More on Tariffs, Carney’s Blunders

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Monday, August 11, 2025

This week from The Walrus:

Let’s Admit It: Trump Is Winning the Trade War with Canada

Carney’s countermoves are failing, proving just how hard it is to quit the US market

BY PAUL WELLS

A photo illustration shows a boxing glove holding a US and a Canadian flag, with the Canadian flag bent to one side.

Carney came to office with a plan to respond to Trump: dissuade Trump; seek compensating growth in third markets outside the US; and seek compensating growth inside Canada, through the “One Canadian Economy” push for liberalized internal trade. It should have been obvious from the outset that all three parts of that plan would be huge challenges. Now it’s more obvious, because experience has made us half a year wiser.

You could drive a truck through this “deal.” But just in case someone tries, the inspiring last paragraph of the “agreement” specifies that it “is not legally binding and does not create any legal, equitable or financial rights, obligations or liabilities for either of the Parties.”

Read or Listen to the Story

A photograph of a person holding a large red and yellow Mohawk warrior flag. The background is greyed out and blurred.

First Nations Warn Carney’s Push to Build Canada Could Tear It Apart

The prime minister’s fast‐track law has already set off a wave of Indigenous protest

BY JOY SPEARCHIEF‐MORRIS

Image of a hand holding up lettuce against a blue and brown background.

Fresh Lettuce in the Yukon? Believe It

In a territory where food arrives by truck, a handful of farmers are proving there’s another way

BY RHIANNON RUSSELL

2024 was a milestone year for The Walrus, and it’s all thanks to you! Although it feels long ago, we’re still reflecting and changing based on 2024’s growth. You helped us reach over 1 million monthly readers, launch a new strategic plan, publish close to 300 articles and showcase the work of 62 Canadian artists, and deliver award‐winning journalism across Canada. Explore the stories and impact your support helped make possible.

Read the Highlights

Photo shows close shot of hot steel on conveyor in a steel mill.

Why Trump’s Steel Tariffs Could Tip Canada into a Recession

“This is going to make things more painful, as well as more expensive, for everybody”

BY CARMINE STARNINO, PASCAL CHAN

Someone draws a lock and chain on a fence, behind which stand immigrants waiting to gain entry.

When Immigrants Oppose Immigration

Many established communities are embracing anti‐newcomer rhetoric

BY MIHIKA AGARWAL

In this issue: The end of retirement. The rise of granfluencers. The astounding creativity of artists in their golden years. And conversations about technology, grief, memory, and relationships that expand how we treat the passage of time in our lives.

Read This Issue

A photo illustration of a wooden coffin in a director's chair facing a video camera.

Cinema May Be Dying but the Old Auteurs Still Have Plenty to Say

Cronenberg, Scorsese, and other filmmakers of the generation are making some of their most revelatory work

BY DYLAN ADAMSON

A black and white still showing Daniel Aykroyd from the movie Ghostbusters.

Before Ghostbusters: How Asperger’s Shaped Young Dan Aykroyd

As a child, he was smart with stubborn eccentricities. A psychologist knew just the career for him

BY DANIEL TAMMET

Today’s Quiz Question

Steel and aluminum tariffs are back—having doubled from 25 percent to 50 percent in June—and once again, they’re rattling Canadian companies. Pascal Chan, leading policy expert at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, says there are grave after‐effects of these tariffs on our steel and aluminum industries. Which Canadian city known for aluminum production will likely be hit the hardest?

Yes, I Know the Answer

A MESSAGE FROM TORONTO PEARSON

Y We Travel: A Storytelling Series on the Power and Purpose of Travel

Why do we leave, and what do we hope to find? Y We Travel is a 12‐part series about the inner journeys that unfold in new places. Through thoughtful, voice‐driven essays, writers reflect on the beauty and friction of travel—and how it reshapes the way we see the world.

Discover the Series

In this episode of What Happened Next, host Nathan Whitlock is joined by author and essayist Aviva Rubin. She is the author of the memoir Tomorrow Was Always Too Late for Me and Lost and Found in Lymphomaland. Her most recent book is the novel White, published by Re:Books in 2024. Aviva and Nathan talk about the brief moment of internet notoriety she experienced after writing a New York Times column on parenting and casual nudity, about the shift from memoir to fiction with her last book, and about the odd sense of hesitation her novel was greeted with by media and author festivals, at a moment when a novel about how someone becomes a white supremacist is the very definition of timely.

Listen Now

As the executive director, I am frequently asked this question. These days, I reply: “The Walrus was made for this moment.” From on‐again, off‐again trade news and negotiations to a new prime minister, we are committed to Canada’s conversations. As a non‐profit newsroom, this work isn’t possible without our readers’ support. If you believe in Canada’s stories, support our paywall‐free journalism with a donation today.

And to give you a full picture, I’m pleased to share The Walrus’s highlights of 2024 with you, a reader of Canadian journalism. At this point, 2024 might feel far in the rearview mirror, but it continues to shape The Walrus today.

Our team is small, but our commitment is big; just like our country. Every story we publish is the result of writers, artists, and editors going the extra mile (well, kilometres) to bring Canada closer together through compelling, fact‐checked, and regionally grounded reporting.

Thank you for your support.

Jennifer Hollett
Executive Director
The Walrus

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