European Stock Futures Climb After EU Clinches US Trade Deal
The pact, which will see the bloc face 15% tariffs on most of its exports including autos, was announced Sunday by President Donald Trump after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The European leader said the rate would be all inclusive, though Trump said it did not include pharmaceuticals and metals.
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Hamilton Spectator
a few seconds ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Weston family wants to buy Hudson's Bay charter and donate it, museum says
TORONTO - The royal charter that formed Hudson's Bay about 355 years ago could soon be getting a new home. The Canadian Museum of History announced Wednesday that the Weston family, of Loblaw Cos. Ltd. fame, wants to buy the document and donate it to the Quebec institution. The charter was signed by King Charles II in 1670. It gave the Bay rights to a vast swath of land spanning most of Canada and extraordinary power over trade and Indigenous relations for decades more. The museum says the acquisition still needs court approval but if that is obtained, the Westons will donate the document immediately and permanently. 'At a time when Canada is navigating profound challenges and seeking renewed unity, it is more important than ever that we hold fast to the symbols and stories that define us as a nation,' said Galen Weston in a statement. 'The Royal Charter is an important artifact within Canada's complex history. Our goal is to ensure it is preserved with care, shared with integrity, and made accessible to all Canadians, especially those whose histories are deeply intertwined with its legacy.' His family made its fortune through Canadian retail chains including Holt Renfrew, as well as several European department stores. As part of its proposed purchase of the charter, the museum said the family has offered additional funding to support 'a meaningful consultation process' with Indigenous Peoples on how the Royal Charter 'can be shared, interpreted and contextualized in a manner that respects Indigenous perspectives and historical experiences.' The funding will help the museum explore ways to share the charter with other museums and through public exhibitions. Caroline Dromaguet, the museum's president and CEO, said the donation is of 'enormous importance to Canada' and 'will serve as a catalyst for national dialogue, education and reconciliation for generations to come.' The Westons expressed an interest in buying the charter after the Bay filed for creditor protection in March under the weight of $1.1 billion in debt. The company later liquidated and closed all 96 stores under the Bay and Saks Canada banners. It got permission from a judge in April to work with auction house Heffel Gallery to sell 2,700 artifacts and 1,700 art pieces the retailer owned, including the charter. The move sparked concern from archival institutions, governments and Indigenous groups, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which all worried it would allow pieces of Canadian and Indigenous history to wind up in private hands and away from public view. Hudson's Bay hasn't held its auction nor released a full catalogue of items that will be available, though it has allowed groups to view an inventory of the collection if they sign non-disclosure agreements. A source familiar with the Bay's collection, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told The Canadian Press previously that paintings, point blankets, paper documents and even collectible Barbie dolls are part of the trove. Historians believe the charter is likely the most coveted piece the retailer owned. 'It's 100 per cent their crown jewel,' said Cody Groat, a historian of Canadian and Indigenous history who serves as the chair of the UNESCO Memory of the World Advisory Committee in an April interview. 'There is no doubt this is the most significant document that the Hudson's Bay Company has access to or that they've ever produced.' Thomas Caldwell, CEO of Toronto investment manager Urbana Corp., agreed. He told The Canadian Press in the spring that he was interested in purchasing and giving the parchment document with a royal wax seal to a museum. At the time, he said donating the piece would 'make more sense' for whoever buys it because 'it's a big hassle to have something historic like that in an office or in a home.' He speculated that it would need to be insured, have constant security and likely require storage in precise temperatures to preserve it. For many years, the Bay kept the royal charter at its head office in Toronto, though it was temporarily loaned to the Manitoba Museum in 2020. That museum and the Archives of Manitoba hold the bulk of the Bay's artifacts. The company donated them to the organizations in the 1990s, so many thought they'd be a natural home for the charter. 'We know exactly where it belongs in our system,' Kathleen Epp, keeper of Manitoba's Hudson's Bay Co. archives, told The Canadian Press in April. 'We think of (the charter) as part of our records in a way already because ... we've got the rest of the story and so we feel like it makes sense for the charter to be here and to be as publicly accessible as any of the other records.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2025.
CNN
a few seconds ago
- CNN
Treasury secretary calls new Trump accounts 'a backdoor' way to privatize Social Security
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday likened the Trump accounts created by Republicans' massive new domestic policy law to 'a backdoor for privatizing Social Security.' Democrats are already launching political attacks. Bessent was discussing the Trump accounts at a Breitbart policy panel. The federal government will contribute $1,000 into these new tax-deferred investment accounts for US citizen children born between 2025 and 2028, while parents and others can contribute up to $5,000 annually. The funds are intended to be used for higher education, buying a home or starting a small business. The accounts can also be used to help Americans better understand investing and serve as a way to save for retirement, Bessent said. Then he threw out a comment that had Democrats immediately up in arms. 'In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security,' he said. 'Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out. To the extent that if, all of a sudden, these accounts grow and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement, then that's a game changer, too.' Democrats have long accused Republicans of wanting to privatize Social Security — a topic that sparks intense reactions from Americans who are suspicious of plans to harm the program after they've paid into it for years — and have resurfaced the issue during President Donald Trump's second term. 'Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just said the quiet part out loud: The administration is scheming to privatize Social Security,' Tim Hogan, the Democratic National Committee's senior adviser for messaging, mobilization and strategy, said in a statement. 'Trump is now coming after American seniors with a 'backdoor' scam to take away the benefits they earned.' Privatizing Social Security would also enrich Wall Street, said Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. 'Republicans' ultimate goal is to privatize Social Security, and there isn't a backdoor they won't try to make Wall Street's dream a reality,' Neal said in a statement. 'For everyone else though, it's yet another warning sign that they cannot be trusted to safeguard the program millions rely on and have paid into over a lifetime of work.' The Treasury Department did not return a request for comment. Republicans in Congress last made a major effort to establish private Social Security accounts in 2005, during George W. Bush's second term. It proved unsuccessful after sparking heavy blowback. Bessent also said Wednesday that the Trump accounts would help address people who are disillusioned with 'the system,' referencing New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's unexpected win in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. Mamdani is a democratic socialist. 'When you do this, you make everyone a shareholder,' Bessent said. 'People who are part of the system do not want to bring down the system.'
a minute ago
Trump's comments on Epstein raise new questions about when and why they fell out
President Donald Trump this week spoke at length about his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, but his accounts raise new questions about when exactly the two fell out and why. Trump said on Monday that his relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women, soured because Epstein poached some employees after he explicitly warned him not to do so. Trump on Tuesday went on to say that Epstein "stole" young women who worked at the spa at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. "People were taken out of the spa, hired by him. In other words, gone," Trump told reporters on Air Force One. One of those workers, Trump said, was Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein accuser who said she was recruited by his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, when Giuffre was an underage teenager working as a locker-room attendant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000. Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking minors and now serving a 20-year prison sentence, has denied the allegations. Giuffre died by suicide this past April at age 41. "I don't know. I think she worked at the spa, I think so, I think that was one of the people," Trump first said when asked about Giuffre before going on to say more definitively, "Yeah, he stole her. And by the way, she had no complaints about us, none whatsoever." According to Social Security records submitted to the court during Giuffre's defamation case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Giuffre was employed at Mar-a-Lago Club LLC in 2000 and earned $1,866.50 during that calendar year. The duration and precise dates of her employment at Trump's club remained in dispute when the lawsuit settled in 2017. Giuffre -- then known as Virginia Roberts -- subsequently went on to travel extensively around the world with Epstein and Maxwell over the next two years, according to flight logs kept by one of Epstein's pilots that have been entered into court records in civil and criminal cases. Trump's comments came after the White House last week said Epstein was kicked out of Mar-a-Lago for being a "creep." Asked about the discrepancy between the White House's reasoning for his split with Epstein and his own that it was over Epstein stealing his employees, Trump said on Tuesday "it's sort of a little bit of the same thing." As he told reporters that Epstein poached young female staff, Trump said "people would come and complain, 'this guy is taking people from the spa.' I didn't know that." "And then when I heard about it, I told him, I said, 'Listen, we don't want you taking our people, whether it was spa or not spa.' I don't want him taking people. And he was fine. And then not too long after that, he did it again and I said, 'Out of here,'" Trump said. But previous comments from Trump suggested his falling out with Epstein occurred several years later than that. In 2002, Trump praised Epstein in a New York magazine profile of the now-deceased financier and convicted sex offender. "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy," Trump told the magazine. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it -- Jeffrey enjoys his social life." Then in 2004, the two men were rivals over a property in Florida as reported by the Washington Post. Trump ultimately won the property at auction. In 2019, when Epstein was arrested on federal charges, Trump said he hadn't spoken with Epstein in 15 years. "I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him. I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach," Trump said in the Oval Office. "I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don't think I've spoken to him for 15 years. I wasn't a fan. I was not, yeah, a long time ago, I'd say maybe 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you. I was not a fan of his." Asked at the time for the reason behind their falling out and why Epstein was banned from Mar-a-Lago, Trump responded: "The reason doesn't make any difference, frankly."
