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Time of India
an hour ago
- Business
- Time of India
In 24 hours: Trump's 'full barrier' trade pitch to India, pact with China, cold shoulder to Canada - What's next?
With the Iran–Israel war seemingly in his rear-view mirror, US President Donald Trump has swiftly reset his global focus—once again time zeroing in on trade, tariffs and new deals. In the past 24 hours, Trump has dramatically suspended trade talks with Canada over its digital services tax, vaguely confirmed a fresh agreement with China, and teased a 'very big' breakthrough soon with India. Central to this flurry of announcements is his revived strategy of issuing reciprocal tariffs—by letter—to nations wishing to access the US market. Trump's decision to halt negotiations with Canada came after Ottawa unveiled a 3 per cent levy on major US tech firms, which he denounced as 'a direct and blatant attack on our country.' He declared via social media that he would determine and impose appropriate tariffs within a week, citing the US's dominant position in the relationship. Meanwhile, officials in Washington emphasise that Canada holds more to lose, reinforcing Trump's image of maximum leverage. But Trump also struck a softer tone on India, calling a potential trade deal 'very big.' He hinted this could result in sweeping access for US businesses, dismantling barriers that have thus far kept them at bay: 'Right now, it's restricted. You can't walk in there… we agree that going to India and trade…' He added that the China deal was already underway, giving US firms a shot at rare earths and other vital commodities, though details remain under wraps. Trump tariff : What happened in the last 24 hours President Donald Trump's trade agenda took a dramatic turn over the past 24 hours, as he announced a series of sweeping moves on tariffs, suspended trade talks with Canada, signalled a breakthrough with China, and hinted at a 'very big' deal with India. The moves mark a sharp escalation in his second-term strategy to assert US dominance over global trade, even as allies and rivals alike push back. Trump halts Canada trade talks over digital tax Trump stunned officials on both sides of the border by immediately halting trade negotiations with Canada. 'Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,' Trump posted on his social media network. 'We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period.' Canada's new digital services tax, due to take effect Monday, imposes a 3% levy on tech giants like Amazon, Google, Meta and Airbnb — applying retroactively and totalling nearly \$2 billion in US company obligations. 'We have all the cards,' says Trump on Canada Speaking from the White House, Trump reinforced his hardline stance. 'They did something with our tech companies today trying to copy Europe. It's not going to work out well for Europe either. And it's not going to work out well for Canada. They were foolish to do it,' he said. When asked if Canada could reverse his decision, Trump responded, 'No… It doesn't matter to me. We have all the cards.' Tariff deadline looms on July 9 The broader context is Trump's push to impose reciprocal tariffs — some as high as 50% — on countries with whom the US runs a trade deficit. The 90-day negotiation window, set to expire on July 9, could usher in a new wave of tariffs. 'We have 200 countries, you could say 200 countries plus. You can't do that,' Trump said. 'So at a certain point over the next week and a half or so, or maybe before we're going to send out a letter.' Canadian PM Carney: 'It's a negotiation' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sought to downplay tensions, saying, 'We will continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interests of Canadians. It's a negotiation.' But Trump appears unmoved, accusing Canada of levying 'very, very severe' taxes on American companies, including tariffs of up to 400% on dairy products. Digital services tax: The flashpoint The Canadian tax mirrors EU regulations and specifically targets companies with significant online revenues generated from Canadian users. Trump blasted the policy as 'a direct and blatant attack on our country.' Matt Schruers, head of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, praised Trump's swift response: 'We appreciate the Administration's decisive response to Canada's discriminatory tax on US digital exports.' Tariff letters coming soon, says Trump At a White House press conference, Trump confirmed that the US is preparing to send letters to several countries within the next 10 days. 'We're just going to tell them what they have to pay to do business in the United States,' he said. 'We can do whatever we want. We could extend it. We could make it shorter. I'd like to just send letters out to everybody: Congratulations, you're paying 25 per cent.' Trump: 'India trade deal coming soon' Turning to India, Trump expressed optimism that a long-pending deal may soon materialise. 'India, I think we are going to reach a deal where we have the right to go and do trade,' Trump told reporters. 'Right now, it's restricted. You can't walk in there, you can't even think about it. We are looking to get a full trade barrier dropping, which is unthinkable and I am not sure that that is going to happen. But as of this moment, we agree that going to India and trade…' 'A very big one deal' with India In remarks during the 'Big Beautiful Bill' event, Trump said: 'We have one coming up, maybe with India. Very big one. Where we're going to open up India, in the China deal, we're starting to open up China.' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick echoed that sentiment, saying: 'You should expect a deal between the United States and India in the not-too-distant future because I think we found a place that really works for both countries.' Commerce minister Piyush Goyal confirmed talks were ongoing, stressing that the goal was a 'fair, equitable and balanced agreement.' US-China pact confirmed, details sparse Trump also confirmed that a deal had been signed with China 'the other day,' though details remain limited. China's Commerce Ministry acknowledged the agreement, mentioning a review of rare earth exports, but offered no timeline. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China had agreed to make it easier for American firms to acquire key minerals. 'What we're seeing here is a de-escalation under President Trump's leadership,' he told Fox Business. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Malay Mail
2 hours ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
Texas keeps porn age-check law after US Supreme Court rejects free speech challenge in major online content ruling
WASHINGTON, June 28 — The US Supreme Court yesterday upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify visitors' ages, rejecting arguments that this violates free speech and boosting efforts to protect children from online sexual content. The court's decision will impact a raft of similar laws nationwide and could set the direction for internet speech regulation as concerns about the impact of digital life on society grow. Texas is one of about 20 US states to institute checks that porn viewers are over 18, which critics argue violate First Amendment free speech rights. Britain and Germany also enforce age-related access restrictions to adult websites, while a similar policy in France was blocked by the courts a week ago. US companies like Meta, meanwhile, are lobbying Washington lawmakers for age-based verification to be carried out by smartphone giants Apple and Google on their app stores. The Texas law was passed in 2023 by the state's Republican-majority legislature but was initially blocked after a challenge by an adult entertainment industry trade association. A federal district court sided with the trade group, the Free Speech Coalition, saying the law restricted adults' access to constitutionally protected content. But a conservative-dominated appeals court upheld the age verification requirement, prompting the pornography trade group to take its case to the Supreme Court, where conservatives have a 6-3 supermajority. Under the law, companies that fail to properly verify users' ages face fines up to $10,000 per day and up to $250,000 if a child is exposed to pornographic content as a result. To protect privacy, the websites aren't allowed to retain any identifying information obtained from users when verifying ages, and doing so could cost companies $10,000 daily in fines. During arguments in January before the Supreme Court, a lawyer representing the Free Speech Coalition said the law was 'overly burdensome' and that its goal could be accomplished using content filtering programs. But Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the mother of seven children, took issue with the efficacy of content filtering, saying that from personal experience as a parent, such programs were difficult to maintain across the many types of devices used by kids. Barrett also asked the lawyer to explain why requesting age verification online is any different than doing so at a movie theater that displays pornographic movies. The lawyer for the Free Speech Coalition — which includes the popular website Pornhub that has blocked all access in some states with age verification laws — said online verification was different as it leaves a 'permanent record' that could be a target for hackers. During the court's hearing of the case in January, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Clarence Thomas, both Republican appointees, seemed to suggest that advances in technology might justify reviewing online free speech cases. In 1997, the Supreme Court struck down, in an overwhelming 7-2 decision, a federal online age-verification law in what became a landmark free speech case that set a major precedent for the internet age. — AFP
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Mulls Swapping Out Llama
Meta's (NASDAQ:META) top brass, including Mark Zuckerberg, are quietly debating whether to dial back its open-source Llama models and lean on closed systems from OpenAI or Anthropic instead. Over the past week, insiders told The New York Times that Meta execs have discussed de-investing in Llama after the April reveal underwhelmed some developers and benchmarks lagged behind rival releases. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Sign with META. Even so, a Meta spokeswoman insists there'll be multiple additional Llama releases this year. Behind the scenes, Meta is splashing out on AI talent and techincluding a $14.3 billion deal for half of Scale AI and seven-figure sign-on offers for OpenAI researchers like Trapit Bansal. Switching from open-source to closed models could speed up Meta's time-to-market and tap best-in-class performance, but it also risks alienating the community that built Llama's early momentum. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Mint
2 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Facebook wants your photos to train its AI and create edits, even if you don't upload them
Facebook is asking users for access to their phone's camera roll in order to suggest AI edited versions of their pictures, even for the ones that haven't been uploaded to the social media platform yet. According to a Techcrunch report, the new feature is being suggested to Facebook users while creating a new Story where a screen pop up asks them if they would like to opt into 'cloud processing' to allow for creative suggestions. Once the users click on 'Allow', they would give Facebook the right to generate new ideas from their camera roll including collages, recaps, AI restylings or photo themes. The company states that in order for the feature to work it will upload media from the camera roll to its servers on an 'ongoing basis' depending on information like time, location or themes. Facebook further states that by agreeing to Meta's AI Terms of Service, users allow their media and facial features to be analyzed by an AI and the company will use date and the prescence of people or objects in the images to generate creative ideas. 'once shared, you agree that Meta will analyze those images, including facial features, using AI. This processing allows us to offer innovative new features, including the ability to summarize image contents, modify images, and generate new content based on the image,' Meta's AI terms state. The same terms state that Meta AI has the right to 'retain and use' any personal information shared by the users in order to personalize its AI outputs. It also states that the social media giant can review users' interactions with its AI including conversations and those reviews will be conducted by humans. Reportedly, Meta doesn't give much clarity on what it considers personal information apart from saying that it includes 'information you submit as Prompts, Feedback, or other Content.' Notably, Meta has previously also confirmed that it used data published on Facebook and Instagram since 2007 in order to train its generative AI models.
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Sector Spotlight: Instagram, TikTok coming to a TV screen near you
Welcome to the latest edition of 'Sector Spotlight,' where The Fly looks at a new industry every week and highlights its happenings. Confident Investing Starts Here: TECH SECTOR NEWS: Germany's data protection commissioner, Meike Kamp, has asked Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL) to remove Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, Reuters reported. The two U.S. companies must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she said in a statement on Friday, according to the report. According to EU's competitive chief Teresa Ribera, the European Union's crackdown on Apple, Meta (META), and Google (GOOGL) is not a bargaining chip in negotiations with the U.S. President Donald Trump, Samuel Stolton and Oliver Crook of Bloomberg wrote. In an interview, Ribera rejected suggestions that the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act, DMA, may be sacrificed to dodge punitive EU tariffs pitched by the White House. 'Of course not,' Ribera said on Bloomberg TV. 'We do not challenge the United States on how they implement their rules or how they adopt regulations. We deserve respect in the same way.' Meta's Instagram and TikTok are working on versions of their apps customized to run on TV screens, following YouTube's success in attracting a TV audience, The Information's Kaya Yurieff and Kalley Huang reported. A group of authors have filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in a New York federal court, claiming the company used nearly 200,000 pirated books without permission to train its Megatron AI model, Reuters' Blake Brittain wrote. Kai Bird, Jia Tolentino, Daniel Okrent and several others alleged that Microsoft used pirated digital versions of their books to teach its AI to respond to human prompts. The complaint against Microsoft came a day after a California federal judge ruled that Anthropic made fair use under U.S. copyright law of authors' material to train its AI systems but may still be liable for pirating their books. Earlier in the week, a federal judge has found Anthropic's use of books to train its AI models was legal in some circumstances, but not others, Meg Tanaka of The Wall Street Journal reported. Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California ruled Anthropic's use of copyrighted books for AI model training was legal under U.S. copyright law if it had purchased those books. The ruling does not apply to the more than 7M books the company obtained through 'pirated' means. Anthropic is backed by Amazon (AMZN) and Google. Vasi Philomin, Amazon Web Services' VP overseeing generative AI development, told Reuters in an email that he has left the e-commerce giant for another company, without providing details. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has hired three AI researchers from Microsoft-backed (MSFT) OpenAI to help with his superintelligence efforts, the Wall Street Journal's Meghan Bobrowsky wrote. The social media giant poached Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov and Xiaohua Zhai from OpenAI's Zurich office. The three staff established the Zurich office late last year. OpenAI and Microsoft are in contract negotiations that hinge on when OpenAI's systems will reach artificial general intelligence, The Wall Street Journal's Berber Jin reported. The contract stipulates that OpenAI can limit Microsoft's access to its tech when its systems reach AGI, which Microsoft is fighting. Microsoft hopes to remove the AGI clause or secure exclusive access to OpenAI's IP even after AGI is declared, according to the report. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had a 'super nice' call with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Monday and discussed their future working partnership, Altman said this week in a New York Times podcast. 'Obviously in any deep partnership, there are points of tension and we certainly have those,' Altman said. 'But on the whole, it's been like really wonderfully good for both companies.' Cloud computing currently generates large profits for Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Google (GOOGL), but this now faces a threat with the rise of AI cloud specialists and Nvidia, a new industry power broker, Asa Fitch of The Wall Street Journal wrote. Nvidia launched its own cloud-computing services two years ago and has nurtured upstarts competing with big cloud companies, investing in CoreWeave (CRWV) and Lambda. Amazon plans to invest GBP 40B in the UK over the next three years. Amazon said via LinkedIn: 'This investment builds on Amazon's 27-year history in the UK, where we've grown to employ over 75,000 people across over 100 sites, reaching every region of the country. This historic investment will create thousands of full-time jobs, including 2,000 jobs at the previously announced state-of-the-art fulfillment center in Hull, 2,000 jobs at another in Northampton, and additional positions at new sites in the East Midlands and at delivery stations across the country.' OpenAI has quietly designed a rival to compete with Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, with features that allow people to collaborate on documents and communicate via chat in ChatGPT, The Information's Amir Efrati and Natasha Mascarenhas reported, citing two people who have seen the designs. Launching these features would allow OpenAI to compete more directly against Microsoft, its biggest investor and business partner, the report notes. Starting June 24, a limited number of Waymo autonomous vehicles will gradually become available on the Uber (UBER) app for riders in select areas of Atlanta, Georgia, the company announced in a blog post. The Competition and Markets Authority is proposing to designate Google with 'strategic market status' in general search and search advertising. The CMA will consult on the proposal ahead of a final decision in October. If designated, the CMA would be able to introduce targeted measures to address specific aspects of how Google operates search services in the UK. The CMA has also published a roadmap of potential actions it could prioritize were Google to be designated. Early priorities include: requiring choice screens for users to access different search providers; ensuring fair ranking principles for businesses appearing on Google search; more transparency and control for publishers whose content appears in search results; and portability of consumer search data to support innovation in new products and services. Google search accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, the CMA said. CMA CEO Sarah Cardell said: 'These targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google's search services – as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy.' The CMA welcomes views on its proposed designation decision and accompanying roadmap. A final decision on SMS designation will be made by the deadline of October 13. Apple is in last-minute talks with EU regulators over making changes to its App Store to avoid a series of escalating EU fines due to come into effect this week, The Financial Times' Barbara Moens wrote. People involved in the negotiations say Apple is expected to offer concessions on its 'steering' provisions that stop users accessing offers outside the App Store. Regulators had ordered the company to revise its rules within two months of its initial EUR 500M fine, and people with knowledge of the talks say Apple is expected to announce some concessions that buy the company more time, as the commission would first assess those changes before making a final decision. Discussions have also involved Apple's 'Core Technology Fee,' which requires developers to pay for each annual install after 1M downloads.
