Canada/U.S. border signage in downtown Detroit. (RiverNorthPhotography/Getty Images)

U.S. Senate passes CUSMA trade deal

Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a revamp of the 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement that includes tougher rules on labour and automotive content but leaves US$1.2 trillion in annual U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade flows largely unchanged. The legislation for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) passed on an 89-10 bipartisan vote, sending the […] Read more

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Subway, McDonald’s expand Beyond Meat rollouts in Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes Major fast-food chains McDonald’s and Subway are both expanding their rollouts of plant-based Beyond Meat products in Canada, beyond the range of their initial tests. McDonald’s Canada announced Wednesday it will expand the test marketing of its “P.L.T.” burger from its 28 stores in London, Ont. to also include 52 in Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and surrounding […] Read more





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U.S. House passes CUSMA

Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday backed a new trade agreement with neighbouring Mexico and Canada in a 385-41 bipartisan vote, sending the NAFTA replacement measure to the Senate for consideration early in 2020. Democrats, who control the House, approved the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA) more than a year after […] Read more

File photo of Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet in Montreal on Oct. 22, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Andrej Ivanov)

Opposition MPs could delay CUSMA deal’s ratification

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canada’s two main opposition parties on Wednesday suggested they could move to delay ratification of a new continental trade pact, accusing the Liberal government of botching revisions to the treaty. Such a move would embarrass Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has vowed that Parliament will quickly approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (CUSMA). […] Read more


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Nestle sells U.S. ice cream brands to Froneri

Reading Time: 2 minutes Zurich | Reuters — Nestle SA has agreed to sell its U.S. ice cream business to Froneri in a deal valued at US$4 billion, moving control of brands including Häagen-Dazs to a joint venture the Swiss group set up in 2016. Froneri was created after Nestle merged its European ice cream business in 20 countries […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder cattle market under weight of imports

Reading Time: 2 minutes Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $5 lower to $2 higher. It’s that time of year when most feedlots are carrying sufficient numbers and buyers are hesitant to increase ownership unless they can see profitability. Auction market volumes contained weaned and unweaned calves over the past week; premiums returned for feeders […] Read more


Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland waits to enter a ballroom at an event in Ottawa on Dec. 9, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

Freeland, U.S. and Mexican officials to meet to pin down trade deal

Reading Time: 4 minutes Washington/Mexico City | Reuters — The Trump administration, Mexico and U.S. Democrats on Monday closed in on a deal for labour-related changes to a languishing North American trade pact that may soon allow it to proceed to a vote, as the window for passage this year quickly narrows. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White […] Read more