dailynewsnblog
We’re starting the newsletter off with some more tariff talks.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says “everything’s on the table” if Canada can’t secure a deal to avoid looming U.S. tariffs before Aug. 19.
Carney was asked today what measures his government is considering in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 50 per cent tariffs on a variety of Canadian goods.
The prime minister says that while Canada has options, there’s no reason to respond to the tariffs before they’re imposed next month.
Carney says the high level of engagement with U.S. trade officials this week has created an opportunity to advance trade talks between Canada and the U.S.
Trump administration officials say the tariffs are a response to provincial bans on U.S. liquor, Canada’s supply-managed dairy system and quotas on certain U.S. vehicles.
The Canadian Press has more.
The text of an agreement to open the new border crossing released this week shows half of Canada’s net revenues from operating the bridge for the first 15 years will be paid into a regional development fund run by the United States.
Carney had said on previous occasions that tolls will not be split with the United States until after Canada’s debt to build the bridge is paid back.
Speaking to reporters in Charlottetown today, the prime minister now says he was referring to the original agreement with Michigan, which remains in place and will see tolls split with the state after Canada is paid back decades from now.
CP’s got more.
A 2023 study commissioned by Transport Canada found workable, near-term opportunities to move more cargo through the Port of Churchill with minimal upfront investment, but calls the overall feasibility of a significant expansion “nuanced.”
iPolitics obtained the report by private consultant PwC in response to an informal access-to-information request after it was referenced in a departmental briefing to Parliament.
Transport Canada withheld large portions of the study, citing exemptions under the Access to Information Act that protect confidential third-party commercial information.
But the unredacted portions paint a picture of what the Carney government knew about the northern Manitoba project before naming it as a ‘transformative strategy’ to be studied by the Major Projects Office last fall.
Aya Dufour has more.
U.S. President Donald Trump says he’s imposing hefty new tariffs on Canadian goods partly in response to our supply managed dairy system, which has long been in his crosshairs over concerns that it unfairly blocks access to U.S. producers.
But defenders of the system argue the Americans have never filled their quota of products that could be imported duty free, a concession made to secure the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement during the first Trump administration.
So, why are the Americans fuming about the Canadian dairy market if they’re not even bothering to export here in the first place?
It’s not for a lack of trying, say Canadian cheese importers, who are pointing the finger at Ottawa for giving around 80 to 90 per cent of these quotas to major dairy processors that are focused solely on protecting their market share here in Canada. They say processors are only using their access to trade with their American branches, preventing different producers from entering the Canadian market.
The International Cheese Council of Canada wants more of these quotas to be awarded to importers and distributors because they can sell to retailers and give American producers a major footprint in this market, which would help defuse protests south of the border even without granting greater access.
Pat Pelliccione, the chair of the council, said Ottawa is turning a “deaf ear” to their proposals and seems content to preserve a system that protects the major processors, even if it risks trade relationships with other countries.
Marco Vigliotti reports.
In Other Headlines
Internationally
Elsewhere, Narendra Modi has vowed to set up “fast-track courts” to speed up the punishment of officials accused of leaking examination papers, as the Indian prime minister seeks to quell a youth-led “cockroach” protest movement that has rocked Delhi and posed one of the biggest challenges to his government.
In his first public remarks on the movement, Modi posted on X: “Nothing is more important than the welfare and future of our youth … Those who try to harm the future of our youth will not be spared.”
The offer of faster justice than usual from India’s clogged judicial system, which can take decades to deliver a verdict, was swiftly rejected by the Cockroach Janta party (CJP), the satirical name the youth protest movement coined after India’s top judge called unemployed youths “cockroaches”.
Saurav Das, a CJP spokesperson, said: “It’s a Band-aid. That’s not giving us accountability. There have been zero convictions so far all these years, so this measure is of no use.” A core demand of the movement is the resignation of the education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, as well as reform of the education system.
The Guardian has more.
Meanwhile, a panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is recommending that the federal government green-light the production of two popular peptides by specialized pharmacies in the U.S.
The actions came during a highly anticipated two-day meeting that began Thursday to consider whether current Biden-era restrictions on production of seven different peptides — none of which are approved drugs — should be lifted.
An analysis presented by FDA scientists didn’t support easing restrictions on BPC-157, often used for ulcerative colitis, or KPV, a peptide used for inflammation.
Despite that analysis, the panel voted identically for each: 8-6 in favor and one abstention. (There were two separate votes on each peptide because there are two chemical variants under review for each one.)
Read more from NPR.
In Other International Headlines
The Kicker
Not to instil new fears about lakes, but some scientists just found out that lake fly larvae can withstand pressure equivalent to twice the depths they usually dive.
Just to show that insects can survive in the oceanic deeps.
This also means there are deep-diving insect in the deep water, they’re just more adaptable.
More from UBC Science.
