Canada, U.S. must stand together before 'increasingly assertive' China, Trudeau says

OTTAWA — Canada and the U.S. must stand together in the face of an “increasingly assertive China,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.

Ahead of President Joe Biden’s address to the Canadian Parliament during his two-day visit to Ottawa, Trudeau said the two countries must “double down” on their shared values, including “resilience, perseverance and strength.”

His speech was delivered to a House of Commons packed with hundreds of members of Parliament, former prime ministers, and other dignitaries. But two guests, in particular, made headlines ahead of Biden’s speech.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were detained in China for nearly three years in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the United States' behest, were seated in the front row of the public gallery overlooking the chamber. Their presence, during Biden’s first official visit to Canada as president, was a clear signal of the two countries’ shifting stance on China.

Biden didn't make explicit reference to China during his speech, but he did single out the two men. “Our citizens are not bargaining chips. They’re not diplomatic leverage. They’re human beings with lives and families that must be respected,” the president said, adding that he’d met the two men earlier in the day.

Kovrig and Spavor, known as the “two Michaels,” were arrested in December 2018, days after Canada detained Meng following an extradition request from the United States. They were imprisoned in China for 1,019 days, and their release following a U.S. decision to drop the extradition order was widely viewed as a prisoner swap.

The episode marked a turning point in relations between the two allied countries and China. Reports say Biden was instrumental in securing the release of the two Michaels during negotiations to drop the case against Meng. Their plight was the first issue Trudeau raised with the president during their first bilateral meeting in 2021.

“Canada got the two Michaels home, and we did it the right way,” Trudeau said. “We did not abandon our values. We doubled down, and we rallied our allies against arbitrary detention.”

Kovrig and Spavor received several standing ovations before and during the two leaders’ remarks. POLITICO has confirmed they will attend a gala dinner with Biden and Trudeau later this evening.

A joint statement released after Biden’s address said Canada and the U.S. “acknowledge the serious long-term challenge to the international order posed by the People’s Republic of China, including disruptive actions such as economic coercion, non-market policies and practices, and human rights abuses.”

Since the two Michaels’ release, Canada has banned tech giant Huawei from the country’s 5G network, following in the footsteps of other Five Eyes countries, including the United States. The country’s new Indo-Pacific strategy, released last fall, describes China as “an increasingly disruptive global power.”

In recent months, Canada’s Liberal government has been embroiled in a new controversy involving allegations of Chinese foreign interference in the country’s last two federal elections. News reports citing national security sources have claimed Beijing sought to ensure the Liberals won re-election in 2021 and worked to defeat some Conservative politicians deemed unfriendly to China.

This week, a Toronto-area MP resigned from the Liberal caucus after a new story was published, citing two anonymous sources, that alleges he advised a Chinese diplomat to delay Kovrig's and Spavor’s release. He has denied the allegations.

The joint statement said the two countries will “continue to cooperate on countering foreign interference.”

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After Macron, le déluge

The violence of France’s pension reform protests is bad. What it tells us about the country’s political future is worse.

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Michigan strikes right-to-work law detested by unions

In a major victory for labor unions, Michigan on Friday became the first state in more than half a century to repeal a right-to-work law.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, overturning a 2012 GOP law that allowed workers to choose not to join unions or pay union dues as a condition of employment, even if the union represents them in negotiations.

“Michigan workers are the most talented and hard-working in the world and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” Whitmer, who was the Democratic leader in the state Senate at the time the right-to-work law was enacted, said in a statement.

Republicans, however, said the move would backfire by discouraging employers from locating or expanding in the state.

“Dramatically transforming our policies to harm workers and job providers will hang a ‘Closed for Business’ sign at our state’s borders and take Michigan off the list for future projects,” House Republican Leader Matt Hall said in a statement earlier this week during the vote on final passage.

The anti-union law’s repeal is a particularly significant symbolic victory given the special place Michigan holds in the organized labor movement.

“For us, being the home of labor and getting attacked 10 years ago was a gut punch to workers across Michigan,” state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, the sponsor of MI SB34 (23R), told POLITICO. “We are a state so steeped in union activism and union history that we knew this was a policy that our constituents wanted for the last 10 years as well.”

Even with the move, more than half the states in the country have right-to-work laws on the books. The Michigan Legislature’s repeal is the first since Indiana did so in 1965, before reverting in 2012. (Missouri voters in 2018 blocked a right-to-work law passed by Republican lawmakers.)

Proponents of such laws say they allow workers to freely choose whether to support union causes and make states attractive to businesses. It also saps membership and financial power from labor unions — a key part of the Democratic coalition — another reason right-to-work appeals to Republican lawmakers and conservatives.

Michigan’s law was highly contentious when Republicans pushed it through during the lame-duck session following the 2012 election, with unions rallying thousands of people to the statehouse in protest of the legislation. The state’s then-governor, Republican Rick Snyder, at the time pointed to voters’ overwhelming rejection of a state constitutional amendment that would have enshrined collective bargaining rights as validation of the GOP’s actions.

“It was a quite a heavy victory,” for opponents of the constitutional amendment, said Patrick Wright, the vice president for legal affairs at the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “It became a lot easier for people to think about it and take those votes.”

Michigan’s repeal was years in the making and is just one of several high-profile progressive issues statehouse Democrats have taken on in the months after narrowly gaining unified control of the legislature for the first time since the 1980s.

The effort was helped by several factors unique to the state, though by the same token could make it hard for union backers to replicate Michigan’s example elsewhere.

For one, Michigan’s law was far less entrenched than others — some of which date back to the 1940s or have been written into state constitutions — and the memories of the 2012 defeat remain relatively fresh in Democrats’ minds.

“I just remember being so incredibly distraught, outraged, and feeling helpless about not being able to do anything about it and the way in which it was done,” said state Rep. Regina Weiss, a former teacher who sponsored the repeal legislation. “That was the first time I was really starting to pay attention to what was happening in state politics in Michigan.”

Weiss is among the more than 40 percent of state House Democrats — 24 out of 56 — who have been members of a union, according to data from the Michigan AFL-CIO.

Repeal backers also credited the successful 2018 ballot initiative to create an independent redistricting commission as integral to making it possible for Democrats to gain control of the Legislature, as opposed to a state like neighboring Wisconsin, where district lines were drawn to favor Republicans.

“That’s the difference between having a legislative majority that has your back and wants to expand workers’ rights, as opposed to being in the minority and having a legislature that was to suppress workers’ rights,” Ron Bieber, the head of the Michigan AFL-CIO, said in an interview.

Michigan is also the home of several big-name Republican donors, such as financier Ron Weiser and the DeVos family, who have bankrolled right-to-work and other conservative causes and galvanized opponents.

“When you explain that these initiatives that are backed by Betsy DeVos, or whomever, folks here know that’s probably not a good thing for most working people because that’s not who they’re here for,” Weiss said.

A spokesperson for the former secretary of Education did not return a request for comment.

Along with the right-to-work repeal, which applies to private-sector workers, Michigan lawmakers passed legislation MI HB4004 (23R) that would apply to public-sector jobs in the event the U.S. Supreme Court revisited its 2018 Janus decision, which held that requiring non-union public employees to pay agency fees to unions was unconstitutional.

Democrats also passed a measure reinstating prevailing wage requirements for publicly funded construction projects MI HB4007 (23R) previously repealed by the GOP.

“Michigan in 2023 is not the same as Michigan in 2012,” Bieber said.

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'Unlawful’: Manhattan DA stiff-arms House GOP info request on Trump case

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Thursday rejected as “unlawful” the demands by three House GOP chairs who'd sought sensitive details about his investigation of former President Donald Trump.

Leslie Dubeck, Bragg’s general counsel, wrote to Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committee Chairs Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), James Comer (R-Ky.) and Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) in response to their requests for an interview with Bragg as well as a swath of documents. Dubeck countered that the newly launched GOP probe is “an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution.”

“The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry,” she wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO.

Her letter amounts to a sharp rebuke of a GOP inquiry launched days after Trump personally predicted his own imminent arrest, nudging House Republicans to rally behind him. Dubeck indicated that Bragg’s office had adopted the Justice Department’s longstanding position to refuse to provide Congress with details of ongoing criminal investigations — while also saying that the office would “meet and confer” with the lawmakers’ aides to determine if any information could be shared.

“The District Attorney is obliged by the federal and state constitutions to protect the independence of state law enforcement functions from federal interference. The DA's Office therefore requests an opportunity to meet and confer with committee staff to better understand what information the DA's Office can provide that relates to a legitimate legislative interest and can be shared consistent with the District Attorney's constitutional obligations,” Dubeck wrote.

The senior Republicans' request for information — supplemented Wednesday by two additional letters from Jordan — raises unusual questions about the scope of Congress’ jurisdiction over state and local criminal matters. Democrats sharply rejected the notion that Congress plays any role in overseeing non-federal investigations.

Dubeck's reply came just ahead of a 10 a.m. deadline that Republicans set for Bragg to set up an closed-door transcribed interview with their aides, as well as to hand over a broad swath of documents including any related to potential federal funding of or involvement in his work.

Dubeck said that Bragg's office would submit a letter describing its use of federal funds — which Speaker Kevin McCarthy indicated could face revocation. She further requested a meeting with committee staff to determine if they had “any legitimate legislative purpose in the requested materials that could be accommodated without impeding those sovereign interests.”

But Dubeck emphasized that questions about the office’s use of federal funds does not justify a congressional attempt to unearth nonpublic information about the ongoing probe.

Broadly speaking, her letter emphasized that even though Bragg's office sharply rejects the notion that its Trump probe is political, the forum for probing those allegations would be court proceedings in New York, not Congress.

Comer, Jordan and Steil didn’t immediately respond on Thursday. But House Judiciary Republicans' Twitter account tweeted shortly after the letter that “Alvin Bragg should focus on prosecuting actual criminals in New York City rather than harassing a political opponent in another state.“

The initial letter from Comer, Jordan and Steil didn’t hint at what their next steps would be if Bragg didn’t comply with their request. Jordan, in particular, frequently hints at using a “compulsory” process — in other words, a subpoena — if his demands aren’t meant, but the trio's letter did not include that phrasing.

Jordan also sidestepped questions on Wednesday about whether he would try to subpoena Bragg if they didn’t comply with their requests.

The House GOP letter to Bragg emerged in the middle of the conference's three-day confab in Orlando, Fla., a gathering meant to focus on their broader agenda. Bragg is reportedly preparing for the possibility that the former president will be indicted on charges related to alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

The threat of an indictment loomed over the retreat, the latest example of House Republicans' inability to escape Trump's long shadow. McCarthy (R-Calif.) almost immediately vowed that he would direct committees to investigate the potential indictment, and Republicans got questions at nearly every press event they held in Florida.

And Trump’s social-media suggestion of an imminent arrest appeared to have achieved its intended goal by sparking a near-immediate rush of support from House Republicans, including McCarthy’s vow that he would direct committees to investigate.

Jordan also wrote to former special prosecutors Carey Dunne and Mark Pomerantz, both worked on the investigation before leaving last year, on Wednesday night with a request for interviews and documents.

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New York nears deal to ban gas stoves in new homes

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state lawmakers are poised to enact the nation’s first legislative ban on gas and fossil fuel appliances in most new buildings, including single-family homes.

Despite outcry from Republicans nationwide about states and the federal government looking to ban gas stoves, New York appears set to move forward with the proposal in the state budget due March 31.

The reason a deal looks imminent is because Gov. Kathy Hochul and fellow Democrats in both chambers of the state Legislature have endorsed proposals to prohibit fossil fuel furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers and gas stoves in most new construction.

New York would be the first to take this step through legislative action; California and Washington have done so through building codes. An agreement has not been finalized to ensure passage, but the new restrictions are included in all three plans being discussed in Albany.

Supporters see the potential law as a national model that they hope can spur similar action by other states and the federal government to limit fossil fuel use in buildings, which are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.

“All eyes are on us and a lot of other states are looking to what New York does,” said Pat McClellan, policy director at the New York League of Conservation Voters. “If we prove it can be done and we have the political will to do this, it’s going to open the floodgates for other states to take action.”

Republicans across the nation have stoked anger about proposals targeting gas stoves after a federal official said the Consumer Product Safety Commission should consider a ban. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis urged lawmakers to approve a tax exemption for gas stoves and declared federal officials aren’t “taking our gas stoves away from us.”

In New York, Hochul hasn’t proposed a measure to ban the sale of new gas stoves for existing buildings, just new buildings. New York’s climate plan, however, backs such a step in the future.

All three proposals being considered in New York — the ones from the Assembly, Senate and governor — have some exemptions, including for emergency back-up generators, hospitals, laundromats and commercial kitchens.

The measures would continue to allow gas stoves in new restaurants, but would ultimately block them in residential and most other new buildings. Details would be worked out by the state’s building codes council.

The proposals face opposition from fossil fuel companies, business groups and homebuilders. Some upstate Democratic lawmakers have concerns about the plan and are sensitive to questions from their constituents about the perceived cost and reliability of electric heating options.

“I would prefer that we incentivize electric buildings, either through tax credits or other proposals, rather than forcing it as an issue because there's a lot of concern and angst in particular in western New York,” said Assemblymember Monica Wallace (D-Lancaster). “We shouldn't necessarily ban people from pursuing other options if that's what they want.”

New York's climate law mandates steep emissions reductions in the coming years with a goal of net-zero by 2050. A ban on burning fossil fuels in new buildings is recommended by the state's climate plan that was developed over a multiyear process and approved last December.

New York City has already enacted a ban on fossil fuel combustion equipment including stoves, with exemptions for restaurants and other specific uses, in most new buildings under seven stories starting next year and in 2027 for taller buildings.

The proposed dates for the statewide new requirement differ, as do the height of the buildings that would be captured. The earliest date backed by the state Senate is the beginning of 2025 for residential and buildings below seven stories. Hochul and the Assembly backed banning gas in new homes starting in 2026.

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Trump to GOP firms: Stop using my image or your clients will suffer

The Trump campaign has sent a warning shot to the Republican Party’s House campaign arm and some of its most prominent digital consultants: Stop using the former president’s image and likeness in your fundraising pitches or you will pay.

In a letter sent on Thursday afternoon to the National Republican Campaign Committee and ten GOP consulting firms, Trump’s top two campaign officials, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, said the former president may not endorse candidates who used firms that were fundraising off of Trump without his consent.

The threat was driven by concern that small-dollar donations that could otherwise be sent to Trump’s own 2024 campaign would instead be diverted to other Republicans who used Trump’s image or deceived donors into believing they were donating to Trump.

“When you deceive the President’s donors and usurp his brand for your own profit, you drain him of the financial resources his campaign needs to defeat Joe Biden and Make America Great Again,” Wiles and LaCivita write in the letter.

The Trump campaign sent the letter to Tag Strategies, Red Spark Strategy, Prosper Group, IMGE, Go Big Media, Push Digital, Convergence Media, Coldspark, Axiom Strategies and Targeted Victory.

Several of the firms are working for prospective GOP rivals to Trump. Coldspark, for instance, is helping former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has announced her candidacy. Axiom is working with a super PAC aligned with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Targeted Victory is a vendor to South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Both DeSantis and Scott are seen as likely contenders. The firms also represent a host of other down-ballot candidates within the Republican Party who would stand to benefit from securing a Trump endorsement.

None of the firms who received the Trump campaign letter commented for this story.

Trump has made similar moves before. In March 2021, his lawyers sent cease-and-desist letters to the Republican National Committee, NRCC and National Republican Senatorial Committee, demanding they stop using his name and likeness in fundraising emails and merchandise. The RNC denied the cease-and-desist demand.

Thursday’s letter is not a legal threat so much as a political one, forcing the party’s main digital consultants to weigh the value of Trump’s endorsement versus the use of his name to raise funds for their clients.

“Going forward, in determining which candidates he will support, the President and his team will consider whether the candidate is paying a digital fundraising vendor that routinely fundraises off of his name, image and likeness without his authorization,” Wiles and LaCivita write. “It is highly unlikely that President Trump will endorse, sign letters for, appear at events with or post on social media about candidates who use such vendors, or invite such vendors’ clients to join him on stage or otherwise recognize them at his rallies and other events.”

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Can Ron DeSantis survive the Donald Trump attack machine?

He hasn’t declared his candidacy yet — but some Republicans fear that their non-Trump savior is showing signs of faltering.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is taking clear and noteworthy steps to launch a presidential campaign: embarking on a well-received book tour, barnstorming early voting states and rubbing elbows with top conservative donors. Meanwhile, allies have staffed up a super PAC to bolster his likely campaign when it is announced.

But the past week has placed some doubt alongside the wild anticipation around such a bid.

DeSantis was compelled to reverse course on his public skepticism about the war in Ukraine following criticism from mainstay Republicans. His poll numbers have dipped. And he was dragged into the very thing he'd been trying to avoid: a public brawl with his chief rival, Donald Trump, whose attack dogs smelled blood.

Even Republicans eager to see DeSantis succeed agree that he has been put in a bind.

“This week was a momentum speed bump for DeSantis — not only for his flat response to the Trump indictment and his Ukraine comment, but also just because Trump sucked up all the wind in the room,” said a New York Republican elected official who is leaning toward supporting DeSantis and was granted anonymity for fear of retribution from either candidate.

DeSantis’ defenders say he's handled Trump’s legal troubles deftly — ignoring them until asked, then zinging the former president in his answer while taking a larger swing at the Democratic district attorney who is bringing the charges.

“I think he’s handled it well. It’s not his issue, he addressed it, he was able to take a shot at Trump and [he] moved on. I don’t know that he could have done any more than that,” said Bill McCoshen, a Wisconsin-based Republican strategist.

Other Republicans say Trump isn't his only problem.

“The way he’s handling the potential Trump issue is fine. I think he’s been clever with it. … But Ukraine — he really put himself in a box I think,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist who handled communications for former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It was very driven not so much to mimic Trump but to ingratiate himself with donors that are smitten with him.”

The DeSantis team declined comment.

The conundrum DeSantis finds himself facing is among the first indications that he may struggle with the same political dynamics that have tripped up past Trump opponents: Align yourself too closely and get tagged as a cheap imitation; attack him and be tarred as a traitor to the cause.

“I don’t think there’s a right playbook unfortunately,” said Jason Roe, who worked on the 2016 presidential campaign of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Trump’s team is certainly armed with counterattacks.

The former president’s campaign has already compiled an extensive opposition research file on the Florida governor and has decided that full bore attacks will allow them to define DeSantis before he even enters the race. Trump’s advisers believe DeSantis’ shifting positions on issues like Social Security spending and Ukraine, his avoidance of the national press, and his underhanded swipes at Trump are backfiring.

“He is walking right into a trap we couldn't have laid any better,” said a Trump adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe how the ex-president’s team is discussing DeSantis. “He's going to attack Trump on things Trump has been attacked on for eight years. What else new is he going to say? In the perfectly scripted, robotic world of Ron DeSantis this strategy would make sense.”

As he figures out how to handle Trump, DeSantis has seen his poll numbers sag: A Monmouth University Poll released Tuesday found the former president gaining on DeSantis. A Morning Consult survey showed Trump leading DeSantis 54-to-26 among potential GOP primary voters. And a CNN poll placed Trump in the lead, though by a much smaller margin.

There are signs that DeSantis is beginning to recalibrate his approach. He snapped back at Trump in an interview with Piers Morgan, set to air Thursday night, according to a preview released in the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post. And he drew subtle contrasts with the ex-president when asked about the nicknames and taunts that Trump has thrown his way.

“I mean, you can call me whatever you want, just as long as you also call me a winner because that’s what we’ve been able to do in Florida, is put a lot of points on the board and really take this state to the next level,” DeSantis said in an exclusive interview with Fox Nation, a favorable outlet for him.

It wasn’t the first time he’s opted to respond to Trump: In November, he dismissed the ex-president’s criticisms as “noise” and urged critics to “check out the scoreboard” from his re-election landslide victory.

Roe, who advised Rubio when the Senator had to deal with Trump’s verbal bombs in 2016, suggested that DeSantis stand his ground but avoid a tit for tat with the former president. Back then, Rubio responded to Trump’s “Little Marco” taunt with one of his own — suggestively remarking on Trump’s “small” hands. But, Roe lamented, “it didn’t wear well.”

“Every interview that I had was responding to something Trump did, said or tweeted and it was always. ‘What’s your reaction?’” Roe said. “You’re not going to win in an insult slugfest with Donald Trump. That’s his strength.”

The question of how intensely DeSantis should respond to Trump is one he will have to answer. And it could very well be that he settles on a less-is-more formula.

“Why would he mess with this ‘do as little as possible’ strategy when it has been relatively successful for him?” said Fergus Cullen, a Republican politician in the early voting state of New Hampshire.

Cullen, a self-avowed “Never Trumper” who hasn’t picked a 2024 candidate yet, said DeSantis has enjoyed the benefit of elusion.

“People project onto him what they want to see in him, and that’s a really nice place to be politically,” Cullen said. “Can’t last forever.”

Meridith McGraw contributed to this report.

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