25 August 2026 – Short News

Canada announces retaliatory tariffs, the Trump administration is preparing the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history, Iran is threatening a complete shutdown of oil exports in the new sanctions war - and at the same time, the Iran war is already forcing Washington to pull troops out of East Asia and cancel a major military exercise with South Korea. Britain is also handing classified missile technology to Ukraine, while Kyiv, of all things, lacks the money for production. And Putin is honoring a South Korean translator who describes Russia as a victim of war and sanctions. Our brief news for August 25.

Canada strikes back: Ford threatens Trump with electricity and critical minerals - "Everything's on the table"

Canada is taking the gloves off in its trade war with Donald Trump. After the United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods on Saturday, Ottawa announced retaliatory tariffs of its own for Tuesday. Trump went further on Monday and threatened Canada with another 50 percent on cars, auto parts and steel. His message to Canada's leaders: They should "fall in line," or things would get "FAR WORSE." Prime Minister Mark Carney responded that Washington was now demanding terms that would effectively subordinate Canada. According to Carney, the United States wanted to destroy key Canadian industries, including autos, steel and aluminum. Carney said that was exactly why Canada had rejected the proposed deal. Canada would not sit at the negotiating table as a subsidiary of the United States.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford went even further. "We're all in," the conservative said. In Canada, he said, people are now increasingly willing to endure economic pain rather than bow to Washington. Ford openly threatened countermeasures involving electricity and critical minerals. Ontario supplies electricity to around 1.5 million homes and businesses in the United States, according to Ford. "Everything's on the table. I'll do whatever it takes," Ford said. Oil, potash and strategically important minerals could also become part of a tougher Canadian response. Washington needs those very resources for defense, aircraft, missiles, munitions and electronics while at the same time trying to reduce its dependence on China.

Ford has used electricity as leverage before: Ontario temporarily imposed a 25 percent surcharge on exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Trump responded at the time by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum before both sides backed down. Now the dispute has escalated further. Ford accuses Trump of no longer trying to negotiate a better trade agreement, but of trying to pull Canadian production into the United States. He said explicitly that Trump wants to turn Canada into a vassal state and "bleed out" one sector of the economy after another.

Canadian resistance now cuts across party lines: Ford is a Progressive Conservative, Carney is a Liberal, but on the question of U.S. demands, the two are on the same side. Trump responded to Ford with personal insults and continues to mockingly refer to Carney as "Governor Carney."

Ford was not impressed: "If you think an insult from him hurts me? Well, bring it on, buddy. I'm ready."

What began as a tariff dispute between two of the world's closest trading partners has now become something Canada openly treats as a fight for its economic and political independence.

Britain hands classified missile technology to Ukraine - but Kyiv lacks the money to produce it

Britain and France want to provide Ukraine with classified technical information on the Storm Shadow, or Scalp, cruise missile. The goal is to enable Kyiv to manufacture the weapon inside Ukraine. London is allowing defense company MBDA to share protected information about the British-made components. France had already agreed in July to let Ukraine manufacture a package of French weapons, including Scalp and Aster interceptor missiles. For Kyiv, this would be another step away from complete dependence on Western weapons transfers. Since the start of Russia's invasion, Ukraine has built up its own defense industry, especially in drones and long-range weapons. But that is exactly where the problem now lies: The technology is there, the production capacity is there too - the money is not.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is therefore pushing for faster European financial support. Ukraine is already developing its own cruise missiles, including the Neptune and Flamingo. The Flamingo is said to be capable of flying more than 1,800 miles and carrying a warhead weighing more than 2,400 pounds. But there is not enough money for large-scale production. The situation is even more serious when it comes to air defense. Kyiv wants to manufacture American Patriot interceptors itself and needs a license from Washington to do so. Trump initially supported that possibility, but later backed away from it. At the same time, Ukraine's stocks of Patriot missiles are nearly exhausted, while Russia continues firing ballistic missiles at Ukrainian cities. Earlier plans with Rheinmetall to build hundreds of tanks in Ukraine also ultimately failed because the financing and orders never came.

The cooperation is now going both ways, however. Britain is getting access to Ukraine's Avengers AI laboratory and, with it, data and experience directly from the war that are to be used to train British artificial intelligence models. British, German and Danish companies are already manufacturing Ukrainian-designed drones and fuel for Ukrainian cruise missiles. BAE Systems recently also agreed to produce a howitzer in Ukraine, while Britain is additionally developing a ballistic missile for Kyiv. Storm Shadow and Scalp have been among the most effective Western weapons supplied to Ukraine, striking Russian bunkers, bridges, ships and command centers. Today, Ukraine itself can build weapons with even greater range. What it no longer necessarily lacks is the know-how. One Ukrainian manufacturer put it bluntly: "It's not only an industrial war, it is the war of the budgets."

Trump administration plans largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history - up to 200,000 foreigners affected

The Trump administration is preparing the largest mass visa revocation in the history of the United States. Up to 200,000 foreigners could be affected who entered the United States on business or tourist visas and later applied for asylum or are currently seeking asylum. The visas in question are B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026. The State Department plans to revoke the visas gradually together with the Department of Homeland Security. The final decision has not yet been made, but internal documents show that the review is already underway. Immediate deportation would not automatically follow. Many people with pending asylum cases would initially only lose their previous status as business travelers or tourists. That is exactly why the measure is likely to end up in court.

The State Department justifies the move by saying that people allegedly enter on short-term visas and then apply for asylum in order to remain in the country permanently. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau spoke of "bogus asylum claims" and said asylum should not be a loophole for circumventing immigration law. The administration has been tightening its visa policy continuously since Trump's return to the White House. Applicants have to provide more information about their social media activity, in some cases post expensive bonds, and citizens of certain countries cannot get visas at all. Around 175,000 visas have already been revoked over the past 18 months. Those affected included people convicted of or accused of crimes, but also people who had publicly spoken out against U.S. policies, particularly in connection with the Middle East.

What is new now is the scale. Revoking up to 200,000 visas at once would be something the United States has never done before. B1 visas are intended for business travel, while B2 visas are for tourism, family visits or medical treatment. Anyone applying for such a visa today has to affirm that they do not intend to apply for asylum and prove that they plan to return home. The State Department apparently began the review after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services passed along information about asylum applications. It is still unclear how many people will ultimately be affected. What is clear, however, is that the Trump administration is tightening the screws again. This time, it is not people at the border who are being targeted, but hundreds of thousands who had already entered the country legally on valid visas and later sought protection.

Iran rejects Trump's new sanctions war - Tehran threatens: "Not a single drop of oil"

The Trump administration is trying to isolate Iran even further economically, but there is no sign from Tehran that it is prepared to give in. Finance Minister Seyed Ali Madanizadeh said the country has a two-year economic plan that already takes further U.S. sanctions into account. "Sanctions are not new" to Iran. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had previously imposed new measures on more than 60 companies, individuals and vessels around the world. Washington accuses them of helping Iran obtain nuclear and missile technology, carry out cyber operations and generate oil revenue. Five sectors are now being targeted in particular: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping. Bessent said the pressure would increase day by day until Iran had almost no economic options left. The Revolutionary Guards responded that the measures would primarily punish ordinary people. Washington, they said, was trying to destroy people's livelihoods and undermine trust inside the country through economic warfare.

Trump had promised that the war he began alongside Israel at the end of February would be quick and decisive. By late August, little is left of that promise. A cease-fire reached in June collapsed only weeks later after Iran resumed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is now threatening "economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale" and says countries that continue doing business with Iran will also be punished. Iran's most important trading partners include China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Emirates halted trade and financial transactions with Iran last week, just hours after Trump spoke with President Mohammed bin Zayed. Whether Washington demanded that decision is not known. China will be more difficult for Trump. President Xi Jinping is expected in Washington next month, and even analysts doubt Trump is prepared to impose truly severe sanctions on Beijing over Iran. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismisses the American threats as bluster and said the United States is not even in an economic position to keep restricting its relations with more and more countries.

It becomes dangerous when economic pressure once again turns into military pressure. Several analysts believe Iran is more likely to respond to the new sanctions with further attacks than to accept Trump's demands on its nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Washington was repeating methods that had already failed and that Iran would use every international avenue available to fight the sanctions. Mohsen Rezaei of the Supreme National Security Council was even more explicit. If the American campaign continues, he said, "not a single drop of oil" will be exported from the Gulf region. Any government that participates in or supports America's economic war would be treated by Iran as a party to the war. The threat is not theoretical. Gulf states have already been hit by Iranian drones and missiles, American bases have been attacked as well, and the blockade of Hormuz is already directly hitting oil and gas exports. At the same time, years of sanctions have worsened inflation and unemployment in Iran and helped fuel the mass protests earlier this year, which the regime crushed with brutal force; according to Iranian human rights groups in exile, thousands of demonstrators were killed. Trump's new calculation is nevertheless the same again: more pressure. Tehran's answer so far is not surrender, but the threat to make the entire Persian Gulf pay the price.

Putin honors South Korean translator - she describes Russia as a victim of war and sanctions

Vladimir Putin has awarded South Korean Dostoevsky translator Kim Jong-a the Pushkin Medal. According to the decree published on August 24, she is receiving the honor for her contribution to preserving and promoting Russian culture and art abroad. Kim has studied Dostoevsky for around 30 years and became the first South Korean translator to translate all four of his major novels on her own: "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot," "Demons" and "The Brothers Karamazov." In October 2025, she traveled to Moscow for an assembly of the Russkiy Mir Foundation, created by Putin to promote the Russian language and culture abroad. According to Kim, she became the first South Korean citizen to deliver a keynote speech at the gathering. A few months later, she published a piece in South Korea about the trip - and in it emerged a remarkable picture of Russia at war.

Kim wrote that at first she barely noticed any signs of war in Moscow, but later saw its "victims and losses" as well as the economic consequences of Western sanctions. As evidence, she cited, among other things, a buffet at the Russkiy Mir event where almost no food was left for her. If even a place presented to guests looked like that, she wrote, one could imagine how difficult real life must be for people in Moscow. She also treated the shuttered stores of Western luxury brands in Moscow's GUM department store as proof of the sanctions. Dior, Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Chanel were gone, she said, and GUM had become a map of European sanctions against Russia. She also criticized South Korean automaker Hyundai for leaving Russia and attributed the decision to Seoul having to take the United States into account. At the same time, she praised some effects of the sanctions: Russian companies had replaced McDonald's and Starbucks, and domestic production had been strengthened. Kim even wrote that she could imagine opening stores of her own in Moscow and St. Petersburg one day. She did, however, explicitly oppose continuing the war: There should be no more senseless deaths.

Kim's ties with Russian state-linked institutions continued after the trip. In January, she presented her Dostoevsky editions to the Russian ambassador in Seoul. The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russkiy Mir are also preparing a trip for her to places connected to Dostoevsky's life, from Moscow and St. Petersburg to Omsk. Kim described this as an especially deep form of cultural friendship between Russia and South Korea, even though political relations have been largely frozen since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Seoul participates in sanctions against Moscow and at the same time criticizes Russia's military cooperation with North Korea. And in precisely that situation, Putin is now honoring a South Korean translator who describes in her home country how Russia is suffering under war and sanctions - while drawing political conclusions from an empty buffet and shuttered luxury stores.

Troop shortage: U.S. cancels major exercise with South Korea

The United States has canceled the major Ssang Yong exercise with South Korea that had been planned for September. The reason is not diplomatic restraint, but a lack of troops. The war with Iran is now tying up so many American forces that Washington cannot provide enough personnel for division-level exercises. The U.S. Marine Corps had already informed Seoul about this in June. It remains unclear when the exercise will be rescheduled. Ssang Yong is no small routine drill. In 2024, more than 20 ships and 30 aircraft took part, including F-35B fighter jets and the amphibious assault ships USS Boxer and USS America. The forces practice amphibious landings by sea and air as well as joint combat operations. Now the exercise is being canceled, only days after Donald Trump had already cut back Ulchi Freedom Shield. The annual exercise was shortened from 11 days to five, and the number of field exercises was also reduced significantly.

Trump justified that decision by pointing to the cost and to South Korea's refusal to join the U.S. campaign against Iran. At the same time, he said the joint exercises sent Pyongyang a "totally unacceptable and hostile signal." The Iran war has long since begun having direct consequences for the American military presence in East Asia. More than 2,000 U.S. Marines were moved from Japan to the Middle East, while exercises in Korea are being reduced or canceled entirely.

North Korea has not responded with restraint. Last week, Pyongyang fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles and once again condemned the remaining exercises as preparation for an invasion. What Washington is now demanding of itself is becoming increasingly clear: fight a war in the Middle East, pull forces out of Asia and still maintain military deterrence there. The longer the Iran war lasts, the harder that equation becomes.