Good morning. The moon hits the sky for a total eclipse tonight – more on that below, along with Steel Town’s tariff fears and Ukraine’s ceasefire doubts. But first:

• Mark Carney will be sworn in as prime minister alongside his new cabinet on Friday
• Doug Ford and Dominic LeBlanc will meet Trump administration officials over tariffs in Washington today
• Foreign powers will drive much of the wobbly postwar peace in Syria as sectarian violence continues to rage

Yesterday brought another round of trade war turmoil. Just after midnight, the Trump administration’s global tariffs on aluminum and steel imports went into effect. The European Union hit back first, benefiting from the time difference, with levies on US$28-billion worth of U.S. metals and agricultural produce. Hours later, Canada announced its own retaliatory tariffs on $29.8-billion of U.S. steel, aluminum and other goods. The U.S. President wasn’t pleased. He said his reciprocal levies on April 2 could go “a little beyond reciprocal.” Then he warned that “America is going to take back a lot of what was stolen from it by other countries.”

I’ve found myself losing sleep lately over Donald Trump’s grim threats. I stare at the ceiling and worry about the volatility, or that he will soon have designs on our cheese. But tonight, at least, I plan to make good use of this wretched insomnia. I’m going to head outside at an ungodly hour and look at a total lunar eclipse.

And if you live pretty much anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, you can join me. For the first time in three years, the Earth will line up perfectly between the sun and the moon, blocking out the solar light that reflects off the moon’s surface and immersing it in shadow. To begin, the moon will enter the Earth’s penumbra, or the outer part of that shadow. There’ll be a subtle dimming effect; I might stay in bed for this part. But then, around 1:09 a.m. ET, it moves into the Earth’s central shadow, known as the umbra. At that point, it’ll start to look like some celestial being is taking bites out of the moon.

Those bites will progress from its bottom-left corner toward the top right. By 2:26 a.m. ET, the moon will be in the deepest part of the Earth’s shadow, and the total lunar eclipse will begin. But wait! Instead of being plunged into total darkness, the moon will turn an eerie reddish colour. That’s because the only light reaching its surface is from the edges of our atmosphere – everything other than the longest, reddest wavelengths is filtered out. As NASA says, with a surprisingly poetic flourish, “it’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the moon.”

Skygazers have more than an hour to enjoy this projection, which could range from a vivid copper to a deep crimson, depending on weather and atmospheric conditions at the time. Around 3:30 a.m. ET, the moon will exit the Earth’s umbra, the red hue will start to fade, and the celestial bites will move in the opposite direction. By 4:48 a.m. ET, the partial eclipse will be over, and the lunar show ends altogether an hour after that.

At least, that’s what we’ll see. Blue Ghost – a robotic spacecraft that made a remarkably drama-free landing on the moon early this month – has a different view. The hippopotamus-sized lander will watch the Earth move in front of the sun, transforming for that hour into a colossal dark circle ringed in bright red. For the past 11 days, Blue Ghost has been frantically conducting NASA science experiments and sending back data before the sun sets on its solar panels this weekend. The lander has already imaged a lunar sunrise; provided its camera is still working tonight, it’ll capture a solar eclipse from the moon’s vantage point.

But spare a thought for poor Athena, another lunar lander who, just days after Blue Ghost’s graceful touchdown, had a more ignominious descent. She overshot her mark near the moon’s south pole by 250 metres and toppled over. Athena ended up on her side, in a frigid crater, unable to charge her batteries. Girl, same.

Among the steel factories of Hamilton, Donald Trump’s across-the-board tariffs are bringing an added dose of uncertainty to a precarious industry by nature. Read more here about Steel Town’s fears of how long these levies will last.

At home: Norovirus comes on fast, hits hard, and is packing an extra wallop this winter, with cases in Canada at their highest level in a decade.

Abroad: Suspicious of Vladimir Putin and disappointed by Donald Trump, Ukrainians are doubtful about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement.

Under pressure: The Trump administration’s massive cuts to the U.S. weather agency will be felt in Canada – especially during hurricane season.

On the move: After a decades-long relationship with the Harbourfront Centre, the Toronto International Festival of Authors is going independent and leaving the lake for venues closer to downtown.