Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of The Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.
Trump’s Greenland threats and ‘the framework of a future deal’
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Davos on Wednesday.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press
As leaders from government, business and academia gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to take over Greenland set off global alarms on the sidelines. The. U.S. President escalated measures this week, threatening to impose tariffs on Europe unless Washington was allowed to acquire Greenland for strategic purposes. At his Davos speech, Mr. Trump ruled out taking Greenland by force but said he wanted to immediately start negotiations to purchase Denmark’s semi-autonomous territory.
Mr. Trump walked back his threat on Wednesday after reaching “the framework of a future deal” on Greenland with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. As Paul Waldie reports, the proposed deal could include U.S. sovereignty over military bases in Greenland, access to minerals located on the sites and collaboration on his Golden Dome defence system. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Thursday that he was waiting to see details of the proposed framework, but nothing could be decided without the backing of Greenland and Denmark.
Chinese car maker Chery eyes expansion into the Canadian EV market
Chery cars for export are shown at the port in Lianyungang, China, on Jan. 12.STR/AFP/Getty Images
Chinese car company Chery Automobile Co. Ltd. is eyeing an expansion into Canada’s electric vehicles market to sell its mainstream passenger cars and if successful, would be the first Chinese car company to do so in Canada. So far, China has stuck mainly to taxis and buses, rather than mass-market passenger cars.
Matt Bubbers and Eric Atkins spoke to individuals in the Canadian auto industry who have all recently been contacted on LinkedIn by recruiters who say they are working on behalf of Chery. The messages suggest Chery is hiring for key roles needed to build a Canadian sales operation from scratch. The messages also said Chery will open an office in the Toronto area and that the move is part of the company’s “long-term decision to invest and grow its business in Canada.”
With Canada opening the door slightly to Chinese electric passenger vehicles, Jason Kirby takes a look at Chinese auto giant BYD that already made one foray into vehicle manufacturing in Canada that ended poorly.
Decoder: U.S. trade policy towards Canada is far more restrictive than tariff rates suggest
According to a new study, U.S. trade policy toward Canada is far more restrictive than tariff rates suggest three times more restrictive than the country’s average tariff rate. The average tariff on Canadian imports for most products was 4 per cent in October, but sky-high tariffs in sectors such as steel and automobiles have an economic effect equivalent to a 12-per-cent across-the-board tariff, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Jason Kirby takes a look in this latest instalment of the Decoder series.
Vancouver social-media company Hootsuite looking to work with ICE to ‘build trust’
ICE agents and other U.S. officers clash with protesters in Minneapolis on Jan. 13. Hootsuite has secured a contract that involves monitoring social media discussion about the U.S. immigration enforcement agency, though the full scope of the work is unclear.OCTAVIO JONES/AFP/Getty Images
Hootsuite Inc. has been pursuing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the United States, Sean Silcoff and Joe Castaldo report. The Vancouver tech company secured a US$95,000 pilot project with ICE in September, according to internal communications obtained by The Globe and Mail. The materials outline that Hootsuite has discussed monitoring conversations and sentiment on social media related to the agencies, including talk of ICE enforcement actions in specific cities and public perception of the CBP commissioner. The project stems from existing work with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Hootsuite chief executive officer Irina Novoselsky told employees Thursday that the deal will stand so long as the agency abides by the terms of service.
Financial pressures have dogged Hootsuite in recent years and this isn’t the company’s first contract with ICE. In September, 2020, an employee revealed on social media that Hootsuite had a contract with the agency. The posts prompted a wave of media coverage and an online petition demanding that Hootsuite cancel the deal, forcing then-CEO Tom Keiser to cancel the contract.
Opinion: The week at Davos that marked the decline of the West
In a blunt speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr. Carney said that middle powers must stop pretending the rules-based international order is still functioning.FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum this week, which received a standing ovation, has begun circulating widely among political leaders, scholars and journalists as a manifesto for a new age, John Rapley writes in a recent column about the week at Davos that marked the decline of the West. The speech did not mention Mr. Trump by name, but it was clear that it placed blame on the current U.S. administration’s policies for what he called a “rupture in the world order.” It also thrust Canada into a role it hasn’t occupied in a very long time – that of shaping world events. Mr. Rapley also suggests that Carney’s proposal of a new order built by mid-sized powers – Canada, European countries and leading states of the developing world – would aim to preserve an international system in the face of superpower conflicts.
Tony Keller writes in this weekend’s op-ed that Canada should also aim for more trade ties, economic integration, diplomatic cooperation and defence industry partnerships with other non-superpowers. He writes that we’ve long taken the easiest course of getting closer to the superpower next door or, more recently, China – but after Davos, we must seek trade diversification with “middle powers” to thrive.
Take our business quiz for this week
a. GFL Environmental. Hey, whatever happened to that elbows-up thing? Waste disposal giant GFL Environmental is moving its head office from a suburb of Toronto to Miami Beach in hopes of winning a greater following from U.S. index funds. GFL will remain incorporated in Ontario, meaning that GFL will continue to qualify for membership in domestic stock benchmarks, such as the S&P/TSX Composite Index. However, its head office move means it will also gain eligibility for widely followed U.S. indexes.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.