Good morning. The U.S. announced it’s drawing up “action plans” with the European Commission, Japan and Mexico to protect critical mineral supply chains against Chinese dominance. Why Canada isn’t at the table is in focus today – plus, how the traditionally conservative NFL has become a stage for political protest.

Manufacturing: The federal government is set to scrap its policy requiring electric vehicles to make up a growing share of passenger-vehicle sales, as part of a new national automotive strategy to be released today.

Real estate: The average selling price for a home in the Greater Toronto Area fell in January below the $1-million mark for the first time since 2021.

Economy: Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem delivers a speech today to the Empire Club of Canada, followed by a fireside chat with The Globe’s Rita Trichur.

A middle-power dream, a critical reality

Mining magnate Robert Friedland stood in the Oval Office this week and reminded U.S. President Donald Trump that the cameras capturing their announcement were themselves the product of mining.

“All these cameras you see in front of you, they were mined,” said Friedland, the Canadian billionaire financier and founder of Ivanhoe Mines. “Every time you pick up a handphone, it was mined. And so, stimulating the ability for the miners in this country to help you industrialize the country – they’re the salt of the Earth.”

The executive chairman of Ivanhoe, which operates large copper projects primarily in Southern Africa, was among the major industry executives gathered for Trump’s announcement of Project Vault, a US$12-billion effort to build a U.S. stockpile of critical minerals.

Friedland’s reminder – that things are made of other things – also recalled recent warnings from Prime Minister Mark Carney: Not all things are created equal. In Davos, Carney invoked the “sign in the shop window” metaphor to argue that many countries have been “living within a lie” by pretending the rules-based international order still functions – and that governments have to wake up to the realities of geopolitical and economic power concentrated in the hands of a few.

“Many countries are drawing the same conclusions that they must develop greater strategic autonomy: in energy, food, critical minerals, in finance and supply chains,” Carney said. “Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”

The Prime Minister’s speech was heralded by leaders across the Western Hemisphere. But yesterday, a new U.S.-led initiative demonstrated why those countries will be challenged to order anywhere else.

At a critical minerals summit hosted in Washington, U.S. trade ambassador Jamieson Greer announced the White House is drawing up “action plans” to protect critical mineral supply chains with the European Union, Japan and Mexico, lauding the Latin American country in particular for its partnership in addressing “global market distortions that have left North American critical minerals supply chains vulnerable to disruptions.”

Notably absent from this particular table: Canada.

“As we approach the USMCA Joint Review, this Action Plan is an important step to strengthen bilateral co-operation and increase supply chain resilience with like-minded partners,” he said in a statement, referring to the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade.

The Globe reported last night that Ottawa declined to offer the U.S. preferential access to its critical minerals, opting instead to hold those discussions for broader negotiations over tariffs and market access under the USMCA.

And Canada isn’t without safety nets. It has stepped up domestic production investment and pursued alternative supply arrangements with countries facing the same squeeze – leading the G7’s Critical Minerals Production Alliance, and signing a declaration of intent with Germany.

For most producing countries, refining and processing capacity remains concentrated in China. Beijing controls roughly 60 per cent of global lithium refining capacity, more than 70 per cent of cobalt processing and close to 90 per cent of rare-earth separation.

The U.S., meanwhile, wants to control the West. As the most powerful economic force in the world, it will centre American prosperity in any deal it makes with its allies.

Speaking yesterday to the group of foreign leaders, including Foreign Minister Anita Anand, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance said he wants members to form a bloc that “guarantees American access to American industrial might while also expanding production across the entire zone.”

“We are all on the same team,” he said.

All the shops’ signs even say so.

Canada can try to use its critical minerals as leverage, but the U.S. is pursuing alternatives in other parts of the world; it can call on other countries to coordinate, but few face a trade review with stakes as high as they are for Canada; and even when a Canadian mining giant controls world-class assets, decisions about which country benefits are ultimately made elsewhere – even in the Oval Office.

It’s tough being stuck in the middle.