Daily Brief – Canada

Canada

One of the consequences of what Iran recently described as the unpredictability of President Trump is that PM Mark Carney of Canada has this week embarked on a charm offensive to India,  Australia, and Japan. Just another visit? On the contrary, Canada has had a fractious relationship with India and a real froideur existed between the two countries after Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau had a particular spat in 2023. In Australia, Carney will make a speech to parliament, the first for 20 years by a Canadian premier. The trip is to attempt to diversify Canada away from its dependence on the USA, with whom it conducts a massive 75% of its trade and put some protection in place of that POTUS unpredictability.

EUR/USD 1.1782.

UK-EU

Yesterday morning the UK’s Department of Business and Trade deployed the R word. R of course is synonymous with much if not most of the past 2 years and Sir Keir Starmer’s stuttering government and stands for a (yet another) reset. This time it is in respect of the EU although there has never been any doubt that the EU remains the UK’s most important trade partner with GBP 860 billion, which is half of the UK’s total trade. UK exports to the EU stand at GBP 388 billion. The Kensington Agreement of July 2025 with Germany in case you have forgotten provides a framework for co-operation on technology, security, and trade. All this is yet a further consequence of the increasingly fractious relationship between the USA and just about everyone else because of POTUS’ tariffs.

GBP/USD 1.3491.

UK Entrepreneurs

According to Wealth Managers, Rathbone’s 6000 upwardly mobile young entrepreneurs departed the UK in the past year. However, almost 3000 entrepreneurs who are of course yet to strive, succeed or fail so economically neutral at best, came to the UK seeking to establish businesses in search of wealth creation for themselves. So, where do most of those leavers go? The answer is the UAE and Abu Dhabi in particular. And the most common business sector seeing that drain is of course technology. The white heat of technical progress flagged up by Prime Minister Harold Wilson 60 years ago if not evaporating is certainly being dissipated in favour of the blistering solar heat of the Gulf. While Chancellor Reeves chooses to deny that exodus, whether it is Wealth Manager surveys or up market restaurant groups all are reflecting the loss of a good slice of their prime clients. Apart from the obvious erosion to existing business, it is the opportunity cost of that business creation taking place abroad that should focus the great minds in the UK Treasury as well as that of the UK Chancellor.

EUR/GBP 0.8733.

Do as I say…not as I do

Another example of ECB President not doing as she is obliged to do is by Christine Lagarde taking a EUR 140K salary from the Bank of International Settlements on top of her ECB emoluments despite a ECB policy ban on taking third party payments. Negative postings from disgruntled ECB staff including this one: : “Preach water, drink wine.”

EUR/JPY 183.44.

Voulez- Vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?

Queen of Rap, New Yorker Lil’ Kim showed on this day in 2001 that anti social behaviour is not just the preserve of bad boy rock stars when she and her crew exchanged gunfire with “associates” of her rival Foxy Brown outside a NYC radio station. Having lied about the incident in her subsequent court appearance to protect her loyal acolytes, she was sent down for 1 year for perjury.

Where’s all my soul sista’s?
Lemme hear y’all flow sista’s
Hey sista’, go sista’, soul sista’, flow sista’ (uh)
Hey sista’, go sista’, soul sista’, go sista’

He met Marmalade down in old Moulin Rouge
Struttin’ her stuff on the street
She said, “Hello, hey Joe! You wanna give it a go?”
Oh! Uh-huh

Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da (hey, hey, hey)
Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, here (here)
Mocha Chocolata, ya-ya (ooh, yeah)
Creole Lady Marmalade
(What-what, what-what, what-what?)
Ooh, oh

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir? (Oh-oh)
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

He sat in her boudoir while she freshened up
(Hey sista’, go sista’, soul sista’, flow sista’)
Boy drank all that Magnolia wine
On her black satin sheets where he started to freak, yeah

Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder

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