Covers Canadian political, economic and general news as well as breaking news across North America, previously based in London and Moscow and a winner of Reuters’ Treasury scoop of the year.
World
Canada posts biggest trade deficit in almost three years, analyst predicts ‘rough summer’
OTTAWA, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Canada’s trade deficit widened to C$3.73 billion ($2.77 billion) in June from May, the largest in nearly three years, as exports dropped 2.2%, outpacing an 0.5% decline in imports, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.
Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a shortfall of C$2.90 billion. Statscan revised May’s deficit to C$2.68 billion from C$3.44 billion reported initially.
Meena Aier, head of Export Development Canada’s research and analysis department, said exporters faced challenges with high inflation as well as unfavorable cost and credit conditions.
“It’s probably going to be a rough July and a rough summer,” she said in a phone interview.
Canada’s trade deficit with countries other than the United States, its biggest trading partner, widened to an all-time high as month-over-month exports declined 5.5%, while imports were down marginally.
There were broad declines in exports in June, with metal and non-metallic mineral products being the largest drag.
“Weaker global demand and the fading boost from easing supply shortages took a toll on exports in June, confirming that net trade weighed on second-quarter GDP growth,” said Olivia Cross, assistant economist at Capital Economics.
Cross said slumping trade was likely to help pull second quarter annualized growth down to 1.2% from 3.7% in the first quarter, slightly above Statscan’s own estimate of 1%.
The 2.2% drop in exports followed a 3.0% decline in May. The overall trade deficit matched the C$3.73 billion shortfall in October 2020.
The Canadian dollar traded slightly higher at C$1.3477 to the U.S. dollar, or 74.20 U.S. cents, up from C$1.3498 to the U.S. dollar, or 74.09 U.S. cents.
Total exports fell 1.1% by volume, marking the 11th monthly drop in export prices in the past 12 months.
Total imports declined 0.5%, largely due to lower imports of energy products as well as pharmaceuticals. Imports of unwrought gold jumped, and nearly offset declines in other product categories. By volume, imports were up 0.9%.
Statscan said the impact of a 13-day strike by western Canadian dock workers was likely to be reflected in July data. It also said severe flooding in the province of Nova Scotia could have an impact.
($1 = 1.3453 Canadian dollars)
Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by David Ljunggren, Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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World
Hamas delegation due in Cairo on Monday for Gaza ceasefire talks
A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire, a Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday, as mediators stepped up efforts to reach a deal ahead of an expected Israeli assault on the southern city of Rafah.
World
Ukraine's Zelenskyy urges faster US weapon deliveries
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that U.S. weapons have begun to arrive in Ukraine.
- Zelenskyy voiced the urgency of accelerating the process due to advancing Russian forces attempting to exploit the situation.
- He also mentioned the lack of significant positive developments in timely support for the Ukrainian army.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that vital U.S. weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts.
He said that the process needed to move faster.
This is the result of advancing Russian forces trying to take advantage.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: UKRAINE’S ZELENSKYY OPENS UP ON US AID, ISRAEL, TRUMP
Zelenskyy spoke during a joint news conference in Kyiv alongside visiting NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
During the conference, he said the situation on the battlefield directly depended on the speed of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.
“Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up,” he said.
World
Nine on trial in Germany over alleged far-right coup plot
Nine people charged with terrorism in connection with an alleged far-right plot to topple the German government went on trial on Monday in one of three linked cases.
The trial – which opened on Monday in Stuttgart – is the first to open in relation to the purported conspiracy, which came to light in late 2022. It is focused on those defendants of the Reich Citizens group who allegedly were part of its so-called military arm, German news agency dpa reported.
Federal prosecutors in December filed terrorism charges against a total of 27 people, one of whom has since died.
Nine other suspects, among them a self-styled prince and a former far-right lawmaker, will go on trial on 21 May at a Frankfurt state court in the most prominent of the three cases. The other eight will go on trial in Munich on 18 June.
On trial in the Frankfurt case includes Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, whom the group allegedly planned to install as Germany’s provisional new leader; Birgit Malsack-Winkemann, a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party; and a retired paratrooper.
The proceedings of the three cases are expected to last well into 2025.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on public broadcaster ZDF that the trial “shows the strength of our rule of law that the largest terrorist network of Reich Citizens to date… has to answer for its militant plans to overthrow the government.”
Prosecutors have said that the accused believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy myths,” including Reich Citizens and QAnon ideology, and were convinced that Germany is ruled by a so-called deep state.
Adherents of the Reich Citizens movement, or Reichsbuergerbewegung in German, reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for bringing down the government, while QAnon is a global conspiracy theory with roots in the US.
According to prosecutors, the group planned to storm into the parliament building in Berlin and arrest lawmakers. It allegedly intended to negotiate a post-coup order primarily with Russia, as one of the allied victors of World War II.
The nine defendants at the Stuttgart trial are accused of membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of a high treasonous enterprise.” One of the defendants is also on trial for attempted murder, dpa reported.
Most of the nine suspects in the Frankfurt trial are also charged with membership in a terrorist organisation and “preparation of high treasonous undertaking.” The other eight alleged members of the group have been charged in separate indictments at the court in Munich.
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