Opinion

Donald Trump isn’t shy about using trade as a weapon to get what he wants. He has slapped tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods as he tries to deliver what he claims will be an “epic” trade deal for the American people. Now he’s using a similar playbook against Europe, just as it prepares to start trade talks with ...

When I use Google Maps, it gives me several options, but I usually take the one it highlights without thinking too much about it. Do energy and climate road maps work the same way? Some 60-odd signatories representing a swath of investment funds, scientific institutions, and think tanks suggest they do, in a recent letter to Fatih Birol, executive director ...

Activist investor Dan Loeb is having a second crack at Sony Corp. His Third Point LLC is building a stake in the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate, with a view to pushing for change, Reuters reported, citing sources it didn’t name. Shareholders loved the news, driving the company’s Tokyo shares up as much as 7.4 percent on April 9 after ...

File this under “unintended consequences.” The anti-diesel campaign that followed the 2016 discovery that Volkswagen AG used software cheats to understate its cars’ nitrogen oxide emissions has led to a rise in carbon dioxide, which has a greater impact on the climate. In 2017, CO2 emissions from new cars were higher than the previous year for the first time since ...

Just as its oil sector looked set to stage a recovery, Libya is heading back towards bloody chaos that puts output and exports at risk. A disruption to supplies from the North African country would hit European refiners and raise oil prices around the world. Libya – one of six Opec oil producers at risk of unintended output declines – ...

Activist investors are circling Japan Inc., creating momentum for change in the country’s boardrooms. While you’d hope that the Carlos Ghosn saga would help in that effort, it may in fact slow things down. The latest episode in Ghosn’s downfall came, as shareholders in Nissan Motor Co. voted to remove him as a director. The once legendary auto executive was ...

The euro’s steady deterioration is the European Central Bank’s (ECB) saving grace. It buys policy makers more time to assess how dovish it needs to be — but they need to be careful not to fritter away this asset. The euro-area economy is decelerating rapidly, and it is the export-led nations that are suffering most. Keeping the currency from approaching ...

One of humanity’s most hopeful developments in recent decades has been the dramatic drop in extreme poverty. In 2000, some 1.4 billion people lived at or below the global poverty line of $1.90 a day. Today, the number is about 600 million. This remarkable change is mainly due to growth in China and India: Much of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria, ...

The remainer side of the great Brexit divide might be tempted to feel a little smug right now. Things are finally looking up. It’s what lies around the corner that should scare them. There is almost no prospect of Britain leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal after last week’s dramatic parliamentary vote. Instead, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May ...

Germany’s economic outlook resembles Winston Churchill’s description of Russia: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Analysts are banging their heads over the contradictory data emanating from Europe’s largest economy after it narrowly escaped a recession at the end of last year. The question of how severe Germany’s slowdown really is matters for policy makers, especially for those ...