Politics

Canada is making “incredible” progress in removing three major internal trade barriers, Transport and Internal Trade Minister Anita Anand told reporters in Halifax on Wednesday. Anand described the work as “fast-paced progress with all of the provinces and territories.”“We had an urgent meeting on Friday of the relevant ministers. At that meeting, we reached three strong recommendations,” she said.Canada’s Committee on Internal Trade met last week to discuss how to open up trade between Canada’s provinces. Anand said the first major recommendation that the committee agreed to implement is mutual recognition of regulations across the country.“That is, in other words, respecting the rules in place in other jurisdictions. So, you don’t have to comply, if you’re a trucker, with moving your lig...

Americans are likely to pay more for products from popular Chinese e-commerce platforms like Shein and Temu as the U.S. Postal Service said it would stop accepting parcels from China and Hong Kong. The move was announced Tuesday, coming after the U.S. imposed an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods and ended a customs exception that allowed small value parcels to enter the U.S. without paying tax. Canada and Mexico managed to negotiate a month-long reprieve from 25% tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.It will likely impact online shopping destinations like Shein and Temu, popular with younger shoppers in the U.S. for cheap clothing and other products, usually shipped directly from China.Cheap, direct postal service helps these companies keep costs low, as did the “de minimi...

President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike. Trump’s suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the U.S. to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get ri...

While a good portion of Canadians live within a couple of hours’ drive of the U.S. border, it is very different than living directly across from our American counterparts, according to Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati. “We all grew up here. We lived our lives here. We’ve got family and friends on both sides,” he told Global News on Monday.“Going across the border is like going across town anywhere else in the country. So we don’t even see the border when you live here.”That familial relationship may have become fractured over the weekend when Donald Trump announced that a round of tariffs were coming for Canadians, a move which was postponed for a month on Monday.“The majority of us are Bills fans. And, you know, we go to Buffalo, we fly out of the Buffalo airport. It’s just a way of life h...

Industry groups in Canada breathed a sigh of relief Monday when U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pause tariffs on Canada after a phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But Canada is not out of the woods yet, they argue, and now is the time to dismantle some interprovincial trade barriers to blunt the impact of future tariffs Trump may decide to impose.Canada’s Committee on Internal Trade met last week to discuss how to open up trade between Canada’s provinces.“By working together with our provincial and territorial colleagues to remove internal trade and labour mobility barriers, we can unlock new market opportunities, attract investment and boost economic growth,” Anita Anand, minister of transport and internal trade, said in a statement after the meeting.The Canadian Chamber...

U.S. President Donald Trump may have delayed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods for a month, but Tyler Pubben isn’t letting his guard down.’ The president of Tapmaster — a Calgary business making faucets with brass and polymer from the U.S. — is looking to reduce the company’s reliance on the U.S. by beefing up sales at home, expanding into new markets and seeking alternate suppliers.“It’s been easier to sell to the U.S. just because the U.S. customer base is larger,” he said Tuesday. “But the political environment is just not as trustworthy as it was even two weeks ago, so we’re actively looking for ways to diversify.”Pubben’s attitude is much the same across Canada’s small business community, which is refusing to treat Trump’s 28-day reprieve as a sure thing because it’s seen how unp...

U.S. President Donald Trump may have delayed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods for a month, but Tyler Pubben isn’t letting his guard down.’ The president of Tapmaster — a Calgary business making faucets with brass and polymer from the U.S. — is looking to reduce the company’s reliance on the U.S. by beefing up sales at home, expanding into new markets and seeking alternate suppliers.“It’s been easier to sell to the U.S. just because the U.S. customer base is larger,” he said Tuesday. “But the political environment is just not as trustworthy as it was even two weeks ago, so we’re actively looking for ways to diversify.”Pubben’s attitude is much the same across Canada’s small business community, which is refusing to treat Trump’s 28-day reprieve as a sure thing because it’s seen how unp...

Water experts are sounding the alarm after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the opening of two dams in Central California late last week, letting approximately 2.2 billion gallons of water flow out of reservoirs. The Army Corps of Engineers released water from two reservoirs in the Sierra Nevada on Friday, but the move didn’t allow for much warning for local farmers, reported Politico.“Local water managers on the Kaweah and Tule rivers had to move equipment and alert farms about possible flooding with only an hour’s notice,” Kaweah River Water Master Victor Hernandez told the outlet, calling the situation “alarming and scary.”He’s not the only one expressing concerns about the water management tactic, which many have argued is a misguided move on the part of Trump, who said in recent we...

The trade war between Canada and the United States is on pause after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed Monday to new measures addressing President Donald Trump’s concerns over fentanyl trafficking across the border, including the appointment of a “fentanyl czar.” The Canadian government moved swiftly to speak about the promise on Tuesday.“What is our objective today? Stop the tariffs. We are going to do what we have to do in order to strengthen this border…because there is so much on the line for everyday Canadians,” Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said at the Emerson, Man., border on Tuesday.“The prime minister signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl that will be backed by a $200 million investment. We are going to be appointing our first fentanyl czar...

As trade tensions rise between China and the United States, Canada is not out of the woods yet, leaving some to wonder if a trade war is inevitable. On Monday, the U.S. and Canada agreed to pause tariffs for 30 days to negotiate new security measures at the border, but the economic standoff between China and the U.S. continues.While the temporary reprieve brings a moment of relief for Canadians, uncertainty still lingers, leaving many Canadians questioning whether a trade war is merely delayed.“President Trump’s crushing 25 per cent tariffs are a complete betrayal of the historic bond between our countries. It is a declaration of economic war against a trusted ally and friend,” British Columbia Premier David Eby said Saturday in response to Trump’s tariff threat.While trade disputes are no...