Announcing plans for additional tariffs on $200 billion of imports, the Trump administration has taken another dangerous step toward escalating its trade war on China. China’s response, so far, has been measured, and that’s encouraging. The US Congress has managed only the feeblest gesture of protest, and that’s disgraceful. The president has told US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to draw ...

The European Commission had solid antitrust reasons for fining Google 4.3 billion euros ($5 billion) for violations including the bundling of certain apps with the Android operating system — and for not going after Apple for similar behaviour. Yet, from a consumer’s point of view, Apple should get the same kind of attention. The most important infraction by Google in ...

When a company vehemently rejects an unsolicited bid approach, it needs to convince investors that it made the right decision. Unilever, which saw off a $143 billion approach from Kraft Heinz Co 18 months ago, is doing just the opposite. The company reported second quarter organic sales growth below analysts’ expectations. There was some better news on the underlying operating ...

What do you do when your dumping ground cleans up its act? That’s the problem confronting the oil market as the global shipping industry starts implementing regulations to limit its consumption of sulfur, a common impurity in crude that can cause respiratory problems and acid rain when it’s burned. As we saw in a column, rules on sulfur content coming ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged after three hikes in a row helped to stabilize the currency in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The seven-day reverse repurchase rate was held at 5.25%, in line with forecasts of 25 of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Governor Perry Warjiyo said the policy stance remains “hawkish” with the central bank’s ...

Bloomberg Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stuck to the bank’s playbook, declining to comment on reports that policy makers are considering measures to soften the side effects of their aggressive monetary easing campaign. Remarks on the issue wouldn’t be appropriate given the proximity of the bank’s monetary policy meeting, Kuroda said, adding that any policy decision will require ...

Bloomberg Lloyds Banking Group Plc may set aside hundreds of millions of pounds in the second quarter to compensate customers improperly sold payment protection insurance as claims continue to flood in. The redress costs will add to about 18 billion pounds ($23 billion) already booked by Britain’s biggest mortgage lender since the start of the scandal. Analysts at Morgan Stanley ...

Bloomberg The European Union’s bank-failure rules are forcing Austria’s Volksbanken to open up the lending tap, a strategy reminiscent of the one that nearly brought down the cooperative group a few years ago. The irony has arisen because the EU requires banks to have sufficient loss-absorbing liabilities on their books to cover the costs of their restructuring and refinancing in ...

Bloomberg China’s banks are being offered cash and given instructions to lend more, as regulators attempt to support a slowing economy. The banking and insurance regulator has asked financial institutions to “earnestly implement” plans to help reduce financing costs for small firms, saying that big lenders should “take the lead”, according to a statement posted on its website. Meanwhile, the ...

Bloomberg The economy of South Korea, which is very reliant on China, may see more adverse impact than previously expected from China’s plan for deleveraging, the Bank of Korea said in a report on Sunday. South Korea’s gross domestic product growth could be 0.3 percentage point less than expected in 2018 and maybe 1.2 percentage point less in 2020 because ...