State of the World with Ian Bremmer
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Former US President Donald Trump talks with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Reuters

Canada braces for a Trump presidency

Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly says Justin Trudeau’s government is working on a “game plan” for how it would respond to a right-wing, protectionist government in the United States after the 2024 election – just in case. She said she would work with local and provincial leaders as well as the business community and unions to do so.

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Why Mexico is a key issue in the 2024 US election
TITLE PLACEHOLDER | US Politics In: 60 | GZERO Media

Why Mexico is a key issue in the 2024 US election

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC shares his perspective on US politics.

I'm here in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, which is a country that is turning out to be a major potential campaign issue in the US 2024 elections. We've already seen several Republican candidates try to distinguish themselves by painting Mexico as a bad guy. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has said that he wants to militarize the border in order to stop the flow of drugs, guns and crime and illegal immigrants coming over the border. Former President Donald Trump famously renegotiated NAFTA with Mexico and used the threat of additional tariffs to force Mexico to secure its southern border to prevent Central American migrants moving up into the United States. So this is going to be a big issue over the next 12 months in the US.

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Paige Fusco/ GZERO Media

The Graphic Truth: US-Canada agriculture trade boom

The US and Canada, whose trade relationship topped $1.2 trillion in 2022, have long been at loggerheads over one key sector: agriculture. Indeed, both countries have accused the other of putting in place protectionist policies that undermine the spirit of free trade.

This all came to a head in 2018, when then-President Donald Trump played hardball over the renegotiation of a US-Canada-Mexico trade agreement, citing Ottawa’s role – dating back to the 1960s – in stabilizing agricultural prices at home. And Trump isn’t the only one with protectionist proclivities: President Joe Biden has kept many of his predecessor’s trade policies intact.

Despite claims that broad free trade agreements have hurt their respective farming sectors, bilateral agri-trade has in fact boomed over the past few decades due to the eradication of trade barriers. We take a look at US-Canada agriculture trade since 1990.

Luisa Vieira

The Graphic Truth: US trade deficit with Canada & Mexico

In 2016, Donald Trump successfully mobilized his base around NAFTA being “the worst trade deal ever signed.” He argued that US industries were being suppressed by trade deficits with Canada and Mexico, and he promised to disband the agreement if elected.

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Luisa Vieira

Canada uneasy about Biden-Trump rematch in US

“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies,” John F. Kennedy said in a 1961 speech to Canada’s parliament.

Politicians and columnists like to refer to that quote whenever they consider the warm and enduring relationship between Canada and the United States. But Canadians are watching with a mounting sense of dread as Americans set up a potential rerun of the 2020 election, with Donald Trump, 76, facing off against Joe Biden, 80, for a grudge match that promises to be as distasteful as a punchup at a nursing home.

Until Tuesday, it seemed possible that Biden might decide he would prefer to spend more time with his family, or napping, and let someone in their 70s take over. But, no. He’s in.

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What the US and Canada really want from each other
What the US & Canada really want from each other | GZERO World with Ian Bremmer

What the US and Canada really want from each other

US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally had their COVID-delayed summit in March 2023. Biden and Trudeau clearly get along, and US-Canada ties are as strong as ever. Yet, some thorny issues still need to be ironed out.

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Jess Frampton

Advantage Mexico

With so many other international stories dominating the news these days – Russia’s war in Ukraine, US-China tensions, Iran’s nuclear program, etc. – it’s easy to lose track of more positive stories. And when it comes to Mexico, the headlines suggest the country is struggling.

And I could write that story too. In most media, today’s Mexico conjures images of violent drug cartels and other organized crime groups, trouble at the US border, or large-scale protests led by an opposition that accuses the country’s president of a power grab that threatens democracy.

Mexico has its share of problems. But today, I want to give you three reasons for optimism that, politically and economically, Mexico is strong and getting stronger.

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Optimism about Mexico's political and economic future
The future of Mexico | Quick Take | GZERO Media

Optimism about Mexico's political and economic future

Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi everybody, Ian Bremmer here. A happy Monday to you and a Quick Take to kick off your week. I'm just back from Mexico, Mexico City myself, and lots of fascinating meetings, lots of takeaways. Thought I would give you some of my sense of what is happening there, Mexico and Mexico's context in the world.

First thing I would say is I come away pretty optimistic about where the country is heading overall, and some of that is the context of Mexico in an environment where China-US relations are getting a lot more challenging. There is some significant national security and strategic decoupling that is happening at the behest of US administration, governors, members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans. And also, there's a lot more uncertainty about doing business in Xi Jinping's China itself, given the rapid and sudden changes on COVID, on how to do business as a technology company, on rules and regulations for the private sector, rule of law and its absence, local competition, you name it. And so, even though I still fairly strongly believe that China's going to become the largest economy in the world by 2030, the idea that US corporations will be able to take as much advantage of that is increasingly uncertain. Almost any business leader you talk to in the United States is saying, "Yeah, China is an important market for us, but we are being more cautious about how much we want to invest there, going forward. At the very least, we're putting a pause on some of the big decisions we're making." And in many cases, they're starting to reduce some of that forward looking exposure.

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