Good evening,
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
War of words continues in the Canada-U.S. trade tiff
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, now says it was a “mistake” for him to say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau deserved to go to hell for retaliating against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs. On Sunday, speaking on Fox News, he said: “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back … That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did.” Today his tone was more measured, as he told a business conference in Washington that what he said was “inappropriate.”
But the U.S. President was not done with the rhetoric. At a news conference in Singapore after meeting with North Korean’s Kim Jong-un, Trump again referenced Trudeau’s post-G7 summit comment that Canada “will not be pushed around.” “That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada,” Trump threatened. “He learned. You can’t do that.”
Trudeau, while cheering Trump’s efforts on North Korea, kept mum on his latest jab. “On [Trump’s] comments, I’m going to stay focused on defending jobs for Canadians and supporting Canadian interests.”
In this trade dispute, Trump has angrily accused Canada of abusing “U.S. farmers, workers and companies” with its steep tariffs. He’s right, Barrie McKenna writes, that Canada’s dairy and poultry farmers are heavily protected by a tariff wall. “But he’s chosen to focus on a tiny sliver in what is otherwise a deeply integrated and nearly perfectly balanced $60-billion cross-border trade in agricultural and food products.” (subscribers)
Kim Jong-un pledges ‘complete denuclearization’ as Trump suspends war games
In an unprecedented summit, the leaders of the United States and North Korea met in Singapore. North Korea’s Kim Jong-un says his country is committed to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula. After the summit, President Donald Trump responded by announcing that the U.S. will suspend its so-called war games with South Korea. But the joint statement signed by the two included no language on timing, nor did it mention the “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” that the White House has demanded.
Instead, both countries agreed to “join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean peninsula.” Mr. Trump “committed to providing security guarantees to the DPRK,” without providing details of what those might be. “Mr. Trump has nonetheless committed the weight of American foreign policy to a gut feeling that North Korea, a nation that has frequently threatened the nuclear destruction of the U.S., is prepared to act in good faith far beyond the specific text of its agreement,” Nathan VanderKlippe writes.
Two officers charged with misconduct in the case of Tess Richey, who went missing from Toronto ‘s Gay Village
Two Toronto police officers are facing disciplinary charges of misconduct on allegations that they failed to search properly for Tess Richey, a woman who went missing in the Gay Village last fall and was later found dead by her mother. Constables Michael Jones and Alan McCullough each face one count of insubordination and one count of neglect of duty, according to details in a notice of disciplinary hearing today. Her body was discovered in a stairwell 40 metres from the spot where the two officers had been dispatched, the notice said. Homicide investigators say Ms. Richey was strangled to death. Kalen Schlatter was arrested in February and is now charged with first-degree murder.
Garneau seeks answers from CN and CP as railway incidents rise sharply in 2018
Derailments, collisions and other railway incidents soared in the first four months of this year, as freight volumes rose during what was a harsh winter. The deteriorating safety record has prompted Transport Minister Marc Garneau to seek answers in face-to-face meetings with the CEOs of Canada’s two major freight carriers, Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway. “We need to do better. There is no question about it,” Garneau said in an interview. Figures from the Transportation Safety Board show railway incidents rose by 16 per cent in the first four months of 2018, compared with a year earlier. (subscribers)
This is the daily Evening Update newsletter. If you’re reading this online, or if someone forwarded this e-mail to you, you can sign up for Evening Update and all Globe newsletters here. Have feedback? Let us know what you think.
MARKET WATCH
World stock markets were little changed today while the U.S. dollar rose slightly against a basket of major currencies, with only muted impact from the long-awaited U.S.-North Korea summit aimed at denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Wall Street’s main equity indexes were mixed but steady, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 1.58 points to 25,320.73, the S&P 500 gaining 4.85 points to 2,786.85 and the Nasdaq Composite adding 43.87 points to 7,703.79. Canada’s main stock index edged higher despite a decline in energy shares after OPEC cited a high degree of uncertainty regarding the global oil market this year. The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX Composite index finished up 25.69 points at 16,288.98.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com. Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop.
WHAT’S TRENDING ON SOCIAL
The NBA’s Toronto Raptors didn’t have to look far to find a new head coach. Assistant coach Nick Nurse has been promoted to the top job, ESPN is reporting. A Raptors official said the team had no comment at the moment. The team fired Dwane Casey last month after the Raptors didn’t win a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA semifinals. Casey was named coach of the Detroit Pistons yesterday.
TALKING POINTS
Has Trump just won Trudeau the next election?
“Nothing brings a country together like a common enemy, an external threat to its well-being. Canadians are rallying around the flag. The American bully and his bloodhounds are the cause. Their calumnies, their accusations of [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau being a backstabber, of there being a special place in hell reserved for him, constitute, as Brian Mulroney put it, a historic low.” – Lawrence Martin
Trump and Giuliani ‘typical’ New Yorkers? Fuggedaboutit
“Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani are outliers; walking, trash-talking assaults on the dignity and security of the United States, and clear and present dangers to the foundational notion of the rule of law. They are unfunny cartoons. In fact, of all the possible types of New Yorkers, they’re the absolute worst.” - Benedict Cosgrove
After the election of Doug Ford, do campaigns even matter?
“Exhibit No. 1: The winner. Doug Ford’s performances ranged from wooden to weird. His platform was uncosted and incoherent. Almost daily he was dogged by scandals and suspicion. And none of that mattered a whit. By nearly every conventional measure, Ford was a wretched candidate who ought to have been peeled apart by the pressure of a 30 day campaign. Which is just another way of saying that conventional measures don’t count for much. “ – Scott Reid
After Galloway: Schools have no place in sexual-assault investigations
“There are many things postsecondary institutions in this country can learn from Mr. Galloway’s saga and one has to be this: It’s not a university’s job to investigate allegations as serious as rape. Sexual assault is a serious crime in Canada. Police have the mandate to investigate those, not educational institutions.” – Gary Mason
LIVING BETTER
Making pastry can seem like a daunting task: How do some create pastry that is crisp and flaky, while others produce tasteless cardboard? The first rule is not to be nervous, Lucy Waverman writes. The hands of nervous pastry makers can get warm, and heat is the bane of perfect dough. The second rule is to handle the dough lightly. If pastry is overworked, too much gluten is developed, and the dough becomes tough. And while butter makes the best tasting pastry, consider adding a little organic vegetable shortening for that melt in the mouth texture.
LONG READ FOR A LONG COMMUTE
Has fathering changed? A Globe writer talks to his dad about what it means to be a father
My father turns 71 this year, Dave McGinn writes. He raised two sons, my older brother Mike and me, and has five grandchildren. He has never read a parenting book. He never thought about what kind of father he wanted to be. He is the best dad I know, the example I try to live up to as I raise my two kids. I recently sat him down to discuss what it’s been like for him to be a dad, what his regrets have been and what it is to be a good father.
Evening Update is written by S.R. Slobodian. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.