Good morning. After threatening Canada with new tariffs, the U.S. now wants to strike interim trade deals. More on that below, along with wildfire updates and new questions on a Health Canada investigation.
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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer holds up a trade document at a Senate Finance Committee hearing at Capitol Hill on July 22.Annabelle Gordon/Reuters
TOP STORIES
America wants interim deals on USMCA
At a U.S. Senate committee hearing, America’s top trade official said he’s aiming to negotiate interim deals with Canada and Mexico by the end of the year, while discussions about more fundamental changes to continental trade rules are expected to stretch into the new year.
The context: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer’s comments came two days after the Trump administration threatened a new round of tariffs – seemingly an attempt to press Ottawa to come to the negotiating table. The future of continental trade has been in flux since July 1, when the U.S. decided not to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement for another 16 years. The deal remains in force but has moved into a period of annual reviews until 2036.
More taunts: U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening large tariffs on generic drugs that are not made in the United States, potentially complicating recent efforts by Ottawa to boost domestic production of pharmaceuticals.
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A satellite view shows smoke rising from wildfires in Boston Bar, B.C., July 21.2026 Planet Labs PBC/Reuters
Wildfires closing in on B.C. community
With more than 898 wildfires burning across the country, Prime Minister Mark Carney convened a cabinet-level emergency committee called the Incident Response Group to discuss the growing crisis.
In British Columbia: In Fraser Canyon, a group of wildfires called the Brunswick Complex exploded Tuesday afternoon, after a new fire started south of the community of Boston Bar and grew extremely quickly. Wildfires have shut down major highways, and Fraser Canyon residents have been told to flee.
In Ontario: Two neighbouring First Nations in Northern Ontario are combining resources and capacity to ensure evacuees are being cared for close to home and on the land. It’s a service agreement between Mishkeegogamang First Nation and Lac Seul First Nation that the latter’s Chief Clifford Bull calls unprecedented.
New questions on plasma donor’s death
It appears that Health Canada ignored the work of its own inspectors when determining that a young woman’s death had “no linkage” to the plasma donation she was going through when her heart problems started. The revelation is raising fresh concerns from the donor’s family and from a member of Parliament about how thoroughly Health Canada evaluated the death.
The details: The agency’s internal medical summary of the donor’s death from October of last year was based on information provided by the plasma collection company and an autopsy, but it did not include information about problems found by Health Canada inspectors in the company’s operations after the donor’s death, a spokesperson for the department said.
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Martha Bricker grabs the handle on the dug well at her home in Southern Ontario’s Wilmot Township, July 2. Ms. Bricker says the water supply from her dug well has become unreliable, reflecting broader concerns about groundwater in the Waterloo Region.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
A cautionary water tale for cities across Canada
For months, Ontario’s Waterloo Region has been embroiled in a costly crisis of its own making: There isn’t enough water. A combination of low aquifers, poorly maintained infrastructure, delayed water projects and a flawed supply formula forced the regional municipality to pause all water servicing agreements for proposed construction projects, effectively freezing development approvals.
The data: Across the country, about $41-billion worth of aging drinking water infrastructure is considered to be in poor or very poor condition and needs to be replaced, according to 2022 Statistics Canada figures. While Waterloo’s regional government has hired a consultant to investigate how the problems arose, residents want a more transparent review, demanding an inquiry.
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OraQuick is Canada’s first oral HIV self-test and provides results in about 20 minutes after swabbing the upper and lower gums.Eduardo Lima/The Canadian Press
HIV self-testing kits available
A national program that distributes free HIV self-testing kits is expanding to increase access to an oral swab test recently approved for sale. In February, Health Canada approved OraQuick, the country’s first oral self-test that provides results in about 20 minutes after swabbing the upper and lower gums. For many years, the only HIV at-home testing option available in Canada was the INSTI finger-prick test, which requires a small blood sample.
Starting today: People across the country will be able to order either test free of charge through the confidential I’m Ready program, led by St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Users will now be able to connect directly to licensed clinicians at Freddie and at Felix, two virtual sexual health services that provide HIV prevention and care.
The Take
Canadian residency cannot be for sale, even if the Canadian government dangled the prospect just a few years ago.
— Robyn Urback, Globe columnist
It turns out that selling access to our country comes with all sorts of unintended economic and social costs – as well as political ones, writes Robyn Urback.
The Shot
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A cigarette package with a health warning.Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press
This is one of the new series of 13 graphic images that will be required to be printed on cigarette packages across Canada by Aug. 1.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: A SickKids doctor had his licence suspended after he was arrested Tuesday on charges related to child sexual abuse and exploitation material.
Abroad: Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea after Trump warned that the U.S. will destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
At home and abroad: In a bid to open the Gordie Howe bridge, Canada has agreed to send the U.S. half of net revenues and granted Washington veto power over some toll rate changes.
Visit: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the city would not be able to execute an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he urged the U.S. federal government to do so.
Visa: Visitors to Canada who applied for visas to attend the FIFA World Cup have so far lodged 175 asylum claims, including from Senegal, Ghana and Egypt.