Global National: July 20, 2026 | Trump announces new 50% tariffs on Canada, deepens trade war

On this Monday night, Canada's worsening wildfires, the hundreds of blazes burning, the complaints and threats from the US president about the smoke, and how Ontario's premier is firing back. A bunch of rubbish. Another changing of the guard, the UK's newest prime minister. I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last 10 years. What he's planning and the hurdles he faces. Where is Parker, the race to find an Alberta boy who vanished days ago, and why an amber alert wasn't issued sooner? The alert criteria is just too rigid. Plus, cyclospora investigation. Why US health officials are now backtracking on a key finding. Global National with Donna Friesen. Good evening and thanks for joining us. The White House has launched another escalation of the trade war between the US and Canada. In a surprise move, President Trump signed an order which would impose 50% punitive tariffs on most Canadian goods entering the US. It's set to take effect in 30 days. It could just be another negotiating tactic. Trump is claiming its retaliation for Canada fighting back against previous tariffs he imposed, such as removing US alcohol from store shelves. In a statement late today, Canada's prime minister said, this is the latest in a series of unilateral US trade actions in direct violation of the Canada-US-Mexico trade agreement. Canada, Mark Carney says, has merely matched those measures. And he says, stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the US to the mutual benefit of our citizens. Jillian Piper outlines what Trump is threatening. Jillian. Yeah, Donna, the US president has signed three proclamations for new 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, which includes everything from wine and hockey sticks to cement. The levy could come into effect as soon as August 19th, and is expected to include Canadian imports that were previously exempt under the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement, which amounts to about 85% of all bilateral trade. That could be a huge problem for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who has repeatedly emphasized throughout the trade war that Canada has had the best deal with the Americans because of that free trade carve out. They are threatening many new sectors on top of the ones that they've already been hammering with tariffs. And Canada will have to work pretty hard now to figure out its next steps. Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted on social media that if the tariffs proceed, Canada should respond tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar. The US administration arguing this new tariff is necessary because Canada discriminates against Americans with dairy quotas and provincial bans of US alcohol. Canada has recently made several concessions to the US, but this latest escalation is widely being seen as a negotiating tactic for the Americans to get even more. They are trying to force Canada to come back to the table and make a bunch of concessions, and then perhaps we'll have an overall deal here. There is maybe one silver lining. The new duty is not expected to add on to the Section 232 tariffs that have been battering Canada's energy, steel, and aluminum sectors. Donna? Okay, Gillian, thanks. President Trump just hosted Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Cup final in New Jersey and said later he told Carney smoke from fires in Ontario is poisoning American air. More than 800 fires are burning now. 196 of them are out of control. Nearly 200 wildfires are burning in Ontario, most of them in the Northwest. And 13 communities have been evacuated, displacing more than 1,800 people. In British Columbia, thousands of lightning strikes have sparked new fires. More than 100 are burning now, a jump of more than 70 in five days. The US and Canada have a long-standing agreement to help each other fight wildfires, deploying personnel and equipment. But the US president says he warned Mark Carney to get the fires under control. Other leaders are calling for cooperation. Here again is Gillian Piper. I fit my mom and her belongings in here too. An evacuation alert has forced Carolyn Martins to pack up her BC home as out-of-control wildfires close in. We had ash falling on us today and that's kind of worried me at that time because that's usually the number one sign you got to get ready. Nearly a thousand wildfires are burning across the country and the situation has only gotten worse in the last few days, especially in Ontario. The fire is expanding from 650,000 hectares up to 735,000 hectares, so it's moving quickly. Smoke is choking some Canadian and American cities, irritating the US president so much that he raised the issue directly with the prime minister on Sunday at the World Cup final. I told him, I mean, you got to stop these fires from coming in and poisoning our air. Several US wildfires have caused air quality warnings in southeast BC, according to provincial officials. But that's seemingly not a concern for Donald Trump, who is once again threatening Canada with economic consequences. I have a good relationship with Mark Carney, but, you know, we got to stop the fires up there. If we can help them, we'll help them, but maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs. I get frustrated just listening to these, that bunch of rubbish. Ontario Premier Doug Ford pointing to Canadian Armed Forces personnel helping to save Minnesotans from an ongoing wildfire as an example for the president. Maybe President Trump would offer his closest allies and friends some support rather than sit there and threaten tariffs. Global News asked the prime minister's office repeatedly what wildfire assistance Canada has received from the US so far, but they would not directly answer, only saying in a written statement that the prime minister gave Trump an update All right, Jillian, thank you. US Central Command says a new round of strikes have been launched at Iran tonight. It is the ninth straight day of escalating attacks, and it's sending oil and gas prices soaring again, as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly grinds to a halt. The average price of gas in Canada is now $1.75 a litre. That is up almost two cents from yesterday. Since the US and Israel launched this war, thousands of Iranians have been killed and the US has lost 17 service members. Both sides have signaled an openness to resume talks, but right now, as Candace Cole reports, neither seems willing to stop fighting. For nine straight days, the US and Iran have exchanged missile strikes in response to repeated strikes on commercial vessels attempting passage through the critical Strait of Hormuz. The latest round of strikes against Iran, ordered by US President Donald Trump in response to the deaths of two US soldiers, First Lieutenant Tyler James Fian and Private Isabella Gonzalez, both killed in Iranian strikes on Muafiq Salty Air Base in Jordan over the weekend. Both were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the US Department of Defense. The unidentified remains of a third person were found in the area nearby Sunday, which may belong to a service member who went missing during the attack. We hit him very hard again tonight and we did that in honor of the probably three, it's probably three as opposed to two great patriots. The remains of another American service member were found in Iraq following an Iranian drone strike. Iran has repeatedly targeted vessels in the Strait of Hormuz as the US continues its blockade of Iranian ports, leading to a complete dissolution of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by both sides last month. Speaking with reporters Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said diplomacy with Iran is still possible, but they have to strike a deal the Iranians will be willing to live with. Look, Iran a week ago was supposed to put out a statement saying that the Straits of Hormuz would be open, that they would no longer attack shipping. And instead of doing that, they attacked three ships. Their behavior has to change in order for ours to change. In a news conference Monday, Iran's foreign ministry echoed that, saying the diplomatic apparatus remains active while accusing the US of approaching that diplomacy through coercion and intimidation. As the fighting escalates, further compromising energy transit in the Strait of Hormuz, US gas prices are on the rise again, climbing back up to $4 a gallon for the first time since mid-June, according to the American Automobile Association. Donna? Candace Cole in Washington. Thanks, Candace. Houthi leaders in Yemen, who are aligned with Iran, have declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia. The Houthis say they're blocking shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in response to an attack on Sana'a International Airport last week, which they blame on Saudi Arabia. Yemen sits at the southern gateway to the Red Sea, which has become a critical alternate route for Gulf oil since the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade opens a new front against the US in its war on Iran and expands the threat to energy supplies beyond the Gulf. A full closure of that gateway could result in a 7% cut to the global oil supply. The entire world is caught in the fluctuating price of oil this war has caused. Spikes drive inflation, and a drop in the oil price cools it. That's what happened in Canada in June. Stats Canada says inflation slowed to 2.8% last month, down from 3.2% in May. Jacqueline Hansen looks at the impact the war is having on inflation. Filling up cost a little less last month, but ask anyone here, and that is already a distant memory. Bob, it was cheaper, I don't know, a week or two ago, which was exciting, and now it's gone back up again. Gasoline prices fell 10% in June, after a ceasefire was reached in the Middle East, and the flow of oil that had been disrupted began to move through the Strait of Hormuz. But this month, attacks have intensified again, making that reprieve at the pump short-lived. Gas prices were actively falling until they weren't. So news that inflation has slowed doesn't feel like something to celebrate here. It feels bad, especially when you plan something, looking at the gas prices, and then they go up again when you're not expecting that. It also remains a challenge for Canada's central bank. Inflation is back within its target range of 1 to 3%, but it's still high. This is uncomfortable for the Bank of Canada. Typically, inflation is high when an economy is strong and it overheats. This isn't that. We've got this oil price shock that is driving up inflationary pressures. The central bank doesn't have control over oil prices. And if Canadians keep having to pay more, they may push to be paid more in higher wages, which could further fuel inflation. It becomes more problematic for the bank. And it could cause it to act and raise interest rates. For now, predicting where gas prices go next is next to impossible. Much of what Canadians could expect to pay in the months ahead is very much dictated now by significant decisions that could happen at a very high level between the U.S. and Iran. Out of the hands of Canadians, and for now, out of their pockets too. Jacqueline Hanson, Global News, Toronto. There is a new man in charge in the U.K. Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Manchester, was sworn in today, taking over from Keir Starmer, who resigned after his own Labour party turned on him. Burnham, who is the seventh U.K. prime minister in a decade, was anointed. There was no leadership contest. There are huge expectations for Burnham, who today promised to do things differently and to restore political stability, as Redmond Shannon reports. I shouldn't have doubted you. Andy Burnham knows the political value of an image, helping at a homeless shelter hours before he becomes British prime minister, having won the Labour party leadership at his third attempt. The man he replaces was far less experienced in elected office. Keir Starmer's ability to communicate, seen as one flaw that led to his downfall. As I now pass the baton to Andy Burnham, I wish him every success. He has my full support. These handover scenes now all too familiar for the British electorate. A visit to the palace for a meeting with the king and a Downing Street walk and talk, this time minus the famous lectern used by a conveyor belt of predecessors. I am acutely conscious that I am the sixth person in the last 10 years to walk up this street. Burnham will reportedly allow new oil and gas drilling. He says he wants to end homelessness, to reform social care and to bring some utilities back under government control. We will take power out of here and carry it into every postcode in the land so that they can do more. And in doing more, build a new economy. The former mayor of Greater Manchester is the first British PM in 50 years to have a significant in a country with a gaping economic divide. He will also set up a branch of his prime minister's office in the north. I think it's radical. Tracey Braben is another northern Labour mayor who feels Burnham must deliver where Starmer didn't. I don't think that the public really got a sense that their lives had changed. Burnham's critics say his policies are untested because he walked into Downing Street unopposed. But those tests and challenges will come quickly. The economic bind he faces is the same one that Starmer struggled with. Donna? Redmond Shannon in London. Thanks, Redmond. American health officials do a U-turn coming up. The false positive lettuce test and where it leads the investigation into a cyclospora outbreak. There is confusion tonight about the source of a cyclospora outbreak in the US. Health officials there now say lab tests on lettuce served at Taco Bell locations produced a false positive. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had said the lettuce from Taylor Farms was the source of an intestinal parasite that's making thousands of people sick. The FDA has now apologized for the mistake but says it still is focused on Taylor Farms. Catherine Ward explains. Donna, this is a significant walk back from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as they issued an update about the lettuce that was tested from Taylor Farms. In a statement Sunday, the government agency wrote, FDA laboratory experts re-reviewed the sample results and have concluded that the finding does not represent true amplification and should be considered a false positive and that as of July 19th there are no confirmed positive sample results for product testing for cyclospora. I was absolutely not expecting them to have a recall on the recall. I haven't seen that happen before in memory. Microbiologist Jennifer Ronholm says testing for cyclospora can be challenging. It's difficult and it's finicky and it requires a really high level of technical skill to get one of these tests done and there's some interpretation at the end of the day too. They take a piece of lettuce and they extract parasite DNA from that piece of lettuce and then they try to amplify a section of the parasite's DNA and then if they're able to do that in a few rounds of PCR, they can call it a positive result. Taylor Farms says they have completed a voluntary recall of iceberg lettuce from central Mexico out of an abundance of caution. In a statement, they say they are committed to working with public health authorities as the ongoing outbreak investigation continues. Regardless, as of July 17th, Taco Bell says they are no longer using lettuce from Taylor Farms. While the exact source of the outbreak remains under investigation, experts want to stress the risk to food grown and produced in Canada remains low. Donna? Okay, Catherine Ward, thank you. Should an AMBER Alert have been issued sooner for a missing 11-year-old boy in Calgary? Hope is fading in the search for two missing boys who slipped into fast-moving rapids at a lake northeast of Winnipeg on Saturday. They were hiking with their father and friends when it's believed a 10-year-old slipped on some rocks and fell into the water. His 13-year-old brother jumped in after him. A rescue operation has been underway since Saturday. Police say that search may now be moving towards recovery. Police in Calgary are asking for public help in the search for a missing 11-year-old boy. Parker Wells was last seen on Thursday after leaving his day home. An AMBER Alert was issued, but not until Saturday. Heather Urichs West explains why and the calls for change. Five days in and the search continues for a missing Calgary boy. I just feel bad. One of my friends is autistic, so I feel like if he went missing that would be really bad too. Police say they will not stop searching until the non-verbal 11-year-old is found, but a new obstacle has emerged in this investigation, AI, with fake images of Parker on CCTV circulating on social media. We know it's out there. We know that it can divert resources from a legitimate search path. Police say crews have walked over 6,500 kilometres searching for Parker since Thursday, but concerns have been raised over how his disappearance was handled in those first two days. I'm a bit disappointed with that. I think a child missing should have an AMBER Alert all the time. The criteria for issuing an AMBER Alert varies from province to province, but generally police need evidence that a child has been abducted before activating the system. In Parker's case, there is no evidence of an abduction. But two days after his disappearance, the provincial government decided to issue an AMBER Alert anyways. To me, this shows that our provincial government acknowledged that there are times when the alert criteria is just too rigid. Following the disappearance of six-year-old Darius McDougal in southern Alberta last year, a case that saw no AMBER Alert used, Ronald Degagne launched a petition asking the rules change so that police are given the final say. The provincial government says it will review its AMBER Alert criteria in the months to come. I just want to do whatever we can. I just feel so bad for his family. As the city focuses on bringing Parker home. Heather, Eurex West Global News, Calgary. There's a new development in the death of Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker and captain Jaden Dahlke. The RCMP say he was driving on the wrong side of the highway into oncoming traffic before a head-on crash that killed him and another driver. Police say they found alcohol and cannabis in Dahlke's vehicle. That fatal crash happened on Saturday night on the highway between Regina and Lumsden. 22-year-old Bishma Rajaguri of Regina has been identified as the other driver. There were no other people involved and RCMP say there will be no court proceedings. World Cup wraps next. The highs and lows during five and a half weeks of competition. Spain won the World Cup, of course. But it seems President Trump wanted in on the celebration photo. He, alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino, presented the trophy to the Spanish team after their victory against Argentina on Sunday. But then Trump hung around a bit too long as the players lifted the trophy, leading to Infantino rushing across the podium to try to usher him away. The two of them still lingered a bit before finally conceding the stage to Spain. That final game wasn't the most thrilling. There was only one goal. It was a very one-sided match. But the tournament as a whole still captivated billions of people around the world. Eric Sorensen looks back on the highs and lows of an exhilarating World Cup. Forty-eight countries competed, but only one experiences the exquisite joy of winning the World Cup. We are so happy, right? She says to her daughter. We are world champions, says another. And it was fully deserved. Spain's creativity demonstrating what the beautiful game is really about. Completing an astonishing 803 passes in the final. Overcoming rough tactics by an overmatched opponent. And in extra time, striking once to win it all. Emotions ran the gamut. From jubilation and victory to predictable frustration in Argentina. In this country, it's been a special time. The men's team winning its first two World Cup matches ever. And as co-hosts, Canada welcomed the world. It brings everybody together. I think that's what Canada is all about. Vancouver and Toronto, two cities that embody the multicultural celebration that is the ultimate aim of the World Cup. And you know, involve all different cultures. And I love it. It's amazing. I mean, look around you. How many people have come here? It means a lot to us. There was much to criticize from exorbitant ticket prices to the U.S. president intervening in an American player's disqualification. Yes, I asked for a review by FIFA. On the pitch, there were players who constantly embellished contact to draw fouls. And consider what might have been if Canada's best, the injured Alphonso Davies, had been able to play more. But so much of the tournament was fun to watch. The Tartan army from Scotland. The Norwegians rowing like Vikings. And Canadians just excited to be in the global spotlight. We like never would have thought Canada would ever be one hosting a World Cup. There was the golden boot for Kylian Mbappe. The force of nature, Erling Haaland. And a 40-year-old goalkeeper from tiny Cape Verde, showing that small countries do belong. And while it is bittersweet to see what may be the end of an era for the incomparable Lionel Messi, there was something reassuring when Messi embraced Yamal, that the World Cup will produce new heroes four years from now. Eric Sorensen, Global News, Toronto. That is Global National for this Monday. I'm Donna Friesen. Tonight's here Canada is Sombra, Ontario. We'd love to see your Canada. Please email it to globalnational at globalnews.ca. And thanks for joining us. Hope to see you here again tomorrow. Bye-bye.