Here are five things you need to know this morning:
Dockworkers deal. The union representing U.S. dockworkers has struck a tentative deal that, if ratified by dockworkers themselves, will avert a crippling strike that would shut down port traffic on the U.S. eastern seaboard as soon as next week. The International Longshoremen’s Association announced the news in a press release on Wednesday, trumpeting a six-year deal pending ratification. The two sides hammered out a temporary deal in October that included a 62 per cent pay increase but faced wide disagreement on the use of automation. Details of the new deal are not yet public, but the news is a major development in an impasse that was set to start as soon as next week.
Eh-conomic force. Donald Trump’s claim this week that the U.S. doesn’t need anything Canada provides is flat out wrong. That’s according to Canada’s Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who in an interview with Bloomberg Wednesday said America would have a difficult time replacing the heavy crude oil, uranium and critical minerals that Canada currently exports to the U.S. The U.S. simply does not produce enough of those products domestically to meet its demand -- or have the capacity to ramp up -- so would have to resort to importing more of them from countries like Venezuela and China. It’s part of the rapidly escalating war of words between the two countries, on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration. Ottawa is reportedly looking into what it can do in terms of retaliatory tariffs and is considering levies of its own on things like steel, ceramics and orange juice.
Hershey seeks CFTC OK for major cocoa buy. The price of cocoa has been surging for months now on supply concerns, and the commodity took another major jump higher this morning after chocolate maker Hershey announced it is seeking permission to buy up to 90,000 metric tonnes of the commodity on the ICE exchange. The figure equates to about 5,000 container-loads and is more than nine times the current limit for a purchase. Hershey says it is confident in its supply chain despite lower yields and supply from major producers like Ivory Coast but is taking the step as a precaution.
RBC partners with Cohere on AI initiative. The Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian artificial intelligence company Cohere are partnering to build a bank-wide AI platform. RBC announced the initiative in a release tis morning, noting that the program called North For Banking will help employees complete tasks and find information to help resolve specific customer requests.
Toronto Tempo signs Sephora as brand partner. Canada’s first WNBA franchise the Toronto Tempo are set to kick off their first season next year, and the team has just announced a multi-year partnership with cosmetics brand Sephora Canada. BNN Bloomberg will have an interview with Tempo president Teresa Resch on the deal and what else is happening with the franchise in the 1 pm easter time hour today.