dailynewsnblog
We’re starting the newsletter with a closer look at the potential impact of Trump’s newest tariffs.
Canada would still benefit from some of the lowest tariff rates charged by the U.S. even if the Trump administration imposes new levies on a swath of products, according to an analysis from the National Bank of Canada.
A report released from the bank on Tuesday found the Trump administration’s threatened 50 per cent tariffs would drive up Canada’s average rate from around 5 per cent to only roughly 7.5 per cent.
That rate falls further when making estimates based on the latest trade data. Using the May numbers as a benchmark, the bank found the current duty rate actually paid on Canadian goods will rise from around 3 per cent to just over 5, as producers of heavily tariffed goods will likely seek out alternative markets.
This would push Canada from having one of the lowest collective tariff rates to landing just inside the top 10, though still under the 6.9 per cent global average rate.
Ethan Currie, a co-author of the report and an associate with National Bank, said while the proposed tariffs are “pretty jarring” for impacted producers, they only represent around 5 per cent of U.S. imports from Canada.
Read more from Marco Vigliotti.
Meanwhile, Trump has set his sights on generic drug imports into the U.S. amid the latest bout of trade tensions between Canada and the U.S.
In a social media post, Trump said that as of Aug. 1, 2028, generic drugs being brought into the U.S. will face a 100 per cent tariff, which will rise to 200 per cent a year later.
Trump says the policy is aimed at bringing generic drug production back to the U.S.
According to market research firm Orion Market Research, the North America generic drug market was valued at US$176.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$315.5 billion by 2035.
Shares of Toronto-based generic drug maker Apotex Health Corp., which is the largest Canadian generic drug company, fell more than 10 per cent in late morning trading.
More from the Canadian Press.
Advocates are urging the federal government to increase health care funding and impose more conditions on what the provinces can do with that money.
Friends of Medicare director Chris Galloway says Ottawa shouldn’t give a blank cheque that could allow provinces like Alberta to dismantle the public system.
Galloway and more than 100 others gathered outside a meeting of provincial and territorial premiers in Charlottetown to protest Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s plans to allow some physicians to offer privately paid surgical procedures beginning this fall.
The Alberta government is inviting surgeons to apply this summer to be able to charge patients for elective procedures like hip and knee replacements outside their publicly funded practice.
Surgical Services Minister Adriana LaGrange has said the status quo isn’t working as too many Albertans are sitting in the queue too long to get surgery.
Read more from CP.
In Other Headlines
Internationally
Elsewhere, Nicaragua’s congress, controlled by the country’s long-serving president, Daniel Ortega, has announced a “work plan” to implement the authoritarian leader’s order that the country should no longer hold elections.
The UN and the US strongly condemned Sunday’s announcement by Ortega, who has been in power since 2007 and, after a controversial constitutional change last year, now governs alongside his wife, Rosario Murillo, as “co-president”.
During the ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, in which he helped overthrow the brutal dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza García, Ortega said he would work with congress to pass new laws that would “build a wall” against the opposition.
On Tuesday, the Ortega-controlled National Assembly issued a statement saying that, under the pretext of “ensuring peace, security, stability and the continuity of achievements in the fight against poverty”, it was “beginning the necessary analysis to draw up a work plan to implement the president’s directives”.
The Guardian has more.
The U.S. military launched more airstrikes on Iran early Wednesday as Iran hit back against U.S. military targets in the Gulf and Jordan.
The attacks overshadowed diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, one of the conflict’s mediators, where Iranian Interior Minister Eskander Momeni visited for talks potentially aimed at reviving a collapsed ceasefire between the United States and Iran.
The fighting also comes as the Trump administration is seeking billions of dollars in emergency funding from Congress for the conflict. On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers that the war with Iran has already cost $37.5 billion.
U.S. Central Command said it targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and military logistics infrastructure in its 11th consecutive night of attacks. It said the attacks were aimed at degrading Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz — a vital shipping channel.
More from NPR.
In Other International Headlines
The Kicker
As wildfires continues to force evacuations in Northern Ontario, they’re also uprooting countless pets.
Ottawa’s Rocky Road Rescue says they are expecting dozens of requests for intakes in the coming weeks as more communities evacuate.
The organization is now appealing for foster families to give displaced dogs a temporary home while rescue groups work to reunite them with their owners.
Read more from CTV.
