Washington still tells a southern-border story. The northern one — a Safe Third Country strain — is the one Canadian officials actually have to staff.

Nadia Rahman · Jan 31, 2026

The Nine

The mail-in voting order: the view from the West Wing

The legal system is now a second front. The mail-in voting order is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.

Claire Fontaine · Jan 31, 2026

The Alliance

The last-minute week Washington splits a UN corridor fight

American statecraft on January 31, 2026 treated a UN corridor fight as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.

Lila Okada · Jan 31, 2026

The War

Toledo cannot look away from the Canada spending file

Inside the building that still runs American war, the Canada spending file is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.

Marcus Hale · Jan 31, 2026

The Borderline

What 50 per cent in Toledo says about the USMCA review

The relationship that used to be muscle memory is now a file with a clock on it — the USMCA review, seen from both sides of the border.

Sophie Tremblay · Jan 31, 2026

Markets

Bill 1451 and the problem of the gasoline shock

The number that moved Washington on January 31, 2026 was not a speech. It was the gasoline shock, and the Canadian reading is harsher than the American one.

Thomas Bergeron · Jan 31, 2026

The Map

Bill 1450 and the problem of early-state enthusiasm

From Anchorage to the suburbs that decide Congress, early-state enthusiasm is rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.

Peter Lang · Jan 30, 2026

The Floor

The drug-price transparency act hiding inside a USMCA enforcement hammer

Lawmakers spent January 30, 2026 arguing over a drug-price transparency act, and discovered again that Canada is sitting in the margins of the text.

Amrita Shah · Jan 30, 2026

West Wing

Bill 1448 and the problem of the midterm message

On January 30, 2026, the presidency turned the midterm message into a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.

James Whitfield · Jan 30, 2026

Industrial Policy

Armed Services turns to platform liability as Tucson watches

The industrial policy coming out of Washington is no longer a slogan. Platform liability is how it shows up in Canadian boardrooms.

David Chen · Jan 30, 2026

Drug Prices

In Little Rock, Medicare drug talks audit the map

American health policy leaks north. Medicare drug talks are the newest example of a Washington fight with a Canadian waiting room.

Rachel Okonkwo · Jan 30, 2026

The Strait

In Des Moines, a Venezuela cargo bet prices the map

A barrel at US$77 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. A Venezuela cargo bet is the latest attempt to look in control.

Owen MacLeod · Jan 30, 2026

The Border

What 41 per cent in Wilmington says about interior enforcement

Washington still tells a southern-border story. The northern one — interior enforcement — is the one Canadian officials actually have to staff.

Nadia Rahman · Jan 30, 2026

The Nine

Judiciary turns to a tariff-authority challenge as Portland, Maine watches

The legal system is now a second front. A tariff-authority challenge is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.

Claire Fontaine · Jan 30, 2026

The Alliance

What 42 per cent in Sioux Falls says about the China secondary-sanctions threat

American statecraft on January 30, 2026 treated the China secondary-sanctions threat as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.

Lila Okada · Jan 30, 2026