Opinion

President Donald Trump’s handling of the trade relationship with China poses a threat both to the US and to the world economy — but even his harshest critics agree with him on one thing. China’s bid to dominate the high-tech industries of the future often bends or breaks the rules of liberal international commerce, and needs to be checked. What’s ...

KELA, the Finnish social security agency, has failed to secure the funding it needs to extend its universal basic income experiment beyond this year. Although it’s sad that this grand leftist idea is suffering another setback, Finland’s trial effort deserved its fate. Before the experiment was approved by the government in 2016, KELA officials talked of paying 800 euros ($974) ...

Ford Motor Co. plans to largely give up selling cars in North America, focusing instead on trucks and SUVs. The only sedans in its future lineup will be the Mustang and a crossover version of the Focus. Meanwhile, the Donald Trump administration looks likely to roll back the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) targets set by its predecessor’s Environmental Protection ...

Many people, when they hear the word ‘blockchain,’ think of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Yet there is another feature of the blockchain afoot, one which promises to bring a new and radical decentralization to technology, including social media. Or as it was reported on Twitter: “Silicon Valley used to be a counterculture. It’s not anymore. It is the establishment. The ...

For the past year, euro-zone leaders have vowed to take steps to complete Europe’s monetary union. The 19 countries share a single currency and a central bank, but they still lack all the necessary mechanisms to deal with major imbalances and shocks. While some members would like to have more fiscal transfers and a common safety net for the banks, ...

There are big changes at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), most of which are welcome. The new governor should consider another break with the past: Drop the hubris. Adrian Orr, who took the central bank’s helm last month, is to explicitly aim for maximum employment as well as price stability. That’s a break from the previous regime that ...

The guests are starting to arrive, but the house isn’t quite ready for this party. That’s the way to view a slew of recent measures to open China’s $40 trillion financial industry to outsiders. This week, Beijing granted additional quotas for domestic funds to invest in overseas securities under the QDII plan, the first time it has done so in ...

If you’re ever looking for examples of hope triumphing over experience, look no further than the emerging-market economies. Even as the Federal Reserve tightens US monetary policy, both investors and policymakers in those economies seem to be in denial about the likely fallout, clinging to the hope that somehow the impact of this round of global liquidity tightening will be ...

No doubt about it: Health care is a vexing political problem. There’s a contradiction at the core of our thinking. We want the best care when we or loved ones get sick. It’s a moral issue. There should be no limits on treatment. But the resulting uncontrolled health spending harms the country. It undermines other priorities — higher wages (more ...

Whisper it in the cafes of Silicon Valley, mutter it in the teashops of Shenzhen, yell it from the Austrian mountain top, where only the goats will hear you. The supercycle is dead. I’m calling it. Before Apple Inc. unveiled the iPhone X in September, some investors expected the company’s new flagship product to drive a multi-year growth cycle, much ...