TSX futures edge higher; investors await US trade updates
Futures on the S&P/TSX index (.SXFcv1), opens new tab were up 0.2% at 06:10 a.m. ET (1010 GMT).
Trump said on Tuesday he was not considering extending the deadline for countries to negotiate trade deals with the U.S.
He expressed optimism about a potential trade deal with India but was skeptical about reaching a similar agreement with Japan.
Toronto's commodity-heavy S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab rose to a record high on Monday as the resumption of trade talks between Canada and the U.S. cheered investors. Canadian stock markets were closed on Tuesday for Canada Day.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that the U.S. will resume trade negotiations with Canada immediately. The move follows Ottawa scrapping its digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms.
Canada sends about 75% of its exports to the U.S., including autos, steel and aluminum, which have been hit by hefty U.S. duties.
In the U.S., Senate Republicans passed Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins. The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval.
Gold prices inched down, while oil prices , edged higher.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Blatant misinformation': Social Security Administration email praising Trump's tax bill blasted as a ‘lie'
An email sent by the US Social Security Administration (SSA) that claims Donald Trump's major new spending bill has eliminated taxes on benefits for most recipients is misleading, critics have said. The reconciliation bill – which the president called the 'one big, beautiful bill' before signing it on Friday after Republicans in Congress passed it – includes provisions that will strip people of their health insurance, cut food assistance for the poor, kill off clean energy development and raise the national debt by trillions of dollars. But the bill also 'eliminates federal income taxes on social security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples', the previously apolitical SSA stated in an email circulated on Thursday. Frank Bisignano, the commissioner of the agency, said in a statement that nearly 90% of social security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits. 'This is a historic step forward for America's seniors,' Bisignano said. 'By significantly reducing the tax burden on benefits, this legislation reaffirms President Trump's promise to protect social security and helps ensure that seniors can better enjoy the retirement they've earned.' However, the spending bill does not actually eliminate federal taxes on social security due to the rule constraints of passing a bill this way – through the reconciliation process, to avoid a Democratic filibuster. Instead, the legislation provides a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for people aged 65 and older, and $12,000 for married seniors. These benefits will start to phase out for those with incomes of more than $75,000 and married couples of more than $150,000 a year. Previous SSA officials said that the Trump administration's framing of the bill was misleading. 'People are like, 'Is this real? Is this a scam?' Because it's not what they signed up for,' Kathleen Romig, a former senior adviser at the SSA during the Biden administration, told CNN. 'It doesn't sound like normal government communications, official communications. It sounds like – you know – partisan.' Jeff Nesbit, who served as a top SSA official under Republican and Democratic presidents, posted on X: 'The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement. The fact that Trump and his minion running SSA has done this is unconscionable.' New Jersey congressman Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the House's energy and commerce committee, wrote on X that 'every word' of the SSA's email on Thursday 'is a lie'. 'This big, ugly bill doesn't change that,' Pallone wrote. 'It's disturbing to see Trump hijack a public institution to push blatant misinformation.'
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Trump and Musk's feud: From Epstein allegations to clash over the Big, Beautiful Bill
On Friday May 30, President Donald Trump handed his close aide and 'first buddy' Elon Musk a golden key to the White House, praising the work the tech billionaire had done for his administration. 'Elon gave an incredible service,' Trump said at the joint press conference with Musk. 'There's nobody like him.' That event was intended to mark the end of Musk's 130 days as a special government advisor, leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in slashing excess federal spending. Elon Musk and Donald Trump in happier times (Getty) Although there had been some disagreements during Musk's time in the role – the Tesla owner made it clear he was not a fan of Trump's tariffs, for instance – the event seemed to mark a conciliatory end to their working relationship. But there were rumblings: Musk, whose whole purpose at DOGE had been reducing federal expense, was deeply opposed to Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' fearing it would ramp up the national debt over the next 10 years. While White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt had successfully managed to spin their difference of opinion as an example of healthy debate for a couple of days, everything came to a head on Thursday June 5. A month later and the two billionaires are back to trading pot shots as Trump's deadline to pass the bill looms. Here's a timeline of how the very public fight between Trump and Musk unfolded, which appeared unresolvable until Musk offered a grovelling apology six days later, only to then blow up again three weeks later. Trump vs Musk: Minute-by-minute 1.31pm ET, Tuesday June 3: Musk attacks the 'Big Beautiful Bill' Writing on X, Musk says: 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.' He continued: 'It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America [sic] citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.' Two days later, things escalated dramatically. 12pm, Thursday June 5: Trump says he's 'surprised' by Musk and 'very disappointed' In an Oval Office appearance with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said he was 'very disappointed' by Musk's comments. 'Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here,' Trump told reporters. 'Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore.' Trump added he 'would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway,' without Musk's help. At first, Trump was uncharacteristically restrained with Musk (AFP/Getty) 1.44-1.57pm June 5: Musk renames bill, asks his followers if it is time to create a new political party Musk posts a slew of tweets to X, in one of which he rebuts Trump's point about Pennsylvania, arguing: 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.' In another, he asks, 'Where is this guy today??' in response to a tweet of screenshots from the president's previous criticisms of increasing the debt ceiling. He then tweeted: 'The Big Ugly Bill will INCREASE the deficit to $2.5 trillion!' This is shortly followed by a new suggestion from Musk: 'Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle?' This post was still pinned to the top of the X owner's timeline for several days thereafter. 2.16pm June 5: Musk says he will be around for longer than Trump Responding to MAGA blogger Laura Loomer on X, who was commenting about the divide amongst Republicans over the fight between Musk and Trump, the billionaire said: 'Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years...' 2.37pm June 5: Trump attacks from Truth Social The president says that Musk was 'wearing thin' in a series of posts on his social media platform. 'I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!' Trump said. He then added: 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' 2.48 pm June 5: Musk hits back Retweeting a screenshot of Trump's EV mandate comment (alluding to the Big, Beautiful Bill scrapping a $7,500 tax credit for EV customers, which would impact Tesla), Musk said: 'Such an obvious lie. So sad.' 3.10 pm June 5: Musk alleges Trump appears in the Jeffrey Epstein files Musk tweeted: 'Files linked to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have emerged as a point of fixation for Trump and his allies and right-wing media figures. 'Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.' Shortly after, he wrote: 'Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.' 4.09 pm June 5: Musk says he will decommission the Dragon spacecraft 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,' he tweeted. Another X user replied, urging Musk to 'cool off and take a step back for a couple of days.' Musk replied: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida (NASA) 4.06 pm June 5: Trump defends the bill Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'I don't mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It's a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. 'If this Bill doesn't pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn't create this mess, I'm just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' 4.11 pm June 5: Musk seems to agree Trump should be replaced by Vice President JD Vance Musk retweets an X user, who said: 'President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.' 4.26 pm June 5: Musk brings tariffs into the fight Musk tweets: 'The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year.' The point echoes a warning issued by many of the president's critics, from economists to pundits, but most notably his former presidential rival Kamala Harris. 7.50 pm June 5: Musk says 'Kill the bill' Musk tweets: 'Call your Senator, Call your Congressman, Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL.' Musk and Trump posing with a Tesla at the White House on March 11 2025 (Reuters) Last post of June 5: Impeachment for Trump? Musk's last repost for the day came from an X user, who said: 'This is why Republicans will likely lose the House in 2026 and then Democrats will spend two years investigating and impeaching President Trump. 'Trump and the Republicans in Congress need to deliver. We want budget cuts. We want agencies shut down. We don't want big govt.' June 6: Trump shuns phone call to clear the air The following day, West Wing aides briefed the media that the two men were planning a private phone call to clear the air, only for the president himself to tell reporters that he had no interest in speaking to the man who had donated at least $288m to his election campaign just months earlier, leaving their once-close relationship in limbo. Trump told Jonathan Karl of ABC News he was 'not particularly' interested in talking to Musk and said to Dana Bash of CNN: 'I'm not even thinking about Elon. He's got a problem. The poor guy's got a problem.' 3 am June 11: Musk seeks reconciliation? With Trump and his administration subsequently shifting focus to the Los Angeles anti-ICE protests, the tech boss unexpectedly extends an olive branch. 'I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week,' Musk wrote on X in the small hours of the morning. 'They went too far.' 4 pm June 28: Megabill disagreement erupts again After several weeks of quiet, in which Musk returned to his businesses and the president turned his attention towards Los Angeles and joining Israel's offensive against Iran, the two egos clashed again when Trump's bloated, 940-page 'Big, Beautiful Bill' made its way to the Senate. 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' Musk wrote on X. 'Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.' Musk revived his attacks on Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' in late June, objecting to its likely increase to the national debt (AP) 4 pm June 30: Musk pledges to support primary opponents of Republicans who back bill After the president's signature bill narrowly passed the Senate 51-49, it was subjected to a marathon 'vote-a-rama' in which lawmakers tabled amendments seeking to modify a legislative package many feared went too far in cutting welfare programs while cranking up the national debt, a particular concern of Musk's. 'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!' the world's richest man posted. 'And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.' 1am July 1: Trump suggests DOGE investigate Musk subsidies with veiled threat to send him 'home to South Africa' While the president was largely preoccupied with keeping Republican 'grandstanders' in line as the Senate voting progressed, he finally snapped and went after Musk on Truth Social in the early hours of Tuesday morning. 'Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate,' Trump huffed. 'It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. 'No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!'
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
From primary challenges to stranded astronauts: How Elon Musk can hurt Donald Trump
"Knowing Elon the way I know him, I do think he's going to do everything to damage the president." So declared Elon Musk's former friend and business associate Philip Low, who has known the Tesla and SpaceX tycoon for 14 years, in a recent interview with Politico. Those remarks seemed to be borne out Monday night when Musk renewed his on-again, off-again feud with Donald Trump by attacking Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" and threatening to form a new political party. Trump responded in kind, suggesting he would "take a look" at revoking Musk's citizenship and that he "might have to put DOGE on Elon". As The Independent reported last month, there are a great many ways that Trump could try to hurt Musk, from targeting his companies with federal investigations to deportation or even criminal investigations. But Musk is not without cards to play. Through his vast wealth, his business empire, and his ability to martial a zealous online fanbase, he has plenty of ways to make life difficult for his erstwhile "buddy". So if the world's richest person really wants this fight, what punches could he throw? A money hose for Trump's opponents The first and most obvious weapon in Musk's arsenal is his vast wealth: an estimated $405 billion, according to Forbes. In the 2024 election, Musk plowed $295 million into supporting Republican candidates, chiefly Trump himself. That's a huge amount in American politics, but it's chump change for today's mega-rich. For context, across the whole of 2023 and 2024, the total amount of money raised by all presidential candidates was only $2 billion, according to the Federal Election Commission. Congressional candidates raised $3.8 billion, while PACs raised a more respectable $15.7 billion. Matching those amounts wouldn't be trivial for Elon Musk, because like most of the world's richest people his wealth is tied up in stocks that can't easily be unloaded all at once. Still, based on Wednesday's share prices, he could pay for the entire 2024 election cycle by liquidating just one fifth of his reported $130 billion stake in Tesla. We have a sense already of how Musk might use this money. "Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," he said on Monday. He's suggested he'd donate to Republican representative Thomas Massie, a persistent critic of Trump's. And there's still another $100 million Musk previously promised Trump that he could decide to withhold. He could even give money to Democrats, who will likely take it (although Trump has threatened 'serious consequences' in that scenario). They are politicians, after all. Musk's billions could also fund the creation of a new political party. Although the USA's first-past-the-post electoral system means third parties find it almost impossible to get a seat in Congress, they can still leech votes from the mainstream. That said, Musk's notion that 80 percent of the USA agrees with his opinions seems disconnected from reality. The polling expert Nate Silver puts his net favorability rating at a weighted average of -18 percent, which is considerably worse than Trump himself. Of course, money isn't everything — as Musk himself found out when his attempt to sway the Wisconsin Supreme Court election in March and April crashed and burned. Luckily for him, it's not his only asset. Musk's cult of personality rivals Trump's own Musk's overall popularity may have dropped dramatically since the election. But his pull with Republican voters specifically was still very high as of early June. That's testament to his ability to build and maintain a fanatical fanbase. Like Trump, he has a knack for inspiring loyalty and whipping up his supporters against new targets, as well as a keen instinct for controversy. And also like Trump, he doesn't need to be popular with all Americans to cause trouble for his enemies. He only needs enough dedicated partisans on his side. 'Elon has wooed enough of Trump's supporters to be an actual threat politically,' Musk's old friend Philip Low told Politico. "[Trump] doesn't realize the battle that he has on his hands." Musk's ownership of X, formerly Twitter, will help him there. Having already turned the social network into a hub of the MAGA media universe — and reportedly tweaked its algorithms in favor of his own posts — he now has enormous control over the conservative information stream. Given how many Americans now essentially live in a parallel media universe, maintained by fake news entrepreneurs and skewed social media algorithms, that gives him influence over what Trump's base even believes to be reality. Granted, Trump remains the unquestioned ruler of the GOP. And when polls pit Musk against Trump directly, Republican voters largely side with the king. Yet Musk's combination of financial and social capital makes him a powerful ally to anyone within the party hoping to chart their own course. From fiscal hawks opposed to Trump's spending spree to centrists with one eye on their purple state majority, there are plenty of people in Congress who won't always back Trump 100 percent. Musk can boost and sustain them, helping them resist the eye of Sauron effect that Trump has traditionally used to beat his coalition into line. Musk's influence crosses countries and industries Other threats are more esoteric. NASA would be pretty stuck without SpaceX, which currently offers the only reliable way of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Musk's satellite business Starlink is relied on by governments and militaries across the world, including some U.S. agencies. Having helped kickstart China's world-leading electric vehicle industry, he also has a serious fanbase in China — and good relationships with the Chinese Communist Party. "Brother Musk, you've got over a billion people on our side backing you," said one user on the Chinese social network Weibo on Wednesday. Most juicily of all, he has information. Musk spent months at the heart of the Trump administration, attending cabinet meetings and undertaking highly controversial projects. What might he have learned or witnessed during that time that could damage Trump politically? We got a taste of that when Musk accused Trump of being "in the Epstein files". That's nothing new: we've known since 2015 that Trump was in Jeffrey Epstein's address book (which is not evidence of wrongdoing), and his ties to the child-abusing financier are long documented. Yet as Trump knows all too well, in today's politics truth has only a passing relevance to how much chaos a lurid allegation can cause. None of these factors are a slam dunk for Musk. His born-again MAGA conversion has trashed his former reputation as an apolitical business genius, and toxified his image among Democratic voters. Getting more involved in politics would only prolong investors' disquiet about his ability to focus on running Tesla and SpaceX. Trying to dish dirt on Trump could also tempt revenge in kind, which could be dangerous given the sheer range of allegations about Musk's personal life. Most of all, to misquote a line from the early 19th century writer Hilaire Belloc that Musk seems to be fond of: whatever happens, Trump has got the nukes, and Musk does not. Then again, when has the near certainty of adverse consequences ever stopped Elon Musk?
