PivotCan We Get Back Together With Canada? | Pivot
Kara Swisher on tariffs, tourism, and tech: Kara and Scott reassess US–Canada ties.
In this episode of Pivot, featuring Kara Swisher and Narrator, Can We Get Back Together With Canada? | Pivot explores tariffs, tourism, and tech: Kara and Scott reassess US–Canada ties Recorded live in Toronto, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway use humor and sharp commentary to explore the fraying yet interdependent relationship between the US and Canada. They link US policy failures—government shutdowns, FAA underfunding, tariffs, SNAP cuts, ICE raids—to broader questions about economic vitality, safety, and national character. The conversation moves from air travel and AI’s economic and geopolitical stakes to the asymmetry of US–Canada trade and how tariffs are driving Canada to diversify away from America. They close by debating progressive politics, tourism declines, masculinity, and how AI-fueled disinformation and social media demand aggressive regulation, especially to protect young people.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Tariffs, tourism, and tech: Kara and Scott reassess US–Canada ties
- Recorded live in Toronto, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway use humor and sharp commentary to explore the fraying yet interdependent relationship between the US and Canada. They link US policy failures—government shutdowns, FAA underfunding, tariffs, SNAP cuts, ICE raids—to broader questions about economic vitality, safety, and national character. The conversation moves from air travel and AI’s economic and geopolitical stakes to the asymmetry of US–Canada trade and how tariffs are driving Canada to diversify away from America. They close by debating progressive politics, tourism declines, masculinity, and how AI-fueled disinformation and social media demand aggressive regulation, especially to protect young people.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasGovernment-induced disruption to air travel erodes economic vitality and safety.
Flight cuts tied to US political brinkmanship hurt tourism, business, and overall productivity, while undermining decades of work that made aviation an extraordinarily safe, high-trust system.
AI may become a broad public good rather than a narrow corporate goldmine.
Galloway argues that, like vaccines, PCs, and airlines, AI could end up widely benefiting consumers and societies rather than allowing a small set of firms to hoard all the value—though he flags geopolitical and concentration risks.
US–Canada trade has long favored US shareholders, making tariffs economically irrational and politically hostile.
Because US exports to Canada tend to be higher-margin, higher-multiple goods, each dollar sold into Canada generates far more shareholder value than the resource-heavy exports Canada sends south, meaning Americans have actually been the bigger economic winners.
Canada’s forced diversification away from the US may strengthen its resilience and innovation.
Trump-era tariffs and unpredictability are pushing Canada to build new supply chains and trade relationships, reducing dangerous dependence on a single, volatile partner and potentially creating more room for homegrown tech ecosystems to flourish.
US budget choices expose a harsh value system that underfunds children while protecting older, wealthier voters.
With children making up a disproportionate share of SNAP recipients and public spending tilting toward seniors and enforcement (e.g., ICE), Swisher and Galloway frame current US policy as shifting from capitalism with winners and losers to “Hunger Games”-style cruelty.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesIf you don't think vaccines are the biggest innovation in history, your head's up your ass and I can't save you.
— Scott Galloway
It's as if the Trump administration said to ChatGPT, 'How can I elegantly reduce the prosperity of Americans inch by inch?'
— Scott Galloway
Your budget reflects your values, and we've decided we're no longer capitalism believing in winners and losers; we're about The Hunger Games.
— Scott Galloway
We have to absolutely get control of the technology industry and pass reasonable and important legislation around transparency, privacy, usage, safety.
— Kara Swisher
There is now, unfortunately, a profit incentive attached to evolving a new species of asocial, asexual youth… it's as if we have connected a profit motive into planning our own extinction.
— Scott Galloway
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
5 questionsHow realistic is it that AI’s benefits will be broadly distributed rather than captured by a handful of dominant firms, and what policies would most influence that outcome?
Recorded live in Toronto, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway use humor and sharp commentary to explore the fraying yet interdependent relationship between the US and Canada. They link US policy failures—government shutdowns, FAA underfunding, tariffs, SNAP cuts, ICE raids—to broader questions about economic vitality, safety, and national character. The conversation moves from air travel and AI’s economic and geopolitical stakes to the asymmetry of US–Canada trade and how tariffs are driving Canada to diversify away from America. They close by debating progressive politics, tourism declines, masculinity, and how AI-fueled disinformation and social media demand aggressive regulation, especially to protect young people.
What concrete steps could Canada take to build a stronger, independent innovation ecosystem without relying so heavily on US capital and markets?
Given the asymmetry in US–Canada trade, what leverage—if any—does Canada actually have in pushing back against US tariffs and political volatility?
What specific regulatory framework for AI and social media would balance innovation with protections against disinformation and youth harm, and who should enforce it?
How can citizens in both countries meaningfully influence budget priorities so that children’s welfare and long-term social health are valued over short-term political gains?
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
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