The legal system is now a second front. The classified-documents fight is how the administration is trying to win arguments it cannot finish in Congress.

Claire Fontaine · Jan 4, 2026

The Alliance

Portland, Maine cannot look away from Gulf shipping insurance

American statecraft on January 3, 2026 treated Gulf shipping insurance as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.

Lila Okada · Jan 3, 2026

The War

In Buffalo, a munitions shortage accelerates the map

Inside the building that still runs American war, a munitions shortage is colliding with allied patience and Canadian procurement politics.

Marcus Hale · Jan 3, 2026

The Borderline

The expensive week Washington isolates 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 3, 2026

Markets

What 47 per cent in Grand Rapids says about the gasoline shock

The number that moved Washington on January 3, 2026 was not a speech. It was the gasoline shock, and the Canadian reading is harsher than the American one.

Thomas Bergeron · Jan 3, 2026

The Map

Judiciary turns to a special-election warning as Allentown watches

From Allentown to the suburbs that decide Congress, a special-election warning is rewriting how campaigns talk about the war, prices and the border.

Peter Lang · Jan 3, 2026

The Floor

An unfinished bargain over the Pentagon’s wish list

Lawmakers spent January 3, 2026 arguing over a defence production rewrite, and discovered again that Canada is sitting in the margins of the text.

Amrita Shah · Jan 3, 2026

West Wing

Canada’s stake in Washington’s foil just got larger

On January 3, 2026, the presidency turned Canada into a foil in a test of discipline, loyalty and the midterm calendar.

James Whitfield · Jan 3, 2026

Industrial Policy

What 49 per cent in Spokane says about an election-deepfake statute

The industrial policy coming out of Washington is no longer a slogan. An election-deepfake statute is how it shows up in Canadian boardrooms.

David Chen · Jan 3, 2026

Drug Prices

The overnight week Washington delays a vaccine-schedule fight

American health policy leaks north. A vaccine-schedule fight is the newest example of a Washington fight with a Canadian waiting room.

Rachel Okonkwo · Jan 3, 2026

The Strait

The predictable week Washington overpromises the Hormuz risk premium

A barrel at US$76 turns every hearing into a kitchen-table argument. The Hormuz risk premium is the latest attempt to look in control.

Owen MacLeod · Jan 3, 2026

The Border

The expensive week Washington reroutes 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 · Jan 3, 2026

The Nine

The transactional week Washington narrows the mail-in voting order

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 2, 2026

The Alliance

Canada’s stake in the Iran coalition just got larger

American statecraft on January 2, 2026 treated the Iran coalition as a lever. Allies, including Canada, are doing the arithmetic.

Lila Okada · Jan 2, 2026

The War

The Canada spending file: the view from K Street

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

Elena Voss · Jan 2, 2026