00:00:35.360It's so nice to have you with us on the 47 Morning Update, and we've got two very big stories for you.
00:00:40.080First up, President Trump imposed a 50% tariff on a variety of Canadian goods over what he describes as discrimination of American autos and other manufacturing goods and services.
00:01:25.140president donald trump he's coming out swinging not against iran but this time it's in an escalating
00:01:31.620trade battle with our northern neighbor the president announcing a 50 percent tariff on a
00:01:38.600wide range of canadian goods and the white house says this isn't about raising revenue
00:01:43.760it's about what the administration calls canada's discriminatory treatment of american goods and
00:01:50.740products, especially American automobiles. In other words, the president's doing what he's
00:01:57.120been doing since the day he got back into office, standing up for American workers,
00:02:02.000standing up for American manufacturers, standing up for American companies. And when we're being
00:02:07.760taken advantage of, even if it's Canada, the president's saying, not under my watch. Now,
00:02:13.740if you're going to discriminate against American workers and American farmers, we should also
00:02:18.000mentioned that and american manufacturers well the white house is saying don't expect
00:02:22.880unrestricted access to the american marketplace now according to the white house canada has been
00:02:29.780giving preferential treatment of products from other countries while imposing policies that
00:02:36.060specifically are designed to disadvantage the united states now the trump administration points
00:02:42.420that canada's treatment of american-made vehicles restrictions affecting u.s alcohol is another
00:02:48.100example and then their dairy policies that they argue favor other trading partners over american
00:02:55.180producers now let's also talk about one of the big issues and that is the american auto industry
00:03:01.600because that is the centerpiece of all of this announcement the white house argues that canada
00:03:08.280has maintained policies that place unique burdens on American-made vehicles, while also
00:03:14.460treating imports from other countries much more favorably.
00:03:18.600Now, the administration says those policies violate the principle of fair trade, and that
00:03:25.420puts the U.S. manufacturers at a massive competitive disadvantage on purpose.
00:03:32.640Now, to be clear, President Trump isn't using his typical tariff authorities.
00:03:36.680Instead, he reached back to Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
00:03:44.540Now, that's a law that gives President Trump the authority, or any president for that matter,
00:03:48.860the authority to impose duties of up to 50% when another country discriminates against U.S. commerce.
00:03:56.420And that's remarkable is the fact that this authority has rarely if ever been used in modern history.
00:04:02.660But the president, well, he doesn't care about history.
00:04:05.760He cares about what's happening now and making sure that Canada doesn't continue to take advantage of us.
00:04:12.300And that is why this announcement was making headlines, not just in the U.S. or Canada, but around the world.
00:04:19.060The administration says this isn't a blanket tariff on everything Canada exports, by the way.
00:04:24.580There are significant exemptions, including energy products, fish, critical minerals,
00:04:30.740and certain other strategically important goods are excluded.
00:04:35.080But a wide variety of other Canadian products, from wine and furniture to cement, clothing and sporting goods,
00:04:42.020will now face a new 50% duty if the policy takes effect on August the 19th.
00:04:49.400Now, Whitehouse has also said the goal is real simple, level the playing field.
00:04:55.160Officials argue that for far too long, Americans have accepted trade agreements
00:04:59.420where foreign governments protect their own industries,
00:05:03.240while expecting unrestricted access to American consumers.
00:05:08.600And the Trump administration says that error is over.
00:05:12.900Now, supporters of the president are also arguing that this fits perfectly with the economic philosophy that we've seen since day one.
00:05:21.000Trump has repeatedly said that tariffs are used as leverage.
00:05:25.360And he believes America's enormous consumer market is one of the country's greatest negotiating tools and assets.
00:05:32.080and look the trump doctrine the white house says is very clear if another country doesn't matter
00:05:37.980who it is wants to sell billions and billions of dollars worth of products to american consumers
00:05:44.140then their view is that they should treat american companies fairly in return and that's exactly what
00:05:51.260the white house says this action is designed to accomplish now of course many on the left
00:05:56.760they're furious over this as they always are when president trump does anything like this
00:06:02.320economists they're warning that the tariffs are going to increase costs for businesses and
00:06:06.520it's going to shut down and put american consumers and workers lives at risk yes it's the same thing
00:06:12.400they said the last time the president put serious tariffs in europe and asia and other parts of the
00:06:18.300world now canadian officials have already indicated they intend to continue negotiations
00:06:23.060while defending their own trade measures and some provisional leaders have even discussed possible
00:06:29.080responses so the big question now is what happens next does canada come back to the negotiating
00:06:36.800table does it remove some of the policies washington say unfairly target american products
00:06:42.280and manufacturing or do both countries continue escalating in what would become an even larger
00:06:47.980trade confrontation now to be clear Canada needs America more than we need Canadian goods and they
00:06:56.220desperately need to sell those products to the United States of America there's a very good
00:07:00.600chance the president's going to get exactly what he wants here you also have to remember the United
00:07:05.340States and Canada aren't just neighbors they're well two of the world's largest trading partners
00:07:09.940every day billions of dollars in goods cross the border supply chains are deeply integrated between
00:07:17.360the two countries especially in manufacturing that means decisions like this don't just affect
00:07:24.840politicians they affect everyone i'm talking about the factories the truck drivers the suppliers
00:07:32.120the farmers the retailers the consumers and the white house is betting that canada has more to
00:07:38.120lose by maintaining what it calls discriminatory policies than by negotiating a new agreement
00:07:44.380Now, this also sends a very clear message beyond Canada as well.
00:07:50.280Other countries, you better pay attention because these negotiations now know that the Trump administration is willing to use authorities.
00:07:59.280And by the way, the president's also sending a very clear message to other countries around the world that are watching these negotiations.
00:08:06.900And the message is this, the Trump administration is absolutely willing to use its authorities that previous presidents left untouched if they believe that American industries, well, if we're being treated unfairly.
00:08:23.360So whether you're talking about automobiles or agriculture or manufacturing or consumer products, this announcement reinforces one central theme.
00:08:32.520And that is President Donald Trump's economic agenda is this.
00:08:36.860America is no longer going to accept trade relations that this administration believes put American workers at any disadvantage.
00:08:46.460And by the way, this is what the majority of the American people voted for in the last presidential election.
00:08:52.400And clearly, this is sending a message before the midterms that if you want to put America first,
00:08:59.220then the America First agenda by this president and conservative candidates is exactly what you should be voting for.
00:09:07.680I want to catch you up to date on a stunning development in what is becoming one of the largest public fraud investigations in modern American history.
00:09:16.120The Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, has announced that the IRS is now auditing financial institutions and money service businesses
00:09:26.940that allegedly helped facilitate the laundering of stolen taxpayer funds
00:09:31.840connected to Minnesota's massive social services fraud scandal.
00:09:36.740The Treasury Department says this is part of a broader crackdown
00:09:40.700involving the IRS, FinCEN, and federal law enforcement.
00:09:45.500Now, let me just remind you about how we got to this point.
00:09:50.020Senator Josh Hawley was grilling Minnesota's Attorney General
00:09:55.240over the nine billion dollar fraud scandal and i want you to hear what he had to say
00:10:01.960before congress which is now open up the floodgates for the irs to get involved
00:10:08.080don't talk over me as early as 2019 it's my hearing pal as early as 2019 don't call me
00:10:16.680whistleblowers came well i should call you a prisoner because you ought to be in jail
00:10:19.500mr ellison let me start with you you're the attorney general of the state of minnesota do
00:10:22.700have that correct? That's a yes. You're not going to answer my questions. Are we going to start this
00:10:31.060way? Are you the attorney general of the state of Minnesota? Yes or no? You know the answer.
00:10:37.000Sheldeson, you're in my courtroom now. You're under oath. So I suggest that you answer my
00:10:40.480question. Is he the chief law enforcement officer of the state of Minnesota? Yes or no?
00:10:45.660Let's try another question. Are you familiar with the $9 billion in historic fraud out of your state,
00:10:50.740including the 250 million dollars in the feeding our future program alone you familiar with that
00:10:55.940don't turn to the pages in your book to get your potted answers are you familiar with it yes or no
00:10:59.660yes i am familiar with very familiar aren't you because the people who ran the feeding our futures
00:11:04.620program came to you in your official office in the state capitol december 11th 2021 and asked
00:11:10.560for your help in getting investigators off their backs they complained to you for upwards of an
00:11:15.940hour about state investigators going after them and they begged you to help them and you agreed
00:11:21.380to it amazingly and we know you did that's not because it's all caught on tape every single
00:11:27.360sentence is caught on tape here's what you said let's take a look you said it's not a question
00:11:31.420you said to them send me the names of all these folks who are investigating them and i'll take
00:11:36.800that list and i'll call the person over at education who's investigating them and say
00:11:40.780what's going on why am i getting these complaints then you went on to say i already have my
00:11:45.800team working on this what day should we get together to discuss it again you said let's go
00:11:51.780fight these people meaning the people who are investigating the fraud nine days after the
00:11:58.660meeting false statement you took ten thousand dollars as early as 2019 whistle now that is a
00:12:04.980flashpoint moment which now has turned into actual actions from the trump administration
00:12:10.540The Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, is announcing that the IRS is now auditing financial institutions and money services businesses that allegedly help facilitate the laundering of the stolen taxpayer funds.
00:12:25.560In just 18 seconds, he made it clear that we're going on offense.
00:12:30.240civil enforcement is auditing financial institutions that facilitated the laundering of
00:12:36.740Minnesota funds in addition to helping support criminal and civil enforcement efforts the IRS
00:12:44.300will also soon announce the formation of a task force now let's break down what this means you
00:12:51.420have the treasury secretary Scott Besson announcing that the internal revenue service is launching
00:12:57.100not a little investigation a massive audit of financial institutions that he says facilitate
00:13:04.140the laundering of minnesota fraud funds what does that mean and i'm trying to paint a picture so you
00:13:10.980understand just how big of a deal this is this is auditing banks uh msbs financial middlemen
00:13:20.060anyone who helped move the dirty money the irs and the federal government is coming after
00:13:27.180now usually they just go after the person that's doing the scheme many times the banks and others
00:13:34.040they just claim ignorance and nothing happens not anymore the irs is now being deployed
00:13:41.320for americans first not against americans and america's working families that is also something
00:13:48.740that many americans are not used to and what scott besson said there is this number one we're going
00:13:55.000to follow the money number two we're going to audit everything and then number three we are
00:14:00.780going to prosecute whoever broke the law and that can include again banks bankers msbs financial
00:14:07.400middlemen you're all now open up to this if you were cleaning this money that was being stolen
00:14:14.340this is on you too now by the way this is music to the ears of many americans who said we're sick
00:14:21.660and tired of two different sets of rules in this country and that's why he mentioned it the way he
00:14:27.760did that this is an audit that is going to reach far and wide now investigators again they primarily
00:14:36.540focus on people allegedly stealing taxpayer money but now they're saying after we find that money
00:14:43.660we're going to see where it ends up and this message from the treasury department is this
00:14:48.740if a financial institution i'm quoting now knowingly looked the other way or failed to
00:14:55.560meet their anti-money laundering obligations they're going to get scrutinized as well that's
00:15:01.860coming from the u.s department of treasury now the investigation again all of it centers around
00:15:08.260what the trump administration now estimates could total roughly nine billion in fraud involving
00:15:14.580minnesota social service and public benefit programs it is going to be one of the largest
00:15:20.580alleged taxpayer fraud schemes that has ever been investigated in a single state now we're talking
00:15:27.280about nine billion that's not a bookkeeping error that's not someone filing one bad reimbursement
00:15:34.180OK, that is enough money to build schools in a state to hire thousands of police officers to repair countless miles of highway or here's a novel idea, reduce taxes for millions of Americans in that state.
00:15:51.240instead of all that what do you have investigators are now clearly connecting the dots that there
00:15:59.100were enormous sums of money that was intended to help vulnerable americans that were deliberately
00:16:05.260diverted and stolen through these fraudulent schemes now according to secretary bassett
00:16:11.880later in that announcement he says the financial crimes enforcement network better known as
00:16:19.200fenson is investigating several minnesota money service businesses then they said the irs civil
00:16:27.920enforcement division has begun auditing financial institutions believed to have handled suspicious
00:16:33.140transactions connected to the billions in fraud now you may say all right ben why does this really
00:16:40.200matter fair question and i'm going to answer it this way when you have fraud that is this large
00:16:47.460and you have a scheme that is this big it rarely ever ends with a person who actually cashed the
00:16:57.140check the money has got to be cleaned the money has to move it has to be deposited it has to then
00:17:04.260be transferred it has to be converted into where whatever currency they want to go into and much
00:17:10.800to this money we know also was wired overseas and so you look at this and banks and institutions
00:17:19.980money institutions they're saying there's so much money coming in they had to know something was up
00:17:26.700so did you deliberately look the other way to get the business and to help launder the money
00:17:33.760now investigators also say they've got a very clear list of what they want to know
00:17:38.560number one who moved the money then who received it and then did anyone ignore obvious warning
00:17:45.440signs right were anti-money laundering safeguards bypassed on purpose all of this is the questions
00:17:54.180that scott besant said they're going to answer so if you care about your tax dollars you should
00:18:00.540be thrilled right now because what we have witnessed so far is egregious and it shouldn't
00:18:07.320just be the people that were doing the scheme that go to jail. It should be the people that
00:18:11.640helped them launder the money as well. Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben
00:18:17.160Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right
00:18:22.620now. And for more in-depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson podcast, and we will see you