Tag: Economic Conditions and Trends

Japan’s Economy Recovered In Second Half But Barely Grew in 2024

For decades in Japan, it was accepted as gospel: A weak currency makes companies more competitive and bolsters the economy. Part of that promise came true last year: As the yen tumbled to a 37-year low against the dollar, big brands like Toyota Motor reported the highest profits in Japanese history. Stocks soared to record […]

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How Trump’s One-for-One Tariff Plan Threatens the Global Economy

The world economy was already grappling with a perplexing assortment of variables, from geopolitical conflicts and a slowdown in China to the evolving complexities of climate change. Then, President Trump unleashed a plan to uproot decades of trade policy. In starting a process to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on American trading partners, Mr. Trump increased […]

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Trump’s Tariffs Could Worsen Europe’s Economic Slowdown

President Trump’s promise to hit the United States’ trading partners with tit-for-tat tariffs — including penalties for taxes that he claims the European Union unfairly imposes on American imports — could hardly come at a worse time for the continent. Mr. Trump on Thursday signed a memo directing his teams to prepare by April “reciprocal” […]

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Angela Merkel Is Retired. But She’s Still on the Ballot.

A chorus of criticism greeted Friedrich Merz, the favorite to become Germany’s chancellor, last month when he broke a taboo against working with a hard-right party to pass legislation. But it was a lone voice of dissent that rocked the country’s political scene: Angela Merkel, the once-beloved former chancellor, who called Mr. Merz’s decision simply […]

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Serbia’s Protests Test Strongman Leader’s Grip on Power

Serbia’s authoritarian leader should be riding high, lifted by economic growth that is four times the European average, falling unemployment and steadily rising wages. Instead, President Aleksandar Vucic, battered by three months of nationwide street protests, is struggling to weather his biggest political crisis in more than a decade of strong-arm rule. Leading the charge […]

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Bank of England Cuts Interest Rates as British Economy Weakens

The Bank of England cut interest rates on Thursday for the third time in about six months, amid signs of weak economic growth in Britain and an unexpected slowdown in inflation. Policymakers cut the key rate a quarter point to 4.5 percent as the bank lowered its forecasts for economic growth this year. Two members […]

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One Response to Trump’s Tariffs: Trade That Excludes the U.S.

As President Trump this weekend opened what could become a global trade war, a growing number of countries, including America’s closest allies, are forging their own economic partnerships without the United States. If Washington is putting up a higher fence around its trade, other nations are lowering theirs. In just the last two months, the […]

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How US Tariffs Challenge China

President Trump’s decision on Saturday to impose new tariffs on imports from China poses a dilemma for Beijing’s leaders: Is it better to ignore the new tariffs or retaliate? Doing little runs the risk of looking weak in the eyes of the Chinese people. China’s extensive domestic propaganda apparatus has described China as a rising […]

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Trump’s Tariffs Would Reverse Decades of Integration Between U.S. and Mexico

When Dennis Nixon started working at a regional bank in Laredo, Texas, in 1975, there was just a trickle of trade across the border with Mexico. Now, nearly a billion dollars of commerce and more than 15,000 trucks roll over the line every day just a quarter mile from his office, binding the economies of […]

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How Trump’s Tariffs Could Affect the U.S., Canada and Mexico

Decades of trade integration across North America are on the precipice of major disruption by tariffs that President Trump said he wants to impose on Canada and Mexico, the United States’ top trading partners, as soon as Saturday. And while tariffs are predicted to inflict pain on all three nations, they would cause more damage […]

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European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates as Economic Growth Stagnates

The European Central Bank cut interest rates on Thursday, for the fifth consecutive time, amid slowing growth in the region’s economy. Policymakers lowered the bank’s key rate a quarter point to 2.75 percent as inflation remained relatively close to their 2 percent target. The moves come a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve held rates […]

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U.K. Government Backs Heathrow Expansion in Push for Faster Growth

Rachel Reeves, Britain’s top finance official, on Wednesday laid out plans to revive the country’s flagging economy, including supporting the addition of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, after her first budget rocked business confidence. An additional runway is “badly needed” to increase trade and investment, Ms. Reeves said in a speech to business executives. […]

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Sundance Made Park City the It Town. Now, It’s Moving.

Amid all the talk of films, fires and the state of the Oscar race, one question has dominated Sundance 2025: Where will the festival move? Last April, the nonprofit behind Sundance, the pre-eminent festival for independent film held for the past 40 years in Park City, Utah, announced that it was exploring where else to […]

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Japan Raises Interest Rates to Highest Level Since 2008

In a number of ways, Japan’s economy seems to have gone back in time. Inflation and wage growth are mostly back where they were in the early 1990s, just before the spiral of price deflation and economic stagnation that became known as “the lost decades.” That prompted the Bank of Japan on Friday to raise […]

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India’s Economy Slows Down Just When It Was Supposed to Speed Up

A year ago, India was bouncing back from a recession caused by Covid-19 with a spring in its step. The country had overtaken China as the most populous country, and its leaders were declaring India the world’s fastest-growing major economy. This was music to the ears of foreign investors, and to India’s prime minister, Narendra […]

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I.M.F. Raises U.S. Economic Forecast as Other Regions Lag

The U.S. economy is on track to grow faster this year than previously expected, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday, citing strength in the labor market and an acceleration in investment. The I.M.F. projects 2.7 percent U.S. economic growth in 2025 in its latest World Economic Outlook report, up from an estimate of 2.2 […]

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Facing a Flurry of U.S. Sanctions, China Prepares to Hit Back

Days before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office, China is gearing up for economic battle with the United States. It threatened a widespread investigation into American chipmakers. It zeroed in on one American retailer, accusing it of “inappropriate conduct” that could lead to sanctions usually reserved for weapons sellers. And it got ready to slap […]

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China Says Economy Grew 5% Last Year, Driven by Exports

The economic scars of China’s real estate crash are evident at the country’s many street markets for construction materials. Proprietors of once-bustling shops that sell everything from lighting fixtures and doors to toilet bowls are aching for customers. At the same time, China’s exports have climbed sharply. Companies are shipping cars, smartphones and many other […]

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Germany’s Economy Shrank in 2024. Politicians Vow to Revive It.

Germany’s economic growth shrank for a second straight year in 2024, data released Wednesday showed. How to revive it has become a central issue as voters prepare to go to the polls next month to elect a new government. The economy declined by 0.2 percent in 2024, after a similarly slight contraction the year before. […]

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Economic Toll of Los Angeles Fires Goes Far Beyond Destroyed Homes

After decades of mounting damage from climate-fueled natural disasters, researchers have compiled many misery-filled data sets that trace the economic fallout over weeks, months and years. The fires still burning in Los Angeles are sure to rank among America’s most expensive — but there is no perfect analogue for them, making it difficult to forecast […]

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U.S. Oil Production Is Booming. Oil Jobs Are Not.

For years, as oil and gas companies increased production, they hired lots of workers, enriching communities across the United States. That is no longer true. The country is pumping more oil than ever and near-record amounts of gas. But the companies that extract, transport and process these fossil fuels employ roughly 25 percent fewer workers […]

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Soaring Bond Yields Put U.K. Government’s Economic Plan at Risk

Governments around the world are uncomfortably watching their borrowing costs rise, following the lead of the U.S. Treasury market. But even in a global rout in bonds, Britain stands out. British government bonds, known as gilts, are suffering a particularly harsh sell-off, as investors recoil from the country’s low economic growth, stubborn inflation and high […]

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China’s $1 Trillion Trade Surplus: What to Know as Trump Takes Office

China’s record trade surplus of almost $1 trillion last year has a nearly perfect mirror image on the other side of the world: an American trade deficit last year that is expected to clock in at around $1 trillion. But only a third of China’s surplus was with the United States. And only a third […]

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China’s Trade Surplus Reaches Nearly $1 Trillion

China announced on Monday that its trade surplus reached almost $1 trillion last year as its exports swamped the globe, while the country’s own businesses and households spent cautiously on imports. When adjusted for inflation, China’s trade surplus last year far exceeded any in the world in the past century, even those of export powerhouses […]

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China’s Central Bank Stops Buying Bonds as Deflation Fears Grip Economy

In a striking sign of the Chinese economy’s stagnation, the central bank said on Friday that it had temporarily stopped buying government bonds. The central bank’s unexpected action is aimed at braking a recent shift by investors toward purchasing bonds while shunning riskier assets like stocks and real estate. That shift has driven China’s long-term […]

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Costas Simitis, 2-Time Prime Minister of Greece, Dies at 88

Costas Simitis, a former prime minister of Greece who oversaw his country’s entry into the euro single currency and its uneven preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games, died on Sunday at a hospital in Corinth, Greece. He was 88. Grigoris Karpouzis, the hospital’s director, confirmed his death in a statement but did not give a […]

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