Former U.S. ambassador to the UN says tariff impact will be 'enormous,' slams 'reckless' Signal group chat

Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice says President Donald Trump's tariffs will lead to major economic consequences for both American and Canadian consumers.

In an interview airing Sunday on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live, Rice described the impact tariffs will have on both economies.

"The consequences will be enormous for the American consumer who will pay a great deal more for cars and many other things, obviously also for Canadian consumers and [the] economies of both countries," said Rice, who served in the Obama administration. 

"This is really a self-defeating and ill-advised economic policy. But it also has no clear rationale or objective."

Speaking at the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to bring in a new 25 per cent tariff on imported passenger vehicles and light trucks.

On Thursday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney responded by saying the era of close ties with the U.S. had ended.

"The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military co-operation, is over," Carney said during a news conference.  

"I think that's just a statement of reality and the obvious," Rice said, reacting to Carney's comments. 

"You know, we are friends. We are longtime allies. We share a peaceful border. We share values, we share interests and yet we're being pitted against one another for reasons that none of us understand and nobody wants."

Rice also served as former U.S. president Barack Obama's national security adviser from 2013 to 2017. Top Trump officials are now dealing with the fallout of mistakenly including a journalist in a Signal group chat used to discuss U.S. military action against the Houthis in Yemen. 

Rice, referring to the security breach, said the administration's approach to national security is "reckless and it's negligent."

"I mean the whole thing is mind-boggling and highly, highly disturbing to Americans, but also to people who trust and rely on us and have trusted and relied on us for decades," she said. 

When asked whether Canada and other allies should continue to share intelligence with the U.S., Rice said the intelligence-sharing relationship has been mutually beneficial for decades, and it's in both the U.S. and Canada's interest to maintain it.

"But it is not unreasonable for both sides, all sides, to expect and demand that the information we share is kept in a secure way," she said.