Good morning. U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs are accelerating China’s campaign for a new global order – and a rewiring of the energy market. That’s in focus today, along with a look at why Tesla’s brand is regaining its shine.
Up first
In the news
Taxes: Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced a 100-day plan to reduce delays and improve service standards at the Canada Revenue Agency, calling taxpayers’ current troubles in accessing assistance from the tax agency “unacceptable.”
Tariffs: Trump promised to launch a Supreme Court appeal to defend his use of tariffs on imports on a wide array of foreign goods, warning that a loss “would destroy America.”
Small business: Business Development Bank of Canada hiked provisions for expected loan losses sharply in its fourth quarter, reflecting the potential hit from U.S. tariffs on the small and medium businesses financed by the federal Crown corporation.
Deals: CI Financial Corp. put the financial heft of its new owner to work, acquiring two European fund managers with US$214-billion in assets to double the size of its high-net-worth wealth-management business.
On our radar
- A labour productivity report from Statistics Canada this morning is expected to show a small contraction, which would end a rare two-quarter streak of gains.
- Tech stocks stay in focus with earnings from Salesforce Inc. and Hewlett-Packard.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrive at a military parade on Wednesday in Beijing.Sergei Bobylev/The Associated Press
In focus
Pageantry and power deals
China’s Xi Jinping stood alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a military parade in Beijing, a tableau designed to display Xi’s reach beyond Asia and his ability to gather U.S. adversaries under one banner.
The event marked 80 years since Japan’s defeat in the Second World War, which also ended a brutal occupation of China – a milestone that Beijing cast as proof of national resilience and military strength. Tens of thousands watched as the three leaders appeared with China’s modernized armed forces.
The visit produced a new 30-year pipeline agreement between Gazprom, Russia’s state-controlled energy giant, and China National Petroleum Corporation, and analysts now expect trilateral military exercises, underscoring how Moscow and Pyongyang have moved closer since the war in Ukraine began.
The combination of spectacle, energy deals and looming military co-operation reflects Xi’s push to knit a coalition outside the West – a project accelerated by Trump’s confrontational trade policies. For countries like India, caught between Washington and Beijing, that shift also shapes where future energy ties may be forged, including with Canada.
Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the start of the military parade in Tiananmen Square.GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images
Xi courts India as ties with Washington fray
The same theme ran through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting this week in Tianjin, where Xi called for a “more just and equitable global governance system.” He said the world is undergoing “once-in-a-century transformations” and urged members to resist “Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying.” The SCO, founded in 2001 with Russia and four Central Asian states, now includes India, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus, along with more than a dozen observers. Xi told delegates its “international influence and appeal are increasing.”
On his first trip to China in seven years, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the summit that it is vital for India and China to strengthen co-operation “given the uncertainties in the world economy.”
Modi’s visit followed months of tension with Washington over border disputes, India’s reliance on Russian oil, and a new round of U.S. tariffs – and signalled a tentative opening in relations with Beijing, Asia correspondent James Griffiths writes.
Trump said his decision to impose an additional 25-per-cent tariff on Indian imports was a national-security response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, arguing that India’s purchases of Russian crude help fund the war – a justification India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
That unpredictability has only grown after a U.S. appeals court struck down the core of Trump’s tariff powers, a ruling now headed to the Supreme Court. For Canada and other trade partners, the decision has injected new uncertainty into whether Trump’s levies will survive, Nicolas Van Praet reports – and raised the prospect that the White House will simply shift to other duties on cars, steel or aluminum. For India, already facing a 50-per-cent tariff, the ruling is another cue to look elsewhere for stable energy and trade ties.
The country staged its largest-ever military parade to show off its might, and to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat in the Second World War.Ng Han Guan/The Associated Press
An opening for Canada?
Pressed by U.S. tariffs and geopolitical risk, Indian refiners have already reduced orders of Russian crude by as much as half and are seeking new suppliers. Indian Oil Corp. has purchased 500,000 barrels of Western Canadian Select for September delivery, and Canada now has the Trans Mountain expansion in service to move more barrels to the Pacific and on to Asia.
As Globe columnist Rita Trichur recently argued, that makes this a moment for Ottawa to repair strained ties with New Delhi and position Canadian producers as a credible alternative to Russian crude. Modi once described Canada as an “energy superpower” that could help meet growing demand from India, the world’s fifth-largest economy and home to the largest refinery on the planet.
Trump has dismissed India’s economy as “dead,” but his tariffs may create opportunities others are ready to seize: Xi is courting Modi while consolidating his ties with Putin and Kim, leaving Canada with a narrow window to make its own case in New Delhi.
Quoted
They said it couldn’t be done. So we were out there to show it can be.
— Lance Lund, Raptor Picker Services and Hotshots.
The excavator sat for 11 years in Saskatchewan’s Quill Lakes, where it had gone through the ice during a 2014 highway job. Others tried and failed to bring it out, and in time it became a landmark of sorts, even drawing five-star reviews online. Lund’s crew hauled it clear this summer, ending the strange life of the excavator in the lake.
Charted
Recharging
Months after Tesla owners across Canada dashed to sell their vehicles in the wake of backlash against Elon Musk, the carmaker’s market share and sales seem to have rebounded.
Musk’s jabs at Canada’s sovereignty and his friendship with U.S. President Donald Trump, along with cuts to EV subsidies and federal rebates across Canada, had dealt multiple blows to the brand’s image last spring. A recent bump suggests that brand trust and price incentives may have overshadowed political backlash in the long run.
Bookmarked
On our reading list
In Vogue: Anna Wintour ended weeks of speculation when she named Chloe Malle her successor as head of editorial content. Tough way for me to find out.
At work: Who is the most stylish person at your office? The Globe wants to know.
Returning to the office: How to budget for the extra costs of going back to buildings.
Morning update
European shares climbed, bouncing back from steep losses yesterday, while Asian benchmarks closed lower as investors awaited U.S. job openings data.
Wall Street futures were in positive territory while TSX futures inched higher after Canada’s main stock market closed at another record high yesterday.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.68 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.52 per cent, Germany’s DAX gained 0.74 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.96 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.88 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.6 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 72.48 U.S. cents.