Sharing today’s updates on Canada-U.S. relations and tariffs:
1. India’s US exports jump despite 50% tariffs as trade tensions ease
- India’s goods exports to the US rose for the first time in five months in October, jumping 14.5% from September, even as Donald Trump’s steep tariffs remain in place.
- Exports to India’s largest foreign market had dropped sharply last month after 50% US tariffs on India – including a 25% penalty for buying Russian oil – kicked in on 27 August.
- The improved data came as Indian state-run oil firms agreed to import more annual liquified petroleum gas (LPG) from the US and Trump exempted many farm goods from reciprocal tariffs that could benefit India.
- Trade deal negotiations between the two countries are under way, with an Indian official saying that key aspects of the deal were nearing closure.
2. Higher Tariffs Take Toll on Global Growth, and Impact Is Set to Linger
- The rise in U.S. taxes on imports has had a lighter impact on the global economy than many policymakers and businesses had feared, but it nonetheless is having an impact that will likely persist through next year and beyond.
- Figures released Monday showed the economies of Japan and Switzerland both contracted in the three months through September, in part because of the higher taxes U.S. businesses must pay if they buy goods made in either country.
- Although the most recent to report third-quarter growth figures, they were not alone in being negatively affected by President Trump’s tariffs. Mexico and Ireland, two of the largest exporters to the U.S., also saw their economies contract in the period.
3. Saab offering 10,000 jobs, Joly says, as Canada’s F-35 review drags on
- Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pitted two giant defence companies against one another on Tuesday for the future of Canada’s fighter fleet, saying the $27-billion contract to buy 88 U.S.-made F-35 jets (F-35’s are manufactured by Lockheed Martin which are American owned) doesn’t deliver enough jobs for workers in this country, and that the public expects a better deal.
- In perhaps her most pointed comments to date, Joly acknowledged publicly that the federal government was talking with Swedish defence contractor Saab, which has promised to bring thousands of aerospace manufacturing jobs to the country in the assembly of its Gripen E fighter jet.
- “We think that we can use military procurement to get more,” Joly told reporters. “That is why we’re looking, indeed, at the Gripen.” She also said Saab is offering 10,000 jobs. “We’ll see how that is concrete,” Joly said. “And at the same time, we’re looking at what Lockheed Martin can do.”
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