In a factory in Hekinan, a seaside town southwest of Tokyo, machines spit hot metal rods into baskets. On a recent Monday, afternoon light poured in through yellowed windows, and the air inside was hot and smelled of metal shavings, the New York Times reported. The plant, operated by an 84-year-old Japanese automotive parts maker, Asahi Tekko, produces components that are fitted into Lexus and Land Cruiser models at nearby Toyota factories. Many of those vehicles are then shipped to the United States.

The province’s real estate watchdog is immediately freezing iPro Realty Ltd.’s funding as it probes the Toronto-area brokerage for its multi-million-dollar shortfall, BNNBloomberg reported. The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) said on Monday that it is doing this to “safeguard funds and secure business operations” as it carries out a comprehensive audit into the real estate brokerage. RECO shuttered iPro earlier this month due to a “significant shortfall” of $10 million in commission and consumer deposit trust accounts. That figure is now believed to be less than $8 million, RECO says.

Silicon Valley startup Lyten will need to convince carmakers it can succeed where bankrupt Swedish EV battery maker Northvolt failed - creating a European champion to reduce the region's reliance on China, Reuters reported. Lyten, which develops lithium-sulfur batteries, unexpectedly announced on August 7 it was buying Northvolt's assets, offering a lifeline to future European battery production for electric vehicles.

The European Union is pushing for U.S. tariffs on European cars and auto parts to be reduced retroactively to August 1 under the terms of a framework trade deal reached in July, CBTNews.com reported. The move could provide quick relief for European automakers that have faced steep U.S. tariffs in recent years. Under the agreement, Washington committed to lowering its current 27.5% tariff on cars and auto parts from the EU once Brussels introduces legislation to cut duties on U.S. goods.

Switzerland soon hopes to finalise a new business offer for Washington to ease its tariff burden, which will likely include more defence spending and greater access for U.S. energy interests, Reuters reported. Switzerland was stunned when U.S. President Donald Trump this month hit it with one of the highest tariff rates worldwide - 39% - after complaining about the U.S. trade deficit with the country on a call with Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter.

International postal services are suspending shipments to the United States after an exemption on tariff duties for small packages is set to expire, CNN.com reported. Beginning Friday, the de minimis exemption, which allowed shipments of goods worth $800 or less to enter the United States duty free, will be eliminated. European and Asian postal services have taken matters into their own hands by announcing plans to halt shipments as early as Monday. Singapore’s SingPost and India’s Department of Posts said they will also temporarily suspend some shipments to the United States.

Canada will remove many retaliatory import tariffs on U.S. goods and intensify talks with the United States on striking a new trade and security relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Friday, Reuters reported. Canadian tariffs on U.S. autos, steel and aluminum will remain for now, he said. Carney noted that the United States had recently made clear that it would not impose tariffs on Canadian goods that were compliant with the three-nation U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, something he called a positive development.

The United States and the European Union on Thursday published much-anticipated details of the trade agreement they struck verbally last month, which will see Washington maintain high tariffs on vehicles imported from the 27-nation bloc until it takes steps to lower its levies on many American industrial and agricultural products, the New York Times reported.

Veterinarians in British Columbia have until the end of the month to vote on increasing fees they pay to work in the province, a move their regulatory body says is needed to prevent it becoming insolvent, The Canadian Press reported. The College of Veterinarians of British Columbia says that it is projected to become insolvent in May 2026 if the fees, including those for private practice registration, don't increase. The new proposed annual private practice registration fee would jump to $1,900, up from the current fee of $1,395, which the college says was set in 2011.