Three fault lines moved today: a US-Canada tariff fight naming specific companies, a German mainstream party debating whether to ban its biggest rival, and India wielding its BRICS chairmanship as a veto.

North America: tariffs turn personal

  • Canada's retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of US goods took effect this week, with some rates reaching 50% — hitting what was the world's largest bilateral trading relationship (more).
  • Trump responded by threatening to ban Canadian planemaker Bombardier from the US market (more).

Germany: the ban debate goes public

  • AfD won roughly 44% in Saxony-Anhalt's state election, a result Chancellor Friedrich Merz called "deeply shocking" for his CDU (more).
  • NRW premier Henrik Wüst became the first senior CDU figure to publicly raise a formal party-ban procedure, while domestic intelligence is growing more cautious about what it shares with AfD (more).

Analysis: India tests the bloc it chairs

  • India holds the 2026 BRICS chairmanship over an 11-member bloc and is using its consensus rule to stall membership bids from Pakistan and Bangladesh, which China backs (more).
  • The standoff unfolds even as India and China quietly normalize bilateral relations while competing for influence inside the bloc (more).