Trump tariff updates: Scramble for last-minute deals

Published

1 month ago

July 31, 2025

From successful Oval Office meeting to uncertain talks – here’s what’s happening with Canadapublished at 14:30 British Summer Time

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

Canada’s prime minister won April’s general election by pitching himself as the leader who could take on the self-styled “Tariff Man” in the White House.

In May, Mark Carney journeyed south to Washington to court the president and formally launch trade and security talks. The PM was praised for his handling of the meeting, despite Trump’s Oval Office references to making Canada the 51st US state.

Leading up to the G7, hosted by Canada in June, word was that the two countries were close to an agreement. At the summit, Trump and Carney met again, and Trump conceded hurdles remained – he’s a “tariff person” and Carney “has a more complex idea”, he said.

Still, they appeared optimistic and set a late July deadline for a deal.

Canada has since killed a digital services tax that American tech firms opposed, pressed ahead with talks despite Trump’s threats to walk away, and moved the deadline to August. Trump has said he would increase Canada’s baseline tariffs to 35% from 25% and add global tariffs on copper, a major Canadian export.

This month, both Trump and Carney poured cold water on the idea of a quick, tariff-free deal.

“The United States and Canada can do many good things together, we have done that in the past, we can do more in the future, but on fair terms for our country,” Carney said on Monday.

The “complex” talks are at “an intense phase, he said.

Meanwhile, Trump posted on social media on Thursday morning that Canada’s plans to recognise a Palestinian state will “make it very hard” to reach a deal.

Carney in dark suit and tie, on gold chair and in front of Oval Office's golden decor, looks over at Trump, in a blue suit and red tie, who is leaning away and frowning. A plane model is between them

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Billionaire family offices bet on drones, nuclear energy in August

Published

2 hours ago

September 4, 2025

Hayley Cuccinello

Key Points

Billionaire family offices inked high-profile investments in an otherwise slow month for deal-making, according to Fintrx.
Four billionaires’ private investment firms joined an $863 million fundraise for a nuclear fusion startup.
Peter Thiel, a longtime investor in defense tech, backed a German drone maker as other high-net-worth investors flock to the sector.

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Philips Hue launch turns bulbs into motion sensors, doorbell, more

Published

2 hours ago

September 4, 2025

Ben Lovejoy

We’ve known for some time that there was major news on the way from Philips Hue, and the company has now announced all of the details.

One of the headline features is a new Bridge Pro which turns your existing smart bulbs into motion sensors. Bulbs also get more affordable, light strips get brighter, and there’s support for Matter-over-Thread. Finally, the smart doorbell leaked earlier in the year is now official …

Plans to turn existing Philips Hue light bulbs into motion sensors were leaked at the beginning of this year. We also discovered there was a smart doorbell on the way through an update to the Hue app.

Turning existing Hue bulbs into motion sensors

Although you won’t need to update any of your bulbs to get this new functionality, you will need to swap out your existing Hue Bridge for the new Bridge Pro.

This is a $90 purchase, but there are some other new features to help ease the pain. The Verge reports that It can support three times as many devices and store over 500 lighting scenes to provide faster response times.

[It adds] features like lighting scenes, dynamic effects, schedules, and out-of-home control. Sporting a new black look, it has a faster processor, more memory, and increased capacity. Designed to appeal to Hue super-users, it can connect 150 lights and 50 accessories (a soft limit) […]

Additionally, the Pro can store over 500 custom lighting scenes and provide faster response times […] The Pro finally brings Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) to a Hue bridge, so it doesn’t have to sit next to your router.

If your head aches at the thought of reconfiguring all your Hue devices to swap bridges, the company says that a migration tool will transfer all of the settings for you. If you have multiple bridges, then you’ll want to hold fire for a while as there will be support for migrating these to a single Bridge Pro by the end of the year.

Hue Secure smart doorbell

The new Hue Secure Doorbell is intended to compete with Ring and Nest by offering a higher resolution 2K fisheye camera. Engadget reports that it also includes 24-hour video history without a subscription.

It of course pairs with Hue lights so that you can set it to automatically turn on outdoor lights as somebody approaches the front door, as well as the option to trigger interior lights to supplement the chime with visual alerts.

It will go on sale in the US, Europe and the UK next month for $170. However, Apple Home support won’t be available at launch, the company instead promising that this will arrive at an unspecified later date.

Cheaper Hue lights

A new range of Hue Essential lights are being launched with prices starting at just $20 each when purchased as a pack of four. Hue Blog has the details.

With the new Hue Essential series, Philips Hue will in future offer simple light bulbs with E27 and GU10 sockets at an affordable price. The Essential series is based on the same software and connectivity as the main Philips Hue product range, but with a smaller white spectrum, slightly less brightness, and less deep dimming.

But the prices are impressive. The colored bulbs cost $24.99 each, and multi-packs are even cheaper. Four bulbs in a pack cost only $59.99. The new Hue Essential bulbs are available now.

The Hue Essential portfolio will be expanded in December 2025 with two new light strips, each 5 or 10 meters long: the Hue Essential Lightstrip (starting at $59.99) and the Hue Essential Flex Lightstrip (starting at $99.99). The latter appears to be an adaptation of the previous Hue Ambiance Gradient Lightstrip.

Five new light strips

There will also be five new light strips, with the first of these available from next month. These have closer LED spacing to provide brighter and more uniform lighting. The company also promises that they are more flexible, making it easier to turn corners and flow curves.

Hue OmniGlow Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) from $139.99 – launching in November 2025 (EU&US)
Hue Flux Gradient Lightstrip (3/4/5/6/10 meters) from $69.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US)
Hue Flux Ultra Bright Gradient Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) starting at $99.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU)
Hue Flux Gradient Outdoor Lightstrip (5/6/10 meters) starting at $149.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US)
Hue Neon Gradient Outdoor Lightstrip (3/5/10 meters) starting at $139.99 – launching in October 2025 (EU) and March 2026 (US)

Finally, there will be new outdoor Festavia Globe string lights.

Hue Festavia Globe with outdoor power supply in 7, 14, and 21 meters starting at $159.99
Hue Festavia Globe without power supply in 7, 14, and 21 meters starting at $129.99
2-pack replacement bulbs for $19.99
The 7-meter short versions will be available in September, and the longer string lights in December 2025

Check out the video below for a look at all the new products.