5 d. ago Small business owners, brace yourselves: the cavalry isn’t coming

While ministers talk of “unleashing Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit,” small firms face a harsher reality.

Politics

7 d. ago The EU is a colossus. So why is it cowering before Trump like a mouse? | Alexander Hurst

With its woeful trade deal, Europe prostrated itself before the president. We need a leader who will tell him where to shove itWho remembers the spate of “introduction videos” that emerged during the first Trump administration – a series of tongue-in-cheek clips about European countries to introduce them to Donald Trump? The viral video trend was sparked by the Dutch comedian Arjen Lubach, who ended his segment on the Netherlands with: “We totally understand it’s going to be America first, but can we just say the Netherlands second?” It seems that Europe’s leaders remember the videos all too well; that they internalised the caustic message a little bit too much.Afraid of rocking the boat during its trade negotiations with Trump, the EU decided to pre-emptively sink itself. Instead of strategic autonomy, it will spend hundreds of billions of dollars on American weapons; in place of future climate goals, it will pour hundreds of billions into US natural gas; instead of a mutual tariff...

Politics

8 d. ago Voices: ‘He’s a great negotiator and diplomat’: Starmer praised as UK outshines EU in Trump trade talks

Our community has praised Starmer as a skilled negotiator who won Trump’s respect and secured a better UK-US trade deal than the EU

Politics

8 d. ago Investor confidence in EU drops after Trump’s Brussels trade deal

Agreement is said to ‘dampen the mood’, with the US viewed as the winner at the expense of the eurozoneInvestor confidence in the EU has fallen sharply after Donald Trump’s trade agreement with Brussels, amid mounting concern about the economic hit from the US president’s tariff war.The latest snapshot from the Sentix index showed that investor sentiment fell significantly at the start of the month after the deal last week between Trump and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago Canada holds out hope of trade deal as US talks tough on tariffs

Trump administration says high levies imposed on partners are ‘locked in’

Economics

9 d. ago Why Keir Starmer is outdoing the EU when it comes to dealing with Donald Trump

When it comes to doing deals with Donald Trump, Keir Starmer appears to be succeeding where others – including the EU – are failing. David Maddox explains why

Politics

4 w. ago Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs and buy 50 Boeing jets under Trump’s new trade deal

US president announces Jakarta will purchase 50 Boeing jets and billions of dollars’ worth of energy and agricultural goods as part of new deal

Economics

4 w. ago Trump says Indonesia to pay 19% tariffs, buy 50 Boeing jets under trade deal

Rate is significantly below the 32% the US president had threatened but timeline for implementation of deal remains unclearUS President Donald Trump says he has struck a trade pact with Indonesia resulting in significant purchase commitments from the south-east Asian country, after negotiations to avoid steeper tariffs.Indonesian goods entering the United States would face a 19% tariff, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. This is significantly below the 32% level the president earlier threatened. Continue reading...

Economics

4 w. ago Trump dismisses parliamentary recall idea and praises Starmer’s Brexit efforts

US president says he likes PM ‘even though he’s a liberal’, lauding his handling of trade deal and progress since exit from EUUK politics live – latest updatesDonald Trump has said he does not want parliament to be recalled for his state visit to the UK, praising Keir Starmer, and saying that, despite being a liberal, the prime minister was straightening out a “sloppy” Brexit.Speaking in a rare interview with the BBC, the president said he had made trade agreements to lower tariffs on the UK specifically because of his affinity with Britain, saying he believed in its special relationship with the US. Continue reading...

Politics