The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | March 4th, 2025: Zelensky Apologizes For Oval Office Dust-Up & Trade War Begins With Canada, Mexico, And China
Tue, 04 Mar 2025
In this episode of The President's Daily Brief: Fallout from Ukraine's Oval Office clash with President Trump continues. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a statement that sounds like an apology—but stops just short. Will it be enough to get U.S. military aid back on track? A new trade war kicks off as President Trump enacts a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods while doubling duties on Chinese imports to 20 percent. How will this impact global markets and America's economic strategy? 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 Zelensky's apology to the Oval Office incident?
It's Tuesday, March 4th. Welcome to the PDB Afternoon Bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll kick things off with the latest fallout from Ukraine's Oval Office clash with President Trump. Zelensky has responded with a statement that could be interpreted as an apology. The question is, will it be enough to get U.S.
military aid back on track? Later in the show, a new trade war begins as President Trump follows through on his tariff threat, enacting a 25% levy on Canadian and Mexican goods and doubling duties on Chinese goods to 20%. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. This morning on the PDB, well, we told you about the White House cutting off military aid to Ukraine.
Chapter 2: How is the U.S. military aid to Ukraine affected by recent tensions?
That was fallout, of course, from last week's Oval Office meeting where tensions ran high. Oh, that's putting it diplomatically between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky. The sticking points? Well, Zelensky's perceived resistance to peace negotiations under current conditions and the ongoing back and forth over a critical minerals deal between the two countries.
Since Friday's blow-up, the White House has been firm, no progress on the minerals deal and no further support, unless Zelensky apologized and showed what the White House considers to be a more serious commitment to negotiations. Well, it looks like Zelensky has offered up an apology of sorts and even some steps toward what could ultimately be a negotiated settlement.
In a post to X, Zelensky admitted that his Washington meeting, quote, did not go the way it was supposed to. Well, yeah, that's a fair statement. He called it, quote, regrettable and said, quote, it is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive, end quote.
Now, while not a display of fealty or a full bore mea culpa, it's certainly a shift in tone. Zelensky also reiterated that Ukraine is committed to ending the war, writing that his team is, quote, ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. He added, nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.
My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump's strong leadership to get a peace that lasts. We are ready to work fast to end the war, end quote. Now, that's a notable olive branch, but it wasn't just about diplomacy. Zelensky made sure to remind Washington of Ukraine's gratitude, thanking the U.S.
for its past support and specifically calling out Trump's role in providing Javelin missile systems during his first term. As for concrete steps toward peace, Zelensky laid out a few initial proposals, a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, a truce in the sky that would halt missile and drone strikes, and a commitment to stop targeting energy and civilian infrastructure.
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Chapter 3: What steps has Ukraine proposed towards peace with Russia?
Zelensky also floated the idea of a truce in the sea as part of the deal's first stage. He emphasized his desire to move quickly, saying Ukraine is ready to work with the U.S. on securing a, quote, strong final deal to end the war.
And on that critical minerals deal, one of the key issues that soured last week's talks, he said he sees it as a step toward long-term security and hopes it can still be effective. So, you ask yourself, will this be enough to get the aid flowing again? That's the big question. For now, Zelensky has made his move. Obviously, it's up to Washington to decide how to respond.
Chapter 4: How is the new trade war with Canada, Mexico, and China expected to impact global markets?
And of course, well, there is the other player that would be Russia. Putin has shown no indication that he intends to back off his existing hardline demands for even coming to the negotiating table. Coming up next, a new trade war kicks off, with President Trump slapping 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexican goods and doubling existing duties on Chinese imports.
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Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. President Trump has kicked off a new trade war with America's top three global suppliers, sending stocks tumbling and sparking fears of a looming recession.
Following through on his threat from last week, on Tuesday, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, doubling duties on Chinese goods to 20%.
As we've been tracking here on the PDB, Trump initially threatened to impose the tariffs on America's northern and southern neighbors in early February, but paused their implementation after Canada and Mexico promised to take comprehensive actions to secure their borders and to reduce the flow of migrants and drugs into the U.S.
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Chapter 6: What are the economic consequences of President Trump's tariffs?
But on Monday, ahead of the move, Trump declared that the time for negotiations was over, arguing that all three countries had failed to take meaningful action to stem the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the U.S., and that's according to a report from Reuters.
All three countries quickly announced retaliatory measures targeting US goods on Tuesday, causing all of Wall Street and Europe's main stock indexes to fall as investors flee for safety. The tariffs could upend nearly $2.2 trillion, and that's a lot of fat stacks, in annual US trade with America's top three economic partners.
Trump suggested further escalation is possible, saying the US would not back down from the fight. Well, it's a fight that the US started, so you wouldn't expect that they'd back down.
Trump defended the action, saying it will incentivize Mexico and Canada to get serious about combating illicit drug trafficking at their respective borders, and that it would encourage foreign companies, like car manufacturers, to move their production to the US. Trump added that current trade imbalances are costing Americans millions of factory jobs and that tariffs were the only remedy.
He said that import taxes were, quote, a very powerful weapon that politicians haven't used because they were either dishonest, stupid, or paid off in some other form, and now are using them, end quote. But Mexico and Canada and China swiftly struck back, denouncing the tariffs as a, quote, reckless attack on free trade and announcing retaliatory measures of their own.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Ottawa would impose immediate 25% tariffs on nearly $30 billion worth of American goods, including orange juice, peanut butter, alcohol, what? Coffee, appliances, apparel, and motorcycles. Over the next 21 days, Trudeau said Canada will slap additional tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods.
Trudeau didn't mince words as he addressed Trump directly, saying, quote, You're a very smart guy, but this is a very dumb thing to do. He added that the new tariffs will, quote, disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. Now, Trudeau is likely feeling somewhat emboldened, given that he'll be out of his prime minister's job by the end of March.
Beijing, meanwhile, retaliated with a new 15% tariff on imports of chicken, wheat, corn, and cotton from the US, along with a 10% tariff on US sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, aquatic products, fruit, vegetables, and dairy products.
China's Commerce Ministry issued a statement condemning Trump's tariffs, saying that they violated World Trade Organization's rules, and quote, undermine the basis for economic and trade cooperation between China and the U.S.
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