LeBlanc ‘Encouraged' After Meeting With Lutnick, Lawmakers Ahead of Tariff Deadline
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap Canada with 35 percent tariffs if there's not a deal by Aug. 1 but the White House has said it would not include goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bank of Canada widely expected to hold key rate steady amid trade uncertainty
OTTAWA — Avery Shenfeld doesn't think the Bank of Canada will cut its benchmark interest rate at its decision on Wednesday, but if it does, he said it will be a "pleasant surprise." "There's always a chance that they'll surprise with the rate cut," the chief economist of CIBC said. "But I'm not holding out that much hope." Most economists are also expecting the Bank of Canada will hold its policy rate steady at 2.75 per cent for a third consecutive decision later this week. As of Friday afternoon, financial markets were placing odds of a quarter-point rate cut on Wednesday at just seven per cent, according to LSEG Data & Analytics. Stubbornness on the inflation front and surprise strength in the labour market have quashed arguments for further easing since the central bank's June decision. The Canadian economy gained an unexpected 83,000 jobs in June, Statistics Canada reported earlier this month, driving the unemployment rate lower for the first time since January. A few days later, StatCan reported annual inflation ticked up to 1.9 per cent last month while the Bank of Canada's closely watched core inflation figures held stubbornly around three per cent. "Overall, sticky inflation readings, a weakening but relatively resilient economic backdrop and prospects for larger fiscal spending are reasons why we do not expect the BoC will cut again in this cycle," RBC economists Claire Fan and Abbey Xu wrote in a note Friday. But Shenfeld's call for a lower policy rate — CIBC expects two more quarter-point drops before the Bank of Canada is done — isn't based on what's happened in the economy, it's about what's on the horizon. Outside of the June jobs jump, the labour market is still broadly weak with the unemployment rate at 6.9 per cent, Shenfeld noted. He also expects Canada's tariff dispute with the United States led to an economic contraction in the second quarter of the year. All told, there's enough "slack" building in the economy to take steam out of inflation in the months to come, Shenfeld said. The Bank of Canada's own second-quarter business outlook survey released last week suggests that many firms are opting to absorb higher costs from tariffs, rather than pass them on to consumers who may be reining in spending amid economic uncertainty. Shenfeld said that's a sign that tariff impacts "won't extend into a more persistent inflation issue." He said that once the central bank gains enough confidence that any tariff-induced inflation pressures will be short-lived, monetary policymakers should feel confident enough to lower interest rates. "I think at this point they know enough to rule out the worst-case scenario on trade," Shenfeld said. Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem has explicitly said monetary policymakers are being less forward-looking than usual in the trade war. The central bank didn't publish a traditional forecast for the economy in its April monetary policy report, instead offering two scenarios for how tariffs could hit the economy. Jimmy Jean, chief economist at Desjardins, said he believes the Bank of Canada will have gathered enough clarity on the trade front to return to formal forecasts in this week's MPR. "The uncertainty is there for everyone to recognize. But there's a point where you've got to sort of, stick your neck out and make the proper caveats," Jean said. Tariff deadlines continue to hover over the Bank of Canada's head — U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to levy tariffs of 35 per cent on Canadian imports starting Friday if a trade deal isn't reached before then, though CUSMA-compliant goods are expected to be exempt from the duties. Some forecasters, including RBC, expect the Bank of Canada is already done rate cuts and will turn the job of stimulating the economy through the trade war over to federal and provincial governments. While Jean also believes the central bank will opt to hold rates again on Wednesday, he said the bank's next decision in September is an "open possibility" for a cut. Trump's sectoral tariffs targetting Canada's steel, aluminum and copper industries are of particular concern for Ontario and Quebec, Jean said. If those tariffs are sustained, he argued more rate cuts from the Bank of Canada will be warranted to cushion the economic hit. In addition to some sector-specific relief, the federal government has moved in recent months to ramp up Canada's defence and infrastructure funding — spending that could offer fiscal, rather than monetary, support for the economy. But Jean said Desjardins is expecting that lift to come over the ensuing years, not months, opening a window for the Bank of Canada to lower rates in the near-term. "We think, despite those measures being in the pipeline, the Bank of Canada will still in September have a valid reason to cut interest rates," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. Craig Lord, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
UPI
24 minutes ago
- UPI
Cambodia, Thailand to meet Monday for cease-fire talks
Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (C) looks on as Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet (L) and Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai (R) take part in talks on a possible ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia; in Putrajaya, Malaysia, 28 July 2025. Photo by Mohd Rasfan/EPA July 28 (UPI) -- Cambodia and Thailand are meeting Monday in Malaysia for talks to end days of deadly fighting over their disputed border. The meeting comes as fighting continues between the Asian neighbors and after U.S. President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that they had agreed to "immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire and, ultimately, PEACE." Prime Minister Hun Manet of Cambodia and acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai both confirmed their separate Saturday night conversations with the American leader. Manet confirmed in a statement that he will lead the Cambodian delegation to Kuala Lumpur, where the meeting will be held. "The purpose of the meeting is to reach an immediate cease-fire, which the prime ministers of both countries, Cambodia and Thailand, agreed on following the initial idea of President Donald Trump last night," he said in a statement. He added that China will be participating. Meanwhile, Wechayachai has raised concerns over Cambodia's willingness to achieve a cease-fire. "Thailand agrees in principle to have a cease-fire in place. However, Thailand would like to see sincere intention from the Cambodian side," he said in a statement. Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry reiterated its stance on Sunday. "Cambodia must demonstrate sincerity and good faith in resolving the issue," it said in a statement. "Thailand stands ready to engage in dialogue to bring forth measures and procedures for the cease-fire and the eventual peaceful resolution of the conflict." It pointed to Cambodian forces continuing to launch attacks into Thailand as evidence that "clearly reflects that Cambodia still lacks the sincerity to end hostilities." "More importantly, they are still neglecting basic humanitarian principles by their indiscriminate attacks." U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed late Sunday that his staff was "on the ground in Malaysia to assist in the peace efforts." "We want this conflict to end as soon as possible," he said in a statement on X, referring to himself and the American president. The fighting began Thursday, with each side blaming the other for renewing a decades-old conflict over their disputed border. Thailand has said that at least 14 civilians have been killed, and that it has returned the bodies of 12 slain Cambodians to their native country. Reports state at least 34 people have been killed in the fighting. According to a Monday statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Defense, more than 134,707 people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 400,000 Cambodian workers in Thailand have returned to their native country in the past five days.
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
China says it wants the world to work together to govern AI. The US, not so much.
At this weekend's World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, boxing robots thrilled the crowd. But the real heavyweight bout is between the US and China over the future of AI. The theme of the Shanghai conference, which was organized in part by the Chinese government and lasts until Monday, is "global solidarity in the AI era." In his keynote address, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called for a new global organization to coordinate responses to AI advancements. "Overall, global AI governance is still fragmented. Countries have great differences, particularly in terms of areas such as regulatory concepts, institutional rules," he said, speaking in Chinese. "We should strengthen coordination to form a global AI governance framework that has broad consensus as soon as possible." Li's pitch contrasted with comments made by US President Donald Trump earlier in the week. On Wednesday, the US president released his " AI Action Plan" and signed three executive orders. All of them, Trump said, were designed to free AI companies from regulatory burdens. "From this day forward, it'll be a policy of the United States to do whatever it takes to lead the world in artificial intelligence," he said before signing his executive orders. Trump's doctrine will likely benefit American AI companies. Many of them, like OpenAI, Meta, and Google DeepMind, submitted recommendations to the president and praised the new policies. However, it's an open question whether forgoing stricter regulations in the United States will benefit humanity. AI industry leaders have long warned about the threats AI could pose — everything from disinformation and economic inequality to total loss of all human control. In 2023, a group of prominent AI scientists, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, signed a one-sentence statement calling for AI regulation. "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," it said. Altman said last year that AI could have a "negative impact way beyond the realm of one country." He said the tech should be regulated by an "international agency looking at the most powerful systems and ensuring reasonable safety testing." One way to do that is through an agreed-upon global framework similar to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is enforced by the United Nations and which all but four countries have signed. The UN tech chief, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, told the AFP on Saturday that the world urgently needed a global deal to regulate AI. "We have the EU approach. We have the Chinese approach. Now we're seeing the US approach. I think what's needed is for those approaches to dialogue," she said. The Trump administration, however, is likely to hinder any such international agreement. Beyond its own effort to loosen restrictions at home, it has largely dismissed other global collaborations in favor of its America First policy. At the Shanghai conference, Geoffrey Hinton, a computer scientist known as the Godfather of AI, said international cooperation on AI would be difficult. He said few countries agree on basics like how misinformation should be policed. He said there was one subject, however, on which the whole world seems aligned: Humans should not let AI supersede their control. "So on that particular issue, it should be easy to get international collaboration," he said at the conference, adding, however, that it "may be difficult with the current US administration." "But rational countries will collaborate on that," he said.
