National News

WASHINGTON — A Republican senator from Iowa is pleading for an exemption for potash if U.S. President Donald Trump triggers a trade war by imposing steep tariffs on Canadian imports.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet European leaders and the head of NATO next week as Canada reaches out to allies reeling under the impact of the new Trump administration in the United States.

OTTAWA — Canada's federal public service grew by more than 100,000 people over the past 10 years, and both the Liberals and Conservatives are looking to trim it by not filling jobs when they are left vacant.

MONTREAL — Quebec City officials are urging the public not to boo the preteen American hockey players who will be in town for a prestigious international peewee tournament that begins next week.

EDMONTON — Canadian investigators were effectively cracking down on fentanyl trafficking and production well before U.S.

OTTAWA — Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney has pledged to hit Canada's NATO defence spending target by the end of the decade — two years ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's schedule.

OTTAWA — International students who graduated from Canadian schools are more likely to be underemployed than their Canadian peers — and many are living with lower incomes as a result.

Fentanyl has emerged as the primary cause of illicit drug deaths in Canada and the United States, and its trafficking has been cited by U.S. President Donald Trump to justify his threat of steep tariffs on goods from Canada.

MONTREAL — A Quebec furniture manufacturer says the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods has forced it to lay off 115 people in the province. South Shore Furniture says it's laying off 97 people at its headquarters and factory in Ste-Croix, Que.

OTTAWA — Canada's trade surplus with the U.S. widened in December as overall exports rose thanks in part to higher energy prices, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.