In a career spanning more than 30 years, John Pettigrew has seen big changes in the electricity industry. He started out in 1991, working to introduce natural gas-fired power plants to the grid, gradually replacing polluting coal plants. . Now, once again, he is managing a tectonic shift to an electrified economy that runs on…
Britain has watched President Trump’s tariffs with a mix of shock, fascination and queasy recognition. The country, after all, embarked on a similar experiment in economic isolationism when it voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Nearly nine years after the Brexit referendum, it is still reckoning with the costs. The lessons of that…
The British government moved swiftly on Saturday to take control of operations at the country’s last large crude steel producing facility, in what appeared to be a major step toward nationalizing the plant. In an unusual and dramatic move, the government had summoned lawmakers back from vacation on Saturday to approve the government’s emergency legislation….
One hallmark of Elon Musk’s 12 weeks in government has been his focus on Social Security. He has sent one of his closest advisers to work at the Social Security Administration. He has falsely insisted that the program is rife with fraud. And he has depicted the entitlement as a tool — a “giant magnet,”…
For the two men at the forefront of a trade war that has begun to rupture ties between the world’s biggest economies, the question has become who will blink first. On one side is President Trump, who unleashed a disruptive plan to transform the modern global trading system with tariffs — only to back down…
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has been vocal about his desire to see his country’s wealthiest son, Elon Musk, invest some of his billions at home. But his overtures have been stymied by Mr. Musk’s criticism of the South African government as racist. Mr. Musk has argued that a law requiring foreign companies to sell…
Chinese censors appeared to be carefully curating public discussion about the U.S. tariffs that took effect on Wednesday. They promoted criticism of the United States, while seemingly playing down the specifics of how President Trump’s move would effectively increase import taxes on Chinese goods to 104 percent. On Weibo, a popular social media platform, several…
A senior Panamanian official on Monday said he had uncovered evidence of misconduct by a Hong Kong company, a finding that could delay or even scuttle a ports deal that has put China at loggerheads with the United States. Last month the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison agreed to sell a business that encompasses 43…
A major Western leader announces an unorthodox economic policy, panicking the financial markets, driving down the country’s currency and fueling a blizzard of warnings about the dire long-term consequences. President Trump did all this with his across-the-board tariffs, announced last week, but before him, there was Liz Truss, Britain’s former prime minister, with her rollout…
There aren’t a lot of countries Israel’s prime minister can visit without risking arrest. Which makes the red-carpet treatment Benjamin Netanyahu received in Hungary — Europe’s only proud “illiberal democracy” — all the more noteworthy. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, invited Mr. Netanyahu right after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant last November…