Today
EU seeks early US talks to avert Trump tariffs
The president has repeatedly complained about the US goods trade deficit with the 27-country European Union.
- Philip Blenkinsop
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Trade wars
Expect Trump’s trade war to leave more bite marks next time
The quick apparent resolution will encourage Trump to keep strong-arming other friends and foes into doing whatever by threatening their access to the American market.
- Michael Stutchbury
- Analysis
- Trump's America
Trump shows signs of being a paper tiger on tariffs
The president’s pause on tariffs feeds his growing reputation for stopping short of his bombast when it comes to trade, using the levies as a negotiating ploy.
- Josh Wingrove and Jenny Leonard
This Month
Putin-Trump talks ‘very dangerous’ without Ukraine: Zelensky
Donald Trump said US-Russian officials were already talking about “ending the war”, but Ukraine’s president wants to be front and centre of any discussions.
- Susie Blann, Samya Kullab and Illia Novikov
January
What our region can learn from Europe’s failure with Putin
While directing his critique at Europe, Keir Giles usefully illuminates the wider malaise afflicting other nations in coming to terms with the new world.
- Peter Tesch
China’s economy loses steam ahead of new year holiday
The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.1, the lowest since August, missing economists’ forecast for a modest expansion.
- Yujing Liu
‘Fantastic woman’: Can the Trump whisperer save Europe?
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni has emerged as the US president’s favourite EU interlocutor, with hopes growing she could talk him out of a trade war.
- Amy Kazmin
- Analysis
- Trump's White House
Trump’s first day shows the ‘triumph of toxic tech capitalism’
For all their previously progressive leanings, the tech sector billionaires know that Donald Trump is the most lucrative ally they could have wished for.
- Paul Smith
South Korea president detained in huge law-enforcement effort
The South Korean leader said he agreed to submit to questioning to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police.
- Choe Sang-Hun and Jin Yu Young
- Analysis
- World politics
The art of dealing with Donald Trump
The president-elect’s aggressive claims about potential territorial expansion are a crash course for allies in his negotiating tactics.
- Alex Rogers, Felicia Schwartz and Lucy Fisher
Elon Musk goes large in Europe
Musk has money, a pulpit, and the imprimatur of the White House. But does he actually have a plan for remaking Europe? If not, there are other Trumpians who do.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Musk hosts German far-right leader on X, stirs election meddling angst
In a wide-ranging, sometimes stilted conversation, the billionaire and chancellor candidate Alice Weidel agreed that the AfD was the answer.
- Sarah Marsh and Thomas Escritt
- Updated
- International affairs
Europe talks tough on Trump’s Greenland ambitions and Musk’s X posts
France’s foreign minister warns Trump could usher in a ‘survival of the fittest’ world, but the Danes are eager to hose things down.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
Starmer leads European pushback against ‘troll’ Musk
The leaders of Germany, France and the UK have all railed gainst the increasingly punchy political interventions from the X owner and Donald Trump confidant.
- Hans van Leeuwen
December 2024
Germany in crisis as government collapses
Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote, triggering an election in a new era of unstable politics in Germany amid a series of crises across Europe.
- Christopher F. Schuetze and Jim Tankersley
US in direct contact with Islamist rebels in Syria
Western and regional officials are seeking to deal with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that overthrew the Assad regime despite its designation as a terrorist group.
- Matthew Lee
‘We need time’: Syrians in Europe resist calls to return home
Those who fled the 13-year civil war pointed to the political uncertainty after a rebel offensive swept into Damascus over the weekend.
- Laura Pitel, Eleni Varvitsioti and Amy Kazmin
Macron plans to name new PM within days
The French president also vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027.
- Updated
- Ellen Francis and Annabelle Timsit
- Opinion
- Technology & democracy
Break up big tech to save competition, democracy and the climate
To save the European Green Deal and restore economic competitiveness, the EU’s new antitrust push must rein in these companies’ enormous power.
- Cori Crider
France lurches towards political, economic crisis
Populists from right and left could topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier, risking a market meltdown over intractable politics and a burgeoning budget deficit.
- Hans van Leeuwen