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Listening to most of the media and Canada’s prime minister, you’d think the U.S. and its northern neighbor were in a full-blown trade war after new tariffs were announced days ago. Au contraire: Anyone who checks the numbers can see this is merely a skirmish.

On Aug. 22, the administration's Section 338 tariffs took effect, at 50% on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods, or about 5% of what Canada sells the U.S. Ottawa's answer, effective Sept. 8, will be varying tariffs on roughly $20 billion of American exports to Canada, about 6% of what Canada buys from the U.S.

While tariffs on $40 billion aren’t chump change, they’re a small portion of the roughly $900 billion in products and services that are exchanged across the U.S.-Canadian border annually. Roughly 95% of transactions are proceeding exactly as they did in July.

A POPULAR COCKTAIL HAS A TRUMP TRADE PROBLEM YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT

People should be much more focused on January, because that’s when 50% tariffs hit many more Canadian exports, including cars, trucks and auto parts. Throw in potential Canadian retaliation, and we’re looking at higher tariffs on well over $100 billion of trade between the two countries.

When the artillery joins in like that, we go from a skirmish to a war. However, that doesn’t mean we can brush off these recent developments as insignificant. The current skirmish feels eerily similar to Union and Confederate reconnaissance units encountering each other outside Gettysburg.

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What makes this time different is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Other tariffs had carveouts for USMCA-compliant products. This was extremely important because businesses invested billions of dollars over several years to create supply chains in North America, and they shouldn’t be punished for playing by the rules.

That principle was violated, though not for the first time, with the recent implementation of these Section 338 tariffs, which apply regardless of USMCA qualification and which stack on top of the ordinary rate. Companies that played by the rules are now being punished for complying with a trade agreement that was heralded as "the new gold standard."

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This is pulling the rug out from under firms that acted in good faith, and on a large scale. The share of imports from Canada and Mexico claiming USMCA preference climbed from roughly 45% in late 2024 to 86% by February. Federal Reserve economists priced this regulatory compliance at $39 billion to $71 billion per year in manufacturing.

Ironically, some firms that spent years moving some of their production and assembly plants to Ontario now face higher effective tariff rates than some firms that stayed in Shenzhen, China. Certain tariffs that are supposed to serve as leverage for benefiting American production are instead hamstringing it.

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Consider that an American appliance manufacturer buying Canadian steel pays 50% on that input. The foreign competitor builds the finished washing machine overseas and typically ships it in at a lower rate. Because of how the current tariff regime has been thrown together, an appliance that’s USMCA-compliant can be hit with a tariff higher than an appliance made entirely in China.

If a trade deal is not reached by January, the situation will get even worse. An American automotive assembly plant will pay 50% on Canadian components while a finished Korean car will enter at a lower rate.

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President Donald Trump has threatened to take auto parts from no tariff to 50%, slap higher tariffs on medium- and heavy-duty trucks and their components and effectively double the tariff rate on finished cars and light-duty trucks. If that happens, and Canada follows through with its threat to retaliate, then we’ll be in a full-fledged trade war.

That very expensive fate can be avoided, however, if both sides agree to reduce trade barriers and open their respective consumer markets to the other nation’s producers. That’ll reduce manufacturing costs and consumer prices alike through increased efficiency and more competition.

Unfortunately, that’s a tall order because of certain protectionist lobbies in both the U.S. and Canada, especially Ottawa’s notorious dairy lobby which has an outsized influence on its nation’s trade policy. Canada’s cozying up to China and permitting it to abuse country-of-origin provisions are also not helping negotiations.

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It’s important that a deal is reached soon because no one wins in a trade war. Yet not everyone loses equally. Hopefully, Canada realizes it has more to lose than the U.S. and backs down before both sides incur more casualties.

Even if a deal is reached, the U.S. still needs to rationalize its remaining slapdash tariff schedule. Under no circumstances should American-made products face higher effective tariff rates than foreign-made competition. There’s no need to wait on Canada to address that particular issue.

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A Georgia police officer shot and killed a family's beloved pet donkey after officers searched the animal’s pasture in search of a missing child who was later found at a nearby church.

Hannah Israel, 30, said officers entered her family’s property in Rockmart, Polk County without warning at about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday while looking for the missing child when they noticed the baby donkey named HeeHaw.

"They claimed he ran up to them braying and they thought they were in danger and shot and killed him after trying to Taze him," Israel wrote on Facebook. "HeeHaw was shot and killed in his OWN pasture for doing what donkeys do. Alerting to a stranger. There is no way this is legal!"

She vowed to take legal action as she demanded justice for HeeHaw.

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"We are heart broken. He was my SON!!" she wrote.

"We miss him so much where is safe?? When my own baby was shot in his own home?" she added in another post.

A photo taken after the shooting showed Israel crying over her pet donkey, as the animal's eyes remained wide open as it lay lifeless on the ground.

"He would normally be standing right over there talking while I'm talking because he thought he could talk like a person could talk," Israel told 11Alive.

"Every time he saw somebody, he would run up and bray," Israel said. "And then do a really goofy sound, and because he loved people, and he thought he was a person. He slept in my bed for the first three months of his life," she added.

The Cedartown Police Department said the officer who shot the beloved baby donkey has been placed on paid administrative leave.

"The Cedartown Police Department has turned over the investigation of the animal shooting to the Georgia Department of Agriculture Law Enforcement Division for investigation and placed the officer involved on paid administrative leave while this investigation is ongoing," the department said in a statement.

Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsom said body camera footage exists and he has viewed it, according to 11Alive.

"That search took them to the incident location where this very unfortunate and heartbreaking event occurred," Newsom said, according to the outlet.

Newsom said he understands the heartbreak that the family and the community is facing after the donkey's death.

"They're members of the human family, and I am too, and heartbroken," he said.

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The Georgia Department of Agriculture's Law Enforcement Division was at Elsberry Farm on Monday investigating HeeHaw's death.

Israel created a GoFundMe to help cover legal costs related to HeeHaw’s death. She said any donations left over would go toward the farm, care of the animals and a future HeeHaw foundation. She has raised more than $113,000 as of Tuesday morning.

"My bottle baby donkey 'HeeHaw' was killed in his own pasture on Saturday night by trespassing cops," she wrote on the fundraiser. "He was a loved member of our family and did many petting zoos and made many people smile."

She said she hired a lawyer but stressed that donations left over after legal costs would not be used for personal needs.

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FIRST ON FOX: A multi-agency operation in Arizona’s Yuma Sector led to the arrest of 95 illegal alien truck drivers earlier this month, striking at the heart of human and drug smuggling operations at the U.S. southern border.

All 95 drivers had acquired state-issued commercial driver’s licenses; 76 from California, six from New York and the rest from a handful of other states, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The apprehensions continue to demonstrate the high volume of narcotics and human trafficking smuggling operations that are alive and well at the border — even as immigration numbers have plummeted in recent months.

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"We are committed to protecting our citizens from all international threats, whether that is from unlicensed or untrained drivers, or transnational criminal organizations engaged in human or drug trafficking," Acting Chief Patrol Agent Dustin Caudle said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Since the end of 2024, border crossings have plummeted, going from over 144,000 encounters in December 2024 to just 33,000 in July.

Even so, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported several high-profile smuggling attempts that have sought to bring weapons, narcotics and humans across the U.S. border.

Earlier this year, CBP released reports on how it had prevented a car carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher from crossing the border, detected dozens of immigrants crammed into a semi-truck and even detained a boat off the coast of the Dominican Republic with the help of a Black Hawk helicopter.

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Trucking, in particular, has been a key way in which smugglers have sought to bring weapons and humans into the country.

According to CBP, the bust earlier this month, which took place between Aug. 10 and 14, also stopped two human-smuggling events, resulting in the arrest of four smugglers and 17 smuggled aliens. Additionally, agents seized 74 pounds of methamphetamine and 169 pounds of marijuana. In total, authorities arrested 143 suspects from 18 countries.

To prevent schemes like these, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is finalizing a rule to prevent unqualified drivers from obtaining CDLs.

If implemented, the rule would limit CDLs to H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 nonimmigrant status holders — types of visas with more stringent vetting requirements.

The rule would also prevent an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) as a way to prove eligibility, citing lax reporting and scrutiny on their approvals.

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"Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a press release about the rule.

"Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first," Duffy continued. "From enforcing English language standards to holding fraudulent carriers accountable, we will continue to attack this crisis on our roads head-on."

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Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on Sunday teased an upcoming announcement about the Trump administration's fraud crackdown.

In a post on X, Duffy said there would be "unprecedented fraud crackdown" announcement on Monday.

"TOMORROW: UNPRECEDENTED FRAUD CRACKDOWN," the secretary wrote.

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In the post, he also tagged Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, suggesting a multi-department effort targeting fraud.

Duffy did not disclose details of the announcement, including when or where it will take place, what type of fraud will be discussed or whether any arrests have been made.

The announcement comes amid the administration's broader crackdown on fraud. Trump established the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in March to coordinate efforts involving federal benefit programs.

TRUMP ADMIN INVESTIGATING 75 TRUCK DRIVER SCHOOLS FOR FRAUD, HELPING NON-CITIZENS GET LICENSES

The DOJ has also created a National Fraud Enforcement Division to investigate and prosecute the theft or fraudulent misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Duffy’s Department of Transportation has worked with DHS in recent months to crack down on alleged fraud and safety violations in the commercial trucking industry, including improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses, fraudulent driving schools and unvetted foreign drivers.

The agencies announced a joint investigation in July into about 75 commercial driving schools suspected of fraud, including allegedly falsifying training records and improperly certifying drivers. The two departments have also conducted roadside enforcement operations targeting unqualified foreign commercial drivers.

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Ibn Khaldun warned us about Mayor Zohan Mamdani’s ideas. I first encountered Ibn Khaldun while studying Islamic political thought at the American University in Cairo. His 1377 masterwork, the Muqaddimah (The introduction to his universal history), pioneered systematic approaches to historiography, sociology, economics, demography, and the philosophy of history.

Khaldun’s book features a clear description of what became known six centuries later as the Laffer Curve — the economic theory that, as tax rates rise there will be a peak in revenue, beyond which as rates continue to go up, revenue starts to decline as economic activity collapses.

Per Khaldun, early in a dynasty, low taxes encourage enterprise; revenue rises and civilization flourishes. Later, rulers demand more luxury and larger armies. Taxes climb. Businessmen compare their shrinking profits to the growing burden and lose incentive. Production falls, and with it tax yields. At that point, governments often turn to subsidies and then enter commerce themselves — buying and selling, establishing monopolies, competing directly with private traders. Independent merchants are further discouraged. Many leave or quit. The tax base collapses. The empire weakens and falls.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is now testing a modern version of the later stages of that cycle. The mayor is advancing a plan for city-owned grocery stores — one in each borough — with the first expected to open in the Bronx in 2027 and others by the end of his term. The city will own the land, cover construction (tens of millions of dollars already allocated), waive rent and taxes, and subsidize a core basket of staples so they sell roughly 30 percent below typical retail prices. A private operator will handle day-to-day management under city-set rules on pricing and labor.

Supporters frame this as relief for high food costs. History and Khaldun suggest a different trajectory. When government subsidizes and then operates in a competitive sector, private operators face distorted competition. Capital and effort shift away from the independent businesses that generate the tax revenue governments need. Inefficiencies multiply. Shortages and declines in quality follow. The temporary political win of cheaper eggs and bread is purchased with long-term damage to the commercial vitality that sustains cities.

Mamdani’s background makes the irony sharper. As the son of a prominent scholar of postcolonial societies, it is conceivable that he would be familiar with Islamic Golden Age thinkers who analyzed why states thrive and why they decay. Ibn Khaldun stands among the most famous. His warning was empirical, drawn from observing North African and Near Eastern dynasties: When the state moves from light taxation and order to heavy extraction and direct commercial intervention, the productive classes withdraw. Civilization contracts and then collapses.

Quoting Khaldun: "It should be known that the finances of a ruler can be increased, and his financial resources improved, only through the revenue from taxes. (The revenue from taxes) can be improved only through the equitable treatment of people with property and regard for them. … Other (measures) taken by the ruler, such as engaging in commerce or agriculture, soon turn out to be harmful to the subjects, to be ruinous to the revenues, and to decrease cultural activity."

'WASTEFUL DISTRACTION': EXPERTS SLAM MAMDANI'S TAXPAYER-FUNDED GROCERY STORES

Khaldun would have strongly advised against government-run grocery stores.

New York already struggles with high costs of living, regulatory burdens, and businesses that have fled or scaled back. Layering municipal grocery stores on top of that environment does not reverse the incentives Khaldun identified. It accelerates them. Private grocers who cannot match subsidized prices will struggle. The city’s fiscal commitments grow. Taxpayers fund the difference. The cycle continues.

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Khaldun’s remedy was straightforward: Keep taxes low enough that people retain the energy and desire to produce. Lower the burden, and cultural and commercial enterprises expand; revenue follows. Modern supply-side insights rest on the same foundation. Government-run stores move in the opposite direction.

America’s great cities succeeded because independent enterprise created abundance, not because mayors decided to stock the shelves. New York should remember that lesson — and the 14th-century scholar who explained it long before Art Laffer sketched a curve on a napkin. Ignoring it will not make groceries cheaper for long. It risks making the city poorer.

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Shark sightings are on the rise this summer in southern Maine, with local law enforcement urging beachgoers to be cautious in the water as several white sharks have been caught on camera.

Researchers say reported white shark sightings are up this year, though the increase may partly reflect favorable beach weather and more people actively looking for the predators.

"I would say there’s no question that there’s been a lot more sightings this year. Does that translate into a higher number of sharks is a little bit of a nuanced question. There’s a lot of things to consider in there," said Dr. Walt Golet, assistant professor of marine sciences at the University of Maine. 

MULTIPLE SHARKS SPOTTED AT POPULAR BEACH THAT SAW DEADLY ATTACK 5 YEARS AGO

"While sighting reports are very helpful, the number of sightings reported to us is often influenced by nice weather and the number of people at the beach," said Matt Davis, marine resource scientist at the Maine Department of Marine Resources. "We've had great weather this year for beach tourism, and we also have a number of people with drones actively looking for sharks, so sightings are high."

Daryen Granata, harbor master and marine resource officer for the town of Scarborough, said the police department began receiving numerous shark sighting reports in early July. Several were captured on video.

MULTIPLE VIDEOS REVEAL SHARKS SWIMMING NEAR SHORE AS SIGHTINGS RISE IN MAINE BEACH TOWN

"They were off of Pine Point Beach for a substantial amount of time," said Granata. "They've kind of migrated now. They're more off the Scarborough Beach State Park and Higgins Beach area at this point. We're still seeing them on a daily basis. Still to this day, and it's been, you know, three weeks at this point."

Granata, who has lived in Scarborough for more than 30 years, said shark sightings have become much more common in recent years, especially sightings of juvenile sharks. But whether that means there are actually more sharks in the Gulf of Maine is less clear.

"We have all this drone technology. We have all the cell phone videos. We've got a lot of higher-grade technology than we did, you know, 10 or 15, 20 years ago. So we're seeing them," said Granata.

Granata said the police department captures its own drone footage of sharks, as do independent photographers and beachgoers. Social media has added another stream of reported sightings, all of which can contribute to the perception that there are more sharks in the area.

"Previously, people weren't looking for sharks with the same intensity or aerial equipment," said Davis.

Researchers say white shark populations have been slowly recovering for decades after the federal government put protections in place in the 1990s. Maine's seal population has also grown, providing a key food source for white sharks.

"It's very possible that the number of white sharks we see now is more reflective of their natural population size, or at least the closest it's been to the natural population size in several decades," explained Davis. "Think of this as a population success story in that the ocean is regaining one of its apex predators to help balance the food chain."

"If you protect the food and protect the predator, it makes sense that you see this rebound especially since the generation time for white sharks is about 25 to 30 years," said Golet. "I also think that there’s a lot of bait around along the Maine coast in the form of striped bass and Atlantic menhaden, both of which are eaten by juvenile white sharks, which is what we have in high numbers."

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Researchers say warming ocean temperatures could eventually lead sharks to remain in the Gulf of Maine for longer periods. That could make frequent shark sightings a more regular occurrence along the coast.

"There are definitely more sharks in Maine than I've ever seen in my entire life," said Kelsey Donohue, who's lived in Scarborough her whole life. "Like growing up here, we used to joke around about sharks, but we would be like, 'oh, we live in Maine, so we never see sharks!'"

"This really is the first time that I've heard for Pine Point that we had a shark sighting," said Betty MacLeod, longtime Scarborough resident.

The Scarborough Police Department is urging people to stay vigilant while in the water.

Officials recommend that people swimming in areas where sharks have been spotted avoid dawn and dusk, when sharks can be more active, and never swim alone. They also recommend avoiding murky water and remaining in waist-deep water or shallower.

Beachgoers with open wounds should stay out of the water. Officials also advise swimmers to remove jewelry before entering the water.

"Just be cognizant of what you're doing and where you are," said Granata. "Just have good situational awareness, that's all."

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Americans' sensitive information could increasingly be processed overseas if restrictions on artificial intelligence data centers slow construction in the U.S., a data privacy advocate and industry executive warned.

The warning comes as states and local governments weigh new restrictions on the rapidly expanding data center industry amid concerns over electricity costs, grid reliability and other impacts on surrounding communities.

Brittany Kaiser, CEO of Alpha Compute, said state moratoriums and restrictions on new data centers could push American companies to seek computing capacity in other countries as demand from AI continues to surge.

"One of my top concerns as a top data protection and privacy advocate is that with data center moratoriums being passed in the United States that it will force Americans and American companies to send our data to be processed abroad in other countries," Kaiser told Fox News Digital.

"American companies are going to still run their AI," she added. "They're still going to be purchasing data center space in other countries, and it means our sensitive information will be sent abroad and shared with companies and organizations that might not have America's best interests at heart."

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Data centers are large facilities filled with servers and computing equipment that process, store and transmit information behind many everyday technologies. They support everything from email, social media and internet searches to online banking, streaming services and AI platforms. As demand for AI grows, companies are building increasingly powerful data centers that require vast amounts of electricity, advanced chips and high-speed network connections.

Kaiser said the facilities have become critical infrastructure for the digital economy, making decisions about where they are built and who controls the data they handle a matter of growing economic and national security concern.

Artificial intelligence, however, requires significantly more computing power, fueling a rapid expansion of data center construction across the country.

That growth has sparked pushback in some communities over concerns about electricity costs, water consumption, noise and environmental impacts. Kaiser acknowledged those concerns and said companies should be subject to "common sense regulation" designed to protect communities.

"Not all companies are doing it [building data centers] in the same way," she said. "Some are more responsible than others."

Kaiser said responsible developments can use closed-loop water cooling systems and generate power independently rather than increasing demand on the existing electrical grid.

Alpha Compute, she said, is pursuing projects designed to operate "off-grid, behind the meter," meaning the facilities would generate their own power rather than relying on electricity supplied through the local grid. Kaiser said that approach is intended to prevent the massive energy demands of data centers from straining existing infrastructure or contributing to higher electricity costs for nearby residents.

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The company is developing a project in Pennsylvania, where Gov. Josh Shapiro recently imposed new requirements on large data center developments. Kaiser said Alpha Compute plans to comply with the regulations and welcomed provisions promoting cleaner energy.

Pennsylvania is among a growing number of states confronting the rapid expansion of data centers. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has pushed data centers to provide more of their own power and shoulder infrastructure costs as development accelerates across the state.

Other governors have gone further. Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul imposed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers as states grapple with concerns over electricity costs, grid reliability and the pace of development.

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But she cautioned that policies that significantly restrict domestic development could have broader consequences for America's position in the global AI race.

"Compute power has now become nearly a utility," Kaiser said, comparing the need for domestic computing infrastructure to energy independence.

"We want to have the right to compute," she said. "We want to be able to process data within our own borders as a national security priority, but also for our own intellectual property to make sure we're not sending our data abroad."

Kaiser has launched a campaign called "Right to Compute," advocating for domestic data center development alongside sustainability standards and regulation.

"We should have the right to both energy independence as well as compute power," she said, "so that Americans and American companies can process all of our sensitive data within our own borders."

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