35 h. ago Small foreign retailers are giving up on America as Trump ends practice that exempted cheaper goods from tariffs

May 2 marks the end of the ‘de minimis’ exemption, a longstanding rule that applied to packages entering the U.S. worth under $800

Politics

4 d. ago 'We are doing GREAT,' claims Donald Trump after 100 days back in White House despite tariffs carnage and wars

The US president tries to dismiss polls showing his falling ratings as ‘fake news’

Events

8 d. ago Rachel Reeves says EU trade 'reset' is MORE important than deal with US to dodge Trump's tariffs

Chancellor Rachel Reeves suggested the government could prioritise ties with Brussels ahead of sitting down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Economics

8 d. ago Rachel Reeves will meet US counterpart TODAY as figures show a QUARTER of UK car exports go to America

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will sit down with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington, where they have been both attending an IMF summit.

Politics

1 week ago ‘Sell America’: investors are increasingly avoiding the US – here’s what it means for Australian markets

After decades as a safe haven, Donald Trump’s economic upheaval has some traders looking to put their money elsewhere – and countries looking to decouple their economiesElection 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaignGet our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcastAt the same time as Australians are cutting back on plans to visit the US under Donald Trump, a new type of investment strategy designed to avoid America is fast gaining popularity.The “sell America trade”, an expression that barely existed before Trump spooked markets by unveiling his new tariff regime late on 2 April, is now a common expression among traders and appears regularly in investment notes to explain the day’s price movements. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago You are descending into populist frustration. Thank you for continuing to hold | John Naughton

Neverending calls to automated customer service lines aren’t just frustrating – new research suggests they may be quietly radicalising as wellQuestion: what are the eight most annoying words in the English language? Answer: “Your call is important to us please hold.” But when you have turned into a gibbering wreck after 10 minutes of your valuable time have ticked away – intermittently punctuated by assurances that, while your tormentor is “experiencing high call volumes at the moment”, nevertheless your call is still important to him/her/it – you can take comfort in the thought that you are not alone. In fact, you belong to the majority of sentient beings in an industrial society like ours.Thanks to a useful piece of market research, we now have an idea of the numbers of victims of this industrial practice – at least in the UK. A survey commissioned by the New Britain Project thinktank found that the average Briton spends between 28 and 41 minutes every week coping with inefficient...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump’s tariff chaos has left America’s maple syrup makers in a sticky mess

Much of the equipment comes from Canada, the world's maple syrup powerhouse

Politics

3 w. ago Chris Riddell on Donald ‘Captain America’ Trump wielding his tariff shield – cartoon

Is the president really ready to do battle with China after causing global chaos and undermining the US economy?You can buy a copy of this cartoon Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Make America make again? Trump’s tariffs will only be manufacturing pipe dreams | John Naughton

The president’s gambit to bring the production of goods such as iPhones back to the US ignores huge supply chain complexitiesDonald Trump’s tariff strategy has at least one biblical connection: like the peace of God, it “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Rival attempts to extract a rationale from the chaos include the idea that he is trying to devalue the dollar, or that he is seeking to “reshore” the manufacturing capacity that the US lost through decades of globalisation. My own hunch is that he just wants to show who’s the big boss around here – or as British science fiction author Charles Stross puts it, that he “expects individual nations to come to him, hat in hand, like terrified shopkeepers pleading for mercy from a mafia don”.Cue the UK’s very own Trump whisperer, Keir Starmer, who, according to Politico, plans “to put a review of online safety rules on the table in trade talks” with the US. Which, translated, means that things such as the Online Safety Act and ...

Economics

3 w. ago The race to beat Trump's tariffs: How Apple flew cargo planes containing 600 tonnes of iPhones

The details of the push provide an insight into the smartphone company's private strategy to navigate around the Trump tariffs and build up inventory of its popular iPhones in America

Politics

3 w. ago China mocks Trump’s tariffs with AI video of US sweatshop workers: ‘Make America Great Again’

The TikTok video has sparked further debate about the impact the president’s tariffs will have on the U.S.

Economics

3 w. ago China launches AI campaign mocking Donald Trump's tariffs and depicting slave labour in America

Ben Lau's video - which shows a group of overweight Americans looking depressed on the manufacturing line in an attack on the Trump administration - rapidly went viral after being shared on TikTok

Politics

3 w. ago Trump’s very beautiful tariffs will fix America, masculinity and the family. It said so on Fox News | Arwa Mahdawi

Let’s stop all the moaning about stock market crashes and soaring grocery prices. It’s time to focus on the upsides!There’s been a lot of doom-mongering about tariffs recently, hasn’t there? Oh no, my life savings are going to get wiped out and I’m never going to be able to retire! Oh no, grocery prices are going to triple! Oh no, it looks suspiciously as if Donald Trump has used ChatGPT to guide his fiscal policy and now we’re going to see another Great Depression! Moan, moan, moan.While it might be true that much of these predictions are coming from highly credentialed economists and people who tend to know what they’re talking about, I’d like to remind you that there are two sides to every story – and it’s always worth looking at both of them. You’ve already heard from voices who reckon Trump’s tariffs are misguided and dangerous. Now it’s time to focus on the people who support the president’s assessment that tariffs are a “very beautiful thing” that will usher in a new golden a...

Politics

3 w. ago Corporate America won’t stop Trump’s tariffs. Here’s why | Alex Bronzini

Whether among executives, lobbyists or university trustees, an elite backlash to the Trump administration won’t work. It’s up to working people to resistFew historical analogies exist for Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs. The investment bank Evercore estimates that the so-called “liberation day” announcement has raised the weighted average US tariff to 29% – its highest rate since 1900. To call it a generational action would be an understatement; my grandmother was born in 1939.These tariffs, if they remain in place, will raise prices, eliminate jobs and shrink retirements. No one will pay for them more dearly than American workers. Yet a shock to capitalism inevitably raises the question of whether, and how, capitalists will respond. Faced with Trump’s tariffs, what will the US’s business class do? Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago SNL cold open mocks Trump tariffs with ‘Make America Great Depression Again’ line

‘You know, the depression is going to be so great. We'll be the ones eating the cats and the dogs. That's going to be fun’

Politics

4 w. ago Genetic data is an another asset to be exploited – beware who has yours | John Naughton

The bankruptcy of genealogy company 23andMe has resulted in a fire sale of millions of people’s genetic information – and there’s no shortage of eager buyers with questionable motivesEver thought of having your genome sequenced? Me neither. But it seems that at least 15 million souls have gone in for it and are delighted to know that they have Viking ancestry, or discombobulated to find that they have siblings of whom they were hitherto unaware. The corporate vehicle that enabled these revelations is called 23andMe, which describes itself as a “genetics-led consumer healthcare and biotechnology company empowering a healthier future”.Back in the day, 23andMe was one of those vaunted “unicorns” (privately held startups valued at more than $1bn), but is now facing harder times. Its share price had fallen precipitately following a data breach in October 2023 that harvested the profile and ethnicity data of 6.9 million users – including name, profile photo, birth year, location, family s...

Events

4 w. ago Corporate America fears wrath of Trump as it mulls tariffs response

Executives unsure how far to go in re-engineering their businesses and hope they can lobby US president to ease policies

Politics

4 w. ago America’s Brexit? Trump’s historic gamble on tariffs has been decades in the making

Trump’s economic assault on the world stunned economists and sent stock markets into a spiral. Who will pay the price?Donald Trump’s vast overhaul of US trade policy this week has called time on an era of globalization, alarming people, governments and investors around the world. No one should have been surprised, the US president said.The announcement of 10% to 50% tariffs on US trading partners tanked stock markets after Trump unveiled a “declaration of economic independence” so drastic it drew comparison with Britain’s exit from the European Union – Brexit. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s tariff ultimatum: tribute for access to America’s empire | Editorial

As the White House retools US imperialism with import duties, others must resist dependency – deepening regional ties and reducing exposure to chokepointsWhen Donald Trump stood before union auto workers in the Rose Garden he declared “Liberation Day”, promising to stand up for Main Street. Whether that pledge will be fulfilled is moot. He will declare victory either way. What the US president offered was not just an economic programme, but an imperial one.Mr Trump’s logic, if it exists, lies in the 397-page report on “foreign trade barriers” he brandished on Wednesday. Its message is brutally simple: you may sell your goods to Walmart shoppers, but only if you let US cloud services hoover up your data, US media flood your screens and US tech monopolies operate on their terms – not yours. TikTok is the test case for Trump’s platform nationalism: only US firms may mine data, reap profits and rule the digital empire. Continue reading...

Politics