Bloomberg President Donald Trump set the stage for a trade war after slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, daring other countries to retaliate and leading the European Union to warn that it would target iconic American brands. Hours after Trump tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the bloc is ...

Bloomberg Mothercare Plc has started talks with its lenders seeking a reprieve on debt terms amid challenging market conditions that have left it needing to borrow more. The UK-based childrenswear retailer will need to draw on existing debt facilities up to their limits while it seeks new financing in the next financial year, it said in a statement. HSBC Holdings ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s vision for post-Brexit Britain would see some industries stay aligned with EU rules—with others breaking free entirely. Her plan could change how banks operate as well as raise costs for holidaymakers using their smartphones. Below are some key takeaways from her speech in central London. Financial Services UK-based banks and other financial services companies will ...

Bloomberg The Dutch IPO drought is over. With at least four confirmed initial public offerings in Amsterdam, 2018 is already looking twice as busy as all of 2017. Alfen Beheer BV, which makes charging stations for electrical vehicles, became the third company this week to announce its intention to list in Amsterdam, joining merchant bank NIBC Holding NV and wholesaler ...

Bloomberg The auto industry is warning that US sales declines, which have become routine over the past year, may continue thanks to the tariffs President Donald Trump plans to slap on steel and aluminum imports. Toyota Motor Corp., which plans to build a new $1.6 billion factory in Alabama with Mazda Motor Corp., said the administration’s decision will “adversely impact” ...

Bloomberg Italians vote on Sunday in an election that pits several shades of populists against the mainstream and which may only succeed in further clouding the political landscape. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement was on track to be the biggest single party when a polling blackout began on February 17, though only Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right coalition was within reach of ...

Bloomberg Thousands of people took to the streets across Slovakia to protest against corruption after the murder of a journalist who reported on alleged links between organised cri-me gangs and people close to the government. More than 10,000 people marched in freezing temperatures in the capital Bratislava and thousands more gathered in other cities, according to newspaper reports and television ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel is about to discover if she can begin a fourth term as German chancellor or if she’s headed for another election. With stable government in Europe’s biggest economy at stake, Germany’s Social Democratic Party plans to reveal on Sunday whether its members have voted to extend their coalition with Merkel through 2021. It’s the culmination of more ...

Bloomberg Cameroonian President Paul Biya announced a government change, creating a new ministry and appointing two officials from the nation’s Anglophone regions to top positions in an apparent bid to address a secessionist crisis in the central African nation. Biya, 85, established a Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development and named Paul Atanga Nji, who hails from the restive Northwest ...

Bloomberg Theresa May has started to compromise on the ambitious vision for Brexit that has prevented her fractious government from splitting apart, with a blunt warning that “hard facts” can’t be ignored any longer. For the first time, the British prime minister admitted there are contradictions in her negotiating aims and raised the prospect of diluting her own red lines. ...