6 h. ago World Trade Organisation says global trade could slide this year because of Trump’s tariff policies

‘Enduring uncertainty threatens to act as a brake on global growth’ says international trade forum

Politics

11 h. ago Trump tariffs will send global trade into reverse this year, warns WTO

World Trade Organization says trade between US and China is expected to plunge by 81% in ‘decoupling’Donald Trump’s tariffs will send international trade into reverse this year, depressing global economic growth, the World Trade Organization has warned.In its latest snapshot of the global trading system, the Geneva-based institution says it had previously expected goods trade to expand by a healthy 2.7% this year. As a result of Washington’s trade policy, it is now forecasting a 0.2% decline. Continue reading...

Events

35 h. ago Trump’s tech tariffs are total chaos – and everyone’s paying the price

From iPhone airlifts to Nintendo delays, Trump’s trade war has thrown the tech world into confusionHello, and welcome to TechScape. Today’s news: Donald Trump’s tariffs spread confusion like a germ, tech takes two kinds of environmental tolls, Meta faces an antitrust trial, and I’ve been watching two excellent pieces of serialized fiction on Instagram and TikTok.OpenAI countersues Elon Musk over ‘unlawful harassment’ of companyFederal workers fear Musk’s ‘efficiency’ agency is using AI to spy on them: ‘They are omnipresent’ Continue reading...

Economics

53 h. ago Trump memo outlines plan to slash US state department budget in half

Cuts would mean dramatic decreases in funding for humanitarian aid, global health and international groupsThe Trump administration is reportedly proposing to slash the state department budget by nearly half in a move that could drastically reduce US international spending and end its funding for Nato and the United Nations, according to an internal memorandum.The memo based on spending cuts devised by the White House office of management and budget envisions the total budget of the state department and USAID, the main foreign assistance body which has been largely dismantled by Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency”, or Doge, being reduced to $28.4bn, a reduction of $27bn or 48% from what Congress approved for 2025. Continue reading...

Politics

63 h. ago FTSE and global markets bounce back after Trump’s tech tariff reprieve

Investors welcomed a carve-out benefiting companies such as Apple – but White House officials have downplayed the exemptions

Politics

64 h. ago FTSE 100 surges and global markets rise after Trump’s tech tariff reprieve

Investors welcomed a carve-out benefiting companies such as Apple, despite White House officials downplaying the significance of the exemptions.

Politics

66 h. ago Global stocks lifted by US reprieve for Trump’s tech tariffs

President suggests need for ‘flexibility’ but insists smartphone carve-out is temporary

Politics

3 d. ago UK and G7 allies look at lowering ‘meaningless’ cap on Russian oil exports

Limit of $100 a barrel said to be ineffective with the price of crude having crashed in response to Trump’s trade warThe UK and its G7 allies are considering tightening the “meaningless” cap on Russian oil export prices after Donald Trump’s trade war caused global oil markets to crash.UK Treasury officials are understood to be looking at plans to lower the $60 (£46) a barrel cap Russianexports after the oil market plunged this week to $59.77 a barrel for the first time in more than four years. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Global supply chains under pressure as Trump tariff uncertainties continue

Companies face rising freight costs, disrupted logistics and congested ports as trade networks reel from Trump’s policiesThe container ship was halfway across the Atlantic when Donald Trump levied tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to the US from most countries during his first term in office.At the stroke of a pen on a US presidential executive order, about £100,000 was added to the cost of one of the shipments on board, from UK advanced materials manufacturer Goodfellow, destined for a US customer. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Terrible timing and huge uncertainty: how ports and shipping are handling tariff turmoil

As they reel from Trump’s policies, companies say volatile freight costs and congestion are now the norm The container ship was halfway across the Atlantic when Donald Trump levied tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to the US from most countries during his first term in office.At the stroke of a pen on a US presidential executive order about £100,000 was added to the cost of one of the shipments on board, from the UK advanced materials manufacturer Goodfellow, destined for a US customer. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago BP dropped its green pledges and turned back to oil. Now the price of crude has collapsed

At its AGM this week, the company will face not only the activist investor at its heels, but a global economy being changed from the White HouseAfter Donald Trump’s “liberation day” on Wednesday last week, BP lost almost a quarter of its market value in a share price rout even deeper than the oil giant endured in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The collapse in global oil prices in the wake of the US president’s ­tariff blitz may have wiped billions from its ­market value – but Trump isn’t BP’s only problem.The oil company will face shareholders this week for the first time since it bowed to investor pressure to abandon its green energy ambitions in favour of a return to fossil fuels, and its chair, Helge Lund, agreed to step down from the board. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Donald Trump mocked over bombshell US tariffs in a hilarious White Lotus sketch

Donald Trump's eye-watering tariffs, which have sent the global markets into meltdown, were mocked on the latest episode of Saturday Night Live in a sassy 'White Potus' sketch

Events

3 d. ago Price hike on Shein? How Trump tariffs could shift the US’s love of fast fashion

Trump ended the ‘de-minimis’ rule while launching a trade war with China – which will make retail giants such as Temu more expensive, experts sayAfter a chaotic week of flip-flopping tariff policies, cheap clothes from China are nearly certain to face a steep price hike soon – prompting concern among fast fashion retailers and potentially pushing consumers to look for other alternatives.As part of a package of global tariff policies announced on “liberation day” last week, Donald Trump signed an executive order that ended a duty-free exemption for low-priced goods to enter the US from China and Hong Kong. Known as the “de-minimis” rule, packages under $800 do not qualify for any taxes or tariffs on the goods and are inspected minimally at the border. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘A new golden age’: how rightwing media stuck by Trump as global markets collapsed

Trump’s tariffs were sometimes played down, sometimes cheered but rarely seriously questioned by the rightWhile Donald Trump recently instituted and paused hefty tariffs, sparking a trade war and chaos in financial markets, most of the country’s conservative media either applauded the US president or critiqued the policy but not the person behind it, according to journalists and observers of conservative media.Meanwhile, economists, business leaders, Democrats and even some Republicans warned that the tariffs, which prompted the largest American stock market drop since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, could cause a recession. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago ‘Completely out of touch’: golf and dinners for ‘king’ Trump as economy melts down

Casual attitude as markets fall suggests man detached from anxieties of ordinary voters – and surrounded by yes menAfter lighting a fuse under global financial markets, Donald Trump stepped back – all the way to a Florida golf course. A week later, having just caved to pressure to ease his trade tariffs, the US president defended the retreat while hosting racing car champions at the White House.Trump had spent the time in between golfing, dining with donors and making insouciant declarations such as “this is a great time to get rich”, even as the US economy melted down. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago WARREN SHUTE: 'Don’t hit panic button just yet over Donald Trump tariffs'

Donald Trump has sparked a turbulent week for global stocks, but here is why financial planner Warren Shute says you shouldn't jump into impulsive decisions on your finances

Events

4 d. ago The ‘new world order’ of the past 35 years is being demolished before our eyes. This is how we must proceed | Gordon Brown

We have seen the conflict and tragedy that can follow when an old era collapses. Countries that believe in multilateralism must come together nowThis is the second in a two-part series on the global response to Donald Trump’s tariffs Read part one: Trump is pushing the world towards recession. By learning the lessons of 2008, we can still prevent itAfter a week that started with the worst financial volatility in recent history and ended with the most serious escalation so far of the China-US conflict, it is time to distinguish the tectonic shifts from the tremors. If nothing changes, the 2020s risks being remembered as this century’s devil’s decade – the term historians once used for the 1930s. It will be defined not just by seven million people who have died of Covid-19 and rising global poverty and inequality – but also by a dismembered Ukraine, a burnt-out Gaza and little-reported atrocities in Africa and Asia, each testimony to the violent displacement of a rules-based global or...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump is ‘making it up as he goes,’ hurting US and allies, charges Wall Street Journal

Whose side is he on, wonders editorial

Politics

4 d. ago Trump is ‘making it up as he goes’ on tariffs, hurting US and allies, charges Wall Street Journal

Whose side is he on, wonders editorial

Politics

5 d. ago Tariffs live: Global markets unstable while Trump says US ‘doing really well’ on trade policy

The share markets reacted after China lifted tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent and said it would ignore any further US levy increases in the escalating trade war

Politics