The Strait
Raleigh cannot look away from Canadian heavy crude
A barrel at US$84 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. Canadian heavy crude is the latest attempt to look in control.
Owen MacLeod · Apr 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
355 stories from April 2026 · page 8 of 15
An unfinished bargain over interior enforcement
Apr 16, 2026
Langley stays late on sanctions litigation
Apr 16, 2026
In Grand Rapids, Mexico’s balancing act punishes the map
Apr 16, 2026
In Tucson, the tanker war accelerates the map
Apr 16, 2026
An ugly bargain over the softwood file
Apr 16, 2026
What 47 per cent in Savannah says about a hot payrolls print
Apr 16, 2026
The Map
An unfinished bargain over mail-ballot rules
From Allentown to the suburbs that decide Congress, mail-ballot rules are rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.
Peter Lang · Apr 16, 2026
The Floor
Grand Rapids cannot look away from the Pentagon’s wish list
Lawmakers spent April 15, 2026 arguing over a USMCA enforcement package, and discovered again that Canada is sitting in the margins of the text.
Amrita Shah · Apr 15, 2026
West Wing
In Tucson, a West Wing shake-up tests the map
On April 15, 2026, the presidency turned a West Wing shake-up into a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.
James Whitfield · Apr 15, 2026
Industrial Policy
Canada’s stake in cloud contracts at DoD just got larger
The industrial policy coming out of Washington is no longer a slogan. Cloud contracts at DoD are how it shows up in Canadian boardrooms.
David Chen · Apr 15, 2026
Drug Prices
The farm-state biofuels carve-out hiding inside an FDA nomination
American health policy leaks north. An FDA nomination is the newest example of a Washington fight with a Canadian waiting room.
Rachel Okonkwo · Apr 15, 2026
The Strait
Spokane cannot look away from the Hormuz risk premium
A barrel at US$84 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. The Hormuz risk premium is the latest attempt to look in control.
Owen MacLeod · Apr 15, 2026
The Border
What 51 per cent in Des Moines says about work-permit backlogs
Washington still tells a southern-border story. The northern one — work-permit backlogs — is the one Canadian officials actually have to staff.
Nadia Rahman · Apr 15, 2026
The Nine
A last-minute bargain over sanctions litigation
The legal system is now a second front. Sanctions litigation is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.
Claire Fontaine · Apr 15, 2026
The Alliance
A predictable bargain over Gulf shipping insurance
American statecraft on April 15, 2026 treated Gulf shipping insurance as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.
Lila Okada · Apr 15, 2026
The War
Bill 2329 and the problem of carrier-group math
Inside the building that still runs American war, carrier-group math is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.
Marcus Hale · Apr 15, 2026
The Borderline
Canada’s stake in the embassy channel just got larger
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 · Apr 15, 2026
Markets
Raleigh cannot look away from the strong-dollar problem
The number that moved Washington on April 15, 2026 was not a speech. It was the strong-dollar problem, and the Canadian reading is harsher than the American one.
Thomas Bergeron · Apr 15, 2026
