Allies Refuse to Visit U.S. in ‘Mind-Boggling’ Collapse Under Trump

Martha McHardy
Mon, September 28, 2026



Evan Vucci / REUTERS

America's closest allies are increasingly looking elsewhere for their vacations.

Despite hosting the World Cup this year, the U.S. has suffered through a slump in international tourism.

Visitors from Canada are down 23 percent over the past two years, while travel from Germany and France has dropped 16 percent and 15 percent year-to-date, respectively.

Overall, the country is on pace to welcome 2 million fewer international visitors than last year, when approximately 68 million tourists came to the U.S.

That would put overseas visits roughly 20 percent below the 2019 peak of 79 million visitors.

"We're the only major country in the world losing visitation," Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, told Axios. "It's mind-boggling."

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

The decline follows an already brutal 2025 for American tourism. The U.S. welcomed roughly 4 million fewer international visitors last year than in 2024, a 5.5 percent drop in overseas tourism, according to CNN.

Foreign visitor spending fell by more than $8 billion during the same period.


Aside from the collapse in international travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2025 decline marked the sharpest annual drop in overseas tourism in roughly two decades.

The largest drop came from Canada, with far fewer Canadians traveling to the United States.

Trump welcomes Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House last year. / Evelyn Hockstein / REUTERS

Data from mobile tracking firm Cuebiq suggests Canadian travel to major U.S. cities may have fallen by as much as 42 percent over the past year.

Relations between the U.S. and Canada, historically close allies, have broken down since Trump began his second term.

Trump has floated the idea of annexing the country and making it the 51st U.S. state, and slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and automobiles.

After Trump imposed tariffs on Canada last year, visits from Canadians fell by 17 percent, contributing to a 7.5 percent overall decline in tourism, Politico reported.

But the U.S. has also seen a decline in visitors from many European countries like France and Germany.

Trump tries — and fails — to make a handshake look normal with Macron. / LUDOVIC MARIN / via REUTERS

German visits to the U.S. fell about 12 percent in 2025, according to figures cited by Le Monde. French visits fell nearly 7 percent.

Trump has raised tensions with his European allies since the beginning of his second term.

France and Germany were among eight European countries Trump threatened with a 10 percent tariff, potentially rising to 25 percent, because they opposed his threat to annex Greenland.

And in June 2026, Trump threatened major tariffs on French wine and champagne after French President Emmanuel Macron opposed the U.S. approach to Greenland.

"I asked them not to charge American companies, and if they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100 percent tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France," the 80-year-old president told the New York Post. "All [French President Emmanuel Macron] has to do is get rid of the sales tax, and he wouldn't have that kind of pressure."

Meanwhile, Trump publicly lashed out at German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after Merz criticized U.S. strategy in the Iran war.

Trump called Merz "totally ineffective." The confrontation was followed by the Pentagon announcing plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Germany by 5,000.

 Trump's tariffs are back in court

Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN
Updated Wed, September 30, 2026 


Containers are seen at the container terminal of Nanjing Port, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on September 8, 2026. Most Chinese goods shipped to the United States have faced a minimum 12.5% tax. - AFP/Getty Images

Here we go again: President Donald Trump's sweeping global tariffs are back under the legal microscope.

On Wednesday, a three-judge panel at the US Court of International Trade is set to hear arguments in a case that could determine whether the president can use a 1970s trade law to impose tariffs on nearly everything the United States imports.

Since late July, goods from 80 countries, including China, India and Japan, have faced tariff rates ranging from 10% to 12.5%. The administration imposed the duties after determining that those countries had allegedly failed to address the use of forced labor in producing goods shipped to the US. The US Trade Representative recommended the tariffs as a remedy, with higher rates applying to countries deemed the "worst offenders."

The rollout of these tariffs coincided with the lapse of a separate 10% near-blanket duty Trump had imposed earlier in the year under a different legal authority. The Supreme Court later ruled that Trump had overstepped his authority, which immediately invalidated the tariffs and triggered $168 billion worth of refunds for importers.


The complaint, filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian public-interest law firm that successfully won the landmark Supreme Court tariff case, argues that the administration is moving to preserve a predetermined global tariff policy. That, they argue, is an improper use of the trade law commonly referred to as Section 301.

Administration officials, meanwhile, told reporters previously that the timing was to "avoid complexity" that would come from layering the new levies on top of the then-10% duties.

"The real message here that everyone needs to take away is the president is going to always use the tools at his disposal to achieve his trade policy objectives," administration officials said on a briefing call with reporters shortly before the 10%-15% duties took effect.

While Wednesday's arguments may offer clues about how the judges view the case, a ruling could still take weeks — if not months. Either side could then appeal the decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which could also decide whether to pause enforcement of the tariffs while the case proceeds.

The fight could eventually reach the Supreme Court, extending the legal battle for several months more.

By the time it concludes, Trump may have already enacted a slew of new duties. Already, there are several pending Section 301 investigations that are widely expected to lead to higher border taxes. Beyond that, Trump has also tapped in to a Great Depression-era trade law to impose 50% duties on $20 billion worth of goods from Canada and issued widespread import bans from there.

CNN.com

 Trump Says Canada Will 'Get Rid' of All the Tariffs, Seek Trade Resolution Within 3-4 Weeks: ‘We're Going to Win Everything'

Namrata Sen
Wed, September 30, 2026 

BENZINGA


A person in a dark suit and red tie speaks outdoors, with other people in hats visible in the background. (Credit: Image via Shutterstock)


Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below.

President Donald Trump said that he expects Canada to seek a resolution to the ongoing trade dispute within the next month.

On Monday, Trump stated that he anticipates that Canadian officials will approach the U.S. in the next "3 or 4 weeks" to seek a resolution. The President stated that Ottawa will express its desire to "get rid" of all the tariffs and reach a fair agreement.

'We're going to win everything," Trump said.

Trump said Canada wants a deal with the U.S. but accused Ottawa of treating the U.S. unfairly. He further told reporters, "I think a deal will be made, but it's got to be a fair deal."
Canada-US Trade Tensions Escalate

Trump's ban on Canadian alcoholic beverages took effect Tuesday, escalating the trade dispute between the two countries. The move, which affects about $800 million in Canadian alcohol that the U.S. imported last year, follows reciprocal tariffs and Canadian provincial bans on U.S. liquor.

Canada's whisky and liqueur exports in containers over four liters are exempt from the U.S. ban and tariffs. However, switching to larger containers and rebottling could raise costs for businesses and consumers.

Earlier this month, several cheese products were placed under a 50% tariff instead of being banned outright. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer defended the restrictions, accusing Canada of retaliatory and discriminatory trade practices.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected Trump's tariff threats over Canada's proposed EU alliance, saying Ottawa will choose its own international partners. The U.S. President threatened heavy tariffs if Canada joins the EU as an associate member, while existing 50% U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods remain in place.

 Trump just banned Canadian booze — but there’s a big catch

Elisabeth Buchwald, Matt Egan, CNN
Tue, September 29, 2026 

Bottles of Canadian whisky at a Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) store in Toronto, Ontario, on September 29, 2026. - Cole Burston/Bloomberg/Getty Images

President Donald Trump's ban on Canadian booze kicked in on Tuesday, an unprecedented move that underscores the breakdown in one of the closest trading relationships in the world.

The ban, which impacts $800 million worth of Canadian alcoholic beverages the US imported last year, marks the latest salvo in a tit-for-tat trading war that already includes sky-high tariffs and a ban on US booze in Ontario and other Canadian provinces.

"This is highly escalatory. The US has sent a very significant shot across the bow to Canada," said Barry Appleton, distinguished adjunct professor of law and co-director of the New York Law School's Center for International Law.

Appleton warned that trade tensions will hurt US companies.

"Brand America is in peril because of the trade war. Canadians are really pissed. That's very hard for American brands," he said.

However, experts say most American shoppers are unlikely to immediately notice the ban, in part because of workarounds, exemptions and the fact that distributors have had time to stock up on imported Canadian alcohol before the ban took effect.

At the same time, with the quickly evolving trade picture with Canada, anything can change on a moment's notice. Hours before the ban took effect, Trump said he is confident the US will come out ahead, and expects Canada to come to the US with a deal soon.

"They want to have a deal with us, they call us all the time. The problem is that they've treated the United States very unfairly," Trump told reporters on Monday.

"Over the next three or four weeks, they're going to come to us and they're going to say, 'We're going to get rid of all the tariffs,'" Trump said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has not said anything to that effect, however.

The fine print

The US consumer impact will likely be limited by the fine print.

At a high level, the Trump order bans Canadian alcohol imports under a certain size but allows for bulk shipments.

"Bulk booze that is going to be rebottled in the US can cross the border. Labeled booze under a certain size can't," said Appleton.

For instance, whisky and liqueurs, two of Canada's top alcoholic beverage exports to the US, are exempt from the ban when sold in containers larger than four liters. In those cases, they also won't face any tariffs.

But making that switch requires having the right containers on hand or sourcing them from scratch, then rebottling smaller sizes more commonly sold in liquor stores. All that could add to businesses' costs – and potentially get tacked on to the prices consumers pay.

Crown Royal appears to be especially well-positioned since the company already sends bulk shipments of whisky to the United States, where it bottles all products sold domestically.

Bottles of Canadian-made Crown Royal whisky on March 4, 2025. - Christopher Katsarov Luna/Bloomberg/Getty Images

For beer, though, the ban is virtually impossible to get around without an American bottling arm because it covers the bottles, cans and kegs that consumers typically buy. A Canadian business could technically ship beer to the US in a tanker, but that's hardly practical.

That means Americans could have a difficult – if not impossible – time purchasing Moosehead Breweries' beer, since the company's entire brewing and bottling operations take place within Canada.

Ahead of the ban taking effect, Moosehead scrambled to get shipments across the border, a difficult feat as other businesses were racing to do the same, said CEO Andrew Oland. That meant paying rush fees as well as diesel surcharges.

"Misery loves company because we're all paying for this in the brewing industry," he told CNN, adding that tariffs the US and Canada have imposed on aluminum have also driven up the cost of cans.

While only 15% of Moosehead's sales come from the US, the complete loss of that customer base will certainly be felt, he said.

Beyond bulk exemptions, very few alcoholic beverages shipped from Canada were spared.

"Using import bans against an ally is unprecedented and a major deviation from US trade policy," said Inu Manak, a senior fellow focused on trade policy at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "This is a very symbolic thing to target. It sends a message and is another form of escalation aimed at getting Canadian negotiators back to the table. But Prime Minister Carney is not in a rush to get a deal before the (US) midterms."

Some employees and executives in the alcohol industry expressed dismay about the escalating trade war.

"It's really unfortunate our industry has gotten pulled into this," said Chris Swonger, president and CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), an industry trade group. "We American distillers export around the world. We don't want tariffs applied to our products and we don't want tariffs applied to our imports. We like to compete by sip and taste, not tariffs."

Swonger described the ban on US alcohol by some Canadian provinces as an "unforced error" and expressed hope the US ban forces a change in policy.

"We're working hard to get both governments back to the table to get this resolved," he said.

Manak noted that Canadian provinces banned US alcohol only in response to threatened US tariffs.

"In playground parlance, the United Stated started it. That was Canada responding," she said.

And now US officials are responding to that response, demonstrating how an escalatory tit-for-tat cycle gets out of hand.

Cans of beer at a liquor store in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on July 23, 2026. - James MacDonald/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Confusion on tap

A manager from a Niagara Falls, New York, liquor store located less than five miles away from the Canadian border told CNN he is confused and concerned about the US ban on Canadian alcohol.

"We have a lot of Canadian customers and a lot of Canadian liquor. This is not good for business," said the manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "People have freedom to drink, right?"

An employee at a Port Huron, Michigan, liquor store near the border with Ontario similarly told CNN that many of his customers buy Canadian whisky including Crown Royal, Black Velvet and Rich and Rare.

But the Michigan liquor store employee added that store traffic from Canadians has declined significantly over the past year or so.

"We have a lot fewer Canadian customers than we used to," he said.

To impose the Canadian alcohol ban, Trump is relying on Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, the infamous trade law that exacerbated the Great Depression (and that was hilariously featured in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off").

The law allows the president of the United States to impose tariffs of up to 50% or even ban certain imports when another country discriminates against "commerce of the United States," according to the statute. But because no president before Trump has used the law this way, courts have not weighed in on what the administration must prove to meet its requirements.

In addition to alcohol, Canadian dairy products, such as whey, and motorcycles are also subject to bans, with the Trump administration similarly alleging unfair treatment of American businesses. In total, the bans cover close to $1 billion worth of goods the US imported from Canada last year, according to federal trade data.

The partial Canadian ban on US booze has been painful for the American industry.

Exports of US spirits to Canada plummeted by 70% after Canadian provinces started removing US wine and spirits from store shelves in March 2025, according to DISCUS.

But the Canadian alcohol industry is especially reliant on American consumers.

About 93% of Canadian spirits went to the United States in 2025, according to DISCUS.

"It's going to be absolutely devastating for Canada and Canadian distillers," said Swonger.

From motorcycles to booze, US ban on $1 billion worth of Canadian imports goes into effect

PAUL WISEMAN
Mon, September 28, 2026


WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S.-Canada relations, already tense, are likely to deteriorate further after the United States went ahead early Tuesday with a decision to ban nearly $1 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles.

The ban amounts to barely a ripple in $880 billion worth of annual two-way trade between the two northern neighbors. But it marks another ratcheting up of President Donald Trump's second-term trade war with America's longtime ally and trading partner.

The import ban "certainly won't do anything to help the trade tensions between the United States and Canada,'' said trade attorney Patrick Childress, a partner at Holland & Knight and a former U.S. trade official.

The latest sparring began over the summer when Trump reached back to a Great Depression law to impose 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, charging that Canada discriminates against U.S. dairy, auto and alcoholic beverage producers. Canada promptly counterpunched with tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50%, matching U.S. imports dollar for dollar.

To punish Canada for retaliating against his tariffs, Trump decided to ban a list of Canadian products, effective 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday.

Economic impact likely to be modest

The economic impact is likely to be minimal. Childress noted that the products on the banned list were already facing Trump's tariffs. "For a lot of these goods, the 50% was already acting as a de facto ban by making importation from Canada into the United States uneconomical,″ he said.

Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the center-right American Action Forum think tank, calculates that the ban would cover $967 million worth of Canadian imports, based on 2025 numbers. Of that, 87% would be alcoholic beverages that the U.S. targeted because of some Canadian provinces responding to Trump's provocations by banning U.S. booze from store shelves

Also banned are some dairy products — including the milk byproduct whey. The two countries have long clashed over Canada's attempts to protect its dairy industry from foreign competition by imposing hefty tariffs once dairy imports have exceeded a quota.

The ban also covers motorcycles. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) in Quebec confirmed that its three-wheel Can-Am Spyder and Canyon motorcycles "will be excluded from importation into the U.S.'' But BRP said the impact likely won't be felt until next year because it has completed most production and shipments for the current season.

Independent spirit distillers and beer brewers are expected to bear the brunt of the ban more than some well-known Canadian brands that may have workarounds. For example, Crown Royal can ship its whisky in bulk for processing, bypassing the ban. And beer maker Labatt Brewing Co. has some bottling operations in the U.S., exempting some of its beer from the ban.

Diageo, which owns Crown Royal, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns Labatt, did not respond to requests for comments.

A distillery just across the Detroit River in Canada has stopped shipping whiskey to Michigan due to the ongoing tariff war and Trump's ban on Canadian alcohol. "It's really unfortunate," said Danielle Moldovan, director of marketing at the Wolfhead Distillery in Amherstburg, Ontario. "We are a border town. The Americans are great friends of ours, and they visit our distillery on a daily basis."

Moldovan is worried about the long-term impact on Wolfhead's business. Buyers in Georgia were interested in importing the distillery's Coffee Whisky. And its Michigan importer was considering its Vanilla Almond Biscotti and Banana Caramel Vodka. But "those products are going to be put on hold right now until we have further clarification about what's going to happen, how long this ban's going to last," Moldovan said.

"This marks yet another escalation in the trade war that may result in further retaliation on the Canadian side," Jensen said. He expects Canadian exporters and U.S. importers "impacted by these bans will be highly motivated'' to demand that trade officials on both sides find some way to reach a "resolution of this whole ordeal.''
A threat to US goal of a powerful North American trade pact

The impasse imperils efforts to renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a North American trade pact Trump pressured America's neighbors into accepting in his first term and which he once declared "the most modern, up-to-date, and balanced trade agreement in the history of our country.''

The deal allowed most goods to cross North American borders duty free. But since returning to the White House last year, Trump has announced a series of tariffs that have clouded the future of trade in the region.
Longtime ally Canada moves rapidly to find new trading partners

Trump has directed most of his ire at Canada. He is openly seeking to pull Canadian manufacturing south. And he has inflamed public opinion in Canada by repeatedly suggesting that the country become America's 51st state.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney came to power last year on a promise to stand up to Trump. In addition to retaliating against Trump's tariffs — China is the only other country to do so, with very different results — Carney has sought to reduce Canada's reliance on the United States, which last year accounted for more than 70% of Canadian exports.

"There is now a price to be paid for access to the United States market," Carney said earlier this month. The Canadian prime minister wants to double Canada's non-U.S. trade over the next decade.

Carney has embraced the prospect of Canada becoming the European Union's first associate member.

And he said last week that trade negotiations with India are making "good progress" and that the two countries are aiming to conclude talks by the G20 summit in mid-December.

Carney also broke with the U.S. earlier this year, striking a deal with China to allow a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles into Canada at a sharply reduced tariff in exchange for China lowering tariffs on Canadian canola.

"We take note of the coming into force of the Administration's previously announced trade measures," said Gabriel Brunet, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc. "Our first priority remains on protecting and supporting Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses from these unjustified actions. Our core focus is on what we can control: building strength at home, diversifying our partnerships abroad, and building Canada strong for all Canadians."

Trump expressed confidence that the Canadians would cave in.

"They're gonna come in and they're gonna say, 'Sir, we are sorry,'" he told reporters Monday. "They've treated the United States very, very badly. I think a deal will be made but it's gonna be fair."

Asked Tuesday about Trump's remarks, Carney declined to respond directly but said Canada remains open to talks.

"Canada stands ready to negotiate in good faith" toward "a mutually advantageous trade arrangement that respects both our countries' sovereignty," Carney said.

Carney also left the door open to further Canadian retaliation over U.S. tariffs and import bans, saying he would "never rule anything out." Asked whether Ottawa might increase trade pressure as the U.S. midterm elections approach, Carney said Canada would not time its response around the American political calendar.

He said Canada could help lower U.S. living costs and argued that energy, food, information and financial security are best served through reliable partnerships.

"Canada is a reliable partner, and we're ready to work in any or all of those areas," Carney said.

Trade attorney Childress said the standoff is likely to continue for months, not weeks. The import bans and the tariffs so far "probably won't cause enough economic upheaval to force either party back to the negotiating table,'' he said.

___

Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York, Rob Gillies in Toronto and Mike Householder, reporting from Amherstburg, Ontario, contributed to this story.

 Navarro warns Canada against election interference

Oliver Ward, Daniel Desrochers and Zi-Ann Lum
Tue, September 29, 2026


Navarro warns Canada against election interference


White House trade adviser Peter Navarro warned Canadians not to interfere in U.S. elections, a rhetorical escalation in the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

At an economic event hosted by a communications and policy firm in Washington on Tuesday morning, Navarro told any Canadians in the audience, "Please, if you're on K Street, get the hell out of our country."

"You've lobbied this country and you've been successful in the past and you think you can keep doing that," continued Navarro, who serves as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in the White House. "Memo to Canada: You cannot do that."

He then warned that Ottawa could face repercussions if Canadians "interfere" in the November elections in the U.S. — specifically singling out Maine and Michigan, both of which have hotly contested Senate and governors races and have been deeply affected by the intensifying trade war President Donald Trump launched against Canada in August.


The comments come the same day Trump's import bans on about $1 billion worth of Canadian exports took effect and on the back of double-digit tariff hikes from both governments after trade talks fell apart last month.

Navarro declined to answer a question from POLITICO on his comment following the event.

Ottawa's "dollar-to-dollar" retaliation for Trump's August tariff increase, which went into effect on Sept. 8, disproportionately hit goods from Michigan, Maine and other U.S. states with competitive elections this fall. When imposing the duties, Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said they were a "wise and strategic" move to put political pressure on some U.S. elections by targeting specific products. "We think it's the right thing to do right now," she said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also ran television ads last year in the U.S. criticizing Trump's tariffs. The nationally televised ad aired during the 2025 World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers and featured former President Ronald Reagan warning of the hurt that tariffs cause the U.S. economy.

The Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins is trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat Troy Jackson, a former state senator, while Republicans and Democrats are in a neck-and-neck race for the Michigan Senate seat left open by the retiring Democrat Gary Peters. The contests could determine which party controls the Senate in 2027. Both states also have tightly contested House and governors races.

Collins has been openly critical of Trump's tariffs on Canada, saying they will hurt the state's economy and is lobbying the administration to secure tariff relief for specific products. In Michigan, Republican nominee Mike Rogers has hewed closer to the party line, backing Trump's attempts to negotiate with Ottawa, even as the business community in the state has formed an advocacy group to push back against the tariffs.

Michigan's economy is heavily reliant on trade with Canada, especially its auto sector, which is highly integrated across North America. Maine and Canada's agricultural industries — like forestry products — are also heavily linked, as products cross the border between harvest and processing.

Navarro's invocation of election interference ties the trade war to one of Trump's top policy priorities: election security. For months, he's hammered Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which purports to secure U.S. elections, despite a lack of Republican support for the legislation in the Senate.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and the ranking member of the Finance Committee, said Navarro's comments were part of a "pattern of insults without facts."

"Trump between now and Election Day, he'll be using this for practically everything. If anybody has a sore on their knee, he's going to say it's election interference," Wyden said in an interview at the Capitol.

Navarro is one of the few figures that has remained in Trump's White House across the two administrations, serving as director of the National Trade Council and helming the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy in Trump's first term, during which he was also among the administration's most vocal critics of Canadian trade practices.

In 2018, he responded to then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pushback on U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs with remarks he eventually walked back.

"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door," he told "Fox News Sunday" in June 2018.

The trade adviser apologized two days later. "My mission was to send a strong signal of strength," he said. "The problem is that in conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate."

 Trump says Canada is ‘one of the worst countries in the entire world’

Tara Suter
Tue, September 29, 2026 

President Trump said Monday that Canada is "one of the worst countries in the entire world" in the wake of heightened tensions between Washington and its historically friendly northern neighbor.

"The problem is that they've treated the United States very unfairly. They have been one of the worst countries in the entire world. You know, we get along with China, we get along with people and we make good deals," the president said in the Oval Office.

"But Canada has been really very difficult to deal with, actually. They've charged our farmers 400 percent tariffs and more. And they take advantage of us," he added.

On Tuesday, Trump's ban on close to $1 billion in Canadian goods went into effect, another strike in a trade war between Washington and Ottawa. It covers Canadian dairy products, motor vehicles and numerous alcoholic beverages.

While signing the executive orders to ban the goods, Trump cited "discrimination" against American equivalents.

There has been an atypical animosity between the U.S. and Canada throughout Trump's second term, not just over trade, but also over the president's push to acquire the U.S.'s northern neighbor. The relationship reached a breaking point after trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa fell apart in August, and the two countries slapped tariffs on each other's goods.

Earlier this month, Carney said his country had an overreliance on "easy" economic links to the U.S.

"The past 40 years has been a period of deeper economic integration with the United States. Truth is, it was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner. It's clear that time is over," Carney said in a video posted to YouTube in early September.

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 Mark Carney's stand against Trump leads to Nobel Peace Prize and Time Person of the Year buzz

ROB GILLIES
Tue, September 29, 2026 
AP


Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks after LNG Canada said it will go ahead with the Phase 2 expansion project at its LNG terminal in Kitimat, B.C., during an announcement in Vancouver, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) (DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — Mark Carney built a global profile in 2026 by standing up to U.S. President Donald Trump. If some prediction-market traders and prominent admirers are right, the Canadian prime minister could end the year with the Nobel Peace Prize and Time magazine's Person of the Year.

Carney briefly became the favorite Monday for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Kalshi, a U.S.-based prediction market, when traders on the exchange put his chances at 14%. His odds later fell, illustrating the highly speculative nature of the wagering.

There is no public evidence Carney is on the Nobel Committee's secret shortlist for the prize that will be announced Oct. 9 in Oslo, Norway.

But the buzz about the Canadian leader possibly winning the esteemed peace prize reflects the message that has raised his profile: Middle powers should band together to defend sovereignty as great powers increasingly use economic and military leverage.

Whether that position resonates with the Nobel Committee is impossible to know. One thing is certain, though: the Nobel and Time's annual award happen to be two honors Trump covets.
Trump believes he deserves Nobel honor

Carney and Trump are locked in an escalating trade war, with 50% U.S. tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian goods and Canadian retaliation. Trump also has told Canadian leaders to "fall in line" or face consequences "far WORSE" than existing tariffs.

Trump, who has twice been Time's Person of the Year, has repeatedly complained about not receiving the Nobel, saying in July that he "should have won that award more than anybody."

"President Trump would be furious, of course," said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal. "If this ever happens, I would love to be a fly on the wall of the Oval Office to see the president's face when he learns about it."

Trump already possesses a Nobel medal, just not one awarded to him.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel laureate, presented Trump with her medal at the White House in January. Trump accepted it, while the Nobel Committee stressed the prize itself remains hers.

"Trump will be unhappy whoever gets the Nobel," said Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. "If Carney got it, it would make relations with Canada rockier than they are."

Carney has strong case for Time award

Time already named Carney one of its 100 most influential people of 2026 and specifically noted his popularity increased as he stood up to Trump.

On Tuesday, Carney was the second choice on major prediction markets for Time's Person of the Year, behind New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The winner will be announced Dec. 10.

Time has described Trump's cumulative impact as helping create a "new global order" increasingly shaped "not by systems or institutions, but by the will of a single man." Carney's answer has been to urge middle powers to band together rather than bend one by one.

New York University professor Scott Galloway said Carney has it in the bag and called him "the leader that Europe's been looking for for the last 20 years."

"I believe, hands down, Time's Person of the Year has already been decided and it's going to be Mark Carney," Galloway said.

On Galloway's podcast, journalist Fareed Zakaria said Carney is winning admiration abroad and has given countries facing a less predictable United States "a kind of language and a path" to build new alliances rather than simply bend to Washington.
Carney moving to front of a new global order

Carney's standing abroad took off in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he declared the old international order was not coming back and urged middle powers to work together rather than wait for its restoration. His speech came as European leaders were confronting Trump's push to acquire Greenland and tariff threats.

"We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition," Carney said in his speech, which received a standing ovation.

Carney has since tried to put the argument for a new global order into practice, pushing Canada closer to Europe and seeking new partners in Asia as Trump's tariffs fractured the old Canada-U.S. relationship.

European lawmakers gave Carney another standing ovation this month as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed opening the door for Canada to become the European Union's first associate member.

"Carney's international profile has been driven by his standing up to Trump, unlike the Europeans and Asians who rushed to make deals with him," Wiseman said. "Trump's pressure on Canada has helped elevate Carney in the eyes of the world."

Carney accuses US steelmaker of betraying Canadian workers after layoffs tied to Trump tariffs

ROB GILLIES
Updated Tue, September 29, 2026

AP


Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks after LNG Canada said it will go ahead with the Phase 2 expansion project at its LNG terminal in Kitimat, British Columbia, during an announcement in Vancouver, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP) (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)


TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the U.S. owner of steelmaker Stelco, a subsidiary of Cleveland-Cliffs, of betraying Canadian workers Tuesday after it announced layoffs it attributed in part to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs — tariffs Cleveland-Cliffs' chief executive has publicly championed.

Carney singled out Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves, noting that he had applauded Trump's steel tariffs. Goncalves has called the 50% tariffs "a necessary step" to protect U.S. steelmakers.

"Our thoughts are with the workers and the families who have been betrayed by the company," Carney said.

Carney also threatened legal action against Cleveland-Cliffs, saying the Ohio-based company has binding employment obligations stemming from its C$3.4 billion ($2.4 billion) takeover of Stelco in 2024.

Stelco said up to 500 workers could be affected as it indefinitely idles cold-rolled and coated operations at its Hamilton, Ontario, plant and shifts production to its Lake Erie facility in Nanticoke, Ontario.

Cleveland-Cliffs said Monday the move does not shift steel production out of Canada: Output will be concentrated at Stelco's Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, Ontario, where it expects a significant number of affected Hamilton workers to be absorbed, with overall steel tonnage unchanged.

In a memo to employees, Stelco said U.S. tariffs had "significantly shrunk the market" for its cold-rolled and galvanized products. The company said demand in markets it traditionally serves fell almost 25% in the second quarter compared to the 2024 quarterly average, including a 10% decline in Canada.

The layoffs come amid an escalating Canada-U.S. trade war in which Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and other goods and Canada has retaliated with tariffs of its own. At a White House event Monday announcing a new $15 billion steel plant in Iowa, Trump credited his tariffs with reducing foreign steel imports and attracting investment to the United States, saying companies were building plants there "because they don't want to pay tariffs."

Carney said the federal government had offered financial assistance to preserve jobs but did not disclose the amount or terms.

"There's money on the table from the federal government," Carney said. "The company made representations and has legal obligations for employment. We intend to use all powers that we have and pursue them to the fullest extent of the law."

The Canadian government approved Cleveland-Cliffs' takeover of Stelco in October 2024 on the condition that it meet legally binding five-year employment commitments, including maintaining at least the same number of unionized workers and the vast majority of nonunion employees.

Cleveland-Cliffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Carney's remarks.

A $15 Billion Iowa Steel Mill Is Coming. What It Means for Nucor and Cleveland-Cliffs

Omor Ibne Ehsan
Tue, September 29, 2026 

Key takeaways

The White House announced the construction of a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa by Mesabi Metallics, which will start production at 7.5 million tons a year and rise to about 10 million tons by 2030.

Quick Read

The $15B Iowa mill mirrors NUE's electric arc furnace model, pressuring CLF's higher-cost integrated operations when first steel arrives in 2030.


CLF dropped nearly 8% after Stelco indefinitely idled Canadian operations, showing how tariffs that prop up U.S. prices simultaneously shrank Cliffs abroad.


On Monday, September 28, 2026, The White House announced that Mesabi Metallics will build a $15 billion steel mill in Iowa, starting at 7.5 million tons a year and rising to about 10 million tons. Mesabi is privately held and foreign-owned, so you cannot buy shares in it.

andresr / Getty Images

For Nucor (NYSE:NUE) and Cleveland-Cliffs (NYSE:CLF), the plant pressures price. First steel is expected in 2030, making this a valuation question today and an earnings question later, according to Mining.com.
Iowa Will Use the Electric Furnace Route Nucor Already Runs

The mill will convert iron ore into direct reduced iron and melt it in electric arc furnaces. Nucor already runs electric arc furnaces, while Cleveland-Cliffs operates traditional integrated operations that management describes as "miners, pellet producers, iron makers, steel makers, and downstream manufacturers."

The planned output is at about one-tenth of last year's U.S. steel production. The Export-Import Bank of the United States announced a $770 million direct loan for the associated Minnesota iron ore mine, and administration officials tied the project to steel tariffs.

Cleveland-Cliffs already dropped 7.84% on September 28 after its Canadian unit, Stelco, reported plans to indefinitely idle cold-rolled and coated operations at Hamilton Works, affecting about 350 jobs. Stelco blamed the 50% U.S. tariff on Canadian steel.

Tariffs cut both ways. The regime propping up U.S. prices shrank Cliffs in Canada. Nucor fell 1.1% that day, a decline likely tied to the Iowa project.

Nucor Stays Profitable While Cliffs Is Still Rebuilding

Nucor reported second-quarter adjusted EPS of $4.84 on $10.4 billion in sales. Its weak spot is expectations: on September 17, Nucor guided third-quarter EPS to $5.55 to $5.65, missing the $6.20 consensus, and shares fell about 5.8% the next day.

NUE Earnings Explorer — 24/7 Wall St.

Cleveland-Cliffs lost $0.25 a share in the second quarter after a full-year 2025 loss of $1.4 billion. Cleveland-Cliffs guided third-quarter adjusted EBITDA to about $575 million from $286 million, suggesting a floor is forming, although $7.7 billion of long-term debt leaves little room for a price war when the first-steel date arrives around 2030.


CLF Earnings Explorer — 24/7 Wall St.



Lens

Nucor

Cleveland-Cliffs

Steelmaking process

Electric arc furnaces

Integrated blast furnaces


Q2 per-share result

$4.84 adjusted EPS, according to Nucor

$0.25 loss


Year-to-date stock move

50.77%

-15.51%


Nucor screens better than Cleveland-Cliffs on this setup: Iowa mirrors Nucor's electric-furnace model, while integrated producers carry higher fixed costs. Nucor has gained 50.77% this year yet trades near 11 times forward earnings, with $244.52 under the average analyst target of $283.63.

NUE Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.

Cliffs, at $11.23 and down 43.67% over five years, needs contract resets and debt paydown before Iowa's output arrives. If management hits its leverage target of under 2.5x debt to EBITDA by mid-2027, or Nucor misses guidance, reconsider the ranking. I'd tag NUE stock a buy, and I'd avoid CLF stock for now.

CLF Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.

Google Earth reveals mysterious giant stone circles in the Andes

Techlicious
Updated Mon, September 28, 2026 



Key takeaways

A mountaineer discovered a unique complex of stone circles in Argentina's Andes, suspected to be a geoglyph, with no known parallels in the region.


A mountaineer combing through Google Earth has located a previously unknown complex of enormous stone circles more than 3,000 meters (about 9,800 feet) up in Argentina's Andes, and the archaeologists now studying it say they know of nothing like it in the region. The team suspects it is a geoglyph, a large design built or carved into the ground that is best appreciated from the air.

Mendoza climber Carlos Gobbi, who had spent nearly 30 years searching the mountains for archaeological sites, spotted the formations in satellite imagery in May 2025, according to Los Andes. The site sits in the Cordillera del Tigre, a mountain range that runs roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) north to south through the Andes of Mendoza and San Juan provinces. Reaching the remote location – with no nearby water sources – took three tries. Attempts in September and November 2025 fell short. On February 14, 2026, Gobbi and his companions finally arrived after a trek of almost four days. Gobbi recalls that seeing the site in person was "really striking."

On the ground, the group found stone walls forming corridors, along with trenches filled or lined with rock. From above, satellite images show large circular structures linked by passageways, plus rectangular areas, joined as a single figure. The circles measure 27 to 35 meters (roughly 89 to 115 feet) across.

The obvious comparison is Peru's Nazca Lines, but Horacio Chiavazza, an archaeologist at Argentina's National University of Cuyo who co-directs the ArqueoAndes research project studying the site, sees no parallel in design or construction. The Nazca figures were made by cutting trenches into the desert floor, while this site was built by piling stones on top of the ground. Geoglyphs also exist in northern Chile, Chiavazza said, but they come from different eras and cultures and may have served different purposes. He added that the team cannot yet say the Mendoza site depicts any particular figure.

Nobody knows how old the complex is, who built it, or why. Researchers found no pottery, food remains, or other surface evidence of people living there, which points away from a settlement. Combined with the extreme location, that has led the team to consider a ritual or symbolic purpose, possibly from the Inca period (the empire the Incas called Tahuantinsuyo) or earlier. If it is Inca, Chiavazza said, it would be one of the southernmost geoglyphs of that empire and could be tied to the Tambo de Ranchillos, an Inca waystation in the Uspallata Valley.

Those ideas remain hypotheses until the fieldwork, which starts in December, is complete. Chiavazza and Cristina Prieto-Olavarría, an archaeologist with Argentina's national research council CONICET who co-directs ArqueoAndes, will climb to the site with Gobbi as guide, joined by colleagues from Spain's University of Jaén. The team has permits from Mendoza's provincial heritage directorate and plans detailed mapping, drone surveys, remote sensing, and geochemical work, along with sediment excavation to help date the structures. The Spanish specialists will examine sediments and plant remains at microscopic scale to reconstruct the climate, water supply, and human activity around the site. The researchers also plan to involve Indigenous communities from Uspallata in the interpretation.