Senator says U.S. tariffs from Trump White House damaging for Washington state
In a conference call led by Democrat U.S. Senator Patty Murray that included British Columbia Premier David Eby, Murray said regions such as Whatcom County bordering Canada get about 12 per cent of taxable retail income from Canadian consumers.
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Winnipeg Free Press
35 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
The clock is ticking on tariff negotiations
Opinion It's T minus one. As in, tariffs minus one. Or Trump minus one. Or maybe even TACO minus one. Only time — precious little time — will tell. ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Prime Minister Mark Carney On Aug. 1, the Trump administration has said its self-imposed range of tariffs on myriad foreign countries — including Canada — will come into effect. (Unless it turns out to be TACO minus one — U.S. President Donald Trump has backtracked so many times on announced tariffs that he's earned the nickname 'TACO,' an acronym for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.') For Canada, that would mean a 35 per cent tariff on products not detailed in the USMCA trade deal, as well as the continuation of tariffs on aluminum, steel and automobiles, and a new copper tariff that also would come into effect on Friday. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the negotiations between Canada and the U.S. are in an 'intense phase.' Meanwhile, the Opposition Conservatives have complained that Canada is being left behind as others reach deals with the U.S. But at least two of those deals seem to be running into confusion and contrary claims — especially because they aren't on paper yet. Trump claimed that the government of Japan bought its way into lower tariffs — going from 25 per cent to 15 per cent — by agreeing to invest US$550 billion in the U.S., an investment that Trump says would see the U.S. government get 90 per cent of the profits. Japan says it made no such offer, that if anything, the suggestions was for 'up to' US$550 billion with no set amount, and that profits from any Japanese investment would be paid on a proportional basis, based on how much each party invested. Japanese officials have also said there is no written agreement, and that there would not be one based on Trump's terms. Meanwhile, a widely heralded deal with the European Union is also hitting the shoals of Trump exaggeration: numbers on the purchase of energy by EU member states have been questioned by the EU and it now appears that all EU members will vote on a prospective deal, while Trump characterized it as a historic complete package. The EU and the U.S. also have conflicting impressions about tariffs on pharmaceuticals, tariffs on steel and aluminum, investment in U.S. companies by the EU, and purchases of U.S. weapons. For example, the U.S. version is that the EU will buy U.S. weapons, while the EU says absolutely no such commitment was made — or could be made, as military procurement is determined by individual member countries. The U.S. also claims that the EU has promised to make a range of regulatory changes to benefit U.S. exports of food and agricultural products, along with changes to financial and tax barriers on digital industries. The EU says that's a hard no — 'We're not moving on our regulations. We're not moving on our rules. We're not moving on the system that we built up over many decades that our citizens trust,' Olaf Gill, the EU Commission's spokesperson for trade said. 'That will not form part of this agreement with the U.S.' Weekday Evenings Today's must-read stories and a roundup of the day's headlines, delivered every evening. So it's all clear as mud. And what happens next for Canada? We'll find out, perhaps, on Friday. But more than anything else, move slowly and deliberately and in a calculated way, don't get rushed into a bad deal, and keep in mind that any deal is open to President Trump's penchant for exaggeration and fabrication. And for his unmatched ability to fail to live up to a signed commitment. And that's for the short term. The long term? Find new global customers. Ones that can be counted on to make an honestly negotiated deal and stick to it.
Calgary Herald
35 minutes ago
- Calgary Herald
Canada commits funding to joint AI safety effort with the U.K.
Canada is collaborating with the U.K. on a new artificial intelligence safety initiative as the U.S. pushes its vision of a zero-sum AI race that will see it remove guardrails on development and deployment of the burgeoning technology. Article content On Wednesday, Canada announced that it will commit $1 million to a $29 million joint AI safety effort with the U.K. that will bankroll research and commercial projects focused on keeping advanced AI systems in line — in other words, ensuring that they operate safely, reliably, and in a useful way, and without unintended or harmful actions. Article content Article content Article content 'Together, we're advancing cutting-edge research to ensure (the) next generation of AI systems are not only powerful but also reliable — serving societies here at home and around the world,' said minister of AI and digital innovation Evan Solomon in a statement. Article content The initiative, called the AI Alignment Project, is spearheaded by the U.K.'s AI Security Institute (AISI) and will involve the Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI) under the umbrella of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR), a research organization focussed on innovation and deep tech. Other financial backers include enterprise partners such as Amazon Web Services, Inc. and venture firm the Safe AI Fund, and non-profits such as New-York headquartered Schmidt Sciences, LLC. Article content The project will provide grant funding for researchers across disciplines including computer and cognitive science; help organizations and individuals access venture capital investment; and secure 'compute,' the computational power needed to train and run AI models. The call for proposals, which launches Wednesday, will be open until September. Article content Article content Prominent AI experts including Canadian-French computer scientist Yoshua Bengio, known as one of the 'godfathers of AI,' will serve on the advisory board to help steer the effort and to select the successful proposals by November. Article content Article content Canada's participation in the U.K.-led AI safety effort fits into Ottawa's broader AI vision for Canada — one that involves building trust in, and adoption of, the technology — and lets Canadian researchers have a seat at the table when it comes to global efforts on AI safety, according to Elissa Strome, executive director of pan-Canadian AI strategy at CIFAR. There are 'few challenges more urgent than ensuring AI is safe, predictable, and beneficial for all,' she said. Article content The launch of the new initiative takes place amid broader shifts in the conversation on AI. As the tech becomes an increasingly important feature of national security and economic competition, the U.S. has peddled a light-touch regulatory approach, while jurisdictions such as the EU have championed tougher-on-tech rules. Industry groups and AI safety scholars have also clashed over how AI should be regulated, developed and deployed.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Asian shares are mostly higher after China-US talks end without a trade deal
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in Asia were mostly higher on Wednesday after the U.S. and China ended their latest round of trade talks without a deal. U.S, futures edged higher while oil prices slipped. Beijing's top trade official said China and the United States agreed during two days of talks in Stockholm, Sweden, to work on extending an Aug. 12 deadline for imposing higher tariffs on each other. The U.S. side said an extension was discussed, but not decided on. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says the American team would head back to Washington and 'talk to the president about whether that's something that he wants to do.' A Friday deadline is looming for many of Trump's proposed tariffs on other countries. Several highly anticipated economic reports are also on the way, including the latest monthly update on the job market. 'Markets had been floating on a cloud of trade optimism — first Japan, then the EU — but the sugar high is wearing off. Now, with U.S.-China talks dragging on in Stockholm, there's a growing sense that the momentum is stalling,' Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index shed 0.3% to 25,441.64 while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.5% to 3,628.53. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index edged less than 0.1% higher to 40,687.17. Gains for electronics companies were offset by losses for major exporters like Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,759.20 and in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.9% to 3,259.00. Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.9% while the Sensex in India edged 0.1% higher. On Tuesday, U.S. stock indexes edged back from their record levels as a busy week for Wall Street picked up momentum. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 6,370.86, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5% to 44,632.99. The Nasdaq composite was down 0.4% at 21,098.29. SoFi Technologies jumped 7.4%, but Merck dropped 2.2% and UPS sank 9.2% following a torrent of profit reports from big U.S. companies. They're among the hundreds of companies telling investors this week how much they made during the spring, including nearly a third of the stocks in the S&P 500 index. UnitedHealth Group dropped 5.8% after reporting a profit for the spring that fell short of analysts' expectations. It also gave a forecast for profit over all of 2025 that investors found disappointing. The health care giant said it expected to earn at least $16 per share, when analysts were looking for something close to $20, according to FactSet. Shares of Novo Nordisk that trade in the United States tumbled 21.3% after the Danish company cut its forecast for sales growth this year, in part because of lower expectations for its Wegovy weight-loss drug amid high competition. Treasury yields sank as the Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on interest rates. Despite pressure from President Donald Trump for lower rates, which would give the economy a boost, the widespread expectation is that the Fed will wait for more data about how Trump's tariffs are affecting inflation and the economy before making its next move. The U.S. economy appears to be slowing. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. One report on Tuesday said that U.S. employers were advertising fewer job openings at the end of June than a month before, though still more than economists expected. A separate report said confidence rose among U.S. consumers, but a measure of their expectations about the near term remains below the level that typically signals a recession ahead. In other dealings early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 7 cents to $69.28 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, was up 13 cents at $71.82 per barrel. The dollar fell to 148.13 Japanese yen from 148.48 yen. The euro rose to $1.1554 from $1.1546. ___ AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Stan Choe contributed.
