The Nine
A quiet bargain over agency-deferral leftovers
The legal system is now a second front. Agency-deferral leftovers is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.
Claire Fontaine · Feb 16, 2026
2026
The Washington archive
Every Washington Bureau dispatch from January 1 through September 11, kept on this site in full. Pick a month, or start with the latest.
3,037 complete stories · twelve desks · no off-site jump
331 stories from February 2026 · page 7 of 14
The predictable week Washington courts European energy nerves
Feb 16, 2026
The predictable week Washington overcommits the Hormuz mission
Feb 16, 2026
Quebec’s aluminum towns confront cross-border data rules
Feb 16, 2026
A factory-orders stall: the view from Langley
Feb 16, 2026
The generic ballot: the view from Foggy Bottom
Feb 16, 2026
K Street stays late on a USMCA enforcement hammer
Feb 16, 2026
West Wing
Canada’s stake in a Cabinet loyalty test just got larger
On February 16, 2026, the presidency turned a Cabinet loyalty test into a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.
James Whitfield · Feb 16, 2026
Industrial Policy
What 39 per cent in Grand Rapids says about data-centre water fights
The industrial policy coming out of Washington is no longer a slogan. Data-centre water fights are how it shows up in Canadian boardrooms.
David Chen · Feb 15, 2026
Drug Prices
What 48 per cent in Tucson says about mental-health funding
American health policy leaks north. Mental-health funding is the newest example of a Washington fight with a Canadian waiting room.
Rachel Okonkwo · Feb 15, 2026
The Strait
Canada’s stake in Canadian heavy crude just got larger
A barrel at US$77 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. Canadian heavy crude is the latest attempt to look in control.
Owen MacLeod · Feb 15, 2026
The Border
In Green Bay, the northern border narrative tightens the map
Washington still tells a southern-border story. The northern one — the northern border narrative — is the one Canadian officials actually have to staff.
Nadia Rahman · Feb 15, 2026
The Nine
Canada’s stake in a Missouri map fight just got larger
The legal system is now a second front. A Missouri map fight is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.
Claire Fontaine · Feb 15, 2026
The Alliance
Wilmington cannot look away from the Five Eyes tempo
American statecraft on February 15, 2026 treated the Five Eyes tempo as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.
Lila Okada · Feb 15, 2026
The War
Foreign Relations turns to allied basing rights as Chattanooga watches
Inside the building that still runs American war, allied basing rights is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.
Marcus Hale · Feb 15, 2026
The Borderline
A last-minute bargain over the embassy channel
The relationship that used to be muscle memory is now a file with a clock on it — the embassy channel, seen from both sides of the border.
Sophie Tremblay · Feb 15, 2026
Markets
Bill 1631 and the problem of small-business hiring
The number that moved Washington on February 15, 2026 was not a speech. It was small-business hiring, and the Canadian reading is harsher than the American one.
Thomas Bergeron · Feb 15, 2026
The Map
A last-minute bargain over the suburban-women vote
From Chattanooga to the suburbs that decide Congress, the suburban-women vote is rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.
Peter Lang · Feb 15, 2026
The Floor
Fresno cannot look away from the debt-limit shadow play
Lawmakers spent February 15, 2026 arguing over an energy emergency resolution, and discovered again that Canada is sitting in the margins of the text.
Amrita Shah · Feb 15, 2026
