Political news and analysis for Canadians
The Bank of Canada has unveiled the design for the country’s newest $20 banknote, featuring a portrait of King Charles III, and an image of the Vimy Ridge memorial in France to commemorate Canada’s role in World War I.
The new vertical design also has new security features, and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says they are critical to tackling counterfeiting.
“We miss you guys. We miss you at Old Orchard Beach and Kennebunkport and Ogunquit and Bar Harbor and all up and down the coast,” Maine’s governor Janet Mills said.
Asked about Canada’s recent decision to remove seafood from the list of counter-tariffs coming into effect next week, Mills said she wanted to thank whoever made that call.
“There’s not a lot I can do to have an influence over Donald Trump. I don’t think he especially likes me either,” Mills said.
Overall approval of Prime Minister Mark Carney on Canada-US relations has risen from 58% in early August to 68%.
Only 40% of Conservative voters approve of how Prime Minister Carney is handling the file.
Canadians are overwhelmingly supportive of PM Carney’s decision to walk away from trade talks with the U.S. (78% agree) and to place retaliatory tariffs on some US goods (78%).
Approval of how provincial governments are handling Canada-US relations has also risen in every region except Alberta. Alberta remains the only province where more voters are negative than positive towards how their provincial government is managing Canada-US relations.
Semafor: “Nine weeks before the midterms, House Republicans aren’t holding back their criticism of the president’s latest tariff moves.
“In a closed-door meeting on Wednesday with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Republican Study Committee members were “freewheeling in their expressions,” one Republican lawmaker said.
“The US-Canada trade war was “darn close” to the “unanimous subject” of the meeting, the lawmaker added. “People are just looking for a path forward.”
CBC News: Surprising no one, Republican members of Congress are publicly backing Trump in his trade war with Canada and blaming Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government for walking away from negotiations.
While some Republicans are quietly concerned that an escalation of costly tariffs could worsen their re-election prospects in the midterms in November, those who spoke with CBC News expressed support for the president’s trade strategy.
Robert Reich: Mark Carney’s decision to stand up to Trump – through “dollar for dollar” retaliation on goods coming from key industries in states including Ohio and Texas with competitive Senate elections – has led to a surge of support for the prime minister’s Liberal party. Liberals won three special by-elections on Monday.
Trump may also have underestimated the negative reactions to his trade war at home. According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 57% of Americans oppose Trump’s moves to impose tariffs on Canadian imports. About 63% oppose his peevish order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Only 20% support the higher tariffs on Canadian goods.
The negative response is especially pronounced in border states whose economies are tightly interconnected with Canada.
The Guardian: Trump’s ridiculous bullying of Canada is backfiring
At several points during the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville, representatives from Europe, Canada and other nations once friendly to the U.S., criticized the administration for moves that have hurt their economies.
They voiced displeasure over the war with Iran, which has resulted in disruptions to energy markets and shipping. They also raised Mr. Bessent’s surprise decision to sell U.S. holdings of euros to prop up Japan’s currency last month, and the administration’s escalating war of words and tariffs with Canada.
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A Reuters-Ipsos poll shows Americans oppose Trump’s new tariffs on Canada nearly 3-to-1, 57%-20%.
In other words, there’s very little appetite for a clash with Canada. Even nearly half of Republicans support the softer, accommodating approach.
CNN: Americans hate both ‘Lake America’ and Trump’s trade war with Canada
Axios: Trump’s Canada antagonism vexes Americans
Martin Wolf: On August 16th, Donald Trump announced a substantial reduction in joint military exercises with South Korea. On August 19th, he announced what came, five days later, to be called “Operation Economic Outcast” against Iran, defined as an effort to “sever the economic lifelines that sustain the Iranian regime”. On August 21st, US trade talks with Canada collapsed, after the Americans made new demands that would limit Canada’s freedom to make trade deals with other countries and keep its rules protecting the French language. On August 28th, Trump announced “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” which would give the US 55 per cent control of the output of a new Venezuelan company that would develop 17 fields with a “proven potential” of 65 billion barrels.
That is an astonishing effort in just two weeks. The behaviour itself is not surprising. But it does reveal the sort of world Trump believes in. It is a world in which the US does not have allies but satellites; one in which the US can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, to whomever it wants; one in which power alone matters; and, above all, one in which the US thinks that it alone has the power, with that power concentrated in the hands of one man, who is, not coincidentally, a bully.
Financial Times: The wheels are coming off the US world order
On the margins of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Asheville, Minister Champagne held a series of bilateral discussions with international partners, including representatives of the European Union, France, Germany, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Poland, Qatar, Ireland, Singapore, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the International Monetary Fund, asserts the Department of Finance Canada official statement.
These discussions focused on deepening economic cooperation, expanding trade and investment opportunities, and strengthening collaboration in sectors where Canada is well positioned to contribute to global prosperity, including critical minerals, clean and conventional energy and agriculture.
Some Canadians have boycotted U.S. products and stopped travelling south of the border since Trump returned to office in early 2025, but his renewed attacks on Canada are prompting what may be a more permanent rupture between two longtime allies. From street names to supply chains to vacation bookings, Canadians are severing everyday ties in ways that could outlast the current trade dispute, Reuters reports.
“(Trump) is just the king of chaos and destroying everything and nothing good ever comes out of this man,” Hosker told Reuters. “I just don’t like the way he makes fun of Canada,” she said, adding that she finds it embarrassing to tell people she lives on a street named after Trump.
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