W.H. Nat’l Economic Council Head on Canada Protests: Steps That 'Do Nothing But Hurt the Economy' 'Make No Sense'

On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Stephanie Ruhle Reports,” White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese reacted to protesters in Canada by stating that “legitimate peaceful protest is, of course, something that is always encouraged. But taking steps like this that do nothing but hurt the economy, hurt families who are just trying to make a living, and hurt our economy really make no sense.”

Deese said, “Well, we’re working in real time to divert cargo, and, as you showed, that’s an imperfect solution, either by rail or by other bridges or by water. But we’re working on all of the elements that we can do in that case. And then staying close to our Canadian counterparts as they work to think about how they are going to approach the — and try to defuse the situation here. I want to be very clear, there are strong feelings about this issue, legitimate peaceful protest is, of course, something that is always encouraged. But taking steps like this that do nothing but hurt the economy, hurt families who are just trying to make a living, and hurt our economy really make no sense. So, we’re going to keep working on this hour by hour. This is something that we are — have been on overnight and will be on over the course of the day, keep trying to find solutions here.”

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