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Bid for 7-Eleven owner to come to a head soon, hints Couche-Tard
KENJI ASADA
NEW YORK -- Alimentation Couche-Tard, which has made a takeover bid for Seven & i Holdings, hinted on Thursday that a decision on whether to proceed with the acquisition of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain owner will be made soon. No specific timing was given.
Alex Miller, president and CEO of the Canadian company, said in an earnings call that the companies are engaging in discussions on due diligence and divestitures and "setting a timeline" to bring clarity for both sides. "I believe that timeline will be shorter rather than longer," he added.
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Japan Today
17 hours ago
- Japan Today
U.S., Canada to resume trade talks after Ottawa drops digital tax
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attend a meeting with G7 leaders and guests, at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 16, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo By Promit Mukherjee and Doina Chiacu The United States will resume trade negotiations with Canada immediately after Ottawa scrapped its digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday. "Absolutely," Hassett said on Fox News Channel when asked about the talks restarting. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday evening to tell him the tax was being dropped, calling it a big victory for U.S. tech companies. "Very simple. Prime Minister Carney in Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America," she said, crediting Trump's hard-line negotiating style for the shift. "President Trump knows ... that every country on the planet needs to have good trade relationships with the United States, and it was a mistake for Canada to vow to implement that tax that would have hurt our tech companies here in the United States," she said. Trump had asked Canada to drop the tax at a G7 meeting in Canada earlier in June, Hassett said. "It's something that they've studied, now they've agreed to, and for sure, that means that we can get back to the negotiations." Canada halted its plans to begin collecting a new digital services tax targeting U.S. technology firms just hours before this was due to start on Monday in a bid to advance stalled trade negotiations with the U.S. Canada's finance ministry said late on Sunday that Carney and Trump would resume trade negotiations in order to agree on a deal by July 21. "Thank you Canada for removing your Digital Services Tax which was intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America," U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded in a post on X. Stocks hit record highs on Wall Street on Monday morning as sentiment in the markets rose amid optimism about U.S. trade negotiations with key partners, including Canada. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also struck an optimistic tone over the potential for "a flurry" of trade deals ahead of a July 9 deadline, after which 10% U.S. tariff rates on imports from many countries are set to snap back to Trump's April 2 announced rates of 11% to 50%. But Bessent, speaking on Bloomberg Television, warned that countries may not get extensions from that deadline, even if they are negotiating in good faith as he suggested previously. Any extensions would be up to Trump himself, Bessent said. Leavitt said Trump was meeting his trade team this week to set tariff rates for those countries that weren't negotiating. "He is going to set the rates for many of these countries if they don't come to the table to negotiate in good faith, and he is meeting with his trade team this week to do that," she said. Trump abruptly called off trade talks with Canada on Friday over Ottawa's digital services tax, saying it was a "blatant attack." He reiterated this on Sunday, pledging to set a new tariff rate on Canadian goods within the next week, which threatened to push U.S.-Canada relations back into chaos after a period of relative calm. "We have countries that are negotiating in good faith, but they should be aware that if we can't get across the line because they are being recalcitrant, then we could spring back to the April 2 levels," Bessent said. "I hope that won't have to happen." TRADE U-TURN Trump and Carney met at the G7 summit, with the Canadian prime minister saying they had agreed to wrap up a new economic agreement within 30 days. Canada's planned digital tax was 3% of the digital services revenue a firm takes in from Canadian users above $20 million in a calendar year, and payments were to be retroactive to 2022. It would have impacted giant U.S. technology firms, including Meta, Alphabet's Google and Apple. The tax collection slated for Monday will be halted, a statement from Canada's finance ministry said. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne will bring forward legislation to rescind the Digital Services Tax Act. Canadian business groups applauded Carney's decision as well as the U.S. Congress' removal of a "revenge tax" provision from Republican tax legislation, known as 899. "The decision to eliminate the DST makes sense. This tax would have fallen on Canadian consumers, businesses, and investors in the form of higher costs and hurt our economy at a critical time," said David Pierce, vice president of Government Relations at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in a statement. Some observers said Carney's decision ran counter to his campaign promises, however. Carney's Liberal party won an election in April pledging to stand up to Trump. "It feels like we're standing down really quickly," said Vass Bednar, managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute for Public Policy, a think tank. Opposition Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre said Carney needs to demand concessions from Trump. "Canadians need certainty that Liberals will put Canada First and defend Canadian sovereignty in these negotiations," Poilievre said on X. Canada is the second-largest U.S. trading partner after Mexico, and the largest buyer of U.S. exports. It bought $349.4 billion of U.S. goods last year and exported $412.7 billion to the U.S., according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Canada had escaped Trump's broad tariffs imposed in April but still faces other duties, including 50% on steel and aluminum exports to the United States. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
a day ago
- Japan Today
Asian shares mixed after U.S. stocks hit an all-time high
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) By ELAINE KURTENBACH Asian shares started the week with gains after U.S. stocks closed at an all-time high following their recovery from the shocks of the Trump administration's trade policies. Canada's decision to cancel a plan to tax U.S. technology firms that had led President Donald Trump to halt trade talks helped to steady the markets. U.S. stock futures advanced after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the talks had resumed. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.6% to 40,395.99. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.3% to 24,207.36, while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.5% to 3,438.46. China reported that its factory activity improved slightly in June after Beijing and Washington agreed in May to postpone imposing higher tariffs on each others' exports, though manufacturing remained in contraction. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.5% to 3,070.93. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.6% to 8,560.80. Taiwan's Taiex lost 1.4% and the Sensex in India was down 0.4%. In Bangkok, the SET was up 0.3%. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 6,173.07, above its previous record set in February. The key measure of Wall Street's health fell nearly 20% from Feb. 19 through April 8. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.5% to 20,273.46, its own all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1% to 43,819.27. The gains on Friday were broad, with nearly every sector within the S&P 500 rising. Nike soared 15.2% for the biggest gain in the market, despite warning of a steep hit from tariffs. An update on inflation Friday showed prices ticked higher in May, though the rate mostly matched economists' projections. Inflation remains a big concern. Trump's on-again-off-again tariff policy has made it difficult for companies to make financial forecasts and strained household budgets. A long list of businesses from carmakers to retailers have warned that higher import taxes will likely hurt their revenues and profits. The U.S. has 10% baseline tariffs on all imported goods, along with higher rates for Chinese goods and other import taxes on steel and autos and the threat of more severe tariffs continues to hang over the economy. The current pause on a round of retaliatory tariffs against a long list of nations is set to expire on July 9. Failure to negotiate deals or further postpone the tariffs could once again rattle investors and consumers. In an interview with Fox News Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures,' Trump said his administration will notify countries that the trade penalties will take effect unless there are deals with the United States. Letters will start going out 'pretty soon' before the approaching deadline, he said. The Federal Reserve is monitoring the tariff situation with a big focus on inflation. The rate of inflation has been stubbornly sitting just above the central bank's target of 2%. In a report Friday, its preferred gauge, the personal consumption expenditures index, rose to 2.3% in May. That's up from 2.2% the previous month. The Fed cut interest rates three times in late 2024 following a historic series of rate hikes to cool inflation. The PCE was as high as 7.2% in 2022 while the more commonly used consumer price index hit 9.1%. The Fed hasn't cut rates so far in 2025 over worries that tariffs could reignite inflation and hamper the economy. Economists still expect at least two rate cuts before the end of the year. Bond yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.27% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, stood at 3.74%. In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 8 cents to $65.44 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 6 cents to $66.86 per barrel. The U.S. dollar fell to 143.93 Japanese yen from 144.46 yen. The euro rose to $1.1730 from $1.1725. __ AP Business Writers Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with US resume after Canada rescinded tech tax
TORONTO (AP) -- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said late Sunday trade talks with U.S. have resumed after Canada rescinded its plan to tax U.S. technology firms. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he was suspending trade talks with Canada over its plans to continue with its tax on technology firms, which he called "a direct and blatant attack on our country." The Canadian government said "in anticipation" of a trade deal "Canada would rescind" the Digital Serves Tax. The tax was set to go into effect Monday. Carney and Trump spoke on the phone Sunday, and Carney's office said they agreed to resume negotiations. "Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis," Carney said in a statement. Carney visited Trump in May at the White House, where he was polite but firm. Trump traveled to Canada for the G7 summit in Alberta, where Carney said that Canada and the U.S. had set a 30-day deadline for trade talks. Trump, in a post on his social media network last Friday, said Canada had informed the U.S. that it was sticking to its plan to impose the digital services tax, which applies to Canadian and foreign businesses that engage with online users in Canada. The digital services tax was due to hit companies including Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It would have applied retroactively, leaving U.S. companies with a $2 billion U.S. bill due at the end of the month. "Rescinding the digital services tax will allow the negotiations of a new economic and security relationship with the United States to make vital progress," Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement. Champagne also spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday. Trump's announcement Friday was the latest swerve in the trade war he's launched since taking office for a second term in January. Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, starting with the U.S. president poking at the nation's northern neighbor and repeatedly suggesting it would be absorbed as a U.S. state. Canada and the U.S. have been discussing easing a series of steep tariffs Trump imposed on goods from America's neighbor. Trump has imposed 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as 25% tariffs on autos. He is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90-day negotiating period he set would expire. Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, though some products are still protected under the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed during Trump's first term.
