Axios

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he achieved his "goal" last week after his viral anti-tariff ad featuring former President Reagan prompted President Trump to cancel trade negotiations with Canada.

The big picture: Trump last week also vowed to raise Canada's tariffs by 10% over the ad, which was taken down Monday after drawing more than 1 billion views.

The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Joel Rayburn to be Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: Rayburn was controversial due to his alleged involvement in obscuring U.S. troop levels in Syria from President Trump in his first term, when he served as Trump's special envoy for Syria.

Hiring is under pressure, prices are still rising and tariff uncertainty remains. Goldman Sachs hopes to address these challenges this week during its 10,000 Small Businesses Summit in Washington, D.C., a mini-MBA for small-business owners.

Why it matters: Small businesses are the largest employers in the country, and Goldman hopes that its program can keep them on track amid a murky macro backdrop.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that President Trump's new sanctions will hurt the Russian war machine, but Ukraine still needs long-range missiles to force Vladimir Putin to make peace.

Why it matters: It's been a head-spinning two weeks for Zelensky. He was rebuffed by Trump over Tomahawk missiles in a tense meeting on Oct. 17, only for the diplomatic winds to suddenly shift. Trump scrapped a summit with Putin and imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time in his second term.

A U.S. Navy helicopter and a fighter jet crashed in the South China Sea in two separate incidents within 30 minutes of each other on Sunday, the Navy's Pacific Fleet said.

The big picture: The crews of both the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter and the F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter that crashed 30 minutes later were all "safe and in stable condition" and "the cause of both incidents is currently under investigation," per U.S. Pacific Fleet posts to its social media channels.

A U.S. warship arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, prompting a Venezuelan official to accuse the neighboring Caribbean government of conducting "a military provocation" with the CIA.

The big picture: President Trump said earlier this month that he authorized the CIA to secretly conduct operations in Venezuela against drug cartels, but U.S. and Trinidadian and Tobagonian officials have said the presence of the American military in the region is part of long-standing ties between the two nations.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) thinks the administration's strikes in the waters off Venezuela will expand to land, he said in a Sunday interview, adding that President Trump will brief lawmakers on "potential future military operations against Venezuela and Colombia."

The big picture: Fury is growing on Capitol Hill over the strikes on purported "narco-terrorists" in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which have killed at least 43 people and stirred speculation of an attempted regime change.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — whose net worth is estimated at more than $500 million — on Sunday said he was sharing in the pain of the farm export crisis as a soybean farmer himself.

Why it matters: China has cut off purchases of U.S. soybeans amid the trade war, depriving farmers of their largest export market and an estimated $13 billion in annual sales.

The U.S. will not lose money on its massive bailout of Argentina, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday, despite the continued weakening of the Argentine currency.

Why it matters: American intervention in Argentina's economy so far hasn't paid off, with the peso falling to record lows despite unprecedented levels of support.

French police have arrested suspects in connection to last week's brazen Louvre heist, where thieves made off with millions in stolen jewels.

The big picture: The bandits were in and out in mere minutes — escaping on scooters with their historic loot that France's interior minister described as "priceless."

The U.S. has worked out a "framework" trade deal with China that will avoid a threatened additional 100% in tariffs, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday.

Why it matters: The news will come as a huge relief to financial markets, which feared an escalation of the trade war, and to businesses, which worried about an unimaginable surge in their costs.

Immigration raids in California's Coachella Valley — a key source of the nation's produce — have upended daily life, keeping parents from fields, children from school and multiple families crowded into shared homes.

Why it matters: Fear in one of the country's poorest regions shows how the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is shaking a vulnerable labor force, mostly undocumented, overwhelming churches and food banks.