Opinion

As President Trump embarks on his first overseas trip, he’s embracing the same defiant strategy adopted over a generation ago by an embattled predecessor, Richard Nixon. As scandal talks grow at home, Trump is licking his wounds, spurning his critics, and looking for approval from foreign leaders who admire him for being a tough guy. Trump’s combative early-morning tweets on …

Unlike Hong Kong’s stock-trading links with Shanghai and Shenzhen, the bond connect between the former British colony and China may not be as slow to gain traction. The People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority this week unveiled plans to establish a mutual access program between the mainland and Hong Kong bond markets. Details on timing have …

President Donald Trump has frequently denounced the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), promising either to renegotiate it with extreme prejudice or terminate it altogether. On Thursday his administration served official notice that he is serious, notifying Congress that it intends to start negotiations with Canada and Mexico in 90 days. So Nafta is as good as doomed? Maybe not. …

UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s election manifesto combines traditionally socialist rhetoric with a lack of specific spending promises. With it, May is making a play for center-left voters the way Tony Blair once made a play for center-right ones; she’s joining a European trend — a kind of hybrid right-left is emerging as traditional political divisions are erased. “Conservatism is …

In the cutthroat race for consumer dollars, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has pulled ahead. Shares in the world’s largest retailer rose 2% on Thursday after it reported an eye-popping 63% year-over-year increase in the latest quarter in US online sales, along with its eleventh straight quarter of year-over-year sales growth at established stores. It’s been a decades-long journey, but it seems …

The Industrial Revolution was probably the most important thing that has ever happened in human history. In the space of a few centuries, much of the human race, which had long hovered on the brink of starvation, was suddenly lifted into relative security through the power of new technology. But why did this amazing explosion happen? There are many theories, …

China’s just-completed conference touting its Belt and Road initiative certainly looked like a triumph, with Russian President Vladimir Putin playing the piano and Chinese leaders announcing a string of potential deals and massive financial pledges. Underneath all the heady talk about China positioning itself at the heart of a new global order, though, lies in uncomfortable question: Can it afford …

What’s bad for Donald Trump could be great for European stocks. The scandal embroiling the US President should help a rally that’s seen returns from the benchmark Euro Stoxx 600 index surpass the Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year. For several years, the euro zone’s political backdrop has given global investors a reason, or an excuse, to be wary …

If this were, say, 1974, nobody would have batted an eye at the British Labour Party’s election manifesto. But in 2017, a program of renationalization, tax hikes, wage caps and other radically socialist fare isn’t just outdated and impractical; it’s painfully beside the point. This call to return the U.K. to an era of economic dysfunction comes at the country’s …

It was US President Donald Trump’s yet another foot-in-mouth error. The uproar over the sacking of FBI chief James Comey has hardly died down, Trump stirred the pot again. The Washington Post reported on Monday that President Trump revealed highly classified piece of information about an IS plot to Russia’s foreign minister and US ambassador. The information had been provided …