The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | January 31st, 2025: Trump Readies Crippling Tariffs Against Canada And Mexico & Tensions Escalate With Russia Over The Arctic
Fri, 31 Jan 2025
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, President Trump said Thursday he plans to make good on his threats against Mexico and Canada, and will imminently enact a 25 percent tariff on their imports. We’ll discuss the implications, and how both countries plan to respond. Then, in a sign of the escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over the Arctic, multiple Russian warplanes were spotted in the region this week, forcing NORAD to hastily scramble American and Canadian fighter jets. 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 are the implications of Trump's tariffs on Canada and Mexico?
It's Friday, 31 January. Well, look at that. We made it to the end of the month. Welcome to the BDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, President Trump said he plans to make good on his threats against Mexico and Canada and will enact a 25% tariff on their imports.
We'll discuss the implications and how both countries may respond. Then, in a sign of the escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over the Arctic, Multiple Russian warplanes were spotted in the region this week, forcing NORAD to hastily scramble American and Canadian fighter jets. But first, our afternoon spotlight.
President Trump declared his intent Thursday to follow through on his economic threats against Canada and Mexico, teeing up a potential trade war with U.S. regional allies.
Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he planned to put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, with the border taxes set to go into effect on Saturday, though unconfirmed reports suggested that they may not be imposed until the 1st of March.
Trump argues that both countries are taking advantage of current imbalances in the North American Free Trade Pact and are not doing enough to curb illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking into the U.S., according to a report from the New York Post.
Trump also criticized the hundreds of billions in subsidies that the US gives Canada and Mexico each year, arguing that the tariffs are needed to address the, quote, very big deficits that the US has with both nations.
The president first threatened the tariffs following his election victory in November, though many had assumed it was simply a negotiating tactic to secure trade concessions and assurances from Canada and Mexico that they would crack down on border security.
But Trump argued Thursday that both countries continue to treat the U.S., quote, very unfairly on trade, and that now was the time to turn up the pressure. In his remarks, Trump said, quote, look, Canada and Mexico, they have never been good to us on trade, and we will be able to make that up very quickly because we don't need the products that they have, end quote. He said the U.S.
has some of the largest supplies of oil and lumber globally and that he'll work to free those sectors from his predecessor's environmental regulations in order to boost production.
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Chapter 2: How are Canada and Mexico responding to potential tariffs?
North American Aerospace Defense Command said Thursday that multiple Russian warplanes were spotted in the Arctic earlier this week, forcing NORAD to scramble a combat air patrol of American and Canadian fighter jets in order to monitor the activity.
While the Russian aircraft stayed in international airspace, they did come close to the Alaskan and Canadian air defense identification zones, that's according to a report from CBS News.
Two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets and one refueling aircraft were dispatched from the Canadian NORAD region, and two USF-35 fighter jets and two refueling aircraft tankers were launched from the Alaskan NORAD region due to the Russian activity.
Several hours later, NORAD also scrambled two F-16 fighter jets from Alaska to Greenland in order to quote forward posture NORAD presence in the Arctic, though they stressed that they did not view the Russian warplanes as a current threat.
Now, it's just the latest military incident to unfold in a region that has recently turned into a geopolitical focal point, with the U.S., Russia, and China all vying for strategic dominance. In December, for example, NORAD was forced to dispatch fighter jets to shadow Russian warplanes after they flew near Alaska.
Over the course of 2024, Russian military planes made multiple incursions into the Arctic region, including one incident last July where Russian and Chinese warplanes were intercepted in Alaska's Air Defense Identification Zone. Russia has also recently reopened dozens of Soviet-era military bases in the Arctic region as tensions with the West deteriorate due to Putin's war in Ukraine.
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Chapter 3: What are the economic effects of Trump's proposed tariffs?
Additionally, the Putin regime has deployed two nuclear submarines to the Arctic and engaged in tests of their hypersonic missiles, reportedly capable of evading American defenses. Russia's expansionist behavior, of course, is a major concern for the U.S. and a big driver behind President Trump's recent push to bring Greenland under U.S. control.
Now, Greenland sits on vast deposits of rare earth minerals, oil, and gas, and is positioned near crucial global trade and military arteries. The U.S. has a decades-old treaty granting the U.S. access to an Arctic base in southern Greenland, which now hosts an airfield and advanced radar and missile detection systems. But between both Russia and China, Trump argues that the U.S.
needs to fully control Greenland in order to deter potential threats and ensure America's top adversaries do not end up dominating the strategically important Arctic waters, which of course include vital shipping routes. Earlier this month, Trump said, quote, I'm talking about protecting the free world.
Chapter 4: What recent tensions have escalated between Russia and the West?
You look outside, you have Chinese ships all over the place, you have Russian ships all over the place, and we're not letting that happen, end quote. And that, my friends, is the PDB Afternoon Bulletin for Friday, 31 January. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at pdb at thefirsttv.com.
Chapter 5: How are military actions in the Arctic affecting U.S. security?
Now, if you'll take a moment just to look at your calendar, well, you'll notice that today is Friday. And if today is Friday, and which it is, then that can only mean one thing. A brand new episode of our much-loved weekend show, the PDB Situation Report, hits the airwaves tonight at 10 p.m. on the First TV.
Our excellent guests this weekend include Benem Ben-Taliblu from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the author and all-around smart fella, Brandon Weikert.
Now, we examine just how shaky the Iranian regime is and what the Trump administration may do regarding Iran's nuclear program, as well as US efforts to build a space-based missile defense system and the Chinese regime's ability to knock out critical US satellites. It's not only, well, a humdinger of a show, it's frankly a barn burner.
And it's also available on our YouTube channel, you can find that, at President's Daily Brief, as well as all podcast platforms. I'm Mike Baker, and I'll be back over the weekend with the Situation Report. Until then, stay informed, stay safe, stay cool.