Carney Tells Trump to Stop 'Trying to Be Tough' as Trade Talks Stall

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a pointed public challenge to the Trump administration on Tuesday, demanding an end to what he characterised as political point-scoring before bilateral trade discussions could resume. "When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions," Carney said, adding: "It's not constructive, but that's their democracy."

Carney also accused the United States of pursuing terms that he said could see Canadian industries "gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out." His remarks followed a fresh wave of provocations from Washington since trade talks collapsed on 21 August, including a move by President Donald Trump to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America" and taunts directed at Canada on social media. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent separately argued that Canada could not go "tit for tat" with an economy thirteen times larger.

Venezuela oil deal details emerge

Separately, the White House on Monday released further details of a sweeping agreement that would give the Pentagon a stake in roughly a fifth of Venezuela's oil reserves. The deal involves a joint venture between the United States government and North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a company owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt and already the second-largest oil operator in Venezuela behind Chevron. Trump had earlier described the arrangement as the "biggest oil deal in history," though analysts have expressed scepticism, saying it will take years to revive Venezuela's production capacity. The White House had withheld the detail of the joint-venture structure for several days before releasing it. The Venezuela agreement has reignited long-running political debates about foreign engagement with the country's oil sector.

DOJ sues Kansas City, Kansas schools over transgender policies

The US Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the school district in Kansas City, Kansas, over its policies on transgender students. The action followed an Education Department investigation opened more than a year ago, prompted by a complaint from the conservative Defence of Freedom Institute. That complaint alleged the district had policies preventing disclosure of a student's transgender status to parents without the student's consent. The Education Department found the four Kansas districts it investigated in violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act in April, citing a policy of not disclosing a student's gender transition at a parent's request, though it did not cite a specific instance in which this occurred. Kansas City, Kansas schools have a policy of using students' preferred names and pronouns, and say requests from students who do not wish to involve their parents are evaluated case by case.

Bessent launches G20 financial literacy drive

At the G20 finance ministers' meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced US sponsorship of a competition called the "Financial Literacy Solutions Sprint," aimed at identifying innovative technology- and data-enabled approaches to financial literacy across Group of 20 nations. Bessent, who has cited his own childhood experience of poverty in framing the initiative, pointed to the Trump Accounts programme as a model for other countries. Treasury says roughly seven million children are enrolled in that scheme, with 86 per cent of participants from families earning less than $200,000 per year. Four competition finalists will be narrowed to one or two winning teams, with recognition to take place at the annual World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Bangkok in October.