Coping with ripples from the tempest surrounding U.S. President Donald Trump is our focus on BNN today.

Reports that Trump asked former FBI director James Comey to end an investigation into his former national security advisor have raised the prospect of obstruction of justice charges against the president.

The turmoil in Washington has “raised doubts about the Trump administration’s ability to deliver on business-friendly policies,” The Wall Street Journal says.

The legal questions surrounding Trump have experts scratching their heads because the alleged request doesn’t fit clearly into normal definitions of obstruction.   

“No one would write a federal statute with this situation in mind because it’s such an extraordinary situation,” Jens David Ohlin, dean at Cornell University Law School in Ithaca, New York, told The Associated Press.

He joins us on BNN at 10:30 a.m. ET.

TRADE TACTICS

At 10:20 a.m. ET, we take a look at Trump’s insistence on reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Red tape can be a powerful trade barrier: Christopher Sands, director of the Center for Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, will argue that it’s time to step up Canada-U.S. regulatory harmonization.

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BNN Advisor

Vancouver: Housing concerns cross generations

Winnipeg and Saskatchewan: The loonie and U.S. protectionism weigh on Central Canada

Yellowknife and Whitehorse: The hurdles of northern living and aboriginal issues

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HOUSING CRUNCH

As struggling mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc (HCG.TO) continues to lose deposits, BNN digital producer Nicole Gibillini supplies an intriguing real estate story. A real estate ad in Hong Kong promises to cover Ontario’s new foreign buyers’ tax for purchasers of units in a downtown Toronto condo building.

IN THE RIGHT VEIN

Don’t miss irrepressible commodities commentator Patrick Ryan at 3:30 p.m. ET. On his website, In the Right Vein, he warns readers to expect “unvarnished views on fuel and nonfuel minerals” along with a “willingness to listen to all sides of an argument and reject them.”

And on Commodities at 11:50 a.m. ET, we’ll check in with a Toronto company working on the tricky problem of storing energy from wind and solar for use. Curtis VanWalleghem, CEO of Hydrostor, will tell us how the company’s technology aims to use compressed air to hold power in giant underwater balloons or salt caverns.

A WAY WITH WORDS

Finally, thanks to BNN wordsmith Terry Cain for alerting us to a fresh corporate euphemism. Ford Motor (F.N), which is cutting 1,400 white-collar jobs in North America and Asia, explains via a spokesperson that these are “people actions.”

Every morning Commodities host Andrew Bell writes a ‘chase note’ to BNN's editorial staff listing the stories and events that will be in the spotlight that day. Have it delivered to your inbox before the trading day begins by heading to www.bnn.ca/subscribe.