MxM News

Quick Hit:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Saturday he will meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, following Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

Key Details:

• Zelensky said he spoke with Trump for over 90 minutes Saturday, first one-on-one and then with European leaders on the line, thanking Trump for inviting him to the White House. He said the two will “discuss all of the details regarding ending the killing and the war.”
• Trump confirmed the Monday meeting, noting that if discussions with Zelensky are productive, he would then consider another round of talks with Putin. “There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump told reporters in Alaska.
• European leaders released a joint statement after speaking with Trump, saying Ukraine “must have ironclad security guarantees” and welcoming U.S. readiness to provide them.

We had a long and substantive conversation with @POTUS. We started with one-on-one talks before inviting European leaders to join us. This call lasted for more than an hour and a half, including about an hour of our bilateral conversation with President Trump.

Ukraine reaffirms… pic.twitter.com/64IPVhtFaB

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 16, 2025

Diving Deeper:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington on Monday for direct talks with President Donald Trump, marking his first U.S. trip since a tense Oval Office meeting in February. Zelensky’s announcement came hours after Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a high-profile summit in Alaska on the war that has now dragged on for more than three years.

Trump, who said the talks with Putin “went very well,” insisted that a lasting peace agreement—not a temporary truce—was the only way to end the fighting. That stance aligns closely with Moscow’s view, as Putin has rejected calls for short-term ceasefires while continuing military offensives across Ukraine. “Many, many points we agreed on, most of them,” Trump told reporters after the meeting, though he acknowledged “a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite got there.”

Zelensky, excluded from the Alaska talks, stressed the need for Europe to remain involved. “It is important that Europeans are involved at every stage to ensure reliable security guarantees together with America,” he said, adding that he and Trump discussed U.S. support for stronger security arrangements. European leaders echoed those concerns in a joint statement, affirming that “international borders must not be changed by force” and that any final deal must leave territorial decisions to Ukraine.

While Trump left the door open to another round of negotiations with Putin, he hinted that Zelensky now carries responsibility to “get it done.” He also said Europe would need to play a role in whatever comes next. That was reinforced by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and others, who all signaled readiness to work toward a trilateral summit with U.S. support.

For now, Zelensky will head to Washington on Monday, a meeting that could define the next phase of Trump’s peace push. If progress is made, Trump has suggested he could then sit down with both Putin and Zelensky at the same table. Until then, as the president made clear: “There’s no deal until there’s a deal.”

This article supplied by Troy Media.

 By Sylvain Charlebois

Patriotic packaging on foreign food isn’t clever marketing—it’s maple‑washing, and it’s eroding trust

Canadian grocery retailers are misleading shoppers about where their food really comes from. Behind the patriotic packaging lies a growing  problem: “maple‑washing”—using Canadian symbols to suggest products are homegrown when they’re not. It’s eroding consumer trust and must end.

That’s why more Canadians are paying closer attention to what labels actually mean. Awareness around origin labelling has grown as people learn the difference between “Product of Canada,” “Made in Canada,” and “Prepared in Canada.” The Food and Drugs Act requires labels to be truthful and not misleading. A “Product of Canada” must contain at least 98 per cent Canadian ingredients and processing. “Made in Canada” applies when the last substantial transformation happened here, while “Prepared in Canada” covers processing, packaging or handling in Canada regardless of ingredient source.

The differences may seem technical, but they matter. A frozen lasagna labelled “Prepared in Canada,” for example, could be made with imported pasta, sauce and meat—packaged here but not truly Canadian. These rules give consumers the clarity they need to make informed choices.

Armed with this clarity, many Canadians have become more selective about what they buy. That vigilance has emerged alongside a surge in consumer nationalism, spurred partly by geopolitical tensions and anti‑American sentiment. Even with U.S. giants like Walmart, Costco and Amazon dominating Canadian retail, many shoppers are deliberately avoiding American food products. The impact has been significant: NielsenIQ reports an 8.5 per cent drop in sales of American food products in Canada over just a few months. In an industry where sales usually shift by fractions of a per cent, such a drop is extraordinary. It shows how quickly Canadians are voting with their wallets.

That kind of shift, rare outside of crises, caught many grocers off guard. The sudden change left supply chains long dependent on U.S. products under pressure, and store‑level labelling grew inconsistent. Early missteps—like maple leaves displayed beside imported goods—were excused as logistical oversights. But six months later, those excuses no longer hold. Persisting with misleading displays and false origin claims has crossed the line into misrepresentation. Instances of oranges or almonds labelled as Canadian, with prices quietly adjusted after complaints, show the problem is systemic, not accidental.

Regulators have stepped in. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) received 97 complaints about origin claims between November 2024 and mid‑July 2025. It investigated 91 cases and confirmed 29 violations. That level of scrutiny signals a growing intolerance for deceptive marketing.

The message to retailers is clear: this is not business as usual. Canadians have shown remarkable solidarity in supporting homegrown products during a time of economic strain and food insecurity. The least retailers can do is honour that trust by maintaining strict standards in labelling and merchandising. This is not about nationalism. It is about honesty. In today’s market, misleading customers is not only unethical but bad economics.

Consumers who suspect false origin claims should report them to the CFIA or to a retailer’s customer service. The CFIA generally investigates within 30 days. But the burden should not rest on shoppers to police grocery aisles. The responsibility lies with retailers to meet the moment with the same accountability they now expect from suppliers, regulators and consumers.

After months of consumer vigilance, it is up to grocers to end maple‑washing once and for all.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Canadian professor and researcher in food distribution and policy. He is senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast. He is frequently cited in the media for his insights on food prices, agricultural trends, and the global food supply chain.

Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.