‘100% tariffs on Teslas’: Canadian PM candidate reveals tariff response plans against U.S.

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Canadian candidate for prime minister Chrystia Freeland reveals her plans for strategic tariffs against the United States if she wins the office in coming days.  For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day click here: https://www.msnbc.com/  » Subscribe to MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/msnbc » Subscribe to MSNBC on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@msnbc  » Subscribe to MSNBC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/msnbc  Download our new MSNBC app for the latest breaking news and daily headlines at a glance: https://www.msnbc.com/information/download-msnbc-app-n1241692  Follow MSNBC Show Blogs  MaddowBlog: https://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog  MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of political headlines, commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Inside with Jen Psaki, Morning Joe, The Beat, Deadline: White House, All In, The Last Word, The 11th Hour, and more.  Connect with MSNBC Online  Visit msnbc.com: https://www.msnbc.com/  Subscribe to the MSNBC Daily Newsletter: https://link.msnbc.com/join/5ck/msnbc-daily-signup  #Canada #Tesla #tariffs

Transcript

00:00I'm sure you've noticed America's place in the world is kind of upside down right

00:04now.

00:05Donald Trump berated Ukraine's president in the Oval Office on Friday.

00:08Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev tweeted that he loved seeing, quote, the insolent

00:12pig finally get a proper slapdown in the Oval Office.

00:15And by the way, he was referring to President Zelensky, not Donald Trump.

00:19Putin's longtime spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, came out and said publicly that U.S. foreign

00:24policy now, quote, largely coincides with our vision, as in the Kremlin's vision.

00:30I don't know that I've ever said this before, but Dmitry Peskov is absolutely right.

00:34I mean, just today, NBC News confirmed that the White House is pausing all military aid

00:38to Ukraine.

00:39And Reuters reported today that the Trump administration is also drawing up a plan to

00:43potentially give Russia sanctions relief.

00:47So yeah, Donald Trump really is going all in on helping Russia, while simultaneously

00:51inflicting as much pain as he can on our closest allies.

00:55Today, Trump confirmed that 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada will go into

01:00effect at midnight tonight, just a couple hours from now.

01:03And as you know, that won't just hurt them.

01:06It will hurt you, the American consumer.

01:08And that fear was reflected in the market today, with the Dow closing down nearly 650

01:12points.

01:13Thanks, in part, to this.

01:15On the tariffs, is there any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a deal before midnight

01:21and should we expect those Chinese tariffs, the extra 10 percent, to take effect tomorrow?

01:24No room left for Mexico or for Canada.

01:28No, the tariffs, you know, they're all set.

01:30They go into effect tomorrow.

01:33Joining me now is Chrystia Freeland.

01:34She served as Canada's finance minister and deputy prime minister under Justin Trudeau.

01:39She's now a candidate for prime minister herself.

01:42It is great to see you.

01:44You could be, which is pretty incredible to say out loud, you could be the prime minister

01:47this time next week.

01:49Tariffs, of course, are going to be a major issue.

01:52You've suggested Canada should fight back in a very targeted way.

01:55You've been very forward about that.

01:56You've pushed to target Wisconsin dairy farmers, Michigan manufacturers, Florida oranges, to

02:01name a few, as a way of really specifically hitting states that are politically key to

02:06Donald Trump.

02:07You know it gets to his heart there.

02:09How far, for people who are watching, are you ready to go on tariffs?

02:13They're going to be put into place in a couple of hours.

02:14How far are you ready to go?

02:15And what other targets would you want to aim for?

02:19Well, it is great to be with you, Jen.

02:22And I am running to be the next leader of the Liberal Party and the next prime minister

02:27of Canada.

02:28Because right now, we Canadians have to stand up and fight for our country.

02:34If the tariffs are imposed as prime minister, I will fight back with dollar for dollar retaliatory

02:43tariffs.

02:44And our retaliation is going to be surgically targeted to create the maximum pressure on

02:52the White House to stop what the Wall Street Journal has described, quite rightly, as the

02:59dumbest trade war in history.

03:02An example of a measure that I will put in place as prime minister is 100 percent tariffs

03:07on Teslas.

03:09I think that should get some attention in the White House.

03:12And you know, Jen, I think people, Americans, you know, I don't think you think about Canada

03:17all that much.

03:18But I think when you do think about Canada, you might think, oh, they're smaller than

03:22us.

03:23Is this really something I should be worried about?

03:25Well, the stock market is worried.

03:28Shares have gone down.

03:30And this has been a terrible year for U.S. stocks already because of these tariff threats.

03:35And the reality is, you guys need us.

03:38We are your largest market by far.

03:42The U.S. sells more to Canada than to China, Japan, the U.K. and France combined.

03:50So we do have leverage.

03:52And as prime minister, I will use it.

03:55And not because I want to.

03:56I mean, the irony about this, the stupidity about this is right now we have a balanced

04:04and mutually beneficial relationship.

04:07There is a win-win here.

04:09There is an exit ramp.

04:11But Americans need to know that if you hit Canada, we will hit back and we will be sure

04:18that our retaliation hurts.

04:22I think Americans are very concerned right now about these tariffs that are about to

04:25go back and go into place and could impact their bottom line and their cost of goods.

04:30Let me ask you, as you just mentioned, Elon Musk, I think everybody in this country is

04:34learning a lot about his influence, which is unwieldy and over the top, just to say

04:39a few words.

04:40You mentioned 100 percent tariffs on Tesla's to hit Elon Musk.

04:43He owns a number of other companies.

04:46Obviously, there's Starlink.

04:48Would you ever consider canceling Canada's contracts with Starlink, for example?

04:52Absolutely.

04:54And Canadian premiers have already said that they would do that.

04:58I think you made a really important point a minute ago, Jen, which is right now, this

05:04is maybe abstract for Americans.

05:07But if these tariffs are put in place, it is going to hurt Americans.

05:13Anyone who has a 401k is going to be hit because the stock market is already hurting.

05:19Anyone who needs to fill their car up with gas is going to be hit.

05:22You are going to be putting tariffs, a tax, on the oil and gas and electricity that we

05:29sell you.

05:30Totally absurd.

05:31Our grocery prices are going to go up because you know what you need to grow food in the

05:36United States?

05:38You need fertilizer and 80 percent of it comes from Canada and you're going to put a 25 percent

05:43tax on it.

05:44I mean, the Wall Street Journal is right.

05:47This is dumb.

05:49This is utterly self mutilating.

05:51And our retaliation is going to make it worse because we just we can't stand for these attacks

06:01on our economy.

06:03So really what I'm saying to you and to your viewers, Jen, is call the White House now.

06:11Say to the president, say to your congressman, say to your senators, say to your governors,

06:17this is self mutilation.

06:19This just doesn't make sense.

06:21There is no need to do this.

06:23But if you follow this path, it's going to hurt America.

06:27It's not every day when you hear a candidate to be the leader of a neighboring country

06:32call for people to call the White House and their members of Congress.

06:34So that speaks to the significance of the moment.

06:36I want to turn to Ukraine because I think when I first met you, you were at well, very

06:40well respected journalist.

06:42You covered you spent a lot of time in Ukraine.

06:45You covered Russia.

06:47This is obviously something I think we're all trying to figure out what's happening

06:49and why.

06:50Right now, there are a lot of theories as to why Trump is siding with Putin and badgering

06:54Zelensky, to put it one way.

06:56Why do you think he is?

06:58Well, I would like to start, Jen, by just being very clear about what we are seeing.

07:06And I think it's important to say the scenes that we saw in the Oval Office on Friday were

07:13shameful.

07:14They were appalling.

07:16We saw a U.S. president parroting Kremlin talking points.

07:22And I want to be very clear for the record that Putin is a dictator.

07:28His invasion of Ukraine is criminal and illegal.

07:31Zelensky is the democratically elected president of Ukraine.

07:36And Ukrainians are bravely fighting for their democracy and their sovereignty.

07:40And by the way, they're doing it alone.

07:43We should be grateful to them for fighting for democracy and the rules-based international

07:49order.

07:50And Canadians certainly are.

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