Category: News

  • What if Donald Trump calls the courts’ bluff?

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world The Rockies may crumble and Gibraltar may tumble. But if Donald Trump obeys the courts, the US republic will stand. America’s system is designed to accommodate almost anything except a return to de…

  • Elon Musk-led consortium offers $100bn to take control of OpenAI

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Elon Musk and a group of co-investors have submitted a near-$100bn bid for the non-profit that controls OpenAI, complicating chief executive Sam Altman’s attempt to convert the start-up to a for-profit entity. Musk, whose start-up…

  • Trump to halt enforcement of law banning bribery of foreign officials

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Justice to halt the enforcement of a US anti-corruption law that bars Americans from bribing foreign government officials to win business. “It’s going to mean a…

  • Trump to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump said he would on Monday impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, expanding his trade conflicts to the metals sector in a new burst of protectionism from…

  • Trump says Nippon Steel has dropped plan to buy US Steel

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump announced Nippon Steel had abandoned its plan to buy US Steel but would “invest heavily” in the iconic Pittsburgh producer. At a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba…

  • Trump’s memecoin copycats spark fears for investors

    Donald Trump’s new cryptocurrency has sparked a flood of imitators, leading to warnings that investors risk being duped. More than 700 copycat and spam coins have been sent to Trump’s digital wallet by people apparently seeking to suggest their creations have his endorsement, according to a Financial Times analysis. It comes after the president and…

  • Amazon slips after sales outlook misses expectations

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Amazon has said it will pump about $100bn into its artificial intelligence initiatives this year as the ecommerce group shrugs off worries about China’s DeepSeek and invests heavily in data infrastructure. Chief executive Andy Jassy…

  • How to trade the trade war

    Financial markets have been roiled by US President Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on key trading partners, and investors are bracing for further volatility ahead. Here’s how they are trading Trump’s on-again, off-again trade war. Equities: ‘impossible to avoid risk’ Wall Street has been working since before November’s presidential election on how it should position…

  • Middle East and Europe condemn Trump’s plans to take over Gaza

    US allies across Europe and the Middle East have condemned Donald Trump’s plans for Washington to “take over” Gaza and any attempt to expel Palestinians from the devastated territory. Countries throughout the region and beyond denounced the proposals within hours of the US president’s shock Tuesday evening announcement that Washington should assume control of Gaza…

  • ‘Enough is enough’: Trump tariffs inspire economic patriotism in Canada

    A new wave of economic nationalism has swept across Canada as Donald Trump’s tariffs inspire anger but also a patriotic campaign to “Buy Canadian”. ‘Made in Canada’ signs have popped up in grocery stores, lists of Canadian alternatives to US products are being circulated and comedians are devoting skits on national television to how best…

  • EU to ‘respond firmly’ if Trump imposes tariffs

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world The EU has said it regrets US President Donald Trump’s decision to hit Canada, Mexico and China with sweeping tariffs, and said it would respond firmly if a threat to expand the trade…

  • Temu, Shein and Amazon to be liable in EU for ‘unsafe’ or ‘illegal’ goods

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The EU plans to make ecommerce platforms such as Temu, Shein and Amazon Marketplace liable for dangerous or illegal products sold online, in a crackdown on the flood of imports from China. According to a…

  • Canada should respond to Trump with tariffs on Musk’s Teslas, Freeland says

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Canada’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland has said Ottawa should retaliate to any US tariffs by adding huge levies on Tesla vehicles to punish Elon Musk, one of Donald Trump’s “billionaire buddies”. Freeland,…

  • US says it will push ahead with tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world The US will go ahead with plans to hit Canada, Mexico and China with new tariffs, the White House has said, heightening the risks of a trade war. Washington will hit Canada and…

  • Federal Reserve in no ‘hurry’ to adjust policy, Jay Powell says

    Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said the central bank’s projections showed US tariffs would probably put Canada into a recession. BoC modelling, based on a scenario in which the US imposes permanent 25 per cent tariffs on every one of its trading partners and those nations respond in kind, shows a likely 2 per…

  • ASML shares bounce as orders signal demand for AI equipment

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. ASML, the chip manufacturing equipment maker, said orders for its most advanced machines surged last quarter, suggesting producers of artificial intelligence processors were increasing capacity before China’s DeepSeek this week triggered a panic over future…

  • White House tells federal agencies to freeze grants and loans

    Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world US federal agencies are set to freeze the payment of hundreds of billions of dollars of domestic federal grants and loans on Tuesday in President Donald Trump’s latest aggressive move to slash and…

  • OpenAI’s Altman vows ‘better models’ as China’s DeepSeek disrupts global race

    OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said he would fast-track product releases and “deliver much better models” after the release of a powerful new model by Chinese start-up DeepSeek undermined Silicon Valley’s lead in a global artificial intelligence arms race. DeepSeek’s generative AI chatbot, a direct rival to ChatGPT, is able to perform some tasks at…

  • Starbucks cracks down on freeloaders to reverse sales decline

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A man in a winter coat enters a crowded Starbucks café and lounges on a caramel-coloured seat. Then he gets up, goes to the bathroom and exits into a frigid downtown Manhattan. One thing he…

  • Rome vs Milan: how Mediobanca turned prey for Monte dei Paschi

    When Italian financial power broker Mediobanca helped its longtime client Monte dei Paschi di Siena structure a make-or-break capital raising in 2022, little did it know it would ultimately become a takeover target for the former poster child of the country’s failed banking system.  On Friday, MPS astonished investors by launching a €13.3bn all-share bid…