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Canada-India relations strained by murder allegation
Canada-India relations strained by murder allegation | World In: 60 | GZERO Media

Canada-India relations strained by murder allegation

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

What's the future for Canada-India relations amidst the accusation of Sikh leader murder?

Also Canadian citizen, by the way, this is the equivalent of Jamal Khashoggi if he had been assassinated in the United States as opposed to Turkey. It's a big deal. The Canadians have hard intel. They've shared it with all of their top allies. The Americans certainly see it's very credible. This is, frankly, since the Russians invaded Ukraine, US relations with all of their top security partners and allies have only gotten closer and stronger over the last 19 months. This is the single big exception to that. India and Canada, two increasingly strong security partners of the United States with a very major flap. Trudeau called them out directly. There's been, you know, already some diplomats that have been tossed out of each other's countries. Doesn't really matter from an economic perspective. There's very little trade relations between the two countries, but it matters a lot in terms of domestic politics.Indian population in Canada is pretty big, and they have fair political autonomy because they're dominant in a couple of key districts politically. The Indian government views this guy as terrorist that was killed. They also deny it, so they had nothing to do with it. And there's a lot of nationalism. So it's very hard for me to see this getting fixed any time soon. Watch how the Americans respond, because they are between a rock and a hard place in this flap.

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Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises to make a statement in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Sept. 18, 2023.

REUTERS/Blair Gable

India and Canada expel diplomats, US treads carefully

Following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation on Monday that the Indian government assassinated Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil, the two countries each expelled one of the other’s diplomats.

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Modi and Trudeau back to back

Annie Gugliotta

What the G20 summit revealed about the Modi Trudeau relationship

The G20 meeting in New Delhi recently wrapped up with many observers touting it as a success. The African Union, comprising 55 members, joined the group. President Biden announced a plan for a rail and sea corridor between India, Europe, and the Middle East. And despite some discord, the heads of state and government agreed on a joint communique that touched on, among other matters, climate change, trade, and geopolitics.
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Art by Annie Gugliotta

What does a US-China reset mean for Canada?

A breakthrough in US-China relations is signaling a possible detente. Earlier this week, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo visited her counterpart Wang Wentao in Beijing to discuss smoothing trade relations. While the Biden administration is still committed to trade and security restrictions on China, it’s hoping to open space for more trade on consumer goods while “de-risking” the relationship between the countries – meaning reducing the chances of an accident or misunderstanding escalating into a full-blown crisis. For its part, Canada, as always, is following in the wake of the big powers.

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Art by Annie Gugliotta

Broken housing markets could shape US and Canadian elections

The United States and Canada share hundreds of billions in annual trade, a deep defense relationship, the world’s longest undefended land border, and an affordability crisis that threatens to upend political fortunes. At the heart of that problem is housing. As both countries grapple with inflation and rising interest rates, the cost of shelter and the risk of foreclosures are rising.

The causes of unaffordable housing include a complex mix of under-supply (itself caused by several things), urbanization, marketization and speculation, immigration, population growth, temporary foreign workers, international students, and natural barriers. But whatever the cause, the US and Canada are both millions short on needed housing stock.

For President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, unaffordable shelter presents both a policy challenge and a political liability, especially as each faces looming elections. Biden is up for reelection in late-2024, and Trudeau must face voters by the fall of 2025.

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Trudeau’s fight with big tech could bleed into US election
Annie Gugliotta

Ottawa, Washington at odds over digital tax plan

The Canadian government has outlined its plans for a digital services tax, which will hit online retailers and social media platforms with a 3% tax on Canadian revenue.

Trouble is, the Liberals’ tax battle with tech titans poses a threat to the carefully laid international plans of their political allies in Washington, according to a Politico report.

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Subsidy game could hurt Canada-US relations
Subsidy game could hurt Canada-US relations | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Subsidy game could hurt Canada-US relations

Jon Lieber, head of Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, DC shares his perspective on US politics.

What is happening with US/Canada relations?

Well, I'm headed up to Toronto, Canada, just about a week after President Biden made his first trip to America's neighbor to the north, which is also the US' second largest trading partner. A very important, deeply ingrained relationship between these two North American economies. And a major source of tension right now between the US and Canada is over industrial policy. The US over the last several years has started to deeply subsidize infrastructure development, semiconductor manufacturing, and in the Inflation Reduction Act, green energy production, electric vehicles, and the components that go into this.

Now, the automobile industry is obviously a very major component of US/Canada trade and has been that way since the mid '90s when NAFTA was signed. The renegotiated USMCA has created a new set of playing rules for governing US/Canada trade, and there have been several long-standing disputes between the two countries that have not yet been worked out. And now with the introduction of the US' new subsidies, the Inflation Reduction Act is causing major concerns in Canada who are worried about losing green energy investments to the United States where there are tax preferences, loan programs, and other direct form of subsidies in order to get that manufacturing into the US.

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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy awards a Ukrainian service member at a position near a frontline, in Donetsk region, Ukraine March 22, 2023.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

What We’re Watching: Zelensky’s Bakhmut message, Rishi’s post-Brexit win, Trudeau’s take on Haiti, Ethiopia’s peace progress

Russia and Ukraine score points where they can

Volodymyr Zelensky visited frontline troops in war-ravaged Bakhmut, located in Ukraine’s eastern province of Donetsk, on Wednesday as Russian drones struck across the country. While planning for the trip was surely well underway before Vladimir Putin’s surprise stop in Russian-occupied Mariupol last weekend, the contrast underlined Zelenksy’s signal of defiance.

By appearing in Bakhmut very near the fighting, Zelensky reminded the world that, six months after Putin mobilized 300,000 new Russian soldiers for a deeper advance into Ukraine, even the small city of Bakhmut remains beyond their grasp.

In other war news, Russia has warned it will respond harshly to shipments from the UK to Ukraine of anti-tank munitions made from depleted uranium. Moscow claims this step adds an escalatory nuclear element to the conflict. In response, the UK insists the Russian position is propaganda, that the use of depleted uranium is common in anti-tank weapons, and that it contains nothing that can be used to make nuclear or radiological weapons. Finally, Russia has announced a plan to raise an additional $8 billion in revenue by changing the way oil profits are taxed.

All these stories underscore the reality that, while little has changed on the battlefield, Russians and Ukrainians are still looking for every small advantage they can gain in what looks increasingly like a war of attrition.

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