The deal that wasn’t
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Macron: EU wasn’t ‘feared enough’ by Trump to get good trade deal
The French leader did not strike as dire a tone as his prime minister, who said the pact marked a “dark day” for Europe. Macron also lauded European negotiators for protecting French and European interests during “negotiations conducted in difficult conditions”
Macron also lauded European negotiators for protecting French and European interests during “negotiations conducted in difficult conditions” given Trump’s desire to implement some form of tariffs on U.S. trading partners — and with them, fundamentally transform the global economy.
But Macron said he believes there’s still time to do better.
“The story isn’t over and we won’t stop there,” he said.
The deal has proved a lightning rod across the continent, especially considering the 10 percent tariffs post-Brexit Britain secured on most of its own exports across the Atlantic.
Though leaders like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — who was pushing for a quick agreement to protect the country’s export-oriented economy — and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have welcomed the accord, France has led the chorus of its political opponents.
The Peace Deal That Wasn’t
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There’s no question that peace in Congo is a desperately needed goal. Since 1996, war in the country has killed nearly 6 million people and displaced over 7 million. More than 21 million require humanitarian assistance, and in 2023 alone, the U.N. recorded over 133,000 cases of sexual violence, almost certainly a significant undercount.
However, while world leaders and celebratory headlines applaud the deal, violence continues to rage in the eastern Congo. The deal will not end this suffering; instead, it prioritizes Western private interests over peace, justice, and dignity for the Congolese people, serving as a blueprint for resource extraction and continued violence in the country rather than a true diplomatic success.
The deal, while ostensibly aimed at ending hostilities, places a heavy emphasis on mineral exploitation, leading Congolese civil society to question its true purpose. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege has denounced it for “legitimizing the plundering of Congolese natural resources,” a concern supported by the agreement’s inclusion of a clause committing signatories to “launch and/or expand cooperation on… formalized end-to-end mineral value chains… with the U.S. government and U.S. investors.” Upon the release of the Declaration of Principles that laid the deal’s foundations, the International Crisis Group noted that the deal reads “partly like a framework for ending a conflict and partly like a commercial memorandum.”
The False Promise of Peace
It is highly unlikely that the deal will bring a just and lasting peace to Congo. Though a potential cease-fire was announced between the Congo government and M23, the conflict’s largest rebel group, experts say that M23 has already broken the agreement while serious implementation challenges remain. M23 has left withdrawal—and, thus, a true and lasting end to the conflict—out of the question, telling reporters they “will not retreat, not even by one meter.” Meanwhile, over 100 other armed groups continue to fight in the east. On July 23, the U.N. condemned three recent deadly attacks by groups not party to the agreement.
More troublingly, the deal grants Rwanda a green light to continue looting Congolese resources, furthering a central driver of the conflict. By backing M23, Rwanda has taken control of Congolese mines, and committed widespread human rights abuses. Up to 90% of its coltan exports are believed to be illicitly smuggled from eastern Congo, funding armed groups. The accord, which invites Rwanda into a “ regional economic integration framework ,” legitimizes this theft and proxy warfare.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame doesn’t seem ready to scale back this influence. Just days after the agreement was signed, he cast doubt on the peace process, telling reporters, “If the side that we are working with plays tricks… then we deal with the problem like we have been dealing with it.”
Who Does the Deal Really Benefit?
Today, the Congolese people endure violence not only from armed conflict but also from systemic exploitation, through forced labor, environmental destruction, and land seizures. The scramble for Congo’s mineral wealth has forced tens of thousands of children into dangerous mines, polluted and devastated ecosystems, and displaced entire communities from their homes.
A recent policy brief by the Oakland Institute lays bare how, through handing over Congolese mineral wealth to a web of U.S.-aligned corporate actors and billionaire investors, Trump’s peace deal will deepen the ravages of the country’s mining industry, leaving the Congolese people to pay the price.
The list of the deal’s likely beneficiaries is a veritable who’s-who of Trump-linked billionaires: Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and Ben Horowitz, among others. Also on it are mining giants like Ivanhoe Mines, Rio Tinto, and Glencore.
The accord threatens to entrench this cyclical poverty and violence in service of enriching behemoth mining firms and Trump’s billionaire friends.
The track records of these companies undermine any claim that Trump’s deal is about peace for the Congolese people. Ivanhoe Mines’s cochair Robert Friedland once ran Galactic Resources, responsible for one of the worst mining-related environmental disasters in U.S. history. He has already been exposed for harmfully evicting Congolese families to expand his new operations in the Congo. Rio Tinto, notorious for sparking a civil war in Papua New Guinea and for destroying a 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal site in Australia, is now eyeing Congo’s Manono Lithium Deposit. Glencore has been fined over $1 billion for abuses in its African mines and maintains illicit financial ties to sanctioned Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler. Both Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto are reportedly set to join a forthcoming minerals agreement tied directly to the deal’s economy-driven clauses.
Lacking the infrastructure to process its own resources, Congo remains trapped in a cycle where foreign actors siphon off its $24 trillion in mineral wealth while its citizens remain among the poorest in the world . Compounding that systemic inequality, both corporate and artisanal mines enact severe human rights abuses and environmental devastation on the Congolese people, injustices that the agreement appears likely to bolster as it opens the door to firms perpetrating them against communities around the globe. In doing so, the accord threatens to entrench this cyclical poverty and violence in service of enriching behemoth mining firms and Trump’s billionaire friends.
Despite what he may think, or wish, Donald Trump deserves no applause for this “peace agreement” because the agreement itself is misnamed. Its focus has never been peace, but rather profit, and his attempt to launder it into something more benevolent is transparently disingenuous.
Without a radical shift, Trump’s deal will likely achieve exactly what it was intended for, funneling billions to already wealthy oligarchs and multinational corporations while sidelining the communities forced to live with its consequences.
Viable trade deal wasn’t on the table ahead of deadline, Canada-U.S. trade minister says
Dominic LeBlanc says Canada won’t accept a bad deal from the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The federal minister says there had been no viable deal on the table this week. The two countries failed to come to some sort of agreement by an Aug. 1 deadline. Trump signed an executive order on Thursday boosting tariffs from 25 per cent to 35 per cent on Canadian goods that don’t comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) The Detroit 3 automakers are among several auto sector companies taking a big hit from the Trump administration’s tariffs. The White House gave a different explanation for the lack of an agreement, saying Canada “has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of seriousness in trade discussions” The two chambers of commerce in Ontario and Michigan are calling on both governments to return to the negotiating table to get a trade deal done. But Drew Dilkens, mayor of Windsor, Ont., says Canada should not take a second-rate deal with the U.-S. government.
Minister Dominic LeBlanc told Radio-Canada’s Canada Midi that he was encouraged because the United States is still open to trade talks but said the negotiations are “complex.”
“We have always said that we would not accept just any agreement. We would accept an agreement that was in the interests of workers in the Canadian economy. And at the end of the day, yesterday, that agreement was not yet in sight,” LeBlanc told host Laurence Martin in a French interview.
WATCH | ‘The doors aren’t closed’ Leblanc says on Canada-U.S. trade deal: ‘The doors aren’t closed’ LeBlanc says on Canada-U.S. trade deal Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, tells CBC News that despite an overnight hike in tariffs on some Canadian goods by U.S. President Donald Trump, Ottawa is still negotiating with Washington and that LeBlanc expects talks to continue next week. LeBlanc was speaking outside the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C.
LeBlanc’s comments come after the two countries failed to come to some sort of agreement by an Aug. 1 deadline.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday boosting tariffs from 25 per cent to 35 per cent on Canadian goods that don’t comply with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
In addition to the 35 per cent tariffs on non-CUSMA compliant goods, Trump has also slapped a 25 per cent levy on the non-U.S. portion of assembled vehicles. The U.S. has also imposed 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all countries.
LeBlanc suggested that the sector-specific tariffs could be a sticking point in the negotiations, noting Canada is keen to protect those industries.
WATCH | U.S. tariffs will also ‘sink important American companies,’ says auto parts group: U.S. tariffs will also ‘sink important American companies’: auto parts association president The Detroit 3 automakers are among several auto sector companies taking a big hit from the Trump administration’s tariffs. According to Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, some of the pressure from the U.S.’s self-inflicted harm on its own auto sector is ‘starting to finally bubble up.’
LeBlanc has been meeting with U.S. officials in Washington in recent weeks. His office told CBC News that he had no meetings in Washington on Friday and that he would be returning to Canada later in the day — although the minister later said he expects to speak with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick next week.
Two groups representing businesses in Ontario and Michigan are urging Canada and the U.S. to get a trade deal done in order to avoid prolonged instability.
“Prolonged instability could have serious consequences for key sectors, from automotive and advanced manufacturing to agriculture and logistics,” a joint statement on Friday from the Ontario and Michigan chambers of commerce said.
“This is not just a trade story, it’s a North American competitiveness crisis. The chambers are calling on both governments to return to the negotiating table.”
WATCH | Canada shouldn’t ‘bend the knee’ to Trump after tariffs, says Windsor mayor: Canada shouldn’t ‘bend the knee’ to Trump after tariffs: Ontario mayor Although U.S. President Donald Trump’s 35 per cent tariff increase doesn’t impact goods under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, Canada’s auto sector remains heavily affected. But Drew Dilkens, mayor of Windsor, Ont., says Canada should not take a second-rate deal with the U.S.
Michigan and Ontario form one of the largest trade corridors between the two countries. The two jurisdictions are largely connected via the integrated auto sector.
Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement just after midnight on Friday saying Canada will continue to work toward a deal while focusing on providing supports for impacted industry and diversifying trade.
“Canada will be our own best customer, creating well-paying careers at home, as we strengthen and diversify our trading partnerships,” the statement said.
Trump’s order cites “Canada’s lack of co-operation in stemming the flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs across our northern border” — even though Canada accounts for a small percentage of drug seizures entering the U.S.
But a White House official gave CBC News a different explanation for the lack of an agreement with Canada, saying on background that Canada “has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of seriousness in trade discussions as it relates to removing trade barriers.”
Trump gave Mexico, which accounts for the majority of drug seizures at the U.S. border, a 90-day extension of its current tariff regime with the goal of signing a new deal during that period.
‘No deal is better than a bad deal’
Other Canadian business groups also expressed concerns about the lack of an agreement but say it’s better that Canada take its time rather than accept a bad deal.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce said it believes that spending a little bit more time on crafting the right deal is well worth the wait because it will deliver lasting benefits.
However, the group said it also feels businesses in Canada and the U.S. urgently need more certainty.
Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), blasted the U.S. administration for its tariff rationale.
“The hike in U.S. tariffs to 35 per cent will harm small businesses on both sides of the border. The fentanyl rationale is even more ridiculous than the decision itself,” Kelly said in a statement.
“CFIB supports the view that no deal is better than a bad deal, but the lack of resolution means small firms will not be able to plan for the future or continue to put off difficult choices.”
WATCH | Scarcity of goods will force a trade deal by September, O’Toole says: Canada can get a trade deal by September: former Conservative leader Canada is being singled out by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole believes Canada can get a trade deal by September. He said Trump will face ‘shortages on shelves’ leading up to the fall and winter holidays, and the ensuing scarcity of goods and inflation mean Trump will need a deal.
Kelly’s sentiment was echoed by the United Steelworkers union on Friday.
“While we’re disappointed an agreement wasn’t reached to end this trade war, the worst outcome would have been a deal that locked in permanent damage to our economy,” national director Marty Warren said in a statement.
Warren encouraged Ottawa to take retaliatory action if necessary.
“This fight is far from over. The federal government must remain steadfast to secure the right deal for the Canadian economy and Canadian workers and must not accept anything less.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a statement on Friday that he is ready to work with the government to help secure a good deal for Canada.
“We stand united with all workers facing devastation from unjustified tariffs on steel, aluminum, softwood, auto and agriculture. These deeply misguided policies will hurt families and businesses on both sides of the border,” he said.
Premiers urge Ottawa to stand its ground
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the tariff increase concerning and said Ottawa should retaliate with 50 per cent tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum.
“Canada shouldn’t settle for anything less than the right deal,” Ford said on the social media platform X on Thursday night. “Now is not the time to roll over. We need to stand our ground.”
Quebec Premier François Legault called Trump’s latest move “disappointing” and argued that it will hurt Americans.
“Recent events highlight the importance we must place on diversifying our markets and increasing our economic autonomy,” Legault wrote on X in French.
“We are in contact with the federal government and other provinces regarding the next steps. Discussions with the American administration must continue. In any case, we will defend the interests of Quebecers.”
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said Canada should still push for a good deal.
“Canada has what the world wants, and we should not settle for anything less than the best deal for New Brunswickers,” she wrote Friday on X.
“Canada is coming together like never before to support our local businesses, workers and build a strong and resilient economy. We have your back.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the tariffs “weaken one of the most important trade and security alliances in the world.” She urged the federal government to continue talks but also called for Ottawa to repeal laws she says hurt Canada’s economy.
“I urge the federal government to continue negotiating to resolve these tariff issues and restore a free and fair trade agreement with the United States, while diversifying and strengthening the Canadian economy by unleashing our world-class natural resource sector,” Smith said in a news release on Friday.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe disagreed with some of his counterparts and called on the federal government to lower or remove counter-tariffs placed on U.S. goods.
“I think if we’re serious about achieving a renewed and revamped and enhanced trade environment … somebody’s going to have to move in this space, and we would suggest that it should be Canada,” Moe told reporters Friday.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said Friday that he’s “putting faith in the prime minister and his team that will get to the right deal for Canada.
“We don’t want to rush into a bad deal that we’re stuck with. We know there’s a lot of volatility with the administration, with the president. So it’s hard to say what will stand anyway,” Houston told CBC News. “We have to stand up for Canada.”
“Money wasn’t the issue”: Aaron Rodgers’ deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers remains confidential as NFL insider hints at contract details
NFL Insider Gerry Dulac opens up about how it was “always a one year offer” for Aaron Rodgers. The Pittsburgh Steelers announced last night that the star player is all set to join the team for the upcoming season of the NFL after a physical. Aaron Rodgers has yet to react to his deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL veteran has been brutally trolled as he chose to remain a free agent even when all other players were signing new deals. A few weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers was on the popular “Mia’s Brothers On The Hot Seat’ podcast where he opened up about the issues in his personal life.
NFL Insider Gerry Dulac opens up about how it was “always a one year offer” for Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers has revealed the issues he faced in maintaining a relationship with his father
Aaron Rodgers, the NFL veteran, has finally put all rumours to rest as the Pittsburgh Steelers announced last night that the star player is all set to join the team for the upcoming season of the NFL after a physical. After Aaron Rodgers left the New York Jets a few months ago following a devastating season, there were constant speculations over which team he would end up joining. While Aaron Rodgers might be a part of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the contract details have not been revealed yet but NFL insider, Gerry Dulac, has revealed a few interesting things about the deal.Recently, NFL insider Gerry Dulac took to X and revealed details about Aaron Rodgers’ one year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers.The post read as, “Money was NEVER the issue in deal with Aaron Rodgers. It was always a one-year offer for less than $20 million.”A fan commented, “So fn what?!? He’s going to be 42 in season. Fanboys out there acting like we’re getting prime A. Rodgers. This team is going nowhere with him under C”, while another fan wrote, “Never thought money was an issue, he just is who he is at least he’s signing before mini camp which I honestly didn’t think he would.”A third fan wrote, “Can’t wait to see the contract! #HereWeGo #Steelers”At this point, official details about the one year contract between Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers is yet to be made public.A few weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers was on the popular “Mia’s Brothers On The Hot Seat” podcast where he opened up about the issues in his personal life.Aaron Rodgers said, “I don’t have a relationship with my dad. So, I think that one thing that changed for me, at least when we were still in each other’s lives, was when we grow up, we think our parents are Superman and Superwoman and they can do no wrong.”The NFL veteran added, “And then you get older and you realize they’re just like you and I, just out there trying to do their best…So the resentment that I had at times…He was just trying to do the best he could…”In the last few weeks, the NFL veteran has been brutally trolled as he chose to remain a free agent even when all other players were signing new deals. Aaron Rodgers has yet to react to his deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers.Also Read: “He’s an idiot”: Travis Hunter dragged over prenup rumors after after marrying Leanna Lenee as divorce attorney offers free deals to NFL rookies
Turns Out, Trump’s Qatar Private Jet Wasn’t Even a Gift
Boeing provided the Pentagon with a list of other clients who might be able to help with America’s search for a new plane, three sources told CNN. One of those sources said that Qatar was included on that list of clients and that the U.S. reached out about purchasing the luxury plane from the Qatari Defense Ministry.
Boeing provided the Pentagon with a list of other clients who might be able to help with America’s search for a new plane, three sources told CNN. One of those sources said that Qatar was included on that list of clients and that the U.S. reached out about purchasing the luxury plane from the Qatari Defense Ministry, which indicated it was willing to sell. There were also discussions about leasing the plane, said another source.
Legal negotiations over the plane’s transfer are still ongoing, and it’s unclear how the plane went from being a potential purchase to a $400 million gift. Trump and his administration have repeatedly stressed that the plane will be free of charge, a gift of goodwill from a foreign government—sparking major backlash on both sides of the aisle over concerns of foreign corruption.