Sky News economics and data editor Ed Conway has produced another short and information filled segment looking at how the U.S. become the biggest oil producer in the world. Well worth the 5-minutes and helps to contextualize many of the geopolitical shifts currently underway. WATCH:
.
When you factor in the U.S. control over Venezuela oil production, well, things look even stronger.
I never quite understood just how controlled the information flow is inside Canada until about two years ago when we began closely monitoring Canadian positioning for the upcoming USMCA (CUSMA) renegotiation/cancellation. It quickly became obvious the majority of Canadians have no idea why it is almost a certainty the U.S. would exit the trilateral arrangement and position for a bilateral free trade agreement.
In the two years that have passed, now we see a few Canadians starting to realize the core issues of trade conflict that make any FTA between the U.S. and Canada almost impossible. The largest issue centers around Canada’s net-zero carbon legislation that now completely disconnects them from aligned North American energy policy between the U.S. and Mexico.
A trilateral agreement requires core alignment on industrial manufacturing, and that requires similar abilities & similar energy policy. You cannot make steel, iron and aluminum without coal and gas. You need joules for heavy industrial manufacturing that cannot be achieved without exploiting coal, gas or oil (carbon materials). Canada’s energy policy no longer aligns with industrial manufacturing. This core issue cannot be resolved at the current level of energy policy in Canada.
There are other issues like Canadian trade deals with China, non-tariff barriers, legislated rules over intellectual property and other points of significant friction that make alignment within North America challenging. However, the energy component makes compatible trade impossible.
In the interview below, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra appears on a podcast with David Leis, for a blunt conversation about trade, pipelines, critical minerals, China, and why the U.S. is growing frustrated with Canada’s direction. At the end Hoekstra even explains why he is doing Canadian podcasts; because information within Canada is restricted by the government control of media – and that explains why most Canadians are clueless about the issues.
I’ve prompted the interview to the point that gets into the details. If you are interested to be fully understanding of what is coming, this is a solid reference point. Also, if you have financial investments associated with Canada or any system that is connected to the economic relationship between the U.S. and Canada, you need to watch this interview to proactively defend your financial interests. VIDEO PROMPTED:
.
Watch it or listen to this roughly 30 minutes (prompted) as you cook, drive or go about your day. But listen to it and see the disconnect between Canada and the USA as outlined. Things are going to get much worse in this relationship as the finality of it all suddenly starts to sink in north of the border with the average Canadian.
This is not good news for Canada who appears to be hoping that leftists in congress will support the Canadian position on retention of the USMCA trade deal. However, the position of the United Auto Workers and their President Shawn Fain works perfectly with the position of President Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
The UAW leadership supported Kamala Harris in 2024, and they carry a lot of sway with Democrats in congress. In fact, it is entirely possible the 20 Democrat Senators who wrote a letter to USTR Greer about getting tough on Mexico and Canada, may have been responding directly to what UAW President Shawn Fain is demanding.
The UAW rank and file align with President Trump and their leadership, despite their roots of alignment with Democrats, support the trade tariff approach by President Trump. All of that nuanced interest now begins to assemble quickly, and the political leverage plan of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney looks weaker by the day.
Wall Street Journal – As North America’s trade treaty approaches renewal or renegotiation this summer, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain slammed the deal and called on the U.S. to upend it—or scrap it altogether.
Fain’s position pits the 400,000-member union against both the American and foreign-based automakers that are calling on the U.S. to preserve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade treaty, or USMCA.
[…] Fain blamed USMCA and its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement, for the loss of millions of American auto manufacturing jobs over the last several decades.
“Where it didn’t eliminate jobs entirely, it slashed wages and benefits,” said Fain, wearing a “Kill NAFTA” T-shirt on a video call. “There is no future for the U.S. working class that doesn’t address the free-trade disaster.”
According to the latest media reports, Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to announce a new Canadian Trade Advisory Council that will strategize the best moves within each sector of the Canadian economy to deal with the United States USMCA renegotiations. Even at this latest date, the Canadian government is still under the belief they can negotiate themselves into a position where their status within the USMCA (CUSMA) will be retained.
Simultaneous to this announcement, the one best hope the Canadians have relied upon is also evaporating. However, before discussing that aspect, let’s first look at the advisory council.
CANADA – Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to unveil a new advisory council focused on Canada-US trade relations as Ottawa attempts to salvage Canadian-US trade amidst Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs. According to reports, the council will bring together major business leaders, labour representatives and former politicians to advise the federal government ahead of the scheduled review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
[…] While the entire list of figures present on the council has yet to be announced, the Government of Canada first announced the advisory committee in April 2026, and released a partial list of members. Members reportedly include Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, former Quebec premier Jean Charest, and other representatives from sectors such as energy, manufacturing and forestry. There are also multiple high-level Canadian executives present on the list released by the Prime Minister’s office on April 21. The committee will be chaired by Dominic LeBlanc, who currently serves as minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade and intergovernmental affairs. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the council’s role will be to provide strategic advice and industry expertise as Canada prepares for negotiations under the umbrella of Donald Trump’s renewed tariff threats.
Due to a combination of terrible political decisions related to the German and EU energy sector, the German industrial economy is contracting rapidly. Germany is the heart of the EU economic engine.
At the same time as the German economy is contracting, the economic footprint of China in the EU is growing. The core issue centers around a declining auto sector but extends to all ancillary manufacturing outputs.
By following the WEF’s “Build Back Better” program, Europe as a whole has ended up making itself energy-dependent and vulnerable. The Gulf oil and gas crisis, the looming 25% Trump tariffs on EU cars, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from German NATO bases only add to their growing economic troubles.
Around the same time as this economic convergence, Germany began ramping up its commitments, support, and spending for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. Subsidy outflows rose just as GDP was falling, a clear example of an economic spiral that can easily spin out of control.
German Chancellor Freidrich Merz is trying to deal with the consequences of exceptionally short-sighted and damaging policy, but reversing the trend would require Germany to focus all policy operations inwardly away from Brussels and the demands of the collective European Union. This is now the core issue in German politics driving bold dividing lines between political power structures.
There is an increased public discussion about the race to build datacenters in the USA that are part of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) race for superiority. There are multiple facets within the discussion and some things to consider that might not be at the forefront, yet.
Overall, there is a global race to build the best AI system that is not dissimilar to the nuclear arms race. Arguably the use of AI as a weapon is one possibility; while the second aspect surrounds strategic economic power.
The USA is poised very favorably in this AI race due to the advanced tech industry in America and recent national security moves made by President Trump in the tech sector surrounding strategic critical minerals and domestic chip production. However, no one is quite sure where China is in their AI development and last year’s explosive revelation around China’s “Deepseek” model shocked the U.S. tech industry due to its advanced intelligence prowess.
With China and the USA both in this AI race, and the need for massive investment in datacenters to do the processing needed for an artificial intelligence brain of such significant capacity, there is a sense of urgency in the tech industry that is surfacing around the country. Simultaneously, with datacenters becoming more controversial, suddenly the geopolitical intelligence operations enter the picture.
Currently, it is well accepted inside the tech industry that part of China’s strategy against the USA in this AI race is to slow down American system development. As a consequence, it is beginning to surface that Beijing may be funding voices inside the USA to rally against the building of datacenters. Essentially, China funding voices, real or artificially boosted influence operations, to amplify domestic opposition to the datacenters.
Anytime the intelligence operations become part of a domestic issue that has national security implications, things get opaque, cloudy and muddy pretty quick. Is datacenter opposition organic – actual citizens and communities pushing back against the development in their towns and/or cities or is the opposition to the datacenters a form of foreign influence operation?
There was much fake news about the tech and finance leaders traveling with President Trump to China. Moments ago, President Trump corrects the record:
TRUTH SOCIAL – “CNBC incorrectly reported that the Great Jensen Huang, of Nvidia, was not invited to the incredible gathering of the World’s Greatest Businessmen/women proudly going to China. In actuality, Jensen is currently on Air Force One and, unless I ask him to leave, which is highly unlikely, CNBC’s reporting is incorrect or, as they say in politics, FAKE NEWS!
It is an Honor to have Jensen, Elon, Tim Apple, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzmann, Kelly Ortberg (Boeing), Brian Sikes (Cargill), Jane Fraser (Citi), Larry Culp (GE Aerospace), David Solomon (Goldman Sachs), Sanjay Mehrotra (Micron), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), and many others journeying to the Great Country of China where I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction, to “open up” China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level! In fact, I promise, that when we are together, which will be in a matter of hours, I will make that my very first request. I have never seen or heard of any idea that would be more beneficial to our incredible Countries!”
“Tim Apple” always cracks me up. lol
As previously noted and discussed by USTR Jamieson Greer, since the original trip to Beijing was announced several months ago, it was very easy to identify this visit was not a customary ‘state visit’ in the formal sense of the term. Instead, this trip was always planned as a trade, finance and economic business trip specifically to engage Chairman Xi with a financial and investment focus.
This video presentation is very well worth reviewing. Thankfully the British-centric perspective is dropped and Promethean Action PAC focus more on the overall ‘globalist’ political machine driven in North America by Obama’s leftist political operation, the Center for American Progress (CAP).
Kokinda stays away from the ‘intelligence‘ aspect of the background (which is good – not her lane). However, for accurate and affirming context on the geopolitical part of the Kokinda review, make sure you have read “Segment 4” (just updated) from the remarks of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he was asked about whether his upcoming trip to China was related any way go President Trump’s trip which takes place this week. President Trump and President Putin have spent several hours on the phone together in the past seven days. Putin’s responses in SEGMENT 4 are quite revealing.
PROMETHEAN PAC – “As President Trump prepares to travel to China, this episode argues that Putin’s remarks about Russia’s “partners and friends” (China, India, and the U.S.) reveal a shifting global alignment that alarms the Obama–Soros network. It examines the Global Progress Action Summit in Toronto, where Barack Obama appeared and Center for American Progress leaders, including Neera Tanden and Patrick Gaspard, framed Trump’s presidency as an “interregnum” and promoted Mark Carney’s “Principled Pragmatism,” described as preserving globalist structures while rebranding to address public backlash. The script contrasts this with what it calls a “new strategic map” driven by Trump, Putin, and Xi, highlighted by Victory Day context, an announced Russia–China energy deal, and Trump’s proclamations. It concludes that Democrats seek midterm gains but face setbacks from redistricting rulings, prompting renewed efforts to win back working-class voters.”
.
President Trump is traveling to Beijing, China this week on May 14th and 15th. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent left the U.S. earlier today for advance discussion with Chinese intermediaries.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appears on Fox News to discuss the current status of the economy and the strong internal investment that is now frontloading a manufacturing surge. As noted by Hassett one of the reasons the first quarter GDP was lower than expected was the amount of capital equipment imported to start a resurgence of the U.S. manufacturing base. WATCH:
.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright appears on CBS Face the Nation to discuss the current status of the conflict with Iran. As supplemented by additional confirmation from President Trump, Secretary Wright notes the Iranian military apparatus has been defeated but the goal to end the Iranian nuclear ambition remains. VIDEO and TRANSCRIPT Below:
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re now joined by U.S. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright, good to have you here.
SEC. CHRIS WRIGHT: Great to be here. Happy Mother’s Day.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, thank you for that. President Trump said that he expected a response from Iran. He said this yesterday. Has one been received and what is the U.S. going to do with it?
SEC. CHRIS WRIGHT: Not that I’m aware of, but I suspect we will get a response very soon. Things are tough for the leaders of Iran right now, and I think they’re- they get growing motivation to make it- make a deal, but we know where this is going to end. We don’t know the route to there, but at the end of the day, we’ll have free flow of traffic through the Straits of Hormuz, and we will have an end to the Iranian nuclear program. The end point we know. The route, we don’t.