Raphael Stevens

Mountain-naming turned out to be a curiously high priority for Donald Trump. Mere hours after his inauguration, the president signed an executive order to change the name of America’s highest peak from Denali, of indigenous Alaskan origin, back to Mount McKinley, as it was officially known until Barack Obama intervened in 2015. The rechristening reflects more than just the usual culture-war ping-pong. Like Mr Trump, William McKinley was a “tariff man”. As a congressman and later president, he swung America toward protectionism in the late 19th century. “President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent,” said Mr Trump in his inaugural address. More

When a government falls apart, pay attention to the laws ministers still manage to pass. Germany’s collapsing “traffic-light” coalition was unable to agree on climate policy or a budget, but it flashed green for one change: an exit tax. Since January 1st anyone with over €500,000 ($520,000) in investment funds has had to pay income tax on gains earned in Germany if they wish to extract their money from the country. More

“Have you no shame?” cried Boaz Weinstein during a presentation to investors on January 14th. The boss of Saba Capital, an American hedge fund, was railing at fund managers in Britain’s venerable investment-trust industry. Mr Weinstein has picked seven trusts, overseeing £4bn ($5bn), whose performance he deems so abysmal that both boards and managers must be fired. Saba has bought stakes in each and sought votes to oust their boards. If successful, it will appoint new directors and seek to manage the trusts itself. At the first such poll, held on January 22nd, shareholders rejected Mr Weinstein’s overtures. Six more chances remain. More

Japan is used to the position in which it currently finds itself: apart from the rest of the rich world. Elsewhere, as inflation exceeded central-bank targets, rate-setters tightened monetary policy in rough proportion to the size of their overshoot. If the Bank of Japan had behaved in a similar manner to its G10 peers, notes Tim Baker of Deutsche Bank, the country’s interest rates would have increased by two percentage points over the past few years. Instead, they barely crept up, rising from -0.1% to 0.25%, despite nearly three years of price growth above the BoJ’s target of 2%. More

Wall Street was poorly represented in the expensive seats behind Donald Trump at his inauguration. That honour fell instead to the leaders of America’s technology industry, who turned up en masse. Was this a humbling exclusion? Not quite. Whereas Silicon Valley travelled east to avoid retribution, Wall Street stayed away because it expects none. More

“Short essays” appear to be causing big problems in China’s bond market. Over the past year the term has been used to refer to rumours swirling around financial hubs, which often originate with brief posts on social media that attempt to explain the inner workings of the system. One such rumour claims that the central bank is hunting down speculators who have made “illegal transactions” on the bond market. Another implies the China Financial Futures Exchange, where bond futures are bought and sold, has ratcheted up fees in order to discourage trading. More

For bears of both the market and polar kind, a planet without an ice cap is a tragedy. The Arctic is warming four times faster than the world at large, causing ice to shrink by an area the size of Austria each year. Since the 1980s the volume of ice has fallen by 70% or more. The Arctic’s first ice-free day may occur before 2030. More

China is emphasizing its willingness to negotiate as increased tariffs on exports to the United States may soon become a reality.
China’s Ministry of Commerce has always maintained communication with “relevant” U.S. authorities on economy and trade, ministry spokesperson He Yadong said in response on Thursday.
“The Chinese side hopes that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, both sides will … properly manage differences,” He told reporters, according to a CNBC translation of the Mandarin.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets China’s President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 29, 2019.
Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

BEIJING — China is emphasizing its willingness to negotiate as increased tariffs on exports to the United States may soon become a reality.
U.S. President Donald Trump said this week he may increase duties on Chinese goods by 10% as soon as Feb. 1. The White House on Monday also announced plans to investigate China over actions harmful to U.S. commerce.

China’s Ministry of Commerce has always maintained communication with “relevant” U.S. authorities on economy and trade, ministry spokesperson He Yadong said in response on Thursday.
“The Chinese side hopes that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, both sides will … strengthen dialogue and communication, properly manage differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote the stable and healthy development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations,” He added during a weekly press conference. That’s according to a CNBC translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.
Trump said last week that he spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the phone about TikTok and trade. The Chinese side’s readout did not mention the social media app, but said Xi called for cooperation and cast the two countries’ economic ties as mutually beneficial.

“Tariffs are not conducive to China or the U.S., or the entire world,” commerce spokesperson He said.
“China is willing to work with the U.S. to push bilateral economic and trade relations in a stable, healthy and sustainable direction,” He said, noting that was on the basis of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”

The comments echoed those of China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Tuesday.
“We stand ready to maintain communication with the U.S., properly handle differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and pursue a steady, sound and sustainable development of China-U.S. relationship,” Mao said when asked about negotiations over tariffs.
“China will also firmly defend its own interests,” she said. That’s according to an official English-language transcript.
Even if 10% tariffs are imposed on China, that’s far lower than the original 60% that Trump had floated during his campaign.
Hours after his inauguration on Monday, Trump reiterated plans for 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, without specifying a figure for China. He said only that increased duties might be used to force Beijing-based ByteDance to sell social media app TikTok, whose future availability in the U.S. is now in question.
When asked about TikTok on Thursday, Chinese commerce spokesperson He said China “hopes the U.S. side will listen more to the voices of businesses and the public,” and “do more things that are conducive to economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States and the well-being of the people.” More