Rising tensions

Earnings to watch: Netflix will report its earnings tomorrow, Canadian miner Teck Resources will follow on Wednesday, and chipmaker Intel will close out the week with its results on Thursday. A reminder that U.S. markets are closed today for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Like a nasty gossip, it’s basically never good news when the U.S. president starts bringing you up in conversations. Unfortunately, Canada is once again a topic du jour for Donald Trump.

What happened: Donald Trump has reportedly been “focused” on Canada in recent discussions with advisers, specifically on what he says is the country’s vulnerability in the Arctic to Russia and China. 

Why it matters: After deposing Venezuela’s president earlier this month, Trump’s gaze has swung northward to the Arctic, which means there’s a good chance tensions between Canada and the U.S. are about to be inflamed. 

Zoom out: The Greenland issue has put the future of NATO at stake, as well. If Trump makes good on threats to take the island “by force,” it’s difficult to see how the alliance — which was chaired by a Dane not so long ago — survives.—TS

Ottawa will prioritize automakers that build vehicles in Canada. Foreign automakers that don’t build their vehicles domestically will face market restrictions under a new federal plan slated to be unveiled next month. The new policy, which opens the door to Chinese automakers to build cars in Canada for the first time, is designed to support Canada’s 125,000-person auto sector as it reels from U.S. tariffs and factory closures. (Globe and Mail)

Carney will join Trump’s “Board of Peace”. The mission of the board, which will reportedly be chaired by Trump himself, is to enforce the ceasefire in Gaza, though some believe that the U.S. president is looking to build his own United Nations challenger. Countries wanting a permanent spot on the Peace Board will be asked to cough up $1 billion. Even for an entire country, that’s a pretty steep membership fee. (CTV News)

Elon Musk claims OpenAI and Microsoft owe him US$134 billion. In a new court filing, Musk says OpenAI gained up to $109 billion from his early contributions to the startup, while Microsoft saw a $25 billion benefit, even though he only provided OpenAI with $38 million in seed funding. OpenAI called it an “unserious demand,” though the lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in April. (Reuters)

Flair wants to become an airline for business travellers. The budget carrier is rebranding to cater specifically to corporate travellers, though it doesn’t plan to add any first-class amenities. The strategy is to lure in businesses with low prices instead of legroom and lounge access. We’ll see how that trade-off goes over. (The Canadian Press)

Threads now has more daily mobile users than X. Meta’s own Twitter-inspired platform has now eclipsed X’s daily usage on mobile devices, according to a new report. Daily active users on Threads hit 150 million in October. (TechCrunch)—LA

📊 Consumer price index report for December. We’ll see fresh inflation data today, the last such report ahead of the central bank’s end-of-month rate decision. Economists are expecting to see little change in the inflation rate between November and December, keeping the headline level at around 2.2% year-over-year.

🌎 Davos gathering begins. The World Economic Forum meeting in Davos gets underway this week. The theme this year is “A Spirit of Dialogue,” and one expects that there will be some of that as Donald Trump, Mark Carney, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and many European leaders gather in one place with the Ukraine war and the U.S. push to acquire Greenland top of mind.

🇯🇵 Japan election date to be set. Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, is expected to dissolve the country’s parliament today, paving the way for a snap election in February. The exact date will be announced later in the week. Takaichi hopes to ride her personal popularity to a larger majority for her Liberal Democratic Party.

➡️ What else is on our radar: The IMF is publishing its World Economic Outlook today. China, the U.S., and the EU will all release GDP numbers this week.

Remote work has evolved from answering Slack messages in your sweatpants to conducting brain surgeries on a patient 500 kilometres away. 

Driving the news: A team of surgeons at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto have now completed 10 brain angiograms using a robot that they controlled remotely, marking a world-first for the procedure. 

Catch-up: Robo-surgeries have become a game-changer in recent years, with procedures now being conducted as far away as 12,000 kilometres. Just last year, a surgeon in Florida performed a first-of-its-kind prostate cancer operation on a patient in Angola. 

Why it matters: This technology has the potential to dramatically improve Canadians' access to life-saving surgeries, especially in remote areas where hospitals often don’t have surgeons on site. 

Zoom out: Robots have already pulled off fully autonomous surgeries on pig organs, and researchers say human trials for fully-robotic surgeries could begin within the decade.—LA

✈️ $580 million. How much U.S. airlines are expected to save in fuel costs this year, thanks to the growing use of weight-loss products. The airlines are expected to spend ~$38.6 billion on jet fuel this year, but a projected 10% weight loss of passengers could boost their earnings by ~4%.

^{*This is sponsored content.}

Take on the double feature of today’s mini-crossword and the daily sudoku. 

And don’t stop there, we’ve got a bonus mini-crossword with your name on it. As always, please let us know if you spot any bugs.