Great quotes here from a Canadian government official — viewing the provincial premiers as rubes who went to DC, learned it’s not actually that easy dealing with Trump, paid $85,000 for a meeting with senior-mid-level staff, got publicly ridiculed after by that Trump staff, and — most frustratingly to Ottawa — keep freelancing negotiating concessions in public. Before the countries have even started negotiating.

ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/21402… / Translating some of this into English here so people get a sense of what some are feeling at the federal level about what the premiers are doing in Washington:

“This source emphasizes that they should not have met with members of the Trump administration without first receiving a briefing on defense and national security issues. According to this source, the provincial premiers experienced a ‘reality check’ in meeting White House advisors who were not going to contradict Trump.

“According to this high-level source, the provincial premiers ‘underestimate how problematic this administration is and think that it is us, the Liberal federal government, that is incapable of handling the threat because we are progressives.’ The source says the provincial leaders are now realizing that the Trump administration is ‘a threat beyond partisanship.’

“Another source regrets that the premiers did not invite any Canadian representatives to the table, such as the Canadian ambassador to the United States, for example. Kirsten Hillman is considered the person who can open any door in Washington, and she should be aware of all discussions, the source believes. Just before the meeting, she was actually at the White House with the federal Minister of Finance, Dominic LeBlanc, to speak with the incoming Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick.

“Some statements made by the Quebec premier have also raised eyebrows in Ottawa. A federal source believes that François Legault revealed too much of his strategy. On Wednesday in Washington, he reiterated his wish for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to begin as soon as possible. He also stated that he was willing to make compromises with the United States in the aerospace, forestry, and aluminum sectors but not on supply management, language protection, or culture.

“‘It becomes dangerous to think out loud,’ said a federal source, who believes that such statements could weaken Canada’s negotiating position by revealing too much too soon. ‘We must not negotiate against ourselves,’ the source added.”

I’d say there’s a similar feeling in Ottawa about certain other provinces taking natural resources off the table right off the bat as negotiating leverage.

Just got a bunch of details of the Trudeau/Trump meeting, which we at CBC will be fleshing out over the day.

The TLDR: No guarantee Trump tariffs are coming off. Trump didn’t specifically say, “I need X, Y, Z,” to drop tariffs. But both sides see a solution as attainable.

The key? / The key: Trump being able to start his presidency by saying: “I’ve taken steps to save American lives.” This is what he wants. The fentanyl thing is huge. Despite Canada‘s minor role in it.

Trudeau told Trump he’s happy to step up helicopter patrols on the border.

Memo to everyone in the world looking to understand US trade policy: if you haven’t read Lighthizer’s book yet, might want to…. Quickly.

harpercollins.com/products/no-tr… x.com/dimi/status/18… / Lighthizer’s chapter on Canada is interesting. His chapters — plural — on China would scrape paint off a wall. Just scorching stuff. And key to understanding where Trump’s team, and frankly the U.S. in general, is coming from these days.

Canadian deputy PM Freeland is in DC at a Council on Foreign Relations event - asked why Canada's GDP has under-performed vs the US.

Her answer: The US is the anomaly. It's doing extraordinarily well, versus other developed countries -- and that's good news for the US. Canada doing better than most other G7 countries.

Also, she adds: You have the reserve currency, which allows you to rack up monster deficits others can't. / Conversation turns to Artificial Intelligence. Freeland says: "You need us for your AI revolution." Because Canada has lots of renewable energy potential, cold climate ideal for data centres.

Refers to Canada as the third AI hub, after the US and China. Notes her Toronto constituent, Geoff Hinton, just won the Nobel Prize.

A just-unsealed U.S. criminal indictment has unleashed an unprecedented flood of details about an alleged Indian government-connected plot to carry out multiple assassinations in North America

It alleges there were *3* such assassination plots in Canada

cbc.ca/news/world/us-… More:

An Indian official allegedly offered $100K to assassinate a Sikh separatist in New York, apparently an American and Canadian citizen.

He told an alleged drug- and weapons-trafficker he could get an Indian criminal charge dropped if he made it happen /

Fox News is first reporting that there were two deaths at the bridge and it's a suspected terror attack. / And who does Fox News have on, immediately, to discuss this?

The GOP presidential candidate proposing a wall with Canada:

cbc.ca/news/world/viv…