Two Chinas inhabit the American imagination: One is a technology and manufacturing superpower poised to lead the world. The other is an economy that’s on the verge of collapse. Each reflect a real aspect of China. One China — let’s call it hopeful China — is defined by companies like the A.I. start-up DeepSeek, the…
President Trump’s decision to impose, and then walk back, triple-digit tariffs on Chinese products over the past month demonstrated the power and global reach of U.S. trade policy. But it was also another illustration of the limitations of Mr. Trump’s aggressive approach. The tariffs on Chinese goods, which the United States ratcheted up to a…
Xi Jinping has been preparing for this moment for years. In April 2020, long before President Trump launched a trade war that would shake the global economy, China’s top leader held a meeting with senior Communist Party officials and laid out his vision for turning the tables on the United States in a confrontation. Tensions…
The British government made faster economic growth its No. 1 mission. But efforts to kick-start it have been repeatedly knocked off course by a global economy lurching from one crisis to another. On Thursday, British officials appeared to secure a win. The country is set to announce some form of trade deal with the United…
The pay stubs tell the story. Hefty deductions to help cover the cost of Kenya’s new funds for affordable housing and health insurance. More money subtracted for jacked-up contributions to the National Social Security Fund and an increase in the tax rate. In a matter of months, Kenyans with a 45,000-shilling-a-month salary — roughly $350…
The growing list of major economies warning of weaker growth because of U.S. tariffs has a new member. The Bank of Japan said on Thursday that it expects the Japanese economy to grow 0.5 percent in the fiscal year that started on April 1. That is a sharp downgrade from the 1.1 percent the central…
President Trump’s tariffs are already taking a toll on China’s factories. Three weeks into a trade war that pushed import tariffs on Chinese-made goods to 145 percent, an official report on manufacturing activity signaled that in April, Chinese factories experienced the sharpest monthly slowdown in more than a year. The report, a survey of industrial…
On April 30, 1975, Vu Dang Toan commanded the first tank to smash through the main gate of Saigon’s Independence Palace. After seeing so many die — after grinding away his youth battling the Americans and the forces of South Vietnam — he was there, alive and surprised, for the war’s weary end. It was…
President Trump has made clear his intent to smash the reigning global economic order. And in 100 days, he has made remarkable progress in accomplishing that goal. Mr. Trump has provoked a trade war, scrapped treaties and suggested that Washington might not defend Europe. He is also dismantling the governmental infrastructure that has provided the…
Germany’s economy will not grow for the third year in a row, the government said on Thursday, scaling back a previous prediction as President Trump’s tariffs bite into Europe’s largest economy, leaving it stagnant. In January, the German government had predicted 0.3 percent economic growth, but Mr. Trump’s tariffs of 25 percent on imported automobiles,…