U.S. and China to Meet at Precarious Moment in Trade War
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Company that worked on ArriveCan app banned from government contracts for 7 years
Public Services and Procurement Canada says GC Strategies Inc. has been deemed “ineligible’ after an assessment of the supplier’s conduct. GC Strategies did not develop or manage the ArriveCan app, but it was tasked by the federal government to assemble a team to complete some parts of the project. The government launched the app in April, 2020, as a way to track health and contact information for people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to digitize customs and immigration declarations.
Ottawa says it has banned the largest contractor that worked on the ArriveCan app from entering into contracts or real property agreements with the government for seven years.
Public Services and Procurement Canada has announced that GC Strategies Inc. has been deemed “ineligible” after an assessment of the supplier’s conduct.
Last year, the department suspended the security status of GC Strategies, which the auditor general says was awarded more than $19-million for the project.
That move followed an earlier decision to suspend the company from procurement processes within the department. The government also barred two other companies that contributed to the ArriveCan project, Dalian Enterprises and Coradix Technology Consulting, from participating in procurement opportunities.
The federal government launched the app in April, 2020, as a way to track health and contact information for people entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to digitize customs and immigration declarations.
A report by Canada’s Auditor General Karen Hogan found the government’s record-keeping was poor and its reliance on outside contractors allowed the cost of the project to balloon to $60-million.
The first ArriveCan contract was initially valued at just $2.35-million.
On Tuesday, Ms. Hogan is set to deliver an audit focusing on whether the contracts awarded and the payments made to GC Strategies and other incorporated companies were “in accordance with applicable policy instruments” and were good value for money.
Public Services and Procurement Canada says the government continues to take action to “strengthen the integrity of the procurement process.”
The Canadian Press has reached out to GC Strategies and to Public Services and Procurement Canada for comment.
GC Strategies partner Kristian Firth was ordered to appear before the bar of the House of Commons last year after refusing to answer questions at a committee hearing.
Mr. Firth was grilled by MPs for two hours, though Liberals opted out of questioning after a doctor’s note provided to the clerk of the House recommended that he not appear because of mental-health issues.
GC Strategies did not develop or manage the ArriveCan app, but it was tasked by the federal government to assemble a team to complete some parts of the project.
Canadian chip company Untether AI winding down operations
Toronto-based Untether designed computer chips for artificial intelligence applications such as autonomous vehicles, robots and drones. The company pivoted too late to the hardware market for powering generative AI applications, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Economic uncertainty owing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda contributed to difficulties raising new funds from investors this year, one of the sources said.Untether said in a statement on its website that it had entered into a “strategic agreement” with chipmaker AMD, which is based in California. The value of the deal would likely be less than US$100-million depending on how many employees agree to join AMD, a source said. The agreement is known as an “acquihire,” in which one company strikes a deal with another to gain access to talent instead of products or services. It is not clear what will happen to Untether’s intellectual property, but the source said it could be sold separately. Neither Untether nor AMD immediately replied to a request for comment.
Promising Canadian chip startup Untether AI Corp. is winding down after failing to raise money earlier this year, and its engineering employees will be transferred to American company Advanced Micro Devices AMD-T.
The arrangement is known as an “acquihire,” in which one company strikes a deal with another to gain access to talent instead of products or services.
Toronto-based Untether designed computer chips for artificial intelligence applications such as autonomous vehicles, robots and drones, and said its products were far more energy efficient than others on the market.
But the company pivoted too late to the hardware market for powering generative AI applications, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to two sources familiar with the matter, and struggled to compete against the dominance of Nvidia Corp. NVDA-T in the chip market.
Economic uncertainty owing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda contributed to difficulties raising new funds from investors this year, one of the sources said.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they are not authorized to discuss the matter.
Untether said in a statement on its website Thursday that it had entered into a “strategic agreement” with chipmaker AMD, which is based in California.
“While today marks the end of Untether AI’s journey, we are proud of the pioneering research that underpinned our work,” the statement says. The company added it will no longer supply or support its hardware and software products.
AMD said in a statement to trade publication CRN that it is acquiring “a talented team of AI hardware and software engineers” from Untether.
One source said the value of the deal would likely be less than US$100-million depending on how many employees agree to join AMD. The source added that Meta Platforms Inc., which is working on custom chips for AI applications, was also in talks with Untether.
It is not clear what will happen to Untether’s intellectual property, which is not part of the transaction, but the source said it could be sold separately.
Neither Untether nor AMD immediately replied to a request for comment.
From 2024: Toronto’s Untether straps in for growth selling AI chips – but can it avoid getting crushed by Nvidia?
Chris Walker, Untether’s chief executive, left the company in May, according to his LinkedIn profile. He did not reply to The Globe and Mail.
Untether was founded in 2018 and received funding from Intel Capital, Radical Ventures, GM Ventures and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. The company has raised around $150-million.
That means that, given the potential value of the deal with AMD, investors are likely not recouping the total amount they invested. However, losses will depend on when investors first put money into Untether.
The company’s products were built on the research of co-founder and former University of Toronto professor Martin Snelgrove, who pioneered a different computer chip architecture.
The dominant approach to chip-making has followed a design laid out by mathematician and physicist John von Neumann in 1945, but that design wastes a lot of energy shuttling data around. Untether cut the distance that data must travel by placing memory and processing units side-by-side on the hardware.
Untether pursued the self-driving vehicle market and other systems that use a form of AI know as computer vision, which involves detecting and interpreting objects in videos and images. But the AI world changed with the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, as companies became obsessed with generative AI and chatbots.
Nvidia later became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, as large tech firms scrambled to purchase chips to install inside data centres for training AI models. Untether aimed to compete with Nvidia in the much larger market for powering AI inference, the term for using an AI model after it is built, such as asking a question of ChatGPT.
Independent tests gave Untether’s products high marks. MLCommons, an industry and academic consortium that benchmarks AI systems, found last year that one of Untether’s chips was six times more energy efficient than competing products, and with lower latency, in one testing category.
But Untether’s push into the market for chips housed in data centres for generative AI may have come too late, especially given Nvidia’s scale and reputation. The California-based company is worth close to US$3.5-trillion.
U.S. envoy says Canadians facing device searches, detainment at border ‘not a pattern’
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra says his country doesn’t search phones at the border. He says some Americans have expressed similar concerns about Canada. In April, Ottawa updated its advice to Canadians travelling to the U.S., warning of heightened ‘scrutiny’ at border. The CBSA said its officers follow a code of conduct and the federal ethics code that both require them to treat everyone equally, and the agency investigates any complaints of mistreatment. A survey found 52 per cent of respondents feel that “it is no longer safe’ to travel to the United States, with 29 per cent disagreeing with that statement. Roughly the same proportion said they were personally unsure if they were welcome in the U.-S., with 19 per cent saying they feel personally unwelcome in the US. The survey was conducted by the Association for Canadian Studies. The Canadian Press has been asked to make clear that this is not an official statement by the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
The American ambassador to Canada is pushing back on Ottawa’s travel advice, saying his country doesn’t search phones at the border and arguing some Americans travelling here are having a tough time.
“We welcome Canadians to come in and invest, to spend their hard-earned Canadian dollars at U.S. businesses,” U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra told The Canadian Press in an interview Friday.
“If a Canadian has had a disappointing experience coming into the United States, I’m not denying that it happened, but I’m saying it’s an isolated event and it is not a pattern.”
In April, Ottawa updated its advice to Canadians travelling to the United States to warn them about the possibility they might be detained if denied entry.
“Expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices,” reads the new guidance.
There have been reports of Canadians facing intensified scrutiny at the border, having phones searched and, in some cases, being detained.
Canada updates travel advisory for U.S., warning of heightened ‘scrutiny’ at border
Hoekstra insisted concerns about device searches are not grounded in reality.
“Coming to the U.S., that’s a decision for the Canadians to make. Searching devices and all of that is not a well-founded fear. We don’t do that. America is a welcoming place,” he said.
He said some Americans have expressed similar concerns about Canada.
“I’ve heard that from Americans coming into Canada as well, OK? Saying, ’You know, we’ve not received a warm reception when we’ve gotten to Canadian customs,’” he said.
When asked if these reports from American travellers involve arbitrary phone searches and lengthy detainment, Hoekstra said there are consular cases of Americans complaining to the embassy about the Canada Border Services Agency.
“We’ve said, ’OK this may have been an isolated event. There may have been a Canadian border person who was having a bad day, and thought they’d take it out on, you know, somebody across the border,’” he said.
In a statement, the CBSA said its officers follow a code of conduct and the federal ethics code that both require them to treat everyone equally, and the agency investigates any complaints of mistreatment.
“Employees are expected to conduct themselves in a way that upholds the values of integrity, respect and professionalism at all times,” wrote spokeswoman Karine Martel.
“Treating people with respect, dignity and fairness is fundamental to our border services officers’ relationship with the public and a key part of this is serving all travellers in a non-discriminatory way.”
Canadians go elbows up on U.S. travel, opting for these destinations instead
Hoekstra said travel to the U.S. is up to individuals.
“If you decide that you’re not going to come down or whatever, that’s your decision and you’re missing an opportunity. There are great things to see in America,” Hoekstra said.
He also noted the case of CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who recently said she prepared to visit the U.S. last month as if she was “going to North Korea” – with a “burner phone” that didn’t carry any personal information – only to experience a warm welcome.
“It’s like, (let’s) get past the rhetoric and let’s look at the real experiences that people are having here,” Hoekstra said.
Airlines have been cutting flights between Canada and the U.S. due to a slump in demand, and Flight Centre Travel Group Canada reported a nearly 40 per cent drop in flights between the two countries year-over-year in February.
A survey in early May conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies found 52 per cent of respondents feel that “it is no longer safe for all Canadians travelling to the United States,” with 29 per cent disagreeing and 19 per cent saying they were unsure. Roughly the same proportion said they personally feel unwelcome in the U.S.
LGBTQ+ groups have opted against attending World Pride events in Washington and United Nations events in New York, citing scrutiny at the border as the Trump administration scales back protections for transgender and nonbinary people.
Canada’s record trade deficit, BoC’s rate pause and Trump doubles steel and aluminium tariffs: Business and investing stories for the week of June 8
Bank of Canada holds key interest rate at 2.75%, cites ‘unusual uncertainty’ Governor Tiff Macklem said U.S. trade policy remains the ‘biggest headwind’ facing Canada. Canada posted a $7.1-billion merchandise trade deficit in April — the largest on record. Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 7 per cent in May amid a gain of 8,800 jobs in the month, Statistics Canada said, marking the highest unemployment rate since 2016 outside the pandemic years. A new study found that a greater reliance on AI, such as ChatGPT, could erode our critical-thinking abilities. Take a closer look at the numbers in this week’S series of decoded news stories by The Globe and Mail‘s Decoding Decoder. The series looks at the biggest stories of the week, from business and investing to the environment and the stock market. Back to the page you came from. Follow us on Twitter @globeandmail.
Bank of Canada holds key interest rate at 2.75%, cites ‘unusual uncertainty’
Open this photo in gallery: Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said on Wednesday there was consensus among the governing council members to hold rates steady.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady at 2.75 per cent for the second consecutive time, citing “unusual uncertainty” around inflation and continuing trade tensions with the United States. The decision to remain paused followed higher-than-expected inflation last month.
Governor Tiff Macklem said in a press conference after the rate announcement that U.S. trade policy remains the “biggest headwind” facing Canada – and that the trajectory of the economy, inflation and interest rates depends heavily on what happens with tariffs. He said there was consensus among the bank’s seven-member governing council in favour of holding interest rates steady, but a “diversity of views” about where interest rates should go from here. Markets are pricing in between one and two more quarter-point cuts before the end of the year.
In other economic data news, Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 7 per cent in May amid a gain of 8,800 jobs in the month, Statistics Canada said, marking the highest unemployment rate since 2016 outside the pandemic years.
Trump hikes steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%
Open this photo in gallery: Coils of rolled steel in Hamilton. The Trump administration’s doubling of tariffs on metal imports is expected to hurt Canada’s economy, as the largest supplier of both steel and aluminum to the U.S.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump has increased tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent in an escalation of his global trade war. Mr. Trump signed the executive order on Tuesday, and the new rate went into force at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Canada is the largest supplier of both steel and aluminum to the United States, accounting for about half of aluminum imports last year and nearly 25 per cent of steel imports in 2023.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that the tariffs are “unlawful and unjustified” and his government is holding talks with the U.S. to have all levies lifted as part of an economic and security agreement. Mr. Trump has said his goal is to stop imports of the metals into the U.S. in a bid to return manufacturing jobs to his country. The tariffs could, however, backfire on the U.S. by inflating prices for consumers.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum is not justified and will harm Americans as well as Canadians. The Canadian Press
Decoder: America’s trade deficit with Canada is vanishing
Canada posted a $7.1-billion merchandise trade deficit in April — the largest on record — as exports fell sharply in the face of U.S. tariffs. The value of exports to the U.S. fell 15.7 per cent, compared to the previous month, Statistics Canada reported. The decline was led by a sharp pullback in autos, consumer goods and crude oil exports. Meanwhile, imports from the U.S. dropped 10.8 per cent.
A silver lining from the gruesome trade numbers, Jason Kirby writes, is that one of the dubious excuses behind Mr. Trump’s trade war with Canada is rapidly going away. Mr. Trump has often claimed that the U.S. trade deficit with Canada is between US$200-billion and US$250-billion. In reality, the annual trade deficit was around US$60-billion last year. And now, with Canadian exports to the U.S. tumbling, the U.S. trade deficit is rapidly vanishing. Take a closer look at the numbers in this week’s Decoder series.
Is AI dulling critical-thinking skills? As tech companies court students, educators weigh the risks
Open this photo in gallery: Illustration by Coralie Mayer
Generative artificial intelligence is being touted as a powerful technology that will change the world. Developers say it will empower us as humans and enhance our skills. But maybe it carries the potential to erode our abilities instead. A recent study found that a greater reliance on AI tools, such as ChatGPT, is associated with lower critical-thinking abilities – especially among young people.
Teachers are especially concerned about the impact of AI, as many of them are seeing students hand in assignments that appear to be written by ChatGPT. Joe Castaldo spoke with educators as they calculate the long-term impact of AI on thinking, or really how much we’ll be thinking at all.
From investing to real estate, here’s how you can Trump-proof your wallet
Open this photo in gallery: Illustration by Pei Yuan Li
How will U.S. tariffs affect your personal finances? It’s a question that’s been asked ever since Mr. Trump launched his trade war in February. In this time of uncertainty, people want to know the best way to manage their portfolios, household finances and lives. Should you sell your U.S. stocks? Should you retire now? How do you recession-proof your portfolio? Globe reporters answer 42 essential questions about your finances in this market uncertainty and how Canadians can Trump-proof their wallets.
Take our business quiz for the week of June 6 Remember when the tariff wars were supposed to be subsiding? That was last week. This week, U.S. President Donald Trump was at it again, boosting steel and aluminum tariffs to 50 per cent. What portion of U.S. aluminum imports comes from Canada? a. 10 per cent b. About a quarter c. About half d. Nearly all of them c. About half. Ouch. U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs hit Canada hard because we supply about half of all aluminum imports to the United States, as well as nearly a quarter of steel imports.
Get the rest of the questions from the weekly business and investing news quiz here, and prepare for the week ahead with The Globe’s investing calendar.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/business/us-and-china-trade-war-meeting.html