Transcript of Trump having dinner with Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago

We begin this hour with the Trump transition and the latest controversy over the President-elect's vow to impose huge tariffs on Canada and Mexico. That threat touching off a back and forth with the Mexican President over drug trafficking and the border. Cnn's Elaina Trin is outside the Trump transition headquarters with new details. Elaina, so the President-elect and the Mexican President, they said that they had a great and wonderful call, but they are also publicly disagreeing about the contents of the call for the second time this week.

That's right. They have two very different impressions, Alex, of exactly what was said on that call. Donald Trump, for his part, argued that Claudia Scheinbaum, the President of Mexico, agreed to closing down the Southern border. She later said that that wasn't true. I'm going to read for you some of what we have here. So Trump had said that he had just had a wonderful conversation with the new President of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum Pardo. She has agreed to stop migration through Mexico and into United States, effectively closing our Southern border. And then we had a statement from Scheinbaum herself disputing that characterization of the call. She wrote, Everyone has their own way of communicating, but I can assure you, I give you the certainty that we would never, and we would be incapable of it, to propose that we would close the border. It has never been our approach, and of course, we don't agree with that. So again, very different views of what was said, but I think this is That's really a very important moment, Alex, because we know that so much of what Donald Trump had promised to voters and Americans throughout his time on the campaign trail was to really crack down on crime and illegal immigration into United States.

And this relationship that he is going to have with Scheinbaum, I would remind you that they have not have a working relationship in the past. He was not in power when Donald Trump was first in office. This is going to be a very important relationship moving forward to see how the two can come to some agreement over Donald Trump's big plans for cracking down on immigration. And as you mentioned, it's also important to note that this came just days after Donald Trump had promised and really vowed to have massive tariff hikes on both Canada and Mexico, saying as much as 25% of a tariff on all goods coming into United States from those countries. That's also something we saw Scheinbaum really push hard back on saying that essentially, Mexico would respond itself with its own retaliatory tariffs if Donald Trump to do that.

And regarding those potential tariffs on Canada, you have new reporting about the country's Prime Minister. What can you tell us?

That's right. We are just getting this news in right now. Breaking news, Alex. Essentially, I'm told that Donald Trump is going to be hosting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago this evening, that they're expected to have dinner. I have not gotten further details from that. I'm told that we should get some readout once it is completed, once it finishes, once they learn what was said. But again, I think very clear that this conversation over whether or not Donald Trump is actually going to make good on that vow of imposing a 25% tariff on all goods coming from Canada. I'm sure that will be a major topic of discussion tonight, and really the first time we've seen these two leaders meet in a very long time, and definitely since Donald Trump won the 2024 campaign.

Alex? I think it's fair to assume that is going to come up over dinner. Elaina Trina, West Palm Beach. Thank you so much. Meanwhile, President Biden is criticizing Trump's tariffs as what he called counterproductive, and urging his successor to not, quote, screw up the relationship with Canada and Mexico. See as Priscilla Alvarez has more on that for us. So, Priscilla, this is quite notable because the President has not been terribly critical of his predecessor and now successor since the election. But what's he saying?

Well, he's being blunt about what these tariffs could mean, both to the relationship that the US has with its neighbors as well as to consumers. Of course, recall that President Biden, when he came into office, had sought to strengthen alliances around the world, and that included Mexico and Canada. You could understand from that perspective why the President is saying that he doesn't want to screw up those relationships. But he was also, again, very straightforward about what he thinks could happen should these be enacted. Take a listen.

I hope he rethinks it. I think it's a counterproductive thing to do. Look, one of the things you've heard me say before that we have an unusual situation in America. We're surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and two allies, Mexico and Canada. The last thing we need to do is begin to screw up those relationships.

Now, experts have also said that if enacted, these tariffs could wreak havoc on America's supply chains and again, impact consumers. The President went on to say that there is still more work to be done to lower cost for Americans. Of course, the President-elect Donald Trump has already received some pushback and response, not only from President Biden, but also, as you heard there from Elaina, Mexico, and Canada. Now, President Biden told reporters today that he does expect to talk to President-elect Donald Trump over the course of the transition when asked if he would. Certainly, this, you can imagine, would be one of the issues that the President would raise with Donald Trump if and when they do speak again. But again, Alex, certainly the warning both from economic experts but also from the President is that these tariffs, if enacted, could have significant impacts both for the relationships and for Americans.

Yeah, and real questions about whether it's an his negotiating tactic, or he actually plans to go through with it. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for that reporting. Our political experts are now joining me now with analysis. Brian Morganstern, I want to start with you. You served as Deputy Press Secretary for the White House during Trump's first term. What is your reaction to hearing what President Biden said, calling Trump's tariff threat counterproductive?

I think President Biden is wrong, and President Trump is right. When Trump was in office for four years, he used tariffs quite effectively. Relatively, to negotiate a better trade deal with both Canada and Mexico. He uses it to achieve policy goals like spurring domestic manufacturing, economic growth, bringing in tax revenue. Here, he's even suggested that he could use it to help with our immigration problems. I think that's right because both Canada and Mexico are very heavily dependent upon US markets. We do have leverage there, but it's really about supporting US workers and US companies and using these to achieve policy goals. And he did it once quite effectively. Inflation was minimal at the end of his term, even while using these tariffs. I do think that President Trump will do what he did last time, which was use these things to bring our negotiating partners to the table. It may create a little friction in the short term, but it's going to lead to stronger relationships in the end. So he did it once, and I think he's ready to do it again.

Megan Hayes, Biden said this in a rather informal setting. He was visiting that firehouse in Nantucket, but the comments were quite pointed. What did you make of them?

Yeah, I think that he understands what tariffs, especially for Canada and Mexico, can do to the middle class. I mean, a lot of economists during the campaign were saying that this would add $4,000 to the bottom line for middle class families, and that's not something that people can afford right now. I do think that he's speaking from that. I also think that he doesn't feel that we need to be bullying our neighbors to the north and to the south. I think That's probably what he was going for there.

Shortly after, Trump spoke with Mexico's President, Claudia Scheinbaum, on Wednesday. Trump posted on social media, I want to read this quote, that Mexico will stop people from going to our Southern border effective immediately, which was then followed by this statement by the Mexican President saying, We reaffirm that Mexico's stance is not to close borders, but to build bridges between governments and peoples. Jasmine Wright, what do you think of these contradictory statements and what they say about that relationship between the American and Mexican President going forward?

Yeah, it shows that they have a really different impression about what that consequential first conversation is and that they may have some issues going forward. Now, of course, if you look at what President Biden was able to do over the last four years, yes, there have been major critiques over what he's done on immigration, but something that he's really focused on is strengthening his relationship with our partners, both to the South Mexico and with Canada. Not necessarily not with the current President who hasn't been in office since Biden took over, but certainly all the different administrations. I think that he's really nervous that Trump could torpedo the work and the legacy that he has created for himself over the last four years. But of course, this is going to be something that the President-Elect really focuses on as he tries to show the American people that he can both maintain and increase the economy. Already, he posted that Americans are feeling better about the economy since he was elected, even though he's not yet in office. But also his promises on immigration, these mass deportations, and trying to slow the crawl of migrants to the border.

But of course, President Biden has already done a lot to lessen the amount of people coming over the Southern border, and Trump will be taking that over. But this is going to be a really important relationship for Donald Trump. I think that people close to Trump have no doubt that he is going to put in tariffs. I think the question is, what does that look like and to which countries are the most impacted?

We just got this new reporting from my colleague Elaina Trin that the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago tonight. Trudeau has said that Trump's tariffs would also hurt Americans. Megan, do you think that tariff threats are the best way to secure the border?

No, I don't. I think that it's going to raise prices on the middle class, and I don't think that's what we need to be doing. Over 70% of our vegetables come from the Southern border, and I just don't think... We don't have the ability to produce on our climate here that needs, and those prices will be passed on to the consumer. So I'm just not sure that threatening our neighbors is the best way to be doing this. There are other ways that I think that we can achieve some policy goals here without without threatening.