Trump's 100 days, Carney's Canadian comeback, Ukraine's minerals deal
Episode description
In a week that marked US President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, national security adviser Mike Waltz wasn't celebrating, as he was moved being aside. The first cabinet casualty of the president's second term, Waltz's departure appears to be a direct result of Signalgate, when he accidentally added a journalist to a group chat planning attacks on Yemen's Houthi rebels.
We assess the first 100 days and Trump's so-called "muzzle velocity strategy" of flooding the media space with continuous announcements. It perhaps comes as no surprise that he’s given himself full marks.
This week has also seen the political comeback of the year so far, thanks partly to the threats and trolling from Trump. Canada's Liberal Party came out on top in elections there, despite being discarded by analysts as down and out at the start of the year. Tariffs and trade wars triggered by their big neighbour, and Trump’s threats to annex them seem to have helped galvanise a patriotic pushback. Mark Carney's task was to distance himself from predecessor Justin Trudeau, while Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre had to distance himself from claims of being a mini Trump. Voters opted for Liberal ex-banker Carney, who expressed his happiness at party headquarters in the form of dance.
And it’s been a rare week of good news in Ukraine, or at least that's how it’s being presented by negotiators in Kyiv and Washington. A critical minerals deal has been concluded with the US, one that was first proposed by the Ukrainians to President Joe Biden last autumn. It morphed under Trump into an IOU agreement: critical minerals for repayment of past US aid. After the Oval Office spat, and with Ukrainian hopes of a security guarantee out of the question, terms were dropped and better concessions agreed, which Kyiv sees as a good deal, given the circumstances. We assess what it means for the conflict.
Produced by Gavin Lee, Luis Miguel Cabrera, Juliette Laffont, Charles Wente, Laura Burloux and Guillaume Gougeon.