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Lisa Nandy says solution achievable amid fears furnaces are running out of options to secure raw materials
Crisis talks between the government and the Chinese owner of British Steel have ended with no deal in place, as the Scunthorpe plant races against time to secure the raw materials needed to keep its blast furnaces running.
Jingye, which promised a when it rescued British Steel in 2020, said last month the site’s two blast furnaces were , raising fears for the future of 2,700 workers.

Beijing is braced for turbulence due to swingeing tariffs. But it sees a bigger, more promising story of US hegemonic decline
No one, least of all consumers and workers, will win the that Donald Trump has unleashed. This is “a game of who can bear more pain”, in the words of . And because trade is at the heart of US ties with its biggest tariff target, China, the rest of the bilateral relationship is likely to deteriorate. That too is concerning.
Yet China, despite the of recent years, may see a longer-term opportunity in the current crisis. Beijing’s response to the initial US tariff announcements was measured. Now it vows to “fight to the end” and has imposed an additional 50% tariff on US goods – taking the total – in retaliation for tariffs that Mr Trump now says will hit 125%.
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Trump says he will raise US tariffs on Chinese exports to 125% and unveils 90-day pause for other countries
shelved plans to hike on most countries except China, unveiling a 90-day pause and pulling back from his global trade war after days of market turmoil and warnings of recession.
After insisting for days that he would hold firm on his aggressive trade strategy, Trump announced that all countries that had not retaliated against US tariffs would receive a reprieve – and only face a blanket US tariff of 10% – until July.

How the Chinese dish became Americanized In 1973, Peng moved to New York and opened a Hunan-style restaurant called Uncle Peng’s Hunan Yuan, to much acclaim. The restaurant, located in Manhattan ...

The US president’s tariff war on the world. Plus: The unsellable art of Jeremy Deller
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Donald Trump’s “liberation day” US tariffs on imported goods from a long list of international territories – including some inhabited only by penguins – sparked market turmoil and fears of a global recession.
As the chaos continued into this week, the question loomed of how the world, from China to Europe, would respond. An increasingly dark-looking spiral with China of tariff threats and counter-threats this week led Beijing to vow to “fight to the end”, while vice-president JD Vance again showed his lack of class by referring to “Chinese peasants” in an interview.

US Treasury secretary indicates openness to trade agreements after stock markets fall further in Europe
China has announced new tariffs of 84% on imports of all US goods in a move that sent stock markets falling further and will raise fears of further escalation of Donald Trump’s trade war.
The Chinese ministry of finance said on Wednesday it would impose 84% tariffs on US goods from Thursday, up from the 34% previously announced.

President Trump announced he is raising the tariff on Chinese goods to 125%. NBC News’ Brian Cheung took a look at how the prices of products from electronics to furniture and clothing could be ...

President Trump announced he is raising the tariff on Chinese goods to 125%. NBC News’ Brian Cheung took a look at how the prices of products from electronics to furniture and clothing could be ...

This battle between the US and China goes far beyond market turmoil – it has killed off the liberal dream of a borderless world
Donald Trump’s decision to impose a on Chinese imports into the US has raised stakes in the struggle between the world’s two biggest economies. If the markets have been spooked by the events of the past week then that’s hardly surprising.
Over the past few decades, phoney trade wars have been commonplace. Rival nations have squared off against each other, indulged in a bit of sabre-rattling, but eventually agreed on a deal. Headlines that screamed “trade war looms” were quickly replaced by those that read “trade war averted”.
This time it’s different. The battle between the US and China prompted by Trump’s tariffs is no pretend trade war. It is the real deal – and it will have real consequences. Tariffs operate as a tax, adding to the costs of doing business and raising prices for consumers. Growth will slow and inflation rates will rise. The global economy was already growing only slowly. As things stand, it is now heading for recession.
Trump seems prepared for this, making it clear that he is ready for some short-term pain for what he thinks will be long-term gains: a revitalised US industrial base and higher exports. This also represents a shift in approach. In the past, US policymakers have tended to take fright at big falls on Wall Street and have eased policy to limit the damage.
But only up to a point. The spread of the panic to the bond market seems to have forced something of a rethink. Hence the announcement of a 90-day tariff pause for all countries other than China. Perhaps this is Trump’s , where he has been forced into a partial U-turn by a sell-off in US assets. Important though they are, the market turmoil and the heightened risk of recession are only part of the story. Trade will continue despite Trump’s tariffs and China’s tit-for-tat response to them. Talk of the end of globalisation is exaggerated. Rather, the dawn of a new protectionist era represents the end of a particular model of globalisation, an imagined liberal nirvana in which all barriers – to movement of goods, people and money – would be dismantled.
This hyper-liberalised dream world has been on its way out ever since the global financial crisis of 2008, and all that was needed was a final shove, which Trump has just administered. From now on, migration will be restricted, supply chains will be shorter, hands-on industrial strategies will be back in favour, trade barriers will be removed only slowly.
Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist

In a new exhibition, the ‘monstrous’ history of chinoiserie is used to discuss ideas of women and femininity
– the European practice of imitating Chinese aesthetics – flourished throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, touching areas ranging from home decor to gardens, architecture and even the literary arts.
The Met’s fascinating new exhibit, Monstrous Beauty, takes an innovative look at the practice by showing the significant role it played in shaping modern womanhood, and offering compelling arguments about how it can revise our ideas of women and femininity.

President Zelensky says two soldiers were captured while fighting in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

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