A truck crosses into the United States on the Gordie Howe International Bridge.JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP/Getty Images
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 on the biggest headlines, stock tips, personal finance strategies and more.
Ottawa weighs response to Trump’s latest trade blow
A transport truck crosses the Ambassador Bridge into the United States, in Windsor, Ont., last month.Dax Melmer/The Canadian Press
The escalating trade war between Canada and the United States took on a new face this week. On Tuesday, Ottawa introduced countertariffs on roughly $28-billion of U.S. goods, and President Donald Trump hit back with new executive orders that will ban imports of certain Canadian goods, including alcohol, motorcycles and some dairy products, and expanded tariffs to include more goods. Most of the new U.S. bans and tariffs are set to take effect on Sept. 29.
On the surface, Trump’s latest counterpunch against Canada looks painful. But Mark Rendell and Jason Kirby looked at the numbers to find that the economic consequences appear relatively minor, and there are signs that this bout is more about recalibrating existing tariff policy than outright escalation.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government is still studying whether to retaliate against the latest countermeasures, but played down the severity of the most recent salvo from Washington. “We’re looking closely at the measures that the Americans have just recently announced,” he told reporters in Banff on Thursday.
Prospectus for Carney’s summit highlights more than 160 projects open for investment
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Alstom Plant in Thunder Bay, Ont., last week. Projects outlined to attendees of his investment summit include a proposed Alberta high-speed rail link and the planned Port of Churchill expansion.David Jackson/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to host some 300 CEOs and senior executives from many of the world’s largest global investment organizations at the first-ever Canada Investment Summit in Toronto next week.
The summit is part of the Carney government’s plan to pitch Canada as an attractive, stable place to invest. Officials organizing the summit, in a 66-page prospectus, identified more than 160 projects in various stages of development across different asset classes for attendees to consider, including a $10.9-billion Edmonton-Calgary high-speed rail link and a $57-billion Port of Churchill expansion. It is framed as “a snapshot of the diverse opportunities available across multiple asset classes, sectors and stages of development.”
The high-profile nature of the event has many on Bay Street keeping close tabs. Here’s everything we know so far about the summit, including the guest list, agenda and more.
Canadian business travel to the U.S. still going strong even as trade war intensifies
The trade war may be keeping Canadian tourists away from the U.S., but business travel is moving in the opposite direction. Air bookings by Canadian business travellers to the United States increased by 16.5 per cent year-over-year in August, even as leisure travel remains down roughly 25 to 30 per cent since the trade war began in 2025.
Companies say long-term contracts, clients and investment ties mean they simply can’t afford to stay away. The technology sector remains an especially major source of U.S.-bound corporate trips, Chris Lynes, president of Corporate Traveller for the Americas, told The Globe and Mail. Tech firms still rely heavily on raising capital in California and New York, where investors in later-stage financing rounds require in-person pitch meetings to write million-dollar cheques.
RBC launches $1.4-billion fund to invest in Canadian technology companies
Royal Bank of Canada's CEO Dave McKay in his office in Toronto. Through the initial fund, the bank plans to take direct equity investments in up to 15 companies with growth that RBC believes it could help accelerate.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Royal Bank of Canada is launching a $1.4-billion fund aimed at investing in up to 15 Canadian technology companies in sectors including AI, health tech, defence and energy.
The country’s largest lender said the RBCx Growth Fund will focus on sectors where it believes the country’s greatest strengths lie, as a way to help Canadian entrepreneurs grow their businesses in Canada.
The fund has already attracted significant interest from investors. The bank has had initial, conceptual conversations with domestic and foreign investors, including those in the Middle East and the U.S. RBC chief executive officer Dave McKay plans to pitch the fund to foreign investors at next week’s Canada Investment Summit.
Foreign money is flooding into Canada. But a closer look reveals a U.S.-driven boom
Foreign direct investment into Canada reached nearly $100-billion last year, the highest level of FDI since 2007. And global investors are keen to snap up Canadian-issued bonds at lower yields than comparable debt in other rich countries – an indication that Canada is a safe destination to park investment dollars.
But a closer look shows that the foreign investment boom is largely being driven by Americans acquiring Canadian companies – a fraught outcome during the trade war, where sovereignty is top of mind.
Reporter Jameson Berkow takes a look at the numbers around foreign capital in Canada and why Prime Minister Carney will need to focus on courting new sources of cash from beyond the United States.
Prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.