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Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to the burgeoning trade tension between Canada and the United States with a threat that the province could cut off energy exports to the U.S. in retaliation to president-elect Donald Trump’s threat of sweeping tariffs. But what would it look like if Ontario and other provinces carried out that threat?Some experts say Canada doesn’t have much room to work with when it comes to potential retaliation.On Wednesday, Ford along with other Canadian premiers met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the 25-per cent tariffs Trump has threatened to impose on all Canadian imports on his first day in office, which will be Jan. 20, 2025.After the meeting, Ford offered a threat of his own: to “cut off” millions of American residents living in border states fro...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Canada and the United States need to “make a deal” as president-elect Donald Trump’s threats of sweeping tariffs continues to loom over the two countries. Ford made those comments Friday, one day after Trump responded to his threat of stopping energy exports to the U.S. should Trump follow through.Trump told a CNBC reporter on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday that it was “OK” if Ford did that, adding it was “fine.” He then went on to claim the U.S. is “subsidizing” Canada to the tune of US$100 billion a year — a claim he’s made in the past before.“Well, what you didn’t hear on the tape after (is) he says ‘I really want to make a deal with Canada.’ That’s the first time he’s ever said that, and I respect the position he’s coming from. I’m sure...

French President Emmanuel Macron named key ally Francois Bayrou as his fourth prime minister of 2024 on Friday, but the scale of the challenge facing the veteran centrist was immediately clear as the Socialist Party refused to join his coalition government. Bayrou, 73, gave a sober assessment of whether he could tame a hung parliament that ousted his predecessor, Michel Barnier, just last week.“It is a long road, everyone knows that,” he told reporters. “I am not the first to take a long road.”France’s festering political malaise has raised doubts about whether Macron will complete his second presidential term until 2027.It has also lifted French borrowing costs and left a power vacuum in the heart of Europe, just as Donald Trump heads to the White House and Germany braces for new election...