The President's Daily Brief
March 7th, 2025: Trump Hits Pause On Trade War With Mexico And Canada & South Korea Accidentally Bombs Their Own Civilians
Fri, 07 Mar 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: We’ll kick things off with a major update on the Trump administration’s trade war, as the president pauses tariffs on a host of goods from Mexico and Canada for a period of one month, praising Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s cooperation with the U.S. on the southern border. Later in the show, EU leaders gathered for emergency talks in Brussel on Thursday in the hopes of drastically boosting defense spending following President Trump’s reversal of U.S. policies on Ukraine. Plus, at least 15 people were injured in South Korea on Thursday after their military accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area during a joint training exercise near the North Korean border. In our 'Back of the Brief' segment, anti-Israel protests took a darkly radical turn this week at Columbia University, as an antisemitic mob calling for “Death to America” hung an effigy of a school administrator and handed out flyers authored by the “Hamas Media Office” glorifying the barbaric 7 October attacks. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the major update on the Trump administration’s trade war?
It's Friday, 7 March. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. We'll kick things off with a major update on the Trump administration's trade war as the president pauses tariffs on a host of goods from Mexico and Canada for a period of one month, praising Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum's cooperation with the U.S.
on the southern border. Later in the show, European Union leaders gathered for emergency talks in Brussels on Thursday in the hopes of drastically boosting defense spending following President Trump's reversal of U.S. policies on Ukraine.
Plus, at least 15 people were injured in South Korea on Thursday after their military accidentally dropped eight bombs, oops, on a civilian area during a joint training exercise near the North Korean border.
And in today's back of the brief, anti-Israel protests took a radical turn this week at Columbia University as an anti-Semitic mob calling for, quote, death to America, hung an effigy of a school administrator and handed out flyers authored by the Hamas media office glorifying the brutal 7 October attacks.
Meanwhile, the gormless university administrators, well, they continue to negotiate with the mob. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. In another whiplash-inducing reversal, the Trump administration is walking back their plans to impose crippling trade tariffs on America's northern and southern neighbors over the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
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Chapter 2: Why is the Trump administration pausing tariffs on Mexico and Canada?
On Thursday, President Trump signed executive actions delaying his 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for all products covered by the current North American Free Trade Treaty, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. despite enacting the new taxes just days ago.
For now, the exemption will only last through April 2nd, the same day that Trump plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners, including longtime allies. And that's according to a report from Reuters.
The announcement came one day after Trump said he would delay tariffs on all automakers for one month in order to give that sector time to adjust to supply chains and move more production to the U.S., though realistically, well, such an undertaking would obviously take much longer.
Automakers are expected to be hit particularly hard by the tariffs as car parts often cross US borders six to eight times during assembly, meaning that they could be taxed multiple times. Now, we should stress that the White House's latest move does not constitute a total reprieve from the tariffs.
Economists estimate that only half of the products coming from Mexico and roughly 38% from Canada are covered by the new one-month exemption. All other goods will still face the 25% tariffs enacted on Tuesday, while Canadian energy products such as crude oil, petroleum gas, and coal will face a 10% tax.
The partial pause, reportedly, came after discussions that Trump held with Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum on Thursday and separate talks led by White House officials with Canadian leaders. In a surprisingly friendly post on Truth Social, Trump said, quote, I did this as an accommodation and out of respect for President Scheinbaum.
Our relationship has been a very good one and we are working hard together on the border, both in terms of stopping illegal aliens from entering the U.S. and likewise stopping fentanyl. The president added, quote, Thank you to President Scheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation, end quote.
Now, while Trump singled out Scheinbaum from Mexico for praise in his statement, well, don't expect the same warmth from the president for Canadian leaders.
While Mexico delayed any announcement of economic retaliation following Tuesday's implementation of the tariffs, which theoretically was buying her some goodwill with Trump, Canada swiftly struck back by imposing an immediate 25% tariff on nearly $30 billion worth of American goods, while threatening more in the near future.
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Chapter 3: How are the EU leaders responding to Trump's policy changes on Ukraine?
Chapter 4: What happened during the South Korean military training exercise?
And in today's back of the brief, anti-Israel protests took a radical turn this week at Columbia University as an anti-Semitic mob calling for, quote, death to America, hung an effigy of a school administrator and handed out flyers authored by the Hamas media office glorifying the brutal 7 October attacks.
Meanwhile, the gormless university administrators, well, they continue to negotiate with the mob. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. In another whiplash-inducing reversal, the Trump administration is walking back their plans to impose crippling trade tariffs on America's northern and southern neighbors over the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
On Thursday, President Trump signed executive actions delaying his 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for all products covered by the current North American Free Trade Treaty, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. despite enacting the new taxes just days ago.
For now, the exemption will only last through April 2nd, the same day that Trump plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners, including longtime allies. And that's according to a report from Reuters.
The announcement came one day after Trump said he would delay tariffs on all automakers for one month in order to give that sector time to adjust to supply chains and move more production to the U.S., though realistically, well, such an undertaking would obviously take much longer.
Automakers are expected to be hit particularly hard by the tariffs as car parts often cross US borders six to eight times during assembly, meaning that they could be taxed multiple times. Now, we should stress that the White House's latest move does not constitute a total reprieve from the tariffs.
Economists estimate that only half of the products coming from Mexico and roughly 38% from Canada are covered by the new one-month exemption. All other goods will still face the 25% tariffs enacted on Tuesday, while Canadian energy products such as crude oil, petroleum gas, and coal will face a 10% tax.
The partial pause, reportedly, came after discussions that Trump held with Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum on Thursday and separate talks led by White House officials with Canadian leaders. In a surprisingly friendly post on Truth Social, Trump said, quote, I did this as an accommodation and out of respect for President Scheinbaum.
Our relationship has been a very good one and we are working hard together on the border, both in terms of stopping illegal aliens from entering the U.S. and likewise stopping fentanyl. The president added, quote, Thank you to President Scheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation, end quote.
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Chapter 5: What is causing tension between the U.S. and Canada regarding trade?
Chapter 6: How are anti-Israel protests escalating at Columbia University?
Meanwhile, the gormless university administrators, well, they continue to negotiate with the mob. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. In another whiplash-inducing reversal, the Trump administration is walking back their plans to impose crippling trade tariffs on America's northern and southern neighbors over the ongoing fentanyl crisis.
On Thursday, President Trump signed executive actions delaying his 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada for all products covered by the current North American Free Trade Treaty, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. despite enacting the new taxes just days ago.
For now, the exemption will only last through April 2nd, the same day that Trump plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on all major U.S. trading partners, including longtime allies. And that's according to a report from Reuters.
The announcement came one day after Trump said he would delay tariffs on all automakers for one month in order to give that sector time to adjust to supply chains and move more production to the U.S., though realistically, well, such an undertaking would obviously take much longer.
Automakers are expected to be hit particularly hard by the tariffs as car parts often cross US borders six to eight times during assembly, meaning that they could be taxed multiple times. Now, we should stress that the White House's latest move does not constitute a total reprieve from the tariffs.
Economists estimate that only half of the products coming from Mexico and roughly 38% from Canada are covered by the new one-month exemption. All other goods will still face the 25% tariffs enacted on Tuesday, while Canadian energy products such as crude oil, petroleum gas, and coal will face a 10% tax.
The partial pause, reportedly, came after discussions that Trump held with Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum on Thursday and separate talks led by White House officials with Canadian leaders. In a surprisingly friendly post on Truth Social, Trump said, quote, I did this as an accommodation and out of respect for President Scheinbaum.
Our relationship has been a very good one and we are working hard together on the border, both in terms of stopping illegal aliens from entering the U.S. and likewise stopping fentanyl. The president added, quote, Thank you to President Scheinbaum for your hard work and cooperation, end quote.
Now, while Trump singled out Scheinbaum from Mexico for praise in his statement, well, don't expect the same warmth from the president for Canadian leaders.
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Chapter 7: What financial measures is the EU considering for defense spending?
Leaders left Ukraine's most pressing needs, that would be weapons and ammunition, largely unaddressed. Most notably, this so-called rearmament plan remains theoretical, subject to approval from individual member states, and it already faces headwinds. One of the biggest sticking points, not every European country is equally eager, or financially capable, of ramping up defense spending.
Six EU nations have debt levels exceeding 100% of their GDP, raising concerns about how they'll finance a military buildup. The leaders also failed to reach consensus on unfreezing an estimated $196 billion in Russian assets held in European financial institutions. It's a potential windfall that could go towards aiding Ukraine, but it remains politically fraught.
Additionally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Moscow's closest ally in Europe, refused to endorse part of the summit's statement of support for Ukraine. Still, the other 26 leaders presented a unified front, declaring that Ukraine must remain at the center of any diplomatic negotiations and that Europe must have a seat at the table in any future U.S.-Russia security talks.
Despite the financial uncertainties, for Zelensky, the EU's stated commitment to stepping up defense spending is a welcome shift. Speaking to reporters, Zelensky stated, quote, we are very thankful that we are not alone. But he added bluntly, quote, the real question for any negotiations is whether Russia is capable of giving up the war.
Zelensky pointed to Moscow's escalating military expenditures, its continued expansion of troop levels, and its relentless efforts to bypass sanctions, all signs he argued that the Kremlin has no interest in backing down from their war effort. Meanwhile, President Trump's evolving foreign policy stance loomed over the summit. U.S.
envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg defended Washington's decision to freeze military aid and cease intelligence sharing, casting it as a tough love approach to force Kiev into negotiations. Kellogg stated, quote, The best way I can describe it is it's sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose. You get their attention. End quote. Hmm. Interesting analogy.
With negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine set for next week, the summit made one thing clear. If Washington steps back, Europe will have to step up. All right, turning to South Korea.
A military exercise turned disastrous on Thursday when two fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a civilian area near the North Korean border, injuring at least 15 people and causing significant structural damage. The incident unfolded around 10 a.m.
local time in Pochon, a northeastern city of 140,000 people, during a live-fire joint exercise with the United States in preparation for the annual Freedom Shield military exercises, which are scheduled to begin on the 10th of March.
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