End in sight for US-China trade war with ‘framework’ announced in London June 11, 2025 The US and China have agreed on a “framework” by which to implement a trade truce after two days of “marathon negotiations” in London. Details from the framework agreed on Tuesday have yet to be released, but US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik said it put “meat on the bones” of the Geneva deal, which lowered [...]
Gold tops euro to become central banks’ second favourite reserve asset June 11, 2025 Central banks now hold more gold than euros in the face of global trade tensions and volatile markets, according to a report produced by the European Central Bank (ECB), making it the world’s second largest reserve asset after the US dollar. Purchases of gold were twice as high in 2024 as the average seen over [...]
Heathrow reports dip in transatlantic travel as Trump turbulence hits demand June 11, 2025 Heathrow Airport has reported a dip in transatlantic travel as Donald Trump’s erratic policymaking hits demand to the US. Some 1.9m passengers flew to North America in May, down 2.1 per cent year-on-year despite the airport reporting a record month overall. It comes after the European Travel Commission warned last month that Trump’s tariff war [...]
Global growth to brake to ‘slowest pace’ since financial crash, World Bank says June 10, 2025 The world economy is heading for its worst year since the 2008 financial crash, the World Bank has predicted, as most major economies suffered a growth downgrade due to trade tensions sparked by President Trump’s tariffs. The UN-backed financial institution has predicted that global growth will come down to 2.3 per cent this year as [...]
Unemployment creeps up as firms cut jobs following Reeves tax raid June 10, 2025 The unemployment rate has crept up to 4.6 per cent from 4.5 per cent, official data has revealed, putting Chancellor Reeves’ ambition of growing the UK economy and getting people into work under threat. It is the highest unemployment rate in three years, with the UK economy then recovering from the pandemic. Figures released by [...]
UK GDP growth expected to slide after Awful April June 10, 2025 The UK economy is expected to have contracted in April as the double whammy of tax hikes and higher energy prices help reverse the 0.7 per cent growth gains seen in the first three months of the year. A Bloomberg poll of economists said City analysts are pencilling in a 0.1 per cent reduction to [...]
Can populists survive in public office? Ask Geert Wilders… June 9, 2025 Right-wing firebrand Geert Wilders has withdrawn from government in the Netherlands after discovering that governing is harder than criticising from the fringes. It’s a lesson Nigel Farage may learn too, say Eliot Wilson Last week, greeted by more weary fatalism than surprise, the government of the Netherlands collapsed. On Tuesday, radical nationalist Geert Wilders withdrew [...]
Donald Trump and Elon Musk urged to end feud June 7, 2025 Republicans fearful about potential consequences of a prolonged feud between US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are urging the pair to call a truce. At a minimum, the explosion of animosity between the two powerful men could complicate the path forward for Republicans’ massive tax and border spending legislation that has been promoted by [...]
In Musk v Trump, the markets will win June 6, 2025 City AM columnist Rainer Zitelmann has been predicting a rift between Musk and Trump ever since the two started working together. Now that this has happened, the French daily newspaper L’Express has spoken to him again. The interview was conducted by Thomas Mahler. “I never believed that the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump would last,” [...]
Trump and Musk: Explosive row engulfs Washington June 5, 2025 The relationship between US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has descended into threats, abuse and accusations. A disagreement over the merits of Trump’s tax and spending legislation has turned into a dramatic feud, with Trump saying he was “surprised” at Musk’s criticism of his “big, beautiful” bill. “Elon and I had a great [...]