Canada, US relations get frosty in Davos
Did Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney deal a major blow to his country’s relationship with the US? During his speech at Davos yesterday, Carney underscored how deeply the US-Canada relationship is fraying. Without naming President Donald Trump, he framed US behavior as part of a broader rupture in the rules-based order (welcome to the G-Zero World, to reference our founder Ian Bremmer). Trump responded during his speech today, chastising Carney and calling Canada “ungrateful.” The public breakup with America’s closest ally comes as once-frigid relations between Canada and China thaw. During a landmark visit to Beijing last week, Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to reduce tariffs on some Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola products. One thing to watch: As tensions rise between the US and Europe over Greenland, could we see Europe follow Canada’s lead?
In bid to halt insurgents, Ethiopian military commits friendly fire
The Tigray war in Ethiopia ended in 2022, but the East African nation of nearly 112 million people has faced another issue since then: multiple insurgencies in the Amhara and Oromia regions. In a bid to stamp out one of these groups, the Fano, the military launched drone strikes in the Waghemira area last Thursday, but they reportedly ended up hitting and killing 40 fighters on their own side. The Fano had fought alongside government soldiers during the Tigray war, but that alliance faded once the war came to a close. Exacerbating the situation is a long-running border dispute between Ethiopia and Sudan over the Al-Fashaga district, which sits across from Amhara.
