HEADLINES
U.S. Eyes Lower Tariffs on Metals and Autos in Canada Trade Deal
The U.S. is likely to lower tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles as part of a trade framework being devised by the nations, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.
Though the deal hasn't been finalized, the U.S. is considering a plan to lower tariffs on steel and aluminum from 50% to 25%, and decrease top-line tariffs on automobiles from 25% to 15%, the people said. They cautioned that terms of the deal could change before any official announcement, and details are still being worked out.
The moves would come as part of a trade deal between the countries that President Trump announced on Tuesday night, less than two hours before a separate set of tariffs on Canada was scheduled to take effect early Wednesday. He said that the imposition of 50% tariffs on some $20 billion worth of Canadian goods would be paused for three days while negotiations continued.
Canadian officials have made lowering tariffs on sectors such as steel, aluminum, lumber and automobiles a priority in those trade negotiations and a condition for the country making concessions on U.S. demands. But the nations have so far released no official details on how U.S. tariffs will change under the agreement.
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Shares jumped 16.6% to settle at C$6.60.
Algoma has been hard hit by the Trump administration's sectoral tariffs aimed at the steel industry.
The Canadian steelmaker has warned the earlier 50% U.S. Section 232 tariff had fundamentally altered and permanently disrupted its cross-border business model and effectively foreclosed its historical access to the U.S. market.
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Curaleaf a day earlier went straight to Aurora shareholders with a cash and stock offer valuing its target at roughly $272 million. The company said the bid, which came less than a week after it unveiled a proposal to buy its rival, would provide immediate value and a chance to be part of a larger, more diversified global cannabis platform that has meaningful exposure to the U.S. market.
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The Toronto-based investment company received approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange for a normal course issuer bid to buy each series of its outstanding class A preference shares listed on the TSX over a one-year period through Aug. 23, 2027.
Under the current buyback program set to expire Friday, Brookfield as of Aug. 12 had bought 251,500 series 51 preferred shares and 23,300 series 52 preferred shares.
TALKING POINT
Why Canada's Booze Ban Is Such a Sore Point in Trade Talks
By Amanda Coletta
TORONTO-California Merlots, Kentucky bourbons and Tennessee whiskeys are collecting dust in Canada as alcohol becomes a high-profile hostage of trade tensions with the U.S.
After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian goods last year, Canada's provincial leaders hit back. The majority of provinces exercised their power over the distribution and sale of alcohol to pull U.S.-made wine, spirits and beer from most store shelves and stopped placing new orders.
While alcohol accounts for a tiny portion of the nearly $900 billion in trade between Canada and the U.S., few aspects of Canada's response to Trump's economic aggression have gotten under the skin of U.S. officials-while drawing broad support from the Canadian public-quite like the booze bans.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called the bans "outrageous." U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said they are one reason Trump thinks Canada is "nasty." And the White House cited them as one of several justifications for new tariffs of 50% that were scheduled to go into effect on Aug. 19.
Shortly before the new tariffs were to come into force, Trump said he had paused them for three days as the two countries work toward a deal.
Canadian officials have been racing to hammer out an interim deal to stave off the new tariffs, which would hit about $20 billion of Canadian goods, about 5% of the country's U.S.-bound exports. They have proposed making concessions, including pushing the provincial premiers to return U.S. booze to shelves, if the new levies are dropped and existing levies on goods such as steel and autos are eased.
The stakes for U.S. alcohol producers are high.
For Crosby Roamann, a Napa Valley winery, Canada was becoming an increasingly important export market before the trade battles. The winery was shipping an average of 10% of the production of several wines to Ontario, and its founders were eager to pitch new products to Canadian buyers. Now, somewhere in Canada, 100 cases of Crosby Roamann wines are sitting in storage.
"It's an incredibly disappointing position to be in," said Sean McBride, who co-founded the winery with his wife, Juliana.
The hit to the U.S. alcohol industry from the bans has been significant.
The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, an industry group, estimates that exports of U.S. distilled spirits to Canada plummeted 70% year-over-year, to $60 million for the months between March 2025, when many provinces began banning sales, and December 2025, compared with $203 million during the same months of 2024. U.S. wine exports to Canada, the largest buyer of U.S. wine, fell 77%, to $103 million in 2025 from $460 million in 2024, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
In a June earnings call, Lawson E. Whiting, the chief executive of Brown-Forman BF.B, the producer of brands including Jack Daniel's whiskey, said net sales to Canada plunged 60% in 2025 and identified the U.S.-Canada trade dispute as a current headwind.
The steep declines have drawn bipartisan concern, and several Democratic lawmakers have prevailed upon their Canadian counterparts to reverse the bans.
"Canada's boycott of California wine is causing devastating harm to winegrowers," Sen. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) wrote in a post on X last month. "I'm urging the Canadian government to recognize that California doesn't agree with these tariff wars, to lift these restrictions and increase consumer options to strengthen both our economies."
Support for the booze bans is high in Canada, where polls show people favor taking a more hard-line approach in trade talks with the U.S. over rushing into a deal. A poll this month from Abacus Data found that nearly 70% of Canadians support keeping the bans in place.
"This is not simply about wine, beer or spirits," David Coletto, the pollster's chief executive, said in a statement. "This reflects a broader public instinct that Canada should not reward economic pressure with immediate concessions."
Canada's premiers argue that the bans give Canada rare leverage and they have backed them stridently in the face of Trump's tariff threats. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that the bans should be lifted only as part of a broader, bilateral deal with the U.S.
"There is not a chance in hell that U.S. alcohol is going back on the shelf in British Columbia," David Eby, the province's premier, said last month after Trump threatened the new levies. "I'm proud of that and I know British Columbians support that."
As negotiators rush to secure a deal ahead of the deadline for the new tariffs, whether Canada's federal government can convince the provinces to put American booze back on the shelves is likely to hinge on the fine print of an agreement.
If, for instance, auto tariffs aren't eased significantly, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose economy relies heavily on the industry, is unlikely to budge. A deal without relief for the lumber sector could make it difficult for the premiers of British Columbia, New Brunswick and Quebec to lift their bans.
Laura Dawson, an expert on U.S.-Canada economic relations, said the booze bans are "double-edged sword" for Canada's government.
"It's been a helpful piece of leverage for the federal negotiators to have these provincial alcohol bans as a bargaining chip," she said. "But it's also an uncontrolled substance because they have no guarantee that the provinces will release them unilaterally."
Then there is the question of whether Canada's taste for U.S. alcohol will return. A Nanos poll this month found that nearly three-quarters of Canadians say they are unlikely to buy U.S. alcohol even if it's put back on store shelves.
McBride, the co-founder of the Crosby Roamann winery, has tried to adapt amid trade uncertainty. He's selling his wines to Japan, Europe and the Caribbean, but admitted that it's hard to replace the Canadian market.
"I would encourage [Canada and the U.S.] to come back to the table and try and figure out something that doesn't hurt small businesses like us who are really just caught in the crossfire," he said.
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