Solar stocks plummet after Trump’s tax bill advances in U.S. House

By Reuters
May 22, 2025 

Shares of U.S. solar companies fell sharply in premarket trade on Thursday after the House of Representatives advanced U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which may end numerous green-energy subsidies that have supported the renewable energy sector.

Sunrun RUN.O led the market rout, with shares falling as much as 33%, Complete SolariaSPWR.O fell nearly 22% while Enphase Energy ENPH.O, Maxeon Solar MAXN.O and SolarEdge Technologies SEDG.O dipped between 10% and 15.6%.

Shares of JinkoSolar JKS.N fell 2.3%, while First Solar FSLR.O and Canadian Solar CSIQ.O dropped 6.5% and 10%, respectively.

Trump’s budget package - which he calls “one big beautiful bill” - would eliminate funding established under the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and repeal grants intended to reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions or purchase electric heavy-duty vehicles.

The bill would remove the 30% federal tax credit for taxpayers who install solar rooftop systems, posing a significant challenge to the industry.

While the industry anticipated the gradual phase-out of wind and solar tax credits, the new version of the bill accelerates this timeline, Raymond James analyst Pavel Molchanov told Reuters.

As per the new proposed timeline, solar or wind projects must begin construction within 60 days of the bill’s enactment and finish construction by year-end 2028. Otherwise, they will no longer be eligible for tax credits.

Clean energy stakeholders now turn their attention to the Senate, where the bill is headed next before it is sent to the president, hoping it will reverse many of the proposed revisions to the IRA.

“While the bill is in the Senate, the solar and wind industries will actively lobby to reverse the new changes made by the House,” Molchanov added.

Vallari Srivastava, Reuters

Hybrid power is here: Indianapolis 500 could be dramatically reshaped by jolts of electric juice

By The Associated Press
May 21, 2025 

Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, center talks with Ed Carpenter, left, and Jack Harvey, of the United Kingdom, as the drivers gather for a photo before the start of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Monday, May 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Castroneves felt an immediate difference — a subtle but noticeable uptick in speed — the first time he utilized the boost of horsepower offered by IndyCar’s novel hybrid engines around the imposing oval of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The question now facing the four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, along with the rest of the drivers on the 33-car starting grid for the 109th running on Sunday, is how best to capitalize on the hybrid over 200 laps spent entirely on edge.

Empty it entirely and then wait for it to recharge, which might take several laps? Save it for short bursts for passes or to defend? Perhaps use it slowly to run down the leader or build a big advantage once out front?

“There is so much more that goes into this than I think people realize or recognize,” acknowledged Indy 500 veteran Graham Rahal, whose father Bobby Rahal won the 1986 race. “It’s an interesting thing. I mean, the hybrid, it’s quite powerful here. On a single lap if you utilize it correctly, it does make a hell of a difference in lap time or lap speed.”

The genesis of the hybridization began years ago, when IndyCar manufacturers Chevrolet and Honda wanted to better align their racing programs with a shift in consumer demand toward hybrid and electric vehicles. But the project was beset by delays as engineers struggled to fit a bespoke hybrid unit into the IndyCar chassis designed more than a decade ago, and that had to meet certain requirements for weight and safety, among other things.

The result was finally unveiled before last year’s Indy 500, a design based around ultracapacitors rather than heavy batteries. It provides a quick boost to the existing 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engines before recharging to be used again.

The system was introduced at Mid-Ohio midway through last year’s IndyCar season and has been in use ever since.

But it has never been used somewhere like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where speeds at the end of each straight can hit 240 mph, and the difference between winning and losing can be measured in thousandths of a second.

“I’ve had some really interesting conversations with drivers about how of all places where the hybrid is going to make a huge difference, it’s going to be at Indianapolis,” IndyCar president Doug Boles said. “I asked why and they say, ‘Well, you think about Indianapolis, how trimmed out we are — especially in qualifying — any incremental difference in horsepower makes a difference.

“We’re going to see some exciting racing,” Boles continued, ”and the strategies that I have heard from drivers in terms of talking about how to deploy the hybrid vary wildly. It’s going to be fascinating to watch how this goes.”

It hasn’t gone without its share of problems, either, dating to an open test last month and right through practice Monday.

For one thing, the hybrid still checks in at about 100 pounds, which is significant on a car that weighs just 1,600. And all of that weight is in the back of the car, which has dramatically altered the way they are balanced and ultimately perform.

“That’s a lot of mass percentage-wise you are adding,” two-time defending Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden said. “It’s almost like adding 200, 250 pounds to a stock car. If you said, ‘Hey, guys, we’re going to bolt 250 pounds to these stock cars, see what you think,’ I bet they would all go, ‘OK, this drives differently.’ And now we have to counteract it.”

Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood is among many who believe the additional weight makes cars harder to drive, and Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong said, “I do believe the window is considerably smaller, the balance window.”

Armstrong crashed in practice last Saturday and had to squeeze into the field in a backup car on Sunday.

Then there’s the fact that the hybrid unit — while mostly reliable — is still a machine, and machines can have problems. Rinus Veekay’s hybrid didn’t work at all during his first qualifying run for the final row of the starting grid, while 2008 winner Scott Dixon had his practice Monday cut short after just six laps when a warning light blinked for an overheating issue.


Nevertheless, the hybrid technology will play a part in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Sunday. And if it comes down to the final laps, it could be a big part, as the leader tries to hold on and the chasers try to time their boost for a winning pass.

“I think it definitely adds some variables,” said Dixon, who will start on the second row. “If you’re sitting out front, you could be a bit of a sitting duck, especially if everybody is kind of recharged and ready to go behind you.

“I think the biggest thing that we’ve probably all learnt so far, you’ve got to be ready for change, is probably the biggest thing,” he added. “But I think it could ultimately change how the end of the race plays out.”

___

Dave Skretta, The Associated Press

CANADA

Stellantis blames tariffs for Daytona R/T production postponement at Windsor Assembly

By Ricardo Veneza
 May 22, 2025 



On the same day it announced a $388 million dollar investment in Metro Detroit, Stellantis has confirmed to CTV News it will postpone production of the Windsor-built Daytona R/T line for the 2026 model year due to tariff uncertainty.

On Wednesday, the company made no reference to sales performance of the all-electric muscle car in its decision making, instead pointing to the need to review the impacts of U.S. tariffs before moving forward with planned production.

“We don’t know how many [Daytona models] are going over there,” said Greg Layson of Automotive News, in reference to sales of the new model in the U.S. “It’s possible that that was the best-selling trim level of the Charger Daytona, but it’s possible it’s not.”

Several automakers have scaled back EV production and investment plans considering softer-than-expected demand in the burgeoning sector.

“We’re seeing this shift is not necessarily a reduction in total Charger volumes, but more of a shift in their focus to more of their [internal combustion]-based variants of the vehicle,” said Joe McCabe, president and CEO of Auto Forecast Solutions. “If they’re not forced to make electrified vehicles to satisfy a carbon footprint then they’re going to look at the where the money is, and they have to follow the money.”


McCabe points to Tesla as essentially the only major manufacturer turning a profit on electric vehicles, bringing into sharp relief the struggles of the Big Three and other automakers in meeting lofty government targets to electrify passenger transportation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the fight against global warming.

Another challenge hampering EV sales, Layson notes, is the loss and scale back of government incentives — pointing to Ontario’s lack of an EV rebate as part of the shift sending demand into reverse.

“That hurts when you don’t have a rebate in the biggest market in the country,” said Layson. “When demand falls, production slows. That’s just the name of the game.”

In a statement from Stellantis, spkoesperson LouAnn Gosselin said, "Production of the Dodge Charger Daytona R/T is postponed for the 2026 model year as we continue to assess the effects of U.S. tariff policies. The Charger’s flexible, multi-energy STLA Large platform allows us to focus on the Charger Daytona Scat Pack’s performance as the world’s quickest and most powerful muscle car, add the new four-door model to the Charger mix for the 2026 model year and lean into the new Charger Sixpack models that will launch in the second half of the year.”

The postponement at Windsor Assembly follows a pair of production pauses at the plant, at least one of which Stellantis highlighted tariffs as part of the reasoning; however, Layson doesn’t see this latest move concerning the Daytona line as a major red flag — suggesting Windsor is well positioned to ride out rough waters.

“It’s why I always say, ‘If you’re going to work at an auto factory in Ontario, it’s best to be in Windsor,’” said Layson. “It builds internal combustion engine vehicles, hybrid minivans, and electric vehicles. You can do all three in that plant. And so, when the tides turn, you have something else to build.”

The move comes ahead of shift smoothing in June at Windsor Assembly, which will see alternating layoffs for workers.

While Layson sees the shift smoothing as a sign of normal summer production, he believes the overall picture brings into focus the hesitancy in the sector — pushing the return of the third shift at the plant further down the line as the White House continues to sow chaos for the industry.

“They’re [automakers] not posting any of their financial guidance for the remainder of the year,” Layson told CTV News. “So, there’s a lot of stuff we as journalists, and even analysts, don’t know because automakers are really guarded right now.”

Topeka Chamber of Commerce president visits Ottawa to strengthen trade ties

By Daniel Johnson

CTV

May 21, 2025 

A man walks past the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kan., June 17, 2024

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Evert Nelson/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP

The president of the Topeka Chamber of Commerce will be in Ottawa this week in an attempt to strengthen trade ties amid tariff uncertainty, saying that tariffs are impacting Kansas businesses.

In an interview with BNNBloomberg.ca last week Juliet Abdel said the organization represents over 1,000 businesses in the state of Kansas. According to figures from the federal government based on 2024 data, the region exports US$2.6 billion in goods to Canada annually and imports $2.1 billion in goods from Canada each year. Meanwhile about 98 Canadian owned businesses are located in the state. According to Abdel around 20 per cent of the workforce in Shawnee County, Kansas is connected to international trade.

“What we have continued to say is, our position on these tariffs is, we view tariffs as a tax on our businesses that have to then pay for these and it’s passed on to consumers,” Abdel said.

“When consumers go to pick up an item, they’re already starting to see this 10 per cent, in some instances, on services because of this unknown.”

Abdel added that the goal is to continue to build on existing relationships during the visit to Canada’s capital. Some of the organizations she will be meeting with in Ottawa include Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd., the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the International Trade Administration, Ottawa Tourism as well as the Mayors of Ottawa and Newmarket.

“Canadians in general, while they’ve been discouraged a little bit with all these conversations governmentally, they’re very receptive from the business lens in having these conversations together,” she said.

“They know and understand that there’s been a value that’s been felt seen and is intrinsic in both of our communities and they’re very excited to continue that. They have shared that they want to continue to be a partner and of course they’ve also come out and shared their particular perspectives on what’s happening and some of them have frustrations, of course, that they feel throughout it.”

Going forward, Abdel said she is hoping to see tariff exemptions start to show up across certain industries. She added that the Topeka Chamber of Commerce has pushed to expand and support the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

‘Buy Canadian’

As trade tensions continue, some Canadians are choosing to “buy Canadian” in response. According to a Narrative Research poll from earlier this month, around 68 per cent of respondents said they are actively looking for Canadian products when shopping.

Meanwhile, some, including Loblaw CEO Per Bank, say the trend may not last.

From Abdel’s perspective, she said the sentiment appears to be largely geared toward the U.S. government and “not necessarily toward” the U.S. commerce sector.

“Everyone that we’ve talked to has been super receptive to us coming out there, has been asking those questions of what are our next steps that we can start planning for and have we considered these additional things,” she said adding that organizations are increasingly interested in discussions.

“I think that it always depends on who that is targeted toward, but it’s definitely not felt from the business organizations standpoint.”

Tourism

As trade tensions have persisted, fewer Canadians are traveling to the U.S.

Data from Statistics Canada, published last week, found that the number of Canadian residents and non-residents returning to the country by either air or automobile fell for the third consecutive month to 4.5 million in April, marking an annual decline of 15.2 per cent.

“I know that has been an industry that’s already felt some declines during this time with Canadian tourism being one of the top foreign visitors that come to the U.S.,” Abdel said.

She added that the tourism industry has downstream impacts on businesses and supply chains.

“But even from the standpoint of travellers that are coming and travellers feed our ecosystem by staying in our hotels by shopping, dining, and doing business, and those are external dollars that are coming in and investing in our community,” Abdel said.

Daniel Johnson
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca

U.S. states mount court challenge to Trump’s tariffs

By Reuters
May 21, 2025 

U.S. President Donald Trump smiles as he speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

NEW YORK - Twelve U.S. states will ask a federal court on Wednesday to halt President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, arguing that he overstepped his authority by declaring a national emergency to impose across-the-board taxes on imports from nations that sell more to the U.S. than they buy.

A three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based Court of International Trade will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by the Democratic attorneys general of New York, Illinois, Oregon, and nine other states. They say the Republican president has sought a “blank check” to regulate trade “at his whim.”

The states claim the president badly misinterpreted a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify the tariffs. The law is meant to address “unusual and extraordinary” threats to the U.S.

Trump has said the U.S.’s decades-long history of importing more than it exports is a national emergency that has harmed U.S. manufacturers. But the states argue the U.S. trade deficit is not an “emergency” and that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs at all.

The same three-judge panel heard arguments last week in a similar case brought by five small businesses, and it is expected to issue a decision in the coming weeks.


Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said that the tariffs were raising prices for Oregon families and small businesses, and they will cost the average family an extra US$3,800 a year.

“President Trump imposed his tariffs without Congress, public input, or restraint – and claims the courts can’t review his decisions," Rayfield said. “This is a misuse of emergency powers.”

The Justice Department has said the states’ lawsuit should be dismissed because the states have only alleged “speculative economic losses” instead of concrete harms from the tariffs. It has also argued that only Congress, not U.S. states or the courts, can challenge a national emergency declared by the president under IEEPA.

A DOJ spokesperson said the department “will continue to vigorously defend President Trump’s agenda to confront unfair trade practices in court.”

After imposing tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada in February, Trump imposed a 10 per cent across-the-board tariff on all imports in April, with higher rates for countries with which the U.S. has the largest trade deficits, particularly China. Many of those country-specific tariffs were paused a week later, and the Trump administration temporarily reduced the steepest tariffs on China this month while working on a longer-term trade deal.

Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs have shocked U.S. markets. He has framed them as a way to restore U.S. manufacturing capability.

The states’ lawsuit is one of at least seven court challenges to Trump’s tariff policies. California has filed a separate challenge in federal court in San Francisco, and other lawsuits have been filed by businesses, legal advocacy groups and members of the Blackfeet Nation.

Decisions from the court, which hears disputes involving international trade and customs laws, can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reporting by Dietrich Knauth, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio, Reuters

Pigs can’t fly: U.S. high-end livestock breeders lose millions in China tariff fallout

By Reuters
May 22, 2025 

A hog walks in a holding pen on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, near Elliott, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

CHICAGO - Dr. Mike Lemmon’s pigs, each valued between US$2,500 and $5,000, were supposed to be on a plane bound for Hangzhou, China, from St. Louis in April, where’d they spend the flight snoring, play fighting and snacking on oats and husked corn before taking up residence at Chinese hog farms.

Instead, many went to a local Indiana slaughterhouse for less than $200 each after the Chinese buyer cancelled the order within a week of China implementing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. in April.

China is one of the biggest importers of American breeding pigs and other livestock genetic material such as cattle semen. These lucrative niche export markets had been growing, but dried up since U.S. President Donald Trump started a trade war with Beijing.

U.S. farmers and exporters said the dispute has already cost them millions of dollars and jeopardized prized trade relationships that took years to develop.

Though Washington and Beijing agreed to pause tariffs last week, exporters said Trump’s unpredictable trade policy has caused their companies long-term damage and could encourage China and other major buyers to turn to foreign rivals like Denmark.


“We’ve got brand damage now. There’s not a week that goes by without clients asking what’s happening with the U.S.,” said Tony Clayton, owner of Clayton Agri-Marketing, a Missouri-based livestock exporting company.

“I don’t know how we can put this back together. This is long-term damage,” he said.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the administration was “working around the clock to secure billions of dollars in even more opportunities with our other trading partners.”

Some farmers raise pigs specifically for breeding, a niche business within the $37 billion U.S. hog industry. Farmers pay top dollar for these specialty pigs, which have favorable genetics to produce lots of healthy piglets that can eventually be processed into tasty, high-quality pork.

Lemmon, an Indiana veterinarian and farm owner, has been selling pigs worldwide for over 30 years. He said he spent more than a year working on the $2.4 million sale of the pedigreed pigs to China. He noted they were carefully bred for good health, litter size and high fat content that leads to richly marbled, tender meat when cooked.

“It’s devastating when it happens,” Lemmon said, referencing the sale he lost.

He said he plans to stay in the breeding business, and is working to rekindle the deal with his Chinese buyer during the tariff pause.

Roughly half of the world’s pigs live on Chinese farms. The country has purchased large quantities of breeding pigs from the U.S. since an outbreak of African swine fever, a virus with a near-total fatality rate, wiped out millions of the country’s hogs in 2018.

Shipping livestock is lucrative but time-consuming. Shippers must personally fly with the animals or hire an on-board attendant who can make the rounds to keep their pricey passengers well-hydrated and comfortable during a long flight. When not working, the attendants chat with the flight crew or sometimes lie in sleeping bags next to the animals in the chilly cargo bay, exporters and farmers said.

China has also been the biggest importer of semen from U.S. dairy cows, known for producing large amounts of protein-rich milk. But “Not one unit of semen is going to China right now,” Jay Weiker, president of the National Association of Animal Breeders, said, noting China had been importing one-quarter of all U.S. cattle semen, which they use to artificially inseminate their dairy cows.

The Chinese milk industry began importing large amounts of cattle semen to improve the genetics of domestic dairy cows after a deadly scandal over contaminated milk in 2008, Weiker said. At least six children in China died and nearly 300,000 fell ill after a Chinese manufacturer added melamine, a dangerous chemical, to milk powder to make the protein levels appear higher.


Brittany Scott, owner of SMART Reproduction Services, a sheep and goat genetics company, said several foreign customers had also pulled out of deals. This left many vials of semen sitting in her Arkansas facility, frozen in tanks of liquid nitrogen and waiting for buyers.

“They are eager to do their jobs,” Scott said of her male goats and sheep. “They understand the assignment and they do really well.”

However, the work of selling their product has proven harder after Trump announced sweeping tariffs in April, and China retaliated.

The lost sales have been “a punch in the gut,” Scott said.

Reporting by Heather Schlitz, Reuters

As  regulators abandon ‘bare minimum’ corporate climate reporting, a backstop lurks

Both Canada and the U.S. have moved backwards on disclosure, even though the rules were the “bare minimum” to help investor

By The Canadian Press
 May 20, 2025 

A flare stack lights the sky along refinery row in Edmonton Alta, on Friday December 28, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

TORONTO — In the future, seeing the carbon emissions of a company may not be much harder than finding out how many calories are in a chocolate bar, but that day looks further out than it did just a few months ago.

Last year saw big steps toward better corporate climate transparency: a U.S. regulator required it, the Trudeau government committed to follow through on more, and a Canadian task force released guidelines on what those disclosures should look like.

But the election of U.S. President Donald Trump has changed all that.

Since Trump’s return to the White House, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission effectively dropped its requirement on disclosures in late March, which led the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) to ditch its own plans a few weeks later.

The moves come despite the rising impacts of climate change, making it all the more important that companies are mandated to release emissions data, as well as to say what risks they face from the crisis and how they plan to deal with them, said Pamela Steer, head of CPA Canada.

“The world is burning up in many cases,” she said. “It’s become more acute, more urgent than ever.”

The CSA’s decision not to require disclosures is “incredibly disappointing,” she said, especially as dozens of other countries including Australia, the European Union, and even fellow United States-neighbour Mexico move forward with the requirement.

Growing expectations for the information will make it harder for companies to raise money internationally without the rules, especially as Canada looks to diversify away from the U.S., said Steer.

As it stands, companies have been reporting a hodgepodge of data and analysis, and some not at all, making it hard for investors to make informed decisions, she said.

“There are many risks and opportunities that need to be disclosed, and investors are demanding the information, and I think companies are demanding a level playing field.”

Many companies are, however, also being less public about climate generally given the Trump administration’s hostility to efforts, such as Canada’s big banks all leaving the Net-Zero Banking Alliance. Rising economic concerns have also put pressure on companies to cut back where they can.

Recent anti-greenwashing rules from the Competition Bureau have added to the pressure, making it all the more important to have clear standards in place, said Steer.

The rules, which require companies to be able to back up environmental claims or face potentially severe penalties, has led many to say even less about climate change. Steer said it is important to hold companies to account on what they say, but that companies need a bit of grace as whole new reporting standards are established.

“Having safe harbour, having a more pragmatic commentary and guidelines is actually what is needed.”

The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board was created specifically to adapt international standards to the Canadian context, and it put out guidance in December that included several years of added time for companies to report on some measures.

Ten of Canada’s biggest public pension funds, representing more than $2.2 trillion in assets under management, voiced their support for the proposed guidance.

“Alignment with a global baseline is important for the competitiveness of Canadian companies in global capital markets,” the public pension group said, though Alberta’s pension fund was notably absent despite endorsing the premise less than two years earlier.

Provincial securities regulators were expected to take those guidelines and make them mandatory, but instead, the CSA announced on April 23 that it had indefinitely paused the work.

CSA chair Stan Magidson, who is also CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission, said in a release that the regulator was focusing on making Canadian markets more competitive, efficient, and resilient.

Work on climate disclosure would be revisited in “future years,” the CSA said.

But as the pension funds noted, disclosure efforts are part of staying competitive, said Wendy Berman, chair of the CSSB.

“There is going to be a lot of capital movement over the next 10 years as we transition to a low-carbon economy, and we certainly don’t want Canada to miss that opportunity,” she said.

“What we’re starting to see is a huge global shift,” said Berman. “Would it be better if the U.S. was lockstep with the rest of the world? Of course. But that should not hold back Canadian companies.”

Both Canada and the U.S. have moved backwards on disclosure, even though the rules were the “bare minimum” to help investors, said Gary Gensler, then chair of the U.S. SEC when he passed them last year.

In ending the requirements, current acting chair Mark Uyeda called them “costly and unnecessarily intrusive climate change disclosure rules.”

With both the U.S. and Canadian regulators abandoning efforts, it’s unclear how well Prime Minister Mark Carney can make good on his campaign promise to establish “broad climate risk disclosure for companies across Canada,” or to follow through on Trudeau’s promise to mandate disclosures for large, federally incorporated private companies.

The Finance Department said that with Cabinet only sworn in last week, the government will have more to say in due course.

But even as high-profile debates rage on about broader disclosures, rules established in 2023 by Canada’s banking regulator help provide a backstop.

The rules that kicked in this year from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions broadly align with what the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board had called for -- requiring banks to report how their finances might be affected by climate change, as well as their own emissions contributions.

Given their scale, and involvement in so many other companies, the reporting requirements should help put pressure and clear the way for others to follow, said Berman.

“When OSFI endorses it, and the banks must now comply with it going forward, that starts to create momentum,” she said.

That momentum could help make climate disclosures an established part of assessing the health of a company, just as food labelling rules a few decades ago have since made it hard to imagine a chocolate bar not listing the calories, fat and other key details to know to stay healthy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press

Report: World’s supply of critical minerals for clean energy is concentrated in fewer countries

By The Associated Press
May 21, 2025 

Bundles of copper cables sit at a plant that produces parts for large electric vehicles in Mexico City, on April 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

The world’s sources of critical minerals are increasingly concentrated in just a few countries, most notably China, leaving the global economy vulnerable to supply cutoffs that could disrupt industry and hit consumers with higher prices, a report said Wednesday.

The Paris-based International Energy Agency’s report looked at the availability of minerals and metals that may be small in quantity — but large in impact when it comes to shifting the economy away from fossil fuels toward electricity and renewable energy.

It found that for copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements, the average market share of the three top producing countries rose to 86% in 2024 from 82% in 2020.

China is the leading refiner for 19 out of 20 strategic minerals studied in the report, and has an average share of around 75%. Indonesia showed strong growth in nickel, a key component in making steel and batteries for electric vehicles.

The current trend toward export restrictions and trade disputes increases concerns, the IEA said.

“Critical mineral supply chains can be highly vulnerable to supply shocks, be they from extreme weather, a technical failure or trade disruptions,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. ”The impact of a supply shock can be far-reaching, bringing higher prices for consumers and reducing industrial competitiveness.”

Birol cited the energy crisis in Europe after Russia cut off natural gas supplies over the invasion of Ukraine. Another cautionary tale is the global shortage of silicon-based computer chips during and after the pandemic, which disrupted auto production.

“The golden rule of energy security is diversification,” Birol told The Associated Press in an interview. “And it goes beyond energy security, it is also economic security.”

Market forces are important in developing new sources but won’t be enough. “There is a need for well-designed government policies” in the form of financing and other measures, he said.

China is a massive global source of critical minerals required for a wide range of goods that includes computer chips, robots, electric autos, batteries, drones, and military equipment. It also dominates the refining and processing of many of these critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and more.

China has placed export limits of many of these key products and tightened controls on others as President Donald Trump’s trade negotiations escalate, stifling U.S. industry and the nation’s ability to find quick alternatives. Without access to China’s significant reserves, U.S. manufacturers have a harder time competing amid mounting global supply tensions.

Trump has made reducing U.S. dependence on foreign critical minerals a core tenet of his first 100 days back in office as part of a national security and economic resilience agenda.

This goes beyond China; the Trump administration finalized a rocky deal with Ukraine granting American access to the nation’s vast mineral resources earlier this month.

Trump is also looking to expedite deep-sea mining in international waters, much to the chagrin of environmental groups. He called for a boost in the domestic copper industry in a February executive order alongside other calls for the federal government to fast-track new mine permits; has reviewed a minerals proposal from Congo, a conflict-riddled nation also rich with mineral reserves; and attempted to strong-arm Greenland into providing more of its minerals to the U.S.

The IEA report said that global markets were well supplied at the moment and that prices in general have fallen. It warned however that planned production of copper, which is essential for electric wiring and power grids, would not keep pace with demand and predicted a 30% shortfall by 2030.

—-


David Mchugh And Alexa St. John, The Associated Press

St. John contributed from Detroit, Michigan.

G7 finance ministers to wrap up summit in Banff

By The Canadian Press
May 22, 2025 

BANFF — Finance ministers from the G7 are wrapping up their summit in Banff, Alta., with discussions including the global trade system roiled by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Other topics on the agenda are artificial intelligence and the war in Ukraine.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem were set to emerge later Thursday to take questions from reporters.

In an interview late Wednesday, Champagne was asked about the possibility of a joint communique being issued when the event wraps up.

“I’ve always said it is easier to predict the past than the future. We had a very good day of discussions, a very good engagement,” he said, adding he was “very optimistic.”

Champagne had bilateral meetings with France and Italy and a late evening meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“I am always reminded Canada is the largest customer of the United States. We buy the most from the U.S. We have a very deep trading relationship.”

The summit is happening as Trump appears to be seeking trade pacts with countries that he has imposed tariffs on, although the finance ministers haven’t said they expect to settle deals with the United States during the meeting.

The countries are scheduled to gather again in the Rockies for the G7 Leaders’ Summit in nearby Kananaskis, Alta., from June 15 to 17.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2025.

Matt Scace, The Canadian Press

Quebec judge approves sale of EV vehicle-maker Lion Electric to investor group

By The Canadian Press
 May 22, 2025 

The Lion Electric Company's lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Mirabel, Que., is shown on Sept. 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

A Quebec Superior Court judge has approved the sale of vehicle-maker Lion Electric to a group of Quebec investors.

Justice Michel Pinsonnault says the deal is the only option that ensures the struggling manufacturer can keep operating.

The consortium of investors is led by Pierre Wilkie, a director of the electric-vehicle company, and Montreal real estate entrepreneur Vincent Chiara.

Lion Electric will preserve its manufacturing plant in St-Jérôme, Que., where it made electric school buses and trucks, but hundreds of employees will be permanently laid off.

The investors made a revised offer after the Quebec government announced last month it would not invest any more public money in the company.


Lion Electric entered creditor protection in December and has been seeking a buyer since then.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 22, 2025.

The Canadian Press