The prospect of a wider trade war between the United States and China sent global financial markets whipsawing on Monday and could force Beijing to make difficult decisions if it hopes to preserve its nascent economic recovery. President Trump upended what appeared to be steady progress toward reaching a trade pact after he threatened on…
• Unpacking electability. If I could pick one word to eliminate from the English language for the next year and a half, it would be “electability.” It’s not the actual definition that bothers me—everyone wants to support a candidate who has a real shot at getting the votes. It’s the implications the word has taken…
President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened to dramatically ramp up the trade war with China unless a breakthrough on trade talks is reached by the end of the week. The president said current tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will be increased from 10% to 25% and the US will place 25% tariffs…
THINGS WERE different 28 years ago, when Zhou Xueyu and her husband moved from the coastal province of Shandong to Beijing and began selling fresh pork. The Xinfadi agricultural market where they opened their stall was then a small outpost of the capital. Only at the busiest times of year, around holidays, might the couple…
From the American perspective, many of these economic issues are linked to national security, but the United States has steered clear of the third-rail matter of human rights. “For China, mixing human rights in the trade talks is unthinkable,” said Michael Pillsbury, a China scholar at the Hudson Institute who advises the Trump administration. “There…
Fashion brands, from haute couture to street style, have been relying heavily on social media influencers to peddle their clothes. But the true power still relies with the customer, based on new findings from one of the top fashion e-commerce platforms. Self-described as a “fashion discovery site,” Moda Operandi recently published its first ever “Runway…
David Silverman/Getty Images Investors, media, and high-profile members of the investment community descended on Omaha, Nebraska, this weekend for Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting. CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger sat on stage, and fielded questions from investors of all ages. The event has come to be celebrated in more ways like a…
A SHORT WALK from Tiananmen Square, young carworkers wearing company tracksuits stand with their fists in the air. They are renewing their vows to the Communist Youth League by chanting promises to “resolutely support” the Communist Party and “strictly follow” the league’s regulations. When they step aside for a group photo, 40 students from a…
Three sharp cracks rang out, followed by three more in quick succession. The thoroughfare emptied. Two old men ducked behind a corrugated fence. A taxi jerked onto a side street. A mother shoved her barefooted toddler indoors. The shooter, an MS-13 gunman in a tank top and black baseball cap, stood calmly on the corner…
Ahead of the Walt Disney Company’s expected quarterly earnings report next week, Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of company co-founder Roy Disney, wrote a Washington Post piece titled: “It’s time to call out Disney—and anyone else rich off their workers’ backs.” In it, she calls out the “naked indecency of chief executive Robert Iger’s pay,” which…
