Hard Numbers: Trade war whips horse industry, Canada cuts rates, Egg prices keep climbing, US scraps river talks, New registration rules, Wisconsin tot reports ice cream emergency
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20 million: This news comes straight from the horse’s mouth: The US-Canada trade war is saddling Canada’s equine industry with some huge cost increases. Canadian horse farmers import more than $20 million in saddlery and harness equipment and some $2 billion in feed from the US every year. Prices for those things are now hitting a gallop due to Canada’s recent retaliatory tariffs against the Trump Administration. All of this comes as inflation and dwindling horse-friendly farmland are already squeezing the industry.
2.75: The Bank of Canada on Wednesday cut its key rate by a quarter of a point to 2.75. This is the seventh consecutive cut, and it comes as the bank looks to brace the economy for the impact of the growing trade war with the US.
10.4: Although overall inflation was more moderate than expected, egg prices in the US continued to climb in February, surging 10.4% compared to a year earlier, bringing the average price for a dozen Grade A exemplars to $5.90. The egg industry blames the spread of avian flu, which has forced the culling of more than 70 million egg-laying hens since the start of last year.
40: As the US-Canada trade and diplomatic war escalates, Washington has stopped talks with its northern neighbor on the renewal of a treaty that governs their shared use of the Columbia River. The border-crossing waterway, which originates in British Columbia and empties into the Pacific Ocean along the Oregon-Washington border, produces about 40% of all US hydropower. A 1964 water-sharing pact expired last year, but the Biden administration reached a temporary understanding “in principle.”
30: As of April 11, all Canadian long-term visitors to the US will have to register with the US government within 30 days of arrival, under an executive order signed Tuesday by President Donald Trump. The registration rule was already on the books but generally only enforced against visitors by air, who had to make an I-94 declaration. It will now impact persons who enter by land and sea, including the 900,000 Canadian “snowbirds” who winter in the US south, many of whom drive across the border, as well as Canadian students who attend US universities.
4: A four-year-old child in Wisconsin called the police last week to report his own mother for … eating his ice cream. The police responded to the call to teach the tot the importance of reserving 911 calls only for real emergencies. In fairness, if you’re four years old, stolen ice cream does qualify as a “real emergency.”