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00:00In an interview this past Sunday, Donald Trump again goaded Canada,
00:03calling the neighbor to the north the 51st state again.
00:07Canada, who's prime minister after attending the AI summit here in Paris in Brussels this Wednesday,
00:13where the president of the European Council and the European Commission talked up
00:17closening ties and their bid to ratify the CETA free trade agreement with Ottawa.
00:23Justin Trudeau, who made it clear that Canada is looking to deepen ties in the face of a
00:27hostile Trump administration that is slapping new tariffs on steel and more.
00:35We will be working with the American administration over the coming weeks to
00:40highlight the negative impacts on Americans and Canadians of these unacceptable tariffs,
00:47but we'll also be working with our international partners and friends,
00:51and if it comes to that our response of course will be firm and clear.
00:58And that was Trudeau just before he left for Brussels.
01:02We heard more of the same at a press conference that was given a short while ago.
01:07Let's cross to Brussels and correspondent Dave Keating.
01:11Canada, drifting away from the United States and closer to Europe?
01:20Yeah, I mean what's interesting is this visit to Brussels was kind of a last-minute addition
01:25to Prime Minister Trudeau's visit to Paris on Monday and Tuesday of this week for the AI Summit.
01:30We just learned last week that he'd be coming to Brussels as well and the intention is quite clear.
01:35Both the EU and Canada are the targets right now of the United States for both Trump's military
01:42threats and his economic threats. Of course he tried to impose a 25 percent blanket tariff
01:49on Canada last month before walking that back giving a one-month reprieve.
01:53He's talked about the US annexing Canada making it the 51st state and meanwhile he said the
01:58European Union is next in his trade war and also he's made threats to annex Greenland,
02:04a territory of an EU member state. So right now the EU and Canada have a lot in common
02:09in that they are being targeted by Trump and so clearly this was an attempt to kind of coordinate
02:13the response here. Now coming in to this meeting both Trudeau and the EU leaders were keen to
02:19stress the benefits of the CETA free trade agreement that partially went into effect in 2017.
02:26They pointed out that there's been a 66 percent increase in bilateral trade since that took effect
02:32in 2017 and they said that that's the way for progress and for prosperity, not trade wars but
02:40rather trade pacts. Also coming out of this they put out a joint statement saying that they both
02:46remain committed to the rules-based international order, the UN charter and the inviolability of
02:52borders. Now that's clearly aimed at the United States. So this was supposed to be a show of
02:58solidarity between Canada and the European Union as they're both in the same boat being targeted by
03:05the United States but this comes in the context as well of deepening EU-Canada relations particularly
03:10with their free trade agreement. However it still needs to be completely ratified by all
03:15national governments of the European Union and they are dragging their feet.
03:19Yeah dragging their feet particularly under the pressure of farmers unions. Dave Keating,
03:26you mentioned a joint statement. Now usually our viewers eyes glaze over when we read these joint
03:32statements when there's a high-level meetings like this but on Tuesday at the AI summit
03:38the joint statement a rather bland one talking about an inclusive artificial intelligence
03:42signed by Canada not by the UK.
03:50Yes I'm told that did not go unnoticed by Canada. It was kind of an odd series of events so
03:55it emerged that the United States government would not sign this final declaration
04:00because it made a reference to quote inclusive and sustainable artificial intelligence. Apparently
04:07the Trump government thought that had to do with DEI or something like that but in the end the UK
04:13decided also to not sign that final declaration but they can't seem to explain why. What seems
04:19pretty clear is that they were afraid that signing it would offend Donald Trump because they haven't
04:25really offered any other explanation for why it was only them in the US that decided not to sign
04:31it and this comes in the context of an overall souring of relations between Canada and the UK
04:36because Canada the UK is in a difficult position here because Donald Trump has said oh maybe the UK
04:42can be exempt from my tariffs maybe not and so Prime Minister Keir Starmer has clearly made the
04:48choice to keep his head down not to be expressing solidarity with Canada over the trade war or with
04:53Denmark over the threats to Greenland and not try to upset Donald Trump in any way but that is hurting
04:59the UK's alliances both with Canada and with Europe and so what I think we're seeing here is Canada
05:05drifting closer to the European Union and further away from the United Kingdom which of course it
05:10was part of just 40 years ago technically and so that's quite an interesting development. I think
05:17that you know the UK in the short-term interest here is keeping their head down to avoid the
05:21tariffs. In the long run this could be doing serious damages to alliances and this type of
05:27thing that we saw today with the European Union could be a sign that deepening Canadian-EU ties
05:32will come at the expense of Canada-UK ties. Dave Keating stay with us we're going to cross to
05:37Boston. James Boyes is visiting research fellow at the Centre on US Politics at University College
05:44London. Thank you for being with us here on France 24. Thank you for having me it's a pleasure to be
05:50back. What was this about because you know we expected perhaps that if there was still a Tory
05:59government in the UK they might follow the US's lead and not sign this joint
06:05statement on an inclusive AI but from a Labour government? Yeah I'm sure you won't be surprised
06:13to learn that Sir Keir Starmer is not the first nor will he be the last British Prime Minister
06:19to find himself in something of a pincer movement between Washington and Brussels. Where will he
06:26place his ultimate allegiance effectively? You're absolutely right that one might imagine
06:33a Labour administration would and indeed are far more comfortable dealing with their colleagues
06:39across the English Channel. The challenge they face however is formidable because of course
06:46five years ago the British public voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit vote
06:52so if he gets too comfortable with Brussels he faces a backlash from the potential British
06:57electorate at any future elections. Likewise you know he realises the significance of trade,
07:07defence, historical alliances with the United States and singularly does not want to alienate
07:14Donald Trump. The problem with that of course is that the Trump administration will see
07:19a Downing Street administration led by and populated by politicians who have been vocal
07:25in their antagonism Donald Trump over the last four or five years. An administration which is
07:32about as far out of step with their own MAGA agenda as can be and it's notable of course that
07:39Sir Keir Starmer has not been invited to the White House, has not been the first foreign leader to
07:45visit the new president as has so often been the case with other British prime ministers.
07:50And James, you heard Dave Keating talk about it there. Is there strain within the Commonwealth?
08:00After all the EU standing by Canada but they want to hear perhaps Britain stand by them as well?
08:08Yes and you would imagine that that would be an all too obvious route to occur. The
08:15Commonwealth has historically been of great significance to successive British administrations
08:20and they have used it as a way of perpetuating British influence around the world. I think
08:27Dave's point about you know Keir Starmer keeping his head down to quote Dave Keating was actually
08:33spot on. I think that's exactly what he's trying to do. I think he's trying to sort of take the
08:37rather easy way out of this and think well if I sort of stay here and keep quiet maybe nobody
08:42will notice that we aren't doing or saying anything. Of course that hasn't gone unnoticed
08:47as the report rightly pointed out. At some point he will need to make a stance and at this point
08:53I think he's trying to have the best of both worlds and could end up with the worst of all
08:57possibilities. Dave Keating, you mentioned it, Justin Trudeau not going to London on this trip.
09:05Now it should be said Keir Starmer did come to Brussels and meet with EU leaders, first British
09:10prime minister to do so since 2019. How would you compare the visit last week by Keir Starmer
09:22and this visit by Justin Trudeau?
09:27Well it was awkward I think because Starmer is very very hemmed in by the red lines that he set
09:32himself which are essentially the same red lines that Boris Johnson set. So you know he was there
09:38for the dinner with EU leaders by all accounts we heard it was not super warm and not unfriendly by
09:44any means but they didn't sense this openness. What we're hearing here in Brussels and from
09:50European capitals is that they have an increasing sense of pessimism that anything will change with
09:55this Labour government compared to the previous Conservative government. This reset in relations
10:01hasn't really yielded anything again because of these red lines. Now some of that we've heard from
10:06the UK government side is a bit due to delays and changes in administration but
10:13overall there's real pessimism about whether he's really going to change the relationship.
10:18On this point James Boyce, could Donald Trump in the end push the UK back towards
10:29closer relations with Brussels?
10:31I don't think he'll need to. I think you've got an administration in Downing Street which
10:36if it had a free vote would very clearly be very happy to rejoin the European Union. It has gone
10:42out of its way to basically play nice with the EU. It can only go so far of course because of the
10:49declared statement of the British electorate but I think that many people who voted for Brexit will
10:55be fearful of what it is that Keir Starmer and his government are doing and will no doubt continue
11:00to do to chip away at those safeguards. Although the red lines that Dave rightly refers to are in
11:08place I think many people in the UK will be fearful of this and this will increase I'm sure
11:12the support for the reform movement for Nigel Farage and I think you'll see this borne out in
11:19poll after poll which indeed now show in many cases reform to be ahead of an increasingly
11:24unpopular Labour administration. At the end of the day though what we saw in Brussels
11:30is it just a photo op. Canada can't replace its relation with the United States.
11:39No it cannot and what is fascinating of course is to consider how they're going to respond to
11:45Donald Trump. Donald Trump is engaging in an extreme form of coercive diplomacy
11:50in an attempt to stem the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigrants across the northern border.
11:55There's a lot of focus understandably on the problems that this country faces from the southern
12:00border but the administration I think is very much trying to clamp down on those problems
12:05coming from Canada. They don't believe they're doing enough and getting into a tit-for-tat
12:09war with tariffs with Donald Trump I think is certainly no way to solve the problem
12:14and will increase the problems many fold both upon the government in Canada and I'm sure the
12:20pressure to increase tariffs further here in Washington DC in the days and weeks to come.
12:25And Donald Trump who loves tariffs the European Union again talking up the concept of this
12:31free trade agreement that as as Dave pointed out some are balking out within the EU.
12:39Yeah well the problem you've got of course is that you know these negotiations have been going
12:43on for years. People have been talking about a transatlantic free trade agreement since at least
12:48the days of of John Major and we still do not have one in place. There was lots of talk about
12:54an alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States after Brexit that has not come about
13:01neither is there obviously one in place with the European Union. You know we talk about you know
13:07tensions between Washington and European capitals but of course when Joe Biden was president he made
13:12it very very clear that he had no interest in prioritizing a trade relationship with London
13:18and that set back negotiations substantially. So it will be interesting to see what transpires
13:23under this Trump administration which despite you know Donald Trump's use of tariffs in his first
13:30days and weeks in office is ultimately a trading negotiation in an attempt to get better deals
13:36for American citizens, American government and American entities which of course is his priority
13:42as the American president. All right and one final question just I guess it's happening as
13:48Canadians kick off an election campaign of their own. Trudeau is a lame duck prime minister. He
13:56won't be running again. There seems to be though national unity for now over how to handle Europe
14:03and how to handle the United States. Yes and I think that Donald Trump will be pleased to see
14:09the back of this administration whether he may end up wishing for the devil he knew
14:15one can only surmise at this point. Very clearly what his actions have done is to cement any
14:22dissent within the Canadian populace into a strong going anti-American sentiment.
14:29We're seeing that for example with regards to moves to buy Canadian to reject American
14:34goods and services. There have indeed also been occurrences where meetings were due to happen in
14:40the United States and you've seen business leaders bulking at the idea of traveling south
14:45and indeed insisting upon meetings occurring in the Canadian territory. So the extent to which
14:52this starts to impact American businesses will be particularly telling for an administration which
14:57of course is looking to bolster the American economy and not do anything to hinder it and
15:01this of course could indeed place that effort in all kinds of trouble. I want to thank you so much
15:08for joining us from Boston James Boyce. I want to thank our correspondent Dave Keating in Brussels.