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Trump tells Merz to ‘fix his broken country’ in new attack on German chancellor

Donald Trump has again lashed out at Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, saying he should focus on “fixing his broken country” and trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war – and spend less time “interfering” in Iran. “The Chancellor of Germany should spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine (Where he has been totally ineffective!),” Trump wrote in a social media post. Merz should instead focus on “fixing his broken Country,” he wrote, “especially Immigration and Energy, and less time on interfering with those that are getting rid of the Iran Nuclear threat, thereby making the World, including Germany, a safer place!” Trump’s latest outburst came a day after he suggested the US military presence in Germany was being reviewed, with a “possible reduction” of troops under consideration. Between 36,000 and 39,000 US personnel are stationed in Germany, most of whom are at its two largest bases in Stuttgart and Ramstein – much fewer than at their cold war peak. Trump’s comments appear to have been prompted by Merz’s unusually blunt comments earlier this week, when the chancellor said the US was being “humiliated” by Iran and criticised Washington for having no exit strategy from the war. On Thursday, Merz sought to strike a more conciliatory tone at a visit to a German military base in Münster, emphasising the importance of ties with Nato and the US, and criticising Iran for refusing to take part in peace negotiations. Without mentioning Trump, Merz said he believed in a Nato-led solution to the conflict in the Middle East, referring to a “reliable transatlantic partnership”. German officials were keen to dampen the row. Throughout Thursday they were at pains to point out the threats from the US to withdraw troops from German soil were far from new – Trump had made them during his first term in office – and they were ready for them. Speaking on a visit to Morocco, the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, said not only had Trump made such statements in the past but so, too, had presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton. Barack Obama had made it clear the US would concentrate its troops more in the Pacific zone, he said. “That might yet happen. Let’s take a look at that together, calmly and thoroughly,” Wadephul said. He added: “We are prepared for that, we are discussing it closely and in a spirit of trust in all Nato bodies, and we are expecting decisions from the Americans about this.” He said a “shifting of forces” was already taking place, and the German military was preparing for the changes. “We have to take on more responsibilities, we have to develop stronger shoulders,” he added. But he also said it was hard to see the US withdrawing from the Ramstein airbase in south-western Germany, as it had “an irreplaceable function for the United States and for us alike”. Claudia Major, a leading expert on transatlantic security at the German Marshall Fund, said Trump’s attempt to “use Ramstein as leverage” was nothing new. “It ties in with the debate we had about Greenland, when the Europeans were considering how seriously to take Trump’s threats,” she said. While the messages coming from the US were “very unsettling … and we wonder to what extent it’s still reliable”, at the same time Europeans had to learn to become less dependent on US support, she said. But this, she added, would mean “less security and more instability for all involved”. The defence policy expert for Merz’s Christian Democrats, Roderich Kiesewetter, cautioned against overreacting to Trump’s statement. “Troop reductions were announced some time ago and are no surprise,” he told German media. “The main thing is that they are carried out in an orderly and consensual manner.” He said having US troops in Germany – in particular the US’s large military hospital in Landstuhl, the strategic hub in Ramstein and the training grounds in Grafenwöhr – was of indispensable interest “especially for the US”. He said rather than primarily ensuring the defence of Germany, these locations supported “the global American projection of power”.

US charges Sinaloa governor and other Mexican officials with drug trafficking offences

The US justice department has charged the governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel, accusing them of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States. Some officials were members of Mexico’s progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political conundrum for Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. In her daily press conference on Thursday, Sheinbaum said her government would investigate the allegations – but suggested the motivation behind them might be political. “We will not cover up for anyone who has committed a crime,” she said. “However, if there is no clear evidence, it is evident that the objective of these charges by the Department of Justice is political.” The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state since November 2021. The indictment alleges the governor was elected in 2021 with the help of the Sinaloa cartel, which allegedly kidnapped and intimidated political rivals in exchange for protection of their operations once in power. Charges against Rocha Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars. Responding to the indictment, Rocha Moya wrote on X that he “categorically and unequivocally reject[s]” the charges, which were “completely untrue and without any basis”. “It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty,” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.” The US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, said that combating transnational crime was a shared priority between the US and Mexico. “Our countries have pledged to strengthen transparency, enforce anti-corruption laws, and uphold the rule of law. That is what our citizens on both sides of the border want and, as I have said repeatedly, this is what they deserve.” But Sheinbaum questioned Johnson’s comments. “An ambassador cannot have an interventionist attitude,” she said on Thursday. She added: “We will not allow any foreign government to come and decide the future of the Mexican people.” Mexico’s attorney general’s office said it would analyse the evidence received from the US to see whether it justified the request that the 10 individuals charged be detained and extradited. It will also start its own parallel investigation. Sheinbaum said that if the attorney general’s office received or found “compelling and irrefutable evidence”, then the case “must proceed in accordance with the law under our jurisdiction”. The foreign relations secretariat released a statement saying it had received various extradition requests from the US government, adding that the attorney general’s office would determine whether there was sufficient evidence to detain those charged. In the indictment, US authorities alleged the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the US. The Sinaloa cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organisations by the US government. Under pressure from the Trump administration, which has threatened tariffs and unilateral military action, the Mexican government has ramped up its arrests and drug seizures across the country, transferred roughly 100 high-level cartel operatives to US prisons, and launched operations against kingpins. In the last two months, the Mexican military killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”, the leader of the Jalisco new generation cartel, and arrested Audias Flores Silva, who was a possible successor. With Associated Press

Trump launches fresh attack on Merz after threatening US troop reduction in Germany – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! US president Donald Trump has doubled down on his criticism of German chancellor Friedrich Merz, telling him to “spend more time on ending the war with Russia/Ukraine” and “fixing his broken country” after Merz’s criticism of the US war against Iran (15:46). Trump’s latest outburst comes a day after he suggested the US military presence in Germany was being reviewed with a “possible reduction” under consideration and a decision expected to be made shortly (10:01). The falling out between the two leaders appears to have been caused by Merz’s unusually blunt comments earlier this week in which he said the US is being “humiliated” by Iran’s leadership, and criticised the US for no exit strategy from the war. Without offering a direct response to Trump’s comments, the German chancellor sought to strike a notably different and more conciliatory tone at a visit to a German military base in Munster, stressing the importance of ties with Nato and the US, and criticising Iran for refusing to take part in peace negotiations (12:44). Trump’s renewed attack on Merz’s record in government comes just days before his first anniversary in office (15:46). If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

UK stole 25m years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados, says report

Britain stole 25 million years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados, according to research by a team of international experts. Their report concludes that Barbados’s population of African descent have suffered damages estimated at up to $2tn (£1.5tn) from 200 years of chattel slavery. The head of the research team, Coleman Bazelon, said the total reflected the magnitude of the damage done, but he emphasised that the figure was not a bill for damages but the factual foundation for dialogue. “This research is not creating an invoice for anybody to pay,” said Bazelon. “It is an accounting of the harm that was done … a recognition of the harm that was done that is the starting point for reconciliation.” Barbados was the first major British colony to force enslaved people to work on its plantations from the early 1600s. It is also a founding nation of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) which advocates for reparations. Bazelon was the lead co-author of the 2023 Brattle analysis, which was included in the report on reparations for transatlantic chattel slavery in the Americas and the Caribbean. The analysis estimated that chattel slavery affected 19.9 million people, including those who were captured, those who lost their lives while being transported from Africa, and those who worked on plantations and their descendants. After Britain abolished slavery on 1 August 1834, £20m was paid in compensation to enslavers for loss of their “property”. The enslaved people themselves received nothing. Bazelon conducted this new research through the non-profit organisation Public Interest Experts. “What they asked me to focus on was: what was the value of the labour stolen through slavery in Barbados,” Bazelon said. Speaking at an event in Barbados to preview the research earlier this month, Barbados’s minister for pan-African affairs and heritage, Trevor Prescod, said: “You can’t erase history … My job is to give an Afrocentric redress to the imbalances that occurred during the period of slavery.” The minister said that the report will eventually go to the cabinet for ratification. “I feel the public must walk with us to our destination … Many areas of progress that we were denied will be at the heart of our call and claims for reparations and reparatory justice,” he said. Bazelon has given a detailed breakdown of the methodology and figures: “The value of the labour that was provided but not compensated, it’s somewhere between$500bn and $700bn. But of course, an enslaved person working in Barbados had much of their life stolen from them as well. So, I think it’s very proper to include the short lifespan of people who were enslaved in Barbados. And the short lifespan estimate is anywhere from about $1.1tn to $1.3tn. So if you add them together you end up with a range of about $1.6tn to $2tn as the value of the labour and life directly stolen from people in enslaved Barbados.” He added: “The important contextual point is that there were [about] 379,000 people who got off the boat from Africa in Barbados … There were another 78,000 people who got on the boats but didn’t get off, who died during the middle passage. And then we estimate another 335,000 people who were born into slavery in Barbados.” The findings provide an understanding of the significant size of the harm done. Prof Alan Lester, from the University of Sussex, a leading expert on the British empire, said: “It’s not surprising that – when you add up the value of lives appropriated to make money in Barbados, Britain’s oldest slave plantation colony – you get such an enormous figure. “The inequalities entrenched by slavery have only been exacerbated since, as compensation was paid to slave owners rather than the enslaved and independence left Caribbean islands drained of capital and indebted to western institutions.” The 2023 Brattle analysis estimated that the value of harms from transatlantic chattel slavery in 31 territories in the Americas and the Caribbean amounted to $100–131tn in total, of which $77-108tn represented harms during the period of enslavement, and $23tn the continuing harms since. The analysis was commissioned after an international symposium on reparations and international law concluded that transatlantic slavery was unlawful. Last month 123 nations at the UN general assembly voted that chattel slavery was the gravest crime against humanity. The US, Israel and Argentina voted against the resolution, while 52 countries, including the UK and other many European countries abstained. Previously, the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, ruled out direct monetary payments for reparations. David Lascelles, the co-founder of Heirs of Slavery, a group of descendants of British enslavers who encourage others to acknowledge and discuss reparative justice, said: “My distant ancestor Henry Lascelles made his fortune in Barbados in the 18th century. Now, 300 years later, it’s high time we all recognise there is a debt to pay, a debt that is of course about money, but not just about money.” Alex Renton, another co-founder of the group, added that “addressing the legacies of this most terrible event in Britain’s modern history is the right thing for the nation to do, morally and practically”.

Curfews, conspiracy theories … and a cancelled concert: Mali’s capital tries to shrug off violence on its doorstep

“The Grand Ball of Bamako”, as organisers tagged the Saturday evening soiree at the Hotel de l’Amitié in the Malian capital, was meant to provide one of the west African country’s biggest headlines last weekend. Many sponsors including Orange Mali, the local subsidiary of the French telecoms company, had bankrolled the show, which organisers hoped would demonstrate Mali’s capacity to put on big cultural events in the teeth of a security crisis raging on multiple fronts. On the eve of the concert, a convoy of cars picked up the main attraction, Grammy award-winning Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, from the Modibo Keita international airport. In the end though, N’Dour, one of the continent’s most famous voices, did not get to perform. Halfway into the concert, guests stood up from the tables draped in white and left the venue, after news reached organisers that the ruling junta had imposed a 72-hour citywide curfew. “We have been faced with a situation beyond our control,” the main organiser Abdoulaye Guitteye said on stage. “We really did our best, we tried.” The curfew was announced in response to a coordinated attack on a number of Malian cities and towns by an unlikely alliance of jihadists and separatists. In Bamako, people had woken up at dawn on Saturday to the sounds of gunfire as the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) and al-Qaida-linked group JNIM targeted the same airport N’Dour had come in through. Sources claim the junta granted special permission for the airport to briefly reopen later on so he could fly back to his base in Dakar. In the high-security garrison town of Kati, only 9 miles outside Bamako, a fierce fight broke out between insurgents and security forces at the residence of defence minister Sadio Camara. Then a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the property, killing Camara along with several relatives. Since 2012, Mali has faced a profound security crisis fuelled in particular by violence from groups affiliated with al-Qaida and Islamic State, as well as local criminal gangs and pro-independence groups. JNIM imposed a punishing fuel blockade of Bamako last year, but it had eased in the period leading up to Saturday’s attacks. Camara was a key junta figure and Russian speaker seen as the mastermind behind the junta’s pivot to Russia, specifically its deal with mercenary group Wagner – which later morphed into the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps – to provide regime protection and counterinsurgency support. Along with its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, Mali had expelled French and American forces after the coup that brought its junta to power. Conspiracy theories have been spreading freely: some claim the jihadists had sources near Camara who helped them breach his heavily guarded compound. “The military themselves say there had to be accomplices,” a Bamako-based consultant who did not want to give their name told the Guardian. Simultaneous attacks took place on cities and towns around the country, including Gao, Mopti, Sévaré and Bourem. In the former separatist stronghold of Kidal near the border with southern Algeria, the Malian military and Africa Corps were overwhelmed by the militants. Algerian authorities reportedly helped the troops negotiate an exit from the city. *** The attacks – the largest assault on the country in nearly 15 years – were a fresh escalation of a conflict that began in 2012 when men from the Tuareg ethnic minority who had felt sidelined since Mali’s independence from France in 1960 launched an offensive aided by weapons from the fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya. Extremists in the north then hijacked the uprising and scaled it up to such an extent that interventions by the French military and a UN peacekeeping force failed to bring the situation under control. The conflict also triggered three successful coups, including the one in May 2021 that installed Assimi Goïta as head of state. A few years later he pulled Mali out of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) alongside his fellow junta leaders in Burkina Faso and Niger. Goïta was neither seen nor heard from at the weekend, prompting speculation that the rebels had outsmarted the Turkish private military contractors protecting him, or that he had been deposed by his fellow putschists in the junta. On Tuesday afternoon, Goïta proved the rumours wrong, resurfacing in a photo of him meeting the Russian ambassador that was posted by the Malian presidency to X. Goïta later addressed the nation, saying the “enemy’s deadly plan has been thwarted”. “These attacks are not isolated incidents, but are part of a vast destabilisation plan conceived and carried out by terrorist groups and external and internal sponsors who provide them with intelligence and logistical support,” he said, toeing the same narrative as Moscow’s defence ministry, which claimed without evidence to have thwarted a coup backed by western forces. Authorities in Bamako and Moscow have confirmed that there were civilian and military losses, but have not given casualty figures. The military also said it had killed more than 200 terrorists. Analysts say the Russians will now focus on safeguarding the capital and the presidency. The Bamako-based consultant doubts the militants can take Bamako due to superior military numbers but knows the threat is ever-present. The jihadists and separatists “know the mountains and the trails” better than the army, and travel on motorcycles, he said. “They are in control. They have prepared for this.” As people go about their daily lives, the city has remained on high alert. “Even this morning, the children went to school but there’s panic and many people are staying at home,” said the consultant, who lives in a suburb on the outskirts of Bamako and has not left his house since Saturday. On social media, videos are circulating from the jihadists telling people in Bambara, the most widely spoken language in the country, not to leave the capital. One video with an upbeat musical soundtrack appears to show a militant spray-painting over the government’s signage in downtown Kidal while flashing a peace sign at the camera. The Guardian could not independently verify the footage. *** Throughout the day on Saturday, the concert’s organisers resisted calls to cancel the event in light of the fast-moving security situation in part because the venue, a few blocks from the French embassy, is seen as one of the safest places in the capital. The attempt to keep the show on the road reflected a desire among many people living in Bamako to try to lead as normal and spirited a life as possible. This attitude is encouraged by the junta, which has long sought to project an image of stability. In December, even as the fuel blockade upended daily life for millions of ordinary people, a biennale was held in the ancient city of Timbuktu. And last weekend couples went ahead with weddings across Bamako despite the violence. A woman from Bamako who attended the Timbuktu festival said this week: “This is what I tell people: ‘Either we decide to live, or we decide to remain terrorised’ … what a lot of people have also written on their [social media] pages is: ‘We won’t give in, we have to resist, we have to keep living.’”

Iran supreme leader issues defiant statement on strait of Hormuz

Iran’s supreme leader has broken his recent silence with a defiant statement hailing Iran’s control over shipping in the strait of Hormuz and vowing to guard the country’s nuclear and missile programmes. “Today, two months after the largest military deployment and aggression by the world’s bullies in the region, and the United States’ disgraceful defeat in its plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the strait of Hormuz,” Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement read by a state television anchor. The statement said Tehran would secure the Gulf region and eliminate what he described as “the enemy’s abuses of the waterway”, and that “new management of the strait will bring comfort and progress for the benefit of all the nations of the region and economic blessings will bring joy to the hearts of the people”. Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the strait, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil typically transits. Speaking to mark Persian Gulf Day in Iran, Khamenei also vowed that Iran would “guard its modern technological capacities – from nano to bio to nuclear and missile – as their national capital and will guard it like their maritime land and air borders”. No recording or visual sighting of Khamenei has been broadcast since he was appointed supreme leader in early March. Reports have suggested that he was severely injured in the bombing that killed his 86-year-old father and predecessor on 28 February. He is said to be in hospital being treated for injuries. His new statement suggests Iran is determined to implement a new fees regime in the strait that it will present as benefiting the entire region as a belated assertion of regional sovereignty. Since 13 April the US has mounted a counter-blockade designed to stop oil tankers moving in or out of Iranian ports, seizing up the Iranian oil industry. With Pakistan-mediated talks at an impasse, there is little sign of either blockade being lifted, pushing the oil price above $120 a barrel. Vessel traffic levels are still extremely low, sometimes as low as three ships a day compared with 120–140 in normal conditions. “Foreigners who maliciously covet it [the strait] from thousands of kilometres away have no place there except at the bottom of its waters,” Khamenei’s statement said. The strait’s closure has put pressure on Trump, as oil and petrol prices have rocketed before crucial midterm elections, as well as on his Gulf allies, which use the waterway to export their oil and gas. Trump’s admission on Wednesday that he knew no short way out of the impasse pushed oil prices close to $125 a barrel – as high as during the first weeks of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Axios news website reported that the US military was still feeding Trump options to resume strikes. Maj Gen Mohsen Rezaee, the military adviser to the supreme leader, wrote on his X account: “The siege scenario will fail and Iran will never lose the strait of Hormuz. History will record that the Iranian nation sank the superpower of America in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. Both the field and diplomacy are moving forward with the coordination of the leader of the revolution and the support of the people.” The world considers the strait an international waterway, open to all without paying tolls, and Gulf Arab nations, chief among them the United Arab Emirates, have decried Iran’s control of the strait as akin to piracy. Iran has proposed that talks with the US on its nuclear programme be parked while both sides agree terms for allowing ships to resume passage along the strait. In Iran the foreign ministry has urged its parliament to recognise that Iran’s plans being hatched in conjunction with Oman do not require fresh Iranian legislation. It is also urging that Iran avoid terms such as “tolls”, and instead assert its pre-existing right to charge fees for services rendered. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, held talks in Washington on Wednesday about the strait. An email sent by the state department to embassies reported by the Wall Street Journal suggested the US was trying to become involved in largely European-led plans for the oversight of the strait once the conflict ends. The US is offering to coordinate diplomacy and communications between countries using the strait by reviving and broadening a 12 nation International Maritime Security Construct, a pre-existing naval operation set up in after threats to shipping by the Iranian navy.

Canada to create powerful financial crimes agency as US weakens its approach

Canada is to establish a new and powerful law enforcement agency to investigate financial crime, in stark contrast to the US, where weakened federal investigators have struggled to pursue fraudsters and the White House has pardoned convicted money launderers. A bill to create the Financial Crimes Agency (FCA) completed its first reading in parliament this week. The legislation was introduced by the governing Liberals and with their parliamentary majority, the party is likely to move it through both levels of government quickly. The new agency, tasked with investigating and prosecuting financial crimes, is the result of a public inquiry that found Canada lacked a cohesive strategy against money laundering, placing it behind its international peers. Jessica Davis, a former intelligence analyst with Canada’s spy agency who focuses terrorism and illicit financing, said: “The fact we’re actually seeing the creation [of a] new enforcement agency is a meaningful investment and hopefully signals the understanding of the seriousness of the challenge.” In addition to a new law enforcement agency, Canada will ban cryptocurrency ATMs, which officials say have been used by scammers to defraud victims and by criminals to launder the proceeds of crime. Canada has nearly 4,000 cryptocurrency ATMs, the most per capita in the world. For more than a quarter of a century, the financial transactions and reports analysis centre (Fintrac) has functioned as Canada’s financial intelligence unit. Last year, the agency uncovered $45bn in transactions from money laundering, counterterrorist financing, sanctions and evasion disclosures. “It’s a figure that could be too high or far too low – we just don’t fully know the scope of financial crime in this country,” said Davis, who runs the consulting firm Insight Threat Intelligence. Fintrac does not track and arrest criminals, instead handing off its investigations to the police and prosecutors. Under the new legislation, the newly formed FCA will investigate and prosecute – a move that lessens the scope and mandate of Fintrac and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the country’s federal law-enforcement authority. “The challenge for the RCMP is that it has been unable and unwilling to actually investigate and sustain investigations related to financial crimes,” said Davis. “There is a lack of funding, a lack of skills, lack of resources and a lack of political will. But financial crimes investigations are long, complex and require sustained resources, which I’m hopeful we’re now going to see put in place.” A 2024 report on the scale of financial crimes estimated that more than US$3tn in illicit funds had moved through the global financial system in the previous year. Among the largest culprits were money laundering for human and drug trafficking, as well as terrorist financing. A 2024 report from the US treasury department found those efforts had had “devastating economic and social impact” on citizens. The Canadian effort marks a stark contrast to the approach taken by the current US administration to the scourge of financial crime. Donald Trump’s government issued a high-profile pardon of Changpeng Zhao after the self-styled “king” of cryptocurrency pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. His company, Binance, had been ordered to pay a record $4.3bn penalty for its role in facilitating terrorist financing. In a January letter to federal watchdogs, senior Democrats called for an investigation into Trump’s decision to shift more than 25,000 personnel away from investigating fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in favour of immigration enforcement. “The Trump administration is letting white-collar criminals off the hook for all kinds of wrongdoing,” senator Elizabeth Warren, from Massachusetts, said in a statement. “Instead of protecting American families from fraud and predatory behaviour, the administration is diverting resources to pursue its inhumane immigration agenda. Nobody is above the law, and the Trump administration needs to stop treating white-collar criminals with kid gloves.” “Canada and the US are diverging,” said Davis, adding that the US was still “far ahead of us in terms of its ability to prosecute and invest, investigate and prosecute” financial crimes. “We’re still playing quite a bit of catchup now. Hopefully Canada will shore up our own abilities to protect Canada. Because the things that happen in the US do tend to happen in Canada. And so this new agency is a bulwark against that.” The creation of a new law enforcement agency was applauded by anti-corruption groups. Salvator Cusimano, the executive director of Transparency International Canada, said: “The [Canadian] government is proposing an ambitious but realistic mandate for this agency, which bodes well as a much-needed first step in improving our enforcement of financial crimes. “Once established, the agency must coordinate closely with other enforcement and regulatory agencies across the country, and build on their efforts, if it is to achieve its potential.” It is unclear how easily the agency will work alongside the RCMP, where it will be based and whether it will draw key resources from other units. Davis said: “This agency is going to matter to Canadians because when you start to combine things like economic pressures, the cost of living and really difficult sort of existence for everyday people, we start to have less tolerance for people making money off of us. “This is a massive and necessary investment for Canada. But we’ll also have to keep pressuring the government to continue to fund it, continue to prioritise it, to actually get some of those outcomes that we’re looking for.”