BUSINESS

Donald Trump’s 1 August tariffs deadline did what it was always intended to do. It kept the markets and the nations guessing amid last-minute uncertainty. It attempted to reassert the global heft of the United States economy to take on and master all comers. And it placed President Trump at the centre of the media … Read more

The Suez crisis in 1956 was a humiliating moment of truth for the UK. Faced with implacable opposition from the US, Anthony Eden’s government was forced to abandon military action in Egypt. Capitulation to American pressure was a recognition of Britain’s diminished status on the world stage. The trade deal agreed between Washington and Brussels … Read more

Vladimir Putin will probably never give up on his attempts to bring Ukraine into Russia – which is where it belongs, according to his warped view of history. Those who oppose him tend to fall out of windows or suffer other “accidents” or go to prison. If he agrees to a ceasefire, it will be … Read more

Almost two years into a conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives, amid an Israeli military campaign and humanitarian blockade that have reached apocalyptic proportions, and faced with their own powerlessness as they bear witness to what growing numbers of experts call a genocide, Emmanuel Macron has announced France’s dramatic next step: it … Read more

The burning of an effigy of refugees on a boat to the cheers of a riled-up crowd in Moygashel, Northern Ireland shows where we are today. A decade has passed since Europe’s border crisis in 2015 and the shock caused by the image of Alan Kurdi, whose little body was found washed up on a … Read more

There is no doubt that Ursula von der Leyen was under intense pressure on Sunday when she sat next to Donald Trump in the ballroom at his Turnberry golf course before what EU officials knew would be a gruelling round of trade talks. As the European Commission president emerged less than an hour later to … Read more

Surrender is always one way to end a war. The capitulation of the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to Donald Trump’s demands for a grossly lopsided trade deal in which most EU goods exported to the US will face far higher tariffs than US products face in the EU is not only humiliating; … Read more

After enduring a relentless stretch of searing temperatures, relief is finally in sight for south-east Europe. The Balkans, which have been scorched by a brutal heatwave over recent weeks, have seen daily maximum temperatures soar, culminating in a peak on Saturday with widespread temperatures of 40C (104F) and above across Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and neighbouring … Read more