Classes are back and so is the Monday Briefing. In the first issue of the semester, we analyse the diplomatic crisis between the United States and its largest neighbour, Canada. Then, we discuss at American intervention in Venezuela, a failed mutiny in Niger, and the legacy of the 9/11 attacks.
Spotlight: The United States Targets Canada
By Diego de Carvalho
If you asked a global superpower to describe their perfect neighbour, they would probably say they would want a loyal ally, which cooperates militarily and diplomatically, integrates supply chains, and maintains great commercial relations. In many ways, they would be describing Canada, whose relations with the United States have been nigh on ideal since its independence. Canada is a part of NATO and helped the US invade Afghanistan. The countries have a great commercial relationship and have enjoyed free trade with each other since 1987.
Hence, even with the Trump Administration’s trailblazing approach to diplomacy, recent American hostilities towards Canada are quite surprising. Since 2025, high-ranking American officials, including President Trump himself, have suggested annexing Canada and making it the country’s 51st state. America has also implicitly supported a separationist movement in the Canadian province of Alberta, outraging the country’s federal government. More tangibly, in the past two years the countries have been involved in ever-increasing trade tensions.
In early 2025, Canada was one of the first countries to be threatened with tariffs by the incoming Trump Administration. These hostilities helped Prime Minister Mike Carney to dramatically win the country’s 2025 election and overcome the Trump-backed Conservative Party. Mirroring American instability, these tariffs were threatened, imposed, then walked back throughout 2025.
In July 2026, the US reimposed steep tariffs and the two countries entered into trade talks. Then, on August 22nd, Mr. Carney announced Canada was pulling out of negotiations and imposing retaliatory tariffs, igniting a trade war between the two countries. Reports surrounding the negotiations say they broke down because Canada was unwilling to remove government incentives on key industries and protections on the French language. The latter is a particularly sensitive topic in Canadian politics, in which the federal government must always quell the separatist feelings of the francophone province of Quebec.
From an economic perspective, the tariffs are undoubtedly harmful for both countries. The US accounts for 62% of Canada’s trade balance and 76% of its exports. Canada is not so central to US commercial interests, but it’s still its second largest trade partner and the American trade deficit is quite tame compared to other countries. Canada’s retaliatory tariffs are designed to punish swing states, such as Maine and Michigan, in which Trump’s Republican Party will face difficult contests in the upcoming US midterms. Meanwhile, most Canadians have signalled support for Carney as the country offers a united front in the trade war, but it remains to be seen how much suffering the Canadian economy is willing to take as the dispute drags on.
Diplomatically, Trump’s brazen attacks on Canada endanger what may be America’s most important alliance. In January, Carney gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in which he emphasized that Canada and other “middle powers” must unite against pressure from the world’s superpowers, signalling a rupture in Canada’s historic friendliness towards the US. As the US shuns its allies in NATO and beyond, its increasing isolation on the global stage may be hard to recover from even after Trump’s presidency.
World News
Venezuela Cedes Control of Oil Reserves to US
By Diego de Carvalho
On August 28th, Donald Trump announced an agreement with Venezuela which would hand the US control over a large part of the country’s substantial oil reserves. In the deal, America would invest in the extraction of resources from currently untouched reserves off Venezuela’s coast, taking over the most important sector of the Venezuelan economy.
The deal itself was panned by analysts and politicians across the globe. Many point to a lack of transparency, the further weakening of Venezuela’s already fragile institutions, and potential illegality. Noting Venezuela’s vulnerable position, analyses from Le Monde, the Guardian, and Al Jazeera characterised the agreement as colonialist and neo-imperialist. Further, economists have rebuked American claims that the deal would lower gas prices, explaining that such oil extraction will take time and have no short-term impact on the US’s energy crisis.
This is the most recent development in the Trump Administration’s blatant interventionism in Venezuela. After capturing and deposing Nicolás Maduro, the US has supported his successor, Delcy Rodriguez. In exchange, Rodriguez has offered subservience; reports indicate Venezuela is effectively run by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State. Yet, there is little progress in the country’s democratic re-opening. Last week, President Trump said Venezuela was “not ready” for elections. He has also alienated Maria Corina Machado, the main opposition figure to Maduro and now Rodriguez. Overall, it seems American tutelage of Venezuela has the latter’s economic and political domination as its sole priority, with little regard for freedom and democracy.
Mutiny in Niger’s Army causes tensions in the military government
By Riccardo De Ambroggi
On Friday 11th, the government of Niger named a new chief of the armed forces, replacing General Moussa Barmou with Mana Kiaou, the latest consequence for a failed mutiny in the armed forces that occurred two weeks ago. Niger has been governed since a military junta overthrew the previous government in 2023, adding the country to a long list of countries in the Sahel who have suffered coup d’etats.
The mutiny occurred on August 29th and lasted 24 hours. It started from a military base inside Niamey’s International Airport and gunshots were heard around the airport and the presidential palace for many hours, while the state broadcaster was taken off air. In the late evening, the Nigerien government declared that the rebellion was contained. Dozens of soldiers were killed or imprisoned with crucial help from the Africa Corps, a Russian paramilitary organization established by Russia’s Ministry of Defence. Analyses point out that the mutinous soldiers were mainly from regions where fights against jihadist militias have caused a high death toll in the state military.
After the attempted mutiny, the military government of Abdourahamane Tchiani, has accused France to be responsible of orchestrating the uprising, reporting to have a substantial body of evidence. France denied but the accusation further damages the fragile relationship with their former colony. The rebellion gained attention also because the attack started Base 101, which houses the general staff of the unified force of the Alliance of Sahel States, an economic and political Union between the three military guided nations in the region: Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
The sack of the head of armed forces tries to move past the mutiny, but its aftermath will further shake the region, leading to new political equilibrium, primarily in the international relations of Niger and the other AES countries.
9/11 Attacks: a Memorial That Persists Through History
By Alice Di Terlizzi
On September 11th, 2026, world politics is reminded of the terror that subverted the perception of a global order that world leaders have worked so hard to maintain in the past decades, as they try to sway their citizens towards a perpetual peace. However, this 25th anniversary of the air strikes destroyed the Twin Towers and the Pentagon leads to a more fundamental reconsideration of the progress that is still to be made to practically accomplish that ideal peace. The Saudi Arabian attacks have been deprecated and condemned publicly, by the families of the victims and by all people who watched it happen and never made peace with the unexpected shock war brings about.
While current U.S. President Mr. Trump addresses the solemnity of the commemorative ceremony through laconic yet veridic words, and he mourns the way life used to be conducted before “this horrible evil came crushing into our lives”. In the audience are families of those who lost their lives due to 9/11, be it those who lost their lives within the buildings or the ones who perished due to illnesses related to the attacks. “This ceremony is essential,” says the brother of one of the victims, “at the very least, I get to come here one day a year and speak my brother’s name, aloud, and you hear it. And he is here, and he is present, and he is never forgotten.” As the world indeed looks at the past, triggering a reflection about mistakes that have disrupted international relations from within, the shadow of Al Qaeda’s threat is real, as the Taliban rule over Afghanistan and reinvigorate their always-the-same ideology through affiliated armed groups.
The promise of a not-to-be-repeated conflict is advanced by Afghanistan’s foreign minister, although European and U.S. leaders approach it cautiously, as they carry the vivid memory of the declaration not to leave the Afghan soil that was made right before the 9/11 catastrophe. Although the presence of an intelligence vacuum may hamper the full detection of future threats, the U.S. reunites this year reminding all kinds of people of the greatest threat of all: the erosion of democratic, non-violent ideals.
Every week, your TiL Monday Briefing 🗞: you better read it with a cup of coffee! ☕️
Head of the Monday Briefing column: Diego de Carvalho. Current writing staff: Alice di Terlizzi, Riccardo de Ambroggi. Cartoons by Polina Mednikova. The Monday Briefing column was established in its current form in 2021 by Bojan Zeric.
