What?s Trump?s problem with Canada?

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours, and since the end of the Second World War that?s exactly what the US and Canada have been. They?ve enjoyed free trade agreements, close knit economic ties - and not so friendly ice hockey matches. But recently this relationship has soured, with President Trump calling them ?one of the nastiest countries to deal with?. It looks like the era of mostly free trade is over, with a raft of tariffs set to come into force on April the 2nd, or ?liberation day? a Donald Trump calls it. But is President Trump right about the trading relationship between the two countries? What does he mean when he claims that ?the US subsidises Canada $200 billion a year?? Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Studio manager: Andrew Mills

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.1	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs,
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0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
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0:38.9	Thanks for downloading the more or less podcast. With a program that provides a numerical
0:44.0	oasis in the desert of data disinformation, so come and relax under the statistical shade with me,
0:51.3	Tim Harford. The 2nd of April is Liberation Day.
0:56.1	Excellent.
0:57.3	What's Liberation Day?
0:59.0	Liberation Day in America.
1:01.6	What we're going to be doing is a 25% tariff on all cars that are not made in the United States.
1:07.8	So not as fun as it sounds.
1:09.7	Liberation Day, a day which, by the way, has already changed date at least once,
1:13.7	also includes tariffs on imports from countries, including...
1:17.6	One of the nastiest countries to deal with.
1:20.3	Ooh, I wonder which country this could be North Korea, Russia, Mordor.
	...

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