Canada draws Trump’s ire and faces 100% tariffs

“Good fences make good neighbors,” goes the saying – which appears to sum up US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canada if the country strikes a trade deal with China.

This comes after Trump on Thursday withdrew his invitation to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for the country to join its “Peace Council,” a council initially created to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.

However, such alienation with the United States’ northern neighbor was probably not what the poet Robert Frost meant when he wrote this verse, which was often taken out of context.

Frost goes on to write: “Before I built a wall, I demanded to know / What I was walling up or what I was walling up, / And whom I was likely to offend. This context seems relevant as relations between Washington and Canada become increasingly tense.

In the Pacific, uncertainty took a different form. Sanae Takaichi, Prime Minister of Japan, parliament was dissolved on Friday before the early elections scheduled for February 8. On Sunday, she pledged to intervene in “speculative or very abnormal movements” in the Japanese yen and government bonds, which have sold off in recent weeks.

Both of these measures have a direct implication for U.S. markets, given that Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Rising Japanese bond yields could prompt domestic investors to repatriate capital, putting upward pressure on U.S. borrowing costs.

So far, the markets have welcomed the developments without problem. US Treasury bonds were relatively unchanged Friday in the United Statesjust like the S&P500. THE Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.28% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.58%.

Calm did not continue into the new week. Futures contracts slipped Sunday evening in the United States as investors prepared for a busy week of trading. Apple, Meta And Microsoft are set to release their results and the Federal Reserve concludes its rate-setting meeting on Wednesday.

Trump threatens to tax Canada 100%. “If Canada concludes an agreement with China, it will be immediately hit with a 100% tariff“, the president wrote in a Truth Social article on Saturday. Canada reached a milestone earlier this month. preliminary agreement to reduce trade barriers with Beijing.

Japan undertakes to intervene in market speculation. Investors have sold Japanese government bonds and the yen in recent weeks. “The government will take the necessary measures against speculation or very abnormal market movements“, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Sunday.

India plans to reduce customs duties on European cars. Cars from the European Union whose import price exceeds 15,000 euros ($17,800) will be face 40% duties, down from 110%, Reuters reported, citing two sources. Rates will be lowered to 10% over time.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday. Goldman Sachs shares fell almost 4%, Intel fell by around 17%, while Nvidia And Advanced microdevices climbed 1.5% and more than 2%respectively. Europe Stoxx 600 closed mostly flat. Gold Price exceeded $5,000 Monday.

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Investors have turned to Davos for AI. They left talking about Greenland

Walking between panels, hotel lobbies, and meetings last week, it often felt like two conferences were taking place in the same snowy Swiss village.

In Davos, the mood was surprisingly optimistic. Executives and investors have talked about moving artificial intelligence from hype to production, terms such as “global models” and “physical AI” were thrown everywhere.

In the other, discussions appeared to end on tariffs, Greenland, geopolitical tensions and a growing sense that the global rules that investors have relied on for decades are evolving in real time.

-Spriha Srivastava