Canada gets an invitation to move closer to Europe as its trade fight with the U.S. deepens, prompting President Donald Trump to threaten new, heavy tariffs.
Plus, a sweeping Russia sanctions bill heads to Trump, giving him new authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that continue buying Russian oil and gas.
And the Fed raises interest rates for the first time in three years, a move that could ripple through borrowing costs for American consumers.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.
Download the Straight Arrow app today to get the stories that matter free from manipulation, bias or agenda.™
Point phone camera here
Europe invites Canada closer, prompting new tariff threat from Trump
Canada received an invitation to move much closer to Europe, prompting a threatening response from Trump. The president said it could be a “hostile act,” and he’s threatening to impose more tariffs on Europe if it happens.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the European Parliament on Thursday, after the European Union invited Canada to become its first-ever “associate member.”
It comes as Canada looks to reduce its economic dependence on the U.S.
This would be entirely new. “Associate membership” doesn’t currently exist in the EU, so the two sides would have to negotiate what it actually means, but Europe is already talking big.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she wants to take the relationship with Canada to “the highest level possible,” with closer ties on trade, technology, energy, critical minerals and defense.
Trump called the idea “laughable” and said what happens next depends on Europe’s intentions.
“If they do that, I think it’s an all-hostile act; I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things. So if they do that, if Europe does that, with a bad intention, if it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on them.”
President Donald Trump
Canada is already in a trade war with the U.S., and roughly 70% of its exports still come here. Carney has been pushing to change that and build much closer economic and security ties with Europe.
The next big step comes next month, when Canada hosts EU leaders for a summit in Montreal, where this new relationship is expected to be on the table.
House passes sweeping Russia sanctions, sending it on to Trump’s desk
Before the House left Washington on Wednesday night, lawmakers sent Trump one more major piece of business: a sweeping new sanctions bill aimed at Russia and the countries still buying its oil and gas.
The House passed it 262 to 159, with 58 Democrats joining most Republicans in support.
The bill targets Russian government officials, oligarchs and financial institutions. It also gives Trump the power to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the biggest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas, including potentially China and India.
Some Democrats opposed the bill, saying it gives Trump too much new tariff authority.
The Senate passed the measure 86-11 last month. It’s now named for late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who spent more than a year pushing the legislation before his death in July.
Graham’s successor, Sen. Darline Graham, called the final passage a big step toward ending the war.
“Congress has spoken with one voice and passed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026,” Graham said. “A critical piece of legislation that will assist President Trump in his noble efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to a close and allows President Trump to continue to apply economic pressure to the Iranian regime.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also expressed his support.
“Appeasement is not a strategy,” Blumenthal said. “And this bill is about imposing costs. And making sure that America’s strategic interests are protected. It is our national interest that is served by this bill, but it’s also our values and our vision as Americans.”
As that bill heads to Trump, Russia launched another major attack on Ukraine overnight. Missiles and drones hit Kyiv and other cities, injuring more than two dozen people across the country. Ukraine said its air defenses destroyed or suppressed 131 Russian targets, with strikes reported at dozens of locations.
Fed raises rates as inflation climbs, with rate now sitting between 3.75% and 4%
Wall Street opens soon after receiving something from the Fed that it hasn’t seen in three years: an interest rate hike, with another possible before the year is over.
The Fed raised rates by a quarter point Wednesday, putting its benchmark rate between 3.75% and 4%. The vote was unanimous.
Stocks fell after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh made clear why he thinks higher rates are needed.
“Yet for more than five years, inflation has been running above target. So our predominant focus is on the price stability side of our mandate. The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long.”
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh
Inflation hit 3.4% in August, with the Iran war helping drive energy prices higher. The Fed’s target is 2%.
Most Fed officials now see another rate hike before the end of this year.
That is definitely not what Trump wanted from the man he picked to run the Fed. After the decision, Trump said on Truth Social that rates should be “One percent, or less.”
He told the Fed to lower rates and lower them fast.
A reporter asked Warsh what he’d say to the president. His answer: “I’ve got nothing for you.”
House leaves early, delaying Hegseth impeachment vote
The House was supposed to be in session today. Now, it won’t be. Lawmakers wrapped up their business last night and headed home early for a seven-week break before the midterms.
That means a Republican effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been paused until after the election.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., surprised his own party Tuesday by introducing eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth. Massie accuses Hegseth of abusing the powers of his office, with much of his case centered on the U.S. war with Iran. He filed the resolution as “privileged,” so House leaders would have had to act on it Thursday.
Then Speaker Mike Johnson canceled Thursday’s votes and sent everyone home.
Massie said that was done to avoid the Hegseth vote, whereas Johnson said it wasn’t.
Why are we canceling session when there’s so much important work to be done? It’s because they want to avoid voting on my Epstein legislation and the impeachment of Hegseth.
I claimed an hour of time to speak about this and a few of my accomplishments in Congress. pic.twitter.com/t26miP6gvm
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 16, 2026
Johnson told reporters: “It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled, of course. But we probably won’t do that today; we will do it when we come back.”
“We should not be playing games with national security,” Johnson said.
The vote won’t take place now until after the midterms.
Hegseth has defended the administration’s handling of the war with Iran, and Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Defense Secretary has followed the law.
So for now, no vote. The House is gone, and the Hegseth impeachment fight waits until November.
House holds Leon Black in contempt over Epstein probe as DOJ weighs next steps
Before lawmakers left Washington on Wednesday night, they took another step in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. This one was unanimous.
The House voted to hold billionaire investor Leon Black in contempt of Congress after he refused to comply with subpoenas to testify and produce documents.
Black had a long business relationship with Epstein and paid him $158 million for financial services between 2012 and 2017. He sat down voluntarily with the House Oversight Committee in June but walked out after lawmakers began asking about nondisclosure agreements.
The committee then subpoenaed him to return under oath. He didn’t.
Instead, Black sued the committee, arguing the subpoenas go too far and seek private information unrelated to Epstein. When he failed to show up earlier this month, Oversight Chair James Comer said getting him back before the committee was the priority.
“This is the first time, of all the people we’ve brought in, of all the powerful billionaires and political people we brought in for interviews and depositions, this is the first time anyone’s filed suit,” Comer said. “The most important priority is to get Mr. Black in to answer questions.”
Black has denied any wrongdoing and said he didn’t know about Epstein’s crimes while the two were working together. His attorneys called the House vote “outrageous” and said lawmakers are seeking information that doesn’t exist.
Leon Black was subpoenaed to testify and turn over NDAs as part of our Epstein investigation. He refused to comply.@RepJamesComer: “No one is above the law. Mr. Black will be treated the same as anyone else in this investigation, and his actions have consequences.” pic.twitter.com/goDPqqRTt1
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) September 15, 2026
The House has now sent the matter to the Justice Department, which will decide whether to prosecute Black for contempt of Congress.
NASA discovers massive moon crater more than 700 feet wide
NASA just found a big new crater on the Moon. And big isn’t an exaggeration.
The crater measures more than 700 feet wide and nearly 150 feet deep, wider than the Roman Colosseum.
NASA said it’s the largest new impact crater discovered anywhere in our solar system in modern times, three times bigger than the previous record holder. An impact this size is estimated to occur on the moon only about once every 132 years.
-
NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines -
NASA Goddard/Intuitive Machines
NASA scientists are pretty happy they found it. The crater gives them a rare chance to study what happens after a big impact, providing useful information as they prepare for a long-term human presence on the moon.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter first detected the impact in May 2024 on the side of the moon facing Earth. Scientists believe a fragment of an asteroid or comet struck the surface. However, no telescope had ever detected it until now.
More from Straight Arrow:
How AI’s threats are uniting Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon in a populist crusade against Big Tech
When Max Tegmark took the stage at an event Tuesday to warn of human-killer artificial intelligence chatbots, the MIT researcher introduced “a man who is not afraid of speaking truth to power.”
That man was Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. The 85-year-old lawmaker used the platform — the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington, a bipartisan coalition of artificial intelligence “doomers” — to rail against a foe that’s long animated the leading democratic socialist: The billionaire ruling class.
Tegmark, the co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, convened the gathering in the nation’s capital at a moment when the possibility of AI creating an extinction event has become a leading national talking point. Just last week, a researcher at AI company Anthropic went viral online for placing the odds of AI killing “all humans” within the next decade at greater than 10%, setting into motion unprecedented calls to regulate the sector.
As Americans grow increasingly skeptical of Big Tech — and especially AI-enabled technology — the issue is cutting across left-right political divides. As such, political scientists told Straight Arrow, AI skepticism has become a salient issue for populists who use “us versus them” rhetoric to reach voters.
No clearer has that dynamic been on display than during Tuesday’s Pro-Human Assembly.
