Another day, another tariff

Canada, the US, China, Ukraine, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Syria.

Plate 5 from John Burroughs' Woodchucks, Groundhog Squirrels and other fur-bearers, 1909, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

The five things you need to know today:

• CANADA. UNITED STATES. Trump floods the zone, again.

• CHINA. UNITED STATES. Rubio meets Yi as stimulus expectations revive.

• UKRAINE. RUSSIA. Washington’s missile offer is symbolic, as well as contingent.

• ARMENIA. AZERBAIJAN. A deal remains distant, thanks to politics and Russia.

• SYRIA. Sharaa considers parting with the land of his former nom de guerre.

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CANADA. UNITED STATES. The whole groundhog

Trump floods the zone, again.

Donald Trump released a letter to Mark Carney Thursday, saying the US would impose 35% tariffs as of 1 August. Officials said USMCA-covered goods would likely stay exempt, with energy and fertiliser likely to stay levied at 10%.

INTELLIGENCE. The letter caps off a busy week in tariff threats. Trump suggested countries that hadn’t received a letter would be taxed at 15% to 20%. Markets are starting to take notice. After shrugging off a 50% rate for Brazil and a range of other duties for a group of mostly Asian countries, US equity futures have trimmed a week of gains. The fear isn’t so much that the tariffs will stick, but that the cumulative effect of the uncertainty will damage confidence.

FOR BUSINESS. US equities, in aggregate, are priced to perfection. Bond and currency markets have been more circumspect, but a strong 30-year auction, thanks to domestic buying, has settled nerves. The apathy is surprising. While tariffs may never materialise, the mere threat of them, on issues increasingly unrelated to trade, speaks of a president willing to trash economic rules to make political points, as well as one who needs to cover something up.

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CHINA. UNITED STATES. Between hope and buzzard

Rubio meets Yi as stimulus expectations revive.

A PBoC member and two other experts recommended China add 1.5 trillion yuan in stimulus to counter US tariffs Friday, after real estate stocks and iron ore jumped the day before. Marco Rubio and Wang Yi were due to meet in Kuala Lumpur.

INTELLIGENCE. Markets are hoping for a reprise of Beijing's 2015 stimulus package