President Donald Trump

Accelerating diversification: Canada seeks economic sovereignty amid Trump's 'nonsensical' posturing

François Picard is pleased to welcome Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada. According to Simard, the US-Canada aluminum dispute is not your conventional disagreement over trade, but rather a 'Trump posture that makes no sense". As American industrial demand substantially exceeds domestic production capacity, tariffs will do nothing to reduce Canadian aluminum from the US market. Protectionism does not eliminate interdependence, explains Simard, it makes that interdependence considerably more expensive.

François PICARD

Trump posts AI map showing US 'takeover' of North America, Iceland and Caribbean

Donald Trump shared an AI-generated map Monday appearing to show the US absorbing Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba and parts of the Caribbean into a giant “United States of America”. Shared with no context, the post sparked diplomatic backlash with Iceland summoning its ambassador and Mexico reiterating its sovereignty. Denmark also pushed back over Greenland. Online, the map has triggered widespread ridicule and questions about Trump’s fitness for office.

Vedika BAHL

Trump tells Putin he wants swift end to Ukraine war, Kremlin says

US President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin he wanted a swift end to the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said, arguing that peace could pave the way for a broad restoration of US-Russia ties. The hour-long call Tuesday followed weekend talks by US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow and Kyiv to try to revive stalled peace efforts.

FRANCE 24

'US Midterm elections tend to be referendums on the unpopularity of the president'

Annette Young is pleased to welcome Michelle Swers, Professor of Government at Georgetown University. She frames the New Hampshire primary as both a major Senate contest and an unusually strong indication of the national political climate ahead of November. While Democrats face a difficult Senate map and cannot afford to surrender an open seat they already hold, the broader midterm political environment might become a referendum on President Donald Trump’s performance. New Hampshire is particularly instructive because its closely divided electorate makes national political currents more visible. Swers argues that Trump’s low approval and the local economic consequences of tariffs on Canada create significant headwinds for Republicans, especially in a state whose political identity is strongly associated with resistance to taxation.

FRANCE24

Missiles or mediation? Trump envoys shuttle between Russia and Ukraine

Exactly two months ago, Ukraine’s momentum was all the talk at a Nato summit in Turkey. What with its long-range drones and Donald Trump’s surprise announcement that the US would allow Kyiv to produce Patriot anti-ballistic missiles on home soil. That was then. This is now: Trump's deal's yet to materialize, Russia’s ramped up cruise missile launches and Ukraine’s run out of air defenses to stop them. Moscow's also failing to stop incoming missiles. What happens in war when for both sides, offense proves better than defense?

François PICARD

Scientists study how the brain of a fish filters out signals

The elephantnose fish is native to Africa and a darling of neuroscientists, for its specialized cerebellum-like brain. Scientists have mapped the neurons in a part of the brain that senses electrical signals in detail, and found that how it filters out electrical noise is more complex than they thought.

Pien Huang