US President Donald Trump arrives, prior to at a bilateral meeting in Congress Centre on the sideline of the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
Laurent Gillieron | Via Reuters
"Good fences make good neighbors," goes the saying — one that seems to encapsulate U.S. President Donald Trump's threat, made on Saturday, of slapping tariffs of 100% on Canada if the country strikes a trade deal with China.
Canada, for its part, said it has "no intention" of pursuing a free trade agreement with China, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Sunday.
Trump's warning comes after he withdrew on Thursday his invitation to Carney for Canada to join his "Board of Peace," a council originally established to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza.
Such estrangement between Washington and its northern neighbor, however, was probably not what poet Robert Frost meant when he penned the line, often taken out of context.
Frost goes on to write, "Before I built a wall I'd ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was like to give offense." That context feels relevant as Washington's relationships with Canada and the European Union grow more strained.
Ties between the European Union and India, by contrast, look sturdier. New Delhi plans to slash tariffs on cars imported from the bloc to 40%, from as high as 110%, according to sources cited by Reuters, with duties set to fall to 10% over time.
Meanwhile, inter-party relations in the U.S. are rocky again. (Though, one has to ask: when were they not?) Democratic senators have warned they will not vote for a government funding package if it includes provisions for the Department of Homeland Security, following outrage over the killing of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents.
The standoff raises the risk of a government shutdown, a prospect that could affect U.S. Treasury yields, the dollar and a flight to safe-haven assets.
Those nerves were already visible in early Monday trading. Gold prices broke the $5,000 level during Asia hours, while U.S. futures and Asian markets fell on the confluence of risks globally.
Investors now face a crowded week. Apple, Meta and Microsoft are set to report earnings and the Federal Reserve concludes its rate-setting meeting on Wednesday. How they turn out will set the mood for markets in the short term.
What you need to know today
And finally...
‘Historical clock is ticking’: A global market correction may be coming, warn experts
Equities entered 2026 on a steady footing after a robust year. The MSCI All Country World Index, which measures the performance of over 2,500 large and mid-cap equities from developed and emerging markets, is up over 2% so far this year. It hit a fresh record on Jan. 15 after gaining 20.6% in 2025, data from LSEG showed.
However, some investors say the lack of meaningful pullbacks over the past nine months has left markets increasingly vulnerable to a sudden shift in sentiment.
— Lee Ying Shan
English (US) · 