Canada's Retaliatory Tariffs On US, Trumpapalooza Convention, Miami Cargo Plane Crash

Over the weekend I was in Rochester, New York, visiting my kid there and we went to this breakfast place called the Toast Factory. And this man walks up to me and says, "Excuse me, are you Steve Inskeep?" And he says, "George Robinson, huge listener, he's from Pittsburgh," and he said, "If you say my name on the air, I will be public radio royalty." George Robinson. Yes. Now public royalty on the air. Yes. Thanks for listening. What is retaliatory terrorist on U.S. goods went into effect overnight? Prime Minister Mark Carney match President Trump's latest taxes dollar for dollar, both sides of stop talking, so how does this trade war end? I'm Steve Inskeep with Leyla Faddle, and this is up first from NPR News. Republicans are meeting this week in Texas for something they're calling Trump a "Paloza." The President is headlining an unconventional convention, calling his base voters attention to himself for the midterms. What I really want you to do is pretend please, that I'm on the ballot. Why are some Republican candidates staying away? And investigators are still trying to figure out why a cargo plane crashed at Miami International Airport. All of the people killed were sitting in their vehicles when the plane hit them. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. The latest tariffs on American products are in place. Prime Minister Mark Carney imposed taxes of up to 50 percent on a range of American goods entering Canada. He's retaliating for tariffs that President Trump placed on Canadian products like aluminum steel and dairy. Reporter Peter Armstrong in Toronto has been following the trade war and joins me now. Good morning, Peter. Good morning. Peter, what is the state of things this morning? Well, so as you say, that midnight last night, this latest round, these counter-terrorist and the Canadian government kicked in, and it's like, you know, this is the retaliation to the retaliation of the retaliation to those first tariffs that were imposed 18 months ago. Back when Donald Trump burst return to the White House, we're talking about like a $20 billion swath of tariffs, and they are dollar for dollar, though not product for product, but the latest U.S. tariffs imposed when those talks between Canada and the U.S. fell apart last month. But, you know, I really think the line by line sector by sector breakdown isn't really the concern. The concern isn't really now into an escalatory cycle that will drive up costs and hurt businesses on both sides of the border. The expectation, of course, is that the U.S. is going to respond. And we all know this isn't going to have a huge impact on like the macro economy in the U.S. But where this hits, it hurts, right? Kentucky bourbon makers, California wine makers, tourism in all these areas that used to be so frequented by Canadian tourists, that's cost billions of dollars. The auto industry spent like $110 billion on tariffs and tariff related costs. Canada's the biggest market for U.S. cars, right? U.S. auto exports to Canada plummeted 22 percent since all this started. So it will be felt in some sectors, how are Canadians feeling this morning? You know, I think it'd be hard to overstate just how angry Canadians are. You know, it's not just these latest tariffs and it's not even just the 51st state staff for, you know, the disrespectful way the administration calls the Prime Minister governor and all of that. It's the totality of the way Canadians and Canadian businesses feel they've been treated over the last 18 months. Trump has said very clearly that he wants to make Canada a state that he doesn't have the power to do that. He was asked, you know, if he would use force to make that happen and responded that he would use economic force. Well, Canadians hear that. They see his actions and they feel really that their very independence as a country is at stake. So they're very firmly behind the Prime Minister on this. But remember, Leila, Canada and the U.S. don't just trade stuff. Those two countries build stuff together. We built up these incredible and efficient, huge supply chains aimed at bringing down costs and taking advantage of this competitive advantage. We have in North America, Trump has said he wants that to stop. And you know, Canada looks at that and says, with the largest customer for 26 states, we're a top three customer for 45 states, Canada's biggest supplier of U.S. oil electricity fertilizer with the biggest export markets for autos more than China, the UK and Japan combined. You know, so it's really frustrating, I think, for a lot of Canadians just to see where this has really gotten itself. So where do you think stand though? Does this just keep escalating? Is there a pathway to get trade discussions back on track? I really think that's the concern. The two sides are not talking at this point. Trump is posting maps of North America covered in the U.S. flag, memes of him fighting the Prime Minister and calling him governor. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was recently accused of making fun online of the appearance of a Canadian teenager, Army cadet, and her instructor. The premier of Ontario, when on TV and said Trump could kiss his, you know what, you know, getting out of any conflict is hard, trade wars are no different, common ground is really needed and none of this makes finding that common ground any easier. Reporter Peter Armstrong and Toronto, thank you, Peter. Yeah, you bet. This week in Dallas, Republicans will gather for what they are calling a midterm convention. Political parties typically hold big televised conventions in presidential election years. This is not a presidential election year. Midterm conventions are not a thing, but Republicans are staging one to give even more attention to the president. On PR senior political correspondent Tam Raquith is here now to help us understand this unprecedented event. Good morning, Tam. Good morning. So what do we know about why the president wants to have this? The president laid out the theory of the case at a recent campaign rally. And the problem that we have is they say that Trump does great when he's on the ballot, but when he's not on the ballot, his people don't come and they don't vote for senators, congressmen and other Republicans. And polls show Democratic voters are far more energized about these midterms than Republicans. So Trump offered a prescription or rather a plea. So what I really want you to do is pretend please that I'm on the ballot, just come and vote at so important. This is a wildly different approach than that taken by most presidents who give their candidates lots of space in midterm years where there are strong political headwinds. And whether it's good politics or not, this means Republicans this year are training a lot of attention on a president whose approval rating is underwater. Okay. So from what you just said, I gather this convention is going to be mostly about Trump. I mean, what do you know about what it'll be like? I mean, it's being billed as a Trumpapalooza. And that is not my word. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Joe Grooters, keeps calling it that. President Trump will be the headliner for the two-night convention, both nights. Vice President Vance will speak Wednesday. And there will be a mix of big name Republicans and the regular people telling personal stories about how the administration's policies have affected them like you see it lots of conventions. These are say it will focus on the issues shaping the midterms, including lowering costs and raising incomes, securing the border and protecting American values. I've done the math here, and fewer than half of the Republican candidates in competitive House and Senate races are listed as convention speakers, which gives you a sense of how complicated this dance might be for some. And last week at a White House press briefing, Vance said he's not worried about some candidates deciding they would be better served staying home and raising money or talking to voters. Are there people who are excited about this convention? Yes, Republicans I've spoken to see it as a chance for their party to raise money and energize the party faithful and drive a focused message heading into the midterms. Terry Schilling, president of a group called American Principles Project, will be there and he told me he's pumped. Running to president Trump and defending his record, I think is an interesting strategy and I think it is so interesting that it just might work. We've tried running away from the president in previous midterms and we almost always lose. He added that it may just be their best shot at saving their losses and what is widely expected to be a tough year for Republicans. A spokesman for the Democratic Party told me this is going to be the worst infomercial in the history of political campaigning. That's NPR Senior Political Correspondent Tamerkeet. Thanks, Tam. You're welcome. Investigators say they have learned how five people died during a plane crash in Miami. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the cargo plane that slid beyond a runway on Sunday. The NTSB says all those killed were in vehicles on the ground. NPR Shandeles Duster is here to tell us more good morning Shandeles. Good morning. What else do you know about the investigation? The chair of the NTSB Jennifer Hammondy cautioned that they were only sharing their preliminary findings so far. But she did say the Amazon cargo plane, after it landed, hit several vehicles. One was a van owned by a cleaning company that services the airport. There were seven people inside that van. She said the van was torn apart. The plane also hit an SUV, mangling the vehicle. The word she used to describe the scene were utter devastation. The vehicle itself, the SUV, can see airbags. because there's components from vehicles, components of an navigational aids debris from the airport. It's pretty extensive. - Harmony said the scene was hard to see and difficult for first responders. Recovery efforts have been made more difficult because there was fuel at the wreckage site that was leaking and that needs to be cleaned up. - Did officials give any indication of what caused the crash? - No, but that is not unusual. Harmony did say that they recovered the flight data recorder and the cockpit recorder. She said they have teams that are looking at a number of angles ranging from the crew's flight experience to weather conditions that day. As for the crew, Harmony wouldn't give an update on their status, but she did say that interviews have not been scheduled yet. Harmony said that she would have more information on the crash and that would be shared today. - Now aviation experts have been talking about how Miami International Airport is not equipped with an emergency stopping system. Did the NTSB chair address that? - Yeah, it came up a few times in yesterday's press conference. This is the system known as E-Mass, short for engineered material arresting systems. It is designed to slow and stop an aircraft before it exits the end of the runway. It's lightweight, crushable material that forces a plane to slow down something like sinking into mud. The FAA credits E-Mass with slowing and stopping flights carrying nearly 500 crew and passengers. And while nearly 70 airports across the US have it, it's not required by the FAA to have an E-Mass system if the runway is longer than 1,000 feet, which is the case for Miami. Harmony said yesterday that the question of whether an E-Mass would have helped prevent this crash will be part of their investigation. - Now we know flights were delayed and canceled because of the crash. Have things gotten back to normal? - Yeah, as you can imagine, there have been hundreds of flight delays since the crash. Flights have also been canceled. Two of the airports, four runways remain closed and it is unclear when they will reopen. Officials say the two runways won't reopen until the investigation is finished. And nearly 40 flights into and out of the airport have been canceled so far today. - NPR's Chandelese Duster, thank you for your reporting Chandelese. - You're welcome. - And that's up first for Tuesday, September 8th. I'm Layla Fauden. - And I'm Steve Inscape. Today's up first was edited by Megan Pratt's James Heider, Martha Ann Overland, Miguel Mesias, Muhammad El Bardici, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nation Hines and Robert Rodriguez. Our technical director is Carly Strange and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow. (upbeat music)