Managing Trump (Tariffs & ALMOST everything else: General& Canada): 1)Trump threatens tariffs, decertification on Canadian-made aircraft; 2)U.S. Justice Department says it’s releasing 3 million pages from its Jeffrey Epstein files; 3) I meant what I said’: Carney says he explained his Davos speech to Trump; 4)Trump threatens ‘Governor Carney’ with tariffs over China trade deal; 5)(Updated) Carney links Trump’s latest tariff threat to negotiations on CUSMA trade pact; 6)Carney defends Canada’s Afghanistan record but does not ask Trump for apology

1) Trump threatens tariffs, decertification on Canadian-made aircraft

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kelly Geraldine Malone and Christopher Reynolds, Jan. 29, 2026.

U.S. President Donald Trump singled out Bombardier in a threat to decertify and tariff Canadian-made aircraft Thursday, marking the latest escalation of trade tensions between the neighbouring countries.

In a post on social media, Trump alleged that “Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets.”

“We are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified, as it should have been many years ago,” Trump said.

The president said if “this situation is not immediately corrected” he will put a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian aircraft sold in the United States.

In the lofty world of ultra-long-range business jets, Bombardier and Gulfstream are head-to-head rivals, with the Global series battling for market share against Gulfstream’s latest models.

Montreal-based private plane maker Bombardier routinely beats Gulfstream in the number of planes produced each year, but it has failed to rake in more money than its Savannah, Ga.-based competitor since 2012.

Bombardier churned out eight more luxury planes than the 138 produced by Gulfstream in 2024, while Gulfstream recorded US$8.3 billion in billings versus US$6.3 billion by its northern competitor, according to a 2025 report by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.

In a response posted to its website, Bombardier said it is an international company that employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. across nine major facilities. It said it also creates thousands of U.S. jobs through 2,800 suppliers.

“We are actively investing in expanding our U.S. operations, including a recent announcement in Fort Wayne, Indiana,” the statement from Bombardier said.

“Thousands of private and civilian jets built in Canada fly in the U.S. every day. We hope this is quickly resolved to avoid a significant impact to air traffic and the flying public.”

Whether Trump’s threats are actionable is unclear. Experts are casting doubt on whether the president could unilaterally revoke an aircraft certification, much less multiple ones in a sweeping move with big repercussions for U.S. air travel.

“I don’t know if he has that power,” said Ross Aimer, CEO of California-based Aero Consulting Experts.

“You can’t just say just because Canada didn’t do what we want them to do, I’m going to decertify the airplane.”

Aimer said the president has the authority to ground aircraft “in some extreme cases,” as he did with the Boeing 737 Max 8. The jet was banned from the skies for 20 months during the first Trump administration due to safety issues.

Trump’s move to effectively do the same to “all Aircraft made in Canada” would ensnare 5,425 jets and helicopters that were assembled north of the border and registered in the U.S, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

These include aircraft built by Bombardier, Airbus and Texas-based Bell Textron. Cirium counts 2,678 Bombardier planes registered in America by more than 1,200 operators. The single-aisle Airbus A220 is relied on by major carriers, with Delta Air Lines flying 46 and JetBlue flying 10, Cirium figures show.

Smaller operators in the U.S. that fly the Bombardier Regional Jet for mainline airlines would also be hit by a temporary grounding.

Certification typically plays out over years in a process handled by regulators, with authorities often working in cross-border co-operation to review applications.

“Aircraft certification, especially between Canada and U.S., has always been very close, with Canadian authorities and the FAA in unison,” said Aimer, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, Canada does not appear to have certified Gulfstream’s G500, G600, G700 or G800 — business jets that hold between 13 and 19 passengers — to the extent that the U.S. and Europe have.

As for Bombardier, any effective grounding in the U.S. of its thousands of business jets now in service could damage the Canadian company’s bottom line.

“If that’s the case, they can’t sell any more. And the ones that they’ve sold technically can’t fly in U.S. airspace,” Aimer said.

Canada has re-emerged as a target of Trump’s anger since Prime Minister Mark Carney gave a widely praised speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

In his Jan. 20 speech at the WEF, Carney warned that the old world order is dead and urged middle powers to band together as larger ones try to pressure them through economic coercion.

Trump responded in his own WEF speech, saying Carney was not grateful and later withdrew an invitation to Canada to join his controversial “Board of Peace.”

The president’s anger escalated Saturday when Trump threatened 100 per cent tariffs on Canada over Ottawa’s limited deal with China around electric vehicles and agriculture. Trump, in a social media post, called Carney a “governor.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later said those tariffs would only be applied if Canada signed a free-trade agreement with China, which Carney has said Ottawa has no intention of doing.

Later Thursday, Trump again took aim at Canada while attending the premiere of the Melania Trump documentary at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

When asked about the United Kingdom deepening ties with Beijing, Trump said “it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.”

Trump said “Canada is not doing well, they are doing very poorly,” adding “you can’t look at China as the answer.”

“The first thing they are going to do is say you are not allowed to play ice hockey anymore,” Trump said. “That’s not good. Canada’s not going to like that.”

2)U.S. Justice Department says it’s releasing 3 million pages from its Jeffrey Epstein files

Courtesy Barrie360.com and The Associated Press

By Eric Tucker, Michael R. Sisak And Alanna Durkin Richer, January 30, 2026

The US. Justice Department on Friday released many more records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, resuming disclosures under a law intended to reveal what the government knew about the millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with the rich and powerful.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest Epstein disclosure, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files, posted to the department’s website, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release of documents in December.

They were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a news conference announcing the disclosure.

After missing a Dec. 19 deadline set by Congress to release all of the files, the Justice Department said it tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needs to be redacted, or blacked out, to protect the identities of victims of sexual abuse.

Among the materials being withheld is information that could jeopardize any ongoing investigation or expose the identities of personal details about potential victims. All women other than Maxwell have been redacted from videos and images being released Friday, Blanche said.

The number of documents subject to review has ballooned to roughly six million, including duplicates, the department said.

The Justice Department released tens of thousands of pages of documents just before Christmas, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs and court records. Many of them were either already public or heavily blacked out.

Those records included previously released flight logs showing that Donald Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, before they had a falling out, and several photographs of former President Bill Clinton. Neither Trump, a Republican, nor Clinton, a Democrat, has been publicly accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they had no knowledge he was abusing underage girls.

Also released last month were transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who said they were paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In 2008 and 2009, Epstein served jail time in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. At the time, investigators had gathered evidence that Epstein had sexually abused underage girls at his home in Palm Beach, but the U.S. attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him in exchange for his guilty plea to lesser state charges.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence at a prison camp in Texas, after being moved there from a federal prison in Florida. She denies any wrongdoing.

U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse of girls, but one of his victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused him in lawsuits of having arranged for her to have sexual encounters at age 17 and 18 with numerous politicians, business titans, noted academics and others, all of whom denied her allegations.

Among the people she accused was Britain’s Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after the scandal led to him being stripped of his royal titles. Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Giuffre died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia last year at age 41.

___ Tucker and Richer reported from Washington.

3)‘I meant what I said’: Carney says he explained his Davos speech to Trump

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By David Baxter, January 27, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told U.S. President Donald Trump personally that he meant what he said in his speech at the World Economic Forum last week.

Carney said he told the president in a call Monday that Canada was the first country to “understand” the change in U.S. trade policy and is now adjusting to that.
“I meant what I said in Davos. It was clear it was a broader set of issues that Canada was the first country to understand the change in U.S. trade policy that he had initiated, and we’re responding to that,” Carney said on his way into the weekly cabinet meeting.
“We are prepared to respond positively by building that new relationship through CUSMA. He understood that and it was a good conversation.”
During his speech in Davos, Switzerland, Carney called on middle powers to band together as “great powers” attempt to expand their influence through economic coercion.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday he was in the room during the call and said Carney was “aggressively walking back” his comments at Davos.
“Of course, Canada depends on the U.S.,” he said. “There’s much more north-south trade than there could ever be east-west trade.”

Bessent said Canada is linked to the U.S. and that Carney should stop trying to “push his own globalist agenda.”

The prime minister told reporters he explained to Trump Canada’s recent tariff deal with China and the country’s broader strategy to diversify trade.
“I explained to him our arrangement with China. I explained what we’re doing — 12 new deals on four continents in six months, he was impressed, and what we intend to do going forward,” Carney said.
Trump threatened last week to impose 100 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports if Canada strikes a trade deal with China.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Monday he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and told him that Canada is not pursuing a free trade deal with China.
LeBlanc said the agreement with China is meant to resolve specific tariff issues, similar to action taken by the U.S. government last year on soybeans.

Carney said the call with Trump was also about the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on free trade, or CUSMA, which is to begin in earnest this year.
The prime minister said he also spoke to Trump about the situations in Ukraine and Venezuela, and about Arctic security, but did not share details on how those talks went.

4) Trump threatens ‘Governor Carney’ with tariffs over China trade deal

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Devin Stevens, January 24, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening Canada with 100 per cent tariffs over a trade deal with China, and in a social media post referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney as “governor.”

Reviving an insult he previously levelled at former prime minister Justin Trudeau amid threats of making Canada the 51st state, the president said in a Saturday morning social media post that if “Governor” Carney thinks Canada can become a “drop off port” for China to send products into the U.S., he’s “sorely mistaken.”

“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” the president wrote on Truth Social. 

“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.”

Trump posted again later in the day saying the last thing the world needs is a Chinese takeover of Canada.

“It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!” the president wrote.

Earlier this month Carney committed to drop Canada’s 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles to 6.1 per cent with an annual cap of 49,000 vehicles. Canada first imposed the higher tariffs on Chinese EVs in 2024 in lockstep with the U.S. The deal made with Chinese President Xi Jinping during Carney’s visit to Beijing will see China reciprocate by lowering most of its retaliatory tariffs on Canadian agricultural products, including lobster, crab and canola. 

Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, issued a statement Saturday stressing that the two countries have a remarkable economic and security partnership. 

“There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China,” LeBlanc said. “What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues. Canada’s new government is building a stronger Canadian economy, with a plan that is building our strength at home and strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world.”

Justice Minister Sean Fraser told reporters Saturday that the government has to focus on taking care of things at home.

“We need to build an economy that can stand on its own two feet, making it easier to do big things at home and diversifying into new markets around the world,” he said outside a Liberal caucus meeting on Parliament Hill.

“(These) are interesting and challenging times for the Canadian economy, but with the path the prime minister has laid out, and frankly the buy-in from Canadians in every part of the country, I’m excited for what the next few months are going to look like.”

Culture Minister Marc Miller said Trump is the president of the U.S. and therefore his words must be taken seriously.

“We’re not negotiating a free-trade agreement with China. So you know, it’s a serious statement, we take it seriously, but we have to control what we control,” he told reporters in Ottawa.

While members of Trump’s cabinet expressed concern over the Chinese trade pact, Trump initially seemed to support it. 

“That’s what (Carney) should be doing. It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that,” Trump told reporters earlier this month. 

The relationship between Trump and Carney has been rocky since, with the prime minister grabbing world headlines for a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Without naming the U.S. president directly, Carney warned that the old world order is dead and urged middle powers to band together as larger ones try to pressure them through economic coercion. 

Trump responded the next day at the same event, saying Carney was ungrateful. 

“Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” said the president.

During a speech in Quebec City the following day where he was holding a cabinet retreat, Carney had a strong response.

“Canada doesn’t live because of the United States,” he said. “Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”

Trump then rescinded his invitation for Carney to join his new “Board of Peace,” which was originally conceived as a small group of world leaders overseeing the Gaza situation. 

Saturday’s post from Trump which revived his “governor” label for a Canadian prime minister has largely been absent from his rhetoric since Carney took office in March. 

“Make no mistake, this latest threat and sophomoric bombast isn’t about trade,” David Axelrod, who was a senior adviser to former U.S. president Barack Obama, said in a post Saturday. “It’s about ⁦(Carney) forthrightly telling his people & the world hard truths about the unreliability of America as an ally and a partner in the era of ⁦Trump.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby was among the first of the provincial leaders to comment.

“You’re on the right path, Mark. Canada must stand on our own two feet. British Columbia has your back,” he said in a social media post.

The Canadian government says about 85 per cent of Canadian goods are shipped to the U.S. without tariffs under a free-trade agreement. Most products outside the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement are subject to a 25 per cent tariff. 

The CUSMA trade deal is up for review this year. 

— With files from Dylan Robertson and Kelly Geraldine Malone.

5)(Updated) Carney links Trump’s latest tariff threat to negotiations on CUSMA trade pact

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Kyle Duggan, January 26, 2026

It is not a coincidence that U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada came just ahead of negotiations on renewing North America’s main free-trade pact, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday.

“The president is a strong negotiator and … I think some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney said at an unrelated announcement in Ottawa on Monday.

In a weekend social media post in which he referred to Carney as “governor,” Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa reaches a trade deal with China.

In subsequent posts, Trump wrote “China is successfully and completely taking over the once Great Country of Canada,” adding, “I only hope they leave Ice Hockey alone!”

The Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA, was negotiated during the first Trump administration and served as an early stress test for Ottawa.

There were tensions during the talks and Trump repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs, but ultimately the agreement, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, was signed and all three countries hailed it a success.

The trade agreement’s future is much less certain now, as Canada, Mexico and the United States prepare for the mandatory review. Trump said earlier this month the trade deal was “irrelevant” to him.

The president previously called the deal “transitional” and, during a meeting with Carney at the White House last October, Trump said it may have served its purpose.

Despite the president’s angry social media outbursts over the weekend, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he had a cordial and lengthy phone conversation with Trump’s trade czar on Sunday.

LeBlanc said he was reassured when U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer indicated a clear desire to work on the CUSMA review. LeBlanc said he told Greer Ottawa is ready to have detailed conversations quickly, and they committed to holding a call later this week and to meeting in person soon.

Greer himself has expressed skepticism about the continental trade agreement. Greer previously said the Trump administration is also considering splitting up the three-way pact and negotiating separate deals with Canada and Mexico.

Carney said he expects the CUSMA review to be “robust.” Trump’s public comments over the past year show Canada shouldn’t expect a smooth ride through the process.

Trump originally expressed support for Ottawa’s agreement with China but he changed his tune after Carney’s widely praised speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week.

In his comments, which were later cited by European leaders, the prime minister warned that the old world order is dead and urged middle powers to band together as larger ones try to pressure them through economic coercion.

Carney said Monday that his WEF comments were a recognition of how the world has changed and “Canada had understood the scale of the change” well before other countries.

In the days after the speech, members of the Trump administration warned Ottawa’s recent deal with China could upend the CUSMA review.

LeBlanc said he explained to Greer that Canada is committed to the CUSMA provision that forbids the three partner nations from entering into free-trade agreements with non-market economies such as China. LeBlanc said Greer understands Canada’s narrow agreement with Beijing sorts out long-standing trade tensions over electric vehicles and agricultural products.

CUSMA has shielded Canada and Mexico from the worst impacts of Trump’s tariffs. The president increased duties on Canada to 35 per cent last August, citing the cross-border flow of deadly fentanyl as justification. Those tariffs do not apply to goods compliant with CUSMA.

Canadian industries are also being slammed by separate tariffs on goods like steel, aluminum, automobiles, lumber and cabinets.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington

6) Carney defends Canada’s Afghanistan record but does not ask Trump for apology

Courtesy Barrie360.com

By Kyle Duggan, Jan. 26, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney defended the Canadian military’s contributions to the war in Afghanistan today, but stopped short of asking U.S. President Donald Trump to apologize for belittling Canada’s role.

Carney said everyone should recognize the extraordinary contributions made by the Canadian Armed Forces in that conflict and noted 30 Canadian soldiers were awarded the U.S. Bronze Star Medal for valour.

But the prime minister did not mention Trump when asked by a journalist at a news conference whether he would call on the U.S. president to apologize for saying NATO troops stayed away from the front lines.

Carney instead pointed out that Canada sent 40,000 troops to Afghanistan over 13 years, where they served on the front lines, and said 158 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat lost their lives during that conflict.

In his controversial comments on Fox News on Thursday, Trump downplayed the overall role of NATO troops and insisted the United States has never needed its NATO allies for anything, or asked anything of them.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reacted on Friday by calling Trump’s remarks “insulting” and “frankly appalling.”