Latest Developments

Europe
BBC Business

US-Canada trade war escalates as Trump threatens tariff hike on autos after Carney vows to retaliate

President Donald Trump has threatened to hike US tariffs on automobiles originating in Canada, as the trade war between the two neighbours continues to heat up. Trump said on Monday that he will increase tariffs on Canadian cars and trucks, as well as auto parts, from 25% to 50% as of 1 January. It comes after US-Canada trade talks collapsed late last week, with each side accusing the other of making unreasonable last-minute demands. Late on Monday, Canada officials announced a news conference on Tuesday where they would outline how the country would respond to the trade war and work to "protect and support Canadian workers and businesses during these challenging times". The news conference at 09:00 ET (14:00 BST) will include government leaders in business, finance and economic development. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump's latest levy threat unsurprising and accused the president of wanting to destroy Canada's auto industry. He added that Canada is ready to resume talks only if the US comes with the "right attitude". The war of words followed several US and Canadian officials saying that talks were suspended with no set date to resume. Canada walked away from trade negotiations late on Friday night, moments before a US-imposed deadline that would add a 50% levy on nearly $20bn (C$28bn; £14bn) of Canadian imports. The collapse in talks marked a significant change in tone from earlier in the week, when both sides appeared optimistic that a new US-Canada trade deal could be reached. Canadian officials have said the US introduced last-minute demands that were "unacceptable", including a clause limiting which countries Canada could sign trade deals with. US officials, meanwhile, said it was Canada that introduced last-minute changes. The breakdown led to growing tensions as both sides publicly dug in their heels.

US-Canada trade war escalates as Trump threatens tariff hike on autos after Carney vows to retaliate
Europe
BBC Business

How Canada could hit back to hurt the US economy - and Trump

What leverage does Canada, which sells about 70% of its goods to the US, actually have in this spiralling trade dispute with its southern neighbour, who also happens to be the world's largest economy? Canada is the top customer for 26 US states, including Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin. And it is in the top three for 45 of the 50 American states, suggesting Prime Minister Mark Carney has room to manoeuvre in a trade fight. For now, Carney's planned Canadian retaliatory duties are strategic "dollar-for-dollar" countermeasures focused on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, pulp and paper - though the list is still being finalised. Polls suggest a majority of Canadians would be unhappy if his government went in the other direction and made significant concessions to the US. That sentiment is shared by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, one of Trump's most vocal critics north of the border, who responded to the tariff threats by telling the US president to "kiss my ass". Canada's Finance Department said additional measures to protect workers and businesses would be announced on Tuesday. Carney noted on Saturday that Canada supplies the vast majority of US natural gas and electricity imports and about 60% of crude oil imports. Squeezing the US on energy is not in the current countermeasures, although various political officials have said explicitly it wasn't ruled out - and not all provincial premiers have been keen to use that leverage. Ford, whose Ontario province is home to Canada's auto manufacturing industry, is open to how far the dispute could go and said that an "energy surcharge is on the table". He briefly floated a 25% surcharge in 2025 on all electricity exports to the United States, which his government estimated would have impacted 1.5 million homes and businesses in Michigan, Minnesota and New York. The country is also a major source of important commodities including potash - a product in fertiliser for which Canada is the world's top supplier. "I'd love to see [Trump] run cars without any oil. I'll love to see him grow vegetables and fruit without the potash," Ford said on Monday. "President Trump underestimates us, and that's the biggest mistake." Canada also has significant reserves of critical minerals like lithium, nickel and graphite.

How Canada could hit back to hurt the US economy - and Trump
North America
CNBC Finance

Trump admin taps former JPMorgan Chase exec Matt Zames to advise Social Security agency

Former JPMorgan Chase executive Matt Zames will join the Trump administration as an advisor to the Social Security agency, CNBC has learned. Zames is taking an unpaid position to help his former JPMorgan colleague Frank Bisignano, who became Social Security commissioner last year, tackle modernization of the agency, said people with knowledge of the move, who asked not to be named because they weren't authorized to discuss it publicly. He starts Monday at Social Security Administration headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, where an office placard bearing his name has already been installed, one of the people said. Zames, a former hedge-fund trader who rose to prominence at JPMorgan after helping clean up the bank's $6 billion "London Whale" mess, was its chief operating officer for about five years. He spearheaded technology and cost-cutting projects at the lender and was seen as a top contender to succeed CEO Jamie Dimon until his departure in 2017. The next year, Zames became president of private equity firm Cerberus, where he oversaw tech investments and helped turn around the firm's Deutsche Bank stake. After leaving Cerberus in 2021, Zames started an advisory and restructuring firm. Zames, who has also had positions on key Treasury and Federal Reserve advisory groups tied to the debt markets, is joining an agency that relies on decades-old technology systems. Beyond the technology issues, the SSA is projected to exhaust its retirement trust fund in less than a decade, which could require benefit cuts to millions of Americans. As a special government employee, Zames can hold his new position for 130 days, but that could be spread over a longer period of time because he won't be working full-time, said one of the people familiar with the move. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Trump admin taps former JPMorgan Chase exec Matt Zames to advise Social Security agency
Europe
BBC Business

Selena Gomez pushes back against 'absurd' fraud claims

Image source, Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty ImagesByLucy HookerBusiness reporterPublished4 hours agoSelena Gomez's social media accounts brim with adoring fans: two million likes for her most recent post showing her and her husband in a rose-petal strewn hotel, and thousands of comments praising her beauty, her lipstick and the perfume brand she founded. This week the PR focus for the star - who rose to fame on the Disney channel but has moved into song-writing, films and TV drama - was supposed to be on the upcoming series six of Only Murders in the Building that sees its podcasting sleuths transfered to London for their next adventure. But the wider chat - outside those friendly spaces - has gone off-script and is largely on a less flattering topic - namely claims from investors who allege she breached her contract by not properly backing the mental health platform Wondermind that she cofounded with her mother five years ago. As a result, the five investors argue, they were defrauded of the nearly $1.2m they invested. Gomez is pushing back against those allegations - her lawyer has asked that she be dismissed from the case altogether, saying the claims made against her are "threadbare". The investors claim they were told that "Selena Gomez, one of the most famous women on earth, with a billion-dollar brand and a platform unmatched in social media, would be actively building the company as its head of marketing". Gomez's attorney Matthew Rosengart says their allegations are "vague, generalised and contradictory" and that Gomez never agreed to, and did not, manage the company, or make the kind of commitments they are suggesting. The emphatic pushback from Gomez may reflect a concern for her reputation but it also leaves her mother in the hot-seat, facing the fraud allegations alongside the company itself and a third co-founder. Crisis PR commentator, Lauren Beeching, founder of Honest London says Gomez is far from the first celebrity to try working with a close family member. At times it can come off like in the Jenner-Kardashian household or with the tennis-playing Williams sisters. But there are plenty of examples - from the Beckhams' to Britney Spears - where family brands and business don't mix well. Working with close relatives, whether that's a sibling or a parent, or someone else is almost always a higher risk approach, says Beeching. "It can make the boundaries between the personal relationship with the business and the celebrity's reputation much harder to separate," she says. The natural level of trust means that you might not apply the same rules as you would in a normal commercial relationhsip, so better guardrails are needed, she says.

Selena Gomez pushes back against 'absurd' fraud claims
North America
CNBC Finance

A media M&A chill: The Paramount-WBD antitrust challenge may hold up more deals than one

Long-awaited media M&A appeared to be finally getting off the ground in recent months. But the delay of Paramount Skydance's $110 billion proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery has industry insiders now citing a chill on mergers and acquisitions. Last month, Paramount agreed to put its tie-up with WBD on hold until as late as June 2027, roughly nine months past its planned closing, while an antitrust challenge brought by a group of state attorneys general heads to trial. The deal had already won approval by global regulators, including from the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Media executives and onlookers say the threat of increased scrutiny by state regulators, as well as a monthslong process before the dust settles, could put more than just Paramount's megamerger on ice. "It feels like the landscape has shifted significantly in the last few weeks around larger deals and combinations," said Jonathan Miller, a media industry veteran who currently serves as CEO of Integrated Media, which owns a portfolio of media and creator ventures. What once felt like a regulatory environment welcoming of mergers during President Donald Trump's second term now feels hampered by the threat that states could take up the regulatory baton. U.S. companies have inked just over 7,500 deals so far this year through Aug. 20, up from 7,015 during the same period last year, according to data provider Dealogic. Collective deal value is up considerably, too, as more megadeals get across the finish line. Media companies have been raring for some time to be part of the action as they seek to cut costs and add scale to their businesses amid the bleed of pay TV subscribers. Besides Paramount's takeover of WBD — which itself came months after David Ellison's Skydance completed its acquisition of Paramount — the industry has seen announcements of combinations, spinoffs and partnerships accounting for tens of billions of dollars in media market cap. Fox Corp. plans to acquire Roku for $22 billion. Comcast, after separating out its portfolio of cable networks into Versant, is now planning to spin off NBCUniversal — which also recently formed a partnership between its Peacock streaming service and YouTube. Netflix has also come to the negotiating table after long vowing to build rather than buy. The future of Fox and Roku's marriage was called into question in a recent analyst note, despite the transaction having relatively fewer antitrust concerns than Paramount-WBD. The deal got a lukewarm reception from investors in June but is nonetheless considered a strategic pivot for Fox into streaming distribution. Bernstein analysts noted what could be a "regulatory timing risk, particularly given the ongoing PSKY-WBD process."

A media M&A chill: The Paramount-WBD antitrust challenge may hold up more deals than one
Europe
BBC Business

'Cowboy builders' targeted in new government clampdown

People carrying out home renovations will gain greater protections against "cowboy builders" through a new database of trusted traders and a payment system offering more safeguards, the government has said. Traders signing up to the scheme launching next month will need to demonstrate certain standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said unscrupulous tradespeople "leave families with months of stress" as well as unfinished work. The National Federation of Builders said the changes would not stop rogue operators while the Tories suggested there would be added paperwork for firms already operating legitimately. Citizens Advice has said home renovations are one of its biggest sources of consumer complaints. The government said more than a quarter of people who carried out home improvements in the past 18 months have experienced problems, such as builders disappearing after upfront payments were made. It cited a survey carried out for the Competition and Markets Authority, external suggesting customers lost more £10bn in 2024 on home and garden maintenance services due to losses, overpriced costs or unfair practices by traders. BBC News has previously reported on "bait-and-switch" locksmith scams, where customers were given an initial cheap quote before hidden charges and unnecessary work were added. Under the new traders' scheme, customers' money will be held in an account and released in parts after certain milestones in projects are completed. The National Federation of Builders (NFB) told BBC Breakfast there are already schemes in place to find trustworthy builders. Adas Rico Wojtulewicz-Richmond, the NFB's director of policy, said: "Is this scheme going to stop bad actors operating and ripping people off? I don't think it will." He said a better approach would be for every project to have a "passport" which records all the work done.

'Cowboy builders' targeted in new government clampdown
Europe
BBC Business

Time is running out for cyber security, warn top tech firms

Image source, Getty ImagesByZoe Kleinman, Technology and AI editor and Kali Hays, Technology reporterPublished27 August 2026A group of 100 firms, including Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, have signed an open letter calling on countries and organisations around the world to beef up their cyber defences before AI grows powerful enough to override them. The letter warns, external cyber-attacks which use AI will become both more widespread and more sophisticated in a matter of months as the technology rapidly improves. The group says current "status quo" security measures "won't be enough" and criticises the "historic under-resourcing" of security around critical infrastructure. Other firms to have signed the letter include banks such as Capital One, payment processors MasterCard and Visa, and other major tech firms including Adobe, Oracle and IBM. They call on governments to provide "capable, defensive AI" and testing to hospitals and water utilities, and on technology companies to aid such efforts. Collectively, tech and government "should bring the full weight of their technology, resources, and expertise to this effort", according to the letter. The letter comes after a string of significant hacking and cybersecurity breaches have been made public. This week, the US Department of Justice said hackers in China breached, external technology maintained by the US Senate, Nasa, the Federal Reserve, and the DoJ itself. This summer has seen OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta all reveal their AI tools doing things they should not, with some AI agents going so far as to organize their efforts and impersonate real people in order to get past security hurdles. A group of hundreds of OpenAI AI agents being tested in July were able to set up secret message boards to communicate with each other and work together, resulting in a successful attack on Hugging Face, a popular repository and platform for AI developers. Hugging Face has also signed the Thursday letter. It used a Chinese AI tool from the firm Z.AI in its investigation into how OpenAI's agents hacked into its operations. At least seven US water and wastewater companies have also reported cyber attacks, leading the FBI to issue, external a public service announcement urging all utilities to better secure their operations.

Time is running out for cyber security, warn top tech firms
Europe
BBC Business

'Not far enough' - US parents and teens on Meta's new limits for young users

For Elizabeth Cardner, a mother of two girls in Houston, Texas, Meta's new limits on how teenagers can use its platforms are a welcome sign that more people are aware of social media's potential dangers. This week, Meta announced new restrictions on its platforms - which include Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp - as part of an $18bn (£13.25bn) settlement with US states in a lawsuit on social media's effects on children. The company said it would set a daily two-hour time limit, hide the number of likes that a post receives, remove autoplay on videos, mute push notifications during school hours, and ban extreme make-up filters. It also announced changes to its age-verification process and parental controls as well as agreeing to appoint an independent auditor to check the measures are implemented and maintained. Many parents across the US see the restrictions as helpful, but are still sceptical. Those who spoke to the BBC described feeling stuck - where they feel they can't cut their children off from social media but also can't protect them from the harms they believe it causes - and they are waiting to see how much of a difference these new rules will make. Cardner's 14-year-old, Paige, believes the restrictions will lead to "more real-life scenarios" and less "fake content", which she says dominates social media. She and her sister both approve of hiding the numbers of likes and restricting filters. "People will find new ways to have fake filters, and correct certain parts of their videos or pictures," she says. "So I think it'll help until people use other resources to try and find new ways to do that." Cardner says banning her daughters entirely from social media would only result in them being left out by their peers. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't," she says. "I don't think there's any winning on it." Another mother of two teens, Andria Rose, told the BBC that she feels defenceless and "no matter how much I protect my kids, Facebook, Instagram - they're coming in and literally, like, taking them out of their rooms". Even though she calls Meta's changes "fantastic", Rose, who lives near Boston, Massachusetts, doesn't believe they are fully addressing the problem. "They're trying to limit the drug, but they're not controlling the drug," she says. "They're still dealing."

'Not far enough' - US parents and teens on Meta's new limits for young users
Europe
BBC Business

Sports Direct founder attacks Burnham's 'populist' High Street plans

Image source, PA MediaByArchie Mitchell and Ben King, Business reportersPublished27 August 2026Updated 4 hours agoSports Direct founder Mike Ashley has criticised Prime Minister Andy Burnham's cost of living and retail policies as "populist". In a letter to Burnham, Ashley accused him of "jumping on 'everyday fixes' or bandwagons" while businesses struggled with the government's "disastrous" business rates policies and higher employment costs. He also described a proposal to increase business rates on large warehouses in order to help reduce rates for pubs and clubs as "delusional". A Downing Street spokesperson said Burnham would "build a new economy that backs British business, delivers growth in every postcode and ensures the essentials in life... are affordable again" Removing the VAT from household electricity bills and reducing business rates for some firms was "just the start", the government spokesperson added. Burnham has promised to revitalise Britain's "hollowed out" High Streets and to address cost of living concerns by tackling "rip-off Britain" including misleading discounting in shops. Ashley's Frasers Group was built on buying up struggling brands and undercutting rivals on price. It is still owned by Ashley but now run by his son-in-law Michael Murray. The business currently owns Sports Direct, Flannels, House of Fraser, Game, Evans Cycles, Slazenger, Jack Wills, and Gieves & Hawkes, and several other retail brands. Ashley's letter, seen by the BBC and first reported by the Financial Times,, external hits out at the government's strategy. "Shortsighted or populist reactions to underlying business challenges are not the answer. You have the chance to make a difference or get it horribly wrong," he wrote. He called on Burnham to use his first Budget, scheduled for 28 October, to lower costs for employers and address business rates. The government has launched a review of the tax on commercial properties, but in advance of that has already announced that pubs, social clubs and live music venues will get a 20% business rates cut from April.

Sports Direct founder attacks Burnham's 'populist' High Street plans