Economy

This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters hereGood morning and happy Friday. On today’s agenda:Tesla warns Trump it is ‘exposed’ in trade warChina blasts the Panama Canal ports dealDoes the Olympic business model still work? Elon Musk’s Tesla has warned that President Donald Trump’s trade war could make it a target for retaliatory tariffs against the US and increase the cost of making vehicles in America.In an unsigned letter addressed to US trade representative Jamieson Greer, the electric-car maker said it “supports” fair trade but warned that American exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions”.The letter underscores how even Tesla, a group led by Musk, a close Trump ally, is concerned about the potential effects of the wide-ranging tariffs. It follows two weeks of erratic trade policy announcements from the government that have rattled businesses and financial markets.One person familiar with the process of sending the letter said it was “a polite way to say that the bipolar tariff regime is screwing over Tesla.”The person added: “It is unsigned because nobody at the company wants to be fired for sending it.” Here’s what else we know about Tesla’s tariff concerns. Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:US government shutdown: Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said he would back a Republican stop-gap funding bill, reducing the risk of a shutdown early tomorrow.Economic data: Argentina and Brazil report February inflation figures. G7 meeting: Top diplomats hold a second day of talks in Canada amid rising trade tensions and divisions over Ukraine.How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.Five more top stories1. Vladimir Putin has struck a hard line over any deal to halt the fighting in Ukraine, even as he said he “supports the idea” behind a US-backed 30-day ceasefire. Russia’s president suggested Ukraine could use the proposed ceasefire to “continue forced mobilisation, get weapons supplies and prepare its mobilised units”. Here’s how Trump responded to Putin’s comments.2. China has criticised CK Hutchison’s sale of its Panama Canal ports and urged the Hong Kong-based conglomerate to “think twice” about its $22.8bn deal with US asset manager BlackRock. Shares in the company fell more than 6 per cent after the strongly worded commentary appeared in Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Hong Kong. The piece also attacked the US for pressuring the deal “through despicable means”.US-China relations: Steve Daines, a senator with close ties to Trump, is trying to get the president to name him as a special envoy to China to help secure a meeting with Xi Jinping.3. Insurers have warned that mass firings at US science agencies could threaten the critical weather and geospatial data that the industry uses to manage natural disaster risks and potentially raise prices for consumers. The trade group Reinsurance Association of America is lobbying the government to preserve data collection at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, after the department said that it would fire more than 1,000 staff.4. Exclusive: China’s DeepSeek is choosing to focus on research over chasing revenues as its billionaire founder decides not to follow Silicon Valley rivals by taking advantage of a sudden jump in sales. A surge in demand for the artificial intelligence start-up’s services meant revenues were enough to cover ongoing costs for the first time last month.5. The US has unlocked almost $5bn in funding for a liquefied natural gas project by France’s TotalEnergies in Mozambique, potentially restarting work on one of Africa’s largest energy investments. The company put the project on hold in 2021 after Islamist insurgents killed civilians and workers in attacks near the site. Here’s why the Trump administration has reapproved the loan.The Big Read© Fabrizio Bensch/ReutersOn the face of it, the Olympics are riding high after the success of Paris 2024, which attracted a surge in viewership and revitalised a brand many feared was losing relevance with younger audiences. But as the organising committee chooses a new president next week, the world’s biggest sporting event is facing an exodus of major sponsors and a fast-changing media landscape.We’re also reading . . . Tariffs on money?: Capital inflows could be the Trump administration’s next target, writes Gillian Tett. Peak brain power: Data across countries and ages reveal a growing struggle to concentrate and declining verbal and numerical reasoning, writes John Burn-Murdoch.FT Magazine: Once a heavyweight in Hong Kong finance, Blackpool FC owner Simon Sadler now faces the possibility of jail. Kaye Wiggins goes inside the downfall of a trading titan.Graphic of the dayFears of possible tariffs on gold imports have sparked a rush in transatlantic trade of the metal. But due to a quirk in global bullion markets and the asset’s physical nature, refineries in Switzerland are working overtime, resizing the 1kg bars used in New York to the 12.5kg bricks traded in London. Here’s how the time-consuming process of shipping gold has become strained.Take a break from the news . . . After 13 years of reviewing restaurants, Tim Hayward is questioning his own tastes and prejudices in his final critique. Restaurants have brought new menu items and exciting ideas, but one thing always stuck out. Now, he finally explains himself.© Simon BaillyRecommended newsletters for youOne Must-Read — Remarkable journalism you won’t want to miss. Sign up hereNewswrap — Our business and economics round-up. Sign up here More

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldGold surged to a record high above $3,000 per troy ounce, as fears over the threat to global growth from Donald Trump’s trade war push investors into the safe haven metal.The price of bullion rose to $3,004 per troy ounce on Friday. Gold has been the among the world’s best-performing assets since Trump took office in January, and has risen 14 per cent since the start of the year.The US president’s fast-changing tariff policies have sparked concerns that a global trade war will fuel inflation and cause an economic slowdown in the US and beyond, causing Wall Street stocks to fall into a correction and adding to gold’s appeal.Expectations of interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve have also buoyed bullion, which as a non-yielding asset typically benefits from lower borrowing costs. “Both institutional and private investors are turning to gold to hedge their portfolios against economic turbulence,” said Alexander Zumpfe, senior precious metals trader at Heraeus.“The physical gold market is experiencing strong demand” because precious metals are valued as protection against economic crises, he added.Gold’s last major price milestones were during the financial crisis, when it passed $1,000 per troy ounce in March 2008 — and during the Covid-19 pandemic, when prices hit $2,000 in August 2020.Concerns that Trump might place tariffs on bullion have driven an unprecedented surge of gold bars into New York, where stockpiles on the Comex have reached record levels. Since Trump was elected, more than $70bn of gold has been flown into New York, although that flow has recently started to slow. The unexpected surge in gold prices this year has sent investment banks racing to revise their price forecasts. At least four banks — Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie and RBC — have raised their forecasts in recent weeks. The rise above $3,000 means gold has risen nearly tenfold since 2000, outperforming major stock indices.“Gold is the best-performing asset class of the 21st century so far,” said Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, a gold trading platform. Since the turn of the millennium, bullion had benefited from market shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis and the UK Brexit vote in 2016, as well as from increasing geopolitical conflict, he said.“That has been the sea change for gold, that hubris that western democracy had 25 years ago has absolutely been shattered,” said Ash.Gold’s surge in recent years has also been fuelled by demand from central banks as they diversify their holdings away from the US dollar. Central banks, mainly in emerging markets, have bought more than 1,000 tonnes of gold annually for the past three years in a row.John Ciampaglia, chief executive of Sprott Asset Management, said that growing levels of government debt were one of the biggest factors driving bullion’s performance since the turn of the millennium. “Global levels of debt have exploded over the past 25 years, they are starting to really weigh on economies and budgets,” said Ciampaglia. “That is why gold has proven itself to be a store of value, not for the last 25 years, but for the last 5,000 years, because it can hold its value relative to traditional currencies.”Gold’s momentum suggests prices are likely rise further this year, according to Michael Haigh, commodities analyst at SocGen, who forecasts a price of $3,300 per troy ounce by the end of the year. More

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.1 per cent in January, underscoring the challenge facing chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares to deliver a high-stakes Spring Statement this month.Friday’s monthly GDP figure from the Office for National Statistics was below both the 0.1 per cent growth predicted by economists polled by Reuters and December’s 0.4 per cent. The decline was largely driven by weakness in the production sector.Reeves is preparing to rein in public spending in her March 26 Spring Statement after disappointing growth and higher government borrowing costs sparked fears that she is on track to break her fiscal rules.Growth has largely stalled since May, hitting tax revenues, after the UK economy rebounded from a technical recession at the start of 2024.Labour MPs and some cabinet ministers have expressed concern that Reeves is planning politically damaging cuts to ease pressure on the public finances, including slashing the welfare budget.“It’s the toughest thing we have had to do,” admitted one ally of the chancellor. However, Reeves has ruled out rewriting her fiscal rules to allow more borrowing, forcing her to make what she has called “tough choices”.Mel Stride, shadow chancellor, urged Reeves to turn her March 26 statement into an “emergency Budget”, including reversing tax rises on business and abandoning what he called “extreme employment legislation”.The Office for Budget Responsibility in October forecast economic growth for 2025 at 2 per cent — double the 1 per cent predicted by economists polled by Reuters. The watchdog is expected to release a new forecast alongside the Spring Statement.Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants, said January’s GDP contraction made Reeves’ Spring Statement “more problematic” since it increased the likelihood that the OBR would downgrade its forecasts, “further undermining the chancellor’s spending plans”.Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.The pound weakened slightly after Friday’s data release and was down 0.2 per cent against the dollar by late afternoon, trading at $1.293. Gilts were stable, with the 10-year yield down 0.02 percentage points at 4.67 per cent.The figures come as the fallout from Donald Trump’s escalating trade war has added to the economic strains facing the UK, as well as the prospect of higher defence spending as the US president disrupts western security alliances.“The world has changed and across the globe we are feeling the consequences,” Reeves said in response to Friday’s figures.As a result, she said, “we are launching the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the cold war, fundamentally reshaping the British state to deliver for working people and their families, and taking on the blockers to get Britain building again”.The Labour party won the general election last July with a promise to kick-start growth, but Reeves has faced criticism over her October Budget, which left businesses bearing the brunt of £40bn in tax increases.Businesses have warned of job cuts as a result of the measures, which take effect from April. Paul Dales, economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said January’s fall in output “highlights the weakness of the economy before the full effects of the rise in business taxes and the uncertain global backdrop is felt”.The Bank of England is expected to keep rates on hold at 4.5 per cent at its meeting next week amid signs of a rebound in inflation. Last month, the central bank cut its economic growth forecast for the first quarter of 2025 to 0.1 per cent, from the 0.4 per cent expected in November.Despite January’s contraction, Thiru said a rate cut by the BoE next week was “unlikely” as rate-setters would probably want to assess the impact of the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions from the Budget.Friday’s data cemented traders’ expectations that there will be at least two further quarter-point interest rate cuts from the BoE this year, with a small chance of a third, according to levels implied by swaps markets.According to Friday’s ONS data, the manufacturing sector contracted 1.1 per cent in January, with a 0.2 per cent decline in construction, while services grew 0.1 per cent. Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said the overall picture for the UK economy was of “weak growth”. However, services continued to grow in January, she said, “led by a strong month for retail, especially food stores, as people ate and drank at home more”. The ONS said the publication of trade data, usually released alongside GDP figures, had been delayed due to errors. More

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldThe US government’s tariff announcements have become a “big headache” for technology companies such as iPhone maker Apple and cloud service provider Amazon, their manufacturing partner Foxconn said on Friday, in a rare public admission of the disruption caused by President Donald Trump’s erratic trade policy.“The issue of tariffs is something that is giving the CEOs of our customers a big headache now,” chief executive Young Liu told investors on an earnings call. “Judging by the attitude and the approach we see the US government taking towards tariffs, it is very, very hard to predict how things will develop over the next year. So we can only concentrate on doing well what we can control.”Liu said the company’s customers were “one after another” hatching plans for co-operating with Foxconn on manufacturing in the US. He declined to give details as those plans were not yet finalised, but said there should be “more and more” manufacturing in the US.The world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer assembles the vast majority of the world’s iPhones for Apple and also makes a broad range of other electronics products, including laptops, servers, robots, medical equipment and electric vehicles.Foxconn itself is affected by Washington’s attempts to force more manufacturing to move onshore. The lion’s share of its manufacturing capacity is in China — recently hit by an additional 10 per cent US tariff — India and Vietnam, which are both likely targets for Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs. Foxconn is also building what it said last October would be the world’s largest factory for Nvidia Blackwell servers in Mexico, where Trump has slapped a 25 per cent tariff on its exports to the US.Foxconn forecast its information and communication products business, dominated by its contract work for Apple, would be stable this year. “But under the uncertainties related to geopolitics and tariffs, manufacturing will face challenges and demand might also suffer,” Liu said, adding that the company would work closely with customers to adjust its global footprint.  But the Taiwanese group gave a bullish outlook for AI servers. The company’s server assembly revenue increased 78 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, and it said it expected the AI server business to more than double in the current quarter.Liu said he did not share concerns that cloud service providers might cut spending this year. He said the success of Chinese AI company DeepSeek in developing a large language model with smaller hardware investment was likely to encourage larger numbers of medium-sized companies to develop their own LLMs, further boosting server demand.Driven by that strong growth, cloud and networking products would account for half the company’s revenue this year, overtaking the consumer electronics business, which has long weighed on Foxconn’s margins with its low-margin smartphone assembly operations.Foxconn reported a surprise 13 per cent year-on-year drop in net profit for the fourth quarter. Net earnings slid to NT$46.3bn (US$1.4bn) in the three months to the end of December, but the decrease was due to a drop in non-operating income, while operating profit increased by 32 per cent. More

Men and women socialize at the end of the day outside The Castle Pub in London, United Kingdom.
Robert Nickelsberg | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The U.K.’s economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% month-on-month in January, official figures showed on Friday.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics said the fall was mainly due to a contraction in the production sector.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the country’s GDP to grow by 0.1%.
At 7:35 a.m. in London, shortly after the data release, the British pound was down by around 0.15% against the dollar to trade at $1.293. Sterling was flat against the euro.
Meanwhile, long-term government borrowing costs, which spiked to multi-decade highs earlier this year, rose. The yield on 20-year U.K. government bonds — known as gilts — added 2 basis points, while 30-year gilt yields were up by 4 basis points.
Services output picked up by 0.1% month-on-month in January, but marked a slowdown from the 0.4% hike of December. Production output dropped by 0.9% on the month, after recording a 0.5% rise in the previous month. Monthly construction output meanwhile fell by another 0.2% in January, after also shedding 0.2% in December.
The U.K. economy grew by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, beating expectations, ONS data showed last month. It flatlined in the third quarter.

The monthly GDP data has been checkered since then, with a 0.1% contraction in October, a 0.1% expansion in November and a 0.4% month-on-month expansion in December thanks, to growth in services and production.
Friday’s GDP release will be the last data print before the U.K. Treasury’s “Spring Statement” on March 26, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves presents an update on her plans for the British economy.
The statement is released alongside economic forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the U.K.’s independent economic and fiscal forecaster, which gives its assessment on the likely impact of the government’s tax and spending plans.
There have been concerns that the Treasury’s fiscal plans, which were laid out last fall and which will increase the tax burden on British businesses, could weigh on investment, jobs and growth. Reeves has defended the tax rises, saying they’re a one-off measure and necessary to boost investment in public services.
The Bank of England made its first interest rate cut of the year in February, signaling further cuts were to come as it halved the U.K.’s growth forecast for 2025 from 1.5% to 0.75%.
Markets are widely expecting the Bank of England to hold rates steady at 4.5% at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting next week, LSEG data showed on Friday.
The central bank said it would judge how to balance the need to boost growth with the inflationary risk posed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. The U.K. has not been specifically targeted so far, but its exports of steel and aluminum to the U.S. will fall under Trump’s blanket 25% import duties on the metals.
In a note on Friday, Paul Dales, chief U.K. economist at Capital Economics, said the data highlighted the weakness in the British economy before the impact of rising business taxes and geopolitical uncertainty had fully set in.
“Most of the weakness is just payback from the surprisingly strong 0.4% m/m rise in GDP in December,” he said. “In other words, December’s figures made the economy look stronger than it really was and January’s make it look a bit weaker. The truth is probably that the underlying pace of growth is a little bit above zero.”
He added that although U.S. President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs on steel and aluminum had only come into effect this week, they could already have impacted the U.K. economy.
“The 1.1% m/m fall in manufacturing output was partly due to a 3.3% m/m drop in metals output,” he explained. “It’s possibly related [to tariffs] as they have been anticipated for a while.”
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told politicians he was hopeful the U.K. could still evade Trump’s protectionist trade policies.  
“I’m disappointed to see global tariffs in relation to steel and aluminium, but we will take a pragmatic approach,” he said. “We are negotiating an economic deal which covers and will include tariffs if we succeed, but we will keep all options on the table.” More

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.BMW has warned that EU, US and China tariffs will cost it €1bn this year after its profits fell 36 per cent in 2024 and it warned earnings were expected to remain at a similar level in 2025. The German group, which also makes the Rolls-Royce and Mini, said on Friday that 2024 earnings before taxes fell to €11bn, compared with €17bn the previous year. This was in line with a profit warning in September after slowing sales in the lucrative Chinese market and a recall of 1.5mn cars sold in the past two years due to potentially faulty brakes.However, it added that earnings were not expected to recover this year and that tariffs enacted up to this week were likely to dent automotive margins by 1 percentage point.Duties targeting Chinese electric vehicle imports into the EU, Mexican imports into the US and US aluminium tariffs were behind BMW’s guidance that automotive margins this year were expected to be in the range of 5 to 7 per cent, compared with 6.3 per cent last year.It added that the impact of any potential future tariffs — the US has threatened duties on cars imported from Europe — had not been included in the guidance. BMW is one of several western carmakers that has been hurt by EU tariffs on EV imports from China. Its electric Mini Cooper, for example, is produced in China and is subject to import duties of 20.7 per cent.US President Donald Trump has granted the car industry a 30-day reprieve on tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada. But BMW is not part of the exemption because its cars are not compliant with the terms of a 2020 trade deal between the US, Canada and Mexico.The company said it had been hardest hit by tariffs from the EU targeting China and US tariffs against Mexico, with each of these hitting BMW by a “mid triple-digit million amount”. US tariffs on aluminium had cost the company a “high double-digit million” figure. Tariffs on trade between the US and China cost it a “low triple-digit million”.Chief executive Oliver Zipse on Friday said Germany and the US were BMW’s main export hubs. The company’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina — BMW’s largest globally — last year exported cars worth €10bn, he said, while 56 per cent of the 1mn cars produced in Germany last year were shipped beyond the EU.“We do hope that soon everyone will notice that there are no winners in such a situation,” Zipse said. BMW’s figures for the fourth quarter showed net profit of €1.5bn, a 41 per cent fall on a year earlier.Its share price, which has dropped more than a fifth in the past year, was down more than 2 per cent on Friday morning. More

This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters hereToday’s agenda: Tesla’s tariff warning; DeepSeek’s strategy; Deutsche Bank weighs Canary Wharf exit; Big Read on the Olympics; and gold’s triangular tradeGood morning. We end the week with the latest on Ukraine and the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia ahead of a busy weekend of diplomacy.What Putin wants: Vladimir Putin has said he “supports the idea” behind the US plan but added that it will allow Ukraine’s forces to regroup just as Russia’s military is gaining the upper hand in Kursk. His preconditions include Ukraine recognising Russia’s annexation of four partially occupied regions and Crimea; a pledge to never join Nato; caps on Ukraine’s military; protections for the country’s Russian speakers; and elections to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy.What this means: Moscow’s demands would in effect end Ukraine’s existence as a functioning state, place it squarely in Russia’s orbit and severely limit Nato’s presence east of Germany. One expert said Putin did not want to be blamed for standing in the way of Donald Trump’s deal but felt no pressure to “back off”, adding: “They want to play a game of chicken with the US.”Looking ahead: Trump called Putin’s remarks “promising” but “incomplete” and said he had discussed with Ukraine “land that would be kept and lost”, apparently referring to territorial concessions by Kyiv. The US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is currently in Moscow for high-level talks, while Sir Keir Starmer’s adviser Jonathan Powell will be in Washington today to urge the US to provide a security “backstop”. The UK prime minister will hold a virtual call with EU and other leaders tomorrow.Here’s more on the tough conditions Putin has set for a Ukraine ceasefire.Kursk: Seven months after a daring invasion to capture the Russian region, Ukrainian troops are now beating a hasty retreat. Russian sanctions: Hungary has threatened to block the EU’s renewal of sanctions imposed on about 2,000 Russians unless oligarch Mikhail Fridman is removed from the list.Here’s what else we’re watching today and over the weekend:Economic data: The EU releases fourth-quarter labour data today, Germany has its February consumer price index and the UK reports its GDP estimate for January.US government shutdown: Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said he would back a Republican stop-gap funding bill, reducing the risk of a shutdown early tomorrow.Results: Allianz, BMW and Foxconn report.Join FT experts on March 27 for a subscriber-only webinar, as they discuss Ukraine’s future with Russia’s full-scale invasion entering its fourth year. Register for free.Five more top stories1. Tesla has warned that Donald Trump’s trade war could make it a target for retaliatory tariffs and increase the cost of producing vehicles in America. In an unsigned letter to US trade representative Jamieson Greer, Elon Musk’s carmaker said it “supports” fair trade but warned that US exporters were “exposed to disproportionate impacts when other countries respond to US trade actions”.2. Exclusive: China’s DeepSeek is choosing to focus on research over chasing revenues as its billionaire founder decides not to follow Silicon Valley rivals by taking advantage of a sudden jump in sales. A surge in demand for the artificial intelligence start-up’s services meant revenues were enough to cover ongoing costs for the first time last month.3. Exclusive: Deutsche Bank could leave Canary Wharf or shed a third of its space when its lease expires in 2028. The German lender has maintained an outpost in the east London financial district for nearly a decade, but the shift would mark the latest financial services tenant to retreat from the area.4. Neither investors nor management of Shein have raised concerns about the company’s valuation, its executive chair has insisted. While the fast-fashion retailer was most recently valued at $66bn, some stakeholders want to cut that to $30bn to speed up its blockbuster London listing. But Donald Tang told the Financial Times there had been “zero conversations” among its management about doing so.5. The US has unlocked almost $5bn in funding for a liquefied natural gas project by France’s TotalEnergies in Mozambique, potentially restarting work on one of Africa’s largest energy investments. The company put the project on hold in 2021 after Islamist insurgents killed civilians and workers in attacks near the site. Here’s why the Trump administration has reapproved the loan.How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.The Big Read© Fabrizio Bensch/ReutersOn the face of it, the Olympics are riding high after the success of Paris 2024, which attracted a surge in viewership and revitalised a brand many feared was losing relevance with younger audiences. But as the organising committee chooses a new president next week, the world’s biggest sporting event is facing an exodus of major sponsors and a fast-changing media landscape.We’re also reading . . . Romanian politics: The country’s authorities need to release more evidence on why far-right candidate Călin Georgescu was blocked from elections, writes our editorial board.Simon Sadler: Once a heavyweight in Hong Kong finance, the Blackpool FC owner now faces the possibility of jail. Kaye Wiggins goes inside the downfall of a trading titan.Peak brain power: Data across countries and ages reveal a growing struggle to concentrate and declining verbal and numerical reasoning, writes John Burn-Murdoch.Trump’s tariffs: Levies on goods may be a prelude to tariffs on money, writes Gillian Tett, with capital inflows a possible next target.Graphic of the dayFears of possible tariffs on gold imports have sparked a rush in transatlantic trade of the metal. But due to a quirk in global bullion markets and the asset’s physical nature, refineries in Switzerland are working overtime, resizing the 1kg bars used in New York to the 12.5kg bricks traded in London. Here’s how the time-consuming process of shipping gold has become strained.Take a break from the news . . . After 13 years of reviewing restaurants, Tim Hayward is questioning his own tastes and prejudices in his final critique. Restaurants have brought new menu items and exciting ideas, but one thing always stuck out. Now, he finally explains himself.© Simon BaillyRecommended newsletters for youOne Must-Read — Remarkable journalism you won’t want to miss. Sign up hereNewswrap — Our business and economics round-up. Sign up here More