🇨🇦 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Is the French language in Washington’s crosshairs?

The Premier of Quebec, Christine Fréchette confirms that Quebec’s French-language requirements were among the irritants raised by the United States during trade negotiations.

“The presence of French on consumer devices […] or the availability of user guides in French” were among the issues raised by the Americans.

Fréchette said this was a “red line that could not be crossed.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-trump-blanchet-bill-off-table-trade-1.7499025

📎 Alexandra Lavoie

🇨🇦 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Québec Premier Christine Fréchette: "As long as the Americans are leading this trade war against our businesses and workers, I will not put U.S. alcohol back on the shelves at the SAQ. We will also continue to penalize U.S. businesses in our calls for tenders."

📎 Scott Robertson

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 Putin says Ukraine “opened a Pandora's box” by hitting Russia's economy

Ukraine has opened a Pandora's box by attacking Russia's retail sector and should now expect the same treatment but worse, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview on August 22.

“The Kiev regime set out to damage our economy. What did it do? It opened this Pandora's box itself. Well then, expect a response targeting your most sensitive economic sectors,” Putin said in comments to Russian state television over the weekend.

He was speaking at the end of a summer in which Ukraine escalated drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries, sparking a fuel crisis that has recently surged into a second wave of shortages. And at the end of July, Kiev launched Operation Wildberries, targeting Russia’s biggest online retailer, destroying half of its network warehouses that account for about 10% of Russia’s retail trade. Ozon, Russia’s second biggest retailer, was added to the hit list on August 21, when its first warehouse in Samara was hit, followed by a strike on another warehouse in Orenburg the next day.

The Kremlin has retaliated with a disproportional ferocity as a warehouse war gets underway, not only destroying warehouses and shopping centres, but attempting to systematically destroy Ukraine’s retail infrastructure. After only two weeks, supermarkets in Kiev are starting to empty as stores are unable to find supplies, or if they do, get them to shops to restock the shelves, according to reports. At the same time both of the combatants have targeted Black Sea grain exports and brought that business to halt just as the harvest start to come in.

It’s a one-sided fight. Russia has a deep missile inventory and a large firepower advantage. Ukraine has few missiles and its supply of interceptor missiles, the only thing that can stop Russia’s devastating ballistic missiles, has run dry. The upshot, Putin said in his interview, is the cost to Ukraine is much higher than the cost he admitted Russia is paying.

Putin was explicit about the scale of the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) reply, in a fuller version of the remarks circulated in Russian: “You wanted to cripple our economy - now factories and warehouses are burning from Lvov to Zaporozhye. You interfered with our logistics - the Black Sea is closed, and railway junctions and lines are being systematically destroyed.” He said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had given Russian 40 days to announce a ceasefire, or “face the consequences” and nothing happened: “Of course, no turning point in the confrontation with Russia has occurred, and will not occur,” Putin said.

Grain is the main foreign exchange earner for the Ukrainian budget and it has already lost an estimated $2bn in grain export revenues at a time when the Ministry of Finance (MinFin) says there is already a $20bn hole in this year’s budget. Ukraine's grain exports have fallen 70% since its corridor closed in late July. The Odesa port strikes alone could cost Ukraine 5.3% of GDP by 2027, according to exports. A new global food price inflation shock is already on the cards.

🔗 https://www.intellinews.com/putin-says-ukraine-opened-a-pandora-s-box-by-hitting-russia-s-economy-462851/

🇵🇰🇮🇷 Pakistani Field Marshal, Asim Munir, is traveling to Tehran on Monday hoping to convince the Iranians to resume talks with the Trump Administration.

In the past, Pakistani medias used Asim Munir and the travels of other Pakistani politicians to Iran to leak information about "peace deals" or "ceasefire agreements" which would result in the price of paper oil going down.

🔗 Iran Nuances

⛽️ While everyone is distracted by the manipulated oil price... diesel is trading at $183 per barrel.

- WTI: $87
- Diesel: $183

People say oil is the lifeblood of our economy...But it's actually diesel.

Diesel powers:

- Most farming operations
- Most mining operations
- ~80% of US freight by weight
- ~80% of global trade

We're going to feel the inflationary pressure of $183 diesel while crude is struggling to stay above $80.

Brace for inflation.

🔗 Lukas Ekwueme

🇮🇷❌🚢 The Persian Gulf Strait Authority published a list of 48 “non-compliant” vessels that will face restrictions in the future such as “fines, impoundment or confiscation”.

🔗 bonzerbarry

🇨🇦⚔️🇺🇸 U.S. Economy Could Feel the Sting From Trade War With Canada

Although Mr. Trump’s tariffs only cover a small subset of Canadian goods, the consequences could quickly spiral. If Canada retaliates, and Mr. Trump does the same, the result could be a series of new shocks for the U.S. economy at a time when it is already weathering plenty.

With Canada, though, Mr. Lincicome said the new clash could weigh heavily on businesses that transact across the U.S.-Canadian border. The retaliatory tariff increases could affect prices, and consequently translate to “slightly less investment, slightly less economic activity,” while the confusing trade climate persists.

In the end, Mr. Trump could still avert catastrophe and strike a deal with Canada as soon as this weekend. But, by Saturday morning, that appeared unlikely: Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, told Fox News that there were no new talks planned with his Canadian counterparts, adding that the administration was “moving forward” with its tariffs.

Mr. Trump’s new duties — set at 50 percent — apply to about $20 billion in Canada’s exports to the United States, according to administration officials. The list of covered goods numbers into the hundreds, and includes Canadian-made hockey sticks, furniture and dairy products, which could become too expensive for U.S. consumers to import.

📝 Between:

— The impending trade war with Canada having an outsized impact on Alaska, Maine, Michigan & Ohio

— Allowing 300,000 metric tons of ground beef to be imported & sold at 25% below market price having an outsized impact on Texas, Iowa & Nebraska

Trump’s really doing all he can to help Democrats flip the Senate.

📎 https://archive.is/20260822182304/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/22/business/economy-trade-war-us-canada.html

🔗 Adam Carlson

🏦 🇺🇸 💵 Scott Bessent says the U.S. will simply have to “grow our way out” of $40 trillion in debt.

📝 Martin Skold: "He’s actually not wrong (the belt-tightening probably -creates- debt at this point by causing revenue shortfalls and bank failures); it’s just that overly indebted countries don’t grow.

The way out is a default - either a literal one (which is basically unconstitutional and would end the US government as we know it) or through inflation.

The latter, of course, would work better if we didn’t also owe a multiple (!) of the current debt to our seniors in the form of entitlements we can’t pay for (that will themselves have to be “defaulted” on, and in a way that is the right word).

But it’s not free in either case, anymore than personal bankruptcy is free - it sucks. It’s just a question of whether it’s possible to get through the pain to the other side where we can start growing again."

📎 Glenn Diesen

📝 🇺🇸 💸 Financial Times:

“Scott Bessent’s running battle with the bond market is starting to look like his boss’s war in Iran — started by his own hand with a tangled set of objectives, an underestimated opponent and an implausible path to victory. And like the conflict in the Middle East, we are all going to suffer its effects.

Three weeks ago, of course, he inserted himself in the market for the Japanese yen, of all things, buying the currency to prop it up in what was painted as a friendly act of solidarity with an ally in need.

The link back to Treasury bonds may not be immediately obvious, but bond market insiders are not buying the friends-helping-friends explanation, and instead see it as an effort to stop Japan from fixing its yen problem by selling down its gigantic stash of US debt.

So now, no fewer than three times in three weeks, Bessent has given the message to investors to please stop selling his bonds. But they are selling his bonds anyway.”

https://archive.ph/oFdxU

📎 JaguarAnalytics