Carney won't improve Canada-US relations by matching Trump, Bolton warns

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As new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to do battle with the U.S. President, what advice does one former Trump insider have for him?   Ambassador John Bolton was Donald Trump's National Security Advisor and gives us his suggestions for the new PM.  For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-west-block  Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ Follow Global News on X HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB #GlobalNews #thewestblock

Transcript

00:00There's no love lost between Donald Trump and his former national security adviser John Bolton.

00:10In fact, they trade barbs in public almost all the time.

00:14But Bolton does have a unique inside perspective on how Trump looks at the world.

00:19As the White House looks at increasing troops in Panama

00:22and Donald Trump repeatedly underlines his desire to claim Greenland

00:27Should Canada be concerned about the president's obsession with taking over this country?

00:32This is what he said last Thursday.

00:34Canada only works as a state.

00:36As a state, it would be one of the great states anyway.

00:39This would be the most incredible country visually.

00:42If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it

00:46between Canada and the U.S., just a straight artificial line.

00:49Somebody did it a long time ago, many, many decades ago.

00:54And it makes no sense.

00:57It's so perfect as a great and cherished state.

01:02Now, there'll be a little disruption, but it won't be very long.

01:07But they need us. We really don't need them.

01:10John Bolton joined us on Friday.

01:12Thank you so much for making time for us today, Ambassador.

01:14Nice to see you again.

01:16Glad to be with you.

01:18We continue to hear Donald Trump talking about Greenland,

01:21talking about the Panama Canal, talking about Canada as the 51st state,

01:25saying, I have lots of Canadian friends, I love Canadians,

01:28but they'd just be maybe our greatest state.

01:31And it's a conversation that you and I have had before,

01:34but it's an ongoing one that Canadians are really concerned about.

01:37The fact that Donald Trump is still talking about all of this stuff,

01:40that it's not backing off.

01:42Do you believe that he is serious about executing on that

01:46and using economic pressure to annex Canada?

01:49Or is this continuing to be some sort of a play for him

01:52to lay the ground to destabilize things and try to get concessions?

01:56Well, I think that gives him too much credit.

01:58I think what he's really trying to do is distract people

02:01from the fact that American stock markets have tanked

02:05in the wake of various trade proposals,

02:08various tariff increases that he's announced, rescinded, put back in.

02:13It's pretty clear that the businesses in the United States

02:17see that this is going to be the beginning of a trade war

02:20that's going to leave everybody worse off.

02:22So I think he's trying to distract attention with his base.

02:26I think it's completely ridiculous to talk about the question anymore,

02:31especially with Justin Trudeau gone.

02:33He can't call him governor anymore.

02:36But I just stress to people in Canada, it also reflects Trump's ignorance.

02:40He talked when Mark Rutte, the Secretary General of NATO,

02:43was in about this obscure boundary along the 49th parallel

02:47that somebody drew years back.

02:49In fact, it started in 1818.

02:52It was negotiated between the US and UK governments.

02:56It's a line that's made sense for a long time.

02:58He just has no knowledge of history that's worthwhile.

03:02And he likes to hear himself talk.

03:05Do you think that having Mark Carney as Canada's new prime minister

03:08will change the dynamics at all?

03:10Mr. Carney's obviously been a tough approach to Mr. Trump.

03:14He's not Mr. Trudeau.

03:15But will that give him any advantage?

03:18Well, it can't get much worse, it seems to me.

03:21But I think I just recommend you have to be careful with language too.

03:25When you have a prime minister of Canada saying

03:29you can't count on the United States as an ally,

03:33and you have the White House press spokeswoman saying that, well,

03:37maybe Canada will be moved from being an ally to being a competitor,

03:42as if the talk alone doesn't cause damage.

03:45And to be clear, what Donald Trump has said about Canada

03:48was not endorsed in the 2024 election.

03:51I don't think it represents anything like a majority opinion

03:55among American citizens.

03:57And I think statesmen try to take the long perspective.

04:02And it means, in this case, four years of a lot of people

04:06on the Canadian side of the border, the American side of the border,

04:10gritting their teeth.

04:11But it's better to grit your teeth than to say things in public

04:15that could make it worse.

04:17So you think it might be better for Mark Carney

04:19to take a softer approach than he's taking so far?

04:23Well, he can take any approach he wants on substance.

04:25But he shouldn't sound like Donald Trump.

04:29You're not going to improve things by trying to match Trump's rhetoric.

04:32Number one, no sane person can do it.

04:35And number two, it's not going to help get a better outcome.

04:40You mentioned the markets.

04:41And of course, that's been a huge concern.

04:43Donald Trump, notorious for watching the markets,

04:45very critical of other presidents,

04:47seems to be shrugging off the possibility of a recession

04:50or what the markets are doing now.

04:51Is that an act? Does he care?

04:53Is he going to listen and change tact if the markets continue to crash?

04:58Well, I think he's very worried.

04:59I mean, Trump never admits he makes a mistake, never looks back.

05:05But of course, when markets are going up,

05:07it's entirely attributable to him.

05:08So he knows he's in a difficult position.

05:11And what he also knows, I'm sure, or his treasury secretary and others know,

05:16is that all across the country, corporate CEOs, key bankers,

05:21people who make large decisions on investments, capital commitments,

05:26new programs, large hirings, are moving to a pause

05:30because the environment is so uncertain,

05:33in part because of the tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding them,

05:36in part because of the fiscal questions in Washington.

05:39Will we have a continuing resolution?

05:41Will we get the reconciliation bill passed?

05:44That in light of that uncertain future,

05:48they're just not making big decisions.

05:49That will inevitably have a negative impact on the economy

05:53as you move those decisions out to the right.

05:55So the effects are going to be felt, I think, increasingly,

05:59and that won't do wonders for the market, that's for sure.

06:04When it comes to Donald Trump's positions,

06:06I mean, he's all over the place.

06:07We know that. Things change day to day, minute to minute.

06:10Those who back him say that this is a deliberate strategy of sowing chaos

06:14in order to be able to take advantage and get concessions.

06:18Those who are critics of him say often,

06:20no, it's just a stream of consciousness and whatever he thinks.

06:22You worked very closely with him.

06:24What do you think's going on with the constantly changing,

06:27every five minutes, what his strategy is?

06:30Well, I think that's the way his mind works.

06:32He doesn't have a philosophy.

06:34He doesn't do grand strategy.

06:35He doesn't understand policy the way anybody in Washington

06:40or Ottawa normally understands that word.

06:42I said in my book that if you took the thousands of decisions

06:45he made in his first term and just spread them out,

06:48they're like a big archipelago of dots.

06:51And you can try to connect them if you want to,

06:53but he can't even connect them.

06:55His supporters say, well, it's very sophisticated,

06:58three-dimensional chess he's playing.

07:00And I'll just tell you, it is not.

07:02It is one-dimensional, regular chess played out one move at a time

07:07and no further ahead than that.

07:09One of the biggest thoughts on the entire global community's mind right now

07:13is the ceasefire in Ukraine.

07:16We're now waiting to find out how the president's going to react

07:18to what Vladimir Putin has to say.

07:20Do you think that he is going to have more latitude and tolerance

07:24if Vladimir Putin pushes back on his conditions than he did with Zelensky?

07:28Is this all about getting his way, or is it about him favouring Putin?

07:36Well, I think he does favour Putin because he considers Putin a friend.

07:39He certainly does not consider Zelensky a friend

07:41since the famous perfect phone call that resulted in Trump's first impeachment.

07:46I think what's playing out now is that Putin has received

07:50an enormous number of concessions from Trump,

07:53and he doesn't want to put those in jeopardy.

07:55So as you can see from Putin's public remarks,

07:57he accepts the idea of a 30-day ceasefire in principle,

08:01just wants to talk about some technical questions and some other questions.

08:06I think what he's trying to do is tee up a call between himself and Trump

08:12because he doesn't want to negotiate with lesser lights in the administration.

08:16He doesn't want his foreign minister negotiating.

08:19He thinks he knows how to manipulate Trump,

08:21and he wants a one-on-one conversation to see if he can do that.

08:25I think that call will come pretty soon, and then we'll know the answer.

08:30But Putin is an expert at manipulating Trump.

08:34Trump thinks they're friends.

08:36That's not what Putin thinks.

08:37He thinks he's an easy counterpart to manipulate.

08:43Ambassador John Bolton, thank you so much for joining us with your insights.

08:47Thanks for having me.

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