Front Burner

When trade talks between Canada and the U.S. broke down last week, one of the issues that reportedly came up was Canadian streaming rules that require platforms like Netflix to make Canadian and French-language content easier to find in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada would not compromise on protecting French culture. But U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said language was never the issue – rather "past discriminatory laws that target U.S. streaming companies."

Vass Bednar is the managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, and she’s spent years studying how American tech companies shape Canadian policy. She unpacks what Big Tech wants out of these trade talks – and what this latest rupture means for Canada’s digital sovereignty.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Tuesday, in the ongoing trade war with our southern neighbour, Canada released details on counter-tariffs that will be imposed on a wide range of American products, matching the $28-billion worth of Canadians goods that have been tariffed since the weekend.

It comes after days of heated rhetoric between US President Donald Trump, his officials and Canadian leaders, namely Ontario premier Doug Ford. But how is all of this registering for Americans? Especially with both parties in campaign mode ahead of the midterm elections?

White House reporter for Bloomberg and Canadian living in Washington, Josh Wingrove, joins host Jayme Poisson to parse through the American reaction to the breakdown of trade talks, the ongoing escalations between Canada and the US, and the politics behind the Trump administration’s maneuvers.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening yet more tariffs, saying he’ll increase levies on cars, trucks and steel to 50% on January 1. This latest announcement comes as new tariffs came into place on Saturday on a number of Canadian goods worth $28 billion after trade negotiations fell apart.

Peter Armstrong, CBC’s Senior Business Reporter, is back on the show to talk about what moving forward without a deal on these new tariffs means for the Canadian economy and what Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promised “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs could look like.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Friday, Canada's trade talks with the U.S. fell apart less than an hour before the deadline for new tariffs hit. While there had been positive signs earlier in the week, Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. proposed new terms in recent days that were "uneconomic, unfair" and "called into question the reliability of any deal."

Former Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Committee on Canada–U.S. Economic Relations. He joins host Jayme Poisson to shed more light on what went wrong, and what could be coming next.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On Thursday, Canadian trade representatives were in Washington for more talks amid a tentative trade deal with the U.S.

Coming out of the meeting, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said that they were "very close" to reaching an agreement.

Today, CBC senior parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry and Abacus Data CEO David Coletto are here to parse through what we know so far about the impending trade deal and talk about the political test Prime Minister Mark Carney will face in defending it.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts