The last group of people, companies and others owed money by Laurentian University when it declared insolvency four-and-a-half years ago are finally getting at least some of what they're owed, CBC.ca. The plan to pay back Laurentian's final creditors is in the works with last week's completion of a real estate deal between Infrastructure Ontario and Laurentian University. Back in September of 2022, a plan was put before the unsecured creditors for a vote.

The U.S. is preparing to start renegotiating its largest free trade deal—the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported. Within the next month, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will begin public consultations on renegotiating the deal, which it must do by Oct. 4 under the 2020 law that implemented the pact.

Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled out billions of dollars in relief for Canadian businesses and workers battered by tariff wars with the country’s two largest trading partners, Bloomberg News reported. Carney unveiled the aid package on Friday, hours after jobs data revealed that Canada’s unemployment rate jumped to a four-year high. The plan targets companies hit by US and Chinese levies, and its centerpieces are a C$5 billion ($3.6 billion) fund for businesses to adapt and a “Buy Canadian” federal procurement program.

Canada unexpectedly shed jobs for a second month running in August, extending a soggy summer for a labor market that is showing signs of weakness broadening beyond areas directly hit by tariffs and trade worries, the Wall Street Journal reported. Employers in the country cut a net 65,500 jobs last month, the steepest decline since the start of 2022 when another Covid-19 variant forced widespread lockdowns, Statistics Canada said Friday. That builds on the 40,800 jobs shed in July to leave the unemployment rate 0.2 percentage point higher, at 7.1%.

Northvolt buyer Lyten said yesterday that it had appointed the last chief operating officer of the bankrupt Swedish battery maker as the new CEO of Lyten Sweden, and also recruited several other former executives of the failed company, Reuters reported. Silicon Valley-based startup Lyten, which develops lithium-sulfur batteries, unexpectedly announced last month that it was buying Northvolt's assets, offering a lifeline to future European battery production for electric vehicles.

Donald Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to swiftly hear a bid to preserve his sweeping tariffs pursued under a 1977 law meant for emergencies after a lower court invalidated most of the levies that have been central to the Republican president's economic and trade agenda, Reuters reported. The Justice Department appealed an August 29 ruling by a federal appeals court that the president overstepped his authority in invoking the law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, undercutting a major Trump priority in his second term.

Japan and the United States are in the final stages of talks to implement lower tariffs on Japanese automobile imports within 10-14 days after the issuance of a U.S. presidential executive order, a Japanese government source told Reuters on Thursday. That means that a reduced U.S. tariff rate on Japanese cars, from the current 27.5% to 15%, is set to take effect by the end of this month, said the source, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential.

India is seeking to boost drug exports to semi-regulated markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia to reduce its dependence on the U.S., where tariff concerns pose risks, officials from a government-backed trade body told Reuters on Thursday. The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) also plans to push for sales of finished goods to China to bridge the trade deficit, the officials said. The Indian industry imports more than 60% of its raw materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients from China.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that her government is considering imposing tariffs on imports from countries that do not have trade agreements with Mexico, including China, Reuters reported. The tariffs would be part of "Plan Mexico", an initiative to boost domestic industry amid tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on some imports from Mexico.

The Quebec government is pulling the plug on a $7-billion electric-vehicle battery project near Montreal and trying to recoup some of its investment, BNN Bloomberg reported. Economy Minister Christine Fréchette announced Tuesday that the government is cutting its losses on the planned Northvolt battery factory after spending $510 million on the troubled venture, once touted as the largest private investment in the province’s history. The Quebec government pledged up to $2.9 billion in financing for the project, while Ottawa committed up to $4.4 billion.