3 w. ago IMF chief cuts growth forecast over ‘off the charts’ trade uncertainty

Kristalina Georgieva warns that Donald Trump’s tariff ‘reboot’ threatens to raise prices and play havoc with markets

Politics

3 w. ago Trump’s tariffs are reckless – but they hold a key lesson for Democrats | David Sirota

There is a middle ground on tariffs. But Democrats’ free-trade advocacy allows Trump to play the populistTo tariff or not to tariff? Today’s tweet-length political discourse pretends this is a binary choice. Donald Trump has pitched across-the-board import levies as a panacea to rebuild American manufacturing, while Democrats insist the president’s proposals are an attempt to crash the economy, and that their party should tout its opposition to all tariffs.But neither the policy nor politics of this moment are that neat and simple. While too few or too many tariffs can destroy economies, there is a Goldilocks zone that’s just right. It’s just being omitted from the conversation. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘The sky won’t fall’: China plays down Trump tariff risks as stock markets rally

Chinese customs official says trade has diversified away from US in recent years and plays up its ‘vast domestic market’Business live – latest updatesChina has played down the risk of damage to its exports from Donald Trump’s tariffs, with an official saying the “the sky won’t fall”, as stock markets rose on Monday amid signs of a retreat on electronics restrictions.The world’s second-largest economy has diversified its trade away from the US in recent years, according to Lyu Daliang, a customs administration spokesperson, in comments reported by state-owned agency Xinhua. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Stock markets rise on signs of Trump tariff retreat; British Steel races to keep furnaces burning – business live

Chinese exports jump as official says ‘the sky won’t fall,’ despite warning from US officials that smartphone and laptop exemption from import tariffs on China will be short-livedMatt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:Just when it seemed the tariff chaos couldn’t get any worse, tech investors have spent the weekend scrambling to make sense of a whirlwind of confusing - and at times contradictory - messages coming out of the White House. Despite the drama, European markets have taken an easing stance on US tech components as a positive in a broad-based rally this morning, with the FTSE 100 up 1.5% in early trading.This time, it’s chips, smartphones, and other tech components taking centre stage. While there were early signs on Friday night that some broad exemptions might be in play, it turns out tariffs are still very much on the table. But here’s the twist: despite the messy rollout, what’s caught investors’ attention is the news that these products won’t...

Economics

3 w. ago China says ‘sky won’t fall’ as exports surge ahead of Trump tariffs

Rush of shipments preceded escalation of trade war between world’s two biggest economies

Politics

3 w. ago China customs says ‘sky won’t fall’ as exports surge ahead of Trump tariffs

Rush of shipments preceded escalation of trade war between world’s two biggest economies

Politics

3 w. ago China says ‘sky won’t fall’ as exports surge ahead of Trump’s tariffs

Rush of shipments preceded escalation of trade war between world’s two biggest economies

Politics

3 w. ago The big lesson for Europe? Trump backed down under pressure | Alexander Hurst

The EU neither ‘kissed ass’ nor unleashed its most powerful trade weapon. Now it must provide the world with an alternative to US chaosMy condolences to everyone who spent days trying to play 5D chess with Donald Trump’s market-exploding tariff mess. Where Trump is involved, there is a cloud of malevolent chaos, and there is grift amid the chaos. What grandmasters there are to be found are almost certainly grandmasters of grift.When markets dump $10tn in three days and then gain trillions back in a single afternoon on the erratic decisions of one deeply corrupt person, you can be sure that a small number of people have made immense sums of money out of that volatility. Were the people responsible for abnormal spikes buying into the markets (including call options on various indexes and exchange-traded funds) on Wednesday morning – and again, 20 minutes before the tariff announcement went public – extraordinarily lucky? Were they in the right Signal group? Or were they just simply fo...

Politics

last month Trump tariff chaos hits PlayStation and Nintendo hard as game companies shaken by rollout

Japanese gaming companies have been hit hard in the earliest days of President Trump's tariffs, including Nintendo has it prepares to launch its Switch 2 console in June

Events