The futures file · every date somebody in power set, and what was standing there when it arrived

18 August 2026Moved

Midnight: 50% tariffs on Canada take effect

Paused three days for a deal "subject to the finalization of documents" — reset to 22 August

Two hours before the tariffs were to take effect, the pause: three days, because Canada and the United States, "subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!" Ottawa's version the same night was that substantial progress had been made and important work still remained.

The deal lasted three days. The trading desks have a name for this pattern, and when a reporter put the acronym to him in the Oval Office he said it was called negotiation, and then that it was the nastiest question he had ever been asked.

This page is a row in the futures file. It changes when the date does: set, then kept, moved or missed. A date that came due with nobody to settle it says so, in public, until somebody settles it. The whole timeline runs at the foot of the front page.