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

Visiting my kid there and we went to this breakfast place called the toast factory.

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Yes, thanks for listening. Canada's Retailing Authority Terrace on U.S. Goods went into effect overnight. Right, Minister Mark Carney, match President Trump's latest tax is dollar for dollar, both sides of stop talking. So how does this trade war end?

I'm Stephen's keep with Leyla Fawdl, and this is up first from NPR News.

Republicans are meeting this week in Texas for something they're calling Trump up Palooza. The president is headlining at unconventional convention, calling his base voters attention to himself for the midterms. What I really want you to do is pretend, please, that up on the ballot. Why are some Republican candidates staying awake? 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 hid them.

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Instead of scrolling mindlessly, engage mindfully with the NPR app. With the mix of on-demand news stories from the station and your favorite podcast, you can relax without shutting off your brain down low the NPR app today. Canada's latest tariffs on American products are in place. Prime Minister Mark Carney imposed taxes of up to 50% 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, Interanto, 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-terrorism, 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 first returned 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, with the latest US tariffs imposed when those talks between Canada and US 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 US is going to respond. And we all know, this isn't going to be a huge impact on like the macro economy in the US, but where this hits, it hurts, right? Kentucky bourbon makers, California winemakers, 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 is a biggest market for US cars, right? US auto exports to Canada plummeted 22% since all this started. So it will be felt in some sectors, how are Canadians feeling this morning? It would be very hard to understate just how angry and betrayed Canadians feel. And it's not just these latest tariffs, and it's not even just the 51st state stuff for, you know, the disrespectful way that 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, though 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, Lele, Canada and the US don't just trade stuff. Those two countries build stuff together.

We have in North America, Trump has said he wants that to stop.

And, you know, Canada looks at that and says, with a largest customer for 26 state, we're a top three customer for 45 states. Canada's biggest supplier of US 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 is really gotten itself.”

So where do things 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 US flag memes of him fighting the prime minister and calling him governor.

Defense Secretary P. Hegg Seth was recently accused of making fun online of the appearance of a Canadian teenager Army cadet in her instructor.

The premier of Ontario when on TV and said Trump could kiss his, you know what? 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 weekend 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.

And PR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith is here now to help us understand this unprecedented event. Good morning.

“Good morning. So what do we know about why the president wants to have this?”

Well, 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 poll 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 a solid point. 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 who's approval rating is under water.

“Okay, so from what you just said that 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 Trump a pollusa. 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 the how the administrations policies have affected them like you see it lots of conventions. Organizers 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 Shilling 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 Tamerkee. Thanks, Tamerkee. You're welcome. Investigators say they have learned how five people died during a plane crash in Miami.

The NTSB says all those killed were in vehicles on the ground.

“NPR Shondhalese Duster is here to tell us more good morning, Shondhalese. Good morning. What else do you know about the investigation?”

The chair of the NTSB Jennifer Hammondee cautioned that they were only sharing their preliminary finding 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, the components from vehicles, components of navigational aids, debris from the airport, it's pretty extensive.

Hammondee said the scene was hard to see in 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. Hammondee 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 cruise flight experience to weather conditions that day. As for the crew, Hammondee wouldn't give an update on their status. But she did say that interviews have not been scheduled yet.

Hammondee 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-MAS, 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-MAS 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-MAS system. If the runway is longer than 1000 feet, which is the case for Miami.

Hammondee said yesterday that the question of whether an E-MAS 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. And PR's a Shondalese Dester, thank you for your reporting, Shondalese. You're welcome.

And that's up first for Tuesday, September 8th. I'm Leyla Faldin.

And I'm Stephen Skap today's up first was edited by Megan Pratt's James Heider, Martha Ann Ovalin, Miguel Missies, Mohammed Elbar D.C. and Alice Wolflay. It was produced by Ziyad Bach and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hynes and Robert Rodriguez. Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.

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