After a phone call between Trump and Trudeau on Wednesday, Trump accused Trudeau of exploiting the tariff war to remain in power. The U.S. president repeated the claim Thursday morning, saying Trudeau would run to be prime minister again. “Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the tariff problem, which he largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister,” Trump said on Truth Social. “So much fun to watch!” https://www.junonews.com/p/trudeau-says-he-wont-stay-on-as-pm

Canada’s trade surplus with the US jumped to a record at the start of the year, driven by exports of cars, auto parts and oil, separate data from Statistics Canada showed Thursday. For an even clearer picture of the magnitude of the shift in bullion imports, we note that the Swiss trade deficit (where all that bullion is coming from) rocketed higher (an order of magnitude from historical norms)... WHY is Gold moving to the U.S. there is a WAR coming to the EU. https://www.zerohedge.com/precious-metals/us-trade-deficit-explodes-record-high-ahead-trump-tariffs-bullion-imports-soar

The US Justice Department revealed Thursday evening that Mexico has begun extraditing dozens of high-level cartel leaders to the US, as President Trump reiterated that 25% tariffs on Mexican goods will take effect next Tuesday. "The defendants taken into US custody today include leaders and managers of drug cartels recently designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists," the DoJ wrote in a statement, adding these terrorists are facing charges including racketeering, drug-trafficking, murder, illegal use of firearms, money laundering, and other crimes Mexico's Attorney General's Office and Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection released this statement: "This morning, 29 people who were deprived of their liberty in different penitentiary centers in the country were transferred to the United States of America, which were required due to their links with criminal organizations for drug trafficking, among other crimes." https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/mexico-extradites-29-cartel-dug-lords-us-trump-not-backing-away-tariff-war

How It Worked -- Pam Bondi is going to be a busy girl. ​The DOGE team has uncovered a government racketeering operation of which the USAID scandal is but one cog in a colossal engine of grift. What the public, including you readers, may not appreciate is how much planning went on over the past year to mount the DOGE effort, and how comprehensively the work of its many hundreds of computer techies (not just six whiz-kids) has laid bare the money-trails out of previously impenetrable government computers. Their algorithms have pierced the firewalls, revealing decades of fraud and deceit. ​President Trump’s cabinet officers have started the job of dismantling the machine by getting rid of the employees who set it up and worked for it. By Thursday, Secretary of State Rubio, fired all but 300 of the 10,000 people working for USAID. CIA Director Ratcliffe offered the agency’s entire workforce a “deferred resignation” option that will allow them to bail out and still collect their salaries until September. Look for straight-up firings to ensue. Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove ordered the acting FBI director to terminate eight senior FBI officials and asked for a review of up to 5,000 involved in J-6 investigations.​ https://www.zerohedge.com/political/how-it-worked

Update (1545ET): Politico has responded to the controversy, writing in a Thursday memo that they have "never received any government funding — no subsidies, no grants, no handouts. Not one dime, ever, in 18 years," but that $27 million in government subscriptions to "Politico Pro" is simply "a transaction," akin to the government buying "research, equipment, software and industry reports." https://www.zerohedge.com/political/politico-ny-times-propped-millions-dollars-us-government

Freeland wants to oust unpopular Liberal leaders, revive the grassroots! 'We can never again be in a position where the leader is the only person who decides who the leader is,' Freeland told reporters on Thursday. 🇨🇦 #NoMoreLiberalsAndNDP 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #SayingTheQuietPartOutLoud 🇨🇦 🇨🇦 #JustSayNoMore 🇨🇦 https://www.rebelnews.com/freeland_wants_to_oust_unpopular_liberal_leaders

Argentina's President Javier Milei delivered a blockbuster speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where he said that woke politics are a "cancer" on the world and must be eradicated to usher in a "new golden age" of freedom and prosperity. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/milei-gives-blistering-wef-speech-slams-dei-calls-woke-ideology-cancer-and-calls

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of a Canada-U.S. relations council to aid the federal government in dealing with incoming U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threat. The 18-member council includes Steve Verheul, who served as Canada’s chief trade negotiator during the renegotiation of NAFTA as well as former provincial premiers Jean Charest (Quebec), Rachel Notley (Alberta) and Stephen McNeil (Nova Scotia). “The council will use sectoral expertise to support the prime minister and cabinet at this important time in the Canada-U.S. relationship,” reads a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office released Thursday. https://tnc.news/2025/01/18/charest-notley-trudeau-canada-us-relations-council/

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with members of Unifor Local 444 in Windsor on Thursday, telling them that their voices would be important as Canada faces a threat of tariffs from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. The meeting with union leaders was part of a larger visit to the Windsor area that also saw the PM visit high school students earlier in the day. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-trudeau-prime-minister-visit-1.7433204

Mark Carney will launch his candidacy for the Liberal Party leadership at an event in Edmonton on Thursday, according to a notice from Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal. The former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England will join Ottawa MP Chandra Arya, Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste and Former Liberal MP Frank Baylis, who have already declared, in the race. The Liberal Party will choose their next leader — and Canada's next prime minister — on March 9. Hopefuls have until Jan. 23 to declare their candidacy. People can register with the party to vote in the leadership race up until Jan. 27. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-launch-liberal-edmonton-1.7431603