Economics

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world Donald Trump’s administration has backtracked further from its threat to impose sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, in a major climbdown from its aggressive trade agenda. In the second U-turn…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Shares of Venture Global plunged more than a quarter in early trading after the liquefied natural gas producer reported a revenue decline from lower LNG sales and exports.  The Virginia-based company, which just listed publicly…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Sir Keir Starmer has assembled around 20 countries interested in forming a “coalition of the willing” to support Ukraine after any ceasefire, European officials said on Thursday. The group of countries, said to be “largely…

The Trump administration’s tighter oil sanctions on Venezuela will deprive President Nicolás Maduro’s authoritarian government of money it needs to repress its people, the country’s main opposition leader has said. In an abrupt policy shift, the US this week cancelled a Biden-era licence for Chevron to pump oil from Venezuela and gave the company one…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The European Central Bank has reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 2.5 per cent, as it signalled a possible slowdown in cuts to borrowing costs.  Thursday’s widely expected move is the sixth…

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Politics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. There is a riveting scene in Bruno Monsaingeon’s documentary film about Sviatoslav Richter in which the world-famous pianist talked about performing at Stalin’s funeral in 1953. Abruptly summoned back to Moscow, Richter was whisked from the…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss’s pay fell 30 per cent to £5.36mn last year after the struggling oil major failed to hit profit, operation and safety targets. While Auchincloss’s base salary rose to £1.45mn, from…

From left, European Council president António Costa, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen at Thursday’s summit © Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images  EU leaders are gathering for an emergency summit in Brussels focused on ways to beef up the continent’s defence capabilities and how best to support Ukraine — both militarily…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Wealthy American tourists who spend on fashion brands and hotels in Paris can boost Air France-KLM’s recovery from a “challenging” year, the airline group’s chief executive has said. Ben Smith said Air France has seen…

The Trump administration is widening its assault against government spending on consultants, after an Elon Musk-led cost-cutting drive triggered the cancellation of dozens of contracts and threatened hundreds more. Ten of the largest US consultants have been told that they have until Friday to justify billions of dollars of ongoing projects for the federal government,…