Karoline Leavitt Peppered With Questions About Trump’s Tariff On Canada: Was It ‘Impulse’?

20 hours ago

During Tuesday’s White House Press Briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt answered questions about President Trump's tariff on Canada.

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Transcript

00:00The Press What can we talk about Canada?

00:02What is the status of President Trump having a conversation with Mark Carney?

00:06We have seen the President use the term governor to refer to Justin Trudeau.

00:11Will that moniker also go to Mr. Carney going forward?

00:15And is the decision to increase the tariffs, is that based on a specific economic metric

00:21that he looked at?

00:22Is it impulse?

00:23How would you describe his reaction to Canada?

00:26The President has not yet spoken to Mr. Carney.

00:30Not since I checked, which was just moments ago.

00:34But certainly his phone is always open to leaders who wish to speak with him.

00:39As for the tariffs, the President made his position on this quite clear with the statement

00:43that he put out.

00:45And it was a retaliatory statement due to the escalation of rhetoric that we've seen

00:49out of Ontario, Canada.

00:51The President saw the Premier, Doug Ford, make an egregious and insulting comment threatening

00:57to shut down electricity for the American people, for hardworking American families.

01:03He made that threat.

01:04The President saw that and has an obligation and a responsibility to respond accordingly

01:10and represent the interests of the American people.

01:13So he has made the decision to add a 25 percent tariff.

01:17So now steel and aluminum tariffs will come into effect tomorrow at the rate of 50 percent.

01:23And our steel and aluminum industries have actually applauded these tariffs because again,

01:27they know it's going to grow their industry here.

01:30It's going to allow them to export more steel that is made right here in the United States

01:35with American workers.

01:36Egregious and insulting are your words here, but that's what many Canadian leaders have

01:40said about the actions President Trump has taken toward Canada.

01:44And what do you think the timeline is for speaking to Mr. Carney, because normally a

01:49sitting President speaks to a close ally very quickly when there's new leadership.

01:53Well, the President is again responding to the fact that Canada has been ripping off

01:59the United States of America and hardworking Americans for decades.

02:03If you look at the rates of tariffs across the board that Canadians have been imposing

02:08on the American people and our workers here, it is egregious.

02:11In fact, I have a handy dandy chart here that shows not just Canada, but the rate of

02:17tariffs across the board.

02:18If you look at Canada, since you brought it up, American cheese and butter, nearly 300

02:23percent tariff.

02:25You look at India, 150 percent tariff on American alcohol.

02:29You think that's helping Kentucky bourbon be exported into India?

02:32I don't think so.

02:33A hundred percent tariff on agricultural products from India.

02:37Look at Japan, tariffing rice 700 percent.

02:41President Trump believes in reciprocity, and it is about dang time that we have a

02:45President who actually looks out for the interests of American businesses and workers.

02:50And all he's asking for at the end of the day are fair and balanced trade practices.

02:55And unfortunately, Canada has not been treating us very fairly at all over the past several

03:01decades.

03:02To the woman in the purple, because I saw you were making a face at my previous answer,

03:06so what's going on?

Karoline Leavitt Peppered With Questions About Trump’s Tariff On Canada: Was It ‘Impulse’?

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