Opinion

  It’s been a tough summer for China’s movie business. In what’s usually blockbuster season, box-office sales declined for the first time in five years. In July alone, theater visits fell 15 percent. Things are looking especially grim for Chinese films: They’ve been underperforming foreign competition so badly that the government suspended a longstanding moratorium on summer Hollywood flicks intended ...

  The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and European Union (EU) has apparently been hit by trust deficit and there are signs that will be dragged out. Germany and France have showed a joint front to oppose the proposed deal as it stands today. The most stinging remark came from France’s junior trade minister Matthias Fekl, ...

  I argued last week that the high cost of housing in cities such as New York and San Francisco has a bright side for the larger U.S. economy: As people who would like to live in these highly desirable but dauntingly expensive areas are priced out, they choose instead to settle in upwardly mobile communities that benefit from the ...

  Ma Bell came back from the grave Monday, saving AT&T from the supervision of the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC had sued the company for intentionally “throttling” the mobile internet for its unlimited data customers when they passed a certain usage. A federal appeals court rejected the suit on the ground that as a common carrier, AT&T is exempt ...

  In early August, Japan’s Coast Guard witnessed an unconventional Chinese assault on its territorial waters. According to Japanese officials I met with last week, at least 300 Chinese “fishing vessels” began incursions into the exclusive economic zone around the uninhabited Senkaku Islands, disputed territory administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan as well. Japan has seen similar ...

  Germany’s vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, says talks about a major trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. have failed, though “nobody is really admitting it.” That statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership appears to be doomed, at least until after elections in the U.S. and major European ...

  Monsanto’s many battles with the Indian government have typically been cast as clashes between poor Indian farmers and a giant multinational that’s overcharging for its genetically modified seeds. And certainly, the U.S. agriculture giant isn’t the most sympathetic of companies. Its seeds are indeed expensive and, in the case of cotton, no longer deliver the returns promised as resistance ...

  Like all of us, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are going to die. Will it be in the next four years? Probably — ideally — not. But for voters, that’s a reasonable question, especially given that Clinton is 68 and Trump, 70. Unfortunately, the candidates have refused to divulge the kind of information that would enable anyone to arrive ...

  A day after signing a defence agreement that would make joint operations between their militaries easier and efficient, the US and India kicked off a two-day strategic and commercial dialogue in New Delhi on Tuesday. The world’s two largest democracies are keen to boost their bilateral trade —which currently stands at $109 billion — to $500 billion. They look ...

  The last few weeks have featured a great deal of news for Obamacare, most of it bad. Insurers are pulling out of the exchanges and premiums are rising. Coverage has been expanded, but it increasingly looks as if that coverage will mostly consist of companies taking their Medicaid managed care plans and repackaging them for private customers. Call it ...