President Donald Trump recently suggested the removal of all tariffs and non-tariff barriers to global trade. Sounds intriguing, but free trade is rare and it’s certainly no utopia. Historically, it’s been largely confined to periods when a major global power promoted the free exchange of products in its own enlightened self-interest. That was true of Great Britain in the 19th ...

HSBC Holdings Plc investors should strap in for a bumpy ride. With costs rising in the first half, the London-based lender may find tamping down expenses a challenge as it moves ahead with its pivot to Asia and a focus on China’s Pearl River Delta. The brewing trade war that has swept across the bank’s largest markets in the region ...

It’s not particularly logical that, after years of permissiveness towards Chinese investors buying up German industrial jewels, Berlin has decided to ban the acquisition of Leifeld Metal Spinning — a technologically advanced but small firm from the town of Ahlen in North Rhine-Westphalia. While it sends a clear signal that the anything-goes era is over, it’s also a worrying consequence ...