Tariff War With Canada, Putin's Pandora's Box, and the Yellowstone Lawsuit

MayaMorning, everybody. Welcome back to the Morning Rundown.

DavidGood to be here. Coffee's hot. We're ready.

MayaSo today's a loaded one. First up, Canada and the US are in a real trade fight.

DavidFifty percent tariffs just hit Canadian goods, and Ottawa's already talking payback for September.

MayaI'm surprised Mark Carney's out there saying Canada is at war. That's a lot for a neighbor.

DavidMm-hmm. We'll get into who actually ends up paying for that.

MayaThen overseas, Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes again, and Putin's throwing out some heavy warnings.

DavidPlus a mobilization test that's got people asking how long this fight actually runs.

MayaDon't worry, we're not all doom and gloom today.

DavidRight. There's a Yellowstone lawsuit. Taylor Sheridan accused of straight up lifting the idea.

MayaThat's wild, right? Plus the whole Ruffalo situation with the Wiesenthal Center.

DavidLots on deck. Let's start with the trade fight because the money side of this gets messy fast.

MayaAll right. Tariffs it is. Fifty percent. That's the tariff rate on Canadian goods, and as of today, it's actually in effect.

DavidAnd Ottawa's already got a date circled. Canada says retaliation starts September eighth, dollar for dollar, according to NPR.

MayaI keep thinking about the border towns, you know? Places near Michigan, near Maine, where half the local economy is just trucks crossing back and forth all day.

DavidYeah, and PBS put a real number on it, about twenty billion dollars of Canadian goods, roughly five percent of what they export to us every year.

MayaI'd bet some of those border shops are already bracing for a slower season. Fewer people crossing when everything costs more on both sides.

DavidWhat's actually in that twenty billion, though?

MayaHockey sticks, farm products, lumber. A pretty random mix.

DavidHockey sticks? Okay, that's so Canada.

MayaTongue depressors made the list too, believe it or not. Lauren Almeida's piece in The Guardian had that detail today.

DavidAnd Carney's not exactly staying calm about it either. He came out and said, quote, "We got attacked."

MayaThe New York Times has him going even further. He's calling this an actual trade war with the US now.

DavidAnd Trump's whole response was two words, "No more," three exclamation points, per The Guardian.

MayaVery measured.

DavidRight?

MayaBut the part that actually matters, the American importer pays that tariff at the border. Canada never touches it.

DavidSo when I'm buying maple syrup or lumber for a deck...

MayaSome of that gets absorbed along the way, but most rides straight through to the price tag on the shelf.

DavidThe money starts at a Canadian mill, crosses at customs with a fifty percent markup, and lands at Home Depot weeks later.

MayaWhich nobody's going to connect back to a headline about trade wars.

DavidRight. It just shows up as higher prices weeks later, and nobody ever calls it a tariff.

MayaThat's the part that gets me. We frame this as us versus Canada, but it's kind of us versus our own grocery bill too.

DavidWhich is the bet Washington's making, that squeezing Canada now buys something worth Americans paying later.

MayaIs there actually a case for it, though?

DavidThere's a real one. Canada's had dairy tariffs over two hundred percent on US products for years. Softwood lumber's been a fight since the Reagan era.

MayaSo this comes from an actual list of grievances.

DavidA long one. The question is whether leaning this hard on an ally gets Washington a better deal or just a neighbor who remembers it for the next decade.

MayaAnd Carney's not folding. Matching dollar for dollar starting September eighth is a serious move.

DavidIt is.

MayaSo does squeezing an ally actually buy leverage, or does it just cost everyone money and goodwill?

DavidSame question applies when the target's an enemy instead of a friend, and that version gets a lot bloodier depending who's on the other end.

MayaOkay, shifting from tariffs to something with actual casualties. Russia and Ukraine both hit hard overnight.

DavidAl Jazeera is reporting Ukrainian strikes killed ten people inside Russia and occupied territory. Russian strikes killed seven in Ukraine.

MayaWait, ten and seven? Both sides, same stretch?

DavidSame stretch. And Reuters has Putin calling Ukraine strikes on economic targets a Pandora's box. His words.

MayaPandora's box, meaning you started something you can't take back?

DavidBasically. He's warning of what Reuters calls destructive retaliation. Vague on purpose, probably.

MayaThat kind of language never sits right with me.

DavidWhat sits worse is The Wall Street Journal has an exclusive saying Russia's testing readiness for another mobilization round.

MayaAnother one? They already ran through that whole call-up mess years back.

DavidThey did, and it wasn't popular. Testing it again means Moscow's planning past this winter.

MayaYeah. So while Moscow's gearing up, what's happening inside Ukraine politically?

DavidMessy. AP's Samya Kullab reports Zelenskyy went public about his fired defense minister.

MayaFired over what?

DavidZelenskyy says his actions were misguided, tied to protests, calls for elections, and bad numbers from the defense ministry that led to an awkward moment with Trump over Starlink access inside Russia.

MayaWait, an awkward moment with Trump over Starlink?

DavidYep. On top of that, Zelenskyy flagged a growing shortage of Patriot missiles.

MayaThat's the part that matters for the aid debate here. If Kyiv's own government is fighting itself over strategy, that gives cover to anyone in Congress who wants to slow walk support.

DavidAnd infighting doesn't play well when you're asking allies to keep writing checks.

MayaUgh, that's the fight here at home too. Every dollar of aid turns into a floor debate.

DavidThe case for backing Ukraine is straightforward. A weaker Russia serves American interests, but nobody's excited about blank checks either.

MayaSo it's less about charity and more about leverage. Just make sure Europe is actually paying its share too.

DavidFair complaint. NATO members sitting right next to Russia have a lot more skin in this game than we do.

MayaThen there's Iran, a whole separate fire.

DavidDifferent fire, same idea. The Times of Israel reports Tehran says any country cooperating with the new US sanctions is treated as an enemy.

MayaEnemy? For sanctions?

DavidStrong word, but it tells you the sanctions are landing. Washington's pitching them as the toughest ever and pressing China specifically, since China buys a huge share of Iran's oil.

MayaSo if Beijing keeps buying, Tehran calls that an act of war?

DavidThat's the threat. And The Times of Israel notes oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is near a standstill, a route carrying a fifth of the world's oil.

MayaA fifth of the world's oil stuck at a choke point? That's a gas price story for us, not just a Tehran story.

DavidWhich is exactly why Washington wants China on board quietly instead of escalating further.

MayaToughly. Russia digging in for a long war, Ukraine's politics fraying at home, Iran threatening anyone who enforces sanctions.

DavidSame question under all three. How much pressure holds before someone stops absorbing it and pushes back harder?

MayaMeanwhile, on a much smaller battlefield, Hollywood's fighting over who owns what.

DavidLower stakes, same instinct to go to court over it.

MayaShifting gears hard right into Hollywood.

DavidAfter Iran and Ukraine, I'll take drama.

MayaSo this lawsuit against Taylor Sheridan, someone says he stole Yellowstone.

DavidWait, stole from who?

MayaA writer who sent a pitch to his reps back in 2016. The LA Times' Mark Olsen reported it's basically a federal lawsuit built on that paper trail.

DavidSo there's actual documents, not just somebody's memory of a coffee meeting?

MayaEmails, treatments, the whole file. Variety's Jack Dunn says it was filed Friday.

DavidI mean, ranch family drama isn't exactly a brand-new idea.

MayaNo, but the specifics, the dynasty-

DavidMm-hmm

Maya... the land fights, that's what they're pointing to.

DavidWe'll see how far a paper trail gets somebody in court.

MayaSpeaking of Hollywood policing itself, Mark Ruffalo and the Simon Wiesenthal Center are going at each other.

DavidA parent would call them anti-Semitic first, right?

MayaRight. And Deadline's Tom Tapp reported the center's CEO piled on, accusing Ruffalo of demonization.

DavidAnd Ruffalo fired back. Variety's Jack Dunn had that too.

MayaWhat gets me is who gets the label slapped on instantly versus who gets the benefit of the doubt around here.

DavidSame industry, wildly different rule book depending on who's talking.

MayaRight. Worth watching if this actually goes anywhere legally or just fades out.

DavidOkay, last one, and it's a sad one. Michael Wright passed away. He was 70.

MayaThe Five Heartbeats guy.

DavidYeah, and Sugar Hill, plus he was on Oz, the doomed inmate, Omar White.

MayaThe Hollywood Reporter's Mike Barnes wrote a nice piece on him this morning.

DavidFive Heartbeats still holds up. My mom had that thing on repeat.

MayaSame energy in my house growing up. Rest easy. So that's the rundown. Tariffs, Ukraine, and Taylor Sheridan getting sued. Quite a morning.

DavidHonestly, the trade story stuck with me. Everyone forgets the importer eats that cost, not Ottawa.

MayaRight. Worth remembering next time someone calls tariffs free money.

DavidAnd keep an eye on that September 8th retaliation date. Follow the money on that one.

MayaWe will. If you liked the show, subscribe and leave us a review. It really helps other people find us.

DavidShare it with a friend who still thinks trade wars are simple.

MayaThanks for spending your morning with us.

DavidSee you tomorrow.