Can Disney Magic Save the Kraft Heinz Kingdom?

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Luke Vargas (0:33)

The US slaps new 50 percent tariffs on Canada, hurting already lukewarm trade talks. Plus Mickey Mouse, meat, mac and cheese, as Kraft Heinz hopes that Disney can sprinkle some magic on its brands.

And we'll look at whether AI native startups offer clues about how all companies could one day be structured.

Lindsay Ellis (0:54)

One executive I talked to compared the efficiencies gained with AI to taking a GLP-1 weight loss drug. You can do a lot more with a smaller staff.

Luke Vargas (1:10)

It's Tuesday, July 21st. I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. And here is the AM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

President Trump has imposed new 50 percent tariffs on certain goods from Canada, which the White House said was a response to the country's discriminatory treatment of American products. That designation allows the president to impose levies under an obscure section of US trade law and comes after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that emergency tariffs imposed on Canada for its alleged role in the Fentanyl trade were illegal.

Gavin Bade (1:49)

These levies would hit about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, including industrial products like cement and consumer goods like wine and hockey sticks. And that's only a small slice of total US imports from Canada, which last year totaled more than $380 billion.

Luke Vargas (2:05)

That's Journal Trade and Economics reporter Gavin Bade in Washington, who says the new tariffs come as the two countries remain at loggerheads over the future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Gavin Bade (2:15)

That is the trade deal that Trump negotiated in his first term to replace NAFTA and is up for renegotiation this year. Now, the US and Mexico have been making steady progress, and American officials are in Mexico City this week for talks. But the US and Canada have not even opened formal negotiations on the deal yet. That's a problem for the Trump administration, which is trying to extract concessions from the trading partners quickly before the midterm elections could allow Democrats more oversight. In previous rounds of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the US has largely exempted products that comply with the USMCA agreement, so they were not hit by previous tariffs. But this time, Trump's team said the goods would not be spared and would be hit by the new 50% levy.

At the same time, the administration is leaving the door open for negotiations with Canada to begin. The new levies won't take effect for 30 days, and administration officials have emphasized that they remain open to talks with Ottawa.

Trump, of course, has routinely threatened tariffs on scores of nations throughout his second term, but has often relented when relations improved. So we'll continue watching this space.

Luke Vargas (3:24)

The White House said the latest round of tariffs won't apply to products already hit with so-called national security tariffs, including steel, aluminum, auto parts and lumber. Last year, Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled back many of the counter-tariffs Canada had imposed on US goods, but several provinces kept in place their own bans on US wine and spirits, something US officials have repeatedly complained about. In a statement, Carney said Ottawa is ready to address outstanding issues with the US to the benefit of both countries.

Well, those new tariffs come after Trump accused Canada of poisoning US air after wildfire smoke blanketed Ontario and several US states last week. Wildfires are continuing to blaze this week across both sides of the country's shared border, with most of them caused by lightning strikes in remote forested areas. Trent, our Canada correspondent Amanda Coletta explains, isn't expected to end anytime soon.

Amanda Coletta (4:22)

Above average temperatures are forecast for much of the country through to August, and the fire danger is also expected to climb as summer progresses.

Because of Canada's geography, most of the fires that are blazing in Canada right now are very difficult to contain, and they are being left to burn. And to understand why, I think it's important to grapple with the vastness of Canada's forest. So Canada's boreal forest encompasses 1.3 billion acres, and for context, that's an area several times larger than that of all of the national forests in the United States combined. And so when there are so many fires burning across Canada, as there are right now, the focus for authorities is on responding to the fires that are posing a threat to people and to communities and to critical infrastructure.