Latest news for 11 July 2025

CANADA

Howdy neighbour.

President Trump’s latest trade letter has gone to Canada’s Mark Carney, announcing a 35% tariff on imports not already hit (25% on Canada’s auto sector and 50% on its steel and aluminium). Canada had just dropped its tech tax for talks to resume. The two are now working towards a 1 August deadline. (BNN Bloomberg)

Comment: By our count, that’s 22 similar letters this week, including to Japan, Korea, Malaysia, South Africa, Indonesia, Philippines, and Brazil. It’s an attempt to up the ante after the 90-deals-in-90-days pledge produced two (the UK and Vietnam). The wrinkle is that all these tariffs could get dropped to zero, pending the outcome of an appeal over whether the president has been unlawfully using emergency powers. Capitals might therefore await that outcome before offering any concessions.

UNITED STATES

Take that back.

The UN’s spokesperson has called on the US to reverse its “unacceptable” sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories. Secretary of State Rubio announced the sanctions in response to what he described as her efforts to prompt ICC action against the US and Israel. (UN News)

RUSSIA

More sanctions?

US lawmakers are refining a bill that could impose 500% tariffs on anyone buying Russian oil. The White House, which just confirmed a $300M arms shipment to Ukraine, has flagged the president’s openness to signing the bill after Putin hit Ukraine with another record 700 drones. (Politico)

Comment: If signed, it’d be a game-changer, imposing costs on powers like China and India for keeping Putin’s economy above water. But the ‘if’ there is big: word is the US president is insisting any bill give him complete waiver authority. Still, the timing would be rough for Putin — Secretary Rubio just said 100,000 Russian soldiers have *died* since January, and there are flashes of anxiety among Moscow’s elite.

EUROPEAN UNION

We’re going solar.

Data from an energy think-tank suggests solar became the EU’s biggest electricity source for the first time ever last month, overtaking nuclear and wind. Still, fossil fuels are up 13% as countries use gas to cover recent hydro and wind shortfalls. (Ember)

MALAYSIA

Count us in.

China has confirmed its willingness to sign Southeast Asia’s 1990s-era ban on nukes, which would make Beijing the first nuclear power to do so. China’s Wang Yi is in town for a ministerial summit with the main regional bloc (ASEAN), where counterparts from both Russia and the US are also vying for influence. (Al Jazeera)

Comment: It’s Secretary of State Rubio’s first trip to Asia since taking the job, and the timing is tricky given at least eight of his counterparts (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, and Brunei) are likely still processing the tariff letters their capitals just received from President Trump.

SUDAN

Wise up.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has told the UN Security Council it believes war crimes and crimes against humanity continue to occur in western Sudan. The court has been investigating crimes in Darfur for two decades now, with reports getting worse since the 2023 outbreak of civil war. (BBC)

ARGENTINA

Your turn.

A court has ordered former president Alberto Fernandez to stand trial for alleged corruption around his 2021 decree forcing government agencies to use a single insurance provider. (AP)

Comment: To give you a sense of the trouble he’s in, this case emerged after authorities examined his secretary’s phone over his separate domestic violence charges. This constant drip-drip of old Peronist scandals probably helps the new president (Milei) as he keeps pursuing drastic libertarian reforms.