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Former exec of Mars candy subsidiary charged with stealing $28M from company

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Before his arrest Wednesday, Paul Steed was a respected sugar market expert for a subsidiary of famed candymaker Inc. He served on a U.S. advisory committee for sweeteners as well as on industry group boards, while giving presentations at conferences.

Now Steed, of Stamford, Connecticut, is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $28 million from -based Mars since about 2013 through various schemes, including diverting funds to companies he set up. He is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion.

Steed, 58, a dual U.S. and Argentine citizen, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was ordered detained pending trial. A U.S. magistrate judge said Steed was a flight risk and noted that while the government has seized $18 million of the allegedly pilfered funds, several million dollars remain unaccounted for and Steed has strong connections to family in Argentina.

Steed’s lawyer, federal public defender Phoebe Bodurtha, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday.

His wife, Martina Steed, told The Associated Press in a brief phone call that she did not know all the facts of the case and declined further comment.

Mars Inc. said in a statement that the case involves “the action of a single individual who sought to exploit the organization for personal gain.”

“We fully cooperated with enforcement to see this matter quickly brought to justice and always remain committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and integrity in all our operations,” it added.

Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley, according to federal prosecutors. The company is a subsidiary of McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc., the maker of M&M’s, Snickers, Skittles, Altoids mints and Doublemint gum, as well as other food products and pet food.

Steed and his wife appeared to be living beyond their means, according to the judge’s order authorizing his pretrial detention.

Steed’s annual salary was about $200,000 while his wife was making $40,000 to $50,000 a year as a hair stylist, Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti said in the order. Yet they paid $2.5 million in cash in 2023 for a property in wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut, and own a mortgage-free home in Stamford worth $1 million, he wrote.

Steed also sent $2 million over the past several years to relatives, other people and entities in Argentina, where he apparently owns a cattle and tea ranch, according to the order.

In July 2012 he set up a company, Ibera LLC, and a year later he began submitting false invoices from it to Mars, according to the federal indictment. The scheme allegedly went on until December 2020, with Steed stealing nearly $580,000 with the bogus invoices.

A bigger scheme beginning in 2016 would result in the diversion of millions of dollars from Mars through another Steed-created company, MCNA LLC, the indictment said. Prosecutors say Steed told certain sugar refineries who were buying “re-export credits” from Mars to send the money to MCNA instead.

Steed also used MCNA in other scams including one involving the theft of more than $11 million from the sale of Mars’s shares in a financial services company, according to the indictment.

Steed was appointed in early 2021 by then-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to serve on an agricultural trade advisory committee for sweeteners and sweetener products.

In a LinkedIn posting previewing a commodities conference in New York City last year, Steed was listed as serving in several sugar industry groups, including being a former president of the New York Sugar Club. He also was a member of the Intercontinental Exchange’s Sugar Contract Committee and a board member of the U.S. Sugar Users Association.

Barkin: Trump policies are creating feelings of instability

Changes in policy have created a sense of instability, Bank of President and CEO Tom Barkin said Thursday when discussing the year’s economic outlook.

During a lecture at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, he said that at the end of 2024, businesses were “overwhelmingly optimistic” and conditions looked “rosy.” He noted that the nation’s had grown a healthy 2.5% in 2024, unemployment was at 4.1%, and the 12-month Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, which captures , had come down considerably to 2.6% from its peak of 7.2% in June 2022. Furthermore, small business optimism had surged, with an expectation of business-friendly policies under , Barkin said.

However, that brief burst of optimism has dissipated now that Trump has returned to office and issued a flurry of tariff increases and cutbacks on federal spending and the federal workforce. That has placed federal government policy at center stage, and not in a positive way, according to Fed stats.

In the near term the fast pace of change “seems to have created a sense of instability,” and “the feeling of uncertainty is undeniable,” Barkin said. “Business optimism has dropped. Consumer sentiment has fallen. The March edition of the Fed’s Beige Book, which summarizes each reserve bank’s outreach on economic conditions, literally broke the record for mentions of ‘uncertainty.'”

But there is “some certainty” that the country is likely headed toward more , lower net migration, an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, as well as deregulation, lower growth in government spending and more efforts to promote traditional energy sources — i.e. fossil fuels.

Barkin said it remains to be seen how far these efforts will go, how they will net out and when they will land with enough clarity for participants in the to act. So far, some of Trump’s tariffs have been postponed at the last minute, such as a 25% tariff on goods coming into the United States from Mexico and , which was supposed to go into effect March 4 and then was paused until April 2. However, a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports took effect March 12, and a 10% increase of tariffs on Chinese goods are in effect. This week, the president said he plans to enact a 25% tariff on all foreign-made auto parts and imported vehicles beginning April 3.

“This time around, if we assume an eventual 20% tariff on China and a 25% tariff on Mexico, Canada and aluminum and steel products, the average tariff rate rises almost four times more than in 2018,” Barkin said. “In the context of recent high inflation, one could imagine more of an impact on prices, but no one knows where the tariff rates will finally settle or how affected countries, businesses and consumers will respond.”

Regarding , he said forecasters expect lower net migration to lead to slower workforce growth in the coming years — roughly about half the growth seen during the 2010s and a third of what was seen at the nation’s peak during the Biden administration. He said slower workforce growth could put downward pressure on economic growth and upward pressure on wages.

“But these stats are based on assumptions; no one knows what immigration will be in fact,” he said.

According to Barkin, deregulatory efforts could boost productivity, enable growth and lower inflation. However, he said the impact of government spending and workforce cuts would be outsized in his district, which covers South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Maryland,  as federal employment represents only 2% of the national workforce but a fourth of D.C.’s.

While Barkin said there is a lot “we know” in the minds of consumers and businesses, “that knowledge is being swamped by what they don’t know and by uncertainty around when they’ll finally have more certainty on the path forward.”

He said the sentiment of uncertainty is exacerbated by people consuming media all the time, never missing headlines.

“With all this change, a dense fog has fallen,” Barkin said. “It’s not an everyday ‘forecasting is hard’ type of fog. It’s a ‘zero visibility, pull over and turn on your hazards’ type of fog.”

As a result, he said businesses aren’t willing to take many risks today, neither pulling back nor pushing forward. He said nonprofits, hospitals and universities are feeling trepidation over federal spending changes as well, and manufacturers with supply chains in tariffed countries are expressing the most uncertainty.

“Sentiment matters,” Barkin said. “For consumers and businesses to spend and invest, they need to have a certain level of confidence. For credit and equity markets to finance those investments, they need stability. And, for now, an uncertainty-driven drop in sentiment looks like it could quiet demand. The outlook once the fog lifts will in part depend on how long it lasts.”

Global automakers say Trump’s tariffs will be painful for them and US consumers

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Whatever domestic economic gain comes from U.S. President Donald Trump’s new 25% tax on imported cars – and experts are skeptical – automakers around the world are bracing for a lot of pain.

In Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and across Europe, the world’s largest automakers employ millions of people whose livelihoods depend on U.S. car buyers, who currently spend more than $240 billion annually on imported cars and light trucks.

The Trump tariffs — aimed at boosting U.S. jobs and tax revenues — will also affect imported auto parts, which were valued at $197 billion last year.

“The impact will be really huge and very disruptive,” said Sigrid de Vries, director general of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Vries and others critics say American car shoppers will also be worse off, as push prices higher.

Policymakers around the world said Thursday they were weighing their next moves — namely, whether to retaliate or not, and if so, how. But they also expressed hope that negotiations with Washington could avert an escalating trade war, and the economic damage and global supply chain disruptions that would come with it.

Trump said the tariffs on autos would start being collected on April 3. The impending hit comes on top of other U.S. tariffs planned globally on steel and aluminum, and at a time when competition from China, and the transition to electric vehicles, is already pressuring automakers.

The anticipated blow knocked down the stock prices of many major automakers on Thursday, including Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Kia and BMW.

U.S. carmakers are less exposed to possible retaliation because they export only 2% of their production to the EU. Still, shares of Ford and General Motors fell because the U.S. industry relies heavily on cross-border in auto parts — although Tesla is an exception and its stock price rose on Thursday.

Most foreign carmakers have plants in the US — Japanese carmakers have two dozen, for example — but that would not shield them if they use imported parts, unless those parts are exempted under a free-trade agreement with Mexico and Canada.

The auto tariffs will be felt sharply in Europe, for whom the U.S. is the biggest export market for an industry that supports nearly 14 million jobs.

The EU’s top trade official, Maros Sefcovic, has travelled to Washington at least twice since Trump was reelected to try to engage the administration. But Trump says the tariffs, which his administration estimates would raise $100 billion in revenue annually, are “permanent.” The White House has claimed they will foster domestic manufacturing.

“This will continue to spur growth,” Trump told reporters Wednesday upon announcing the tariffs.

The head of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, thanked the White House “for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades.”

The U.S. president on Monday cited plans by South Korean automaker Hyundai to build a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana as evidence that tariffs would bring back manufacturing jobs.

Economists say the tariffs will only raise costs that will be passed on to consumers and lead to a cycle of retaliation that will reduce trade between countries.

“There’s a risk of retaliatory tariffs and then a tit-for-tat, and then we end up with significant barriers to trade and we all lose out,” said David Bailey, professor of business economics at the University of Birmingham. “That’s the fundamental problem here essentially that governments will start to retaliate against each other.”

Trump has already placed a 20% tax on all imports from China for its role in the production of fentanyl. He similarly placed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, in part to pressure them to help reduce illegal to the U.S. And he has imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports — and said he plans tariffs on computer chips, pharmaceutical drugs, lumber and copper.

Before the new auto tariffs were announced, the EU had been planning to re-impose suspended tariffs in mid-April on a range of U.S. goods, including jeans, bourbon and motorcycles, as part of a previous dispute over trade in steel and aluminum.

“We have our plans ready,” said EU foreign affairs representative Kaja Kallas. But she said there is still uncertainty about which tariffs Trump will follow through on, and which can be resolved through negotiations.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday reiterated a request that his country’s automakers be exempted from Trump’s tariffs. When asked about possible responses, he said “all options” are on the table, without giving specifics.

The union that represents auto workers in Canada lashed out at Trump’s decision, and called on their prime minister, Mark Carney, to retaliate if necessary.

“We have never seen an attack like this but we are ready,” said Lana Payne, the National President of Unifor. She said Carney should tell Trump that if U.S. automakers are going to sell cars and trucks in Canada they are going to have to build in Canada.

Autos are Canada’s second largest export, and on Wednesday — before Trump made his announcement — Carney unveiled a $2 billion Canadian ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by the tariffs.

For now, international auto companies are reluctant to make expensive operational changes, such as adjusting supply chains or relocating more production to the U.S., since it is still possible the tariffs will be withdrawn by Trump if they cause too much economic pain for Americans, according to analysts at the Sanford C. Bernstein firm.

“Despite claims that the tariffs would last for Trump’s full term, we think it is unlikely that the new tariff regime will last, given the wide-spread damage they will do across industries and the inflationary impact on the US ,” they wrote. They pointed out that the last tariff escalation between the US and China impacting autos only lasted from July to December 2018 during Trump’s first term in office.

The 25% tariffs — if kept in place over the long-term — could add as much as $12,000 per imported vehicle purchased in the U.S., Bernstein analysts estimate. Of course, carmakers will ultimately determine how much of the Trump tariffs to pass along to consumers, as opposed to taking the hit in their profit margins.

The blow will not fall evenly. The most exposed among European automakers are German and Italian carmakers Japan and South Korea are also major exporters, while Canada and Mexico are deeply integrated into U.S. carmakers’ supply chains.

Europe’s carmakers already face a shrunken domestic market and new competition from cheaper Chinese electric vehicles. Any trouble in the auto industry would weigh on Europe’s economy, which did not grow at all in the last quarter of 2024.

“This would deliver a substantial blow to a sector that not only sustains millions of jobs but also contributes to a large proportion of the bloc’s ,” wrote analyst Clarissa Hahn at Oxford Economics.

Energy Department extends contract for operator of Jefferson Lab

The announced Thursday that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has approved a 12-month extension of the contract for Jefferson Science Associates to continue managing and operating the in .

Jefferson Science Associates is a limited liability company created by the Southeastern Universities Association. Its contract was initially set to expire May 31.

In February 2024, under President Joe Biden, the DOE initiated a competition for the selection of a management and operating contractor for the , commonly known as Jefferson Lab, and issued requests for proposals in July 2024. According to an informational meeting presentation in March 2024, the Energy Department had hoped to award the contract earlier this month.

However, in February the DOE canceled its search for a new operator and manager of the facility, leading to questions about the federally funded lab’s future.

“The cancellation is necessary because key elements of the solicitation’s statement of work and evaluation criteria do not adequately reflect or align with the priorities of the current administration, as outlined in several executive orders issued by President Trump,” the notice read, without specifying which orders. Since taking office Jan. 20, the president has issued hundreds of executive orders, many of which roll back Biden’s priorities, including DEI and renewable energy initiatives.

The DOE previously indicated it hoped to rebid the contract, but provided few details as to when that might happen and if it would extend Jefferson Science Associates’ contract in the meantime.

On Thursday, an Energy Department spokesperson revealed that Jefferson Science Associates’ contract will be extended through May 31, 2026. A notice of intent was also published that same day.

“Jefferson Lab is a critical part of the DOE’s National Laboratory complex, contributing to scientific breakthroughs that strengthen our nation’s global competitiveness and is a critical part of the Department’s commitment to restoring America’s leadership in technology, energy, and innovation,” the spokesperson said. “This one-year extension of the current contract will ensure the seamless continuation of operations while the Department issues a new competitive solicitation to ensure long-term leadership of Jefferson Lab that aligns with our mission of maintaining America’s technological and scientific edge.”

The spokesperson said the new competition will ensure that Jefferson Lab “remains a pillar of innovation and economic growth for Newport News and the nation.”

The Energy Department said in its March 27 notice that it anticipates the contract competition will commence during the third quarter of FY 2025. The department says the pre-solicitation notice will be issued subsequent to the competition kickoff, and at that time interested sources can submit expressions of interest.

The DOE did not immediately respond to questions about what changes will be made in the new proposal.

Under the Biden administration, Jefferson Lab was awarded several significant projects. In 2023, the Energy Department announced it would lead a $300 million to $500 million data science computing hub, the High Performance Data Facility hub, that will make scientific data more accessible nationwide. The project was set to include the building of a data center that is expected to be operational by fiscal 2028. Also, researchers at the lab are working on a project to eliminate harmful chemicals — known as “forever chemicals” — in drinking water through 2026.

U.S. economy grew 2.4% in the 4th quarter after upgrade in final growth estimate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. expanded at a healthy annual 2.4% pace the final three months of 2024, supported by a year-end surge in , the government said Thursday in a slight upgrade of its previous estimate of fourth-quarter growth.

But it’s unclear whether the United States can sustain that growth as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges the federal workforce and promises mass deportations of immigrants working in the country illegally.

Growth in gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — decelerated from a 3.1% pace in July-September 2024, the Commerce Department said.

For all of 2024, the economy — the world’s biggest — grew 2.8%, down a tick from 2.9% in 2023.

Consumer spending rose at a 4% pace, up from 3.7% in third-quarter 2023. But business investment fell, led by an 8.7% drop in investment in equipment.

A drop in business inventories shaved 0.84 percentage points off fourth-quarter growth.

A category within the GDP data that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a healthy 2.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter, slipping from the government’s previous estimate of 3.2% and from 3.4% in the third quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.

Wednesday’s report showed continued inflationary pressure at the end of 2024. The ‘s favored gauge – the personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index – rose at an annual rate of 2.4%, up from 1.5% in the third quarter and above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PC inflation registered 2.6%, compared to 2.2% in the third quarter.

Thursday’s report was the government’s third and final look at fourth-quarter GDP.

The outlook is cloudier. Trump’s decision to slap taxes on a range of imports — including a 25% tax on foreign autos announced Wednesday — could push up inflation and disrupt investment, hurting growth.

The fourth-quarter showed the U.S. economy “before the enormous surge in policy uncertainty, particularly , took hold and the Trump administration imposed additional ,” wrote Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “The combination of policy uncertainty, tariffs, and tightening financial market conditions are weighing on growth early this year.”

U.S. consumer confidence is sliding sharpy over anxiety about both tariffs and inflation, and major retailers are lowering their expectations for the year, saying that customers are already pulling back on spending.

VCU receives approval to purchase Altria Richmond research facility

Virginia Commonwealth University received state approval this week to buy ‘s 450,000-square-foot building in downtown .

The Center for Research and Technology, which opened in 2007, sits on more than four acres at 600 E. Leigh St. and is assessed for $275 million. Discussions between officials with and -based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer Altria and between VCU and state budget leaders were initially reported in October 2024.

The measure was included in the state budget bill, and, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the state will provide $127 million toward the purchase. Gov. Glenn Youngkin sent his budget amendments and vetoes, which did not include changes to the proposed VCU acquisition, to the General Assembly on Monday.

VCU and Altria spokespeople declined to provide the expected purchase price or expected closing date of the potential sale.

“Modern research space is a priority for VCU, Richmond and the commonwealth,” VCU spokesperson Brian McNeill said in a statement. “It is also crucial to attracting top talent and biomedical and pharmaceutical companies to Virginia. The acquisition of this facility presents an unmatchable and timely opportunity to further Virginia’s leadership in medical innovation.”

VCU would use the building for lab space as well as space for its School of Pharmacy and School of Public Health, according to VCU spokesperson Brian McNeill. The school anticipates some renovations will be necessary but doesn’t have details at this time, he said.

“This facility would directly enhance VCU’s globally impactful research efforts,” McNeill said in a statement, “including the rapid discovery and delivery of VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center’s life-saving treatments and trials; transformative pharmaceutical drug development and manufacturing; life-altering breakthroughs in liver, metabolic and chronic diseases; and VCU’s nationally recognized work in mental health and addiction.”

Constructing a new building the size of the research facility would likely cost more than $700 million and take at least a decade, Grant Heston, VCU’s vice president for enterprise marketing and communications, told Virginia Business in October.

As for Altria, spokesperson David Sutton said in a statement: “In the event of a sale, Altria plans to remain in the CRT building for several years,” while the company builds a new research facility elsewhere in Richmond, “likely on Philip Morris USA’s Manufacturing Center complex,” which is located near Instate 95 in South Richmond.

Because  owned by VCU would likely be tax exempt, the city’s coffers will likely take a hit.

“Within its roughly 62 square miles, a significant share of city land is owned by state government entities and is considered tax-exempt property,” Julian Walker, an interim city spokesperson, said in a statement. “The inability to collect taxes on such valuable properties dramatically limits the city’s capacity to generate revenue that is used to support the delivery of services to Richmond residents.”

The state budget also contains a provision exempting the System Authority from paying the for backing out of a $325 million downtown development project “unless and until the General Assembly provides explicit authorization therefor.” According to VCU Health’s agreement with the city government, the health system was to pay about $56 million to make up for lost tax revenue.

Known as the Clay Street Project, VCU had planned to build a medical office tower and a multiuse project at the site of the city-owned Public Safety Building at 10th and Clay streets. In spring 2023, news broke that the university’s health system was planning to pay developers $72.9 million to back out of the project that had higher costs than the university anticipated.

Henrico to rebid arena project at former Best Products campus

Henrico County announced Thursday it is rebidding the development rights for the former headquarters campus, the site where the failed $2.3 billion development had been planned.

GreenCity officially met its demise after developers failed to make more than $5 million in overdue payments by a March 13 deadline, and the county said in a statement that it would rebid the project.

On Thursday, Henrico announced it will issue a “request for interest” in late April for developers wishing to build an -anchored development on the 93-acre site just off interstates 95 and 295. The county expects to repurchase the land by April 15, the statement says.

“ is eager to attract a new partner or partners that are proven, competent and capitalized to deliver on what’s clearly a once-in-a-lifetime development opportunity,” County Manager John A. Vithoulkas said in a statement. “This location — along two major interstates — is perfectly suited for a large arena, and our region is starving for a venue to host major concerts, sporting events and other family entertainment.

“The county is issuing an RFI because we want to attract the best ideas for what this property can become. As a county, we are ready to move forward, and the building blocks for development are in place. Markel|Eagle Partners has begun site work for the residential component of this development, and the county has cued up key infrastructure projects, namely building Magellan Parkway across I-95, extending water and sewer infrastructure to the site and constructing the nearby Fall Line Trail.”

Interested developers must respond within 45 days of the RFI’s issuance, the county said.

The former GreenCity developers were Michael Hallmark of Los Angeles-based Future Cities and Susan Eastridge of Falls Church-based Concord Eastridge, who head development entities Green City Partners and Green City Development Corp. LLC.

The 220-acre mixed-use development was proposed in 2020 as an environmentally friendly development that would be anchored by a 17,000-seat sports and entertainment arena. It was expected to include two hotels with 600 rooms, about 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space, 2,100 residential units, and green space and plazas.

In February, Vithoulkas sent the developers a notice of default on a development agreement between the county, the authority and the developers, following a nonperformance notice sent in December 2024. Under the development agreement, Green City Partners had a 60-day cure period to address the nonperformance.

A March 3 default notice revealed that Green City Development Corp. failed to make the final payment on the roughly 93-acre land, the site of the former Best Products headquarters, for the planned arena. More than $5.22 million was due Feb. 28.

The purchase agreement between the county’s economic development authority and the developers included an initial payment of $500,000 due on Feb. 28, 2023, and a second payment of the same amount due Feb. 28, 2024.

Canada is not our enemy, Kaine says

U.S. , Virginia’s junior Democratic senator, feels strongly that doesn’t pose a national security threat to the United States — a contrast to , who has threatened the Great White North with as retaliation for what he says are insufficient efforts at keeping drugs from coming across its border.

“There’s no reason to treat an ally and neighbor and friend like they’re an enemy,” Kaine said Wednesday.

In a Feb. 1 executive order, Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on goods coming into the United States from Mexico and Canada. To enact the war, he’s citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, stating that an “influx of illicit opioids and other drugs” from the countries have created a national emergency. The tariff was supposed to go into effect on March 4, but Trump later paused the action until April 2.

Kaine, along with several co-sponsors, filed March 11 to terminate the emergency Trump cited in his Feb. 1 order, which would eliminate the tariffs on Canadian imports. The legislation requires a vote on the proposal, which Kaine is optimistic could happen by Tuesday, April 1.

“Everybody’s going to have to declare whether they support these family-hurting and -wrecking tariffs,” Kaine said.

Joining Kaine as co-sponsors are the commonwealth’s senior Democratic senator, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, along with U.S. Sens Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Angus S. King Jr., D-Maine; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Christopher Coons, D-Del.; and Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Kaine agreed that the United States has a crisis with illegal fentanyl, but pointed out that 96% of that drug trafficking comes from Mexico, with the remaining 3% stemming from Asia and Europe and only about 0.02% coming from Canada.

The Trump administration’s true motive for enacting tariffs with the U.S.’s northern neighbor, Kaine alleged, is money.

“They will use the tariff revenue to pay for the big tax cuts that they’re about to unveil,” he said. “But who gets hurt is everyday Virginians. The prices of groceries go up. The prices of building supplies go up.”

Virginia’s economy will also pay a price, according to Kaine, when Canada issues retaliatory tariffs. In 2024, Canada was Virginia’s largest export market, accounting for 15% of exports. “There’s never been a one-sided in the history of the world,” Kaine warned.

On March 12, a Trump-issued 25% tariff on imports of steel and aluminum from all countries into the United States took effect. On Wednesday, Trump announced a 25% tariff on all imports vehicles and auto parts that will go into effect on April 2.

After holding several events across the commonwealth from Damascus to Chesapeake last week, Kaine is more sure than ever that Trump’s trade war with Canada is unpopular with Virginians. “I heard again and again and again from people who are very worried about this tariff situation,” he said.

Kaine noted in particular a baker in Shenandoah who pointed out that her pie pans for apple pies come from Canada. The pans now cost more, and she has to pass that cost onto customers. And that, Kaine said, may lead to her making fewer pie sales.

“It has a huge impact, and already you can see consumer confidence down, [the] stock market unstable, [and] some predictions by some that the economy is about to contract,” he warned.

Dulles-based Nightwing acquires Herndon’s Roka Security

Dulles-based intelligence solutions company announced Thursday that it has acquired services company , which is based in . The companies did not disclose financial details in the announcement.

Nightwing was previously the cybersecurity and intelligence division for Fortune Global 500 aerospace and defense contractor , previously known as Raytheon Technologies. Nightwing became independent in April 2024, after RTX agreed to sell the segment for about $1.3 billion to Blackstone, a private equity firm. Blackstone spun off the business as a new standalone company, Nightwing, in 2024.

Nightwing said in its announcement that the acquisition will allow it to deliver more targeted, high-impact full spectrum cyber solutions for government and private sector clients facing cyber threats.

“Roka Security’s capabilities and reputation for excellence in providing niche cyber solutions align perfectly with Nightwing’s mission to deliver cutting edge capability on our customers most important missions,” Nightwing CEO Bob Coleman said in a statement. “With this acquisition, we are enhancing our ability to provide technical training, secure data transport solutions, and critical infrastructure to clients when and where they need it most.”

Nightwing says Roka’s team of experts will complement its cyber operations and that the combined team will offer a wider range of services for clients. Nightwing did not immediately respond to requests inquiring about how many additional staff members have been added by the acquisition or the cost of the acquisition.

“Roka Security is a highly regarded enabler of tailored mission capabilities that perfectly complement our cyber, collection and communications portfolio,” Chris Jones, Nightwing’s chief technology officer and chief data officer, said in a statement. “And like Nightwing, they support critical missions and are known for their excellent, reliable and mission-can’t-fail attitude. We are looking forward to working together to bring the best-in-class technology to our customers, including new Data-as-a-Service offerings and more.”

Statewide home sales declined in February

Virginia home sales slowed in February, according to statewide sales data released Tuesday by .

The association reports that there was a pullback in closed sales in February, with 6,129 homes sold statewide. That’s 604 fewer sales than last February — a 9% decrease.

“Some of this was likely due to winter weather impacts in January on pending sales, but there is also a lot of uncertainty in several regions around the state from federal job cuts, and mortgage rates have seen very little improvement,” Virginia Realtors reports.

Virginia home sales in February. Image courtesy Virginia Realtors.

Pending sales also dropped compared to 2024 levels. In February, Virginia had 6,776 pending sales, 580 less than the same time last year, a 7.9% decline.

As of March 13, rates for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.65%, according to Freddie Mac data.

Virginia Realtors says the sharpest percentage drop in sales occurred in the Virginia (-24%) and Williamsburg area (-18%), the Fredericksburg region (-13%) and neighboring Prince William (-13%), as well as the Metro area (-15%).

However, the association reports a small uptick in sales activity in the market (+7%), and closed sales far outpaced last February in the Martinsville area (+30%) and the Waynesboro/Staunton region (+19%).

February housing market
Change in home sales from 2024 to 2025. Data accessed March 15, 2025. Image Courtesy Virginia Realtors.

Virginia Realtors says the slowdown brought down the total sold dollar volume in the state’s , despite climbing price points. In February, there was about $3.1 billion of sold volume statewide — roughly $148 million less than the same time last year and a 4.6% dip.

In most of the state, home prices continued to trend upward. The statewide median sales price in February was $403,500, up almost $19,000 — a 4.9% increase — from February 2024.

The Virginia market had 17,529 active listings at the end of February, a 21.6% increase from February 2024.

“The increase in active listings is indicative of homes staying on the market a bit longer,” says Virginia Realtors 2025 President Lorraine Arora in a news release.

Homes are also staying on the market slightly longer than last year. The statewide median days on market was 17 days last month, two days more than February 2024.

Based in Glen Allen, Virginia Realtors represents about 35,000 Realtors and is the state’s largest trade association.