Sean “Diddy” Combs’s lawyer aimed Friday to skewer the credibility of the music mogul’s accusers, saying in closing arguments they were out for money while rejecting any notion he led a criminal ring.But in their rebuttal — the trial’s final stage before jurors are tasked with deciding the verdict — prosecutors tore into the defense, saying Combs’s team had “contorted the facts endlessly.”Prosecutor Maurene Comey told jurors that by the time Combs — once among the most powerful people in music — had committed his clearest-cut offenses, “he was so far past the line he couldn’t even see it.””In his mind he was untouchable,” she told the court as the case came to a dramatic close. “The defendant never thought that the women he abused would have the courage to speak out loud what he had done to them.””That ends in this courtroom,” she said. “The defendant is not a god.”For most of Friday’s hearing defense attorney Marc Agnifilo picked apart, and even made light of, the testimony of women who were in long-term relationships with Combs, and who said he had coerced them into drug-fueled sex parties with paid escorts.Agnifilo scoffed at the picture painted by prosecutors of a violent, domineering man who used his employees, wealth and power to foster “a climate of fear” that allowed him to act with impunity.Combs, 55, is a “self-made, successful Black entrepreneur” who had romantic relationships that were “complicated” but ultimately consensual “love stories,” Agnifilo said.In his freewheeling, nearly four-hour-long argument, Agnifilo aimed to confuse the methodic narrative US attorney Christy Slavik provided one day prior.She had spent nearly five hours meticulously walking the jury through the charges and their legal basis, summarizing thousands of phone, financial, travel and audiovisual records along with nearly seven weeks of testimony from 34 witnesses.Central to their case is the claim that Combs led a criminal enterprise of senior employees — including his chief-of-staff and security guards — who “existed to serve his needs.”But Agnifilo underscored that none of those individuals testified against Combs, nor were they named as co-conspirators in the indictment.”This is supposed to be simple,” the defense counsel told jurors. “If you find that you’re in the weeds of this great complexity, maybe it’s because it just isn’t there.””It takes a lot of courage to acquit,” he said in closing.If convicted, Combs faces upwards of life in prison.- ‘Brazen’ -Casandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane described abuse, threats and coercive sex in excruciating detail, for days.Combs’s defense has conceded that domestic violence was a feature of the artist’s relationships, but that his outbursts did not amount to sex trafficking.The defense insisted the women were consenting adults making their own choices.Prosecutor Comey snapped back that they were being “manipulated” into “brazen” acts of sex trafficking, reiterating once again for jurors what the government says are the clearest-cut examples.Agnifilo pointed to Ventura’s civil lawsuit against Combs in which she was granted $20 million: “If you had to pick a winner in this whole thing, it would be Cassie,” he said.Comey called that notion insulting: “What was her prize? Black eyes? A gash in her head? Sex for days with a UTI?”Agnifilo also pointed to a violent episode between Combs and Jane, when she says she struck him in an argument before he brutally beat her, struck her down in the shower, and then forced her into giving an escort oral sex.”Jane may have started that fight, but he finished it with a vengeance,” Comey said, calling that incident the most obvious sex trafficking case and saying he had “literally beaten her into submission.”Throughout the trial, jurors were shown voluminous phone records, including messages of affection and desire from both women — and Agnifilo emphasized the love and romance once again.Both prosecutors said taking those words literally, and in isolation, doesn’t paint the whole picture. They also referenced testimony from a forensic psychologist who explained to jurors how victims become ensnared by abusers.”The defense is throwing anything they can think of at the wall, hoping something will stick,” Comey said.On Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian will instruct jurors on how to apply the law to the evidence for their deliberations. Then, 12 New Yorkers will determine Combs’s future.

President Donald Trump said Friday he is calling off trade negotiations with Canada in retaliation for taxes impacting US tech firms, adding that Ottawa will learn of their new tariff rate within a week.Trump was referring to Canada’s digital services tax, which was enacted last year and forecast to bring in Can$5.9 billion (US$4.2 billion) over five years.While the measure is not new, US service providers will be “on the hook for a multi-billion dollar payment in Canada” come June 30, noted the Computer & Communications Industry Association recently.The three percent tax applies to large or multinational companies such as Alphabet, Amazon and Meta that provide digital services to Canadians, and Washington has previously requested dispute settlement talks over the matter.”Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform Friday.Canada may have been spared some of Trump’s sweeping duties, but it faces a separate tariff regime.Trump has also imposed steep levies on imports of steel, aluminum and autos.Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa will adjust its 25 percent counter tariffs on US steel and aluminum — in response to a doubling of US levies on the metals to 50 percent — if a bilateral trade deal was not reached in 30 days.”We will continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians,” Carney said Friday, adding that he had not spoken to Trump on the day.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that Washington had hoped Carney’s government would halt the tax “as a sign of goodwill.”He now expects US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to start a probe to determine the harm stemming from Canada’s digital tax.- China progress -Trump’s salvo targeting Canada came shortly after Washington and Beijing confirmed finalizing a framework to move forward on trade.A priority for Washington in talks with Beijing had been ensuring the supply of the rare earths essential for products including electric vehicles, hard drives and national defense equipment.China, which dominates global production of the elements, began requiring export licenses in early April, a move widely viewed as a response to Trump’s blistering tariffs.Both sides agreed after talks in Geneva in May to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat duties on each other’s products.China also committed to easing some non-tariff countermeasures but US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.They eventually agreed on a framework to move forward with their Geneva consensus, following talks in London this month.A White House official told AFP on Thursday that the Trump administration and China had “agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement.”This clarification came after the US president told an event that Washington had inked a deal relating to trade with China, without providing details.Under the deal, China “will review and approve applications for the export control items that meet the requirements in accordance with the law,” China’s commerce ministry said.”The US side will correspondingly cancel a series of restrictive measures against China,” it added.- Upcoming deals? -Dozens of economies, although not China, face a July 9 deadline for steeper duties to kick in — rising from a current 10 percent.It remains to be seen if countries will successfully reach agreements to avoid them before the deadline.On talks with the European Union, for example, Trump told an event at the White House on Friday: “We have the cards. We have the cards far more than they do.”But Bessent said Washington could wrap up its agenda for trade deals by September, indicating more agreements could be concluded, although talks were likely to extend past July.Bessent told Fox Business there are 18 key partners Washington is focused on pacts with.”If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” Bessent said, referring to the US holiday on September 1.Wall Street’s major indexes finished at fresh records as markets cheered progress in US-China trade while shrugging off concerns about Canada. 

The US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure logged a mild uptick Friday while spending weakened, triggering another tirade by President Donald Trump against the central bank chair for not cutting interest rates sooner.”We have a guy that’s just a stubborn mule and a stupid person,” Trump told an event at the White House, referring to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. “He’s making a mistake.”With Powell’s term as Fed chief coming to an end next year, Trump hinted at his choice of successor: “I’m going to put somebody that wants to cut rates.”The president’s remarks came after government data showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index climbing 2.3 percent last month from a year ago in May.This was in line with analyst expectations and a slight acceleration from April’s 2.2 percent increase, but still a relatively mild uptick.Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the PCE price index was up 2.7 percent, rising from April’s 2.6 percent uptick, the Commerce Department’s report showed.But consumer spending declined, after Trump’s fresh tariffs in April dragged on consumer sentiment. PCE dropped by 0.1 percent from the preceding month, reversing an earlier rise.While Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on most US trading partners since returning to the White House in January — alongside higher rates on imports of steel, aluminum and autos — these have had a muted effect so far on inflation.This is in part because he held off or postponed some of his harshest salvos, while businesses are still running through inventory they stockpiled in anticipation of the levies.But central bank officials have not rushed to slash interest rates, saying they can afford to wait and learn more about the impact of Trump’s recent duties. They expect to learn more about the tariffs’ effects over the summer.- ‘Clear weakening’ -“The experience of the limited range of tariffs introduced in 2018 suggests that pass-through to consumer prices is intense three-to-six months after their implementation,” warned economists Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a note.They flagged weakness in consumer spending, in part due to a pullback in autos after buyers rushed to get ahead of levies.And spending on services was tepid even after excluding volatile components, they said.”There has also been a clear weakening in discretionary services spending, notably in travel and hospitality,” said Michael Pearce, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, in a note.This reflects “the chilling effect of the plunge in consumer sentiment,” he added.Between April and May, the PCE price index was up 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department report showed.As a July deadline approaches for higher tariff rates to kick in on dozens of economies, all eyes are also on whether countries can reach lasting trade deals with Washington to ease the effects of tariffs.For now, despite the slowing in economic growth, Pearce said risks that inflation could increase will keep the Fed on hold with interest rates “until much later in the year.”