Jon Decker recaps President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Carney's meeting

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yesterday the Canadian Prime Minister and Mark Carney was meeting
with President Trump. John Deck, our White House correspondent, joining
us now for an update on how all that went. John,
welcome in. Before we get into that, As you work
in DC every day and you see government employees everywhere.
Have you noticed since the shutdown a little cutback office

(00:21):
workers at the White House or any other places that
it seems a little bit skeletal crew around here? Have
you noticed?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Oh? Absolutely, at the White House for sure. You know
there are fewer employees at the White House right now,
About a third have been furloughed. People that I work
with every day in the Press office, they've been furloughed
or have cut their hours short. And so, yeah, I
recognize it every day I'm at the White House. And
I also recognize it just traveling to the White House.

(00:49):
Fewer people out on the road as well because of
the government shutdown.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Yeah, and there's something floating around yesterday. I know if
you can comment on this or not, but a draft
White House memo or memo rather is arguing that these
federal workers might not be entitled to the back pay.
But they're saying hold on a min twenty nineteen Government
Employee Fair Treatment Act mandates that they do get paid.
But the President kind of stepped out there and said, well,
it depends on who you ask, and you don't have

(01:14):
to take a look at this. I mean, have you
heard anybody talking about this.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Well, I've heard the White House talk about it, and
you just mentioned how the President was asked about this yesterday.
I think at the end of the day, just like
every other government shutdown, those employees who are just called
in the middle of this political showdown between Republicans and
Democrats are going to get their back pay as they should.
They're just innocent, you know, They're just doing their job.
And meanwhile, lawmakers that are supposed to fund the government

(01:40):
need to do their jobs. And you already see some
pushback coming from some Republicans. Tom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, said,
don't hold these federal employees hostage. You even hear that
from Marjorie Tayler Green saying she would not support not
paying federal workers back pay after this shutdown is over.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, I'm one hundred percent with you on that too. John.
This is a political tennis match going on there with
these guys. And if they can't work it out, these
workers that have been sent home shouldn't be, you know,
victim to that. I agree. All right, let's talk about
what happened yesterday as the Prime minister from Canada stopped
by a little bit of a tention situation as Trump
wanted to make it another state and take over Canada.

(02:22):
So I understand there's some lighthearted discussions, but what was
the main topic, Trade and tariffs and things.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Trade and tariffs. That's right, JT. You know, they get
along well. You probably could tell that the body language
much better than Mark Carney's predecessor, Justin Trudeau. The President
simply did not like Justin Trudeau. So Mark Carney benefits
from that. He also benefits because he's got a good
personality and he's a smart guy. He formerly served as

(02:51):
the finance Minister for Canada, head of the Bank of Canada,
also headed the Bank of England. The President respects his smarts,
and they're trying to work out a trade deal, and
the President said yesterday they are neil near reaching a
trade deal in the same way that the US has
reached trade deals with Japan and South Korea and the
European Union.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
You know, I think Trump really, you know, does one
good relationship with Canada, and I think he's on better
footing as you mentioned with this guy. But Donald Trump
also said at the end of the day, you know,
he and Iron competition for the same goods, and you know,
so we're going to do it's best for the US.
But I got the feeling from seeing some of the
press afterwards with the two of them that Wow, these

(03:32):
guys get along pretty well. So it should go go
pretty well. Are they done meeting now? They have another
meeting today? Is that it?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
There are no other meetings involving at the highest level,
you know, President Trump and Prime Minister Carney. There are
still meetings happening though at other levels. Commerce Secretary meeting
with the Canadian Prime minister, the US Trade representative meeting
with him. So he still in DC, heads back to
Canada today. But what the President said yesterday when he

(03:59):
had that Q and A in the Oval Office with
reporters is he believes the trade deal is going to
get done with Canada really soon.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
All right, very good, John Decker at the White House,
Thank you, buddy. By the way, you can get more
from John Decker on the iHeartRadio app. Just search for
the white House Briefing Room with John Decker and be
sure to set that preset to that's the white House
Briefing Room with John Decker, updated every day on the
iHeartRadio app.