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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 specialised in heaping scorn on America’s traditional allies since arriving in the White House, but on Thursday he adopted a strikingly new approach: lavishing praise on a “fantastic” Britain and

Donald Trump said he is working on a trade deal with the UK and suggested that Britain could escape tariffs if the countries secure one, but the allies failed to agree on US security guarantees for Ukraine. During a warm joint press conference at the White House on Thursday, the US president said his UK

Despite the air of gloom hanging over China’s property market, work is well under way at a construction site in the north-west of Beijing. Yellow and green cranes nestle among the scaffolding, while lines of crushed limestone trail across the upturned earth. Backed by private developer Longfor, projects like this have helped power the world’s

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world US secretary of state Marco Rubio has spoken with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov ahead of high-level talks between Washington and Moscow next week, as relations thaw between the countries. Rubio, national security

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Credit Suisse employees in the UK who transferred to UBS when the two banks combined are still eligible for paid sabbaticals unlike their colleagues, highlighting disparities in staff benefits almost two years after the UBS

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping plan to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on America’s trading partners on Thursday, heralding greater disruption for the global economy. In a broadside directed at both US allies and adversaries, Trump

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. US President Donald Trump’s barrage of economic policies is a “real, genuine fundamental wake-up call” that is forcing Europe to address its competitiveness problem, according to the chief executive of the region’s biggest stock exchange

Emmanuel Macron has described Donald Trump’s return as an “electroshock” that should force Europe to secure its own future as well as Ukraine’s. In an interview at the Élysée Palace shortly after Trump agreed with Vladimir Putin of Russia to hold imminent peace talks, the French president championed the need for Europe to “muscle up”

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. There is a new Bond villain in British politics. The attorney-general, Lord Hermer, finds himself under attack for being a stickler for the law. Colleagues and opponents talk unflatteringly of “Hermerism”. Outsiders might find the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. A benchmark for Chinese technology stocks has risen more than 20 per cent in the past month, entering a bull market as investors pile into the country’s internet companies following DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence breakthrough. The

US foundations and university endowments are ramping up their exposure to cryptocurrencies to join the digital assets rush prompted by President Donald Trump’s promise to make the nation the world’s “bitcoin superpower”. Crypto has far outperformed other asset classes over the past five years despite its high volatility, with many who have stood on the

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Bank of England’s grim snapshot of the UK economy on Thursday raised fresh concerns about the government’s efforts to lift growth, as the central bank forecast weaker activity, higher inflation, rising unemployment and a

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK interest rates myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The Bank of England has halved its 2025 growth estimate and cut interest rates by a quarter-point to 4.5 per cent, as it contends with a stagnant UK economy and an increasingly uncertain international

Donald Trump’s plans for the US to assume control of Gaza have been met with anger across the Arab world, and raised fears of reigniting conflict in the region. Saudi Arabia, considered Trump’s closest ally in the oil-rich Gulf region, was quick to denounce the US president’s remarks on Tuesday evening that Washington should “take

Beijing has retaliated against Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports with duties of its own but limited their scope in a possible bid to avoid a full-blown trade war. The measures against US products ranging from liquefied natural gas to cars will take effect on February 10 and were announced on Tuesday, hours after Trump’s

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world China has revived antitrust investigations into Google and Nvidia, while considering a new probe against Intel, as Beijing looks for leverage in talks with US President Donald Trump. China’s State Administration for Market

Donald Trump has long declared himself a “tariff man” willing to impose sweeping levies on imports from countries that have hurt America. But on Saturday, the 78-year old US president took the first dramatic step of his second term towards putting that vision into practice — placing trade wars and economic nationalism at the top

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico sparked panic and condemnation from the US’s top trading partners, who said the levies would devastate North America’s economy and overturn decades of integration. Politicians, business leaders and trade associations in all three countries reacted with disbelief, warning the tariffs would bring inflation, supply chain disruption and

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