Oh look, more tariffs

Good morning. About 15 years ago, wolves started to return to Denmark after a nearly 200-year absence. The population has grown to the point that some municipalities are now distributing government flyers to tourists explaining what to do if they encounter a wolf.

If you plan to visit Denmark, don’t worry, there’s only an estimated population of 49 wolves, all located on the peninsula of Jutland. That’s nothing compared to Canada’s wolf population, estimated to be between 50,000 and 60,000! Wait, maybe that's not so reassuring after all.

Today’s reading time is 6 minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index posted its biggest rally in nearly six weeks yesterday on the news that energy and mineral exports are exempt from new U.S. tariffs, sparking a surge in those sectors.

Donald Trump has found a new way to impose his beloved tariffs: accuse every country in the world of abusing forced labour. 

What happened: The Trump administration is readying a new wave of tariffs on 60 of America’s trading partners, using allegations of forced labour in each country to legally justify the levies. The tariffs are expected to be in the 10%–12.5% range.

Zoom out: On Monday, Trump announced a 50% tariff on ~US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods with no carve-out for CUSMA-compliant products. To impose those tariffs, Trump is taking a different legal tack, invoking a 1930s trade act that has never been used before by a U.S. president.

Why it matters: As we’ve seen time and time again, Trump uses tariffs (or the threat of them) as leverage. With Canada and the U.S. in CUSMA negotiations, the 50% levy may well be a pressure point to tilt those talks in the U.S.'s favour.

Our take: Trump has threatened tariffs on Canada more times than we can count, for reasons ranging from not certifying U.S.-made jets quickly enough to the Ontario government’s Ronald Reagan TV ad to cutting any “deal with China,” and even wildfire smoke. So far, he has followed through on few of those threats, giving us plenty of reason to think that pattern will continue. —LA

Ontario’s wildfire season is now the worst on record. The latest provincial data shows that it’s already the worst wildfire season in Ontario’s history, with 7,250 square kilometres of forest burned so far. Most of the damage has taken place over the prior 10 days in northern Ontario, where a single blaze near Thunder Bay burned through ~3,200 square kilometres (roughly five times the size of Toronto). There are 139 active wildfires in the northwest region of the province, as of writing, 45 of which are deemed out of control. (Globe and Mail)

Premiers agree to open up alcohol access. Every province except Quebec signed a new deal allowing direct-to-consumer alcohol sales between provinces; Quebec and the Yukon said they planned to sign on to the deal in the near future. Alcohol has frequently been cited as an example of a product needlessly blocked by interprovincial trade barriers. (CBC News)

Apple is rolling out a lease program for its devices. The tech giant is partnering with buy now, pay later provider Klarna on a device upgrade program that would let customers lease Apple products for 24 to 36 months. As it continues to raise prices, Apple is positioning the lease program as a cheaper way to upgrade your device. Customers can either keep the device after their lease is paid off or upgrade to a newer model (and sign a new lease). (Bloomberg News)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

🤝 Meet Arlene Dickinson. You know her from her 16 seasons on Dragons’ Den, where she’s backed hundreds of Canadian entrepreneurs and businesses, including Balzac's Coffee Roasters and OMG Candy. She founded the Calgary-based fund District Ventures Capital, which invests in Canadian food, beverage, health, and wellness companies. We sat down with Arlene to talk about what makes a good pitch, her passion for food security, and why she’ll never rule out a pivot to politics. 

You’ve been on the other side of hundreds of pitches on Dragons’ Den. Do you think there’s a secret to being persuasive in that environment? 

The people who are particularly persuasive aren't just passionate about what they're pitching, they can really define their purpose for why they're doing it. Everybody's passionate, everybody loves to believe that what they're doing is great, but the ones who really resonate with me are the ones who can articulate the why. 

You can love what you do, but that doesn't mean it’s going to be enough to see you through all the challenges and problems, or that you'll be able to build a scaled company just because of your love for it. I love baking cookies, but that doesn't mean I'm going to make a fortune doing it, although some people have. I think it's when an entrepreneur can really articulate why it matters, and why they get out of bed every day to work as hard as they do. 

You’ve said that politics has kind of found you in recent years. Would you ever consider running for office? 

I've learned in my life to never say never. I do think I serve our country in a different way. I think I can be serving Canada without being in public service, and I try my best to do just that. But I do understand that the country needs leaders, and in particular, I think it needs female leadership. So I'd say — again, never say never.

I've lived across the country in a lot of places, so wherever I'd be best, I'd consider [running]. But right now I'm still really interested in supporting entrepreneurs and supporting the agriculture sector in a way that's meaningful. I want to help bring economic and social impact to Canada through food security, food supply, and food commercialization. Right now, that's really where my why is. 

What would be your advice to a young Canadian entrepreneur starting a business today?

Believe in the country, to the extent that you're willing to bet on yourself in the context of Canada. It's easy to get attracted by the shiny baubles of other places and things, but Canada raised you. It helped your family live here. I think you owe things to the country as much as the country owes things to you. So I'd say to a young entrepreneur: don't be afraid, be courageous, be competent, and trust that you're doing it in a country that has a democracy and a freedom that's going to allow you to be all you can be. 

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Read the full Q&A here.

The first international cryptocurrency exchange to officially register in Canada has set its sights on bigger things. 

Driving the news: Coinbase Canada is looking beyond just crypto as it plans to build an “Everything Exchange,” CEO Eric Richmond told BNN Bloomberg, which will include crypto trading, U.S. stocks, ETFs, derivatives, and prediction markets all in one tidy package. 

Why it matters: It seems inevitable that most fintechs will move toward this Everything Exchange model, taking advantage of Canadian financial regulators' current openness to change and prioritizing a wide suite of offerings rather than specific niches to attract users.

Our take: You know what the real market differentiator will be? When one of these apps integrates sports betting into its offerings. Once they figure out how to legally offer a Blue Jays win/Nvidia earnings beat parlay, digital finance will really be off to the races.—QH

📚 US$1.5 billion. Amount that Anthropic can start paying out to plaintiffs after a U.S. judge approved the AI giant’s settlement for the class-action copyright lawsuit brought by various authors and book publishers. The settlement is believed to be the biggest ever for a U.S. copyright case, and will pay $3,000 in damages per work across some 500,000 works.

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