State of the Economy in Numbers

 

State of the Economy in Numbers


SOTU 2026 Home
Economy


In 2025, the economy expanded as GDP increased, inflation decreased slightly, and the size of imports and exports shifted. These and other measures provide a snapshot of economic activity, prices, and the labor market heading into 2026.


The basics


$31T
Gross domestic product (2025)


2.4%
12-month percent change in CPI (January 2026)


$901B
Trade deficit (2025)


How is the economy doing?


In 2025, the economy grew and employment remained steady, while inflation and interest rates fell.


Gross domestic product (GDP) reached $30.8 trillion in 2025. Real GDP (rGDP), which accounts for inflation, increased by 2.2%, equal to the 2000 to 2024 average annual rate.


Real GDP increased 2.2% from 2024 to 2025.


Annual percent change in real gross domestic product (GDP)


Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Read more about GDP



Year-over-year inflation — the rate at which consumer prices increase — was 2.4% in January 2026. The average monthly inflation rate in 2025 was 2.6%, slightly lower than the 2024 average rate of 2.9%. Housing was the largest contributor to monthly inflation growth.


Year-over-year inflation — the rate at which consumer prices increase — was 2.4% in January 2026.


Year-over-year percent change of CPI-U, all items, seasonally adjusted

Due to the 2025 government shutdown, the BLS did not publish October 2025 data.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Read more about inflation and the CPI



The Federal Reserve (Fed) lowered the federal funds rate three times in 2025; it currently sits between 3.5% and 3.75%. This range guides the rate at which banks lend to each other, while the effective federal funds rate reflects the average rate banks actually pay. Adjusting this target range is one way the Fed pursues its dual mandate of controlling inflation and maximizing employment.


The Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate. It sits between 3.5% and 3.75%.


Federal funds effective rate, by month


Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Read more about interest rates



The unemployment rate was 4.3% in January 2026. A couple months prior, in November 2025, the rate was the highest since late 2021, at 4.5%.


The unemployment rate was 4.3% in January 2026.


Unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted

Due to the 2025 government shutdown, the BLS did not publish October 2025 data.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Read more about the unemployment rate


The average annual labor force participation rate decreased slightly to 62.4% in 2025 after staying the same from 2023 to 2024. The rate is the percentage of the population ages 16 and older who are either employed or actively seeking work. It's been trending downward since 2000, due to the nation's aging population.


The average annual labor force participation rate decreased to 62.4% in 2025.


Labor force participation rate, annual average

Due to the 2025 government shutdown, the BLS did not publish October 2025 data. Annual estimates for 2025 are 11-month averages that exclude October.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
Read more about labor force participation


What's going on with international trade?


New tariffs and global economic shifts altered US trade flows in 2025. Looking at how imports and exports changed helps explain the nation’s trade balance and its connection to the global economy.


In 2025, the US imported $4.3 trillion and exported $3.4 trillion in goods and services, resulting in a $901.5 billion trade deficit. This deficit was lower than in 2024 due to higher exports and lower imports throughout 2025.


In 2025, the US had a $901.5 billion trade deficit.


Trade balance, by component, not adjusted for inflation


Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Read more about the trade balance


In 2025, the average monthly effective tariff rate was 7.9%. The rate shows how much the US collects in customs duties as a percentage of the total value of imported goods. However, imports may have different tariff rates (or none at all) depending on various factors like country of origin, product type, trade agreements, and much more.


In 2025, the average monthly effective tariff rate was 7.9%.


Monthly average effective tariff rate (customs duty revenue as a share of good imports)


Source: Census Bureau
Read more about tariff rates



In FY 2025, the federal government collected $194.9 billion, or 4% of total revenue, from customs duties (tariffs and other import fees). It was more than two times larger than it was in FY 2024. As of January, approximately $117.7 billion in customs duties have been collected for FY 2026, already exceeding the FY 2024 total.


The federal government collected nearly $200 billion from customs duties in FY 2025.


Cumulative monthly customs duties revenue, not adjusted for inflation


Source: Department of the Treasury
Read more about tariff revenue



The nation's top trading partners in 2024 were Mexico, Canada, and China (when adding imports and exports). Mexico became the nation’s top trading partner for the first time. Trade with the top six trading partners accounted for 48% of the total.


The nation’s top trading partners in 2024 were Mexico, Canada, and China.


Share of total trade value (imports + exports), by country


Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis
Read more about US trading partners

 

About The Crown

Canada is a constitutional monarchy. The Crown in Canada was first established by the kings of France in the sixteenth century. Organized as a royal province of France, both French and British kings and queens have reigned over Canada since 1534. Under Canada's sovereigns, the country has evolved from a French colony to an independent nation.

• Canada’s Head of State
• The governor general and lieutenant governors
• The Parliament of Canada

Canada’s Head of State

In today's constitutional monarchy, His Majesty King Charles III is King of Canada and Canada's Head of State. He is the personal embodiment of the Crown in Canada.

In Canada’s system of government, the power to govern is vested in the Crown but is entrusted to the government to exercise on behalf and in the interest of the people. The Crown reminds the government of the day that the source of the power to govern rests elsewhere and that it is only given to them for a limited duration.

The governor general and lieutenant governors

The governor general and the 10 lieutenant governors represent the Crown in Canada and act on the Monarch’s behalf.

The governor general’s role and responsibilities consist mainly in carrying out many of the duties on behalf of The King. For example, he or she presides over the swearing-in of the prime minister, the Chief Justice of Canada and cabinet ministers. However, there are powers that can only be exercised by The King. The lieutenant governors of the provinces perform similar duties at the provincial level.

The Parliament of Canada

The Parliament of Canada consists of The King, the Senate and the House of Commons. In the provinces, legislatures consist of the lieutenant governor and the elected assembly.

His Majesty's representatives act on the advice of the prime minister or ministers responsible to the House of Commons or the provincial legislative assemblies.

 

Some fear Dubai won’t be the same after attacks

AFP/Getty Images

Since the war in Iran began, drone attack videos have coexisted with photos of influencers sipping on gold-flaked cocktails when it comes to Dubai’s image. Yesterday, an Iranian drone struck the Dubai International Airport, causing a fire. There were no injuries, but flights were paused for hours at what is, in peacetime, the world’s busiest airport for international travel. Iranian attacks have killed four people in the UAE as Iran has retaliated against the campaign being waged by the US and Israel with strikes throughout the region. Shrapnel damaged several luxury landmarks in Dubai—shaking its reputation as an amenities-rich playground for the world’s wealthy that’s shielded from nearby regional conflicts. Flight not flights Dubai’s location between Europe and Asia made its main airport a natural global hub connecting 291 cities and serving 95 million passengers last year—among them 19.6 million tourists flocking to Dubai’s clubs, beaches, and shopping malls. Now, the UAE’s flagship carrier, Emirates, famous for in-flight bougieness, has cut US-bound Airbus A380 flights by 51% in March, according to a Simple Flying analysis. Passengers flying to Dubai in recent days posted videos of eerily empty planes—to complement photos of the city’s usually bustling beaches and markets looking like ghost towns. Besides tourists, Dubai’s economy rests on millionaires and white-collar expats continuing to live and spend there: Some worry about permanent capital flight, with lawyers and asset managers telling the Wall Street Journal that clients have inquired about transferring money out of Dubai amid the conflict. Dubai is particularly vulnerable to population loss as almost nine in 10 residents don’t have citizenship status and many lack a sense of rootedness in the city, urbanist Richard Florida argued in the New York Times. Dubai has over 80,000 millionaires who are able to pack their bags in the case of a calamity. Keep calm and carry on…appears to be the message from UAE authorities, who have banned posting photos of damage from Iranian attacks. The country’s president visited a Dubai luxury mall in the conflict’s early days to project business-as-usual vibes.

 

The changing face of the beauty industry

Getty Images

Close your eyes and picture someone at the store buying makeup. If you’re not picturing a five-year-old kid or a grown man, you’re living in the past. The beauty industry has gotten a makeover in recent years, thanks to changing social attitudes and glam brands eager to explore untapped markets. A new foundation More men are beginning to appreciate the power of concealer. According to Statista data cited by CNBC: In 2019, more than 90% of US males said they never wear makeup. In 2024, that number dropped to 75%. The share of Gen Z men who reported using facial skincare products also jumped 68% from 2022 to 2024, per market intelligence firm Mintel. Retailers have responded by bulking up their men’s offerings or dialing back gender distinctions altogether for a more neutral presentation. Age-defying products: Sorry, Dr Pepper lip gloss, you’re not the only makeup game in town anymore for elementary school kids. Per the Wall Street Journal: Klee Naturals has built a multimillion-dollar business selling products like $10 mineral eye shadows and $15 lip glosses to girls ages 5 to 7. Evereden had $100 million in global sales in 2024, according to CEO and co-founder Kimberley Ho. The company makes moisturizers and body washes for children ages 3 and up. Actress Shay Mitchell’s brand Rini sells sheet masks for children, as well as face crayons. International appeal: K-beauty (Korean cosmetics) has taken off on social media, exposing swaths of Americans to things like snail-mucin serums and salmon-sperm skincare. For South Korean beauty products, the US is a relatively new market. (Dr Pepper has yet to partner on a snail-mucin serum.) K-beauty currently only accounts for about 2% of the overall US beauty market, but that’s changing. According to NielsenIQ data, US sales more than doubled from 2023 to 2025, Bloomberg reported.

Going the distance

 Going the distance

NASA

Here’s something to one-up your friend whose pics are always geotagged in exotic locales: On April 6 2026, the crew of the Artemis II set the record for the farthest humans have ever travelled from Earth (watch the live video here). At 1:57pm ET, the four astronauts flew 252,752 miles from Earth, surpassing the previous record set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970 by ~4,102 miles. “We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived,” Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said from the ship. The crew then proceeded to complete a flyby of the moon—including a planned 40 minutes without communication with Earth as they passed the moon’s far side—reaching their maximum distance from Earth of 252,756 miles just after 7pm ET. The crew, who are slated to splash down back on Earth on Friday, did take photos as they travelled, but mostly for science and not for the ’gram.

Millions of Americans can now claim Canadian citizenship by descent

Millions of Americans can now claim Canadian citizenship by descent. But they have to prove it
Bill C-3, which came into effect Dec. 15, removes first-generation limit for citizenship


Annabelle Olivier, Alexandre Silberman · CBC News · Posted: Mar 08, 2026 12:00 AM PST | Last Updated: March 8


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Mary and Ryan Hamel show some of the documents they've collected to prove they are Canadians by descent. (Alexandre Silberman/Radio-Canada)

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Amid rising tensions in the United States, many Americans are looking to Canada — and their roots — for a possible way out.

Lynn Rutman, a Cape Cod, Mass., resident with family ties to Quebec and Nova Scotia dating back centuries, said she’s worried about the political situation in her country, citing recent events surrounding controversial immigration enforcement policies and long-standing ideological divides.

“It's not just me, many of us are concerned,” she said.

She’s now one of thousands who have begun the process of applying for proof of Canadian citizenship following recent changes to Canada’s citizenship rules.

Prior to Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), citizenship by descent for those born abroad was limited to the first generation.

But now, Canadian citizenship is being retroactively granted to people born before the new law came into effect on Dec. 15, 2025, who would have been citizens if not for the first-generation limit. Different criteria, however, apply to those born on or after that date.

“We feel like we want that Plan B so that we know we have a place to go in the event that things get even worse here,” Rutman said, “which you know, you see it's getting worse by the day.”


The change in law came following a 2023 Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision that found the first-generation limit was unconstitutional, making the certificate “the hottest ticket in 2026,” according to Cassandra Fultz, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant.
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Fultz said because the legislative changes coincide with a time of increased global volatility, many Americans are seeking a second passport of any kind.

“There's no limit on how many generations you can go back, as long as you can prove it,” Fultz said.
New pathway to citizenship

For Mary and Ryan Hamel, the new legislation has brought a sense of relief.

The family of four came to Quebec from Massachusetts as temporary foreign workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I thought Montreal would be the best place for me and my kids and my job allowed me to do that,” Ryan said, adding that becoming a Canadian citizen was always the end goal.

With a new pathway to permanent residency now open to them, both Mary and Ryan, who have French Canadian roots, started digging into their family history and tracking down official documents showing their lineage.

Fultz said the main documents that are required include baptismal or birth certificates, to show parentage and place of birth, and marriage certificates to show any name changes, which was common practice when women were married.

Unofficial name changes are also a frequent issue, says Fultz, who says she has helped numerous clients apply for a certificate of Canadian citizenship over the years. French names like Pierre, for example, were often anglicized and became Pete when the person moved to the United States.

In those cases, she said, any substantiating documents to fortify a claim, such as death certificates, census records, property deeds, court records or criminal records might be helpful in showing the ancestor is who the applicant says they are.
Over 3,000% growth in requests for certified documents

In Quebec, official documents dating back to 1621 and up to 100 years ago are kept by the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), with more recent records available through the Directeur de l'état civil.

Sarah Hanahem, an archivist with the BAnQ office in Montreal, said while there’s always been an interest from Americans looking into their ancestry, requests for certified copies have exploded.

“In January 2025, we had 32 requests for certified copies of vital records and this year in January 2026, we've had over 1,000,” she said, adding most of those requests were made by Americans.

Sarah Hanahem, an archivist at the BAnQ, said original registers can be old and need to be handled with care. (Alexandre Silberman/CBC News)

In statements to CBC, other archives across the country, including New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Ontario, have also seen a sizable increase in requests from the same time last year.

Because of the sudden surge in demand, Hanahem warned that international applicants should expect delays.

The priority, she said, is to fulfil requests by Quebec residents.“BAnQ is a government entity and we are paid with Quebec tax dollars.”

But more than that, Hanahem said the process itself is lengthy and can involve a lot of research.

There are sometimes discrepancies with the spelling of names, some of which might have changed over time, she said. Other times, critical information like which parish someone was born in, is unknown or key dates are approximate when actual dates are required.

“We have to go back to the original register,” Hanamen said, explaining some of the bound volumes are very old and need to be handled carefully.

A parish register at the BAnQ from the 1800s. (Alexandre Silberman/CBC News)

The Hamels said they were able to obtain the needed Quebec documents – a birth certificate in their case – through the Directeur de l’état civil and not the BAnQ , but warned nonetheless that the undertaking wasn’t for the “faint of heart.”


It required several phone calls, appointments and was in general a time-consuming pursuit.

“We had to prove why we needed this document,” Mary said. “Then we had to go to a commissioner of oath, swear that we would not use this document for malintent or bad purposes.”
Historical ties to Quebec

David Vermette, an author and researcher specializing in Franco-American history based in Maryland, isn’t surprised the BAnQ is being flooded with requests.

He says the legislative change has been creating quite the buzz on social media – and not only among those looking for an exit strategy.

“There's a lot of people who still feel very much connected to their Québécois heritage. They're very much connected to some kind of a French Canadian identity,” he said.

Textile workers in 1909 are seen outside the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, N.H., where many French Canadians worked. (Lewis Wickes Hine/Library of Congress )

That’s the case for Patricia Evan Martins, whose Québécois grandmother, one of 12 children, was sent to Maine when she was around 11 years old to work in a mill.

Evan Martins, who herself grew up in Maine and still calls it home, said she learned to speak French before English, went to a French Catholic school, sang French songs and ate French food.

Ryan, for his part, said he grew up with a dad who spoke better French than English and where Québécois staples like meat pies and split pea soup were part of the regular fare. Their situation is hardly unique.
Welcome to Little Canada, the Minnesota city founded by a Winnipegger who fled the floods

Between 1840 and 1930, close to one million French-speaking Canadians, mostly Québécois but also some Acadians from Eastern Canada, emigrated to the United States in a mass migration movement known as the Great Hemorrhage.

They mostly settled in New England factory towns, with the majority working in the textile industry, Vermette said, leading to the creation of French Canadian neighbourhoods known as Little Canadas.


While many families have since returned home to Canada, the number of descendants remaining in the United States could number in the millions, according to Vermette.
Canadians at heart

Vermette says many Franco-Americans have long felt invisible on both sides of the border.

He believes Bill C-3 presents Quebec with a unique opportunity to repatriate or reclaim those who feel a connection to the province’s culture and language, even amid heightened controversy surrounding immigration and pressures linked to cultural and linguistic preservation.

"The Franco-American population is an untapped natural resource for Quebec," he said.
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Whether or not they intend to move back to Canada, for many in the community, an official recognition by means of Canadian citizenship legitimizes a long-held sense of belonging.

“I always have felt Canadian and this would make me just so happy,” Evans Martin said.

That is a feeling that resonates with Ryan.

“My mindset is much more Canadian than American,” he said. “So it will feel very natural for me.”

Both his and Mary’s sense of connection to the country has also been deepened by living here and learning more about their family histories through the application process.

“I can look in the maps and say, ‘Oh, this is where Nana was born,’ or ‘This is where Papa's family was from,’” Mary said.

Ryan Hamel, accompanied by his mother, visited the location of Montreal's first well which was built by his ancestor in 1658. (Submitted by Ryan Hamel)


Ryan, meanwhile, has traced his ancestors all the way back to Jacques Archambault, who dug Montreal’s first well in 1658.

Now that their paperwork is done, the next step for the Hamel family is to wait for a decision from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

In a statement to CBC, the IRCC said it does not have an exact estimate of how many people might be affected by Bill C-3, but says it expects tens of thousands of requests for Canadian citizenship certificates over time.

According to the IRCC website, at the beginning of March, almost 48,000 people were waiting for a decision pertaining to their certificate application, with an estimated processing time of 11 months.

CorrectionsThe change in legislation came following a 2023 Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision. A previous version of this story erroneously stated that the change followed a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Mar 08, 2026 6:58 AM PDT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Annabelle Olivier

Journalist

 

Spirits are low in the alcohol biz

Malcolm Dunbar/Getty Images

Boozemakers are about as content as someone arriving at a wedding to find out that it’s dry. Alcohol sales are slumping, as many young people trade tipsiness for non-alcoholic drinks and become stoners instead proclaim themselves “California sober.” The teetotalism trend is fueled by rising health consciousness, more studies showing the harms of even moderate drinking, weight loss drugs reducing drinking desires, and tightening budgets. According to Gallup, only 54% of Americans said they consumed alcohol last year, the lowest since the analytics company began polling in 1939. And surveys from abroad suggest the trend is global. To add insult to injury, President Trump’s trade wars have led to Canadian boycotts and many Europeans opting for domestic drinking options, stymying the flow of drink across borders. Iconic brands feel the imbibing recession As the global blood-alcohol content level hits an all-time low, alcohol companies worldwide are facing some sobering realities: Global wine-sipping dropped 12% between 2020 and 2024 to the lowest rate in over six decades, as weather events impacted production and drove up prices. Several California wineries shuttered this year, while a recent government survey showed that 20% of French vineyards were considering closing. Sales for the British spirits juggernaut Diageo—which owns Guinness, Smirnoff, and Johnnie Walker—dropped by almost 3% in the first half of this fiscal year. Jim Beam paused distillation for a year at its flagship facility in Kentucky amid a global bourbon glut. And MGP, the Kentucky-based distiller for famed brands like Bulleit, saw its sales drop 24% last year as bourbon purveyors cut production. Heineken is cutting 6,000 jobs after selling 1.2% fewer liters of beer in 2025 than in the previous year. Investors betting on booze are in the red, too. The market cap of the world’s top publicly listed alcohol producers was down 46% last fall from its peak in June 2021, according to Bloomberg. But some drinks are thriving alongside sobriety…with US sales of cheap tequila and premixed cocktails growing in the past year. Plus, while people are drinking less at home, spending at bars was up 4% in January from the same time last year, according to data from the Bank of America Institute.

Missiles Are “Depleted.” Defense Contractors Are Cashing In

Missiles Are “Depleted.” Defense Contractors Are Cashing In

The Lever · 2 days ago
by Veronica Riccobene · International


In the weeks before launching strikes in Iran, the Trump administration had a problem: figuring out how to spend the $500 billion in extra Pentagon money the White House plans to request from Congress next year. Just two days later, the administration told Congress that in the next year alone, it plans to burn through $153 billion in additional military funding approved in 2025 — money Congress expected to be spent over five years.

Now, less than a week after the strikes, executives representing weapons manufacturers including RTX (formerly Raytheon) and Lockheed Martin are scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump to discuss the nation’s “diminishing” munitions stockpiles.

While the president insists U.S. munitions stockpiles have “never been higher or better,” defense-industry funded consultants and lobbyists are warning that in less than a week, the U.S. has “burn[ed]” through its precision-guided long-range missile reserves. They argue that a shrinking industrial base and declining productivity could undermine U.S. military objectives in places like Ukraine and Israel. Of particular concern are the country’s stockpile of precision missile interceptors, a quarter of which were reportedly depleted in just 12 days of fighting between Israel and Iran last summer and are on track to be further drained in the Iran war.

Yet, since the 1990s, U.S. military spending has nearly doubled, exceeding the combined spending of the next nine largest militaries.

So where has all that money gone? Into the pockets of top shareholders.

The weapons industry has become incredibly concentrated: Since the 1990s, the number of “prime” contractors working with the Defense Department has shrunk from 51 to five. And in recent years, these giants — propped up by trillions in taxpayer spending — have spent more enriching investors than in expanding production.

Migration north for the yachting season

 Migration north for the yachting season

A new offshore race in 2026 will begin May 9 from St. Barths in the Caribbean and finish off Fort Adams in Newport, RI.

Organized by US Sailing, the US Open – Offshore will be approximately 1,500 nautical miles and supported by Saint Barth Yacht Club and New York Yacht Club. For subsequent editions, yacht clubs and race organizers will be invited to bid annually for hosting rights.

“This is an exciting milestone for offshore racing in the Americas,” said Bryon Ehrhart, Event Chairman. “The course from St. Barths to Newport presents a terrific tactical challenge and establishes a high standard for future editions.” - Full report

 

The app that alerts you if smart glasses are close by

Niv Bavarsky

If you’re wondering if that guy (you know it’s a guy) at the table across from you might be recording you with his smart glasses, there’s a new app called Nearby Glasses that detects surveillance spectacles, giving you a good reason to pay your tab and leave. The app, which is only available for Android, was created in response to reports that Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses have been used in immigration raids and to harass sex workers, per 404 Media, and as a way to guard against the potentially invasive tech. Here’s how the app works: It searches for Bluetooth signals, like the ones assigned to smart glasses, and sends the user a notification. It won’t give a precise location (it’s Nearby Glasses, not Exact Glasses), but it does find signals within 10 to 32 feet of the user indoors, and 32 to 50 feet outdoors. Only getting more intrusive: The New York Times reported last month that Meta is considering adding facial recognition technology to its glasses. Meanwhile…on Tuesday, Deveillance announced Spectre I, a device it says prevents smart devices and AI recorders from “collecting conversations and turning them into data.”

 

70 days out, concerns loom over World Cup

Nick Iluzada

As yesterday marked 70 days until the World Cup kickoff, some fans wagered on tournament favorites Spain and England clinching the trophy, while others worried about whether North America is even ready to host. Safety concerns are top of mind for the dozens of crowded events set to take place across the US, Canada, and Mexico: The US and Israel’s military campaign in Iran has compounded existing security anxieties related to the cartel violence in Mexico last week. Mexico’s government and FIFA assured the games there will be safe. In addition, there are now doubts about whether Iran’s national team will participate in stateside matches. Cash-strapped cities US host city officials warned lawmakers last week that World Cup safety is in jeopardy due to funding chaos and a lack of security coordination between local and federal agencies. Uncle Sam earmarked $875 million to enhance game security, but that cash is being held up by a standoff over Homeland Security funding in Congress. Mundial has run into municipal hitches…with the Boston-area town of Foxborough threatening to block the matches set to take place there until someone fronts $7.8 million in security costs.

Friends are splitting on home ownership

 

Friends are going splitsies on homeownership

Getty Images

The high cost of buying a home has helped some reimagine the concept of friends with benefits. Instead of cramming into an overpriced studio rental to save money, buddies are splitting the cost of owning a property they couldn’t afford individually. Zillow reported that US home values skyrocketed 45% between February 2020 and February 2025, which it called “more than a decade’s worth of typical growth” in only five years. And the rental market saw a similarly large increase over that time, per Rental Housing Journal, making co-buying a consideration for younger generations. Per a 2025 FirstHome IQ survey of 1,000 respondents between the ages of 18 and 44: Sharing a home with your bestie is particularly appealing to Gen Zers (classified here as ages 18 to 24), as 32% said they would consider co-buying. Millennials (ages 25 to 44) aren’t against the idea either—18% said they were up for it. A 2024 report by JW Surety Bonds found that 15% of Americans have made home purchases with a friend or relative, and another 48% would consider doing so. Home security: Since this isn’t the same as roommates splitting the cost of a couch, it’s recommended to put the partnership in writing. Two options are a joint tenancy agreement or a tenancy-in-common agreement. These arrangements allow partial ownership of the property (and theoretically, the couch, too) to be sold or inherited if circumstances change. End of an era? Zillow home trends expert Amanda Pendleton told CNBC that one reason why only 5% of homes were co-bought last year is that rent prices are stabilizing. According to the new Apartment List National Rent Report, the national median rent has fallen for six straight months, not that anyone looking for a place in New York or San Francisco will believe that.

 

Is it Live Nation’s turn to face the music?

Sopa Images/Getty Images

Live Nation may have finally found a venue it wants nothing to do with. The live entertainment company will be in a Manhattan court today for jury selection in a federal antitrust case that could result in a breakup. Who is suing? The Department of Justice, 39 states, and the District of Columbia argue that Live Nation has maintained an illegal monopoly over live entertainment since it merged with ticket provider Ticketmaster in 2010, and that customers are paying the service and processing fees price. Specifically, the DOJ alleges: Live Nation, which has partnerships with hundreds of concert venues, pressures artists to use its promotion services in exchange for access to those venues. Live Nation also forces venues to use Ticketmaster for ticketing. The company maintains that artists can perform wherever they want and sell tickets however they want. What next? Live Nation has been trying to settle the case for months, per Bloomberg, and that could still happen. But for now, the case is going to trial, with testimony possible from singer Kid Rock, Roc Nation CEO and co-founder Desiree Perez, and SeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger, which would actually make an amazing cast for the next season of The Traitors.

Victoria BC Interactive Restaurant Guide

 Victoria BC Interactive Restaurant Guide: City restaurants (Canada Restaurant Guides) eBook : Richardson, R.G.: Amazon.ca: Books 

Victoria BC Interactive Restaurant Guide: City restaurants (Canada Restaurant Guides) Kindle Edition

by R.G. Richardson (Author)  Format: Kindle Edition

Part of: Canada Restaurant Guides (5 books)

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Victoria BC Interactive Restaurant Guide searches using the power of the internet, continuously updated and never out of date. All editions use the power of the internet with over 12,900 links. Use your browser to search for a city in your language. Point and click, that is it, and with a 5G network, it is very fast! You can now avoid spelling mistakes and language difficulties, making your search accurate and simple enough for everybody to use. One thumb is required; simply pick and click the icon, and your search is done. Read everything you want to know and it is never out of date. Don't want to read, watch it all as it searches YouTube too! Restaurant guides have extensive restaurant (barbecue, buffet, bistro, cafeteria, fast food, fine dining, take-out, pub, ethnic restaurants) searches. Sit in the coffee shop and start searching away on their WiFi, and start using our interactive city search guides with multiple languages! For PC, Mac, Pad, iPhone or mobile IOS and Android phone enabled search tool with multi-search engine capability built right in. RG Richardson guides search for careers, food, hotels, real estate, historical sites, sports, transportation, concerts, even public toilets and water closets. Find everything that’s fun to do; with travel planning, maps and car rentals. Good for tourists, travellers, vacationers and business persons who have just moved to town, and even long-term residents who want to stay on top of what’s new and current in their area or city. These guides are great for those with disabilities; pick and click with one thumb, no typing! Finance interactive notes, dictionaries and glossaries for economics, financial, markets, money and banking for students and professionals. Are you financially literate? Financial literacy is the ability to understand and effectively apply various financial skills, including personal financial management, budgeting, and investing. Financial literacy helps individuals become self-sufficient so that they can achieve financial stability. Career and job interactive guides search cities worldwide helping you with career planning and search job boards for part-time and full opportunities in real-time. Real estate interactive housing, apartments, condominiums, vacation properties and commercial property guides for cities worldwide. All guides search in 10 languages including Chinese, French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Indian, Portuguese and Japanese! R.G. Richardson City Interactive Guides using the power of the internet. Over 230 guides are available in 190 countries worldwide. Published in Canada by: eComTechnology/RGRichardson Assign Centre, ISBN Division Library and Archives Canada Author R.G. Richardson Victoria, BC. V8R 5G9 Updated 10/13/2025

Countries in the Americas can act to protect the environment without the United States

Countries in the Americas can act to protect the environment without the United States

The Conversation – Articles (CA) · 7 days ago
by Alexandra R Harrington, Visiting Scholar, McGill University Faculty of Law, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, McGill


The United States federal government recently revoked a landmark scientific ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency that stated greenhouse gases are a threat to public health. U.S. President Donald Trump said the ruling was a “disasterous” policy that “severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers.”

The revocation is the latest move by a U.S. administration that has framed action to tackle climate change as hampering the U.S. economy. In this context, trade has become a buzzword over the past year. With the focus on tariffs, it is easy to overlook the impacts of U.S. trade policies on the environment and the organizations tasked with bridging the two.

My areas of research focus on international law, specifically environmental law and the intersections between trade and international organizations.

In January, Trump indicated that the U.S. will withdraw from the NAFTA/CUSMA-linked Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the process for dealing with claims that Canada, Mexico or the United States are shirking their environmental commitments — the submission on enforcement matters (SEM) process.

The U.S. withdrawal highlights the importance of these issues at the regional level. It also provides an opportunity for other countries in the Americas to take action on climate change without the United States.

Read more: Three ways Canada can navigate an increasingly erratic and belligerent United States
What are SEMs?

In 1994, Canada, Mexico and the U.S. adopted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) along with two side agreements. One of these was the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), establishing the Commission on Environmental Cooperation and the SEM process.

When NAFTA was renegotiated in 2018, the SEM process was incorporated into the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), and the NAAEC was replaced by the Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.

The Commission on Environmental Cooperation is charged with overseeing this agreement, while SEM is the process for dealing with claims that Canada, Mexico or the U.S. are not living up to their environmental commitments.

That process can lead to the creation of a “factual record”; an investigative report detailing the commission’s findings. Although not a legal decision, the factual record is a powerful evidentiary and fact-finding tool to generate reforms.

Reporting on derelict environmental commitments through the SEM process remains a vital tool. It has provided important factual records on leakage from Alberta tailings ponds and failures to protect species such as the loggerhead turtle, North Atlantic right whale and vaquita porpoise, among other issues.

The SEM model was replicated in U.S. trade agreements with Central American states, Colombia, Panama and Peru. In each of these agreements, however, the U.S. was exempted from SEM jurisdiction because it was already under the jurisdiction of CUSMA.

Given the U.S. decision not to provide the core funding needed for these entities to function, it would be possible for the Central American states, as well as Colombia, Panama and Peru, to enter into a separate agreement regarding SEMs. The same would be true for Canada and Mexico under CUSMA.
A new generation of environmental accountability

The U.S. was a driving influence in the creation of the SEM process. And the U.S. retreat could be accepted as a way to end systems that have brought significant issues in national enforcement of environment law to light.

Examples include the failure to properly monitor implementation of environmental laws and standards, ranging from those intended to protect communities living near pollution discharge points to those intended to protect species on the edge of extinction.

Other countries in the Americas now have an opportunity to create a larger environmental oversight mechanism. This would demonstrate their ability to step into the governance gap left by the U.S. and generate stronger regional alliances. This would not only benefit the Americas. It would also provide a model for other international organizations as they face the loss of a powerful member state.

This alternative would entail creating a new SEM process, along with an equivalent to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation to oversee it, linking all members of the impacted agreements and any other interested countries in the Americas. The most comprehensive way to do this would be to negotiate a new multilateral agreement similar to current regional agreements but without the emphasis being on trade.

Similar to the current SEM process, individuals and groups could make submissions claiming that a member state is failing to fulfill its environmental obligations. Once a submission is received, the SEM unit would determine whether it meets basic requirements. If so, the submission would move on and, ultimately, a factual record could be developed.

This alternative framework would demonstrate the collective commitment of countries across the Americas to environmental protection. It would reflect the reality that the Americas face significant shared environmental threats that are also increasingly threats to national security and economic interests.

Such an agreement could mainstream the SEM process, building on provisions established in NAFTA, NAAEC and CUSMA. Existing regional offices could be maintained to ensure strong connections on the ground, and the procedures used could largely be unchanged.

At a time when many countries seem to be focusing on narrow self-interest and military spending rather than the environment, this is a challenging proposition.

However, integrating the SEM process into a new, broader, collective effort would allow American countries to assert hemispheric leadership without having to reinvent the wheel. It would also allow citizens the continued ability to bring claims and to have some accountability.

As the U.S. government withdraws from its international obligations, reconceiving international organizations that are under existential threat is now a necessity. Reconfiguring SEMs throughout the Americas would serve as a model for other organizations and as a way of shifting international organizations to be less dependent on any one state.

Alexandra R Harrington does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.