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Business & Economy169 outlets ran this5 min read

Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks

U.S. president suspends tariffs on Canadian goods for three days ahead of a potential deal involving the cancelled project

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Pipes meant for the defunct Keystone XL project are shown stacked at a yard in Gascoyne, N.D., on Wednesday April 22, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Alex Panetta

What this story says

  • Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on 18 August 2026 that the Keystone XL pipeline, cancelled by Joe Biden in 2021, may be revived as part of a trade deal with Canada.
  • Trump suspended 50% tariffs on Canadian goods for three days ahead of the announcement, as reported by CTV News.
  • The pipeline, proposed in 2008, would carry Canadian crude oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast but faced legal and environmental opposition before its cancellation.
  • Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement on the trade deal did not mention the pipeline, and its inclusion in the agreement is uncertain.

Who covered it

Left 42%(56)Centre 48%(66)Right 10%(13)

Percentages are shares of the 135 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 34 of the 169 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

65/100

Craft

55/100

Hype

35/100

169 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 13 of the 135 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

U.S. President Donald Trump indicated on 18 August 2026 that the Keystone XL pipeline could be revived as part of a trade agreement with Canada. In a post on Truth Social, Trump announced the suspension of 50% tariffs on Canadian goods for three days, two hours before they were set to take effect. He suggested the pipeline, cancelled by President Joe Biden in January 2021, might be "awoken from the grave." The post included an AI-generated image of Trump lifting the pipeline from a gravesite labelled "Buried by Biden."

The Keystone XL pipeline was first proposed in 2008 by TC Energy Corp. and ConocoPhillips. It was intended to carry Canadian crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, Nebraska, and eventually to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The project faced repeated legal challenges and environmental opposition. Barack Obama rejected it in 2012, citing insufficient time to review a revised route. Trump approved it in 2017, but construction was halted when Biden revoked its permit on his first day in office.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement on the trade deal did not reference the pipeline. Alberta Liberal MP Corey Hogan told CTV News in March 2026 that the project was being used as leverage in trade negotiations. The Toronto Star reported that the pipeline’s role in the deal remains unclear. CTV News political analyst Eric Ham said Trump has prioritised energy in negotiations, citing past actions on oil and gas.

Where the reports disagree

CTV News reported that Trump’s Truth Social post explicitly linked the pipeline’s revival to the trade deal. The Western Journal stated that Trump indicated the pipeline could be part of the deal but did not confirm it was included. The Toronto Star reported that the pipeline’s role in the agreement is unclear.

What the coverage left out

None of the digests from left-rated outlets mentioned the 50% tariffs Trump suspended or the three-day timeline for their suspension. The right-rated digest did not include details on the pipeline’s history, its environmental opposition, or its cancellation by Biden. The centre-rated digests did not provide context on the pipeline’s legal challenges or its significance to U.S.-Canada trade relations.

Tags:#KeystoneXLPipeline#USTradePolicy#CanadaUSRelations#EnergyPolicy#DonaldTrump#JoeBiden

Coverage settled. We checked this 134 times and stopped on 25 Aug 2026, 01:16. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

56 rated outlets

  • The eight left-rated digests led on Trump’s suggestion that the Keystone XL pipeline could be revived as part of trade negotiations. The Toronto Star’s digest noted that the pipeline’s role in the deal remains unclear. The Independent’s digest highlighted the contrast between Trump’s support for the project and the positions of his predecessors, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
  • CTV News, the only left-rated outlet with a full report, detailed the pipeline’s history, including its cancellation by Biden in 2021 and the environmental and legal opposition it faced. The report quoted Trump’s post directly and included an AI-generated image of the pipeline being lifted from a gravesite. It also noted that Prime Minister Carney did not mention the pipeline in his statement on the trade deal.

Centre

66 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated outlets reported that U.S. President Donald Trump suggested reviving the Keystone XL pipeline as part of a trade deal with Canada. Trump posted on social media that the agreement might include revitalising the project, which he had previously sought to advance.
  • The full report from CTV News detailed the pipeline's history, including its initial proposal in 2008, previous rejections by U.S. presidents, and its cancellation by Joe Biden. It noted environmental and Indigenous opposition to the project.
  • Several centre-rated digests highlighted that Trump delayed new tariffs on Canadian goods for three days. Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that substantial progress had been made in discussions with the U.S. regarding these tariffs.

Right

13 rated outlets

  • The Western Journal’s digest stated that Trump indicated the Keystone XL pipeline could be revived as part of the trade deal with Canada. The report did not provide further details on the pipeline’s history or its potential role in the agreement.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks?
Of the 135 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 42% are rated left, 48% are rated centre, 10% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 169. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 135 rated outlets on this story, 42% are rated left, 48% are rated centre, 10% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks biased?
Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks is one event reported by 169 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Trump hints at reviving Keystone XL pipeline in Canada trade talks?
169 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What is the Keystone XL pipeline?
The Keystone XL pipeline was proposed in 2008 to carry Canadian crude oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast. It faced legal and environmental opposition before being cancelled by President Joe Biden in January 2021. The project would have expanded oil exports to the U.S. by over 12%.
Why did Trump suggest reviving the Keystone XL pipeline?
Donald Trump hinted at reviving the pipeline in a Truth Social post on 18 August 2026, linking it to a trade deal with Canada. He suspended 50% tariffs on Canadian goods for three days ahead of the announcement, suggesting the pipeline could be part of the agreement.
What role does the pipeline play in the trade deal?
The pipeline’s role in the trade deal remains unclear. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement did not mention it, and the Toronto Star reported that its inclusion is uncertain. Trump’s post suggested it could be revived, but no details have been confirmed.
Which outlets reported on the pipeline’s history?
CTV News provided the most detailed account of the pipeline’s history, including its legal challenges, environmental opposition, and cancellation by Biden. Other outlets, including digests from left and centre-rated sources, focused on Trump’s suggestion of revival without additional context.

Read it at the source

289 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

112
Show 104 more

Centre

85
Show 77 more

Right

28
Show 20 more

Not rated

64
Show 56 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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