Trade war showdown: Buy local, ban Starlink, and Build Canada

The quote was delivered via tweet by Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, who noted he was “disappointed” that the Trump administration enacted the 25 percent tariffs, and was similarly disappointed at Canada’s retaliatory tariffs. The comments came as Shopify debuted new “buy local” features in its Shop app to help users easily find Canadian brands.

Founder and CEO David Bourbonnière was formerly a gym owner, and he created FLiiP as a tool to help him manage his own gym, Club Athlétique SENS. FLiiP plans to use the $4.4 million in seed financing it raised this week to expand further into the US and enhance its product with AI integrations.

Build Canada, which is being supported by leaders from Shopify, Wealthsimple, and Cohere, and other companies, is a new platform for entrepreneurs to share policy ideas and recommendations.

Build Canada’s team hopes to take big policy ideas suggested by Canadian tech entrepreneurs, using a combination of humans and AI tools to research and draft memos, with final review from policy experts before publication.

Canada’s prime minister did not commit to sending Canadian troops to the border, though he did commit to appointing a fentanyl czar, listing drug cartels as terrorists, and launching a joint strike force with the US to crack down on organized crime, fentanyl, and money laundering. As a result, the trade war between Canada and the US now has a 30-day détente.

Waabi teamed up with one of its investors, Swedish automaker Volvo, to build and commercialize self-driving trucks. As part of this partnership announced this week, Waabi and Volvo Autonomous Solutions plan to vertically integrate Waabi’s virtual driver system, the Waabi Driver, into Volvo’s autonomous truck, the Volvo VNL Autonomous.

Ontario said it would cancel its $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink in response to U.S. tariffs on Canadian energy and goods. Premier Doug Ford also announced Ontario would ban American companies from provincial contracts, though he paused the planned retaliatory measures after US President Donald Trump delayed the tariffs by 30 days. Québec’s Premier François Legault said he does not plan to cancel that province’s contract to install Starlink in Québec courthouses.

Rayhawk says its technology prevents people from having to work in the hazardous environment of railcar loading, where they are at risk of falls and crush points. Its technology uses sensors on a crane-like structure to automate the opening, inspecting, closing, and sealing of cargo railcar lids.

For SRTX, the US elimination of the de minimis exemption would trigger a 41-percent tax on these D2C orders. The exemption allows each person to ship up to $800 worth of goods into the US duty-free each day, and eliminating it would result in a 16-percent duty plus the new 25-percent tariff on Canadian imports.

Homuth said the temporary cuts would allow SRTX to continue production and sales “at forecasted levels for 2025” with a minimum of personnel.

Before becoming CEO, Lee Reynolds served in all three roles: CFO of MaRS Discovery District, president of MaRS Discovery Enterprises, and most recently, head of development and programming. Initially named interim CEO after Alison Nankivell’s surprise resignation in December, Reynolds has now been permanently appointed to the top job at MaRS.

Google removed its ban on the use of its AI for weapons and surveillance. The company announced Tuesday it is overhauling its AI guidelines, dropping restrictions first outlined in 2018 on harmful technologies, international law violations, and human rights concerns.