ADVERTISEMENT

Economics

The Daily Chase: Cold war of words on tariffs continues to heat up

Watch BNN Bloomberg live.

Here are five things you need to know this morning:

Tariffs may come incrementally: An interesting report by Bloomberg this morning suggests that incoming U.S. president Donald Trump plans to bring in his much-ballyhooed import tariffs not all at once, but slowly over time and increasing as they go. The report, citing officials in his economic team, suggests import tariffs could begin at a low level on a limited number of items before slowly increasing month by month. The plan has yet to be presented to Trump, so take it with a grain of salt, but it is yet another sign of how absolutely everything is on the table when it comes to the trade file. With three quarters of Canadian exports bound for the U.S., it is impossible to understate the significance of the issue for Canada’s economy, which is why officials here have been ramping up the rhetoric of mutually assured destruction. Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kristen Hillman, told Bloomberg this morning that if the U.S. puts import tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada will begrudgingly do the same on a “tit for tat” basis “when really what we should be doing is working together.” Annual trade between Ontario and the U.S. alone nears $500 billion, which is why the province has been stepping up its efforts to make sure both sides are aware of the stakes. Premier Doug Ford is slated to speak with BNN Bloomberg in the 10 o’clock hour on the topic.

Barrick suspends Mali mine: Barrick Gold says it is suspending mining operations in Mali after the government started removing gold from their biggest mine in the country. It’s the latest escalation in the months-long dispute between the two sides over distribution of revenue from the Loulo-Gounkoto complex. Mali has banned Barrick from shipping any of the gold it has mined and started seizing gold stockpiled there.

Cogeco profit inches up despite revenue dip: We will be watching shares in Cogeco Inc. today after the TSX-listed telecom company posted earnings after the bell on Monday. Diluted earnings per share came in at $2.82 for the quarter ended Nov. 30, up from $2.57 a year ago. That profit uptick came despite a slight decrease of 1.4 per cent in the company’s revenue to $765 million. The company announced last year it plans to start offering wireless services, and on Monday confirmed that plan remains on track for later this year.

H&E shares double on takeover offer: Shares in H&E Equipment Services are up more than 100 per cent premarket after United Rentals Inc. agreed to buy the company for US$3.4 billion in cash in order to expand in the construction services business. United has agreed to pay $92 a share for the company, more than doubled the $43.94 the stock closed at in New York on Monday.

Musk in running for TikTok? Chinese officials are evaluating a potential solution to their U.S. problem that involves Elon Musk buying the company’s U.S. operations if it fails to overturn a court-ordered ban set to come into force in the coming weeks. According to Bloomberg, Beijing officials strongly prefer to keep TikTok ownership in their hands, but a potential deal with one of Trump’s closest allies has some appeal, the news services reported. Under one scenario that has been discussed, Musk would take control of TikTok U.S. and run it together with X, formerly known as Twitter.