ANYONE WANT to buy a used social network? One careful Chinese owner, 170m users in America and revenue there of $12bn last year. The White House is running a chaotic auction for TikTok, a Chinese-owned app that Congress has ordered to find a non-Chinese owner or else face a ban. On April 4th, on the eve of the cut-off for the app’s sale, Donald Trump announced that he was extending the deadline by another 75 days. More
The luxury industry has lost its sparkle. A slowdown in the Chinese economy and a cost-of-living crisis in the West have led to a slump in sales of fancy frocks and posh bags. If, after a pause announced on April 9th, the high levels of tariffs threatened by Donald Trump are enacted they could throw the industry into a tailspin. Kering, a French luxury group that owns Gucci, has posted a string of profit warnings in recent quarters. At lvmh, another French luxury giant which owns Louis Vuitton, sales of fashion and leather goods have gone into decline. More
ASSUMING THE weather co-operates—thunderstorms have already caused the abandonment of one launch, on April 9th—at some point in the coming days Amazon will get itself into the space business. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket is on the launchpad in Florida, carrying the first batch of 27 satellites for Amazon’s new “Kuiper” satellite-internet system. The mighty e-commerce firm hopes to deliver “high-speed, low-latency internet to virtually any location on the planet”. More
It could have been worse, but it’s still not good. Many company bosses will have been relieved at Donald Trump’s 90-day delay in imposing “reciprocal” tariffs on imports to America from most countries, announced on April 9th. But a basic levy of 10% still applies. And the pause will not extend to countries that have dared to retaliate. This includes China, which raised tariffs on American goods to 84%, and now faces a tariff of 125%. More
ANYONE WANT to buy a used social network? One careful Chinese owner, 170m users in America and revenue there of $12bn last year, predicted to rise this year by a fifth. The White House is running a chaotic auction for TikTok, a Chinese-owned app that Congress has ordered to find a non-Chinese owner or else face a ban. On April 4th, on the eve of the cut-off for the app’s sale, President Donald Trump announced that he was extending the deadline by another 75 days. More
Apple was once considered so important to both America and China that some even hoped it would help avert great-power conflict. Now the iPhone-maker finds itself more exposed than any big American company to President Donald Trump’s trade war. Not only will higher tariffs push up its costs in America, its biggest market. Retaliation could clobber its sales in China, its second-biggest. Never has Tim Cook, the firm’s boss, faced a more urgent need to justify his reputation for geopolitical fence-straddling. More
Apple reclaimed its crown as the world’s most valuable company on April 9th. Financial markets roared higher in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to put a 90-day hold on his “reciprocal” tariffs to most countries, but not China. Look past the euphoria, though, and there is a stark reality. More than most big American firms, Apple remains hugely exposed to the worsening trade conflagration with China. Moreover, a pause is just a pause. Mr Trump’s capriciousness still makes it a nightmare to decide how to reconfigure supply chains in a trade war. More
“Track and field has failed to reach its potential for years,” says Michael Johnson, an American sprinter with four Olympic gold medals. A ranking of the 100 best-paid athletes in the world by Sportico, a trade publication, does not feature a single athletics star. Indeed, the journal estimates that the highest-profile track athlete, America’s Noah Lyles, may not have earned enough last year to make the top 1,000. More
