3 h. ago Stock markets plunge as China announces retaliatory 34% tariffs on US goods – business live

Global trade war escalate as Beijing hits back against Donald Trump with new tariffs on US goodsIMF warns of ‘significant risk’ to global economy from Trump tariffs as markets slideGlobal markets in turmoil as Trump tariffs wipe $2.5tn off Wall StreetAnalysis: Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economistsNew Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, has filed what it says is the first lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the US president overstepped his authority. Reuters reports:The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose the sweeping tariffs unveiled on Wednesday as well as duties authorized on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.“By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to contro...

Economics

3 h. ago Mark Rutte says US tariffs do not violate Nato commitments on ‘eliminating conflict in international economic policies’ – Europe live

Nato secretary general says ‘we have seen many examples of fights over tariffs in the past’ when pressed on US tariffsAsked further about Ukraine, Rutte lists a number of projects by Nato member states, including Poland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic.He says that “the shortest answer” to question on safety guarantees is to adopt measures that make sure that “Putin will never, ever try again to get one square kilometer or one square mile of Ukraine in the future, that he knows that there is a deterrence and a defence by which Ukraine can never be attacked in the future.” Continue reading...

Economics

7 h. ago FTSE 100 hits lowest level since January as IMF warns Trump tariffs ‘a significant risk’ to global economy – business live

Kristolina Georgieva warns against retaliation to US levies while US president insists ‘markets will boom’ after sweeping tariff announcementGlobal markets in turmoil as Trump tariffs wipe $2.5tn off Wall StreetAnalysis: Trump’s ‘idiotic’ and flawed tariff calculations stun economistsNew Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative legal group, has filed what it says is the first lawsuit seeking to block Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, saying the US president overstepped his authority. Reuters reports:The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Florida, alleges that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose the sweeping tariffs unveiled on Wednesday as well as duties authorized on February 1 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.“By invoking emergency power to impose an across-the-board tariff on imports from China that the statute does not authorize, President Trump has misused that power, usurped Congress’s right to control tariffs, and upset the Constitution’s ...

Events

23 h. ago US committed as ever to Nato and Trump is not against the alliance, says Rubio

Washington wants to see European countries increase defence spending to five per cent, the US secretary of state said

Politics

8 d. ago Inside the mind of Tiger Woods: Why a titanic alliance with Donald Trump and the hidden message in THAT Vanessa Trump relationship unveiling reveal all in his hunt for peace

RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: We should be careful about how much weight we attach to social media numbers, but there was something revealing about Tiger Woods's two most recent posts.

Politics

1 week ago In defiance of Donald Trump, is a European ‘security council’ emerging? | Paul Taylor

With the US threatening unilateral withdrawal, even from the top Nato military post, five European nations must fill the vacuumIn the face of Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and Donald Trump’s destabilisation of the Atlantic alliance, an embryonic European security council is taking shape on the hoof. Whether it will prove strong enough to protect Europe’s liberal democracies and deter Russia without US military support may be tested all too soon.Nato was created under US leadership to keep the Soviet Union at bay while suppressing centuries-old rivalries among European powers. The alliance stayed united through the cold war and attracted new central European members after communist rule collapsed. But the spectre of US disengagement now threatens to leave Europe without its nuclear-armed protector.Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Europe doesn’t need Trump to form a western alliance – and one is already taking shape | Martin Kettle

Britain, France and Germany are closing ranks to bolster Nato as the unreliable US president marches to his own drumAn Atlantic alliance without the United States? It sounds like a contradiction in terms – Hamlet without the prince. Yet this is the improbable, disjunctive world we now inhabit. It is the one in which our children and grandchildren will live their lives. Like it or not, the systemic shock launched by Donald Trump is our new reality. Absolutely nothing about Trump’s latest phone call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday has changed that.Europe’s scramble to respond to Trump’s return to power was driven initially by the urgency of maintaining support for Ukraine. Most of the focus was diplomatic: keeping US military aid and intelligence flowing, shoring up damaged channels between Washington and Kyiv, engaging quietly with both Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to both encourage and deter, while moving very publicly to take up more of the security burden. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Carney visits Macron and Starmer as he seeks alliances amid Trump trade war

Canadian PM stresses importance of ‘reliable allies’ in Paris before travelling to London where he was received by kingCanada is the “most European of the non-European countries”, Mark Carney has said during his first overseas trip as prime minister to France and the UK, where he is seeking stronger alliances to deal with Donald Trump’s attacks on his country’s sovereignty and economy.Without mentioning the US president by name, Carney and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, made a joint appearance in Paris to show a united stance against what they said were economic and geopolitical crises – a reference to Trump’s trade war and “America first” diplomacy that has left longtime allies scrambling. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago From London to Lviv: how Trump’s new world order has shaken Europe

At each stop on 1,000-mile trip, discombobulated Europeans are grappling with new and unsettling realities as the US reforges its alliancesEurope live – latest updatesWhile Donald Trump talks of the “big beautiful ocean” separating the US from the war in Ukraine, 1,000 miles of rail track links London St Pancras to the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.The 19-hour trip takes in Brussels, the German economic powerhouse of Frankfurt, and Vienna, the Austrian capital, before the train rattles into Kraków in south-east Poland and Przemyśl, the Polish border town where the slimmer railway gauges of western Europe meet the wider tracks of Ukraine and Russia to the east. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Canada PM Carney visits France and UK as Trump trade war deepens

Carney aims to bolster European alliances in wake of US president’s attacks on Canada’s sovereigntyMark Carney, the new Canadian prime minister, has arrived in Paris on his first stop of a visit to France and the UK as he seeks to bolster European alliances to deal with Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty and economy.Carney is deliberately making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries that shaped Canada’s early existence. At his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, Carney noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples: Indigenous, French and British. He said Canada was fundamentally different from the US and would “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago New Canada PM Mark Carney to visit Paris and London amid attacks from Trump

Newly minted prime minister will sit down with Macron and Starmer but has no immediate plans to meet with Donald TrumpMark Carney, the new Canadian prime minister, is headed to Paris and London seeking alliances as he deals with Donald Trump’s attacks on Canada’s sovereignty and economy.Carney is deliberately making his first foreign trip to the capital cities of the two countries that shaped Canada’s early existence. At his swearing-in ceremony on Friday, Carney noted the country was built on the bedrock of three peoples: French, English and Indigenous. He said Canada was fundamentally different from the US and will “never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump's tariff wars forge rare bipartisan alliance in Kentucky as bourbon makers fear escalation

President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs has forged a rare bipartisan alliance among Kentucky’s top leaders — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul

Politics

3 w. ago The new reality dawning in Australia: it can no longer rely on the US

For all the fraternal rhetoric, the alliance has always been asymmetric. It seems Washington under Trump sees it as immaterialGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt’s not really about the tariffs.Not for Australia the brutal humiliation meted out on camera to Ukraine in the Oval Office. Nor Canada’s escalating war of invective and retaliatory sanctions. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Watch live: Trump meets Nato chief after Musk calls for US to exit alliance

Watch live as Donald Trump meets Nato secretary general Mark Rutte at the White House on Thursday, 13 March, after Elon Musk called for the United States to leave the alliance.

Politics

3 w. ago Watch: Trump meets Nato chief after Musk calls for US to exit alliance

Watch as Donald Trump meets Nato secretary general Mark Rutte at the White House on Thursday, 13 March, after Elon Musk called for the United States to leave the alliance.

Politics

3 w. ago Ecuador enlists founder of Blackwater private army as ally in ‘war’ on crime

Daniel Noboa, who is seeking re-election as president, announces partnership with Trump supporter Erik PrinceEcuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, has announced a “strategic alliance” with the Donald Trump-supporting founder of the private military firm Blackwater to supposedly reinforce his controversial “war” on crime.Noboa, the rightwing heir to a South American banana empire, announced the partnership with Erik Prince on social media on Tuesday night. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Britain urged to form breakaway 'Four Eyes' alliance without the US after Trump's 'unprecedented' decision to block intelligence sharing with Ukraine

Some in the defence establishment are now suggesting forming a sub-group in the existing 'Five Eyes' alliance to allow intelligence sharing without a US veto.

Politics

3 w. ago German election winner Merz moves step closer to forming government

Conservative bloc and SPD to start full coalition talks as chancellor-in-waiting plans to revive ailing economyGermany’s conservative election winner Friedrich Merz came a step closer on Saturday to forming a government that he says will revive Europe’s top economy and its armed forces with massive new spending.The bold moves are part of his plan to rebuild Berlin’s standing in Europe, which Merz has said must respond to the sweeping changes driven by US president Donald Trump that have rocked the transatlantic alliance. Continue reading...

Politics

last month Starmer could head for White House with Zelensky and Macron in desperate bid to save Western alliance

Keir Starmer is said to be ready to make the trip with the Ukrainian president and Emmanuel Macron as they try to keep Donald Trump on side.

Politics