White House says Canada ‘caved' to Trump on tech tax
The White House says that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney 'caved' to President Donald Trump, after Canada dropped a tax on US tech firms which prompted Trump to call off trade talks.
'It's very simple. Prime Minister Carney and Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America,'
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Trump vents about his phone service provider after glitch in call
On Tuesday morning, the president of the United States was just another person complaining online about his service provider. Donald Trump wrote in a pair of posts on Truth Social that he was trying to hold a conference call with faith leaders from all over the country but was unable to start the call because of technical difficulties. "AT&T is totally unable to make their equipment work properly," the Republican president said in a post. "This is the second time it's happened. If the Boss of AT&T, whoever that may be, could get involved — It would be good. There are tens of thousands of people on the line!" Trump then followed up with another post in which he said, "AT&T ought to get its act together". Donald Trump vents on social media about AT&T. (Source: Truth Social) ADVERTISEMENT Representatives for AT&T responded to a post from the White House press secretary sharing Trump's complaints. "We've reached out to the White House and are working to quickly understand and assess the situation," AT&T said. The issue was resolved and the call started 20 minutes late, according to a White House official who was not authorised to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Illuminated AT&T logo sign on dark storefront awning, San Francisco, California in 2025. (Source: Getty) Trump rarely shies away from posting his gripes on social media, whether the target is foreign leaders, media organisations, elected officials or telecommunication companies. The call he was delayed from holding was not on his publicly released schedule. Between 8000 and 10,000 leaders of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths were on the call, the first of a series that the White House expected to regularly hold with religious leaders. ADVERTISEMENT During the call, according to the official, Trump spoke for about 15 minutes and touted provisions in his big tax breaks and spending cuts bill, like the boost to the child tax credit, the Israel-Iran ceasefire and African peace deals he brokered, and the pardons he issued for anti-abortion activist
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Reality Bites, As Business Optimism Improves
The gap between hopeful optimism and the harsh reality of daily business, continues to widen. As to be expected, firms are looking to the economic recovery with greater confidence. Interest rates have fallen. But activity has failed to lift (yet). And it's showing up in price pressures. Experienced costs are easing, that's great; but pricing power is evaporating, not so great. The NZIER correctly deduce that: 'Overall, these indicators continue to suggest inflation pressures should be contained in the New Zealand economy.' And that's key for policy. Rate cuts are required to lift failing activity, without much fear of fuelling inflation. The QSBO survey may have shown a lift in optiism. But confidence is fragile, and at risk of reversing if offshore forces deteriorate. The RBNZ should cut below 3% 'The latest NZIER Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion (QSBO) showed firms remained optimistic about an improvement in the general economic outlook. This upbeat mood remains in stark contrast to the continued weak demand as reported by firms.' NZIER Being optimistic is one thing. We're optimistic about the outlook. Because interest rates are falling and feeding through to households and businesses. A net 27% of firms expect brighter days ahead, up from 23%. In the same breath, a net 23% of firms recorded a decline in activity. And 68% of firms put a 'lack of sales' as their primary constraint on their businesses. 'The continued divergence between optimism about the general economic outlook and weak activity was widespread across the sectors.' NZIER The survey's divergence mirrors the feedback we're hearing from our SME business owners: I expect things to improve, after a miserable few years. But I haven't seen it yet. I want to expand into 2026, but I have my plans for investment on the shelf. I want to expand into 2026, but I'm going through my third restructure to gut costs. I'm optimistic about tomorrow, but I'm realistic about today. And reality bites. The results are not unexpected. The divergence has been in place for a while now. The lift in confidence has been steady, since the depths of despair this time last year. But the economy is crawling, not running, out of the recession. And the argument for stimulatory monetary policy is unequivocal. Interest rates must be lowered to stimulate activity. But what about inflation? Will lower rates fuel inflation? Not yet. The cash rate of 3.25% is close to neutral, and is not stimulatory. And firms are saying they are feeling less pressure, and passing on less pressure. Fewer firms are reporting an increase in costs (42%, down from 50%), and there's been a reduction in pricing power and passthrough. And then there are the risks… The risks to the global outlook, and New Zealand's outlook, remain tilted to the downside. We have a lot of headline risk, particularly out of the Trump administration. The run of recent news has calmed market participants, for now, but we're still waiting on trade deals. We expect most to get done, and end up close to 10%. But risks remain. The geopolitical landscape is simply more hazardous.
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'Make the deal': Trump calls for a ceasefire on the war in Gaza
US President Donald Trump overnight has urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza, as Israel and Hamas appeared to move closer to an agreement. Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire, an Israeli official said. Plans were being made for Netanyahu to travel there in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a deal. Netanyahu was meeting with his security Cabinet on Sunday evening, the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that hadn't been finalised. "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" Trump wrote on social media early Sunday. Trump raised expectations on Saturday for a deal, saying there could be an agreement within the next week. Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war. An eight-week ceasefire was reached just as he took office earlier this year, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps. ADVERTISEMENT Some Palestinians greeted the possibility of a new truce with scepticism after watching the last ceasefire shattered. "Since the beginning of the war, they have been promising us something like this: Release the hostages and we will stop the war," said Abdel Hadi Al-Hour. "They did not stop the war." Trump slams Netanyahu trial Trump also doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it "a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem. (Source: Associated Press) In the post on Saturday evening, Trump said the trial interfered with ceasefire talks, saying Netanyahu "is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back". Last week, Trump called for the trial to be cancelled. It was a dramatic interference by an ally in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. It unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump's popularity there. ADVERTISEMENT The trial has repeatedly been postponed at Netanyahu's request, citing security and diplomatic developments. On Sunday, the court agreed to call off two more days of testimony by him scheduled this week. Major sticking point Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point — whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. Hamas official Mahmoud Merdawi accused Netanyahu of stalling progress on a deal, saying on social media that the Israeli leader insists on a temporary agreement that would free just 10 of the hostages. About 50 hostages remained, with less than half believed to be alive. Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri said that "Hamas was the only obstacle to ending the war", without addressing Merdawi's claim. During a visit on Sunday to to Israel's internal security service, Shin Bet, Netanyahu said that the Israel-Iran war and subsequent ceasefire have opened many opportunities: "First of all, to rescue the hostages. Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both tasks." Hamas said it was willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war in Gaza. Israel rejected that offer, saying it would agree to end the war if Hamas surrendered, disarmed and went into exile, something that the group refused. ADVERTISEMENT The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed 1200 people and took roughly 250 hostage. Gaza's Health Ministry on Sunday said that another 88 people have been killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, raising the war's toll among Palestinians to 56,500. The ministry, which operated under the Hamas government, didn't distinguish between militants and civilians in its count, but said more than half of the dead were women and children. Relatives of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip mourn their deaths at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. (Source: Associated Press) The war has displaced most of Gaza's population, often multiple times, obliterated much of the territory's urban landscape and left people overwhelmingly reliant on outside aid, which Israel has limited since the end of the latest ceasefire. Fewer than half of Gaza's hospitals were even partly functional, and more than 4000 children needed medical evacuation abroad, a new UN humanitarian assessment said. "We are exhausted, we are tired. We hope to God that the war will end," said one Palestinian, Mahmoud Wadi. New Gaza evacuations ordered ADVERTISEMENT The Israeli military ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swaths of northern Gaza, home to hundreds of thousands of people who had returned during the ceasefire earlier this year. Colonel Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media. It included multiple neighbourhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as the Jabaliya refugee camp. The military would expand its escalating attacks westward to the city's centre, calling for people to move toward the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Adraee said. An Israeli military offensive aimed to move Palestinians to southern Gaza, so forces could more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups said their movement would amount to forcible displacement.
