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ARPU increased 5% globally, with stronger gains of 17% in Europe and 29% in developing markets, even as US and Canada growth remained more modest at 8%. Why it matters: Pinterest鈥檚 Q1 numbers suggest its efforts to become a more shopping-centric, AI-enhanced platform are bearing fruit鈥攑articularly overseas.

It even helped translate a primary research survey into Canadian French for respondents based in Quebec or French Canada, an example of AI helping us do things that were previously difficult or impossible to do. Takeaways for marketers. Start out by defining your unique requirement.

The trend: President-elect Donald Trump has proposed tariffs on goods imported from China, Canada, and Mexico鈥攑rompting many customers of financial institutions (FIs) to adjust their spending and saving habits. What consumers are thinking: Over two-thirds of US consumers believe prices will rise if Trump places tariffs, per a recent Harris Poll.

For Fed鈥檚 rate-cutting, the question is how much and how soon: Central banks in Canada and elsewhere have forged ahead of the US in adjusting their monetary policy to reflect easing inflation. That鈥檚 set to change next week.

Canadian consumers have turned away from US products amid tensions over tariffs as well as calls from President Donald Trump for Canada to be annexed as the 51st US state. Global favorability of the US fell about 20 points from January into March, per Morning Consult Intelligence, with views from Canada down 44 points, France 33 points, and the UK 31 points.

GenAI is on the agenda for most retailers in 2024: Walmart, Target, Canadian Tire, and others are turning to the tech to boost customer and employee satisfaction.

On today's episode, we discuss the implications of the Federal Trade Commission thinking Amazon tricked customers into signing up for automatically renewing Prime subscriptions, whether it makes sense for companies to force livestream shopping on Americans, if speciality stores really work, the impact of Facebook and Instagram restricting news access in Canada, whether reduced inflation can save the day, what a real work-life balance looks like, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian, vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti, and analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.

The US and Canada have very high rates of internet penetration and smartphone adoption, and gaming has been mainstream for a very long time. Thanks to this, 56.4% of the total population of North America will be digital gamers this year. The next closest region will be Western Europe at 44.4%. Almost half of all gamers will be in the US, China, and India.

While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has notably taken a conciliatory tone with the White House, relations with China and the European Union (not to mention Canada) have been decidedly more hostile, making a quick resolution unlikely. The European Union identified 鈧�95 billion ($102.8 billion) worth of goods, including aircraft, cars, and bourbon, that it could hit with tariffs should trade talks fail.

Short-term solutions: While the Trump administration鈥檚 trade policies aim to push companies toward onshoring, moving production to the US鈥攐r even nearshoring to Canada or Mexico鈥攊s often slow and costly. In the near term, companies are exploring faster, less labor-intensive options:.

Note that GWI interviews and represents each country's online population ages 16+ (in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Israel, Singapore, the UK, and the US) or ages 16-64 (in other markets)鈥攏ot its total population.

The news: Disney Advertising and Magnite built out their US offerings and expanded their global ad-supported automated inventory across Canada, Latin America, and select regions in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. US advertisers will now have access to more than 35 demand-side services for Disney platforms.

The slide accelerated after February 1, when the administration imposed tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China. Although some levies were later delayed, uncertainty only deepened as officials layered on additional duties. The fallout was swift: Consumer sentiment sank to its second鈥憀owest reading on record in April.

Merck CEO Rob Davis estimated $200 million in added costs for existing tariffs鈥攎ostly via China, but also Canada and Mexico trade. Roche is mitigating tariff effects for the year by moving inventories and increasing US manufacturing, CEO Thomas Schinnicker said. It鈥檚 also negotiating for tariff exemptions directly with the Trump administration, arguing its US exports offset its imports, per Reuters.

For now, Canada and Mexico are exempt from reciprocal tariffs, but they鈥檙e not in the clear. Both countries are still subject to the 25% tariffs imposed last month over their alleged failures to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking, although those are paused for now on USMCA-compliant goods.

North of the border, Canadian retailers face their own set of challenges and opportunities. "For retailers in Canada, the necessity is to develop new buy channels and sell channels with domestic partners, as well as with countries with stable trade agreements," said our analyst Paul Briggs.

OpenAI鈥檚 ChatGPT Plus is free for US and Canadian college students until May鈥�31,鈥�2025. Getting younger generations into AI early: AI competitors are emulating Google鈥檚 Chromebook strategy in which it made its Chrome OS hardware and tools accessible to K-12 students as a long-term bid to win loyalty and expand future market share.

Amazon will capture more than half (51.1%) of all retail ecommerce sales in Germany this year, according to our forecast. Canada will have the second-highest share of Amazon ecommerce sales among the countries we track, at 41.5%, followed by the US, UK, Japan, and Mexico.

WPP recently lost Coca-Cola鈥檚 US and Canada media business to Publicis Groupe, though it retained global media duties. Losing Coca-Cola鈥檚 US business still dealt a major blow, exacerbating WPP鈥檚 struggling stock price鈥攚hich declined to a four-year low鈥攁nd ongoing investor skepticism.

FAQ: US-Canada Trade War (蘑菇AV subscription required). FAQ: How Trump Tariffs on Latin American Imports Will Affect US Brands (蘑菇AV subscription required). Methodology: Data is from the November 2024 RetailNext report titled "Consumer Sentiment Survey." 1,056 US adults ages 18-64 were surveyed online during August 21-23, 2024.

Trump鈥檚 initial round of tariffs singled out Mexico, Canada, and China, California鈥檚 three largest trading partners. Over 40% of imports to the state originated from those countries last year, and the three nations took in over one-third of California鈥檚 exports.