30p ET
Aired August 24, 2026 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Why do some Republicans have a beef with President Trump's latest economic pitch?
I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.
The dramatic collapse of U.S.-Canadian tariff talks is spurring a full out trade war, and President Trump's control of the Senate may be a casualty. Railing on Canada just this morning, the president wrote, Canada will be treated like a state no longer. They feel entitled, and yet we don't need Canada. They need us. Here's the thing. The six toss-up states that will determine control of the U.S. Senate do rely on trade with America's northern neighbor, Michigan, for example.
Look at that, it shares a border and totaled $65 billion in trade with Canada just last year. A lot of that is from the auto industry. Then look at Ohio, which boasted a $34 billion trade relationship with Canada last year, making Canada by far its top export partner. And of course, there is Maine, where the total exports to Canada are higher than the next 16 foreign markets combined. That's where Vice President J.D. Vance set to talk at a manufacturing facility near Bangor.
I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Hello, everyone. Happy Monday. Kristen, you covered the White House for us. What's going on behind the scenes as this really unexpected trade war sparks again?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm talking to U.S. officials who, at this point, are saying they don't believe that this is going to harm the economy as a whole. They're looking at this as kind of the larger picture, but that doesn't mean that there's not going to be an impact on some of these smaller businesses. And you saw the statement from Senator Collins in Maine, saying that any kind of tariff, especially to this extreme, was going to hurt her constituents, and that's something that we're hearing really across the board.
This is still, regardless of whether or not they think this is going to harm the economy across the board, it's not really something that they want to be taking on right now. They want to be trying to fix the problem, so they have things to talk about on the other side of this, which is ways that they're trying to bolster the economy, not trying to actually harm the economy or potentially harm the economy even more.
BASH: So, you mentioned Susan Collins. I'm going to dig into some of how Republican candidates are reacting to this, particularly those in some of those key battleground states that we talked about. But before that there was something that was really striking, Manu, and that was the way that the Canadian prime minister acted and reacted. Let's listen to a part of it and talk about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Canada fuels American growth, supplying 99 percent of their natural gas imports, 85 percent of their electricity imports, 60 percent of their crude oil imports. I don't think they want us to stop sending any of that energy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: What that tells us is that world leaders understand the political situation of the president here. They understand, first of all, the political dynamic of the midterms, but also this is somebody who would not have said that at the beginning of this second term, he just wouldn't have. And so, he feels like he has much more leverage because the president is not as popular here.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. And Carney also came to power by taking on Trump as well, so he has his own internal political dynamics to deal with. And he realizes that, you know, he has to fight back, and he knows that if he goes -- if he throws a punch at Trump, Trump may throw a punch back, but Trump may actually decide to pull back. We've seen Trump on a variety of times threatening to go and slap really, really stiff sanctions on country after country, but then ultimately pull back, cut a deal as well.
So, we'll see if this ultimately materializes because the political dynamic undoubtedly will change before January. Whether it's -- whatever happens in the midterm elections, if the Democrats take control of the House, for instance, you can see there's going to be a lot of pressure. There'll be votes in the House to try to pull back on Trump's tariff policies, namely with Canada, and there's going to be a lot of Republican support to do that as well. And Carney knows that there is bipartisan opposition to what Trump is doing there, and is playing, you know, realizing he can -- Trump may not have as much leverage as he thinks.
[12:05:00]
ADAM HARRIS, STAFF WRITE, THE ATLANTIC: And I should say too, this is right part of Carney's functional strategy, right? Earlier this year, he was talking about the ways that the middle states have been sort of overshadowed by the sort of big economic powers, powers the U.S., China, and Russia, and sort of trying to renegotiate those relationships. And so, honestly, the fight back that you're seeing from Carney here is sort of those middle states starting to say, hey, well, we have some say in this as well.
BASH: Yeah. And middle states, and let's go back.
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY CAUSING LOSS OF SIGNAL - CNN)
[12:10:00]
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY CAUSING LOSS OF SIGNAL - CNN)
[12:15:00]
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY CAUSING LOSS OF SIGNAL - CNN)
[12:20:00]
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY CAUSING LOSS OF SIGNAL - CNN)
[12:25:00]
(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY CAUSING LOSS OF SIGNAL - CNN)
