U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday auto tariffs will be around 25% and he will have more to share on the topic on April 2.
On Friday, Trump said levies on automobiles would come as soon as April 2, the day after members of his cabinet are due to deliver reports to him outlining options for a range of import duties as he seeks to reshape global trade.
Trump has long pointed to what he calls unfair treatment of U.S. automotive exports in foreign markets.
When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in 2015, he ushered in a wave of optimism, diversity and inclusivity. His charisma and vision propelled the Liberal Party from third place to a majority government. Trudeau promised a progressive agenda centered on climate action, gender equality and reconciliation with indigenous peoples — a stark departure from the policies of his Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper.
Nearly a decade later, Trudeau’s popularity has steadily declined. While he did fulfill some campaign promises, he fell short on others, and some backfired, leading to a gradual decline in public trust. Economic challenges, internal party divisions and a series of controversies gradually destabilized both Trudeau and the Liberal Party. His resignation announcement on January 6 marked the culmination of years of dissatisfaction.
Where to begin?
Tomorrow the Montreal police will arrest me for posting to social media against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Today I received a phone call from a Montreal police officer by the last name of Crivello. She asked me to come to a downtown police station where I will be charged for… pic.twitter.com/7fcheB20To— Yves Engler (@EnglerYves) February 19, 2025
It must spend more for its own defense, as American leaders have warned for years.
Europe has been warned, and warned again.
Still, it has been reduced to a near-fainting fit — and, in the case of one German official, actual tears — over the Trump administration’s tough words about its deficient military spending and its moves to begin negotiating on its own with Russia over the Ukraine war.
680,000 law enforcement officers can’t be wrong.
As the Senate crawls toward a final showdown on confirming Kash Patel, 44, as President Donald J. Trump’s new FBI director, it would be wise to ignore Democrat handwringing and, instead, focus on Patel’s widespread support among those in blue uniforms.
“We are inviting a political disaster if we put Kash Patel into this job,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D–Ill.) trembled.
“This is a guy whose judgment is beyond questionable. It’s appallingly bad,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D–R.I.) shivered. “Mark my words: this Patel guy will come back to haunt you.”
Nearly three-quarters of a million law enforcement personnel beg to differ.
Patriotism is considered provincial
Should we get there, it’s strange to imagine Gen Z in our twilight years. Will our women, scraggly stick-and-poke tattoos blooming over wrinkled arms, still call each other “diva” in their knitting circles? Will the men, swapping gurning to EDM for glacial aquarobics sessions in the local leisure centre, still have their mullets? Will everyone die from vaping at 50?
And, most unknowably, will we import our globalised, post-MeToo, post-BLM politics into the 2070s and beyond? I suspect not. The newest crop of pensioners, who came of age in the late Seventies and early Eighties, was as ever far more likely to vote Conservative than their younger compatriots in last year’s general election. Though each successive wave of bus-pass-holders is likely to be more tolerant — or less baffled, at least — on social issues, the inevitable slide Right is a product of shifting priorities, towards pensions, winter-fuel payments and the ability to secure a doctor’s appointment. Gen Z will not be an exception: a cynical view is that the politics of self-interest always supersede voguish causes, such as quibbling over the definitions of identity, as one heads towards the Stannah stairlift.
It didn’t go well.
After inauguration protests fizzled, President’s Day was scheduled for a soft relaunch of the ‘resistance’ under the umbrella of something called 50501 Movement which called for conducting Not My President protests in all 50 states.
Who needs the Klan when there are guys like left-wing lawyer Benjamin Crump doing what it does better?
Canada’s hated prime minister announced he was resigning last month. Most Canadians rejoiced at the apparent end of Justin Trudeau’s reign. His Liberal Party was facing death. Support had fallen to just 16 per cent by the end of December – an all time low.
In truth, Trudeau had not actually resigned. He merely announced he planned to resign. He was aware he was facing a non-confidence motion, which would force him to resign and force an election, which Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives were practically guaranteed to win. To avoid this, he froze parliament. He was essentially holding Canada hostage so he could buy time. This gave him two and a half months, approximately, until parliament would resume in March. An election is now not likely to happen until October, though what might happen in the meantime is concerning.
With the Trump administration cutting off billions of US taxpayer funding for the USAID international slush fund, formerly flush NGOs are now begging woke EU nations for money to continue operations, according to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Robert Habeck—Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and unpopular lead candidate for the left-wing Greens at the upcoming elections in Germany—has criticised President Donald Trump and his ally, South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, for teaming up “to eliminate boundaries on power.”
Habeck stated that Musk—the owner of social media platform X, formerly Twitter—and other U.S. tech giants “must be regulated, if necessary, in a way that aligns with our values,” during a TV debate on Monday, February 17th. Together with his leftist colleagues in the German parliament, he has sought repeatedly to close down free speech.
Conservative MP Michael Barrett publicly release a statement listing conflicts of interest regarding Liberal leadership candidate Mark Carney, calling for transparency.
Carney, former head of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s economic adviser before throwing his name into the hat as Liberal leader — who will become Canada’s next de facto prime minister if he wins the March 9 race, despite not being an elected politician.
A couple of polls …
Conservatives 39, Liberals 32, NDP 15, BQ 8, GPC 4, PPC 2 (Nanos)
Federal vote intention tightens to near-tie as Liberals and New Democrats rally around Carney (CPC 40%, LPC 37%, NDP 10%, BQ 7%, GRN 4%) (Angus Reid)
The former deputy prime minister of the Liberal government says she is the best leader for the country amid the currently fraught relationship with the United States.
Chrystia Freeland, who is running for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, sat down for an interview with CTV News Atlantic’s Bruce Frisko during her visit to Halifax on Monday. Freeland, who resigned from outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet late as the finance minister last year, said it was a “hard thing to do and the right thing to do.”
“I was the one minister who had the gumption to resign,” she said. “We are at an existential moment for our country. I take the threat Donald Trump poses to our country very seriously”.
Mark Carney trouncing Liberal leadership rivals at fundraising
The United States controls many of the key systems onboard Canada’s new warships, allowing the Americans to hold this country hostage over future upgrades or even the provision of spare parts, defence industry officials warn.
Taxpayers are spending as much as $80 billion on a new fleet of Canadian Surface Combatants to be constructed at Irving Shipbuilding.
Tom Homan on AOC: “She's the dumbest congresswoman ever elected to Congress and she proves that every day." pic.twitter.com/gknT2ihOpq
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 18, 2025
