Happy Hump Day - and a quick programming note: it’s tough being a one-man operation and working on this newsletter in some form everyday of the week, whether it’s being plugged into the news 3-5 times a day, scrolling and searching, or trying to summarize things to the best of my ability that still gets important points across. There’s no utilization of AI here, which may be a detriment, but also by design. I knew exactly what I was getting into starting this.

All that to say that there will be a pause for the month of August that will last until just after Labour Day weekend. Hopefully it gives time for the news cycle to move on from tariffs, tariffs and more tariffs, and other incredibly cruel things that are going on.

CANADA

Negotiating or theatre?

Politico got an inside scoop on how negotiations between the United States and Canada are going and it’s not great.

Last week, Trump said the negotiations with Canada hadn't been going too well and that he may just slap a flat tariff of 35% on Canada. Canada has an advantage over the rest of the world in that the majority of its imports are exempt under the North American trade pact including Mexico, and roughly 85% of imports fall under the pact. Canada isn’t going to rush into a deal the same way the EU and Japan have, with the EU’s deal in particular being called a capitulation.

It’s hard to make a deal when you’re stuck in limbo. The report says the majority of “negotiations” have been those representing the U.S. parroting Trump’s talking points about supply management and fentanyl at the border. The situation has been described as “chaotic and one-sided” with Canada doing far more listening.

Canadian officials have been told by the White House that the U.S. is more interested in securing deals with India than it is with Canada at the moment.

Another problem is that there’s no consistency in conversations, with the issue at hand changing with every new discussion. A source says it’ll be about U.S. banks having a larger Canadian presence one day and then switch to dairy quotas or the border another day. The Americans also believe Canada is treating the U.S. unfairly.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Canada has some cards it can play as Trump wants a missile defence system that protects the continent and needs Canada to play ball. Sources also say that officials from Japan, the EU and Mexico have shared notes with Canada about odd negotiations. The administration, for example, gave Mexico a list of demands for a trade deal, but when negotiations resumed, the list of demands grew greater and larger.

Ultimately, what Canada wants out of the trade deal is stability. The flip-flopping and fluctuating tariff rates are crushing various sectors of the economy, and unpredictability in business is never good - it’s even less so for an entire country.

CANADA

🇨🇦 Canadian Stories

• Several parts of the B.C. coast are under a Tsunami advisory as of Tuesday night after a major earthquake in Russia.

• Counter-tariffs on American imports have already cost over $1.5-billion, and the number is forecasted to go to $9-billion by April 2026. This would equate to about $550 per household.

• In a cost-cutting measure, the federal government will stop providing cell phones to public servants, switching to “soft phones” instead.

• Canada is providing $30-million in humanitarian funding to Gaza as a starvation crisis hits the region, and an additional $10-million to help fund Palestinian statehood.

• June data shows the “elbows up” vacation mindset has worked in the hospitality sector’s favour. Canadian hotel and short-term rental stays were up compared to the same time last year, whereas the United States have seen declines in their numbers.

🇨🇦 Business & Finance

• Bell and Cohere are partnering up to sell AI tools to governments and businesses. The partnership will allow Bell to sell Cohere’s LLM tools to its large business and government clients.

• Celestica became Canada’s third most valuable tech stock and pushed the TSX to record highs after reporting better-than-expected financial results. The stock rose over 16%.

• Uniqlo is expanding in the Canadian market, announcing four new locations on the West Coast.

• Air Canada may not be a fan of the “elbows up” vacation mindset, as they reported a drop in second-quarter net income by more than half due to a “challenging environment” that included a decline in travel to the US.

WORLD

🚨 More Headlines

🇺🇸The fighting must end. President Trump shortened the 50-day window he gave Russia two weeks ago to just 10-12 days, saying they must stop the killings in Ukraine. Russia’s onslaught of nightly attacks has continued for over a month now.

🇪🇺No guarantees. Despite $600-billion worth of investment in the United States being part of the USA-EU trade deal, the EU has admitted that they may not be able to hit that mark as the investments would come from private companies that they don’t have control over. Government leaders in the EU have expressed frustration, disappointment and anger over the trade deal, calling it “submission,” “capitulation” and a “betrayal of Europe.”

🇨🇳More children, please. In an attempt to boost the birth rate, China is offering families $500 per child under the age of three years old each year. The move comes after a population decline for a third straight year.

Business & Finance

• Anthropic is facing damages ranging anywhere from $1-billion to $100-billion over a lawsuit about the company’s use of copyrighted books to train its AI models. The dollar amount could push the company to extinction.

• The hits keep coming for the “Tea” app after a second data breach revealed private messages by users that included topics such as abortion and cheating. Now, there are two class-action lawsuits against the app related to the data breaches that exposed 72,000 images, which included driver’s licenses and private messages.

• Starbucks is still slumping, after reporting a sixth consecutive quarter of same-store sales declining. Despite this, CEO Brian Niccol says the turnaround is "ahead of schedule.”

• If you’re ever unlucky enough to live in a city that utilizes AI infrastructure, don’t be surprised when your electricity bill is far higher than what you’re used to.

ICYMI

💭 What else is happening?

• “Happy Gilmore 2” debuted on Netflix on July 25th with 46.7-million views, which is Netflix’s biggest U.S. film opening ever.

• Canadian swimming superstar Summer McIntosh already has two gold medals in her two swims at the swimming world championships so far.

• A new study has found that eggs may actually reduce unhealthy cholesterol levels, flipping the script on what you’ve always been told about avoiding eggs and egg yolks.

RECOMMENDATIONS

✅ To-do

Enjoy the rest of the summer. I’m going to. See you all again on September 3rd.

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