The leaders of Canada, the UK, and France sent out a joint statement condemning Israel and threatening concrete action if it doesn t stop military operations in Gaza. Hamas said it welcomed the joint statement and called it a significant step in the right direction.
00:02:31.080So, Jeff, is Carney treading a similar path to that of his predecessor,
00:02:35.040former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when it comes to foreign policy in the Middle East?
00:02:38.800Mark Carney's approach to Middle Eastern foreign policy diverges significantly from Justin Trudeau's more balanced stance during his tenure.
00:02:46.580Trudeau's government, while critical of Israel at times, often sought a middle ground,
00:02:50.380condemning Hamas's actions while supporting Israel's right to self-defense.
00:02:54.440For instance, Trudeau's administration voted against UN resolutions condemning Israel's violations of Palestinian rights until 2019,
00:03:01.900when it began supporting them and welcomed in the 2020 Abraham Accords as a positive step towards Middle Eastern peace.
00:03:08.440Trudeau also convened the Incident Response Group in 2023 to address Hamas's attacks on Israel,
00:03:14.640unequivocally condemning the group while expressing concern for civilian lives on both sides.
00:03:19.340Carney, however, appears to be taking a more assertive stance against Israel,
00:03:23.180aligning with progressive international voices but risking criticism for tilting too far.
00:03:27.460His statement with Starmer and Macron not only strongly opposes Israel's operations,
00:03:31.820but threatens concrete action, which is a sharper tone than Trudeau's typically adopted.
00:03:35.980While Carney also called for Hamas to release hostages taken on October 7th,
00:03:40.600the statement's focus on Israel's actions and Hamas's subsequent gratitude suggests a shift towards a more critical view of Israel,
00:03:47.480potentially at the expense of the balanced diplomacy Trudeau pursued.
00:03:50.740Carney's approach seems to prioritize international law and humanitarian concerns.
00:03:57.380Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne insists that the federal government has retained the bulk of its retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
00:04:04.160despite an order by Prime Minister Mark Carney to exempt a large swath of impacted products.
00:04:09.240While the tariffs are still technically in place, Oxford Economics revealed that the carve-outs announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney
00:04:15.360effectively nullified most of the levies Canada had imposed on trade with America.
00:04:19.920Canada hit the U.S. with several retaliatory tariffs in March,
00:04:23.160implementing 25 percent across-the-board tariffs with a further round of tariffs levied in April.
00:04:27.880The first suite of tariffs involved new import taxes of 25 percent on about $60 billion in U.S. goods,
00:04:34.260before adding additional levies against American vehicles in early April.
00:04:38.260Despite previously pledging to support maximum impact trade measures,
00:04:42.320Carney decided with his cabinet to exempt certain goods while still on the campaign trail.
00:04:46.640Carney's exemptions cancel out nearly all of the retaliatory tariffs that both he and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had introduced in response to the Trump administration.
00:04:54.660Champagne said that 70 percent of the counter-tariffs implemented in March currently remain in place
00:04:59.460after Conservative leader Pierre Polyev shared Oxford's findings.
00:05:03.080The tariff exemptions mark a stark contrast from Carney's heavily-pushed elbows-up message.
00:05:07.940While on the federal election campaign trail, which was well-received by many Canadians,
00:05:12.320Champagne quietly implemented a six-month tariff exemption during the middle of the campaign on April 15th,
00:05:18.100with the Government of Canada only officially publishing the announcement on May 7th,
00:05:22.040more than a week after the federal election concluded.
00:05:24.220The exemptions included products used in Canadian manufacturing, processing, and food and beverage packaging.
00:05:29.720Automakers such as General Motors were also permitted to import select vehicles into Canada without being tariffed.
00:05:35.200Isaac, were there any other interesting findings that Oxford Economics pointed out in their report?
00:05:39.440Yeah, Jeff. Obviously, the most important thing raised and highlighted in the report was that
00:05:44.900retaliatory tariffs were more of a slogan and a mirage than a tangible substance that Carney quickly and quietly removed.
00:05:52.460However, many retaliatory tariffs remain on food, which have been negatively affected by counter-tariffs,
00:06:00.100an issue explained in depth online by Dr. Sylvain Charbois, a.k.a. The Food Professor.
00:06:07.420Food inflation rose at a greater rate than any other industry.
00:06:11.020In fact, overall inflation in Canada rose more slowly in April than it did in March,
00:06:16.940thanks to the consumer carbon tax being lowered to zero dollars.
00:06:20.600However, food prices saw a 3.8% annual increase in April,
00:06:25.040and prices for food have increased ahead of the rest of the consumer price index for the past three months.
00:06:30.240And meanwhile, food inflation has cooled in the United States while it has skyrocketed in Canada.