17 h. ago 2020s on course to be weakest decade for global economy since 1960s, says World Bank

Washington-based lender cuts its forecast for world GDP growth, blaming Donald Trump tariffsBusiness live – latest updatesThe World Bank has cut its forecasts for growth, blaming Donald Trump’s trade war and says the 2020s are on course to be the weakest decade for the global economy since the 1960s.In its twice-yearly Global Economic Prospects report, the Washington-based lender reduced its forecast for global GDP growth this year to 2.3%, down from 2.7% in January. Continue reading...

Economics

50 h. ago We are witnessing the first stages of Trump’s police state | Robert Reich

The national guard’s deployment in Los Angeles sets the US on a familiar authoritarian pathway. History shows the resultsNow that Donald Trump’s tariffs have been halted, his big, beautiful bill has been stymied, and his multi-billionaire tech bro has turned on him, how does he demonstrate his power?On Friday morning, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted raids across Los Angeles – including at two Home Depots and a clothing wholesaler – in search of workers who they suspected of being undocumented immigrants.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

Politics

50 h. ago We are witnessing the first stages of a Trump police state | Robert Reich

The national guard’s deployment in Los Angeles sets the US on a familiar authoritarian pathway. History shows the resultsNow that Donald Trump’s tariffs have been halted, his big, beautiful bill has been stymied, and his multi-billionaire tech bro has turned on him, how does he demonstrate his power?On Friday morning, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted raids across Los Angeles – including at two Home Depots and a clothing wholesaler – in search of workers who they suspected of being undocumented immigrants.Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com Continue reading...

Politics

64 h. ago Trump tariffs could ‘wipe out’ European steel sector, senior industry figure says

ThyssenKrupp executive warns of ‘collateral damage’ to supply chains and urges protective action on energy pricingEurope’s steel industry faces being “wiped out” in the face of Donald Trump’s prohibitive 50% tariffs, high energy costs and a mountain of cheaper Chinese steel, one of Germany’s biggest industrial groups has warned.Ilse Henne, a board member at the steel, engineering and chemicals group ThyssenKrupp, said the industry faced an existential crisis after the US president’s decision last week to double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 25% to 50%. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Between ‘rollover UK’ and ‘retaliatory China’: will EU hardball secure trade deal with US?

Optimism is growing in Brussels, but high-risk strategy has only weeks to play out before pause in tariff threat endsIn Brussels’ corridors of power, quiet optimism is growing that the EU’s hardball strategy to secure a US trade deal is working. While Britain quickly moved to try to cushion the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs with a deal agreed last month – and US-Chinese relations are a tit-for-tat situation – the EU has taken a different stance. “We are positioning ourselves between ‘rollover UK’ and ‘retaliatory China’,” said a Brussels source.The stakes are not just the £706bn in transatlantic trade between the EU and US but the fallout from what diplomats and businesses say is a dangerous assault on the global rules-based system that governs western democracy. Continue reading...

Economics

4 d. ago A banana a day to keep the tariffs away? Howard Lutnick mocked during congressional hearing over plan to make more products in America

‘We cannot build bananas in America,’ commerce secretary reminded in surreal exchange at House hearing on Donald Trump’s tariff policy

Events

5 d. ago Donald Trump to meet Xi Jinping in China after ‘very good’ call on trade

US president says he accepted invitation in first phone conversation between leaders since JanuaryDonald Trump said he had accepted an invitation to meet Xi Jinping in China after a phone conversation on trade was held between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.In a post on Truth Social, the US president said the “very good” call lasted about 90 minutes and the conversation was “almost entirely focused on trade”. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago How Nintendo dodged Trump’s tariffs and saved the Switch 2 release

Fortunate timing and government hesitation allowed the Switch 2 to come out on time, but the headache isn’t overNintendo fans across the US are breathing a sigh of relief as they tear apart the boxes housing their new Nintendo Switch 2 video game consoles. On-again, off-again trade tariffs implemented by Donald Trump, which precipitated pre-order delays from Nintendo, made the 5June release date of the highly coveted hardware feel more like a hope than a certainty. A potential price hike up from $450 loomed over launch day, but would-be buyers’ fears did not come to fruition.Nintendo’s maneuvering around Trump’s tariffs isn’t over, though – far from it. The Japanese console maker managed to luckily launch its device squarely within a 90-day tariff pause issued by the president. If tariffs on countries like India and Japan return to the levels proposed during Trump’s “Liberation Day” speech at the start of April, however, experts say Nintendo will have to limber up for yet another de...

Politics

6 d. ago Trump issues travel ban barring US entry from 12 countries and signs order restricting student visas at Harvard – live

Order also restricts entries from seven other countries, as separate proclamation bars students from obtaining visas to enter country to attend HarvardTrump signs order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the USTrump signs proclamation to restrict foreign student visas at HarvardTrump orders inquiry into Biden’s actions as president over ‘cognitive decline’ reportsThe Trump administration has reversed its decision to revoke the legal status of a four-year-old girl, receiving continuing life-saving treatment in the US, and her family after a national outcry.Deysi Vargas, her husband and their daughter – whom lawyers identified by the pseudonym Sofia – had come to the US in 2023 to seek medical care for their daughter who has a rare condition that requires specialized treatment. But in April, the federal government ended their humanitarian parole, a temporary status granted to people on urgent humanitarian grounds, and ordered them to “self-deport”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Trump issues sweeping travel ban barring entry to US from 12 countries – live

Order bars entry for all nationals of countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Yemen and restricts entries from seven other countriesTrump’s tax bill would add $2.4tn to US debt, says non-partisan analysisThe Trump administration has reversed its decision to revoke the legal status of a four-year-old girl, receiving continuing life-saving treatment in the US, and her family after a national outcry.Deysi Vargas, her husband and their daughter – whom lawyers identified by the pseudonym Sofia – had come to the US in 2023 to seek medical care for their daughter who has a rare condition that requires specialized treatment. But in April, the federal government ended their humanitarian parole, a temporary status granted to people on urgent humanitarian grounds, and ordered them to “self-deport”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Elon Musk again criticizes Trump’s spending bill and says a new one should be drafted – live

Musk, who just left the Trump administration formally last week, calls for a new tax bill to be drafted and claims ‘America is in the fast line to debt slavery’Trump’s tax bill would add $2.4tn to US debt, says non-partisan analysisThe Trump administration has reversed its decision to revoke the legal status of a four-year-old girl, receiving continuing life-saving treatment in the US, and her family after a national outcry.Deysi Vargas, her husband and their daughter – whom lawyers identified by the pseudonym Sofia – had come to the US in 2023 to seek medical care for their daughter who has a rare condition that requires specialized treatment. But in April, the federal government ended their humanitarian parole, a temporary status granted to people on urgent humanitarian grounds, and ordered them to “self-deport”. Continue reading...

Economics

6 d. ago Trump says Putin told him Russia ‘will have to respond’ to Ukraine drone attacks – live

Trump says ‘good’ conversation with Putin won’t lead to ‘immediate peace’ in Ukraine The Trump administration has reversed its decision to revoke the legal status of a four-year-old girl, receiving continuing life-saving treatment in the US, and her family after a national outcry.Deysi Vargas, her husband and their daughter – whom lawyers identified by the pseudonym Sofia – had come to the US in 2023 to seek medical care for their daughter who has a rare condition that requires specialized treatment. But in April, the federal government ended their humanitarian parole, a temporary status granted to people on urgent humanitarian grounds, and ordered them to “self-deport”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could add $2.4tn to national debt, nonpartisan analysis says – US politics live

Congressional Budget Office assessment comes as Musk is among prominent critics of the bill; Mexico says it will act over tariffs if no trade deal agreedThe Trump administration has reversed its decision to revoke the legal status of a four-year-old girl, receiving continuing life-saving treatment in the US, and her family after a national outcry.Deysi Vargas, her husband and their daughter – whom lawyers identified by the pseudonym Sofia – had come to the US in 2023 to seek medical care for their daughter who has a rare condition that requires specialized treatment. But in April, the federal government ended their humanitarian parole, a temporary status granted to people on urgent humanitarian grounds, and ordered them to “self-deport”. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago PMQs: Keir Starmer trumpets UK as 'only country in world' spared Donald Trump's 50% steel tariff

Gareth Stace, the director general of UK Steel, said that Donald Trump’s decision is a ‘welcome pause’

Politics

6 d. ago Starmer admits finalising his US trade deal could take WEEKS after Trump spares UK steel industry from latest 50% tariffs

Donald Trump is offering 'different treatment' to Britain after doubling tariffs on imports from other countries to 50 per cent.

Economics

6 d. ago Services sector returns to growth in major boost to UK economy

Britain's services sector returned to tepid growth last month after jitters about Donald Trump's tariffs caused the sector to shrink in April for the first time in a year and a half.

Politics

6 d. ago Florida Man v Canada: how the Stanley Cup final became a proxy war

Edmonton face the Panthers in the NHL title showdown for the second season in a row. But there are plenty of talking points off the ice tooThis time last year the story of the Stanley Cup final between Florida and Edmonton was mostly about Connor McDavid, hockey’s generational talent, getting the chance to bring the Cup back to hockey’s generational home. And it almost went his way, after the Oilers overcame a three-game deficit to force a deciding Game 7. Instead, McDavid’s win came a little later. His series-winning goal against the US in February’s Four Nations Cup amid the febrile nationalism created by Donald Trump’s annexation threats and tariffs seemed to quiet the doubters about where hockey both belonged and who rightly owned its highest honours. But here we are again, on the eve of the final, with the Oilers back in Florida for the second season in a row – Game 1 is on Wednesday night – and with a team from that state contending for the Cup for the sixth straight year.The ...

Events

6 d. ago UK steel industry welcomes Donald Trump decision not to impose 50% tariffs but ‘uncertainty remains’

Donald Trump has decided to 'provide different treatment' to the UK with a trade deal still to be finalised

Politics

6 d. ago Relief as Trump spares UK steel industry from latest 50% tariffs

Donald Trump is offering 'different treatment' to Britain after doubling tariffs on imports from other countries to 50 per cent.

Politics

7 d. ago Trump promises to hike steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% starting Wednesday. Here's what we know

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to hike nearly all of his tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to a punishing 50% on Wednesday, a move that would hammer businesses from automakers to home builders, and likely push up prices for consumers

Politics