Hot Mic at the G7: What Carney and Trump Were Really Saying | Brian Lilley | BCN

Lots to talk about when it comes to Canada and U .S.relations, and who better to give us the details than Toronto Sun political columnist and regular BCN contributor?That would be, of course, Brian Lilly that I'm talking about, and there he is right there.Welcome back, Brian.Great to have you with us.

Thanks for having me.

Okay, so Brian, Prime Minister Mark Carney, U .S.President Donald Trump, several European leaders are in France for the G7.You were critical of Carney for what you call his ever -changing message.So what do you mean by that?

Well, for the last year, we've been hearing about rupture, right?The old relationship is over, rupture.And then he goes to the Economic Club of New York and he talks about Canada strong will make America great again.And then starts talking about Fortress North America.He adopts the language of Ontario Premier Doug Ford who's been saying look Ford's message has been clear for 18 months.I think the only difference is now he includes the Mexicans in instead of just Canada in the U .

S.But Ford saying, hey, we're stronger together.Let's let's work together and keep China out.And, you know, we'll block Chinese EVs and we'll put tariffs on Chinese goods and, you know, we'll make each other strong.Carney adopts that language when he's in New York.He speaks at this conference here in Toronto where Obama spoke and where there's a bunch of high level Democrats from the U .

S.that came to Toronto.And he talks about we're considering deeper integration after telling us that integration with the U .S.was a weakness.And so that's just a couple of weeks ago, Jeanette.

Well, this week, he's in Europe and he's talking about the new world order will start in Europe.The next world order will start in Europe and Canada will be a part of it.And we're the most European of non -European countries and rupture.So he's back to his old message of waking up with the Americans.I mean, you talk to Americans,in Washington and what they hear from Carney's regular message is, we're not interested in you.

We don't want to have anything to do with you.But when he talks to them, he tries to tell them they're our best friends and everything's wonderful.And when he's in Europe or here in Canada, he talks about breaking up, essentially.It's very inconsistent.

All depends on who he's talking to.

Yep.His message changed depending on the location and who his audience is.

Oh, not very trustworthy and a leader.OK, so Carney and Trump, it sounds like they were caught on a hot mic talking about Chinese electric vehicles.What were they saying?Was this at the G7 in France?

Yeah, it was.Now, there's not a lot of detail that we can get from that, but it was caught.And, you know, Carney seemed to be trying to reassure Trump that he's only going to bring in a certain amount of Chinese EVs, and we put a cap on it.And Trump is, I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but saying something to the effect of, I like that.And that's about the extent of the exchange.A little discussion about how Carney is only allowing in a limited amount of EVs.

But it's still going to be a significant portion of Canadian EV sales.And I'm not even sure that the public is ready for them.Maybe they will be.Of course, remember that these EVs that we will import from China are heavily subsidized by the Chinese government.And that's part of what makes them so cheap.And what's that going to do?

It's going to make North American cars seem not much more expensive, whether it's a Honda or a Toyota or a GM or a Ford.they're going to look a lot more expensive because the Chinese government is paying half the price of that EV that we just shipped in from Shanghai.

And beyond those two talking, we also have Melanie Jolie in China trying to attract Chinese companies to manufacture in Canada.But Brian, you say this and other moves will actually kill the Canadian auto industry.Why do you say that?

Because it's going to end up forcing the companies, they're all global companies.We've got five auto manufacturers in Canada, and some of them have very deep roots.Some of them have only been here about 40 years manufacturing companies like Honda, but they've, you know, even Honda and Toyota have deep roots.And did you know that Toyota and Honda now account for 76 % of all vehicles made in Canada?That's stunning.It's staggering.

And last week, the CEO of Honda Canada was giving a speech warning the Kearney government that a lot of their policies, whether it's emissions caps, tailpipe emissions regulations that are coming in, a lot of this is going to, people in the oil sector in Alberta are going to be going, oh, this sounds very familiar to us.All of these greenhouse gas emissions regulations that the Kearney government is continuing to push, even as our main competitor and biggest market in the States walks away from them, that makes us less competitive.Then you're bringing in Chinese EVs, that we were just talking about, the imports that are heavily subsidized.Then you, and that's going to, you know, big competition for the vehicles that are made here.Some of the best selling vehicles in North America are made in Canada.And then Jolie's trying to get Chinese manufacturers to set up shop in Canada.

I think she wants to get a Chinese EV manufacturer in Quebec and show how great she is for future leadership ambitions.So far, China does not play well.They're not going to come and set up the way Toyota and Honda did a couple of decades ago, where they put in deep roots, where they buy Canadian parts, where theyemploy large numbers of Canadians.They've set up in Brazil and in Hungary, and it's been detrimental to their local manufacturing sector.Brazil is a major auto manufacturer, and the Chinese companies are now in there eating away at them and undermining them.

Guess what?They don't use the same labor practices or standards.They make people work seven days a week.They don't follow the rules that we have here.None of this is good, and what will end up happening is Honda Canada will say, you know what, it's better to move our production to the United States.Toyota will say, this isn't working out, we'll move our production to the United States.

Enough of them do that, we're going to be losing hundreds of thousands of jobs, and not necessarily getting the same investment from these Chinese firms that the five existing firms have put in here.

Right.Not to mention the talk of not being able to cross the border with them.So there goes our road trips, right?At least south of the border.Brian, late last week, President Trump repeated his claims that the U .S.

does not need Canada for anything.They don't need anything from Canada.And yet you say that he's hedging his bets.So what do you think is happening with the trade talks?

So Trump was sitting in the Oval Office.I forget which executive order he was signing, and you've seen it many times over the last year and a half.He sits there and he has a little ceremony, and he talks to the people standing around him, and then he opens it up for questions, and you'll field questions on anything.And one of the reporters, I believe it was a Canadian reporter, did ask him about the trade talk negotiations, and it was classic Trump.Well, I mean, I don't want the deal to survive.I don't want to renew it.

The best thing I ever didwhen we renegotiated was put in a clause that we could pull out because there was no escape clause in NAFTA.And that's what makes the deal so great, is that we can pull out.And he goes on a rant for a couple of minutes about how he doesn't want anything from Canada.We don't need anything from Canada.We can build our own cars.

We don't need their oil.He mentioned that.And then at the end, he says, but we're talking to them, so we'll see.This is beat up your negotiating partner, beat them up, make them feel like garbage, and then turn around and say, but maybe.

Yeah.So with that, what do you think is going to happen with Kuzma or NAFTA?

So there's three options on the table for July 1st.And the one that we want, we'll call option number one.So the Canadian government would like to extend the deal for another 16 years.We are in year six of a 16 -year deal.And the deal stipulated that it had to be reviewed at the anniversary of year six.So that's July 1st.

We want it extended for another 16 years.That would give us great certainty.The second option is that the Americans could pull out of the deal.All you have to do is give six months notice and you're out.Trump hasn't said that.He has said he doesn't necessarily want to renew it.

So I think option one is off the table for the Americans.Option two, we're not going to renew it.possible but unlikely, even U .S.Trade Representative Jameson Greer, who's Trump's top negotiator.He's talked about the load -bearing walls of this trade agreement for the American economy, so he sees it as very important, but they clearly want changes.

So option number three is, the deal continues for the remainder of it, the next 10 years, but we have annual reviews.That would lead to an awful lot of uncertainty.and could really dry up investment out of places like the oil patch where we know there's always going to be an appetite for oil, there's always going to be an appetite for gas, but in manufactured goods, whether it's a steel processing plant in Edmonton or a small parts manufacturer in Red Deer, those businesses will start seeing less certainty in terms of being able to get across the border.That causes problems.So that's the most likely scenario.But to be honest, we don't know.

My understanding is Jameson Greer has already given Carney or Dominic LeBlanc the American's letter on what they want to see.But They're not, neither side is saying what is in the letter.You know, we did say, our current government did say, our letter says we want to extend for 16 years.

Yeah.And meanwhile, Canada is sort of getting nervous about all this talk.And we've got Premier Danielle Smith in Alberta, who tells a summit in Calgary that Canada has panicked too often regarding Trump.So do you think she's right?

Absolutely 100 % right.In fact, it was your neighboring Premier, Scott Moe from Saskatchewan, who was in Calgary at a different trade conference last week when Trump made the comments.He came out right away and said, we're just not going to respond to everything he says.But some politicians have been doing that.And look, politically it works for them if they're going to beat them up.You know, people like Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who's, you know, I guess got the message in trying to tone things down a little bit.

Mark Carney, though, has also done the same, you know, leans into Trump saying something.Carney apparently told Premiers on a call, let's not respond.He said these things before.And that's aright.Carney has said all of these things before.

But Premier Smith is, you know, very smart and capable politician.And she's 100 % right in saying that we have too often panicked and freaked out.Look at all the Canadians who still believe that Donald Trump is going to invade the country any day now.He has said repeatedly over the last year that that's not going to happen and he's not even looking to have a friendly merger anymore, but they're still panicking and freaking out.And the Globe and Mail still publishes letters from people in their 70s and 80s saying, I, you know, I'm old, but I'll take my garden tools and go fight them at the border.There's too much of that going on.

Listen to Danielle Smith.

Yeah, and she's urging people to just read Trump's book, The Art of the Deal.You'll kind of get into his head a little bit.He does like to talk tough and kind of stir the pot a little bit.We do know that about President Trump.Speaking of President Trump, we know that it was his 80th birthday this past weekend.And to celebrate, he put up and built, what was it, an octagon of some sort in the yard of the White House to hold a, was it MMA fight?

UFC.

It was a UFC, which is MMA, but it was specifically it was UFC.They also had motocross competitions with people on motorbikes doing aerobatics.I mean, it was quite something.And it annoyed a lot of people.And a lot of people said, this is fantastic.

Right, so drawing crowds.Now, I understand this is just coming out that the FBI actually thwarted a big attack over the weekend.What happened, Ryan?

So, according to FBI Director Kash Patel, at this point, and these numbers can and will change, at this point, I believe the number is five people in custody, 23 suspects identified.And their plan was to swarm the front lawn of the White House, where all these people were for the UFC fight, including big names like Mark Zuckerberg, who was there with his dad, the owner of Facebook and Instagram.And so they were going to swarm the area with drones.with explosives, that would kill some people, injure others, but it would also send the crowds fleeing for the exits, at which point we're told the plan was that they would have snipers pointing at the exits, shooting people.Sounds like a horrific plan.The good news is it was thwarted.

They have identified one of the people involved, one of the people that help them to uncover the plan, or I guess they found out about this person, took them into custody.They first found out about it days ahead of time, though.June 10th, I believe, is the date that they found out about it.So good work by the FBI in thwarting what was, we'll find out why and what was driving, what was the motivation for this?Was it just an assassination attempt on Trump?Was it related to a political ideology?

Not sure, but you know, More details.

This would be what?Assassination attempt number four.Yes.Ridiculous.Anyways, that's a lot to take in.Brian, thanks so much for joining us once again today.

Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.