Previously, Toyota Inc informed the Canadian trade delegation that if the USMCA (CUSMA) was dissolved, the most important auto manufacturing operation they have in the country would end.  Toyota was being respectful and brutally honest with the Canadians.

Last year, at almost the same time as Toyota made their position clear, Honda put a pause on the plan to build EVs in Ontario [2025 Notice] pending additional review.  Today, according to Nikkei, Honda has now completed that review and cancelled the plan.  Honda will not build EVs in Canada.

Asahi Kasei, the Japanese material supplier that makes battery separators, a core component used in lithium-ion batteries, will likely make a similar announcement soon.  The decision is in response to declining EV sales in combination with current U.S-Canada trade friction.  Without guaranteed access to the U.S. market, it makes no sense to invest in Canada.

Electrek – “Honda is shelving its massive C$15 billion ($11 billion) EV and battery manufacturing hub in Ontario, Canada, according to a new report from Nikkei. The move escalates what was initially framed as a temporary pause into what increasingly looks like an indefinite retreat.

[…] When Honda announced the Alliston, Ontario project in April 2024, it was billed as the company’s most ambitious EV commitment yet. The plan called for a new EV assembly plant capable of producing 240,000 vehicles per year, a 36 GWh battery factory, and cathode material processing facilities through joint ventures with POSCO Future M and Asahi Kasei. Production was targeted for 2028.

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Earlier today, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, and Director of Trade and Manufacturing Peter Navarro held a press conference on antitrust investigations and meatpacking operations.

AAG Todd Blanche noted the DOJ is seeking information from whistleblowers inside the meat industry as they investigate price controls and price fixing from multinational agriculture conglomerates.

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department confirmed its active investigation of potential antitrust violations in U.S. cattle and beef markets, reviewing more than 3 million documents and interviewing industry participants as federal officials scrutinize whether highly concentrated meatpacking power has contributed to high beef prices.

The four largest beef processors control more than 85% of the U.S. processing market — half of which are Brazilian-owned — Trump administration officials noted at a Monday news conference, where acting Attorney General Todd Blanche urged whistleblowers to capitalize on turning in bad actors who are contributing to jacking up meat prices on Americans.

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How do you sum up the economic forecast for Europe? This story highlights one of the craziest stories in a long time. This is so blindingly suicidal, it cannot be stupidity. This is intentional.

BACKGROUND – You might remember last year due to climate/carbon emission regulations inside Europe EU automakers had to pay fines to the EU Commission if they did not meet electric vehicle targets. In order to avoid the penalties many EU automakers began purchasing ‘carbon credit’ offsets from Chinese EV automakers.

European car makers were paying China for carbon credits, and Chinese car companies began using the payments to lower prices. Europe was, essentially, paying China to undercut their own auto market. The result was European car makers, specifically those in Germany, losing market share to lower price EVs from China.  German industry began shrinking.

If that wasn’t crazy enough, what comes next is beyond laughable. As a result of lost sales and diminished volumes, Volkswagen had shut down auto plants. Now, Volkswagen is announcing that Chinese automakers, their China “partners,” will take over the underutilized facilities and start building Chinese cars in Germany.

GERMANY – Volkswagen Group is facing increased pressure from its board to further cut costs despite already announcing radical measures, such as axing around 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 and reducing production capacity by up to 3 million units per year to 9 million, which would make it very difficult to avoid plant closures or sales. Overall, Europe’s largest automaker aims to reduce costs by 20% by the end of 2028.

In an attempt to mitigate the effect of these measures, the automaker appears ready to do what not too long ago would have seemed unthinkable, namely selling China-developed cars in Europe and even sharing its underutilized plants in the region with its Chinese partners.

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It has been said by many the reason the leftists on the Supreme Court delayed their minority dissent was in order to stall the high court ruling that would have given states an opportunity to redistrict prior to the 2026 primary voting.  There is no data that disputes this assertion.

Today Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced he is calling the state legislature into special session to review the congressional districts in light of the Supreme Court ruling that dispatched ‘racially motivated’ district boundaries.  However, Georgia and South Carolina will not review districts.

Georgia has already begun early voting, which gives Governor Brian Kemp justification to avoid redistricting for an election scheduled for May 19th.

GEORGIA – […] Kemp made it clear that he will not be a part of that push this cycle but praised the court’s ruling. “The Supreme Court’s decision Louisiana v. Callais restores fairness to our redistricting process and allows states to pass electoral maps that reflect the will of the voters, not the will of federal judges,” Kemp said Friday.

“Voting is already underway for the 2026 elections,” he added, meaning changes to the maps would not be possible this year. (read more)

SOUTH CAROLINA – […]Republican leaders in the South Carolina General Assembly say redistricting isn’t going to happen this year. House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, told reporters the lower chamber wouldn’t redraw South Carolina’s congressional map this year. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, also said redistricting this year would be “unlikely.” (read more)

Georgia has been a target for the Democrats for several election cycles.  The Chicago machine targeted Georgia some time ago, with Fulton County representing the epicenter of the effort.  Meanwhile, South Carolina is DeceptiCon central.  The network that binds both states together is the AME Church.

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I have less than zero sympathy or consideration of credibility for both individuals in the video below.  Former Deputy Director Dan Bongino sits down for a dramatic, Q-feeding therapy session with Mr Tick-Tock himself, Sean Hannity.

In a widely discussed interview, the co-dependent enabler – masking himself as the victim of all things deep state, says on one hand there are honorable ‘rank and file’ within the FBI as an institution, and on the other hand he fears they will target him once President Trump leaves office.  Go figure.

If you face reality and stop pretending, you then look at the facts with cold pragmatism:  ♦The Robert Mueller investigation used 40 FBI agents, issued 2,800 subpoenas, executed 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 secret orders for communication records, used 50 pen registers and interviewed 500 witnesses, all to prove there was a Trump-Russia conspiracy afoot.  All of it was complete nonsense.  That is the reality of the thing.

On day #1, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino should have terminated (or suspended pending criminal investigation) any and all of those FBI agents and support personnel with extreme prejudice and then held a press conference to make the announcement.

Delivering mysterious statements about the scale and scope of the institutional problem, pouring fuel on innuendo, proclaiming vague possibilities, while hiding behind some opaque ‘trust me bro‘ reasoning for a currently mysterious inability to explain exactly what the heck he is talking about, is unadulterated dramatic ‘clickbait’ prose intended to feed an audience willing to be deceived. WATCH:

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As you are aware, CTH is watching the small details closely on the U.S-Russia alignment against the backdrop of friction with the European Union, the U.K and NATO on issues surrounding Iran.  In the past several days there have been several smaller moments lost amid media chatter of bigger news items, this is one such example today in the Oval Office.

During a press availability with the Artemis II astronauts, President Trump was asked for an update on the Ukraine conflict and seemingly stalled negotiations between U.S. intermediaries and Russia.  At 04:12 of the video below, President Trump notes he spoke at length with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin today on issues related to the Ukraine conflict, and {{{thoughtful-pause}}} Iran.  WATCH:

President Vladimir Putin is in no hurry to ceasefire in Ukraine, and the U.S. military operation in Iran is not against his interests.

On April 12, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent quietly extended the sanction relief for Russia, permitting oil/gas sales loaded on vessels by 4/17/26 for transit and sale through 5/16/26.  This permits Russia to push oil to Asia, specifically China, India and ASEAN countries where it is needed, while simultaneously the UAE and Saudi Arabia increase oil pumping avoiding the issues with the Strait of Hormuz.

This is happening while the U.S. is providing large oil and LNG supply increases to South/Central America, Europe and Japan to offset any global shortages.

Russia supplies China, India and Southeast Asia; the U.S. supplies Europe and Japan; the UAE supplies India and Australia; while Saudi Arabia supplies Africa and Europe.  Global markets stable, Iran then faces operation financial fury led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. {Go Deep}

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This afternoon, King Charles III will become the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress since his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1991. Livestream Links Below 

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Today is not a good day for the Canadian trade team.

It started with Quebec’s new Premier in Washington DC meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer {citation} in order to talk trade {SEE TIMELINE} saying on Twitter, “Quebec wants a renewal of the [USMCA] to ensure a stable and predictable framework for our economic exchanges.” However, Mrs. Christine Fréchette (pictured left) then bragged about having strategic discussions with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. {citation}

For those who might not know, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a parasitic Wall Street and K-Street lobbying organization that has been locked out of trade influence since President Trump took office in 2017.  It was the U.S. CoC who sold out our manufacturing base, paid-off prior administrations and wrote the actual trade language in almost every trade deal that destroyed U.S. manufacturing.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a lobbying organization who focuses on the bottom-line profits of U.S. multinational corporations, and they don’t care what happens domestically to American jobs, American manufacturing and American wages.  The CoC is the organization who created the rust belt and destroyed our manufacturing base under the guise of promoting a “service driven economy.”

If Canada want’s a successful trade negotiation with the USA, the Chamber of Commerce is the last organization they should be strategizing with.

Then comes Prime Minister Mark Carney who not only steps on a rake, but he also publicly insults President Trump and the entire U.S. trade team by saying every country in the world privately tells him they regret making a trade agreement with President Trump. ¹{Citation at 28:10 of Video}

I’m going to post the entire video of Prime Minister Mark Carney discussing USMCA (Canada calls CUSMA) trade negotiations because the tone deafness of it is off the charts. That includes the Canadian Prime Minister saying that Section 232 national security reviews are a violation of the U.S-Canada trade agreement.  Carney believes any independent U.S. trade position that negates trade with any Canadian sector is a violation of trade rules, yet he is afraid to sue over Sec 232 because he doesn’t want to discover the flaw in his mindset.

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First, it becomes very important for people to understand some of the inside baseball in Washington DC circles in order to hold context for what has been made public today by the office of Senator Chuck Grassley.

Inside Chuck Grassley’s office there is an investigative team that every GOP senator and congressman will admit consists of the very best researchers and knowledgeable staff officials on how the Deep State operates.  Grassley’s office is the venue, the vehicle or vessel, for those investigators to operate; Chuck Grassley is not organizing this group – he facilitates it.

Just as Robert Mueller served as the figurehead holding the legislatively authorized power of the special counsel—while the actual investigative work was carried out by his team—Chuck Grassley similarly acts as a symbolic leader, with the real action happening within the organization he oversees.

Mueller at 75-years old (2019) was to the special counsel as Grassley at 93-years old (2026) is to senatorial inquiry.

That said, today the office of Senator Chuck Grassley sent a dispatch of connected information about Hillary Clinton from DOJ/FBI files retrieved over the past several years as part of a longer-term investigation. Grassley’s office released the FBI Washington Field Office’s 12-page “electronic communication” (EC) that opened a preliminary investigation into the Clinton Foundation. [SEE HERE]

They also released a trove of documents showing overwhelming evidence of pay-to-play criminal activity by the Clinton family and emphasize lack of response from the DOJ which highlights both politicalization and weaponization of information by the Department of Justice and FBI.

The FBI and DOJ buried the investigations of Hillary Clinton, yet the evidence of corruption was simply overwhelming.  With time running out on their ability to retain the venue, in essence Grassley’s office is urgently asking the DOJ and FBI, how could this not have been prosecuted?

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A few years ago, I was eating breakfast in a DC hotel listening to two men talk about their schedule for the day.  Their business was decorating homes for Christmas, and they were discussing their heavy workload.

As I listened quietly the men were describing premium rates for DC families who wanted their decorating services completed fastest.  The average rate was $15,000 per residence for 30-day interior holiday decorating, and the rates went up from there. They were overwhelmed with business calls.

I sat there stunned doing spit-takes with my coffee while thinking, “holy cow, who has that kind of money to blow, just renting Holiday decorations?”  One of the client names was familiar, Kellyanne Conway.  “Jumpin’ ju-ju bones, this is an actual thing they do up here,” I thought.  My mind was blown, but this put context to the economic bubble that isolated DC from the rest of ‘real’ America.

Yesterday, I read a New York Times column describing how the professional political employees and their families have been impacted by President Trump and the downsizing of the federal workforce.

Amid the tear-filled typeset meant to generate sympathy this part jumped out at me: “The District of Columbia currently has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, at 6.7 percent, in large part because of major reductions in the federal work force, including U.S.A.I.D., and cuts to government grants and contracts.” {CITATION}

Almost all of the $35 billion spent by USAID in 2024 went to Washington-based contractors, not to people in need overseas.  Eliminating USAID has now created an unemployment problem for all of those DC-based federal contractors, NGOs and USAID employees. The NYT article gives examples of the terrible state of affairs.  This is one:

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